YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
From the Library of
Dr, C, Ray Palmer

'^V

THE BOOK

THE TWELVE

MINOR PROPHETS,

TR.ANSLATED FROAI THE ORIGINAL HEBREW

COMMENTARY,
CRITICAL, PHILOLOGICAL, AND EXEGETICAL.

. ,t BY
E.[ HENDERSON, D,D,

Unara quandam ac certam et simplicem sententiam ubique
quEerendam esse. — Msslanchthon,

LONDON :
HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO.
33, PATERNOSTER ROW.
MDCXJCXLV,

LONDON :
PUINTKD BY RICHAKD CLAY, BREAD STREET HILL,

C O N T E N T S,

PAGE
IIOSEA  I
JOEL  89
AMOS  12.')
OBADIAH  18.5
JONAH  199
MICAH  221
NAHUAI  269
HABAKKUK . .  291
ZEPHANIAH  32.5
IIAGGAI  3-17
ZECHARIAH  3GI
MALACHI  .'  44.5

ERRATA.

Page S, after line 3, read " And make her like a dry land.'
CO, llu2 9, read " Gibeah " for " Gilead."
72, — 3, read "with us" for " with him."
122, — 10, read " mountains" for " mountain."
150, — 31, read *' Cyrus" for " Cyprus."
173, — 2, read "line" /or "lot"
192, — 3, read " Mount Esau" for " Esau."
lyS, ^-IS, read " hibit" /or "libit."
203, — 15, read " one of the most" for " the most."
237, — 13, read " Cyrus" for " Cyprus."
265, ofier line 9, read " Even from Egypt to the river."
272, line 4, read " Nahum" /or " Micah."
33 \, — 14, read " the day of anger " for " anger."
345, — 4, rend "your "/or "their."

GENEEAL PEEFACE.

The Minor Prophets are first mentioned as the Twelve by
Jesus the Son of Sirach.' Under this designation, they also
occur in the Talmudic tract, entitled Baba Bathra;^ and
Jerome specifies, as the eighth in the second division of the
sacred books of the Jews, The Book of the Twelve Prophets,
which, he says, they call Thereasar .^ Melito, who is the first
of the Greek Fathers that has left xxs a catalogue of these
books, uses precisely the same language.* That they were
regarded as forming one collective body of writings at a still
earher period, appears from the reference made by the proto-
martyr Stephen to the Book of the Prophets,' when quoting
Amos V. 27. The same style is employed by the Rabbins,
who call Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve, the Four
Latter Prophets.* They are also spoken of as one book by
^ Kal TfiiV 5 'h^Ko. -7rpo(l>rjTcoiJ ra oerTa dvaSdXoi Ik tov tottov avrav. Ecclus.
xlix, 10.
2 ias ?':©.
3 iD» nn ; or, as it is generally contracted, lonn.
¦* TWV ScoScKC if flOVO^LpXlCO.
'' Ka^oJf yLypaiTTat, iv Bi'/3X&) rav -wpof^rjTav, Acts vii. 42.
« D':in« ?'N'a: r»ii«.

IV GENERAL PREFACE.
Gregory Nazianzen, in his poem, setting forth the component
parts of the sacred volume,'
At what time, and by whom they were coUected, cannot be
determined with certainty. According to Jewish tradition,
the collection of the sacred books generally is attributed to the
men of the Great Synagogue, a body of learned Scribes, said
to have been formed by Ezra, and continuing in existence till
the time of Simon the Just, who flourished early in the third
centmy before Christ, In the opinion of many, Nehemiah
completed this collection, by adding to those books which had
already obtained a place in the canon, such as had been written
in, or near his own times,^ If this actually was the case, it
cannot be doubted that he must have availed himself of the
authority of Malachi in determining what books were really
entitled to this distinction ; and this Prophet, who was the last
in the series of inspired writers under the ancient dispensation,
may thus be considered to have given to the canon the
sanction of Divine approbation. Within a century and a half
afterwards, they were translated into Greek, along with the
rest of the sacred books, and have ever since obtained an
undisputed place among the oracles of God.
To these twelve prophetical books the epithet " Minor " has
been apphed, simply on the ground of their size, compared
with that of those which precede them, and not with any view
' Miav fiev ela-iv cf ypaeprjv ol AdhcKa-
'Qo-Jjf K 'Kjias, Kal Mixaias o rpiros,
'EireW 'imjyX, dr' 'Itovaf, 'A/SSiaj,
Nuovyx T-e, 'A/3/3aKov'K re Kal 2o(j)ovias,
'Ayyalos, etra Zaxapaias, MaXaxuis,
Mia ph oi'Sc. Cai-tnen xxxiii.
' ^''"' "* t^araPuWopevos fii^XaBijKrjv, i-nKTVvqyay^ rd nepl rav ^aeiCkiav
Kal 7rpo<p,,TSv, Kal ra 7-0O AavlB, Kal eVioroXas ftaa-iXicov jTfpi ava^euarai'.
2 Mace. ii. 13.

GENERAL PREFACE, V
of detracting from their value, or of representing them as in
any respect inferior in point of authority.
The books are not arranged in the same order in the
Hebrew and Septuagint texts, and in neither is the chronology
exactly observed, as may be seen from the following table,
in which the mean time is assumed as the basis of the cal
culation : —

HEBREW.

LXX.

CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER.

1, Hosea,

1.

Hosea.

1.

Joel 

about 865 b.c.

2, Joel.

2,

Amos,

2.

Jonah , , ,

— 810

3. Araos,

3,

Micah.

3.

Amos, , , .

— 790

4. Obadiah.

4,

Joel.

4.

Hosea . . ,

— 750

5, Jonah,

5.

Obadiah,

5.

Micah . , .

— 730

6. Micah,

6,

Jonah,

6.

Nahu.m , .

— 710

7, Nahum.

7.

Nahum.

7.

Zephaniah

— 630

8, Habakkuk,

8.

Habakkuk.

8.

Habakkuk

— 606

9, Zephaniah,

9.

Zephaniah,

9.

Obadiah. ,

— 590

10. Haggai,

10,

Haggai,

10.

Haggai . ,

— 520

11, Zechariah,

11.

Zechariah,

11.

Zechariah

— 520

12, Malachi,

12.

Malachi.

12,

Malachi , ,

— 440

Newcome, Boothroyd, and some other translators, have
adopted the order which appeared to them to be chronologically
correct; but in the present work that is retained which is
found in the Hebrew Bible, and followed in the Vulgate, in
all the authorized European versions, and in those of Michaelis,
Dathe, De Wette, and others, simply on the ground of the
facihty of reference, which the other arrangement does not
afibrd, but which is practically of greater importance than any
advantage derivable from the change.
The Minor Prophets have generally been considered more
obscure and diflBcult of interpretation than any of the other
prophetical books of the Old Testament, Besides the avoidance
of a minute and particular style of description, and the

vi GENERAL PREFACE.
exhibition of the more general aspects of events only, which
are justly regarded as essentiaUy characteristic of prophecy, and
the exuberance of imagery, which was so admirably calculated
to give effect to the oracles delivered by the inspired Seers,
but which to us does not possess the vividness and perspicuity
which it did to those to whom it was originally exhibited,
there are peculiarities attaching more or less to each of the
writers, arising either from his matter, or from the manner of
its treatment, which present diflficulties of no ordinary mag
nitude to common readers, and many that are calculated to
exercise the ingenuity, and, in no smaU degree, to perplex the
mind of the more experienced interpreter. We are frequently
left to guess historical circumstances from what we otherv\ase
know of the features of the times, and sometimes we have no
other means of ascertaining their character than what are
furnished by the descriptive terms employed in the predictions
themselves. Though in such cases general ideas may be
coUected respecting the persons or things which are presented
to view in the text, yet we want the historical commentary
which would elucidate and give point to its various particulars.
The accounts contained in the books of Kings and Chi'onicles
are frequently too brief to furnish us with a key to many of
the prophecies which were fulfUled during the period which
they embrace ; while the pages of profane history only
shghtly touch, if they touch at aU, upon events which the
scope and bearing of the predictions determine to periods
v^dthin the range of subjects professedly treated of by its
authors. Against none of these prophets has the charge of obscurity
been brought with greater appearance of justice than against
Hosea, whose prophecies are obviously, for the most part.

GENERAL PREFACE, Vll
mere compendia, or condensed notes of what he publicly
delivered, though preserving, to a considerable extent, the
logical and verbal forms which characterised his discourses.
Besides a profusion of metaphors, many of which are derived
from sources little accordant with the dictates of occidental
taste, we find in his book a conciseness of expression, an
abruptness of transition, a paucity of connecting particles,
and changes in person, number, and gender, to which nothing
equal occurs in any of the other prophets. The visions of
Zechariah also are not without their diflficulties ; but these
arise, not from the language, which is remarkably simple in
its character, but from the symbols which represent certain
historical scenes and events.
The period of time within which the authors of the books
flourished, includes the entire prophetic cycle of more than
four hundred years — Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel,
having also lived in it. It is unquestionably the most eventful
in the history of the Hebrews, It embraces the introduction
of image-worship, and that of Phcenicean idolatry, with aU its
attendant evUs, among the Israelites ; the regicidal murders
and civil wars which shook their kingdom to its centre ; the
corruptions of the Jewish state in- consequence of its adoption
of the idolatrous practices of the northern tribes ; the Assyrian
and Egyptian aUiances ; the irruption of the Syrian, Assyrian,
and Chaldean armies into Palestine ; the Assyrian and Baby
lonian captivities; the Persian conquests; the release of the
Jews, and their restoration to their own land ; and the state of
affairs at Jerusalem during the governorship of Nehemiah,
Upon aU these various events and circumstances, the pre
dictions, warnings, threatenings, promises, and moral lessons,
have, in a multipUcity of aspects, a more or less pointed and

VUl GENERAL PREFACE.

important bearing. Events subsequent to this period likewise
form the subjects of prophetic announcement — such as the
progress of Alexander the Great; the successes of the
Maccabees ; the corruptions which prevaUed in the last times
of the Jewish state; the destruction of Jerusalem by the
Romans ; the dispersion, future conversion, and restoration of
the Jews ; and the universal estabUshment of true rehgion
throughout the world. Intermingled with these topics, and
giving to each a significance and interest which it could not
otherwise have possessed, are some of the clearest and most
iUustrious predictions respecting the Messiah, in his divine
and human, his sacerdotal and suffering, and his regal and
all-conquering character, that are to be found in the Old
Testament. It is impossible seriously to peruse this coUection of pro
phetical writings without discovering the Omniscient Eye to
which all future events, with the most minute of their
attendant circumstances, are present ; the Omnipotent Arm,
which, in the most difficult cases, secures the accomplishment
of the Divine purposes ; the glorious attributes of Jehovah as
the Moral Governor of the universe, and the special Friend
and Protector of his people ; the deep depravity of the human
heart ; the multiform phases of moral evU ; and the just
retributions which befal mankind in the present state of exist
ence. These, and numerous subjects of a kindred nature,
furnish abundance of matter " profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,"
which, while it is able to make " men wise unto salvation,
through faith which is in Christ Jesus," is also admirably fitted
to " make the man of God perfect, throughly furnished unto
aU good works," 2 Tim. iii. 15—17.

GENERAL PREFACE, ix
The principles on which the Author has proceeded in pre
paring the present work are the same by which he was guided
in composing his Commentary on the Prophet Isaiah, It has
been his great aim to present to the view of his readers the
mind of the Spirit as expressed in the written dictates of
inspiration. With the view of determining this, he has laid
under contribution all the means within his reach, in order
to ascertain the original state of the Hebrew text, and the
true and unsophisticated meaning of that text. He has
constantly had recourse to the coUection of various readings
made by Kennicott and De Rossi; he has compared the
renderings of the LXX., the Targum, the Syriac, the Arabic,
the Vulgate, and other ancient versions ; he has consulted the
best critical commentaries ; he has availed himself of the
results of modern phUological research ; and he has conducted
the whole under the infiuence of a disposition to place himself
in the times of the sacred writers^ sm-rounded by the scenery
which they exhibit, and impressed by the different associations,
both of a political and a spiritual character, which they embody.
In aU his investigations he has endeavoured to cherish a deep
conviction of the inspired authority of the books which it has
been his object to illustrate, and of the heavy responsibihty
which attaches to all who undertake the interpretation of the
oracles of God.
In no instance has the theory of a double sense been per
mitted to exert its influence on his expositions. The Author is
firmly convinced, that the more this theory is impartiaUy
examined, the more it will be found that it goes to unsettle
the foundations of Divine Truth, unhinge the mind of the
biblical student, invite the sneer and ridicule of unbelievers,
and open the door to the extravagant vagaries of a wUd and

X GENERAL PREFACE,
unbridled imagination. HappUy the number of those who
adhere to the multiform method of interpretation is rapidly
diminishing ; and there cannot be a doubt, that, in proportion
as the principles of sacred hermeneutics come to be more
severely studied, and perversions of the word of God, here
ditarily kept up under the specious garb of spirituality and a
more profound understanding of Scriptm'e, are discovered
and exposed, the necessity of abandoning such slippery and
untenable ground wUl be recognised, and the plain, simple,
grammatical and natural species of interpretation, adopted and
foUowed.

HOSEA.

PREFACE,
Respecting the origin of this prophet nothing is known beyond
what is stated in the title, ver, 1, If, as is now generally agreed,
Jeroboam II, died about the year b,c, 784, and Hezekiah began to
reign about B,c, 728, it would appear from the same verse that
the period of his ministry must have embraced, at the very least,
fifty-six years. To some this has seemed incredible, chiefly on the
ground that his prophecies are comprised within the compass of
fourteen brief chapters. It must be remembered, however, that
the prophets were not uninterruptedly occupied with the delivery
of oracular matter. Sometimes considerable intervals elapsed
between their communications, although there can be no doubt
that, having once been called to the ofiice of public teachers, they
devoted much of their time to the instruction of the people among
whom they lived. Besides, there is no reason for believing that
the contents of the book are aU that he ever uttered. They con
stitute only such portions of his inspired communications respecting
the Israelites, as the Holy Spirit saw fit to preserve for the benefit
of the Jews, among whose sacred writings they were incorporated.
Hosea was cotemporary vsdth Isaiah, Micah, and Amos, and,
like the last-mentioned prophet, directed his prophecies chiefly
against the kingdom of the ten tribes. B

PREFACE TO HOSEA.

From the general tenor of his book, and from the history of the
times contained in the Books of Kings, he manifestly lived in a
very corrupt age. Idolatry, a fondness for foreign alliances, civil
distractions, and vice of every description abounded, the impending
judgments on account of which he was commissioned to announce.
Though he occasionally mentions Judah, yet the entire scene
is laid in the land of Israel, where, there can be little doubt, he
lived and taught.
With the exception of the first and third chapters, which are in
prose, the book is rhythmical, and abounds in highly figurative and
metaphorical language. The diction is exceedingly concise and
laconic ; so much so, that Jerome justly describes him as " com-
maticus et quasi per sententias loquens." The sentences are in
general brief and unconnected ; the unexpected change of person
is of frequent occurrence ; number and gender are often neglected ;
and the similes and metaphors are frequently so intermixed, that
no small degree of attention is required in order to discover their
exact bearing and force. He is more scanty in his use of the
particles than the other prophets, which adds not a little to the
difiiculty of interpreting his prophecies. In many instances he is
highly animated, energetic, and sublime. Of all the prophets he
is, in point of language, the most obscure and hard to be un
derstood.

CHAPTER I,
This chapter contains the inscription, ver. 1 ; a representation of the idolatrous
kingdom of Israel uuder the image of a female, whom the prophet was ordered
to marry, hut who should prove false to him, 2, 3 ; and of the punishment with
which it was to be visited, by the symbolical names of the prophet's children,
together with a distinct intimation, that the kingdom of Judah should not be
involved in the same destruction, 4 — 8. It concludes with a gracious promise
of the joint restoration of all the tribes, and their flourishing condition in the
land of their fathers, subsequent to the Babylonish captivity.

The word of Jeliovah wliich was communicated to Hosea, the son of
Beeri, in tbe days of Uzziali, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings
of Judah ; and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king
of Israel.
The beginning of the word of Jeliovah by Hosea. Jehovah said to
Hosea : Go, take thee a lewd woman, and lewd children, for the

1 , The kings here mentioned are those
specified in the inscription to the pro
phecies of Isaiah, with the addition of
Jeroboam, the son of Joash, commonly
called Jeroboam the Second, to distin
guish him from the son of Nebat, This
monarch carried on very successful wars
with his northern neighbours, and reco
vered out of their hands the territories
of which they had taken possession; but
though thus signally prospered, as an
instrument in the hand of Jehovah, he
was a wicked eharacter, and greatly pro
moted idolatry in Israel. See 2 Kings
xiv. 23—28.
By 135, word, is meant the prophetic
matter contained in the book. Thus the
Targ. riNPiap Dans. — iTn is commonly ren
dered " came" in such connexion, but it
seems preferable to retain its usual sig

nification, only adding another verb, as
communicated, imparled, or such like, to
suit the English idiom.
2. i|7 is equivalent to IJJ, and is ren
dered as a noun in the LXX., Targ., and
Syr. It occurs in the absolute form
'i??'?, Jer. V. 13, with a similar reference
to inspired matter. Some have attempted
to show from the words ^^, ^|'^ n^Pi
»^in3 that Hosea was the first of the
prophets employed to convey Jehovah's
messages to bis ancient people ; but
contrary to the import of the words,
which merely refer to the commence
ment of the prophecies of Hosea. For the
use of the preposition 3 in such con
nexion, see Numb. xii. 2 ; 2 Sam. xxiii,
2. Comp. ev Trpocp^rais, Heb. i. 1 .
The transaction here described, and
that narrated chap. iii. 1, are clogged

HOSEA,

[chap, I,

land hath committed great lewdness, ia a state of separation from
Jehovah.

with almost insuperable difficulties; and,
as may be expected, have given rise to
very different modes of interpretation.
By most commentators, the thhigs spe
cified are considered to have actually
taken place in the outward history of the
prophet. Others, as Abarbanel, Kimcbi,
Maimonides, Ruffinus, OEcolampadius,
Marckius, Pococke, and recently Heng
stenberg, regard the whole in the light
of internal prophetic vision ; while
Calvin, Luther, Osiander, Rivetus, Da-
nffius, Rosenmuller, Hitzig, and others,
treat it as a species of parabolical repre
sentation, in whicb the prophet appropri
ates to himself imaginary circumstances,
aptly fitted to impress the minds of those
whom he addressed with a sense of their
wickedness, and the punishment to which
it exposed them.
To tbe last of these opinions it may
justly be objected that the language,
" And Jehovah said to Hosea, Go," &c,
is identical with that used Is. vii. 3, viii.
1, XX. 2 ; Jer. xiii, 1 — 7, xviii. 1, 2, xix. ;
Ezek! iv. v. xii. xxiv. ; and in many
other passages, which cannot without
violence be understood parabolically.
Not the slightest hint is given, in the
present case, that the circumstances are
fictitious. Besides, it has been observed,
that there is no instance of any of the
prophets ever making himself the subject
of a parable.
The same objection lies with equal
force against the assumption, that the
things described were merely exhibited
internally to the mind of the prophet.
The Divine mandate was doubtless in
ternal ; but there is no intimation that
what follows was in vision, any more
than in the instances above quoted. On
tbe contrary, it is set forth as real
matter of fact. When internal scenic
representations were granted, the verbs
nirj or nxi, to see, are always employed
to describe the experience of the person
who viewed them, which is not the case
here. See Is. vi. ; Jer. xxiv. 1 ; Ezek,
ii. 9 — iii. 3 ; Zech. i. 8, ii. iii. &c. Comp.
also the phraseology of the Apocalypse.
We are, therefore, shut up to the
literal interpretation, according to which
the transactions, though symbolical, were

real, and outward in the history of Hosea.
Those, however, who adopt this view,
are not agreed on the subject of the
females specified : — some being of opi
nion that only one is intended in both
passages; others, two: some, that Gomer
was not a lewd character before the
prophet took her, but became such after
wards; others, that she was originaUy
unchaste : some, as Thomas Aquinas,
that he did not marry her at aU, but
merely lived with her as a concubine !
Lyra and Newcome think that nothing
more is meant by " a wife of lewdness,"
than an Israelitess — one of those who
bad become guilty of spiritual fornication
or idolatry. The position that Hosea
was commanded to marry an impure
female cannot be sustained, for two
reasons. First, the children were clearly
those afterwards described as born to the
prophet, and are spoken of as lewd as
well as their mother. Secondly, on the
supposition that Gomer had been guilty
of acts of impurity previous to her con
nexion with the prophet, there would be
no congruity in constituting her a type
of Israel, who is represented as lewd
because she had lapsed into idolatry, in
violation of the marriage contract entered
into at Sinai. See Gesen. Lex. p. 306, 2.
Consistency of interpretation absolutely
requires the adoption of this view of the
subject, as is admitted both by Heng
stenberg and Hitzig. The objections
otherwise produced by the former of
these authors against the literal character
of the transactions are more specious
than real. Besides being the most ob
vious and natural, it has much to recom
mend it on the ground of the public
notoriety which infidelity on the part of
the wife of a prophet must have created,
and its aptness to typify the conduct of
the Israelites towards Jehovah. It may
indeed be said, that his marrying a no
toriously lewd character must have pro
duced a much greater sensation. True,
but besides the encouragement which it
must have been calculated to give to the
formation of unhallowed and irreligious
connexions, it would not, as was just
observed, have been in accordance with
the design of the transaction, which was.

CHAP,

I-J

HOSEA,

3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she
4 conceived, and bare him a son. And Jehovah said unto him, Call
his name Jezreel ; for yet a httie while, and I will avenge the
blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause the
5 kingdom of the house of Israel to cease. And it shah come to
pass in that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of
. Jezreel.

not to represent the character of the
Hebrews before the period of their na
tional reception into alliance with Jeho
vah, but their conduct as exhibited in the
pages of their subsequent history. The
phrases n';i:i n^'i n'M:i mfisi, a lewd woman
and lewd children, have the same import,
and are not to be interpreted as if the
mother alone were guilty, and the chil
dren merely the product of her guilty
conduct. Comp. the phrase ssiB H^^ chil
dren of transgression, i. e. transgressors.
Thus as to sense the Targ. ; and the Syr.
_AJ ^^> (~.«io6, and children that com
mit lewdness. Thus also Rosenmiiller.
Both are anticipative as to the relation
of the prophet, though typical of what
had already taken place on the part of
the ten tribes. Viewed as a kingdom
they are represented as a mother ; and
as individual subjects of that kingdom,
they are spoken of as her children. The
plural ?''51:] is emphatic, as D'OT in
QW ti^M, &c. Comp. d::i:i rn-i, chap. iv.
12, and ii. 4. That tbey are otherwise
to be identified appears from the use of
fTE, take, which properly applies only to
the female, but here governs both nouns,
as Jerome observes, d-rro koivov. The
reason of the symbolic action is assigned
at the close of the verse — the atrocious
conduct of the Israelites in renouncing
the pure worship of Jehovah, and ad
dicting themselves to idolatry, Comp,
Lev. xvii. 7; xx. 5, 6 ; Hos. iv, 12.
yT^rt, the Jand, is put, by metonomy, for
its inhabitants. The preposition p has
here the force of a negative, which
strongly expresses the state of separation
which had taken place.
3, That the names Gomer and Diblaim
axe to be taken symbolically, as Heng
stenberg interprets, does not appear.
His exposition of them is fanciful, as is
tbat of Jerome, who takes pretty much
the same view. The use of i'', to Mm, i. e.

to Hosea, proves that the child was not
of spurious origin. The word is wanting,
indeed, in three of Kennicott's MSS.,
and one of De Rossi's, the Complut,
edition of the LXX., the Itala, and the
Arab.; but the omission in all proba
bility originated in an attempt to render
the phraseology conformable to that of
verses 6 and 8.
4, 5. ''«!?1V, Jezreel, i.e. God will scat
ter, from 3)11, to scatter, disperse, as in
Zech. X. 9 ; Targ. N'Tiin. It was other
wise the proper name of a city in the
tribe of issachar, on the brow of the
central valley in the great plain of the
same name, and the royal residence of
Ahab and his successors. It was here
Jehu exercised acts of the greatest cru
elty, 2 Kings X. 11, 14, 17. These acts
were speedily to be avenged in the ex
tinction of the royal family, and the
entire cessation of the Israelitish state.
It had been announced to Jehu that his
sons should occupy the throne till the
fourth generation, 2 Kings x. 30. Two
of these generations had passed away by
tbe time ofthe prophet^ — Jeroboam being
the great grand-son. In the following
generation, the prediction received its
accompHshment. By the " bow of
Israel" is meant her military prowess,
which was completely subdued by the
Assyrian army. The valley here men
tioned, afterwards called Esdraelon, was
famous for the battles fought there from
the most ancient times. It consists of
the broad elevated plain which stretches
from the Jordan to the Mediterranean,
near Mount Carmel, and is well adapted
for military operations. Accordingly,
Dr. C, D. Clarke observes, " Jews, Gen
tiles, Saracens, Christian Crusaders, and
Anti-Christian Frenchmen, Egyptians,
Persians, Druses, Turks, and Arabs,
warriors out of every nation which is
under heaven, bave pitched their tents
upon the plains of Esdraelon, and have

HOSEA.

[chap. I,

9
10

And she conceived again, and bare a daughter ; and He said to him,
Call her name Lo-Ruhamah ; for I will no more have mercy
upon the house of Israel, but will utterly take them away. But
I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by
Jehovah their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword,
nor by battle, nor by horses, nor by horsemen.
And she weaned Lo-Rohamah, and conceived, and bare a son.
And He said, Call his name Lo-Ammi ; for ye are not my people,
and I will not be yours. Nevertheless the number of the children
of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which can neither be
measured nor numbered ; and it shall be, that instead of its having

beheld the various banners of their
nations wet with the dews of Tabor and
Hermon," It was, therefore, natural
that the Israelites should endeavour to
make a stand against the Assyrians in
this valley ; but being overpowered by
numbers were obliged to succumb to the
enemy. Of tbis discomfitvire, and the
consequent dispersion of the ten tribes,
the name of the prophet's son was sym
bolical. 6, 7. iiOiTf ^X Lo-RuH..\MAH, i. e. an-
pitied. } Ntoj elsewhere signifies to
forgive ; and were the verb preceded by
the copulative i, it might be so rendered
here, only supplying the negative ^';
from the preceding clause; but as '?, but,
excludes such repetition, tbe phrase must
be rendered as in the translation. LXX,
avTiraa-a-d pevos avTird^opai, a-vTols. Syr.
^CDjiI:^. Ill "^al ^nAic. Vulg.
ohlimone obliviscor eorum — reading NiBj,
which is found in De Rossi's MS. 596, at
first hand, instead of Nto:. The kingdom
of Israel was never more to be restored,
tbough, in conjunction with the Jews,
the scattered Israelites were to return to
Canaan after the Babylonish captivity,
ver. 11. It was to be very different
with the Jewish power. Though like
wise attacked, and threatened with utter
extinction by Sennacherib, they were
mercifully delivered by a divine inter
position, without all human aid. And
though tbey were afterwards carried
away to Babylon, their civil polity was
restored, which was not the case with
the Israelites. ^Top^P, war, stands ellip
tically for i^oi?'?'? *??-^i tvarriors.

8, The mention here made of the
weaning of Lo- Ruhamah, seems designed
rather to fill up the narrative, than to
describe figuratively any distinct treat
ment of the Israelites,
9. 'QB ^1, Lo-Ammi, i.e. not my people,
further sets forth the rejection of the ten
tribes by Jehovah. Nothing could have
been better calculated to make an im
pression upon the minds of his country
men, than for the prophet thus to give
to one child after another a name strongly
significantof the disastrous circumstances
to which they should be reduced. Instead
of D55 n.TO-N'), T will not be -yours, i. e.
your God, Houbigant and Newcome
would read tsyrrna itb. Jam not your God;
but though the antithesis is common, it
admits of an ellipsis, just as in Ezek,
xvi. 8, there is an ellipsis of rrm). Comp.
Ps. cxviii. 6. The MSS. and' versions
exhibit no variation.
10, 11. These verses contain a gra
cious promise of the recovery of the
descendants of the Israelites, along with
those of their brethren the Jews, at the
termination of the Babylonish captivity.
Though entirely and for ever broken up
as a distinct kingdom, yet, during the
period of their residence in the regions
of the East, whither they were to be
transported, they should greatly multiply,
and afterwards be re-instated in tbe pri
vileges of adoption, as members of the
theocrasy. The eleventh verse teaches
the reunion of all the tribes, and their
return under Zerubbabel to their own
land. That this prince is meant by the
nj7« ffiN-, one head, must be maintained,
since the Messiah, who is by many sup-

CHAP, II.] HOSEA, 7
been said to thera, Ye are not my people, it shall be said to
11 them, Ye are the children of the living God. Then shall thc
children of Judah, and the children of Israel, be gathered together,
and they shall appoint for themselves one head, and shall come up
12 out of the land. For great shall be the clay of Jezreel. Say ye
unto your brethren, Ammi ; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.
posed to be intended, is nowhere spoken counfry. Comp. chap, ii, 22, 23 ; Jer.
of as appointed by men, but ahvays as xxxi. 27,
the choice and appointment of God. The principle on which part of ver.
y;!«, land, signifies, in this connexion, the 10, and chap. ii. 23, are quoted, Rom.
country of Babylon, not excluding those ix. 25, 26, and 1 Pet. ii. 10, seems to be
other regions of the East in which the that of analogy. As God had taken
descendants of the diiferent tribes were pity upon the ten tribes, wbo had become
found. ^Nr\v, Jezreel, is obviously used heathens, as it respects idolatrous and
here in a different acceptation from that otber practices, so be had pitied the
in which it is taken ver, 4, That of Gentiles who had been in the same cir-
sowing is alone appropriate, llhistriuus cumstances. What was said of the one
should be the period when the tribes class was equally descriptive of the
should again be sown in their own other.

CHAPTER II.
The prophet proceeds in this chapter to apply the symbolical relation described in
the preceding. He calls the Israelites to reform their wicked conduct, 1, 2 ;
threatens them with a series of calamities, the effect of which should be their
repentance and return to the service of Jehovah, 3 — 15; and promises a
gracious restoration to his favour, and the enjoyment of security and prosperity
in their own land, 16 — 23,

1 Contend with your mother, contend ;
2 For she is not my wife,
Neither am I her husband :
That she may remove her lewdness from her face,
And her adulteries from between her breasts.
1, 2, The individual members of the that, and interpret : Argue the point
Israelitish state are here summoned to with your nation, and show her that in
urge upon tbeir nation the consideration consequence of her wicked conduct all
of its wickedness in having departed relations between us have ceased. The
from God. Of these the nation of the causal signification of the conjunction,
ten tribes was the DN, mother. Cocceius, however, seems preferable. The words
Dathe, Kuinoel, and Riickert, render % which it introduces form a parenthesis ;

HOSEA.

[chap. II.

Lest I strip her naked,
And set her as in the day when she was born,
And make her as the desert,
And cause her to die with thirst.
Upon her children I will have no mercy,
For they are lewd children.
Because their mother hath committed lewdness,
Their parent hath acted shamefully ;
For she said : I will follow my lovers,
That give me my bread and my water,
My wool and my flax, my oil and my wine.

and npni, which, though future, is tobe ren
dered potentially: ihat she may remove,
connects with W"), contend ye. The 1 is,
as frequently, to be taken riKiKas. The
repetition of «'T is emphatic, as ducile
in Virgil : —
" Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina,
ducite Daphnin."
By tJ'BISNJ'i D';i3!, fornications and adul
teries, are meant the tokens or indications
of lewd character: — boldness of counte
nance, and an immodest exposure of the
breasts. Both forms are reduplicate, to
express the enormity of the evil. Wbat
the prophet has in view is the reckless
and unblushing manner in which the
Israelitish nation practised idolatry. The
LXX. have read 'iSp, "from my face;"
improperly in this connexion, though a
similar phrase occurs elsewhere.
3. A striking accumulation of syno
nymous denunciations for the purpose of
describing the state of complete desti
tution to which the idolatrous Israelites
would be reduced by tbe infliction of
divine judgments. They should be
placed in circumstances analogous to
those in which they had originally been
in Egypt. Comp. Ezek. xvi. 4; xxiii.
25, 26, 28, 29. For wp comp. Jer. ii. 6.
4. Individuals might expect that they
would escape, and not be treated as the
nation in its collective capacity ; but
Jehovah here declares, that he would
treat them according to the demerits of
their individual wickedness. For '53
D':n:] comp. ri';i:i 'i^:, ch. i. 2. The
second noun is, as frequently, used ad-
jectively.

5. '3, since or because, and pi, there
fore, ver. 8, correspond to each other,
the former marking the protasis, the
latter the apodosis. The second '3 in
troduces parenthetically an illustration
of the stateinent made at tbe beginning
of the verse, rnin is the feminine par
ticiple of rnn, to conceive, be pregnant.
Comp. 'n"iin. Song iii. 4. According to
the Jewish exegesis, '^in. Gen. xlix. 26,
is used of male progenitors. The Targ.
and Jarchi suppose teachers to be here
meant; but the term is merely a syno-
nyme of D«, mother, in the preceding
hemistich. Interpreters are not agreed
respecting the rendering of md'3in. In
most instances in wbich the word occurs
it certainly has the transitive significa
tion ; but here the intransitive seems
more appropriate. Comp. Jer. vi. 15,
where it is explained by ito ra»in '3.
Comp. also I'wn, -sriri, 3'»nri, as Hiph. in-
transitives. Tbe paragogic rt in iiabx,
elongating the future, is expressive of a
decided purpose, desire, or bent of mind ;
it is my settled determination to follow
those who richly supply my wants in
return for my religious services. D"??!:??,
lovers, which is here employed meta
phorically to denote idols, is seldom used
except in a bad sense. This interpretation,
which is that of Joseph Kimcbi and
Abarbanel, is more in keeping with the
symbolical character of tbe prophecy,
than that suggested by the Targ. pa
p2N ]9m, which takes the word in the
sense of idolaters, or idolatrous nations,
such as Assyria, &c. Comp. as strictly
parallel, Jer. xliv, 17—19. The lan
guage indicates complete alienation of

CHAP, II,]

HOSEA.

9

Therefore, behold ! I will hedge up thy way with thorns.
And will raise a wall, that she may not find her paths.
And she shall eagerly pursue her lovers, but she shall not overtake
them ;
And shall seek them, but shall not find them :
Then shall she say : I will go and return to my first husband.
For it was better with me then than now.
Because she knew not that it was I that gave her
The corn, and the nevv wine, and the oil ;
And furnished her abundantly with silver and gold,
Whicii they made into images of Baal :
Therefore I will take back my corn in its time,

heart frora Jehovah, the only giver of
all good, and a blind confidence in, and
devotion to the service of idols. The
articles specified comprehend both the
necessaries and the luxuries of ancient
Hebrew life. ]iy^, oil, is much in use
among the Orientals, both in its simple
state, and as compounded with other in
gredients. It is specially applied as
ointment to the body after bathing.
Comp. Psalm xxiii, 5 ; Prov. xxi. 17,
'JipuS denotes here all kinds of artificial
drink, being used in distinction from
water. The Aldine edition ofthe LXX.
reads 6 ohos pov ; but the usual reading
is navra oo-a pot KadrJKei, with which
the Targ, and Syr. agree. Tbe word
occurs, Ps, cii. 10; Prov, iii. 8; andis evi
dently derived frora ni^a ; Arab, ^a^w ;
Eth, f]^P : to make to drink, to
water. 6, For ^ in tjSIT the LXX. Arab, and
Syr, read ri— , but most likely in order to
produce uniformity in tbe use of the
afiix. The metapjior here employed is
borrowed from the condition of a tra
veller whose progress is interrupted by a
hedge thrown across his path, or who
can no longer pass through the gap of
an enclosure which used to be in his
way ; and who is consequently reduced
to straits and difficulties. Turned out
of his accustomed course, he is bewil
dered, and strives in vain to extricate
himself, Comp. Job xix. 8 ; Lara. iii.
7, 9, >T;n3, a wall, is pointed Pnia, in
the editions of J. H,Micnaehs, and Jahn,

and this punctuation Hengstenberg at
tempts, without success, to defend. The
wall ineans the external hindrances whicli
tbe captivity interposed between the ten
tribes and the objects of their idolatrous
attachment. 7. Convinced by bitter experience of
the folly of idolatry, the Israelites would
renounce it, and return to the service of
Jehovah. riBiT is intensive, and expresses
the ardour of the pursuit. The Van in
nTONi, marking the apodosis, points out
the consequence or result of the failure
— a resolution to turn from idols to serve
the living God. It might be rendered
so that, but not in order that, as Manger
proposes. IN, then, designates the period
previous to the apostasy of the ten tribes,
when in reward for external obedience,
they enjoyed temporal blessings. Thus
the Targ. JMo 'C'lDnp.. Nrts 'n'lri 13 -h ya '¦;«
8, 9. 1 and pJ at the beginning of
these verses stand in the same relation
to each other as '3 and pJ, verses Sth
and 6th. Before liBB supply t^m. By
''S3, Baal, the prophet means " images
of Baal," the singular being used col
lectively for tbe plural. Comp, ch. viii.
4, where C3'3S!?, idols, correspond to 'J?3
in the present case. Hitzig would re
strict laJM, understood, to srri, gold, sup
posing the golden calves set up at
Bethel and Dan to be meant; but, as it
does not appear that the name of Baal
was ever applied to them, his interpre
tation is groundless. See chap, viii. 4 ;
which also clearly proves that by ^M^ ito
we are not to understand the consecration

10

HOSEA.

[chap. II.

10

And my new wine in its season ;
And I will recover my wool and my flax,
Designed to cover her nakedness.
And now I will expose her vileness before her lovers,
And none shall deliver her out of my hand.

of the silver and gold to the service of
Baal, but the actual conversion of these
precious metals into images of that idol,
or at least into plating with which to
cover such as were made of wood.
2 Chron. xxlv. 7, to which Seeker appeals
in favour of the former meaning of the
phrase, is also to be so understood. The
rendering of Gesenius, " which they
offered to Baal," is equally objectionable ;
the phrase ) ™», when thus used, being
referred to sacrificial victims. Targ,
Nnisipb ITO n'5p. Hengstenberg attempts
to support the position that consecration
is meant; but his reasons are altogether
futile. The very passage which he quotes
as parallel (Ezek. xvi. 17, 18,) is directly
opposed to his exegesis of the phrase,
Baal was perhaps the most ancient of
all the gods worshipped in the East. He
was, according to Dr. Miinter, the re
presentative of the sun, the generative
power in the eastern mythology, and
had associated with him Astarte, the
female power, which was viewed as re
presenting the moon. Gesenius, how
ever, is of opinion, that under these
naraes tbe planets Jupiter and Venus
were worshipped. See on Isaiah xvii.
8. From the frequency with which his
name occurs in compound Phcenician
names, as Hannibal, Hasdrubal, &c., the
worship of Baal appears to have been
coramon araong that people ; and from
them, especially the Tyrians, it was
borrowed by the Israelites. Mention is
made of this idolatry in the time of the
Judges, see chap. ii. 11, 13 ; iii. 7 ;
vi. 25 ; it became prevalent even in
Judah in the days of Ahaz ; and, though
abolished by the pious king Josiah, was
revived by Manasseh. In Israel it ra
pidly gained ground after tbe intro
duction of the worship of the golden
calves by Jeroboam, and reached its
height in the reigns of Ahab and Hoshea,
The verb 3TO), to return, turn back, is
frequently used adverbially. So here
'i?^!?^^, 3l^N, / w'ill again take away, or

take back, i. e. deprive of. The meaning
is, that instead of reaping the fruits of
the earth, &c, as they expected at the
usual season, they should be trodden
down, consumed, or taken away by the
Assyrian army under Shalraaneser.
Jehovah vindicates his right to the
various articles specified, because they
had been bestowed by his providence;
calling them his, with obvious reference
to ver. 5, in which Israel had called
thera hers. The land and all it con
tained were specially his, ''S3; Arab,
(L^, liberatus fuit, expresses the idea,
of rescuing or recovering what was un
justly held. The '^ in niD3^ denotes end
or purpose, and is quite in its place ; so
that there is no necessity, with Houbigant,
Dathe, Horsley, Newcorae, Boothroyd,
and others, to change it into D, out of
deference to the LXX. who render tou
p-rj KaXvTrreiv.
10. m'?55 occurs only in this place,
but is obviously equivalent to ^Jj?, atro
cious, shameful, detestable wickedness.
Targ. nibp, her shame, LXX. n/y aKad-
apa-iav a-urrfs ; Syr. 01,»LD ida, nudatio
in malum, pudenda, Castel, ; Arab.
\j^,t£.> her nakedness. Occurring in
imraediate connexion with the preceding
nw, nudity, it conveys the superadded
idea of obscenity, i.e. by metonomy, the
results or consequences of idolatrous
conduct, a complete destitution of all
the necessaries of life. Comp. Jer. xiii,
26 ; Nah, iii. 5. This exposure was to
be made in the very presence of the
idols which Israel had served, none of
which should be able to afford deliver
ance. By a prosopopoeia, the idols are
first endowed with the faculty of vision,
and then their utter imbecility is stri
kingly set forth. aJ'«, not only signifies
man, but any one, and is frequently used
of inanimate objects. In connexion
with n'', it signifies none.

chap, II,]

HOSEA.

11

11 And I will cause all her joy to cease ;
Her festivals, her new moons,- and her sabbaths,
And all her appointed assemblies,
12 I will also lay waste her vines and her fig-trees,
Of which she said : They are my hire
Which my lovers have given me :
I will turn them into a forest,
And the beasts of the field shall devour thera,
13 I will avenge upon her the days of the Baals,
On which she burned incense to them ;
And decked herself with nose-rings and trinkets,
And followed her lovers,
And forgat me, saith Jehovah.

11, 12, explain the denouncement
made ver. 10. The country was to be
desolated by tbe invading armies, and
all the festivities and seasons of religious
observance were to cease. The different
terms bere employed are those by which
the seasons of worship, &c. appointed
by Jehovah in tbe Mosaic law, are de
signated ; but it is not hence to be in
ferred that such were observed according
to bis appointment. The Israelites pro
fessed to worship hira, but, at the same
time, served otber gods. While frora
habit they continued to keep them as
portions of time unappropriated to the
ordinary occupations of life, they were
doubtless converted into seasons of carnal
indulgence. The nouns are those of
multitude, and must be rendered in the
plural, l??, and nwn, are likewise to be
taken as collectives, or rather, as Horsley
suggests, plantations of vines and fig-
trees. These should be left uncultivated
on the removal of tbe inhabitants into
foreign regions, Comp. Is. v. 6 ; vii,
23, 24. ™™, like I?™, is used only of
the hire of a harlot, and is peculiarly
appropriate in this connexion. Thus
Tanchum on chap viii. 9 : — iJiiM Lo y&

lWI

er*

XAil^-

Comp. Is. xxiii.

17, 18. The wild beast is here to be
taken hterally, and not figuratively, as
Abarbanel does, — supposing the heathen
invaders to be meant.

13. O'^ssn, the Baals, i. e. the idols
which they had set up to Baal in the
cities and different parts of the country,
as well as in their private houses. Hence
the names Baal-Gad, Baal-Hermon,
Baal-meon, &c. By D'>»3n 'p;™, are
meant tbe days specially devoted to the
celebration of idolatrous rites. To cause
grateful odours to ascend from tbe altars,
was considered peculiarly acceptable to
the objects of worship. It appears to
have originated partly in the gratification
afforded by agreeable smells, and partly
in the custom of burning perfumes in
rooms, &c. with a view to purify tbem
from noxious vapours. Di: and rrtn
appear to be employed here to denote
female ornaments generally ; though
strictly taken, the former commonly sig
nifies such rings as the oriental females
wear in the nostril. See on Is. iii. 21,
frtn, from n^n, io be smooth, polished;
Arab. Jl=>-, ornavit monilibus mundove
suo (mulierem,) <Xjii»-, mundo ornata,
denotes a trinket, necklace, or the like.
According to Firuzabad: Ja jy L«
quodcunque ornamentum vel e metallis
conflatum, vel e lapidibus pretiosis con
fectum. Rosenm. ; the Syr, and Targ,
have pearls. That courtezans decked
themselves with the most costly orna-

12

HOSEA.

[chap, II.

14

15

Nevertheless, behold ! I will allure her,
And, though I lead her into the desert,
Yet I will speak soothingly to. her.
And I will grant her her vineyards from thence,
And the valley of Achor for a door of hope :
And she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth,
Even as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

raents tbey could coraraand is raentioned
by Juvenal, Sat, vi. : —
" Moechus foliata parantur ;
Eraitur his quicquid gracilis hue mit-
titis Indi."
The prophet bas in view the gay orna
ments in wbich the Israelites decked
themselves on idolatrous holidays. Their
entirely abandoning themselves to the
service of idols, and their dereliction of
the God of tbeir fathers, are brought
forward at the conclusion of this de
scription of their conduct, in order to
heighten the aggravation of their guilt,
and render the announceraent of the
kindly disposition of Jehovah towards
them, at the beginning of the following
verse, tbe more surprising.
14. p5 cannot with any propriety be
rendered " therefore" in this connexion,
if tbe following words are to be regarded
as promissory of good, and not as con
taining a further threatening of punish
ment. And that they are to be so
regarded, the subsequent context suflSci-
ently shows. This particle must therefore
possess the force of the Arab. jC],
verumtamen, but yet, notw'ithstanding,
nevertheless. It tbus marks the unex
pected transition from threats to promises,
as Is. vii. 14; x. 24 ; xxvii. 9; xxx. 18,
et freq. — nns, of which nnst? is the
Piel participle, signifies to open, be open,
easily persuasible ; hence in Piel, both
in a good and a bad sense, to persuade,
allure, prevail upon by suitable induce
ments. It is bere necessarily to be taken
in the sense of inducing or gaining over
to that which is good, by the use of
soothing and persuasive means, as the
concluding words of the verse 'n"!3"!'i
nsV? abundantly prove. As the Israehtes
were to be forcibly removed from tbeir
land by the king of Assyria, there is a

singular want of propriety in assigning
to 1, in rTFObrrf, its usual copulative
power. It is obviously to be understood
exceptively, or as introducing a kind of
parenthetical sentence, expressive of
what was to take place in tbe history
of the ten tribes previously to their con
version from idolatry; and which, though
it might seem severe, was indispensable
for the attainment of that object. For
tbis signification of 1, see Ruth ii. 13 ;
1 Sam. i. 5 ; Eccles. ix. 16 ; Mal. ii, 14 ;
and other instances in Noldius, No. 46,
Bauer thinks the desert between Assyria
and Judea is meant, through which the
Israelites were to be conducted on their
release : Doderlein, Theol. BiWioth,
explains it of Judea itself, at that time
desolate and waste, I imagine the
country of Babylon is intended. Je
hovah is here said to do what he
would employ the Assyrians in doing.
For the phrase 3^ bp IS'i, see Is, xl. 2.
When reduced to circumstances of af
fliction in the countries of the East,
whither tbey were to be carried, Jehovah
declares that he would administer con
solation to them ; holding out to them
the cheering prospect of restoration, on
their repentance, to their native land.
15. 'The Israelites had altogether for
feited their possessions ; nor could they
acquire a new right to them except in
the way of a fresh grant frora the Lord.
This grant he here proraises them, as
he had of old promised Canaan to their
fathers when in the wilderness. D^p,
thence, means, returning from the wilder
ness; just as noffl indicates the home
ward direction of the exiles. To take
Citia as a particle of time, which Gesenius
proposes, is less suitable. " The valley
of Acbor" lay in the vicinity of Jericho,
and was noted in the sacred history for
the judgment inflicted upon Achan.
From Is. Ixv. 10, it appears to have been

chap,

II.]

HOSEA.

13

16 And it shall be in that day, saith Jehovah,
That thou shalt call me, Ishi ;
And shalt no more call me, Baali,
17 For I will take away the names of the Baals from her motith.
And they shall no more be remembered by their name.
18 And I will make a covenant for them in that day
With the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven,

a fertile and pleasant region ; and on
tbis account alone it is thought by Calvin,
Zanchius, Rivetus, and others, to be re
ferred to by our prophet. Most of the
Rabbins, however, and, after them, many
christian interpreters, consider allusion
to be made to the name, whicb signifies
trouble or molestation, and to this I
incline. This valley had proved very
inauspicious to tbe Hebrews on their
former entrance into Canaan. They had
been forced to turn their backs before
the native inhabitants, and tbeir hearts
melted, and became as water, Josh, vii,
5, S, 12, 24, 26. But on their return
from the captivity, the exiles would pass
through it with the undisturbed expec
tation of a peaceable and joyful occu
pation of the country. By njpri nne, a
door of hope, is meant a hopeful entrance
into the holy land, — nn:», the LXX.
Syr. Arab, and Syram. take in tbe sig
nification io be /tumbled or afflicted ; and
this idea is adhered to by Grotius, who
combines it with that of singing : " In-
tellige autem carraen fletiis et precura ;"
but that of celebrating the Divine good
ness in songs of gratitude and joy better
suits the connexion. The n in ns'ii), as
before observed, indicates the homeward
direction of the exiles — ^yet not without
special reference to their approach to
the valley of Achor. The point of
coraparison, as it respects the singing,
seems to be the Song of Moses at the
Red Sea. As the people then united in
celebrating the goodness of Jehovah
displayed in their deliverance, so should
the returning Israelites do, on again
taking possession of their native land.
16, 17, The word ^?3, Baal, had ori
ginally been used in its unexceptionable
acceptation of husband, and is thus ap
plied to Jehovah, Is. liv. 5; but as it
bad become comraon in its application
by the Israelites to the heathen deities

which they had worshipped, and besides,
conveyed the idea o£ possession and rule,
rather than that of affection, God here
declares that in future he would be
called *«, Isfi, the name more usually
employed to express the relation of
husband, and whieh was not liable to
the sarae objections : —
" Sic mihi servitium video, dominamque
paratam,
Jam mihi libertas ilia paterna vale.''
TibuUus, lib. ii, Eleg. 4,
Before '*«, two MSS. the LXX. Aq.
Syr. insert -•) ; while two MSS., and ori
ginally seven raore, and four printed
editions, omit it after wi^i?. — ci'bM, is not
here to be taken as a plural of excel
lency, but is used, according to its strict
import, to denote the different images of
Baal worshipped by tbe Israelites, such
as Baal- Gad, Baal-Ammon, &c. Comp.
Exod. xxiii. 13 ; Zech. xiii. 2. The
prophecy was fully accomplished at the
return frora the Babylonish captivity.
18. Such should be the security of the
returned exiles under the imraediate
care and protection of Jehovah, that
every thing capable of injuring them
should be rendered perfectly harmless.
The irrational aniraals should be re
strained, as if under the bond of an
inviolable corapact ; and the Assyrian
armies should no more attack them.
Some understand the forraer part of the
verse figuratively — the different creatures
there specified denoting men correspond
ing to tbem in disposition ; but the
language is rather to be regarded as
hyperbolical, being merely intended to
heighten the effect. Comp. Job v. 23 ;
Ezek. xxxiv. 25. Before nprtn, supply
'!??, or '*J>?, as in chap. i. 7. 'farg. 'TO
>*35P. — ]p "lisijiM is a pregnant phrase,
meaning, / will break and remove away
from. 33^ is here expressive of the

14

HOSEA.

[chap. II.

19

20

21

And with the reptiles of the ground ;
The bow, and the sword, and the battle, I will break and remove
from the land,
And will cause them to recline securely.
I will also betroth thee to myself for ever ;
I will even betroth thee to myself with righteousness and with
justice,
And with kindness, and with tender compassion.
Yea, I will betroth thee to myself with faithfulness :
And thou shalt know Jehovah.
And it shall be in that day,

reclining posture in which the orientals
indulge whenever they are released from
active exertion. At the time predicted
there would be no enemy or danger to
break in upon their repose.
" Ipsae lacte domum referunt distenta
capellffi
Ubera, nec magnos metuent armenta
leones.
Ipsa tibi blandos fundent cunabula
flores.
Occidet et serpens, et fallax herba
veneni
Occidet, Assyrium vulgo nascetur
amomura." Virgil, Eclog. iv,
19, 20, toiM signifies to contract a
matrimonial alliance, and is bere spe
cially selected in order to irapress the
minds of tbe Israelites with a sense of
tbe distinguished character of the Divine
benignity. Though they had rendered
themselves totally unworthy of his re
gard, he declares that he would treat
thera as if they had never apostatised to
idolatry. He would forra a new con
jugal relation, as with a feraale in her
virgin state. The triple repetition of
the verb expresses intensity of desire,
and gives the strongest assurance to tbe
party to which the proraise is made.
D^^s"?, for ever, is to be taken as Gen.
xiii. 15; Exod. xxxii. 13; Is. xxxv. 10.
The several particulars bere enumerated
further discover, by the amplification
which they form, the great kindness of
Jehovah to his people. By " righteous
ness" and "justice," is meant every
equitable obligation wbich God could
be expected to place himself under in

the new conjugal relation — all that the
Israelites could possibly expect in the
way of supply from their Divine pro
tector. To these, however, are added
" kindness," and " tender compassion,"
which express the strong internal affec
tion from which the former should pro
ceed, and the high degree of interest
wbich God would take in his recovered
people. To reraove every doubt from
their minds, he crowns the whole by a
gracious assurance that his engagements
should be " faithfully" performed. D'prn,
rd a-Trkdyxva, lit. the bowels, but com
monly employed figuratively to denote
tender affection or love. Horsley's in
terpretation of the terms in application
to our Saviour, is, like most of his
exegesis, in the highest degree fanciful,
being totally unsupported by the scope
and connexion of tbe passage. The
knowledge of Jehovah here predicated
is not speculative, or a bare intellectual
acquaintance with his character, but ex
perimental, or tbat which results from
the actual enjoyment of his love. Instead
of rnnrnw, twenty-six MSS., originally
thirteen more, now two, and perhaps
other two, two editions, supported by the
Vulg., read njrr ':« '3, j. e. they shall
know that I am Jehovah.
21, 22. One of the most beautiful
instances of prosopopoeia to be found in
Scripture. Comp. the address to the Nile
in TibuUus, lib. i, Eleg. vii. ver. 25 : —
" Te propter nuUos tellus tua postulat
imbres,
Arida nec pluvio supplicat herba Jovi,"
While second causes have here their

CHAP, III.] HOSEA. 16
I will respond, saith Jehovah,
I will respond to the heavens,
And they shall respond to the earth,
22 And the earth shall respond to the corn, and the new wine, and
the oil,
And they shall respond to Jezreel.
23 For I will sow her for myself in the land,
And will have mercy upon Lo-Ruhamah,
And will say to Lo-Ammi, Thou art my people ;
And they shall say, My God !

appropriate place allotted to thera, as so second njs^ originally, — ''>*?1V, Jezreel,
many connected links in the chain of bere raeans that which God hath sown.
Divine Providence, the sovereign in- i. e. his people whom he had scattered,
fluence of the Great First Cause is but whom he would again restore to
strongly asserted by the emphatic repe- their native soil. Comp, chap, i, ver, 4,
tition o( TtzSii, I will respond to, or answer, and 11,
It must, however, be observed, that this 23. i is causal, introducing a decla-
verb does not occur the first tirae in one ration which is designed to account for
of Kennicott's MSS.; it has originally tbe appropriation of tbe name Jezreel at
been wanting in another of De Rossi's ; the end of the preceding verse. The
and is oraitted in the LXX. Syr,' and raetapbor is agricultural. The rest of
Arab. One of De Rossi's MSS. oraits the verse contahis a repetition of what
nirp on: njsN entirely; and another, the is proraised, chap. i. 10.

CHAPTER III.
This chapter contains a new syrabolical representation of the regard of Jehovah
for his people, and of their condition at a period subsequent to their re-establish
ment in Canaan at the return from Babylon, Tbe prophet is comraanded to
become reconciled to Goraer, though she had proved unfaithful to him, as
predicted chap, i, 2, ver. 1, He obeys the command, and purchases her from
the individual with whom she was living in adultery, but stipulates that she was
to wait for a lengthened period before sbe could be restored to the enjoyment of
her conjugal rights, 2, 3, In the two last verses, the symbolical proceeding is
explained of a long period during which the Hebrews were to live without the
celebration of their ancient rites, and at the same time be free from all idolatrous
practices, Tbe direct prediction respecting their conversion to the Messiah,
ver, 5, clearly proves, that their condition during the present dispersion is
intended.

16

HOSEA.

[chap. III.

And Jehovah said unto me : Go again, love a woman beloved by
a friend, yet an adulteress, according as Jehovah loveth the children
of Israel, though they have turned to other gods, and love grape
cakes. So I bought her to myself for fifteen pieces of silver, and

1, Tiff, again, obviously refers back to
chap. i. 2. The transaction here com
manded, bearing so near a resemblance
to what is enjoined iij that chapter, has
occasioned nearly the same diversity of
interpretation. 'To me there appears no
consistent method of explaining it but
that which assumes an identity of the
feraale here specified with Goraer, whom
the prophet had previously married.
For, first, such construction is absolutely
required by tbe analogy. It was Israel
that stood in tbe relation of wife to
Jehovah frora first to last. No other
nation was adraitted to the sarae relation.
Secondly, tbe female is one already
married, but who bad proved unfaithful;
wbicb was precisely tbe case with Israel.
Thirdly, except she bad been the pro
phet's own wife, who had become un
faithful to him, there would be no point
in comparing his love to her with that
borne by Jehovah to idolatrous Israel.
Fourthly, a command to love tbe wife of
another man, wbo, notwithstanding ber
infidelity was still attached to her, would
be totally repugnant to every idea of
moral justice and propriety. Lastly, the
command is not nj, take, as in the
former instance, chap. i. 2, the usual
formula by wbich marriage is expressed;
but 3ijH, love, i. e. renew thy kindness to
her; receive her back into thy house
and make kind provision for her. This
view of the passage is decidedly adopted
by Ewald in his Propheten des Alten
Bundes, recently published.
The words riB«:OT T\ n3ri« ncN 3ri« n^,
are equivalent to, " Go, love thy wife, to
whom, though an adultress, thou art
attached;" but the indefinite form ritfN,
a wife, is purposely selected, instead of
^[IjiSn, thy wife, in order to intimate the
state of separation in which they lived.
For the same purpose ?t!, a friend or
companion, is used, and not nm'«, her
husband ; it being here employed not so
much as a term of endearment, as indi
cating that, whatever might be bis dis
position towards her, they were not living

on the same terms as formerly. Comp,
for this acceptation of Sl, Jer. iii. 26.
The LXX. mistaking the word for sn,
evil, and taking n3nN for the Benon. ron'N,
render dyanoKTav novrjpd ; for which the
Syr, has \ial^;, )ZjI^ jZiVj]'
Vh t.".'^. an adulterous woman who
lovetli evil things. The words n3nH3
'm nirp, are to be connected with njns
S'I, and not with 3ri«. The kind feeling
of the prophet towards his faithless
wife corresponded, as a type, to the
love of God towards the idolatrous
Israelites. The sentence just quoted in
part, as well as the words I3'ri';!r''!j D'?b
nnnt?, form only two out of numerous
instances in which Hosea uses tbe lan
guage of the Pentateuch, as Havernick
has shown in his Handbuch der histor.-
crit. Einleit. in das A. T. 1 Theii. 2 Al-
theil. p. 608, D'33» '?i"ifi«, have been
variously interpreted. LXX. -nSppara
psrd o-Ta<j)l8os or crTa^iSaiv, baked meats
with raisins. Aq. renders the former
word by naXaid, evidently reading '^1*.
According to the Hexap. Syr. Theod,
adopts the sarae rendering : ""ASV; >
[.'[M'^i Nxi., Symm. aKapnovs; Vulg,
vmacia uvarum; Syr. ]A ^g^]. lioOj
placenta uvis passis condita. Junius,
Tremelhus, and others, have flagons of
wine, as in our common version. The
word JiS'aiK is employed by Jonathan in
his Targ. on Exod. xvi. 31, to express
the meaning of rriTB?, aflat cake. The
raost probable derivation is frora tfti«, to
press, compress; and the meaning will
be, pressed cakes of dried grapes. Such
cakes are highly esteemed in the East,
on account of their sweet taste, and
doubtless forraed part of the offerings
presented to idols, and afterwards eaten
at idolatrous feasts,
2, Because the purchase of wives was

chap. III,]

HOSEA,

17

for an homer and an half of barley. And I said unto her : Thou
shalt remain for me many days ; thou shalt not commit lewdness,
nor become any man's : and I also will remain for thee. For the
children of Israel shall remain many days without a king, and

not uncommon, as it still is, in eastern
countries, (See Michaelis on tbe Laws of
Moses, Art. LXXXV. ; Grant's Nesto
rians, p. 214; Perkins's Eight Years in
Persia, p. 236,) most expositors have
supposed that such a transaction is in
tended in this place. The fact, however,
that the price here specified, one half in
money, and the other half in grain, was
the exact amount of what was allowed
for a feraale slave, Exod. xxi. 32, induces
the belief that tbe payment was raade
by the prophet for the liberation of his
own wife, who had become the property
of the person with whora she had been
living in adultery. The sura was too
parsimonious to bave been given as a
dowry. The signification of buying as
attaching to rro, is sufficiently esta
blished by Deut. ii. 6, and Job xl. 30,
and the use of the Arab,

I/, Conj.

and viii., conduxit rem, LXX. ipi-
a-6aja-dpr]v. Hengstenberg 's attempt to
explain it here of digging, in the sense
of boring the ear in token of a state of
slavery, is unsuccessful, A t|rt, lethek,
according to the Rabbins, contained
fifteen scabs, or half an homer, Theod,
yopop dXtpirwv ; Symm. OvXaKos KptdSv;
but the other Greek versions, ifpUopov,
half a cor, which was equal to an
horaer. The LXX. unaccountably have
V€J3eX o'Lvov. The repetition of 0-p<g, is
not unusual in Hebrew, but the abbre
viated form of expression is better
English. 3. 3ig; properly signifies to sit, but
likewise to dwell, remain, &c. '?in n^
explains its meaning here to be a re
fraining from all cohabitation with others.
''?, and T[;'j«, are correlates ; and '3« D3i
forms an antithesis ; " while I, on tbe
other hand," &c. As the wife of the
prophet was to continue for a long time
in a state of separation equally from
paramours and from her husband, and
be was likewise to form no connexion
with any other woman, so the Israelites
should long live without serving either

false gods or Jehovah ; while, on his
part, he would enter into no national
relationship to any other people. This
application of the symbol is distinctly
raarked by '3, and by the resumption of
3«)^, ver. 4, The choice of the fuller
preposition ^M, in '^'pfi, in preference to ),
seems designed to express the strength
of affection with which the syrabolical
female was still to be regarded ; conse
quently the powerful inclination of the
Lord towards his unfaithful people.
4. This verse describes a period of
great length, during wbich the Israelites
were to have no civil polity, either under
regal or princely rule ; no sacred sacri
fice ; no idolatrous statue ; no mediating
priest ; and no images or tutelary deities.
This period cannot be tbat of their dis
persion previous to the return from
Babylon ; for the restoration of the wife
of the prophet prefigured the restoration
which took place on that return, agree
ably to ohap. ii. 19, 20, 23. It is true
that when they were brought back
along with tbe Jewish exiles, the Is
raelites had no more any civil or eccle
siastical polity of tbeir own ; neither did
they relapse into idolatry : but still, as
in comraon with their brethren, they
were subject to the sarae political rule,
and offered their sacrifices to Jehovah at
Jerusalem, it follows that tbe days here
predicted raust be those which have suc
ceeded to tbe tiraes of the Asraonean
dynasty, or the dispersion consequent
upon the final destruction of Jerusalem.
During the protracted period of more
than eighteen centuries, (D'31 D'd;) they
have been precisely in the circumstances
here predicted — separated from idolaters,
and professedly belonging to Jehovah,
yet never acknowledged by him in a
church relationship. "They have neither
had a civil ruler, nor any of the con
secrated offices and rites of their ancient
economy. Thus Kimcbi on the passage,
-[''D «'' ^i1 ]'«1 Dvn 13 unjNiB m'jjn 'o> un n'jNi
miBT3l I3n:« D'«n rmra. '3 bvtwn isj n'jt
Drrnm orrs'iD — " And these are the days
of our present captivity, for we have
D

18

HOSEA.

[chap. III.

without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without a statue, and
without an ephod, and without images. Afterwards the children of
Israel shall return, and shall seek J"ehovah tlieir God, and David

neither king nor prince of Israel, but
are under the rule of the nations, even
under the rule of their kings and their
princes." This interpretation, wbich
alone suits the views furnished of the
subject by the prophet, overturns the
hypothesis of Dr. Grant, that the Nesto
rian Christians are the reraains of the
ten tribes. It cannot properly be said of
thera that they have continued O'sn Q'p;,
in a state of separation from God, for fhey
received the gospel in the earliest ages
of Christianity. Some explain 031, both
of legitimate sacrifices and of sucb as
were offered to false gods ; but the
grouping of this term with njsp, a statue,
as TiBN, ephod, following, is with D'S^iji,
teraphim, clearly shows that the prophet
meant tbe former restrictively. Kimcbi
briefly explains : V's"; n3Si3 ^'Ni bvfj n3i ]'«,
" without sacrifice to God, and without
an imagefor idolatrous worship." From
the prohibition Lev. xxvi. 1 ; Deut. xvi.
22, and the history, 2 Kings iii. 2 ; xvii.
10; X. 26, 27, it is manifest that njsp
does not stand for altar, as the ancient
versions render it, but denotes a statue
or image of some false deity. Comp.
Micah V. 13. liEM, the ephod, was that
part of tbe high priest's dress which was
worn above the tunic and robe. It con
sisted of two pieces wbich hung down,
the one in front over the breast, and
the other covering the back, and both
reaching to the middle of the thigh.
They were joined together on the shoul
ders by golden clasps, set in precious
stones, and fastened round the waist by
a girdle. In the breast part was the
]a?n, or pectoral, containing the Urim
and Thummim, by which divine responses
were vouchsafed to the Hebrews. Ac
cording to the Jews, the ephod in its
complete state ceased with the captivity :
for they specify the Urim and Thumraira
among the five things with respect to
which the first teraple differed from the
second, LXX. iepareia, priesthood,
whicb I doubt not the Hebrew term was
Intended metonymically to denote in this
place. O'D^lji, the teraphim, were penates,
or household gods. They were used at

a very early period, as appears from the
history of Rachel, Gen. xxxi. 19, 30,
32, 34, 35. Comp. 1 Sam. xix. 13;
2 Kings xxiii. 24 ; Ezek. xxi. 21 ; Zech.
X. 2. That they were not only kept as
tutelary deities, but also consulted for
the purpose of obtaining a knowledge of
future events, appears frora several of
the passages just quoted. Hence the
rendering of tbe LXX. dijXav. The
etymology of the word is altogether
uncertain. 5. At a period still subsequent to that
of their existence in the state just de
scribed, the Israelites (now amalgamated
with the Jews,) are to be converted to
the true worship and service of Jehovah,
under the spiritual reign of our Saviour,
the promised Messiah. To him they
will then subrait themselves, and richly
enjoy the blessings of divine grace,
communicated through his mediation.
That T15, David, here means neither the
royal bouse of David, nor any human
monarch of that name who is yet to
reign over the Jews, as sorae have ima
gined, but the great Messiah himself,
appears evident frora Scripture usage.
See Is. lv. 3, 4 ; Jer. xxx. 9 ; Ezek.
xxxiv. 23, 24 ; xxxvii. 24, 25. As the
narae properly signifies The Beloved, it
quite accords with 6 dyanrjTos, Matt, iii.
17, and 6 -fiyairrjphos, Eph. i. 6. Thus
the Targ. iiT i3 Nn'ipp^ ]»ari#.'!, " And
they sball obey Messiah tbe Son of
David." The following is the Rabbinical
interpretation : — tJN «n'S)0 vob-a pw ]'los
rt'Dtt) nn xm [n'3m] -p vtf\ rroiB in «"n p.
" The Rabbins say, that He is the king,
Messiah ; whether he be of the living,
his name is David, and whether he be
of the slain, his name is David." Be-
rachoth Jerus. in Rayra. Martini Pugio
Fidei, fol. 277. See also the Rabbinical
Coraraentaries on the above passages in
Ezekiel. The use of ''«, in the phrase
rTin;-';« nnsi, and not IP, or 'Jsp, the
usual form, is intended to show that the
fear here specified is not of the kind
which " hath torment," and which causes
those who are under its influence to
recede from its object, but such fear as

chap.

IV,]

HOSEA,

19

their king ; and they shall tremblingly hasten to Jehovah and to
his goodness in the latter day.

attracts or induces thera to approach to
it. This the addition i3lTo 'pm, " and lo
his goodness," clearly shows. Corap.
Micah vii, 17. As, however, the idea
of fleeing or hastening frora danger is
also implied in verbs signifying to fear,
I have rendered the words so as to
include both. In this way Rabbi Tan
chum : I — j!cy. L J.i' j^ ^1 dfy^-i
" they shall flee to him for help from all
that may be feared. " Corap. Jer. xxxi.
12, LXX, tKa-T-qeTOVTai eni ra Kvpla
Kal eni tois dyado'is avrov. Ewald
renders, und werden beben zu Jahve und

zu seinem Gute, u. s.w. ; and Hitzig
explains, bebend in freudiger Erwartung
werden sie herbeieilen. While on the
one hand the Jews, under the influence
of alarm, shall be excited to flee from
the wrath to corae, they shall be attracted
by tbe display of the divine goodness in
the mediation of Christ, to confide in
Him for all the blessings of salvation.
warn n'nn«, the last of the days, i. e. the
days of the Messiah, as the Rabbins
interpret the phrase. See on Is. ii. 2,
where Kimcbi says expressly, tiipo ''3
n'wan nio' «in vo'-n n'-in«3 ioxm
" wherever it is said, ' In the last of the
days,' it means tbe days of the Messiah,"

CHAPTER IV.
The prophet now addresses hiraself raore directly to the castigation of the flagrant
evils which abounded in the kingdora of Israel during the interregnum which
followed upon the death of Jeroboam, and the reigns of Zechariah, Shalhim,
Menabera, and Pekahiah, He calls the attention of his countryraen to the
divine indignation, and the causes of it, 1, 2 ; denounces the judgments which
were about to be executed upon thera, 3 ; describes their incorrigible character,
especially that of the priests, 4 — 11 ; and expatiates on the grossness of their
idolatrous practices, 12 — 14. A soleran warning is then given to the raembers
of the Jewish kingdora not to allow theraselves to be influenced by their wicked
exaraple, 15 — 19,

1 Hear the word of Jehovah, ye children of Israel !
For Jehovah hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land ;
Because there is no truth, nor kindness, nor knowledge of God in
the land.

1, 2, The initiatory words are those and frequently to ''XJip; and O^ba; and
of Hosea, summoning attention to the all these different epithets are used of
divine message which he was corarais- the kingdora of the ten tribes in con-
sioned to deliver, bmss\ '33 is equivalent tradistinction to itrirr and rrpn n'3,
to ^N-iip; n'3, ch. V. 1 ; ^M'J'P.' "•??*^, ch. V. 9; which designate the tribes of Judah

20

HOSEA.

[chap, IV,

There is nothing but swearing and lying,
And murder, and theft, and adultery ;
They have burst forth,
And blood reacheth to blood.
Therefore shall the land mourn.
And every one that dwelleth in it shall languisli ;
With the beasts of the field and the fowls of heaven ;
The fishes of the sea also shall be removed.
Yet let no man contend with, nor reprove another ;
For thy people are like those that contend with the priest.
Therefore thou shalt fall by day,
And the prophet also shall fall with thee by night ;
And I will destroy thy mother.

and Benjamin, 3'"; signifies here ground
of complaint, or judicial proceeding.
LXX, Kpia-Ls. The wickedness which
abounded is first set forth negatively,
and then positively, under certain iteras ;
and tbe infinitive absolute is employed
with great effect, as expressing more
emphatically, by its abstract form, the
heinousness of the evils described. The
force of this I bave given in a free
translation. Ewald improperly limits
the signification of the verb yiB in this
place to the act of breaking into houses;
but the metaphor seems rather to be
taken from the bursting forth of a torrent,
which, in its progress, spreads wider and
wider, and sweeps all before it. The
plural form D'P'J, blood, has also a degree
of eraphasis, signifying rauch bloodshed.
What the prophet raeans is, tbat raurder
was so coramon, tbat no space was left
as it were between its acts. LXX.
aipara 4(f)' alpaa-i pia-yova-i. Coverdale,
one bloudgiltynes foloweth another. And
Ritterhusius powerfully in his poetical
metaphrase : —
"  sic sanguine sanguis
Truditur, et scelerum nullus finisve
modusve est."
See 2 Kings xv. ; Micah vii, 2,
3. Comp. Is. xix. 8 ; xxiv. 4 ; Joel i,
10, 12. "Jbrn, in the Pulal Conj., is
usually employed after ''3«, in order more
forcibly to describe the calamitous state
of a countiy. 3 here signifies with, ex
tending to, accompanied by, and includes

what follows in the general predicate.
Comp. Gen. vii. 21. ^>$, is cognate
with f]iD, and signifies to gather up,
away, 'back, take away, as well as simply
to collect together, Zeph. i. 2, 3. LXX.
eKXei<pova-iv ; Syr. »d2Q£ll» ; Targ,
p"»r. — ty, signifies not only what we
call the sea, but any lesser collection of
water, as pools, and eveu rivers. See
Is. xix. 5.
4. ''« is here prohibitory, and not
siraply negative, as sorae have rendered
it. The introduction of the sentence by
¦^w, yet, nevertheless, is designed to show
the hopeless character of the persons
spoken of. All reproof on the part of
their friends or neighbours generally
would prove fruitless, seeing they had
reached a degree of hardihood, which
was only equalled by the conturaacy of
those who refused to obey the priest,
when he gave judgment in the narae of
the Lord, Deut. xvii. 12, The passage
is thus quite plain, and requires no
transposition or eraendation of the words
as adopted by Hpubigant, Newcome,
and Boothroyd. ]ri3 'yiD is the same as
if it were )ri3n ns D'j'-itp.' Comp. 'S'BPfi
''133, chap, v, 10. All the ancient ver
sions, except the LXX, and Aq, read
?p3». The Hexap, Syr, has ^} ]ijai.
5. By a sudden transition to the
second person, the prophet addresses

CHAP, IV.]

HOSEA.

21

6 My people is destroyed for lack of knowledge :
Because thou hast rejected knowledge,
I will also reject thee, so that thou shalt not be a priest to me ;
Because thou hast forgotten the law of thy God,
I also will forget thy children.
7 According to their increase, so they sinned against me ;
I will change their glory into shame.
8 They devour the sin-offering of my people.
And long for their iniquity.

himself directly to his guilty people,
and predicts their utter destruction,
Di'i?, Kimcbi, Drusius, CEcolamp, Gro
tius, and Ewald, improperly render
" to-day." As contrasted here with
nW, night, it is equivalent to Qi'a, by
day. Corap, Neh. iv. 16. That the
article is not repeated before vtfi., may
be owing to the common adverbial use
of this noun without it. The false pro
phets by whom the Israelites had been
encouraged in wicked practices should
render them no assistance in the season
of calamity, but should be themselves
involved in the sarae comraon ruin.
'n'P5, the LXX, renders opoiaa-a ; and
several translate, " I have reduced to
silence;" but the verb is obviously used
in the sense of destroying, as 1127? '^j
ver, 6. Corap, Zeph. i. 11, By '^IfM,
thy mother, the Israelitish state is meant,
of which the citizens were the children.
See chap, ii. 1. Tbus Kimcbi, Jerome,
Grotius, Michaelis, Rosenmiiller, and
Maurer, Others, as Cornelius a Lapide,
Houbigant, Capellus, Pococke, Bauer,
and Newcome, suppose the metropolis
to be intended.
6, tWT} '^ap, having here the article
before the noun, and occurring in con
nexion with ns^ri, immediately following,
is not to be taken in the sense of unex
pectedly, as TOT ''?3p is. Is. V, 13, but
strictly raeans that destitution of the
true knowledge of God which was the
source of the sins now about to be
punished. This ignorance is principally
charged upon the religious teachers of
the nation, each of whom is directly
addressed in npsin Km nF)«, Thus
Pagninus, O sacerdos; which Dathe
also inserts in his text. The persons
addressed pretended to be priests of

Jehovah, though they taught the peoplJ
to combine with his worship that of
pagan deities, or at least that of the
golden calves, whicb, no doubt, paved
the way for the universal spread of
idolatry in Israel. The position adopted
by Horsley, that the Jewish high-priest
is intended, does not suit the connexion.
The third « in ^«I?«P«, is not found in a
great number of Kennicott's and De
Rossi's MSS., nor in some of the earlier
printed editions ; in others it is marked
as redundant, and some few have "jdndk
'Ip. The antitheses in this verse are
pointed and forcible. '3 is understood
as repeated in ns^Sni, and } before nsi^s.
7. As the priests are obviously the
nominative to the verbs in the three
following verses, and form the subject
of discourse in that which precedes,
they must likewise be the persons spoken
of in this. It has been queried whether
the increase was in number or in wealth,
power, &c. Michaelis thinks tbe latter
is meant ; still the former may be in
cluded, in harmony with the mention
made of their children, ver. 6, In pro
portion as tbey multiplied in numbers
and grew in influence, they proraoted
the increase of idolatry : but the wealth
and dignity ("n33) whieh they acquired,
and which they thus prostituted, should
be destroyed by foreigners, by whom
they would be carried into captivity.
oi'll, and 01133, forra a slight parono
masia. 8, riMEn here signifies sin-offering, as
it frequently does in the Levitical code.
So Kirachi ; and it is thus rendered in
Pococke's Arab, MS, ^c^ stlai- ^^iJ
,«li(.), and Castalio, piaculo. The

HOSEA.

[chap. IV.

9 Therefore it shall be, like people, like priest ;
I will punish them according to their ways,
And requite them for their deeds.
10 For they shall eat, but shall not be satisfied ;
They shall commit lewdness, but shall not increase :
Because they have ceased to regard Jehovah.
11 Lewdness and wine and new wine take away the heart.
12 My people consult their stock ;
Their staff announceth to them :

priests greedily devoured what the people
brought for tbe expiation of their sins ;
and instead of endeavouring to put a
stop to abounding iniquity, only wished
it to increase, in order that they might
profit by the multitude of the victims
presented for sacrifice, mSb: «to, to lift
up the animal soul for any thing, means
to lust after it, long, or have a strong
desire for it, Deut, xxiv, 15 ; Jer, xxii,
27, i in iuip:, is used distributively to
express the fact that such was the cha
racter of each of the priests. The
reading DiSW, found in ten MSS., origi
nally in seven raore, and perhaps in one,
and supported by the LXX. Syr, Targ.
Vulg. and Arab., most probably origi
nated in emendation. Not unfrequently
a proposition coraraences with tbe plural,
and ends with the singular, and vice
versd. 9. Corap, Is. xxiv, 2, The rank and
wealth of the priests would not exerapt
thera from sharing the same fate with
the rest of the nation,
10, l''?j$i is a resumption of l''3><', ver,
8, — n:]n is here used intransitively, as
in ver, 18, v. 3, and is to be understood
literally of the sensual indulgences of
the Israelitish teachers, as the verb w^B;
shows. For the signification to abound
in children, as attaching to this verb,
see Gen. xxviii. 14. Saadius, Arnold,
(Blumen althebraisch, Dichtk.) and
Horsley, disjoin '\t3tlp_ from tbe preceding
verb, and connect it with the following
nouns, thus : —
" They have forsaken Jehovah,
Giving heed to fornication," &c.
But, notwithstanding the apparent force
of the bishop's remarks, there is some
thing so repugnant to Hebrew usage in
the combination wi'ni i'.'i nm -vrstfi, to

observe fornication, and wine, and new
wine, that it is altogether inadraissible.
Though the verb ip'^ may in no other
passage take nin; for its object, yet it
takes «i^ '.^3ri, lying vanities, i. e, idols,
Ps. xxxi. 7 ; Jonah ii, 9 ; in whicii latter
passage it is connected with 3W, as in
tbe present case. The division of the
words found in our coramon version is that

of the

Hexap. Syr.
i ^ '^ - ^"^ ^^^ Slavonic ;

and is ap
proved by Michaelis, Tingstadius, New-
come, Dathe, Boothroyd, De Wette,
Hitzig, and Ewald.
11. This verse has the appearance of
a moral adage. The influence of habits
of impurity and intoxication in blunting
the moral feelings, and weakening the
intellectual powers, is a well-established
fact in the history of man.
" Nox et amor vinumque nihil modera-
bile suadent :
Ilia pudor vacat, liber araorque metu."
Ovid.
" Nox, vinum, mulier ; nihil perniciosius
adolescentulo." Plant.
There can be little doubt that the pro
phet has specially in view the impure
and bacchanalian orgies which were
connected with the Syrian idolatry. For
theprevalenceofdrunkenness in Ephram,
see Is. xxviii. 1 ; Amos iv, 1.
12, The LXX., and most versions
which follow them, connect 'P» with 3|!,
at the end of the preceding verse; a
mode of construction adopted by Mi
chaelis and Dathe, but otherwise dis
approved by modern translators. The
Syr. Targ. and Vulg, divide properly,
Hosea here adduces proofs of the mental
hebetude to which the sinful practices of

chap. IV.]

HOSEA.

23

13

For a lewd spirit hath caused them to err ;
They have lewdly departed from under their God.
They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains,
And off'er incense upon the hills ;
Under the oak, and the poplar, and the terebinth,
Because their shade is pleasant :
Therefore your daughters commit lewdness,
And your daughters-in-law adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters when they commit lewdness,
Nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery ;
For they themselves go aside with harlots,
the Israelitish people had reduced them
— their application to their wooden idols
and images for oracular counsel, and
their use of rhabdomancy or divination
by rods. Leo Juda : " ligno suo oracula
qusrit." That by y», wood, is here
meant an idol made of such raaterial,
the connexion shows, Corap. Jer. ii.
27; X. 8; Hab. ii. 19. ''pn is properly
a shoot or twig, then a rod, walking staff,
&c. Occurring as it does here, in refer
ence to an idolatrous or superstitious
practice, it denotes such a staff employed
for purposes of divination, Sorae have
been of opinion that it is to be taken as
strictly parallel to y», and that a staff is
raeant which had the image of some
god carved upon it ; but the use of the
phrase i'' T|', announceth, pointeth out,
shows that a divining rod is meant,
Rhabdomancy {pa^bopavTeia) was very
coramon among the ancient idolaters, as
it has been in later times in different
countries of the East. The ancient
Arabs consulted their gods in this way,
taking two rods, on one of which was
inscribed Ood bids, and on the other
God forbids, and drawing them out of
the case into which they were put, acted
agreeably to the direction which first
came forth. See Pococke, Specimen,
Hist, Arab, p. 327. Maimonides quotes
an ancient book entitled Sipbri, in
which a diviner is defined to be one who
takes his staff, and inquires, Shall I go ?
or, Shall I not go ? The Runic wands
of the Scandinavian nations, on which
were inscribed mysterious characters,
and which were used for magical pur
poses, appear to have originated in the
more ancient divination of Asia, nn

t3':«;, Ht. a spirit of whoredoms, i, e. a
powerful impetus to coramit acts of idol
atry. Instead of the siraple form nsnri,
some few MSS. the Babyl. Talmud,\he
Syr. Vulg. and Targ. read Dsnri ; while
the LXX. and Arab, read Wnn. For
D!7'ij''« nnno, comp. Numb, v.' 19, 20;
Ezek. xxiii. 5 ; and vnavSpos, Rom.
vii. 2.
13. Mountains and hills were se
lected by idolaters on which to erect
their altars, and offer their sacrifices, on
account of their supposed proximity to
the host of heaven, which they wor
shipped. That this custom was very
ancient, appears from the prohibition,
Deut. xii, 2, For imitating it, the
Hebrews are frequently reproved. Is.
Ixv. 7; Jer, iii, 6; Ezek, xviii. 11.
inji;, being in Piel, expresses the eager
ness and frequency with which the
Israelites offered their idolatrous sacri
fices. They also selected groves of oak,
terebinth, &c. for purposes of superstition
and idolatry, under whose umbraceous
cover they might at once be screened
from the heat of the sun, and indulge in
lascivious practices. The sacrifice of
feraale virtue which was required in the
religious service of the Phoenician god
dess Astarte, seems clearly to be re
ferred to in this and tbe following verse.
™^, LXX. XevK-rj, the white poplar, from
]35, io be white.
14. Kuinoel, and others, taking N^, as
standing for ^''n, read the first part of
the verse interrogatively, which is not
unsupported by examples in Hebrew
usage. It seeras better, however, to
understand it here as a simple negative,
and the raeaning to be that, as the

24

HOSEA.

[chap. IV,

And sacrifice with prostitutes :
And as for the undisceming people, they shall be overthrown,
15 Though thou, O Israel, art lewd,
Yet let not Judah be found guilty ;
Come ye not to Gilgal,
Neither go ye up to Beth-aven,
Nor use the oath, _" Jehovah liveth,"

parents and husbands indulged in the
flagitious practices here described, Je
hovah would not make exaraples of the
females, or suffer them to be punished,
as if they alone were guilty ; but would
visit with condign punishraent their
natural protectors, who not only aban
doned thera to seduction, but theraselves
rioted in the sarae wickedness. Thus
Munster : " DurissiraS aniraadvertam in
parentes et sponsos, ut filise et sponsas
eorum punitse videantur esse extra
poenam." The transition frora the second
to the third person, for tbe purpose of
more graphically exhibiting the subject
of discourse, is not without examples.
See Is. xxii. 16. The use of the sepa
rate pronoun Di7, also adds to the em
phasis of the language. TiB, in Piel,
strongly marks the studied withdrawment
of the Israelites from the assembled
throngs, to such places as were devoted
to scenes of impurity ; while n3i, in the
same conjugation, signifies in this con
nexion, to corarait lewdness as an act of
idolatrous devotion. Between ni:i, and
nWnp, there seeras to be tbis difference,
that the forraer were ordinary feraales,
who prostituted theraselves for gain, but
the latter those who devoted theraselves
to the service of Astarte, by offering
their persons to be violated in her tera-
ples at the sacred festivals. See Selden
de Diis Syris, Synt. ii. cap. 2 ; Herodot.
lib. i. cap. 199; Euseb, Vit. Constantin.
lib. iii, cap, 35 ; Spencer de Leg. Heb.
lib. ii. cap. 22 and 23 ; Lucian de Dea
Syra. Of this latter terra, the mas.
Q'^Slip, catamites, occurs, 1 Kings xiv.
24 ; XV. 12 ; xxii. 47 ; and in the ancient
book of Job, chap, xxxvi. 14, whieh
shows at how very early a period such
abominations obtained. It likewise occurs
in both genders in tbe prohibition, Deut,
xxiii, 18, To these practices tbe LXX.
doubtless had respect in rendering tbe

word TeTeXea-pivmv, initiated. Its deri
vation frora il'T'IJ, to be sacred, consecrated,
or destined to tbe service of the temple,
confirms our interpretation. — T03b| Syr.
u.^'^N, concitavit; Arab. SoiJ, conjecit
in terram aliquem, in Niph. to be cast
down, overthrown, or the like. The verb
occurs only here, and Prov, x. 8, 10,
where see Schultens,
15. A soleran warning to the Jewish
kingdom to beware of mixing itself up
with that of Israel in the practice of
idolatry. Here nil, to commit lewdness,
is again used figuratively. Cutis, properly
signifies io contract guilt, or become
subject to its consequences, bp^, Gilgal,
was a town situated between the Jordan
and Jericho, near the confines of the
kingdom of Samaria. It was regarded
as a holy place as early as the days of
Joshua, chap. V. 15; and sacrifices were
offered there to Jehovah in those of
Samuel, 1 Sara. x. 8, 13 ; xv, 21, 33,
In process of time, however, it came to
be converted into a place of idolatrous
worship, Amos iv. 4, 5 ; Hos. ix. 15 ;
xii. 11. p« n'3, Beth-aven, i. e. the
house of vatiity or idols, a name given
by the minor prophets, by way of con
tempt, to Bethel, i. e. the house of God,
a place sacred to true religion in the
time of the patriarchs, and the judges;
but afterwards selected by Jeroboam as
the principal seat of the worship of the
golden calves, 1 Kings xii. 29, 32, 33 ;
xiii. 1 ; Amos iii. 14 ; vii. 10, 13 ; Jer,
xlviii. 13. It originally belonged to the
tribe of Benjarain, butwas taken by that
of Ephraim, Judges i, 22 — 25. That
there was a city of the name of Beth-
aven near to Bethel, appears from Josh,
vii, 2, whicb may have suggested the
appropriation of the name to the latter.
LXX. oiKov ^Qv, reading ]iM, the native

chap. IV,]

HOSEA.

2.5

16 Since Israel is refractory, like a refractory heifer ;
Jehovah will now feed them, hke a lamb in a large place.
17 Ephraim is joined to idols ;
Leave him to himself.
18 When their carousal is over they indulge in lewdness ;
Her shields are enamoured of infaray.

name of Heliopolis. Aq. and Symm.
oiKoi' dva(j)eXrj ; Theod, oIkov dSiKtas ;
and with this the Arab, agrees i, •• ^ju
Joall, the house of iniquity. Comp.
Amos iv. 4; v. 5. Frora the warning
here given to the Jews not to participate
with the Israelites in their idolatry, it is
evident the prophecy was delivered at a
tirae when they were coraparatively free
from that evil. The prohibition not to
swear by the formula ninpn, respects the
combination of the divine name with
those of idols, or the profession of at
tachraent to Jehovah, if the persons ad
dressed were guilty of idolatry, Comp.
Zeph. i. 5. That it was otherwise lawful
to use it, appears frora Jer. iv. 2. Comp.
Deut. X. 20.
16. The metaphor is here taken from
a heifer that obstinately refuses to be
yoked. Thus the Syr. -ic Zj^iibj
]'f^. For the force of Tip, corap.
Deut. xxi. 18. The latter hemistich
contains the language of irony. As
lambs are fond of ranging at large, but
are in danger of being lost or devoured,
so God threatens to remove tbe Is
raelites into a distant and large country,
where they would be separated from
those with whom they associated in
idolatrous worship, and thus be left
solitary and exposed as in a wilderness.
The phrase 3rnQ3 rwn, to feed in a large
place, is elsewhere used in a go#d sense.
Is. xxx. 23.
17. Dn5i«, Ephraim, as the most nu
merous and powerful of the tribes, and
that in which the kingdom was esta
blished, is put for all the ten. "fflrt, from
Tin, to be joined, closely united, adhere to,
to be allied to by voluntary choice, Gen.
xiv. 3. In this last sense the term is
here used. The Israehtes had volun

tarily addicted theraselves to the service
of idols, and thus identified themselves
with their interests. While the word
D'3S9, idols, suggests tbe idea of their
being raerely the fabrication of huraan
labour, it also intimates the pain or sor
row resulting from idolatry. The root
has both significations. ftTian strongly
implies the obstinacy and incorrigible
character of the ten tribes, and indig
nantly abandons tbem to their fate.
They are irreclaimably devoted to the
gods of the heathen : let tbem take
their own way, and reap the consequences
of their perverse choice. Their case is
desperate. Comp. Jer. vii. 16 ; Ezek.
XX. 39. Thus Tanchum, Jarchi, Kirachi,
Calvin, Tarnovius, Zanchius, Coverdale,
Drusius, Lively, Leo Juda, Pococke,
Kuinoel, Michaelis, Tingstadius, New
corae, Stuck, and Ewald. Others, as
the Targ. Jerome, Mercer, Diodati,
Grotius, Rosenmiiller, Maurer, &c., re
gard the words as simply containing a
warning to the inhabitants of Judah to
keep aloof from, and take no part in the
idolatries ofthe Ephraimites. Tbe LXX.
'idr]Kev eavra a-KavSaXa, reading TOn in
tbe preterite, and supplying the idea of
idols from the preceding part of the
verse. 18, Before TO, the particle dn when,
is to be supplied, which in poetry, for
the sake of conciseness and energy, is
frequently omitted. For the acceptation
past, passed away, over, &e. comp. 1 Sam.
XV. 32, nian-TO td. Horsley, Ewald, and
sorae others, are of opinion that td means
vapid, degenerated, sour, &c., but less
aptly. The raeaning is, that no sooner
were their compotations over than they
indulged in excessive lewdness. Instead
of t3N3D, their drink, drinking boui, one
of De Rossi's MSS. has originally read
D'«3iD, drunkards ; another t3N3S, their
host ; and one of Kennicott's D'MSp,
Sabeans ; but none of these variations
suits the entire construction of the verse.

26

HOSEA.

[chap.

19 The wind hath bound her up in its wings,
That they may be ashamed of their sacrifices.

The LXX, strangely, ijpeVio'ex'U'ai'ui'oi's,
which the Arab., as usual, follows. Tbe
impurity in which, when inflamed with
liquor, they indulged, was most probably
tbat connected with tbe worship of
Venus. To express the excess to which
it was carried, the verb is first put in
the infinitive absolute, and then repeated
in the finite form. I3n is not separately
expressed iu the LXX. the Arab, or in
either of the Syriac versions; though it
cannot hence be inferred that it was not
in the Hebrew text. It is wanting,
however, in three of Kennicott's MSS,
If it did not originate in some copyist
having written the two last syllables of
the preceding word over again, it must
be regarded as having originally formed
part of that word in the reduplicate forra
isniirw; in whicb, not only is the second
syllable of the verb repeated (I3n;n«),
but the pronorainal sufformative is re
tained in the middle of the word, and
the first radical («) rejected on tbat
account in the reduplication. Such form
is of extremely rare occurrence : 'Zinnias,
lit. they destroy, destroy me, Ps. Ixxxviii.
17, being the only other instance of the
kind with which I am acquainted. In
this way tbe form is partly accounted
for by the ancient Jewish grammarian
Abuwalid Ibn Jannahi, as quoted by
Pococke. What confirms this view of
the reduplicate form is the use of D'snsri,
a gemination somewhat resembling it,
by our prophet, chap, viii, 13, The
rendering give ye, as if it were the im
perative of 3rp, proposed by Abenezra
and Kirachi, and adopted by our trans
lators, is not so suitable to the connexion.

Maurer; mirifice amant ignominiam:
Ewald ; es lieben lieben schmach seine
Schilde. Kuinoel very unjustifiably
omits I3n in his Heb. Text. f\, shame,
a collective abstract noun, expressive,of
the infaraous acts connected with idol
atrous worship. D'I?D, shields, are tropi
cally used for princes, as the natural
protectors of their people, here and Ps,
xlvii. 10. The feminine suffix n, refers
to yiK, understood; the inhabitants being
raeant. 19. By an expressive figure, borrowed
frora the sudden force with which any
thing is carried off by the wind, the
prophet announces the suddenness and
violence with which the ten tribes should
be removed frora their land. The com
bination rm 'B33, wings of the wind, is too
firraly established in Hebrew usage,
see Ps. xviii. 11 ; civ. 3, to allow either
of the acceptations spirit or vanity being
given to nn, or that of borders to D'Bjs
in this place, nn being of both genders,
accounts for tbe masculine of the verb,
and the ferainine pron. affix. For PiniM,
two of De Rossi's MSS., and the Vat,
and Alex, copies of the LXX. read nris,
which gives no suitable sense. In the
distant countries of the Medes, by whom
all image-worship was held in abomi
nation, tbe exiles would be brought to a
due sense of the wickedness and ab-
surditj' of their conduct, i, in loi'l, is
used TcXiKws. Jer. xlviii. 13. Sacrifices
are here put by synecdoche for the whole
system of idolatry in which they in
dulged. For the reading Dnrisinp, of
their altars, adopted by Newcome, there
is no authority except the Targ. and Syr,

CHAPTER V,

This chapter commences with an objurgation of the priests and the royal family,
as the principal seducers of the nation to idolatry, 1, 2, Then follows a de
scription of tbe unblushing wickedness of the people, interspersed with denun
ciations of impending punishment, 3—7. The approach of the divine judgments

chap, V,

HOSEA.

27

is ordered to be proclaimed, and their certainty declared, 8, 9, The prophet
then abruptly turns to the two tribes and a half whose guilt and punishraent he
denounces ; yet so as to show that his predictions were chiefly directed against
the northern kingdom, the rulers of which, like those of Judah, instead of
looking to Jehovah for deliverance from civil calamities, applied in vain for
foreign assistance, 10—14. The 15th verse sets forth the certainty and the
beneficial effects of the divine judgraents.

1 Hear this, O ye priests !
And hearken, O house of Israel !
Give ear, O house of the king !
For the sentence is against you,
Because ye are a snare at Mispah,
And a net spread upon Tabor.
2 The apostates slaughter to excess,
But I will inflict chastisement on them all.

1. ''**5ip; n'3, house of Israel, i, e. the
ten tribes. '^^Pi^ n'3, house of the king,
i. e. the king and his court. From the
references made to the idolatry and
punishment of Judah in this and the
following chapter, it would appear that
the king whom Hosea had specifically
in view was Pekah, tbe son of Remaliah;
since it was in the reign of Ahaz, who
was cotemporary with hira, that idol
worship was carried to such a height in
that kingdora as to call for the calaraities
inflicted upon it by the confederate forces
of Israel and Syria, as well as by tbe
king of Assyria, By tDSifen QSj is not
meant, as the Targ. interprets, followed
by Abenezra, Kirachi, Abarbanel, Pag
ninus, Junius, Tremellius, and others,
that it belonged to them to know and
execute justice, but that the judgment
or punishment was directed against
them. Tbey had merited it, and it was
now coming upon them, LXX. npds
vpds e'o-Tl T<J Kpipa. Thus most Christian
expositors, ffsp, Mispah. As there
were several places of this name, some
degree of uncertainty attaches to it as
occurring here ; but as the object of the
prophet seeras to be to set forth the
means eraployed for seducing the whole
of the ten tribes to idolatry, it is raore
probable that he had in his eye Mispah
of Gilead, on the east of the Jordan,

just as he specifies mount Tabor to tbe
west of tbat river. See Judges x, 17 ;
xi. 29. On both of these elevated posi
tions false worship had been established
for the purpose of ensnaring the inhabi
tants of the adjacent regions. The
means eraployed to bring thera over to
it are corapared to the snares and nets
used for catching birds and wild beasts
upon the raountains. By raetonyray,
the leaders of the people are spoken of
as sucb nets and snares, because of their
bad exaraple, and the influence which
they otherwise exerted for evil.
2. nranai, slaughtering, the infinitive
absolute, with n paragogic, of lonti, to
kill, for food or sacrifice. Here, from
its close connexion with the preceding
verse, it has the latter signification.
Some think raurder is meant ; but tbis
is less likely, though the verb is also
used in this sense in other places, narriti
ip'psn, lit, they deepen to slaughter, i. e.
by a peculiar idiom, they slaughter to
excess, kill an immense number of sa
crificial victims, Comp. niD ip'psn ;
Is. xxxi, 6. D'loto, apostates, the Benoni
participle of wiB, to turn aside, decline
from the right way, apostatise ; as 0-s\
scoffers, from yi^, to scoff. Comp, Ps,
xl. 5, an 'Bto, those that turn aside to
falsehood ; and o'Ecrniiw, Ps. ci, 3, Two
or three MSS., the edit, of Soncin., and

28

HOSEA,

[cHAI', V,

I know Ephraim,
Israel is not hid from me ;
Surely now thou committest lewdness, O Ephraim !
Israel is defiled.
They frame not their deeds
To return to their God ;
For a lewd spirit is within them,
And they regard not Jehovah.
The pride of Israel testifieth to his face ;
Therefore Israel and Ephraim shall fall through their iniquity ;
Judah also shall fall with them.

a few others, have D instead of ic, in our
O .X O 7
text. Syr, t*,^£D|, seduxit, ]i.ai.»,^mi!D
declinatio, apostasia. The idolatrous
Israelites multiplied tbeir sacrifices in
order that tbey might enjoy prosperity
under the protection of the deities to
whora tbey offered them; but Jehovah
here declares that none of tbem should
escape the punishraent which he was
about to inflict upon thera. Before tdid
supply n™. The ancient versions are
here greatly at fault, frora their authors
having supposed that the reference to
hunters is still continued in this verse.
3. Ephraim, as distinguished frora
Israel, means the tribe of Ephraim,
from which raost of the apostate kings
sprang, and in which idolatry most
abounded. By Israel the other nine
tribes are meant. As having incurred
tbe raore aggravated guilt, the former
is here addressed in the second person.
Two of Kennicott's MSS. indeed, and
one of De Rossi's, originally read nniin ;
and one of Kennicott's has nnNOEi for
«pio:, but both are, in all probability,
from the hand of correctors. n:in is
here used figuratively. The polluting
influence of tbe Ephraimites was felt
through the whole nation. To ex
press an assertion more strongly the
Hebrews put it first in the form of an
affirmative, and then in that of a nega
tive. nn», now, is not without emphasis;
pointing out the undeniable fact that
Aey had been the cause of the spread
idolatry.
4. The language now changes to the

plural, to express the character of the
people generally. By some Drpb'jso is
construed as the nominative to 1W'., and
rendered, their deeds do not permit them,
&c. Thus the Syr. Abenezra, Drusius,
&c, ; and araong the moderns, Horsley,
Tingstadius, Manger, Kuinoel, Stuck,
Maurer, and Ewald. But in order to
establish tbis construction, we should
have to read Ci:w, or Dni< nn;, " per
mitted them," the accusative of the
person always following the verb in such
case. See Gen. xx. 6 ; Exod. iii. 19.
In the present instance |ni is used in
the sense of placing, ordering, framing,
like ow and n'ti, as it is given in the
coramon version, and rendered by Tan
chum, Leo Juda, Mercer, Tarnovius,
Michaelis, Rosenmiiller, Noyes, and
Hitzig. The meaning is, tbat the Is
raelites did not reform, did not so regard
tbeir wicked practices as to abandon
them and return to the pure worship of
Jehovah. 5. That ? ni» means to testify for or
against any person or thing, is obvious from
its use, Gen. xxx. 33 ; Job xvi, 8. It is
properly a judicial phrase, and refers to
the testimony given by a witness, either
fur or against another, according to
circumstances. The rendering to be
humbled, which is that of the LXX,
Syr, Targ. Jarchi, and recently of Mi
chaelis, Newcome, Noyes, and Maurer,
cannot be philologically sustained. The
addition viB?, to his face, gives eraphasis
to the phrase, openly, publicly, in such a
manner that he himself may see it,
without the adduction of further evidence.
That ]iNa signifies pride, insolence, not-

chap, y,]

HOSEA.

29

With their flocks and their herds,
They may go to seek Jehovah,
But they shall not find him :
He hath withdrawn from them.
They have proved false to Jehovah ;
For they have begotten strange children :
Now shall a month destroy them and their portions.

withstanding what Horsley asserts to
the contrary, is sufiiciently apparent
from Prov, xvi. 18, and Is. xvi. 6. 1
should rather think, however, tbat by
the term as here used, we are to under
stand the objects of which the ten tribes
were proud, their splendid or magnificent
idols, &c. As Jehovah is spoken of as
3j?»; ]i«3, the excellency or boast of Jacob,
Amos viii. 7, , so tbe idols might be
called ''N'lto; ]i«3, tJie excellency, or proud
boast of Israel. They gloried in them
as the objects of their confidence and
attachment. Tbese very gods, by their
utter impotence, bare open witness that
tbey could affoi'd no help fo those who
trusted in them ; so that their worship
pers could not but have been convinced
of their folly, if their hearts had not
become raorally obscured by the practice
of iniquity. The religion itself (Dii»,
their iniquity,) frora which they expected
safety, would prove the cause of their
ruin. The words are repeated with a
similar reference chap. vii. 10,
The concluding line of the verse con
tains an abrupt and unexpected appli
cation of the threatening to the Jews,
As they had suffered theraselves to be
influenced by tbe exaraple of the Israel
ites, they should also share in their
punishment. The respective captivities
of both are here threatened. On cora
paring this threatening with chap. iv. 15,
it appears to have been delivered at a
period considerably subsequent to tbat
which is there spoken of, when the evils
of idolatry bad made sorae progress in
the southern kingdom. To express more
strongly the certainty of the event, tbe
verb 'ti3 is put in the preterite ; whereas
it had simply been used in the future
I';i|!i3|, in reference to the Israelites,
6. The idolaters are here told that
though in the hour of calamity they
might bring their flocks and herds as

propitiatory sacrifices to Jehovah in order
to avert the punishment, it would be
altogether in vain, yJO signifies to draw
or put off any person or thing, to
withdraw one's self. Comp. the Arab.
ijaj>-, salmis evasit, progressus est,
and Jtli,, extraxit, exuit. < Pococke'a
Arab, MS. has ^^ iu!>y>.^ A~>- M,
God hath withdrawn his help from them.
The Israelites and Jews could no longer
reckon on the divine presence, and the
effectual aid which that presence im
plied. 7. The prophet seems here to allude
to the mention raade of D'?i:i 'tV, and
D';i:i '33, lewd children, chap. i. 2 ; ii. 4.
D''il, strange, foreign, is selected in order
to show that the idolatry was the result
of intercourse with foreigners. The
verb Tia, to act unfaithfully, is also used
of the breach of the raatrimonial cove
nant, Jer. iii. 20. This idea is expressed
in the Arab. MS. of Pococke, ii^x>
l«ity,c iSdJl, they have broken the covenant
of God. '3 has here the signification of
itaque, and raarks the consequence of
the conjugal infidelity just specified —
the prx>duction of a race of idolaters.
The relation of the words is well ex
pressed by Stuck : " quoniara Deo infi-
deles sunt, propterea liberos peregrines
habent." nw, now, is here to be taken,
not as determining the exact point of
present time, but the speedy and certain
arrival of the event. The term sS'ifi,
month, has greatly, and, in my opinion,
very unnecessarily perplexed in terpreters.
Houbigant at once cuts the knot by an
arbitrary emendation : WTt rt3« nn3^^
omnino est legendum barm 'Wf nnsi, nunc
igitur absumet rubigo. He appeals to

30

HOSEA.

[chap. v.

8 Blow ye the horn in Gibeah,
The trumpet in Ramah ;
Raise a shout at Beth-aven ;
He is behind thee, O Benjamin !
9 Ephraim shall become desolate
In the day of punishment ;
Among the tribes of Israel
I have made known that which is sure.

the ipva-i^r) of the LXX. as his autho
rity ; but epva-i^rj signifies mildew, with
which '''pn, a locust, the word he pro
poses to substitute for nJ'ih, has no manner
of affinity. That the sarae word which
is now in the Hebrew text was found in
it in the time of Aquila, is evident from
his rendering it veoprjvla. Syram. and
Theod, have /iTj'v, Michaelis, Dathe,
Kuinoel, and Staudlin, give to tbe word
the signification of the Arab. Li->i\s^
what is new and unexpected, and explain
it of a sudden calamity. Most moderns
take it in the sense of new-moon, i, c,
either at the feast of the new moon,
when the Israelites were assembled to
worship; or, at that time their calamities
should coraraence. It seems most na
tural to abide by the usual meaning of
the term, and consider the prophet as
announcing, that within the space of
one month they should be visited with
merited punishment. The calamity pre
dicted seems to have been tbat occasioned
by the invasion of Tiglath-pileser, who
ravaged the country, and carried into
captivity the tribes of Reuben and Gad,
tbe half-tribe of Manasseh, and that of
Napbtali, besides tbe inhabitants of
several cities in other parts of the
country, 2 Kings xv. 29; 1 Chron, v. 26,
That Judah also suffered on this occasion,
see 2 Chron. xxviii. 19 — 21. orrpbrr,
their portions, are commonly interpreted
to mean their possessions or property;
but I should rather think the prophet
has in view their idols, whom they re
garded as the authors of their possessions
and enjoyments. See Is. Ivii, 6, and my
Corara. on that verse.
8. An alarra is ordered to be given to
the southern kingdom of the approach
of the eneray. The verse intimately
coheres with the foregoing, and is not to

be taken for the commencement of a
new prophecy, as Jerome, Abarbanel,
Michaelis, Dathe, Manger, and others,
suppose. The diflerence between the
TBiti and the nTaisn seems to be, that the
former was the same as the pij, horn,
being made of the curved horn of
aniraals, Josh, vi, 5, 6, 8, Arab. i«JOii,
liiuus foraminibus instructus ; whereas,
the latter was made of metal, such as
the two silver trumpets which were em
ployed for convoking the congregation,

Numb. X, 2 ; frora Tsn, Arab.

j'^'^-,

angustiam redegit ; angusto pectore pre-
ditus fuit. Gesenius considers the word
to be an onoraatopoetic, imitating the
broken pulse-like sound of the trumpet,
(hdtzotzSrdh,) like the Latin taratantara,
and the German trarara. Their shape
and size may be seen in the representa
tions of the arch of Titus. Comp. Jer,
iv. 5 ; Joel ii. 1 ; Hos. viii, 1. The
LXX, render ns;a, Gibeah, and rrai,
Ramah, tovs ^ovvovs and Tmv vyjfrjXmv,
as if heights or elevated places in ge
neral were meant ; but they are to be
taken as proper names, just as Beth-aven
and Benjamin are. They hoth lay in
the tribe of Benjarain, see on Is. x. 29,
as did also Bethel, here called Beth-aven.
See on chap. iv. 15. Before ^pr™,
subaud. 3.'.1N, the enemy " is behind thee,"
i, e. close upon thee. The fifth Greek
version has KaTd votov a-ov, to the south
of thee; but if the local signification
were at all adraissible, the west is the
only sense in which the word could be
understood. 9. Having apprised the Jews of the
danger with which they were threatened,
the prophet returns to describe the ca
lamity which was to be infiicted upon

CHAP, v.]

HOSEA.

31

10 The rulers of Judah are like those who remove the boundary ;
I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.
Ephraim is oppressed,
He is crushed in judgment ;
Because he consented,
He followed the order.
I am as a moth to Ephraim,
And as rottenness to the house of Judah,
13 And Ephraim saw his sickness,
And Judah his wound ;

11

12

the ten tribes ; and in the course of the
following verses directs bis discourse to
the two kingdoms alternately. The
norainative to njnn is Y'i«, implied in
D^TEM. — nn3in, primarily means proof or
demonstration, from np^, to be before one,
be clear, obvious ; in Hiph. to place
before one in tbe way of evidence, con
vince, convict, and then rebuke, chastise,
punish. Tbe word is synonymous with
TDiD, ver, 2, Tbe latter hemistich of
the verse shows that the ten tribes were
tbe scene of the prophet's ministry,
nm»5, the feminine used for the neuter.
10. By the " princes" or " rulers of
Judah," king Ahaz and his courtiers
are intended. For -13; 'J'pps, comp.
Deut. xxvii. 17 ; insT ''l3?':'E)p tith, Prov.
xxii, 28 ; xxiii, 10 ; Job xxiv. 2. It was
reckoned a flagrant offence to remove
the marks by which the divisions of
property were defined. The language
seems to have become proverbial to
designate unprincipled conduct. What
the prophet here reprobates appears to
be the means adopted by Ahaz and his
supporters to introduce idolatry into
Judah, See 2 Kings xvi, 10—18, If
the 3 be regarded as the Caph veritatis,
it will strongly express tbe fact, that
these princes had actually removed the
boundaries wbich separated the true re
ligion frora the false. Divine judgraents
are frequently corapared to the over
flowing of water frora a river, TJB^, to
pour out, expresses the fulness of their
infliction, Corap. Zeph, iii, 8. nT3»,
prop, eff'ervescene, flowing over, also de
notes the greatness of the punishment.
11. TDBicp yiST, the genitive of cause,
broken in pieces by the judgment, or
punishment inflicted, is refers not to

any divine commandment, but to the
order issued by Jeroboam to worship
the golden calves, 1 Kings xii. 28' — 33.
Such an order his subjects were bound
by higher authority to have resisted ;
but they readily complied with it, and
tbus became prepared to indulge in all
the gross idolatries to which tbis worship
proved the introduction. From tbe cir
cumstance thatthe LXX. have rendered
the passage onia-co rmv paraiaiv, after
vanities, it has been conjectured that
they read Niai instead of IS; but it is
more likely they intended to give the
sense of the whole, rather than tbe sig
nification of this particular word. They
are followed by both the Syriac versions,
and in part by tbe Targ. Jerome, on
the other hand, has read the same letters
which now stand in the text ; for he
renders sordes, pointing tbe word is, and
regarding it as merely a contracted form
of «is or nNis, filthiness.
12. The reference in to, Arab, ddci
moth, is to the consuraption of garraents,
Ps. xxxix. 12 ; Is. 1. 9 ; in 3in, rotten
ness, to tbat of wood. See Job xiii. 28,
where both words occur together as here.
The LXX. freely render the forraer by
Tapaxrj, the latter by Kevrpov. The
meaning is not tbat God was regarded
as tbe moth and rottenness, i. e. with
disgust; but that be was the author of
tbose judgments by wbich the idolaters
should be consumed.
13. n«T, to see, has here the sense of
feeling, experiencing, as in the phrases
to see life, death, good, evil, &c. Tta, lit,
a bandage, from T11, to compress, bind as
a wound, see Is. i. 6 ; hence, as here, a
bandaged wound, corresponding to ^^,

32

HOSEA,

[chap, V,

14

15

Then Ephraim went to Assyria ;
He sent to the hostile king ;
But he could not cure you,
Nor remove your wound from you.
For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
And like a young lion to the house of Judah ;
I, even I will tear the prey, and depart ;
I will carry it away, and there shall be none to rescue.
I will depart, I will return to my place,
Till they suffer punishment ;

sickness, disease, in the other member of
the parallelism. For the use of such
metaphors in application to the state of
political affairs, comp. Is. i. 5, 6, iii. 7 ;
Hos. vi. 1, vii. 1. After rtip.»i, supply
as its norainative, nTin^: Judah, irom the
preceding part of the verse, which forms
an alternate quatrain ; the third line
connecting with the first, and the fourth
with the second. 3T; is not a proper
name, but an appellative, signifying one
who contends, is contentious, hostile ;
frora 3'"i, to strive with, quarrel, contend.
The forra is the apocopated future, and
is contracted for 3''V t\b«, he that acts
hostilely. Tanchura >^^Lsi t_^i/o, the
king that contended. Comp. 3''i^i", Joiarib,
Neh. xi. 5. Aq. biKa^opevov ; Symra.
£k8i.kov, or iKhiKrjTrjv ; Theod. Kplrrju.
Jerome, ad regem ultorem. De Wette,
Der konig der rdchen soil. That the
king of Assyria is meant there can be
no doubt. See chap, x. 6. He was
ever ready to mix himself up with the
affairs of neighbouring states, in order
to extend or consolidate his gigantic
empire, and was justly regarded by the
Hebrews as their most powerful adver
sary. The application made by the
northern kingdom was that which took
place in the reign of Menabera, when
that raonarch sent to Pul a thousand
talents of silver for the purpose of en
gaging hira on his behalf, 2 Kings xv.
19. But this alliance proved of no real
value ; for the subsidy was raised by
oppression, and, in tbe course of the
following reign, Tiglath-pileser invaded
and depopulated great part of tbe
country, ver. 29, The erabassy from

tbe kingdora of Judah was that sent by
Ahaz to Tiglath-pileser, when attacked
by tbe united kings of Syria and Israel,
2 Kings xvi. 7, 8 ; 2 Chron. xxviii. 21.
nna as a verb, occurs only in tbis place ;
but a noun derived frora it is used Prov.
¦vii. 22, in the sense of healing. If we
may judge from the Syr. (iTly.> recedere,
fugere, Aph. liberare, it properly signi
fies to remove, relieve, and so with
respect to a wound, to heal. LXX. dv
pTj Stanava-Tj ; Syr. "jQ^.»»I jJo, neque
sanabit. 14. No effort to recover a state of
prosperity while the anger of Jehovah
was excited against them, could possibly
succeed, bn^, the black lion, and I'M,
the young lion, are frequently employed
to convey the ideas of strength and
ferocity, Ps. xci. 13, The reduphcation
VN 'IN is, as usual, emphatic. Comp. Is.
xliii. 25 ; xlviii. 15, ^ctto, prey, is un
derstood after Ffi? and Nto.
15. As God's coming to a people, and
being with thera, implies their expe
riencing efficient protection and aid, so
his withdrawment of his presence im
plies the deprivation of these blessings.
OiBM, like many other verbs, has a sensus
pregnans ; conveying not only the idea
of contracting guilt, but of suffering its
consequences. The latter idea seems
clearly to be conveyed in this passage.
The Rabbins, indeed, and after them,
Glassius, and many others, attempt to
attach to the verb the superadded signi
fication of acknowledging, which is that
adopted by our translators ; but it is by

CHAP,

V..]

HOSEA.

33

Then will they seek my face :
When they are in trouble, they will seek me early.

no means supported by Lev. iv. 22 ; v,
5 ; Zech. xi. 5 ; the passages usually
adduced in proof, "b ':|i I25i?3, to seek the
face of any one, means to strive to obtain
his favour. See 1 Kings x. 24 ; Prov.

xxix. 26. The phrase occurs very fre
quently in the Psalms, in reference to
application to Jehovah in prayer. Comp.
Dan. ix. 3. TniS is synonymous with
iSi?3, but is only used in poetic diction.

CHAPTER VI.

The nation, in both its divisions, is bere introduced as taking up language suitable
to the circurastances described in the concluding verses of the preceding
chapter, 1 — 3 ; but however appropriate it was to tbe condition of the people,
that it was not the result of sound and thorough conversion, appears frora ver. 4 ,
in which they are expostulated with on the ground of tbeir inconstancy. Notice
is then taken of the means, both of a moral and a punitive nature, tbat liad
been employed for their recovery, 5, 6 ; their deceitful and wicked conduct,
especially that of tbe Israelites, is placed in a strong light, 7 — 10; and a
special denunciation of punishment is directed against the Jews, who flattered
themselves with the hope that whatever might befal the northern tribes, no
calamity would happen to them.

1 Come, let us return to Jehovah,
For he hath torn, but he will heal us;
He hath smitten, but he will bind us up,
2 He will restore us to life after two days ;

1,2, It has been disputed whether
tbese words be those of the prophet ex
horting his countrymen to repent and
turn to God, or whether they are to be
regarded as employed by themselves to
give expression to their feelings of peni
tence, their confidence in God for de
liverance from punishment, and their
resolutions of araendment for the future.
The latter appears, from the bearing of
ver. 5, to be the preferable interpretation.
The intimate connexion of the words
with tbe preceding context, and the re
petition, in part, of its language, induces

to the conclusion tbat the same subject
is bere continued, viz. the castigation of
the Hebrew kingdoms on account of
idolatry, and tbe effect produced by it.
Tbis connexion the ancient versions have
endeavoured to establish by inserting a
word corresponding to TtsS; though it
is not found in any Heb. MSS. From
the apparent agreement of the language
of ver. 2, with the circurastances of
time connected with the death and re
surrection of our Saviour, many inter
preters, as Lactantius, Tertullian, Origen,
Jerome, Augustine, Luther, CEcolam-

34

HOSEA,

[ch

w. vr.

On the third day he will raise us up,
And we shall live before him.
Then we shall know, we shall strive to know Jeliovah
Like the dawn, his going forth is fixed,
Yea, he will corae to us like the rain,
Like the latter rain, which watereth the earth.

padius, Mercer, Riberus, Tarnovius,
Hammond, &c., have maintained that it
is to these respect is had in the prophecy,
I fully concur, however, in the judicious
remarks of Calvin on this interpretation,
" Sed sensus ille videtur mihi niinium
argutus. Et semper hoc spectandum
est nobis, ne volitemus in aere : placent
argutae speculationes primo intuitu, sed
postea evanescunt. Ergo quisquis volet
proficere in Scripturis, semper hanc re
gulam teneat, ut solidum sit quicquid
colligit sive in prophetis, sive in Apo
stolis." The exegesis of Grotius, Horsley,
and many others, who regard the words
as primarily applicable to the Jews, and
secondarily, or allusively, to the resur
rection of Christ, is equally unsatisfactory.
The simple meaning of the passage is,
that on their conversion from the service
of idols to that of Jehovah, the Hebrews
should experience tbe removal ot the
national calamities with wbich they had
been visited; the nation which had been
reduced to a state of political death
would be resuscitated, and enjoy a re
newal of its former prosperity. From
the metaphor of disease, ver. 1, tbere is
in ver. 2, an advance to that of actual
death, and a consequent resurrection, in
order to place tbeir present aud also their
anticipated condition in a raore striking
light. For the use of the latter raetapbor
in application to the national affairs of
the Jews, see Is. xxvi. 19; Ezek. xxxvii.
1 — 14. 'S'''?«n Di'3, on the third day, is
expletive of D'PJP, after days, i. e. two
days; LXX. perd 8vo rjpipas. That a
short period is raeant, appears frora two,
and two three being used to denote a
few, or very few, 1 Kings xvii. 12; Is.
vii. 21, xvii. 6. Corap. Luke xiii. 32, 33.
The afflicted Hebrews confidently hoped
that their punishment would be of brief
duration, and tbat God would assuredly
restore tbem to the enjoyraent of his
favour. Such enjoyraent is expressed
by liring I'iB'j, before him, experiencing

his presence and blessing. The phrase
contrasts with that employed chap. v. 15,
and indicates the result of '13 iifijis, there
predicted. 3. In rs-ii nBTi: n»Til, there is a rise
from a resolution simply to acquire a
true knowledge of .lehovah, to a deter
mination to make sucb knowledge the
object of earnest and unwearied pursuit.
The n of the elongated futures marks
tbis bent or inclination of mind. To
separate the verbs, and connect the
former with the preceding verse, as
Horsley does, would quite destroy the
force of the prophet's language. At the
same time the 1 at tbe beginning of the
verse is inferential, intimating tbat what
follows would be the result of the divine
interposition on behalf of the Hebrew
people. Some few MSS. insert 1 before
nOTi:. ]i3i, to be fixed, estallislied,
certain. As certain and delightful as
the dawn of the raorning would be the
coming forth of the favour of Jehovah
after the dark night of adversity. This
beautiful metaphor is taken from the
suniise. See, for such application of
S'SiD, Ps. xix. 7. Tbe other images were
peculiarly appropiiate in Palestine, where
rain falls seldom, except in spring and
autumn. At these seasons it is heavy,
and greatly contributes to tbe fertihtyof
the soil, on which account its bestowment
was regarded as among the most neces
sary of temporal blessings, and its
absence a source of awful calamity.
Tbe former, commonly called sni' or
rniD, the darting rain, from the root ^i
to dart, cast, &c. ; here D-tian, the rain,
by wa) of eminence ; the heavy, violent
rain, as tbe word properly signifies.
It falls from the middle of October till
about tbe middle of Deceraber, and is
called tbe early or foriner rain. LXX.
¦verds npta'ipos, because the Jews com
menced their year at that time. It
prepares tbe ground for the reception of
tbe seed. iiJip?P, the latter rain, LXX.

CHAP,

VI,]

HOSEA,

35

What shall I do to thee, O Ephraim !
What shall I do to thee, O Judah !
For your goodness is like the morning cloud,
And like the dew which early departeth.
For this cause I have hewed them by the prophets,
I have slain them by the words of my mouth :
Thy judgments went forth like the lightning.
For I desired mercy and not sacrifice ;
And the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings.

verds o-\jnpos, falls in the latter half of
February and during the months of
March and April, just before the har
vest; frora whicb circumstance it receives
its name — -^b, signifying to gather or
collect, the late fruit. Comp. -Bpb, to
collect, Syr. ),A,a^, serotinus. Before
nil' supply T^«.
4. That the declarations contained in
the preceding verses are not to be viewed
as divine promises, but express the
hopes and resolutions of the afflicted
Hebrews, appears from the affecting ex
postulations here addressed to them, and
the description of the temporary and
evanescent character of their boasted
reformation. Like a tender parent wbo
is anxious, if possible, to reclaim a way
ward child, Jehovah asks wbat other
means could possibly be eraployed for
the recovery of his rebellious people.
They had been tried both with mercies
and judgments, but without effect. Comp.
Is. V. 4 — 7. Tcn properly raeans kind
ness, benignity, mercy; here piety, re
ligion, as Is. xl, 6. Syr. tdsZo^*^,
your goodness ; Pococke's Arab. MS.
ti, your religion. Theodoret not

^..

inaptly gives the raeaning thus : /; nap
vpav yevopevTj perapeXeia npoo-Kaipos
ia-rt, Kal oi) hiapKrjs. In Palestine, and
other countries of the sarae latitude, the
dense clouds which cover the heavens
during the morning are all gone by nine
or ten o'clock ; and the dews, however
copious, early disappear. D'Silip is here,
as frequently, to be taken adverbially ;
early, in the raorning. As the cognate
Ethiop. I'lVl't* ; signifies to carry a

burden, and beasts of burden are usually
loaded in the morning, the Hebrew D3ffl
came in Hiphil to signify the doing of
any thing at an early hour, "^Ti is not
to be construed with DS'npn, but with ''Q.
5, The severity of the threatenings
communicated through the instrumen-
tahty of tbe prophets is compared to the
incisions made in stone or wood with
the axe, and tbose raade in the huraan
body with the sword. Comp. Is, xi. 4 ;
Heb. iv. 12. After 'msn supply D or
Dnl<. To raake tbe pronorainal affixes
agree, the LXX, Syr. and Targ. read
'EB>?5n, "OTy judgraents," and so likewise
Dathe, Kuinoel, Boeckel, Newcome,
Boothroyd, and Ewald, instead of f BBilJa,
" thy judgments," Vulg. judicia tua.
Hexap. Syr. f-^> j.l*.»0. There is no
variety in the MSS., except that one of
Kennicott's, and originally one of De
Rossi's, have '^^I'^P, " thy judgraent,"
in the singular. The reference of the
affix is to ^1, ver. 4 ; and the meaning
is, the judgments which belong to thee,
which thou deservedst, and which were
inflicted upon thee. The genitive is
that of object. Corap. ^opiiSp, 1 Kings
XX. 40; iTCBttJp, Jer. li. 9; and especially
•ypEBain, Zeph. iii. 15. Thus Lyranus :
" poense tibi inferendae." NS^, though
future, is modified by the preceding pre
terite, andis tobe rendered accordingly.
TIN has here the sense of lightning, as in
Job xxxvii. 3, 15. The LXX. Syr.
Targ. and Arab, supply 3 before Tin,
Sudden and awful as the hghtning
were the inflictions of merited punish
ment upon the idolatrous Hebrews.
6. Tpn means here true piety, of which
mercy or charity is only a branch. n5?T
D'ri''t! corresponding to it in the second
member of the verse, likewise means a

S6

HOSEA.

[chap, VI,

7 But they are like men that break a covenant
There they proved false to me.
8 As for Gilead, it is a city of evil-doers ;
Marked with footsteps of blood.

practical knowledge of God, in opposition
to tbat whicb is merely speculative.
Comp. Jer. xxii. 16. The present is one
of several passages in tbe Old Testament,
in which the comparative worthlessness
of ceremonial observances is taught.
Seels, i. 11— 17; Ps. xh 7— 9, 1. 8— 23;
Mic. vi. 6 — 8. Comp. Matt. ix. 13,
xii. 7.
7, Translators and coraraentators have
been greatly divided respecting the pre
cise meaning of ffiN as occurring in this
passage. Some, as Jarchi, Jerome, Leo
Juda, Castalio, Grotius, Clarius, Manger,
Tingstadius, Newcome, Rosenmiiller,
Boothroyd, and Stuck, regard it as a
proper name, and suppose the reference
to be to the conduct of Adam in trans
gressing the divine commandment; whde
Kirachi, Munster, Vatablus, Tremellius,
Beza, Drusius, Lively, Calvin, Rivetus,
Piscator, Zanchius, CEcolarapadius,
Mercer, Lowth, De Wette, Maurer,
Hitzig, Ewald, &c., take it to be an
appellative, and interpret the passage of
tfie treacherous violation of contracts
among mankind. In favour of tbe former
view, it is alleged, that it places tbe
guilt of the Israelites in a much more
aggravated light ; and Job xxxi. 33,
Ps. Ixxxii. 7, are appealed to in proof of
a sirailar allusion. It is, however, very
doubtfid whether there be any such al
lusion in these passages ; and as to the
force of the coraparison, it seems suffi
ciently supplied by supposing raen in
general to be understood, who break the
engagements into which tliey have en
tered with each other. The Israelites
bad treated God as if be had been one
of themselves, and as if the sanctions of
his covenant were as little to be regarded
as those of ordinary contracts were by
men of unprincipled character. If we
except the three passages in question, it
is universally admitted that there is no
other, after the first chapters of Genesis,
in wbicb dtm is used as a proper name,
or in whicb any reference is made to
our first parent. The absolute and in
definite form too in which n'Tj occurs.

(corap. on the other hand 'n''i3, " my
covenant," chap, viii. 1,) shows, that
bolh this noun and the preceding verb
iT3j», stand in immediate relation to D"[«,
which, as very frequently, is a collective,
and is thus used instead of a plural,
which it nowhere exhibits. It may
also be objected to tbe first mentioned
interpretation, that nowhere in Scripture
is God said to have entered into a n'la,
or covenant with Adam. The obligations
under which he was placed are repre
sented as those of a !Tisp, command or
interdict, rather than any of a foederal
nature. Dig?, like Edom, the reading
proposed by Michaelis, has found no
supporters. Before n3», supply Ti>«, of
whicii there is frequently an ellipsis in
Hebrew poetry. See Noldius, p. 103. — ¦
Di6, there, points graphicahy to the
northern or Israelitish kingdom as the
principal scene of idolatrous defection,
and anticipates tbe regions rnore spe
cifically referred to in the two following
verses. 8. TJ^a, Gilead, is the nominative ab
solute, and is here the designation of a
city, in all probability Ramoth-Gilead,
the metropolis of the mountainous region
beyond Jordan, and south of the river
Jabbok, known by the name of Gilead,
Josh. xxi. 38 ; 1 Kings iv. 13. It was
here that Jacob and Laban entered into
a solemn covenant with each other. Gen.
xxxi. 21, 23, 25. Burckhardt found
ruins of cities on two raountains in that
region, still known by the names of
Djebel Djelaad, and Djelaftd, one or
other of which may have been that here
mentioned. It was one of the cities of
refuge, Deut. iv. 43 ; Josh. xx. 8 ; but
appears from tbe present passage to have
afterwards become notorious for idolatry
and bloodshed. Some would restrict
IJN '!?SB to idolaters, in imitation of the
LXX. who render ipya^opevrj pdraia;
but it seems better to take the phrase in
its more enlarged meaning, as including
all manner of wickedness. Of this,
indeed, idolatry has ever been found to
be the fruitful parent. Various expla-

chap. VI,]

HOSEA.

37

10

11

As troops of robbers lie in wait for a man,
So is the association of priests :
They commit murder in the way to Shechem ;
Yea, they practise deliberate crime.
In the house of Israel I have seen what is horrifying ;
There is the lewdness of Ephraim ;
Israel is polluted :
Also for thee, O Judah ! a harvest is appointed.

nations of nji^s have been advanced;
but the simplest is that which regards it
as signifying traced, from 3p», the heel,
step, print of the foot, and describing
the marks or traces of blood left by the
feet of the murderers wbo resided there,
Syr. jiCj,3 jl-^ X-^V)-.^ stained with
blood. Jewish Span, immunda de sangre.
To what bistorical facts tbe prophet
refers we have no information, except
perhaps tbat contained in 2 Kings xv.
25, frora wbich it appears that fifty of
the inhabitants of Gilead were impli
cated in the regicidal conspiracy agaiust
Pekahiah. 9, Djaj, Shechem, was another city of
refuge, situated between Ebal and Ge-
rizira. It still exists under the name of
(uJoU, Naploos, and has, frora very
ancient times, been tbe seat of the
religious coraraunity of the Samaritans.
Having been for a time the residence
of Jeroboam, 1 Kings xii. 25, its
inhabitants becarae so corrupted, that
the priests resident there banded to
gether, waylaid, and murdered with
impunity the persons who were fleeing
to the asylum for refuge. The n in
no3S) is that of direction, and connects
in sense with '^'t. The interposition of
the verb insr; between these two nouns
occasions no difficulty, since we have
instances of nouns in construction being
separated. See Gen, vii. 6; Is. xix. 8 ;
Hos, xiv. 3, Our comraon version, and
many others, following the Targ. Tn f]n3,
one shoulder, translate ^5?!$, with one
consent, which well suits the connexion;
but is not borne out by Hebrew usage —
the term occurring but once, Zeph. iii. 9,
in this metaphorical acceptation, and

then not nmti as here, but Tn« d3«.
'.SJT is generally considered to be an imi
tation of the Chaldee forra of the Infin.
in Piel, from nsn, to wait, lie in wait for ;
but it seems raore likely to be the ab
breviated form of the Piel Participle
'ICP, the D being dropped, as in ni«j,
Eccles. iv. 2, and in several instances of
the Pual Participles. See Gesen. Lehrgeb.
p. 316. ii)'M'3n3 will tbus form the ge
nitive of object. Three MSS. substitute
n for '; and instead of the prepositive 3,
three MSS. and three printed editions
read |. Before D'ins T3n there is an
ellipsis of ]3, corresponding to 3 in '.3n3. —
ns] is used to denote presumptuous or
dehberate wickedness, from Dpi ; Arab.
>jjj, proposuit sibi, to form a purpose,
lay a deliberate plan of action ; chiefly
employed in a bad sense. LXX. dvopia.
liitzig, Unthat.
10. nnn»ti, LXX. (ppiKmSr), occurs
under the forms rrersvo and n'TiTS^, Jer,
V. 30, xxiii. 14, xviii. 13, It is explained
imraediately after of the atrocious idol
atry which, through the influence of the
tribe of Ephraim, bad spread itself over
the whole kingdom of Israel,
11. For the various interpretations
which have been given of this verse see
Tarnovius or Pococke, Ewald is the
only modern that adopts branch as the
rendering of TS|7, as Kirachi proposed,
and explains it of tbe introduction of
idolatry into Judah, How Horsley could
assert that harvest is used in a good
sense, as an image of the ingathering of
the people of God, is inconceivable. See
Jer. li. 33; Joel iii. 13; Rev, xiv, 15 —
20. Nowhere in prophecy does it appear
to be used in this sense. In all proba
bility, the punishment predicted is that
recorded, 2 Chron. xxviii, 6 — 8, nifl is

38

HOSEA,

[chap, vii.

here used impersonally. Instead of
¦^5, four MSS. originally two more, the
Targ. and two old editions, read nJ. The
words 'pi> nilifi '3itt)3 have no meaning, if
connected with the preceding, which
forra a concise apostrophical warning to

the Jewish kingdom. They must, there
fore, be transferred to the following
context, with which they will be found
to be in harmony. Thus Moerlius, Mi
chaelis, .lahn, Eichhorn, Kuinoel, Stuck,
De Wette, and Boothroyd, divide.

CHAPTER VIL
The prophet continues his description of the wickedness of the ten tribes.
Regardless of Jehovah, they persevered in falsehood and violence, 1, 2;
flattered their rulers, and thereby obtained their sanction to their nefarious
conduct, 3, 5 ; and indulged to the utmost in licentiousness, 4 — 7. The murder
of tbeir kings successively is predicted, and their hardihood and folly are further
set forth, 7 — 10. The prophet next adverts to their fruitless apphcation for
assistance to Egypt and Assyria, and their equally fruitless, because false
professions of return to the service of God, 11 — 16.

When I reversed the captivity of my people,
When I healed Israel,
Then was the iniquity of Ephraim revealed,
And the wicked deeds of Samaria ;
For they practised deceit ;
The thief entered,
And the banditti plundered in the street.

1. Some would render 'QS ni3i?5 '3to?,
" when I again lead my people into
captivity;'' but altogether contrary tp
the established usage of the language.
See Deut. xxx. 3 ; Ps. xiv. 7 ; Jer. xxxi,
23 ; Zeph. iii. 20. The words are ex
plained by the following ''NTif';^ '^P3?i when
I heal Israel. 3 and 3 frequently alter
nate with each other, when used of the
time at which any thing is done. The
restoration bere mentioned is in all pro
bability tbat of the two hundred thousand
Jewish captives, to which reference is
made 2 Chron. xxviii. 8 — 15. The con
duct of the Israelitish rulers upon that

occasiou held out some hope of im
provement in the character of the nation,
and a consequent change in the Divine
conduct towards it; and this expectation
was confirmed by a temporary cessation
of the judgments of God, during which
they might be said to have been healed;
but it was soon entirely frustrated by
the open increase of wickedness among
them, njaii has the force of then, on
the contrary, become more manifest, &c.
For Samaria, see on Is, xxviii. 1, ! Being
the metropolis of tbe ten tribes, it was
the head spring of that corruption of
manners which overspread the kingdoni.

chap, vii,]

HOSEA,

3.9

And they considered not in their heart,
That I remembered all their wickedness :
Now their deeds encompass them ;
They are before my fice.
With their wickedness they cheer the king.
And with their falsehoods the princes.
They are all adulterers ;
They are hke an oven, heated by the baker ;
Who resteth from heating it,
From the time he kneadeth the dousrh.
Until it be leavened.

Ni3; and yms IDCB describe the acts of
violence that were coraraitted by break
ing into and plundering private bouses,
and those which were perpetrated on
persons in the streets. The reference is
not to foreign enemies, as Horsley and
others expound, but to lawless Israelites,
2. For the phrase 3b| ton, comp. the
Arab. JuJj) J JIj, and <uJJ J JU' ;
and our, say to oneself. Ps. xiv. 1, et
freq. Instead of 033'^';, the form exhi
bited in tbe printed text, " to their
heart," ten MSS., originally seven more,
now one, perhaps another, and the
Coraplut. Bible, read 033^3, " in their
heart." One of De Rossi's MSS. states
in the raargin that the latter reading is
found in other copies. It is also sup
ported by the Syr. Vulg, Targ. and
Arab, versions. Both forras describe in
ternal or mental conversation, only b
indicates an endeavour to persuade. So
far were the persons spoken of from
bringing themselves to act on the con
viction, that God was privy to their
wicked deeds, that tbey evinced the
contrary disposition. Still, however,
the phrase may best be rendered by
think, consider, or the like. To the
words on'.l'J'i'P 01330, two interpretations
have been given. They either mean,
tbat tbe evil practices of the Israelites
crowded round them as so many causes
of punishment, as enemies surround and
shut up the object of their attack ; or,
that they crowded about them as so
many witnesses to reveal the wickedness
of their character. The latter would

seera, from the fol'owing words, to be
the true meaning.
3. Their rulers, instead of repressing,
took delight in the immoral and irreli
gious conduct of the people.
4. In this connexion, D'pNilo is to be
taken in its literal signification. Comp.
Jer. ix. 1, xxiii. 10. For the conjecture
of Stuck, that the word was originally
D'B«o, baked or cooked, there is no
foundation. To place the violent and
incontinent character of their lust in
the strongest light, the prophet compares
it to a baker's oven, wbich he raises to
such a degree of heat, tbat he only
requires to omit feeding it during the
short period of the fermentation of the
bread, Sucb was the libidinous cha
racter of the Israelites, that their impure
indulgences were subject to but slight
interruptions. Comp. dKaTana-itrrovs
dpapTias, 2 Pet. ii. 14. nrsi, in the
feminine, agrees with Tian, which is of
common gender. The latter word Ge
senius derives frora tbe Arara. ian, to
smoke, and Tia, fire. Corap. the Arab.
.Ju', and Syr. \i<^iL, fornax, clibanus.
The oven here referred to is not the
pitcher-oven of the Arabs, but the
larger kind, pretty rauch like our own,
which was, as it still is, used in public
bake-houses, tiBNp nr^'a is elliptical for
burning, having been kindled by the
baker. Before ni3i§; supply Tffi«. The
meaning is, who only ceaseth from heat
ing, &c. Most interpreters take t'SQ in
the sense of stirring, rousing up, &c.,
and apply it to the stirring of the fire in

40

HOSEA.

[chap.

VII,

On the day of our king,
The princes are sick with the fever of wine ;
He stretcheth out his hand with the scoflfers.
For though they approach with their heart warm as an oven.
Yet it is in their plot ;
Their baker sleepeth all the night ;
In the morning it burning like a blazing fire.

the oven ; but it is preferable to regard
it as the part, of T'», Arab, js., to be
hot, burning ; hence in Hiph. to cause
to burn, heat, &c. Thus the LXX.
dnd Ttjs (pXoyds. The interpretation
from the city, given in the Syr, Targ.
and Vulg. is altogether inappropriate.
For the feminine form of the Infin,
inspn, corap. njpir, Ezek. xvi. 5.
5. By Di' is meant a festal day ;
either that of the king's birth, or, as the
Targ. Jarchi and Kimcbi give it, that
of his inauguration. The preposition 3
is understood. Michaelis thinks the re
ference is to the accession ofa new king
to the throne. Instead of lasto, our
king, twenty-two MSS. and the Syr.
read ia".3!;p, our kings ; LXX. ijpepai.
Tav ^auCKewv vpmv. l''nn is used in
transitively. The LXX. Syr. Targ.
Vulg. Abarbanel, Leo Juda, Newcome,
Michaelis, and Boothroyd, refer this
verb to tbe root ''^n ; but, not to insist
on its requiring in such case to be read
i^n!7, there is something so intolerably
tame in the rendering, " The princes
began to be heated with wine," that it
cannot be admitted as the language of
tbe prophet. Besides, npn would like
wise require to be changed into ntin,
wbich would produce an anomalous in
finitive, npn, bottle, less agrees with P
following tlian nan, heat. Comp. the
Arab, k^s,-, Xx^s^. fy? npn is an in
stance of the construct state with a pre
position intervening between tbe nouns.
Comp. D3to '«'3a, Ezek. xiii. 2; n''1 rra\D
HPi Is. li. 21, and see Gesen. Lebrgeb.
p. 679. The words mean the beat or
fever produced by intoxication. 'While
the courtiers thus indulged to excess,
the monarch, forgetting his dignity, par
ticipated in their cups, and joined in

their scoffs. Because D'Sii-ij occurs no
where else, Houbigant would have it
changed into the usual forra D'S^, most
uncritically. Comp. yip and ysjj. Aq.
XXevaa-rSv ; LXX. less properly, Xoipmv.
Tbe reduplicate form is intensive, and
expresses the awfully profligate character
of the persons described.
6. 1 consider the prophet to be con
tinuing in tbis verse his description of
tbe abandoned courtiers, in imagery
borrowed from that introduced ver. 4.
In their intercourse with tbe monarch,
they approached him with tbe wannest
professions of loyalty; but in private
tbey were scheming how to get rid of
him. The ringleader waited till he could
conveniently carry the plot into execu
tion ; and speedily tbey effected the
nefarious purpose. Were it not that all
the ancient versions render ITS. as a
verb, I should have been inchned to
point it 'Q-ip. and translate, " For their
inward part is like an oven ; their heart
is in their plot." Corap. i3T« P'to; is'ijai,
Jer. ix. 7, The rendering I have given,
however, equally suits the connexion.
Though there is no word in the text
corresponding to " warra," its insertion
in the translation is fully justified by tbe
coraparison in Tians, like an oven, and
the intensive force of 3Ti7 in Piel, That
this verb ever signifies to make ready or
prepare, I do not find. All attempts to
justify the rendering of the LXX, and
Syr. dvcKavBrjo-av, "jQ.mi, by tbe conjec
tural readings i3Tri, ans, and innij, have
proved abortive. According to the
Hexapla, Symm. (f..„ oOfO), Aq. and
Theod, (a3j.o^ ^.^^X), read as we
now do ; as did likewise the Taig.
«'ii?ri«. — Dn3'«, their baker, (many MSS.

chap, vii,]

HOSEA.

41

They all glow as an oven,
They devour their judges ;
All their kings have fallen :
None among thera calleth unto me.
Ephraim mixeth himself up with the nations ;
Ephraim is a cake unturned.
Strangers devour his strength,
But he knoweth it not ;
Yea, grey hairs are sprinkled upon him,
Yet he knoweth it not.

and various printed editions have Dn'B'«,
which raay also be regarded as a sin
gular forra, ' taking tbe place of the
third radical n, as in other nouns or
participles derived from verbs in "n";,)
the Targ. and Syr. render li^T,
fOOI^yOi, as if the reading were dbn,
their anger. 'Ecfypalp, found in the
LXX. shows that the former must bave
been the reading of the MS. whicb tbey
used, as the latter could not have so
easily been mistaken for this proper
name. crrBN, which Dathe proposes,
and Kuinoel adopts into his Heb. text,
nowhere occurs in the sense, ira, furor
eorum. By " their baker" seems to be
meant the leader of the conspiracy,
whom some suppose to be Menabera,
others Sballum, 2 Kings xv, 10 — 15;
but I should rather infer from what is
stated ver, 7, that the prophet includes
all the conspiracies which took place in
Israel. Having prepared the rest of tbe
conspirators, he, like the baker, abided
bis time, when, of a sudden, the plot
burst forth like a flame.
7, Comp, 2 Kings xv. D^3, all of
them, corresponds to 0^3, ver. 4. lon^ is
the future in Kal of Dpn, to be warm,
hot, &c. The prophet still continues the
comparison. As the fire in tbe oven
devours the fuel, so the persons spoken
of destroyed those who were in autho
rity, toa is not to be taken in the sense
of falling off or apostatizing from God,
as Jerome, Ribera, Menochius, Tirinius,
and some others interpret, but in that of
falling by the hands of murderers. This,
itoM, they devour, in the preceding hemi
stich, shows. The source of the evil,
however, lay in apostasy from Jehovah,

which had reached such a height, that
none implored the Divine aid even when
in calamity.
8. Ewald renders ''^iaii;, veraltet, " hath
become old," which might seera to de
rive sorae support from the latter part
of ver. 9 ; but tbe verb can, with no
propriety, be referred to any other root
than ''^3, Arab. (_)jj.^ madefecit, com-
mistus fuit, Syr. '^^iJili, confudit, to
mix by pouring, mix, confound. LXX.
a-vveplyvvTo. Syr. . A X../], Targ.
i3Tri;iM. Comp, Psalm cvi. 35, where
D"i33 i3T»n; is similarly used of promis
cuous intercourse with idolaters. That
such intercourse generally, including
the adoption of their idolatrous prac
tices, and not specifically the entering
into leagues with them, is meant, appears
from the following clause, in which, to
express the worthlessness ofthe Ephraim-
itish character, the people are compared
to a cake, which, from not having been
turned, is burnt, and good for nothing.
The Arabs bake their bread on the
ground or hearth, covering it with hot
embers, and turning it every ten minutes
or quarter of an hour, to prevent its
being burnt. When neglected it is
unfit for food, and is thrown away.
Such was the state of the apostate Is
raelites. They had corrupted themselves,
and were only fit for rejection, LXX,
eyKpvrplas, bread baked in hot ashes.
Cyril, TCOV eni Xidots onropevav aprccv.
9. D'Ti, strangers, foreigners, i, e, the
Syrians, Assyrians, &c. See 2 Kings
xiii, 7; xv. 19, 20; xvii. 3-6. The
state, drawing to its close, without the

42

HOSEA,

[chap, vii.

10

11

12

13

The pride of Israel testifieth to his face,
Yet they turn not to Jehovah their God,
Nor seek him for all this,
Ephraira is hke a silly dove, without understanding;
They call in Egypt, they go to Assyria,
As they go, I will spread my net upon them,
I will bring them down like the fowls of heaven ;
I will chastise them,
As it hath been heard in their assembly.
Woe unto them ! for they have wandered from me ;
Destruction unto them ! for they have rebelled against me.
Though it was I that redeemed them,
Yet have they spoken lies against me.

fact being observed by its citizens, is
compared to a person on whose head
grey hairs begin to make their appear
ance, without his becoming sensible of
the approach of age.
" Sparserit et nigras alba senecta co
mas." Propertius.
10 — 12. A repetition of part of chap.
V. 5, whicb see. Though the apostate
Israelites bad abundant proof of the
inefficiency of their idols, yet they re
turned not in the exercise of true re
pentance to God, who alone could
dehver them in the hour of trouble, but
formed alliances with foreign powers in
the delusive hope of protection. The
simplicity of the dove is proverbial.
Thus the Arabs, ^^ <xLl J, ^j^\
d^-js], there is nothing more simple than
the dove. The word nnia is here, how
ever, used in a bad sense, as 3^ ]'«,
without heart, i. e. without understanding,
shows. The point of comparison is the
inconsiderate flight of the dove from
one danger into another ; from the
alarm which raakes her leave her abode
for the net of the fowler. Such would
be tbe case with the Israelites. Jehovah
had distinctly announced to thera, that
foreign alliances would prove their ruin ;
yet they heedlessly rushed into destruc
tion. T«^« stands either for niilSM or
T^Nb. The spreading of tbe net refers
to the taking of birds that are on the

ground; the bringing down, to those
that are in the air, by the use of missile
weapons. Instead of the Hiphil DTO's,
which occurs only here, the Soncin.
edit, of the Prophets, and some few
MSS. read D'iD'N in Piel, which may also
be interpreted causatively. Ornsb sptia,
lit. according to the report to their as
sembly, i. e. the public congregations, to
which the Divine messages were deli
vered. God had given them sufficient
warning by Moses and tbe prophets.
The versions vary in rendering the last
word, which has given rise to the con
jectural readings Dms'j, Dnis'', and Dnss''.
Aq., however, renders, Kara aKorjs rrjs
o-vvayayrjs. 13. That 'IK is denunciative and not
plaintive, the following Tis plainly shows.
Tia is often used of the flight of birds
that wander from their nest, see Prov.
xxvii. 8 ; Is. xvi. 2 ; Jer. iv. 25 ; and is
here employed with reference to the
silly dove, ver. 12. The redemption from
Egypt, and that whicb, in numerous in
stances, they afterwards experienced,
Jehovah adduces in aggravation of their
guilt. Their preferring the service of
idols to that of the true God, was not
merely a practical denial of bis all-suf
ficiency, but a violation of the solemn
pledge which they had given of undi
vided obedience to his law, when, as
stated, chap. vi. 1 — 3, they professed to
return to him.
14. When pressed down by the cala
mities which their sins had brought upon

chap, vii,]

HOSEA,

43

14 They cry not to me with their heart,
But howl upon their beds :
For the sake of corn and new wine they assemble ;
They rebel against me.
15 Though I instructed them, and strengthened their arms,
Yet they devised evil against rae.
16 They may turn, but it is not to the Most High ;
They are like a deceitful bow ;
Their rulers shall fall by the sword,

them, they cried to God for deliverance,
but without any genuine repentance or
sincere resolution to obey bim in future.
Bni33Bja-^», upon their beds, i. e. in the
night-season, when their anxiety pre
vented thera frora sleeping. iTTian;, the
LXX. reading iTpaii;, render Karerep-
vovTO, they cut themselves, supposing
tliat in token of grief, or, like the raad-
dened priests of Baal, 1 Kings xviii. 28,
they inflicted wounds upon their bodies.
This is also, in all probability, wbat the
Syr, translator intended by _«A.I\,o A.i£.
But though iTTiai;!; is found in six MSS.
has been in eight more originally, and
is the reading of two early editions, one
of which is the Soncin. of 1486, it is
not sufHciently supported to warrant its
adoption into the text. The Targ.
Abul-walid, Jarchi, Abenezra, Kimcbi,
Munster, Piscator, Leo Juda, Junius,
Tremellius, Boothroyd, Rosenmuller,
Maurer, and Gesenius, support the tex
tual reading, and render congregate.
This decidedly agrees better with the
following '3 nip;. Instead of returning
to Jehovah, the Israelites assembled
before their idols to propitiate them by
sacrifices, in order to obtain a fruitful
harvest. Lee renders, they become with
drawn, withdraw themselves, i. e. for
idolatrous purposes. To mark more
strongly the atrociousness of tbeir apo
stasy, '3, " against rae," is employed,
instead of 'app, "from rae," the prepo
sition that otherwise follows tid, which
is frequently used of apostasy frora God
to idolatrous practices. The whole
phrase is in this case best rendered by
rebel against, as in our common version.
15. td; does not signify to bind, but
to chastise or instruct. The LXX.

instead of rendering the last words of
the preceding verse, or rather, perhaps,
confounding both verbs, have inaide-v-
6r)a-av. Pococke's Arab. MSS. (jl.
' " - itM. Those whose character is here
described, had been instructed not only
by words, but also in a more severe
manner, by the judgments whicb had
been inflicted upon tbem ; but that the
former kind of instruction is meant,
seems clear from the phrase njTl p-in, to
strengthen the arm, i. e. to impart
strength or power for the perforraance
of any undertaking. Comp. Ezek. xxx.
24, 25, where both the impartation and
the deprivation of such power are men
tioned. Wbat the S'i, ev'il, or wickedness
was, which they cogitated, is not speci
fied ; but it most likely consisted in
some new idolatrous alliance, such as
that with Egypt, referred to in the next
verse. LXX. novrjpd ; Targ. Jtti'a, evil

16. b^ iib lai*, " convertunt se ad non-
summum, i. e. ad non-deum, cohect. non-
deos, i.e. ad deos fictos, vanos." Maurer.
'Thus also Gesen. in voc. bV. Comp. for
the use of this idiom, Is. x. 15, note,
Hosea, who is fond of brevity, uses
here and chap. xi. 7, ''?, instead of the
longer form ]i'^». Most High. Kametz
is used instead of Patach, on account of
the accent. Arab. Ac, alius, excelsus
fuit, to be high in dignity, [Jic, alius.
Pococke's Arab. MS, in chap. xi. 7,
JU!!; Syr. ]m.^'\, God; one of De
Rossi's MSS, b^. What the apostate

44

HOSEA.

[chap. viu.

On account of the insolence of their language :
This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

Israelites worshipped, so far frora being
the Most High, was tbe direct opposite
— wood or stone, tbe produce of tbe
earth. The LXX. dnea-Tpd(pr]a-av eis
ovSev, and Syr. j] V^ anSaiZ)
•^O^^, to the same effect, though giving
the sense rather than an exact trans
lation. The Latin translation of the
Syr. nulla de causa, is quite erroneous.
Most moderns, less aptly, take bs in its
adverbial acceptation, and render, they
return not upwards ; which yields, how
ever, nearly the same meaning. Thus
Rosenmiiller, Winer, Manger, Stuck,
and others, Newcorae's conjectural
emendation, b"S':^ ^b, that which cannot
profit, has not been approved ; while
the translation of Dathe, Pcen'iteni'iam
agunt, sed non sinceram, though approved
by Kuinoel, Tingstadius, and others, is
not borne out by Hebrew usage, ntfp.
njp'i sorae render a stack bow, supposing
that its inutility, owing to the absence of
elasticity, is what is intended ; but false
or deceitful better suits the connexion.

and Ps. lxxviii. 57; and the reference
is to something faulty in the construction
of the bow, which causes it to shoot or
throw out the arrow wide of the mark.

Root HOT, Arab.

uT^'

jecit, prcyecit;

io throw, shoot, &c. There seems no
ground for the opinion of Gesenius,
that the phrase is used poetically for
treacherous bowmen, wbo feign fight in
order to deceive. The Israelites hypo
critically pretended to turn to Jehovah,
but their actions took a different di
rection, Corap, njp'i -^tbb, a deceitful
tongue, Ps, cxx. 2, 3. The insolence
(Aq. and Symm. epfiplpr]<nv,) of the'ir
language doubtless consisted in their
proud boast of Egypt as a source of
protection from the Assyrian invasion,
which God was about to bring upon
them. D»b, their derision, i, e, the
subject of derision to the Egyptians, to
whom they should in vain apply for
help. Corap. 2 Kings xvii. 4 ; Is. xxx.
1 — 7, though the latter passage is im
mediately directed against a contempo
raneous application on the part of the
Jews,

CHAPTER VIII.

The prophet announces the sudden irruption of the Assyrians, 1 ; by whom the
Israelites were to be puni.shed, on account of their hypocrisy and apostasy, 2,3;
their illegitimate government, and their idolatry, 4, He then exposes the folly of
their idolatrous confidence, and predicts their captivity, 5 — 10 ; remonstrates with
tbem for their devotion to tbe worship of idols, in opposition to the express and
nuraerous prohibitions of the evil contained in the divine law, 11, 12; and
insists tbat their pretended service of Jehovah, while in reahty they forgot him,
so far from being of any avail io thera, would only bring destruction upon
them, 13, 14.

chap.

viii.]

HOSEA.

45

Put the trumpet to thy mouth :
" Like an eagle against the house of Jehovah ;"
For they have .transgressed my covenant,
They have rebelled against my law.
They may cry to me : " O my God ;
We — Israel — acknowledge thee."
Israel hath rejected what is good ;
The enemy shall pursue him.
They made kings, hut it was not from me ;

1, It is not unsual for the prophets,
without naming the invading foe, to
announce his approach. See Is, xiii, 2,
The words TBiB lirr^w, to thy palate the
trumpet ! are singularly abrupt, and in
dicate the suddenness of the threatened
invasion, '^n, palate, is here, as Job
xxxi, 30, Prov, viii. 7, put for the mouth,
Comp, chap, v. 8, The LXX, (els
KoXnov avrmv <os -yfj) appear to have
read TBS3 Dpn bif, which makes no sense,
'The following words nin; n'r";? T\ti33,
which contain the announcement, are
equally abrupt, Tbe point of compa
rison is the rapidity of flight for which
the eagle is celebrated, and which is
frequently employed to denote the speedy
approach of an enemy, Comp, Deut,
xxviii. 49; Jer, iv, 13, xlviii, 40; Lam,
iv. 19. nir^ n's, the house of Jehovah,
cannot here mean the temple at Jeru
salem, which is otherwise so designated,
since the threatenings are specially de
nounced against the kingdom of the ten
tribes. It raust, therefore, be taken to
denote the people of Israel, the whole
nation viewed as the family or church
of God. Comp. chap, ix, 15 ; Numb.
xii, 7 ; Heb. iii. 2 ; just as the christian
church is called the house of God, 1 Tim.
iii, 15, and of Christ, Heb, iii. 6, For
'mi n3», comp, chap, vi. 7, The nomi
native to 1T3», ihey have transgressed, is
nirr n'3, the family, i, e, the members of
the church, of Jehovah. The IsraeUtes
had violated the obligations of the theo
cracy. n'T3 and nrin are synonymous,
2. 1P5V is the future used potentially,
and not without irony. 'n''H, " O my
God," is construed as a distributive with
the plural verb — each of the persons
spoken of being regarded as using tbe
language. Inattention to this has led

the Syrian translator to render, .(ji2^
0 our God. ^NTip;, Israel, is in appo
sition with 1ia»T, we acknowledge thee,
and not the norainative to ipsv, from
which it is too far removed. It is en
tirely omitted in the LXX, Syr. and
Arab, as it is in one of Kennicott's
MSS., and originally in one of De Rossi's.
''Wip; 'n''.«, O God of Israel, tbe con
jecture of Houbigant, is unnecessary.
The present position of tbe word is more
in keeping with the style of Hosea, and
the use of it well agrees with the vain
confidence which tbe unbelieving Is-
raelities were ever prone to place in
their relation to the patriarchs,
3, nai, Arab. ^:, corruptum fuit et
fcetuit, to .be corrupt, loathsome, and io
reject as such. To treat as loathsome
what was truly excellent, such as the
worship of God and tbe practice of re
ligion, argued an awfully depraved state
of moral feeling. The use of ^!iW|,
Israel, finely contrasts with that made
of it in the preceding verse. 3iP, good,
is, by Jerome, Abenezra, Kimchi, and
others, taken for God himself, wbo is
described as 3'api 3iiD, good and doing
good, Ps. cxix, 68, Deum summum
bonum. OEcolampadius, It seems, how
ever, to be used in a more general
acceptation. Before 3:'iN tbere is an
ellipsis of the illative pJ, Forty-seven
of De Rossi's MSS, and two more by
correction ; eight of the most ancient,
and sixty-two other editions; the Syr.
Vulg. and Targ, read ib'tt; instead of
IB'TII, exhibited in the Textus Receptus,
See De Rossi's Scholia Critica,
4. Sorae think the kings and princes
here referred to were Shallum, Menahem,

46

HOSEA.

[chap. viii.

They set up princes, but I acknowledged them not :
Of their silver and their gold they have made for themselves idols,
In order that they may be cut off.
Thy calf, 0 Samaria ! is abominable ;
Mine anger burneth against them :
How long shall they be incapable of purity .'
For it came from Israel,

Pekahiah, Pekah, Hoshea, and such of
their partizans as were invested with
authority ; but frora the allusions raade
in the following verses to the origination
of image worship in Israel, it is raore
probable that the entire series of Is
raelitish kings and rulers is intended.
Though in the providence of God, and
agreeably to the declaration of Ahiah
the prophet, the ten tribes revolted from
the house of David, and set up a sepa
rate and independent kingdora, yet they
were actuated merely by rebellious mo
tives, and had no regard to a divine
sanction, 1 Kings xi. 31 — 39, xii. 20.
BT signifies not only io knou), but also
io approve of that which is known,
regard, allow, own. Job ix. 21, xxxiv.
4 ; Ps. i. 6, el freq. LXX. Kal ovk
* 7 P
eyvdpia-av poi. Syr. w^jaii>o| Uo
and did not acquaint me, i. e. held no cora
munications with me upon the subject,
'The Heb. however, will not bear this
interpretation. 1 in both cases before
«'', bas the force of a relative, which
must either be adopted in translation, or
the personal pronoun must be supplied.
For their conversion of their silver and
gold into idols, comp. chap. ii. 8. ]-so)
does not appear ever to be taken in a re
trospective sense, and so to be referred
to what goes before, but is always used
with direct reference to what follows.
n'13; |S'P'j is, therefore, to be rendered,
in order ihat they may be cut off ; not
so thai they shall, &c. Comp. Jer. vii.
10, xliv. 8. In all such cases the pre
position is employed to give peculiar
emphasis to the subject. The Israelites
could not seriously, or in reality, have
intended their own destruction, but they
acted as if tbey had ; and it would
assuredly overtake tbem. The nomi
native to nTs; may either be Israel,
understood; or it may have respect to
the people collectively.

5. The calf of Samaria was not any
set up in that city, but tbat set up at
Bethel with another at Dan, or both, if
we take the noun as a collective, wbich
its inhabitants, and tbose of the country
generally, worshipped. The metropolis
appears to be used here by synecdoche
for tbe whole land occupied by the ten
tribes ; but, at tbe same tirae, there can
be little doubt that its inhabitants were
pre-erainent in their devotion to idolatry.
nai is used in its priraary acceptation, to
be loathsome, abominable. See on ver. 3.
Such construction is preferable to that
which would make ^?s the accusative
to nai, assuming rnn; understood to be
the norainative, or that in our common
version, wbich makes it the nominative,
and Samaria in its pronorainal reference
tbe accusative. The introduction of the
worship of the golden calves by J eroboam,
in iraitation of that of Apis, at Memphis,
and of Mnevis, at Heliopolis, which he
must bave seen during his residence in
Egypt, paved the way for the iraitation
and adoption of the gross idolatries
practised by the Phoenicians, Syrians,
and Chaldeans, irin; f]« nrn, the anger
of Jehovah burneth, is an anthropopathic
mode of expression of frequent occur
rence in the Hebrew Scriptures, denoting
the unconquerable opposition of God to
all raoral evil, and the severity of the
punishment with which it is visited.
D3, against ihem, i. e. the Israelites who
worshipped the golden calves, «'' 'nn"T?
ffpi i''3i', how long shall they be incapable
of purity ? i. e, how long shall they be
obstinately attached to the impure service
of idols, and reject the means by which
they might be recovered from its stain
and punishment.
6. The golden calf had its origin in
Israel : it was not made by any of the
surrounding idolaters. The 1 in Nin^ is
emphatic, n'n; Q'33i|j, shall be or become
fiames, i. e. shall be burnt, D'33ip is a

CIIAP, V

(•III,]

HOSEA.

The carpenter made it ;
It is not God :
Surely the calf of Samaria shall become flames.
Because they have sown wind,
They shall reap the whirlwind.
They shall have no stalk ;
The growth shall produce no grain ;
Should it peradventure produce it,
Strangers shall swallow it up.
Israel is swallowed up ;
They are now among the nations,
Like a vessel in which is no delight.
For they went up to Assyria,
Like a solitary wild ass :
Ephraim hath given the hire of love.

a-na^ Xey. and has no root in Heb. ; but
comp. tbe Arab, i- -.'^ accendit ignem,
t- - " ¦'¦'¦; ardor, fiamma. As the calf
was made by man, so it should hy man
be converted into fuel for the flames. It
consisted, in all probability, of wood,
thickly overlaid with gold. When taken
as a present to the king of Assyria, (see
chap. X. 6,) instead of being worshipped
or held in respect, it would be stripped
of the gold, and consigned to the flames.
The LXX. foUowed by the Arab. Horsley,
and Newcorae, improperly translate '3
!!NTip»P, ev Ta '\crpa-f\X, (JoIjwjI J, ««
Israel, and join the words to those of the
preceding verse.
7. nnBiD is the emphatic forra of nEiD,
a tornado, whirlwind. Leo Juda, mag
num turbidem. Corap. tinQ'«, Exod. xv.
16 ; nnsiiB), Ps. iii. 3. The nominative
to i'' is bvrito) understood ; but it is best
to take it collectively, in harmony with
the plural of the preceding verbs.
Observe the paronomasia in '^3 nps
np|-nto?2. The Israelites should be
unsuccessful in all their undertakings ;
and whatever partial gains they might
acquire, would be eagerly seized by the
Assyrians. 8. What Hosea had just foretold is

here realized in prophetic vision. He
sees them in a state of exile — the objects
of contempt to their oppressors. Comp.
Jer. xxii. 28.
9, 10. n5», to go up, is elsewhere used
of foreigners coming to the land of
Israel ; but is here employed with sin
gular propriety of the Israelites going
to Assyria, to intimate tbeir depressed
condition, and their acknowledgment of
the superiority of the Assyrian power.
The reference is not to their going into
captivity, but to the embassy wbich tbey
sent for the purpose of obtaining aid
from that quarter. tuSn stands for nTii!}«,
the n of direction being oraitted. The
point of comparison in the " wild ass"
is his untractableness, and his disposition
to take his own way, in consequence of
which he forsakes the society of others,
and loves the solitariness of the desert.
See Job xxxix. 5 — 8. Thus it was with
Israel. Despite of all the counsels and
warnings given them by the prophets,
they persisted in entering into foreign
alliances, nan, to give presents, hire, &c.
is purposely chosen, to convey the idea
of a violation of the marriage contract
by unlawful coramerce with another
party — the derivatives janM and rians,
properly denoting a gift or reward given
to a whore. See on chap, ii, 12. The
aggravation of the evil is signified by
representing the female as offering these

HOSEA.

[chap. VIII.

1 0 Yet though they have hired among the nations,
I will now gather them ;
And they shall suffer in a little
By reason of the tribute of the king of princes.

rewards to her paramours to induce
tbem to coramit lewdness, instead of her
being prevailed upon by presents made
by thera. Corap. Ezek. xvi. 33, 34.
Though in Hiphil, the verb has here the
sarae signification as in Kal, D''3!7S, lit.
loves, a plural not in use in English,
Jerome, who renders, numera dederunt
amatoribus, either read D'3rj«, which is
found in one of De Rossi's MSS., or he
took D'3nM in a concrete sense, as our
translators appear to have done, for
whicb tbere is no necessity. Instead of
ian' at tbe beginning of ver. 10, two of
De Rossi's MSS. tbe LXX. Syr, Vulg.
Targ. and Arab, read ian;, as if frora pa ;
according to which, the Israelites are
represented as delivered over io, or
placed in the power of the nations.
The fifth Greek version, however, has
dXXd Kal orav pKrOanT-qrai 'e6vr}, which
is preferable, as it is most likely that the
prophet repeated the verb he had just
used, and as the other rendering is less
suited to tbe connexion, nns, now, i. e.
shortly. Comp. lOBO imraediately after.
The suffix in DS3iJ>», " I will collect
them," belongs to D'ian, the nations, and
not to the nominative to ian;, or the Is
raelites, y3J7 is used in Piel in a bad as
well as in a good sense. Corap. Ezek,
xvi. 37. Thus Kimchi and Abarbanel,
Instead of affording any assistance, the
Assyrians would be collected against the
apostate Israelites, invade their land,
and carry them into captivity. Into
that state of suffering, imposed upon
them by tbe king of Assyria, they were
shortly to be brought, as a punishment
for their idolatrous desertion of the true
worship of God. D''ito '^^p stepp i£»p iVnji
has been variously interpreted. Ge
senius renders, "and they (the hostile
nations,) shall presently set them free
from the burden of the king, i. e. from
his oppressive yoke;" but without any
suitable sense — the whole passage being
of a comminatory naiure, and not pro
missory of good, ''nn, the Hipb. of ''bn,
has nowhere the signification of locsing

or setting free. Nor is there any pro
priety in taking it in the usual sense of
beginning, and so construing it with BSD,
as if the latter word were the infinitive
of the verb taso, to be diminished. The
ancient versions refer to ''in, as the
root, in the sense of wailing, desisting
from, &c. LXX. Konda-ovcri. Symm,
pevovcriv. Theod. 8i.a\ei-^ova-i. Syr.
.n,.i / A <. Vulg, quiescent. And in
tbis reference I concur, especially as ten
MSS. and forty-four editions, read i''n;i
without the Dagesb in the Lamed : only
I would abide by the signification, to be
in pain, affdiciion, which is that given to
the verb in our coraraon version. Such
construction alone suits the connexion.
By sorae Q'rto i|^p are considered to be
an instance of asyndeton; and twenty-
one MSS. and originally ten more, the
LXX, Aq, Syr. Vulg. Targ. and Talm.
Babyl. supply the copulative i before
cito. So Kimchi, Mercer, Piscator.
Grotius, Houbigant, Dathe, Michaelis,
Kuinoel, Newcome, Tingstadius, It
has been doubted, however, whether,
according to this resolution of the word,
they should be referred to the native
king and princes, or to those of Assyria.
Some, as Maurer, take them to be the
nominative to l^nj, and make the sense
end with «tep, the burden or tribute, sup
posing the heavy taxes imposed by the
Israelitish rulers to be intended. The
best sense is brought out by reading
D''ito 'tjJd in construction, the king of
princes, and applying tbe phrase to the
king of Assyria, whio had many kings
and princes subject to his swaj'. Comp,
Is. X. 8. Thus Pococke's Arabic MS.,
Leo Juda, Drusius, Jun. and Tremel.,
Piscator, Eichhorn, Boeckel, Goldwitzer,
Hitzig, and Ewald, The «tep, burden,
was the tribute exacted by Menahem,
and paid to Pul, amounting to a thousand
talents of silver, 2 Kings xv. 19 — 22.
Corap. «tep f]p3, tribute money, 2 Chron.
xvii. 11.

CHAP, VIII.]

HOSEA.

49

11

12

13

When Ephraim multiplied altars to sin,
They became to him altars to sin.
I may prescribe for him the nuraerous things of my law ;
They are treated as a strange thing.
As for my sacrificial offerings.
They sacrifice flesh and eat it ;
Jehovah accepteth them not :
He will speedily remember their iniquity,
And will punish their sin :
They shall return to Egypt.

11. By multiplying altars, in oppo
sition to the express prohibition, Deut.
xii. 13, 14, the Ephraimites not only
contracted great guilt, but paved the
way for the introduction of other sins,
Syr. j^T ]-7i A ti« >i- "d crimen ingens.
There is an easy but beautiful variation
in the repetition of tbe words. As used
the second time, Kion possesses consi
derable emphasis. Comp. for a similar
instance of varied repetition, Is. xxvii. 5.
It shows bow much the mind of the
prophet was affected by the wickedness
of his people. Sorae suppose that there
is a play upon the double meaning of
OTn as signifying io sin, and to be
punished for sin, just as our Lord uses
viKpoi in two senses. Matt. viii. 22 ; but
the second signification cannot attach to
the verb in this connexion.
12. 31B?N, Keri 3ro«, is continuative
and potential, and is equivalent to, I
have prescribed, I still prescribe by ray
prophets, and I raay go on prescribing;
it will be of no avail. Keri '?t. in many
MSS. '3n, the plural of 3t," which is
properly the infinitive of 33T, to be great,
numerous, &c. Here tbe idea of number
is evidently designed to express the
abundant provisions God bad made in
his written law, and its enforcement by
the prophets, against the commission of
idolatry. According to the Chetbiv i3T,
we should render, " I may prescribe to
him my laws by myriads ;" Ewald, by
thousands ; Hitzig, by ten thousands.
The Syr. iJffiaiiOJj (i^jOffi. Targ.
'n;™ ni'ao. Vulg. multiplices leges meas.

Pococke's Arab. MS.

uf^y^

s.jkc.

Aq. nXtjdvpevovs vopovs. Symm. nXfj-
Sos vopwv /iou. D'i?n, statutes, are un
derstood. 3iSn signifies not only to think,
regard. Sec, but also to treat in a
manner corresponding to the estimation
iu wbicb a person or thing is held.
Tanchura, jj| ^_^ iH^ \j^^Asi_
XM <JOjJ il, they reject them like a
strange thing to which no regard is

13. '3n3n '1731 form the nominative ab
solute. '3n3n, my gifts or offerings, i. e.
such as tliey professedly offer to me.
The word is contracted for 'anan;, and is
derived from jrp, to give. It seems
preferable to abide by this usual signi
fication of tbe verb, which it bas likewise
in Aramaic, Arabic, and Ethiopic, than
to follow Kimchi, who refers the noun
to a root 3n3n, to which he assigns the
signification to burn, scorch, roast ; or
Ewald, who, appealing to the Chald.
3n3n, and the Arab. !-_-;>> and i -^las
renders, raw offerings. '3n3n is a more
choice terra for ninm, or nianp. For
the reduplicate form, comp. I3n3n«, chap,
iv. 18 ; which word the LXX. Syr. and
Targ. appear to have followed in this
place ; of which Hitzig seems to approve,
Aq., observant of the gemination, renders,
Ovtrias <j>epe (jjepe 6vaid^ov<nv. Symm.
Bvcrlas enaXXijXovs. Theod. Svaiav
peTa(j)opav edva-laa-av. Jehovah rejected
the sacrifices that were offered, not
H

5U

HOSEA,

[chap, IX.

14 Because Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and built temples.
And Judah hath multiplied fortified cities ;
Therefore will I send a fire into his cities,
And it shall consume the palaces of each.

according to bis own appointment, but to
gratify the carnal appetite of the wor
shippers. Reference is had to the
sacrifices offered to him, as represented
by the golden calf. In dst n'j is a
meiosis. nns, now, is here used in the
sense of speedily, shortly. From the
references made chap. ix. 3, 6, xi. 11, it
is clear that the last clause of the verse
predicts the actual return of a number
of the Israehtes to Egypt, whither, in
all probabihty, they fled when the king
dom was broken up by the Assyrians.
The threatening pointedly reminded
them of the depressed condition in which
their ancestors had been in that country.
Comp. Deut. xxviii. 68. The LXX. add,
Kal ev 'Aaavplots dKaBapra fpdyovrai ;
hut the words are wanting in the Aldine
edition, and in seven MSS. Tbey have
evidently found their way into the text
from chap. ix. 3, where they stand in

accordance with the reading of all the
Heb. MSS.
14. 1 in n3i|)>i marks the protasis; in
'nrtipi the apodosis. The nto'n were
doubtless idolatrous temples erected after
tlie models of those in use among the
Syrians and Phoenicians. See, for the
word, my note on Is. vi. 1. Though
idolatry had not made tbe same progress
in Judah, the inhabitants nevertheless
evinced a want of confidence in Jehovah
by fortifying a number of cities, to which
they trusted for defence. The masculine
suffix in 1'^»3 refers to Judah ; the femi
nine in n'niaOTM to each of the cities,
taken singly. Ewald strangely asserts,
that the words of this verse appear to
have been inserted from some book of
Amos no longer in existence ! Compare,
however, for the latter distich, Jer. xlix.
27; Amos i. 4, 7, 10, 12, 14, ii. 2, 5;
and see note on Araos i. 4.

CHAPTER IX,

'The prophet checks the propensity of the Israelites to indulge in excessive joy on
account of any partial relief from their troubles, 1 ; predicts the failure of the
crops, &c. in consequence of the Assyrian invasion, 2 ; their removal to Egypt
and Assyria, where they should have no opportunity, even if they were inclined,
to serve Jehovah according to their ancient ritual, 3 — 5 ; and the hopelessness
of tbeir returning to enjoy the property tbey had left behind, 6. He then
announces the certain infliction of the divine judgments, and points out the true
character of the false prophets, by whom the people had been led astray to their
ruin, 7, 8. Illustrative references are next made to the early history of the
Hebrew nation, accompanied with appropriate comminations couched in varied
forras, in order to render them more affecting, 9 — 17.

chap. I

X.]

HOSEA.

1 Carry not thy joy, 0 Israel ! to exultation, like the nation.s,
For thou hast lewdly departed from thy God ;
Thou hast loved the hire.
On all the corn floors.
2 Neither the floor nor the vat shall nourish them ;
And the new wine shall fail therein.
3 They shall not dwell in the land of Jehovah,
But Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
And in Assyria, they shall eat what is unclean.

1. 'j'a-''« — npipn-''«, lit. rejoice not io
exultation. Tbe LXX. Syr. Targ. and
Vulg. read ^'3 bvi, exult not; but con
trary to the usus loquendi, which requires
the verb following ''« to be in the future
tense, as Seeker properly observes. Some
find in the comparison "like the nations,"
an imitation of their idolatrous festivities ;
but the language is rather predictive of
the joyless condition to which the Is
raehtes were to be reduced. While those
by whom they vvere surrounded, and
especially their Assyrian invaders, should
indulge in unrestrained mirth, they should
experience affliction and sorrow. There
is most probably a reference to the joy
occasioned by the league entered into
with Pul, by which peace seemed to be
secured. Their joy was to be of short
duration, and therefore required to be
moderate. Instead of D'pss, thirteen
MSS., originally five more, one by cor
rection, and five editions, read D'p»3,
" among the nations," of which Rosen
miiller, following Abarbanel, approves.
The prophet adds the reason why they
should have no cause for exultation' —
their abounding idolatries, by which they
incurred the judgraents of God. Tbese
idolatries tbey carried to such a pitch,
that they erected shrines at their thresh
ing floors, in order to offer at thera the
oblations of their grain. The crops
were considered to have been bestowed
by the idols in corapensation for the
worship rendered to them, (see chap. ii.
5, 12, 13 ;) and are therefore spoken of
as ^ariM, a meretricious reward.
2. For ¦'tins, in reference to the failure
of the productions of the earth, see
Hab. iii. 17. The verb properly signi
fies to lie, deceive. Sec; figuratively, to
fail. Twenty-six MSS., originally six
teen raore, and perhaps two, three

ediiions, with the support of the LXX.
Syr, Targ. and Vulg. read D|, in them,
i. e. them, the Israelites, instead of na,
in her, the received reading. It is,
however, too plainly an emendation to
entitle it to adoption. Nothing is raore
comnion than for our prophet to use first
a plural, and then a singular suffix of
the same subject : according to the rule
laid down by Tanchura, tbat when in a
continued discourse a nation or people
is spoken of, either the feminine affix
agreeing with niB, congregation, or the
masculine agreeing with DS, people, rany
be used ; as also, that the singular may
be used of tbem, viewed as a body, and
the plural, when tbey are regarded as
consisting of distinct individuals. See
in Pococke. At the sarae time it is
better in a translation to render them
alike, as in the ancient versions just
quoted. 3. Canaan was called nin; yTN, the
land of Jehovah, because he had appro
priated it for an inheritance to those
whom be had chosen to be bis peculiar
people. It was his gift to Abraham and
his posterity, (o be enjoyed by thera on
condition of their fidelity in his service.
For this end he attached to it his special
blessing, Deut. xi. 10 — 12. Comp. Jer.
ii. 7, xvi. 18 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 20, The
return to Egypt being here raentioned
in connexion with an exile in Assyria,
proves that it is to be taken literally,
and that it is not designed to express a
servitude sirailar to that of Egypt. See
on chap. viii. 13. The fulfilraeut of this
prediction in the history of the ten
tribes, is nowhere mentioned in Scrip
ture. No doubt the number that fled to
Euypt was small, compared with the
body of the nation carried into the
Assyrian e.xile. By «PP is meant pro-

.52

HOSEA.

[chap. IX,

They shall not pour out wine to Jehov.ili,
Neither shall their sacrifices please hira ;
They shah be to thera as the bread of mourners,
All that eat thereof shall be unclean :
For their bread shah be for themselves ;
It shah not come unto the house of Jehovah.
What will ye do on the day of assembly ?
On the day of Jehovah's festival ?
For, behold ! they go away from destruction.
But Egypt shall gather them, Memphis shall bury them ;
As for their coveted treasuries of money, nettles shall possess them
Thorns shall be in their tents.

hibited food, meats pronounced unclean
by the Mosaic law. Comp. Ezek. iv. 13.
To such necessity should they be reduced
as captives.
4. ^pa is used of the pouring out of
wine for a libation, Gr. crnevheiv, Exod.
xxx. 9. 3TS, properly to mix, mingle,
came to signify sweet, agreeahle, pleasing,
from the circurastance, that what was
pleasant to the taste, often consisted of
mixed ingredients. D'?i« Drt, bread, or
food of sorrows, i. e. such as was eaten
by mourners for tbe dead, and conse
quently regarded as unclean, on account
of the contact in which they were sup
posed to come wllh the dead body. See
Numb. xix. 14, 15, 22; Jer. xvi. 7, 8 ;
Ezek, xxiv. 17 ; Hagg. ii, 12, 13. In
stead of feasting upon the sacrifices as
their fathers had been accustomed to
do, when they slew them according to
the law, which was always an occasion
of joy, they should be placed in circura
stances in wbich no such sacrifices could
be offered, and no such feasts enjoyed.
Their food should all be coraraon —
D^ipa'?, for their soul or life, i. e. raerely
for its sustenance ; not fit to be pre
sented to the Lord. Tbus Schraidius,
Grotius, and others.
5. In captivity they would find it ira
possible to observe their solemn feasts —
a great aggravation of their punishraent.
Comp. chap. ii. 11. The exposition of
Jarchi, Abenezra, Kimcbi, Mercer,
Capito, and others, according to which,
the day of punishraent, represented
under the idea of sacrifice, is raeant,
cannot be sustained.

6. The prophet here specially de
scribes those Israelites who should take
alarm at the invasion of tbe country by
the Assyrians, and flee for safety into
Egypt. They iraagined that their stay
there would only be temporary ; but it
is predicted that they sh.ould no more
return to tbeir possessions, and be buried
in their fathers' sepulchres, but should
die in the land, and have their interment
among the muramies of Egypt. For
Memphis, as the great necropolis of that
country, see my note on Isaiah xix. 13,
y3ij, to gather, is here used in reference
to the reraoval of the soul at deatli into
tbe world of spirits, and is equivalent to
F]D«3, Numb. XX. 26, or the full phrases
iJ3»-''« rjDNa, and i'ni3«-''N f]DMa, to he
gathered io one's people or fathers,
which is always spoken of as something
different frora death and burial. Comp.
Jer. viii. 2 ; Ezek. xxix. 5, in which
latter passage f]PM, and ^3(7^ are used as
synonymes. According to the signi
fication of tbe cognate Arab. verb.
wiOi. cepit, apprehendit manu rem, it
conveys the idea of God's taking away
the soul. Hence the phrase aDi (Liti'
mortuus est, literally, God tools him; and
ij£M> simply, mortuus est (ad Dei mise-
ricordiam delatus). Freytag. When it
is said that Egypt should gather and
Memphis bury the Israelitish fugitives,
tbe meaning is that they should be re
moved out of tbis world, and that their
bodies should be buried there. The

chap, IX.]

HOSEA.

53

The days of punishment are come,
The days of retribution are come ;
Israel shall know it :
The prophet is foolish,
The man of the spirit is frantic.
Because of the greatness of thy punishraent,
And because the provocation is great.

personification is employed, as usual,
for the sake of effect. Tpnp, desire,
covetousness ; that which is the object of
desire, what is covetable, coveted, from
Tpn, to desire, covet. As the verb DtoT;
has a plural suffix, tbis noun is bere to
be taken as a collective, and rendered
in tbe plural. The idea of treasury is
supplied by the connexion. f)D3 is used
generally of money, as in most other
places, when 3ni, gold, is not combined
with it. Targ. linpps nipn n'3, the house
of their desirable money. Symra. rd
iniBvprjpara tov dpyvplov avrav.
Others, less aptly, explain the words of
houses, palaces, &c. adorned with silver.
On leaving those treasures which they
could not carry with them, the Israelites
would naturally bury tbem in the earth,
which accounts for tbe very significant
phrase, " the nettles shall inherit them."
For the corabination iiiin'i? or iiiini? and
nin, comp. Is. xxxiv. 13. The whole
verse is miserably translated by the
LXX,
7, nTJB, visitation, punishment. Corap.
Is. X. 3;' 1 Pet ii. 12. wt, shall know
experimentally. By the N'3a is obviously
to be understood in this place, the false
prophet or prophets by whom the people
of tbe ten tribes were seduced frora the
right worship of Jehovah, who taught
them to worship tbe golden calves, and
otherwise encouraged them in their idol
atrous practices. Thus Pococke's Arab.
MS. jiyu ctiXjl, he that pretends to
prophecy ; and Kimcbi, Tp\H 'n'33, lying
prophets. With this, the phrase nnn i2j'«,
ihe man of the Spirit, is synonyraous ;
one pretending to inspiration, or pro
fessing to deliver oracles under tbe in
fluence of a divine effiatus. LXX.
avBpanos d nvevparocjidpos. Syr,
\Lbj <n5 JA^-ij ^t'^\v '^* *"""

that is clothed, or endued with the spirit,
only adding, by way of explanation, but
o .>. r>
erroneously, \LQ^h,^>< of folly. Comp.
Mic. ii. 11, nn Tj^h iii'M; 1 Cor. xiv. 37,
ei Tiff hoKeX npofjirJTTjs etvat rj nvevpa-
TiKos ; 2 Pet, i. 21, ijtto nveilparos
dyiov <pepdpevoi ; and see ray Lectures
on Divine Inspiration, p. 25. S?|i?JP,
insane, frantic ; Arab, vs!-", locutus
fuit rhyihmice, to speak in an irapas-
sioned raanner, like an inspired poet;
hence, frora the violence of the gesti
culations, tones, &c., to act like u mad
man, to be mad, insane. Comp. Jer,
xxix. 26, where wifip si's and «3anp are
synonyraous. The meaning is, that the
pretenders to inspiration, by whose false
predictions of uninterrupted prosperity
the people had been deluded, should be
convicted of folly, and reduced to a state
of absolute frenzy by the infliction of
the divine judgments upon tbe nation.
Hosea introduces this declaration re
specting the Israelitish prophets paren
thetically, thereby giving force to his
own prediction of impending calaraity.
Tbe affix in ?i;i?> refers to bvr«g\, to whom
the prophet turns in the way of direct
address. fS raeans here, not tbe crime,
but its punishment. Corap. for this
signification of the term. Is. v, 18, and
my note there. In naTi subaud. '3,
because. The adjective n|T, is here
placed before its substantive for the sake
of eraphasis, SeeonIs.liii.il. From
the use of Dpto in the sense of hating,
e-oincing hostility, &c., there can be little
doubt that the derivative nPEipp, which
occurs only in tbis and the following
verse, has the signification of hostility,
provoking conduct, provocation. That
of snare or trap, which Gesenius assigns
to it, is not borne out, even by tbe

54

HOSEA,

[ch.

8 Ephraira expecteth help from my God ;
The prophet is a fowler's snare in all his ways ;
The cause of provocation in the house of his god,
9 They have deeply corrupted theraselves,
As in the days of Gibeah ;
He will remeraber their iniquity,
He will punish their sins.
10 I found Israel, like grapes in the desert ;
Like the first early fruit of the fig tree, at its comraenceraent,

Syriac SQ.^fl), which signifies vinxit,
compedivit, hut not to ensnare. Comp.
the Arab. iOawj, acies gladii ; acutiores
et fervidiores hominum. LXX. pavla;
Aq. iyKocrrja-ts ; AXX. eVo-raeris ; all of
which convey tbe idea of great excite
ment, and yield support to the interpre
tation I have given. Tbe idolatrous
practices of the Israelites are meant, by
whicb they provoked tbe righteous in
dignation of Jehovah.
8. D;^EN nsis, are not in construction,
and to be rendered as in most versions,
" the watchman of Ephraim," to justify
whicb construction various modes of
exegesis have been resorted to ; among
others that of Horsley, who would have
tbe watchman to be Elijah. Nor can
tbe rendering of Ewald be sustained,
who gives the passage, Ein Spdher ist
Ephraim gegen mein Gott. " Ephraim
is a spy against ray God." When D»
signifies against, it follows verbs of
more active import. E. schaut nach
Weissagungen aus neben meinem Gott;
" Ephraim looks for prophecies besides
my God," — the rendering of Hitzig, is
equally objectionable. I quite agree
with Gesenius and Lee, in assigning to
nas in tbis place the signification of
looking out, expecting, as in Ps. v. 4 ;
Lam. iv. 17, in Piel. DS, with, is used
elliptically for DSp, from with, i. e. from.
A similar ellipsis undeniably occurs Job
xxvii. 13. bvrws BtiT DTN-p^n ni, this is
ihe portion of a wicked man from (D?,
with,') God, as appears, not only frora
the synonymous phrase 'T*SP, " from the
Almighty," in the corresponding hemi
stich, but from the actual use of jp,
from, in the parallel passage, chap. xx.

29, What the prophet asserts is, that
the Ephraimites indulged in expectations
of good from Jehovah, notwithstanding
their dereliction of his worship in its
pure and legitimate forms, and their
adoption of the idolatrous practices of
the heathen around them. In this they
were encouraged by the false prophets,
who caught them by tbeir ensnaring
doctrines, as is declared immediately
after, npipipp is here used in tbe same
acceptation as in the preceding verse,
only there is a metonymy of the effect
for the cause. By vn''.« n'a, " the house
of his god," is not meant the temple or
people of the true God, but the temple
or temples in wbich the false worship
was performed, which the prophets here
reprobated were specially active in pro
moting. 9. inniS lp"P»n, an instance of the con-
structio asyndeta. The forraer of the
two verbs is to be rendered adverbially.
For its use before infinitives, see on
chap. v'. 2. Mercer, " Quam corruptis-
siini sunt." inrrai may either be taken
intransitively, or Dn>3TiTj Dn'nW!?, or the
like, must be supplied. So great was
the depravity evinced by those whose
conduct the prophet here describes, that
it could only be paralleled by the
atrocity of the inhabitants of Gibeah,
specified Judges xix. 22 — 30.
10. b^-i<D\, Israel, bere means the an
cestors of Ibe Hebrew nation. It has
been asked, " How could God be said to
find the Hebrews in tbe wilderness,
since he conducted tbem into it from
Egypt?" To leniove the difficulty, some
very unwarrantably explain the wilder
ness of Egypt itself; but others connect
T3Tp3 D'33S3, tike grapes in ihe desert,
and explain NSn of finding by experience,

chap.

IX.]

HOSEA,

66

11

12

I regarded your fathers ;
But they came to Baal-peor,
And separated themselves to the object of shame ;
They became abominable, hke the object of their love.
As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away, like a bird ;
There shall be no birth, no womb, no conception.
Yea, though they should rear their children,
I would take them away from among men ;
But woe to them ! when I depart frora them.

trial, &c. Such they were, proved them
selves to be in my judgment. And this
seems to be the proper division and in
terpretation of the words. At the sarae
time T3'TO yT«3 «sp occurs in reference
to the same subject, Deut. xxxii. 10,
where the verb must be taken in the
sense of reaching with sufficient aid,
Comp. the Eth, 0«R'J\ : venit; Arab.
l.«ao. perduxil, tractavit, negotium ; and
chap. xiii. 5 ; Jer. xxxi. 2. The point
of comparison in the verse is the delight
with which a traveller enjoys grapes
found in a desert, in which they were
unexpected, and where they served most
opportunely to quench his thirst ; or the
early fig, which is accounted a great
delicacy in the East. When Jehovah
entered into covenant with the people of
Israel at Sinai, they were regarded by
hira with delight, being free from idol
atry, and engaging to adhere to his
service, Corap. chap. xi. 1 ; Jer. xxxi. 3.
The scene, however, was soon charged.
nan, illi, these very persons. At Baal-
peor, they proved faithless, and indulged
in the very atrocities of which tbeir
posterity were guilty in the days of the
prophet. For the transactions referred
to, see Nurab. xxv. 1 — 5. Priapism,
which Hosea justly characterises as in
the highest degree abominable, was the
worship peculiarly acceptable to the god
of Peor. See Calmet and Winer in
voc. — Tia signifies io separate oneself
from any person or thing, and also,
followed by '^, to separate or devote
oneself to some religious object. Hence
the substantive Tia, a Nazarite ; Tia
consecration, ntoa is the abstract for
the concrete, and denotes the obscene

or shameful idol wbich the Moabites
worshipped. D'SiiTti, lit. abominations,
but used here adjectively, loathsome,
abominable. DartN is properly the sub
stantive, 3ni< — the points being changed
on account of the suffix. Vulg. facti
sunt abominabiles sicut ea, quse di-
lexerunt. The Hebrews became as
aborainable as the impure idol whose
rites they celebrated, yipic Nin yipit) T3lSn,
he that serveth an abomination, is him
self an abomination. Kimchi's MS. note
in Pococke.
11, 12, d;t?ih, Ephraim, is of the
nominative absolute, whicii gives pro
minence to the name, and its signifi
cation. As for Ephraim, (D'TW, from
nrs, to be fruitful. Gen. xii. 5'i,) sucb
raay be his narae, but, &c. Ti33, glory,
is in contrast with nto3, shame, in the
preceding verse. The lewd and idol
atrous conduct of the Israelites should
raeet with a fit retribution. Instead of
having an increase of children, that
raight grow up and becorae the glory of
the land, those who might now be ac
counted such should speedily be removed
into Assyria, and there would be nothing
but sterility to characterise the nation.
The preposition o, prefixed to the three
last substantives, is privative in signi
fication. ]^|, womb, stands here for
pregnancy, or for the foetus in the womb.
The order of the words presents an
instance of the gradatio inversa. DTNp,
among men, as 'JpN D'siap ''Ston, " thy
mother shall be childless omoM^' women,"
1 Sam. XV. 33. Ewald and Hitzig
translate 'Tito?, u-he7i I look away from
them, contending that we should read to
instead of to ; but no MS. is thus pointed,
and the present punctuation is so far
supported by the LXX. (j; a-dp^ po-0,

56

HOSEA.

[chap.

IX,

13

14

15

16

I see Ephraim, like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place ;
But Ephraim shall bring out his children to the murderer.
Give them, O Jehovah ! — what wilt thou give ?
Give them a miscarrying womb, and dry breasts.
All their wickedness is in Gilgal ;
Surely I have hated them there :
On account of the wickedness of their deeds,
I have driven them out of my house ;
I will love thera no more :
All their princes are rebels.
Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up ;
They shall produce no fruit :

i. e. 'Ttoa), Aq. Vulg. and Targ. Three
MSS. and one edit, bave 'tid?, to which
'"jitoa is doubtless here equivalent. Many
instances occur of the substitution of to
for D, and vice versd. The meaning is,
when I withdraw my protection frora
thera ; no longer showing thera any
favour, but dehvering thera over to their
enemies. For the abortive attempt of
Lyra to prove a corruption of tbe passage
by the Jews, and to palm upon the ren
dering of the LXX. tJ adp^ pov e^
a-vrav, tbe doctrine of the incarnation
of tbe Messiah, see Pococke.
13. After D'tBm supply 'O'nt, from tbe
following Tis|' 'n'«T Tto«3. Though nwT
coramonly governs the accusative, yet,
in Ps. lxiv. 6, it is followed as here by
the dative, without any difference of
signification. LXX. eis Srjpav, reading
TIS, instead of Tis. Aq. Symm. aKpo-
Topov ; Theod. nerpav ; Arnoldi, and
after hira Hitzig, would derive Tis frora
the Arab. .yO, as signifying the Palra ;
but it only signifies the root of that tree,
or describes it as small in size, an ac
ceptation which would ill suit the present
connexion. Ewald renders, Bild, image
or likeness. The point of comparison is
the beautiful situation of Tyre. See
Ezek. xxvii. 3, xxviii. 12, 13. The
notion of planting seems to have been
suggested by tbe name of Ephraim.
See on the preceding verse. The ter
ritory occupied by that tribe, and several
of the other nine, was distinguished for
its beauty and fertility ; and tbe pro
sperity of its inhabitants, wbo traded

extensively with the Phcenician ports,
was only surpassed by Tyre herself.
Yet tbe fruit of this lovely region was
only to be produced in order to its being
destroyed. The inhabitants were to be
slain in great nurabers with the sword.
The '' before the infinitive in «'3irt, is
future in signification, indicating what
was about to be, or would be done.
14. These words strongly mark the
effect produced upon the mind of the
prophet by the contemplation of the
wickedness of his people. In holy
ardour of soul, he feels himself excited
to imprecate what he had predicted ver.
1 1. Some, less appropriately, render
no, not as an interrogative, but as sig
nifying that which, i. e. give them what
ever thou wilt. Barrenness was ac
counted a great misfortune among the
Jews. 15. For Gilgal, see on chap. iv. 1.5,
Being one of the chief places of idol
atrous worship, the wickedness of the
nation raight be said to be concentrated
in it. When God is represented as
hating the wicked, it must be understood
in regard to the odiousness of their
moral character, and his infliction of
positive punishment upon them on ac
count of it. Hitzig considers wto to be
here used inchoatively. For the sense
in which n'3, house, is to be taken, see
on chap. viii. 1. Hatred and love are
contrasted as here, Mal. i. 2, 3. In
D'TTiD orp-w is a paronomasia.
16. The figurative language here em
ployed is suggested by the meaning of
the name Ephraim, as in verses 11, 13.

chap, X,]

HOSEA,

57

Yea, though they should beget children,
I will kill the beloved of their womb,
17 My God will abhor them,
Because they have not listened to him :
They shall be wanderers among the nations.

]ito»; is in the future, while nsn and to3|
are in the preterite, to mark the state of
unfruitfulness as following upon the in
jury done to the tree. The resolution
of the figure in the latter half of the
verse possesses much force. Most of
the MSS. and some few editions read,
with the Keri, ''3 instead of '^|, which
occurs, however, before a verb. Job

xii. 18. For D'Tpnp, comp. on Tpnp,
ver. 6.
17. Though the pronominal affix in
'n''« is omitted by the LXX. and Arab,
and one of Kennicott's MSS., it is, in
such connexion, more in the style of
Hosea than D'^w, The dispersion of
the ten tribes is bere expressly pre
dicted.

CHAPTER X,
In this chapter the prophet continues to charge the Israelites with idolatry,
anarchy, and want of fidelity, 1 — 4. He expatiates with great variety on the
judgraents that were to come upon thera in punishment of these crimes, 5 — 11;
and then abruptly turns to tbem in a direct hortatory address, couched in meta
phorical language, borrowed frora the mode of representation which he had just
employed, 12. The section concludes with an appeal to the experience which
they had already had of the disastrous consequences of their wicked conduct.

Israel is a luxuriant vine ;
He putteth forth his fruit ;
According to the increase of his fruit,
He increased altars ;
According to the excellence of his land,
They prepared goodly statues.

1. The wickedness which manifested
itself in idolatry, &c, is bere traced to
the abuse of the prosperity which God
had conferred on the Israelites. Instead
of spending the bounties of providence
for the glory of God, they appropriated
them to idolatrous uses, and that in

proportion to the abundance of their
bestowment. Pjza, Arab, p, multus
fudit, fcecundus fuit, multum pluviam
dtmisit, fiorere ccepit planta, is here
used to express the luxuriance of the
vine, and not, as in our comraon version

58

HOSEA,

[chap, X,

Their heart is divided, they shall now be punished :
He will cut off their altars, he will destroy their statues.
Surely now shall they say : We have no king ;
For we fear not Jehovah :
As for the king then, what can he do for us ?
They utter empty speeches ;
Swearing falsely, making covenants :
Therefore judgment blossoms like the poppy
On the ridges of the field.

and some others, its unfruitfulness. The
idea of emptying, which the verb also
has, derived frora that of pouring out
entirely or abundantly the contents of a
vessel, does not suit the present con
nexion. LXX. evKXrjparova-a, or, as
in other copies, eyKXr^parova-a. Aq.
ivv&pos. Symm. vXopavoixTa. Vulg.
frondosa. Comp. Gen. xlix. 22 ; Ps.
Ixxx. 9 — 11 ; Ezek. xvii. 6. In every
other instance |Ba is construed as a femi
nine ; but here the masculine name
'"i^'ii?;, Israel, required it to be taken as
of that gender. ni>fl, to resemble, be
equal to, sufficient ; in Piel, like the Eth.
nCDP, io bring to maturity, produce
fruit, i'', in the phrase i'^frito', is pleo
nastic, as in l'"^^iT, &c., but raay bere be
rendered as a possessive pronoun.
2. p^n is here to be taken intransitively,
as in our common version, and refers,
not to any differences of opinion among
the Israelites respecting the claims of
their numerous idols, but to tbeir in
sincerity in tbe service of Jehovah, —
professing to worship hira, while they
likewise addicted themselves to tbe
worship of idols. Thus Tanchum : —
!S.AC (U!b, " the'ir mind and their under
standing, and the'ir opinion are divided,
while they associate others with God."
Tbe acceptation to be smooth, wbich
some propose, is to be rejected, on the
ground that, though the verb is used in
this signification of the tongue, it nowhere
is of the heart. For the meaning of
Dto«, see on chap. v. 15. The nomi
native to Nin, He, is D'Ax, God, in '*«,
chap. ix. 17. Jehovah is here said" to
do, what he would effect by means of

the Assyrians, pjts is properly a sacri
ficial term, signifying to cut off the head
of a victim, by strik'mg it on ihe neck ;
hence, to drop as blood from the place
thus struck ; and to drop generally. It
is bere, with much force, used metony
mically, in application to the destruction
of the altars on which the animals were
offered. Ewald renders, Er wird Hire
altare enthaupten ; "he will decapitate
their altars." For the distinction between
ninMp and ni3sp, see on chap. iii. 4.
fini', iiow, in this and the following
verse, has the signification of soon,
speedily. 3. The language of desperation is
here put into the mouth of the apostate
Israelites, at the time of the infliction
of divine judgment. Their king, to
whom tbey bad naturally looked for
protection, was removed ; they bad for
feited the favour of God, who was now
become their enemy ; and, therefore, it
was vain to expect help from an earthly
monarch. Some think the prophet refers
to the time of anarchy during the inter
regnum, between the murder of Pekah
and the accession of Hoshea.
4. T3T TS'i, lit. to speak a word or
speech, i. e. what is merely such ; empty,
false pretences. Comp. the Lat. verba
dare. The prophet begins with the
finite form of the verb, and then, for
the sake of more specific description,
changes it for the infinitive. Comp. Is.
lix. 13. For ni''«, as an absolute infi
nitive, instead of n'jw, comp. ninto, Is.
xxii. 13 ; niNT, chap. xiii. 20. n'T|, cove
nant, is here used as a collective noun,
and is to be rendered in the plural.
Whether the false swearing and the en
tering into covenants refer to the conduct
of the Israelites in regard to each other,
or whether they respect their conduct in

chap. X.]

HOSEA.

59

For the calves of Beth-aven,
The inhabitants of Samaria shall be in fear ;
The people thereof shall mourn on account of it ;
The priests thereof shall leap about on account of it-
On account of its glory,
Because it hath departed from it.
It shall itself also be carried to Assyria,
A present to the hostile king :
Ephraim shall take disgrace,
And Israel shall blush for his own counsel.

reference to foreign powers, has been
disputed. The latter would seem to be
the more probable, since it is the making
of covenants and not the breaking of
them, of which the prophet speaks as
something criminal. He seems to have
in his eye the historical circumstances
narrated 2 Kings xvii. 4. By iQBiiSp is
meant the divine judgraent wbich was
to be inflicted upon the people of Israel.
So Jarchi, maSTiEi piD' 'iDBffio. This he
compares to the rapid and luxuriant
growth of the poppy, which overruns
the fields, and is destructive as a poison,
Celsius, in his Hierobot. supports the
common rendering hemlock, as the sig
nification of to«T ; but that of poppy,
proposed by Gesenius, is preferable, both
to such construction of tiie term, and to
that of colocynth advanced by CEdmann,
or that of lolium or darnel suggested by
Michaelis. The term is usually ren
dered poison in our common version ;
sometiraes gall. LXX. aypaa-ris. D'pjl?
rather signify the ridges between the
furrows than the furrows themselves.
See Pococke,
5, 6. In tbese verses the object of
idolatrous worship is spoken of, now in
the plural, and now in the singular
number, which Hitzig accounts for on
the ground, tbat though the Israelites
might bave raultiplied golden calves,
that set up by Jeroboam would still be
held in peculiar honour. Four MSS.
have rtas, calf, in tbe singular, which is
also the rendering of tbe LXX. Syr.
and an anonyraous Greek version in the
Hexapla. This reading is very uncri
tically adopted by Kuinoel, Dathe, New-
come, and some other moderns. For
IJI? n'3, Beth-aven, see on chap. iv. 15.

)3to is a collective. The nominative to
the pronominal affixes in vbs, ins, vtios,
&c. is the bxi, calf of Jeroboam, singled
out from the rest. iQ?, its people, those
devoted to its worship. Corap. Nurab.
xxi. 29. D'T03 is only used in Hebrew
to designate idolatrous priests, and occurs
but twice besides, viz. 2 Kings xxiii. 5 ;
Zeph. i. 4; but in the Syriac ||iflds>
kumro, signifies a priest of the true God,
as well as one engaged in the service of
idols. Gesenius derives the noun from
TP|, io burn, be scorched, black, . sup
posing the reference to be to tbe lilack
dress of monks or ecclesiastics ; but this
seeins too modern to be entitled to
adoption. The derivation of Iken, in
his Dissert, de Cemarim, who refers the
word to the Persic y^, sacrum magorum
ignicolarum cingulum, of which frequent
mention is made in the Sadder of Zoro
aster, is much raore natural. Corap. the
Chald. Tiop, «Tpp, a belt or girdle. Some
think the Lat. camillus, an inferior order
of priest, who attended upon and assisted
the flaraens, is derived frora this root.
Ewald renders tbe word by Pfaffen,
which is used of priests by way of con
terapt, in Gerraan. Tbose wbo render
I'j'T, ihey rejoiced, which is the usual
signification of the verb, supply Tto«
before it ; but the Vau conversive con
nects it so closely with ''3N, as to render
such suppleraent inconsistent with the
construction. It is, therefore, better to
revert to the priraary signification of
'''a, io move about, leap, dance, or the
like. Comp. the Arab. (Jl»-, circumivit.
Such would be the excitement of the

60

HOSEA.

[chai

7 As for Samaria, her king is cut off;
He is like a chip upon the surface of the water,
8 The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, are destroyed ;
Thorns and thistles shall grow upon their altars :
They shall say to the mountains, Cover us ;
And to the hills, Fall upon us.
9 Since the days of Gibeah, thou hast sinned, O Israel !
There they remain :
Shall not the war against the unjust overtake them in Gilead.?

idolatrous priests at the capture of their
god, that they would leap about in a
state of desperation, like tbose of Baal,
1 Kings xviii. 26. The glory of the
idol consisted in its ornaraents, wealth,
&c. in'« Da is emphatic : itself also, i. e.
the idol or golden calf. For the meaning
of 3T:, Jareb, see on chap. v. 13. Tbe
worshippers of the golden calf would be
ashamed of him, when they found that,
instead of protecting them, he was hira
self carried into captivity. That natoa is
not to be changed into fiatoa, and ren
dered in a sound sleep, as Horsley does,
nor into natoa, in ihis year, with Mi
chaelis, the parallelism sufficiently shows.
7. For the sake of emphasis, ]iTpto is
put absolutely. The whole phrase is
equivalent to the king of Samaria, &c.
That npT3 agrees with nsSp, and not with
^iTOto, the gender shows. f)Sp has no
where the signification of foam or scum.
It is derived frora fisp Arab, i o .,-.'i
fregit, to cut, cui off, and signifies any
chip or sraall fragraent of wood. Comp.
'^??i?i " fragment, Joel i. 7. Arab.
¦ °'yT''j fractus arboris ramus, Ha^'
tenuitas arboris. LXX. (ppvyavov. Syr.
tKst festucam. The comparison of the
king to a small chip of wood, which
cannot resist the force of the current, is
very beautiful and forcible. Spuma,
which is the rendering of the Targ.
Jerome, Symm. Abulwalid, Tanchum,
and many moderns, is less apt, even if
it could be philologically sustained.
8. IIN, Aven, is an abbreviation of the
full form n>fn'3, Beth-aven, or Bethel.
HMion, the occasion of sin to Israel. See

ver. 10. In the raidst of the calamities
that should come upon the people, death
would be preferable to life. Comp. Rev.
vi. 15, 16.
9. That reference is here raade to the
transactions recorded Jud. xix. xx., there
can be no doubt. The prophet declares
that as a nation his people had all along,
frora the period referred to, evinced a
disposition to act in the same rebellious
and unjust manner as the Gibeonites
had done. Corap. chap. ix. 9. The
words npy Dto, there they remain, con
tinue, persist, graphically express the
character of the inhabitants in his day.
The Gibeonites are still, what they have
ever been, a wicked and abandoned
people. They are here singled out as a
fit speciraen of the whole nation ; and
are called rn'^if aa, sons of wickedness, to
mark tbe enormity of their conduct.
Instead of ni';», the Brixian edition,
thirty-nine MSS. originally seventeen,
and perhaps a few more, have nbi», the
common form, which is supposed to bave
been changed by a simple transposition
of the letters. Albert Schultens, how
ever, in his notes ad Harir. i. p. 15,
justifies the present reading by deriving
it from the Arab. Hi., modum excessit,
extulil se ; and Michaelis, in his Sup-
plera. by referring it to the Syriac,
»..«liii], and the Eth. OAO) : fidem
fefellit, perfidus fuit. Corap. ^I^A*^ :
0 AOy* ' T^^^ tyrannus, scelestus.
OAQ)'t' : transgressio aqui et boni,
scelus, perversitas. That tbe Targumist
read the text as it now stands is clear

chap,

X.]

HOSEA.

61

10

11

My desire is to punish them ;
The nations shall be collected against thera,
When they are bound for their two iniquities.
Ephraim is a well-trained heifer, loving to thresh ;
But I will pass on beside her fair neck ; •" / /
I will place a rider on Ephraira : ,T
Judah shall plough, ,
And Jacob shall break the clods. '/let . c

tir

ft i-^

frora his rendering the word ip'to, they
went up. The words fipnto n9?aa Da'isn-^^
nj^? '.a?"^? are soraewhat involved, but
tbe meaning is obvious. Destruction
should assuredly overtake the wicked
Israelites. D, the verbal suffix in Dj'ian,
is anticipative of rn'j» 'as. s'; stands for
^''17, the interrogatory negative.
io. 'niMj, the LXX, bave read 'nN3 ;
rendering it rfxde ; or, according to the
Alexandrian MS, and tbe editions of
Aldus and Breitinger, rjXdev. Of tbis
Houbigant, Dimock, Newcome, Ting
stadius, and Boothroyd, approve, and
adopt it as an emendation ; but contrary
to all otber authority, ancient or modern,
and without necessity. 3 prefixed is the
Beth Essentia, indicating the substantive
character of the affection. See ray note
on Is. xxvi. 4. niN, to be strongly pre
pense, desire greatly, expresses the irre
sistible inclination of infinite purity to
punish sin. dtb« is tbe future in Kal of
td;, to chastise, punish, compensation
having been raade for tbe first radical ',
by inserting Dagesb in tbe D. dtc«, the
infinitive of TP«, to bind, bind as a pri
soner or captive, which is tbe sense in
which the word is here to be taken.
Dna'9 has occasioned great variety of in
terpretation, Michaelis translates it
plough-shares, attempting to derive it
from the Arabic, Jarchi, Lively, and,
among the moderns, Ewald, render eyes,
•'before their two eyes," i.e. openly;
but the word is always written D'a'S
when applied to real eyes, and only
nia^ when applied to fountains, or arti
ficial eyes. Some translate habitations ;
but most, furrows, which is the rendering
adopted by Abenezra, Kimchi, Abul
walid, Tanchum, Munster, Vatablus,
Zanchius, &c., after the Targum — some
expounding the passage one way, and
some another. The only satisfactory

exegesis is that founded on the Keri,
Dnais; 'nto^, for their iwo iniquities, i. e.
the two golden calves which Jeroboam
had erected, and which proved tbe source
of all the evils whicb they had afterwards
committed. They had many other idols,
but these were the principal ; and they
are called iniquities by a metonymy of
tbe cause for the effect. Corap. ver. 8,
where n«En, sin, is similarly applied.
This reading is in the text of a great
many MSS. and is expressed in all the
ancient versions.
11. The general raeaning of this verse
seems to be, that the Ephraimites had
been accustoraed in tbe plenitude of
tbeir power to crush and oppress others,
especially their brethren of the two
tribes ; but tbey were now themselves to
be brought into subjection to the king
of Assyria, by whora they should be
placed in circurastances of great hard
ship in foreign countries. The metaphors
are agricultural. For toil, to tread or
beat out the corn, partly by the feet of
oxen, and partly by sledges with instru
ments adapted to tbe purpose, see on
Is. xxviii. 27, 28. Tbe ' in 'nan'«, is
paragogic, as 'n3iS' and 'na|;7p, Jer. xxii.
23; 'nato, chap. li. 13, though in these
passages it has been left unpointed by
the Masoretes. See Ewald, § 406. The
form is otherwise the participle nank.
bs T3» signifies here to pass mi beside
one, as the driver does beside an ox in
the yoke. Tbus Jehovah would, in his
providence, lead forth the Israelites, frora
tbe midst of their prosperity, to tbe toils
and hardships of captivity, cw S'Sim,
lit. I will cause io ride Ephraim, meaning
I will place a rider upon him — a con
queror, who sball lead him fortii from
his land. Thus Calvin, Zanchius, Lyra,
Tarnovius, Rosenmiiller, and Ewald.
The judgments of God were not, how-

62

HOSEA,

[chap.

12 Sow to yourselves for righteousness ;
Reap according to piety ;
Break up for yourselves the fallow ground :
For it is time to seek Jehovah,
Till he come, and teach you righteousness.
13 Ye have ploughed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity ;
Ye have eaten the fruit of falsehood :
Because thou trustedst in thy way —
In the multitude of thy mighty ones.

ever, to be confined to tbe northern
kingdom : the soutbern should also be
involved in them. In short, they should
overtake the whole posterity of Jacob.
The prediction was fulfilled during tbe
two captivities, i'', in i'' tt*, is pleo
nastic. 12. Continuing his agricultural meta
phors, the prophet here abruptly calls
upon the nation to reform its manners.
D3b is the Dat. commodi. '' in np;;s^
points out the end or object to be ob
tained by sowing. Sow what will pro
duce the fruits of righteousness. 'The
second imperative is here eqmvalent to
the future: " Sow, and ye shall reap;"
or the subjunctive, " Sow, so that ye
may reap." That TDn, piety or goodness,
is to be referred, not to God, but to
man, its being parallel with npTS, right
eousness, manifestly proves. To change
.'15?') into n^T, and join this word with T?,
preceding, as Newcome, following the
LXX. and Arab., does, is unauthorized
and inept. The Israelites had long
neglected Jehovah : it was now high
tirae to return to his fear ; and tbough
they raight not meet with imraediate
tokens of his favour, tbey were to per
severe in seeking hira, in the assurance
that he would be gracious to thera.
Such is the force of t», until. This
favour was to be manifested by his
coming and communicating to them in
struction respecting the only righteous
ness which could avail the guilty at his
bar. That the words DSb pTS nri'^ are
not to be rendered he will grant you
suitable rain, but, he will teach you
righteousness, and tbat they contain a
prophecy of the advent and prophetical
office of the Messiah, has been main
tained by Jerome, and many other in

terpreters. In support of the rendering,
He will teach you righteousness, may be
... V V P 7
adduced the Syr. ]q^,Vco ]l] Ji
(JiZoa,*?! fnaiN, HU he come and
show to you his righteousness ; Pococke's
Arab. MS. ^J^^j^j ^. J J)
(Jj>jt!l, till he come and guide you to
righteousness. The Targ. to the same
effect, li3|' ipi 'n;n 'ban; |M, now he shall
be revealed, and shall bring righteousness
to you; Vulg. cum venerit qui docebit
vos jusiitiam. Thus also Dathe, Hitzig,
Winer, and others. Kimchi remarks,
N3' Nin inisra imin rsrfj n nw lumn dn d"'i
pTS D3n« mi'1, there are those (of the
Rabbins) who expound. If ye seek the
Lord, to know his law and his command
ments, he will come and teach you right
eousness. And Abenezra asserts the same,
in nearly the sarae words. Sucb con
struction of the passage seems, from the
preceding use of npr?, to be more apt,
than to take P'ls absolutely for np;i^'?, in
due proportion, adequately, fully, ac
cording to the claims or necessities of
your condition. See on Joel ii. 23.
13. Instead of following such a course
as that to wbich they bad just heen
exhorted, the Israelites had pursued one
directly opposite, and now reaped the
disastrous consequences. The same
metaphors are bere continued. ton3-»iB,
fruit of falsehood, seems rather to mean
the effects of their false and hypocritical
conduct in professing attachment to the
true God, while they addicted themselves
to the worship of other deities, than
fallacious and disappointing results.

chap,

X,]

HOSEA,

63

14 Therefore a tumult shall arise among thy people,
And all thy fortresses shall be destroyed,
As Shahnan destroyed Beth-arbel in the day of battle :
When the mother was dashed in pieces with her children.

Seeker would read '^iP'13, in thy chariots,
instead of 1?'il3, in thy way, on the
authority of the LXX. ev appacrl aov,
which reading is found in Compl. Aid.
Barb. Reg. Laud. Cyrili. Ital. Arabros.
Arab. Slav. Hexap. Syr. and a Copt,
MS. ; and Kuinoel has actually adopted
it into his Hebrew text. It is, however,
unsupported by any Heb. MSS., or any
of the ancient versions, and is justly to
be rejected. Four MSS., originally two,
tbe Syr. and Targ. read ^'3TTa, in thy
ways. The way of the Israelites was
the wicked course of conduct which
they bad adopted in opposition to the
wiU of God. Kirachi : naiDsni sunn -pi
TOTn, the way of wickedness and bad
religion. The Vat. copy of the LXX.
has ev toIs dpapTrjpao-i a-ov. Comp.
Is. Ivii. 10; Jer, ii. 23.
14. The prophet now denounces a
severe threatening against his rebellious
countrymen, foreshowing that they
should be involved in all the horrors of
war, DNiji, with N epenthetic, after tbe
manner of the Arab. ^\ji ; or it may
be regarded as merely a mater lectionis.
Some few MSS. and some others in the
raargin, read Dg]. Twenty-four MSS.,
one originally, four of the early editions,
and all the ancient versions, read IP??,
thy people, instead of '^'pi'J, thy peoples.
For minor varieties in the readings, see
Kennicott and De Rossi. The nomi
native to Ttoi' is ''3, taken as a collective,
comprehending the whole. That ^p^to,
Shalman, and ''N3TN n'3, Beth-Arbel, are
proper names, is now universally ad
mitted. The best interpretation of tbem
is that given by Tanchum : "[-aba Lo).
TimN (_dt-o TS«m''\D <xil tS^^i I*-*! 5**
,^ t—^^i^y> TSNm'jlD (Jjti; -.a!ii-ls
n'3i 1  9j»J UjiilS^C'-I saxiAi ,^^»*"1
Jljb Jill l«i! Jybj iXb >«j| ''N3TM

''N3TN

^^\\4-

"As for Shalman, it is a

proper name, and is said to stand for
Shalmanassar, king of Assyria, only it
is abbreviated ; and perhaps Shalmanas
sar is compounded of two names, one of
which is oraitted because it was well
known : and Arbel is the name of a
city, and is said to be that whicb is
called Arbel at the present day." The
abbreviation of proper naraes is not un
common in Scripture, as in;a3, Coniah,
for ppn;, Jehoiachin, &c. It was this
raonarch that besieged Samaria for the
space of three years, and took it in the
ninth of Hoshea, b.c 722, carrying the
king and most of his subjects into exile.
2 Kings xvii. 1 — 6. To this interpre
tation it has been objected that our
prophet wrote before the time of Shal
raaneser, and therefore could not speak
of his destroying Arbel as something
that had already happened. It must,
however, be recollected, that though
Hosea prophesied before the time of
that king, he continued to deliver his
predictions as far down as the tirae of
his successor Sennacherib, and must,
therefore, have been well acquainted
with the previous Assyrian invasions.
With respect to ''N3'i« n'a, or, as some
MSS. read, br^, Beih-Arbel, commen
tators are divided in opinion. Some
think that the Assyrian city Arbela,
situated between the Lycus and the
Tigris, celebrated for tbe victory ob
tained there by Alexander the Great
over Darius, is raeant ; but it is far
raore probable that the prophet refers to
the 'ApfirjXa of 1 Mace. ix. 2, which
Josephus places near Sephoris in Galilee ;
Eusebius, in the plain of Esdraelon. Of
the battle bere raentioned, no account
indeed is given either in sacred or pro
fane history ; but as the conteraporaries
of Hosea are supposed to have been
acquainted with it, there is reason to
believe that it took place on the in
vasion of the kingdora of Israel by the
Assyrian army. The ancient versions
of this clause of the verse are more or
less at fault; but have afforded abundant
scope for the exercise of emendatorial

64

HOSEA,

[chap, XI,

15 Thus shall he act towards you at Bethel,
On account of your flagrant wickedness :
In the morning shall the king of Israel be utterly cut off.

criticism. See Newcorae, who renders,
like the destruction of Zalmunna by the
hand of Jerubbaal ; and supposes the
reference to be to Jud. viii. bs here
signifies with, in tbe sense of being
superadded. See Gen. xxviii. 9, xxxi.
50. 15. The norainative to nto is Shalman
in the preceding verse, or perhaps nin;,
Jehovah, understood, but not ''Nn'a,
Bethel, as in our comraon version,
since this does not so well agree with
what follows. The words contain a
special prediction against Bethel, where
the wickedness of the Israelites had
been most conspicuously exhibited. nST
D3ri?T, lit. the wickedness of your wicked
ness, i. e. your excessive, or raost flagrant
wickedness, A rare exaraple of a noun
put in construction with itself repeated
in the singular, in order to form the
superlative degree. There is no neces

sity, with Newcome, to resort to emen
dation. Instead of Tnto, " in the
morning," fifteen MSS,, and perhaps
one more, six originally, the Proph. of
Soncin. 1486, the Venet. edit, of 1518,
in tbe margin, and the Vulg. read iniSs,
" like the morning." Were the fol
lowing verb noT to be taken in the sense
of resembling, being like, &c., the latter
reading might possess some claim on our
attention ; but as the idea of being de-
stroyedhest comports with the connexion,
that of the Textus Receptus is prefer
able. The difference of reading has
arisen frora the similarity of the letters
3 and 3. Tbe reference is to the sud
denness with which Hoshea was to be
seized by the king of Assyria, and an
entire end put to the regal dignity. See
2 Kings xvii. 4. The doing of anything
early or soon is frequently expressed by
its being done in the morning.

CHAPTER XL

To aggravate his representations of the guilt of the Israehtes, the prophet adduces
the divine benefits conferred upon them from the earliest period of their history,
1 — 4. He then threatens them with unavoidable punishment on account of
their obstinacy, 5, 6 ; but, all of a sudden, introduces Jehovah, compassionating
his rebellious children, and promising them a restoration from their captivity in
foreign lands, 7 — 1 1 .

1 When Israel was a child, I loved him,
And called my son out of Egypt.
1. That these words relate to the prophecy of any future event, is so
nation of Israel— being -a description evident, that no person who impartially
of what Jehovah had done for it ages examines the preceding and following
before the prophet wrote, and not a context, can for a moment call it in

chap

XI,]

HOSEA,

65

According as they called them, they went from their presence,
They sacrificed unto Baals,
And burned incense to graven images.
Though I taught Ephraim to walk,
Taking them by their arras,
Yet they knew not that I healed them.

question. Nor but for their having been
applied by the Evangelist Matthew (ch.
ii. 15,) to our Lord's return frora Egypt,
would it ever have been imagined that
they had or could have any other refer
ence. It is only, therefore, with respect
to such application that any difficulty
can exist respecting their exegesis ; and,
in my judgment, there appears to be
nothing in the N. T. application beyond
the mere appropriation of the language
of the prophet, for the purpose of giving
to Jewish readers a more vivid impres
sion of the strikingly analogous circum
stances of the sojourn of our Saviour in
Egypt, and his return from it, to those
of the ancient Israelites. The Evan
gelist does not affirm, that the words as
used by Hosea were a prophecy of
Christ; he only adduces thera, to show
how aptly they described tbe historical
event which he was narrating, just as
he does Jer. xxxi. 15, in application to
the murder of tbe infants at Bethlehem,
and Ps, lxxviii, 2, in application to our
Lord's teaching in parables. " He must
be a stranger to the Hebrew writers,
that does not know, that nothing is more
common among ihem than such accom
modations of the text upon all occasions.
They abound in such applications ; I
may say their Midrashim do very much
exceed in them." Kidder's Demon, of
tbe Messiah, Pt. II. p. 216. " Parodiarum
in N, T, omnia sunt plena, e, g. Matt.
ii. 15 and 23, ubi impleta dicuntur
Scriptum tum etiam, cura nulla histo-
rica aut typica est irapletio, sed analo-
gica tantum." Hottinger in Primit.
Heidelberg, p. 80, See Surenhusii,
/3tj3Xos KaToKkrfs, p, 338. Home's In
trod. vol. ii, pp, 341, 342, Robinson's
Greek Lex. in Iva, C. 2, d. Instead of
'a?'!, the LXX. appear to have read TJ}"; ;
but instead of to TeKva avrov, his
children, which is their reading, that of
Aq. Symm, Theod, the Slavon. and
Matthew, agree with the Hebrew text.

'The Hebrew people are also called the
son of God in the same figurative sense,
Exod. iv. 22, 23, The eariy period of
their existence is frequently represented
as their youth. See Is. liv. 13 ; Jer. ii.
2, iii. 24, 25, xxii. 21 ; Hos. ii. 15.
2, The use of the verb «TiJ, to call, in
the preceding verse, suggested the idea
of the subsequent raessages which had
been delivered to the Israelites by the
prophets, to which Hosea now appeals,
in order to contrast with the means
wbich had been eraployed for tbeir re
formation, tbe obstinate character of
their rebellion. Before iM^iJ, subaud.
Tto>!3, to correspond to p.. Thus the
LXX. Kad' ds. The norainative is the
prophets, understood. The very pre
sence of the prophets being an annoy
ance to them they withdrew from it,
that, unmolested, they might indulge in
idolatry. 3. 'Ji^aTPi, an instance of the Tiphil
conjugation, equivalent to Hiphil in sig
nification, and, in all probabihty, formed
by hardening the preforraative n into n.
Indeed, one of De Rossi's MSS. reads
'n^TH, instead of 'n^aTW. There exist
only two other instances in the Hebrew
Bible, viz, nrnnn, Jer. xii. 5, and nrnnn,
xxii. 15, if b'nisioni, xxv, 34, is not to
be so taken. Compare the Shaphel
Conjugation in Syriac, in which lan
guage this very verb occurs in the form
^.^Ifi. See Knos Chrest. Syr. p. 112,
It is a denominative from bT), the foot, and
signifies to cause or teach to use the feet,
or walk. Syr, and Targ. Zj^j, n'^iaT,
/ led, only tbe latter paraphrases, «a»i
n^iaT 'PTp^^JP n'^ ^^?, and I led, &c,
by an angel sent from my presence. The
nse of the personal pronoun '?:» before
the verb gives additional force to the
language, ng in Dnij is the infinitive
used as a gerund, as in Ezek. xvii. 5,
Both the suffixes D and i refer to

66

HOSEA,

[ciIAP, XI,

I drew them with the bands of man,
With the cords of love ;
I was also to them as those who lift up the yoke from their neck,
I held out meat to them, I made them eat.
They shall not return to the land of Egypt ;
Assyria shall be their king :
Because they would not be converted.
The sword shall be whirled in their cities,
It shall destroy their barriers, and devour,
Because of their devices.

Ephraim. See on chap. ix. 2. Four
MSS. for l'ni>'ii, " his arms," read 'ni'T],
" my arras," which is also in another
originally, and now in another, and in
the Soncin. edition of 1486. It is also
supported by the LXX, Syr, Vulg.
Another MS. reads Dnisi;, but they are
all corrections of the original, and are
only to be tolerated in translation. The
metaphor taken from teaching children
to walk is continued, as those who do so
take bold of their arms to keep them
from falling while they move tbeir feet.
It beautifully expresses the condescen
sion of God to the circumstances of his
people, and the kind care which he ex
ercised over tbem, Comp. Deut. i, 31,
xxxii, 11. His healing them, refers to
his recovering them from the calamities
which tbey brought upon themselves by
their sins.
4. DT« '5!?n, the bands of man, are ex
plained by the parallel phrase n3n« ninto,
cords of love, i. e. humane, gentle, per
suasive methods, such as men generally
employ when they would induce to
action. There seems to be still a re
ference to the case of children, who,
when taught to walk, are not only held
by the arms, but also by soft cords or
leading-strings, are led about, or drawn
in a gentle manner by those who have
the care of them. Tbe terras, however,
naturally suggesting the idea of the
ropes by which oxen are bound and led
about, the metaphor is iramediately
changed into one borrowed from agri
cultural hfe. *iai ''» >p'Ta3 does not
mean to remove tbe yoke entirely, but
to raise it frora the neck and cheeks of
tbe animal, so as to allow it freely to
eat its food. This better suits the fol

lowing connexion than tbe idea of taking
the yoke off any place that may bave
been galled by it, in order to afford
relief. The bS, yoke, not only included
the piece of wood upon the neck, by
which the animal was fastened to the
pole, but also the whole of the harness
about the head, whicii was connected
with it. The yokes used in the East
are very heavy, and press so much upon
the animals, that they are unable to bend
their necks, 1')n tdni, Ewald renders,
und sanfi gegen ihn, " and gently towards
him," &c. ; but it is preferable to take
BN as tbe apocopated future in Hiph.
of noa, to stretch out, extend, reach any
thing to another. The verse sets forth
the kind relief afforded to the Hebrew
nation in Egypt, and the provision with
which they were miraculously supplied
in the wilderness.
5. 3lto, to turn, return, which is used
at the beginning of the verse in its
proper acceptation, is employed at the
close raetapborically to express conver
sion to God. The Israelites seem to
have been very generally inclined to
migrate for a time to Egypt, in order to
enjoy the protection of its monarch ;
the prophet assures them that they
should not carry their purpose into
effect, but that they should be subject
to the Assyrian rule, as a punishment
for refusing to listen to fhe calls given
them to repent and turn from their
idolatries. 6. Most of the Rabbins take ''in in
the sense of resting, remaining ; but it
seems preferable to adopt the signifi
cation io turn, be turned, or whirled
about, as a sword when it is brandished,
or when it is employed in cutting down

CIIAP,

X..]

HOSEA.

67

For my people are bent upon defection from me ;
Though they call them to the Most High,
Yet none of them will exalt him.
How shall I give thee up, O Ephraim ?
How shall I deliver thee over, 0 Israel ?
How shall I make thee as Admah ?
How shall I make thee as Zeboim ?
My heart is turned within me ;
All my feelings of compassion are kindled.
I will not execute the fierceness of my anger ;
I will no more destroy Ephraim ;

the enemy. Comp, the Arab, (JLsi.,
conversafuit res. V. se convertit ; versus
mutatusque fuit. D'^is, barriers, Ge
senius and Lee take metaphorically, as
denoting chiefs or princes.
7. D'«i''n = D'lIB, vvhich one of De
Rossi's MSS. reads originally, the Pahul
Part, of n^n, to hang, used bere meta
phorically in the sense of bending, or
being prepense to any thing. The idea
of doubt or suspense, whicb some attach
to the word in this connexion, ill agrees
with the character of the Israelites as
otherwise depicted in this book, njitop
is always used in a bad sense, defection,
apostasy, &c, Comp. chap, xiv, 5. The
suffix in 'naitoa is to be taken passively ;
defection which has me for its object,
and cannot with any propriety be ren
dered as by Horsley, " my returning,"
For ^S^M, ad summum, see on ehap, vii.
16 ; and for i«Tp;, on ver, 2, After
DpiT;, supply 'Pit*, him, from b's, the
Supreme, preceding. Jehovah had been
degraded by his being worshipped through
the medium of images, and having idols
associated with him ; yet none of his
apostate people were inclined to raise
him from this degradation, by rejecting
them and celebrating His praise, as the
sole and glorious object of adoration.
Pococke's Arab. MS, Jo-I ^_ J
(dJi fMj] <—ijMj_ (t^, there was noi
one of them that glorified the name of
God. Tn; with a negative is to be ren
dered not one ; without it, all, altogether,
wholly, as in the following verse.

8, 9. Now follows one of the most
affecting instances of the infinite ten
derness of the divine compassion to be
found in Scripture ; the point of which
is enhanced by its being introduced
immediately after a description of the
odious conduct of the Israelites, It is,
as Bishop Lowth characterises it, ex
quisitely pathetic. The repetitions and
synonymous features of tbe parallelism
greatly add to the effect. The words
belong to the period after the subjuga
tion of Samaria, and the carrying away
of the Israelites by Shalraaneser, 2 Kings
xvii. 5, 6, xviii. 9 — 12. They were de
signed to inspire tbe captives with hope
in the mercy of God, and thus lead
thera to true repentance. 1?3P^, the
LXX, render vnepaanta aov ; Aq,
SnXai KVKXdaa ae; Vulg. proiegam ie ;
deriving tbe idea frora the signification
of the substantive pp, a shield ; but it
is used of delivering over enemies. Gen,
xiv. 20, Symra. eKBdaco ae. Before
?[p'te! is an ellipsis of fti, wbich had
already been twice repeated. Tbe de
struction of Adraah and Zeboim is only
referred to as an exaraple in one other
ease, viz. Deut. xxix. 23, and then in
connexion with Sodora and Gomorrah,
To the awful catastrophe recorded Gen,
xix. the sacred writers frequently appeal,
in order to produce a sense of the evil
of sin, and the severity with which it
deserves to be punished ; or when they
would convey the idea of complete and
irretrievable ruin. Comp. Is. i. 9, xiii.
19; Jer, xlix. 18; Lam.iv. 6; Amos iv.
11; Matt. X. 15; 2 Pet. ii. 6 ; Jude 7,
Some would render '3^ -bS IjBria, " my

68

HOSEA.

[chap, XI,

For I am God and not man,
The Holy One in the midst of thee ;
I will not come in wrath.
10 They shall follow Jehovah, when he roareth like a lion ;
When he roareth, the children shall hasten from the sea.

heart is turned against me,'' i. e, my
pity rises in overpowering opposition to
the determination to which I had come
to inflict punishments ; but the phrase
ology will scarcely bear such construc
tion, though it cannot be questioned,
that it is designed to express a powerful
inward revolution, Comp. '5j 'pnn-np,
Ps, xiii, 6, 12, xliii. 5; 'iriT '^» nBipBon,
cxiii, 4; 'IT '3b 'to, Jer, viii. 18; in all
which passages the preposition conveys
the idea of mental contiguity, nearness,
in, within, as 'a'lps 'jb tjBna, my heart is
turned within me. Lam. i. 20, incon
testably shows. From Ihe connexion in
which it occurs, in the last cited passage,
it is obvious the phrase is there designed
to express great mental distress, Tps is
used in Niphal, of ihe stirrings of na
tural aff'ection. Gen. xliii. 30 ; 1 Kings
iii. 26. The idea seems to be derived
from the coraraotion produced by the
kindling of a fire, and the heat or
warrath in wbich it results. Tanchum
explains the word by —.Lii, concitatus
fuit. LXX. avverapdxOri, or, as in the
Complut. hierapaxBrj. D'pina, the same
in effect as D'pm, compassion, feelings of
tender pity and affection. Targ. 'Dm,
my compassions. Itis derived from Dna,
to be inwardly affected, whether with
grief, pity, consolation, or anger. In
tbe idea of displeasure with oneself, has
originated the signification, to repent,
which accounts for the renderings, ^cra-
piXeia, pcenitudo, repentings, &c. See
my note on Is. i, 24. The language is
in the highest degree anthropopatbical.
The 9th verse contains a declaration of
tbe purpose of God founded upon his
compassion, and quite in keeping with
the manner in which expression had
just heen given to it. 3ito in r\rmb aitoM ^b
is, as frequently, to be taken adverbially.
The captivity was tbe last judgraent that
was to corae upon the ten tribes as a
punishment for their idolatry. The ren
dering, " 1 will not enter into the city,"

affords no suitable sense, and would
require the article T'»3, as, indeed, one
of De Rossi's MSS, reads. Bishop
Lowth's translation, " though I inhabit
not thy cities," (Lectures, vol. ii. p. 38,)
is equally unsatisfactory with the inter
pretation of Jerome and Castalio; I am
not like those who dwell in cities; living
after human laws, and deeming cruelty
to be justice. Such construction Maurer
states to be in his opinion " ai tificiosior
quam elegantior," I, therefore, adopt
tbe interpretation hinted at by Jarchi,
and since approved by Schroeder, Seeker,
Dathe, Manger, Tingstadius, Eichhorn,
De Wette, Noyes, Boothroyd, Gesenius,
Maurer, and Ewald, which takes T'? not
in the sense of city, but of anger or
¦wrath; comparing the Arab. .U;, ferbuit
cBsiu dies, Comp. Jer. xv. 8 ; Hos, vii.
7 ; and T», an enemy, 1 Sam, xxviii. 16;
Ps. cxxxix. 20. 'The words are thus
strictly parallel, and synonymous to s'il
to'«, and not man. The derivation frora
jjjt), to which Michaelis assigns the
signification angry, !!jO, i-ra in Deo,
Orient. Bib. Pt. XIX. p. 9, is less appro
priate, though the sense which he gives
is the same.
10, 11. These verses contain gracious
promises of the return of the Israelites
to the true worship and service of God,
and their restoration to tbeir own land
frora the different places in which they
had been scattered during the captivity.
nin; 'Tn« i^n, to walk after Jehovah, is
always used in tbe religious sense of
addicting oneself to his worship, and
keeping his coraraandraents, and is not
to be interpreted, as Hitzig does, of a
mere following of providence by taking
advantage of the opportunity that would
be afforded of returning from Babylon.
So the Targ. ';t wanbiB Tns, after the
worship of Jehovah. For the contrary,
see ver. 2. As aNiii, to roar, like the

chap, xi:

¦]

HOSEA.

69

11 They shall hasten, like a sparrow, from Egypt,
And, like a dove, from the land of Assyria :
And I will cause them to dwell in their own houses,
Saith Jehovah.

lion, always conveys the idea of terror
or awe, it cannot be here applied either
to any invitation to the Jews as a people,
or to the preaching of the gospel gene
rally ; but must be referred to the awful
judgments which God executed upon
Babylon, Egypt, &c. through the in
strumentality of Cyrus and his succes
sors; thereby opening the way for the
liberation of the Israelites who were
found in these countries. Comp, Is,
xxxi, 4; Jer. xxv. 30; Joel iv, 16;
Amos i, 2, iii. 8, By D'33, sons, or
children, are meant the Israelites, who
had been for a time rejected, but were
again acknowledged in that character,
because they were to be reinstated in
tbe privileges of adoption, Comp. chap.
i. 10. Tin is bere pregnant with mean
ing — signifying to come or hasten under
the influence of great agitation. The
idea of trepidation, though implied, and
connecting well with that of the roaring
previously mentioned, is not so promi
nent as tbat of quick or nimble motion.
Excited to the utmost by the revolutions
of empires, which allowed them to take
possession of their native country, they
would use all haste in repairing thither,
LXX. eKarrjaovTai ; but in tbe following
verse eKnereaovrai. Syr. iQ^O^J, ihey
shall move or be moved. " Sic Lat. tre
pidare etiam sumitur pro festinare.

observantibus Bocharto in Hieroz. et
Schultensio in Animadverss, philol, ad
Is. xix. 17." Winer, in voc. The sarae
idea of velocity is further carried out by
comparing the return of the Israelites to
the flight of birds remarkable for their
swiftness, Tiss is here used not in its
generic sense of bird, but specifically of
the sparrow, as the use of nai», dove,
immediately after, shows. The p;, sea,
is the Mediterranean, or the islands and
other maritirae regions in the west.
Kimchi, 3T5Jpn, the west; Pococke's Arab,

MS,

jisrl jJ't*- i^vo? from the isles of
the sea. Corap. Is, xi. 11 — 16; a
passage strictly parallel, only including
the Jews as well as the Israelites. The
three quarters of the globe here specified
embrace all the countries mentioned by
Isaiah; and as the ten tribes form the
subject of Hosea's discourse, the present
prophecy furnishes an additional proof
of tbeir return also, after the Babylonish
captivity. To argue, therefore, frora
this passage, that they are still in ex
istence, and are yet to be restored in
their tribal capacity, is hermeneutically
unwarranted, bs in the phrase Dn'nr''?,
instead of 3, seeras to have special re
ference to tbe custom of the Orientals,
wbo enjoy their time upon, rather than
in their houses.

CHAPTER XII.

This chapter commences with renewed complaints against both Ephraim and
Judah, more especially against the former, 1, 2, The conduct of their pro
genitor Jacob is then adduced in order to excite them to apply, as he did, for
the blessings which they required, 3, 4 ; to copy which they are further

70

HOSEA,

[chap. xir.

encouraged by the unchangeable character of Jehovah, 5, 6. The prophet next
reverts to the deceitful and hypocritical character of the ten tribes, notwith
standing the numerous means that had been employed to promote true piety,
7 — 10; renews his castigation of their idolatrous practices, 11 ; again appeals to
the kindness of God to the nation in its obscure origin in the person of Jacob,
12, 13 ; and denounces anew the judgments that were to be inflicted upon it, 14.

1 Epheaim hath encorapassed me with falsehood,
And the house of Israel with deceit ;
And as for Judah, he is still inconstant with God,
Even with the faithfid Holy Ones.

1. The LXX. Vulg. Targ. and our
coraraon version join this verse to the
preceding chapter ; but improperly —
there being no connexion whatever with
the previous verses, whereas it is mani
fest from the renewed reference to
Judah, ver. 3, that the three verses inti
mately cohere. Tbe proper exegesis of
tbis verse depends upon the signification
assigned to tt, and the consequent ap
plication of ip«a. Tbat the former
cannot grammatically be referred either
to TIT or nT), to subdue, bear rule, or to
TV, to descend, as Jerome renders it, is
now agreed on all hands; and there is
no alternative left but to derive it from
TIT, which occurs only hi three other
passages, viz. once in Kal, Jer. ii. 31,
and twice in Hipb. Gen. xxvii. 40, and
Ps. lv. 3. In the two first, the ideas of
becoming or being unfaithful, rebelling,
wandering at large, are obviously con
veyed. In the third, the verb is applied
figuratively to an agitated or unsettled
state of mind, to which the notion of
wandering seems rauch raore natural,
than that of raourning, which is that
expressed by our translators. Thus also
the derivative titp may best be ren
dered circumvagatio, erratio, ham. i. 7,
iii. 19. Corapare the Arabic J.. J..,
quiBsivit pabulum ; ultro citroque ivit ;
mobile fuit ; discurrit hue Uluc mulier
apud v'lc'inas suas. ii|_«, locus, quo in
pascuis cameli modo prodeunt modo re-
trocedunt. Eth, «^*^^ : persequi,
insurrexit, &c. The signification domi-

natur, which has been given to tit, is
altogether gratuitous. The meaning of
the prophet will, therefore, be, that
Judah or the inhabitants of the southern
kingdora acted with vacillancy in regard
to Jehovah, So far were they from
adhering stedfastly to his covenant, and
seeking their happiness in obedience to
his will, that they reserabled animals
that are dissatisfied with their pasture,
break loose, and run wildly up and down
in search of what is more agreeable to
their appetite ; or like a female who,
discontent at horae, seeks for satisfaction
by gadding about araong her neighbours.
The description applies to the state of
things among the Jews towards the end
of the reign of Jotham, and during that
of Ahaz, who introduced a Syrian altar,
and other idolatrous objects, by which
the people were tempted to infidelity
towards Jehovah, but had not yet alto
gether renounced bis service. Hence
the force of TS, yet, still. Though the
idea of hostility implied in the verb
would not justify tbe use of the prepo
sition D», with, taken as in the phrases
D? Drta, OS 3'T, to fight with, contend
with ; yet it well agrees with its use
after verbs of acting towards, or 'in
reference to any one, sucb as D? nsj,
DS 3iio niBS, &c. Thus Schroeder, Dathe,
Eichhorn, De Wette, Boothroyd, Kuinoel,
Gesenius, Noyes, Hitzig, Maurer, and
Ewald. Such construction of the passage
is fully borne out by ver, 3, which can
not be consistently interpreted, if Judah
were here represented as faithfully main
taining the principles of the theocracy.
But if the signification which has been

chap, xii.]

HOSEA,

71

Ephraim feedeth upon wind.
He pursueth the east wind ;
Every day he multiplieth falsehood and violence ;
Yea, he maketh a covenant with Assyria,
And oil is carried into Egypt.
Jehovah hath also a controversy with Judah,
And he will punish Jacob, according to his ways ;
According to his deeds, he will recompense him.
In the womb he took his brother by the heel,
And by his strength he stro^-e with God ;

given to tt be alone justifiable, then it
is evident Ipsa, faithful, cannot apply to
Judah, but must be taken as qualifying
D'toiTp, the adjective noun iramediately
preceding. To tbis it cannot be ob
jected, that the one is in tbe plural,
while the other is in the singular; for
we find a precisely similar combination
in p'T^ D'n''«, the righteous God, Ps. vii.
10. 'That D'toiTp, ihe Holy Ones, cannot
here be applied either to human saints,
or to angels, but must be interpreted of
God himself, the law of parallelism
clearly requires. Comp, Josh. xxiv. 19,
mn Q'ltiTp D'n''H; Prov. ix. 10, O'ltiTiJ Tm
na'3 ; xxx. 3, 'sT« D'toTp nsii. Kiinchi
hiraself allows tbat D'iiinp must be so
understood in this place. Between the
inconstancy of tbe Jews, and the faith
fulness of God, the contrast is placed in
a very striking point of view. They
had never found him to fail in giving
effect to any of his promises ; while
they, on tbe contrary, had all along
shown more or less of a fickle and
roving disposition. The ancient versions
exhibit considerable diversity of ren
dering in this place ; but none of them
suggests a meaning preferable to that
just given, or warrants any alteration in
the reading of the Hebrew.
2. By " the wind," and " the east
wind," are meant empty, unsatisfying
and pernicious objects. Such were the
idolatrous confidence and foreign alli
ances of the Israelites, D'T^, the LXX,
render Kavaav, the Arab, .,^jjJl, the
Samoom, or scorching wind, called the
" east wind," because it blows from the
desert to the east of Palestine, See on
Is, xxvii. 8. In proportion to the in

sincerity and faithless conduct of the
nation was the destruction which it
brought upon itself. Such conduct was
specially exhibited in tbe leagues that
were forraed, and the friendships that
were entered into with the two most
powerful of the ancient monarchies.
ipto, oil, was one of the most valuable
productions of Canaan, and forraed a
profitable article of exportation. It is
here spoken of as a present sent to the
king of Egypt, doubtless among other
costly articles, with a view to obtain a
favourable hearing to tbe embassy which
was despatched to secure his aid against
the Assyrians,
3. "Judah" and "Jacob" stand for the
two kingdoms respectively, the latter
name denoting the ten tribes, as in Is.
xvii, 4, The declaration here made
manifestly shows, that in ver. 1 the
conduct of Judah is to be viewed in an
unfavourable light. At the same tirae
the language of both verses in reference
to that power is not so strong as that
which is employed respecting Israel.
4, 5. Having introduced the narae of
Jacob in reference to his posterity,
Hosea adverts to three interesting in
cidents in his personal history, with the
view of encouraging his countryraen to
apply theraselves with all assiduity to
the service of God, who alone could,
and would extricate thera from the cala
mitous circurastances into wbich their
sins bad bronght tbem. Though apS,
from which the name aps;, Jacob, is
derived, Arab, t -'o<-^ e vestigio sequutus
fuit, a calce venit, &c, signifies to come
behind any one, take him by the heel,
trip, circumvent, &c,, it is obviously used

72

HOSEA,

[chap.

5 Yea, he strove with the Angel, and prevailed ;
He wept and made supplication to him ;
He found him at Bethel, and there he spake with him ;

here in a good sense, to denote the
supernatural indication which bis taking
bis brother Esau by the heel afforded of
the superiority, wbicb, in tbe course of
divine providence, he and his posterity
were to obtain. Gen. xxv. 22, 23, 26.
To this effect the Targ. «57 ts 3ps^ abfi
'nin« jp 'ap'T Tn« T>n«, was it not said of
Jacob before he was born, that he should
be greater ihan his brother? The Is
raelites were reminded of the promise,
" The one people shall be stronger than
the other people ;" and had they acted
on the faith of it, they would have found
that, with Jehovah on their side, they
were not only stronger than the Edom
ites, but even than the Assyrian power
itself. The idea of power having tbus
been suggested to the mind of the
prophet, he was reminded of the re
markable occurrence which took place
at Peniel, when Jacob wrestled with the
divine messenger of the covenant, and
prevailed, nrip, to put forth power,
exercise rule as a prince, or commander,
the verb frora wbich btfW], Israel, the
other name of Jacob, is derived, is that
employed Gen. xxxii. 29, where the
language is nearly identical with tbat
used in these two verses. In tbe re
sumption of the subject, ver. 5, Ttty> is
employed, whicb, though equivalent; to
nrto in signification, must be referred to
the root Tito. Comp. Jud. ix. 22, and
Hos. viii. 4. Jin properly signifies manly
vigour. Here ^«^P, the Angel, corre
sponds to D'ri'jN, God, ver. 4, and desig
nates the Uncreated Angel, of whom
we read so frequently in the Old
Testament, to whora, as here, names
distinctive of Deity are ascribed, and
who is represented as possessing the
divine attributes. See on Is, Ixiii. 9,
and Dr. M'Caul's Observations appended
to his translation of Kimchi on Zech
ariah, chap. i. bti specially points to the
Angel as the object towards whom the
conflicting efforts of the patriarch were
directed. Of the circumstances of his
weeping and making supphcation, no
particular mention is made in Genesis,
but they may be regarded as implied in

the words, " I will not let thee go,
except thou bless me." The struggle
was not raerely corporeal, it was also
mental. The outward conflict was only
a sign of that which was internal and
spiritual. The prophet, as in the former
reference, leaves tbe Israelites to make
the application. If they would only
now redeem tbeir character as descend
ants of Israel, and show that they were
entitled to the narae, by sincerely and
earnestly engaging in supplication to
the God of their ancestor, they too
should prevail, and obtain every neces
sary blessing. The third reference is to
tbe narrative Gen. xxviii. 11 — 22, which
contains an account of the scene at
Bethel, and the promises which God
then made, not to tbe patriarch only,
but also to his posterity. The nomi
native to «sp, he found, is God, and
not Jacob, as Abenezra, "Tanchum, and
several others bave attempted to main
tain. The raeaning is, that Jehovah
afforded to the solitary traveller the
gracious aid which his exposed situation
rendered desirable, byms, Bethel, is
here the accusative of place, and is used
with singular effect, in reference to the
contrasted appropriation of it by the
patriarch, and by his apostate posterity.
The LXX, not perceiving this, have
rendered it oikos ^Gv, ihe house of On,
as elsewhere in tbis book, lass, " with
us," Aq. Syram, Theod. Syr. Tanchum,
Abulwalid, and several moderns, render
as if it were ias, " with him ;" but
there is no variety of reading in the
MSS., and ia- is nowhere used of the
third person singular. Tbe LXX. have
Trpos a-vTo-vs, to them, as if they had
read DnS, whicb, so far as pronunciation
is concerned, goes to confirm tbe Masor-
etic punctuation. That tbe prophet
here speaks per Koivaaiv, identifying
hiraself and his contemporaries with
their progenitor, in whose loins they
may be said to have been, when he
received the gracious promises which
related not to himself only, but also to
his posterity, is the interpretation advo
cated by Manger, Horsley, Hitzig,

CllAP. XII,]

HOSEA.

6 Even Jehovah the God of hosts :
Jehovah is his memorial.

Maurer, and Rosenraiiller, Comp. Ps,
lxvi, 6 ; Heb, vii, 9, 10, On the other
hand, Ewald, following Jarchi and
Joseph Kimchi, renders the words TaT
^ass, he will spealc with us, in the future,
and considers tbe prophet to be an
nouncing, that God would renew his
communications at Bethel, provided the
Israelites returned to obedience. But
though this seems less entitled to adop
tion, it cannot be denied that his design
in the adduction of this instance was to
lead his people to repentance, in order that
tbey might inherit thepromised blessings,
6. 1 in nin'l is expletive. Ewald
strangely gives to the combination the
form of an oath : " bei Jahve," ex
plaining it in his note, " wahr ist das
bei Jahve," By Jehovah it is true ! The
incommunicable name is here introduced
for the express purpose of showing that
He who had made promises respecting
the posterity of Jacob, would not prove
unfaithful to his word. While 'n''«
niN3?n, the God of hosts, LXX. Uavro-
Kpdrap, conveys the idea of supreme
and infinite power by which he is able
to carry all bis purposes into effect, his
peculiarly distinctive name nin;, conveys
that of immutable constancy, and, by
implication, fidelity to his promises.
Some refer the word to the root nin, to
exist, he ; but that it is to be derived
from the cognate and more ordinary
verb of existence n;n, appears evident
from Exod. iii. 14, where, in the expla
nation of the name, the form of the
future is not ninK, but n;™. But as i is
nevertheless inserted in nin;, which also
retains ', the preformant of the third
person singular, it is impossible not to
acquiesce in the opinion, that the noun is
made up of njn. He was, nin^ He is, and
n;rp, He will be. Wbat confirms this
hypothesis, is the peculiar designation
of God, Rev, i, 4, 8, 'O av Kal d ^v
Kal d epxdpevos. He ihat is, and that
was, and that is to come, which is
merely a translation into Greek of these
different forms of the verb. See Po
cocke on Joel i, 19, In this derivation
Abenezra and other Rabbins concur ;
and, accordingly, the second article of
the Jewish creed concludes with the

words n'n'i mn n'n la'n'jM na"; Mini, " And
He alone is our God ; He was, He is,
and He shall be," It is a coincidence
in no small degree remarkable, that this
threefold description of the divine ex
istence obtained both araong the ancient
Egyptians and Brahrains, On the Saitic
temple of Isis was the inscription,
'Eym elpi ttSv to yfyovoj' Kal ov Kal
eadpevov, Kal tov epdv TreffXoi/ o-ihels
na dvijrds dveKaXv-^jre, " I ara all that
WAS, AND IS, AND SHALL BE, and nO
mortal hath ever uncovered ray veil."
Plutarch de Iside. In the Bbagavat
the Supreme Being thus addresses
Brahma : — " Even 1 was at first, not
any other being; that which exists
unperceived ; Supreme : afterwards I
AM that which is; and He who must
remain am I," Asiat. Researches, vol. i.
p. 245, Corap. Zevs ^v Ze-vs eari'
Zeis eaaerai' a peydXe Zev. " Zeus
was ; Zeus is ; Zeus shall be ; O great
Zeus!" Pausan. Phoc, X, 12. Whether
the narae nin; was in use before the
tirae of Moses, has been, and still is
matter of dispute. That the patriarchs
were unacquainted with it, has been
concluded from Exod. vi. 3, where God
declares, that the name under which he
revealed himself to them was 'Tto ''«,
God Almighty, but that he was not
known to them by his name nin;,
Jehovah. Since, however, we meet
with this narae not only in the history
of the patriarchs, but also expressly
employed by themselves, as in Gen. xv.
2, xvi. 2, xxii. 14, xxiv, 3, xxvii. 7,
xxviii. 20, 21, &c., it seeras undeniable
that they were acquainted with it; so
that wbat is meant by the words ''P'tol
DnJ 'nSTia «'' nin;, is, that God had not
caused them to experience the import of
his name nin;, Jehovah. For this sig
nification of the phrase Dto »T, to know a
name, or, to know, comp. Is. lii. 6, lxiv, 1 ;
Jer. xvi. 21. It had special reference to
something future — tbe fulfilment of tbe
promises which he had given them ; and
as these proraises began to be fulfilled
when he interposed for their deliverance
from Egypt, there was singular propriety
in its being selected as the name by
which Moses was to announce him to

74

HOSEA,

[chap.

XII,

7 Thou, therefore, return to thy God ;
Observe mercy and judgment,
And wait continually on thy God.
8 As for Canaan, deceitful balances are in his hand ;
He loveth to oppress.
9 Ephraim saith, Surely I am rich,
I have acquired wealth ;
In none of my labours am I chargeable with guilt.

his people, on opening his coraraission
to thera. The sarae futurity of reference
may be said to have continued to attach
to it all along till the advent of Messiah,
in whom all the promises are yea and
amen, 2 Cor. i. 20 ; just as it is still
prominently exhibited in 'O epxopevos.
The COMING One, of the Apocalypse,
which obviously respects the revelation
of the Lord frora heaven to fulfil the
mystery of God. Such interpretation
alone goes to fully justifj' the emphatic
statement made in the text of our pro
phet, iT3i nin;, corapared with Exod iii.
15, TT Ti) 'T31 hi, in which the Most High
declares, that this narae was to be era
ployed for the purpose of perpetuating
the knowledge of bis character with
respect to proraised blessings, Corap.
also Ps. cxxxv. 13. That it should have
come into oral disuse araong tbe Jews,
can only have originated in a feeling of
superstitious veneration, whicb led tbem
to regard it as too sacred to be pro
nounced without profanation. The
earliest trace of such superstition is
thought to be found in the words, Ec
clesiasticus xxiii. 9, dvopaala tov dyiov
pfj avve6ia6fjs, " use not thyself to the
naraing of the Holy One;" but Philo
de Norain. rautat. raakes express mention
of it. Whenever the Jews raeet with it
in the text, they read 'aix. Lord, instead
of it, except when it follows 'its, in
which case they point it nin;, and read
D'n''M, God, Some are of opinion, tbat
the present punctuation nin; is merely
that of 'ITM, the simple Sheva taking tbe
place of Hateph-Patach, wbich only
occurs in connexion with gutturals ; but
the employment of the two first syllables
with precisely the sarae points in the
formation of compound proper nanies
manifestly goes to show that our present
pronunciation is correct. Compare

inNin;, inairr, stoin;, &c. The change of
the Segol into Kametz may be accounted
for on the ground of the grave raanner
in which the final syllable required to
be accented, if it was not intended to
stand for tbe second vowel of the pre
terite njj.
7. An exhortation to duty derived
from what God had been, and would
still, in accordance with the significant
aspect of bis name, in continuance be,
to those who served him in sincerity.
8. ]S3?, Canaan, is the nominative
absolute, introduced abruptly for the
purpose of graphically describing the
real character of tbe Ephraimites, The
word may, indeed, be rendered merchant,
but then to'N, man, must be supplied;
^3| «)'«, a man of Canaan, meaning a
merchant — the inhabitants of that country
being the celebrated merchants of anti-
q'jity. The prophet seems rather to
place the nanies of Canaan and Israel
in antithesis ; in which there is greai;
point, as the Israelites were accustomed
to hold the Canaanites in the utmost
conterapt. Corap. Ezek. xvi. 3. Horsley
renders a trafficker of Canaan, whicii
weakens rather than strengthens the
antithesis. The fraudulent practices of
merchants were quite proverbial among
the Jews. " As a nail sticketh fast in
the joinings of the stones, so doth sin
stick close between buying and selhng."
Ecclesiasticus xxvii. 2.
9. The character assumed in the pre
ceding verse is here directly applied,
only the ten tribes are represented as
flattering themselves that tbey bad em
ployed no illegal means in acquiring
their affluence. iM^p;, they shail find,
is used impersonally, lis is employed
to denote tbe act of distortion or iniquity;
Mipn its guilt or culpability. Tbe words
literally rendered are, with respect to all

chap, xii,]

HOSEA.

10 Yet I, Jehovah, am thy God from the land of Egypt ;
I will still cause thee to dwell in tents as on feast days.
11 I have spoken to the prophets,
I have multiplied visions ;
And through the prophets I have used similitudes.

my efforts, they shall not find attaching
to me iniquity which is sin ; and the
meaning is, any fraudulent transactions
for which I might be punished, " The
merchant imagines it is not possible to
get through business without some de
ceit; but be takes care not to comrait
any gross or deadly act of delinquency,
hoping that God will not be strict in
regard to the rest." — Michaelis.
10. Commentators have been greatly
divided in opinion as to whether these
words are to be taken as a promise, or
as a threatening. Those wbo take the
latter view interpret the living in taber
nacles of such a life as those lead who
have no settled habitations, like the
Israelites in the wilderness, or like those
who assembled at the annual festivals,
and who could only be accoraraodated
in tents without the city. But, tbough
such exegesis raight at first sight seera
to suit the connexion, yet there is some
thing so forced in coraparing a state of
captivity to that of the Hebrew nation
during the celebration of the most joyful
of all their festivals, that I ara compelled
to regard the verse as containing a
promise of what God would still do for
the Israelites on their repentance and
reformation. Those who are familiar
with the sudden and abrupt transitions
which abound in Hosea, and tbe fre
quency with which be intermingles pro
mises with threatenings, will not be
surprised at this unexpected assurance
of the divine clemency. Tbe argument
is tbis : the Israelites have indeed acted
a most wicked and deceitful part, and
justly deserve to be for ever cast off
from all participation in my favour ; but
I am still, what I have been frora the
beginning of their bistory, their cove
nant-God, and will yet cause them to
renew their joy before me. Tbat they
were not to enjoy any such privilege in
their apostate condition is taken for
granted. The promise was fulfilled on
the return from the captivity.

11. Jehovah adduces a further proof
of the kindness of his disposition towards
the nation' — the abundant raeans of in
struction which he had afforded thera;
while, at the sarae time, the language is
so worded as to draw their attention to
the messages which the prophets had
delivered. These messages contained
the raost powerful dissuasives from idol
atry, and the greatest encouragements
to cleave unto the Lord, ^s in 'nT3T
D*N'35rr''S, following a verb of announce
ment, is equivalent to ''«, to, and is not
to be pressed so as to make it signify
the coming down or resting of inspiration
upon the prophets. Comp. Job xxxvi.
33. LXX. npds npo^ji-qras. If Hosea
was one of the earliest of the Hebrew
prophets, whose books are now in our
hands, reference must here be had to
those who had flourished before his
time, such as Abijah the Shilonite, She'
maiah, Iddo, Azariah, Hanani, Jehu,
Jahaziel, Eliezer, Elijah, Elisha, Micaiah,
Joel, and Amoz, not to include the
hundred prophets of the Lord whom
Obadiah hid in a cave, after Jezebel
had put a nuraber to death. Not only
had Jehovah raade nuraerous communi
cations of his will through the instru
mentality of these messengers, but he
had eraployed such raodes in raaking
these communications as were calculated
at once to gain and secure attention.
For jiin, see on Is. i. 1. npTN, from noT,
to be like, resemble ; in Piel, to liken,
compare, employ, similes, or comparisons ;
or, in general, to use figurative language.
In such language, including metaphor,
allegory, comparison, prosopopoeia, apo
strophe, hyperbole, &c. the prophets
abound. Tbey accommodated thera
selves to the capacity and understanding
of their hearers by couching the higli
and iraportant subjects of which ^hey
treated under the imagery of sensible
objects, and invested them with a degree
of life and energy which could only be
resisted by an obstinate determination

76

HOSEA.

[chap. xii.

12

13

14

Verily Gilead is iniquitous,
Surely they are false :
In Gilgal they sacrifice oxen ;
Their altars are like the heaps
On the ridges of the field.
Jacob fled to the country of Syria ;
Israel served for a wife ;
And for a wife he kept the flocks.
By a prophet Jehovah brought Israel up from Egypt,
And by a prophet he was kept.

not to listen to religious instruction.
Though npTN is in the future, it borrows
its teraporal signification frora the two
preceding verbs, 'nT3T and 'O'aTn, which
are in the preterite.
12. DM is not used here as a particle
expressing doubt ; it rather expresses
the certainty of what is affirraed, as 'tjn
following, evidently shows. The two
places here mentioned were celebrated
in the history of the Hebrews : — Gilead,
on account of the solemn agreeraent
whicb Laban and Jacob entered into
there with each other ; and Gilgal, on
account of the general circumcision of
the people, and tbe solemn observance
of the passover when they bad passed
over Jordan, They are adduced by the
prophet to remind the Israelites of the
sacred obligations under wbich they lay,
and the sacred character which, as the
peculiar people of God, they ought ever
to sustain. Pointing, as it were, to the
heap of stones which Jacob had erected
in testimony of tbe transaction between
hira and Laban, Hosea asks, Is Gilead
the scene of iniquity ? Are its inhabi
tants actually worshippers of idols? And
then he fearlessly charges them with
idolatry. Both p.M and Mito are specially
used of idols, in order to express their
nothingness and vanity. The abstract
stands for the concrete. By TS";?, Gilead,
is meant not raerely the place, but its
inhabitants, Corap. for the wickedness
of tbe Gileadites, chap. vi. 8, ^a^a,
Gilgal, had also become desecrated by
idolatrous practices, chap. iv. 15, ix, 15,
which abounded to such an extent, that
the nuraber of the altars was Uke that
of the heaps of stones which have been
collected and left in various parts of the

ridges of a field. In D'^a, heaps, comp.
Josh, vii. 26, there is an obvious refer
ence to the name ''a^a. Both are derived
frora ''^3, to roll, roll stones, Szc. For
''Tto 'p^n, corap. chap, x, 4.
13, 14. The arguraent of both these
verses is the same, though it is only in
the latter that it is expressly stated, viz.
tbe divine goodness in preserving Jacob
and his posterity, God was with the
patriarch, according to bis promise, and
protected and prospered him all the time
he was in servitude in Padan-aram; and
he likewise delivered his descendants
from Egyptian bondage, and conducted
them safely to the land of Canaan,
DTM, Aramcea, Syria, ihe high country,
frora DIT, to be high ; here specially the
region between the Euphrates and the
Tigris, called, on this account, D''in3 Dns,
Aram of the iwo rivers, LXX, Meco-
noTapla, Mesopotamia. Being lower
than the rest of Syria on the west, it is
here called ^"W, field, which corresponds
to ]T0, a level or plain. Gen. xlviii. 7;
hence Padan-aram. Tpto, to keep, is
used without ]MS, sheep, in the sense of
keeping a fiock. See Gen. xxx. 31 ;
1 Sam, xvn. 20, To the verb as thus
employed in its literal acceptation, ver,
13, the figurative use in TOto;, ver, 14,
corresponds. The church of God is
frequently corapared to a flock. The
^'?J. prophet, here referred to was Moses,
who was so KUT e^ox^v. See Exod. iv.
15, 16 ; Numb, xii, 6—8 ; Is, Ixiii, 11, 12,
The repeated reference to the Hebrew
legislator in this character, was evidently
intended to impress the minds of the Is
raelites with a conviction of the necessity
of attending to the messages which the
Lord sent to them by his prophets.

chaf, xiii,]

HOSEA.

77

15 Ephraim hath given most bitter provocation.
Therefore will his Lord leave his blood upon him ;
And bring back upon him his reproach.

15. D'rnpn, lit, bitternesses, i, e, most
bitter, or bitterly. The object of pro
vocation is not expressed, but that it is
Jehovah is clear from the following
clause. The blood of Ephraim was, in
all probability, that of human victims
whicb had been shed in the service of
Moloch. ViTM, his Lord, is improperly
applied by Horsley to the king of Assyria,

By inBTn, his reproach, is meant the dis
graceful conduct of the ten tribes in
abandoning the true God, as unworthy
of their service, and transferring it to
idols, vaiM is the nominative to toiw as
well as to 31^;, and in our language the
corresponding term Lord requires to be
used before the former, and understood
before the latter of the two verbs.

CHAPTER XIII.
After contrasting the prosperity of the tribe of Ephraim, during the period of its
obedience to the divine laws, with the adversity which it had suffered in conse
quence of idolatry, 1, the prophet proceeds in the same manner, as in the
preceding chapter, to intermingle brief descriptions of sin and guilt, 2, 6, 9, 12;
denouncements of punishment, 3, 7, 8, 13, 15, 16; and promises of mercy,
4, 9, 14.

1 When Ephraim spake, there was tremour,
He was exalted in Israel ;
But he offended through Baal, and died.

1. Ephraim means here the tribe pro
perly so called, in distinction from the
other tribes of Israel, mentioned irame
diately after. Such was the power and
influence which it originally exercised
over the rest, that they showed it the
utmost deference, nn'i, a ana^ Xeyd-
pevQv, but obviously cognate with tob'i,
Jer, xlix, 24, Syr. '[h^li, Targ, Mn'nT,
fear, trembling. In Pococke's Arab,
MS. the words are rendered sXc

when Ephraim spake, trembling fell upon
men. And so Tanchum, ^t J'^^
the meaning is, ihat men revered him,
and trembled at his word. The same
construction is adopted by Jerome,
Kimchi, Abarbanel, Munster, Vatablus,
Clarius, Drusius, Lively, Grotius, Ri
vetus, Tingstadius, Dathe, Kuinoel,
Horsley, De Wette, Maurer, Noyes,
and Hitzig. It is irapossible to approve
the translation of Ewald : " Wie Efraim
redete Empdrung, es aufruhr machte in

HOSEA.

[cha

p, xiii.

And now they continue to sin.
And make for themselves molten images.
Idols of their silver, according to their skill ;
All of them the work of artificers ;
The men that sacrifice, say of them,
Let them kiss the calves.

Israel," When Ephraim gave utterance to
sedition, it produced rebellion in Israel.
Neither nm nor Mica admit of being so
translated. To take nm adverbially,
and render it tremblingly, or trembling,
as in our common version, tbough it
affords an apt sense in itself, is less
suited to the connexion. Mii)3 occurs in
the sense of elevating oneself, Ps. Ixx.'cix.
10 ; Nah. i. 5, or being exalted. Hence
M'ii)3, a prince, a in ''SM, has the force
of, in union with, in ihe matter of, and
marks the participation of the Ephraim
ites in the service of Baal, ran, to die,
is here to be taken in a civil or political
sense ; to lose one's influence, becorae
subject to raisery, punishment, &c. It
forms an antithesis to Mtoa, to be exalted.
No sooner did the Ephraimites forsake
the true God and take up with idols
than he inflicted judgments upon them,
by which their power was weakened,
and at last becarae entirely extinct —
" ex quo peccavit, nulla jam est auto
ritate in populo Dei." CEcolarapadius. —
" Vita Eeruranosa et tristis pro raorte cen-
setur ; idcirco exules raortui dicuntur, et
exiliura sepulchri nomine notatur, Ezech,
cap. 37." Rivetus.
2. This verse sets forth their perse
verance in idolatrous practices, notwith
standing the chastisements with whicii
they had been visited, dtm 'mi, the
LXX, Vulg. Jarchi, Abenezra, Abar
banel, Tanchum, Calvin, Piscator, Leo
Juda, and among tbe moderns, Schmid,
J. H. Michaelis, Horsley, Hitzig, Stuck,
and J. Fr. Schroder, render sacrifice, or
sacrificers of men, on the principle, that
the presentation of human sacrifices is
meant. Tbis, however, was called in
question by Kimchi, who explains, 'a3
n3i'' D'Man dtm, the men who come to
sacrifice. To the same effect Munster,
Piscator, Junius and Tremelius, Rivetus,
Mercer, Glassius, Lively, Drusius, Bo
chart, our ovfn and most of tbe au
thorized versions, Lowth, Newcorae,

Boothroyd, Noyes, De Wette, Gesenius,
Maurer, and Ewald. The rule of syntax
laid down by Gesenius respecting this
mode of construction, Lebrgeb. p. 678,
is, that when a genitive following an
adjective is a noun of multitude, or of
the plural number, such adjective is
particularly used in poetry for the pur
pose of designating those of the mul
titude to which the specified quality
belongs. Instances are Is. xxix. 19,
DTM 'a.i'3M, the poor of men, i. e. those of
men who are poor ; Mic. v. 5, DTM >3'P3,
the anointed of men, i. e. such of men
as are anointed. So in the present case,
DTM 'nji, sacrificers of men, i. e. those of,
or among men that sacrifice, which is
merely a periphrasisfor jjr Jesfe. Although,
therefore, it is a fact, that the ten tribes
did sacrifice tbeir children to Moloch,
2 Kings xvii. 17, it would be more than
precarious to draw any such inference
from the present passage, especially as
the prophet raentions the calves, of whose
worship huraan sacrifices, so far as we
know, forraed no part, ppto; D'^, let
ihem kiss the calves. It was customary
for idolaters to give the kiss of adoration
to the objects of their worship. This
was sometiraes done by raerely touching
the lips with the hand, to which reference
is raade Job xxxi. 27, Corap. Lucian
nepl Opxweas i. p. 918, edit. Bened,
Minutius Felix, cap. 2, ad fin. Apuleius
Apol. p. 496. At other tiraes the idol
itself was kissed by the worshippers.
Corap. 1 Kings xix. 18, Thus Cicero
tells us, tbat at Agrigentum in Sicily
there was a brazen image of the Tyrian
Hercules whose mouth and chin were
worn by the kisses of his worship
pers — " non solum id venerari, verum
etiam osculari solebant." Act ii. in
Verrera, lib. iv. cap. 43. Nothing is
more common in the Russian churches
than for the devotees to kiss the picture
of the Virgin, or of St. Nicholas. The
construction of the words wydn Dn onj

chap, xiii.]

HOSEA.

79

Therefore shall they be like the morning cloud,
And like the dew which early departeth,
Like chaff blown by a whirlwind from the threshing-floor,
And like smoke from the window.
Yet I, Jehovah, have been thy God from the land of Egypt,
Thou knewest no God besides me ;
Nor was there any Saviour besides me.
I regarded thee in the wilderness,
In the land of burning thirst.
As they were fed, so were they satiated ;
They were satiated, and their heart was lifted np ;
Therefore they forgat me :
So that I became to them as a lion,
I watched for them as a leopard by the way.
I met them as a bear bereaved of her cubs.

Jipto^ D'^as DTM 'n?i is somewhat difficult.
As usually divided they are interpreted
thus : they, i. e. the Ephraimites, say of
thera, the iraages, let the sacrificers kiss
the calves ; but it is better to take
DTM 'nai, the sacrificers, as in apposition
with, and exegetical of D'lpM on, they
say, i, e. they, the men that sacrifice,
say to the people, let them kiss the
calves. While the priests presented the
sacrifices, they encouraged the worship
pers to come forward and kiss the objects
of their adoration.
3. Comp. chap. vi. 4. ]y,, the threshing
fioor, being an open area, generally on
an eminence, was peculiarly exposed to
the wind, whicii carried off the chaff, on
its being trodden out, or separated frora
tbe grain. na'iM, Aq. dnd KarappaKTov,
wbich Jerome explains, " foramen in pa-
riete fabricatum per quod fumus egre
ditur;" Symm. onfjs, dn-rj, an orifice;
Theod. KanovSox^v, a hole for the pas
sage of smoke, it is very comraon in
the East for the light to be admitted,
and the smoke to make its escape by
tbe sarae passage or orifice in the wall.
Tbe idea of a speedy removal is that
conveyed by all the images here em
ployed. 4. Comp. chap. xii. 10. The long
addition in the LXX. is totally unsup
ported, and was raost probably inserted
in that version by some scholiast.

5. Here 'fiVT', / knew, contrasts with
S'I!? in the preceding verse, only it is to
be taken in the sense of knowing effec
tively, taking notice of, caring for. Comp,
Amos iii. 2. nhiM^n, lit. thirstines.<!es,
great thirst, extreme drought, from 3m5,
Arab, l__>ll, sitivit, Comp. anb, to burn,
Arab, l..,^, arsit, sitivit, siti arsit.
Munster renders, " terra siti ardente,"
Comp. Deut. viii. 15.
6. cn'S'ip?, according to their feeding,
i. c. in proportion to their enjoyment of
tbe provision which I raade ibr them,
feeding thera with manna from heaven,
and afterwards abundantly supplying
tbeir wants. It is equivalent to, " as
they were fed." For the rest of the
verse comp. Deut. xxxii. 13 — 15.
7, 8. 1 in 'iiMi is inferential, showing
that what follows was the result of what
is stated in the preceding verse. The
context requires the verb to be taken in
the past time. Tbe images here era
ployed are of frequent occurrence.
Corap. Job X. 16 ; Ps. vii. 2; Is. xxxviii.
13; Lam, iii. 10 Tpa, the leopard, so
called from bis spots or streaks. Arab.
-^, maculosus fuit, maculis punctisve
respersus fuit ; pardus. See Jer. xiii. 23,
vnTSTan Tpa -jDrrn. 'i'he leopard is noted
for his swiftness, ferocity, and especially

so

HOSEA.

[chap. xiii.

10

11

And rent the caul of their heart ;
I devoured them there, as a lioness ;
The wild beast rent them in pieces.
O Israel ! Thou hast destroyed thyself,
Nevertheless in me truly is thine help.
Where is thy king now ?
That he may save thee in all thy cities ;
And thy judges, of whom thou saidst,
Give me a king and princes.
I gave thee a king in mine anger,
And took him away in my wrath.

his cruelty to man. He lurks in the
dense thicket of the wood, and springs
with great velocity on his victim. With
respect to tbe bear, Jerome remarks,
" Aiunt, qui de bestiarum scripsere na
turis, inter oranes feras nihil esse ursa
SEevius, quum perdiderit catulos vel
indignerit cibis." 3t being of common
gender, the participle ''iato is put in the
masculine, though the female bear is
meant. Comp. D'baon la'Di'pM, Ps. cxliv.
14, Tiap is the pericardium, or mem
brane which contains the heart in its
cavity, and is thus fitly called its en
closure. For TiiiiM, / watched, sixteen of
De Rossi's MSS. and one in the margin,
three ancient editions, and twenty-four
others, the LXX, Syr. Vulg. and Arab,
read tiiBm, Assyria, which some prefer,
on account of the number of lions,
panthers, tigers, &c. with which the
regions of southern Asia abound. The
text would then read, as a leopard, in
ihe way to Assyria; but the comraon
reading is more in accordance with the
spirit of the passage.
9. f[nnto, I take to be a noun with
the suffix, thy destruction ! i. e. the de
struction is thine own ; thou hast brought
it upon thyself by thy sins. It is,
therefore, equivalent to " thou hast de
stroyed thyself," and cannot be better
rendered. 'Thus the Vulg. Perditio tua,
Israel. Dathe, Ipsi estis o Israelitce !
exitii vestri causa. Sorae, however, as
Kimchi, supply ''asn, the calf ; others,
1?^P, ihy king, from the following verse ;
others, some other noun ; and take nnti
to be the third person singular of Piel.
Comp. for the form D>\fl, Deut. xxxii. 35 ;
T3?, Jer, V, 13; T3T, Hos, i. 2; TQp, Jer,

xliv. 21 , Newcome unwarrantably adopts
the rendering of the Syriac, " I have
destroyed thee," Most of the moderns
give a hostile sense to the ? in the fol
lowing 'pis? '3, against me, against thy
help ; but, considering how frequently
declarations of kindness are mixed up
with charges of evil, and tbat some verb
denoting rebellion would be required to
support such construction, it seems pre
ferable to give fo '3 the coramon adver
sative signification of yet, nevertheless,
and to regard the ? in ^'ilS? as the Beth
Essentice, whicii renders the phrase much
more emphatic than the pronoun, or the
substantive verb would have done. It
is equivalent to. In rae is thy real help.
Other sources may be applied to, and
they may promise thee assistance ; but
from me alone efficient aid is to be ex
pected, and in me it is so be found. So
our translators. See on Is, xxvi, 4.
This exegesis is strongly supported, if
not rendered absolutely necessary, by the
pointed interrogations in the following
verse. The LXX, tLs ^orjdijaet ; turning
*3 into 'P, and oraitting the second }
altogether. Thus also the Syr.
10, 11, 'ng is in all probability a me
tathesis for n?M, where ? It is thus
rendered by the LXX, Syr, Vulg. Targ,
Abulwalid, Tanchum, Luther, Drusius,
Mercer, Osiander, Rivetus, Castalio, and
by most modern expositors. It is also
so taken by Gesenius, Lee, Winer, and
Fiirst ; and alone suits the connexion,
Comp. in support of this interpretation,
the corabination midn njs, Jud. ix. 38 ;
Job xvii. 15 ; Is. xix, 12. One of
Kennicott's MSS. and perhaps another,
one of De Rossi's in the margin, read

chap, xiii,]

HOSEA.

81

12 The guilt of Ephraim is bound up.
His punishment is laid up in store.
13 The pangs of a woman in labour shall come upon him ;
He is an unwise son,
Otherwise he would not remain long
In the place of the breaking forth of children.
14 I will deliver them from the power of Sheol ;
I will redeem them from death :

n?!? instead of 'nM, though probably by
correction. Another of De Rossi's has
a note in the margin, stating that the
word is so explained. The 1 in '^S'lCi'')
is pleonastic, except it be regarded as
introducing tbe apodosis. ]nM is so in
timately connected with the past trans
actions implied in ''mm mpM, thou saidst,
qive me, that, though future in form, it
cannot with any propriety be rendered
otherwise than in the preterite. Sorae
refer the circurastances here raentioned
to tbe selection and removal of Saul ;
but it is more in keeping with the
specialty of the prophet's address to
consider the king to be Jeroboam and
his successors in the regal dignity ; and
that the removal regards the frequent
changes which took place in the history
of the Israelitish kings, which proved a
source of great calaraity to the nation.
See 2 Kings xv.
12, The metaphors are here borrowed
from the custom of tying up money in
bags, and depositing it in some secret
place, in order tbat it might be pre
served. The certainty of punishment
is the idea conveyed by them. Comp.
for the former. Job xiv. 17 ; and for the
latter Deut. xxxii. 34, Job. xxi, 19.
13. Another instance of two meta
phors closely connected, the transition
from the one to the otber of which is, in
the raanner of the Orientals, rapid and
unexpected. See Dathe's very judicious
note. It is not unusual in Scripture to
compare the calamities of a people to
the sorrows of childbirth. In addition
to this the danger and folly of Ephraim
in protracting repentance, in the midst
of the afflictive circumstances in which
he was placed, is fitly compared to the
extremely critical condition of a child
on the point of being born, but, owing
to the want of strength on the part of

the mother, or other causes, is detained
in its passage from the womb. The
LXX. o-vtos d vids aov d (j>pdvipos has
doubtless originally been ovtos o vids
ov (j>pdvipos. '? introduces the contrary
of the preceding proposition, and is used
elliptically for the sentence, " For if it
were not so," &c. It may hest be ren
dered into English by otherwise, else, or
the like, ns, time, is here to be taken
adverbially, in the sense of for a time,
long, &c. Winer, aliquod tempus, ali-
quamdiu. Corap, the Arab, ,.-«:, when
used in opposition to i •• -J'.. Tiitip, the
os uteri. Corap. 2 Kings xix. 3 ; Is.
xxxvi. 3, lxvi. 9, Without a national
naXiyyeveaia, no prosperity could be
expected. It was for tbe Israelites by
true repentance to accelerate and ensure
their deliverance frora threatened de
struction, and their enjoyraent of a new
period of peace and happiness.
14. The ideas of Sheol and Death
were naturally suggested by the perilous
circumstances described in the preceding
verse. Extinction as a people is there
apprehended. Here it is viewed as
having already taken place ; and a
gracious promise is given of the resto
ration ofthe Israelites, and tbe complete
destruction of the eneraies by whom
they had been carried into captivity,
T^P, /rom the hand, a coraraon Hebraism
for from the power. niB properly sig
nifies to redeem, or buy loose, by the
payraent of a price ; ''Ma, to avenge the
raurder of a relative, and also to recover
or redeem property by repayment. Both
verbs, however, are used in a more ex
tended signification, and especially in
reference to the deliverance of the
Hebrews from Egypt, and from the
captivity in Babylon. That 'riNto, Sheol,
M

82

HOSEA.

[chap, xiii.

Where is thy destruction, 0 Death ?
Where is thine excision, O Sheol .''
Repentance is hid from raine eyes.

and nin, Death, are here to be taken in
a figurative sense, with application to
the state ofthe Israelites in the Assyrian
and Babylonish captivity, deprived as
they were of all political existence, and
subject to the most grievous calaraities,
the exigency of the passage imperatively
demands. Corap. Is. xxvi. 19. Re
specting 'ITM interpreters are far from
being agreed. Symra. the Vulg. Cover-
dale, Drusius, Tingstadius, Horsley,
Dathe, Kuinoel, De Wette, Noyes,
Rosenmiiller, Hesselberg, and Maurer,
take it to be the first person future of
the substantive verb n;n, to be ; whereas
the LXX. Aq. the fifth edition, (Paul,
1 Cor. XV. 55,) Syr. Arab. Abulwalid,
Tanchum, Junius and Tremellius, Mer
cer, Newcorae, Boothroyd, Ewald, and
Hitzig, consider it to be used as in ver,
10, for n^M, TTOV, where? With the latter
authorities I concur, partly on the ground
that it is not likely the prophet would
eraploy the same word in the same form
in two different acceptations in verses
10 and 14 ; and partly because I find
'nM nowhere used absolutely as an apo
copated future ; but always with the
Vau conversive prefixed. See for the
full form n;nM, chap, xiv, 6. To which
add, that the interrogation is more in
keeping with tbe animated style of the
passage. Instead of the plural fj'W,
thy destructions, one hundred and twenty-
two MSS., originally five more, now two,
and four of the early editions, read 'pa'i,
thy destruction, in the singular. T3'i,
Arab, j^i, deaih ; specially ihe plague,
pestilence ; the awful destruction of
human life effected by it. Hence the
LXX. mostly render it Bdvaros ; here
Sik?;, but in all probability originally
VIK7), for which Paul reads vIkos, only
transposing vUos and Kevrpov, by which
latter term tbe LXX. render 3pp, ex-
cision,^ cutting off, destruction. The cause
of tbis transposition is obvious. The
apostle bad just quoted the passage in
Isaiah, agreeably to tbe version of
Theodotion, in which vUos occurs,
whereby he was reminded of the same

vifords as occurring in Hosea, and, under
the influence of strong eraotion, he
commences his quotation with vlkos
prominently in his mind. Olshausen
thinks vIkos is a later form for vIktj.
Root 3iDi7, Arab. K_ 'W\ to cut, cut off,
destroy. That T3'i is the genuine read
ing, and that IJT'i, a goad, which some
would substitute for it, in order to make
the Hebrew correspond to Kevrpov, is to
be rejected, raay very conclusively be
gathered frora the sirailar occurrence of
the words T3'i and 3E|J together, Ps. xci.
6. Corap. Deut, xxxii. 24, The import
of this animated apostrophe, as used
both by Jehovah in the prophet, and by
the apostle, is, Where are now the effects
of the destructive influence which you
have exerted? Your victiras are reco
vered from your dominion : they are
alive again, and shall no more be subject
to your power. The speakers place
themselves as it were in the period after
the resurrection : the former in that
after tbe restoration from Babylon ; tbe
other in that after tbe literal restoration
of the dead to life at the last day. Both
look back, and triumphantly exult over
the conquerors. With respect to the
appropriation of the words by the
apostle in reference to the doctrine of
the final resurrection, it appears to be
raade, not in the way of proof, but
merely to give expression, in the trium
phant language of the prophet, to the
animated feelings which had taken pos
session of bis breast. His direct quo
tation in the way of argument is made
from Is. xxv, 8, and consists of the
words, Kare-ndBrj d Bdvaros ds vikos.
It would, therefore, he improper to
identify the subject of which he treats
with that treated of by our prophet.
" Neque enim ex professo semper locos
adducunt apostoli, qui toto contextu ad
institutum quod tractant pertineant : sed
interdum alludunt ad unum verbum
duntaxat, aliquando aptant locum ad
sententiam per similitudinem, aliquando
abhibent testimonia. — Atqui satis con
stat, Paulum illo 15 cap. 1 ad Corinth

chap, xiii.]

HOSEA.

15 Though he be fruitful among his brethren,
Yet an east wind, a wind of Jehovah,
Shall come up from the desert,
And dry up his fountain ;
And his spring shall become dry :
He shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessel;
16 Samaria shall be punished,
Because she hath rebelled against her God :
They shall fall by the sword ;
Their infants shall be dashed in pieces,
And their pregnant women shall be ripped up.

non citasse propbetEe testimoniam ad
confirraandum illam doctrinam de qua
disserit." Calvin in loc. See also
Horsley's critical note. Dna, LXX. ffa-
o p ^
paKX-qais, Syr. U,^q2, Vulg. consolatio;
hut repentance better suits the connexion.
It expresses the immutability of the
divine purpose, which had the deliver
ance of his people for its object. Comp.
Rom. xi. 29. Horsley strangely refers
the repentance to man, and not to
God, 15, This and the following verse set
forth the devastation and destruction of
the kingdora of the ten tribes, which
was to precede the deliverance promised
in that which precedes. While the
promise was designed to afford conso
lation to the pious, and encouragement
to the penitent, tbe threatening was
equally necessary for the refractory and
profane, Hin, he, refers to Ephraim,
ver. 12. n''1b; an dna^ Xey. but obvi
ously equivalent to n-^i.', the Hiphil of
nrs, to be fruitful. It is here used with
special reference to the name of d;iem,
being the root whence it is derived, and
not improbably exhibits M instead of n,
because it forms the first letter of the
noun. Tbe tribe of Ephraim was the
raost numerous in regard to population,
and was for a time in ihe raost flourish
ing circurastances. That such is the
signification of the verb, and that it is
not to be rendered divide or separate, as
in the ancient and several of the niodern
versions, nor act like a wild ass, which
others exhibit, appears frora the raention

of a spring and a fountain, which natu
rally suggest lhe idea of a tree, tbe roots
of which are plentifully suppUed by
their water. For D'TjJ, see on chap. xii.
2, and Is. xxvii. 8. nin; nn, like toM
D'ri'JN, Job i. 19, is the genitive of cause,
a wind caused, sent by, or proceeding
frora Jehovah; not " a great wind," as
some interpret. The Assyrian army is
meant, npto; Min, He, i. e. the Assyrian,
couched under the metaphor of the
destructive wind, shall plunder every
valuable article belonging to the Is
raelites 16. [Chap. xiv. 1.] This verse begins
the following chapter in the Hebrew
Bible, but it raore intimately coheres
with the preceding context. Dtosn, LXX,
d(pavta6ijaeTai, Vulg. pereat. 'The word
signifies to be guilty of crime, and to be
treated as guilty, to suffer punishment,
be punished. Samaria, as the metropolis,
and the source of all the calamities
which were coming upon the Israelites,
is put as representing the whole nation ;
but not to the exclusion of the peculiarly
severe punishraent which the inhabitants
of tbat city had to expect, rm, some
render to embitter, provoke bitterly ; but
rebelling, resisting, striking against any
one, are the ideas more properly con
veyed by the verb. Thus the LXX,
dvTeaTT] npds tov dedv avrijs. The
addition of the affix in n'n^.M, " her
God," gives great eraphasis in such con
nexion. Comp. chap. xii. 10, xiii. 4.
The aggravations of sin are increased
by the relations sustained by the sin
ner. For the concluding portion of the
verse, comp. 2 Kings viii. 12, xv. 16;

84

HOSEA.

[chap. xiv.

Araos i. 13. That such cruelties were not and Horace, Carm. iv. Ode 6. The
unknown among other nations, see Iliad construction iSi53; vninn is ad sensum,
yi. 58 :  though not according to the strict rule
of gramraar, and may have been occa-
 pr)h' oTiva yaarept p7]Trjp sioned by the form of itoBT; immediately
KoOpoi/ edvTa (pepot, prjd' os (ft-vyof ; — preceding.

CHAPTER XIV.
This chapter contains an urgent call to repentance, the supplication and confession
expressive of which are put in a set forra of words into the mouths of the
penitents, 1 — 3. To encourage them thus to return to God, he makes the most
gracious promises to tbem, 4 — 7 ; their entire abandonment of idolatry is then
predicted, and the divine condescension and goodness are announced, 8 ; and
the whole concludes with a soleran declaration, on the part of the prophet,
respecting the opposite consequences that would result from attention or in
attention to his message.

Return, 0 Israel ! to Jehovah thy God ;
For thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
Take with you words, and return to Jehovah ;
Say to him,
Forgive all iniquity, and graciously receive us,
Then we will render to thee the calves of our lips.

1, 2, The n of direction in the im
perative n3ito is, as usual, intensive,
marking a strong desire on the part of
the speaker tbat the action expressed by
the verb might take place. For the
emphasis attaching to the affi-ic in TD''.m,
" thy God," see on chap. xiii. 16. Mtoa
]is is a phrase of sucb frequent occur
rence with the raeaning to pardon ini
quity, that it is surprising how Horsley
could insist upon its meaning to " take
away the sinful principle within us — the
carnal heart of the old Adam." His
construction of 3iiD np_, " accept as good,
what, so regenerate, we shall be enabled

to perform," tbough sound divinity, is
equally indefensible on the ground of
philology. 3itD is used adverbially, be
nigne, in bonam partem ; and the mean
ing is, graciously receive us back into
thy favour. With respect to the inter
position of the verb Mton, between 'a and
jis, it may be observed, that it is not a
solitary instance of such construction.
See on Is, xix. 8, and comp. Job xv. 10.
D'"is, calves or bullocks, used here me
taphorically for victims, sacrifices. The
word occurring in the absolute forra,
some render 13'nBto D'TB, bullocks our lips,
as if the two nouns were in apposition ;

chap, xiv.]

HOSEA.

85

Assyria shall not save us ;
We will not ride upon horses ;
Neither will we say any more, " Our gods,"
To the work of our hands :
For by thee the destitute is pitied.
I will heal their apostasy ;
I will love them freely ;
For my anger is turned away from them.
I will be as the dew to Israel ;

but there are instances of nouns thus
put, which cannot be explained other
wise than in the construct, as to sense.
Thus Deut. xxxiii. 1 1, VDp^ D;anQ, the
loins of those who oppose Mm ; Jud. v.
13, DS D'TTM, the princes of the people;
Prov!' xxii. 21, npM dtdm, words of truth.
Gesenius supposes the governing noun
to be mentally repeated, and that the
fnll form would be la'nsto 'ts D'tb, bullocks,
the bullocks of our lips. Such construc
tion in full he adduces in the instance
Exod. xxxviii. 21, nnsn ptop jstopn, the
tabernacle, the tabernacle of testimony.
Some would change D'TB into ''iB, fruit,
on the ground of the reading found in
the LXX. dvTanoSmpev Kapndv p^etXemv
iJ/iitSi/, which is followed by the Syr. and
Arab, and is supposed to have heen
borrowed by the apostle, Heb. xiii. 15,
There is, however, no variety in the
Hebrew MSS. ; while the Targum and
all the other authorities support the
textual reading. The LXX. have com
mitted a similar mistake in rendering
rPTB, her bullocks, tovs Kapnovs avrfjs,
her fruits, Jer. 1. 27, The conjecture of
Pococke, that they used Kapnds in the
sense of K&pnapa, which they eraploy
to express sacrifice, oblation, &c., is
less probable. See the iraportant note
of Horsley, The prophet's raeaning is.
We will render, in grateful return for
thy forgiving and restoring mercy, the
only sacrifices worthy of it — our tribute
of thanksgiving and praise. For such
use of DTO, to requite, render back,
corap. Ps. lvi. 12, '^5 niTin D^, / will
render thanks unto thee : so that the
construction proposed by some, " we will
offer the sacrifices which our lips have
vowed," cannot be regarded as unex
ceptionable, even if it were in keeping
with the spirit of the passage. The only

parallels fully corresponding to it are
Ps, li. 15—17, Ixix. 31, 32.
3, Three of the sins to which the ten
tribes were specially prone are bere im
plied : dependence upon the aid of the
Assyrians ; application to Egypt for
horses, in direct violation of tbe divine
command, Deut. xvii. 16; Is. xxxi. 1;
and idolatry. These they now for ever
renounce, and avow their determination
henceforth to trust in Jehovah alone ;
adding as the reason of such determi
nation, the experience which they had
had of the divine favour in time of need.
TtoM is here used in a causal sense,
because, for, forasmuch as. Comp. Gen,
xxxi. 29 ; Eccles. iv, 9, Din;, orphan,
is applied in this place metaphorically
to the unprotected and destitute circum
stances in which the Israelites had been,
while in a state of separation from the
Lord. 4, Dnaitoip is not, with Horsley, to be
rendered " their conversion," but their
apostasy. See on chap, xi, 7, nj'ia, lit.
spontaneousness, willingness, is used ad
verbially for willingly, liberallg, freely.
It is derived from 3T3, Arab. (__)iij
instigavit, impulit ad aliquid ; agilis in
conficienda re promptusque vir; gene
rosus ; and is expressive of the free,
unmerited, and abundant love of God
towards repentant sinners, lapp, "from
him," i.e. Israel, the collective noun,
ver. 2, resolved by the Syr. Lat, and
other translators into a plural,
5, 6, The love of God to his people,
and its effects in their happy experience,
are here couched in similes borrowed
from the vegetable kingdom. The dew
is very copious in the East, and, by its
refreshing and quickening virtue, sup
plies the place of more frequent rains in

86

HOSEA,

[chap, xiv.

He shall blossom as the lily,
And strike his roots like Lebanon,
His suckers shall spread forth,
And his beauty shall be as the olive tree,
And his fragrance as Lebanon.
They that dwell under his shade shall revive as the corn,
And shoot forth as the vine :
Their fame shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
Ephraim shall say,
What have I any more to do with idols ?

other countries. Kimchi thinks that the
constancy with whicb the dew falls is
the point bere more specially refeired
to, and to which tbe divine blessing is
compared, natoito, UUes, abound in Pa
lestine, even apart from cultivation.
There are two kinds : the common lily,
which is perfectly white, consisting of
six leaves, opening like bells ; and what
the Syrians call |:i^ic ^A.aA, the
royal lily, the stem of which is about the
size of a finger in thickness, and which
grows to the height of three and four
feet, spreading its flowers in the most
beautiful and engaging raanner. Comp.
Matt. vi. 29. To these productions tbe
moral beauty of regenerated Israel is
very aptly corapared. For Lebanon, see
on Is. X. 34. Tbe mountain stands here
by metonymy for the trees which grow
upon it, such as the celebrated cedars,
whose roots striking far in depth and
length into the ground, give thera a
firmness which no storms can shake.
Tbe ideas of strength and stability are
those conveyed by the simile, whether
we refer the roots to the trees, or, meta
phorically, to the mountain itself; but
the amplification in the following verse
lenders the former the preferable con
struction. ?[jn is often used, not merely
of continued, but of increased action,
and here denotes lo spread out as the
suckers or small branches of trees. The
olive is frequently referred to, on account
of its beautiful green, and the pleasing
ideas associated with its produce. Though
the former only is expressed, yet the
idea of fragrance is implied, only it is
with the strictest propriety extended in
the following clause to the whole of

Lebanon, on account of the number of
odoriferous trees and plants wiih which
it abounds. In these verses, the render
ing frankiytcense, which Newcome prefers
to Lebanon, is not to be admitted, lire
stability, extension, glory, and loveliness
of the church of God are forcibly set
forth. 7. The Israelites are represented as
again enjoying the protection of the
Most High, and affording the most con
vincing proofs of prosperity. 3lto is
used as auxiliary to n;n ; both verbs, in
such connexion, signifying nothing more
than revive, thrive again, or the like.
The pronominal affix in i's?, his shade,
refers to Jehovah ; but in it?i, his cele
brity, fame, to Israel, understood, as
before, collectively, but best rendered in
the plural. i'5S5 'jto', the construct with
the preposition, as in ia 'Din, Ps. ii. 12.
Modern travellers concur in their high
commendations of the excellence of the
wines of Lebanon. Von Troil, in par
ticular, says, " On this raountain ate
very valuable vineyards, in which the
raost excellent wine is produced; such
as I have never drunk in any country,
though in the course of fourteen years
I have travelled through many, and
tasted many good wines."
8. Several interpreters take D;^ps to
he in the vocative case, but, as it seems
harsh to refer the words immediately
following to Jehovah, it is better to
regard it as a nominative absolute, and
to supply TDM' thus : — As for Ephraim —
the tribe distinguished above all the rest
for its addicteduess to idolatry, and the
fit representative of the whole people —
his language in future shall be, &c.
For -b, to me, the LXX. read i'', to him,

CHAT. XIV,]

HOSEA,

87

I have answered him, and will regard him ;
I am like a green cypress ;
From me thy fruit is found.
Who is wise, that he may understand these things ;
Prudent, that he may know them ?
For the ways of Jehovah are right ;
The righteous shall walk in them ;
But the rebellious shall stumble in them.

which facilitates tbe construction, and
is adopted by Ewald, but without suf
ficient authority. '3M, /, is not without
emphasis in this connexion, in which
mention is made of idols. Tito signifies
to view with regard and care, care for,
watch over. Every provision should
henceforth be made for tbe protection
and prosperity of restored Israel. toiT^,
the cypress, with all its tall and fair
ever -green appearance, not being a
fruit-bearing tree, it is added with sin
gular effect, that in this respect there
existed a difference between the object
and the subject of the metaphor. The
children of Israel should not only enjoy
protection and refreshment as the result
of the divine favour, but rich supplies
of spiritual provision for their support.
Such supplies were to be found in God
alone. Manger thinks there is here a
dialogistic parallelism, which he exhibits
thus : —
Ephraim. What have I further to do
wifh idols ?
God. I have answered hira, and will
regard him.

Ephraim. I am like a green cypress.
God. From me is thy fruit found.
9. These words form an epilogue or
conclusion to the whole book. The in
terrogation is employed for the purpose
of exciteraent, and to give energy to the
truths conveyed. It is worthy of re
raark that this is the only verse in which
tbe prophet uses D'p'iS, the righteous, or
any synonyraous terra, in the course of
his recorded prophecies. So awfully
depraved were the times in which he
lived, tbat the very character had dis
appeared. The contrasted characters
and states of the godly and the wicked
are pointed and affecting, '^^n, to walk,
signifies here to go forward prosperously ;
¦jtos, io stumble, so as to fall to one's
injury and utter ruin,
"  anfractu et libera ab omni
Hanc Justus teret, hoc semper se in calle
tenebit,
Felicique gradu ad requiem contendat
amicam.
At defectores videas irapingere in
iisdem,
Exitiumque sibi factis properare sce-
lestis." ttittershusius.

JOEL.

PREFACE,
We possess no further knowledge of Joel than what is furnished
by the title of his book, or may be gathered from circumstances
incidentally mentioned in it. That he lived in Judah, and, in all
probability, at Jerusaleni, we may infer from his not making the
most distant reference to the kingdom of Israel ; while, on the
other hand, he speaks of Jerusalem, the temple, priests, ceremonies,
&c, with a familiarity which proves them to have been before his
eyes. With respect to the age in which he flourished, opinions have
differed. Bauer places him in the reign of Jehoshaphat ; Credner,
Winer, Krahmer, and Ewald, think he lived in that of Joash ;
Vitringa, Carpzov, Moldenhauer, Eichhorn, Holzhausen, Theiner,
Rosenmiiller, Knobel, Hengstenberg, Gesenius, and De Wette, in
that of Uzziah ; Steudel and Bertholdt in that of Hezekiah ;
Tarnovius and Eckermann assign the period of his activity to th?
days of Josiah ; while the author of Sedar Olam, Jarchi, Drusius,
Newcome, and Jahn, are of opinion that he prophesied in the
reign of Manasseh. The most probable hypothesis is, that his
predictions were delivered in the early days of Joash ; that is,
according to Credner, b.c. 870 — 865. No reference being made
to the Babylonian, the Assyrian, or even the Syrian invasion, and
N

90 preface to JOEL.
the only enemies of whom mention is made being the Phoenicians,
Philistines, Edomites, and Egyptians, it seems evident that Joel was
unacquainted with any but the latter. Had he lived after the
death of Joash, he could scarcely have omitted to notice the
Syrians when speaking of hostile powers, since they not only
invaded the land, but took Jerusalem, destroyed the princes, and
carried away immense spoil to Damascus, 2 Chron. xxiv. 23, 24.
The state of religious affairs as presented to view in the book is
altogether in favour of this position. No mention is made of
idolatrous practices ; while, on the contrary, notwithstanding the
guilt which attached to the Jews, on account of which Jehovah
brought judgments upon the land, the principles of the theocracy
are supposed to be maintained; the priests and people are re
presented as being harmoniously occupied with the services of
religion ; and Jerusalem, the temple and its worship, appear in a
flourishing condition. Now this was precisely the state of things
during the high-priesthood of Jehoiada, through whose influence
Joash had been placed upon the throne. See 2 Kings xi. 17, 18,
xii. 2 — 16; 2 Chron. xxiv. 4 — 14. It will follow that Joel is the
oldest of all the Hebrew prophets whose predictions have come
^^wn to us.
The delivery of his prophecy was occasioned by the devastations
produced by successive swarms of locusts, and by an excessive
drought which pervaded the country, and threatened the inhabi
tants with utter destruction. This calamity, however, was merely
symbolical of another, and a more dreadful scourge — the invasion
of the land by foreign enemies, on which the prophet expatiates
in the second chapter. In order that such calamity might be
removed, he is commissioned to order an universal fast, and call
all to repentance and humiliation before God ; to announce as
consequent upon such repentance and humiliation, a period of
great temporal prosperity ; to predict the effusion of the Holy
Spirit at a future period of the history of his people ; to denounce
judgments against their enemies ; and to foretel their restoration
from the final dispersion.
In point of style Joel stands preeminent among the Hebrew
prophets. He not only possesses a singular degree of purity, but

preface to JOEL. 91
is distinguished by his smoothness and fluency ; the animated and
rapid character of his rhythmus ; the perfect regularity of his
parallelisms ; and the degree of roundness which he gives to his
sentences. He has no abrupt transitions, is everywhere connected,
and finishes whatever he takes up. In description he is graphic
and perspicuous ; in arrangement lucid ; in imagery original,
copious, and varied. In the judgment of Knobel, he most re
sembles Amos in regularity, Nahum in animation, and in both
respects Habakkuk ; but is surpassed by none of them. That
what we now possess is all he ever wrote, is in the highest degree
improbable : on the contrary, we should conclude from the culti
vated character of his language, that he had been accustomed to
composition long before he penned these discourses. Whatever
degree of obscurity attaches to his book, is attributable to our
ignorance of the subjects of which it treats, not to the language
which he employs.

CHAPTER I.
After summoning attention to tbe unexampled plague of locusts with which the
country bad been visited, 2—4, the prophet excites to repentance by a de
scription of these insects, 5 — 7, and of the damage which they bad done to the
fields and trees, 8 — 12 ; calls tbe priests to institute a soleran season for fasting
and prayer, 13, 14 ; and bewails, by anticipation, a more awful visitation from
Jehovah, 15, while he further describes the treraendous effects of the calaraity
under which the country was suffering, 16 — 20.

The word of Jehovah which was communicated to Joel, the son of
Peth uel :
Hear this, ye aged men !
Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land !
Did such as this happen in your days.
Or, in the days of your fathers .''
Tell your children of it,
And let your children tell their children,
And their children another generation.

1 . ''M nfl nin' -m, the more usual in
troductory formula employed to express
tbe communication of divine revelations
to tbe prophets, or tbe divinely inspired
matter which tbey were comraissioned
to teach. Comp. Hos. i. 1 ; Mic. i. 1 ;
Zeph. i. 1 ; Mal. i. 1. The narae ''Mi',
Joel, Jerome interprets dpxopevos, id
est incipiens, referring it to the verb ''m;,
which signifies to begin ; but, that he
was not ignorant of another derivation
is evident frora his commentary, in
whicb, after giving incipiens, he adds,
vel est Deus. It is, however, beyond
all doubt compounded of nin;, in one of
its raore contracted forms, and b^, and
signifies, Jehovah is God. Who btpr^B,

LXX. Badov^X, Pethuel, the father of
our prophet was, we are not informed.
Tbe introduction of his name was ne
cessary in order to distinguish the
present Joel from others of the same
name, and cannot be adraitted in proof
of his having been a prophet or some
person of eminence. It was common
among tbe Hebrews, as it still is among
the Orientals, to add the name of the
father to that of the son.
2, 3. These verses contain an ani
mated introduction to tbe following
subject, n^i, properly ihis, the femi
nine according to the Hebrew idiom
being used for the neuter, but it occurs
here elliptically for nMl3, like this, such.

chap

I-J

JOEL,

93

4 That which the gnawing locust hath left,
The swarming locust hath devoured ;
And that which the swarming locust hath left,

the like, and refers to the astounding
calamity of tbe locusts about to be de
scribed, spto and ]'lMn frequently occur
as parallel initiatives in Hebrew poetry.
See Gen, iv. 23; Deut. xxxii. 1 ; Is. i. 2.
For the latter verb, 3'topn is sometiraes
used. See Is. xxviii. 23 ; Mic, i. 2.
D'3|?i is here to be understood, not in the
official sense of elders, but in that of
aged men, as the connexion shows.
Those who were raost advanced in years,
and might be expected to bave their
memories stored with ancient occur
rences, are appealed to for a parallel to
the case referred to. Comp. Deut. xxxii.
7 ; Job xxxii. 7. ni3M is often used in
tbe sense of ancestors, forefathers, n in
Tfjs, like nMi, refers to the plague of
locusts. D'33 '33, children's children, is
not unfrequent, but the language here
employed by Joel is cumulative beyond
example, " Et nati natorum, et qui nascentur
ab illis." JEneid iii. 98.
Kal nalSes nalbmv, Toi Kev perdniade
yivavTai. Iliad xx. 308.
4. The plague, which occasioned the
following discourses of the prophet, is
now described in terse, though repe
titious terms. This verse may be con
sidered as tbe text on which he afterwards
expatiates. Interpreters have found
great difficulty both in determining the
precise signification of the several terras
employed to describe the scourge, and
the light in which it was designed to be
understood. While some are of opinion
that different kinds of insects are raeant,
most are agreed in considering locusts to
be intended. Yet here again discordant
views obtain : some insisting on different
species of locusts, and others on different
states of the sarae species, Credner,
for instance, in a work on our prophet,
full of erudition, considers Dia to be the
migratory locust ; n3TM the young brood ;
P); tbe young locust in the last state of
transformation; and '''pn the perfect lo
cust. The locust belongs to the genus of
insects known among entomologists by

the name of grylli, which includes the dif
ferent species, from the coramon grass
hopper to the devouring locust of tbe
East, The largest of the latter is about
three inches in length ; has two antennae,
or horns, about an inch long, and two
wings, which, with their cases, are applied
obliquely to the sides of the body when
in repose. Tbe feet have only three
joints, but are six in nuraber. The two
hind ones are much larger than the rest,
and are formed for leaping The locusts
are of different colours, brown, grey, and
spotted. In all stages, from tbe larvEe
to the perfect insect, the locusts are her
bivorous, and do imraense injury to vege
tation. The subject, so far as it occurs
in Scripture, raay be said to have been
almost e.\hausted by the learned Bochart,
in his Hierozoicon, Pars Post. Lib. iv,
cap. i. — viii. The fourth chapter he
specially devotes to the explanation of
the passages in Joel. See also CEd-
mann's Vermischte Sararalungen, and
Credner's Joel. The first narae, DU,
occurs only here and Araos iv. 9, and is
rendered by tbe LXX. Kapnr] ; and by
the Vulg. eruca, caterpillar. This in
terpretation is supported by the Targ,
N^nr, the crawling insect, by wbich, bow-
ever, ma)' be meant the locust in its
wingless state. The Syr. renders the
o .y. p
word by ] /n ^Vn. locusia non alaia.
It is evidently derived from the same
root with the Arab. iV*-) resecuit, am
puiavit, j,i»-, secans ; Eth. TH"" :
excidit, abscidit; Syr. SOV. incidit;
Talmud. Dif, ampuiavit; and expresses
the gnawing or cutting action of the
sharp teeth of the locusts on the leaves,
and even the bark of trees. Corap,
Phn. Nat, Hist. lib. ii. cap, 29 : orania
vero morsu erodentes. n3"jM is the generic
narae of the locust, so called from the
alraost incredible numbers which breed
in different parts of the East; being

94

JOEL,

[chap. I.

The licking locust hath devoured ;
And that which the hcking locust hath left,
Tbe consuming locust hath devoured.

derived frora nj'j, fo multiply, be nume
rous, &c, Comp. Jer. xlvi. 23, nsTND 13T,
more numerous than the locusts. Frora
its raigrating in swarras it is called by
Forskal gryllus gregorius, and by Lin
naeus, gryllus migratorius. By the LXX.
tbe word is rendered seventeen times bj'
aKpls, the common locust; thrice by
Ppovxos, the unwinged locust, which
browses on the grass; once by epvai^i],
mildew; and once by drTeXa^os, the
young or small locust. That nsTM is
generic, appears from Lev. xi. 22, where
we read, ii'i?!' ns'iMn, the locust according to
its species. The third narae, pV, frora V%
equivalent to pPj, io lick, designates the
locust as licking off the leaves, and what
ever is green on the trees, grass, &c.
This derivation is preferable to tbat pro
posed by Michaelis, who refers the word
to the Arab. ^,, properavit, volubilis
fuit, or to rjl), albus fuit, and thinks
that the chafer is raeant. In Nah. iii. 16,
it is represented as winged, and in Jer.
li. 27, it is described as tdd, rough,
bristly, terrific. LXX. fipovxos four
tiraes ; aKpls thrice, '''pn, the reraaining
terra, comes from bDT), to consume, devour.
LXX. ^povxos, or /SpoCxos. Vulg.
rubigo, mildew. Syr. jjo.J*' which
Risius, tbe Archbishop of Damascus,
describes as reserabling tbe locust, only
differing from it, inasmuch as it never
migrates, and confines its ravages to the
fruits and herbs, but leaves the trees un
touched. It is also noted for the noise
which it makes at night. A coraparison
of tbe different passages in which these
names occur, renders it more than pro
bable that they are here employed by
the prophet, not with any reference to
tbe species into which the locusts may
be scientifically divided, but to designate
four successive swarms, according to
certain destructive qualities, by which,
as a genus of insects, they are distin
guished, and thereby to heighten the

terror which his description was intended
to produce. Just as Job accumulates tbe
terms n:TM, ''nto, D'T'as, to;^ and M'3b, chap,
iv. 10, il, with a similar view. They
are rather poetical synonymes, than dis
tinctive of different species. At all
events, that locusts are raeant, may be
inferred frora the facts, that wherever
Pi?; occurs, with tbe exception of a single
passage, it occurs along with n|TM ; and
that nj'iM, which Moses uses in describing
one of the plagues of Egypt, Exod, x.
10 — 20, is not only employed by the
Psalmist, lxxviii. 46, cv, 34, but also
'''pn and V% as synonymous terms, for
tbe sake of variety. Add to which that
the verb bnr\, from which '''t;n is derived,
is eraployed to express the action of the
ns-iM, Deut. xxviii, 38 : ns'iMn istorr, " the
locust sball consume it." In the trans
lation I have given the meaning of the
several names in terms expressive of
the qualities suggested by each. The
passage might otherwise be rendered
with Noyes :
" That which one swarm of locusts left,
a second swarm hath eaten ;
And that which the second left, a third
swarm hath eaten ;
And that which the third left, a fourth
swai-m hath eaten,"
It is a question of greater iraportance ,
Are the stateraents of Joel in the first
and second chapters to be understood
literally of these insects, or figuratively
of eneraies that were to invade and
lay waste the Holy Land? The latter
is the more ancient opinion. It is that
of the Targum, the Jews whom Jerome
consulted, and Abarbanel ; and is, with
various modifications, adopted by the
following christian interpreters : Jerome,
Ephraira Syrus, Theodoret, Cyril of
Alexandria, Hugo de St. Vincent, Ri
bera, Sanchez, a Lapide, Luther, Gro
tius, Marckius, Bertholdt, Theiner,
Steudel, and Hengstenberg. On the
other hand, Abenezra, Jarchi, Kimchi,
Lyranus, Vatablus, Job. Schmidius,

CIIAP. I

•]

JOEL,

Awake, ye drunkards ! and weep ;
How], all ye drinkers of wine !
On account of the sweet wine,
For it is raade to cease from your mouth.
Eor a nation hath come up upon my land,
Mighty and innuraerable ;
Their teeth are the teeth of a lion ;
They have the grinders of a lioness.

Jahn, Eichhorn, Rosenmiiller, von
Coelln, Justi, Credner, and Hitzig,
maintain that the language is to be un
derstood literally of locusts. This inter
pretation bas certainly much in its favour,
and if it could without violence be ap
plied throughout, might fairly be adopted.
But the announcement of a second and
more awful judgraent, chap. i. 15, ii. 1, 2;
the distinct recognition of a foreign rule,
ii. 17; and the assignment ofthe North
as tbe native country of tbe enemy,
ii. 20; present insuperable obstacles to its
adoption. See on these verses. There
seems no possibility of effecting a con
sistent interpretation on any other prin
ciple than that laid down and defended
by Cramer, Eckermann, and Holzhausen,
viz. that in the first chapter, Joel de
scribes a devastation of the country
which had been effected by natural
locusts ; but predicts in the second, its
devastation by poli tical enemies,in highly-
wrought metaphorical language, bor
rowed frora the scene which he had just
depicted. 5. y?pn, the Hiph. of yip, is hero used,
like tbe cognate root yp;, Gen. ix. 24, in
the sense of awaking frora a sleep occa
sioned by wine. Since, however, the
persons addressed bad been deprived of
the means of intoxication, the prophet
is rather to be understood as borrowing
the term frora the state in which they
had too often been found, ?''listo being
parallel with j;^ 'nto, drinkers of wine,
does not here mean persons actually in
toxicated, but sucb as were in tbe habit
of using intoxicating liquors, and by im
plication, to excess. Thus Kimchi :
J"3 TaniDrt ObTirt dhm, ye who are accus
tomed to make yourselves drunk with wine.
It is derived from T3to, to drink to the
full. Arab. JiM,implevitvas,ebriusfuit.

Hence T3to, strong, or intoxicating drink,
whether wine itself, or, more comraonly,
liquor reserabling wine, which is distilled
frora barley, honey, or dates, and some
times mingled with spices. By D'ps, is
meant the fresh wine, or juice of the
grape, or other fruit, which has just been
pressed out, and is remarkable for its
sweet flavour, and its freedora from in
toxicating qualities. R. Dp», to tread,
tread down, or out. Targ, nTQ Ton, pure
wine. It differs frora toiT'n, inasrauch as
the latter terra is confined to the juice of
the grape ; and being derived frora toj, to
take possession of, indicates tbat however
new,it had already obtained an inebriating
quality. The locusts are here repre
sented as specially attacking and destroy
ing the vines and other fruit-trees, from
tbe produce of which these wines were
prepared. To such they are known to
be very destructive. Comp. Theocrit.
Idyll. 5, 108, in which a shepherd
beseeches them not to injure his vines :
'AKpiBes, ds TOV (f)paypdv -vnenedTJTe tov
dpdv,
Mj; pev XafidaeaBe ras dpneXos' evrl
ydp a.j3at.
nTS properly signifies to cut, cut off, but
here, as wine is the subject spoken of, it
raust be taken in the sense of destroying,
or causing io cease.
6. 'ia, nation, especially used of foreign,
barbarous and profane nations, and here
selected on purpose to express the num
ber and hostility of the locusts, and at
the same tirae to prepare the minds of
the Jews for the allegorical use made of
these insects in chap. ii. If it had not
been for sorae such end, tbe prophet
raight have adopted the term OS, people,
which Solomon applies to tbe ants, Prov.
xxx. 25, 26, and which would equally
have conveyed the idea of multitude.

96

JOEL,

[chap, l

7 They have laid waste my vine,
And broken down my fig-tree :
They have completely stripped it, and thrown it down ;
Its branches they have left white.

Corap. chap. ii. 2. Tbis raetaphorical
use of the terra is common in the classics.
See instances in Bochart and Gesen.
Heb. Lex. in voc. 'i3. The Arabs era
ploy ioi in a similar way. bs nte is
used in a hostile sense of an army,
Is. vii. 1 ; but here figuratively of the
locusts, tn 'STM, " my land," the prono
minal affix belongs to Jehovah, not to the
prophet. Corap. Is. xiv. 25 ; Jer. xvi. 18;
Ezek. xxxvi. 5, xxxviii. 16. Joel ii. 18.
DISS, strong, powerful. The strength of
the locust consists in the imraense num
bers, which, forming theraselves into
compact bodies, darken the air, and
advance forward, one swarm afteranother,
attacking whatever comes in their way.
They raay well be described as tbdo ]'M1,
innumerable. All who refer to them,
both in ancient and raodern tiraes, speak
of them in the sarae language.
'AKplSav nXfjBos dpvBrjrov.
Agatharc. v. 27.
" Immensas locustarum multitudines."
Orosius, V. 11. Shaw speaks of "in
finite swarms following each otber."
Barrow states that those which he save
in South Africa, might literally be said
to cover the ground for an area of 2000
square miles. A later writer in the Cape
Town Gazette, describes a cloud of them
as passing before him in a train of raany
millions thick, and about an hour in
length ; and mentions further that, though
raillions perished in consequence of at
terapts made to destroy thera, their nura
ber appearednothingdecreased. AndDr.
Bowring states in bis Report, that sorae
years ago the array of Ibrahim Pasha,
in the attempt to extirpate an immense
swarm, gathered up no less than 65,000
ardebs, equal to 325,000 bushels of En
glish measure ! How appropriate the
name njTMi What is innumerable is fre
quently compared to them by the sacred
writers. See Jud. vi. 5, vii, 12; Ps. cv.
34; Jer. xlvi. 23; Nah. iii. 15, nis'jnn,
teeth, Gesenius considers as standing by

transposition for nisnto, and derives the
noun from an obsolete root srij, to bite;
but it may raore properly be referred to
the Arab. «JJ, longum fuit, and denotes
the grinders or jaw-teeth of animals.
The metaphor, however, has no respect
to the size of the teeth of lions, but only
to the terrible and complete destruction
wbich they effect. Pliny, speaking of
the locust, says : " Omnia morsu erodentes
et fores quoque tectorum." According to
Fabricius, in his Genera Insectorum,
p. 96, the teeth of the locust are three-
forked and sharp. The same metaphor
is used Rev. ix. 8, oBovres avrmv ms
XedvTCCv rjaav.
7. For the pronominal reference in '3D3
and 'niMn, see on 'STm in the preceding
verse. The vines and fig-trees might
be called Jehovah's, because, in a special
sense, the land on which they grew was
his. The vine has, from time imme
morial, abounded in Palestine. It often
grows to a great size, and produces
grapes of corresponding bulk. Schulz
describes one at Beitshin, near Ptolemais,
the stem of which was about a foot and
a balf in diaraeter, its height was about
thirty feet, and by its branches and
branchlets, which had to be supported,
it forraed a hut upwards of thirty feet
broad and long. The clusters of these
vines are so large, that they weigh ten
or twelve pounds, and the berries may
be corapared with our sraall plums.
When such a cluster is cut off, it is laid
upon a board about an ell and a half
broad, and three or four ells long, and
several persons seat theraselves about it
to eat the grapes. Rosenmiiller, in Bib.
Cab. vol. xxvii. p. 223, Comp, Numb.
xiii. 23, 24. Palestine was equally cele
brated for its fig-trees, whicb are not
reared in gardens, as with us, but grow
spontaneously in the open country. The
figs were not only eaten fresh, but also
preserved for food. Dito, to put, is often
used with nouns instead of the simple
forms of the verbs to which the nouns

chap, I

'J

JOEL,

97

Lament, as a virgin girded with sackcloth,
On account of the husband of her youth.
The offering and the libation,
Are cut off from the house of Jehovah :
The priests howl, the ministers of Jehovah,

are related, nosp, breakage, Arab. >_Ju2S
jregit, ..^sxos, a branch broken off from
a tree. See on Hos. x. 7. LXX.
avyKXaapos, Compl. KXaapos. Syr.
P P X
].. Ang>i. concissio, divulsio. The locusts
not only consume the fruit and leaves of
trees, but strip them of tbe very bark.
¦ — "Nec culmus, nec gramen uUum re-
raaneat, et arbores frontibus et cortice
tanquam vestibus nudatse, instar trun-
corum alborura conspiciantur." Ludolf,
Coraraent. p. 178. '^'H'n is here taken
in its proper causative signification.
What they do not devour, tbey so injure
tbat it falls off the tree. D'yito, branches,
properly the intertwining tendrils of the
vine, frora JTto, to interweave. The vine,
being the more valuable of tbe two kinds
of trees, the suffix refers back to it ; and
the fig-tree is treated as subordinate.
I3'3^n, they have made or left white.
8. The land, under the metaphor of a
female, is here addressed. '^M is the
second person feminine of the Irapera
tive in Kal of n^M, which usually raeans
to swear, call on God as witness ; but
here it takes the signification of the
p ^
Syriac Ml, ululavit, deploravit. . .^.
P n.
j ,^. ululatus, lamenium. The deri
vation frora ''M, God, in the sense God have
mercy, is less natural. One of Kenni
cott's MSS. reads '^3m. LXX. Bprjvrjaov.
A country is frequently said to raourn,
when it is subject to devastation. See
Is. xxiv. 4; Jer.iv. 28, xii. 4; Hos. iv. 3.
nVinj, a virgin, a young woraan, affianced
to a husband, and, in this sense, viewed
as married to him. The idea of the
strength of youthful affection, is that de
signed to be conveyed by the passage.
In proportion to the force of such affec
tion, would be the excessive degree of

grief for his loss. Holzhausen thinks
that sbe would also grieve n''?in3 to, on
account of her virginity, and compares
Jud. xi, 38 ; but this the text does not
suggest. LXX. vvp(pij. Compl. nap-
Bevos. Wrapping oneself in sackcloth was
a token of deep mourning, toj, properly
lord, master, possessor ; and secondarily
husband, because in the East, wives were,
and still are, considered as the property
rather than the companions of their hus
bands. Comp. tbe Greek Kvptos yvvai-
Kos ; and for the application of dvijp to
one only betrothed. Matt. i. 19. Ac
cording to the Roraan law, consensus
facit nuptias.
9. To a pious mind the gloomiest
view of external calaraities will be taken
from their influence upon the cause of
God. The cessation of the usual solem
nities of the temple worship, occasioned
by the destruction of the fruits of the
earth, must bave occasioned great grief
to the religious Jew. Jerome and others
think that as tbe priests would be de
prived of their regular support, by the
cessation of the offerings, they mourned
on that account ; but of this I should say
with Maurer, "Vates hicnon videturcogi-
tasse." nn3D, stands here for offerings in
general, whether bloody or unbloody, —
corap. Gen. iv. 4 ; LXX. Svaia, — even
when restricted in its signification to
meat-offering, such as consisted of meal,
salt, oil, and incense, the proper sacri
fices. D'n3j, are understood, as they
were always connected with thera, except
in the case of the sin and trespass-offer
ings. The libation, or drink-offering,
was called Tjp:, on account of its being
poured oui, from the root '^03, to pour.
From the circurastance tbat Joel pre
fixes the article to D'inis, priests, but not
to D'T3M, husbandmen, and u-ap, vine
dressers, Credner argues that he must
either have been personally related to
thera, or that prophets and priests raust
have been more closely united at the
tirae he wrote than afterwards. Corap.
O

98

JOEL.

[CHAP. I.

10

11

12

The field is laid waste.
The ground mourneth ;
For the corn is laid waste,
The new wine is dried up,
The oil languisheth.
Be asharaed, ye husbandmen !
Howl, ye vine-dressers !
On account of the wheat and the barley ;
For the harvest of the field hath perished.
The vine is dried up,
And the fig-tree languisheth ;
The pomegranate, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree,
All the trees of the field are withered ;
Yea, joy is withered away from the children of men.

D'3rfen, ver. 13, ii. 17. D'nTffip, ministers,
is a raore dignified official term than
D'T3», servants, wbich is eraployed to
denote coramon slaves, as well as per
sons in raore elevated situations about a
king. 10 — 12. Tbe prophet enters here raore
rainutely into a description of the de
vastation occasioned by tbe locusts.
toiTn, new wine, which is already in a
state of fermentation, and so intoxica
ting ; from ton;, to take possession of any
thing. See on ver. 5, where it is dis-
O 7
tinguished from D'p». "Syr. ]i\^jKe
sic dictura, quod se possessorem hominis
facit, ejus cerebrum occupando, ut ille
non amplius sui compos sit. Sic Arab,
v'mum dicitur kjjUu, a captivando, et

J

Sac, a tenendo et vinctum habendo."

Winer in voc. nnto, field, and noTN,
ground, are synonymes ; but differ"in
this respect, that the former denotes the
open, free, uninclosed part ofa country,
Arab. \sm, cxiendii, dilatavii; the latter,
the rich red soil which is particularly fit
for cultivation. Hence n'lton wm, a man
of the field, means a hunter. Gen. xxv.
27 ; noTMn 12)'M, a man of the ground, an
agriculturist. Root Dtm, to be red. The
land is here, as frequently in the Hebrew
prophets, made tbe subject of personi

fication. Sorae would render tf'3in, as
applied to the new wine, to be ashamed:
but occurring as it does in parallelism
with ''^ipM, to droop, languish hke plants,
it is better to retain the primary notion
of to3;, to become dry, dry up. Both
toiTTi and Tns". stand for the vine and the
olive tree, from which the wine and oil
are obtained. In tbe second instance
to'3in takes the signification of toi3, to be
ashamed, being another form of the
Hiphil for to'3rT. Both are used in
transitively. The LXX. retaining the
signification of tos;, improperly render
e^lpavdrjaav yeapyol. Jisi, the pome
granate tree, is indigenous in Palestine
and Syria, and is reckoned one of its
noblest botanical productions. It grows
to the height of twenty feet, has a
straight stem, spreading branches, lancet-
formed leaves, with large and beautiful
red blossoms. Tbe fruit is of tbe size
of an orange, brown in colour, and
affording a highly delicious and cooling
juice. It is also planted in gardens,
and in the courts of the houses ; and its
fruit is greatly improved by cultivation.
It is still one of tbe trees most frequently
seen in those countries. So celebrated
were the dates of Palestine, that Pliny,
speaking of the Ton, date, or palm-tree,
says, " Judfea vero inclyta est vel magis
palrais." It was adopted as a symbol
of the country in coins struck under
Vespasian and Domitian ; and is fre
quently referred to in the Old 'Testament.

CHAP, I,]

JOEL,

99

13 Gird ye. and mourn, O ye priests !
Howl, ye ministers of the altar !
Enter, spend the night in sackcloth,
Ye ministers of my God !
For the offering and the libation
Are withholden from the house of your God.
14 Appoint a sacred fast, proclaim a day of restraint;

It sometimes reaches the height of an
hundred feet, is reraarkable for its
straight, upright growth, and forms one
of the most beautiful trees in tbe vege
table kingdom. The fruit, which grows
in clusters under the large leaves, is of
an exceedingly sweet and agreeable
taste, and, as an article both of suste
nance and traffic, is of great value to
the inhabitants. In Abyssinia, the
natives extract a juice from it which
they manufacture into a spirituous liquor
resembling champagne. Its importance
is here significantly expressed by tbe
particle Ol being used intensively before
it. niBn, Arab. —.Ui, the apple-tree.
Rosenmiiller derives the word frora nD3,
to breathe, and in this Gesenius concurs,
supposing the fragrant breath, i. e. smell
or scent, to have originated the name.
The former of these writers adopts the
opinion of Celsius, tbat the quince tree
is specially intended; but as the Arabs
include under — .Ifti', oranges, lemons,
peaches, apricots, &c, the Hebrew terra
is likewise in ail probability generic in
its signification. To give to his de
scription the utmost latitude, Joel adds,
nrten '^nrts, all the trees of the field, i. e.
as Jerome explains, " omnia ligna, vel
infructuosa, vel fructifera ;" and, to bring
it raore horae to the feelings of his
countryraen, he represents the conse
quence to be, the entire reraoval of their
joy. Some improperly lirait ^toto to
the joy of harvest. The construction
]a iB'3in, to dry away from, is what is
usually termed pregnant, and more
forcibly expresses tbe reraoval of the
object on whicii the verb terrainates.
13. The prophet now addresses him
self to the priests, and calls them first
lo personal mourning, and then, in the

following verse, to institute a sacred fast,
in order that such mourning might be
general. After n3n supply with the Syr.
pto, as in one of Kennicott's MSS., or
D'pto, as in one of De Rossi's. Both
forms occur in connexion with the verb,
wbich is not bere to be restricted to mere
girding, but rather signifies to wrap
round one. Comp. Jer. iv. 8 ; Is. xxii.
12. TDD, primarily to smite, strike, then
to strike the breast, in token of mourning.
See on Is. xxxii. 12. The LXX. always
render it by KonreaBai, except in two
instances, in wbich tbey give it by
KXaleiv, to weep. For nsin 'nTTO, comp.
ol tS Bvaiaarrjpla napedpevovres,
1 Cor.' ix. 13. Some think that Mi3,
come, is to be taken idiomatically as a
particle of exhortation, like I3b before
another verb, and appeal to chap, iii. 13,
for another instance in our prophet.
As however, the verb is, to say tbe
least, not necessarily to be so under
stood in that passage, and as mention
is made of the altar, imraediately before,
it appears raore proper to take it in the
sense or entering, i. e. into the court of
the teraple, where, in the more imme
diate presence of Jehovah, the priests
were to bewail tbeir sins, and those of
tbe people. Tbus tbe LXX. elaeXdere,
and Kimchi, ited dibi "" n'3 1M3, enter ye
ihe house of God, and there mourn.
]'^ or p'', signifies to spend, or remain
over the night, and retains this signi
fication in tbe present passage, though,
frora the connexion, it is obvious not
one night only, but many nights are
raeant. Tbe priests were not only to
wear tbe habit of mourning during the
day, they were also to reraain in it all
night. Ahab is said to have lain in
sackcloth, when he humbled himself
before God, 1 Kings xxi. 27. LXX.
vnvdaaTe. 14. toTf, to hallow, consecrate ; lo

100

JOEL,

[chap, I,

Assemble the elders — all the inhabitants of the land,
To the house of Jehovah your God,
And cry unto Jehovah.
15 Alas for the day !
For the day of Jehovah is near,
And cometh as a mighty destruction
From the Alraighty.
16 Is not the food cut off before our eyes.''
Are not joy and gladness frora the house of our God 'i
17 The seeds are becorae dry beneath their clods ;
The granaries are desolate, the store-houses are destroyed,
Because the corn is withered.

keep holy ; to appoint sacred or religious
services ; bere, to institute a sacred fast,
by fixing the time and circumstances,
and preparing the people fur its proper
observance. Tbe Pual participle is used
even of warriors ; see on Is. xiii. 3. The
interpretations of the Rabbins, Jarchi
and Kimchi, i3'ioin, and Abenezra, I3'3n,
are defective, by leaving out the idea of
sacredness, which the verb always con
veys. nT^s, restraint, or being held
back or prevented from labour : Di', day,
or period, understood. See on Is. i. 13.
The Jews were to abstain from their
worldly avocations, and spend the por
tion of their time thus consecrated to
the immediate and solemn duties of
humiliation, confession, and prayer.
D'5pi, elders, in this connexion, might be
taken in an official sense, denoting those
holding office among the people, who
were expected to take tbe lead, and, by
their example, to excite others to engage
in tbe religious solemnities ; but a com
parison of this verse with chap. ii. 15,
ia which " children" and " sucklings"
are mentioned, would rather require us
to understand the term as referring to
age. The central point of convocation
was the temple — the special theocratic
residence of Him whose wrath was to
be deprecated, and his mercy implored.
p!>l, Arab. ^jS-j, jjj£ J, to cry out, cry
earnestly for help. LXX. KeKpd^ere
iKTevas. " Ardentissimas fundite pre-
ces." Rosenmiiller.
15. Joel now exclaims, cvb nnw, alas!

for the day ! " O infaustum et tristissi-
mum illura diem.!" Rosenmiiller. To
give intensity to tbe exclaraation, the
LXX. have the triple ot^oi, ot/xoi, o'lpot.
That the nin; Di', day of Jehovah, i. e.
the period of punishment, does not mean
that of the plague of the locusts, but a
more awful period still future, tbe term
3iTi7, near, at hand, wbich is never used
to denote tbe actual presence of any
thing, but its speedy approach, sufii
ciently proves. Wbat the Jews were
then suffering was only a prelude to still
more dreadful calamities. For 'itol? ito?,
which forras an elegant paronomasia,
see on Is. xiii. 6, where the sarae form
occurs. The 3 is, as there, the Caph
veritatis, and expresses the greatness of
the evil.
16. The verb rrs is understood in the
latter hemistich. The annual festivals
were occasions of great rejoicing. See
Lev. xxiii. 40; Deut. xii. 12, 18.
17. This, and the three following
verses, describe the drought which was
simultaneous with the judgment of the
locusts. It exhibits the singular phe
nomenon of four ana^ Xeydpeva within
the short space which it occupies. For
the elucidation of to3», some compare
the Chaldee to-DS, to rot, but it is with
raore propriety referred to the Arab,
ijujs^, siccus fuit; and so is of the
sarae signification with toT, to be dry,
dried up. Thus Abulwalid. By the
desiccating influence of the heat, the
seeds that had been sown in the ground

chap. I.]

JOEL.

101

19

How the cattle raourn !
How the herds of oxen are perplexed !
Because they have no pasture ;
Yea, the flocks of sheep are destroyed.
To thee, 0 Jehovah ! I cry,
For fire hath consumed the pastures of the desert,
And a flame hath burnt all the trees of the field.

would lose all their moisture, and perish.
That niTTB mean seeds or grains of
corn, &c. seeras satisfactorily deterrained
p .1.
by the use of the Syr. l/jis, granum.
Matt. xiii. 31 ; John xii. 24; 1 Cor. xv.
37, in the Peshito ; and the signification
of TT|, to separate, an action which
takes place when, in sowing, tbe hus
bandman scatters the seed in distinct
grains. To the same effect Tanchura,
fjOiM J, grains prepared for sowing,
so called because they are scattered in
the ground. niS'im, clods, or lumps of
earth. Comp. the Arab. ' <,--, gleba
terrce ; i^jS- ij^X terra diversa varia.
Thus also u_j..ffi7*, signifies a raark on
the body, occasioned by the contracting
or drying up of the skin, and reserabling
a round lurap of earth or dung. niTjtsn
is synonyraous with niT^i«, granaries ;
and, according to the force of the local
n prefixed, signifies places or houses
containing store rooms, or granaries, in
which grain was deposited. The Dagesb
in the second n is euphonic. The
simpler form nriio, occurs Hag. ii. 19;
and both are to be referred to the root
T13, to gather, collect. For the diver
sified and unsatisfactory renderings of
the ancient versions, see Pococke in loc.
The verbs nna) and D'ln are here to be
taken in the sense of being left or
neglected like places that have beea
laid waste or destroyed.
18. ^13, in Niphal, expresses the per-

plex'ity to which any one is reduced who
does not know bow to extricate himself
from difficulty. The brute creation are
graphically represented as being in this
condition frora the total failure of pas
turage. The D3 before ^»^s-'T'i» is in
tensive ; even the sheep, which subsist
on herbage unsuitable for the oxen, are
deprived of food. As the idea of pun
ishment is conveyed by the verb D^M, it
was in all probability used by tbe pro
phet, in order to teach the Jews that
innocent creatures are involved in the
consequences of guilt incurred by trans
gressors, Comp. Exod. xii, 29 ; Jonah
iii. 7.
19. It is not unusual for tbe Hebrew
prophets to give expression to their own
feelings, while describing tbe judgments
that were brought upon their country.
Comp. Is. XV. 5, xvi, 11, xxi. 3, 4, xxii.
4 ; Jer, xxiii. 9. It has been questioned
whether the " fire" and " flame" are
here to be taken literally of tbe actual
burning of the grass, which often hap
pens in extreme heat, or whether they
are used figuratively of the heat itself.
The forraer is raore probably the mean
ing. niM?, Kimchi explains, MiBin niDipn,
grassy places, places of pasturage ; hence
pasturage itself. It is derived from n;3,
lo be pleasant, (comp. nra,) to dwell .-
but signifying in this connexion the
green, grassy spots, so eagerly desired
by the cattle, and pleasant both to man
and beast. From tbe circumstance
that sucb places would naturally be se
lected for occupancy by tents, dwellings,
&c. the word came also to signify habi

tations. Comp. the Arab. _J
mansio, sedes commorationis.

diver-

satus fuit, hospitio excipit ; ,L«'

102 JOEL, [I'HA
20 The very beasts of the field look up to thee.
Because the strearas of water are dried up,
And fire hath devoured the pastures of the desert.

.„  , , r..i n/^1 . the water-brooks," It should be al or
20. 3T!>, Arah ^^c, Eth. OC'" 6,,„-,fe, as the Psalmist evidently intended
,., . , , ¦./ .¦ „ to represent the deer standing on the
ascendit: to look up with panting or ^^.^J^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^^j^ .^ ^j^P^ ^^^^^
earnest desire. Arab. i=-j;, inclinatio, usually flowed, but wbich had become
•> dry. To their pitiable condition he
propensio in rem. The word beautifully compares his own circurastances when
expresses the natural action of animals deprived of the usual means of spiritual
parched with thirst, and deprived of all refreshment. The idea of tbeir crying
supply of water. They hold up their ^^ q^^^ ,^^-^^-^ tl^g gyr. K and the
heads, as if their only expectation were ns^
from the God of heaven. LXX. ave- Rabbins attach to the word, is derived
ISXeyfrav. Comp. Ps. xiii. 2, where the from such passages as Job. xxxviii. 41 ;
force of D;p-'pDM-''» is lost by the ren- Ps. civ. 21, cxlvii. 9, rather than from
dering of our coramon version, " after anything expressed by the word itself.

CHAPTER II,
The prophet reiterates his announcement of the approach of a divine judgment
more terrific in its nature than that of the locusts, but employs language bor
rowed from the appearance and movements of these insects, in order to make a
deeper irapression upon his hearers, whose minds were full of ideas derived from
them as instruments of the calamity under which they were suffering, 1 — 11.
He then sumraons anew to hurailiation and repentance, 12 — 17; giving assu
rance that on these taking place, Jehovah would show thera pity, destroy their
enemy, and restore them to circumstances of great teraporal and religious
prosperity, 18 — 27; and the chapter concludes with a glorious promise of the
abundant effusion of the influences of the Holy Spirit in the apostolic age,
28, 29, and a prediction of the Jewish war, and tbe final subversion of the
Jewish state, 30, 31, in tbe midst of which such as embraced the worship and
service of the Messiah should e.'tperience deliverance, 32.

1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion !
And sound the alarm in my holy mountain !
1. To give the greater effect to the ing. The persons addressed are the
alarm bere commanded to be sounded, priests, on whom it devolved to blow
Jehovah himself is introduced as speak- with trumpets. 17 adXniy^ 'ipyavov

chap, I

!¦]

JOEL,

103

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble ;
For the day of Jehovah cometh ; it is near.
A day of darkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and dense obscurity ;
Like the dawn spread over the mountains,
A numerous and mighty people :
None such have ever been,
Neither shall there ever be after them,
During the years of successive generations.

eari noXepov. Philo de Septenario.
They were to warn all of the threatened
judgment. Corap. chap, i, 15, where
the prophet anticipates what is now
about to be the subject of special de
scription. 2. Synonymes are here accumulated
to give intensity to the expression of the
thought. The awful calaraity which
was to corae upon the Jews is set forth
under the metaphor of darkness, which
is of frequent occurrence in the Hebrew
Scriptures, when sufferings and misery
are the subjects of discourse. Comp.
Is. viii. 22, lx. 2 ; Jer. xiii. 16 ; Amos
v. 18 ; Zeph. i. 15. In the present
instance, however, there was a singular
propriety in adopting the language, since
the prophet was just going to introduce
an allegory founded upon the fact, that
swarras of locusts had corae over the
land, and intercepting, by their density,
the light of the sun, had occasioned an
universal darkness. See on ver. 10.
Some interpreters have stumbled at the
apparent incongruity of comparing the
coming affliction with the Tmfi, aurora,
since tbe idea usually suggested by the
figurative use of that term is joy, or
prosperity; but as this idea is not ex
clusively conveyed by the use of it, as
it is also employed to express the cer
tainty, Hos. vi. 3, and suddenness of
anything, Hos. x. 15, so here the ob
vious points of comparison are merely
the suddenness and extent of the change
produced by the diffusion of tbe rays
of light, without any reference to tbe
nature of the change itself.
Joel now proceeds to introduce and
describe the hostile army of the Assy
rians in the sarae terras in wbich be had
metaphorically described the locusts,

chap. i. 6 ; only exchanging 'i3, nation,
for D», people, which is also used of
foreign and idolatrous uations. Numb,
xxi. 29 ; 1 Chron. xvi. 20 ; Jer. xlviii. 42.
In this description, he not only transfers
the metaphor back to the proper subject
frora which it was taken, but converts it
into an allegory, and at considerable
length, and in the most minute manner,
exhibits the invasion, the forraidable
character, and the ravages of the bar
barian foe. So perfectly is the allegorical
veil woven throughout, that most cora
raentators have been able to discover
nothing raore than natural locusts in the
passage. At the time in which the
prophet delivered bis message the locusts
covered the land ; they were before bis
eyes ; the idea of them had so taken
possession of his mind, that, considering
the striking resemblance wbicb they
bore to an invading army, nothing was
more natural than to exhibit the latter
in sensible images taken from the scene
by which both he and his hearers were
surrounded. And, accustomed as they
had been to the parabolic style of pro
phecy, they could have been at no loss
to discover, tbat when in this part of
his discourse he appeared to speak of
locusts, it was not natural but political
locusts be had in view. While the de
cidedly future aspect of the calamity,
chap. i. 16, ii. 1, proves that it had not
taken place at the time the words were
delivered, a coraparison of tbe language
in the concluding part of verse 2, with
tbat eraployed chap. i. 2, equally proves
that a plague of locusts could not have
been intended. We raust, therefore,
with the alteration of a single word,
adopt tbe language of Jerome, ¦' dum
locustas legimus, Assyrios cogitamus."

104

JOEL.

[chap, II,

Before thera fire devoureth,
And behind them a flame burneth ;
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,
But behind them a desolate wilderness :
And there is no escape from thera.
Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,
And they run like horsemen.
They bound like the rattle of chariots on the tops of the mountains ;

That the Assyrian invasion under Sen
nacherib, and not that of the Chaldeans
under Nebuchadnezzar, is meant, ap
pears from the immense number of tbe
army, its entire destruction in the land
of Palestine, and there being no refer
ence whatever to the captivity in
Babylon, the omission of which is un
imaginable, on the supposition that the
latter of the two invasions was intended.
The array of Sennacherib raust have
been the largest that ever entered Pa
lestine, since only that division of it
wbicb invested Jerusalem, amounted to
neariy 200,000 men, Is. xxxvii. 36. It
was marching forward to the conquest
of Egypt, and, like a swarm of locusts,
covered the whole land. All tbe fortified
cities of Judah were taken. Is. xxxvi. 1 ;
the cultivated fields and vineyards were
trodden dovvn or consumed, xxxvii. 30 ;
and nothing short of utter destruction
seemed to await the inhabitants. Tbe
design of the Divine Spirit, to whose
infinite mind the future event was
present, in dictating the prediction in
the language bere employed, appears to
have been, to deepen the irapressions
produced by tbe plague of locusts, and
thereby to excite to tbat repentance and
araendraent of life, which alone could
secure to tbe Jews the continuance of
their national blessings.
3. A description of the desolate state
to which Judea was to be reduced, in
language borrowed from that given of
the drought, chap. i. 19. l'3Bb, before
him, and I'TnM, behind him, are used to
express universality ; ubicunque. Comp.
1 Chron. xix. 10. This construction is
confirmed by what follows : np'bs dj
1^ nn'.rrM'', and there is no escape from
them, or, raore literally, in reference to
them. no'^B properly signifies those who
have escaped in war ; who have not

been killed, or taken prisoners ; but it
is also used of fruits of the e.irth which
have not been destroyed, Exod. x. 5.
The contrast between the beauty of
Paradise and tbe desolation of a desert,
is exquisitely forcible and affecting.
4. 'The allegory now becoraes special
and rainute in its features, which are
selected from the phenomena and opera
tions of an invading array, the subject
of whicb it is to be understood; but
having the invasion by the locusts as its
basis, and therefore presenting these
prominently to view, and comparing
thera to the array, which is thus stu
diously concealed. On this principle
there isno difficulty in accounting for the
particle of coraparison, so liberally used
in this and the following verses. So
strong is the reserablance of the head of
the locust to that of a horse, that they
are on this account called cavalcties by
the Italians, This feature Theodoret
thus notices : e'i ns aKpi^as Karidoi rrjv
Ke(paX^v TTJs aKpidos, acjjddpa rfj rov
innov eoLKvlav evprjaei. In Rev. ix. 7,
the locusts are compared to horses har
nessed for battle : rd dpoiapara rav
aKpldav dpoca Innois rfroipaapevois els
ndXepov. Such coraparison is very
common araong the Arabs. The point
of comparison in the second member of
the parallelism, is the swiftness with
which cavalry advance to the attack.
5. TpT is used of the rapid and bound
ing course of chariots over a rough sur
face, Nah. iii. 2. See also Rev. ix, 9.
" — per purum tonantes
Egit equos volucreraque currum."
Horace, Carm. i. 34, 7.
"  vacuus dat in aiira saltus
Succubiturque alte, similisque est cur
rus inani." Ovid. Metam. u. 165,

CHAP, II

'J

JOEL.

10.5

Like the crackling of the flaine of fire devouring the stubble ;
Like a mighty people arranged for battle.
6 Before them the people tremble ;
All faces withdraw their colour.
7 They run like mighty men ;
They scale the wall like warriors ;
They all march in their courses,
They break not their ranks.
8 They press not each other :
They march on, each in his path ;
Though they fall among the missiles,
They break not up.
9 They run eagerly through the city ;
They run upon the wall ;

Speaking of tbe noise raade by a swarra
of locusts, Forskal says : " Transeuntes
grylli super verticem nostrum sono
raagnae cataractse ferebant." To the
same effect Morier : "On the 11th of
June, while seated in our tents about
noon, we heard a very unusual noise,
that sounded like the rustling of a great
wind at a distance. On looking up, we
perceived an imraense cloud, here and
there transparent, in other parts quite
black, tbat spread itself all over tbe sky,
and at intervals shadowed the sun," It
is, however, not iraprobable, that the
sound here referred to is tbat produced
by the large hind legs of tbe locust in
leaping. The coraparison at the end of
the verse, is to the clashing of arras, and
the shouting of an army on the point of
engaging in battle.
6. l'''n;i ihey tremble, from ''in, to turn
round, twist oneself, writhe with pain;
then to tremble. Arab. (jU>-, med. Wau
to be turned. TiTMB, warmth, ruddiness

of countenance.

Arab, .(i cestuavit.

efferbuit. titmb ysp, to withdraw their
ruddiness, or colour, i.e. to change colour,
grow pale with terror. Nab, ii. 11.
Comp. f]p3, to turn pale. The ancient
versions concur in rendering tbe words,
every face like the blackness of a pot ; de
riving the last word from tib ; hence titB,
pot, without M. Of the terror inspired

by locusts, we cannot have a better proof
than the Arabic proverb : ^^ lijsA
iil js'l, more terrible ihan the locusts.
7 — 9. Here the description quite
excels in the graphic. The com
parison to warriors is adrairably carried
out. First, their rapid advance upon
the city is specified ; next, their scaling
the walls in the raost regular order; then
their consentaneous encounter with the
troops of defence, their invulnerability,
their progress through the streets, their
clirabing the walls, and entering the
windows of the houses, are set forth in
terms of singular and appropriate beauty.
toj*, Arab. \axc, fidit, vulnerav'it, lauci
fissus, has here the signification of break
ing up the order or regularity with which
a body of troops proceed when raarching
to the attack. Abenezra and Kimchi
corapare nis, to pervert, turn aside, which
coraes nearly to the sarae thing. LXX.
eKKXivmat. Syr. ^^Q.^.£QJ. Gesenius
thinks the verb is here used in a sense
cognate with the significations in Kal
and Hiphil, to give or take a pledge ; but
the idea ot exchange, change, is not clearly
brought out. The regular railitary order
with which the locusts advance, has been
frequently described. ' A^aaiXevrov ydp
rj aKpls, eaTparevei pev ydp i^ ivds
P

106

JOEL.

[chap. II.

10

11

They go up into the houses ;
They enter the windows like a thief.
Before them the earth trembleth,
The heavens shake,
The sun and the moon are darkened,
And the stars withdraw their shine.
Jehovah uttereth his voice before his army :
Surely his camp is very large ;
Surely it is mighty, executing his order ;

e-vraKTcos KeXevaparos' (paal Se avrds
aroix^jbdv levai, Kal as ev rd^ei Bunraa-
6ai, KaliJKtara piv dnovoacl}L^ea6ai,nep-
lenetv de ovras dXX-qXas, aaavel Kat
d8eX(j)al, (pvaeas avrfjs IBpajSevovaris to
(ptXdXXifXov. Cyril. The testiraony of
Jerome, as an eye-witness in Palestine, is
peculiarly valuable : " Hoc nuper in bac
provincia vidiraus. Quura enim locus
tarum agmina venirent, et aerem, quo
inter coelum et terram est, occuparent,
tanto ordine ex dispositione jubentis Dei
volitaut, ut instar tesserularum, qu» in
pavimentis artificis figuntur raanu, suum
locum teneant, et ne puncto quidem, ui
ita dicam, ungueve transverse declinent
ad alteram." Morier also reraarks on
those which he saw ; " They seemed to
be impelled by one common instinct,
and moved in one body, which had the
appearance of being organized by a
leader." Corap. Prov. xxx. 27, I'm tj^o
ite ysn NS;i nj-iMb, there is no king to the
locusts, yet ihey go forth, all of them
dividing, i. e. theraselves into regular
companies or swarms, with all the dis
cipline of a well-ordered army. pnT,
signifies so to press upon one as to com
pel him to move from his place. Not
withstanding the imraense crowds of the
locusts, not only does none of them break
the ranks by deviating from tbe straight
course which they pursue, but none
forces his fellow from his rank. Their
watchword may be said to be onward;
for tbey never turn back. If they enter
houses, they go straight through them,
and out at the opposite side. Thus
Abulphargius relates in his Chron. Syr.
p. 134: "postquara a latere meridionale
domos intraverant, a latere septem-
trionale egrediabantur. rtto, properly
raeans any missile weapon thrown at an

enemy, from nW, to send or cast forth ;
but it is also frequently used of the
sword. Comp. the Arab. ,^\mj, arma.
TS3, is of somewhat difficult determi
nation. The ground idea seems to be
that of mediation, a being, or doing any
thing between two ; hence T?| ''^lon, to
make supplication for any one, i. e. by
interposing between bim and tbe party
to whom the supplication is addressed.
To this tbe signification derived from the
Arab. iX>o, post, nearly approximates, as
occurring in tbe Hebrew. Between, or
among, will suit most of the passages in
which the vpord occurs. See Winer and
Credner. Taking n^to as a collective
noun, tbe raeaning of rtton iM to;, will
be to fall among the missiles, i. e. to light,
or come down among them ; and referring
i»S3; to the whole swarra, what it ex
presses is, that they are not broken up,
or interrupted in their course. Compare
a similar use of T3to, to break, Dan. xi. 22.
T'53, in the city, i. e. any city or town that
may lie in their way. Credner's appeal
to chap. iv. [iii.] 17, in proof that Jeru
salem is specifically meant, cannot be
sustained, since that part of the prophecy
relates to a totally different subject. The
scene is rather the land of Judah, with
its fortified cities, whicb were overrun
and plundered by the Assyrian troops.
10, 11. Tbough the language here
eraployed may in part admit of a literal
application to the obscuration of the air
by tbe locusts, yet it is, as a whole, to be
regarded as a specimen of tbe highly
wrought hyperbohcal, which forms one
of the raore distinguishing features of
Hebrew poetry, nin; ''ip, the voice of
Jehovah, is here, as frequently, thunder.

chap. II,J

JOEL.

107

Surely the day of Jehovah is great, and very terrible :
Who can endure it .''
12 Now, therefore, saith Jehovah,
Turn ye to me with all your heart,
And with fasting and weeping and mourning ;
1 3 And rend your heart, and not your garments,
And turn to Jehovah your God ;
For he is pitiful and compassionate,
Long-suffering, and of great mercy,
And repenteth of the evil.
14 Who knoweth ? He may turn and repent,
And leave a blessing behind him —
An offering and a libation,
For Jeliovah your God.

and not any word of coraraand, as some
bave iraagined. Corap. Exod. ix. 23,
29, 33 ; Ps. xviii. 14; Ps, Ixxvii. 18, 19.
The locusts are called the Vn, army of
Jehovah, with further reference to the
nurabers and power of an army. One of
the laws of Mohammed is thus expressed:
Jacill ^1 Job- l«iU ^1^1 IjUSi' X
Ye shall not kill the locusts, for they are
the army of God Almighty. Damir. And
lil^l ¦ '. Lord of the locusts, is one
of the naraes of God among the Mohara-
raedans. The entire description closes
with the brief but pointed interrogation,
13''J3; 'D, Who can endure it ? to whicb tbe
implied answer is. None. Corap. Mal.
iii. 2, iMi3 Di'-nM tetoa 'ni, and Jer. x. 10,
iDSi D.'iJ tf^l ^b.
12. Jehovah hiraself is here intro
duced, urging the necessity of iraraediate
hurailiation. nns-DJi, is intensive. The
1 is that of consequence, deducing an
argument frora what had preceded ; D3 is
augmentative and eraphatic, as usually
in Joel ; and nn? has special reference
to the existing circumstances of the
persons addressed, and the instant atten
tion wbich the divine message required.
The combination marks strong feeling in
the speaker, and the urgent nature of
the subject to which it is introductory.
It is to be connected with 'TJJ i3to, and
not with nijr dmj.

13, The prophet resumes his address,
and founds upon the call of Jehovah,
contained in the preceding verse, an ex>
bortation to sincere inward repentance,
wbich he supports by encouragements
deduced from the benignity of the divine
character. Rending the garments was
usual on occasions of great mourning,
see Gen. xxxvii. 29, 34; 1 Sam. iv. 12;
1 Kings xxi. 27 ; Ezra ix, 3, 5 ; Is,
xxxvii. 1. This custora obtained not
only araong the Hebrews, but also among
the Babylonians, Persians, Egyptians,
Greeks and Roraans. nsrn, is neither
the plague of locusts, nor the invasion of
the Assyrians, but the calamities in
general which God brings upon man
kind. This interpretation tbe preceding
context requires.
14. The question »Ti' 'o, who knoweth,
while it suggests the idea of the great
ness of the sin to be pardoned, also con
veys that of the possibility of such pardon.
¦ dAX' 'ert Kal vvv.

Taur' e'lnots 'AxtXij'i Sd'lcppovt, a'tKe
ntd-qrai.
Tis S'oid' e't Ktv 01, avv Satpovi, 6vpov
opivats,
Xlapetnav ;'' Iliad, xi. 789.
God's leaving a blessing behind hira,
presupposes his return to visit bis people
in mercy. The first-fruits of prosperity
are due to Him through whose blessing
it is conferred.

108

JOEL,

[chap. II.

15 Blow ye the trurapet in Zion,
Appoint a sacred fast ;
Proclaim a day of restraint.
16 Assemble the people : convene a sacred assembly ;
Collect the aged ; gather the children,
And those that suck the breasts ;
Let the bridegroom come forth from his chamber,
And the bride from her nuptial bed.
17 Between the porch and the altar,
Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep ;
And let thera say, Have pity, 0 Jehovah ! upon thy people,
And deliver not thine heritage to reproach,
That the nations should rule over them.
Why should they say araong the people,
Where is their God ?
18 Then Jehovah will be jealous for his land,

15, 16. Comp. ver. i. and chap. i. 14.
Here the distribution into classes is more
minute than in the latter of these pas
sages. The mourning was to be univer
sal. The nsn, was the bridal couch,
richly provided with a canopy, curtains,
&c. Root f]Bn, to cover, protect. See
for tbe force of the reference to the last
class mentioned, Deut. xxiv. 5.
17, D^IM, Arab. (J.|, prior, anterior ;
the npovdos, or porch, before tbe templcj
more strictly taken. It was an hundred
and twenty cubits high, twenty broad
from north to south, and ten long frora
east to west. The nsra, altar, was that
of burnt-off'ering in the court of the
priests. Here, with their backs toward
the altar, on whicb they had nothing to
offer, and their faces directed towards
the residence ofthe Shekinah, they were
to weep, and raake supplication on behalf
of the people. D'.i3 Di-^ab, Jarchi, Seeker,
Michaelis, Rosenmiiller, Justi, Credner,
Winer, Gesenius, Maurer, Noyes,
Hitzig, and Ewald, render, ihat ihe
nations should make a proverb of them ;
but such construction is totally unauthor
ized by Hebrew usage. In upwards of
fifty instances, in wbich 3 bp2 occurs in
the Hebrew Bible, it is never once used
in the sense of employing derision, or
satirical language, but uniformly in that

of likening, or of exercising rule or
dominion. In fact, the verb is nowhere
used either with or without the prepo
sition in the signification of deriding,
Itis the noun alone that is thus employed
in the forms Wp^ pj, n'n, OW, 3'Sri, to be,
sei, give, &c, to a derision. Ezek, xvi. 44,
forras no exception. Tbe ancient ver
sions all agree in the translation, that
the heathen should rule over them. LXX.
TOV Kardp^ai a-vrav e6vr). Targ. -obifo)
M'po?; lins. Syr.J^2.^i.^ jl^ol^O
Vulg. ut dominentur eis nationes. Hexap.
Syr. ^iC^ii \iX} fOJli^ ^COJIJO.
Thus also Kirachi, Abenezra, Leo Juda,
Junius and Tremellius, Jewish-Spanish,
Lyranus, Drusius, Calvin, Newcome,
Dathe, Boothroyd, and Hengstenberg;
and there does not appear to be any
reason why it could ever have been ren
dered otherwise, but for the influence of
the hypothesis, that the preceding part
of the prophecy relates to locusts, and
not to political enemies. " Ideo ridiculum
est quod multi putant context! sermonem
de locustis : illud prorsus alienura est a
Prophets mente." Calvin, in loc.
18. M3j?, Arab. \ji, valde rubuit ; in
Piel M.lp, to be jealous, from the redness
or flush by which the face is suffused,

chap, II,]

JOEL.

109

And take compassion upon his people ;
19 Yea, Jehovah will answer, and say unto his people.
Behold ! I will send you the corn,
And the new wine, and the oil,
And ye shall have abundance thereof ;
And I will no more deliver you to reproach among the nations,
20 I will also remove the Northern from you,
And drive him into a dry and barren land ;
His van towards the Eastern sea,
And his rear towards the Western sea ;

when a person is under the influence of
passion, 19, 20, In the former of these verses,
respect is had to the removal of the
calamity, from which the Jews were
suffering at tbe tirae the prophecy was
delivered ; in the latter, tbat of the
foreign enemy by whora the country was
to be invaded. Tbe article is placed
before J3T, toiTn, and Tn^;, to give thera
prominence, as the principal objects
which had suffered from the locusts, and
which were now to be restored. The
term 'liBsn, the Northern, Northlander,
or, as Coverdale renders. Him of the
North, is of prime iraportance in the
interpretation of the prophecy. It has
been urged against its having any refer
ence to the locusts, that they visit Pales
tine from tbe south, and not from tbe
north; but this objection can scarcely be
regarded as valid, since, though they do
not usually come from that quarter, yet
they may be carried by a south wind
across Arabia Deserta, and then, when
tothenorth of Palestine, be driven south,
or south-west into that country. That,
however, wbich determines the question,
is the addition of the patronymic ' to
]iB3, indicating that the North was not
merely the quarter whence the subject of
discourse came, but that its native country
lay to tbe north of Palestine : just as
'pn'nn, the Temanite, means the Southern,
or he who dwells to the right of Pales
tine; 'TSn, a native Egyptian ; in Arabic

C^'

a Meccite,

^.'^'

a native or inhabitant of Mecca and
Medina. Now it is agreed on all hands,
that the native country of the locusts is

the regions of Arabia, the Lybian deserts,
and the Sahara of Egypt; so tbat ac
cording to the usus loquendi, they cannot
be meant by the term here eraployed.
Indeed, so much has this been felt by
sorae of those who have advocated the
hypothesis, that locusts are intended,
that they have been under tbe necessity
of having recourse to far-fetched expe
dients, in order to support it. Justi,
contrary to all analogy, proposes to ren
der, "the locusts tbat march northwards,"
or to explain the terra nortli of what is
dark, hostile, or barbarous ; which con
struction of the raeaning is, in part,
adopted by Hitzig. Maurer, on the other
hand, setting aside these and other
methods, has recourse to the Arab, i^,
deposuit excrementum, and thence deduces
for '3,i3S, the signification of siercoreus,
or, in case this derivation should not be
approved, to ^Am, decorticare radendo,
and considers the reference to be either
to the injurious influence of their dung
on tbe trees, herbage, &c. or to tbeir
stripping thera of their verdure.
On the supposition that by 'liBSn, the
Northern, the Assyrians are meant, every
difficulty vanishes. And that they raay
with the strictest propriety be so termed,
is proved by Zeph. ii. 13: "And he
will stretch out his hand pBS-''9, upon ihe
North, and destroy Assyria, and will
raake Nineveh a desolation, and dry as a
wilderness." The Jews were accustoraed
to call Assyria and Babylonia the North,
andthe North country , because they layin
that direction from Palestine. "Quaeres,
quisnam hic Aquilonaris? S, Hieron.
Theodor, Reraigius, Albertus et Hugo

110

JOEL.

[chap II,

21

22

23

And his odour shall corae up,
And his stench ascend,
Because he hath done great things.
Fear not, O land ! rejoice and be glad,
For Jehovah doeth great things.
Fear not, ye beasts of the field !
For the pastures of the desert spring up,
For the tree beareth its fruit ;
The fig-tree and the vine yield their strength.
Rejoice, ye sons of Zion ! and be glad in Jehovah your God ;

accipiunt Sennacherib, quem Dominus,
longe fecit a Jerusalem : quia dum eam
obsideret, angelus Doraini una nocte per
cussit centum octuaginta quinque raillia
railitura, itaque eam fugere corapulit.
4 Reg. xix. 35." — A Lapide.
The geographical specification whicb
follows in the verse is designed to express
the universality of the destruction ofthe
Assyrians. They were to be dispersed
in every other direction but tbat from
which tbey bad come. By 'JfiTpn D'n, ihe
Eastern Sea, is meant the Asphaltic lake ;
by pTnyn D»n, the Western Sea, the Medi
terranean ;" and by nnptoi n'S yTN, a dry
and desolate land, the deserts of Arabia.
Literally the words 'ifeTpri, and liTlrMn,
signify what is before and behind, and
are applied geographically in reference
to the Orientals reckoning the different
quarters according to the positions of
front and rear, right and left, while tbey
face the east, which is with them the
principal point of tbe corapass. The
language of the prophet is figurative, the
metaphor being still borrowed from the
locusts, which perish when blown by a
storm into the sea, or the sandy desert.
Jerome refers to a sirailar scene, which
literally happened when he was in Pales
tine. " Etiara nostris teraporibus," he
says, " vidiraus agmina locustarum ter
ram texisse Judaeam, quae postea vento
surgente in raare priraura et novissimum
precipitata sunt." And he immediately
adds, wbat illustrates the statement of
Joel relative to the ascending of the
stench : " Curaque littora utriusque
maris acervis mortuorum locustarum
quas aquse evomuerant, implerentur,
putredo earura et foetor in tantum noxius

fuit, ut aerara quoque corruraperet, et
pestilentia tara jumentorum, quam homi
num gigneretur. D'3B and t]iD, face and
end are here used in the military sense
of van and rear, and cannot, without
violence, be interpreted of the swarm of
locusts, and a brood which succeeded
them. n3ns, is a dna^ Xey. comp. n3l, to
be foul, putrid, io stink. Arab. (Ksr^
sordes. Giving an account of the locusts,
Thevenot says, " They live not above six
months, and, when dead, the stench of
them so corrupts and infects the air, that
it often occasions dreadful pestilences."
The concluding words of the verse con
vey the idea of raoral agency, and can
with no propriety be interpreted of the
locusts, nitog '''tot. LXX, ipeydXvve
rd'epya avrov. Syr.j.::iijVa_^ yi»3ZZ],
he exalted himself in acting. The phrase
is obviously used here in a bad sense, and
indicates the pride of the Assyrians;
corap. 2 Kings xxi. 6, where nitosb nsin,
a sirailar idiom, occurs. As employed in
the following verse of our prophet, it is
placed in antithesis with the sense in
which it is here used, and is to be dif
ferently understood : viz. of the great
things that God would do for his people,
comp. Ps. cxxvi. 2, 3.
21 — 23. In these verses there is a
beautiful gradation. First, tbe land,
which had been destroyed by the enemy,
is addressed in a prosopopoeia ; then the
irrational animals which bad suffered
from the famine ; and lastly, the inhabi
tants themselves. All are called upon
to cast off their fears, and rejoice in the

chap.

II.]

JOEL.

Ill

For he giveth you the former rain in due measure ;
Yea, he causeth the heavy rain to descend for you —
The former and the latter rain as before :

happy change which Jehovah would
effect. Desolation, barrenness, and
famine, would disappear, and tiraes of
prosperity and happiness return. ^i'S '33,
Sons of Zion, properly the inhabitants of
Jerusalera, but here evidently used to
denote those of the land generally, of
whicii Jerusalem was the raetropolis, and
Zion the centre of religious influence.
-T^if! nriD, is rendered in the Targ. liDB'^D
WIJ, your teacher in righteousness ; which
Abarbanel explains, mi'ffl n'fflDn,-^''Q Mini
piBS' TffiM nfflsnn nMi n3 13''' ynn nM. And
he is ihe king Messiah, who shall teach
them ihe way in which they should walk,
and tlie works that ihey should do. The
sarae, or a sirailar construction of the
words is found in tbe Vulg. Rufinus,
Jarchi, Pagninus, Munster, Leo Juda,
Castalio, the Jewish-Spanish, Remigius,
Rupertus, Vatablus, Ribera, Mercer,
CEcolamp. Luther, and raost of the early
Lutheran interpreters ; and, among the
moderns, Pick and Hengstenberg, the
latter of whom contends for it at con
siderable length, and decidedly considers
the passage to be one of tbe Messianic
prophecies. That nrio signifies teacher,
is beyond all doubt, see 2 Chron. xv. 3 ;
Job xxxvi. 22 ; Is. ix. 15, xxx. 20; and
from the occurrence of the word in this
place in connexion with nprs, righteous
ness, which is so frequently referred to
the Messiah both in the Old and New
Testaraents, there is soraething very
plausible in the application of the term
to him who is specially called by Malachi
nirjs ton's). The Sun of Righteousness,
chap, iv, 4, i. e. the author of that illu
mination or knowledge which has right
eousness for its object. To sucb interpre
tation, however, there appears to me to be
the following insuperable objections : — ¦
First, it is repugnant to the circurastances
of the context ; " non videtur tamen ferre
hunc sensum circumstantia loci." Calvin ;
who says ofthe reason adduced in support
of it, that it would be out of place to give
such prorainence to merely teraporal
blessings: "sed ratio ilia est nimis fri-
gida;" and goes on to show that, in accord
ance with the custom of the prophets, Joel

begins with these inferior blessings, and
afterwards, in ver. 28, proceeds to treat
of those which are spiritual. Secondly,
the repetition of the same term, nrio, im
raediately after, where, as all allow, it
raust be taken in the acceptation of rain.
And thirdly, the peculiar force and co
herence of tbe words, nriQlrnM, and
toipbm rni«3 Dto?. The emphasis given to
nrio, by prefixing not only the article n,
but also tbe determinating particle nM,
shows that the prophet had some irarae
diate and definite object in view, which
we cannot imagine to have been any
other than tbe autumnal rain, which was
indispensable any year, and more espe
cially after such a season of drought, to
prepare tbe ground for nourishing the
seed. It raust have been an object of
universal and anxious desire, and has, in
consequence, a high degree of iraport
ance and prorainence allotted to it in the
text. See on the force of nM the Lex
icons of Lee and Gesenius. The sarae
consideration will account for the forra,
and the particular signification of n;7T2^
in this place. The '' is to be taken ad
verbially, as pointing out the rule or
raeasure according to which the rain was
to be bestowed, wbich is declared to be
npTS, so that tbe raeaning will be, in just
quantity, adequately, in the proportion
suitable to the exigency of the case,
pis, the root frora which this noun is de
rived, signifies to be just, right ; to corae
up to certain claims, to be what a person
or thing ought io be. Comp. Lev. xix. 36,
where pTS is used of weights and mea
sures that were exact, or came up to the
demands of the law. Sorae propose to
render nprs^, bountifully, but this would
give the Chaldee rather than the Hebrew
signification. Ewald translates, the early
rain for justification, aai explains it of
the Jews being again accounted right
eous by God. To the objection of Hengs
tenberg, that if TTyra in the first half of
the verse does not designate a different
divine benefit frora niio in the second,
an idle tautology will ensue, it is only
necessary to reply, that the words occur
in parallelism, and that in the second

112

JOEL,

[chap, II.

24 So that the floors shall be full of grain,
And the vats shall run over with new wine and oil.
25 Thus he will make good to you the years
Which the swarming locust hath devoured,
The licking locust, the consuming locust, and the gnawing locust,
My great array which I sent against you.
26 And ye shall eat plentifully and be satisfied,
And shall praise the name of Jehovah your God,
Who hath dealt wondrously with you :
And my people shall never be ashamed.
27 Then shall ye know, that I am in the midst of Israel,

instance niia is merely a resumption for
tbe sake of dividing the Dto3 mentioned
immediately before into its two regular
divisions, the former and thelatter. The
terra elsewhere used for the former or
auturanal rain, wbich falls frora the
raiddle of October until tbe raiddle of
December, is nii', lit. the waterer, being
the Benoni Participle of nr;, to dart,
cast, or scatter, as drops of water, nria,
however, which is tbe Hiph. Participle
of the sarae verb, does occur in the sarae
acceptation, Ps. Ixxxiv. 7. Comp. ray
note on Hosea vi. 3, where toipbn, the
latter or vernal rain is also explained.
The reading nri', which is found in
stead of the forraer nriOj in twenty-three
MSS., originally in eleven more, now in
three, in the Jerusalem Talmud, and as
Keri in the margin of two of De Rossi's
Codices, is in favour of tbe rendering
rain, which is that of all the early ver
sions, but may possibly bave originated
in eraendation. With respect to the
latter occurrence of the word, there is no
variety of reading. Dto3, Arab. aw,>-'
corpus, et omne id quod longum, largum
et profundum est ,- Chald. the body : ap
plied to such rain as is heavy, or violent,
and pours down as it were in a body.
Tbe verbs jn3, and Tii\1, are prophetic
futures. To render ftoM'13, in the first
month, would involve a contradiction,
since only one of the two rains could
happen in that month. It seems, there
fore, necessary to suppose an ellipsis of 3,
the participle of coraparison, and read
)itoM'i33, as formerly, or as informer times.
Comp. Jer. i, 22 ; Jer, xxxiii. 1 1, wbere

n3toMT33 is similarly used ; and for )itoMl,
in the sense of former, 1 Sam. xvii. 30 ;
Hagg. ii. 3. Thus the LXX. Syr. Vulg,
Arab. One of Kennicott's MSS. and
perhaps another, reads ^itoMTS. The el-
hpsis of ? is not infrequent in the Hebrew
Scriptures. 24. Here the happy results of the
plentiful and seasonable rains are set
forth. The 1 in IM^W, is consequential.
ip'ton, corap. the Arab. (j%m, propulit,
vii. Conj. impulsus fuit, fiuxit, to cause to
fiow, or run over. For 3p;, see on Is. v. 2.
25. That the prophet has here in view
the plague of locusts described in chap. i.
cannot well be doubted. The naraes,
though placed in a different order, are
identical with those there specified.
They are called God's great army, a
narae still given to thera by the Arabs.
See on ver. 11, Though the scourge
lasted only one year, yet as they not
only destroyed the whole produce of
that year, but also wbat was laid up in
store for future years, tbere is no im
propriety in the plural form of D'3to,
years. The term is used metonymically
for the produce and supply of years.
The loss of these Jehovah promises to
recorapense or raake good by not only
furnishing the Jews with an abundance
of temporal enjoyments, but affording
thera the delightful experience of his
presence and favour as their covenant
God. This proraise is amphfied in
verses — ¦
26, 27, In which the future prosperity
of the Jewish church is described in
terms, which obviously characterise tbe

chap, II,]

JOEL,

113

And that I, Jehovah, am your God, and none else ;
And my people shall never be ashamed.
28 And it shall come to pass, afterwards,
That I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh ;
And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams,
Your young men shall see visions ;
29 And even upon the male and the female servants
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

period which succeeded that of tbe
Babylonish captivity. The divine re
compense was not merely to cover the
evils sustained by the ravages of the
locusts ; it was to extend to those which
both tbe Assyrians and the Chaldeans
were to inflict upon the nation. This
interpretation is confirmed by what ira
mediately follows respecting the out
pouring of the Holy Spirit. By God's
being in the midst of his people, is
meant the special manifestation of his
presence in tbe coramunications of bis
fevour. The resuraption of '?« in '3M1,
forras a beautiful anadiplosis.
28, 29. The prophet now proceeds to
predict the irapartation of richer gifts in
future times than tbose temporal bless
ings which had just been promised to
the Jews. p'^'i^M, afterward, LXX.
fiera Tavra, Hengstenberg would place
in antithesis with ptoMTS, ver. 23, which
he renders first ; hut tbe latter phrase
has reference to what had already taken
place, and was not future to tbe time of
the prophet, P"'?.™, though indefinite,
is nearly equivalent in force to n'";™
D'pjn, Is. ii. 2, as appears from its having
been rendered by the apostle Peter
ev Tois eaxdrais fjpepais, in the last
days. Jarchi, M3'' -vrsb, in futurity :
Abenezra, -Trsib M'n nMi33n nMi ta siht't tom
n'ni pT p 'TnN tdm na"' p dm tdm pan nicti 'ti
D'D'n n'TnM3. " Rabbi Jeshua saith. All
this is a prophecy of the future; and
Rabbi Moses the priest saith, If so,
why does he say afler this ? but it is
the sarae as, and it shall come io pass in
ihe latter days;" in which interpretation
Kimchi concurs, adding, DnSTi tomib 'B'j
-rvaba ns'T vh\ WTn nn» tdm .':m ''mtib' 3Tp3 '3
ns'Tn nMi 'TnM taM '3D'' iMtDnni iiiicn tw '3
TIS iMicnn m''1 rvabw rw'T 'niM iSTniu pi m3'
nM nsT yT«n nM''D '3 idmiic rriBon mn''' Mini

mrr, " Because it is said, And ye shall
know that I am in the midst of you.
What he says is, Now ye know, but
not with a perfect knowledge, for ye
will again coramit sin before me ; but
after tbis knowledge tbere shall come a
time when ye shall know me with a
perfect knowledge, and shall sin no
more, namely, in the days of tbe Mes
siah." Tbat the two phrases are iden
tical in meaning, clearly appears from
a comparison of Jer. xlviii. 47, with
xlix. 6. See on Is. ii. 2. TjBto signifies
to pour out, to communicate in a plentiful
a-nd abundant manner, and is here used
with the greatest propriety to denote the
larger and richer supplies of divine in
fluence, which were to be afforded to
the churcb under the gospel dispensation,
nn, spirit, means here the infiuences and
gifts of the Holy Spirit, as in numerous
other passages, in which the Spirit is
said to be put, given, &c. ; and tbese
communications are described in lan
guage which shows that they were both
to be raore general and more special in
their character. In a more general
point of view, tbey were to be bestowed
upon TiBj'^, all fiesh, i. e. mankind ge
nerally, without distinction of nation or
country. To restrict this phrase to the
Jews, as is done by Abenezra, Kimcbi,
Albo, Hitzig, and others, is irreconcilable
with Scripture usage, according to which
it constantly signifies mankind gene
rally, or the whole human race; just as
in Arabic, jAj and \^\ signify homo,
humanum genus, and Adam is called
jjioll »j|, the father of flesh, i. e, of
mankind. Credner would have the
phrase to include the animal creation,
Q

114

JOEL.

[chap. ir.

30 And I will show prodigies in the heavens and in the earth,
Blood and fire, and columns of smoke.

than which no construction could be
more preposterous in such connexion,
or more at variance with other passages
in which the comraunication of the in
fluences of the Spirit are limited to the
huraan faraily. The influence, of which
universality is here predicated, is the
saving energy which is exerted by tbe
Holy Spirit, in coraraencing, carrying
on, and consuramating the work of
grace in tbe souls of men. It accom
panies the presentation of divine truth
to the mind, and removes the obstacles
which the force of innate depravity
opposes to tbe reception of the gospel.
See my Lectures on Divine Inspiration,
pp. 525 — 530. Besides tbe influence
wbich was thus to be vouchsafed for the
purposes of salvation, tbe prophet spe
cifies that whicb should be raore liraited
in its coraraunication, consisting in the
miraculous endowment of a certain
nuraber of Jews, of different classes
and conditions, with the knowledge of
divine things, and the ability infallibly
to coramunicate thera to others. The
persons on whom these gifts were to be
conferred are their " sons and daugh
ters ;" their " aged men," and tbeir
"youths;" their "male" and "fe
male servants;" terms which are raani
festly designed to teach that their
bestowment was to embrace persons of
different classes, ranks, and conditions
of life, N33, Arab, Ui, indicavit, an-
nunciav'if, Eth. Tflfl : locutus est,
"I'I fl P : vaticinatus est, prcedixit, is
used not merely to denote the foretelling
of future events, but to express the
giving of utterance to divine truth under
a miraculous impulse, or the pretending
to such impulse, whether the utterance
was made in the way of direct com
munication, as was the case when tbe
prophets addressed their hearers, or by
the rehearsal or singing of sacred hymns
under extraordinary divine impulse, as
when Miriam sung at the Red Sea,
Exod. XV. 20, 21 ; or when the sons of
the prophets and Saul prophesied, 1 Sam.
X. 5, 6, xix. 20—24. Comp. Acts xix. 6,
.\-xi. 9; 1 Cor, xi. 4, 5, xiv. 1, 5, 6, 22,

24, 31, 39 ; which passages furnish stri
king illustrative examples of the fulfil
ment of the prophecy of Joel, See also
1 Chron, xxv. 1 — 3 ; and Mode's works,
Book I. Discourse xvi. That we are
fully warranted to interpret it of the
extraordinary supernatural gifts which
were vouchsafed in the apostolic age, is
placed beyond doubt by its allegation by
Peter, in justification of tbe phenomenon
which took place on the day of Pente
cost, toOto' ian, this is the fact pre
dicted by Joel, Acts ii, 16. The quo
tation was the raore apt, since the words
of the prophet had just been read in the
Pentecostal service of the Synagogue,
See my Biblical Researches and Travels
in Russia, p, 326, niD-'jn, dreams, and
nib'in, visions, belonged to the different
raodes in which God revealed his will
to the prophets. Numb. xii. 6 ; 1 Sam.
xxviii. 6, 15 ; Jer. xxiii, 25 — 28; Dan,
vii. 1, 2. See my Lectures on Inspi
ration, pp. 147 — 165, Though no ex
press mention is made of dreams in the
apostolic writings, yet repeated reference
is to visions. See Acts ix. 10, 12, x. 3,
17, xi. 5, xvi. 9, xviii. 9, xxvi. 19;
2 Cor. xii. 1 ; Rev, ix, 17, D3i, and even,
indicates a rise in the prophecy, which
was intended to exclude none, not even
the lowest and most despised " servants,"
from a participation in the large bestow
ment of divine influence. In beautiful
harmony with this feature of the pro
phecy is the special recognition of oi
nraxol, the poor, in the New Testament,
The repetition 'irn nM ':]iBtoM, / will pour
out my Spirit, shows, that the influence
of which, in general, they were to be
partakers, was not merely that which
consisted in the miraculous gifts, but aho
that ordinary and saving influence which
is experienced by all believers, "What
incontrovertibly proves that tbe prophecy
includes both a raore ordinary, and a
raore extraordinary or miraculous divine
agency, is the extension given to it by the
apostle Peter, Actsii, 38, 39; where he
teaches that it was to coraprehend " all
that are afar off," i.e. the Gentiles, "even
as many as the Lord ourGod shall call,"
30, 31. In connexion with this period
of the rich enjoyraent of divine influence,

CIIAP, II.J

JOEL.

115

31 The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the great and the terrible day of Jehovah come.
Joel introduces one of awful judgraent,
called as usual nin; Qi', the day of Jehovah,
the precursors of which he describes in
very alarming language. That tbe de
struction of Jerusalem and the Jewish
polity is intended, most interpreters are
agreed ; but there exists a diversity of
opinion respecting tbe character of the
language, some taking it literally, as
setting forth physical prodigies, sucb as
those which Josephus relates to have
taken place before the destruction of
Jerusalera, and tremendous massacres
and conflagrations in different parts of
the country ; while others maintain
that it is symbolical, and consequently
is to be figuratively explained. Tbe
latter position is more in accordance
with the style of prophecy, in whicb v;e
not only find a fixed set of symbols, but
also, very frequently, an accumulation
of images is introduced for the purpose
of producing a more powerful effect on
the mind. See on Is. xiii. 10, xxxiv.
3 — 5, The heavens and the earth,
therefore, mean tbe political world, with
its civil and religious establishments ;
the sun and moon, the higher and supe
rior ruling powers ; while the other
images are eraployed to denote the
disastrous prognosticatory changes that
were to happen in relation to both.
Corap. Matt. xxiv. 29 ; Mark xiii, 24, 25 ;
Luke XX. 25 — 27, where tbe subject is
the same as that exhibited by Joel, and
the symbolical language in a great mea
sure parallel. Similar iraages are used
by pagan writers, when describing the
forerunners of civil wars, as, for instance,
Lucanus, Pharsal. hb. ver. 529 : —

"  Superigne minaces
Prodigiis terras implerunt, sethra,
pontum.
Ignota obscuree viderunt sideranoctes,
Ardentemque polum flammis, coeloque
volantes,
Obliquas per inane faces, crinemque
timendi.
Sideris, et terris mutantem regna
coraeten.
Fulgura fallaci micuerunt crebra se
reno,
Et varias ignis denso dedis aere formas."

D'nBin, prodigies, whatever objects are
unusual, portentous, or miraculous, in
their character. The word is most pro
bably a derivative from ng, Arab. Conj. iii.
Jj, eminuit, to be conspicuous, admi
rable, wenderful. LXX. Tepara. It
frequently occurs in combination with
nini«. arjpela, signs. niTD'n, only occurs
once besides, and, as bere, in construc
tion with lto», viz. Song iii. 6; where,
however, nineteen MSS, and originally
another read niTon, without the Yod,
which is doubtless the more correct or
thography, the Yod having been inserted
as a help jto the pronunciation. There
can be little doubt tbat it is derived from
Ton, to be erect, whence Tpn, the palm-
tree, from its tall and erect growth.
Corap. the Chaldee nrpn, a column of
smoke; TiD'n, Arab. .yJS and 'i,yi}j, tur
ris ; and TDn, to rise like a column. The
phrase will, therefore, be equivalent to
ito» 'Tia», of wbich we have the singular
]^» T1D», Jud. XX. 40. LXX. drpida
Kanvov ; but in Song iii. 6, areXexv
Kanvov. Vulg. vaporem fumi. Targ.
IjnT piw, columns cf smoke, the singular
of which is used Jud. xx. 40. 'Tan
chum : (Ufli'n^l ^U-iiJl SiX^I, pillars
of smoke ascending up. Those who are
familiar with the account given by Jo
sephus of the disorders, convulsions,
excesses, and rebellions, wbich preceded
the subversion of the Jewish state, will
readily adrait, that the figurative lan
guage here eraployed raost appropri
ately sets forth the awful circumstances
of the inhabitants of Palestine at that
period. To render more prominent tbe
tremendous nature of the final judg
ment of the Jews, when their city and
polity were destroyed, it is not raerely
called nin^ Di', but MTijni 'jiTsn nin; oi', the
great and fearful day of Jehovah; terms
which are employed by the prophet
Malachi, iv, 5, (Heb, iii. 23,) in reference
to the same event.

116

JOEL.

[chap. II.

the name of Jehovah shall be

32 And it shall come to pass,
That whosoever shall call upon
delivered :
For in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem shall be the escaped,
According as Jehovah hath promised,
Together with those who are left,
Whom Jehovah shall call.

32. The phrase nin; oin^ MJj, usually
means fo invoke Jehovah according to his
true character, and designates sucb as
he would regard in the light of accep
table worshippers ; but, on comparing
the quotation of the words with direct
reference to our Saviour, Rom. x. 13,
with Acts ix. 14, 1 Cor. i. 2, it appears
to be here employed as a periphrasis for
those Jews who should embrace tbe faith
of the Messiah, and render to him as
nin;, Jehovah, the sarae supreme worship
which bad been rendered to God by tbeir
pious ancestors, Frora the passage just
quoted frora the Acts, it is clear that the
disciples of Christ were characterised as
invokers of his name, i. e. as his wor
shippers, before tbey were called Chris
tians. The prophecy contains a gracious
proraise, that, however terrible might be
the final catastrophe in which the un
believers should perish, provision would
be made for tbe safety of those who be
lieved in the Messiah. And cburch his
tory records its fulfilment; for, on the
approach of tbe Roman army, the chris
tian inhabitants of Jerusalem took to
flight, in compliance with the Saviour's
warning, and retiring to Pella, on the
eastern side of the river Jordan, found
there a safe asylum, while the devoted
city was being besieged and destroyed,
¦ — ov pev a'h^d Kal tov Xaov ttjs ev ^lepo-
aoXvpots eKKXrjacas, Kara nva xp^apdv
ToXs avrdOi SoKipots dt' dnoKa'Xv-^ea's
5o6evTa npd tov noXepov, peTavaarfjvat
TTJs noXeas, Kat nva rfjs nepaias ndXtv
olKelv KeKeXevapevov. niXXav avnjv ovo-
pa^ovaiv iv -fi rav els Xptarov neni-
arevKorav dnd rrjs 'lepovaaXrjp peraKia-

pevav, K. T. X. Euseb. lib. iii. cap. v.
no'.'^B, is a collective noun, signifying
those who have escaped; in other words,
tJ ev ^lepoaoXvpois eKKKr]aia, " the church
in Jerusalem," as Eusebius phrases it in
the above quotation, who not only made
their escape frora the impending calamity,
but from the " untoward generation" to
which they had belonged. Acts ii. 40;
Is, iv, 3 ; so tbat tbe raeaning is, not that
there should continue to be deliverance
for tbose who remained in Zion and Je
rusalem during the infliction of the
punishraent, but that those who resided
there should make their escape from it,
having previously been delivered from
the condition of tbose on whora it was
inflicted. The words nrp tdm -itfMS, refer
to tbe promise just made. D'TniBii, to
gether with those thai have been left, from
TTiD, Arab. liJu, aufugit, vagaiusquefuit,
ti.Lii, and t3;-MJ) aufugens, to flee, make
one's escape, survive a slaughter, or any
other calamity, Tbe reference seems
not to be to converted Gentiles, as
Schmidius, Michaelis, Holzhausen, and
others interpret, but to those Jews who
did not perish in the national judgments,
but were called into tbe church of Christ,
MTjj, as employed in the last clause ofthe
verse, signifies to call, in the sense of
effectually prevailing upon any one tn
choose and participate in the blessings of
the divine l^ingdom. Comp, 'KaXea, as
used by Paul, Rora. viii. 28, 30, ix. 24;
1 Thess. ii. 12. MTp, the Participle here
denotes the future.

CHAP. III.] JOEL. 117

CHAPTER III.
In this chapter the prophet returns from the parenthetic view which he had ex
hibited of the commencement of the Christian dispensation, and the overthrow
of the Jewish polity, to deliver predictions respecting events that were to transpire
subsequent to the Babylonish captivity, and fill up the space which should inter
vene between the restoration of the Jews, and the first advent of Christ. He
announces the judgraent to be holden on their eneraies after the return to Judea,
1,2; specifies tbe reasons why they were to be punished, and expressly mentions
by name the neighbouring nations of Tyre, Sidon, and Philistia, 3 — 6 ; proraises
the restoration of those Jews whora these states had sold into slavery, while tbey
are threatened with slavery in return, 7, 8 ; summons the nations to engage in
the wars in wbich they were to be destroyed, 9 — 15 ; shows, that since these
convulsions were brought about by tbe providence of Jehovah, whose earthly
throne was at Jerusalem, his people had no ground for alarm, and would expe
rience his protection, 16, 17; predicts tiraes of great prosperity to thera, 18;
and concludes with special denunciations against Egypt and Idumea, with whose
fate is placed in striking contrast the protracted existence of the Jewish polity,
19—21.

1 For, behold ! in those days, and at that tirae,
When I shall reverse the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 I will gather all the nations,
And bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat,
And will plead with them there,
1,2. M'nn n»3i nann D'p;3, is a double twenty-five of Kennicott's MSS.; but
mode of expression, employed to give the frequent occurrence of n'3to 3lto, in
greater prominence to the period. That which tbe Kal form is to be taken causa-
the "days and time" here specified, tively, shows that there was no necessity
are not identical with the period spoken for the emendation. See Ps. xiv. 7,
of in tbe last five verses of the preceding liii. 7, cxxvi. 7; Is. lii. 8. Some in-
chapter, is evident from their being con- terpret the phrase of a general resto-
nected by tbe relative coiijunctionTtoM, ration to circumstances of prosperity,
with the following words, which relate without any reference to previous circum-
to the restoration of the Jewish state, stances of actual captivity, as in the case
'3, at the beginning of tbe verse, is pro- of Job xiii. 10; but considering its
perly rendered for, and refers back to coraraon application to the return from
chap. ii. 21 — 27, in which verses times Babylon, and the express mention of the
of great temporal prosperity are pro- scattering of the nation aniong the
mised to the Jews. With tbis prosperity heathen, ver. 2, it seems more natural to
was intimately connected the punishment refer it to the sarae event in tbis place.
of the nations by which they had been Tbat the restoration of the Jews from
afflicted; and, accordingly, such punish- their present dispersion is meant, and
ment forms the subject of the present that the judgments to be inflicted on the
chapter. Instead of 3ltoM, the Keri sub- nations are those which are predicted,
stitutes I'toM, in which it is supported by Rev. xvi. 14, 16, is rendered impassible

118

JOEL.

[chap. Ill

On account of my people, and Israel mine inheritance.
Whom they have scattered among the nations,
And have divided my land ;
And have cast lots for my people,
And given a boy for an harlot.
And sold a girl for wine,
That they might drink.
And truly, what are ye to me, O Tyre and Zidon !
And all the coasts of Philistia ?
Will ye retaliate upon me ?

by the introduction of the Tyrians, Si-
donians, Philistines, &c. verses 4 and 19,
since tbese statesall received tbeirpunish-
ment prior to tbe advent of Christ. By
TDBtfin; pas, the valley of Jehoshaphat, some
understand the narrow valley through
wbich the brook Kedron flows, between
the city of Jerusalem and tbe raount of
Olives. To this valley or glen, in which
is the celebrated burying-place of the
Jews, tbe Rabbins have appropriated
tbe narae, and maintain, that in it the
final judgraent of tbe world is to be held ;
— a conceit in which they have been fol
lowed by raany Christian writers, as well
as by the Mohammedans. Others sup
pose it to be a designation of the valley,
otherwise called rm^ pDj>, the valley of
blessing, 2 Chron. xx. 26 ; but as neither
of these localities at all coraport with the
magnitude of the subject treated of by
the prophet, we have no alternative but
that of considering the words, not as
constituting a proper name, or the name
of any specific localitj', but as symbolical
in their import, and designed to charac
terise the theatre of the bloody wars
that took place after the Babylonish cap
tivity, by which the hostile nations con
tiguous to Judea had signal vengeance
inflicted upon them. They literally sig
nify, tlie valley where Jehovah judgeth,
and raean the scene of divine judgraents.
The term valley appears to have been
selected on account of such locality
being mentioned in Scripture as the
usual theatre of military conflict. This
view of the subject is supported by the
Targ. in which tbe words are not re
tained, but translated M3'T JibB -ip-a, the
plain of the distribution of judgment,
and by the translation of Theodot. rrjv

Xapav Ttjs Kptaeas. The nations to be
punished are restricted, ver, 2, to such
as should have scattered the Jews, and
occupied their land, Corap, chap, ii, 17,
3. The Jews were frequently treated
in the raost ignorainious manner by their
eneraies. Such conduct is here affect
ingly set forth. That it was customary
to cast lots for tbose who were taken
captive, see Obad. ver. 11 ; Nah. iii, 10,
The giving of a boy for a whore, does
not mean the exchange of the one for
the otber, but the payment of the captive
for an act of sensual indulgence ; just as
the selling of a girl for wine, raeans
giving her in compensation for a draught
of it. Corap. Gen. xxxviii, 17; comp,
also Deut. xxii, 18, where niii ^3nM, the
hire of a whore, is coupled with Sjs Tnp,
the price of a dog ; and the Arabic
proverb, (j;,^lj duul; ^\, the son of a
whore hired with oil. Meid. xciv. Char-
den mentions that when the Tartars came
into Poland, they carried off all the chil
dren thej- could, and, finding at length
that they were not redeemed, sold them
at tbe low price of a crown. In Min-
grelia, he adds, they sell them for pro
visions, and for wine.
4, Among the nations bordering on
tbe country of the Jews, which had ren
dered themselves particularly obnoxious
to tbe divine wrath, were those on the
west, for which see on Is. xxiii, and
xiv. 28. '> DnM no D31, and truly what
are ye te me ? Think ye that I make any
account of you? or that ye can success
fully oppose yourselves to me ? The in
terrogation is altogether different in
meaning, as it is in form, from the idiom

chap.

III.]

JOEL.

119

If, indeed, ye retaliate upon ffie,
Speedily and swiftly I will bring your retaliation
Back upon your own head.
Because ye have taken away my silver and my gold ;
And my goodly objects of delight
Ye have carried into your temples ;
And have sold the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem
To the sons of the Javanites,
That they might be removed far from their own border.
Behold ! I will rouse them from the place
Whither ye have sold them ;
And bring back your retaliation
Upon your own head ;
I will sell your sons and your daughters
Into the hand of the sons of Judah,

D3V| 'Vno, what have we in common ? with
which Kimchi compares it. niVj?, cir
cuits, districts. Comp, Josh, xiii. 2,
where the word is rendered coasts in our
version, Tbey were properly provinces,
of wbich there were five in number, each
governed by a pD, prince, or lord. '3,
all, before niWj, expresses contempt.
DM, is not bere correlate with n, in ''iD|n,
but puts a fresh case for the sake of ar
guraent. The case supposed, however,
was true in fact. The interrogative n as
sumes here the forra of the article, as in
several other places. See on Araos v. 25,
toj, signifies to do good ot evil to any one ;
then to recompense hira, either with good
or evil ; to reward, retaliate. Tbe raean
ing bere seeras to be, tbat if these bor
dering states, taking advantage of certain
untoward circurastances in tbe history of
the Jews, atterapted to revenge the vic
tories gained over them by the latter,
they should be dealt with in the way of
divine retaliation. Jehovah here speaks
of what was done to his people as done
to himself. Comp. Zech. ii. 8 ; Matt.
xxv. 40. nrnp bz, is an asyndeton. Corap.
Is, V, 26, wbere the order of the words
is reversed, 5, As in the preceding verse God had
identified himself with his people, so here
he speaks of their property as his, Sorae
suppose the precious vessels belonging to
tbe temple to be intended by D'aian 'Tonp,
but the articles of private property raost

highly esteemed by tbe Jews are more
probably raeant ; since it does not appear
that ever the eneraies specified by Joel
plundered the temple at Jerusalera,
though express raention is raade of the
plunder of the royal palace by the Phi
listines, &c., 2 Chron. xxi. 17. Corap,
Hos. xiii. 15 ; 2 Chron, xxxvi, 19, It
was customary to bang up or deposit in
the idolatrous temples, as presents dedi
cated to the gods, certain portions of the
spoils taken in war. Arrian, ii. 24, Cur-
tius, iv. 2.
6. D'3vn '3.4, the sons of the Javanites,
i. e. the Grecians, Comp, vies 'Axatav,
of Homer ; and see on Is, lxvi. 19.
Credner, Hitzig, and some others, think
that the prophet refers to Javanites of
Arabia Felix, mentioned Ezek. xxvii. 1 9 ;
but the reasons tbey adduce in favour of
their opinion are insufficient to establish
the point. In Ezek. xxvii. 13, Javan is
mentioned, along with Tubal and Me-
shech, as trading in tbe persons of men
with the merchants of Tyre. Slavery
formed an important article of Phoenician
commerce, and eq. -Uy so of that carried
on by tbe Greeks, ti. whom the former
might easily convey the Jewish captives.
So famous did the island of Delos becorae
as a slave raart, that sometimes 1 0,000
were hought and sold in a single day.
7, 8. 0-^-^, Sabeans ; Pococke's Arab.
MSS. jvjJI (Jjbl, the people of Jemen.

120

JOEL.

[chap. III.

10

11

12

And they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation
For Jehovah hath spoken it.
Proclaim ye this among the nations ;
Prepare war ; rouse the mighty ;
Let all the warriors approach ; let them come up.
Beat your coulters into swords,
And your pruning-hooks into spears ;
Let the feeble say, I am mighty.
Hasten and come, all ye nations around.
And gather yourselves together ;
Thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Jehovah !
Let the nations be roused, let them come up

See on Is, lx. 6, As the Sabeans traded
with India, it is not iraprobable tbat
-p'\vr\,distant, raay be designed to include
that part of the East ; though it is said
of the Queen of Sheba, tbat she came
eK rav nepdrav rrjs yijs, Matt. xi. 42.
This prophecy was fulfilled before and
during the rule of the Maccabees, when
the Jewish affairs were in so flourishing
a state, and the Phoenician and Philistine
powers were reduced by the Persian arms
under Artaxerxes Mnemon, Darius
Ochus, and especially Alexander and his
successors. On the capture of Tyre by
the Grecian monarch, 13,000 of the in
habitants were sold into slavery. When
be took Gaza also, be put 10,000 of tbe
citizens to death, and sold tbe rest, with
tbe women and children, for slaves.
Favourable, on the other hand, as he
was to tbe Jews, there can be no doubt
that he ordered the liberation of such of
them as were captives in Greece.
9. n^i, this, refers to what immediately
follows : the assembling of the different
nations, in order to engage in the wars
in which, in succession, tbey were, as
political slates, to be subdued and perish,
toTp, is not simply to prepare, as Kirachi
explains it, but to prepare by the use of
religious rites and cereraonies, such as the
heathen eraployed when they undertook
a military enterprise.
10. Here a state of things is presented
to view, directly the opposite of what
was to exist in the days of the Messiah,
Is. ii. 4 ; Micah iv. 3. Such was to be
the extent of the conflict, that, in the
lack of a sufficient number of arras, the

ordinary iraplements of husbandry would
be converted into weapons,
squalent abductis arva

colonis,
Et curvae rigidum falces conflantur in
ensem," Virgil. Georg. i. 507.
" Sarcula cessabant, versique in pila
ligones,
Factaque de rastri pondere cassis erat."
Ooid. Fast. i. 699,
11. tow, a ana^ Xey. ill all probability
tbe sarae in signification with torn, to
hasten. The ancient versions foUowthe
LXX, who render, avva6pol^ea6e.
Arab, ^ijx,, vitam duxit, vixit; hence
the idea of liveliness, activity, agility, Szc.
nnpn, is the Imperative in Hiphil of nro,
to descend, go or corae down. The place
whither, is tbe scene of warfare, the
valley of Jehoshaphat, iraplied in nato,
which, with the n is frequently the same
in signification with Dto, 'The abrupt
transition to Jehovah has a powerful
effect. Whatever raight be the individual
views of those engaged in the confiict,
they were the instruraents of Divine
wrath, and are on this account called the
" raighty ones" of Jehovah, Comp.
Is. X. 5—7,
12, To give prorainence to the in
terest which God had in what was to
take place, the raetapbor is here changed
into that of a judicial process, in which

chap.

III.]

JOEL,

121

To the valley of Jehoshaphat ;
For there I will sit to judge all the nations around.
Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe ;
Come, descend, for the wine-press is full,
The vats run over ;
For their wickedness is great.
Multitudes! multitudes
In the valley of decision !
For the day of Jeliovah is near,
In the valley of decision.
The sun and the moon shall be darkened,
And the stars shall withdraw their shine.
16 For Jehovah shall roar out of Zion,

13

14

15

he acts as judge, and gives a just deci
sion against the enemies of his people.
For tDBtoin' ppy, see on ver. 2, Here, as
in that verse, the nations to be punished
were those 3'3Eip, circumjacent to Judea,
13. The prophet now eraploys meta
phors taken from the harvest and the
vintage, which strikingly express the
havoc and destruction effected by war;
the one denoting the slaughter or cutting
down of armies, and the other the effu
sion of tbeir blood. The same images
are similarly eraployed. Is. xvii. 5, 6,
Ixiii. 2 ; Lara, i, l5; and especially Rev,
xiv. 14 — 20, ''3D, a sickle, Arab. (J,s^,
P V . ¦
Syr. P,^^' 1" Arab, the root, (Jcsr
signifies to cut. The sickles of the East,
as represented on Egyptian raonuraents,
pretty rauch reserabled ours, only sorae
of them were smaller, and had raore the
appearance of a knife booked at the
end, "TT, from TTJ, te descend, some take
to be used here in the acceptation of the

Arab, ,i>,, calcavit.

Thus the LXX.

naTelre. But as in order to tread tbe
grapes it was necessary to go down into
the wine-press, it seems better to abide
by the ordinary signification of tbe
Hebrew verb, and to consider the action
of treading to be imphed, rather than
expressed. At the close of the verse the
metaphor is dropped, and the cause of
the thing signified is boldly presented
to view.

14. D'bon D''3Dn, multitudes, multitudes,
a Hebraism for immense multitudes. This
rendering is preferable to tbat of tumults.
In the preceding verses, the nations are
called upon to asserable, and here the
prophet, beholding them congregated Jn
obedience to the suramons, breaks out
into an appropriate exclamation in regard
to their number. ynn, Piscator, the
Geneva English, Calvin, Leo Juda,
Michaelis, Justi, Holzhausen, and Cred
ner, take in the sense of threshing.
Kimcbi, Tanchura, Abulwalid, Newcorae,
and sorae others, render excision ; but
the LXX. Theodot. Syr. Targ. Theodoret,
Dathe, Rosenraiiller, Gesenius, Hitzig,
Maurer, Ewald, and Fiirst, translate the
word by decision or judgment, which
seeras more in keeping with the name of
the valley, and the idea of a judicial
process, set forth ver, 12. Corap. for tbe
acceptation te determine, decide, as at
taching to the verb yin, 1 Kings xx. 40 ;
Is. X, 22. The meaning is the decision
or doom of the nations to which tbe pro
phecy refers. Tbe rejietition of yiTnn pD»,
heightens the effect.
15. A figurative mode of representing
the removal of tbe political rulers of the
world. Comp. chap. ii. 10, 31.
16. These words, as Chandler properly
remarks, seem to intimate very plainly,
that at least part of the judgments here
threatened to be executed upon the
neighbouring nations, should be executed
by the Jews themselves. They doubtless
refer to the victories obtained by Matta-
thias, and his sons the Maccabeans, As

123

JOEL.

[chap. III.

And utter his voice from Jerasalem,
And the heavens and the earth shall shake ;
But Jehovah is a refuge for his people,
A stronghold for the sons of Israel.
17 And ye shall know that I Jehovah am your God,
Dwelling in Zion, my holy raountain :
Then shall Jerusalem be holy ;
Foreigners shall invade her no more.
18 And it shall corae to pass in that day.
That the mountain shall drop new wine,
And the hills shall flow with milk,
And all the channels of Judah shall flow with water,
And a fountain shall go forth from the house of Jehovah,
And water the valley of Acacias.

king of the Jewish nation, Jehovah had
his residence in Jerusalera, whence be
caused bis power to be exerted to the
discorafiture of his eneraies, and the de
liverance and protection of his people.
Comp, Ps. xviii, 13; Hab, iii. 10, 11,
3Mto, te rear, is properly used of the lion,
but is metaphorically applied to God, to
express tbe terrible majesty with which
he encounters his foes. Corap. Jer.
xxv, 30 ; Amos i. 2, iii, 8,
17, »t;, is here, as in Is. lii. 6, lx. 16 ;
Hos. ii. 20, to be taken in the accep
tation of experiencing, knowing by ex
perimental proofs ofthe divine kindness.
'This the Jews did in the deliverances
effected on their behalf, after the return
from the captivity, especially on the
death of Antiochus Epiphanes, and in
the enjoyment of their national and re
ligious privileges, till the terraination of
their polity. That the strong language
at the close of the verse does not imply
a state of immunity from invasion, to
which there was absolutely to be no end,
will appear on coraparing Is. lii. 1, and
Nah. i. 15. See ray note on the former
of these passages. From the death of
Antiochus till the coming of tbe Messiah,
no hostile power should take possession
of the holy city. To express tbe perfect
immunity from idolatry, by wbicb Jeru
salem should be characterised, toTp, holi
ness in the abstract, is used. Comp.
Obad. 17. By D'tj, strangers, or bar
barians, foreign eneraies are meant.

18. A splendid figurative represen
tation of tbe extraordinary prosperity
to be accorded to the Jewish people
after the destruction of their enemies.

y,Ujul

Thus Tanchum in Pococke,
Ull^lOlj l^-^wfls^l SjiX!. " meta
phorical language, denoting abundance
of plenty and blessings." Comp. Is.
xxx. 23 — 25, xliv, 3, and especially Amos
ix, 13,
" Flumina jam laetis, jam flumina nec-
taris ibant,
Flavaque de viridi stillabant iHce mella,"
Ovid. Metam. i. 111.
Kai Tore 8rj x^pav peydXrjv Beds dv-
Spdat Sciaei
Kal ydp y^ Kal BevSpa Kal danera
Opeppara yalrjs
Adaovatv Kapndv rdv dX-q6tvdv dv6pa-
notat
O'tvov Kal peXiTos yXvKeas, XevKOV re
ydXaKTOs
Kalairov, dnep'ean ^poTOts KaXXtarov
dndvTav. Sibyl. Orac.
D'mton ¦'113, the valley of Shiitim, i, e. Aca
cias. There was a place of Ibis name
in the country of Moab, Num. xxv. I,
xxxiii. 49; Josh, ii. 1 ; but most inter
preters think that the valley is meant
through which the Kidron flows to the
Dead Sea. Consistency of interpretation

chap, iii.J

JOEL.

123

19

20

21

Egypt shall become desolate,
And Edom a desolate wilderness,
For the violence done to the sons of Judah,
Because they shed innocent blood in their land.
But Judah shall be inhabited for ever,
And Jerusalem to successive generations.
And I will regard their blood as innocent,
Which I have not regarded as innocent ;
And Jehovah shall dwell in Zion.

requires us to understand this part of
the verse figuratively of the most desert
and arid spots, such as tbe acacia is fond
of. Fertility was to go forth frora tbe
presence of Jehovah into the whole land.
Viewed in this light, there is no incon
gruity in representing tbe water as ex
tending even across the Jordan, however
impossible it might be as a physical
phenomenon. Corap. Ezek. xlvii. 1 — 12;
Zech. xiv. 8.
19. The wrongs done to the Jews
by the Egyptians and Idumeans, which
the prophet here declares were to be
avenged, were those comraitted at dif
ferent times after the captivity. Pales
tine suffered greatly during the wars
between the Syrian and Egyptian kings,
especially in the reign of Ptolemy Epi
phanes, when tbey exposed theraselves
to the indignation of that king by
siding with Antiochus the Great, In
the time of Cleopatra also, her son La-
thyrus gained a victory over the array
of Alexander Janneus, in which the Jews
lost upwards of thirty thousand raen ;
and who, to increase the terror of his
name, massacred the women and children,
cut their bodies in pieces, and boiled the
flesh. The Idumeans, though less for
midable, never omitted any favourable
opportunity that offered of showing their
hostihty to the Jews. The condition to
whicii both these countries were speedily
reduced, and in which they have re
mained to the present day, verifies the
prediction here delivered. Instead of
noDto'', a number of MSS. exhibit tbe
synonymous noto''. — nTin; '33 Dpri, the
violence of the sons of Judah, is the
Genitive of object, meaning the violence
done io thera. Corap. Obad. 10. 'p3 is
spelt M'pj here and Jonah i. 14 ; but in
the present text, nine of Kennicott's

MSS, and four of De Rossi's, with eight
more originally, read 'p3. Among tbese
are four Spanish MSS. two of which
De Rossi characterises as accuratissimi.
The pronominal affix in dstm, refers to
the Jews spoken of imraediately before.
20. 3to!i, is used passively, as in Is.
xiii, 20, obts and titi tit, are to be
limited by tbe subject of which they are
predicated. Thus the state of desolation
during the seventy years' captivity in
Babylon, is said to be dVi», for ever,
Jer. xviii. 16.
21. In the words 'n'p; >«'' dot 'n'pji,
there is an ellipsis of TtoM, after dot, the
affix in which refers to the Jews, not to
their enemies. Almost all tbe inter
preters have stumbled at 'n'p3, the verb
here eraployed, but they bave generally
got over the difflculty, by giving to it the
signification of 'npp3, I have avenged — a
signification which nowhere attaches to
it in the Hebrew Bible. For the dif
ferent explanations see Pococke. np3,
Arab. Ju, purus, mundus fuit, ii. and
iv. mundavit. Syr. in Pael, sacrificavit,
Ubavit. In Niph. the Heb. verb signifies
to be morally pure, io be free from pun
ishment ; in Piel, as here, toregard, pro
nounce, or treat as innocent, to pardon.
The words were doubtless suggested by
M'p3 DT in the preceding verse, and are to
be rendered, / will regard their blood as
innocent, which I have net regarded as
innocent ; i. e. I will pardon those whom
1 have treated as guilty. My people,
whora I bave punished on account of
their apostasies, I will henceforth regard
with favour and love. The affix D in
DDT, corresponds to the same in DSiM,
ver. 19. — IS.to, the Participle used with
futurity of signification.

AMOS.

PREFACE,

Amos, (Heb, DiS3y, burden, a word purely Hebrew, and not of
Egyptian origin, and the same as Amasis or Amosis, as Gesenius
conjectures,) was, as we learn from the inscription, a native of
Tekoah, a small town in the tribe of Judah, at the distance of about
twelve miles south-east of Jerusalem. The country round being
sandy and barren, was destitute of cultivation, and fit only to be
occupied by those addicted to pastoral life. Among these our
prophet was originally found; and, though it was counted no
disgrace in ancient times, any more than it is at the present day in
Arabia, to follow this occupation, kings themselves being found in
it, (2 Kings iii. 4,) yet there is no reason to suppose that Amos
belonged to a family of rank or influence, but the contrary. No
mention is made of his father; but too much stress is not to be laid
upon this circumstance. That he had been in poor circumstances,
however, appears from the statement made chap. vii. 14; from
which also it is incontrovertible, that no change of circumstances
intervened, which may be supposed to have been more favourable
to mental culture, but that he was called at once to exchange the
life of a shepherd for that of a prophet.
Though a native of the kingdom of Judah, he discharged the
functions of his office in that of Israel — a fact which is to be

126 preface to amos.
accounted for, not, as Bertholdt conjectures, on the ground of some
personal relations, but by an express Divine commission to occupy
it as the scene of his labours. Eichhorn ingeniously supposes the
reasons of his selection to have been, that the appearance of a
foreign prophet was much more calculated to excite attention than
that of a native, and that such a prophet was more likely to com
mand respect than any belonging to a kingdom in which impostors
and fanatics abounded.
The time at which he prophesied is stated in general terms,
chap. i. 1, to have been in the reigns of Uzziah, king of Judah,
and Jeroboam II. king of Israel, the former of whom reigned
B.C. 811 — 759, and the latter B.C. 825—784, but in which of these
years he was called to the office, and how long he continued to
exercise it, we are not told. Even if any dependence could be placed
upon the Jewish tradition, Joseph. Antiq. ix. 10, 4, and Jerome
on Amos i. 1, that the earthquake mentioned here, and Zech. xiv. 5,
took place when Uzziah attempted to usurp the sacerdotal functions,
we should still be unable to fix the exact date, since it is uncertain
in what year the attempt was made.
That he was contemporary with Hosea, appears not only from
the dates assigned in both their books, but from the identical state
of affairs in the kingdom of the ten tribes, which they so graphi
cally describe. Whether he flourished also in the days of Isaiah
and Micah cannot be determined.
As we have already found from the prophecy of Hosea, idolatry,
with its concomitant evils, effeminacy, dissoluteness, and immo
ralities of every description, reigned with uncontrolled sway among
the Israelites in the reign of Jeroboam the son of Joash. It is
chiefly against these evils that the denunciations of Amos are
directed. The book may properly be divided into three parts : First, sen
tences pronounced against the Syrians, the Philistines, the Phoe
nicians, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Jews, and
the Israelites, chapters i. and ii. Second, special discourses
delivered against Israel, chapters iii. — vi. Third, visions, partly of
a consolatory, and partly of a comminatory nature, in which refer
ence is had both to the times that were to pass over the ten tribes,

preface to amos. 127
previous to the coming of the Messiah, and to what was to take
place under his reign, chapters vii. — ix.
In point of style, Amos holds no mean place among the prophets.
The declaration of Jerome, that he was i-mperit-us sermone, has not
been justified by modern critics. On the contrary, it is universally
allowed that, though destitute of sublimity, he is distinguished for
perspicuity and regularity, embellishment and elegance, energy and
fulness. His images are mostly original, and taken from the
natural scenery with which he was familiar ; his rhythmus is
smooth and flowing ; and his parallelisms are in a high degree
natural and complete. In description, he is for the most part
special and local; he excels in the minuteness of his groupings,
while the general vividness of his manner imparts a more intense
interest to all that he delivers. In some few instances, as in
chapters iv. vi. and vii. the language approaches more to the prose
style, or is entirely that of narrati've.
From chap. vii. 10 — 13, it appears that the scene of his ministry
was Bethel. Whether he left that place in consequence of the
interdict of Amaziah, the priest, we know not. According to
Pseudo-Epiphanius, he afterwards returned to his native place,
where he died, and was buried with his fathers ; but no dependence
can be placed on the statement.

CHAPTER L
.\fter a chronological and general introduction, ver. 1, 2, this chapter contains a
heavy charge, accompanied with denunciations, against the Syrians of Damascus,
3—5; the Philistines, 6—8; the Phoenicians, 9, 10; the Idumeans, 11, 12;
and the Ammonites, 13 — 15.

Thf, words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoah,
which he saw concerning Israel, in the days of Uzziah, king
of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king
of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

1. With the exception of the book of
Jereraiah, tbat of Araos is the only one
of the prophets commencing with 'IS'i,
" The words of — ." Corap. however, Hag.
i. 12. The raeaning is, the subjects or
matters of oracular comraunication wbich
he was employed by the prophetic Spirit
to deliver, and which were now, under
the influence of the same Spirit, com
mitted to writing. Tbeir divine origin
is clearly deterrained by what is added,
nin TjiN, "which be saw," i.e. wbich were
supernaturally presented to his mental
vision. See on Is. i. 1. 'The preposition
? in D'"ip33, does not denote distinction,
intimating that Amos was greater in
point of wealth or respectability than
the rest of the shepherds, as Kimchi
would have it, but simply that be was of
their number; he belonged to their con
dition of life, and followed their occu
pation. The phrase D'TiJ33 n^n expresses,
in fact, nothing more than Tp3 n'n. Comp.
for similar usage 1 Sam. xix. 24 ; Ps.
cxviii. 7 ; and the Arabic jiIUj _^ Ui..
Tp.3 occurs only here, and 2 Kings iii. 4.
By some it is supposed to denote the
shepherd or keeper ofa species of sheep

and goats, distinguished by certain
raarks, and to be derived from Tp3, to
prick, or mark with punctures, and so to
distinguish by such marks. By others,
it is more properly referred for illustration
to the Arab. Afij, genus ovium deforme
et brevipes, and tiUJj, ovium, Qm, appel-
laiarum pastor. From tbe disesteem
in which such animals were held, arose
the proverb, i^aJiJ -^ {J^, more vile
than the Nikad. At the same time, as
their wool was valuable, they were kept
in great numbers. In both instances in
which the terra occurs, it seems to be
used in a more general acceptation, Aq.
iv noipvoTpd(j)ois ; Symm. and the fifth
edit, ^v Tolsnotpea-tv. The explanation of
Cyril is not inept: 'Ayumr y'eyovev atnoXos
dv-fip Kttl notpeviKois IBeai re de vopots
evreBpappivos. The LXX. ev 'Akko-
peip, mistiiking it for the narae of a
place where they supposed the prophet to
have been when he received his Divine
coraraunications. The ruins of I'ipn
Arab, eyu, Teku'a, Dr. Robinson found

CHAP. I.]

AMOS.

129

And he said r
Jehovah roareth from Zion,
And uttereth his voice from .Terusalem ;
The pastures of the shepherds mourn.
And the summit of Carmel withereth.
Thus saith Jehovah :
For three transgressions of Damascus,

covering an extent of four or five acres
on an elevated hill, not steep, but broad
at the top, about two hours distant from
Bethlehera. On approaching it, he de
scribes the landscape as rocky and
sterile, yet rich in pasturage, as was tes
tified by the multitude of tbe flocks,
(Palestiiie, ii. pp. 181, 182.) The sur
rounding region, especially that in the
direction of the Dead Sea, is called
vipn Ta-io, 2 Chron. xx. 20, and -q 'Ipepos
OeKae, 1 Mace. ix. 33, In this pas
turing district, our prophet originally
tended bis flocks, and collected the syca
more figs. For the dates here specified,
see the Introduction, Tbe prophecy is
specially directed against Israel, or the
kingdom of tbe ten tribes, though that
of Judah, and likewise several foreign
states, are also expressly denounced. We
possess no data by which to fix the year
in which the earthquake, here mentioned,
occurred. Zechariah, chap. xiv. 5, refers
to it as having happened in the days of
Uzziah, but he does not specify the year.
According to Josephus, it took place on
occasion of the invasion of tbe sacerdotal
office by that monarch, Antiq. ix. 10, 4.
As earthquakes are by no means un
comraon in Palestine, it must bave been
unusually severe to entitle it to the spe
ciality of reference here employed. Some
interpret ^fe'r of a civil commotion, hut
without sufficient ground, as the con
nexion Zech, xiv. 4, 5, shows.
2. Zion, or Jerusalem, being tbe cen
tral point of tbe theocracy, was the special
residence of Jehovah, to whora the
judgments afterwards denounced, are, in
highly figurative language, immediately
referred. 3Mto, coraraonly employed to
express the roaring of tbe lion, is here
used to set forth the awful character of
those judgments. Dathe, sturabling at
the boldness of the figure, renders,
Jova ex Ziene dira pronunciat ; thereby

destroying the poetical force of the lan
guage. Comp. Jer. xxv. 30; Job xxxvii. 4.
1 in i''3Ni, marks tbe apodosis. For
D'STn niMp, comp, MfjniMi, Ps. xxiii, 2.
^'3'i?i Michaelis, Justi, and others, take to
be the Carmel, now called by the Arabs
(Jv«|i, Kurmul, which lies near Yutta, or
Juttah, between two and three hours to
the south of Hebron ; but though the
mountainous region about that place was
more in the proxiraity of the prophet,
yet the established scripture reference to
the fertility of the celebrated Mount
Carrael in the tribe of Asher seeras to
entitle the latter to the preference. In
fact, there does not appear to be any
mountain deserving the narae in the bill
country of Judah. The hill of Maon,
whicb is close by, is not less than two
hundred feet higher than the site of the
ruins of the castle of Kurmul. See
Robinson, ut sup. pp. 193 — 200. Besides
the identical phrase, brr&n h5mt, the sum
mit of Carmel, which again occurs
chap. ix. 3, in iraraediate connexion with
the sea, is eraployed in application to the
western Carmel, 1 Kings xviii. 42.
3. Here begins a series of minatory
predictions against different states, wbich
extends to chap. ii. 8, wbere it merges
in a continued denunciation of judg
raents directed almost exclusively against
the Israelites. Instead of proceeding at
once to cbarge tbe ten tribes with the
flagrant evils of which they had been
guilty, Amos coraraences with the
Syrians, and, after exposing their wicked
ness, and that of the Philistines, the
Phoenicians, the Edoraites, the Ararao-
nites, the Moabites, and the Jews, he
coraes to his proper subject, on which he
dwells througbout the rest of the book.
Having roused the indignation of those
araong whom he prophesied against sin
as exhibited in others, he charges it
S

130

AMOS.

[chap.

And for four, I will not reverse it ;
Because they threshed Gilead with sledges of iron ;
But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael,
And it shall devour the palaces of Benhadad.
I will also break the barrier of Damascus,
And cut off the ruler from the valley of Aven,

home upon themselves. Each of the
eight predictions is ushered in by the
solemn niiT tdm ris, thus saith Jehovah;
and consists, in part, in a repetition of
the same symraetrical stanzas, with an
interraixture of raatter, varying according
to the nature of the subjects treated of.
Interpreters differ in regard to the precise
meaning of the use raade by our prophet
of the numerals three and four. Similar
formula are frequent in Hebrew. See
Exod. XX. 5 ; Job v. 19, xxxiii. 14, 29;
Prov. xxx. 15, 18, 21; Eccles. xi, 2 ;
Is. xvii. 6; Mic. v. 4. Comp. the rpls
Kal rerpaKis of Homer ; the terque gua-
terque of Virgil ; and the ter et quater of
Horace. The notion, tbat tbe two num
bers are to be added, so as to bring out
the perfect number seven, and thus to
express the completeness or full measure
of the iniquity, is not borne out by
Hebrew usage. That the numbers are
to be taken literally, as in Prov. xxx.
where there is an enumeration of each
of the particulars, is equally out of the
question ; the specification of the prophet
being, in each case, limited to a single
act of wickedness. Nor can the con
struction be adraitted, I have not pun
ished Daraascus, &c. on account of three
transgressions, but on account of a fourth
I will punish her ; since 133's5m m^, ob
viously connects with both numerals.
The only satisfactory raode of explication
is, to regard the phrase as intensively
proverbial, and designed to express raul-
tiphed orrepeated dehnquencies, of which
the last, as the raost atrocious, is uni
forraly described. The noun to which
the suffix in isstSm relates, is not ex
pressed, either before or after the verb,
on tbe principle, that the subject referred
to woidd naturally suggest itself to the
mind of the reader. It is anticipative
of the sentence of punishment delivered
in the following verses. Comp. Num.
xxiii. 20, in wbicb is an ellipsis of the
noun n3T5, the idea of which is expressed

hy the verb. Bp. Lowth proposes to
render, "I will not restore it;" but with
out suflficient authority. ni3\fl3lto, "to
reverse the captivity," is the phrase em
ployed in such case. In the phrase, " I
will not reverse," is a litotes — the mean
ing being, " I will certainly execute."
For Damascus, whicb, as the raetropolis,
is put for the kingdora of Syria, see on
Is. xvii, 1, The cruel treatment of the
inhabitants of Gilead here referred to, is
that to which they were subjected by
Hazael and Benhadad, 2 Kings x. 32,33,
xiii, 3 — 7, both of which princes Araos
raentions by narae, ver. 4. It consisted
in their being thrown before the thresh
ing sledges, the sharp teeth of iron in
the rollers of which tore and mangled
their bodies. See on Is. xxviii. 27, and
comp, 2 Sam. xii, 31, wbere we find tbe
same punishment inflicted by David, by
tbe law of retaliation. niSTn, the LXX.
render nploai atBiipoXs, and add unwar
rantably, rds iv yaarpl exo-vaas; Symm,
and Theod. rpoxols atbrjpols. tolT, to
thresh, is the very term used in the his
tory of the transaction, 2 Kings xiii. 7.
Gilead comprehended the whole of the
territory beyond the Jordan, belonging
to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the
balf tribe of Manasseh ; and as it bor
dered on the kingdom of tbe Syrians,
was particularly exposed to tbeir attacks,
4. The Benhadad here raentioned
was the son and successor of Hazael, and
not the king of that name whom Hazael
succeeded. Comp. 2 Kings viii. 7, 15,
with xiii. 3, 24. A sirailar prediction
was afterwards delivered by Jeremiah,
chap. xlix. 27, frora which and from
Hos. viii. 14, it is evident that the phra
seology employed by Araos here, and
verses 7, 10, 12, 14, chap. ii. 2, 5, is not
peculiar to that prophet.
5. According to the testiraony of a
native, whora Michaehs consulted, there is
a most delightful valley called Oon, about
four hours distant from Damascus,

CHAP.

!•]

AMOS,

i;ir

And the sceptre-holder from Beth-Eden,
And the people of Syria shall go captive to Ki
Saith Jehovah.
Thus saith Jehovah :
For three transgressions of Gaza,
And for four I will not reverse it ;
Because they effected a complete captivity,
To deliver it up to Edom,

towards the desert, which has given rise
to a proverb, " Have you ever been in
the valley of Oon?" meaning. Have you
ever been in a place of delight? As,
however, this has not been confirmed by
any traveller, raost expositors are inclined
to refer the place to what is otherwise
called Ji33^n ni>p3, "tbevalley of Lebanon,"
or ^^oraI!, el Bukd'a, between the ridges
bf Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. Here are
the celebrated ruins of the teraple of
Baalbec, the Syrian Heliopolis, to whicb
tbe LXX. bave expressly referred ps,
Aven, only pronouncing it ]iM, On — Ik
neh'tov 'Q.V ; just as they have rendered
tbe latter word when it is employed to
denote tbe city of tbe same narae in
Egypt, which was dedicated to the sun.
The Hebrews in Palestine, to express
their abhorrence of the idolatrous wor
ship practised at both places, pronounced
the word pM, Aven, which properly sig
nifies nothingness, vanity, and hence an
idol, on account of its inutility. Comp.
with the present passage Ezek. xxx. 17.
atoi' does not here denote inhabitant, or
inhabitants generally, but as the parallel
t03to '^pin, sceptre-holder, shows, one who
sits upon, or occupies a throne — a judge,
prince, or king — the person exercising
authority in tbe district specified. For
the latter phrase, the aKrjnrovxos of
Homer raay be corapared, JT? n'a, Beth-
Eden was, in all probability, the locality
in the raountains of Lebanon, which
Ptolemy, V. 15, calls IlapaSeia-os ; where
the royal family had a palace, aud where
one of its raerabers usually resided.
The narae is still given to a delectable
valley to the west of Damascus. The
Aram, or Syria, here referred to, is that
of which Damascus was the capital. By
T'p, Kir, is meant the river and region of
tbe Cyrus in Iberia, now called Kur.

See on Is. xxii. 6 ; and for the accom
plishment of tbe prediction in tbe &uc-
cessful expedition of Tiglatbpileser, king
of Assyria, 2 Kings xvi. 9. The version
of the LXX. is here 'extremely faulty,
as the slightest comparison with the
original will show.
6. nw, Arab, xic, Ghuzzeh, Gaza, was
the southernmost of the five principal
cities of the Philistines, whicb forraed
the capitals of so many satrapies of tbe
sarae naraes. It was situated at the dis
tance of about an hour's journey from
the south-east coast of the Mediterranean,
frora which it was separated by low hills
and tracts of sand. It was built upon a
hill, and strongly fortified, as the narae
imports. Tbe modern city is built partly
on the hill, but mostly on the plain below;
and according to Dr. Robinson, contains
a population of about 15,000 souls. It
must have been a place of high an
tiquity, for its name occurs in the gene
alogical table, Gen. x. ; and it occupied
so commanding a position, that it forraed
the key to Palestine on tbe south. It
stands here by synecdoche for the whole
of Philistia. By nab0 Tvfii, we are neither
to understand, with the LXX. alxpa-
Xaaiav rov 2aXapdv ; nor with Justi, " a
holy or pious captivity ;" nor with Grotius
and Michaelis, captiviiatem pacificam ;
but the immense number of captives
which were carried away frora Judea in
the reign of Ahaz, 2 Chron, xxviii. 18.
The capture was indiscrirainate and uni
versal ; none escaped. Corap. for the
phrase Jer. xiii, 19. What aggravated
the guilt of tbe Philistines was, that they
did not treat the Jews as prisoners of
war, but sold tbem as slaves to the Edo
mites, who were their bitterest enemies,
and would treat them with the utraost
cruelty. They were doubtless conveyed

132

AMOS.

[chap, I.

7 But I will send a fire into the wall of Gaza,
And it shall devour her palaces ;
8 And I will cut off the ruler from Ashdod,
And the sceptre-holder from Ashkelon ;
And will turn back my hand upon Ekron.
And the residue of the Philistines shall perish,
Saith the Lord Jehovah,
9 Thus saith Jehovah :
For three transgressions of Tyre,
And for four, I will not reverse it ;
Because they delivered up a complete captivity to Edom,
And remembered not the covenant of the brethren.
10 But I will send a fire into the wall of Tyre,
And it shall devour her palaces.

to Petra, the great emporiura of com
merce, and there sold to such as raight
purchase thera, Comp. Joel iii. 4 — 6.
7. toM, _^re, is here metaphorically used
for war, in carrying on which, however,
it is often employed as one of the most
destructive elements. Comp. Num.
xxi. 28 ; Is. xxvi. 11.
8. For tbe meaning of 3iSi', see on
ver. 5. Three others of tbe principal
cities of the Philistines are now threat
ened, TiTtoM, Ashdod, for which see on
Is. XX. 1 ; li'JptoM, Arab_ ^il^c, Aske-
lon, occupying a strong position on the
top of a ridge of rock, wbich encircles
it, and terminates at each end in tbe sea,
and distant frora Gaza about five hours,
in the direction of NN.E.; and fips,
Ekren, now called by the natives Jilc,
Akir, the most northerly of the five, and
at some distance inland from the line of
hills which run along the coast of the
Mediterranean. See Dr. Robinson's
Palestine, iii. 21 — 25. The reason why
Gath, the reraaining city of the five, is
not mentioned, is assigned by Kirachi to
be, its having been already subdued by
David ; but as it was afterwards occupied
both by tbe Syrians, 2 Kings xii. 17, and
tbe Philistines, 2 Chron. xxvi. 6, it seeras
more natural to refer its omission to the
fact of its reduction by Uzziah, in tbe

days of our prophet, as narrated in the
latter of the above passages. It is also
omitted Zeph. ii. 4, 5. bs_ T;3'iSn, to
turn the hand upon, means to exert one's
power anew, whether in the way of
favour or of hostility. Here it is ob
viously to be taken in the hostile sense.
No part of Philistia was to remain un
visited by Divine judgments, Comp.
Jer. xlvii. 4; Ezek. xxv. 16. In which
of tbe reductions of the Philistines, the
prediction received its fulfilment, we
cannot deterraine. One of these took
place during tbe reign of Uzziah,
2 Chron. xxvi. 6, 7 ; another in that of
Hezekiah, 2 Kings xviii. 8; they were
afterwards successively reduced by Psam-
meticus, king of Egypt, by Nebuchad
nezzar, by the Persians, by Alexander,
and ultimately by the Asmoneans.
9. A similar charge is here brought
against the Phoenicians, with the super
added aggravation of a breach of an
cient faith. Corap. Joel iii. 4 — 6. The
D'lTM n'T?, covenant of brethren, includes
the terms of friendship and mutual as
sistance which were agreed upon between
David and Hiram, 2 Sam. v. 11; and
afterwards between Solomon and the
sarae monarch, 1 Kings v. See espe
cially ver. 12, (Heb. ver. 26,) where it
is expressly stated, that Dn'3iS n'T? m-isji,
"tbey two made a league," or covenant.
10. For Tyre, and the accomplishment
of this prediction, see on Is. xxiii.

chap.

!•]

AMOS.

133

11

12

13

Thus saith Jehovah :
For three transgressions of Edom,
And for four, I will not reverse it ;
Because he pursued his brother with the sword,
And did violence to his pity,
And his anger tore continually,
And he retained his wrath for ever.
But I will send a fire into Teman,
And it shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.
Thus saith Jehovah :
For three transgressions of the sons of Ammon,
And for four, I will not reverse it ;

11. For Edom, and the fulfilment of
the prophecy here pronounced against it,
see on Is. xxxiv. 5, The guilt of the
cruelties exercised by the Idumeans upon
the Jews was greatly aggravated by the
circumstance of their original relation
ship, Obad. 10, and the unrelenting per
petual character of their hatred, nnifi
D'pm, lit. to spoil, or destroy compassions ;
i. e. so to repress all the tender feelings
of pity, as to become hardened against
objects of distress. Compare the phrase,
nQ3n nnto, to destroy wisdom, Ezek.
xxviii. 17. The LXX, Ital, Arab,
Doderlein, Dathe, Vater, Justi, and some
others, take D'pm, in the sense of Dm,
the womb, and explain it either of preg
nant feraales, or of the fruit of the womb,
i. e. children ; but the plural is never
used in this acceptation. Aq. anXdyxva
a-vTov ; Symra, anXdyxva I'Sta, The
7
root Dm, Arab. *=>-), Syr. ya»» ,, signifies
to love, in Piel, to regard wiih tender
affection, to cherish feelings of compas
sion towards any one, Tbe n in TiDto,
is generally considered to be an instance
of a paragogic in the third person,
but it is preferable to construe it as the
pronominal feminine affix, agreeing with
rras in the nominative absolute, Tbe
absence of tbe Mappic forras no objec
tion, as there are several instances of
its oraission where we might have ex
pected it. 'The accent on the penul
timate favours this construction, being
occasioned solely by the absence of the
Mappic. The verb, to be taken as a

feminine, must be pointed TJDto, but this
would require nrw to be the subject in
stead of tbe object, which would be in
tolerably harsh. Comp, for the sentiment,
and an elliptical form of the phraseology,
Jer, iii, 5. The Hebrews speak of
keeping a quality, whether good or bad,
when they would express its prolonged
or continued exercise. See Neh, ix. 32 ;
Dan, ix. 4.
12, That^D'n, Teman, was a city, seems
evident from its being mentioned along
with nrss, Bozrah, for which see on
Is, xxxiv. 6. Though Jerome speaks of
it as a region, he mentions, in bis Ono
masticon, a town of this name, at the
distance of five railes frora Petra. On
tbe raap of Burckhardt and Grimm, it is
placed to the south of Wady Musa, It
was doubtless the principal place in the
district inhabited by tbe descendants of
Teman, one of the grandsons of Esau,
Gen. xxxvi. 11, 15, wbo were celebrated
on account of their superior wisdom, Jer.
xlix. 7, Corap. Obad. 8, 9, and Baruch
iii. 22, Eliphaz, one of Job's friends,
was a Teraanite, Tbe reason why no
raention is raade of Sela, or Petra, Cred
ner thinks is to be found in the fact, that
it had already been captured by Ama
ziah, 2 Kings xiv. 7, of whose conquests
in that direction advantage was taken
by his son Uzziah, ver. 22 ; 2 Chron.
xxvi. 2.
13. pp? '33, the Ammonites, descend
ants of Lot, Gen. xix, 3, occupied the
territory on the east of the Jordan, be
tween tbe rivers Jabbok and Amon, but
more in the direction of the Arabian

134

AMOS.

[chap. I.

14

15

Because they ripped up those who were pregnant in Gilead,
That they might enlarge their border.
But I will kindle a fire on the wall of Rabbah,
And it shall devour the palaces thereof ;
With a shout in the day of battle,
With a tempest in the day of the storm.
Their king shall go into captivity,
He and his princes together,
Saith Jehovah.

desert. That portion of country which
lay along the Jordan, of which they had
possessed theraselves, originally belonged
to the Araorites, which accounts for its
being given to the tribe of Gad, Josh.
xiii. 25. They frequently annoyed the
Hebrews, but were repelled by David
and several of his successors. For the
sake of plunder, they joined the Chal
deans on their invasion of Judea; and,
even after the captivity, they evinced the
sarae hostile disposition. They were
severely chastised by Judas Maccabeus,
1 Mace. V. 6, 7. Justin Martyr speaks of
thera as still a numerous people in his
day,' AppaviTav eart vvv noXv nXijdos.
Dial, cum Tryph. p. 347. Ed. Paris, 1615.
The atrocious cruelty here charged upon
the Ammonites, appears to have formed
no unusual part of tbe barbarities prac
tised by the ancients in war. Comp.
2 Kings viii. 12, xv. 16; Hos. xiii. 16,
(Heb. xiv, 1 ;) and ray note on tbe last
passage. See also 1 Sara, xi, 2. The
object of the Aramonites was to effect
an utter exterraination of tbe Israelites
inhabiting the mountainous regions of
Gilead, in order that they might extend
their own territory in tbat direction.
14. n3T, Rabbah, i.e. "tbe Great,"
was the raetropolis of the country of the
Ammonites, the extensive ruins of which
have recently been discovered by Seetzen
and Burckhardt on the banks of the river
Moiet Amman, vi'hich empties itself into
the Jabbok, "The full forra of the narae
was pD»'33n3T, Deut. iii. 11, by which it
was distinguished frora Rabbah of Moab,
and a city of the sarae narae in the tribe
of Judah. It is called '-Pa^aBdpava by
Polybius and Stephen of Byzantiura ;
but it otherwise went among the Greeks
by the narae of ^tXabeX(f>ta, which it

derived from Ptolemy Philadelphus. It
is now known by that of .1^, Amman,
the sarae given to it by Abulfeda in his
Tab. Syr. p. 91. By nriTn, is meant the
tremendous shout which eastern armies
give at the comraenceraent of battle,
partly to excite tbeir courage, and partly
to strike terror into the eneray. Corap.
Exod. xxxii. 17; Josh. vi. 5, 20. Thus
the Iliad, iii. 1, Szc. —
Avrdp cTrei KoaprjBev dp' rjyepoveaatv
"eKaarot,
Tpaes pev KXayyjj r, evonrj r' 'taav,
dpvtdes as'
''R-vre nep KkayyTj yepdvav, k.t.X.
TSD, hurricane, and n3iD, storm or tempest,
raark the resistless force of the onset,
and the utterly destructive consequences
resulting frora it. That they are poet
ically applied to the warlike operations
against Rabbah, is clear from noiD Di',
the day ef storm, being parallel with
nprtp Qi', the day of battle.
is. DsSo, their king, the Syr. and Vulg.
have understood of Malcam or Milcom,
i. e. Moloch, an idol of tbe Aramonites
and Moabites ; but the LXX. and Targ.
support the comraon rendering, whicb
vito, his princes, following, would seem
absolutely to require. It is true, this
term raight be taken figuratively to
signify priests, as in Is. xliii. 28 ; and
such interpretation raight appear to be
countenanced by the occurrence of I'STB,
his priests, in the parallel prophecy of
Jeremiah, chap. xhx. 3; but the use of
iTto, hisprinces, immediately after by that
prophet, shows that, if the former term
be not an interpolation, it denotes tbe
idolatrous priests who were in attendance
upon the king, just as the princes were

chap. II.]

AMOS.

135

the chiefs and civil officers about the
court. Ol tepels avrdv, which the LXX.
have added in Amos, and which is copied
in the Syr. and Arab., was probably
borrowed frora the passage in Jeremiah ;

or it may bave been inserted in the Greek
text by some copyist before these other
versions were made. The combination
of D'Tto, princes, with'Bpito, judge, chap.
ii. 3, confirms the above interpretation.

CHAPTER II.
In this chapter we have the continuation of charges and denunciations against
different nations, as the Moabites, 1 — 3 ; the Jews, 4, 5 ; and finally, the Israelites,
who were to form the principal objects of the prophet's ministry, 6 — 8. Araos
then proceeds to insist on their ungrateful conduct, notwithstanding the ex
perience which they had had of distinguished favours at the hand of God, 9 — 13 ;
and the futility of all hopes of escape whicb they might be led to entertain,
14—16.

Thus saith Jehovah :
For three transgressions of Moab,
And for four, I will not reverse it ;
Because they calcined the bones of the King of Edom.
But I will send a fire into Moab,
And it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth ;
And Moab shall die in the tumult,
At the shout, at the sound of the trumpet ;
I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof,
And kill all the princes thereof with him,
Saith Jehovah,

1. For Moab, see on Is. xv. The
particular act here charged against the
Moabites is nowhere recorded. Michaelis
is of opinion, that reference is had to
2 Kings iii. 27 ; but tbe prince tbere
spoken of was the son of the king of
Moab, and not the future heir to
the Iduraean throne. The wickedness
appears to have consisted in a wanton
violation of the sanctity of the torab, by
the disinterraent and burning of the
royal remains. It was indicative of an
enmity which was not satisfied with
inflicting every possible injury upon its

victim while living, butpursued hira even
into tbe regions of tbe dead. Corap Is.
xxxiii. 12,
2. rm;!, Kerioth ; LXX. rdv ndXeav
a-vrdv ; Targ. M3T3, the fortress or citadel;
in all probability, tbe chief city, elsewhere
called 3MiDT'p, Kir-Moab, and here put
in the plural, to describe its size, or
appearance, ascomprehendiugmore than
one. Comp, Jer. xlviii. 24, and on Is,
XV. 1. pMto, here means the tumult of
battle. Is. xhi, 4 ; xvii. 12.
3. From the circumstance that BCito,
judge, and not ^J"?; king, is selected to

136

AMOS.

[chap. II.

Thus saith Jehovah :
For three transgressions of Judah,
And for four, I will not reverse it ;
Because they have despised the law of Jehovah,
And have not kept his statutes ;
And their false deities have caused them to err,
After whicii their fathers walked.
But I will send a fire into Judah,
And it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.
Thus saith Jehovah :
For three transgressions of Israel,
And for four, I will not reverse it ;
Because they sold the righteous for money,
And the poor for a pair of sandals :

describe the chief magistrate of Moab, it
has, not without reason, been supposed,
that, at tbe tirae the prophet wrote, or,
at least, at the tirae to which bis prophecy
refers, a change had taken place in the
government of that country ; but whether
it was occasioned by the extinction of tbe
royal bouse, or tbe appointraent of a
ruler by a foreign power, itis impossible
to decide. The reference which sonie
have made to Ps. ii. 10, in proof that
judge and king are identical, is not in
point; for, though the terms as there
used are so far synonyraous, that they
both designate persons high in office, yet
there is an obvious distinction both as it
respects the degree of their rank, and the
nature of tbe offices with which they
were invested. The connecting of the
princes with Moab (IT'ito) and not with
the judge (I'tib) as in chap. i. 15, goes to
confirm the view just given.
4, 5. The charges brought against the
Jews dift'er frora any of the preceding, in
tbe crimes which they involve having
been committed directly against God,
and not against raan. They had become
weary of his service, abandoned his
worship, and addicted themselves to
idolatrous practices. Between the syno
nymes here employed there is this
difference of meaning : nrin, law, stands
for the institute of Moses generally, of
whicb tbe moral code formed the basis;
D'pn, statutes, for tbe cereraonial and
judicial enactments. By D'313, Ues, idols

are meant, and the word is so rendered
here in the Vulg. The LXX. have taken
the sarae view of it, rendering it parata,
vanities. Comp. for tbis acceptation
Ps. xl. 5. Idols were so called because
their pretensions and oracles were founded
on falsehood, and because tbey deluded
with false hopes those who worshipped
them. Instead of being weaned from
their attachment to tbe gods whieh their
ancestors had, at different tiraes, served,
the Jews becarae increasingly addicted
to them, and thereby brought upon
themselves the punishment inflicted by
Nebuchadnezzar, 6. The prophet, having secured the
attention of the Israelites by his predic
tions against those communities wbich
tbey regarded with feelings of hostility,
coraes now to his proper subject, which
was to charge upon theraselves the guilt
which, in various ways, they, as a people,
had contracted. ''MTto;, Israel, i.e. tbe
Israelites, consisted, after the revolt in
the time of Rehoboam, of the ten tribes,
whose capital was Samaria, and whose
worship, originally that of Jehovah,
under tbe visible image of the golden
calves, speedily merged in the basest and
most licentious idolatry, T3a, to sell, has
no reference, as some have thought, to
the conduct of a corrupt judge, who for
money gives a verdict against tbe
innocent, the terra never being used to
express any such act; but describes the
selling of a person into slavery. They

CHAP. II.]

AMOS,

137

7 Who pant for the dust of the earth on the head of the poor,
And turn aside the way of the afflicted ;
A man and his father go in to the same damsel,
In order to profane my holy name.
8 They stretch themselves upon pledged garments,
Close to every altar ;
And drink the wine of the amerced
In the house of their gods.
9 Yet it was I that destroyed the Amorite before them,
Whose height was as the height of the cedars,

even deprived the poor of their liberty
for the most paltry consideration. Comp.
chap. viii. 6. D')»3, sandals, are greatly
inferior in value to shoes, consisting
merely of soles of leather or wood,
fastened by two straps to the feet, one of
which passes over the forepart of the foot,
near the great toe, and the other round
the ankle,
7. f]Miii, signifies to breathe hard, io
pant, eagerly io desire, which well suits
the connexion, so that there is no neces
sity, with Houbigant, Newcorae, and
others, to change the verb into f)lto, to
attack, bruise, S;c. Tbe meaning of the
prophet is, tbat the persons whora he
describes were so avaricious, tbat, after
having robbed others of their property,
and reduced them to a state of poverty,
they even begrudged them the small
quantity of dust which they had cast on
tbeir heads in token of mourning. Corap.
2 Sam, i. 2 ; Job ii. 12. 3, as in to«i3, is
elsewhere used in the acceptation of en
or upon, and is here the more appro
priately adopted, on account of the more
usual preposition bS having just been
employed, Corap. chap, viii, 4. ^t niBrr,
to turn, or thrust aside as to tne way ;
i. e. to turn any one out of his right
course, into a trackless region, where he
can expect nothing but inconvenience,
perplexity and danger; here, to render
the afflicted still raore miserable. From
the reference made in the following
verse to idolatrous deities and altars, it
is most probable that fiT*3|7, ihe damsel
here spoken of, was not an ordinary or
common strumpet, but one who pro-
stituledherselfinhonourof Astarte, at one
of her shrines. LX.X.T^vavT^v naibiaKtjv.
Snch an act of daring profligacy was the

more atrocious frora its having been
comraitted in a heathen temple, with the
express design, as the prophet states, of
doing indignity to Jehovah. See Gesenius,
Lex. in )»p, A) 2.
8. To retain pledged raiment over
night was expressly prohibited by the
Mosaic law, Exod, xxii. 26, 27, as it
deprived the owner of his covering: to
stretch oneself upon it in an idol's temple
was a great aggravation of the crime.
D'!'3!T, pledged, lit. bound, beldin bondage,
frora ''3n, to bind. Arab. L^*"3 Syr,
P X
|1^q.._ debitum. Itwas not unusual for tbe
heathen to sleep near the altars of their
gods, tbat they might obtain coraraunica
tions in drearas ; but as it was customary
to eat in a recumbent posture, the
stretching here referred to would rather
seera to have respect to participation
in idolatrous feasts, especially as the
drinking of wine in the temples is
specified in tbe following line. D'ttli3S> p.^,
the wine ef the amerced, means wine
purchased with money exacted by the
imposition of fines, n'3, for n'3i, as
frequently. Regardless of the sufferings
of those whom they oppressed, tlie
apostate Israelites revelled in sensual
indulgences. 9. 1 in '32M1, is strongly adversative, and
introduces the contrast between tbe
Divine conduct and that ofthe Israelites.
The signal benefits wbich, as a nation,
they had received frora Jehovah, ought
to have attached them for ever to his
service. The conjunction and pronoun
are repeated for like effect, verse 10.
'¦}t3Mn, the Amorites, are here taken in a
wide sense, as inchiding all the inhabitants
T

138

AMOS,

[chap, ir.

10

11

And who was strong as the oaks ;
I destroyed his fruit above,
And his roots beneath.
It was I also that brought you up from the land of Egypt,
And led you in the desert forty years,
To inherit the land of the Amorite,
And I raised up of your sons to be prophets,
And of your young men to be Nazaritcs,
Is it not even so, O ye sons of Israel .''
Saith Jehovah.

of Canaan, on accountof their being the
largest and most powerful of the nations
which occupied that country. Com. Gen.
XV. 16, xlvih. 22. In a raore special
point of view, they inhabited both sides
of the Jordan, and particularly tbe
mountains afterwards possessed by the
tribe of Judah. Their gigantic height
and extraordinary strength, to which
reference is frequently raade in the
history of the Hebrews, are here beauti
fully compared to cedars and oaks, the
most majestic and sturdy trees of the
forest. The Hebrew as well as the
profane poets, often compare men to
trees. Comp. Ps. xxxvii. 35, xcii. 12 — 15;
Isa. X. 33, 34 ; Ezek. xvii. 3, xxxi. Six
teen MSS., originally twelve more, and
now five ; five of the oldest editions, aud
the Rabboth read D3'3§p, "before you,"
instead of DrpiDp, " before them," but
these authorities, under all tbe cir
cumstances of the text, are insufficient
to warrant an alteration.
10. Jehovah goes back to still earlier,
but no less reraarkable displays of his
kindness to the nation, showing thatfrom
the commencement of its history he had
been its benefactor. Comp. Jer. ii. 6.
fij?, to come or go up, is always used in
Hebrew in reference to local or political
elevation, and not, as Rosenraiiller
asserts, to the Nortb, The circurastance
that raany of the regions or places to
wbich persons are said to have gone up,
lay to the north of those frora whicii they
came, is purely accidental ; whereas the
propriety of the use of the terra lies in
the fact of the mountainous character of
the land of Canaan, while Egypt and
the intervening regions were low and fiat.
11. The prepositive D iu D3'33p, and

DS'linap, is partitive, indicating that some
or certain persons out ofthe number were
selected. The Divine condescension in
the selection of any of their race to fill
the offices here specified, laid thera under
additional obligations to devote them
selves to the service of the true God ;
and not only was thereby a distinguished
honour conferred upon them, but such
institutions furnished them with the
raeans of religious instruction, and
exaraples of holy living. For D'm'33, the
prophets, see on Hos. xii. 11. D'li?,
Nazariies, LXX. -qytaapevos, ets dytaa-
pov, from TT3, to separate, set oneself
apart, abstain, were a class of persons
among the Hebrews who ordinarily
bound themselves by a voluntary vow to
abstain either for a time, or for the whole
period of life, frora wine and all in
toxicating liquors, and everything raade
of the produce of the vine; and not to
shave their head nor touch any dead
body. Soraetimes persons were, before
their birth, devoted by their parents to
this abstinence ; as in the cases of
Sarason, Sarauel, and John the Baptist.
For the law of the Nazarite, see Num. vi.
and Winer's Realwbrterb. The object
of the institute appears to have been, to
exhibit to the view of the nation the
power of religious principle operating in
the way of self-control, indifference to
sensual gratification, and an entire con
secration to the service of God. The
iraportance which was attached to it in
a raoral point of view, is evident from
those who thus exercised theraselves in
self-denial being classed along with the
prophets. Respecting the undeniable-
ness ofthe fact a pointed appeal is made
at the close of the verse.

CHAP,

n.]

AMOS.

139

12 But ye made the Nazarites drink wine,
And ye charged the prophets,
Saying, Prophesy not.
13 Behold, I will press you down,
As the cart presseth which is full of sheaves.
14 And refuge shall fail the swift,
The strong man shall not exert his strength,
15 Neither shall the mighty deliver himself;
He that handleth the bow shall not stand,
Aud the swift-footed shall not escape ;
Neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself.
16 And he that is courageous among the heroes,
Shall flee away naked in that day,
Saith Jehovah.

12. What could have been more
flagrant than to terapt the pious to break
their solemn vow, and attempt to induce
the inspired ambassadors of Jehovah to
withhold the communications of his will?
13, Here commence the denunciations
against the apostate Israelites. The
Participle P'»P, after njn, is future
in signification. See on Is. vii. 14. pis
occurs only here as a verb ; but tbat it
signifies io press, oppress, &c., is clear
from the signification of the derivatives
rtps, Ps, lv. 4, and rxpvta, Ps. lvi. 2, as
well as frora the connexion in which it
here occurs, Comp. pi3, and the Syr.
¦X P P
,.£0^, angustiatus est: \q^, angust'ia,
pressura. Comp, also the Ar. ^Icj
retinuil, impedivit; f«j|,c, accidentia
fortunce, quce impediunt hominem. The
verb is used transitively in both instances,
according to the ordinary signification of
Hiphil. There is more force in speaking
of a fully laden cart pressing tbe ground
under it, than its being itself pressed by
its contents, nnn is to be taken in tbe
sense of down, as in Job xl. 12. 7\b is
pleonastic. The renderings of the LXX,

and Vulg. eyd KvXta vnoKara vpdv'i
ego str'ideho subler vos, though advocated
by some, are less appropriate. Newcome
translates the latter hemistich thus :
" As a loaded corn-wain presseth its
sheaves ; " butT'ps is the objective case
to nMipn, and not to p'Vn. As the object
of the verb, supply yiMrmM.
14 — 16. Every attempt to resist or
escape frora the evils tbat were coraing
upon the nation, would prove utterly
fruitless. This sentiraent is expressed
under various forms, which are obviously
accumulated for the sake of effect, 1 at
the beginning of ver. 14, is not merely
conjunctive, but marks the consequence
or result. Verse 15th is wanting in
some of Kennicott and De Rossi's MSS.
and in the Arab. ; but the oraission is no
doubt owing to the homoioteleuton of
this and tbe preceding verse ; just as, for
the sarae reason, the words corresponding
to itopiiDto-M'; at the end of ver. 14 are
omitted in tbe Alexandrian copy of the
LXX. Tbe preposition 3 in D'Ti333, gives
to 13^ yOM, the force of the superlative,
Corap. npri3|Ti33, the strongest of beasts,
Prov, XXX.' 30 ; D'to33 nB;n, the most
beautiful of women, Song i. 8, v. 9, vi. 1 ;
evXoyrjpivT] ev yvvat^tv, Luke i. 28.

140

AMOS.

[chap. III.

CHAPTER III.
The prophet resumes the subject of the Divine goodness towards the Hebrew
people, and grounds upon their misimproveraent of it, the certainty of their
punishraent, ver. 1 ; he then, in a series of pointed and appropriate interrogations,
illustrates this certainty, 3 — G ; which he follows up by a vindication of his
commission, 7, 8. Foreign nations are then summoned to witness the execution
of judgment upon the kingdom of Israel, which would be signally severe, 9 — 15.

1 Hear ye this word, which Jeliovah speaketh against you, 0 sons
of Israel,
Against all the family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt;
Saying :
2 Only you have I known of all the families of the earth.
Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities,
3 Will two walk together
Except they be agreed '?

1. Instead of '!.><TipV3?, "sores of Israel,"
forty-three MSS., one in the margin,
originally seven, and five by correction,
read ';MTip;n'3, " house of Israel ;" which
reading is supported by the LXX. and
Arab, versions. Both forras are employed
in the book of Amos, but the former is
the less frequent; which awakens the
suspicion that the latter has been intro
duced here by way of correction. That
the phrase is intended to include the
whole Hebrew people, is evident from
tbe words which follow in apposition,
and describe the distinguished favour
conferred upon the entire race of Jacob.
nn|top, Eth. t\e^^, io spread out, a
tribe, or clan ; but here obviously used in
a national sense, as in Jer. viii. 3, xxv.
9 ; Micah ii. 3.
2. STii io know, is here employed in
the sense of knowing with the idea of
volition, or goodwill ; to acknowledge,
regard, care for, and by implication, to
show favour to. Comp. Ps. i. 6, cxhv. 3 ;
and ytvdaKa, John x. 14, xv. 17 ; 2 Tim,

ii. 19, The Israelites alone were ac
knowledged by Jehovah as his people,
and as such treated with peculiar favour ;
but in proportion to tbe distinction which
they enjoyed, was the degree of punish
raent which their ungrateful andrebelhous
conduct raerited.
3. In this and the three following
verses, a series of parabolic interroga
tions are employed, highly calculated to
produce conviction in the minds of those
to whom they were addressed. They
are familiar indeed, but so much tbe
more appropriate and forcible. Instead
of iTSii, the LXX, Arab, and Vulg. read
i»Ti3, with apparent reference to the
signification of S'v jn the preceding verse.
The primary signification of ts?;, Syr,
f-^O, cendixit, constituit, Arab. (J.C«i
significavit affecturum alicui quid, is to
point, point out, appoint a time or place ;
hence in Niphal, to meet by appointment ;
to de anything by common consent ; io be
agreed. This last seems to be the accepta-

CHAP. III.J

AMOS.

HI

Will the lion roar in the forest
When he has no prey ?
Will the young lion cry out from his den.
Except he have taken it ?
Will the bird fall into an earth-snare.
And there is no gin for it ?
Will the snare spring from the ground,
When nothing whatever is caught.?
Shall the trumpet be blown in a city.
And the people not tremble ?
Shall there be evil in a city.
And Jehovah hath not inflicted it .''

tion in which the verb is to be taken in
this place : for to render. How can two
set out upon a journey, except they meet
by appointment? would express that to be
irapossible,' wbich is very often true in
fact. Interpreters are divided in opinion
respecting the persons to whora the
nuraber tD.'3iiS, ttco, refers. Munster and
sorae others think, that the prophets gene
rally, or Joel and Amos in particular, are
meant; Vatablus, Dnisius, Liveley, New-
come, Bauer, Rosenmiiller, Ackermann,
and Maurer, explain it of God and the
prophet; while Clarius, Grotius, Daneeus,
Marckius, Lowth, Harenberg, and Dahl,
are of opinion tbat God and Israel are
intended. The last construction of the
passage best agrees with the bearing
of the other interrogations. Between
Jehovah and his apostate people there
could no longer be any fellowship ; and
instead of the blessings which accrued to
them from such fellowship, they had novr
nothing to expect but punishment. As
they had walked contrary to hira, so he
would now walk contrary to thera. Tbey
had broken his covenant, and raust take
the consequences.
4. The lion is quiet till he sees his
prey, but roars at the sight of it, and
thereby inspires it with such terror, that
it is deprived of the power of escape.
In like raanner the young lion, wbich
has been weaned, and is just beginning
to hunt for prey, will lie silent in his den,
till it is brought near, when the sraell of
it will rouse hira from his quiet. Poiret,
in bis Travels in Barbary, Strasb. 1789,
vol, i. p. 283, states, that the lion has

two different modes of hunting his prey.
When not very hungry, he contents
himself with watching behind a bush for
tbe animal which is the object of his
attack, till it approaches, when, by a
sudden leap, he attacks it, and seldom
misses his aira ; but if he is faraished he
does not proceed so quietly, but, im
patient and full of rage, he leaves his
den, and fills, with his terrific roar, the
echoing forest. His voice inspires all
living beings with fear and dread; no
creature deems itself safe in its retreat :
all flee, they know not whither, and by
this means, fall into his fangs. nnM, the
lion, and not TM, the young lion, is the
nominative to the verb T?^. The certainty
of destruction is the point at which the
prophet airas in the similitude,
5. Between ns and topio there is no
essential difference. The sense would
have been the sarae had the latter word
been omitted, and we had siraply read,
^) pi?^ ; but the insertion of the synonyme
gives more force to the sentence, nJ
connects with TiB3, as its antecedent.
TiTsp_ is to be taken as the future of Kal,
and regarded as expressing tbe sudden
spring of an elastic snare, or net, which,
on the bird's touching it, suddenly rises
and incloses it. Instruments were pre
pared by the providence of God for the
capture of the Israelites, which would
certainly do their work : there would be
no escape.
6. Tlie prophet here closes his interro
gatory appeals ; — first, by a reference to
the effect produced upon the inhabitants
ofa city by the sounding of the trumpet.

142

AMOS.

[cH/i

\P. Ill,

Surely the Lord Jehovah inflicteth nothing,
Except he reveal his purpose
To his servants the prophets.
The lion hath roared, who will not fear ?
The Lord Jehovah hath spoken, who will not prophesy ?
Proclaim ye in the palaces of Ashdod,
And in the palaces in the land of Egypt,
And say :
Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria,
And behold the great commotions within her.
And the oppressions in the midst of her.

as a signal of war ; and then, by directly
ascribing the infliction of teraporal
calaraities to Jehovah, as thepunisher of
sin. For njT in the sense of teraporal
evil, or calaraity, see Gen. xix. 19, xliv.
34, Exod. xxxii, 14; Ezek. vii. 5. Arab.
(JJl), experiraentura, calamitus, qfflictio.
7. Though the infliction of punish
ment on bis guilty people was deterrained
in his holy and righteous counsel, yet
Jehovah would not proceed to execute it
until he had\given them full warning, and
afforded such of them an opportunity of
escaping as should repent and return to
his service. He tbus raixed raerey with
judgment. TiD, Theod. BovX?}, counsel,
purpose, decree ; from td;, Arab. ii>«j«,
posuit, firmiter statuit ; to found, lay a
foundation, establish apian, ordain. It
is rather, I imagine, on this acceptation
of the verb that the idea of purpose or
decree is based, than upon that ofa divan,
or an assembly of persons, sitting and
deliberating on couches: but see Gesenius
in TiD. As tbe Divine plan or purpose
is necessarily secret till it be revealed,
hence the acceptation secret carae to be
attached to the word. In tbis verse a
high honour is vindicated to the pro
phetical office. The holy raen of God
were, by inspiration, entrusted with a
knowledge of the Divine purposes, in so
far as it was necessary for thera to divulge
them to the world, nijis;, is the frequent
ative future, indicating what God is
accustomed to do, and is best rendered
by our present. For the sentiment,
comp. Gen. xvhi. 17.

8. With reference to what he had
expressed ver. 4, and in keeping with the
mode of representation which he had
employed chap. i. 2, Amos formally
announces tbe awful character of the
message he had heard from the Lord,
and the impossibility of withholding
the coraraunication. The roar of the
lion is loud and terrific, especially in the
solitary forests which form his proper
doraain. See on ver. 4.
9. wpton, cause it to be heard, publish
ye ! Those are addressed who had
intercourse with theplaces bere specified,
and had thus an opportunity of conveying
the message. Comp. d aRovav etnara'
"-Epxovl Rev. xxn. 17. For Ashdod,
see on chap. i. 8, It is here used
synecdocbically for the whole of Philistia.
Instead of TiTipMj, the LXX. have read
TlffiM^, iv 'Aaavptots, which Seeker
attempts to justify ! For niiDTM bs_ W'pton,
comp. Krjpv^are ent rdv dapArav,
Matt. X, 27. It was, and is still, cus
toraary in the East to assemble on the
flat roofs of the houses. To the princes
and courtiers thus assembled on their
palaces, as well as to all within hearing,
the invitation was to be conveyed.
There is something exceedingly forcible
in these heathen rulers, &c, being called
to witness the enormities that were
practised in Samaria, If their judgraent,
pagans as they were, could not but be
unfavourable, what raust be the judgraent
of the holy and righteous God? What
the punishment which he must inflict?
Nothing can be more graphic than the
description of the position whicii these
foreigners were to occupy. They were

CHAP, I

II,]

AMOS.

113

lo'

11

12

For they regard not the practice of rectitude,
Saith Jehovah,
That amass rapine and spoil in their palaces.
Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah :
There shall be an eneray, and that around the land ;
And he shall bring down thy strength from thee,
And thy palaces shall be plundered.
Thus saith Jehovah :
As the shepherd rescueth from the mouth of the lion
Two legs, or the portion of an ear,

toasserablepTPto''in')», w^Jon the mountains
of Samaria. ppto, Samaria, the me
tropolis of the kingdora of Israel, was
built on a round hill, near the middle of
a large valley, surrounded by mountains
on every side, by which it was completely
overlooked. From these elevations
persons might distinctly see what was
done in the city. That ni3T niDina and
n'plto? are intimately connected, and are
both to be referred to tbe rich and
powerful inhabitants of Samaria, appears
evident frora what is stated in the fol
lowing verse. The latter term is properly
the Pahul Participle, oppressed, but is
bere used as a noun, as in Job xxxv. 9 ;
Eccles. iv. i. Corap. the forms toi,
dwelling, n3i';p, kingdom.
10. 11'II^m'), they knew net, is not in
tended to express siraple ignorance, but
that state of mind wbich is hostile to
the entertainment of knowledge. The
raagnates of Saraaria had no regard for
the practice of what was just and right,
but the contrary, nnbi, rectitude, that
which is straight, in opposition to wbat
is crooked, distorted, or morally wrong.
Comp. Is. xxvi. 10, xxx. 10, lix. 14.
Ttoi DDr^ violence and desolation, mean, by
a metonymy of tbe cause for tbe effect,
what has been obtained by violating the
rights and desolating the property of
others. Such spoils they accuraulated
in their palaces, but they should not
enjoy them. On the contrary, as the
prophet shows in the following verses,
they should be plundered and carried
away by the eneray, Dathe well
expresses the meaning of tbe verse :
" Recte factis nequaquam delectantur,
inquit Jova, sed thesauros in sedes suas
congei'unt vi atque injuria partes."

11. TS, the LXX., who are followed
by Aq. and the Arab., preposterously
render Tvpos, Tyre ; one of De Rossi's
MSS, reads Tii, and one of Kennicott's,
Tis, The Syr. Chald. tribulation, which
bas been adopted in many raodern
versions. Thus Dathe, Hesselberg,
Dahl, Justi, and Hitzig. But Calvin,
Newcorae, Michaelis, Struensee, Bauer,
Rosenmiiller, Vater, and Noyes, translate
enemy, wbich better suits the connexion,
as it supplies a proper norainative to the
verb T'liiT, immediately following. Comp.
as to derivation, the Arab, ^a, nocuit,
noxa affecit, Icesii. The words, yjMn 3'3Di ts
are abrupt and elliptical, but, for this
very reason, possess more point. At
TS, supply ™n, MV, or the like. i in 3'3pi
has the force of et quidem, or isque. The
reading 3'ap2 suggested by Houbigant, con
sidered probable by Newcorae, and adop
ted by Bauer,is altogether unsustainedby
any example of a sirailar case in verbs
whose second and third radicals are the
same. yTMn 3'3D is equivalent to yi.M?"''33 ,
2 Kings xvii. 5, wbere the invasion by
Shalraaneser is described, -to, strength,
denotes whatever Saraaria confided in,
or raade her boast of, such as her
treasures, fortifications, warriors, Szc.
All was to be brought down into tbe
valley, and what was capable of being
reraoved, carried away by the eneray :
i.e. Shalraaneser, the king of Assyria. A
just retribution for the spoliations which
her inhabitants bad committed,
12, A very appropriate image is here
borrowed frora a scene in pastoral hfe,
such as tbe prophet hiraself raay have
witnessed. Nothing but a mere remnant
of the Israehtes should with difficulty

144

AMOS,

[chap, in.

13

11

So shall the sons of Israel be rescued,
Who sit in Samaria on the corner of a bed,
And in Damascus on that of a couch.
Hear ye, and testify against the house of Jacob,
Saith the Lord, Jehovah, the God of hosts,
Surely in the day when I punish the transgressions of Israel,

escape from the enemy. Although alien
may not be induced to quit his prey, if
he is hungry and has but just seized it.
Is. xxxi. 4 ; yet if he has almost devoured
it, leaving nothing but what is here speci
fied, no difficultywould be found in effect
ing a rescue. For 'TMn 'Bpb'S^, comp. epp-6-
adrjv eK aToparosXiovTos, 2 Tim. iv. 17;
1 Sam. xvii. 34, 35. b'n occurs only this
once, but signifies a part or piece ; from
¦^ll, to separate. There is a species of
goat in the East, the ears of which are
often a foot in length, and broad in
proportion ; so tbat more importance
would be attached to thera by the shep
herd, than would be the case with us in
tbe West. Tbe concluding words of tbe
verse have greatly perplexed interpreters.
Most of the moderns explain ptoOT of the
silk stuff raanufactured at Daraascus,
wbich, frora the narae of the place, is
called damask, and render to'is ptoDT?, in
damask couches. Whatbasbeen supposed
to confirra this explanation of the terra is
the occurrence of the sarae word in
Arabic, only with the letters, or sirailar
letters, transposed, as (i./Ji^ii, luXi-^ii,
i)i::a^, Szc, all signify ing sW. Gesenius
has a long article on the word in his
Thesaurus, p. 346; butfailsin establishing
the point of identity. Instead of ptoDT
¦svith Skin, upwards of twenty of De
Rossi's MSS. read, or have read, ptoOT with
Sin ; which reading is also that of
eighteen printed editions, and is the
proper orthography of the name of
Damascus. What appears to have
originated the above view of the word
was the idea, that as the wealthy and
voluptuous inhabitants of Samaria are
supposed to be intended, there was a
special propriety in adverting to the
suraptuousness of the couches or sofas on
which they reclined. Bnt this idea is
totally alien frora the bearing of the
passage, which requires soraething to

correspond to what had been expressed
in the comparison of the fragments left
by tbe lion. Besides, nMB signifies the
outer or extreme corner, and not the
inner, which is regarded as the seat of
honour, so that the observations of
Harmer, chap. vi. Obs. xxx., are totally
inapplicable, even if there were much
point in them. The words are elliptical,
and the parallelism, expressed in full,
would stand thus :
nap nMD3 pipto? D'3to'n
• tons nMB3 ptopTJ t3>3'<i'n
The persons referred to are the sick and
infirm poor, who bad nothing left but the
side or part of a couch, and whom the
king of Assyria would not think it worth
his while to be at the trouble of removing.
All the rest, the robust and active, the
opulent and powerful, should be carried
into captivity. For the fulfilment see
2 Kings xvii. 5, 6, xviii, 9—12. The
reason why Daraascus is mentioned
along with Saraaria, is, that, at the time
ofthe Assyrian invasion, that city was in
the power of the Israelites, having been
conquered hy Jeroboam II. See 2 Kings
XV. 28. On the conquest, no doubt
many belonging to the ten tribes went
there to reside,
13, The same persons are here address
ed, who were sumraoned from Philistia
and Egypt to witness the enormities
practised in Samaria, ver. 9. They were
now to testify to the facts of the case, that
the punishment to be inflicted upon tbe
inhabitants might be seen to have been
richly deserved. 3 T»n, as frequently
means to testify against any one. nin; '™
niMJvn 'ri'jM, LXX. Kvptos d Beds o
JJavTOKpdrap : an accuraulation of Divine
appellatives for the purpose of striking
awe into the minds of the guilty.
14. Signal vengeance was to be taken
upon tbe place whence all the evils wbich
spread through the ten tribes originated.
I'or Bethel, see on Hos. iv. 15. From
the term n3]pn having the determinative

CHAP

IV.]

AMOS,

I will punish the altars of Bethel ;
The horns of the altar shall be cut down,
And they shall fall to the ground.
15 I will also smite the winter-house with the summer-house,
The ivory mansions shall perish,
And the great houses shall come to an end,
Saith Jehovah.

article, rendering it emphatic, while
nin?'ra in the plural also occurs, it may
be inferred tbat at Bethel, besides the
great altar erected by Jeroboara, there
was a number of lesser ones at wbich
sacrifices were offered. Comp. Hos, viii.
11, X. 5. The niSTp, horns, were four
projecting points in the shape of horns
at the corners of ancient altars. They
may be seen in the representations of
those dug up by Belzoni in Egypt. As
they were ornamental, the action here
described was designed to express the
contempt in which the altar would be
held by the Assyrians.
15. Eastern monarchs and princes, as
well as others of the great, have sumraer
as well as winter residences. The latter
are in cities and sheltered situations ; the
former in forests, or upon mountains.

Jto, properly tooth, but used specially of
the tusk ofthe elephant; ivory. LXX.
oTkoi eXecj>dvTtvot. By ivory houses are
not meant houses or palaces coraposed of
that material, but richly ornaraented
with it. The ancients used it for
decorating the ceilings, panels, doors,
&c., of their rooras, by inlaying it with
olher costly articles. See 1 Kings xxii,
39 ; Ps, xlv. 9. Odys, iv, 73. Diod. Sic.
iii, 47. Pausan, i. 12. 4. Od. ii. 18. 1,
All tbese sumptuous palaces in wbich tbe
leaders of the people rioted, and indulged
in all manner of profaneness, were to be
corapletely destroyed. f|lD, ie come io
an end, cease. Tbe rendering of D'nj
°'?'i, by " large houses," is raore agree
able to the connexion than that of
" many houses," though this is equally
expressed by the phrase.

CHAPTER IV.
This chapter contains a continuation of the denunciation pronounced against the
Israelites, at the close of the preceding, 1 — 3 ; an ironical call to them to
persevere in their will-worship, which was the primary cause of their calaraities,
4, 5 ; an enumeration of the different judgments with which they bad been
visited, but wbich had effected no reformation, 6 — 11 ; and a summons to thera
to prepare for the last and most awful judgment, wbich tbe oranipotent Jehovah
was about to inflict upon thera, 12, 13.

1 Heah ye this word, ye kine of Bashan !
That are in the mountain of Samaria ;

1, Jton, Bashan, was celebrated forthe Deut.xxxii.l4; Ps.xxii.l2; Ezek. xxxix.
richness of its pasturage, and its excellent 18, It lay on the east of the Jorden,
breed both of large and small cattle, between Herraon and the raountains of
U

146

AMOS.

[clIAP. IV.

That oppress the poor ; that crush the needy ;
That say to their master.
Bring now, that we may drink.
The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by his holiness :
Behold, the days are coming upon you,
When ye shall be taken away with hooks,
And your posterity with fish-hooks.

Gilead, and extended eastward as far as
the cities of Salcbah and Edrei, whicb it
included. Sorae are of opinion, that by
^toinniTS, the kine, or cows of Bashan, the
proud and luxurious feraales of Samaria
are intended; and that they are in
troduced on account of tbe corrupting
influence whicb, through their husbands,
they exerted on the state of public affairs.
Of these may be mentioned, most ofthe
Rabbins, Theodoret, Liveley, Grotius,
Michaelis, Vater, Dahl, Justi, Gesenius
and Winer, Others, as the Targ. Jerorae,
Munster, Calvin, Vatablus, Clarius,
Drusius, Danaaus, Mercer, Marckius,
Harenberg, Dathe, Rosenmiiller, and
Maurer, raaintain that the prophet has
the princes and rulers in view, whom he
describes in this debasing language, in
order to set forth the effeminacy, wanton
ness, and obstinacy of their character.
At first view the former exposition might
appear to recomraenditself for adoption ;
but I ara induced to give my adhesion
to tbe latter, chiefly on tbe ground, that
it is scarcely possible, otherwise, to
account for the repeated intermixture of
masculine forras with the feminine.
Thus we have ispii), Dn'iTM, nmn, D3'b»,
D3I1M, all occurring very closely together.
Novv, tbough it must be admitted that
there are instances in which the gender
is neglected, as in Ruth i., yet none of
them will bear coraparison with the
present case. On the principle, that
males are the real, and feraales the
figurative subjects of discourse, it is easy
to perceive how the genders would be
used just as the one or the other were
prominently in the mind of the prophet.
Sorae translators suppress the figurative
language altogether, as Dathe : Audite
hoc, vos divites et potejites Samarice ; but
such practice is quite unwarrantable, as
it destroys the effect of tbe prophetic
mode of representation. nissT, one of
those onoraatopoetic verbs, tlie very

sound of which strongly expresses the
character of the action which they are
intended to describe. It signifies to
break, crush, dash in pieces. Corap. the
Arab. j_^., contudit, fregit. pTM in
Dti'3.TM, though plural in form, is singular
in signification, and means the king of
Israel, whom his courtiers and others,
indulging in their compotations, im
portune for fresh supplies of wine,
reckless of the oppression and rapine by
which it might be procured. Corap,
Hos. vii. 5, n suffixed in nM'3n, is the
n directive, or optative.
2, 3. '3 is pleonastic. It is surprising
that so judicious an interpreter as Calvin
should attempt to vindicate the rendering
ofito'ijj, his sanctuary, when that of his
holiness is so natural and proper, Comp,
Ps, Ixxxix, 36, and lx, 8. Jehovah
appeals to all that is involved in the
infinite excellence of bis moral character
for the certainty of his punishing sin.
The Nominative to Mte? is the enemy,
understood ; but as the verb is put in the
impersonal form, it is best rendered
passively, Doderlein and some others
object to the adoption, in this place, of
hooks and fish-hooks, as the signification
of ni33 and njn niT'p^ as too violent a
change of tbe figure ; and propose that we
should retain the primary acceptation of
thorns, which they think is more in
keeping with the idea of cows. They ac
cordingly render the passage : " Ye shall
be driven into thorny districts, and
among the gloomy thorn bushes," There
is, however, no necessity for supposing
that the prophet had the alleged idea in
his mind when he delivered the words,
but the contrary ; and as fishing and
Aoo/m are elsewhere employed figuratively
in reference to huraan beings, there can
be no real ground for rejecting such
tropical application of the disputed terms
in this place. See 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11 ;

CHAP

IV.]

AMOS.

147

And ye shall go out through the breaches,
Each one right before her ;
Ye shall even be thrown out of the palace,
Saith Jehovah.
Come ye to Bethel, and transgress ;
At Gilgal, multiply transgression ;
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
Your tithes every third year.
Offer incense of the leavened thank-offering ;
Proclaim the voluntary offerings : publish them abroad ;
For ye love to have it so, O ye sons of Israel,
Saith Jehovah.

Is, xxxvii. 29 ; Jer. xvi. 16 ; Ezek. xxix.
4. nT33 rrtiM, each one right before her,
raeans, in a captive state, not being
permitted by the enemy to turn to the
right or the left. nsM^ilSn is pointed
nmpbiijn in De Rossi's Spanish MS.
marked 23, wbich punctuation bas been
adopted in Hahn's small printed edilion.
Corap. ^^to'T, Dan. viii, 11, It is supported
by the LXX, Syr. Syrara, Vulg. and
Arab, all of which versions exhibit the
passive, n at the end of the verb is tbat
of the fuller form of tbe pronoun nWM,
the fragment of which is used as a suffix.
It occurs but seldom in the preterite. Of
niiD'inn almost every possible interpreta
tion has been given. LXX. to opos to
'Peppdv ; Cod. Vat. 'Foppdv ; in raany
of the MSS. of Fiamin. Nob. 'Appavd.
Syr. '-^'Ij Ij^. Chald. '.3'pTn ''1110,
Ihe mountains of Armenia. Vulg, Armen.
Arab, after the LXX, ^| Jl (Jjls.-. Aq.
'Appavd dpos. Symra. 'Epprjviav, doubt
less for 'Appeviav. Theod. 'dpos Mora.
Edit, quint. v-^-rjXbv opos. Luther and
Vater, Hermon. Michaelis, Struensee,
Dathe, Bauer, De Wette, Armenia.
Justi and llezel, Harem. Volborth, Net.
Hitzig takes it to be a corruption of
njiDTmn, Hadadrimmon, which he ex
plains of a place near Saraaria where
Adonis was worshipped. Newcome cuts
the knot, and renders " will utterly
destroy it." The only satisfactory sohi-
tion of the difficulty presented by this
ana^ Xey. is that of Kimchi, wbich is
approved by Gesenius, Winer, and Lee,

viz. that JiOTn stands for jraiM, a palace,
or citadel. Comp .the Arab. ^^ Jb, a lofty
edifice, a pyramid. Changes in letters of
the sarae organ are not infrequent in
Hebrew, as 'tj'M, ij'n ; pOM, pDn ; nMb,
finj ; TTM, TTn ; &c. The n at the end is not
tbe ferainine termination, but simply
paragogic, as in fiS'iM, Job xxxiv. 13,
xxxvii. 12 ; Is. viii. 23 ; and np-inn,
Judges xiv. 18, The noun will thus be
the accusative absolute, and the con
struction will be, " cast down as io the
palace," i.e. frora it, over its walls, or the
like. The place in which the princes
bad rioted, and in the strength of wbich
they confided, should afford them no
safety. 4, 5. The language of these verses is
that of the keenest irony. The Israelites
were addicted to the worship of the
golden calf, and to that of idols, whereby
tbey contracted guilt before Jehovah,
and exposed themselves to his judg
ments ; at the same time they hypo
critically professed to keep up the
observance of certain feasts whicb had
been appointed by Moses. For Gilgal,
as a place of idolatrous worship, see on
Hos. iv. 15, The opinion of Abenezra,
approved by Rosenraiiller and Maurer,
that by D'p^ nai'jip.';, we are to understand
every third day, seems forced and
unnatural. That tbe words by them
selves raight have this raeaning is un
questionable ; but the idea of tithes being
brought every third day is inadmissible,
even into a passage so strongly ironical
as the present, I cannot doubt that the
prophet has in view the enactment

148

AMOS.

[cii

.\P. IV.

6 And though I have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
And want of bread in all your places,
Yet ye have not returned unto me,
Saith Jehovah.
7 And though I have withholden the rain,
Three months before the harvest ;
And have caused it to rain upon one city,
But upon another city I have not caused it to rain ;
One portion was rained upon,
And the portion upon which it rained not, withered :
8 And two or three cities wandered to one city,
To drink water, but have not been satisfied,
Yet ye returned not to me,
Saith Jehovah.
9 I have smitten you with mildew and much blight ;
Your gardens, your vineyards, and your figs, and your olives,

recorded Deut. xiv. 29, xxvi. 12. D'p;,
days, raean, here, as Lev. xxv. 29 ;
Judges xvii. 10, the fullest corapleraent
of days, i.e. a year. Tap is raost probably
the infinitive, used for the second plural
of the imperative ; or it may be the
second singular of the same. There is
no necessity for attaching to \'pn, the
meaning of violence, though Gesenius
would justify it, on tbe ground of ypir
being used, Ps. Ixxi. 4, to designate an
oppressor ; and because the rendering of
tbe Chald. in this place is DjiM, rapine or
oppression. It is not impossible that
tbe translator mistook ypn for Don, which
has this signification. The point of
reference is doubtless the ordinance, Lev.
vii. 13, that, besides tbeunleavenedcakes,
the Hebrews were to offer " leavened
bread" with the sacrifice of thanksgiving.
What the Israelites, therefore, are sup
posed to be in the habit of doing was, so
far as the material of tbe thing was con
cerned, not contrary to the law, but in
strict accordance with its requirement.
For DMnM|S, corap. P^nM >p», Jer v. 31,
6. From this verse to the lith in
clusive, Jehovah describes the different
corrective measures which he had em
ployed for the purpose of effecting a
change in the Israelites, and at tbe close
of each raentioned in the series, the
obstinate impenitence, under the influence

of which they persisted in their wicked
courses, is erapbatically marked by tbe
declaration, i nin; dm? 'ts Dn3to-.^'5i, yet ye
returned not unto me, saith Jehovah,
Such repetition gives great force to the
reprehension. OStip'pj, cleanness ef teeth,
and C3n) Tpn, lack of bread, are synony
mous ; both expressing the famine with
which the nation had been visited ''ij,
to me, the Chald. paraphrases, 'jrtiDji, to
my worship, or service.
7, 8. The faraine was followed by the
judgraent of drought, which at once pro
duced sterility, and .cut off the necessary
supply of drink for raan and beast. Tbe
rain tbat had been withheld, was the
toipto, vernal, or latter rain, whicb falls in
the latter half of February, the whole of
March and April, and thus precedes the
harvest, as here stated. See ou Hos. vi,
3. Whatever rain fell was exceedingly
partial and insufficient. Instead of I'ppn,
the reading TippM is found in two MSS.
and is supported by the renderings of the
LXX. Arab, and Vulg. The textual
reading raust be taken impersonally,
CIS, cities, stands for their inhabitants.
Compare for a lengthened and graphic
description of the judgraent here specified,
Jer. xiv. 1 — 6.
9. A bad harvest, arising frora the
destruction of the corn by the blighting
influence ofthe east wind (pDTto, scorching.

CHAP, IV,]

AMOS.

119

The locust hath devoured ;
Yet ye have not returned unto me,
Saith Jehovah.
10 I have sent among you the plague, such as that of Egypt ;
I have slain your young men with the sword,
Together with your captive horses ;
And I have made the stench of your camps to come up into your
nostrils ;
Yet ye have not returned unto me,
Saith Jehovah.
] 1 I have overthrown some among you,
As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah ;
And ye have been as a brand snatched from the burning ;
Yet ye have not returned unto me,
Saith Jehovah.

blasting, fromf]Tto, to scorch; Chald. f]Ti3,
ie burn ; Arab. fiLul, niger, LXX.
nvpaats. Arab. Ver. ^..^joJ), the Simoom,)
and the mildew, or smut, ppj!, Arab.
UfJ. rubigo. ni3Tn, the infinitive abso
lute of n3T in Hiphil, with the force of an
adjective, or an adverb. This word sorae
improperly connect, as a construct noun,
with the following substantives, tpjs, a
narae given to tbe locust. See on Joel
i. 4.
• 10. Though the plague has frora time
irameraorial been enderaic in Egypt, and
might so far be described as nnsp i'i'l,
the way of Egypt ; -yet comparing Is. x.
26, in which the sarae phrase is used as
here, it obviously means, as the Egyptians
were treated, or as God punished thera
with the plague. See Exod. ix. 3, &c.
C33'DiD '3to , lit. the captivity of your
horses: i.e. those taken and destroyed
by the enemy. See 2 Kings xiii. 7.
toM3 the LXX. render lv nvpl, having
read toM3, which is the pointing of three
of De Rossi's MSS,, and of three others
originally ; as also of the Brixian edition,
Aq. aanpiav. The 1 in D33M31, Houbigant,
Dahl, and some others would cancel, on
the ground of its harshness, and its not
having been expressed by the LXX.

Arab. Syr. and Vulg. It is translated in
tbe Targ., and is to be retained, as an
intensive particle, adding force to the
preceding verb, Corap. the soraewhat
sirailar use of the Greek Kal.
11. ? in C333 is used partitively : inter,
araong, or tbe like ; indicating tbat the
subverting was not total. D'rr'jM nSBrip?,
like God's overthrowing : properly the
Hiphil participle, but construed as an
infinitive. Comp. Deut. xxix. 22 ; Is. xiii.
19; Jer. h 40; 2 Pet. ii. 6; Jude 7.
Ot'^m, which stands for the affix of the
first personal pronoun, Newcome im
properly converts into a superlative, and
renders, " the great overthrow ! " His
remark on nM, as sometiraes the sign of
the genitive case, is likewise totally
inapplicable, as in the present case it
can only mark the accusative. To what
physical phenomena reference is here
specifically made, it is impossible to
determine, owing to the absence of all
historical data. Some think the earth
quake, mentioned chap. i. 2, is intended ;
but tbis is altogether out of the question,
since the prophecy was delivered two
yearsbefore that event. Frora the allusion
to fire, it has been deemed probable, tbat
some of the cities of tbe Israelites bad
been burnt, either by lightning from
heaven, or by the army of the king of
Syria. At all events, that the language
is not to be understood figuratively is
evident from the close connexion of the

150

AMOS.

[chap. IV.

12

13

Therefore, thus will I deal with thee, 0 Israel !
Forasmuch as I will do this to thee,
Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel !
For, behold ! it is He that formed the mountains :
And created the wind ;
And declareth to man what is his thousht ;
That maketh the morning darkness,
And walketh upon the heights of the earth ;
Jehovah, God of hosts, is his name.

verse with those preceding, each of which
describes a separate physical calaraity,
and closes, as this one does, with a
reprehension ofthe impenitence by which
tbe nation continued tobe characterised.
nOTtep ')Sp TIM, a brand snatched from the
burning, is proverbial, and expresses tbe
narrow escape from utter extinction
whicb had been experienced. Corap.
Zech. iii. 2; and 1 Cor. ii. 15 : avrds he
aaQr\aeTat, ovras Se ds Sid nvpds.
12. All the means that bad been
employed to reform the Israelites having
proved ineffectual, they are here sum
moned to prepare for the final judgment,
which was to put an end to their
national existence. To this judgraent
reference is erapbatically made in tbe
terras ns, thus, and nsji, this. There is
a brief resuraption of the sentence de
livered verses 2 and 3. That by pan
any such preparation is intended as would
involve genuine anduniversal repentance,
by which the threatened judgraent might
have been averted, cannot be admitted
in consistency with the bearing both of
the preceding and tbe following context.
Tbe removal ofthe Israelites, as a nation,
is denounced as certain, and inevitable.
It is rather to be understood as ij^pir,
prepare thee, Jer. xlvi. 14. God is now
coming against you as tbe avenger of
your wickedness. Consider bow you
shall meet, or endure the infliction.
Comp. Ezek. xxii. 14 ; Heb. x. 31. In
dividuals might by repentance obtain the
forgiveness of tbeir personal transgres
sions, and tbus have their minds brought
into a state in which they would enjoy
support and corafort in the midst of

national calamity ; but this was all that
could now be expected.
13. To give full effect to the preceding
call, one of the raost sublime and raag
nificent descriptions of Jehovah, to be
met within Scripture, is here introduced.
The participial forra of the five verbs
employed by the prophet greatly en
hances the beauty of the passage ; but it
cannot be successfully imitated in a
translation. Some have doubted whether
nn does not bere signify spirit, rather
than wind; but it seems more natural to
take tbe term in the latter acceptation,
on account ofthe close coherence of this
clause of the verse with that imraediately
preceding. The rendering of the LXX.
dnayyeXXav els dvdpdnovs rdv xP^-^rov
avTov, announcing to mefi his anointed,
has originated in their raistaking intenp
for in'm. Theodoret, in commenting
upon the version, thinks Cyprus is in
tended, and not Christ, as we may other
wise imagine tbe fathers would expound
it. By ini? is not meant God's thought,
or bis purposes, as some have taken it,
but the thoughts or meditations of man,
of which alone tbe verb n'ip and its
derivatives, when applied to intelligent
beings, is used. niBS is followed by a
double accusative : that of the material
out of which tbe thing is raade, and that
of the raatter into wbich it is converted.
It raust, however, be observed, that
upwards of twenty of Kennicott's MSS.
read, or have read, nS'Sl, which is the
reading ofthe LXX. andArab. Accord
ing to this construction, tbe passage
must be translated thus: "He that
maketh the aurora and the darkness."

CHAP, v.] AMOS. 151

CHAPTER V.
After giving utterance to a brief elegy over the prostrate and helpless condition of
the kingdora, which had just been predicted, 1 — 3, the prophet introduces Jehovah
still addressing hiraself to the inhabitants; calling upon thera to relinquish their
superstitious and idolatrous practices, and return to his service, 4 — 9. He then
adverts to the picture of wickedness which the nation exhibited, 10 — 13 ; repeats
the call to cultivate habits of piety and righteousness, 14, 15 ; describes, in
plaintive strains, the destruction that was coming upon the land, 16 — 20 ; exposes
the inutility of cereraonial riles when substituted for moral rectitude, or combined
with unauthorized worship, 21 — 26 ; and expressly threatens the Israelites with
transportation into the East, 27,

1 Hear ye this word, which I utter concerning you —
A lamentation, O house of Israel !
2 The virgin of Israel is fallen ;
She shall rise no more ;
Prostrate upon her own land,
There is none to raise her up,
3 For thus saith the Lord Jehovah
The city that went out by a thousand,
1, iri'p is properly an elegy, or song of it consists merely of the plaintive ex-
mourning and lamentation, from ]ip, in clamations contained in verse 2. Com-
Piel, to compose or chant such a song. It pare the beautiful lament of David on
consisted of plaintive effusions poured the death of Jonathan, 2 Sara, i, 17 — 27,
forth by raourning relatives, or by per- 2. The Israelitish state is called nbins,
sons hired for the purpose, at funerals ; a virgin, because it bad never been sub
aud was distinguished for the tender, dued by any foreign prince. See on
pathetic, broken and exclaraatory nature Is. xxiii. 12. The passages, Jer. xviii.
of the expressions of which it was com- 13, and Lara. ii. 13, wbich Rosenraiiller
posed, as well as the touching features adduces against this interpretation of the
of the subject which they were designed term, are not in point, since both refer to
to embody. Of this mode of coraposition the character which Jerusalera sustained
the Hebrew prophets frequently avail previous to the deplorable condition to
themselves, especially Jeremiah, who, wbicb she had been reduced by the
besides introducing it into several of his violence of tbe enemy. It cannot, there-
prophecies, has left us a whole book of fore, be regarded as raerely synonymous
ni3'p, elegies, or laraentations. See Lowth, with ni, daughter, as idiomatically ap-
Lect. xxii. For the introduction of the plied to describe the inhabitants of a
present subject, comp. to or b^ ni'p Mto, city or state. This brief, but touching
Ezek. xix. 1, xxvii, 2, xxxii. 2, and the elegy, describes the utterly prostrate and
common oracular forms Mtep, 'jtop Mto3, helpless condition to which the Assyrians
&c. Sorae are of opinion that (he elegy were to reduce the kingdora of the ten
thus introduced extends to the end of tribes.
the chapter, but it is far raore likely that 3. The depopulated state of the country

152

AMOS.

[chap, v.

Shall have an hundred left ;
And she that went out by an hundred,
Shall have ten left
To the house of Israel.
4 For thus saith Jehovah to the house of Israel,
Seek ye me, and live.
5 And seek not Bethel ;
And go not to Gilgal ;
Neither pass through to Beersheba ;
For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,
And Bethel shall come to nought.
6 Seek ye Jeliovah, and live,

is here affectingly depicted. T'!|, the city,
stands by metonymy for its inhabitants.
The LXX. rj ndXts i^ ^s e^enopevovro
xiXtot, and so tbe otber ancient versions.
nMJ'n, that went out, is used elliptically
for nrnW nMSi»n, that went forth to war.
The population or size of a city was
estimated according to the number of
warriors it could furnish. Thus the
Scholiast on Iliad ix. 383, 384 : o-u to
nXdros rdv nvXdv deXet aepalvetv, oi^Se
ydp dpa ndvras e^tevat fp-qaiv- dXXd rd
peyeOos rrjs noXeas, Kat to nXriOos rdv
dvhpdv. 4. While the divine judgments are not
executed, there is still room for repent
ance and reforraation. toni, to seek, is
very often used as a religious terra, im
plying application to God, or to a false
deity, for assistance, direction, &c. and
then generally to worship him, and have
respect to his will. Ps. xxiv. 6 ; Is.
viii. 19, lv. 6. Corap. Heb. xi. 6,
eK^rjTeXv TOV Geol'. top3 is similarly used.
I'n, live ye, is employed as a second im
perative, in order emphatically to express
the certainty of tbe result tbat would
ensuefromcorapliance with the coramand
given by the first.
5. A strong dissuasive frora idolatry,
derived from the predicted fall of the
objects and places of false worship.
S3BJ TM3, Beersheba, lit. " the Well of the
Oath ;" LXX. to (j)peap tov opxov ; see
Gen. xxi. 22 — 31. It was situated about
twenty-five geographical miles south of
Hebron, on tbe frontier of the Holy
Land towards Iduraea, and is still called
by the Arabs jt.i»wJl jjo, Bir-es-sebd.

Dr. Robinson fell in with ifs ruins on
the north side of a Wady of the sarae
name, but found nothing bearing the
marks of high antiquity, except two
wells, one of wbicb be ascertained to be
forty-four feet and a half in depth to
the surface of the water, and the other
forty-two feet. As it lay in the extrerae
south of Palestine, the verb T3», to pass
over, or through, is most appropriate.
Frora this verse, and from chap, viii, 14,
it appears to have been a place of idol
atrous resort, but wherein the idolatry
consisted we are not told. In bpsrf
iij?. ^% is a forcible paronoraasia, though
the words are from different roots, " Gil
gal gallando gallabitur, si posset fingi
aliquod tale verbum ; hoc est, vertetur
volubihversione," Calvin, im Zoc. Tbere
is likewise a play upon the word pM,
which is used to denote wickedness, idol
atry, idol, nothing, ^c. What had origi
nally been bwTVS,, Bethel, ahouse of God,
but had by the Israelites been converted
intop.M-n'3, Beth-aven, a house of idolatry,
see Hos. iv. 15, x. 5 ; should be reduced
to ]3M, aven, nothing.
6. The prophet here repeats, for the
sake of effect, tbe call which be had in
troduced, ver. 4. nbs, whicb more cora
raonly has the significations attaching to
tbe Arab. ,^3X0, recte se habet res, aptus
fuit, &c. has here that of the Syriac
V
. ..X descendit, perrupit. The general
idea of raotion, either forward or down
ward, seeins to be conveyed by it, only,

CHAP, V,]

AMOS.

153

Lest he rush down, like fire, upon the house of Joseph ;
And it devour, and there be none in Bethel to quench it.
Ye who turn justice into wormwood,
And cast righteousness to the ground.
Seek Him that made the Pleiades and Orion ;
That turneth deathshade into niornine' ;
That maketh day dark as night ;
That calleth the waters of the sea,

in certain cases, with the superadded
notion of violence or force. Tbus
nirr rm t^ nbsni, is not improperly ren
dered in our common version, "And the
Spirit of the Lord came niighiily upon
him." Dahl prefers the rendering per-
didit, which he derives frora the Arab.
• »Li3, exiiiale malum; but the form
A^"^) iS*"*^^- penetrans, vehemens,
might rather be compared. Jehovah is
often compared to fire. See Is. x. 17;
Lara. ii. 3. toM, being of comraon gen
der, is the norainative to ^b^^, so tbat
the object of comparison takes the place
of nirr, who is the subject, and tbe proper
nominative. f]Di' n'3, the house of Joseph,
is a less frequent designation of the ten
tribes, the principal of which was that of
Ephraira, the son of Joseph. It occurs
several tiraes in tbe historical books, but
only twice besides in the prophets, viz.
Obad. 18; Zech. x. 6. The narae ^ipi',
Joseph, by itself, is sirailarly employed,
Araos V. 15, vi. 6. Corap. Ezek. xxxvii.
16. For 'JM-n'a, Bethel, the LXX. Arab.
and one of De Rossi's MSS. read n'3
''Mito;, Beth Yisrael, wbicb reading is
adopted by Newcome. One of Kenni
cott's MSS. has ''MT?'.) Israel, which
Houbigant, Dathe, and Bauer, approve.
Jerorae, Rosenraiiller, Dahl, Justi,
Struensee, and others, retain the re
ceived reading, which is supported by
the Targ., Syr., and Vulg. Sorae would
connect ''M'n'3 with n33a, and render,
" there shall be none to quench Bethel ;"
but the verb n33 is never construed with
'', wbich raarks here tbe Dative of pos
session. The true construction is,
njsp btrn'zb pNi. Tlie people of Israel put
their trust in the idols which they wor
shipped at Bethel, but none of thera

could remove the Divine judgments frora
tbe land.
7. D'DDnn, ye thai turn, is to be re
ferred to itoT'n and f|pi'n'3 in the preceding
verse. This construction is raore natural
than that which would take Fjiji' n'3 alone
as the norainative, in tbe third person.
Such changes of person as tbat presented
in in'3n, are too frequent to occasion any
difficulty ; nor is it always necessary to
express tbem in a translation. Ewald
takes an effectual method of removing
the supposed difficulty, by striking out
the verse, and inserting it at the beginning
of verse 10. Of course, the whole will
then read very smoothly; but the ques
tion still reraains, Did Araos so con
nect the words ? nw'), Arab.

_ jJ, abegit,

execratus est, is the Hebrew narae of
wormwood, and is given to it on account
of its disgustingly bitter and injurious
quality. The LXX. now read o notav
els v-^os Kptpa; but there can be little
doubt that the original reading was
d-^tv6os. The raeaning is, that tbe per
sons spoken of so perverted their judicial
proceedings, as to render them both ob
noxious and injurious to those whom they
affected. For ^tm^ n'jrr, see on Is.
xxviii. 2.
8. Another sublime description of the
Most High, almost verbally identical
with that furnished Job ix. 9. The
participles are to be referred to nin;,
Jehovah, ver. 6, as their antecedent.
Newcorae, following tbe Targ. and Syr.,
inserts " that have forsaken " at the cora
mencement of the verse, but these
authorities are not sufficient to warrant
the addition, which, indeed, the text
does not require. The article, used as a
relative in MTipn and 3'';3pn, is omitted
before ntoj and ^Bh, because they are in
X

154

AMOS.

[ch.\

And poureth them forth upon the earth ;
Jehovah is his name.
9 That bringeth destruction suddenly upon the mighty,
And destruction cometh upon the fortress.

construction. Two of the principal con
stellations are selected from the heavenly
bodies as speciraens of tbe effects of
Omnipotence. tT?'?, the Pleiades, or
Seven Stars. This word occurs only here
and Job ix. 9, xxxvin. 31. The deriva
tion from a supposititious root nD3, cog
nate with Din, Dpn, non, to be warm, hot,
adopted by Castellus, Schultens, Park-
burst, and others, is to be rejected for
that preserved in the Arab. j,S, Conj.
\\. cumulum fecit ; hence, i^S, cumu
lus ; with whicb may be compared ^.jo i
socius, according to which tbe narae ex
presses wbat is broughtor bound together,
especially in abundance. The name given
to tbis constellation by the Arabs is b.V,
an abundance or multitude, from | J', multus
ac numerosus evasit, nmnerosus reddidit.
For the same reason it was called by tbe
Greeks nXemSfs, according to one of the
derivations of Eustathius on Homer,
Iliad, xviii. 446: Ai Se nXetdSes rjrot
dnd rrjs py)rpds a-urdv UXrj'tdvrjs rj dn
nXeiovs dpov Kard ptav avvayayrjv elat,
k.t.X. And most of the ancients express
tbe same idea ; as Seneca, densi pleiadum
greges ; Propertius, pleiadum chorus, Szc.
According to the Greek mythology, the
Pleiades were seven daughters of Atlas,
who, being pursued by Orion, were
changed by Jupiter into doves, and,
having been transplanted to the heavens,
forra the assemblage of the Seven Stars
in the neck of Taurus. In the passage
in the Iliad just referred to, they are por
trayed on the shield of Achilles along
with Orion, in the same order as in our
prophet :
TLXrj'idSas, 6' 'Yddas re, rd re aBevos
'Qptavos.
In tbe raythology of the Sabians or
p
Mindaites |...ii.»riA. lhe Seven, and
].i..dOA |..:^iao, the Seven Stars, cut

no inconsiderable figure. See Norberg 's
Liber Adami. For '''03, see on Is.
xin. 10. Both terras have been entirely
mistaken by tbe LXX. who render o
n-oi(Bj/ ndvra Kal peraaKevd^av, which is
faithfully copied by the Arab. JU2II
XUa^, 'iS. — niDbs, the shadow of death,
one ofthe very few Hebrew compounds.
See on Is, ix. 1. Ms to be supplied
before nW, as, indeed, it is in fourteen
MSS., pnmarily in three raore, and now
by correction in one ; in both the Son
cin. editions ; in both of Bomberg,
1518 in the margin, and in the appendix
to Munster's, 1536. In 'q'tom, there is
a transition from tbe participial to the
finite forra of the verb. To render tbe
clause uniforra, the construction would
be, nW'? Di' Tptona. The passage quoted
frora Pindar, by Clemens Alexandrinus,
is beautifully parallel : —
Qed Se Bvvardv eK peXatvas
NuKTOff dpiavrov dpaat cpds'
KeXatva ve<pei he aKOTOv KaXv\jfai
Kadapdv dpepas aeXas.
The following words are descriptive, not
of rain, as Jerorae, Theodoret, Kimchi,
Drusius, Liveley, Marckius, Dahl, and
Rosenmiiller raaintain, but of a deluge
or inundation, the waters of which raay.
emphatically be said to be poured over
the earth. Thus Grotius, Clarius,
Bauer, and likewise Lowth, though he
admits the possibility of tbe other view
being right. The Alex, reading of tbe
LXX. 0 ^eos o navTOKpdrap is found in
the Arab., in a Copt. MS., and in the
Slavon. Bible, has the support of three
MSS., yet it is more likely an addition
from chap. iv. 13, than otherwise.
9. After the prophet had apparently
completed his raagnificent description of
the Divine character, with the words
iDSi nin;, he appends in this verse an ad
ditional view of it, in order to raake it
tell raore practically on tbe fears of those
who boasted of the strength of Saraaria.
3^3, .Arab. ^L), niiui.', fulg'it aurora, not

CHAP, V

']

AMOS,

1.'55

10 They hate him that reproveth in the gate,
And abhor him that speaketh uprightly,
11 Wherefore, because ye trample upon the poor,
And take from him the tribute of corn :
Though ye have built houses of hewn stone,
Ye shall not dwell in them ;
Though ye have planted pleasant vineyards.
Ye shall not drink of their wine,
12 For I know that your transgressions are many,
And that your sins are great :
Oppressing the righteous,
Taking a bribe,
And turning aside the poor in the gate.
13 Therefore the prudent shall be silent at that time
For it is an evil time.

only conveys tbe idea of shining, being
bright, cheerful, Szc. but also that of sud
denness, suggested by the rapidity with
which the dawning light is difl'nsed over
the horizon. The Hebrews applied such
terms figuratively to the sudden pro
duction of misery, as well as to that of
happiness. See on Joel ii. 2. Winer,
oriri faciens, inducens super potentes
vasiationem. The ancient versions are
all at fault bere.
10. Ewald thinks that by n'3iDT?te3,
ihe reprover in the gate, Amos himself
is meant; but, from the recurrence of
M.3to, and TVtoa, in connexion with tDBi?3p,
ver. 15, it is farmore natural to interpret
the phrase of a magistrate, senator, or
judge. Corap. also ver, 12, and see on
Is. xxix. 21. in D'pn, which is to be
taken adverbially, as Judges ix. 9, is an
ellipsis of a.
11 — 13. Dm is, in all probability, a
faulty orthography of Dpa, the Polal. of
D13, Arab. Ujj, vilipendit rem, io tread
down, trample upon, &c. De Rossi's
codex 380, reads DSpiDia with Sin. nMisp,
what is raised, as a tax, tribute, Szc. from
Mtoi, to raise. Instead of remitting to
the poor the tax which they were unable
to pay, tbe rulers and proprietors rigidly
exacted it, tbat they raight consume it
upon their lusts. But in whatever state
and luxury they might have lived, and
whatever preparations they might be

making for further indulgences, Jehovah
declares that they should not continue
to enjoy them. The enemy would
speedily remove them from all the objects
on wbich they proudly doated, or from
which tbey expected gratification. For
the contrary of the threatening, see
Is. Ixv. 21, 22 ; Amos ix. 14. Tlie ad
jectives D'aT and D'pss, are placed before
their substantives, because tbey are pre
dicatives, and not qualificatives. Betore
both, the conjunction '3 is to be supplied.
The ellipsis was probably occasioned by
its having been used at the beginning of
tbe verse. TtS is most comraonly used in
the sense of Xvrpov, dvriXvrpov, ran
som, or price of redemption, on which
account Ewald and some others render
it so bere ; but the close connexion in
whicb the whole phrase stands with tbe
perversion of justice, specified in the
last clause of the verse, decides in favour
of the signification bribe, bribery, which
the word unquestionably has, 1 Sam.
xii. 3. Targ. iptoT pop, the mammon of
y
falsehood. Syr. i ^aQAi '^ bribe. LXX.
dXXdypara. The other Greek versions,
l^'tXaapa. If P'TS 'TO could be taken
to raean, " shutting up, or imprisoning
the righteous," then TSis might raean
ransora; but such usage does not obtain.
The only course left for the pious to
pursue in the raidst of such atrocious

156

AMOS.

[chap. v.

14

15

16

Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live ;
And it shall be so ; Jehovah, God of hosts, shall be with you,
According as ye say.
Hate evil and love good,
And establish justice in the gate ;
Perhaps Jehovah, God of hosts, may pity
The residue of Joseph.
Therefore thus saith Jehovah, God of hosts, the Lord:
In all the broad places there shall be wailing ;
And in all the streets, they shall say, Oh ! Oh !
They shall call the husbandman to mourning ;
And all who are skilled in elegy to wailing.

perversion of order and justice, was that
of quietly submitting to the hand of God,
whicb tbey were taught to recognise in
the permission of these evils, and patiently
to abide the issue of events. Any
atterapt, under tbese circumstances, to
stem the current, or effect a reformation,
or even to plead for private or public
rights, would only aggravate their
calamities. 'J'Sippn, the intelligent, prudent,
is to be understood, in the best sense, of
one wbo acts upon the principles of
enlightened piety,
14, 15. Reiterated calls to reforraation,
in order to ensure tbe return of Divine
favour. Both the style and the sen
timents have tbeir parallel in Is. i. 16,17.
Notwithstanding the sad apostasies of
the Israelitish people, they still bad their
profession of the religion of Jehovah to
fall back upon, in case of necessity.
They boasted that he was with them, but
it was an empty pretence while their pro
fession was insincere,beingcorabined with
the worship of idols. For the force of the
conditional particle ')iM, perhaps, in such
connexion, corapare Gen. xvi. 2, and el
apa. Acts viii, 22. Corap. also Joelii. 13,
where the same idea is expressed by
»Ti' 'P, whe knoweth ? fjpi' n'TMto, the re
mainder of Joseph, For this use of tbe
patronymic, see on ver. 6. Numerous
as tbe Israelites still were, they might
well be called a remainder, in conside
ration of the havoc made by Hazael,
who, when " the Lord began to cut"
them " short, smote them in all the
coasts of Israel ; frora Jordan eastward,
all the land of Gilead, the Gaditcs, and

the Reubenites, and the Manassites,
from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon,
even Gilead and Bashan." 2 King x.
32, 33.
16. pb, therefore, refers not to the
contents of verses 14, 15, but to verses
7, 10, and 12. We raay suppose a con
siderable pause tointervenebefore ver. 16.
Foreseeing that the people would not
repent, Jehovah here declares tbat the
threatened punishraent was inevitable.
The slaughter involved in this punish
ment would be general. Samaria, how
ever, and its vicinity, seem specially
intended. The position in which '3TM is
here placed, is altogether unusual.
Indeed, I am not aware that it is so
found in any other passage. Yet I would
not, with Newcorae, cancel it, on the
slender authority of seven MSS. the
LXX. Arab, and Syr, It seems rather
to have been purposely added, in order
to give greater soleranity to the sentence
which was to be pronounced. ni3rT),
broad, or open places, or wide streets in
a city; and distinguished frora nisin,
which signify ordinary or narrow streets,
sucb as are coraraon in tbe East. Gr.
nXare'ta. TBpp, strictly means a smiting
of the breast, (LXX. Konerds,) from
Tpp, io beat, smite ; see on Is. xxxii. 12.
Here, however, it is used to denote
wailing or mourning in general, in in.
Oh ! Oh ! This onoraatopoetic I have
rendered by the corresponding English
interjection, whicb, when prolonged and
swelled in tbe pronunciation, as it is by
persons giving utterance to excessive
grief, is much more appropriate than

CHAP, v.]

AMOS.

157

17 In all the vineyards there shall bewailing.
For I will pass through the midst of thee,
Saith Jehovah.
18 Wo unto you that desire the day of Jehovah !
What is the day of Jehovah unto you ?
It shall be darkness, and not light.
19 As when one fleeth from a lion,
And a bear meeteth him ;
Or he entereth the house, and leaneth his hand on the wall,
And a serpent biteth him.
20 Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness and not light;
Even thick darkness, without any brightness ?

Alas! Alas ! Syr. ^ooi i..»Ocn; Chald.
'1 '1 ; Vulg. vcE ! vcB ! in other Latin ver
sions, eAew.' eheu! The "^-^i^, husbandmen,
were to be called to participate in the
mourning, notas Newcome, Rosenmiiller,
and sorae others have thought, on account
of tbe desolation of tbe fields, but either
on account of the loudness of their rustic
voices, or because tbe slaughter of the
citizens of Saraaria would be so great,
tbat a sufficient number would not be
left to perform the funereal rites. Such
construction of the meaning is required
by tbe following parallelism : TDppi
'n3 '^'li'-'jM. There is no necessity for
supposing that the words of this sen
tence have been transposed, and that
they originally stood thus: 'ni 'yii'i
TBCp-'jM. Tbe preposition 'M is understood
before TBpp, and IM'ip, as repeated to
govern ''M, which it often does, as well
as the accusative. 'n3, wailing, lamen-
p
tation, frora nnj, Syr. '\(j\^ to utter
lamentable cries. The persons here
spoken of as " skilled in wailing," were
mourners by profession, who were hired
for the occasion, and sung doleful tunes
around the corpse of a deceased person,
which they preceded when it was carried
to the grave, giving utterance to disraal
cries and bowlings, beating tbeir breasts,
throwing ashes on tbeir heads, and show
ing every artificial token of excessive
grief. 'These were the mourners whom
Solomon describes as going about the
streets, Eccles. xii. 5. That feraales were
especially eraployed on such occasions.

appears from Jer. ix. 17 — 19, where 'nj
is twice used as here by Amos. The
same custom obtained among the Greeks
and Romans. Thus Homer, speaking of
the funeral of Plector, says :

¦  TOI' pev enetra
TprjTo'i.s ev Xexeeaat Beaav, napd he etaav
dothovs,
Qprjvav e^dpxovs, oire OTos'o'eo-a-ai'
dothirjv
Ol pev dp' edpijveov, eni he arevaxoVTO
yvvalKes. j^.^^^ ^^.^_ ^^0, &c.
See also Horace de Arte Poet. ver. 433.
In his edition of Harmer's Observations,
vol. iii. p. 42, Dr. A. Clarke gives a de
scription of the ancient funeral solem
nities of the Irish, and the translation of
a song of wailing prepared for the occa
sion, which bears a strong resemblance
to those used by the Orientals. Comp.
Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, second
series, voL ii. pp. 402 — 407.
17. The vineyards, whicb usually ex
hibited scenes of rejoicing, should now
be frequented by disconsolate mourners.
For Jehovah's passing through the land,
corap. Exod. xii. 12, 23 ; only in the
latter case the punishraent was rairacu-
lously infiicted ; in the forraer, by the
king of Assyria, as an instruraent in the
hand of God.
18 — 20. These versesintjraately cohere
with tbe preceding. The day of Jehovah
raeans the time when his judgments
should be inflicted. The Israelites could
only have given expression sarcastically
to the wish that this day might soon
reach them. It was an impious daring

15S

AMOS.

[chap. v.

21 I hate, I loathe your festivals ;
Neither do I delight in your days of restraint.
When ye offer to me holocausts and bloodless sacrifices,
I will take no pleasure in them ;
Neither will I regard the thank-offerings of your fatlings.
Take away from me the noise of thy songs,
I will not hear the music of thy harps.
24 Let justice roll on like water,

22

23

of Jehovah to do his worst. Comp. Is. v.
19; Jer. xvii. 15. The prophet tells
tbem plainly that it would be to them a
day of unraitigated affliction. Tbe fallacy
of every hope of escape is illustrated by
two siraple, but forcible comparisons,
borrowed from the pastoral life. Bochart
regards the language as proverbial, and
supports bis opinion by two Arabic stories :
the one beginning, UUwjI S.^ Sw)
ktijj (_o.Vi'g.t i__>t> [^Lac] ij£i30 "Alien,
pursuing a man, he took refuge in a tree,
in the branches of which a bear having
fixed himself, was plucking its fruit,"
Sic; and tbe other, ^^ U^l '~r^j^

iiiis- Jmj.^}]

^iij^- *_s' &

6mJ]

<—>d j.wj| J UU, "A man fled from
a lion, and fell into a well, into wbich
the lion went down after him. And there
was a bear in the well," &c. Hierozo.
lib. iii. cap. ix. pp. 810, 811, Kimcbi
tersely expresses the meaning thus,
ms 'jM mspiMSn, Ye shall go oui of
calamity into calamity. Comp. J ob xx. 24 ;
Is. xxiv. 18. The adjective 'IBM is explained
by the following words. It occurs only
in tbis place ; but the substantives '^''i,
''BM, dense obscurity, are used in several
passages of Job, the Psalms, and tbe
Prophets. nib'BM, however, in tbe sense
of concealed, occurs Exod. ix. 32. Comp.
the Arab, jjjl, occidit sol, &c. Thus in
Hariri, Consess. xv. the noun (J»i) is
employed : Jjilj itMj.ii^ JjJI (^/ilju!
iMi..fUjt ^ji^s], " Extii'patio eruditionis et

obliteratio ejus : Lunarumque ac Solium
ejusdem occasus." n33, on tbe contrary,
signifies io shine, be light; and its
derivative nab rs used of the rising of the
sun, Prov. iv. 18, andis contrasted with
njDM, ver. 19.
21 — 23. The sarae aversion frora the
ceremonial observances of the insincere
and rebellious Israelites wbich Jehovah
bere expresses, he afterwards employed
Isaiah to declare to the Jews, chap. i.
10 — 15. The two passages are strikingly
parallel ; only the latter prophet amplifies
what is set forth in a more condensed
forra by Amos. It is also to be observed,
that where Amos introduces the musical
accompaniments ofthe sacrifices, Isaiah
substitutes the prayers; both concluding
with the divine words, »pto '33'M=BpfflN ^'7,
/ will not hear. The verbs 'riDND 'nM3iU
follow each other iraraediately, for the
sake of more emphatically expressing the
Divine abhorrence. Comp. ') M'n njsin and
'toB3nM3to in Isaiah. n'TMM';, lit. / will not
smell ; but meaning here, / will take ne
delight in. niTSS), restraints, periods, days
of restraint, or assemblies collected on
such days. See on Is. i. 13. ta^to, used
here collectively for the plural C3'pVto. —
'bsp Tpn, lit. remove from upon me ; con
veying the idea of a burden wbicb vexes
and annoys the bearer. Isaiah expresses
it in full : rnia^ 'b» vn, " Tbey are a burden
upon me." Comp. further for the force
of the compound preposition, Exod.
X. 28. The music here referred to was
that perforraed at the Hebrew festivals
by tbe Levites, before and during tbe
offering of the sacrifices, and on other
public occasions.
24. While no direction is given re
specting the regulation of the sacrifices,
in order that tbey might be presented in
an acceptable manner, a special injunc
tion is imparted in regard to justice and

cn.AP, V,]

AMOS.

159

And righteousness like a mighty stream.
25 Did ye not present sacrifices and offerings to me,
During forty years in the desert, O house of Israel ?

rectitude, on the principle that to obey is
better than sacrifice, and to hearken than
the fat of rams," 1 Sara. xv. 22. "Necin
victimis, licet optirase sint, auroque prse-
fulgeant, Deorum est honos, sed pia ac
recte mente venerantium." Senecade Be
neficiis, i. 6. Tbat jn'M, Arab. ^ ., peren-
nisfuit,is to be here rendered perennial,
or evei-flowing, and not mighty, has been
maintained by some interpreters ; but a
comparison of the several passages in
which it occurs, goes to show that it is
rather to be referred to Jt), valida,
fuit, mullus fuit, and is to be rendered
great or mighty. It thus better corre
sponds with '5^3, roll, to roll on, used in
tbe former hemistich. LXX. tusx^M^PP"'^

afiaTots. Syr
Vulg. quasi

'a: ¦ P
torrens fortis.

Arab.

like a
Wady that c'annot b'e passed. The ideas
of abundance and raoral power are
those conveyed by the prophet. I raust
differ frora Prof. Lee, who (Heb. Lex. in
voc. jn'M) renders, " for judgraent rolletb
(away) as the waters (roll away), and
righteousness (disappears) like the raighty
torrent." The verse as thus rendered ill
suits the context, and is not in keeping
with parallel passages, in whicb, after a
reprehension of hypocritical observances,
the moral qualities of truth and righteous
ness are required. The construction put
upon it by Theodoret, Kirachi, Munster,
Veil, and Hitzig, tbat the coraing of the
Divine judgments is intended, is, for the
same reasons, to be rejected.
25 — 27. Tbese verses bave nota little
perplexed expositors, both ancient and
raodern. The first difficulty lies in what
is said respecting the presentation of
sacrifices. Greve, Dahl, and Maurer, take
tbe n in tD'PJin to be the article, and not
the particle of interrogation, and render,
ihe sacrifices and offerings ye presented to
me, Szc, viz. those prescribed in the law:
but now ye bear ihe shi ine, Szc. According
to this raode of construction, the present
idolatrous course of the Israelites is

contrasted with tbeir forraer obedience
to tbe Divine will. In order, however,
to justify this interpretation, the article
must have been repeated before timp,
whicb it is not. The insertion of the
compensative Dagesb in the letter Zain
cannot be pleaded in its favour, since
there are several instances in which the
interrogative n takes the form of tbe
article, before words beginning with
Sheva, as R^n, Gen. xvii. 17 ; PTin, Ezek,
xviii. 29 ; ''ID?'}, Joel iv. 4, Sic The
ancient translators have all read in
terrogatively. LXX. M^ a(pdyta Kal
Bvaias npoarjvlyKare pot, k. t. X. •
^^N^^ Vulg. Numquid hostias et sacri-
ficia obtulisiis mihi, Szc ? Targ, np33n
MTanpa 'pTjj.pnaip pjaTipi ptoTiP. And so
almost all the moderns, some of whom
suppose the force of the question to lie
in 'i io me, taken emphatically, "Was
it to ME," &-C. while others think that
an absolute denial ofthe presentation of
sacrifices in the wilderness is implied in
the words. In support of the latter
opinion, it has been attempted to prove,
that the Israelites could not bave offered
any sacrifices for want of cattle. Such a
position, however, is contrary to the
express declarations found in Exod, xii.
38, xvii. 3, xxxiv. 3 ; Lev, xvii. 1 — 9.
Num. vii. passim., xx. 4, 19. Tbe life
wbich they led in the desert was that of
Nomades, so tbat there could have been
no lack of animals for sacrifice. Tbe
true construction ofthe passage isfounded
on tbe principle, that not unfrequently
in Hebrew the interrogation iraplies,
and calls for an eraphatic affirmative,
either expressed or understood ; and
is tbus equivalent to a negative interroga
tion in our language, and indeed to M';n
in Hebrew. See 1 Sam. ii. 27, 28; Job
XX. 4; Jer. xxxi. 20 ; Ezek. xx. 4. In
tbe present case, as in these just cited,
the persons addressed are supposed to
admit the fact couched in the appeal ;
but the question is so put in order the
more forcibly to introduce the adversative
sentence which follows in the 26th verse.
The connexion of the two verses is this :

160 AMOS,
26 And yet ye bare the shi'ine of your king,

[chap.

" Did ye not present sacrifices and
offerings to rae in the wilderness forty
years, O house of Israel ? Yes ; and yet
ye bare the shrine," fee. That tbe con
junction 1 is frequently to be rendered
and yet, bui yet, or tbe like, see Gen.
xvii. 21; Judges xvi. 15 ; Ps. 1. 17; Is.
liii. 7. What is here charged upon the
ancient Israelites was their indulging in
idolatrous practices while they pro
fessedly attended to the ritual observ
ances of the Mosaic law — the very sin
which Araos was coramissioned to charge
upon tbeir descendants in his day, and on
account of whicii tbey were to be carried
into captivity. The opinion of Forsayeth
(quoted by Newcome), Dahl, and others,
that the sin reproved in ver. 26 was
exclusively tbat of those wbo lived in the
tirae of the prophet, is less adraissible
than that whicb refers it to their ances
tors, yet so tbat the reproof was intended
to be applied to their own case by those
whom the prophet addressed. — Tbe 26tb
verse has been very differently rendered,
as well as variously interpreted. The
translation of the LXX. is as follows :
Kai dvekd^ere rfjv oKrjvrjV toC MoXd;(;,
Kat ro darpov rov 6eov vpdv 'Patcjidv,
To-us Tvnovs avrdv, ovs Inoujaare
eavrols; as if the Hebrew had read,
Dn'piia p'3 D3'n')M asis nMi. ifp map nM C3nNiB3i
: D35 Dn'to? tsJm. No vestige, hovvever, of
any such order of the words is found in
any Hebrew MS., orin any other monu
ment of antiquity, except the speech of
Stephen, as recorded by Luke, Acts vii.
43, which is an almost verbal quotation
from the LXX. 'Theod. renders thus: Kai
T]pare ttjv dpaatv tov ^aatXeas vpdv,
dpavpaatv elhcoXav vpdv, darpov Tod
6eov vpdv ; so that he must have read
the words as they now stand in the
Hebrew text. The sarae may be said
ofthe Syr., Vulg., and Targ., though their
renderings differ frora each other in one
or two minor particulars. The reraark
of Jerome on the discrepancies between
the Hebrew text and tbe ancient Greek
version deserves to be quoted here :
" Observandum est, apostolos et apo
stolicos viros in ponendis testimoniis de
Veteri Testamento, nonverba considerare
sed sensum, nec eadera sermonum calcare
vestigia, dummodo a sententiis non

recedant." Comment, in loc. Most in
terpreters follow the LXX. in giving
ni3p by aKr)vrj, a tent; deriving it, like
niD, and T[b, of the same signification,
frora ':j3p, to intertwine, as branches, so as
to form a booth or but. Others, such as
Jarchi, Calvin, Mercer, and Rosenraiiller,
take it to mean an image or idol, and
render , Siccuth your king. They explain
it by referring to the Chald. Mnsp, a
wooden post, wbich they suppose formed
the pedestal on which the idol stood,
and so tbe word might be transferred to
tbe idol itself. Ewald takes much the
same view. The former derivation is
alone admissible. The tent appears to
have had soraething of the texture, as it
bad the design of the aKrjvfjs lepds,
sacred tent, in the Carthaginian camp,
mentioned by Diodorus Siculus, lib. xx.
cap. 25, and described as consisting eK
KaXdpov Kal xoprov, of reeds and grass.
Comp. Wilkinson's Ancient Egypt,
second series, vol. ii. pp. 270 -275. Only,
as it is certain Moses would not have
tolerated anything of the kind if its size
had been such as to bring it to his
cognizance, it may be inferred, that it
was only a small temple or shrine, whicii
might easily be concealed in the interior
of a tent. Such diminutive temples were
in use among the Egyptians, frora whom
no doubt the Hebrews took the idea.
Herodotus, describing an idol worshipped
at Papremis, says, rd Se ayaXpa e'dv
ev NHUi MIKPilt ^vXivco KaraKexpvaa-
peva npoeKKopi^ovai rfj nporepair) Is
dXXo o'tKTipa tpdv, " The image, being in
a .small temple of gilt wood, they carry
out on tbe previous day to another sacred
habitation," Compare the vaoi dpyvpol,
shrines, or small temples of Diana,
raentioned Acts xix. 24. Tbat any
connexion is to be traced between map,
Siccuth, and ni33ni3D, Succoth-benoth,
2 Kings xvii. 30, the tents in wbich the
daughters of the Babylonians prostituted
themselves in worship of Venus, does not
appear. Dpa^p, your king, thus Symm.
Theodot, and Leo Juda, and raost
raoderns ; but the LXX. MoXd;(, Syr.
•joaa^^i talcum, Aq. MfXp^f/i, Vulg,
Moloch, exhibit the word as tbe proper
naraeof tbe god of tbe Ammonites, i.e. T['J0,

CHAP, V,]

AMOS,

161

And Cliiun of your images, the star of your god.
Which ye made for yourselves.

also called DS^p, Milcom, 1 Kings xi. 5, and
D3to, Malcam, Zeph. i. 5 ; aud tbis con
struction sorae raoderns have adopted;
butas^JD, king, is also employed by the
Hebrews in application to idols, Is.
xxxvii, 13, Zeph. i. 5, it is better to
retain its usual signification. The Phoe
nicians gave the title of d'js I'm, king of
the world, to the sun, andmp -[';p=nip7D,
king of the city, to Hercules. Comp.
Zev ava. Iliad, iii. 351, xvi. 233; and
'Cl' va^ rfXBe nap' rjpias tKeTrjs, Herod.
I, 159. In Ethiopic ?\«J®AV1,
Amlak, tbe proper narae for God, is
derived from aD/\ Yi j intp^rav'tt, rexit,
and is applied in the plural to idols.
The learned are generally agreed, tbat
the Moloch of Scripture was the iraage of
the planet Saturn, and thus identical
with Chiun, raentioned by Amos in the
following clause of the verse. The
Phcenicians were in tbe habit of offering
to him human sacrifices, especially
children, to which horrible custom
repeated reference is made in the his
torical books of tbe Old Testament, See
Michaelis on the laws of Moses, Art,
ccxlvii, Suppl. No. 1115; Selden de
Diis Syris, cap. vi, ; Spencer de Legibus
Hebrseor. lib. ii. cap. 10 ; Gesenius, in
his Thesaurus, sub. voc. ; Winer, Real-
wbrter-bucb. D3'p^S|i'3, Chinn of your
images, i. e. represented by them ; the
model after whicii they were raade,
¦iVhile the idol so called, wbich tbe
Hebrews carried about in a sacred shrine,
was itself a symbol or representative of
one of the heavenly bodies, it was in its
turn represented by a number of copies,
or smaller images, wbich they used as
penates or household gods in tbe practice
of astrolatry. Sucb appears to me to
be the meaning of the words. To this
construction, however, C. B. Michaelis,
Vitringa, Rosenmiiller, Hesselberg,
Hengstenberg, and others object, that it
makes p'3 a proper name, which, with
the older grammarians, they allege cannot
be put in regimen. But to this rule, it
raust be admitted, there are many
exceptions, as D.'3-ip niinto», poin 'jsa, 13 bS3,

d;'1i13D'im, nmDM3^3, niM3snjn;, &c. Nor
can it justly he objected that as ni3p is an
appellative, p'3 being parallel to it, must
necessarily be the same. The necessity
of the case is not obvious. Both are
mentioned as objects wbich the Hebrews
carried about for idolatrous purposes —
tbe one, the portable temple of the idol;
the other, the idol itself placed in tbis
temple, of which numerous miniature
resemblances were privately distributed
throughout the carap. The LXX. unques
tionably regarded the word as a proper
narae, whatever they may thereby have
intended to designate. And this view ofthe
subjectis confirmed by 33i3, a star, being
put in apposition with p"3, in order to
explain it, an explanation which cannot
apply, if by tbe latter term we understand
merely tbe pedestal or stand on which
the idol was placed. It is now alraost a
settled point, that by p'3, Chiun, the
planet Saturn is meant. If we except
p „.
the Syr., which reads .olsi Kevon, the
earliest authorities whicb we have for
this interpretation ofthe passage are the
rabbins Abenezra and Kimchi ; but their
testimony as relating to a matter of
fact is irrefragable, however sUgbtingly
Hengstenberg seemsto treat it, Authen.
des Pentat. p. 113. The former thus
comments upon the passage : »iTp'3n')Di
-rtm '3 'n3ii3 Mini |mV3 Min '3 did Da '¦jmsdib' p4)";3
obs-h, " And as for the term Chiun, it is
known in the Arabic and Persic lan
guages by tbe narae Kivan, which is
Saturn, to which they made an image."
And thelatter, in nearly tbe sarae words :
|M1'3 DnDI 'JMSDMJ' piL'';3 M1p3 pi 'n3115 3313 Min,
" It is the star Saturn, and tbus he is
called Kivan in the Arabic and Persic."
}*)S, Keiwan, seems to bave been
adopted from the latter into the former
of these languages, in the Lexicons of
which, as a foreign word, it is explained
by {Jjb-j, the usual name for Saturn in
Arabic. It occurs in tbe Persian work
entitled Dabistan, the author of which,
describing the temples whicb the ancient
Persians dedicated to the planets, says :
Y

162

AMOS.

[chap.

27 Therefore, I will carry you away captive beyond Damascus,
Saith Jehovah : God of hosts is his name.

isLwj l_j<Awj

J' bj^:

S

tM u\AJ ,

that " the image of Keiwan was of black
stone." Lee's Hebrew Lex, in voc.
lTito«. He speaks, in fact, of the is3.s>.j
shrine, and jCw, ima^e, ofthe planet, just
as Amos does of nisp and p'3. According
to the Zendavesta the seven planets
are Tir, Behram, Achuraa, Anabid,
Kewan, Gurtsher, and Dodidora Mus-
hewer. Bundehesh V, In the codex
Nasarseus, containing tbe doctrines of
the Sabeeans, which was published by
Norberg, we find a list of tbe demons
which rule these planets, among whom
V (3 7
fOiS lj,A.isQAi,' the fifth is Kivan, p. 54.
Itis afterwards added in the same page :
^a,».=l!iir) ^^ali^-iiaj ]iviiDQao]o
q\,_,v^, " ," The demons o'i Kivan'm^ect
lamentation, weeping and mourning into
the hearts of raen, and rob thera of
happiness." And we farther read, p. 212,
^..».»30 (..tCajA ]oai, " To K'lvan is
attributed malice, because from it come
diminution and want." Ascribing the
same evil influence to Saturn, the Arabs
likewise give to it the narae of • i<,kJ^I
j.O}l) the great disaster; and the idea
frequently occurs in the Latin classics.
See Lucan. i. 650 ; Juven. vi. 569 ;
Macrob. Saturn, i. 19. Ifthe Hebrew
p'3 be pointed )y3, the exact pronuncia
tion of the name of the planet in the other
Oriental dialects will be brought out, and

thus the evidence of identity be complete.
With respect to 'Pai(^dv, the rendering
ofthe LXX., or'Pe<pav, as itis tobe spelt,
on tbe authority of the best MSS., Acts
vii. 43, there is every reason to believe
that tbey mistook 3 for "i, as they have
done in other instances ; and so have
given Rephan, instead of Kephan. Tbat
PH*AN should occur in the Arabico-
Coptic table of tbe planets exhibited by
Kircher in his Ling. jEgypt. Restit.p.49,
by no means proves tbat this was the
ancient Egyptian narae of Saturn ; for
as that table is of no great antiquity, and
as tbe other names are chiefly derived
frora the Greek, we raay reasonably
infer that the one in question was copied
frora the Coptic version of this very
passage of the LXX. At all events, no
such narae of a deity has yet been found
in the Egyptian pantheon. 33i3, the star,
is expletive of p'?," in so far as it inforras
us that tbe figure of tbe idol was that of
a star, and thus proves the idolatrous
worship to have been the Sabsean, with
which the Hebrews becarae acquainted
during their stay in tbe Arabian desert.
27. Instead of pipan^ hm)!?^, LXX,
eneKetva AapaaKov, "beyond Daraas
cus," with which all the other authorities
agree, Stephen has eneKetva Ba^vXdvos,
" bey ond Ba6i/fo«, " Acts vii. 43, obviously
by way of interpretation. nM'?n naturally
suggests tbe idea of remoteness, tbough
it is soraetiraes used in reference to what
is at no great distance. Root Mbn, Arab,
Jjj), recessit, Syr. '^ot^jI' removit,
elongavit. The n added is paragogic.
While wbat Amos states is included in the
statement made by the proto-martyr, the
latter embraces what was known from
fact to be the fulfilment of the prophecy :
the Israelites having been carried, not
merely beyond Damascus, but beyond
Babylon, into the country ofthe Medes.
The chapter closes with a vindication of
the supremacy of Jehovah above all the
objects of Sabaean worship : iDto niH3? 'n''3M,
God of Sabaeth is his name !

CHAP. VI,]

AMOS.

163

CHAPTER VI.
This chapter embraces the character and punishment of the whole Hebrew nation.
The inhabitants of the two capitals are directly addressed in the language of
denunciation, and charged to take warning frora the fate of other nations, 1, 2.
Their carnal security, injustice, self-indulgence, sensuality, and total disregard of
the divine threatenings, are next described, 3 — 6 ; after which the prophet
announces the captivity, and the calamitous circumstances connected with the
siege of Samaria, by wbicb it was to be preceded, 7 — 11. He then exposes the
absurdity of their conduct, and threatens tbem with the irruption of an enemy,
that should pervade tbe whole country, 12 — 14.

Wo to them that are at ease in Zion,
And to them that are secure in the mountain of Samaria ;
The distinguished men of the first of nations,
To whom the house of Israel come !

1. Though chiefly directed against the
northern of the two kingdoms, the
language of this prophecy is so con
structed as to apply to both ; and in the
present verse express mention is raade
of the inhabitants of Jerusalera, who
reserabled those of Samaria in careless
ness and carnal security. '|3Mii5 and nma
are sirailarly connected and applied. Is.
xxx. 9, 11 ; so that the rendering of tbe
LXX. rot? e^ovOevovat^tdv, adopted by
Dathe, cannot be justified. For the
priraary raeaning of ^m^, compare the
cognate ]5tj, in Niphal, to lean, lean upen,
trust. 'The reduplicate Nun expresses
intensity. 3ip3 has here tbe acceptation
of the Arab. <- ^i'6'\ rerum genlis ad
ministrator, princeps gentis : frora t,_ ,0!,
perfodit, creatus est ; creatus fuit dux.
Whence also iJjo, prefectura.

The

Hebrew phrase Dtoj 3p3, to be marked, dis-
iinguishedby name, is always used in refer
ence to persons who had been chosen or
designated for sorae special service. Num.

i. 17 ; 1 Chron. xii. 31, xvi. 41 ; 2 Chron.
xxviii. 15, xxxi. 19. The term is here
eraployed for tbe purpose of specifying
more particularly tbe leading men in
the two kingdoms, whose profligacy and
irreligion preeminently aggravated tbe
national guilt. By D'ian n'aJMn we are not,
with Newcome, to understand " the chief
of the idolatrous nations," and that tbe
persons spoken of were called after thera,
but the Hebrew nation, which is so called
because it was the principal, or most
distinguished of all the nations of the
earth : having been constituted tbe
peculiar people of God, and possessing
laws and privileges unknown to any
otber. It might well be said to occupy the
first ran\i. Compare pto P'ia n'toM^Nura.
xxiv. 20, where the reference is to the
distinguished place which the Amale
kites held among the nations of Canaan.
onb is to be construed with D'apa, and not
with D;ia, or with p'2 and pipto. The
people of Israel were in the habit of
going up to their princes and leaders for
the decision of differences, &c. They
exerted an influence over the entire

164

AMOS,

[chap.

Pass over to Calneli, and see ;
And go thence to Hamath the great ;
Go down also to Gath of the Philistines :
Were they better than these kingdoms ?
Were their boundaries more ample than yours ?
Wo to them that put off the day of evil,
And bring near the seat of oppression ;

people. Both the LXX. and tbe Syr.
are greatly at fault in the translation of
this verse.
2. Three heathen cities are here
selected as specimens of tbe greatness
and prosperity of tbe nations to whicb
tbey belonged, and the Israelites are
challenged to institute a comparison of
the circumstances of these nations and
tbe extent of their territory, with tbose
of their own, as also, to reflect on the
present prostrate condition of tbe cities
mentioned, in order that they might
become sensible of tbe superiority with
which Jehovah bad distinguished thera,
andthegreaterpunishment to which they
had exposed theraselves by their ungrate
ful returns. For n?^?, Calneh, and nm,
Hamath, see on Is. x. 9. Hitzig attempts
to prove that by the latter narae, MnprrN,
Ecbatana or Hamedan is raeant; but
there is no reason to believe that the
Hebrews bad any knowledge of this city
in tbe days of Amos. It is here called
nsi, great, not to distinguish it frora
other cities of tbe sarae narae, but to
express its size and magnificence. Comp.
njT pTir, S'ldon the great, Josh. xi. 8. na,
Gath, was the chief city of one ofthe
five satrapies of the Philistines, with
whose narae it is here associated, to
distinguish it from Gath-Hepher, and
Gatb-Riraraon. It had more than once
been reduced before the time of Amos,
and disappeared at an early period from
tbe annals of geography. No trace of it
has been discovered by any niodern tra
veller. The n in D'3iQn has been regarded
as the Article by the LXX., Syr., and
Vulg. translators, and is thus found in
twelve of De Rossi's MSS. ; but the more
natural construction is that of the Targ.
and raost modern versions, whicb makes
it interrogative. Before the |P of cora
parison is an ellipsis of nan ; and ni3topn,
n^Mn, these kingdoms, must be understood

as designating those of Israel and Judah,
with which the prophet had immediately
to do, and to which he thus emphatically
points. In this way only can an appro
priate reference be found for the dis
tinctive affixes in Dbiaa and D3|>ia3,
3. Supply 'in, wo io, from ver. 1.
D''73DD, the Targ. not inappropriately
explains by ppn'iD, remove io a distance.
The rootisnja, whicbin the other dialects
signifies to separate, remove as an object
of disgust, Aq. oi dnoKexaptapevot,
Syram. d(jiaptapevot. The persons ad
dressed could not bear the idea that the
period of threatened punishraent was
irapending ; they endeavoured as ranch
as possible to keep it out of view. Comp.
Ezek. xii. 21 — 28. In striking antithesis
to this, they are represented in the follow
ing hemistich, as acting in such a manner
as speedily to bring it upon thera.
" Sed quara coscus inest vitiis amor?
ornlie futurum
Despicitur, suadentque brevem presentia
fructura ;
Et ruit in vetitura darani secura libido,
Dum mora supplicii lucre, serumque
quod instat
Creditur." Claud. Eutrop. lib. ii.
I cannot agree with Jerome, Grotius,
Newcorae, Justi, and sorae others, in
referring Dpn n.3^, the seat or throne of
oppression, lo tbe rule of the king of
Assyria : it is raore natural to regard
the prophet as describing the wickedness
of the people themselves hi yielding
S'.ipport to a system of flagrant injustice
and oppression, on the part of their own
rulers and judges. Thus most expositors.
njto occurs nowhere else in the sense of
throne; but 3'to;, of wbich it is properly
the infinitive, is used in application both
to kings and judges, as is also the par
ticiple 3toi'. 'I'he term is synonymous
with NP3, which is also used both of the

chap, VI.]

AMOS.

165

That lie upon beds of ivory,
And are stretched npon their couches ;
That eat lambs from the flock,
And calves from the midst of the stall ;
That strike up songs to the sound of the lyre ;
Like David, they invent for themselves instruments of music ;
That drink in bowls of wine,
And anoint with the first of oils ;
But are not grieved for the destruction of Joseph !
Therefore now they shall go captive at the head of the captives,
And the shouting company of those that recline shall depart.

throne and the bench. to'|n is here
taken by most interpreters to have the
same signification as in Kal, to approach ;
but as in every other instance in which
tbe verb is used in Hiphil it vindicates
to itself the causative acceptation, and
in the present case is obviously intended
to form a contrast to D''i3p, wbich conveys
the idea of removing to a distance, I
must retain the rendering of our coramon
version. Thus Hitzig and Ewald, 'The
raeaning is, that instead of putting away
from them all illegal and oppressive
judgment, they encouraged those who
were guilty of them, by assisting in
carrying them into execution,
4. For ]to niBp, beds of ivory, see on
chap. iii. 15 ; and comp. lecti eburnei of
Horace, and lecti eborati of Plautus.
D'ri'ip, from niia, Arah.,— yM,libere dimisit,
ie be thrown negligently along, is de
scriptive of the self-indulgent mode in
which the Orientals recline upon their
sofas or couches, being stretched upou
thera at full length. The whole verse
sets forth in well chosen expressions the
luxurious habits of tbe opulent. LXX.
KaraanaraXdvTes. 5, 6. IO'I? is a dna^ Xey., and bas been
thought by Gesenius, Hitzig, and Ewald,
to bave been selected on purpose, instead
of "ISI, to sing, in order to express the
contempt in which the music deserved
fo be held. Such interpretation, how
ever, does not appear to be philologically
sustained, and ill suits the corresponding
hemistich. According to the LXX.
IniKparovvres, presiding over, or at, the
verb is synonyraous with nsa, in Piel, to

superintend, lead in music. Hence
tisjp, the chief musician. Corap. the
Arab, ij-s, prcevertit, prcecessit. The
persons reprobated were so passionately
fond of song, tbat tbey could not be
content to listen to tbe perforraances of
professed rausicians, but took tbe lead in
striking up songs to the sound of the
lyre. The reference to David, who was
the sweet singer of Israel, and of whose
musical instruments express mention is
made Neb. xii. 36, is manifestly iron
ical; im.plying that, while that monarch
devoted his musical talent to the glory
of God, the dissipated grandees of Israel
consulted only tbeir personal gratification,
and that of those who joined tbeir giddy
circle. D'piip, were properly basons, or
bowls, of a larger size, used for sacrificial
purposes, Exod. xxxviii, 3 ; Nura. vii.
13, 19. The persons referred to, indulged
to such excess, that ordinary cups were
unsuited to their compotations. They
likewise anointed themselves with tbe
most precious oils, and evinced a total
apathy in regard to tbe calamities to
which their people had already been
subject, or the still raore serious evils
which threatened them. For the mean
ing of t]pi', Joseph, see on chap. v. 6,

7. n™, Arab.

vox, the shout or

tjr'
cry, in which the merrymakers indulged
over their cups. The persons giving
the shout seera to be intended, and, as
the terra is also used in reference to a
cry of laraentation, Jer. xvi. 5, it raay
be iraplied that their joy would be turned
into sorrow. They are spoken of col-

166

AMOS.

[CHAI'. VI.

8 The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by himself,
Thus saith Jehovah, God of hosts,
I abhor the splendour of Jacob,
And I hate his palaces :
Therefore will I deliver up the city, and all that is in it,
9 It shall be, that if ten men should be left in one house,
They also shall die.
10 And one's relative, even he that burneth him shall take him up,
To remove his bones out of the house ;

lectively. Symm. iratpeta rpvrprjrdv.
Those who had taken the lead in revelry
and all manner of wickedness, were to
be first in the procession of captives. In
such a position, tbeir disgrace would be
more conspicuous,
8. Tbe double form of asseveration
here employed is unusual, and is strongly
emphatic. 3MnQ, the Piel participle of
3Mn, a root of the sarae signification with
3i?n. Corapare for a sirailar interchange
of these letters 'JMa and bsi, nd3 and spa.
Though the phrase 3p».' pN^, the excel
lency of Jacob, cannot be otherwise un
derstood than of God hiraself, as tbe
only legitimate object of glorying on the
part of his people, chap. viii. 7, yet, in
the present instance, it is to be taken in
application to the country and peculiar
privileges of the Hebrews. It was once
a country piously celebrated in song as
the exceUency of Jacob, Ps. xlvii. 5, and
the peculiar object of divine regard; but
now, defiled by the wickedness of its in
habitants, it had become the object of
his abhorrence. By T?, the city, Araos
had raost probably Saraaria in his eye,
Hitzig attaches to'n'iapn, the signification
of Kal, to besiege, shut up, but tbe usual
Hiphil signification better agrees with
the following connexion, vsb-q, fulness,
conveys the idea of multitude, or great
abundance, and comprehends here both
the nuraerous inhabitants theraselves,
and the wealth and raeans of gratification
in which they abounded. Comp. Ps.
xxiv. 1. For the accomphshment of tbe
prediction, see 2 Kings xvii. 5, 6.
9, 10. The scene is not necessarily
laid in the city ; it might also have been
realized in any of the towns or villages
in the country that had been depopu
lated by the Assyrians. It depicts, in
the most affecting manner, the deplorable

condition of the few that had escaped
the enemy, and had now been attacked
by the plague — a usual attendant on war
in the East. The prophet declares,
that if as many as ten had been left in
one house, which might be regarded as
a rare instance, they should die, one
after another, of tbis fatal disease, iit
is not here to be taken in the special
sense of uncle, but denotes any near
relative ou whora it devolved to attend
to the funeral rites. Targ. n'3'^p. Vulg.
propinquus. In the present case, such
would be the paucity of hands, that he
would have to perforra the whole him
self. The copulative 1, prefixed to iB^pp,
is epexegetical, and is to be rendered
even, as in Zech.ix. 9. Instead of fj.ipp,
many both of Kennicott's and De Rossi's
MSS. read correctly fl^top. But compare
V V ' ¦
tbe Syr. ^a-co- Some have attempted
to prove from this, and some other pas
sages, that it was the practice of the
Hebrews to burn their dead. But what
is said 2 Chron. xvi. 14, xxi. 19 ; Jer.
xxxiv. 5, obviously refers to the burning
of spices, and not of dead bodies, 1 Sam.
xxxi. 12, and our present text, exhibit
special cases. In the forraer of these,
the object was so to dispose of the
corpses that it might not be in the
power of tbe Philistines further to dis
honour thera ; while in the latter, it was
either, as Grotius supposes, to prevent
contagion, or to dispose of the body in
tbe only way of whicb tbe circurastances
of the tirae would allow. That by D'pss,
not mere bones are meant, nor bodies so
emaciated as to be nothing but skin and
bone, whichis Winer's opinion, but dead
bodies, seems established beyond all
doubt by a reference to Gen, 1. 25 ;
Exod. xiii. 19; 2 Kings xiii, 21 ; Jer.

CHAP, VI,]

AMOS.

167

And shall say to him that is in the innermost part of the house,
Is there yet any with thee ?
And he shall say, None !
Then shall he say, Hush !
For we must not mention the name of Jehovah.
For behold ! Jehovah hath commanded,
And he will smite the great house with breaches,
And the small house with fissures.
Shall horses run upon a roek '^
Will one plough there with oxen ?
Yet ye have converted justice into poison,
And the fruit of righteousness into wormvvood.
13 Ye that rejoice in a thing of nought,
That say,

11

12

viii. 1, 2. n'sn 'n|"i'.3, is well rendered
in tbe Vulg. in penetralibus domus. See
on Is. xiv. 13. Having burnt and re
moved one body after another, the rela
tive, discovering a patient in one of the
innermost rooms or corners of the house,
inquires whether he is the only survivor?
and on receiving for answer that he is,
he suddenly enjoins silence upon him.
Tbere is some difficulty in determining
what occasioned this injunction, and
for what reason the Divine narae was
not to be mentioned. Most probably
the patient bad begun to give vent to
bis feelings in expressions of praise to
Jehovah, for sparing his life in the midst
of such prevailing mortality ; when the
other, from sorae superstitious notion, or
from the supposed incongruity of praise-
ing God in sucb circurastances, inter
rupted his pious effusions. Dtoj "I'Bin,
means to mention, or record with appro
bation, as an object of trust. Comp.
Josh, xxiii. 7 ; Ps. xx. 8. The phrase
cannot, therefore, be construed into the
language of despair — as if the person
who gave utterance to the words be
sought God to take him away likewise,
and thus terminate the raelancholy scene.
Nor, for tbe sarae reason, can it imply,
as Michaelis interprets, that he had con
firmed what he had stated with an oath.
11. Grotius, Dahl, Justi, and Ewald,
adopt the interpretation of the Targ.,
Jerome, and Cyril, that by the "great
house" is meant the kingdom of Israel,
and by the "small house" thatof Judah;

and comp. chap. ix. 8, 9, where the
same participial form nisp is employed
as bere before another verb. D'P'p'i, mean
atoms, or the minute parts to which the
materials of a building are reduced, when
it is utterly destroyed. The word other
wise signifies the small drops of any
liquid that is sprinkled, and is derived
frora Dpj, to sprinkle. D'?*;??, are fissures,
or rents in an edifice, which threaten its
fall. There was to be a marked differ
ence in tbe treatment of the two king
doms ; the one was to be utterly de
stroyed, while the other, tbough greatly
injured, was still to stand. Rosenmiiller,
however, regards this interpretation as
"arguta magis, quam vera." Calvin,
Vatablus, Marckius, Cocceius, Lowth,
Michaelis, and Maurer, likewise take the
words literally, as applying to the houses
both of the rich and the poor. TJie
destruction, more or less, was to be uni
versal. " Regum turres ac pauperum tabernas." Horace.
This construction of the verse is con
firraed by a coraparison with chap. iii. 15,
12. The folly of expecting real pro
sperity while committing acts of injustice,
is forcibly represented by comparing it
to the absurdity of atterapting to run
horses upon a rock, or to plough it with
oxen. To add to tbe strength of the re
presentation, it is put in the interrogative
form, toiin^is to be taken impersonally.
13. The participles, with the tt demon-

168 AMOS. [chap, VII,
Have we not, by our own strength,
Taken to ourselves horns ?
14 But behold ! I will raise up against you, O house of Israel I
A nation, saith Jehovah, God of hosts ;
And they shall oppress you,
From the entrance of Hamath,
To the river of the desert.
strative, are again employed as in verses is obvious frora 2 Kings xiv. 25, in which
3, 4, 5, 6, IJ'I M*;, non-re, what is so the liraits here specified are described as
perishable and evanescent, that it may constituting those of the kingdom of the
well be said to have no existence. Horns ten tribes, tbat it must mean tbe brook
are the syrabol of power and dominion. Kidron, which falls into the Dead Sea to
14. Few instances will be found in tbe south of Jericho. One of the names
Hebrew, in which the object of a verb given to tbis sea is njni'np;, the Sea of
is so far removed from it as 'ia here is the Desert; tijiw, ihe desert, forming
from D'PD. Sorae bave referred n3ii?n bna, , , . i n j ,tl
, . '¦f ., V, . . ,1 oV^'' " what IS now commonly called .Jdh
the river of the Desert, to the Rninoco- ¦' JJ
rura, otherwise called tbe river of Egypt; El-Ghor, or the low sterile region in
and others to "the brook of tbe willows," vfhich the valley of the Jordan ter-
D'3p»n "ini, or the Wady el-Alisa, which minates, and wbich extends as far as the
flows into the Dead Sea, near Zoar ; but it Elanitic Gulf.

CHAP, VIL— VIIL S.
This portion of the book contains four symbolical visions respecting successive
judgments that were to be inflicted on the kingdora of Israel. They were
delivered al Bethel, and in all probability at tbe coraraenceraent ofthe prophet's
ministry. Each of thera, as they follow in the series, is raore severe than the
preceding. The first presented to the raental eye of the prophet a swarra of
young locusts, whicb threatened to cut off all hope of tbe harvest, 1 — 3 ; the
second, a fire, whicb effected an universal confiagration, 4 — 6 ; the third, a plumb-
line, ready to be applied to mark out the edifices that were to be destroyed,
7 — 9 ; and tbe fourth, a basket of ripe fruit, denoting the near and certain
destruction of the kingdom, viii. 1 — 3. The intervening eight verses, which
conclude the seventh chapter, contain an account of the interruption of Amos
by Am.iziah, tbe priest of Bethel, whose punishment is specially predicted.
In point of style, this portion differs from that of the rest of the book, being
ahnost exclusively historical and dialogistic.

1 Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me, and, behold, he forraed
locusts at the beginning of the shooting up of the latter grass ;
and, behold, it was the latter grass after the king's mowings.
1. All the four visions are introduced nam nin'. 'iim. The repetition of nan,
in nearly the same language : 'iMinnIa behold, is peculiar to this verse. In the

CHAP.

VII.]

AMOS.

169

2 And it came to pass, when they had entirely devoured the grass
of the land, I said :
O Lord Jehovah! forgive, I beseech thee !
Who is Jacob, that he should stand ?
For he is small.
3 Jehovah repented of this :
It shall not be, saith Jehovah.
4 Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me, and, behold, the Lord
Jehovah called to contend by fire ; and it consumed the great
abyss, and devoured the portion.

latter of tbe two instances, it is employed
for the sake of eraphasis, instead of tbe
substantive verb, '33, a narae of the locust,
occurring only here, and Nah. iii. 17,
and synonyraous with 33, Is. xxxiii. 4,
Comp. the Arab. *-— 'L>- and -.jLs-,
lecusta, frora U»-, egressus fuit, in
reference to its coming forth out of the
egg, which had been deposited in the
earth to be hatched. Tbe term is, there
fore, strictly descriptive of the locust in
its caterpillar state, and thus agrees with
the use of the verb y^, to form, which is
here used. Prof, Lee derives it from
L—J^^-, secuit. Credner on Joel, pp.
299 — 302, elaborately attempts to set
aside tbe above derivation of Bochart,
yet allows tbat the word denotes the
insect in the first stage of its existence.
Tbe plural termination 't, is found in
several masculine nouns, as '^in, '3i^t7,
'Elton, &c. ; but the anoraaly has not yet
been satisfactorily accounted for. See,
however, Gesen. Lehrgeb. p. 523. Lee's
Heb. Gram. Art. 139, 4, 2d edit, topj,
an after-math, or second crop, wbich
comes up imraediately after the mowing
of grass, top5, cognate with BpJ, Arab.
lasJ legit, collegit, signifies in Piel io
gather the late fruit. Comp. the Syr.
\^C^ serotinus, and toipto, the latter
r y J
rain. The phrase ^5pi^ '13 may either
mean the mowings of the grass
which grew on the royal domains, or
the first mowings of that belonging to
the people, to which the khig tyrannically

laid claim. Considering tbe character
of the times, there can be little doubt
that the latter are meant.
2. That the locusts here referred to
are not intended to represent a literal
swarm of these insects, but are to be
taken figuratively, as denoting a hostile
army, just as the fire in the second
vision is to be regarded as symbolical of
war, may be inferred from tbe figurative
character of the two visions, ver. 7, and
chap. viii. 1, Most probably the army
of Pul, king of Assyria, is meant. The
Israelites bad been greatly reduced by
repeated invasions on tbe part of the
Syrian kings, and were on the point of
being attacked by the Assyrians, but
purchased their retreat with the sum of
one thousand talents of silver. See
2 Kings XV. 19, 20. 3pB.'Dip;'p, concisely
for Dip; '? 3p»; 'p, who is Jacob, that he
should stand? meaning, how can he
possibly sustain tbe threatened attack,
reduced and weak as be is in resources.
Dip signifies to stand fast, continue,
endure, as well as to rise. One of De
Rossi's MSS., and another originally,
read Dip;, and another D'p;, and thus the
LXX. Syr. Syrara. and Vulg. ; but less
appropriately in such context.
3. Dnp, Pick renders, gave consolation,
which is not so suitable bere as the
signification, to repent. Such repentance
is to be understood Beonpends, appear
ing, as Veil observes, " in effectu, citra
mutationera in affectu." Corap, 1 Sam. xv,
11 ; Jer. xiii. 10, Targ. wifn ;'^3'nM, the
Lord turned away his wrath, hmi, the
feminine pronoun, stands for the neuter
of other languages,
4. Mip corresponds in form to i;?i',
ver. 1. yjl, an abbreviated form of tbe
Hiphil infinilive, 3'irrt. Comp, Is. ih. 13.
Z

170

AMOS,

[chap, vii.

5 Tlien I said :
0 Lord Jehovah ! desist, I beseech thee 1
Who is Jacob, that he should stand .''
For he is small,
6 Jehovah repented of this :
It also shall not be, saith the Lord Jehovah.
7 Thus he showed me, and behold the Lord stood upon a perpendi-
8 cular wall ; and in his hand was a plumb-line. And Jehovah said
to me, What seest thou, Amos ? And I said, A plumb-line. And
the Lord said :
Behold, I will set a plumb-line
In the midst of my people Israel ;
1 will pass by them no more.

The verb signifies to contend judicially ,
to treat according to one's deserts, to
punish. By the fire here spoken of we
are not to understand agreat heat which
produced a drought in the land, but war,
of which it is an appropriate syrabol.
See Nura. xxi. 28; Judges ix. 15, 20;
Is. lxvi. 16. To express the extent of
tbe threatened calamity, the fire, by a
bold figure, is represented as drying np
tbe ocean (naTDinn), and consuming
whatever was found on the dry land.
This acceptation of P^n., a division,portion,
or allotment of land, the antithesis
requires; still, however, the terra is chosen
with special application to tbe land of
Canaan, wbich was divided to tbe children
of Israel as their portion. The definite
forra of the noun pJnrrnM, indicates as
much. The invasion of the land of
Israel by Tiglath-Pileser, and the first
captivity of that people seera to be the
subjects ofthe vision. See 2 Kings xv.
29 ; 1 Chron. v. 26. That in the former
vision, the calamity bad not been in
flicted, the use of the verb rtp, forgive,
intimates. In this, it had in part, as the
use of b-^ti, desist, obviously iraplies.
5, 6. In these verses, as in vers. 2 and
3, we have a beautiful instance of the
influence of prayer in averting or
mitigating the judgments of God.
7, 8. This vision, and that described
chap. viii. 1 — 3, differ from tbe two
preceding, in the distinct and express
application of the symbols to the punisb-
jnent of the Israelites. The Divine

patience is exhausted. Jehovah takes
active measures for executing his threat
enings, and at last inflicts tbe exter
minating judgraent on a people ripe for
destruction. Tbe prophet, in conse
quence, intercedes no raore. tiJM npin, a
perpendicular wall, lit. a wall of the plum
met, so called frora the plurab-line being
applied in order to secure its per
pendicularity. tj3M. which occurs only in
these verses, properly signifies leador tin.
Arab, ijj^y Syr.j^jj, plumbum. Aq.
ydvaats, stannatura. The line and
pluramet were used not only when houses
were building, but also when tbey %vere
to be destroyed. See 2 Kings xxi. 13;
Is.xxvin.l7, xxxiv. 11 ; Lam.ii. 8. The
LXX. and Symra. dhdpavra, wbich the
Syr. also exhibits. In tbe explanation
of the vision, it is expressly stated, that
the plumraet was to be applied to tbe
people of Israel in order to mark them
out for destruction ; and its being placed
in ihe midst of them denoted, that tbis
destruction was not to be confined to
a part only of the kingdora, as it had
been in the case of 'Tiglatb-Pileser's
invasion, but tbat it should reach the very
centre. Tliis took place when Shal
raaneser, the successor of tbat king, after
a siege of three years, took Saraaria, put
an end to the kingdom ofthe ten tribes,
and carried them away captive into
Assyria, 2 Kings xvii, 3, 5, 6, 23, "QJ,
to pass, pass on or away, means, in

CHAP. Vll.]

AMOS.

171

9 The high-places of Isaac shall be desolated,
And the sanctuaries of Israel laid waste ;
And I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.
10 Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to Jeroboam, the king
of Israel, saying : Amos hath formed a conspiracy against thee, in
the midst of the house of Israel : the land cannot contain all his
11 words. For thus hath Amos said :
Jeroboam shall die by the sword ;
And Israel shall surely be led away captive from his land.
12 And Amaziah said to Amos: Seer ! Go, flee to the land of Judah,
13 and eat there bread, and prophesy there. But prophesy no more at

application to sin, to pass it by, to forgive,
not to punish it. Prov, xix. 11 ; Micah
vii. 18. See on this latter passage.
9, A definite prediction of the destruc
tion wbich was to overtake tbe places of
idolatrous worship, and tbe royal house
by which that worship had been esta
blished and supported, Tbese are spe
cially mentioned, because to thera, as the
procuring causes, tbe destruction was to
be traced. For the raeaning of nina,
high places, see on Is. Ixv. 7, D'to^pp, tbe
parallel term, denotes the temples, or
structures, consecrated to tbe worship of
idols. Corap. tojpp, ver. 13. pnto;, instead
of prj^', is not peculiar to our prophet ;
the same orthography is found Ps. cv. 9 ;
Jer. xxxiii. 26. Tbere is no reason
whatever to suppose tbat the word was
purposely so written, or that it was
intended to be taken otherwise than as
a proper name ; yet the LXX. have
fiapol TOV yeXaros ; and so the Syr.
Michaelis finds a paronomasia in it;
Dahl, an instance of irony ; and even
Calvin thinks that the narae was used by
Araos piprjTiKds. It is bere, and ver. 16,
parallel with ''Mnip;, and denotes the ten
tribes. 10, 11, Verses 10 — 17 contain an
interesting historical episode. As there
was doubtless a nuraber of priests wbo
conducted the idolatrous services at
Bethel, "pri raust here be understood xar'
e^ox^v of the chief or high priest,
attached to the royal temple. In tbe
spirit which has characterised a false
priesthood in every age, Amaziah brings
against the prophetthe groundless charge
of treason. That ^'3n^ is to be rendered

contain, and refers to number and not
to atrocity, appears frora b:>, all, being
eraployed before tbe following noun,
Corap. for tbis signification of the verb in
Hiphil, 1 Kings vii. 26, 37 ; Ezek. xxiii.
32. In the Syr. in wbich a verb signify
ing to endure is used, 's is omitted, as not
suiting the Oriental idiom.
12, 13. It does not appear tbat the
king took any notice of the message that
was sent him, so that Amaziah was left
to try what the interposition of his own
authority would effect. He addressed
the prophet by the title nin, seer, most
probably with contemptuous reference to
his visions ; though it was adopted in the
later Hebrew, as equivalent to M'ap, and
corresponds in signification to nMi, which
was anciently used, 1 Sam. ix. 9. Not
imagining tbat Amos could be actuated
by any higher principle than that of
selfishness, which reigned in his own
heart, tbe priest advised bim to consult
bis safety by fleeing across tbe frontier
into tbe kingdora of Judah, where he
raight obtain his livelihood by the unre
strained exercise of his prophetical gifts.
The words l'rrn3 '^X though pleonastic,
are emphatic. At all events, he could
not be permitted any longer to prophesy
in the city of Bethel, wbich was
distinguished not only as the principal
seat of the king's religion, but also as
being one ofhis royal residences. Though
the ordinary residence of the Israel
itish monarchs was at Samaria, yet as
they went at certain stated seasons to
Bethel to worship the golden calf, they
had had a palace built there for their
accommodation.

172

AMOS,

[chap, V(I,

15
16

17

14 Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and a royal residence. And
Amos answered and said to Amaxiah : I am no prophet ; neither am I
the son of a prophet ; but I am an herdsman, and a cultivator of syca
mores. And Jehovah took me from following the flock; and
Jehovah said to me : Go, prophesy to my people Israel. And now,
hear the word of Jehovah. Thou sayest, Prophesy not against
Israel ; and, Drop nothing against the house of Isaac. Therefore
thus saith Jehovah :
Thy wife shall commit lewdness in the city,

1 4. Araos modestly but firraly repels
the charge of selfishness, by declaring,
that he was not a prophet by profession ;
that he had not been educated with a
view to such profession ; that he was a
person of rustic habits j and that his
Divine mission was altogether of an
extraordinary character. M'33]a, the son,
i.e. pupil or disciple of a prophet. In
all probability some of the schools of the
prophets, of which we read in the first
book of Sarauel, were still in existence,
in which young men were educated, who
devoted themselves to the service of the
theocracy in the capacity of public
instructors, and to these, or to more
private studies, under the guidance of
sorae prophet, Araos may be supposed
to refer, ipia, strictly taken, raeans an
ox-herd ; but as "ig carae, in a larger
acceptation, to denote cattle in general,
it raight signify a keeper of any kind of
cattle. There is, therefore, no occasion,
with some, to suppose that the word was
originally tpia, as in chap. i. 1. D^iia
occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew
Scriptures; but the Arab. {j*M, signifies
a white fig, and the Eth. (1 All ¦ both
the fig-tree and its fruit. As, however,
the participial form of the word is tbat
which denotes agency, it must mean one
who is occupied with, or cultivates figs.
The particularmodein which theancients
cultivated fig-trees, the LXX. appear to
havehadin their eye, when tbey rendered
it by Kvi(av, a nipper or scratcher ; for
we are inforraed by Theophrastus, that
iron nails or prongs were employed to
make incisions or scratches in tbe tree,
that by letting out some of tbe sap, the
fruit raight be ripened : nlnreiv ov
hvvarai dv prj eiriKVtadfj- dXX' e'xovres

owxas aihrjpds entKv'i^ovatv a S' dv eni-
KvtaBrj, reTaprata nenrerai, iv. 2. See
also Plin. Hist. Nat. xiii. 14; Forskal,
Flor. Egypt, p. 182. D'ppto, sycamores,
a species of tree, abounding in the East,
pretty rauch reserabling tbe raulberry tree,
the fruit of which is similar to the fig.
It is, however, very inferior in quality,
and is only eaten by the poorest class of
the people. From tbis circumstance it
may be inferred that Amos occupied a
humble station in life previous to bis
being called to prophesy in Israel,
15. ''M Map is used both in agood andin
a bad sense, and is here to be rendered
indefinitely, to prophesy te. The pro-
norairaal suffix in 'ps, " my people," is
not without emphasis. The Israelites
were Jehovah's by right ; he still claimed
his propriety in them; and, by tbe
ministry of his prophet, would bave
recovered them to his service,
16. Instead of listening to the prohibi
tion of Araaziah, and retiring from his
sphere of duty, Amos continued to dis
charge the duties of his office at Bethel ;
but before proceeding to give an account
of another vision which he had had, he
directs a pointed prediction against tbe
idolatrous priest by whora he had been in
terrupted. fl''pn, to distil, to cause to corae
down in pleasing and flowing discourse ;
here parallel with Map, topropltesy. Comp.
Ezek. xxi. 2, 7; Micah ii, 6, 11, Syr.
uS,^, Arab. ^^, Eth, Ifliri: stil-
lavii, ^in<5.. percolavit.
17. Between ninppM in this verse, and
ipM nnM in ver. 16, is a raarked antithesis.
njin is not to be understood of voluntary
acts of infidelity on the part of the wife
of Amaziah, but ofthe violence to which
she would have to submit on the part of

chap, vm,]

AMOS.

173

And thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword ;
Thy land, also, shall be divided by lot,
And thou shalt die in a polluted land :
And Israel shall surely be taken away captive from his land.

the enemy. This being done i'»3, in the
city, i.e. openly and publicly, was a
great aggravation of the evil.
^{ihe adii iyKed>aXos x^P-H-^hts peet, as

ode oivos

Avrdv, Kal reKeav aXoxot h' dXXoiat
ptyelev. Iliad, b, iii. 300, 301,

Every country, except Canaan, was re
garded by the Hebrews as nMpp npjM, a
polluted land, tbough, at tbis time, their
own land bad become such. Is. xxiv. 5,
where fjpn is similarly used ; Jer. ii. 7,
Tbe land of Assyria is that to which
Amos points.

CHAPTER VIII.
After giving an account of a fourth vision, in which was represented the ripeness
for destruction at which the Israelites had arrived, and the certainty of sucb
destruction, 1 — 3, the prophet resumes his denunciatory addresses to the
avaricious oppressors of the people, 4 — 7 ; predicts the overthrow of the nation,
8 — 10; and concludes with threatening a destitution ofthe means of religious
instruction, 11 — 14.

1 Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me, and, behold, a basket of
2 ripe fruit ! And he said, What seest thou, Amos ^ And I said, A
basket of ripe fruit.
Then said Jehovah to me :
The end is come to my people Israel ;
I will pass by them no more.

1. This vision raay be regarded as a
continuation of the subject with wbich
the last concluded, in the developraent
of wbicb the prophet had been interrupted
V ,7
by Amaziah, 3i')3, Syr. ]i\.:i.As a
cage, or basket ; Arab, L_^li, inseruit
lore inter duas cerii partes ; ij\S, lorum
velfilamenium lignosum palmce, quo con-
suitur : what is braided from twigs, such

as wicker work. y;p is used both of
summer, and of the fruit which is
gathered in summer. It is to the ripe
ness of the fruit at this season tbat pro
rainence is here designed to be given.
The verb occurs but once in Heb. viz.
Is. xviii. 6. Arab. JaAJi, media cestas :
a J, admodum ferbuit, estiva habuit.
2. The paronomasia in y;p and yp is
marked and forcible. Comp. Ezek. vii. 6 :
nM3 nsn Tp^M ypn ypn Ma m3 yp.

171

AMOS.

[chap.

VUI.

And the songs of the palace shall howl,
In that day, saith the Lord Jehovah ;
The carcasses are many !
Throw them out any where !
Hush!
Hear this ! ye that pant after the needy,
That ye may destroy the poor of the land,
Saying, When will the new moon be over,
That we may sell corn "i
And the sabbath,
That we may open out grain .''
Making the ephah small,
And the shekel great,
And falsifying the balances for deceit.
That we may purchase the poor for money,

3. Instead of the pathetic elegies
loudly and continuously poured forth at
the princely funerals, nothing was to be
heard but the frantic howl, announcing,
but instantly checked in announcing, the
greatness of the disaster. Into such
howling the joyous songs of the palace
were to be converted. Syrara. dXoX-i-
^ovatv at ahai Tbe dead bodies were
to be cast fortii indiscrirainately, without
any regard to tbe places where they
might lie ; and even this was not to be
effected without exposing tbose who
performed it to the attacks of the enemy.
Hence silence was to be enjoined. Some
improperly render ''3'n, temple. For on,
corap. chap. vi. 10.
4. The prophet resuraes his usual
style of direct corarainatory address.
Comp. chapters iv. v. and vi. For f|Mto,
see on chap. ii. 7. n'3^)=n'aton|i, to cause
to cease, bring to an end, annihilate,
destroy. The 1 in n'aiii^'i is to be taken
TeXtKds, as denoting the end or aim of
the oppressions practised by the ava
ricious Israelites.
5. From this and otber passages it is
obvious that tbe Israelites, notwithstand
ing their idolatrous practices, still kept
up the observance of the times and
seasons appointed in the law of Moses.
¦i3to and ijuj Taton, lit. to break a breaking,
but raeaning to sell grain, is sup
posed to be so named frora its behig
broken to pieces when ground at the

raill. Some, however, think the narae is
derived frora its being broken up or
separated by a raeasure into portions,
with a view to sale ; while others are ot'
opinion that it is so called because it
breaks or puts an end to hunger, cora
paring Ps. civ. 11. By 13 nriB, opening the
corn, is raeant opening the sacks or
granaries in which it was kept, and
bringing it out for sale. Thus the LXX.
Syr. and Targ. The nB'M, ephah, was a
corn raeasure, containing three seahs,
and according to Josephus, equal to the
Attic medimnus, or soraewhat above three
English pecks. It is uncertain whether
the word be originally Hebrew, or
whether it be Egyptian, ''pto, frora b^m,
to weigh, Arab. (JA>, ponderosus fuit,
gravitatem et pondus exploravit, is here
used of weights in general. It was
originally any piece of raetal weighed as
an equivalent for what was bought ; but
carae afterwards to signify standard
money, and differed in value, according
as it was of silver or gold, and as it was
estimated by the sacred or the royal
standard, Exod. xxx, 13 ; 2 Sam, xiv.
26. For tbe sake of greater emphasis,
instead of saying, to make or to use
deceitful balances, the verb ni», to bend,
twist, pervert, is eraployed, which, in
point of raeaning, is pleonastic, LXX.
notijaat ^vydv dhtKtpov.
6. See chap. ii. 6. ''Sp, frora bSi, to

chap, viii.]

AMOS,

175

And the needy for a pair of sandals ;
And sell the refuse of the grain,
Jehovah hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob ;
I will never forget any of their deeds.
Shall not the land tremble for this,
And every one that dwelleth therein mourn .''
Shall not all of it rise like the river .''
Shall it not be driven, and subside,
Like the river of Egypt ?
It shall corae to pass in that day,
Saitli the Lord Jehovah,
That I will cause the sun to go down at noon,
And will darken the land in the clear day.

fall; what has fallen off, refuse, chaff,
&c. 7. Tbe iniquitous conduct of tbe Is
raelites having been minutely described,
the severe punishraent which they bad
merited is now threatened. 3p»; pMa, the
excellency of Jacob, has been variously
interpreted, Tbe Targ. Grotius, Dahl,
Newcome, and Bauer, understand the
excellence conferred upon Jacob ; Justi
and Ewald, very preposterously, the pride
or haughtiness of the people ; the Rab
bins and some others, the temple; but
the only appropriate construction of the
phrase, in tbis connexion, is that which
refers it to Jehovah himself, in whom
alone the Hebrews gloried while they
adhered to tbe purity of bis worship, and
in whom tbey still ought to glory. Thus
¦X 7 rt. 7 O £3
the Syr. ^.Sao^*) oi^udZ \.*f^:
ihe Lord, the Mighty One of Jacob;
Munster, Vatablus, Mercer, Drusius,
Lively, Gesenius, Hitzig, Maurer.
Corap. chap. vi. 8, where itopp? »3i^3 occurs
instead of the present phrase, wbich,
however, is also there used in a bad
sense. rratoM dm, if I forget, is the usual
forraula of swearing, implying that it
should not take place, '», in this con
nexion, implies both totality, and the
single items of which that totality is
made up, Comp. Ps. ciii. 2.
8. The guilt of the people was so
enormous, that it was sufficient to induce
an entire subversion of the existing
state of things. To express this more

strongly, the land is metaphorically re
presented as rising and swelling like the
Nile, and again falling like the sarae
river. Of course, tbe idea of the heav
ing and subsiding of the ground during
an earthquake is what is intended, as
tbe beginning of the verse shows. For
the sake of energy and impression, tbe
interrogative form is, as frequently, era
ployed. That "ito, by an elision of the
letter Yod, is a defective forra of 1^3, is
evident from tbe parallel passage, chap.
ix. 5. Fifteen MSSj originally two more,
and perhaps otber threg, and one of the
early editions, read "iM^^ in full. For the
origin and meaning of the word, see on
Is xix. 6. to'ia is used in Niphal, to ex
press the violent agitation of tbe sea
when raised by tbe wind, Is. Ivii. 20.
It here denotes the rise of tbe Nile,
wbich is generally above twenty feet.
For nptop, the Keri and a great raany MSS.
in the text, read tropiSp, which is un
doubtedly genuine. 'Fhe root 9pto occurs
in a similar connexion, chap. ix. 5, It
signifies to sink down, or subside.
9. Sorae think tbe prophet bere pre
dicts the total eclipse of the sun, which
took place at one of tbe great festivals
in tbe j-ear that Jeroboam died, (see
Usher's Annals, a.m. 3213); but what
ever there may be in the language bor
rowed from such an event, consistency
of interpretation requires it to be takeu
metaphorically, as descriptive of a change
from circumstances of prosperity to those
of adversity. Comp. Jer. xv. 9 ; Ezek,
xxxii, 7—10.

176

AMOS.

[chap. viii.

10 I will turn your festivals into mourning,
And all your songs into lamentation ;
I will bring sackcloth upon all loins,
And baldness upon every head ;
I will make it as the mourning for an only son,
And the end of it a bitter day.
11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord Jeliovah,
When I will send a famine into the land ;
Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
But of hearing the words of Jehovah.
12 And men shall wander from sea to sea,
And shall run up and down, from the North even to the East,
Seeking the word of Jehovah,
But they shall not find it.
13 In that day the fair virgins shall faint,
And the young men also, for thirst ;
14 That swear by the sin of Samaria,

10. The Hebrew festivals were occa
sions of great joy, and were no doubt on
this very account kept up among the ten
tribes after they had lost their religious
iraportance. The calaraitous result of
the Assyrian invasion under Shalraa
neser is here most graphically de
picted. Comp. Is. XV. 2 ; Jer. xlviii, 37;
Ezek. vii. 18. The death of an only
son was regarded by the Hebrews as the
raost mournful of events. Comp. Jer.
vi. 26 ; Zech. xii. 10, The pronominal
reference in n'npiD and nn''inM is pif un
derstood. 3 in ID Di'3, is tbe Caph veri
tatis. " Nunc et amara dies, et noctis araarior
urabra est ;
Omnia jara tristi terapora felle raadens.''
TibuUus, Eleg. lib. ii. Eleg. iv, 11,
11, 12. The Israehtes now despised
the messages of the prophets, and by a
just retribution, in addition to all their
other calamities, they should experience
a total withdrawal of all prophetic com
munications. Comp. Ezek, vii, 26 ;
Micah iii. 7. In whatever direction they
might proceed, and whatever efforts they
might raake to obtain information rela
tive to the issue of their trouble, tbey
should meet with nothing but disappoint
ment, IT^IP, sun-rise, is used, where

geographically we should have expected
i'p;, or 333, the south ; but the term may
have been chosen in order to intiraate
the coraplete alienation of Israel frora
Judah, in consequence of which no one
would think of repairing to Jerusalem
for oracular information, 'That any
transposition of the words has taken place,
I cannot, with Hougibant and Newcome,
suppose. It is, however, just as probable
that the cardinal points were not in
tended to be strictly marked, but that
the object was' to indicate generally the
hopelessness of tbe atterapts raentioned,
Tbe Athnach is improperly placed under
n^ilD, instead of under iTDipiw, as the Vau
prefixed to ^iBS and the form of the
verb show.
13. MDS in this verse, is to be under
stood of the natural thirst to be expe
rienced by the inhabitants of Samaria
during tbe siege predicted in the pre
ceding verses ; niB^sni^, properly means,
ihey shall feel themselves involved in dark
ness, which is physically true of those
who are seized with syncope. The root
rps, Arab. i__ft)ic, signifies ie cover, en
velope ; here, with darkness, understood.
After D'-imsn subaud. iD^So;.
14. Jitpto npiDM, the sin or crime of Sa
maria ; i. e. the golden calf and other

chap,

1X.1

AMOS.

1 KWl^

And say, By the life of thy God, O Dan !
And, By the life of the way of Beersheba !
They shall fall, and rise no more.

objects of unlawful worship which were
the occasion of sin and guilt to the Is
raelites. Hitzig thinks that Astarte is
specifically raeant; but the term was
doubtless intended to coraprehend the
calf at Bethel, the religious veneration
of which led to the grosser forras of
idolatry. At the sarae tirae, niiEM, Astarte,
is spoken of, 2 Kings xiii. 6, in distinc
tion from the worship specially instituted
by Jeroboam. See on Is, xvii. 8, Tbe
god of Dan was the other golden calf,
erected by Jeroboam in Dan, 1 Kings
xii. 26—28, By »3iij-iN3 Tpii, Kimchi,
Michaelis, and I?auer, understand lite

rally the way or pilgrimage to Beer-
shelia; but the phrase being parallel
with the two former instances, in which
objects of false worship are raeant, it
raust here be taken in tbe same sense.
Hence the LXX. render, ^fj Beds aov.
Strictly speaking, it denotes the way or
mode of worship, or the worship itself,
tbat was performed at Beersheba. Corap.
Ps. cxxxix. 24 ; Acts ix, 2, xix. 9, 23 .
See on chap. v. 5. 'n is a formula of
swearing : By the life ef  , or, As sure
as such an one lives, and was peculiarly
absurd and sinful when applied to in
animate objects.

CHAPTER IX.
This chapter commences with an account of the fifth and last vision of the prophet,
in which the final ruin of the kingdora of Israel is represented. This ruin was to
be complete and irreparable ; and no quarter to which the inhabitants might flee
for refuge, would afford them any shelter from the wrath of the Omnipresent
and Almighty Jehovah, 1 — 6. As a sinful nation, it was to be treated as if it had
never stood in any covenant relation to him ; yet, in their individual capacity, as tbe
descendants of Abraham, how rauch soever they raight be scattered and afflicted
among the heathen, they should still be preserved, 7 — 10. The concluding part
of the chapter contains a distinct prophecy of the restoration of the Jewish
church after the Babylonish captivity, 11 ; the incorporation of the heathen
which was to be consequent upon that restoration, 12; and tbe final establish
ment of the Jews in their own land in the latter day, 13 — 15,

1 I SAW the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said :
Smite the capital, that the thresholds may shake ;
And break them in pieces, on the heads of them all ;

1 . By the Targ., Calvin, Drusius, Gro
tius, Justi, Rosenmiiller, and Hengs
tenberg, the scene of this vision is laid
at the temple of Jerusalem; by Cyril,

Munster, Tarnovius, Schmidius, Lowth,
Michaelis, Dahl, Bauer, Hitzig, and
Ewald, at the idolatrous temple at Bethel,
and, in ray opinion, rightly, Calvin
A A

178

AMOS.

[chap. ix.

Their posterity I will slay with the sword ;
None of their fugitives shall make his escape,
Nor shall any that slip away be delivered.
Though they break through into Sheol,
Thence shall my hand take them ;
Though they climb up to heaven,
Thence will I bring them down.
Though they hide themselves on the summit of Carmel,
There I will search them out and take them ;
Though they conceal themselves from mine eyes in the bottom of
the sea,
There I will command the serpent, and he shall bite them.
Though they go into captivity before their enemies,
There I will command the sword, and it shall kill them :
I will set mine eyes upon them for evil.
And not for good.

does not show his usual tact in objecting
to tbis interpretation, on the ground that
it represents Jehovah as indirectly ap
proving of superstition ; for, though the
true God was seen beside the idolatrous
altar, it was not for the purpose of re
ceiving homage, but of commanding
that tbe whole of tbe erection and wor
ship at Bethel should be destroyed.
No arguraent in favour of Jerusalem
can be built on tbe use of the article
in X!S¦'ps^, "the altar," but tbe contrary.
The idolatrous object to wbich sacrifices
were offered at Bethel, having been
mentioned in the preceding verse, nothing
is raore natural than a reference here to
the altar on which they were presented.
Iinsp3, an ornaraented head or capital of
a coluran, in the shape of a sphere, or
bowl surrounded by flowers. It is
usually derived frora IBS, to cover, and
inl, to crown. LXX. tXaar^piov, rais
taking the word for n'iBS. When used of
the ornamental part of the golden can
dlestick, tbey render it o-0aipo)r!;'p. For
D'BD, see on Is. vi. 4 ; the sirailarity, in
some respects, between which passage
and the present, appears to bave sug
gested tbe idea that the temple at Jeru
salem is here meant. The temple was
to be smitten both above and below, to
indicate its entire destruction. D»23,
break them, i.e. the capitals, &c., upon

the head of all the worshippers. It
does not appear tbat toMT and n'nriM are
here used antithetically. The latter de
notes the children of those who perished
in tbe attack upon tbe idolatrous temple,
Vi'hen threatened by the Assyrians, they
would flock in crowds to Bethel, to im
plore protection from tbe golden calf,
and, while thus assembled, they should
perish, along with the vain object of their
trust ; they should, in fact, be buried in
the ruins.
2 — 4. These verses exhibit a beautiful
series of supposed cases of attempt at
escape from the judgments of God, and
the utter futility of every attempt of the
kind. ''iMto and D'pf n, are, as usual, era
ployed as extreme points of opposition.
Corap. Job xi. 8 ; Ps. cxxxix, 8 ; Is. xiv,
13,14; Matt. xi. 23. 'jp-isn i25mi. Not
only was Mount Carmel celebrated on
account of its general fertility, but also
on account of the dense forests and large
caverns with which it abounded. These,
together with its height, which is about
twelve hundred feet, afforded tbe fittest
possible places of concealment, Richter,
in his Pilgrimage, p. 65, says : " Mount
Carmel is entirely covered with green ;
on its summits are pines and oaks, and
further down, olive and laurel trees,
&c. These forests would furnish safe
hiding places, equally with the caves,

CHAP.

IX,J

AMOS.

179

5 For it is the Lord Jehovah of hosts,
That toucheth the earth and it melteth ;
And all that dwell in it mourn ;
It riseth, all of it, like the river,
And subsideth like the river of Egypt.
6 He that buildeth his upper chambers in the heavens,
And foundeth his vaults upon the earth ;
That calleth to the waters of the sea,
And poureth them out on the surface of the earth ;
Jehovah is his name,
7 Are ye not as the Cushites to me,
0 sons of Israel ? saith Jehovah.

which are chiefly on the west side facing
the sea." D»n S]rp_, the bottom of ihe
Mediterranean Sea, forms a striking con
trast to the sumrait of Carmel, which
beetles above it. sfy<j>_, Arab. Ji Ji, terra
cequabilis ; when spoken of a house, the
foundation or floor ; here the bottom or
basis, on whicb the sea rests. For Wni,
sea-serpent, see on Is. xxvii. 1.
"  Imraensis orbibus aiigues
Incumbant pelago, pariterque ad littora
tendimt," Mneid. ii, 204.
The D in D'^p, in verses 3 and 4, loses
its proper prepositive signification, as in
J'pv?, n'sp, nnnp, &c. and merely denotes
position or place.
5, 6. A sublirae description of the al
mighty and uncontrollable power of
Jehovah. For the reference to the Nile,
see on chap. viii. 8. Instead of ini'jsp,
the Keri and not a few MSS. read -vrn'rSQ
in full. Corap, vni'te, Ps, civ, 3, IsT
A't^epos oIkov vneprarov vaierdets.
Opp'ian. Halieut. i. 490,
Qeov olKrjT-qptov tov Koapov rd ava.
Aristot.
njiM, a body or mass, the parts of wbich
are firmly compacted ; Arab. d\sA,
fornix firmcB compaginis et siructurce ;
an arch or vault; obviously used of the
S'PJi or hemispheric expanse or vault of
heaven ; which, from its appearing to
the eye to rest upon the earth, is here

said to be founded upon it. To render
it, with the Targ., congregation, and apply
it to the Churcb, as a body of believers,
firraly united together, is altogether un
suitable to tbe connexion. Tbe render
ing ofthe LXX., Syr., and Arab, would
seem to indicate that niM3S nin; originally
stood in tbe text, at tbe end of ver. 8 ;
but only one of De Rossi's MSS. has
this reading at first hand.
7, By appealing to the fact, tbat, in
his providence, he had reraoved different
nations from their original abodes, and
settled them elsewhere, Jehovah repels
the idea, which the Israelites were so
prone to entertain, that, because he had
brought thera out of Egypt, and given
them the land of Canaan, they were pe
culiarly the objects of his regard, and
could never be subdued or destroyed.
He now regarded, and would treat them
as tbe Cushites, wbo had been trans
planted frora tbeir primary location
in Arabia, into the midst of the bar
barous nations of Africa. D'"top, Cush
ites, are bere the inhabitants of the
African Cush, or Ethiopia. See on Is.
xviii. 2. Arab.jJbjs^l Juj Abyssinians.
Aldionas, toI htxdd hehatarai, 'iaxaroi
dvhpdv,
Ot pev hvaopevov vnepiovos, ot 6' dvi-
ovTos. Odyss. i. 23, 24,
For D"nm'!J3, see on Is. xiv. 28. Gese
nius hesitates between Crete and Cap-
padocia, as designated by the Hebrew
Caphtor, but inclines to the foriner.

180

AMOS.

[chap, IX.

10

11

Did I not bring Israel from the land of Egypt .''
The Philistines from Caphtor ?
And the Syrians from Kir ,''
Behold, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are upon the sinful kingdom.
And I will destroy it from the face of the earth ;
Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,
Saith Jehovah,
For, behold, I will command,
And will sift the house of Israel among all the nations,
As one sifteth corn in a sieve,
And not a grain faileth to the ground.
But all the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,
That say, The evil shall not reach nor overtake us.
In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is falling,
And will close up its breaches ;

Thesaurus, p. 709. LXX. KannahoKia.
D^H, Aram, or Syria, put for the Syrians,
i. e. tbe inhabitants of the countries
about Damascus. They are here repre
sented as having migrated from Tp, Kir,
the country lying on the river Kur, or
Cyrus. See on Is. x.'iii. 6.
8, 9. 3 p'3'», the eyes of a person are
said to be in any one, when he keeps
him steadily in view, in order either to
do him good, or to punish him. In
the present instance, the phrase conveys
the idea of hostility. Though the king
dom of the ten tribes was fo be utterly
and for ever destroyed, yet, as descend
ants of their patriarchal ancestors, they
should not become extinct. In the midst
of the wrath which their sinfulness should
bring upon tbem, God would remember
mercy. 'I d§m is strongly adversative.
nias, a sieve, which is used to separate
the chaff and other refuse frora the pure
grain, is most probably derived from
"t33, to be many, from the number of small
holes in it. LXX. XiKpds. Aq. and
Symm. KdaKtvov. ill? is used as a di
minutive of i«, the smallest stone, 2 Sam.
xvii. 13; here it signifies the smallest
grain or particle of corn. While the figu
rative language here eraployed expresses
the violence of tbe sifting process to
whicb tbe Israelites should be subjected
in order that their idolatry and otber
sins raight be removed from them ; it

likewise sets forth the great care that
would be exercised for their preservation.
Tbe universal character of tbeir disper
sion is likewise strongly marked.
1 0. Those are here specially intended,
who scoffingly denied the possibility of
the Assyrian conquest, namely, the
dissipated raagnates of Saraaria. Such
should perish in the war. "i?| D'^pn is
unusual. Perhaps the raeaning is. Shall
not come forward, or advance in our
rear, so as to cut off our retreat.
II. Tbe Israelites now disappear from
the scene, in order to give place to a
brief but prominent exhibition of the
restoration of the Jews frora their de
pressed condition, during the anticipated
captivity in Babylon, and the great
design of that restoration — the introduc
tion of the Messianic dispensation, during
wbich the blessings of the covenant of
raerey were tobe extended to the Gentile
world. With this reference in view, the
apostle James expressly quotes the pro
phecy. Acts XV. 15 — 17. The quotation
is raade from the version of the LXX. ;
but, as regards verbality, differs fully as
much from it, as the latter does from the
Hebrew text : his object being to give
the general sense of the passage, and
not the identical phraseology. It raust
further be observed that, though he
quotes the entire passage, consisting of
the Hth and 12th verses, his obvious

CHAP,

IX.]

AMOS.

181

And I will raise up its ruins,
And build it, as in the days of old.
12 That the remnant of Edom may be possessed,
And all the nations upon which my name shall be called,
Saith Jehovah that doeth this.

design was to give prorainence to what
is contained in the latter, viz, the con
version of the Gentiles, the very point
required by his arguraent ; so tbat all
atterapts to apply what is said respecting
the booth of David to the Christian
church, are unwarranted and futile, T'!5,
David, is used by the prophet, not in its
figurative, but in its proper meaning, as
denoting the Hebrew monarch of that
narae. By Minn Di', that day, for which
Jaraes has, quite indefinitely, perd ravra,
we are to understand the period of the
dispersion of the Israelites araong tbe
nations, subsequent to the fall of their
kingdom. Though that kingdom would
never be restored, yet the Jewish polity
would be re-established at Jerusalera.
This polity is here called T'linSD, the
booth, or hut of David, to denote tbe
reduced state of his family, and the
affairs of the people. Corap Is. xi. 1,
and my note there. When the prosperity
of that faraily is spoken of, the more
dignified phrase, Tijin's, the house of
David, is employed. See 2 Sam. iii. 1 ;
1 Kings xi, 38 ; Is. vii. 2, 13. TI5 'jnM,
the tent, or tabernacle of David, Is. xvi. 5,
would seera to express an intermediate
state of things. That fn, David, is here
to be understood ofthe Messiah, I cannot
find, nsp, tugurium, a hut, or booth, so
called from its being constructed by
interweaving tbe boughs aud branches
of trees with each other, and its thus
forming a rude shelter frora tbe storra.
It was in such booths the Hebrews were
to dwell during tbe seven days of nispn an,
the feast of booths, comraonly called
" the feast of tabernacles." See Levit.
xxiii. 40 — 43. Root '^30, to weave, in
terweave, protect. Still more definitely
to mark the depressed condition of the
Jewish kingdom, it is described as rtD3,
falling. Tbe present participle is here,
as frequently, used to denote an action
which was happening at the time of
narration, and which would be continued.
About the time of Amos the Jewish

affairs had begun to decline ; and, though
they occasionally and partially revived,
yet, taken as a whole, they continued to
deteriorate till the Babylonish invasion,
when they were reduced to the deplorably
fallen state in which tbey continued till
the return frora the captivity, when tbe
restoration here predicted took place.
From the phraseolgy employed by the
prophet, the Rabbins derived one of the
naraes which they give to the Messiah :
''!B3'i3, the son of the fallen. Thus in the
Talraud, Sanbed. fol. 96, 2 : " R. Nach-
man said to R. Isaac, Hast thou heard
when Bar-naphli comes ? To whom he
said. Who is Bar-naphli He replied,
The Messiah : you may call the Messiah
Bar-naphli ; for is it not written. In that
day I will raise up, &c. ? " quoting tbe
present verse of Amos. For other
passages to tbe same effect, see Sclioet-
genii Horae Hebraicse et Talraud. The
ferainine suffix in lO'SiB ia to be referred
to the different parts or cities of the
kingdora, understood. The masculine
in I'pD^n, has TI3 for its antecedent, and
the feminine in n'n'pa refers to nsp.
12. The grand end of the restoration
frora the captivity in Babylon is now
stated, viz, the introduction of tbe
universal econoray of tbe gospel. The
cburch of God bad formerly consisted of
persons belonging to a particular nation ;
henceforth it was to comprehend those
of all nations, even such as had been
raost hostile to its interests, whom God
would call to be his people, toi;, to take
pos.session of, inherit, is here used figura
tively of the influence for good wbich
the church should exert over tbe Gentiles,
bringing them within her pale, and using
tbem for her holy and benevolent pur
poses. In the words, ton'; D'ia ijini, " thy
seed shall possess," or "inherit tbe
nations," Is. liv. 3, we have a strictly
parallel prophecy, couched in the same
language, Corap. also Is. xlix. 8, and
Rom. iv. 13, where, in reference to the
blessing of the Gentiles with faithful

182

AMOS,

[chap, IX,

13 Behold, the days are coming, saith Jehovah,
That the ploughman shall overtake the reaper,
And the treader of grapes him that soweththe seed ;
And the mountains shall drop with new wine,
And all the hills shall melt.

Abraham, that patriarch is called " the
heir ofthe world," Among the first of
the foreign nations that were to experi
ence this beneficent influence, the Idu
means are expressly mentioned. Owing
to tbe enmity which had existed between
them and the Jews, tbey had mutually
harassed and wasted each other, in con
sequence of which, and of invasions and
wars on the part of otber powers, nothing
but n''iMtti, a remnant, of the former was
left. Of this reranant, a portion was pro
selytized to the Jewish faith in tbe tirae
of Jobn Hyrcanus, and the reraainder
amalgamated with the tribes of Arabia,
whicii embraced the Christian faith. It
is to these last that specific reference
is here raade. itoi'; is to be taken
impersonally, and rendered passively ;
and the power of its future must be
carried forward to Mipp. The calling of
a narae upon any person or thing,
denotes the assertion of the claims of
the individual whose name is mentioned
upon the person or thing specified.
D;iarrt3 is the accusative, nM being under
stood as repeated. DiiM n'lMtoriM vcrv) p_p^
the LXX. bave rendered, onas eK^r]-
T-fjaaatv oi KardXotnot rdv dvdpanav,
or, as sorae MSS. read, eKCrjrriaaai pe,
as if their Hebrew text had been ]'S^b
DJM n"iMB5'nMltolT, ihat the residue of
men may seek me. Newcorae supposes
that the reading 'nV< is a contraction for
nin'nM; but though t6v Kvptov, which
we find in the quotation. Acts xv. 17,
might seem to favour this supposition,
there is no evidence to prove that the
contraction '" nM, so common in Rabbinical
writings, is of such antiquity. Toi'
Kvptov I consider to be merely an
interpretation of pe. No Hebrew MSS.
afford any countenance to tbe Greek
translation, nor do any of the versions,
except the Arabic, which, as usual,
follows the LXX. For this reason,
and regarding the latitude used by
the writers of the New Testament
when quoting from the Old, I cannot
perceive how the passage can justly be

charged with corruption. To which add,
tbat the words as they stand in the
Hebrew text, admirably suit the con
nexion, as they equally do the arguraent
of the apostle; though quoting, according
to custora, from the Greek version, he
adopted in the main tbe construction
whichit exhibits, as sufficiently expressive
of the fact wbich he had in view,
13, Corap. Levit. xxvi. 5. The lan
guage iraports the greatest abundance ;
and this verse, with the two following,
refer to a period subsequent to tbat of
the calling of the Gentiles. This the
introductory phrase D'Ma D'd' npn, Behold,
ihe days are coming, distinguished as it
is frora Minn Di»3, In that day, ver. 11, the
position of the prophecy, and other
features which characterise it, sufficiently
show. The verses are parallel with
Is, Ixi. 4, Ixii. 8, 9, Ixv. 21—23 ; and are
to be interpreted of tbe future restoration
of the Jews to their own land, and their
abundant prosperity in the latter day.
For BTjnTltop, to draw out the seed, comp,
»>3!7 ^top, Ps. cxxvi. 6. The idea seeras
to be that of conveying the seed with
the hand from the sack or vessel in
which it was carried, yet not to the
exclusion of the act of sowing. Comp,
the Eth. tf rt?k: jaculaius est sa-
gittas. For D'ps, fresh or sweet wine,
see on Joel i. 5. The metaphorical
language here employed is at once, in
tbe highest degree, bold and pleasing.
Tbe Hebrews were accustoraed to con
struct terraces on tbe sides of the
raountains and other elevations, on which
they planted vines. Of this fact the
prophet avails himself, and represents
the iraraense abundance of the produce to
be such, that tbe erainences theraselves
would appear to be converted into the
juice of tlie grape,
"  Subitis messor gaudebit aristis:
Rorabunt querceta favis, stagnantia
passim
Vina fluent, oleique lacus."
Claudian, in Bufin. hh.i. 382.

chap, IX.]

AMOS.

183

14 I will reverse the captivity of my people Israel,
And they shall build the desolate cities, and inhabit them :
And they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them ;
They shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
15 For I will plant them in their own land,
And they shall no more be plucked up from their land
Which I have given them,
Saith Jehovah thy God,

How striking the contrast between the
scene here depicted, and that which
the face of Palestine has presented
during the long period of the disper
sion! 14, 15, It is irapossible to conceive
of prophecy more distinctly or positively
asserting the future and final restoration
ofthe Jews to Canaan than tbat contained
in these verses. Once and again they
bave been removed from that favoured

land, on account of their wickedness;
but still it is theirs by Divine donation to
their great progenitor. And when they
return to the faith of Abrahara, beholding
in retrospection the day of the Messiah,
Which he saw and was glad, but deeply
bewailing their guilt in having crucified
hira, and persevered for so raany centuries
in the rejection of his gospel, they shall
regain possession of it, and reraain its
happy occupants till the end of time.

OBADIAH.

PREFACE,

The prophecy of Obadiah, consisting only of twenty-one verses,
is the shortest book of the Old Testament, Jerome calls him,
parvus propheta, -eersuu-m supputatione, no-n sensu-m. Of his origin,
life, and circumstances, we know nothing ; but, as usual, various
conjectures have been broached by the Rabbins and Fathers : —
some identifying him with the pious Obadiah who lived at the
court of Ahab ; some, with the overseer of the workmen, men
tioned 2 Chron, xxxiv. 12; and some, with others of the same
name ; while there is no lack of legendary notices respecting the
place of his birth, sepulchre, &c. See Carpzovii Introd. tom. iii.
pp. 332, 333.
That he flourished after the capture of Jerusalem by the Chal
deans, may be inferred from his obvious reference to that event,
verses 11 — 14; for it is more natural to regard these verses as
descriptive of the past, than as' prophetical anticipations of the
future. He must, therefore, have lived after, or been contemporary
with Jeremiah, and not with Hosea, Joel, and Amos, as Grotius,
Huet, and Lightfoot, maintain. Sufficient proof of his having
lived in or after the time of that prophet, has been supposed to be
B B

186 preface to obadiah,
found in the almost verbal agreement between verses 1 — 8, and
certain verses inserted in the parallel prophecy, Jeremiah xlix, ; it
being assumed that he must have borrowed from him. This
opinion, however, though held by Luther, Bertholdt, Von Coelln,
Credner, Hitzig, and Von Knobel, is less probable than the con
trary hypothesis, which has been advocated by Tarnovius,
Schmidius, Du Veil, Drusius, Newcome, Eichhorn, Jahn, Schnurrer,
Rosenmiiller, Holzapfel, Hendewerk, Havernick, and Maurer,
Indeed, a comparison of the structure of the parallel prophecies
goes satisfactorily to show the priority of our prophet, as has been
ably done by Schnurrer, in his Disputatio Philologica in Obadiam,
Tubing, 1787, 4to, Add to which, that Jeremiah appears to have
been in the habit of partially quoting from preceding prophets,
Comp, Is, XV, xvi, with Jerem, xlviii. This view is confirmed
by the opinion of Ewald, that both these writers copied from some
earlier prophet, since he admits that Obadiah has preserved, in
a less altered condition, the more energetic and unusual manner of
the original than Jeremiah, In brief, the portion in question is
so entirely in keeping with the remainder of the book, that they
must be considered as having been originally delivered by the
same individual ; whereas Jeremiah presents it in the form of
disjecta mernbra poetce.
In all probability the prophecy was delivered between the year
B. c, 588, when Jerusalem was taken by the Chaldeans, and the
termination of the siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar. During this
interval, that monarch subdued the Idumeans, and other neigh
bouring nations.
Of the composition of Obadiah, little, as Bishop Lowth observes,
can be said, owing to its extreme brevity. Its principal features
are animation, regularity, and perspicuity.
The subjects of the prophecy are the judgments to be inflicted
upon the Idumeans on account of their wanton and cruel conduct
towards the Jews at the time of the Chaldean invasion ; and the
restoration of the latter from captivity. The book may, therefore,
be fitly divided into two parts : the first comprising verses 1—16,
which contain a reprehension of the pride, self-confidence, and
unfeeling cruelty of the former people, and definite predictions of

preface to obadiah. 187
their destruction ; the latter, verses 17 — 21, in which it is promised
that the Jews should not only be restored to their own land, but
possess the territories ofthe surrounding nations, especially Idumea.
The reason why the book occupies its present unchronological
position in the Hebrew Bible, is supposed to be the connexion
between the subject of which it treats, and the mention made of
" the residue of Edom," at the conclusion of the preceding book of
Amos.

OBADIAH.
The prophecy coraraences by announcing the message sent in the providence of
¦ God to the Chaldeans, to come and attack the Idumeans, ver. 1 ; and describes
tbe humihation of their pride, 2, 3; the impossibility of their escape by means
of tbeir boasted fastnesses, 4; and the completeness of their devastation, 5,
It then proceeds with a sarcastic plaint over their deserted and fallen condition,
6 — 9; specifies its cause — their unnatural cruelty towards the Jews, 10 — 14;
and denounces a righteous retribution, 15, 16. The reraaining portion fortels
the restoration of the Jews, their peaceful settleraent in their own land, and the
establishraent of the kingdora of Messiah, 17 — 21.

The Vision of Obadiah,
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah concerning Edom :
We have heard a report from Jehovah,
And a messenger is sent among the nations :
" Up ! let us rise against her to battle ! "

1, Eichhorn, Rosenraiiller, Jaeger,
and Hendewerk, have raised unneces
sary doubt respecting the genuineness
of the title and introduction contained
in this verse, which have been fully
obviated by Schnurrer, Maurer, and
Hitzig. For Jiin, see on Is. i. 1. n;"]3i>,
Obad.iah, " tbe servant of Jehovah,"
equivalent to "JM^??, Abdeel, J er. xxx v i. 26 ;
Arab, iidJl AAC, Abd-allah ; Ger. Gotts-
chalck. For DiiM, Edom, see on Is.
xxxiv. 5. The words nin; hmd i3»pto n»iDto,
we have heard a report from Jehovah,
are not to be regarded as designed to
describe the reception of the Divine
message by the prophet, but express the
communication raade to the nations by
the arabassador sent to sumraon them
to the attack upon Idumea, as the
following clause shows. The n»iDto,
report, or communication itself, is con

tained in the last line of the verse. The
plural form I3?pto, "we bave heard,"
for which Jereraiah has 'n?pto, " I have
heard," is so qualified by tbe passive
verb n)to in tbe second raeraber of the
parallelism, that it is equivalent to the
passive form n»D\p3, hath been heard.
There is, therefore, no necessity to
inquire whether Obadiah meant hiraself
and otber prophets, or whether he
identified hiraself with his countryraen.
All that is intended is the circulation of
tbe hostile message in regard to Idumea ;
and the tracing of the moveraent to the
overruling providence of God, by which
Nebuchadnezzar and his allies were led
to turn their arms against that country.
See Calvin, in loc. f^, a messenger, or
ambassador ; Arab. .Uo, j^jO, ivit, pre-
fecius est. LXX. nepiox^jv, but in Jer.
dyyeXovs; Syrara. here ayyeXtuy. Comp.

OBADIAH.

189

Behold, I have made thee small among the nations ;
Thou art exceedingly despised.
The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee,
Thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock,
Whose habitation is high ;
That saith in his heart,
Who shall bring me down to the ground ?
Though thou shouldest soar like the eagle,
And shouldest set thy nest among the stars,
Thence I will bring thee down, saith Jehovah.

Is. xviii. 2, and ray note there. iDip,
arise 1 up! like 13'?, come! go! &c., is
frequently used as a terra of exciteraent.
With it the address of the herald
coraraences ; who, identifying hiraself
with the nations which he suramons,
proceeds to employ the plural of the
sarae verb in its strictly hostile sense,
followed by the preposition bs. diim,
though properly masculine, is here
viewed as y'lM, a country ; hence the
ferainine suffix in n'jS.
2. Here the raasculine gender is
adopted, which is continued throughout
tbe prophecy — D», people, being under
stood. The past tirae of the verbs ex
presses the certainty of tbe events ; and
JiEij, small, and '113, despised, are not
designed to raark the coraparatively
liraited and despicable character of
Iduraea, geographically considered, as
Newcome interprets, but describe the
miserable condition to which it was to
be reduced by its enemies.
3. Tbe Idumeans are taunted with the
proud confidence wbich they placed in
their lofty and precipitous mountain
fastnesses, and the insolence with which
they scouted every attempt to subdue
them. These positions, strong by nature,
and many of thera rendered still more
so by art, tbey deeraed absolutely
impregnable. Such inaccessible places
are appropriately called »)p-";3n, cliffs of
p m
ihe rock, Syr, l._»», rupes; tbe Arab,
Ls*~, confugit; and hence tbe idea of
refuge, which is secondary, and less
proper to be adopted here, LXX, ev
p .y
Tals dna'ts rdv nerpdv. Syr. ^4.^0;^

infortissimarupe. Sorae in-

terpreters are of opinion that by »^p,
Sela, we are to understand the city of
that name, otherwise called Petra,
situated in Wady Miisa, and celebrated
as tbe capital of Idumea. See on Is,
xvi, 1, Tbe D'lsn, cliffs, would, on this in
terpretation, be the high and inaccessible
rocks which beetled over that raetropolis.
I prefer taking tbe word in its literal
acceptation, and view it as a collective,
equivalent to the plural of the LXX.
and other ancient versions, and thus
describing tbe rocky character of the
country generally, as well as that about
Petra in particular. Instead of ^M'ton,
hath deceived thee, four of De Rossi's
MSS. and originally two raore, read
rjM'ian ; but tbough this reading is sup
ported by the LXX., Arab., Vulg., and
Hexaplar Syr. it is inferior to tbat of the
Textus Receptus, which has the suffrages
of the Syr. and the Targ., especially as
there are no other instances in wbich
M'ton is used in the sense of raising, or
elevating. The ' in '33to is simply a poetic
paragogic, of which several examples
occur in the Benoni participle. See Gen.
xlix. 11 ; Deut. xxxiii. 16 ; Is. xxii. 16 ;
Micah vii. 14. In in3ip there is a transi
tion frora the second person to the third,
for the sake of more graphically pointing
out the proud position of Edom. Comp.
Is, xxii. 16.
4. By a bold but beautiful hyperbole,
the Idumeans are told, that, to what
height soever they might remove, and
how entirely they might imagine them
selves to be beyond the reach of their
eneraies, Jehovah would dislodge thera,
and deliver them into their power. For

190

OBADIAH.

If thieves had come to thee,
Or robbers by night (how art thou destroyed !)
Would they not have stolen what was sufficient for them ?
If vintagers had come to thee,
Would they not have left some gleanings ?

the soaring of the eagle, and his building
his nest on the inaccessible crags of the
rock, comp. Job xxxix. 27, 28 :
ito3 n'aa; ^'B-'3»-dm
ii3p.D''i;'3i
]ftn;i pto; sto
i nnispi s'-7p-i-&bs
'•¦ Is it at thy comraand the eagle soars.
And erects his nest on high ?
'The rock he inhabits, and makes bis
abode
On the point of the rock, and the fast
ness."
D'iB Ewald and Hitzig take to be a passive
participle ; but that it is the infinitive
construct, is rendered certain by its
having the preposition JP before it. Job
XX. 4. In the present instance, and in
Nura. XXV. 21, in wbich, as here, it is
followed by ^ij>, it stands elliptically for
D'iBn D'ip ; which sufficiently accounts for
the rendering ofthe LXX., Syr., Targ.,
and Vulg., which exhibit the second
person singular of the verb. The terra
D'33i3 is to be understood literally of tbe
stars, as the highest objects wbich
present theraselves to the eye, and not
of the tops of the highest rocks, or even
heaven itself, as some have raaintained,
'[7'^iM is a direct reply to tbe vaunting
question, '3n''ii"p, ver, 3, Theodoret well
expresses the sense thus : '-Enethrj roivvv,
(prjal Tavrats Bappdv dXa^ovevrj Kal
peya (^pove'ts ds dxeiparos, e-idXaTOV
ae Karaanjaa Kal evxetparov roir
ex^pols, Kal rdv noXepiav ov htacpev^rj
rds ;(etpaff, o-vhe el dtKrjv derov pereapos
dpBeirjs, K. T. X.
5. Tbe Idumeans are here taught, that
tbeir devastation would be complete.
This prophetic intelligence is com
municated in the form of interrogative
illustrations, derived from customs with
wbicb tbey were farailiar. The manner
in wbich tbey should be treated would be
very different from that adopted by
private thieves, or by a party of maraud
ing nomades, who usually seize as much

as they can, and especially what they
have set their minds on, in the hurry of
the raoraent, leaving the rest of the
property to its possessors. They should
even fare worse than tbe vines, on which
the vintagers, though they cut down the
bunches generally, still left some that
might be gleaned afterwards. In Jere
miah the order of tbe illustrations is
reversed, the vintagers being taken first.
^'l''^ '?7^j night-robbers. In such a country
as Idumea, a predatory attack could only
have been atterapted in the night, espe
cially on such places as were most
strongly fortified by nature, and cora
manded a view of the iramediately
surrounding regions. Hitzig thinks the
prophet has Petra specially in his eye,
on account of its having been the great
emporiura of that part of the world.
Instead of nW'iTODMTj^iMlD'asa dm, Jere
miah has only nV^s D'33a dm, whicb is less
forcible. He also substitutes m'lTtori for
I3?a;. The position of the words nn'pSa'i'M,
How theu art destroyed, has offended
some fastidious critics, sorae of whora
would remove thera to the beginning of
the verse, and others to the comraence
raent of the following. What might be
accounted their natural place would be
the end of the present verse ; but the
prophet, struggling to give expression to
the feeling whicb agitated his mind,
breaks in upon his illustrations with the
interjected exclaraation, and then carries
them on to a close, 'The words are
omitted by Jeremiah, nm has two
leading significations : to be like ; and,
according with the Arab. ^ J, vulnerapit,
perdidit, to cause to cease, destroy, &c.
LXX. TToG dv dneppt(l)rjs ; having read
nn'P73, a verb, which nowhere occurs in
Niphal, o;n, their sufficiency, i,e, what
was requisite for supplying their present
wants, or such a quantity as they had
sufficient strength to remove. LXX.
rd tKavd eavrois. Syr. fOOT^XQl^,

OBADIAH,

191

How is Esau explored !
And his hidden places searched !
All thine allies have driven thee to the frontier ;
Those who were at peace with thee have deceived thee ;
They have prevailed against thee :
They that ate thy bread have laid a snare under thee ;
There is no understanding in him !

svfficentia eorum. The apodosis is
omitted ; but there is a beautiful pro
priety in leaving it to be supplied by
those to whora the appeal was raade,
6. The prophet here resuraes his strain
of sarcastic plaint over the fall of Iduraea,
whicb he had abruptly adopted in the
preceding verse, repeating the ':]'M there
employed, which is again understood
before 1»33. The patronymic Ito is con
strued as a collective noun with the
plural of tbe verb, and, at tbe same
time, with the singular pronominal affix.
In the translation I have been obliged to
eraploy the singular in both cases.
D'lS^p," like D'iDEp, may either signify
places where treasures are hidden, or tbe
treasures themselves ; or the term may
be explained of hiding-places, to which
men resort in order to elude an enemy,
I prefer the last of these significations,
as better agreeing with the persons of the
Edoraites, raentioned in the forraer
beraistich ; tbough the biding of their
treasures is also naturally iraplied. The ¦
forra is that of the Arabic passive
(J «laiLo' Such places abound in Iduraea.
" Revera, 'says Jerome, "utdicamus ali
quid de natura loci, oranis australis regio
Id'amseorum de Eleutheropoli usque
Petram et Ailam (hsec est enim possessio
Esau) in specubus habitatiunculas habet.
Et propter nimios calores solis, quia
meridiana provincia est, subterrancis
tuguriis utitur." Instead of tbe exclama
tory form bere eraployed, Jereraiah
adopts that of direct personal assertion :
vinDDTiM 'n'.'ja ifesrnM 'npiBn 'iM-'a ; changing,
at the sarae time, tocn into Hton, and
VKSP into I'lnpp.
7. n^to, which in Kal has the signi
fication to send, send away, signifies in
Piel, to dismiss, eject, expel, conveying
the superadded idea of corapulsion or
violence. Connected, as here, with "n.

the verb iraplies expulsion beyond the
frontier specified ; and the whole sen
tence is descriptive of transportation into
a state of captivity. Thus the Targ.
TjrtaM MDinfi ]p, they shall lead thee cap
tive from the border. By ^yV-, 'toiM, the
men of thy covenant, are meant those
who had forraally pledged assistance to
the Edoraites ; confederates, allies ; by
?]p';to 'iS3>;, the men of thy peace, neigh
bouring states, which were on terras of
peace and friendship with thera. LXX.
dvhpes elprjVtKoi, those who were peace
ably inclined towards thera. Before
f[prt supply 'to3M from the preceding —
the men of thy bread ; or '!?3i<, may be
understood, those who eat thy bread;
and thus the phrase will be descriptive
of dependents ; some of the poorer
tribes of the desert, who subsisted on the
bounty of the Edoraites, and whose aid
they might reasonably expect in case of
any eraergency. Comp. Ps. xii. 10, where
a similar combination of 'pn|? b;iii with
'pi'j'Si to'!4 occurs; though there the idea
of familiarity, rather than that of de
pendence, seems intended to be ex
pressed. Five of De Rossi's MSS. and
originally two more, read ^iM'isn, instead
of ^iM''ton, as also one of the early editions,
the LXX. and Arab.; but the coramon
reading is to be preferred. To 'by, thirty
MSS., originally eleven more, four by
emendation, the Soncin. and Complut.
editions, the Soncin. Prophets, and the
Syr., prefix the copulative, which the dif
ference of sense in the two verbs re
quires. There is some difficulty in
determining the raeaning of liio. LXX,
evehpa ; Syr. j,j |^qs, insidiis, Vulg.
insidice ; Targ. M^ijn, offendiculum — all
agreeing in the idea of treachery, or the
employment of means by which one
might be subverted or ensnared. This
seeras to be the only suitable meaning

192

OBADIAH,

Shall I not in that day, saith Jehovah,
Cause the wise men to perish from Edom '^
And the men of understanding from Esau .''

in this place, as the signification of
wound, wbicb attaches to the word,
Jer. xxx. 13, Hos. v. 13, the other pas
sages in which it occurs, will not, with
any tolerable degree of propriety, apply.
Two derivations have been proposed,
the Arab. ,•.<, distendit, equaliter, dis-
tendit, to whicb Tingstadius appeals in
Suppleraent. ad Lexx. Hebrr. p. 23 ;
but whicb is far-fetched, as there is no
proof tbat the verb is used in the sense
of spreading out a net, or the like ; and
).. .A-, mentitus fuit, ,,¦, fallum, men-
dac'tum, with which the Hebrew in, to
decline from tbe way of truth, bas been
compared. The use of '[nnn iP'to;, they
place under thee, raost naturally suggests
the idea of a gin or trap, which may be
said to deceive or act falsely by tbose
wbo tread upon it ; so that the notions
of treachery, plot, net, snare, may be
combined in furnishing the true sig
nification. Fiirst, who derives the word
frora in, gives tbe significations thus :
" circuraligare, obligatio vulneris, fascia,
hinc raedicina ; raoraliter : laqueorum
connexio, perfidia fallax, insidiosa, frau-
dulenia." To no quarter could the Idu
means look for aid. Their allies, their
neighbours, tbeir very dependents, so far
from assisting them, would act treach
erously towards them, and eraploy every
means, both of an open and covert
nature, to effect their ruin. At the close
of the verse, the prophet turns off again
from the direct raode of address, and
employs the third person, for the purpose
of more emphatically exposing their
folly in placing confidence in those who
were totally unworthy of it. It would
be highly uncritical, with the Targ.,
Hougibant, and Newcome, to change
13, in him, into ^3, in thee.
8. The Idumeans confided, not only
in tbe natural strength of their country,
but in the superiority of their intel
lectual talent. "That they excelled in
tbe arts and sciences, is abundantly
proved by the nuraerous traces of them

in the book of Job, which was undoubt
edly written in their country. They
were, indeed, proverbial for their f^DSn,
philosophy, for the cultivation of which,
their intercourse with Babylon and Egypt
was exceedingly favourable, as were
likewise their means of acquiring infor
mation from the numerous caravans
whose route lay through their country,
thus forming a chain of communication
between Europe and India. Speaking
of wisdom, the author of the book of
Baruch says, in reference to their cele
brity as sages of antiquity, chap. iii.
22, 23 :—
" It hath not been heard of in Canaan,
Neither hath it been seen in Teman.
The Hagarenes that seek wisdom upon
earth,
Tbe merchants of Meran and of Teman,
The mythologists, and investigators of
intelligence,
None of tbese have known the ways of
wisdora,
Nor reraembered her paths.''
These sages are here called D'pjn, and
their accuraulated stores of wisdom are
expressed by n3i3:i, intelligence, the terra
which had just been eraployed at the
close of the preceding verse, 'The inter
rogative M''n is here strongly affirraative ;
and 1 in 'niSMni is raerely conversive.
ito nn, the mount ef Esau, is the
mountainous region of Seir, to tbe south

of Palestine, now called

^1 ¥*^

^ l)^j

Jebel Sherah, and CulJull, esh-Sherah,
extending as far south as Akabah. It
was originally inhabited by the Horites,
or Troglodytse, so called because they
dwelt in the caves of the mountains,
whom the posterity of Esau expelled, and
taking possession of the country, spread
theraselves as far towards the nortb as
the borders of Moab, It was particularly
to the raore northerly portion of this
region that the name of ^Jas-, Jebel, or
Gebalene, was given. 3n, mountain,
being here, and verse 9th, obviously used

OBADIAH.

Wi:

10

11

Thy mighty men, O Tem.an ! shall be dismayed,
That every one may be cut off" from mount Esau.
For the slaughter, for the injury of thy brother Jacob,
Shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.
In the day when thou didst take a hostile position,
In the day when foreigners took captive his forces,
And strangers entered his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem,
Even thou wast as one of them.

in a collective sense I have translated it
in the plural.
9. For JO'n, Teman, see on Araos i. 12.
'^WP bas been variously construed . Ewald
unnaturally renders it, without battle.
Schnurrer treats it as a participle in
Pael or Poel, pointing it 'JBi^.P or b-m'p-o,
and regarding it as equivaleut to the
Arab. (Jjla.*, vir prcetio aptus. He
would thus raake it parallel with D'niaa,
mighty men, in the preceding hemistich.
Rosenraiiller, De Wette, and some others,
translate, by slaughter. Leo Juda, raost
of tbe older raodern translators, followed
by JjEger, Hesselberg, Hendewerk, and
Maurer, render, propter ccedem, and
suppose the prophet to be bere assigning
the cause of the destruction of tbe
Idumeans which he had just predicted,
intending raore fully to dilate on the
subject in the following verse. To this
construction, however, it raust be ob
jected, that it clogs the parallelisra,
which properly ends with lto3n, as in
the verse preceding ; and also tbat the
words Dpnp braiPn are too closely allied,
both in forra and reference, to adrait of
such a pause as that which is introduced
by the Sopb-Pasuk. I, therefore, hesitate
not to follow the division of tbe verses
adopted by the LXX., Syr., Hexaplar
Syr., Vulg., Dathe, Lively, Newcome,
and Boothroyd, by which 'JioiJp is removed
from verse 9tb, and placed at the begin
ning of verse 10th.
10. ifnMDpnp'jBlTp. Both nouns are
in construction with 1'nM, and the geni
tive thus formed is that of object: ihe
slaughter of, and the violence done to, thy
brother. The Edomites had not only
slain the Hebrews, but injured them in
every possible way ; and their cruelties
were highly aggravated by the considera

tion, that those who were the objects of
thera were descended from tbe same
coramon parent. Comp. Amos i. 11.
Jacob is used as a patronymic to denote
the Jews. Two distinct periods in the
future bistory of the Idumeans ai-e here
pointed out : that during which tbey
should be tbe subjects of ignominy as a
conquered people; and tbat during
which they were to be entirely extinct.
From the former tbey recovered about a
century before the Christian era ; but
they were reduced by Jobn Hyrcanus,
and afterwards lost every vestige of their
separate existence.
1 1, This and the three following verses
contain a series of pointed expostulations,
which, while they inculpate the Idumeans,
describe tbe various modes in wbich they
had manifested their raalice towards the
Jews. Some have thought tbat tod ips
means here to stand aloof, to assume a
neutral position, whence one raay observe
the moveraents of tvvo opposing parties ;
but tbe declaration at the end of the
verse, as well as what is stated in verses
13th and Hth, clearly shows that the
phrase is to be taken in a hostile sense,
as in 2 Sam. xvin. 13 ; Dan. x. 13. Tbat
^.'n is not to be rendered wealth or riches
in this passage, hut forces, army, or the
like, may be inferred from reference being
made to tbe division ofthe substance of
the citizens of Jerusalera by lot in the
following hemistich. D'^ii and D"'i33 de
scribe the Chaldeans, by whom Jerusalem
was taken. i; is in Piel, contracted for
it;. Comp. ii;i, Lam. iii. 53. Instead of
TjS-f, the reading of the text, many MSS.,
four ofthe earliest printed editions, and
some more recent ones, exhibitl'jsto, the
full forra, as proposed by the Keri.
That the word may originally have been
read as the singular, is clear from" its
C C

194

OBADIAH.

12 Thou shouldest not have looked on in the day of thy brother,
In the day'of his being treated as an alien ;
Thou shouldest not have rejoiced over the sons of Judah,
In the day of their destruction :
Neither shouldest thou have spoken insolently
In the day of distress.
13 Thou shouldest not have entered the gate of my people,
In the day of their calamity ;
Thou, even thon, shouldest not have looked on their affliction.
In the day of their calamity ;
Nor stretched forth thy hand to their wealth,
In the day of their calamity.
14 Neither shouldest thou have stood at the pass,
To cut off those of his that escaped ;

occurrence in this number, ver 13; but
then, in both cases, it is to be taken as a
collective. 12. The future forms Min-^M, npipri-')M
')?3n-'!M, Mian-'jM, ninbton-^M, Tt»n-^M, and
¦i3pn"';M, are all qualified in signification,
by the circumstance, that tbe speaker
has a past event prorainently in view, in
reference to which he places himself and
those whora he addresses in the tirae of
its passing, and points out what was tbeir
duty in reference to it. Tbey are
properly subjunctives of negation, ex
pressive of what should not have been
done, and therefore have the usual force
of tbe imperative. " Verba Hebrasorum
SEepe non actum, sed debitum vel officium
significat." Glassii Philolog. Sacr. lib. iii,
tract. 3, can. 6, Nicbidson's Ewald,
§ 264. 3 nMn, means bere to look upen
with malignant pleasure, to feast one's
eyes with tbe calaraity of another,
?j'nM Di', the day of thy brother, is after
wards explained by itpb, di3M, rns, dtm,
which describe the calamitous circum
stances in which the Jews were placed.
Di', day, is often used to express a
disastrous or calamitous period. 133,
which is taken actively to denote severe
treatment, punishment. Job xxxi. 3, is
here used passively of the experience of
such treatment. Corap. the Arab. Jo,
difficiUs ac durus fuit ; gravis ac difficiUs ;
imprebavit. The idea radically inherent
in the term is that of treating any one

as a stranger, i.e. an alien or eneray.
ns 'rnan, to enlarge, or make great the
mouth, Ger. den Mund voll nehmen : to
use insolent or conturaelious language,
such as tbose employ wbo exult over a
fallen foe. Corap. Ezek. xxxv. 13.
13. Da in nnM-D3 is emphatic. ™n)ton,
some take to be the third plural ferainine,
having for its object d;t ; but the entire
construction of the passage requires the
second person singular masculine, rtton.
The syllable n3 is added with a view to
give intensity to the verb, as in Jud.
V. 26 ; tbus expressing the eagerness
with which the Idumeans seized upon
tbe spoil. Rosenmiiller is of opinion
tbat the n is paragogic, and the 3 epen
thetic ; but Gesenius is rather inclined
to corapare it with the energetic Future
of the Arabs. Lehrgeb. p. 801. LXX,
* V o
p-ij avve-mBfi ; Syr. .^oia^jjajZ }] !
Vulg. non emitteris ; Targ. MnpiBiMTi.
See for raore instances of this intensive
form Job xvii. 16; Is. xxviii. 3; Exod.
i. 10. For the oraission of T, hand, see
2 Sara. vi. 6; Ps. xviu. 17.
14. P^B is coramonly rendered biviam,
a parting of a way, or a place where a
road breaks off into two. I should rather
think, frora the idea of violence implied
in pTB, that.it signifies a break or disrup
tion in a rock or raountain, through
which a passage raight be effected into
the region beyond. Comp. D'ln p^Bp,
1 Kings xix. 11. LXX. hteKJSoXat. Syr.

OBADIAH.

195

15

16

Neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his
That were left in the day of distress.
For the day of Jehovah is near against all the nations ;
As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee ;
Thy deed shall come back upon thine own head.
For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain.
So shall all the nations drink continually ;
Yea, they shall drink and swallow greedily,
And shall be as though they had not been.

j^t^a^, a narrow passage between two
mountains. In all probability, the refer
ence is to tbe means employed to cut
off the retreat of those Jews who at
tempted to pass through Iduraea on
their way to Egypt, whither they fled
frora the Chaldeans, pien bs ips, to
stand at ihe ravine or pass, graphically
describes the attitude of those who are
watching in order to intercept a caravan,
or a body of travellers, especially in the
rugged mountainous regions to the south
of Judea. The Idumeans not only in
this way prevented tbe escape of the
fugitives; tbey carried them back as
prisoners, and delivered them up to the
enemy. 15. In this verse, the conquest of
Iduraea and all the neighbouring nations
by Nebuchadnezzar is declared to be
at hand. In the war which he was
to carry on against thera, due retribu
tion would be rendered to the Edora
ites. Corap. Ps, cxxxvii. 7, 8. For the
phrase nin; pi', the day of Jehovah, see
on Is. ii. 12.
16. The Targ., Kirachi, Munster, Vata
blus, Calvin, Michaelis, Hendewerk, and
Hitzig, consider tbe Idumeans to be still
addressed, and most of them explain
their drinking on Mount Zion of the
festivities with which they celebrated the
victory gained over the Jews. Grotius
refers the words to the same people,
only he takes the verb nnto in the bad
sense, as denoting the drinking of tbe
cup of divine wrath, and renders "V^,
'to'iij, en account of my hely mountain,
which he explains tlius: "propter Judaeam
a vobislacessitam." But it seems more
natural to regard the words as directed,
by a sudden apostrophe, to the Jews,

assuring them, tbat, though tbe sufferings
to which they had been subjected wer6
great, still greater punishraent would be
inflicted upon the hostile nations by
which they had been attacked. The
punishraent wbich they suffered was
only teraporary : that of their enemies
would be perpetual. Tbe structure of
the passage requires the verb to be taken
in the same sense in both parts of the
verse. Such, in effect, is the construc
tion put upon the words, Jer. xlix. 12.
Compare also chap. xxv. 15 — 29, In
this raanner the verse is interpreted by
Abenezra, Mercer, Tremellius, Drusius,
Lively, Rosenmiiller, Schnurrer, De
Wette, Hesselberg, and Maurer. Instead
of Tpn, continually, the reading i'3p,
around, is exhibited in not fewer than
seventy-eight MSS. ; in seventeen more
originally ; in three others in the margin ;
in seven of tbe earliest printed editions ;
and a few other authorities; but all the
ancient versions support tbat of the
Textus Receptus, whicb, according to
De Rossi, is found in all the most
accurate and best MSS., both Spanish
and Gerraan. In all probability 3'3p was
substituted by sorae copyist from Jer.
xxv. 9. What proves that tbe LXX.
had the word Tian in tbeir Hebrew text,
is tbeir having mistaken it for "iPn,
rendering it oifoi', wine, s^b, to swallow
or suck down with greediness. Arab,
^ and Jli. avidus; Ul ^.il, multum
aquEe libit. Corap. »'', the threat ; »)3,
to swallow, Szc. 'The idea intended to be
conveyed by the use of the verb here
is that of drinking completely off the
cup of wrath, as a thirsty person would
a vessel of water.

i9fi;

OBADIAH,

17 But in Mount Zion shall be the escaped,
And it shall be holy ;
And the house of Jacob shall enjoy their possessions,
18 And the house of Jacob shall be a fire,
And the house of Joseph a flame ;
And the house of Esau shall becoine stubble,
And they shall set them on fire, and devour them ;
So that there shall not be a relic of the house of Esau
For Jehovah hath spoken it.
10 And they of the south shall possess mount Esau,
And they ofthe plain, the Philistines ;
They shall also possess the country of Ephraim,
And the country of Samaria ;
And Benjamin, Gilead,
20 And the captives of this host of the sons of Israel,

17. Obadiah here commences bis pre
dictions respecting tbe restoration of the
Jews from tbe Babylonish captivity ;
their re-occupancy of Canaan ; and the
reign of the Messiah. While the sur
rounding nations were to disappear, the
Jews should regain possession of their
holy city, and the land of their fathers.
fi'^'fe means such as had survived the
captivity, toip, holiness, i.e. holy, refers
to Mount Zion, whieh had been polluted
by the idolatrous Chaldeans. See on
Joel iv. 17. Jseger and Hesselberg
refer the suffix in Drr-iSjio, the'ir pos
sessions, to the hostile nations spoken of
in the preceding -verse; but less na
turally. 18. Though the bouses of Jacob and
Joseph are here spoken of sepai'ately, it
was not tbe intention of tbe prophet
to teach that the two kingdoms of
Judah and Israel would be re-esta
blished ; yet the special raention of
Joseph clearly shows tbat the ten
tribes were to return at the sarae tirae,
and, jointly with Judah and Benjarain, to
possess the land of Palestine and the
neighbouringregions. Seels. xi. 12 — 14;
Hos. i. 1 1. The restored Hebrews would
unitedly subdue the Iduraeans, which
tbey did in the time of John Hyrcanus,
who compelled them to be circumcised,
and so incorporated them with the Jews,
that they henceforward forraed part ofthe

nation. See Joseph. Antiquities, book
xiii. chap, ix, 1. For the metaphorical
language, corap. Num. xxi. 28; Is. x. 17;
and, for the ground of it, Is. v. 24.
19. By 333, the south, or southern
part of Palestine, is meant those who
should occupy it ; and by nteft^n, the
plain, those who should occupy the low
country along the shore of the Medi
terranean. LXX. Ol ev Naye^ ; oi iv
Tfj 2e(j)aXd. According to the relative
positions of those who should take
possession of the different parts of the
holy land, was to be the enlargeraent of
their territory by tbe annexation of the
adjoining regions, which bad forraerly
been occupied by alien or hostile powers.
As there is no subject specified before
]''npto ''Jto nMi d^-ibm '-ito nM, it would seera
to be intiraated that the regions of
Ephraim and Saraaria were to be occupied
by the Jews and Israelites jointly, with
out any regard to tribal distinctions :
and tbe reason why tbe tribe of Benjarain
is raentioned, is merely on account of tbe
proximity of Gilead to the territory
wbich it originally possessed. That
nito is here employed to denote, not a
plain or level country, but a region or
district in general, is obvious frora the
nature of the territory to which reference
is raade. The mountainous country of
Idumea is called DiiM'Tto, Gen. xxxii. 1.
20, ''n, i.e. '';n, an army, host, Sre, is

OBADIAH,

197

21

That are among the Canaanites,
As far as Zarephath,
And the captives of Jerusalem,
That are in Sepharad,
Shall possess the cities ofthe south.
And deliverers shall come up in Mount Zion,

here used to express the number of
Israelitish captives which were found in
Phoenicia, into which tbey had been sold
at different times as slaves, and thence
into Greece, See Joel iii. 6, 7, D'3»33 is
elliptical for D'Wasa, which is the reading
of three MSS, Before nEns -», supply
iton' from tbe following, nsis, Zarephath,
or Sarepta, now called jji_«5, Surafend,
a town belonging to Sidon, and situated
between tbat city and Tyre, close to the
shore of the Mediterranean. According
to tbe etymology of its name, it must
have been a place for smelting metals.
In tbe rocks along tbe foot of the bills,
Dr, Robinson found many excavated
torabs, which he raakes no doubt once
belonged to this ancient city. Palestine,
vol. iii. p. 414. The name is still given
to a large village on a hill at sorae little
distance. What city or country is meant
by TBD, it has been hitherto found
irapossible to deterraine. The LXX,
'E0pa8a, which in all probability is a
corruption of 2e(f>pa6d. Aq., Symra. and
Theod. o-a^apa'8. Hexap. Syr. .jj,a|ffl.
V 7 .ft
but the Peshito L^iaco], Spain, with
which agrees M;pBpM of the Targ. : an
interpretation unaniraously adopted by
the Rabbins, wbo in like raanner concur
in interpreting npia of France. Jerome,
as instructed by his Jewish teacher,
renders it the Bosphorus. Sorae refer it
to Sipphara in Mesopotamia, sorae to
Sparta, in support of which hypothesis
they appeal to 1 Mace. xii. 21 ; while
others propose ITIOP, Sephara, Gen. x. 30,
or the town of 2an<pdp, raentioned by
Ptolemy, as lying between the territory
of the Homerites and Sabaeans. To
judge from the other geographical rela
tions stated in this and the preceding
verse, we should conjecture, that some
place to the south or east of Judea is

intended. The following list of cities
and places in the possession of the Jews
in the time of Alexander Jannffius is
given by Josephus: Kara tovtov tov
Kaipdv rjhi] rdv ^ijpav Kal 'ihovpaiav
Kal ^oivtKav ndXets elxov 'lovhalof npds
6cLXd<ra-ypev'2Tpdravosn-vpyov,'AnoXXa-viav, 'Idnnrjv, 'idpvetav, "A^arav, Ta^av,
' Avdr]hdva,'Pa(j)iav, 'PtvoKoXovpav (vhe rfj
peaoyeta Kara rrjv 'Ihovpatav, " Ahapa,
Kal Mdpiaaav, Kal ^apdpetav, KapprjXtov
dpos, Kal TO 'Ira^vpiov dpos, S/KvOdno-
Xtv, Tahapa, VavXavtnha, ^eXevKetav,
Td^aXa, Maa^inhas, '-Eaae^dv, M?;'-
6a/3a, Aepj3d, 'Opdvos, TeXtSava, Zvpa,
KiXtKtov AvXdva, IleXXav — dXXas re
ndXets nparevovaas rfjs ^vplas, at ^aav
Kareapappevai. — Antiq. book, xiv, ch,
iv. 4.
21. Though forty-four MSS., besides
several others at second hand, and eight
printed editions, read D'SiBin instead of
D'Bi^iiD, tbere is no difference in the
meaning, the forraer reading being
merely defective in orthography. The
LXX., Aq., Theod., Syr., and Arab., ap
pear to have readD'»4)i3 or D'»toin in the
passive, which is unsuitable to tbe
connexion. Jerorae observes that the
word is active. Sucb saviours or de
liverers are raeant, as those wbo were
raised up in the time of the Judges.
There can be little doubt that the
celebrated fam.ily of tbe Maccabees are
intended, whose valiantprinces governed
the Jews for tbe period of an hundred
and twenty-six years, during which
time signal victories were gained over
the Idumeans, as narrated 2 Mace.
X. 15 — 23. Joseph. Antiq. book. xiii.
chap. ix. 1. tapto is here used in the
sense of punishing, as in 1 Sam, iii. 13;
and tcBto in the phrase ? D'ppto nto,
Exod. xii. 12; Nura. xxxiii. 4. Comp.
Kpiva, Acts vii. 7. The concluding words
of tbe prophecy, nji'jpn rnn') nn;ni, refer
to the reign of the Messiah, called so

198 OBADIAH,
To judge mount Esau ;
And the kingdom shall be Jehovah's,

frequently in the N, T. tj PaatXeia have taken place; the temple would
roii Qeov. Comp. Dan. ii. 44, vii. 27. have remained in ruins, and the land
But for the introduction of this king- a scene of desolation.
dom, no restoration of the Jews would

JONAH.

PREFACE,

Against no book of Scripture have the shafts of infidelity and
the sapping arts of anti-sup ernaturalism been more strenuously
directed than against that of the Prophet Jonah, As early as the
days of Julian and Porphyry it was made the subject of banter
and ridicule by the pagans, who accused the Christians of credulity
for belie-ving the story of the deliverance by means of a fish ; and,
in raodern times, while the enemies of revelation have evinced the
same spirit, many of its pretended friends have had recourse to
methods of interpretation, which would not only remove the book
from the category of inspired writings, but, if applied to these
writings generally, would annihilate much that is strictly historical
in its import, and leave us to wander in the regions of conjecture
and fable, Blasche, Grimm, and some others, suppose the whole to
have been transacted in a dream ; but, as Eichhorn justly observes,*
there is not a single circumstance in the narrative that would sug
gest such an idea ; and, besides, whenever any account is given of
a dream in Scripture, the fact that such is the case, is always
intimated by the -writer. The manner in which the book com
mences and closes, is also objected to this hypothesis, which
J, G, A. Miillerf scruples not to assert we are on no ground
• Einleit. Band iv. § 575. f Paulus Memorabilien. Stiick vi. p. 154.

200

preface to JONAH,

whatever (durch gar nichts,) warranted to adopt. The theory of
an historical allegory was advanced and maintained with great
learning, but, at the same time, with the most extravagant license
of imagination, by the eccentric Herman von der Hardt, Professor
of the Oriental languages at the university of Helmstedt,* Accord
ing to tliis author, Jonah was an historical person, but is here
symbolical, partly of Manasseh, and partly of Josiah, kings of
Judah ; the ship was the Jewish state ; the storm, the political con
vulsions which threatened its safety ; the master of the ship, Zadok
the high-priest; the great fish, the city of Lybon on the Orontes,
where Manasseh was detained as a prisoner, &c, Semler, Michaelis,
Herder, Hezel, Staudlin, Paulus, Meyer, Eichhorn, Niemeyer, &c,
have attempted to vindicate to the book the character of a parable,
a fable, an apologue, or a moral fiction ; while Dereser, Nachtigal,
Ammon, Bauer, Goldhorn, Knobel, and others, consider it to have
had an historical basis, and that it has been invested with its present
costume in order that it might answer didactic purposes. On the
other hand, Rosenmiiller, Gesenius, De Wette, Maurer, and Winer,
derive it from popular tradition : some tracing it to the fable of
the deUverance of Andromeda from a sea monster, by Perseus,
Apollod, ii, 4, S ; Ovid, Metamorph, iv, 662, &c,; and some, to that
of Hercules, who sprang into the jaws of an immense fish, and was
three days in its belly, when he undertook to save Hesione, Iliad,
xx,145, xxi, 442; Diod. Sic. iv. 42; Tzetz, adLycophr, Cassand, 33;
CjrriU Alex, in Jon, ii.
Much as some of these writers may have in common with each
other, there are some essential points on which they are totally at
variance ; while all frankly acknowledge the difficulties which clog
the subject.
The opinion which has been most generally entertained, is that
which accords to the book a strictly historical character ; in other
words, which afiirms that it is a relation of facts which actually took
place in the life and experience of the prophet. Nor can I view it
in any other light, while I hold fast an enlightened belief in the
divine authority of the books composing the canon of the Old
* .ainigmata prisci Orbis. Jonas in Luce. &c. Helmstedt. 1723, foi. For the
full title of this remarkable book, see Rosenmiiller's Prolegom.

preface to JONAH, 201
Testament, and place implicit reliance on the authority of the Son
of God, Into the fixed and definite character of the canon, I need
not here enter, having fully discussed the subject elsewhere ;* but
assuming that all the books contained in it possess the Divine
sanction, the test to which I would bring the question, and by
which, in my opmion, our decision must mainly be formed, is the
unqualified manner in which the personal existence, miraculous fate,
and pubhc ministry of Jonah, axe spoken of by our Lord, He not
only exphcitly recognises the prophetical office of the son of
Amittai ('Iwvd rov Trpoi^ij'rou), just as he does that of Elisha, Isaiah,
and Daniel, but represents his being in the belly of the fish as a
real miracle (to uYifitiov) ; grounds upon it, as a fact, the certainty
of the future analogous fact in his own history ; assumes the actual
execution of the commission of the prophet at Nineveh ; positively
asserts that the inhabitants of that city repented at his preaching ;
and concludes by declaring respecting himself, "Behold! a greater
than Jonah is here." Matt. xii. 89 — 41, xvi. 4. Now, is it con
ceivable, that all these historical circumstances would have been
placed in this prominent light, if the person of the prophet, and
the brief details of his narrative, had been purely fictitious ? On
the same principle that the historical bearing of the reference in
this case is rejected, may not that to the Queen of Sheba, which
follows in the connexion, be set aside, and the portion of the first
book of Kings, in whieh the circumstances of her visit to Solomon
are recorded, be converted into an allegory, a moral fiction, or a
popular tradition ? The two cases, as adduced by our Lord, are
altogether parallel ; and the same may be affirmed of the allusion
to Tyre and Sidon, and that to Sodom in the preceding chapter.
It may be said, indeed, that a fictitious narrative of the moral
kind would answer the purpose of our Saviour equally well with
one which contained a stateinent of real transactions ; just as it has
been maintained, that the reference made by the Apostle James to
the patience of Job, suited his purpose, irrespective of the actual
existence of that patriarch ; but, as in the one case, a fictitious
example of patience would prove only a tame and frigid motive to
* Divine Inspiration, pp. 450—488.
D D

202

PREFACE TO JONAH.

induce to the endurance of actual suffering, so, in the other, a
merely imaginary repentance must be regarded as little calculated
to enforce the duties of genuine contrition and amendment of life.
Certainly in no other instance in which our Saviour adduces pas
sages out of the Old Testament for the purpose of illustrating or
confirming his doctrines, can it be shown, that any point or cir
cumstance is thus employed which is not historically true. He
uniformty quotes and reasons upon them as containing accounts of
universally admitted facts ; stamps them as such with the high
sanction of his divine authority ; and transmits them for the con
fident belief of mankind in all future ages.
It is only necessary further to add, that if the book had contained
a parable, the name of some unknown person would have been
selected, and not that of a prophet to whom a definite historical
existence is assigned in the Old Testament. On perusing the first
sentence every unprejudiced reader must conclude that there had
existed such a prophet, and that what follows is a simple narrative
of facts. The formula ~iDNt»  Hin'J-ni'l '•H^'l is so appropriated, as
the usual introduction to real prophetical communication, that to
put any other construction upon it would be a gross 'violation of
one of the first principles of interpretation. Comp. 2 Chron. xi, 2 ;
Is, xxxviii, 4 ; Jer, i, 4, 1 1, ii, 1 , xiv, 1, xvi, 1 , xxviii, 12, xxix, 30 ;
Ezek, iii, 16 ; Hag, i, 1,3, ii, 20 ; Zech. iv. 8.
Against the plenary historical character of the book, the miraculous
nature of some of the transactions has been objected ; but, referring
for an investigation of these transactions to the commentary, and
taking for granted an interposition of miraculous agency in the
deliverance of the prophet, when cast into the sea, may it not be
fairly asked, whether there is nothing in the circumstances of the
case to justify such interposition ? The commission was most
important in its own nature, but likewise most unusual, and
confessedly most hazardous in its execution ; one from which it was
extremely natural for Jonah to shrink, and which required the most
confirmatory evidence of its divine origin to induce him to act upon
it. The miracle selected for the purpose of furnishing him with
this evidence, however extraordinary in itself, was in exact keeping
with the circumstances in which he was placed ; and, in so far, was

PREFACE TO JONAH. 203
parallel with those wrought in connexion -with the inission of Moses,
Exod. iii. iv, ; of Elijah, 1 Kings xvii, ; and of Christ and his
apostles. And it is undeniable, that most of the writers who have
called it in question, have either flatly denied the existence of all
scripture miracles, or attempted, in some way or other, to account
for them on mere natural principles. The same mode of reasoning
which goes to set aside one, -will, if fully carried out, go to set
aside all.
That our prophet is the same who predicted the restoration of
the ancient boundaries of the kingdom of the ten tribes, 2 Kings
xiv, 25, is rendered certain by identity of name, parentage and
ofiice ; and as that prediction received its accomplishment in the
reign of Jeroboam II,, it is obvious he must at least have been
contemporary with that monarch, if he did not flourish at a still
more early period. He is justly considered to have been the most
ancient of all the Hebrew prophets whose writings are contained in
the canon.
Whether Jonah composed the book himself, or whether it was
written at a more recent period, has been matter of dispute. Of
the circumstance, that he is spoken of in the third person, no
account is to be made, since it is a style of writing frequently
adopted by the sacred penmen, as it also is by profane authors.
Nor can the occurrence of two or three Chaldee words, as n5''3p,
a ship, TW!^, to think, DJ'B, command, be justly objected against the
early authorship ; for the prophet must have had considerable
intercourse -with persons who spoke foreign languages, which could
not but exert some influence on his style. With respect to nySD,
as it is also the Syriac 1 ^^'^i^, and Arabic Umam, there is every reason
to conclude that it was the nautical term in use among the Phoeni
cians, and so might have been adopted at an early period into all
the cognate dialects, though they had other words by which to
express the same thmg. The use of the compound particles ''Obt^
and ''y'ti^Il does not necessarily argue a late date, since there was
nothing to prevent their being appropriated under the circumstances
of the prophet, just as they came to be adopted, under somewhat
similar circumstances, by other writers. The employment of ti^, the

204 PREFACE TO JONAH.
abbreviated form of ")ti^^*, in Judges v. 7, is an undeniable example
of its adoption at an early period ; and it is indeed very doubtful
whether it be proper to regard it as a Chaldaism at all, though it is
found in some portions of the Hebrew Scriptures and not in others ! *
It has also been alleged against the antiquity of the book, that the
writer uses the substantive verb in the past tense, when describing
the size of Nineveh, nViiri^.y nrT^n rVTy}, chap, iii, 3 ; as if the
city had been destroyed before his time ; but the past tense is evi
dently employed for the simple purpose of preser'ving uniformity
in the style of the narrative, and, as De Wette acknowledges,
hedeutet tiichts.-f-
In point of style, the book is remarkable for the simphcity of its
prose : the only portion of poetry is chap, ii, 3 — 10, which possesses
considerable spirit and force, though some parts of it are evidently
a repetition of certain sentences in the Psalms of David, with which
the prophet appears to have been familiar.
Of the numerous traditions, both Jewish and Christian, whicli
profess to give us information respecting Jonah, I would say -vrith
Luther, Das glauhe wer da -will, ich glauhe es nicht. All that we
learn from Scripture is, that his father's name was Amittai, and that
his birth-place was Gath-hepher (ISinr' •^1, 2 Kings xiv, 2.5 ; HJ^S
IBrr, Josh, xix, 13), a city in the tribe of Zebulon, from which
latter circumstance it appears that he was an Israelite, and not
a Jew, In this book the patience and clemency of God are strikingly
contrasted vrith the selfishness and unbelief of man ; and, as inserted
in the canon of Scripture, it was no doubt primarily designed to
teach the Jews the moral lessons, that the Dirine regard was not
confined to them alone, but was extended to other subjects of the
general government of God ; that -vrickedness, if persisted in, -vrill
meet with condign punishment ; that God has no pleasure in
inflicting such pmiishment, but dehghts in the repentance of the
guilty ; and that if pagans yielded so prompt a compliance vrith a
single prophetic message, it behoved those who were continually
* See Holden on Ecclesiastes, Introd. Dissert, pp. 10 — 15.
t Lelirbuch, § 2'J7.

PREFACE TO JONAH, 209
instructed by the servants of Jehovah, seriously to reflect on the
guilt which they contracted by refusing to listen to their admoni
tions. It has been usual to speak of Jonah as a type of our Sariour,
and numerous points of resemblance have been attempted to be
established between them, to the no small injury of the blessed
character of the latter : whereas, there is nothing more in the passage
of our Lord's discourse (Matt, xii.), from which the notion has been
borrowed, than a comparison of his o-vm consignment to the tomb
for the sa-me space of time which the prophet spent in the belly of the
fish,* The record ofthe event in the Jevrish Scriptures could never
have suggested to its readers, before Christ made the reference, the
subject in the anticipative illustration of which he apphes it.
* See the excellent remarks of the Bev. "W". Lindsay Alexander, M,A. on types, in
his Congregational Lectures, Lect. VIII.

CHAPTER I.
We have here an account of the prophet's coraraission to preach at Nineveh, and
his atterapt to evade it by embarking for Spain, 1 — 3 ; an extraordinary storm
by wbicb he was baffled in his purpose ; the alarm of the sailors, and the means
which they adopted for their safety; tbe detection of Jonah ; his being thrown
into the sea ; and his preservation in the belly ofa fish, 4 — 17.

1 The word of Jehovah was communicated to Jonah, the son of
2 Amittai, saying : Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and
proclaim against it ; for their wickedness is come up before me.

1. From the circurastance that the
book commences with the conjunction 1,
coramonly rendered a7id, sorae bave
inferred that it is raerely the fragraent
of a larger work, written by the same
hand; but tbough this particle is most
commonly used to connect the following
sentence with soraething which precedes
it, and is placed at the beginning of
historical books to raark their connexion
with a foregoing narrative, as Exod. i. 1 ;
1 Kings i. 1 ; Ezra i. 1 ; yet it is also
employed inchoatively where there is no
connexion whatever, as Ruth i. 1 ; Esth.
i, 1 ; and, as specially parallel, Ezek. i. 1.
It serves no other purpose in such cases
than raerely to qualify the apocopated
future, so as to make it represent the
historical past tense. The proper names
nil', Jonah, and 'npw, Amittai, signify
a dove, and veracious or truthful, but
why they were given to the prophet and
his father we are not informed,
2, By an emphatic idiom, Dip, arise,
is used before another verb, as a terra
of excitement, nij'i, Nineveh, the
ancient capital of the Assyrian empire,
was situated on the eastern bank of the

Tigris, opposite to the modern town of
Mosul. The narae is generally allowed
to signify " tbe residence of Ninus,"
from )'P, Ninus, and nil, a dwelling ; but,
according to Hebrew usage, tbe words
should be reversed in order to bring out
this meaning. By the Greek and Roman
writers, it is called Nii/or, Ninus, after
its founder, who must have been identical
with Nimrod, to whom tbe foundation
of the city is ascribed. Gen. x. 11. For,
that 11125«, yf s^ar, is tbere tobe understood
of tbe country so called, or Assyria, and
not of a person of that name, is evident
from ver. 22, where Ashur is mentioned
as a descendant of Shem, and not of
Ham. The omission of the local n,
which might have been expected to form
rni^N, cannot be brought as an objection,
since it is frequently oraitted. See
Nurab. xxxiv. 4 ; Deut. iii. 1, In point
of size, it might well be designated
njii^n T9n, that great city, having been,
as stated chap. iii. 3, " three days'
journey" in circuraference. If we reckon
a day's journey at about twenty miles,
which is the average rate of travelling
in the East, it will give us sixty miles ;

CHAP. I.J

JONAH.

207

But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish, from the presence of
Jehovah ; and he went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to
Tarshish, and paid the fare thereof, and went down into her, to go
with them unto Tarshish from the presence of Jehovah.

which, how iraraense soever it may
appear, quite agrees with the estimate
stated by Diodorus Siculus, ii. 3 : viz.
480 stadia in circuit, 150 stadia in length,
and 90 stadia in breadth. He further
calls it Nivoy peydXr], and adds, ttjXi-
Kav-rqv Be noXtv ovBels varepov eKTtae
Kara re to peyedos tov nept^oXov, Kal
Trjv nepl to relxos peydXonpenetav.
Making every allowance for the large
spaces occupied by gardens, &c., it must,
according to the computation specified,
chap. iv. 11, have contained a population
of upwards of six hundred thousand
souls, wbicb is nearly equal to that of
Paris. As it had long been the mistress
ofthe East, and its situation was favour
able for comraerce, it possessed iramense
wealth, but was, at the same time,
notorious for the mostflagrant corruption
of raanners. After a siege of three
years, it was taken by Arbaces the Mede,
about the seventh year of Uzziah ; and a
second tirae by the united forces of
Cyaxares the Mede, and Nabopolassar,
viceroy of Babylon, B.C. 626. rpj»>«;i?,
make a proclamation against it. This
proclamation consisted in the announce
raent, that, within the space of forty
days, tbe city should be destroyed, b-s
the LXX. and Vulg. render in; and
some would assign to tbe word tbe
signification to, which ''Nhas, chap. iii. 3 ;
but it better agrees with the flight of
Jonah to retain that of against. The
idea of bis going to so great a city for
the purpose of denouncing punishraent
against its wicked population so appalled
him, that he shrunk from tbe task. It
is also raore in keeping with the reason
assigned in the following clause of the
verse. The phrase nirr 'iD^ nto, te go, or
come up before Jehovah, is expressive of
whatever is supposed specially to attract
his notice, and require his interference.
Corap. ':B^N3, Gen. vi. 13; '>M nra, xix. 21.
-Ra^vXav rj peydXrj epvijaBrj evdniov tov
Qeov, Rev. xvi. 19. Ai iXer}poavvai aov
dve^Tjaav els pvrjpdavvr] 'epnpoaBev tov
Qeov, Acts X. 4.

3. For ifi'?hri, Tarshish, see on Is.
xxiii. 10. The Rabbins vacillate between
Tarsus and Tunis. Jonathan has NQ',
the sea. Jonah resolved to make his
escape into the most distant regions of
the West. Comp. Ps. cxxxix, 7, njfT. 'iB,
which strictlj' raeans the face, person, or
presence ef Jehovah, is sometimes em
ployed to denote the special manifestation
of his presence, or certain outward and
visible tokens by which he made himself
locally known. Thus God promised
that his presence ('?B), i.e. the sensible
tokens ofhis presence, should accompany
the Hebrews on their march to Canaan,
Exod. xxxui. 14. Corap. Ps. ix. 3,
Ixviii. 2, 8. It is also employed in
reference to the place or region wbere
such raanifestations were vouchsafed, as
Gen. iv. 14 ; where it obviously signifies
the spot where the priraitive worship was
celebrated, and sensible proofs of tbe
Divine favour were manifested to tbe
worshippers. 1 Sara. i. 22, ii. 18 ; Ps,
xiii, 3. In like manner, the place where
Jacob had intimate communion with
God, was called by that patriarch V:^,
ihe face, or manifestation of God, Gen.
xxxii. 31. The interpretation, therefore,
of David Kirachi, fi«n NS' n«iB aian '3
nNUi nn vbs minn »¦; y-w'; nsirt 'jxiic', he
imagined ihat if he went out of the land
of Israel, ihe spirit of prophecy would
not rest upon him, is perhaps not wide of
the raark. Jarchi to the sarae effect,
\f\tib nsim mw nwic ]'nib, 2'he Shekinah
does not dwell out ofthe land. Though,
as Theodoret observes, he well knew
that the Lord of the universe was every
where present, yet he supposed that it
was only at Jerusalem be became
apparent to raen ; vndXapfidvav hi dpas
ev pdvrj 'lepovadXrjp a-urdv noieladat T-rjv
eni<pdveiav. For tbe reason of Jonah's
flight, see on chap. iv. 2. t; is used of
geing down to the sea-coast frora any
inland place, so tbat it cannot be inferred
from the use of the term that it was at
Jerusalem Jonah received his com
raission. is;, lapho, LXX. 'idnnrj, Arab.

208

JONAH.

[chap. I.

But Jehovah caused a great wind to come down upon the sea, and
there was a great tempest in the sea, and it was apprehended
the ship would be wrecked. Then the mariners were afraid, and
cried, each to his god, and threw out the wares that were in the
ship into the sea, to lighten her of them ; but as for Jonah, he
had gone down into the innermost part of the vessel, and lay
fast asleep.

[sb, Yapha, Jaffa, Joppa, a celebrated
harbour on the east coast of the Medi
terranean, at the distance of ten hours
from Jerusalem, of which it is properly
the seaport. However insecure, it was
used as a harbour as early as the days
of Solomon. 2 Chron. ii. 16. It was
likewise thus appropriated in the Persian
period, Ezra iii. 7 ; and was deeraed so
iraportant in the time of the Maccabees,
tbat, when recovered from the Syrians,
it was fortified, and afterwards underwent
various fates. Its present population
amounts to about 7000 souls. «13, which
usually signifies to come, ceme into, enter,
is obviously here used in the acceptation
go, go out. Corap. Nurab. xxxii. 6. irijip,
her hire, i.e, of the vessel, the fare which
Jonah had to pay for a passage in her ;
not, that be engaged the vessel, as
Benjoin, after Jarchi, would have it.
ip'jHi ]n--b T'n Ninffi) na pn, only what he was
obliged io pay as his share. Abenezra.
Tbis fare, it has been thought, he paid
beforehand, that he might secure bis
flight from the land of Judea ; but it
may have been owing to a prudential
condition on the part of the captain.
The affix in orras refers to the ship's
crew, understood.
4, The force of 'J'En, to couse to come
down at full length, on application to the
storm, will appear on consulting Josephus,
who, speaking of the dangerous naviga
tion of Joppa, says : xard tovtov aaXev-
ovat rot? dnd rrfs 'ldnnr]S vnd rov ea
TTvevpa ^tatov entntnret' peXapjBdpetov
vnd rdv Tavrrj nXa't^opevov KaXelrai.
" As they were driven about here, a
violent wind fell upon thera, which is
called by those that sail there, the black
north wind." De Bello Jud. iii. viii. 3.
The whole section deserves to be read.
Coverdale renders, "But the Lord hurled
a greate wynde into the see." njiSn, the
ship, i.e., by raetonyray, tbe persons on

board, thought she would founder. Thus
Kirachi ; but Jarchi, mjffli N'n iVio n'm:,
she appeared as ifsheshouldbe broken. Syr.
* P P 7
OjaZ^ici. Zooi |a30lZ\,iiD, was
going to be broken, or was tossed, Szc.
LXX. eKivh-vveve. It is best to render
the verb impersonally,
5, ci'nto, mariners, from nbij, salt, the
quality of the water which they navigate,
Syr. and Arab, the same. Comp. Ezek.
xxvn. 9, 27, 29, Kimchi, O'laiiBDn 'iiJEftn,
those who handle the ears, with reference
to the ancient mode of propelling vessels
at sea. Being in all probability Phoe
nicians, they had each his tutelary deity,
whose interposition he invoked in the
hour of danger. Frora tbe circurastance
that D''?4> signifies vessels, Benjoin infers,
tbat the ship had not taken in a regular
cargo, Jonah having paid tbe entire
freight ; but '^3 is used with such latitude
of signification in tbe Hebrew Scriptures,
that it raay be understood of any kind
of manufactured articles, sucb as those
enumerated Ezek. xxvii. which formed
the merchandise of Tyre. These the
Phoenicians conveyed to Spain, whence
they brought back cargoes of silver,
iron, tin, and lead. Tbat something
more ponderous than a few vessels on
the deck is raeant, is evident from what
follows in the verse, iK^oXriv inotrjaavro,
the words employed by the LXX. in
translating wbich are the same which
are used by Luke, Acts xxvii. 18. The
dual forra in nj'DBn 'nS'V, the sides or two
sides of the vessel, is not tobe pressed;
the word in this nuraber being adopted
in Hebrew usage to express a recess or
remote part of any place. Comp. Ps,
cxxviii. 3 ; 1 Sam. xxiv. 4 ; Is. xiv. 15 ;
the innermost part, best expresses the
raeaning. Kirachi otherwise explains it,
D'n3Tn -p nn« ba, to ene of the sides, and
appeals to Judges xii. 7, and Zech. ix. 9,

chap, I,]

JONAH,

209

6 And the captain went close np to him, and said to him : How
is it, thou art fast asleep ? Arise, call to thy God, perhaps God
will think upon us, that we perish not,
7 And they said to each other : Come, and let us cast lots, that we
may know on whose account this calamity hath happened to us : and
8 they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. And they said to him :
Tell us now on what account this calamity hath happened to us ? What
is thine occupation ? And whence comest thou ? What is thy country ?
9 And of what people art thou .'' And he said to them : I am an Hebrew,

in proof of the plural being used instead
of the singular. See Gesenius, Lehrgeb.
p. 665. It has been objected tothe his
torical character of tbe book, that it is
not to be supposed tbat the prophet could
possibly have coraposed himself to sleep
in the circurastances here described ; but
nothing was more natural than for a
person after the fatigues of a journey,
with a mind worn out by excessive
anxiety, to be thrown, in spite of him
self, into such a condition. DTijl, which
the LXX. render Kalepeyxe, is designed
to qualify the preceding verb, by ex
pressing the profound stupor into which
Jonah had sunk. There is a singular
beauty in putting nil', the narae of the
prophet, in the norainative absolute.
" But as for Jonah" — while all were full
of consternation, expecting every raoraent
to become a prey to tbe raging elements,
he lay perfectly unconscious of what was
transpiring. For ™"?9> "hip, wbich
occurs only in this place, see tbe Preface.
6. 'Jsrin 3-1, lit. the master of the rope-
men — ^^3ri being used as a collective,
Comp. ?'na'.D 3"i, chief of the body-guard,
2 Kings xxv. 8 ; D'P'-iD 3n, chief of the
eunuchs. Dan. i. 3. Kimcbi explains
thus : I'Tnoi paioiD 'D'; D'';3in n'N-ip: D'lDDn
DnD3n 'D3 pinn '';3n, "tke ship-men are
called rope-men, because ihey draw and
loosen ihe ropes of the mast, according
to their skill." LXX. Upapevs. Vulg.
gubernater. nwnn, to show oneself con
siderate, to think of, sei one's mind upon ;
in Kal, te invent, fabricate, produce
splendid work; hence the noun nHto,
artificial work, Song v. 14. The idea
of shining seeras to be a secondary mean
ing ; see Jer. v. 28, Corap, niin«)»,
thoughts, Ps. cxivi. 4. The verb bas
the signification of thinking, purposing.

Szc both in Chaldee and Syriac. LXX. 7
htaadarj. Targ. tinnri^, Syr. *..«>2i'
io deliver. Hitzig prefers the idea of
shining, being friendly, gracious, and tbe
like. Having found that their heathen
deities rendered them no assistance, the
crew were anxious to try the effect of
supplication on the part of Jonah to the
God of the Hebrews, either from the
supposition that he was stronger than
their own gods, or that he might be dis
pleased with the prophet, and required
to be placated. It deserves to be noticed,
that the word for God is here used with
tbe article D'D''Nn, which is certainly de
signed to give emphasis to it ; God — the
true God. Comp. Deut. iv. 35, Nin nin;
D'ri'jNn, and 1 Kings xviii. 39, Nin nin'^
DTi^Nii Nin nirr O'rf^Nn. Are we to infer
from this circumslance, that the captain
was a worshipper of Jehovah?
7—9. The casting of lots was com
raon araong tbe nations of antiquity,
not only when they wished to know
sorae future event, but also when tbey
would determine cases of difficulty, and
especially crirainal causes, in which no
witnesses could be obtained. The raode
of using thera is not described in Scrip
ture, but from tbe verb ''SJ, ')'Bn, to fall,
cause iofall, being comraonly eraployed,
it is probable it was by shaking the lots
in sorae box or vase, and then causing
them to fall on tbe ground. Comp,
Prov. xvi. 33, where b%irf, to throw dewn,
is used, in connexion with p'n, tbe bosom,
or large fold of the garment in front of
the body ; intiraating, that lots were also
raixed there for the sake of secrecy,
'pk)3, lit. for that which is to whom, i. e.
'p ]i»5, for whose guilt. The words in
ver. 8, "5 "Nin rwnn 'p'j iiSn?, are oraitted
E E

210

JONAH.

[chap.

and I fear Jehovah, the God of heaven, who made the sea, and the
10 dry land. And the men were greatly afraid, and said to him : What
is this thou hast done ? For the men knew that he was fleeing
11 from the presence of Jehovah, because he had told them. They
further said to him : What shall we do to thee, that the sea may
cease from raging against us ? for the sea groweth more and more
tempestuous. And he said to them : Take me up, and throw me
into the sea, and the sea shaU cease from raging against you ; for I
know it is on my account this great tempest is upon you.
And the men rowed hard to regain the land ; but they could not,
for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. And
they cried to Jehovah, and said : O now Jehovah ! let us not perish,

12

13 14

in two of Kennicott's MSS., in the Son
cin. edition of tbe Prophets, and in the
Vatican copy of the LXX.; and Kenni
cott's MS. 154, omits '-ab, most probably
both by eraendation, in order to avoid
the repetition of what had been said in
ver. 7. We shoidd rather have expected
no) i?)N3, " on account of what ;" but 't?
may be taken in a neuter sense, like the
corresponding tnj: in Ethiopic, as,
indeed, it is in the phrase ^f V, " What
is thy name?" Jud. xiii. 16. Comp.
also 1 Sam. xviii. 17, '^n 'p, " What is my
life?" Micah i. 5, mm 'p~3ps'. SfflDr'o
nTirp, " What is tlie sin of Jacob?" —
" What are tbe high places of Judah?"
Hexaplar Syr. jlisD ^^.^lio, on account
of what. Leo Juda : " unde sit nobis
hoc malum." The searaen were anxious
to learn every particular connected with
tbe history of Jonah, in order that they
raight discover the real cause of the
storra. NT, to fear, followed by the
accusative, signifies to cherish feelings
of reverence, to reverence, honour, Szc,
and is not here to be interpreted in the
sense of being afraid, which would have
required the preposition \o before the
object in such a case as the present,
10. n'to» nNTTip, what is this thou hast
done ? is not put for tbe purpose of ob
taining information respecting his iiight,
for it is imraediately added, that he had
previously inforraed them of it, but is a
formula which is intended to produce a
strong feeling of disapprobation in tbe

breast of him to whom it is addressed,
conveying, at the sarae tirae, the idea of
surprise that he could have been guilty
of such conduct. Comp. Gen. iii. 13,
xii. 18, XX. 9. The question shows tbat
wbat Jonah bad said respecting the
character of the true God, had made a
deep irapression upon the minds of the
sailors. 11. They bad clearly tbe conviction,
that as the prophet was the cause of the
storm, some step raust be taken in order
to get rid of hira ; but how to dispose of
hiin they knew not. That they wished,
if possible, to save his life, is clear from
tbe sequel, bsn pn^ conveys the idea of
subsiding, so as no longer to bear down
upon with violence, and graphically de
scribes the threatening attitude of a
tempestuous sea, rising above tbe ships
that are exposed to it. pn^ properly sig
nifies io settle down, be still, cease from
raging, isbi ^'?.in, lit. going and storming,
raeaning, to go on, increase, becorae more
and more tempestuous ; a comraon idiora
in Hebrew. Corap. Exod. xix. 19 ;
1 Sara. ii. 26, xvii. 41 ; Esth. ix. 4 ; Prov.
iv. 18.
13. inn, to dig, or break forcibly through
anything, is strongly expressive of the
great effort raade by tbe searaen to avoid
sacrificing the life of Jonah. LXX.
napePtd^ovTO. At 3'iSn') supply n>?NtjnN.
14. An affecting prayer for pagans
to present to the true God! The
words, ni3Ni NrtN nin'; nsN, are peculiarly
earnest and tender. nJN, the sarae as
NIN, which Gesenius takes to be cora-
pounded of nN, oh ! and N3, the usual

CHAP.

II.]

JONAH.

211

we beseech thee, for this man's life ; and lay not innocent blood to
our charge : for thou, O Jehovah ! hast done as it pleased thee.
15 And they took up Jonah, and threw him iuto the sea, and the sea
16 ceased from its raging. Then the men feared Jehovah greatly, and
off'ered a sacrifice to Jehovah, and made vows.

particle of entreaty, Comp, the Arab,
^.), obsecro. The Keri marks N in NipJ as
redundant, and a great number of MSS,
read 'PJ. ilfei, life, means here life tbat
is taken away, having "VX ^5, innocent
blood, corresponding to it in the follow
ing clause, Comp, Deut. xix, 21 ;
2 Sara. xiv. 7, Coverdale, well as to the
sense, "this man's death." Tbe refe
rence is not to anything tbat Jonah had
done, but to what they were about to do
to him, bs DJ ]ro, to give blood upon,
means to charge with murder. Syr,
* p
vS0 4»»i. }J, impute not. The sense is,
let us not be found guilty of killing an
innocent person. In the concluding
words of the verse, they refer the whole
affair to tbe mysterious providence of
God, They had not been brought into
tbeir present circumstances by any con
duct of their own ; nor could they
account for the guilt of Jonah, since

he was chargeable with no act of immo
rality. Yet he was the object of Divine
displeasure- 15, 16, They now proceed calmly,
though with great reluctance, to act in
accordance with what they had been led
to regard as the will of the Most High.
The calm appears to have taken place
instantaneously. According to the
Rabbins, Grotius, and sorae others, they
did not actually offer a sacrifice, but
only purposed to do it before Jehovah,
i. e. at Jerusalem ; but it is raore natural
to conclude that tbey sacrificed sorae
aniraal tbat was on board, and vowed
that they would present greater proofs
of their gratitude when they returned
frora their voyage. Michaelis thinks
they intended to perforra their vows
when they reached Spain.
" Quin ; ubi transraissse steterint trans
aequora classes,
Et positis aris jam vota in litore solves.''
Mneid. iii. 403,

CHAPTER II.
With the exception of tbe first and last verses, wbich give an historical account of
the fate of Jonah as preserved by a great flsh, this chapter contains a brief but
beautiful hymn of deliverance. It was in all probability composed immediately
after his reaching the dry land, but embodies some of the leading topics
in reference to which he called upon Jehovah during his stay in the deep.

1 (Chap. i. 17.) Now Jehovah had appointed a great fish to swallovr
Jonah. And Jonah was in the bowels of the fish three days and
three nights.

1 , (Chap. i. 1 7, in our comraon version.)
It has been supposed by sorae that the
fish here spoken of was created at the
moment for tbe purpose of swallowing
the prophet, though, according to Rabbi

Tarphon, it was n'»NT3 'D' rmn-a miOD,
prepared for the purpose at the creation
of the world ; but there is nothing in the
original word nm which at all suggests
the idea of creation or production. Like

212

JONAH.

[chap. ii.

2 And Jonah prayed to Jehovah his God from the bowels of the
fish, and said :

the Arab. -JUii certa quanitate cer toque
mode definivit aliqui rem; decretus fuit,
it properly signifies to appoint, order,
arrange, and the like, so that all that can
be legitimately inferred frora its use in
this place, is, that, in tbe providence of
God, the aniraal was brought to the
spot at the precise time when Jonah was
thrown into the sea, and its instrumen
tality was wanted for his deliverance.
In other words, it was the result of a
special pre-arrangement in the Divine
plan, according to which the move
ments of all creatures are regulated, and
rendered subservient to the purposes
of God's universal governraent. LXX.
npoaera^e. Comp. chap. iv. 6 — 8. On
the subject of the fish itself various
opinions have been broached. Mutianus,
and after hira Hermann von der Hardt,
would have it to be nothing raore than
an inn, with the sign of "'The Whale,"
into which Jonah was received after
having been cast on shore ! Less pro
posed tbe theory of a ship with this
name, which happened to be close by,
and rescued the prophet; while Thaddffius
supposed that, on being thrown out of
the vessel, he lighted upon a large fish,
on which he rode for the time specified,
and was at last cast on shore ! Till the
tirae of Bochart it was comraonly sup
posed to have been the balcena, or whale
properly so called, owing to a rais-
interpretation of Krjros, Matt. xii. 40,
which signifies any great fish in general.
With rauch ingenuity tbat learned author
endeavours to prove, tbat it must have
been the carcharias, or dog-fish, which,
though not the size of a whale, yet has
so large a gullet, and so capacious a
storaach, that one of them has been found
to contain a warrior, clad in all bis
armour, Bochart, Hierozo. p. ii. lib. v.
cap. xii. Others have supposed that it
was a shark, a species of fish abounding
in the Mediterranean, exceedingly vora
cious, and in the belly of which whole
men have been found. See Parkhurst's
Greek Lexicon, sub. voc. Kfjros. But
we may well acquiesce in the decision of
Rosenmiiller : " Tota hsec de pisce Jonse

disquisitio vana videtur atque inutilis,"
The Scriptures lea veit entirely undecided
to what species of marine animals the
fish belonged ; merely stating that it was
^ii3 i'i, a great flsh, one sufficiently large
for the occasion. Much has been written
to relieve tbe transaction of the miracii-
lous ; but that it is physically possible
for a human subject, which has been
accustomed for years to breathe tbe vital
air, to exist without respiration, or upon
the foul air in a fish, for the length of
time here specified, has never been
proved. Tbe position of Abenezra is
the only one tbat can, with any con
sistency, be maintained: ni'n'?mN3 n3 pM
: M mrwns p3 iBDonni '3 vjni nsic '03 njin '»m,
" No man has the power of living in the
bowels of a fish for a single hour : how
much less for such a number of hours,
except by the operation of a miracle."
The transaction was, as Kirachi observes,
D'Din "p inM, one of the miracles. As
sucb it is unequivocally recognised by
our Lord, when he calls it a aripeiov, a
sign or token of divine interposition, a
supernatural event, manifestive of the
power of God, Matt. xh. 39 ; and it
behoves all his disciples implicitly and
cordially to receive bis decision. For
the period of " three days and three
nights," see Whitby on Matt. xii. 40.
2. For ''Wl, comp. b'^nm, 1 Sam.
ii. 1. Some ofthe Rabbins, Hezel, and
others, would argue from the use of IP,
from, out of, and not |, in, before '?p,
that the prayer of Jonah was not pre
sented while be was in the belly of tbe
fish, but after his deliverance; but this
interpretation is justly rejected both by
Abenezra and Kimcbi. The preposition
marks tbe place from which he directed
his thoughts to the Most High. Comp,
¦jiNyi^TOjo, ver. 3; D'PP»PP, Ps. cxxx, 1 ;
-iijorrip, Ps. cxviii, 5. The final n in
nj'jn is not ferainine, as has been sup
posed, and upon which . assumption
certain Rabbins have built tbe theory,
that a still larger feraale fish swallowed
that in which J onah was preserved ;
but the n paragogic, which corresponds
to tbe status emphaticus of the Aramaeic,
and is designed to strengthen the termi
nation. For other instances in which it

CHAP.

II.J

^

JONAH.

213

I cried because of my distress to Jehovah,
And he answered me ;
From the interior of Sheol I cried out :
Thou heardest my voice.
Thou didst cast me into the deep.
Into the raidst of the seas ;
So that the current surrounded me ;
All thy breakers and thy billows passed over me.
Then I said :
I am cast out from before thine eyes,
Yet I will look again towards thy holy temple.

is added, at the same tirae that the noun
takes the article, corap. rip^nn, Judges
xiv, 18 ; Wiian, Ps. cxvi. 15. The position
of the accent is of no account.
3, 4. The hymn which commences
here is partly descriptive, partly pre
catory, and partly eucharistical. These
two verses are introductory, as is clear
frora tbe use of 'n'jipN 'it?i, and give
expression to the feelings and pious
exercise of the prophet in tbe awful
circurastances into which he had been
brought. That the language, not only
of the prayer, but also of tbe introduction,
is in part borrowed frora tbe Psalms,
appears from the following comparison :

Psalm cxx. 1.
'HNT/^ -'b nn3S3 nirr^N
^^'I'jw^i
xiii. 8.
•bs !rbji !]'T3iiin-')3 ! 1339
xxxi. 23,
'mpN'jNi
! ^yS 3330 'nri33
Ixix. 2,
iiiJB.;-T5D;niN3 cxiii. 4.
i'ffipi'torjEsnns xxxi. 7.
; Ni\j5-'^3n D'-ipian
iii. 9.
nsiBi'n nin'')

Jonah ii. 3.
nin'-^M'^rnsp'nioij 7'?39;i''
ver, 4,
'¦» 5T')31 ip3S)I3-')3
-T ( V-I 1 VT I - T
11339
ver. 5. 'mpN 'INI
! !^3'» TOP 'Hlfry?
ver. 6.
1 lliD3-T» D'Q '31EBN
ver. 8.
!'¦£!;: 'b»F]'i!j?nn3
ver. 9.
! N111>-|;3n D'3t31l5p
ver. 10,
1 rmb nnwttJ'

On the supposition that Jonah was
familiar with the Psalras, it was very
natural for him to incorporate sentences
taken from them with bis own language,
just as we frequently do in extempore
prayer, without thinking of tbe portion
of Scripture from whicb they are derived.
b\tvp jm, lit, the belly of Sheol, i.e. the vast
and hidden receptacle of tbe departed.
Targ. NOinn n'S)3Nn, from the lowest part
of the abyss, but less properly. The
remark of Jerorae is : " Ventrum inferi
alvum ceti intelligamus, quae tantse fuit
magnitudinis, ut instar obtineret inferni."
Before njiso, ver. 4, supply 3. sm,
commonly used of a river, but here it is
to be understood of the strong current or
stream ot the sea, which flows like a
river. There is no foundation for the
opinion of Abenezra and Kimcbi, that
it was intended to describe the confluence
of the waters of a river with those of the
sea, -Ktit av norapoto peeBpa

QKeavov, danep yeveats ndvreaat rervK-
Tai. Iliad, xiv. 245.
Meaaco ydp peydXot norapol koI heivd
peeBpa,
'nKeavds pev npdra. Odyis. xi. 156,
T:fjv hi KUT 'ClKeavdv norapdv <pepe
Kvpa pdoto. Ibid. 638,
5. Having described his condition,
the prophet now proceeds to give the
words of bis prayer. ni!T'3'9 333, to be
before the eyes of Jehovah, raeans to be
the object ofhis special notice and care.
Jonah had fled frora the Divine presence

214

JONAH,

[chap. II.

6 The waters press around me to the very life ;
The abyss encompasseth me ;
The weed is bound to my head.
7 I go down to the clefts of the mountains ;
As for the earth, her bars are shut upon me for ever.
But thou wilt bring up my life from destruction,
O Jehovah my God !
8 When my soul was overwhelmed within me,
I remembered Jehovah ;
And my prayer came in unto thee,
Into thy holy temple.

in Canaan, but now he feels that he is
expelled even frora the abodes of life,
and cut off, as it were, frora the regard
of that Providence which watches over
the children of raen. Still he does not
abandon himself to despair. He con
fidently expects to be restored to the
enjoyment of his privileges in the temple
at Jerusalem, and there to render thanks
to God for his deliverance. Green
would supply tbe negative n'; before >T'piN,
and Hitzig would point '^N, ^N for 'q'N,
how ; but both without any authority.
Such sudden transitions frora fear to
hope are frequently expressed in Scrip
ture. 6. iiiM'T?, even to, or to the very soul,
i.e. the aniraal life ; raeaning, to the
extinction of life. f-fO, is the alga, or
weed, wbicb abounds at tbe bottom of
the sea, and from which the Arabian
Gulf takes the name of P]lD"t3;, the sea of
weeds. Kimchi explains it by Npij, the
papyrus, or bulrush. Gesenius refines
too much when he attaches to ii5i3n in
this place the idea of binding round the
head like a turban. Assuredly Jonah
had no such idea in bis raind. He rather
describes bow he felt, as if entangled by
the sedge or weeds through which he
was dragged,
7. D'3?i^, sections, cuttings, clefts, from
3?IJ, to cut; Arab. ^^,^m), abscidit,
resecuit. Thus the LXX. axtapas
dpiav. Vulg. extrema montium. Targ,
N>3iiD '3p», the roots of ihe mountains.
The word describes the deep identations
or clefts made in the roots of mountains
which project into the sea, or those

divisions wbich are found in the rocks
at its bottom. ST?^> ^^^ earth, is
emphatically put in tbe norainative
absolute, as the object to which the
affections of the prophet still clung.
He was expelled from it, as from a
habitation, and its bars had been shut
upon hira, so that he could not return,
Gesenius takes the bars to be those of
Sheol; but, as we have ')iNtf-'3Sia, the
gates ef Sheol, Is. xxxviii, 1 0, the phrase
here raust bave been rprril 'jiNiii, and not
p'rri3y3Nn, if such had been the meaning,
393 is put elliptically for T?3 t:'3i3p, the
verb, 310 being obviously implied, Jonah
adds, obtih, for ever, to express the
impossibihty of his ever again reaching
the dry land, by any effort of his own.
Yet, exposed as he momentarily was to
death in the region of corruption (nmi,
the pit, or grave,) he confidently ex
presses his bope that God would restore
hira. Reasserts his interest in Jehovah
by calling him " his God."
8. The prophet here resumes his de
scription of the circumstances of distress
to wbich he was reduced, his application
to Jehovah, and the answer which he
received to his prayer. The composition
of this and tbe following verses, like that
of verses 3 and 4, belongs to a period
subsequent to bis deliverance ; yet while
describing his condition, he occasionally
directs his language to Jehovah, tov^ards
whora, as his deliverer, his thoughts
naturally rose, flE9m, to be in a
state of faintness, swoon, frora flP9, to
cover, to involve in darkness, overwhelm.
LXX. well, as it respects the sense: 'Ev
rw eiiXelnetv an epov T-qv ^VXV" M""'

CHAP

in,]

JONAH.

215

10

11

They that regard lying vanities
Forsake their Benefactor.
But as for me, I will sacrifice to thee with the voice of thanksgiving ;
What I have vowed I will perform :
Salvation belongeth to Jehovah.
And Jehovah commanded the fish, and it vomited forth Jonah
upon the dry land.

9. A striking description of idolaters,
but which may also be extended to all
who prefer created objects, in any shape,
to God. ojon, lit, their mercy or good
ness ; by raetonyray for tbeir Benefactor :
i,e, God, the author and source of all
goodness : tbe Suprerae Good. Comp.
Ps. cxliv. 2, where David calls God bis
35?- The word properly signifies kindness
or benignity, and most appropriately desig
nates Him who is good to all, and whose
tender mercies are over all his works.
p ^ p 1
Tbe Syriac reads, .,/n -Vn.,^.Vp, thy
mercy, which Green, on this authority
alone, admits into tbe text !
10. Deeply sensible of tbe raerciful
interposition of Jehovah on his behalf,
Jonah now solemnly engages to give
expression to his feelings of gratitude by
acoorapanying his presentation of sacri
fice with a song of praise, and faithfully
perforraing bis vows, of which we may
conclude, the execution ofhis commission
to go to Nineveh formed none of the
least. The paragogic n in nnsiifi; is
intensive. Comp. Ps. iii. 3. In both
passages, the deliverance is ascribed to
Jehovah as its author, as the b in rrrvb
imports.

On reviewing this prayer, and weigh
ing the import of its several terras, it is
obvious, that though Jonah was in a
state of consciousness while in tbe belly
of the fish, he had no idea that such was
his situation. On the contrary, he
appears to have been under the impres
sion tbat he was engulfed in the sea,
now forcibly carried along by its current,
now entangled among its weeds, and
now sinking into the profound ravines
ofits rocks.
11. Green and Boothroyd, on mere
conjecture, remove tbis verse from its
present position, and insert it before the
hymn. Such a transposition Hitzig
pronounces to be violent, unnecessary,
and, in short, a perversion of the passage.
It is not stated where the prophet was
cast on shore, but in all probability it
was somewhere on the coast of Palestine,
According to sorae, the fish carried him,
during the three days and three nights,
down tbe Mediterranean, and through
the Archipelago, and the Propontis,
into the Euxine sea, and deposited him
on the south coast, at the nearest point
to Nineveh ! Not to mention bow the
Rabbins raake him reach that city by tbe
Tigris ! !

CHAPTER III,
This chapter contains an account of the renewal of the prophet's coraraission, 1, 2;
his preaching to the Ninevites, 3, 4 ; the universal hurailiation and reforraation
effected by it, 5 — 9 ; and the reversal of tbe Divine sentence by which the city
had been doomed to destruction, 10,

1 And the word of Jehovah was communicated to Jonah a second
2 time, saying : Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and make the

216

JONAH,

[chap.

III,

3 proclamation to it which I order thee. And Jonah arose, and went
to Nineveh, according to the word of Jehovah. Now Nineveh was
4 a great city even to God, of three days' journey. And Jonah began
to enter the city, a journey of one day ; and he proclaimed, and
said : Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown,
5 And the men of Nineveh believed in God, and proclaimed a
fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them, even to the
6 least of them. And the subject reached the king of Nineveh, and
he rose from his throne, and put off his robe, and covered himself
7 with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes. And a proclaraation was made
through Nineveh, by order of the king and his grandees, saying,
Let neither man nor beast, ox nor sheep, taste anything ; let them
8 not feed, neither let them drink water. But let man and beast be
covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God ; and let them
turn every one from his wicked way, and from the violence which is

3. D'ri'iN!) riri-ii 3'», a city great to God.
This phrase has been variously explained.
Some, with Kirachi, deera it merely a
superlative form; Gesenius construes
the b instrumentally, great through God,
i. e. through his favour. Others consider
it to be equivalent to D'n'jN 'jp';, before
God, Gen. x. 9. Thus tbe Targ. I] D3g .
Of this last interpretation I approve, as
it was most natural to refer the size of a
city, of which the Hebrews could forra
no adequate conception, to the Divine
estiraation. I have accordingly rendered
tbe words literally, as our preposition te
is often used to note opinion or estimate.
For the dimensions of Nineveh, as bere
given, see on chap. i. 2. The opinion
of Abarbanel, tbat the diameter of tbe
city is intended, is justly exploded.
4. It is impossible to determine how
far Jonah penetrated into Nineveh, since
it is probable that in making his an
nouncement he would stop at different
places, as the crowds might collect around
him. 5. WhenD'n'')N3 J'pNn, believing in God,
is spoken of in reference to such as had
previously been ignorant of bim, it must
be taken as involving the recognition of
his being and character as the true God,
and not siraply their giving credit to the
aunounceraents of bis messengers. To
express the latter, b j'ONn is employed.
See Gen. xlv. 26 ; Is. iiii. 1. All, with

out distinction of age or rank, put on
sackcloth, the usual attire of deep mourn
ing. 6 — 8. Who the king of Assyria was
at tbe time, is not certain. Pul, the
first monarch of that empire mentioned
by narae in Scripture, did not begin to
reign till b. c. 769. Sorae are of opinion
that it was Sardanapalus ; if so, bis re
pentance was tbe raore remarkable, for
according to the ancients be was pro
verbially notorious on account of his
profligacy. " Et venere, et coenis, et plurais Sarda-
napali." Juvenal. Sat. iii.
It is said that he coraposed for bis
epitaph, "Eat, drink, play; after death
there is no pleasure." 'The description of
the mourning here given is very affect
ing. That the irrational aniraals should
be represented as partaking in it, is far
frora unnatural.
" Non ulli pastes illis egere diebus
Frigida, Daphni, boves ad fluraina : nulla
neque aranera
Libavit quadrupes, nec graminis attigit
herbam." Virg. Eel. v. 24.
" Post bellator equus, positis insignibus,
jEthon
It lacryraans, guttisque humectat gran-
dibus ora," Mne'id. xi. 89,
Plutarch informs us that when Masistias,

CHAP.

IV,]

JONAH,

217

9 in their hands. Who knoweth but that God may turn and repent,
and turn away from the fierceness of his anger, that we perish not.
10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their wicked way,
and God repented of the evil which he had said he would inflict
upon them, and he inflicted it not.

a Persian general, was slain, the horses
and mules were shorn, as well as the
Persians themselves.
9. The Jewish interpreters follow the
construction put upon the words ?3i' 'p,
who knoweth, in the Targum : 9T ]p
]'3in n'T3 n'N'3, whoever is conscious that
there are crimes in his hands ; only
Kimchi proposes another, '333 931'ffl 'd
n3licnn, He who knoweth the ways of
repentance ; but it is obviously a formula
expressive of great guilt, yet involving
the hope of pardon. Comp. Joel ii. 14.
10. God is anthropopathically said to
repent, when he changes his mode of
procedure, or acts differently from what
his promises or threatenings bad given
reason to expect. The threatening in

the present case having been conditional,
was repealed on tbe perforraance of the
iraplied condition. To what extent the
repentance of the Ninevites was genuine
in its character, and how long the refor
mation of raanners here specified lasted,
we are not inforraed ; but there is reason
to fear it was of short continuance, for
after their city had been besieged for
three years by Arbaces the Mede, it was
taken and destroyed. Diod. Sic. ii. 26,
&c. Thus fell tbe ancient Assyrian
dynasty, and gave place to tbat of tbe
Medes, which continued till the time of
Cyaxeres, when Nineveh, which bad
been rebuilt, was again destroyed, and
finally ceased to be an iraperial residence.
See Preface to the Book of Nahura,

CHAPTER IV.
The selfish and repining spirit ofthe prophet, and the raeans employed by Jehovah
to reprove and instruct him, are here set forth.

1 Bdt Jonah was exceedingly displeased and vexed. And he
2 prayed to Jehovah, and said : Ah ! now, Jehovah I was not this

1. Unwarrantable attempts have been
made to soften down the character of
Jonah, as exhibited in this chapter. The
utmost that can be advanced in extenua
tion of his conduct, is, the strong tincture
of national prejudice with wbich his
spirit appears to have been imbued.
Corap, Luke ix.54. ^n^n, however, seeras
to be here used, not in the sense of being
enraged or angry, but in tbat of being
the subject of grief or sorrow. Comp.

1 Sara. XV. 1 1 ; 2 Sam. vi. 8. Grief and
anger are passions nearly related ; and
in illustration of this application of mn,
te burn, tbe following instances may be
adduced : —
Ti's aKavhaXi^erai, Kal ovK eyd nv-
poiipai; — 2 Cor. xi. 29.
'AXX' a KaXoviKrj Kqopai rrjv Kaphlav,
Kal TToXX' inlp rjpdv rdv yvvaiKav,
dxdopat. Arisioph. Lysisi. v. 9.
F F

218

JONAH.

[chap. IV.

my word while Iwas yetin my own country .'' Wherefore I anticipated
it by fleeing to Tarshish ; for I knew that thou art a gracious and
merciful God, long-suffering, and of great kindness, and repentant
3 of the evil. And now, O Jehovah I take, I pray thee, my life
4 from me ; for my death were better than my life. And Jehovah
said to him : Art thou much vexed ?
5 And Jonah went out of the city, and sat to the east of the city
and there made a booth for himself, and sat under it in the shade,
6 till he should see what would happen in the city. And Jehovah
God had appointed a ricinus plant, and he caused it to rise up over
Jonah, to be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his
affliction : and Jonah rejoiced exceedingly on account of the
ricinus.

"Eheu disperii ! voltusneutiquam hujus
placet.
Tristis incedit, pectus ardet."
Plant. Mercat. Act iii. Sc, 4, v. 14.
" Tura vero exarsit Juveni dolor ossibus
ingens," Mne'id. v, 172.
And the declaration of Cicero : " Non
angor, sed ardeo dolore." — Epist. ad
Attic, vi. 9.
2. '33'3, my word, i.e. what I spake
within myself, my cogitation, t33p is
here taken in tbe sense of doing anything
in order to anticipate another. Jonah
acknowledges that he used all despatch
in his attempt to leave Palestine. The
description of the Divine goodness here
given agrees verbally with that exhibited
Joel ii. 13. He recollected tbe numerous
instances in which, instead of executing
his threatenings, Jehovah had, in the
exercise of his patience, borne with the
guilty, and even interposed with illus
trious acts of pardon ; and he was afraid
of comproraising his character by an
nouncing what he had reason to expect
might never take place,
4. ^'3. nin 3Ei'nn, nmst modern versions
improperly render, "dost thou well," or,
" is it right in thee to be angry ? " their
authors not adverting to the fact that the
Hiph. Infinitive of 3p^ is often used
adverbially in the acceptation, greatly,
exceedingly, thoroughly, or the like. See
Deut. ix. 21, xiii. 15; 2 Kings xi. 18.
In like raanner the finite form niN-i^ n3B'n,

Jer. i, 12. Thus the LXX, el a^tdhpa
7 «. p
XeXvnrjaat av ; tbe Syr. i^^i^ '•^^^
p
^; and tbe Targ. ^^fl'S." N3rtn. Kimchi
explains, 3nd "["j n3n dn. Art thou much
grieved? and adds, ¦"39n pm 1J':9" 3TQ'n,
As for 3tD'n, it imports the strengthening
ef a subject. The renderings, Will
grieving do thee any good ? and, Does
beneficence offend thee ? are totally to
be rejected.
5. We cannot determine on what day
Jonah abandoned his labours araong the
Ninevites; but it is evident frora the
conclusion of this verse, tbat it must have
been before the lapse of the forty days
specified in his announcements,
6, ^?;i I take to be the apocopated
Future of Hiphil, having D'n'w nirr for
its nominative. ]i'ij'p, tJie kikaien or
ricinus plant (Ricinus communis, Linn.),
coraraonly known by the narae of Palma
Christi. The word is the same as the
Egyptian KIKI, and tbe Talmudic Kik,
with the Hebrew termination. In Arabic
it is called ajjiJl, El-Kheroa, which is
not to be confounded with p.M\, El-
Karra, the cucurbita, LXX, KoXoKvvBrj,
Our English rendering gourd is equally
inappropriate. This plant is indigenous
in India, Palestine, Arabia, Africa, and
the east of Europe, and on account of
its singular beauty is cultivated in

CHAP. IV.]

JONAH.

219

7 But God appointed a worm, at the rising of the dawn, on the
8 morrow, and it injured the ricinus, so that it withered. And it came
to pass at the sun-rise, that God appointed a sultry east wind, and
the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, and he fainted, and requested
that he might die ; for he said, My death were better than my life.
9 And God said unto Jonah : Art thou much vexed on account of
10 the ricinus ? And he said: I am much vexed, even to death. And
Jehovah said : Thou art affected on account of the ricinus, with
which thou hadst no trouble, and which thou didst not rear, which

gardens. It is a biannual, and usually
grows to the height of from eight to ten
feet. It is chiefly remarkable on account
of its leaves, which are broad, palmate,
and serrated, and divided into six or
seven lobes. Only one leaf grows on a
branch, but being large, soraetimes
measuring more than a foot, and spread
out in the shape of an open hand with
the fingers extended, their collective
shade affords an excellent shelter from
the heat of the sun. It is of exceedingly
quick growth, and has been known in
America to reach the height even of
thirteen feet in less than three months.
When injuredit fades with great rapidity.
See on ver. 10, Celsii Hierobot. pt. ii,
p. 273 ; Michaelis, Supplem. No. 2263 ;
Rosenmiiller, in the Biblical Cabinet,
vol, xxvii, p, 125 ; Michaelis, Bibel
Ubersetz., note on the passage, where
there is a plate with an excellent repre
sentation of a ricinus. How rauch such
a shrub, throwing its palray branches
over tbe small hut which the prophet
had erected, must have contributed
to bis relief in the sultry environs of
Nineveh, may easily be imagined. His
joy is emphatically described in the last
clause of the verse.
8. Tbe O^ 1313, or east wind, is the
sultry and oppressive wind which blows
in the summer months across tbe vast
Arabian desert, and produces universal
languor and relaxation. It resembles
the Sirocco, only is free from its damp
ness, and consequently more destructive
to vegetation. Superadded, as in the
present instance, to the heat of the
morning sun, it is exceedingly oppressive.
According to the versions, n'Si'3n sig
nifies withering ; otherwise, as derived

from tf3n, it signifies to be quiet, silent,
Szc, which better agrees with the idea
of sultriness,
9, The words n.ip-39 'Vmn 3E'n, the
LXX. translate, Sipdhpa XeXvnripai. eyd
eas Bavdrov, whicb nearly agree with
those of our Lord, Mark xiv. 34.
10. Din, properly signifies to be aff'ected
by the sight of anything ; hence to
feel concern on account of it, to take
pity or compassion. I have employed
the passive form of our verb io affect,
in order to present in the translation a
word equivalent to that which is here
used in the original. There seems no
necessity for taking the Hebrew verb in
two acceptations. The formula, nV'rjaifl
33N nW-[3l n;n, Ht. which was the son of a
night, and perished the son of a night, is
obviously intended to express the extra
ordinary rapidity with which the ricinus
put forth its leaves and afterwards
withered. That the tree itself was
instantaneously produced, cannot be
proved frora this mode of speech, any
more than from tbe use of the verb n:p,
ver. 6 ; otherwise we should be obliged,
for the sake of consistency, to raaintain,
that tbe whole tree was miraculously
destroyed, and had entirely disappeared
during tbe night, rrn and 33n are strictly
antithetical. But, as all that was re
quired in the one case, was tbat tbe
broad spreading leaves should wither, so
as no longer to afford protection to Jonah,
though the trunk reraained; so all that
was necessary in the otber was to give
to the tree wbich had been previously
produced, such an extraordinary accele
rated power of germination, that the
leaves, which would otherwise have re
quired some longer time to corae to

220

JONAH.

[chap. IV.

11 came in a night, and perished in a night : and I, I should not be
aff'ected on account of Nineveh, that great city, in which are more
than twelve times ten thousand human beings who cannot distinguish
between their right hand and their left, and much cattle .''

maturity, were brought to perfection in
the course of a night. ]3, a son, is used
idiomatically to express wbat is pro
duced, or exists, during the tirae pre
dicated of it. Thus it is resolved in the
'Targ. 33N N33niN n^W31 Nin ]'3n n^'j'Js ''3,
which ihis night was, and in another night
perished. 11. The peculiar force of the appeal
lies in the imraense number of rational
creatures which must have perished had
Nineveh been destroyed. Estimating
the age of the children at about three
years, and assuming thera to have formed
a fifth part of the population, which is
the allowance generally made, we shall

bave six hundred thousand as tbe number
of inhabitants. In order to enhance this
nuraber, and render it more affecting,
that of the irresponsible children is esti
mated; and if tbis did not produce a
suitable impression upon the mind of
the prophet, the nuraber even of irra
tional aniraals is adverted to, the latter
being far superior in point of mechanism
and utility to the shrub for wbich he
was so rauch concerned.
There is something in the abrupt raan
ner in wbich the book closes which is
highly calculated to produce its effect on
the mind of a reflecting reader.

MICAH.

PREFACE,

According to the introductory statement, chap, i, 1, Micah
was a native of Moresheth, which some take to be the same as
Mareshah, ver, 1 5 ; but it is rather the town called Moresheth-Gath,
ver, 14, which, according to Jerome, lay in the vicinity of the city
of Eleutheropolis, to the west of Jerusalem, and not far from the
border of the country of the Philistines,
His name, nD''P, Micah, or, as it is given in full in the Chethib,
Jer. xxvi, 18, rT'D^D, Micaiah, signifies, who is Kke Jehovah ?
The time at which he flourished is stated in the introduction to
have been that of the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah ; i. e.
somewhere between b, c, 757 and b, c, 699 ; in addition to which
statement, we have a positive testimony to his having prophesied
in the days of Hezekiah, Jer, xxvi, 18, wliere chap, i, 12 is
verbally quoted. He must, therefore, have been a contemporary
of Isaiah and Hosea, and is not to be confounded with Micaiah the
son of Imlah, 1 Kings xxii, 8, who flourished upwards of a hun
dred years before the reign of Jotham,
Hartmann and Eichhorn would refer the period of his ministry
to the reign of Manasseh ; but their hypothesis is justly rejected

preface to micah,
by Jahn, Rosenmiiller, De Wette, and Knobel, on the ground, that
all the circumstances brought to -dew in his prophecies, perfectly
harmonize with the state of things in the days of the kings whose
names are here specified. The unrestrained licence given to idol
atry in the reign of Ahaz, will sufficiently account for the numerous
gross and crying evils for which Micah reproves the Jews, without
our having recourse to the atrocities perpetrated in that of Ma
nasseh, It is true, Hezekiah issued orders, that idolatry should be
put down, and the worship of the true God re-estabhshed ; but
there is no reason to beheve that the reformation was carried out to
the full extent of his wishes. The relations also of the Hebrews
to the powerful empires of Assyria and Egypt, are in exact accord
ance with the history of the same times.
The prophecies of Micah are directed partly against Judah, and
partly against Israel ; but by far the greater number are of the
former description. He predicts the destruction of the kingdom
of Israel, and of Samaria its capital ; the desolation of Jerusalem
by the Chaldeans, and the consequent captivity of the Jews ; the
restoration of the Jewish state ; the successes of the Maccabees ;
and the advent and reign of the Messiah, He also administers
reproof to different ranks and conditions of men, and furnishes
some striking representations of the Divine character.
His style is concise, yet perspicuous, nervous, vehement, and
energetic ; and, in many instances, equals that of Isaiah in boldness
and subhmity. He is rich and beautiful in the varied use of
tropical language ; indulges in paronomasias ; preserves a pure and
classical diction ; is regular in the formation of his parallelisms ;
and exhibits a roundness in the construction of his periods which
is not surpassed by his more celebrated contemporary. Both
in administering threatenings and communicating promises, he
evinces great tenderness, and shows that his mind was deeply
affected by the subjects of which he treats. In his appeals he
is lofty and energetic. His description of the character of Jehovah,
chap. vii. 18 — 20, is unrivalled by any contained elsewhere in
Scripture. Several prophecies in Micah and Isaiah are remarkably parallel

preface to micah,
with each other ; and there is frequently an identity of expression,
which can only be fairly accounted for on the ground of their
having been contemporaneous writers, who were not strangers
to each other's prophecies, and their having, in a great measure,
had the same subjects for the themes of their ministry. See
on Isaiah, ii, 2 — 4,
The book may be divided into two parts : the first consisting
of chapters i. — v, ; and the second, the two remaining chapters,
which are more general and didactic in their character.

CHAPTER L
The prophet coraraences by suraraoning universal attention, while, in sublirae
language, be describes the descent of Jehovah to punish tbe nation, 1 — 5 ; he
predicts the destruction of Samaria by the Assyrians, which be pathetically
laments, 6 — 8 ; and then the advance of Sennacherib against Jerusalem, 9—12 ;
concluding with an enumeration of certain towns of J udah, the inhabitants of
which had raore especially enjoyed his ministry, but were to share in the
desolating effects of the Assyrian invasion, and ultimately, with the whole land,
those of the Babylonian captivity.

The word of Jehovah which was communicated to Micah the
Morashthite, in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of
Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
Hear, all ye people !
Attend, O earth ! and its fulness !
And let the Lord Jehovah testify to you,
The Lord from his holy temple.

1. 'nahio, contracted 'rnpl'b, a gentilic, than the bare name. The words D'P?,
and not a patronymic, as some have peoples, and yii*, earth, are by many,
iraagined. See the introduction, and on and recently by Hitzig, confined to the
ver, 14, tribes and land of the Hebrews ; but tbe
2. It is not a little reraarkable, that sublimity of the style, and the parallel
Micah should adopt as the first sentence passages, Deut'. xxxii. 28, xxxii. 1 ; and
of his prophecy, that with which his Is. i. 2, induce to the conclusion, that
namesake concluded his denouncement the prophet had all the inhabitants of the
against Ahab, 1 Kings xxii. 28. Hengs- globe in bis eye. Thus Justi, Maurer,
tenberg is of opinion that be quoted tbe and Ewald. t3ta, all of ihem, is an
words designedly, in order to show that instance of irregular construction, in
hispropheticagency was to be considered which the third person is put for the
as a continuation of that of his prede- second, 133^3, all of you. The same con-
cessor, who was so zealous for God, and struction is repeated in PiN'jp, which the
that he had more in common with him LXX. render according to tbe sense.

chap. I.l

MICAH,

225

For, behold ! Jehovah is coming forth from his place ;
He will descend, and tread upon the heights of the earth.
The mountains shall be molten under him,
And the valleys shall cleave asunder,
Like wax before the fire,
Like water poured down a precipice.
By the transgression of Jacob is all this,
And by the sin of the house of Israel.
What is the transgression of Jacob ?
Is it not Samaria .''
And what are the high places of Judah.?
Are they not Jerusalem ?

Kill ndvres ot iv a-urfj. Comp. Amos
vi. 8 ; Is. xhi. 10. Instead of nin;'}3N,
four of Kennicott's MSS. read ?'nbNnin' ;
and, instead of '™ repeated, upwards of
fifty of his and De Rossi's read rfn; ; but
as the former cannot be altered on the
slight authority by wbich it is supported,
so it would be unwarrantable to adopt
the latter reading, since the second
'i3M is manifestly a repetition of the p
first. LXX. Kvptos Kvptos. Syr. j^^n
p 0 7 p -^
IZOiifi! ^he Lord of lords. It has
been doubted whether by iffl3i7'33'0, his
holy temple, in this place, the temple at
Jerusalera or heaven be raeant ; but the
language expressive of descent, which is
eraployed in the following verse, would
seera to determine the correctness of tbe
latter interpretation. Comp. 1 Kings
viii. 30 ; Ps. xi. 4. Jehovah would bear
testimony against the Hebrews, not any
longer by his prophets, as he now did,
but by the judgments whicb he would
inflict upon them.
3, 4. These verses are explanatory of
that which precedes them, and set forth,
in highly figurative language, tbe course
of the Divine judgment, and tbe tre
mendous consequences that would follow.
The terrible majesty and resistless power
of Jehovah are expressed in iraages
chiefly borrowed from earthquakes and
volcanic eruptions. Comp. Amos iv. 13 ;
Ps, 1. 3, xcvn. 5 ; Is. Ixiii. 19, lxiv. 2 ;
Hab. iii. 5. For a striking image of the
same nature, see Jer. 1. 25, 26, which

cannot properly be explained, except on
the principle of reference to a volcano.
That of wax occurs Ps. Ixviii. 3, xcvii. 5,
Comp. " Quasi igni
Cera super calido tabescens multa liques-
cat." Lucr. vi. 512.
Some MSS. read ni933n, the hills, instead
ofD'ppvn, the valleys; but obviously as
an emendation : the latter being the
more difficult reading, "nin, a, descent
or precipice, from 33!, to go, or come
down. The events referred to were the
destruction of the kingdom of Israel by
Shalraaneser, and the invasion of Judah
by the armies of Sennacherib and Nebu
chadnezzar, by the latter of wliom the
Jews were carried away captive. The
form NB' nan marks the futurity of the
event, and transmits a future significance
to the following verbs.
5. Jacob and Israel are applied to both
kingdoms in common, and are merely
used as synonymes for the sake of variety.
After explicitly declaring, that the awful
punishment which was about to be
inflicted was on account of the sins of
the people generally, the prophet, by tbe
forcible eraployraent of double interro-
gatives, the latter of which, being in the
negative, greatly strengthens the appeal,
traces these sins to their respective
sources — metropolitan corruption. By
metonymy the effect is put for the cause.
For 'n used as a neuter, see on Jonah i. 8.
For niNtan the LXX., Targ., a considerable
nuraber of MSS., and four of the earliest
printed editions, have the singular. The
G G

226

MICAH,

[chap, I.

Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the field,
The plantations of a vineyard ;
I will hurl her stones into the valley,
And lay bare her foimdations.
All her images shall be broken to pieces,
All her rewards shall be burnt with fire,
And all her idols will I lay waste ;
For with the reward of a harlot she collected them.
And to the reward of a harlot they shall return.

Syr. and Vulg. agree with the Textus
Receptus. n3in;niD3, the high places of
Judah, were the elevated spots on
raountains and hills on wbich the Jews
erected chapels and altars for unlawful,
and very often for idolatrous sacrifice,
&c. 1 Kings xii. 3, xiv. 4 ; Ezek. vi. 6.
That tbese existed at Jerusalem, see Jer,
xxxii. 35 ; and for the length lo whicb
tbe practice was carried in the time of
Ahaz, see 2 Kings xvi. 4. Instead of
niD3, the LXX., Syr., and Targ. translate,
as if nNTQn, sin, were the true reading :
What is the sin of Judah ? but though
the latter word is found in one of Kenni
cott's MSS., and in tbe margin of
another, it most probably originated in a
desire to render the parallelisra complete,
and cannot be allowed to encroach upon
the present text,
6. Both in this and the preceding
verse Samaria is taken up first, because
its destruction was to precede that of
Jerusalem, and also, perhaps, to afford
the prophet an opportunity of afterwards
expatiating raore at large on the state of
things in Judah during the approaching
invasion. So complete should be tbe
overthrow of the northern capital, that
its site would resemble a heap of stones
or rubbish that bad been gathered out
ofa field; it would even be reduced to
what we may suppose it originally to
have been, a place for the cultivation of
the vine. Vineyards were most com
monly planted on the south sides of
hills or mountains, on account of their
exposure to tbe sun ; and in all pro
bability that of Samaria had been appro
priated to this purpose before it was
purchased by Omri, 1 Kings xvi. 24.
'The stones of the city are graphically
said to be hurled down into tbe deep

valley below ; and that such was actually
the case, the present phenomena of tbe
ruins strongly attest. " The whole face
of tbis part ofthe hill suggests the idea
that the buildings of the ancient city
bad been thrown down from the brow of
the hill. Ascending to tbe top, we went
round tbe whole summit, and found
marks of the same process everywhere."
— Narrative of the Scottish ihiss'ion of
Inquiry, pp. 293, 294. 'n-iin, and D'TO,
ver. 5, are from the root 33:, to flow,
pour, or hurl down. For n^N n'3b^, comp.
Ezek. xiii. 14. The very foundations of
the edifices were to be laid bare, great
and ponderous as the stones might be.
7. The prophet now delivers a special
prediction against the objects and accom
paniments of the idolatrous worship,
which drew down tbe judgment of God
upon tbe devoted city. 'The D'Vp? were
the images or idols, whether carved,
graven or molten, whicii were erected in
the temples, for the purpose of receiving
religious adoration. LXX. rd yXvnrd.
J:I3N, properly means tbe wages or reward
of prostitution ; frora nin, io give a
present or reward. The word is bere, as
elsewhere, employed in application to
idolatry, viewed as spiritual adultery or
fornication. Comp. Is. xxiii. 17, 18 ;
Ezek. xvi. 31, 34; Hos. ix. 1. Kimchi,
Abarbanel, Michaelis, Maurer, and
others, are of opinion that the riches, Szc,
of Samaria are thus spoken of, because
her idolatrous inhabitants imagined, that
they were rewards bestowed upon them
by their gods for tbeir zeal and devoted
ness to their service. It is raore likely,
however, that the rich gifts or presents
are meant, which the apostate Israelites
dedicated to their idols, and with which
they adorned their temples, Comp,

CHAP. I.J

MIOAH,

227

8 Therefore will I wail and howl ;
I will go stripped and naked ;
I will set up a wailing like the wolves,
And a mourning like the ostriches,
9 For her wounds are desperate ;
Surely it hath come to Judah ;
He reacheth to the gate of my people,
Even to Jerusalem,

Ezek. xvi. 33, 34. Newcome seems to
incline to the idea, that the rewards of
harlotry, literally taken, are intended,
because these were appropriated to the
support of idolatry. D'3SI is synonymous
withti'b'CS; only Hitzig thinks, that a
more costly kind of idols is raeantby the
terra, such as were raade of silver, and
were of suflScient value to be carried
away as spoil. The entire establishment
of idolatry was to be broken up ; the idols
were to be cut in pieces; such as were of
wood, to be burnt in the fire; and what
ever was costly was to be removed by
tbe enemy to Assyria, tbere to be again
devoted to idols, instead of nssp, three
of De Rossi's MSS., three more originally,
and perhaps one raore, the Brixian and
another ancient edition, without place
or date, read tissij in Pual, which two of
Kennicott's exhibit with Vau Shurek
instead ofthe Kibbutz. The Syr., Targ.,
and Vulg., likewise have the passive, but
in tbe plural. The LXX. render, avvij-
yaye; which agrees with tbe coramon
punctuation. 8. So terrible should be the destruc
tion with which the northern kingdora
would be visited, that it called for the
most marked tones and signs of sorrow.
In tbese the prophet declares be would
indulge, tbat he might thereby .iffecttbe
minds of his countrymen. ^3b'N, with
Yod, may have been occasioned by the
preceding form nV'VN ; but there are
other verbs which do not reject it in the
future, as 32';, Ps. Ixxii. 14. b'rin, or, as
tbe Keri has it, ''Jio, some interpret of
mental bereavement, a state in whicb the
raind is despoiled of its reasoning powers :
but, combined as it here is with oii»,
naked, it must be referred to the body,
and was in all probability designed to
describe the feet as stripped of shoes.

Thus the LXX. avvnuheros. The Syr.
p
i.^2uA^ *'or which corapare f]rv, Is. xx. 2,
For O'Bri, wolves, and n»^ni:3, ostriches,
see on Js. xiii. 22, and Pococke's very
elaborate note on the present verse. The
Arab, has here, ,>iUiiJ! (J.jU, like ihe
wolves, and ^ J L11,>UJ (jX«, like ihe
jackals. Tbe former Michaelis renders
crocodiles, but less properly, on account
of the corabination, The ancient render
ing, dragons, is altogether to be rejected.
Both kinds are selected on account of
tbe piteously bowling noise which they
make, especially in the night.
9. mfiHN, the Pahul Participle of It'lN,
io be desperately sick ; spoken ofa wound,
to be incurable. There is no necessity,
with Michaelis, to have recourse to TO3,
and so toregard the forra as the elongated
future of the first person singular. Tbe
following noun, n'ni:p,beingin the plural,
the same number might be expected in
the Participle; but it is a rule of Hebrew
syntax, tbat when, as in this instance,
the predicate precedes the noun, the
nuraber of ferainine plurals is frequently
neglected. Comp. Jer. iv. 14. What
the prophet has in view is tbe irretriev
able ruin in which the Israelites as a
nation would be involved. But be not
only beholds, in prophetic vision, the
devastation of Samaria and its depend
encies by the Assyrians; he sees their
invasion of Judah under Sennacherib,
and tbeirinvestrnentof Jerusalem. Corap,
Is. X. 28 — 32. The nominative to n.«3
is the calamity implied in n'nisp : that to
sj; is 3:iN, the enemy, understood. There
is the utraost propriety in the distinctive
use of the genders in this place ; for

228

MIOAH.

[ciIAP,

10

11

Tell it not in Gath ;
Weep not in Acco :
At Beth-aphrah roll thyself in the dust.
Pass on, thou inhabitant of Shaphir, naked and ashamed ;

though the inhabitants of Judah suffered
frora the Assyrian invasion, the calamity
did not reach those of the capital : it was
merely invested by the troops of Rab-
shakeh, and was relieved by their mira
culous destruction. See Is, xxxvi. x.'i.xvii.
10. Comp. 2 Sam. i. 20, where the
words I3'.iin-'7_N ra3 occur, though not in
the same order of arrangement. Tbe
Philistines would hail with joy tidings
of any disaster that might befal the
Hebrews, and especially tbat occasioned
by tbe Assyrian attack. Deeply, there
fore, as the Jews might be afflicted, they
are cautioned by Micah not to give
such public expression to their grief as
would reach the ears of tbeir natural
eneraies, but to repair to Beth-Aphrah, a
city in the tribe of Benjamin, and tbere
deplore in secret the calamity wbich bad
overtaken the land. Reland, Harenberg,
Hitzig, Maurer, and Ewald, take 13} to
be a contraction of i3?3, which Gesenius
(Lex. sub. voc. is?) is inclined to adopt.
According to this construction, the
rendering will be, weep not in Acco, i.e.
Ptolemais, a maritirae city in the tribe of
Asher. Other instances of s being
dropped, we have in '3 for 'Sji, ^3 for ''y3,
&c. ; and certainly tbe parallelisra with
n53, the continued list of the names of
cities, and the regularity of the paro
nomasias i3'3n — njS; 13313 — i33; rnas>n'33
3ps, are all in favour of this interpreta
tion. Though Acco was allotted to the
Asherites, they never took possession of
it, Jud. i. 31, and its inhabitants are,
therefore, appositely classed along with
tbose of Gath, as taking pleasure in the
reverses of tbe Israelites. The reading
of the LXX. 01 'EvoKelp prj, is in all
probability a corruption of oi iv "Akci prj,
wbich quite accords with the preceding
01 ev rid prj. The Arab, bas ..JiiJl)
i.X^I J, And those who are in Aldrn. The
narae "Akt) occurs in Strabo, xvi. 2, 25.
The town is still called [Xci Akka, by the

Arabs, and is known to Europeans by
the narae of St. Jean d'Acre, which it
obtained in the time ofthe crusades, and
is celebrated in later times by its holding
out a siege of sixty-one days by the
French army, and its destruction by the
explosion of a raagazine during the
bombardment in 1 840. It is situated on
tbe north angle of a bay of the sarae
name near the foot of Mount Carmel. n'3
rywb, lit. the House of Aphrah, or simply
njES,' Ophrah, Josh, xviii. 23; 1 Sara,
xiii. 17, a city in the tribe of Benjarain.
The b is here merely the sign of the
genitive. The verb iiijc whicb occurs
only in Hithpael, signifies to wallow or
roll, as in dust, ashes, or tbe like. See
Jer. vi. 26, xxv. 34 ; Ezek. xxvii. 30,
While tbe Hebrews were not to expose
tbe wretchedness of their condition to
the conterapt of foreigners, it became
them to bewail it within their own
borders, 'ipjsnn, roll thyself, is to be
preferred to 'Mtem, I roll myself. Itis
the reading of the Keri, and many MSS.
have it in the text. The Syr., Targ., and
Vulg,, have the third person plural, which
is more easily traceable to'ic^Biin than to
'nctenn. Besides, it seems more natural
to connect this verb with '33? in the
following verse, than to suppose that the
prophet resumes bis lamentation ver. 8.
Some take the verb to be tbe second
feminine of tbe preterite, with the Yod
paragogic ; but every difficulty is re
moved by adopting the imperative.
11. In D35 '33S, the second singular
feminine of tbe verb is followed by the
second plural masculine of the pronoun,
on the principle tbat though the collective
participial noun niai' is feminine, it was
designed to include the inhabitants of
both sexes, ppb is not redundant, as
Justi asserts, but eraphatic, as the Dativus
incommodi. 3'3C), Shaphir, means fair
or beautiful. Dr. Robinson states that
there are still three villages of tbe name
of Sawdflr, which are noted on the map
as lying nearly halfway between Ashdod
and Eleutheropolis, a position not much

CIIAP,

I]

MICAH,

229

The inhabitant of Zaanan goeth not forth ;
The wailing of Beth-ezel will take away continuance from you.
12 Surely the inhabitant of Maroth pineth for her goods,
Because evil hath come down from Jehovah,
To the gate of Jerusalera.

differing from that assigned by Eusebius
and Jerorae to Saphir. Palestine, vol. ii.
p. STO. Hitzig and Ewald think that
3'ptti, Shamir, is raeant, which is enu
merated araong the cities of Judah, Josh,
XV. 48, which Eusebius calls S.a^elp.
The Chald. of tbe Targ. 3'Dti3l'3n"3 jis) 1339
is very iraproperly rendered in the Latin,
" Transite vobis qui habitatis in pulchri-
tudine," though tbe LXX. had translated
the word by xaXdis. The Syr. has
o .\ P
t-»2LA.} ) Z; 0 VlS^ inhabitress of Shaphir _
To Saraaria tbere seeras no good reason
to refer it, since all tbe other places
specified in the connexion were in
Judah. ntd3"nn», lit. nakedness, shame,
for shamefully naked, i.e. entirely so.
Comp. as to forra, p3S-nipS, Ps. xlv. 5.
What is bere predicted is, that the
inhabitants of Shaphir were to be led
away as captives by the Assyrians ; only
for the sake of effect the Imperative is
used. See on Is. vi. 10. For the naked
condition in which captives were re
moved, see on Is. xx. 4. JiN?, Zaanan,
in all probability the same as JIS, Zenan,
a city in the tribe of Judah, Josh. xv. 37,
It properly signifies the place of flocks ;
but to form a paronoraasia with it, the
prophet employs the verb Ns;; or the
pecuhar orthography of the noun may
have been adopted in order to make it
correspond in appearance and sound with
the verb. Comp. JS^S, NliJ, and niS, wbich
are only different raodes of expressing
sheep or flocks. The inhabitants of tbis
city, under the influence of fear, did not
venture forth frora their retirement to
condole with their neighbours who had
been taken prisoners by the eneray, or,
they did not corae forth to their rescue,
LXX. ^evvadp. Aq. -^evadv. ''SNnn's,
Beth-ezel, in all probability the same as
''SN, Azel, Zech. xiv. 5, but where tbe
town so called was situated, we are not
informed. To judge from the connexion,
it raust have been in the vicinity of
Shaphir and Zaanan, and not near

Samaria, as Ephraira Syrus conjectured.
The words in'jps DSp nj?; 'jBNn n'3 3Bpp have
greatly perplexed interpreters. Some
regard 3Bpa as tbe Aramaic Infinitive,
and connect it with the preceding nN^^ ;
and, -'supposing 3'.iN, the enemy, under
stood, to be the nominative to nj?',
explain tijps of a railitary post. But
this construction affords no tolerable
sense. Others render 13'ips, measure,
conjecture, and the like, contrary to all
usage. For other interpretations, see
Pococke, in loc. It seeras best to abide
by the idea suggested by the root 3ps, to
remain, continue, endure, and interpret.
As for the wailing 0/ Beth-ezel, it taketh
away its continuance from you ; i.e. the
inhabitants of tbat city cease to mourn
on your account. The Shaphirites are
addressed, as having gone at once into
captivity and oblivion. Most likely their
city was larger and m.ore populous, and
on this account was attacked by the
Assyrians, while the sraaller towns in
the neighbourhood escaped. Gesenius
thinks tbat in ^SN there is an allusion to
the Arabic etymology Ja^), flrmly, or
deeply rooted in the earth, as what was
so might be expected to continue; but
this is very doubtful.
12. Of nS-yg, Maroth, (bitternesses,) we
have nowhere any account. fi'isp,
Maarath, Josh. xv. 50, to which New
corae refers, appears to have been a dif
ferent place. Frora tbe relation iu
which it is here put to Jerusalem, it
probably lay between the afore-raen-
tioned towns and the capital, against
wbich a great army under Rabshakeh
proceeded frora Lachisb, and doubtless
plundered all that carae in their way.
ivd) rh-n, Newcome, after Houbigant,
changes into nin3 n)n, and renders, is
sick unto death ; but altogether without
authority. Tbe meaning is, that the
inhabitants were pained or grieved on
account of the property of which they
liad been robbed by the enemy. Thus

230

MICAH.

[chap. I.

13 Bind the chariot to the swift steed, O inhabitant of Lichish !
(She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion)
Surely in thee were found the transgressions of Israel.
14 Therefore thou shalt give a divorce to Moresheth-Gath ;
The houses of Achzib shall prove false to the kings of Israel.
15 Farther, I will bring the possessor to thee, O inhabitant of Maresli
He shall come to Adullam, the glory of Israel.

Rosenmiiller, Gesenius, De Wette, and
Hesselberg. The former '3 is not causa
tive, but is used, as frequently at the
beginning ofa verse, to express certainty.
For the last clause, compare ver. 9.
13. For Lachish, see on Is. xxxvi. 2.
1233 and *3b, form a paronomasia. M333,
signifies a fleet courser. Arab, ludi,,
cucurrit. Dfv; is in the masculine, though
connecting with njiEi' in tbe feminine,
because placed first in the order of tbe
words. The word occurs only here, but
obviously has the signification of tbe
Arab. ^j. , ligav'it. As a noun Dn3 sig
nifies broom, because this shrub was used
for binding. In the middle clause of
the verse there is a change of person
from the second to the third, but in the
last clause the second is resumed. For
a sirailar instance, in which, for the sake
of graphic effect, the third person is
thus abruptly introduced, see Is. xxii. 16.
Lachish appears to have formed the link
of idolatry between Israel and Judah.
Lying on the frontier of the former
kingdom, she was the first city in Judah
that was led away by the sin of Jeroboam,
and frora her the infection spread, till at
lengtii it reached Jerusalem itself. In
the prospect of a sudden attack, it be
hoved the inhabitants to use all despatch
in reraoving their families, and what
property they could take with them, to a
distance. Lachish was besieged by Sen
nacherib before tbe threatened attackon
Jerusalem, 2 Kings xviu. 14.
14. D'ni^iJJ is used of the presents or
dowry sent with a wife, 1 Kings ix. 16,
and of letters of divorce sent with her
when she is disraissed by her husband.
In the acceptation i^anoareXXopivovs,
messengers, as given by the LXX., it
nowhere occurs. The term appears to
be bere employed metaphorically fo de
note the breaking up, or dissolution of

all connexion between Lachish and
Moresheth-Gath ; the forraer city having
been taken by the Assyrians, was no
longer able to afford protection or support
to the latter. The norainative to 'inn is
n3ij)i' in the preceding verse. ''S is equi
valent, in this connexion, to 'jn. n^in,
Moresheth, the birth-place of MiVah,
(see Preface) is here said to belong to
Gath, raost probably because it was in
its vicinity, and under its jurisdiction,
when in possession of the Philistines.
3'!3N, Achzib. There were two cities of
this name, one on the sea-coast, between
Acco and Tyre, now called by the Arabs
L_.-o;il, Ez-Zib, Josh. xix. 29; Jud. i. 31;
and the other in the tribe of Judah,
between Keilah and Mareshah, Josh,
XV. 44. That the latter is here intended,
is evident from the connexion ; for though,
at first view, the mention of ihe kings of
Israel might lead us to suppose that a
city bordering on the northern kingdom
is raeant, yet the fact that Israel is
sometiraes put for the whole people of
the Hebrews, and soraetiraes even for
the kingdora of Judah, as 2 Chron,
xxviii. 19, proves, that the raere u.se of
the terra can forra no objection to this
construction of the passage. It was most
probably the sarae place tbat is called
3'13, Chczib, Gen. xxxviii. 5. By an ele
gant paronoraasia, i'WN '133, the houses of
Achzib, are said to become 313n, deceitful.
Corap. 313N "5133, a deceitful torrent, i. e.
one which having dried up, disappoints
the hope of tbe traveller. Jobvi. 17 — 19;
Jer. XV. 18, Arab. l__)iii , /e/c/ffi, irr'itus
vanusque fecit. The expectations of
further aid from the families, or inhabi
tants of that place, should prove fruitless.
15. '3N is a defective reading of N'l'j,
which many MSS. have in the text. In
¦i'3i' and nti3p is another paronomasia.
Mareshah lay in the plains of Judah,

chap, II.]

MICAH.

231

16 Make bald thy head, and shave it because of thy darling children ;
Enlarge thy baldness like that of the eagle ;
For they are gone into captivity from thee.

Josh. XV. 44. It was fortified by Reho
boam, 2 Chron. xi. 8, and was faraous
for the victory obtained over the Ethio
pians by Asa, 2 Chron. xiv. 9, 10.
According to Josephus, Antiq. xii. 8, 6,
it bad been in tbe powerof the Idumeans,
but was retaken by Alexander the son
of Aristobulus, Antiq. xiii. 15, 4, xiv.
1, 4. The possessor or occupier here
predicted is Sennacherib, who took
Mareshah and the otber fortified cities
of Judah, 2 Kings xviii. 14. To point
him out with greater emphasis the article
is used : iB'ii'n, " Tlie possessor." ti^is,
Adullam, was another city of Judah in
tbe same direction, and near tbe forraer.
Josh. XV. 35. It was a royal residence
in the time of the Canaanites, Josh,
xii. 15; was fortified by Reboboara,
2 Chron. xi. 7 ; and had villages de
pendent upon it, Neb. xi. 30. Of 3i33
^N3p? various interpretations have been
given ; such as the wealth or riches of
Israel, tbeir raultitude, their nobility,
tbeir weight of calamity, &c. Some take
the words to be in the norainative, some
in the accusative, and sorae in the
vocative case. The raost natural con
struction is that of our common version,
according to which they are in apposi
tion with I3^3», Adullam, and express
the superior situation of tbe place and
its neighbourhood. Thus also Schmidius,
Rosenmiiller, and Hesselberg.
16, The prophet concludes this geo

graphical part of his denunciations by
addressing hiraself to the land of Judah,
and calling upon her to put on signs of
deep-felt grief on account of the removal
of ber inhabitants. y3ij, land, is to be
supplied, rather than ji'S ns, daughter of
Zion. Baldness, and cutting off the
beard, are tokens of mourning in the
East, as they were araong the nations
of antiquity. Ezra ix. 3 ; Job i. 20;
Jer. vii, 21, xvi. 6, xlviii. 37. " Regulos
quosdara barbam posuisse et uxorem
capita rasisse, ad indicium maximi lucius."
Suetonius, in bis Life of Caligula, chap. v.
" When Kbaled ben Walid ben Mogairah
died, tbere was not a female of the house
of Mogairah, either matron or maiden,
who caused not her hair to be cut off' at
his funeral." Harmer's Observ. iii. p. 5,
One species of eagle is called tbe bald
eagle, frora the circumstance ofits having
its head alraost entirely bald ; but they
all raore or less exhibit baldness during
the moulting season. ti'33Sn, delights,
from lis, Arab. ,^J£., amatorius fcem'ince
gestus, to delight, be delighted, live
delicately. It is in the forraer of these
acceptations that the noun is here used.
As but few of the inhabitants of Judah
could bave been carried away by Sen
nacherib, it is obvious the prophet must
have a much raore desolating calaraity
in view in this verse, viz. the Babylonish
captivity.

CHAPTER II,
Having announced the punishments wbicb were to he inflicted upon his people
for the evils in which tbey indulged, Micah now proceeds to specify sorae
of these evils, 1, 2 ; and renews his denunciations, 3 — 5. He then censures those
who could not endure to hear the truth, but wished for predictions of good, and
shows that no such predictions could reasonably be expected by thera, 6 — 11 ;
concluding, however, 'H'ith gracious proraises of restoration after the captivity,
12, 13.

232

MICAH.

[chap. II.

Wo lo those who devise wickedness,
And fabricate evil upon their beds ;
In the morning hght they effect it,
Because it is in the power of their hand.
They covet fields, and take them by force,
And houses, and take them away :
They oppress a man and his house,
A man and his possession.
Wherefore thus saith Jehovah :
Behold ! I devise an evil against this faraily,
From which ye shall not withdraw your necks,
Neither shall ye walk haughtily ; ¦
For it shall be an evil time.

1. Comp. Is. X. 1, 2. In tbe verbs
3i!Jn,'7SB, andntos, is evidently agradation.
The first describes the conception of tbe
evil purpose in the raind ; the second,
the preparation or raaturing of the
scheme ; and tbe third, the carrying of
itinto effect. Comp. Ps. Iviii. 3; Is.xh.4;
Hos. xi. 9. The n in niii»_' is the feminine
used as a neuter, to agree with the
nouns p.N and S3, as forraing a neuter
plural accusative. The phrase "B3>^N
occurs also Gen. xxxi. 29 ; Prov. hi. 27;
and with the negative, Deut. xxviii. 32;
Neh. V, 5. It is rendered by tbe LXX.
otjK ^pav npds rdv Bedv x^'pat avrdv,
whicii the Syr. gives without the negative:

pp ..~ P ->¦ V P

and

lift up their hands io God. Vulg. quoniam
contra Deum est manus eorum. Some
consider the words to be equivalent to
tbe Dextra mihi Deus of Virgil, and
appeal to Job xii. 6, and Hab. i. 11,
wbere, however, the phraseology is
different; while others take b^ to be tbe
shorter form of tbe demonstrative pro
noun nVN. But the true meaning seeras to
be that given in our coraraon version,
according to which b^ is to be taken in
its literal signification of power, strength,
Szc Thus Pococke, Rosenmiiller, Bauer,
Dathe, De Wette, Gesenius, Hitzig, and
Ewald, after the 'I'arg. )in''i'3 N^'n n'N '3n,
and Kirachi, Q"3Bn pubs'; Q3'3 n3 w '3,
because there is power in their hand to
oppress the poor. Just as the LXX.

render, laxvet fi xelp, Gen. xxxi. 29, and
Deut. xxviii. 32. That '3 is to be taken
causatively, and not conditionally, is
evident frora tbe connexion.
2. Before D'M repeat I3pn. Fifty-two
MSS., six by correction, two originally ;
four ancient and nineteen other printed
editions ; tbe Alex. MS. of the LXX.,
the Targ., Vulg., and Arab., omit Ibefore
*N. The parallelisms in this verse are
very elegant.
3. 3S)n and ns3 correspond here to
'.3\l5n and S3 in ver. 1. nnaiiip Rosen
raiiller and Maurer undersfa'nd to signify
"certura genus hominum nequaraetper-
versum ; " as if the prophet intended to
single out sucb of the people as com
raitted the atrocious acts specified ver, 2 ;
but it is raore likely that the whole
people, viewed as rebellious and corrupt,
is raeant. See on Araos iii. 1 The figure of
a yoke is here eraployed for the purpose
of expressing the heavy and oppressive
nature of tbe bondage to which the He
brews were tobe subjected. t3^p, thence,
has the force of a pronoun in tbis place.
P m
LXX. e^ av. S}T. <ju.i^. Comp. Gen.
iii. 23; 1 Kings xvii, 13; Ezek. v. 3. So op
pressive should be the yoke, that it would
be impossible for thera to hold them
selves erect. LXX. dp^oi. Targ. naips.
nBipi. The term nni3 is selected with
special reference to the elated and
haughty manner in which they had
conducted themselves. It is properly
a substantive, from tii3, to be high, but is
here used adverbially.

CHAP, II,]

MICAH.

233

In that day shall one sing a ditty respecting you,
And employ a doleful lamentation,
And say : We are utterly destroyed.
He hath changed the portion of my people,
How hath he withdrawn it from me !
To an apostate he hath divided our fields !
Therefore thou shalt not have one to cast the line by lot,
In the congregation of Jehovah.
Prophesy not ; those shall prophesy
Who will not prophesy of these things ;
Reproaches are incessant.

4. For b^ Nto;, see on Is. xiv. 4. The
verb is here used impersonally. That
this Mashal was to be employed by the
Jews themselves, and not by their
enemies, is evident from its tenor, as it
follows in the verse. D3'b3>, therefore, is
not to be rendered against you, but on
your account, njni 'np nni, naha, nehi,
nihydh, form an elegant paronoraasia.
There can be no doubt that 'np, lamenta
tion, is derived frora nn;, to lament; but
whether rpn; be likewise derived from it,
and consequently merely the ferainine of
'Tj-i, or whether it be the Niphal of tbe
substantive verb rrn, to be, is disputed.
The harshness that would arise from
rendering the words, One shall lament
with a lamentation, it is done ! militates
against the latter derivation ; whereas,
by taking all the three words as cognates,
having the same signification, the sentence
is at once easy and forcible. The relative
position ofthe verbs Ntoi,nn:, and 3pN, con
firms this construction. Thus the LXX.
and Vulg. Kal BprjvrjBrjaerat Bprjvos iv
piXei, et cantabilur canticum cum suavi-
tate. And the Arab., employing for the
two first words terras cognate with
the Hebrew, ...le^. _J „-lw.i

(-.-'

z'^-y

is the ferainine of 'ni, just as ir^ilS
is of '3^, and nos of '3S. The femi
nine is added to the masculine for the
sake of emphasis, Corap, Is, iii. 1,
only there the nouns are joined by the
copulative 1. The three verbs above
specified are used impersonally. The
nominative to the following verbs, 3'p;,
iij'o;, and p.^n;, is Jehovah, understood, 3io,

V
Syr. ^Vfi, to buy ; in Aphel ^,»i£|, to sell,
or deliver an article into the hand of
the purchaser ; Arab. ,Lo, hue Uluc com-
mota fuit res, transivit. The verb is
here employed to convey the idea of a
change of raasters, or tbe passing of tbe
land of the ;Hebrews into the power of
their enemies. 33iiiJ is a verbal noun,
from tbe Pilel of 3ito, to turn, turn back ;
here used in a bad sense, one wbo has
turned back, or away frora God ; ape-
state, rebel, idolater. Corap. Is. xlvii. 10,
Ivii. 17; Jer. xlix. 4. The idolatrous
king of Babylon is meant.
5. pb is a repetition of tbat used at the
beginning of ver. 3, and for tbe same
purpose. The norainative to *[), thee, is
tis, people, occurring in the preceding
verse ; and the denunciation relates to
tbeir heing completely at the disposal of
their enemies: none of theraselves being
permitted to allot to them portions of the
land for inheritance. According to
Hitzig the words ai-e addressed by tbe
ungodly Jews to Micah hiraself, and
intiraate that they would put bim and
bis faraily to death for prophesying
against thera.
6. The words n^N^ ib'b^n'j )id"j3'_ iB'icn-'jN,
which contain a smooth and elegant
paronomasia, are very enigmatical, but
raust either be rendered, " Prophesy not,
they say to those who should prophesy :
they shall not prophesy to such." Or :
" Prophesy not ; they shall prophesy
who will not prophesy of such things."
In the former case the interdicting
H H

234

MICAH,

[chap, II,

What language, O house of Jacob !
Is the Spirit of Jehovah shortened ?
Are these his operations ?
Do not my words benefit him that walketh uprightly ?

language of the rebellious to the prophets
is simply given, and then we have the
Divine declaration, that it should be as
they desired. They should be judicially
abandoned to their own ways ; and, as
they would not hearken to the prophets
when they predicted evil, they should be
deprived of their ministry altogether, and
not receive from them any predictions
of good. In the latter, the language is
entirely that of the people, by whicb
they not merely stop the mouths of the
true prophets, but declare that those
only should be permitted to prophesy to
thera who abstained frora denunciations
of evil. The forraer requires 3^n') to be
supplied before Iib'tq^ ; the latter, 3fl3N
before iD'B'-n";. The forraula ^fj'tan is
used ver. 11, both in reference to the
persons to whora the prediction is
addressed, and to that which is the
subject of the prophecy : J.'.'^ ^'?f]'BN, " I
will prophecy io thee o/wine," Though
contrary to the Masoretic division of the
words, I prefer the second of the above
modes of construction, as being the easier
of the two. The use of the paragogic
J in JiB'13' forms no objection ; for tbough
it is raost coramonly found at the end of
a sentence, yet tbere are many instances
in whicb it occurs at tbe beginning, or
in the middle. See Gen. xviii. 28 —
31; Exod. xviii. 26; Deut. viii. 3;
1 Sam. ii. 22 ; Ps. xi. 2, Ixviii. 13 ; Is.
viii. 12. For ^I'lan, see on Araos vii. 16.
In the concluding words of the verse,
niota 3B; n'j, literally, calumnies depart not,
the Jews indignantly tax the prophets
with exposing thera to contempt by
incessant castigation and reproof. Of
this interpretation Maurer observes, "ut
facillima et simplissima per se est, ita ad
nexura est aptissima." The verb occur
ring first, is in the masculine singular,
though the noun is a feminine plural.
See Gesen. § 144. Ward's edit.
7. Tbe prophet boldly raeets the
cbarge expressed in the concluding
clause ofthe preceding verse by asking.
Whether the absence of auspicious pre
dictions could possibly be ascribed to

any deficiency on the part of the Spirit
of prophecy ? whether the judgments
denounced were operations in which
Jehovah delighted, and were not rather
procured by the wickedness of tbose
on whora they were to be inflicted ? and
whether it was not a fact which expe
rience had ever verified, that tbe Divine
comraunications were productive of
good to men of sincere and consistent
piety ? In 3lDNn the n is used as a quali
fying demonstrative with all tbe force of
an indignant exclamation, in order to
point out the flagrant character of the
language eraployed by the Israelites.
3it3N is the Pahul Part, signifying what is
said or spoken, and with the n prefixed,
0 dictum ! Almost all the versions and
Lexicons assign to this participle the
signification of being called or named;
but this notion attaches to tbe verb only
in Niphal, which, in such case, is uni-
forral)- followed by the preposition b. See
Is.iv."3, xix. 18 ; Hos. ii. 1. Tbe LXX.,
Aq., Vulg., and Targ,, have read 3pi4n,
which is found in four of Kennicott's
MSS. Ewald : " O des Wortes !" As 3Sp
1313, short of breath or spirit, is con
trasted with D'BN '7[3N, long-suffering, Prov.
xiv. 29, and is obviously equivalent to
D^BN 3Sp, ver. 17, (corap. ni3 3Sp, .Exod.
vi. 9,) raost of the moderns render in
tbe present instance. Is Jehovah prone
to anger ? but prophecy being the sub
ject to wbich reference had just been
made, it is more natural to understand
nin; ni3, the Spirit of Jehovah, in its ap
propriated meaning, as designating the
Divine .Author of prophetic communi
cations ; and to take the verb in the
sense of weakness or inability. Comp.
3; 3Sp, short ef hand. Is. xxxvii. 27.
n^N, these, like n^N, ver. 6, refers to the
judgments which the Lord had threat
ened to inflict. The interrogative form,
as frequently, requires a decided negative ;
such judgments are not Jehovah's usual
operations. Comp. Is. xxviii. 21 ; Lam.
iii. 33 ; Mic. vii. 18. In :|Vin 3^n, the
substantive, which is used adverbially, is
placed first, for the sake of emphasis.

CHAP,

II,]

MICAH.

235

8 But of old my people hath risen up as an enemy ;
Ye strip off the vestment as well as the robe
From those who walk along securely,
From those who are returning from battle.
9 The women of my people ye thrust out from their darling home ;
From their children ye take away my glory for ever.
10 Arise ! depart ! for this is not the place of your rest ;
Because of pollution it will destroy.
And the destruction shall be grievous.

and on this account also it takes the
article, wbich properly belongs to ^^in.
A sirailar instance of transposition occurs
in ijlin 3ij'^, Job xxxi. 26, where tbe sub
stantive is likewise used adverbially.
For the meaning of the phrase, corap.
1313 '3bh, Prov. ii. 7 ; inbi Tj^h, Is. Ivii. 2.
8. 1 at tbe beginning of this verse is
strongly adversative. Very different
was tbe character of those whom the
prophet was now reproving. ''IDOn,
properly yesterday, is taken by some to
signify lately; but it is more in keeping
with tbe spirit of the passage to render
it anciently, ef old, or the like. See on
Is. xxx, 33, The rebellious conduct of
the Hebrew nation was no new thing.
It had characterised every period of its
history, LXX. epnpoaBev. Abulwalid,
contrary to the usage of the language,
divides the word into nN and to, and ren
ders, en the contrary. Thus also tbeVulg.
The '' in Xi^b is expressive of manner;
corap. p3S^, Is. xxxii. 1. ''liap is selected
to correspond in alliteration with tonN,
and is here equivalent to "Ete, or ''Sp.
It refers, not to 33N imraediately follow
ing, but to tbe persons of those who were
plundered, "Though divided by tbe
accent, npbto and 3'tm are to be regarded
as asyndeta; the forraer, signifying the
large loose garment wbich was worn
iraraediately over the tunic, and which
being indispensable to the Orientals, is
placed first, for the sake of emphasis ;
the latter, the costly robe of fur, or other
rich stuff, the robbery of wbich, under
the circurastances described, was a mat
ter of course. So great was the rapacity
of the lawless characters spoken of, that
ihey were not satisfied with the more
valuable part of the dress, but likewise
possessed themselves of what was less
costly, Comp. Matt. v. 40, For nrtii)

(by transposition of the first two letters
of nbpii), which is much more frequently
in use,) comp. the Arab. Hi.^, vestimen-
ium, pec. totum corpus involvens, from
(J.^, circumded'it. Before 'iiiS repeat
tbe preposition o. The passive par
ticiple is bere used intransitively to de
scribe those who were returning after
having defeated their eneray in battle,
and who might therefore be considered
perfectly secure. Even they were way
laid by tbeir countryraen and neighbours,
and robbed of the spoils which they
had taken in war.
9. In n>3:_sn and XfifS, there is, as fre
quently, a transition from the plural to
the singular pronoun. As tbe prophet
refers to war, it is most likely he intended
by the " women," tbe widows of those
who had fallen in battle, and who ought
to have been objects of special sympathy
and care. Instead of which, both they
and theirfatherlesschildren wereexpelled
frora their horaes, and robbed of their
property. '3'in, my ornament, collec
tively for tbe ornaraental clothes which
they wore, and with which they had
been provided by Jehovah. The Holy
Land, and everything connected with it,
was his, so that whatever was enjoyed
by its inhabitants, was to be regarded as
pecuharly a Divine gift. Comp. Hos.
ii. 8. Djis'j, for ever, i. e, never to raake
restitution. Some think there is refer
ence to the command to restore the
pledge before sun-set, Exod, xxii. 25,
but this is doubtful.
10. As the Imperative is frequently
used by the prophets to express more
strongly the certainty of a prediction
than a siraple future would have done,
la'ji iQip are to be so understood here.

23G

MICAH.

11

12

[chap. II.

If any one, conversant with wind and falsehood, lie, saying
I will prophesy to thee of wine and strong drink,
Even he shall be the prophet of this people.
I will surely gather thee entirely, O Jacob !
I will surely collect the remainder of Israel ;
I will put them together like the sheep of Bozrah,
Like a flock in the midst of their pasture ;

See on Is. vi. 10. Hitzig preposterously
considers the words to be addressed by
the pitiless Jews to the persons whom
they oppressed by expelling thera from
their homes. They are obviously to be
viewed as the language of Jehovah,
threatening them with a removal frora
their own country, wbich tbey had pol
luted by tbeir crimes, to a foreign and
heathen land. Canaan was conferred
upon the Hebrews as a rest, or place of
quiet enjoyment, after their fatigues and
troubles in the wilderness, Num. x. 33 ;
Deut. xii. 9; Ps. xcv. 11. Before nNi,
supply y-iN. The definite article in nnupn
is equivalent to the pronominal affix 03,
and is to be rendered accordingly. A
land may be said to destroy its inhabi
tants, when it withholds from them the
means of subsistence, and forces thera
to leave it. With such reference it is
described as devouring thera and spewing
thera out of it. Lev. xviii. 28, xx. 22,
xxvi. 38 ; Ezek. x.Kxvi. 12—14. Tbe
comparison of these passages shows the
propriety of the Piel ''jnij, and renders
unnecessary the passive forras 'i3nn and
^3.nn, which some have proposed. For
y30i, comp. the Arab. ijo~<i. morbus fuit,
only ifs significations would seera to be
taken frora the idea of a violent or deadly
disease. Thus 'iS3p: n^Jp, a grievous
curse, 1 Kings ii. 8, Gesenius renders
y3t3? ')3n, corruptio vehementissima.
11. Micah reverts to the subject of
sraooth and flattering predictions, which
he had spoken of ver. 6, and shows that
so corrupt had the people become, that
no prophet raight expect to be acceptable
to them who did not sanction their
sinful indulgences. To those who did,
they would give a ready ear. As ni3
signifies both tvind and spirit, there is
great force in representing tliose who
pretended to inspiration as walking or

being familiar with the wind : so utterly
worthless was the instruction whicb tbey
comraunicated. ni3 Tj^n is otherwise
equivalent to nniiTN, Hos. ix. 7, and ^p
3pto to 3ptoN|i, Jer. V. 31. Dathe thinks
this verse would better fit in after ver. 6,
but there is no authority for the trans
position ; and, besides, there is a singular
propriety in bringing forward the crown
ing sin of the Jews, viz. tbeir preferring
false prophets to the faithful messengers
of Jehovah, just before introducing the
glorious prediction of their restoration
from captivity in the following verse.
12, 13. Theodoret, Kirachi, Calvin,
Drusius, De Dieu, Grotius, Tarnovius,
and others, consider tbese verses to be a
denunciation of punishraent, and not a
promise of deliverance ; while Struensee,
Hezel, Michaelis, and Forsayeth (in
Newcome) reg_ard them as the language
of the false prophets, continued from
ver. 11. Ewald, who takes the same
view, thinks they were originally written
by Micah on the margin of his manu
script, and has printed tbem in Italics,
witliin brackets. Most modern inter
preters, however, and among them
Rosenmiiller, Dathe, Justi, Hartmann,
Maurer, and even Hitzig, are unaniraous
in viewing them as predictive of the
restoration of the Jews after their disper
sion. The manner in which the prophet
concludes the preceding verse, proves
that he had finished what be had to
deliver respecting the favour shown to
false prophets ; and his sudden and
abrupt transition to better times is so
entirely in accordance with the manner
of the prophets, that the last-mentioned
interpretation at once recomraends itself
as the true. The point most difficult to
deterraine is the period to which the
prophecy has respect. Most Christian
expositors explain it of the appearance
of Christ, and his collecting of believers

CHAP,

1I.J

MICAH.

237

They shall be in commotion,
Because of the multitude of men.
13 The Breaker is gone up before them ;
They break through and pass to the gate ;
They go out at it ;
Their King passeth on before them,
Even Jehovah, at their head.

into his church ; but this construction is
altogether arbitrary, resting on no other
foundation than the principle of giving
a spiritual interpretation to whatever
may, by possibility, be so interpreted.
So far is there from being anything in
the phraseology of the text to warrant
such appropriation of it, that the very
terras corapel to an adoption of the
literal sense, Kirachi, Jarchi, and the
Jews generally, as also several raodern
Christian writers, raaintain, that the
prophecy relates to the future literal
restoration of the Jews under the Messiah,
For my part, I cannot but regard the
more imraediate restoration from the
literal Babylon as the theme of the
inspired announcement. The deliverance
predicted is the same to which reference
is made chap. iv. 10, the scene of which
is there expressly declared tobe Babylon.
" Jacob " stands here for the ten tribes, as
in Is. xvii. 4 ; Hos. xii. 2 ; and " Israel "
for the kingdom of Judah, as in Obad, 1 8,
2 Chron. xii. 1, xix. 8, xxi. 2, 4. The
two tribes and a half being few cora
pared with the ten, might well be de
scribed as n''iNto, the remainder, which
had been left in the land at the time of
the Assyrian invasion. To express the
great extent of the population after the
return, it is compared to the large
collections of sheep in the folds of
Bozrah ; a region celebrated for the
abundance of its flocks. The Targ.,
Vulg., Gesenius, Winer, Hitzig, and
Ewald, render ^S3, sheep-fold, but this
signification of the word is totally un
supported by usage, and is not allowed
by Lee. 'The LXX., mistaking 3 for
the preposition, translate, iv BXtxjrei. It

is seldom we meet with the article
prefixed to a noun taking the pronominal
affix, as in i333n; yet see Josh. vh. 21,
viii. 33. By pEn, the Breaker, some
understand Cyprus ; but the identity of
structure between this sentence and the
two with which tbe verse closes, compels
us to interpret tbe terra of Jehovah
himself, wbo, through the instrumentality
of that monarch, removed every obstacle
which prevented the return of the
Hebrews to their own land. When his
providence so visibly interposed, it was
easy for them to break down the minor
barriers which had confined them in
Babylonia, and triumphantly to march
out through the gates of the hostile city.
To intimate tbat they should suffer
raolestation frora no eneiny by the way,
God is represented as going before them,
like a monarch at the head of his army ;
just as be was said to go before his people
when they went up from Egypt, Deut,
i. 30. In the illustrious Deliverer here
exhibited, Rosenmiiller recognises the
Messiah: "Perrupior, heiKTtKds, est
enim cum n demonstrativo. Loquitur
ergo de certa quadam persona, et anto-
noraastice sic dicta, quae mox vocabitur
D3to, rex illorum et nir^, ut non sit
dubium, Nostrum de Messia cogitasse, seu
divino illo heroe, quo auspice, devictis
omnibus Judaeorum hostibus, aureum
seculum orbem beabit." And to his
interpretation I accede, only restricting
tbe work ofthe Messiah, as here predicted,
to his leading forth the Jews from
Babylon. Comp. Exod. xxxiii. 14 ; Is,
Ixiii. 9, in which we are taught that the
Divine Logos delivered, and conducted
the Israelites through the wilderness.

238 MICAH. [CHAP. iii.

CHAPTER III.
Having inserted in the two preceding verses a gracious prediction for the comfort
of the few pious who might be living in the midst of the ungodly, the prophet
proceeds to expatiate at greater length against tbe latter, directing his discourse
especially to tbe civil and ecclesiastical officers, wbo, by their example, exerted
so baneful an influence upon the nation. The chapter raay be divided into three
parts. Ver. 1 — 4, an objurgation of the princes ; 5 — 7, tbat of the prophets ;
and 8 — 11, that of princes, prophets, and priests together. 'The chapter closes
with a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalera by the Babylonians.

And I said : Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob !
And ye judges of the house of Israel !
Is it not yours to know justice ?
Who hate good and love evil ;
Who strip their skin from off them,
And their flesh from off their bones.
Who devour the flesh of my people,
And flay their skin from off them ;
Who break their bones in pieces,
And separate them as in the pot,
And as flesh in the midst of the kettle.

1 — 3. The '' in 03^ is expressive of office, they were themselves perpetrators
duty or obhgation ; what the persons of the most flagrant acts of oppression
spoken of were bound to do, and what and cruelty. Their inhuraan conduct is
might naturally be expected from tbem very forcibly described by the prophet, in
in the station which they filled, ST is language boiTowed frora the process of
here used, not of raerely speculative slaying and preparing aniraals for food,
knowledge, but of tbat wbich is practical, and the feasting consequent thereon.
It was the province of tbe raagistrates to Comp, Ps, xiv. 4; Prov, xxx. 14, The
exercise their judicial authority for the pronorainal affixes in ver. 2, refer to the
protection of the innocent, and the people, understood, and not to 3iQ and
punishraent of evil-doers. But instead nsi, iraraediately preceding, which are
of thus discharging the duties of their obviously employed as abstract neuters.

CHAP. III.]

MICAH.

239

Then they may cry to Jehovah,
But he will not answer them,
But will hide his face from them at that time ;
Because they have corrupted their doings.
Thus saith Jehovah respecting the prophets,
Who cause my people to err ;
Who bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace ;
But against him that putteth not into their mouth
They prepare war.
Surely ye shall have night without vision ;
Ye shall have darkness without divination ;
Yea, the sun shall go down upon the prophets.
And the day shall become black over them.
Then shall the seers be ashamed,
And the diviners confounded ;
They shall all cover their beard ;
For there shall be no response from God.

Though raany MSS. read St with the
Keri, yet there are others which exhibit
nS3, the proper pointing of tbe Chethib.
No codex supports tbe eraendation
3Ntf3 instead of 3tfN3. The LXX. raay,
or may not have so read. The etymology
of nrtp is uncertain, but that it signifies
a vessel for boiling in is clear frora its
being bere parallel with 3'p, and in
1 Sam. ii. 14 with 3i'3, 313 and 313B.
4. IN, then, and N'nnnB3, at thai time,
are anticipative of the period of divine
judgraent. The infliction of such judg-
mentisimplied,notexpressed. Tbe more
emphatically to convey an irapression
of its certainty, the prophet takes it for
granted. God is said to hear or answer
prayer, when he grants what is suppli
cated ; and to hide his face, when he
disregards or affords no relief to the
suppliant. 3'aiN3, with tbe LXX., Syr.,
Justi, Dathe, and others, I take to be
causal, as in Nura. xxvii. 14; 1 Sam.
xxviii. 18 ; 2 Kings xvii. 26.
5. Dn':(S3 D'Sipjn, who bite with their
teeth, the antithesis requires to be under
stood in the sense of eating tbe food
supplied by the people. While such
supplies were granted, the false prophets
predicted prosperity ; but if tbey with
held them, measures of a hostile nature.

under a religious pretext, were adopted
against thera. Thus the Targ. '''pin p3
Nnjto 'ni'js )3inp 3p33 ]13^ ]in|). They prophesy
peace io him whe feeds them with dinners
of flesh. The phrase is purposely selected
in order satirically to expose the selfish
ness of the deceivers. For the meaning
of ic.3p, to sanctify, as bere used, see on
Is. xiii. 3; Joel i, 14; and corap. Jer,
vi. 4.
6, 7, So completely should the pre
dictions of tbe false prophets be dis
proved by the judgraents that were to be
brought on the nation, and so painfully
should they theraselves experience these
judgments, that they could no longer
have the effrontery to practise tbeir
deceptions. Under sucb circurastances
tbey could not pretend to deliver any
divine oracle to the people. The words
do not imply that they ever bad really
received any such oracles : they merely
professed to have received them, o is
here to be taken privatively, and not in
the signification of ob, propter, Sre, as
interpreted by sorae. The obscuration
of the heavenly bodies, or of tbe light of
day, is frequently employed by the
prophets, as it is by oriental writers
generally, to denote affliction or calamity,
Araos viii, 9, DBir, LXX,, in 2 Sam,

240

MICAH.

[chap. hi.

10

11

8 But truly 1 am full of power by the Spirit of Jehovah,
And of judgment and might ;
To declare unto Jacob his transgression,
And to Israel his sin.
9 Hear this, I beseech you, ye heads of the house of Jacob !
And judges of the house of Israel !
Who abhor justice,
And pervert all equity ;
Building Zion with blood,
And Jerusalem with wickedness.
Her heads judge for reward,
And her priests teach for hire ;
Her prophets also divine for money ;
Yet they lean upon Jehovah, saying :

xix. 25, pvaTa^, the mustache or beard,
which is held in high estimation in the
East, and in exhibiting whicb, properly
grown and trimmed, tbe Orientals greatly
pride themselves. To hide it, therefore,
by covering it, was regarded as a striking
mark of shame or sorrow. See Lev,
xin, 45 ; 2 Sara, xix. 25 ; Ezek. xxiv.
17, 22.
8. Full of conscious sincerity, and
of his divine coraraission, in the execu
tion of which he was sustained by the
supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit,
and zealous for the glory of God, and
the recovery of his people, Micah avows
his readiness, with all boldness, to an
nounce to tbem bis inspired message re
specting their sins. His character and
conduct formed a perfect contrast to
those of the false prophets. The cora
pound particle d'Jini, and tbe pronoun
'3iN, are bere eraphatic. rts, means the
supernatural power necessary for the
general discharge of the prophetic office;
comp, h-uvapis, Luke i. 17, xxiv. 49 ;
Acts i. 8 ; TOBiiip, a sense of moral rec-
tiiude, distinguishing clearly between
right and wrong, and impelling to the
advocacy and raaintenance of such
actions, as are conformable to the Divine
law ; and n3i3a, moral courage, or a bold
and intrepid spirit, inciting its possessor
to throw aside all timidity in defending
the cause of God and truth, Corap.
2 Tira. i, 7.
9. Tbe prophet now proceeds to de

liver in full, the raessage which he had
commenced, ver. 1, employing the same
forraula, Niispai, as he also does chap.
vi. 1. The remaining verses of the
chapter furnish a noble specimen of that
bold and uncompromising fidelity which
characterised his rainistry.
10. n33, the LXX., Syr., Targ., and
Vulg., render in theplural, but no Hebrew
codex exhibits the variation. The authors
of these versions doubtless regarded the
participle as a collective, which mode of
construction we must adopt, or, with
Michaelis, we must suppose that tbe
prophet had Shebna, Is. xxii. 16 — 18,
Jehoiakira, or sorae other particular prince
in bis eye ; the forraer interpretation is
preferable. D'pij, blood, used for the
wealth obtained by shedding tbe blood
of its owners. Corap. Jer. xxii. 13 ;
Ezek. xxii. 27 ; Hab. ii. 12, in tbe latter
of whicii passages D'c'i and nbis are used
as parallels, with the same particle, ni3.
11. 3nto, is a gift or bribe given to a
judge to obtain freedom from punish
ment. Receiving bribes was strictly
prohibited by the Mosaic law, Exod.
xxiii. 8 ; Deut. xvi. 19. That the ti':ri3,
priests, were authorized by that law to
act in the capacity of ordhiary religious
teachers, does not appear. Their being
thus employed by Jehoshaphat is narrated
as soraething altogether extraordinary,
2 Chron. xvii. 7 — 9, Besides attending
to the ceremonial observances, they bad
devolved upon thera the decision of con-

chap.

III.]

MICAH.

241

Is not Jehovah in the midst of us .''
No calamity shall come upon us,
12 Surely on your account
Sion shall be ploughed as a field,
Jerusalem shall become heaps,
And the mountain of the house woody heights.

troversies, Deut. xvii. 8 — 11, xxi. 5;
Ezek. xliv, 24, cases of leprosy, divorce,
&c. Lev. X, 11, They were to lay down
the law in such cases, and pronounce
the final sentence, Corap. Mal. n. 7 ;
Deut. xxxiii. 10 ; and see Michaelis
on the Laws of Moses, Art. hi. They
are here associated with the judges,
because in certain cases they gave a
joint verdict ; and in the tirae of the
prophet were equally avaricious and cor
ruptible. The verb ddji, to divine,
being only used of false prophets, shows
tbat those reproved by Micah were of
that description, Corap. Jude 11. With
all tbeir wicked perversion of right, they
hypocritically clairaed an interest in tbe
favour of God, and scouted the idea that
the calaraities denounced by his true
prophets could ever overtake thera,
Corap, Jer. vii. 4, 8 — 1 1, where the sarae
presumptuous confidence in the Divine
presence in the temple, is exposed and
condemned. 12. We have here at last an awful
epiphonema, in which the destruction of
the metropolis is expressly and par
ticularly predicted. The wicked leaders
of the people were now building and
beautifying it, by expending upon it
their unrighteous gains, ver, 10 ; but
the time was coming when it should be
completely desolated, "Zion" desig
nates tbe site of the city of David on
the south ; " Jerusalera," the houses
occupied by the inhabitants generally in
the centre and the nortb ; and " the
mountain of the house," Moriah on tbe
east. Instead of I"S, the Chaldee ter
mination, five MSS., five others originally,
and the Babylonian Talmud, read ti"S.
n'3n, the house, i. e. kot i^oxrjv, the

temple. That which was their boast
and confidence, was to be converted into
a wilderness. 3S2 signifies not only a
forest, but also a thicket of shrubs, a
rough or rugged locality, from the Arab.
jC^,asper,salebrosus fuit; difficiUs incessu,
asper locus. The whole verse contains
a description of utter ruin and desolation.
The enunciation of such a prophecy
evinced the greatest intrepidity on the
part of Micah, and is quoted as an in
stance of prophetic boldness, Jer. xxvi,
18, 19, Tbe ploughing of the city by
the enemy, whicii has its parallel in
Horace, lib, i. Od, 16,
" Imprimiratque muris
Hostile aratrum exercitus insolens,''
has by sorae interpreters been referred
to what is recorded in the Talmud,
noticed by Jerome, and repeated by
Maimonides, tbat Titus Annius Rufus,
an officer in the Roman army, tore up
with a ploughshare the foundations of
the temple ; but little or no credit is to
be given to tbo story. See Deylingii
Observationes Sacr. pt. v. pp. 448, 450,
Robinson's Palestine, vol. ii. pp. 2, 8,
The circurastance, however, that wbat
Micah predicts, relates to the city as
distinguished frora the temple, clearly
militates against tbis application of his
language. Equally inapposite as to the
fulfilment of tbe prophecy are the appeals
to the present partially cultivated state
of Mount Zion, since tbe destruction to
wbich it points was not the more distant
devastations under Titus and Adrian,
but the raore proximate under Nebu
chadnezzar. For the accomplishment,
see Neh, ii, 17, iv, 2 ; Lara, v. 18,

I I

212 MICAH. [chap.

CHAPTER IV.
By a sudden transition, as at chap.ii. 13, the prophet passes from his denunciation
of punishment, to a description of the glorious state of the church subsequent
to the restoration from the captivity in Babylon. He predicts the establishment
of the kingdom of Christ upon the ruins of idolatry, and the accession of the
Gentiles, 1,2; the peaceful nature of his reign, 3, and the security of his sub
jects, 4, He then abruptly introduces his captive countrymen, who, havingbeen
recovered to the worship of the true God, declare, that, however the idolaters
around them might adhere to their several systems of creature-worship, they
would never renounce the service of Jehovah, 5. The Most High promises to
gather even tbe weakest of tbem from their dispersions, restore their national
existence, and reign over thera for ever, 6 — 8. The intermediate invasion of
Judea, the captivity in Babylon, and tbe liberation of tbe Jews, are next de
picted, 9 — 11. Upon which follows a prediction of the victories wbich they
should gain over their enemies in the times of the Maccabees, and of the reverse
which took place on the establishment of Herod by the Roman power.

1 And it shall come to pass in the last of the days,
That the mountain of Jehovah's house
Shall be established on the summit of the mountains.
And be elevated above the hills.
And the people shall flow to it,
2 Yea, many nations shall go, and say :
Come, let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah,
To the house of the God of Jacob,
That he may teach us his ways,
And that we may walk in his paths ;
1 — 3. On the general identity of this verbal discrepancies, which are few and
prophecy with Is. ii. 2 — 4, see the note trivial, will be best seen on consulting
on that passage, to which the reader is Newcome, who exhibits the Hebrew
also referred for the interpretation. Tbe text of both prophets in parallel columns.

CHAP, IV,]

MICAH.

243

For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem,
And he shall arbitrate ainong many people,
And give decision to many distant nations,
So that they shall beat their swords into coulters,
And their spears into pruning-knives ;
Nation shall not raise a sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war any more.
And they shall sit, each under his vine, and under his fig-tree,
And none shall make him afraid ;
For the mouth of Jehovah of hosts hath spoken it.
Though all the people should walk
Each in the name of his god,
Yet we will walk in the narae of Jehovah our God,
For ever and ever.
In that day, saith Jehovah,
I will gather the halting,
And collect the outcasts,
And those whom I have afflicted.

The sense is the same throughout.
Twenty MSS., originally ten raore, one
by correction, and tbe Coraplut. edition,
read l'>^ instead of l')S. For wte'. Nii,
thirty-six MSS., probably another, seven
originally, and six by correction, together
with four of the early editions, read
»';l ; and for iNip; five MSS., four originally,
and now one, read Nto.
4, This beautiful addition, which is
not in Isaiah, appears to bave been a
coraraon adage araong the Hebrews to
express a state of complete outward
security. 1 Kings iv. 25; Zech. ni. 10.
For a state of things precisely the reverse,
see my Biblical Researches and Travels
in Russia, &c. p. 436.
5. Many interpreters have been puz
zled how to reconcile tbe stateraent
raade in the beginning of this verse with
the prediction contained in verse 2 ; and
Hartmann goes so far as to assert, that it
was originally a marginal gloss, written
by a different pen, and afterwards inserted
in the text. The difficulty will be re
moved, if we consider the words to be
tbose of the Jews during their dispersion.
" Hic speetanda est diversitas temporis."

Calvin, in loc. Tliey witnessed the
eagerness with which the idolaters around
them devoted themselves to the service
of their gods — an eagerness which led
them to despair of their ever being
reclaimed ; and they nobly resolved that
nothing should ever again raove thera to
abandon the service of Jehovah ; but
that, with equal earnestness, they would
addict themselves to his worship, and
the observance of his laws, '5 is here a
formula of concession : be it so tliat,
although, or tbe like, Comp. for this
use of the particle. Gen. viii. 21 ; Exod,
xiii. 17 ; Josh. xvii. 18 ; Deut. xxix. 18.
"B tivc3 t|^n, to walk in the name of any one,
means to frarae one's conduct according
to his will, to act by his authority, and
in accordance with his character. Dll!,
name, is often used for the person hira
self. Comp. the phrases nin; tj333 ipn;
iii'3;''ir;N Tj^n, to walk in the ivay of, to
follow Jehovah. It seems bere to be
specially employed in reference to reli
gious worship. Comp. Zech. x, 12,
6 — 8. That the subject of these verses
is the restoration from Babylon, and the
re-establishment of the Jewish state,

214

MICAH.

[chap, IV.

And I will make the h.alting a remnant.
And those that had been far removed a strong nation ;
And Jehovah shall reign over them in Mount Zion,
From henceforth, and for ever.
And thou, 0 tower of the flock !
O hill ofthe daughter of Zion !
To thee it shall come,
Even the former rule shall come,
The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.

and not any spiritual gathering of men
generally to the church of God, is placed
beyond dispute by the prediction that tbe
scattered and afflicted remnant of Israel
was again to become a strong nation,
ver. 7, and by the use of tbe phrase
mtoN3n nWppn, the former rule, ver. 8,
which can only be interpreted of the
theocratic government at Jerusalera.
When the Hebrews first returned to
their own land, they were few in nuraber,
araounting only to 42,360 ; but tbey
rapidly increased, and in the tirae ofthe
Maccabees not only becarae an inde
pendent state, but acquired such power
that they vanquished the forraidable
Syro-Grecian armies. The Asmonaean
faraily possessed suprerae authority from
Mattathias to Herod the Great. Tothe
above interpretation no valid objection
can be taken on the ground that Jehovah
is said, ver. 7, to reign for ever over
those who were to be assembled, ojis,
eternity, or long indefinite duration,
whether applied to the pastor the future,
must always be determined by the nature
of the subject. It is very often used of
tbe Mosaic institutes, Exod. xii. 14, 17,
xxvii. 21, xxviii. 43 ; Lev. iii. 17, Itis
even employed to denote the period of the
seventyyears'captivity, Jer.xviii. 16. For
™^sn and l^njjn, comp. Ezek. xxxiv, 16 ;
Zeph, iii. 19.' HN^nsn is tbe Niphal par
ticiple of Njn, to be removed. Syr.
n. 7
^gri^jl, elongavit, removit. Arab.
jla I't-) recessit, abscess'it. Having
employed metaphors taken frora the
treatraent of sheep, Micah calls the
Jewish people, in tbeir collective capa
city, 3'i?, a flock. Corap. niri'3'3y, theflock
of Jehovah, Jer. xiii. 17; and in refer

ence to the strength of Jerusalem, and
the watchful care exercised by tbe
governraent, he characterises ber as
3TS'j33p, the tower of the flock. Some,
indeed, think with Jerome, tbat a place
of tbis name, to which reference is made
Gen. xxxv. 21, and whicb tbat father
says lay about a mile distant frora Beth
lehera, is intended ; but, frora its being
in apposition with ]i"S-n3')BS, mound of
ihe daughter of Zion, a fortified hill or
elevation on the eastern part of Mount
Zion, and here put for the whole, such
interpretation is inadmissible. For ';bs,
comp. Is. xxxii. 14; 2 Chron. xxvii. 3,
xxxiii. 14 ; Neh. iii. 26, 27, in which
last passage biyipr\, the tower, is mentioned
along with it, whichis doubtless identical
with jns, Is. xxxii. 14. Tbe word is
derived from ''BS, to swell, become tumid.
Arab. (jAC, tumore laboravit, pinguendo
circa perinceum capri, Szc Tdv '0(j)Xdv
KaXoTjpevov v-yj/rjXav. Joseph, de Bell.
Jud. lib. vi. cap. 6, § 3. The LXX.,
Aquil., Syram., Syr., and Vulg., confound
the word with 'sen, thick darkness. The
Targum applies the passage to the
Messiah : '.3in D3ij.)p 3'p'?i'3 "jsnto;-! Nn'ito riNi

05 *
of Isi

thou, 0 Messiah of Israel, who ari hid on
account of the sins of the congregation of
Zion, to thee the kingdom will come ; " but
there is no more foundation for this
interpretation, than for that of Jonathan
on 3Trt33p, Gen. xxxv. 21 : ianp3 N3nM
N>pvniD3«n'top N3bp 'bjnOT 3'™, " the place
from which King Messiah is te be revealed
at the end of ihe days," whatever use
may be made of it in the way of argu
mentum ad hominem in reasoning with
the Jews, b in rab is a periphrasis of the
genitive.

chap,

IV,]

MICAH.

245

9 Why, now, dost thou cry aloud ?
Is there no king in thee ?
Have thy counsellors perished ?
That pains should have seized thee
Like a woman in travail ?
10 Be in pain, and bring forth, O daughter of Zion !
Like a woman in travail ;
For now thou shalt go forth from the city,
And shalt dwell in the field,
Thou shalt even go to Babylon ;
There thou shalt be delivered,
There Jehovah shall redeem thee,
From the hand of thine eneraies.
11 And now many nations are gathered against thee,
That say : Let her be profaned !
And : Let our eyes look upon Zion.
12 But, as for thera, they know not the designs of Jehovah,

9. nns is not here used in its teraporal
signification, but raerely as a particle
designed erapbatically to draw attention
to what follows. Five MSS. and another
originally, supported by the LXX, and
Targ., read nns^, which is tbe usual
forra. The prophet plunges at once into
the circumstances of consternation in
which tbe inhabitants of Jerusalem would
beplacedon the approach of the Chaldean
army. The questions relative to a king
and his council are put ironically, and
provoke tbe answer, " Yes, we have, but
they are nothing worth: they cannot
protect us, nor contrive any means of
escape." y»i' the LXX. treat as a col
lective : -ri /JovX?) aov.
10. 'tiJ, instead of 'nil, for the sake
of euphony. Comp. in reference to
childbirth. Job xxxviii. 8; Ps. xxii. 10.
Having employed the metaphor of a
parturient feraale, the prophet carries it
on in this verse, strikingly depicting the
condition of anguish and distress which
the Jews bad to anticipate before they
should enjoy deliverance. The Baby
lonish captivity, and its happy terraina
tion, are predicted in express terms. Both
were likewise expressly foretold by Isaiah,
tbe contemporary of Micah, chap, xxxix.
7, xliii. 14, xlviii. 20. The repetition of
Difl, there, is eraphatic. The inhabitants

of Jerusalera, when reraoved from the
city, should belocated in tbe open country,
till the whole were collected, and then
they should all be conveyed to Babylon,
] 1, The nations here referred to were
those which coraposed the array of
Nebuchadnezzar, or which joined that
army in its attack upon Jerusalem, The
raore imraediate neighbours of the Jews
are no doubt specially intended, Comp.
Lam. ii. 16; Ezek. xxxv.; Obad. 12, 13.
These defiled Jerusalem when tbey shed
the blood of her citizens and profaned
her sacred places. ? nin ia used, like
5 I3N3, Obad. 12, in an eraphatic sense, ta
denote the malignant delight with which
the eneraies of the Jews feasted on their
calaraities. For the use of the feminine
singular inn with tbe dual masculine,
comp. 2 Sara. X. 9; Jobxx. 11. Nothing
is more coraraon in Arabic than to eraploy
the ferainine forra of the verb when the
agent is any thing irrational or inanimate.
The singular number is employed as the
simpler form of the verb. It may be
observed, however, that, instead of il'.i'S
in the plural, four MSS., two of the most
ancient editions, the Syr. and Targ., read
Ill's in the singular. The LXX, have
the plural. Both F]3nn and inn are
optative in force,
12. nan is a norainative absolute, used

246

MICAH,

[chap.

IV,

Neither do they understand his purpose ;
For he shall collect them as sheaves into the threshing-floor,
13 Arise ! thresh, 0 daughter of Zion !
For I will make thy horn iron,
And thy hoofs copper,
And thou shalt beat in pieces many nations ;
Thou shalt devote their gains to Jehovah,
And their substance to the Lord of all the earth,
14 Assemble yourselves now, O daughter of troops !
We are besieged !

for tbe sake of emphasis. Tbe enemies
of theJews had not the most distant idea,
that the object of Jehovah in perraitting
his people to be so treated was to recover
thera frora idolatry, and thus prepare
them for a triumphant restoration. 'The
metaphor taken from the process of
threshing out grain is frequently used by
the prophets to denote the complete
destruction of a people. Comp. Jer.
li, 33, For the manner in which this
process is carried on, see on Is. xxviii.
27, 28.
13. A continuation of the metaphor.
Comp. for a real parallel, Is. xii. 15, 16.
There is, however, a very natural instance
of mixed metaphor, derived frora the
destructive power lodged in the born of
the ox, though it is not employed in
threshing, which greatly adds to the force
of the passage. Tbat pij, horn, should
here be employed to signify the horny
substance forraing the hoof of the ox,
cannot be admitted. Corap. 1 Kings
xxii. 11. The horn was a symbol of
power exercised in subduing and punish
ing enemies. Tbe Orientals give to
Alexander the Great the epithet of .i>
,JU^, bicornis ; and the kings of
Macedon were actually in the habit of
wearing the horns of a rara in their
casques. 'np3nn I take to be the second
person ferainine, the Yod being a frag
raent of the old form of the personal
pronoun 'ON, regularly preserved in tbe
Syriac. Compare, for other instances,
'npip, Ruthin. 3; 'np^n, Jer. xxxi. 21,
though they are pointed with a Sheva,
and the Keri directs that they should be
read ippto and ns'jn. The LXX., Aquila,

Symm., Theodot., the Syr., and Vulg.,
all bave tbe second person. t:3n, Arab,
ifC'-, prohibuit; sacrum, quod nen est
promiscue usus ; to make sacred, devote,
whether in a good or a bad sense. As
conquerors used to consecrate a portion
of their spoils to their deities by hanging
them up in their temples, so the triuraph
ant Hebrews would employ the riclies
whicb they acquired by their victories in
beautifying tbe teraple of Jehovah, and
supporting his worship. The Maccabean
times are specially referred to.
14. I consider 3i3j, troop, to be a
collective. J erusalem is calle d a daughter
of troops, on account of the great hody
of railitary quartered within her walls,
and in the surrounding districts. That
it is Jerusalem, and not the eneray, that
is addressed, the close coherence of the
forras with tbose ofthe preceding context
sufficiently shows. For tbe paronoraasia
in Ti33-n3 'Timn, comp. Gen. xlix. 19.
The common acceptation of 333, is to cui
or make incisions ; but tbat it also signi
fies to assemble as troops, see Jer, v. 7.

Syi

|^a..i <2 portion or detachment of

an army. Though at Dto the enemy is
understood, it is better to construe it
impersonally, and give itin our language
in the passive. In t03-^ and lopto is
another paronomasia. Most understand
by the iDBic, judge, Zedekiah, who was
treated contumeliously by the Baby
lonians ; but it seems preferable to refer
it to sorae of the chief rulers of the Jews
at the tirae of the siege of Jerusalem
described by the prophet ; or the term
may he used collectively. The position

chap, v.]

MICAH.

247

With a rod they have smitten on the cheek
The judge of Israel !

of Hengstenberg and some others, that
it is selected on purpose to mark a period
during wbich no king of tbe house of
David reigned, might be allowed, were
it not for the influence of the foregoing
-aytd, with which itformsthe paronomasia.
Though tbe LXX. have rendered the
term by ipvXds, Aq., Symm., and Theod.,
have KpiTijv. The siege in question

Michaelis thinks was that by Soslus, the
Roman general, b.c. 37, when Antigonus,
the last of the Asraonaean dynasty, was
obliged to submit to the superior power.
Whether this prince be specifically in
tended I shall not determine. So ranch
is certain, that he was most con
temptuously treated by Sosius ; see
Josephus, Bell, Jud, lib. i. cap. xviii. 2.

CHAPTER V.
Having just adverted to the calaraitous circumstances in which the Jews should be
placed at the commencement of the reign of Herod, the prophet foretels, in a
very explicit manner, the birth of the Messiah, whicii was to take place during
the lifetime of that king,*l. A prediction is then introduced respecting the
final dealings of God towards the nation previous to that illustrious event, 2,
on wbich the perraanent and universal nature of the new dispensation is an
nounced, 3. The subject of the victories of the Jews over the Syro-Grecian
arraies is again taken up, 4 — 8 ; and the chapter concludes with threatenings
both against the Jews in the time of Micah, and the enemies by whom they
were to be punished, 9 — 15,

1 And thou, Bethlehem Ephratha !
Art small to be among the thousands of Judah,

1, Michaelis remarks, "If not even a
word were found in Matt, ii, 5, 6, ex
planatory of our text, I should believe
the subject to be Christ, who was born
in the reign of Herod. The whole
thread of the prophecy in the preceding
chapter leads me to him, and the time
of his birth," The Messianic application
of the prophecy was formally made by
the Jewish Sanhedrim, in their official
reply to Herod, Matt, ii. 5, 6 ; and is
admitted both by the Rabbinical and
the rationalistic interpreters, though, as

might be expected, they differ as to the
person of the Messiah, The Targum
has, bs jm^ito T3S 'inp') Nn'tfp piEj 'pij? rpa
NDbs 'pi'p '^'p-ip'^jp 3'pN n'pto "i ')N3iB;, "From
thee the Messiah shall come forth before
me, to exercise dominion over Israel,
whose name was announced long ago,
from the days of eld." The position of
Theodore of Mopsuesta, Grotius, Dathe,
and sorae others, that Zerubbabel was
intended, is now given up by all; and
most interpreters of the German school
find their notion of an ideal Messiah

248

MICAH.

[chap. V,

Yet from thee shall He come forth to me
To be Ruler in Israel,

sufficiently convenient in explaining this
and otber passages, as it relieves them
from all investigation in regard to positive
historical personality. onVn's, Beth
lehem, literally, the House of Bread.
Arab, iis' i " .^. Beit Lahm, the House
of Flesh. It was a small town in the
tribe of Judah, built on the slope of a
ridge, about six Roman miles to the west
by south of Jerusalera, and originally
celebrated as the birth-place of David, the
first of the line of Jewish kings. n3BN,
Ephraih, Gen. xlviii. 7, or, as it is cora-
mcraly written, with the n paragogic,
^n3BN, Ephratha, appears frora the pas
sage just cited to have been the original
name of the place. This word bas rauch
the same signification as Beth-lehem,
being derived from niB, to be fruitful;
and no doubt the place received both
naraes frora the fertiUty of the region.
Dr. Robinson observes respecting the
present aspects of the town: "The
raany olive and fig-orchards and vine
yards round about are raarks of industry
and thrift ; and the adjacent fields,
though stony and rough, produce never
theless good crops of grain." Biblical
Researches in Palestine, vol. ii. p. 161.
The naraes occur as parallels in the
stanza, Ruth iv. 11 : —
nn3BN3 ';;n-ntosi
! Drt n''33 Dll>'N3pi
V T " : " t' I
It was likewise called Bethlehem Judah,
Judges xvii. 7, xix. 1 ; Ruth i. 1 ; Matt,
ii. 5, in order, it is thought, to distinguish
it frora another place of tbe sarae name
in the tribe of Zabulon, Josh. xix. 15.
3'SS, as well as nnN, is of the masculine
gender, contrary to rule in Hebrew, but
in accordance with Arabic usage, in
which the naraes of cities are sometiraes
put in the masculine. In the present
instance, however, the change was doubt
less occasioned by n;3, which is of that
gender, being strongly prominent to the
view of the prophet. Pococke, in the
notes to his Porta Mosis, chap.ii., and in
his commentary on the passage, labours
hard to support tbe opinion of Tanchura
and Abulwalid, that 3'SS has the two
contrary significations of little and great;

but the opinion rests upon nothing
beyond the construction which these
writers have put upon the terra as occur
ring in Jer. xlviii. 4, and Zech. xiii. 7,
which passages, when closely examined,
admit of no other signification being
attached to the word but that of little,
of small note, or esteem, though it may
seem to be supported by the Targuraic
rendering pn'iiiD'Jto in the forraer of these
passages, and by n-oifierar the reading of
the Alexandrian MS. of the LXX., and
P .0. .. 7
]^\,\ik, tbat of the Syriac, in the latter.
In none of the cognate dialects has the
word the signification of greatness or
dignity, ni'rt 3'SS is literally little in
respect of being, little to exist, or be
reckoned. There is no occasion to resort
to the hypothesis tbat b here forras a
coraparative, and is equivalent to Jt3.
Wbat the prophet asserts is, that Beth
lehera was positively little in point of
size or population, to rank with the other
subdivisions of the tribe of Judah.
Corap, 1 Sara, xxiii, 23. The tribes
were subdivided into ninstop, families, or
claiis, the chiliads or thousands of which
had heads or princes, to whom, from this
circumstance, was given the name of
D'bJn '.3to, D'BJn 'ii;n3, princes and heads of
thousands. It is highly probable that at
the time to wbich the prophecy refers,
if not in that of the prophet, the place
might not have been able to muster a
thousand men. No mention is raade of
it among the cities of Judah enumerated
Josh. XV., though, with many others, it
is found in tbe text of tbe LXX. Nor
does it occur in the list. Neb. xi. 25, &c.
It is spoken of in the New Testament as
Kaprj, a village, or hamlet, John vii. 42,
In tbe present day its inhabitants are
rated at eight hundred taxable men. See
Dr. Robinson, ut sup. Yet, small and
inconsiderable as Bethlehem was, it was
to have the distinguished honour of
giving birth to the Messiah.
" O sola magnarura urbium
Major Bethlem, cui contigit
Ducem salutis ccelitus
Incorporatum gignere,'' '
Prudentius, Hymn. Epiph, 77,

...f^itm^^

CHAP, v.]

MICAH.

249

Whose comings forth have been of old,
From the ancient days.

Between the former and the latter
half of the verse is a raarked antithesis.
In tbis respect, nSI and vn'NSin, corre
spond; the forraer, designating the
future coming forth of the Illustrious
Ruler here predicted, when he should
actually assume huraan nature ; the latter,
his ancient comings forth, when he created
tbe world, and appeared to Moses and
the patriarchs, and revealed to thera the
Divine will. The idea conveyed by the
noun must be identical with that ex
pressed by the verb, .\benezra, Abar
banel, Grotius, Hartmann, Rosenraiiller,
Gesenius, Hitzig, Maurer, and Ewald,
give origines as the signification of niNSio,
and regard the terra as referring to the
Davidic extraction of tbe Messiah. This
signification is likewise strenuously main
tained by Hengstenberg ; but, instead of
finding any reference to the ancient
family of David, he adopts tbe opinion
tbat tbe object of the prophet is to teach
tbe eternal existence of the Messiah,
His position, however, is perfectly un
tenable, since nothing can be more in
congruous than the ascription of locality
to eternity, wbicb he expressly does in
the translation, " his goings forth (in the
sense of places of going forth,) are the
ancient times, the days of eternity, /. e.
the very ancient times." None of the
passages whicii he alleges, proves the
local signification ; they all describe tbe
act, not the place or time of egress.
p before D'lij and in D^is 'P'p, is used in
its temporal acceptation, marking tbe
terminus a quo. The LXX. ?|oSoi
uuroC dn' dpxrjs i^ rjpepav a'tavos.

that the words (JjJjnjI J, have crept
into the text from the preceduig clause.
Though n'ip. is used of past duration ab
solutely in reference to God, Deut.
xxxiii. 27, yet it is most frequently em
ployed to denote past, especially ancient
time, and is synonymous with ofts, with
which it occurs in poetic parallelisms.
Comp, the Arab, ^lij', prcecessit ; tem-
' p
pus antiquum. Syr, SO.ai ante, coram.
In Ps, xliv. 2, DTp 'p; occurs, just
as obis 'p; does in tbe present verse ;
and in Ps. Ixxvii. 6 we have D3i5p D'p^
and D'pbis nilto corresponding to each
other. Comp, also Micah vii, 14, 20 ;
Mal. iii. 4, 'That the dogma of eternal
generation or eraanation is taught by
our prophet, does not appear ; but the
actual preexistence of our Saviour, and
his active comings forth, in tbe most
ancient times, for ibe accomplishment of
the Divine purposes, he not obscurely
teaches. Thus Piscator : " Verto egres-
siones, nempe egressiones a Deo Patre
ad sanctos Patres Adamuin, Noachum,
Abrahamum, Isaacum, Jacobura, quibus
apparuit seseque familiari sermone pate-
fecit," For the interpretation of Calvin,
that the eternal decree respecting the
future birth of the Messiah is intended,
there is no foundation whatever. The
term ''toio. Ruler, here eraployed, is that
used by David in his Messianic Ode,
2 Sam. xxiii. 3 : —
p'lS D3N| 'jtoiD
1 ?Ti'jN nN3' 'itoio

Syr, ^^ ]2UA-i.J _i£) aiaaisCO Comp, Jer. xxx. 21 :

1<^V,C, . .Vi'd.. " Whose going forth is
from the beginning, from the days ef the
ages." Vulg. "Et egressus ejus ab initio, a
diebus ceiernitatis." The Arab, though
unwarrantably free as a version, gives
pretty much the true sense : J^^-.l:^,
ycjJl ibi iXLo iJj}jm\ ^J, " Whose
goings forth in Israel are from the days
ofthe age." It is, however, not unlikely.

13QP 'I3'3M njll
Ns; i33pp iViioi
'^N isji'i i'm3pni
ii'jnN s'TS nrNin'p's
! nin; dn: '^n rtiiyb
Corap. also Is. xi. 1 — 4. ''J, to me, is not
without emphasis. The Messiah was to
come for the express purpose of carrying
into effect the will of his Father in the
salvation of men ; and though Israel is
specially mentioned as the sphere of his
rule, it is not to the exclusion of the
K K

250

MICAH.

CHAP, v.

Nevertheless he will give them up
Till the time when she who is to bear hath brought forth,
And the rest of his brethren
Shall return to the sons of Israel,
And He shall stand, and feed in the strength of Jehovah,
In the majesty of the name of Jehovah his God.

Gentile world, as ver. 3, and numerous
passages in otber prophets clearly show.
For the verbal discrepancies between
the Hebrew text of Micah, and the quo
tation Matt. ii. 6, the reader is referred
to tbe coraraentators on the latter pas
sage. It may suffice to reraark here,
that the Hebrew words cannot with any
propriety be rendered interrogatively,
as sorae have proposed, and that the quo
tation in question, raade by the Sanhe
drim, and not by the evangelist, is
obviously given frora memory, and not
with any view to verbal accuracy.
2. Notwithstanding the glorious pro
spect afforded by the promise of the
Messiah, it was not to supersede the
state of suffering to wbich the nation
was to be previously reduced on account
of its sins. Into that state it was to be
brought by the Chaldeans, and was not
to be fully restored till about the tirae
of his birth. The return frora Babylon
was only partial at first ; but, encouraged
by the prosperity wbich attended the re-
establishraentofthe theocracy, others who
resided in the East were induced to fol
low, and raultitudes returned from Egypt
and other parts, before the Christian era.
The words rr&^ nji' are susceptible of
two interpretations. They may either
be referred to the Jewish church, and
regarded as descriptive of her deliver
ance frora suffering, set forth under the
metaphor of a travailing woman ; or,
they strictly and literally apply to the
mother of tbe Messiah. 'The former
interpretation is adopted by Lipman,
Munster, Vatablus, Grotius, Drusius,
Dathe, Justi, and others ; the latter by
the greater number of e.\pooitors — araong
other raoderns, by Seeker, Michaelis,
Hartmann, Rosenraiiller, Hitzig, Maurer,
and Ewald. This construction of the
passage alone suits the entire connexion.
It would appear altogether incongruous
to introduce a tropical designation ofthe
church, in a verse in which the Jewish

people are raore than once spoken of in
language strictly literal. Tbe birth of
the Messiah, in so far as regards its
place, and the preexistence of his
person, had been predicted ver. 1 : the
prophet, who, as already noticed, was
contemporary with Isaiah, and in all
probability was acquainted with his
celebrated prophecy respecting the npbs,
Is. vii. 14, now further adverts to the
interesting fact by a soraewhat indefi
nite, but by no means obscure refer
ence to his virgin raother. This view
is further confirraed by the use of
the pronorainal affix in vnN, wbich un
questionably belongs to the Messiah, the
iraraediate antecedent, and not, as a
collective, to Israel, as given in the
LXX. and Targ. By his " brethren "
cannot be raeant tbe Gentile believers,
wbich some interpreters have alleged,
referring in proof to Ps. xxii. 22 ; Heb,
ii. 1] ; but bis brethren according to
the flesh, those who still reraained in
foreign parts, but who were to be brought
back to Judea, in order that they raight
be there to receive him, when he should
come forth to be ruler in Israel. The
preposition bs conveys here the idea of
superaddition. 'The foreign Jews were
to be gathered in addition to those who
had already been collected. It is
thus raore expressive than ''N. That the
phrase b\^^] 'J3, the children of Israel, is
not here to be taken in its distinctive
application to tbe ten tribes, but denotes
tbe descendants of Jacob generally, raay
be inferred from the fact, that it is thus
appropriated after the Babylonish cap
tivity, the period to whicii the prophecy
refers. It is well known that the Macca
bean coins bear the inscription, ')N3«'^piD,
the Shekel of Israel. Comp. for this use
of the term ''n^w, ver. 1 of the present
chapter. 3. The verb 3ps signifies not simply
to stand, but also to stand flrm, to endure,
continue. This latter acceptation is

CHAP. V.J

MIOAH,

2.51

And they shall continue ;
For now shall He be great unto the ends of the earth.
And This Same shall be the peace.
When the Assyrian shall invade our land,
And tread our palaces,
We will raise against him seven shepherds,
And eight anointed men.
And they shall afflict the land of Assyria with the sword,
And the land of Nimrod at the entrances thereof;

adopted here by many, who think it
better suits tbe character of the predicted
king, who is otherwise represented as
sitting upon his throne, and not standing.
But, as the following verb ns^, signifies
to feed a flock, there is the greatest
propriety in presenting him to view in
the attitude of the good shepherd, who
stands, tbat he may survey the whole
of bis sheep, and be in readiness to
defend them against all attacks. Comp,
Is, Ixi. 5. The pastoral metaphor is
beautifully expressive of royal care and
protection, Comp. Iliad i. 263 :
Olov XletptBodv Te, Apvavrd re, notpiva
Xadv,
wbere the scholiast has, ^aaiXea oxXav.
See for tbis use of the Hebrew verb nsi,
2 Sam. V, 2, vii. 7. The power and glory
of the Messiah here predicted are tbose
with which, as Mediator, he is invested.
Comp. Is. xi. 2 ; Matt, xxviii, 19 ; Heb,
ii, 7 — 9. Jehovah being called "his
God," intimates his subordinate ofiicial
relation. Comp. Jobn xx. 17. If Dto
ninj, the name of Jehovah, be not here
a periphrasis for Jehovah himself, it may
be regarded as descriptive of his attri-

reraains to add on tbis verse, that instead
of rm, to feed, two MSS. and some
printed editions read nN3, to see, while
the LXX. and Arab, exhibit both read
ings ; and that three MSS. and another
originally, the Syr., Targ., and Vulg.,
read I3ito;5 or U'S);!, they shall return, or
be converted, instead of tbe current
reading I3'to2, they shall remain. The
LXX. have vndp^ovat.
4, 5. Tbe words Di'jto ni nw, And This
Same shall be the peace, are intimately
connected with the preceding words, but
bave no relation to those which follow,
except in so far as the victories there
assumed were to pave the way for that
state of tbe Jewish affairs during which
the Messiah was to appear in the world.
ni, This, This Same, is used emphaticall)',
with reference to the Messiah, who had
just been spoken of. Comp. for a sirailar
use of the pronoun. Gen. v. 29; Exod.
XV. 2. o^b^,peace, is put, by metonymy,
for the author and introducer of re
conciliation. Comp. Gen. xlix. 10; Is.
ix. 5; Zech. ix. 10; Eph. ii, 14, 17;
Col. i. 20. D.^to, signifies to restore things
to their former state, to make restitution ;
in Hiph. to restore, or cause io be at

butes, or the character in which he hath
revealed himself to mankind. The no- peace. Corap. the Arab. Am> reinte-
minative to istojl must be tbe subjects '

over whora Messiah reigns, understood.
These were to consist not of believing
Jews only, but likewise of believing
Gentiles in the remotest regions of the
globe, as it follows in the verse, Comp.
for y3N'CBN, " the ends of the earth," in
reference to the amplitude of the king
dom of Christ, Ps. ii. 8, xxii. 28, Ixxii. 8.
The verb conveys the idea of security
and permanence. Such was to be the
character of the new dispensation. It

grare, sanare. The substantive is with
out the article, as frequently in tbe
prophetic writings, when the object is to
impart energy to tbe language, by con
densing the raode of expression. If
3itoN be taken to signify tbe ancient
Assyrian erapire, the reference will be
to the threatened invasion in the tirae of
the prophet; but this construction ill
suits the connexion, in which respect is
had to the raore distant future; and

252

MICAH,

[chap. v.

And there shall be deliverance from the Assyrian,
When he shall invade our land.
And when he shall tread our borders.

what follows, relative to the resistance
of the Jews, does not agree with any
successful events in the bistory of that
people during the Assyrian rule. I
cannot, therefore, but think, that the
terra is employed by our prophet to
denote tbe empire of the Seleucids,
founded by Seleucus, oneof tbe generals
of Alexander the Great, by whom he
was invested with the government of
Babylonia and Media, and wbo, under
the title of King of Syria, subjugated
all the countries from the Hellespont
to India and tbe Jaxartes. On tbe
same principle tbat Darius is called
3itoN^to, the king of Assyr'ia, Y,7,ra-i'\. 22,
though tbat erapire had long ceased to
exist, tbe title might be applied to
Seleucus and bis successors. To them,
during the period of their reign, belonged
" the land of Assyria," which is also here
called " tbe land of Nimrod," because,
according to tbe proper rendering of
Gen. X. 11, that monarch went forth
from Babylon into the country of Assyria,
where he built Nineveh and other cities
there naraed. According to this in
terpretation, the prophecy in tbese two
verses relates to the noble ani success
ful opposition wbich the Maccabees
offered to Antiochus Epiphanes, when
be raarched against Jerusalem, pillaged
the temple, and desecrated every object
sacred in the estimation of the Jews.
By rousing a spirit of patriotic piety in
tbe breasts of tbeir countrymen, they
not only recovered their sacred city from
the enemy, but, after a series of the
most brilliant victories, drove bim to the
gates of his own fortified cities, and
iinally succeeded in securing the national
independence. It is to this protracted,
but triumph.int struggle, that reference
is raade, Dan. xi. 32, The assertion of
Hartraann, tbatN3'-'3 31M'N isnot Hebrewin
its construction, and that, consequently,
3itoN is to be connected with Di';to, is
without foundation ; for we raeet with
the very same construction in ntoNiNto'N
Nte;:'?, Numb. vi. 2. Thus also in Arab.
i\=^Ij ^j j_jlc Ijiw'l bl ^^^yJliS.^

L,.^)l&1, " two cities, when their inhabitants
are of one accord," Locraan, Fable I. The
numbers iewn andeight appear to housed
to denote indefinitely a full and sufficient
number, as in Eccles. xi. 2. " Give a
portion to seven, and also to eight."
Corap. also Job v. 18; Prov. vi. 16,
xxx. 15, 18, 21 ; Amos i. 3, 6, 9, &c.
So the Greek rpls Kal rerpaKis, and the
Latin ter quaterque. Were they to be
taken literally, there would be no great
difficulty in selecting the number from
the Maccabsean period ; but the cora
parison of tbe above passages shows tbat
sucb a process would be unwarranted.
D'y3, shepherds, and D3h '3'p:, princely
men, are synonyraous, signifying those
who took tbe lead in opposing the
enemy, and wbo adrainistered the affairs
of the Jews at the time. Because ^03
also signifies to pour out a libation,
Michaelis is inchned to render the
phrase D3N'3'pi, sacriflces of men, and to
interpret it of such as sacrificed their
life in defence of their country. Not
only, however, is the parallelism opposed
to this construction of the raeaning, but
also tbe use of D'S'pi in other passages.
Thus Josh. xiii. 21, Jin'P'S'pj, princes
(Com. Ver. dukes) of Sihon ; and Ezek.
xxxii. 30, ;iBS '3'P5 noto, there are the
princes ofthe north. The title properly
signifies anointed, tbose who had been
consecrated to tbeir ofiice by anointing
with oil; and thus is equivalent to
D'rrtop. In the present instance it is
used tropically, without any reference
P P 0 7
to the ceremony. Syr.j^j]? ]j.S}05.
Targ. NtoiN'33?3; Arab. ^j,vU!l^ Uic,
greai men. nS3, to feed, being bere uspd
in connexion with " the sword," must be
taken metaphorically, and means to con
sume, devastate, or the like. To refer
1S3 to SS5 as its root, is altogether in
adraissible. Tbe repetition in tbese two
verses possesses peculiar elegance, "''Sn
is used impersonally. Instead of ii.^i3J in
tbe singular, irtuf in the plural, is the
reading of thirty-four MSS., originally

CHAP, V,]

MICAH.

253

And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people,
Like the dew from Jehovah ;
Like the small rain upon herbs.
Which waiteth not for man,
And tarrieth not for the sons of man.
Yea, the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations,
In the midst of many people,
Like a lion among the beasts of the forest,
Like a young lion among the flocks of sheep.
Which, if he pass through, treadeth down and rendeth,
And there is none to deliver.
Thy hand shall be high against thine adversaries,
And all thine enemies shall be cut off.
And it shall be in that day, saith Jehovah,
That I will cut off thy horses from the midst of thee ;
And I will destroy thy chariots.

four raore ; tbe Soncin., Brixian, and
Complut. editions; the Soncin. Prophets,
and all the ancient versions.
6, 7. The forraer ofthese verses depicts
the beneficial infiuence which tbe re
mainder of the nation, after its restora
tion, should exert, by spreading tbe
knowledge of the true God araong tbe
nations in the midst of whicii they were
situated ; their signal victories against
such formidable armies, attracting atten
tion to Hira whom they worshipped, and
to whom they ascribed their success.
During the existence of the new Jewish
state, the raerabers of the theocracy had
much intercourse with foreigners, multi
tudes of whora becarae proselytes to the
faith of Jehovah, and were thus prepared
to receive the gospel, when preached by
the apostles. The idea of nuraber lies
both in b^, the dew, and D'3'33, the rain ;
and the sudden raising up of the Jews
was to be as entirely a work of Divine
providence, and independent of human
aid, as the production of these material
elements. The seventh verse describes
the formidable character of the Jews in
reference to the hostile nations by wbich
they were attacked. For the accu
mulation and tbe rise in the meaning
of the verbs ^y$] o-cm 33S, comp. Exod.
XV. 9 : p^riN 3'teN fi^iN brtd.
8. Here the prosperous aspect of the

prophecy closes, The words are ad
dressed optatively to Jehovah, and may
be considered as those either of the
prophet, or as designed to be adopted by
the Jewish church. Comp. Is. xxvi. 11.
Her enemies were tbe enemies of
Jehovah. 9 — 14. The prophet now returns to
tiraes nearer bis own, and predicts tbe
beneficial raoral changes tbat were to
be effected in the condition ofhis country
raen by the Babylonish conquest and
captivity. They had, contrary to the
express coramand of the Lord, Deut,
xvii. 16, kept up a formidable body of
cavalry, and war-chariots; trusted in
their fortified cities ; encouraged sorcery,
and indulged in aborainable idolatry.
These were all to be reraoved, when the
Jewish state was broken up ; and after
God had employed the heathen in punish
ing bis apostate people, they in their
turn should be punished for their obsti
nate adherence to idol worship, notwith
standing the testimony borne against
their conduct by tbe Jews who lived
among them. This portion ofthe chapter
is strikingly parallel with Is. ii. 6 — 22.
For D'Bto?, see on Is, xlvii. 9 ; for D'piisp,
comp. D':ps, Is. iii. 6 ; and for D''i'8JN,
see on Is. xvii. 8. As Q'3S had already
occurred in the acceptation of cities,
ver. 10, we shoidd scarcely expect it to

254

MICAH.

[chap. VI.

10

11

12

13

14

I will cut off" the cities of thy land,
And rase all thy fortresses.
I will cut off the sorceries from thy hand,
And thou shalt have no diviner?.
I will cut off" thy graven images and thy statues from the midst of
thee,
And thou shalt no raore worship the work of thine hands.
I will break down thine images of Astarte from the midst of thee,
And destroy thy cities.
And I will execute vengeance in anger and in wrath,
Upon the nations which have not been obedient.

be again used ver. 13. To remove the
difficulty Michaelis compares tbe word
with the Arab. itfC, arbor semper virens ;
Arnold, with the Arab. .Ic, speluncus ;
others propose to read D'3S;, woods, i.e.
groves, supposing the initial Yod to have
been absorbed by that with which the
preceding word terrainates ; while others
would change the word into CIS, wit
nesses, understanding thereby the statues
&c. belonging to idol-worship. There
seeras, however, to be no absolute
necessity for departing frora tbe signifi
cation cities, only we thereby understand
such as were specially appropriated to
idolatrous uses, as Jerorae suggests,
Corap. ''S3nn'3 3'B, the city of the house,
or temple ef Baal, 2 Kings x. 25, by
whichis raeant aseparate partof Samaria,
wbere tbe temple was situated. This
construction is required in order to forra
a parallelisra vvith D''i'toN, images of

Astarte, occurring immediately before
in tbe verse. In all tbe ancient versions
the word is rendered by c'lt'ies, except
the Targum, in which it is translated
enemies. Sorae refer the relative 3toN
at the end of ver. 14 to DJi.^, and in
terpret, unheard of vengeance, but it is
raore natural to connect it with D'ia,
nations, tbe immediate antecedent, and
to regard the prophet as describing tbe
refusal of the pagans, who had enjoyed
opportunities of learning the true religion
frora the Jews, to listen to the in
structions which had been tendered to
thera. Thus the Targ. ;B';iNl';'3p,'<'J3N»pps
Nn;3iN, " the peoples that have not received
the doctrine of ihe law." LXX. iv roir
'eOveaiv, dvB' dv ovk elarjKovaav. Syr.
V p , 7 .. V
QiiiOA. Pj ^-.-i»-i \:i£i^^, the peoples
who have not hearkened. In the sarae
way Michaelis, Hartraann, Justi, Dathe,
Hitzig, Maurer, Ewald,

CHAPTER VL

It was not sufficient for the prophet to predict the punishments that were to be
inflicted on the Jews ; he was required to press the subject upon their attention,
wbich he does in a very affecting raanner, by calling a public court, in which the
inanimate creation is sumraoned to supply evidence, 1, 2, An appeal is then
made by Jehovah to the accused party, respecting his kindness to the nation

chap, VI,]

MICAH.

255

from the earliest period of its history, 3 — 5. Convicted of guilt, the people are
represented as deeply anxious to obtain, at any cost, reconciliation with God,
6, 7 ; and are pointed by the prophet to the only source whence it was to be
obtained ; while, at the same time, they are reminded of the high properties and
obligations of true piety, 8, He next deraands attention to the threatened
judgments, 9 ; specifies some of the crimes on account of which they were to be
brought upon thera, 10 — 12 ; repeats the threatening, 13 ; shows the blasting
effects of the Divine wrath upon all their undertakings, 14, 15 ; and traces
the evil to its true source — the idolatries of the kingdom of Israel, 16,

Hear ye now what Jehovah saith :
Arise ! plead in the presence of the mountains,
And let the hills hear thy voice.
Hear, 0 ye mountains 1 Jehovah's controversy,
And ye rocks, the foundations of the earth ;
For Jehovah hath a controversy with his people,
And will contend with Israel,
O my people ! What have I done to thee ?
With what have I wearied thee ?
Testify against me.
Nay, I brought thee up from the land of Egypt,

1,2. It is not unusual with the pro
phets to make appeals respecting the
enormity of huraan guilt to the inaniraate
parts of creation, as ifit were irapossible
for it not to inspire thera with life, and
call them forth as intelligent witnesses of
what bath taken place in their presence.
See Deut. xxxii. 1 ; Is.i. 2; Jer.ii, 12, 13.
By a similar personification the raoun
tains and durable foundations of the earth
are here sumraoned to appear in the
court of heaven. Jehovah, however,
instead of bringing forward the charge,
abdicates, as it were, his right, and leaves
it to the guilty party to state the case.
Corap. Is. xliii. 26. In the appeal to
the lofty and ever-during mountains, in
wbich the puny affairs of man could
excite no prejudice, and which raight
therefore be regarded as quite impartial
judges, there is something inexpressibly
sublirae. D'^innnNi'-), does not mean,
contend with the mountains, as if they
were the party to be accused, but to
carry on the cause in their presence.

nN is here to be taken in the signification
of apud, coram, and is equivalent to
'3P5i, ie/ore, justastheformsD'n'jN-nNTj^nnn,
Gen, V, 24, and ?'ri'JN 'iB^i 'q^nnn.xlviii. 15,
are identical in raeaning. D'pnN, or as it
is spelt D'in'N in a great many MSS., and
in four early editions, standing absolutely,
must be taken as a substantive, and not
as an adjective qualifying y3N''ipio, Arab.
^j], stetit, consistit ; ^]. petra. Jt«
est omne id, quod durai, et permanet sua
in sede. Schultens, Origg, Hebbr. p. 112.
Instead of y3N'3pii3, the foundations of
ihe earth, the Arabs call the mountains
(lO.Jll tJljJ, the stakes, or posts of ihe
earth. 3, 4. The Israelites are asked, in the
kindest and most affecting style, what
ground of complaint tbey had against
Jehovah, which could have induced them
to act the part they did. Comp. Jer.
ii. 5, 31, He had demanded of them

256

MICAH,

[chap. VI.

And redeemed thee frora the house of slaves ;
And sent before thee Moses, Aaron and Miriam.
0 my people I remember now how Balak the king of Moab
consulted,
And how Balaam the son of Beor answered him ;
[Remember what happened]
From Shittim to Gilgal,
That ye may know the benefits of Jehovah.
With what shall I come before Jehovah ?
With what shall I bow to the high God ?
Shall I come before him with burnt ofFerintrs ?
With calves of a year old .''

nothing that was unreasonable. '? at
the beginning of ver. 4, is very ex
pressive, and is equivalent to nay, on ihe
contrary, or tbe like. Instead of having
done any thing to alienate thera, God bad
shown tbe utmost kindness to thera frora
the beginning ; not only rescuing them
frora Egyptian bondage, but providing
thera with inspired leaders, Miriam is
mentioned, on account of the prorainent
part she took in celebrating the Divine
interposition for their deliverance. She is
called nN'33rT, ^/ie pro^Aeiess, Exod. xv. 20,
because she led the feraale chorus which
rehearsed the inspired song of Moses.
The Targ. on Micah adds : N;to?3nN3iN^, to
instruct the women. Comp. Nurab. xi. 2.
5. The kindness of Jehovah to bis
people was manifested, not only in
furnishing them with inspired teachers,
but also in counteracting the designs of
Balak, wdio wished to engage the pro
phetic influence of Balaam against them ;
for that avaricious prophet was com
pelled, contrary to the cherished desire
of his heart, to pronounce blessings upon
thera instead of curses. See Numb.
xxii. xxiii. x.xiv. The words 3S D'lston ]p
'w'jj, from Shittim to Gilgal, are not
to be construed with those irarae
diately preceding ; for Balaara did
not cross over Jordan to Gilgal, but
was slain in the land of Midian, as we
read Numb. xxxi. 8. Nor are we, with
Ewald, to suppose them to be a raar
ginal gloss; but bave merely to supply
the ellipsis n;nnp, what happened, and
repeat 335, remember, from the first clause
of lhe verse. To this effect the 'Targ.

n3Aj n'3 3S prato 3to'pp )i3^ N3'3BnN ^3i3? Njn,
" Were not mighty deeds performed for
you from the plain of Shittim to the
house of Gilgal ? " Tbus also Munster,
Vatablus, Grotius, Calvin, Dathe, De
Wette, Michaelis, Hartmann, and others.
There was a peculiar propriety in specify
ing these two places. Shittim was the
name of a valley in the country of Moab,
where, on account of the impurities
committed with the Midianitish women,
twenty-four thousand Israelites were
destroyed. 'The evil was so great that
it might have caused the Lord to abandon
thera entirely ; but he mercifully spaied
thera as a people, miraculously divided
the Jordan to afford them a passage,
and gave them actual possession of
Canaan, the land promised to their
fathers. In proof of tbis last act of the
Divine goodness, Gilgal is singled out
from other places, because it was there
they made their first encampment in
tbe promised land. It was situated
between Jericho and the Jordan, but no
trace of its site now remains, nin] nip32,
the benefits of Jehovah. Comp. Jud. v. 11 ;
1 Sam. xii. 7 ; Ps. xxiv. 7. In this way
the phrase is interpreted by Tanchum,
Grotius, Drusius, and by raost of the
raoderns. Calvin observes: "Per Justitias
intelligit beneficia quemadmodum multis
aliis locis ;" and paraphrases thus: "Ut
ipsa experientia tibi demonstret quam
verax, quara beneficus, quam misericors
semper fueritDeus erga genus vestrum."
6, 7. The Jews, convicted of guilt,
are represented as most anxious to pro-
piitiate the Divine favour. They could

CHAP, VI,]

MICAH.

257

Will Jehovah be satisfied with thousands of rams .''
With ten thousand rivers of oil .''
Shall I give my first-born for my transgression .''
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul .''
He hath showed thee, O man ! what is good ;
And what doth Jehovah require of thee.

not deny the charges that had been
brought against tbem ; nor could they
put in any plea of justification. They
stood condemned before God and the
universe. The language which they
employ is not such as the prophet would
have taught thera, but such as well
accorded with the notions which were
prevalent ainong them, sorae of which
had been learned from their heathen
neighbours. How much soever they
mightforraerlyhavegrudged the expense
of prescribed offerings, they are now
willing to bring the raost costly and
abundant, raras by thousands, and oil
sufficient to fill rayriads of rivers; nay,
what is more, human victims, and of
these the most endeared, their own
offspring. In ^p'ii''}n3 ni333, myriads of
torrents of oil, is a double hyperbole,
quite in the style of the Orientals. For
11333, as thus used, comp. 1 Sam. xviii. 7 ;
and for jpto^iiiji, Job xx. 17, The fact
of the presentation of huraan sacrifices
is fully established in the ancient history
of all nations. This barbarous custom
was especially prevalent among the
Phoenicians, and was by tbem introduced
into the nortb of Africa, wbere it con
tinued till the proconsulate of Tiberius.
According to Porphyry, tbe book of
Sanchoniatbon was full of examples of
such sacrifices. That they obtained
among tbe idolatrous Israelites is clear
from Jer. xix. 5, xxxii. 35, who offered
their children to Moloch or Sauirn, after
tbe example of their Phcenician neigh
bours. Eusebius, in bis Praepar. Evangel.
lib. iv. 16, enters at length into tbe
subject ; and adduces a passage from
Philo Byblius whicb has a special bearing
upon the present text : "E^or ^v toIs
naXatots, iv rats peydXats avpcfiopats
rdv Ktvhrjvav, dvrl rrjs ndvrav (pBopds
TO HFAnHMENON TflN TEKNQN
ro-us KpaTOvvras rj nSXeas rj eBvovs, els
a<f>ay-rjv enththo'vat, Xvrpov rois npapots
baipoai. " It was customary among the

ancients, on calamitous or dangerous
emergencies, for the rulers of the city or
the state, to prevent the destruction of
all, to offer up the most dearly beloved of
their children, as a ransom to divine
vengeance." r]SM is the future in Niphal
of the root FlB|, to bend, bow oneself down.
Comp. Ps. Ivii. 7, cxlv. 14. Instead of
^^to'^!?"?, rivers of oil, the LXX. who have
Xtpdpcov ntdvav, or, as the Alex. MS.
reads, dpvdv, have read ipto''!!"'?, fal
sheep; wbich rendering is followed by
the Vulg. and Arab., but is unsupported
by any other authority. The translator
was evidently misled by an iraproper
view ofthe parallelism,
8, The questions put in the prece
ding verses do not involve anything
like irony, as Rosenraiiller and Maurer
iraagine, but manifestly argue a deep
anxiety about an atonement, and at the
same time the grossest ignorance of what
was necessary to constitute that atone
ment. In replying to tbem, the prophet
first of all shows, that the ignorance of
tbe people was culpable. They had been
furnished with revelations of the mind of
God upon the subject. ?]'3 3'3n, .^e (i.e,
Jehovah) hath shown or manifested it to
thee; or, the verb may be taken im
personally, and rendered inthe passive :
It hath been shown thee. No MS, supports
3'3N, I will show, the reading ofthe Syr.,
Vulg, and Arab, Had tbey searched
tbe Divine records tbey could not bave
failed to discover, that, whatever pre
scriptions relative to sacrifices had been
delivered to them, they had never been
taught to attach to them any moral
efficacy, but the contrary. Both reason
and revelation corabined to invest them
with an ulterior reference. What that
reference really was, the Apostle plainly
teaches us, Heb, x, 1 : SKtdv ydp 'exav
d vdpos Tav peXXdvrav ArAeilN : —
the siiB-np of tbe prophet, Comp.
Heb. ix. 23, where the sacrifice of
Christ is, by way of eminence and dis-
L L

258

MICAH.

[chap. VI,

But to do justice, and love mercy,
And be diligent in walking with thy God ?
9 The voice of Jehovah crieth to the city,

tinction, cahed Kpe'trrovat Bvaiat. Of
this, the only intrinsically valuable
atoneraent, the Levitical sacrifices, were
vnohetypaTa, instructive examples,, or
types, "which were intended to suggest
and foreshadow it; and, connected as
they were with the progressive develop
ments, which, from time to time, were
made of the sacerdotal character, and
the personal oblation of the Great De
liverer proraised frora the beginning,
the worshippers were without excuse if
they did not, like Abrahara, rejoice in
the anticipation of his day. Having
referred the inquirer to the revealed
raethod of reconciliation, with a tacit
intiraation of the iraportance of availing
himself of it, Micah proceeds to describe
the conduct whicb alone could raeet with
the Divine approval. The piety required
by Jehovah, he suras up under three
heads : strict equity in all our transac
tions with our fellow raen ; a heart set
on doing thera good, according to tbe
clairas which they have upon us ; and
diligent attention to every thing belong
ing to converse with God. Corap. Deut.
X, 12, 13, See also, as contrasting a
right state of the heart and life with
ceremonial services, 1 Sam, xv, 22; Is,
i. 11— 20; Jer. vii. 21— 23; Araos
V, 22—24 ; Hos, vi, 6, A still raore
corapendious description of genuine re
ligion is given by our Lord, under the
threefold division of Kptats, eXeos and
nians, Matt, xxiii. 23 ; or, as Luke
bas for the last, rrjv dydnrjv tov Qeov,
chap. xi. 42 ; which shows how cora
pletely raistaken CarapbeU is in referring
it to the social virtues, and rendering it
fldelity. There can be little doubt that
Christ had the passage of Micah in his
eye. s;s, Arab. jtJLo, fecit, elaboravit in
re aliqua; paravit ; aho, industrius et
p
solers ; Syr. liV,^j , , dsiulus, callidus ;
I 'J
Eth, X'^O, validus, constans fuit ; io
be apt, ready, diligent, to bend the mind

to anything ; here, to apply it carefully
and sedulously to devotional and other
spiritual exercises, which are essential to
comraunion with God. Tbus the LXX,
'erotpov etvat ; Theod, datpaXt^ov : the
fifth Greek version, (ppovriletv ; the Syr,
»,>^,^i paratus ; Vulg. solicitum. The
idea of humility, which is that adopted
in our comraon version, seems to have
been derived frora the Arab. &jg j jjusj
to train one's horse, i.e. by rendering
hira submissive and patient of restraint ;
hence «xXo iH-ji, equus bene exer-
citalus. See A. Schultens on Prov. xi. 2,
While this grace is an indispensable
attribute of true religion, and lies indeed
at its very foundation, it is only one of
the several iraportant qualities of which
it is coraposed. The terra employed by
tbe prophet comprehends thera all,
Michaelis renders, mii gewissenhafter
sorgfalt, "with conscientious solicitude."
Tbe comment of Jerome is not unworthy
of notice : — " Itaprsecipiturut prteparati
simus arabulare cum Domino Deo nostro,
nulla hora dormire, nullo terapore securi
esse deberaus, sed seraper expectare
patrerafamilias venientem et diera for-
raidare judicii, et in nocte hujus seculi
dicere : ego dormio, et cor raeura vigilat,"
s.i^n is the Hiphil Infinitive, used ad
verbially, Bps. Butler and Lowth, Mr,
Peters, and sorae others, are of opinion
thatthe sixth, seventh, and eighth verses
contain a dialogue between Balak and
Balaam ; but there does not appear to
be sufficient ground for it. The con
nexion of these verses with verse fifth
is not so close as they suppose.
9. On the ground of the foreseen
deterraination of tbe Jews, notwithstand
ing their present professions of repent
ance, to persevere in a line of conduct
diaraetiically opposite to that required
by the Most High, the prophet proceeds
to sumraon their attention to the certainty
cfthe judgments that were to be inflicted.

chap.

VI.]

MICAH.

259

(And he who is wise will regard thy name)
Hear ye the rod, and Him who hath appointed it.

TSb for 3'Srf), to the city, i.e. Jerusalem,
by way of erainence. As sbe was pre
eminent in privilege, so she was also
in regard to wickedness and guilt, n^ifim
Gesenius refers to an obsolete root nto;,
which he thinks may probably have
meant to stand, stand out, and so te be.
From such a root both this noun, and
to|, being, subsistence, substance, may
most naturally be derived. The signi
fications will then be, that which really
is, something solid or substantial, real
wisdom, wealth, power, security, deliver
ance, or whatever else best agrees with
the context, Comp. the Arab. ji,..
in the acceptations juvit restituitque
aegrotum medicina; abundavit opibus
vir; &)ji., opulentia, abundantia opum ;
JU,, largitus est. The noun is used in
p'arallelisras with nnsn, wisdom, nss, coun
sel, nnw, assistance, is, strength, Jig, a
shield, Szc The LXX,, who render it by
dXrjBes, j3oT]Beta, tax-vs, aarrjpta, da(pd-
Xeia, jSouXt), give in the present text the
verb adaet, as if they had read B'toin,
frora sto| ; but tbey raay, after all, have
attached the same signification to nffl'.
p p „.
The Syr. has 1i t>> Nr^ .. doctrine; the
Targ, n;b)p, teachers. The construction
of the word here will depend upon the
reading of the following verb. If, with
seven MSS., originally one raore, and
apparently another, one corrected, and
one in the raargin, the LXX., Syr., Targ.,
Vulg., and Arab., 3ve read 'fiptow,
those whe fear thy name, the passage will
best be rendered, ihere will be safety or
deliverance, i.e. for such. In this case
we have to supply the substantive verb,
and the ellipsis of ), to orfo-r.^ On the
other hand, if we retain the current
reading in'to nN3'., he shall see thy name,
we must, with our own, and other
translators and interpreters, understand
to'N before n^toin, and take the noun in
the signification solid, or sound wisdom.
Tbat to'N is frequently to be thus under
stood before abstract nouns, comp, Ps,
cix. 4, fijBn':N, / am prayer, for to'N'iN

nten, Iam a man of prayer ; Prov. xiii. 6,
nNEn, sin, for nN'Ein to'N, the man of sin, i.e.
the sinner; xix. 15. Hjs?, indolence, for
nJssto'N, the man of indolence, &c. What
greatly favours the reading ?|ptonN3', is
its occurring only in this place, whereas
?[pto'NT, and other forms of n;^ with Dto,
are of frequent occurrence. It was
quite natural for copyists and punctators
to substitute the forraer for the latter,
but not the latter for the former. As
to the ancient versions, tbe LXX. raay,
as frequently, have translated from
hearing, and thus have mistaken the
pronunciation of nN3; for that of 'NT,
which it so nearly resembled. The
comraon reading best suits tbe connexion.
Before announcing his message, tbe
prophet parenthetically declares, that,
whatever might be the treatment it
would receive from the bulk of the
people, the truly wise would regard it
as God's message, and having special
respect to his revealed character as
thereby disclosed, would find in it
security and consolation in the approach
ing calaraities. The name of the Lord
is frequently used to express the sum
total of the Divine attributes, and often
stands for God hiraself, nN3, signifies
not merely to see, but to recognise
practically, to experience. 1 Sam. xxiv,
12; Ps. xxxiv. 13, Ixxxix. 49; Lam. iii. 1,
Contrasted with ?|pto nN3;, see Is. xxvi. 10 :
nin;niN3nN3:'?3. nap,' 'the LXX., Syr.,
Vulg., and, araong the raoderns, New
corae and Ewald, take to signify tribe, or
collectively tribes, and render in the
vocative. The Targ. adopts a raetaphor
ical signification, corresponding to that
which attaches to tajto — rendering, N33p,
NJiiD'Jto'i, 0 King and Prince ! The accepta
tion rod, as emblematical of punishment,
is best suited to the connexion, Comp,
Is, ix. 3, X. 5, 24. n-»; is also variously
translated and explained : some deriving
it frora the root niS, to adorn ; some from
31S, to testify ; some adopt the significa
tion of the Arab. Ac., minatus fuit;
while others would read n3», congrega
tion. 'There is no necessity for departing

260

MICAH.

[chap. VI.

Are there still in the house of thc wicked treasures of wickedness,
And the accursed scanty ephah ?
Can I be innocent with wicked balances.
And with a bag of deceitful weights ?
Whose rich men are full of violence,
And her inhabitants speak falsehood ;
Their tongue in their mouth is deceitful,
I will surely smite thee incurably,
Rendering thee desolate on account of thy sins.
l4 Thou mayest eat, but thou shalt not be satisfied,

10

11

12

13

from the ordinary signification of TS;, to
fix, appoint. The only real difficulty lies
in the ferainine suflSx n, which does not
grammatically agree with nsn ; but even
this raay be reraoved by falsing the suffix
as a neuter, or as referring to nS3, the
calamity, understood. Comp. Jer. ix. 11.
Ewald, hdre Gemeine und wer sie bestellt!
" let the community hear, and he that
appoints it," understanding thereby the
king as principal ruler. Hitzig and
Maurer, as in our common version, both
making Jehovah the nominative to the
verb. Comp, Jer. xlvii. 7.
10 — 12. Several crimes are here
specified as a sample of those whicii
.abounded, and on account of wbich the
Divine judgments were to be brought
upon the land. For 3is at the beginning
of a sentence, corap. Gen. xix. 12.
Forty-nine MSS., thirteen more origi
nally, and perhaps one other, with one
in the raargin, read to'Nn, the man, in
stead of toNri; and this is also the reading
of the Soncin., the Brixian, and five
other printed editions, and has the ap
proval of Jarchi, Abenezra, and Abar
banel, hut it affords no suitable sense;
and, with to?n in Kennicott's MS. 201,
must be regarded as the result of inter
pretation. Owing to the same cause,
numerous MSS. and editions have toNn.
The LXX., Syr., and Vulg., have read
to.vn, the fire ; but there cannot be any
doubt, tliat it is only another form of
to'n, there being merely an omission of
the Yod, as there clearly is, 2 Sam. xiv.
19 ; and the Aleph corresponds to the
same letter in the cognate forms: Chald.
n'N, Syr. A-f, Arab. ^jJ\, est, exsistit.
The ellipsis of 3 before nil is not un

frequent. The Hebrews were much
given to the falsification of their weighta
and raeasures, though such conduct was
repeatedly prohibited by the law. Lev.
xix, 35, 36; Deut, xxv. 13—16; and
elsewhere severely condemned in their
sacred writings. See Prov, xi. 1, xx. 10 ;
and, for the practice, comp. Ezek. xlv.
9,10; Hos. xii. 8; Amos viii. 5. rmm,
accursed, from DSJ, to be angry, indignant.
This participial form presents the object
as suffering the effects of anger, or as
raarked with the Divine displeasure.
^1^, ver. 11, the LXX., Syr., and Targ.,
have read in the third person nst, though
the two last render it in the plural. As
the MSS. show no variation, the present
reading must be retained ; but as this
verb is never used transitively in Kal,
we cannot refer the nominative to God,
and interpret it of his inquiring whether
he could treat the persons in question as
innocent, but must regard the prophet
as putting the question, for the sake of
effect, into the mouth of one of them
selves, and making hira ask, how he
could possibly lay claim to the character,
while be had none but instruments of
fraud in his possession ? The antecedent
to n 3'toN, whose, ver. 1 2, is fS, city, ver. 9.
13. in this, and the following verses,
severe judgraents are threatened against
the people on account of their iniquitous
practices. The LXX., Syr., Vulg., and
Arab,, render 'n'^nn, / have begun, or, /
will begin, as if it were the Hipliil ofbiTi,
but it is that of n^n, to be in pain, sick,
Szc. As here used with the infinitive of
nsn, to smite, inflict punishraent, it gives
intensity to tbe threatening, and expresses
the incurable nature of the punishment,
14. tro; is not to be referred, with

chap. VI, j

MIOAH.

261

For thou shalt be inwardly depressed ;
Thou mayest remove, but thou shalt not rescue,
Or what thou rescuest I will give to the sword.
15 Thou mayest sow, but thou shalt not reap;
Thou mayest tread the olive, but thou shalt not pour out the oil ;
And the grape of the new wine, but the wine thou shalt not drink.
1 6 The statutes of Omri are strictly kept,
And all the work of the house of Ahab,
And ye walk in their counsels ;
That I may make thee desolate,
And the inhabitants thereof an object of hissing ;
Therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.

Simonis and Gesenius, to the Arab,
ui^>-t, fame exinanitus fuit, but to

-t")

sequier, et imbecillis, infirmus ; and

was most likely intended to express what
we find in the Syr. 'I^-^^qi "the
diarrhcBa shall be within thee." The
LXX. taking ^into; for 'qtoiT, renders, Kal
aKordaet ev aoi. ID? is the apocopated
Hiphil of 3p3, 'to remove, and expresses
the attempt to save goods by removing
thera out of the way of the enemy.
All the ancient versions bave adopted
the signification of 3'ipi3 with to, to seize,
lay hold on, but that conjugation of Jtoj,
has also the signification, to remove any
thing. See Job xxiv. 2.
15. n;i '^3n. Oil was expressed frora
the olive, by staraping or treading it out
with the foot, in the same way as grapes
were trodden. Hence the narae ipto na,
Gethsemane, or the oil-press. Matt.
xxvi. 36. Oil is indispensable to oriental
corafort, being used for anointijig the
body, and perfuming the garraents. It
is also a very coraraon ingredient in food.

16. Hartmann stumbles at the intro
duction of this verse ; but it is quite in
tbe raanner of the prophet, to recur to
the wicked character of his people.
3pnto; is best rendered impersonally,
though it refers to DS, people, understood.
Hithpael is bere intensive of Piel.
Omri is specially mentioned, because he
was the founder of Samaria and the
wicked house of Ahab, and a supporter
of the superstitions of Jeroboara, 1 Kings
xvi. 16—28. isp^, in order ihat. The
Hebrews did not, indeed, coramit the
wickedness described with the intention
of bringing upon themselves divine
punishraent ; but the punishraent was as
certainly connected with tbe sin, in the
purpose of God, as if its infliction had
been the end at which they airaed.
lNto,-3 'ps nD-in, ye shall bear the reproach
of my people, i.e. your own reproach,
that which you have deserved ; only the
raeaning is so expressed, in order to
derive a high aggravation of their guilt
frora tbe relation in which they stood to
Jehovah, The LXX. have Xadv, which
intiraates tbat they either read D'ps, or
'ps, as a defective masculine plural.

CHAPTER VIL
Before concluding, the prophet once more reverts to the wickedness of his people,
which he depicts with the darkest colours, 1 — 6, He then represents them in
their state of captivity, brought to repentance, and confidently expecting tbe

262

micah;

[chap, vii.

Divine interposition, which would be rendered the raore conspicuous by the com
plete destruction of their enemies, 7 — 10, The restoration of Jerusalem, and
the conversion ofthe hostile nations, are next predicted, 11, 12; while the
previous desolation of Judea is traced to the sins of the inhabitants, 13. Turning
to Jehovah, he prays for tbe undisturbed and prosperous condition of the restored
nation, 14; to which a gracious response is given, 15. The overthrow of tbe
nations hostile to the Jews, and their reverence for Jehovah, are then pointed
out, 16, 17; and the prophecy closes with a sublirae and exulting appeal to his
gracious character, 18, and an assurance that the covenant people should expe
rience the full accorapUshraent of the sacred engagements into which he had
entered with their progenitors, 19, 20.

Alas for me !
For I am as when they gather the summer fruit,
As when the vintage is gleaned :
There is no cluster to eat,
No early fig which my soul desireth.
The pious hath perished from the land,
And there is none upright among men ;
They all lie in wait for blood ;
They hunt each other into the net.
For evil their hands are well prepared ;
The prince asketh,

1. In no part of his prophecy does
Micah so fearfully describe the universal
corruption of manners wbich prevailed
among the Jews as in the first six verses
of tbis chapter. The picture is peculiarly
applicable to their character in the
wicked reign of Ahaz, during wbich the
prophet flourished, and was awfully
anticipative of that which tbey again
exhibited during tbe reigns iramediately
preceding tbe captivity. The preposi
tion 3 in 3'S3 rt*? y;p.-'BDN3, denoting tirae
as well as comparison, the two nouns in
construction must be rendered as if tbey
were verbs, though a literal translation
would be, the gatherings of ihe summer
fruit, and the gleanings of ihe vintage.
For !33133, the early fig, see on Is. xxviii. 4.
The prophet compares the strong desire
which he felt to raeet with a single pious
man, to that eagerness with which the
traveller looks in vain for one of those
delicious figs after the sumraer has
advanced.

2. Comp. Ps. xii. 1, xlv. 2; Is. Ivii. 1.
D'I", rendered in most of the versions
destruction, signifies also a net, which is
so called from its enclosing or shutting
up whatever it catches. Occurring, as
it here does, in connexion with the verb
31S, to hunt, it is preferable to take it iu
this acceptation. 'I'he Orientals employed
the net for hunting, as well as for fishing.
The word is here in tbe accusative case.
3, This verse is very differently ren
dered by translators. The version of it
which 1 have given appears to express
as literally as possible tbe ideas, which,
it is generally admitted, the prophet
intended to convey, a'P'n is frequently
used to express the doing of any thing
well, skilfully, aptly, and the hke. Here
it is intransitive, Ewald, with Michaehs,
Vogel and Doderlein, mistakes the
raeaning of the clause altogether, when
he explains it of endeavouring by bribery
to prevail upon the magistrates to pro
nounce tbat to be good which in itself is

chap.

vii,]

MICAH.

263

And the judge also, for a reward ;
And the great man gives utterance to the desire of his soul ;
They combine to act perversely.
4 The best of them is like a prickly thorn ;
The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge ;
The day of thy watchmen, thy visitation cometh ;
Now shall be their perplexity.
5 Place no faith in a companion ;
' Trust not a farailiar friend ;
From her that lieth in thy bosom
Guard the doors of thy mouth.
6 For the son despiseth his father ;

evil, ''Nito, which he is obliged to con
vert into ''Nito, a Pual form, of which no
example occurs in the Hebrew language,
can only refer to the avaricious passion
of tbe ruler. It is, therefore, the wicked
ness of their governors and judges, and
not thatof tbe people themselves, which
the latter clauses of the verse describe.
After'JNito supply3nto; and after lOBto, iDEto.
The substantive nin, like the Arab,

t^^'

desideravil, voluit, bas bere the

signification, wish, desire, will. See
Schultens on Prov. x. 3 ; and tbe Koran
ii. 81 : ^^' ^1 (^ Jy^j |»XcU- t^t
J.fuM\," andwhenever a messenger cometh
to you with ihat which your souls desire
not." Comp. Ps. lii. 9 ; Prov, xi, 6 ; and
for the cognate topi niN, Deut. xii. 15, 20.
n39, signifies to intertwine, bind together,
as the branches of trees, ropes, &c. ;
here, metaphorically, io effect by united
effort. Corap. the Arab. (.i,U£, miscuit
commiscuit, Syr, , A'^\ concordavit.
Dathe : cenjunctis viribus exequuntur.
Tbe princes, judges, and great men, con
spired to set aside all law and right in
their treatment of the poor of tbe land.
The suffix n is to be taken as a neuter,
and refers to the injustice practised by
the rulers. Thus Calvin : " Deinde com-
plioant ipsam pravitatem : hoc est hinc
fit ut grasseturfuriosacrudehtas, quoniam
conspirant inter se et gubernatores et qui

volunt .sibi acquirere peccandi licentiam :
quasi contexerent inter se funes, con-
firmant hoc modo pravitatem."
4, Both 3iTD, good, and""*, upright, are
here used superlatively. Comp. for this
use. Gen, xlv. 23 ; Is. i. 19; Exod. xv. 4.
It frequently occurs in Arabic, p3rj is
now allowed to designate a species of
thom, and not a brier. As the o now
stands before i33lDl3, it must be taken as
an emphatic comparative, which derives
its force, not from any adjective ex
pressed, but from the noun to which it is
prefixed, as in Ps. Ixii. 10; Is. xh. 24;
or it may have originally belonged as a
sufiix to the preceding noun 3W, in wbich
case D3iQ and D3to; must have corre
sponded to each other, leaving an ellipsis
of the I which had just been used in
p.3n?. By "the day of thy watchmen,"
the period of calaraity predicted by the
prophets is raeant. With this, the
following fi3ipB, visitation, is explicatively
parallel. For nsiin Di', a day of per
plexity, see on Is, xxii. 5. The reference
in Dis not to tbe watchmen, improperly
interpreted by sorae of false prophets ;
nor is it to be confined to the persons of
rank and office described ver. 3 ; but to
the people generally,
5, 6. f]i^N, Arab. i__ajiil, familiaris
socius, frora (__ai|, cenjunxit, seciavit,
Szc, a familiar, and, by implication,
a confidential, friend. ''3?np, LXX.
dnpd^ei. Comp. Deut, xxxii. 15, The
root ''31, primarily signifies io wither, fall
offas\ea\es, and tropically io actwickedly.

264

MICAH.

[chap. vii.

The daughter riseth up against her mother ;
The daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law :
A man's enemies are the raembers of his own family.
But I will look for Jehovah ;
I will wait for the God of my salvation ;
My God will hear me.
Rejoice not over me, 0 mine enemy !
Though I have fallen, I shall rise again ;
Though I sit in darkness, Jehovah is my light.
I will bear the indignation of Jehovah,
Because I have sinned against him ;
Till he plead my cause, and give effect to my sentence ;
He will bring me forth to the light ;
I shall behold his righteousness.

irreligiously, as one tbat has fallen off
frora God, Comp. bii, Ps. xiv, 1, ri^JJ,
an atrocious deed. Gen, xxxiv. 7 ; Jud,
xix. 23, 24. The state of things bere
described is that of the raost wretched
perfidiousness, anarchy, and confusion,
in which the raost intimate could have
no confidence in each other, and the
closest ties of relationship were violated
and contemned. Comp. Jer. ix. 2 — 6.
— aXXorptovs dXXrjXav etvat ndvras tovs
/i^ anovhatovs, Kal yovels reKVav, Kal
dheXcj)ovs aheX(j)dv, olKeiovs olKetav. Diog.
Laert. vii. 32. In language strikingly
similar, Ovid describes the iron age :
"Vivitur ex rapto; non hospes ab hospite
tutus,
Non soror a genero; fratrum quoque
gratia rara est.
Irarainet exitio vir conjugis, ilia mariti ;
Lurida terribiles miscent aconita no-
vercse,
Filius ante diem patrios iuquirit in
annos," Metamorph. i. 144.
Our Saviour appropriates the words to
the treacherous and cruel treatraent whicii
he taught his disciples to expect from
their nearest relatives. Matt. x. 35, 36 ;
Luke xii. 53.
7. Having described tbe wickedness
of the Jews, the prophet abruptly
changes the scene, and introduces them
to view in that state of captivity in
Babylon iu which it was to issue. There,

at a distance frora the land of their
fathers, they are brought to repentance,
and tbe exercise of true piety ; and
seeking again to tbeir covenant God,
they express tbe fullest confidence that
be would in due time deliver thera from
banishraent. nps, here used in Piel,
signifies to look out for an answer to
prayer, divine aid, &c. Comp. Ps. v. 4.
8, 9. Who the enemy intended by the
prophet is, cannot be positively decided.
Some interpreters think Babylon ; others,
Edom. For the former, see Jer. 1. 11 ;
for the latter, Obad. 12; for both, Ps,
cxxxvii. 7, 8. ''Jjl-ns, daughter of Baby
lon, or D'rifns, daughter of Edom, for
Babylon and Edom themselves, is under
stood in the feminine participle nj^'N,
mine enemy. For tbe idiora, see on Is.
i. 8, The Jews understand Rome as
professing Christianity to be raeant by
the eneray. See Pococke on verses 9th
and 10th . "Light " and " darkness " are
used, as frequently, for prosperity and
adversity. 'I'lie 9tb verse contains a
beautiful speciraen of submissiveness and
patient endurance of suffering, from a
humbling conviction of the demerit of
sin ; accompanied by tbe firm persuasion,
that when the chastisement had answered
its end, Jehovah would graciously afford
deliverance, tijjjs, righteousness, is here
to be understood with reference to the
kindness or favour which God was to
show to his people, in strict accordance
with tbe tenor of his promises, rather
than to the punishment of their enemies.

chap.

vii.]

MICAH.

265

10

11

12

Mine enemy also shall see it,
And shame shall cover her.
She that said to me, Where is Jehovah thy God .''
Mine eyes shall behold her ;
She shall now be trodden upon as the mire of the streets.
In the day when thy walls shall be rebuilt,
In that day the decree shall be extended ;
In that day they shall come to thee
From Assyria to Egypt ;
From sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.

10. The deliverance of the Jews was
to be the occasion of the destruction of
their foes, who, because the former had
no visible object of worship, and had
been delivered into their power, taunt
ingly asked: ';].'n''N nin; i»N, where is Jeho
vah thy God? The feminine suffix refers
to )i"S"n3, daughter of Zion, understood.
11, 12. Micah resumes the language
of prophecy, and, addressing Jerusalem,
announces her restoration, and the way
that would be paved for the conversion
ofthe surrounding hostile nations to the
true religion. Such appears to rae to be
the meaning of these verses, which have
been very variously interpreted, pn,
statute, decree, order, appointment, LXX,
vdpipa, Symm, intrayfj, Theod, npo-
aTaypa, some refer to the tyrannical
enactments of the Babylonians ; some to
tbe order of Arta::er;;es, Ezra iv, 21 ;
some to the punishment decreed upon
the eneraies of the Jews ; some to the
idolatrous statutes, with which the Jews
complied ; some to the boundary of the
Holy Land; and some to tbe preaching of
the gospel among all nations, of whichlast
interpretation Calvin says : " Sed locus
hic non patitus se itaviolenter torqueri."
Seeker, Newcome, Vogel, Doderlein, and
others, join pn to pn3;, and form a re
duplicate verb pnpm of the whole ; with
whom, as to meaning, Gesenius agrees,
who rejects pn altogether, and renders,
dies ille procul abest. Thesaur. p. 1284.
What would seem to determine tbe
meaning of the term, as here used, is the
light thrown upon pn3, to be distant,
remove to a distance, Szc, by tbe geo
graphical specifications contained in
verse 12th, The subject of both verses
is sufficiently proved to be identical, by

the repetition of Nin Di', that day, which
indisputably is the Di', day, spoken of at
the beginning of verse 11th, Whatever
the decree or command was, the effect of
its promulgation was to be the coming
of foreigners from different regions to
tbe Jewish people, reassembling at Jeru
salem, Ni3^ ':|''is. The most natural con
struction is, that the decree of God
respecting the political changes that
were to take place, was not to be con
fined to Babylon, but was to be extended
to all the countries round about Judea,
in consequence of wbich great numbers
would becorae proselytes to the Jewish
faith. There is an ellipsis of tbe preposi
tion 3, in, before Di', day, in all the three
instances in whicii it here occurs, ¦) be
fore 1'3» is not pleonastic, but is used,
as in several other instances, after words
which iraply condition or tirae. See
E.xod, xvi. 6 ; 1 Sam, xxv, 27. Ni3; is
used impersonally : " ene, they sball
come ; " it is rendered in the plural in
tbe LXX., Targ., and Arab., and one of
Kennicott's MSS. reads ini3'. That '351
has originally been '3Si," the parallelism,
corapared with other instances of its
occurrence, sufficiently shows. The
change of t into 3, and vice versd, by
transcribers, owing to their great resem
blance to each other, is very comraon.
For exaraple in nB'3 and no'-i, ] Chron.
i. 6 ; D'jTn and D'33i3, ver, 7 ; D'3j and
D'TI, Ps. liv. 5 ; 313P and 3i3p, Ixxxi. 7;
JiS'i,^ and 11S3', Prov, x. 32 ; and especially
as correspimding to tbe present case,
?|'3S and fI'3S, Ps. cxxxix. 20. The
latter reading is found in fifteen MSS.,
has been originally in eleven more, and
is in one printed edition. No objection
can be taken from the preposition
M M

266

MICAH,

[chap, vii.

13

14

Nevertheless the land shall be desolate
On account of her inhabitants.
Because of the fruit of their doings.
Feed thy people with thy crook,
The flock of thine heritage ;
That dwell alone in the wood, in the midst of Carmel ;
Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in ancient days.

assuraing the poetic form '3_S, while in
the following sentence we have 3S ; the
sarae variety appears in '3nN and 3nN,
1 Sara, xi. 7. It is also worthy of notice,
that the LXX. have read ^TS at tbe
beginning of the verse, as if it had been
'r3S, having rendered it at ndXets aov.
By 3isp, I understand Egypt, and not
fortification. Comp. 2 Kings xix. 24,
Is. xix. 6, on which see my note. Upon
this construction, Assyria and Egypt are
contrasted, just as they are Is. xix. 23,
where the sarae subject is treated of in
almost the same language. 3n3, the river,
Kar' i^oxrjv, i. e. the Euphrates, cor
responding in the parallelism to 3itoN,
Assyria. The Syr, and Targ. have mis
taken 3is in 3isp, for Tyre ; as the latter
has '3p, for Armenia. The concluding
words of the verse, 3nn •m Djp d^i, stand
irregularly for 3n-3Sl 3npi'Dpsi Djpi. It
does not appear that any specific moun
tains are intended ; the prophet describes
in general terms the natural boundaries
of the countries from which the persons
spoken of were to come. For a pro
phetical illustration of these verses, see
on Is. xix. 23 — 25.
13, The conjunctive 1 in fin^n^ is used
antithetically to introduce a sentence
predictive of what should take place
previous to the arrival of the events
mentioned in tbe verses imraediately
preceding. It has the force of but yet,
nevertheless, or the like. However bright
the prospects which opened upon the
Jews in futurity, they were not to forget
the punishment that was to intervene,
but ought to repent of their sins, to
which it was to be traced as its cause.
Some interpret yiNn, the land, of Baby
lonia ; but this construction seeras less
apt. 14. In the believing anticipation of
the fulfilraent of tbe Divine i promises
raade to the covenant people, Micah

addresses a prayer to Jehovah, whicb,
though brief, is distinguished for the
poetical elevation of its style, and the
appropriateness of its petition. Like
raany otber prayers in the Old Testaraent,
it is prophetic in its aspect. The Jewish
people are frequently spoken of under
the metaphor of a flock, and Jehovah
as their shepherd. See Ps. Ixxx. 1,
xcv. 7, c. 3. They are also often repre
sented as bis special heritage, Deut,
iv. 20, vii. 6, xxxii. 9. Some understand
3335\l3to, dwelling alone or solitarily, as
descriptive of the condition of tbe Jews
in captivity, and 3s;,/ores<, ofthe dangers
and annoyances to which they were
exposed while in that state. 'That it
rather refers to the security and pro
sperity of their restored condition may
fairly be concluded from the meaning
of sirailar language in other passages.
Thus, in the celebrated prophecy of
Balaara, Nurab. xxiii. 9, which, in all
probability, Micah had in view, we read,
3tono; ^b D'i33i pto 333^ DS-)n, Behold! the
people shall dwell alone, and shall not
be reckoned among the nations. Corap,
Deut, xxxiii. 28; Jer. xlix. 31 ; and for
3b;, as used figuratively for a place
of safety and cool repose, see Ezek,
xxxiv. 25. Tbe raeaning of the prophet
is, that on being brought back to their
own land, they should no longer be
mixed with, and exposed to enemies, but
live by themselves in a state of un
disturbed tranquillity. For instances of
the paragogic Yod affixed to participles,
see Gen. xlix. 11 ; Deut. xxxiii. 16;
Obad. 3; Zech, xi, 17, That the Carmel
here mentioned must be the celebrated
mountain on tbe coast of the Medi
terranean, see on Araos i, 2, The regions
of Bashan and Gilead, on the east of the
Jordan, were likewise celebrated for
their rich pasturage, and were, on this
account, chosen by the tribes of Reuben

chap, vii.]

MICAH.

267

15 As in the days of thy coming fortii from Egypt,
I will show them marvellous things.
16 The nations shall see it, and be ashamed of all their power ;
They shall lay their hands upon their mouth ;
Their ears shall become deaf.
17 They shall lick dust like the serpent ;
Like reptiles of the earth they shall tremble from their hiding-
places ;
They shall turn with fear towards Jehovah ;
They shall be afraid of thee.
18 Who is a God like thee,
Pardoning iniquity, and passing by transgression,
In regard to the remnant of his heritage .''
He retaineth not his anger for ever,
Because he delighteth in mercy.
He will again have compassion upon us,

and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh,
Numb, xxxii. ; Deut. iii. 12 — 17. Comp.
as strictly parallel, Jer, 1. 19,
15. The answer of Jehovah to the
prophet's prayer, assuring tbe nation,
that the sarae Alraighty power which
had interposed in so remarkable a manner
for their deliverance from Egypt, would
again wonderfully appear on their behalf,
Comp. Jer, xvi, 14, 15, Such changes
of person as in ?[, ihy, and 13, him, are
coraraon. The reference in both is to
the people ofthe Jews,
16, 'rhen3i33, power, spoken of, is that
of the hostile nations, of which tbey
were so proud, and which they regarded
as invincible, and not that of tbe Jews
when restored, as Junius and Treraellius,
Tarnovius, Stokes, and some others, have
imagined. The latter half of the verse
most graphically describes the silence,
astonishment, and utter consternation,
with which they should be seized, Comp,
Jud. xviii. 19 ; Job xxi. 5 ; Ps, cvii, 42 ;
Is, hi, 15,
17, An equally graphic description of
the state of degradation and terror to
which the enemies were to be reduced,
Comp. Ps. Ixxii. 9 ; Is. xlix. 23, Ixv. 25,
For D'Jini, crawlers, or reptiles, corap,
Deut. xxxii. 24, The distinctive use of ''N,
to, and ip,frem or of, as here used, shows
that there is not a change of person in

^^p, and that the affix ?| refers, not to Je
hovah, but to tbe people of the Jews, The
fear ultiraately produced in the minds of
their eneraies was to be a religious fear
or veneration which should attract them
towards Jehovah as its object, Comp.
for this construction of 'JN 3ns, to exercise
reverential regard towards God, Hos, iii . 5,
Combined with tbe circumstances under
which the nations were to acknowledge
the supremacy of Jehovah, was their
standing in awe of the political power
of the Jews, See on Is, xix. 17.
18. Impelled by strong feelings of
gratitude at the anticipated deliverance
of his people, the prophet breaks out
into a strain of tbe sublimest praise and
admiration, and gives a description of
the gracious character of God, unrivalled
by any contained in tbe Scriptures. The
phrase stoB-'js 'tis, passingby transgression,
is a metaphor, taken from the conduct of
a traveller who passes on without noticing
an object to which he does not wish to
give his attention. The idea which it
communicates is not, that God is un
observant of sin, or that it is regarded
by him as a matter of little or no import
ance, but that he does not raark it in
particular cases with a view to punish
ment; that he does not punish, but for
give, Comp. Prov. xix. 1 1, Amos vii. 8,
in which latter passage the verb alone is

268

MICAH.

[chap, vii.

19 He will subdue our iniquities ;
Yea, thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea,
20 Thou wilt grant the truth to Jacob,
The kindness to Abraham,
Which thou didst sware to our fathers
From the days of old.

used. The opposite is expressed by3pto
lis, to watch iniquity, Ps, cxxx. 3, i.e. to
keep it in view in order to punish it,
ti'3Nto, j-ewiraani, does not necessarily imply
a small or inconsiderable number, but
merely conveys the general notion of a
surviving body of men : here it means
those of the Jewish nation who should
be alive at the termination of the
captivity, ypn, to delight, according to
the Arab, /joAs^, fiexit, inflexit lignum,
projecil, properly expresses the bent or
propension of the mind, or what we
commonly call its inclination towards an
object ; hence desire, affection, delight.
The combined force of 3Dn 'y-En, bent on
kindness, is inimitable, tbe primary idea
of 3pn being that of eager desire or love
towards an object. It is the term which
is so often rendered loving-kindness in
our coramon version,
19. This verse may be regarded as
containing a beautiful epiphonema, in
which the people of the Jews exultingly
avow their full confidence in the for
giving mercy and subduing power of
their God. 3ito, to turn, in iiprri; 3ito;, is,
as usual before another verb, employed
adverbially to signify again. God bad
often pitied and delivered his people. It
is here intimated that his compassion
was not exhausted, but should be exer
cised towards them anew. All the
nieaningfoundby Rosenmiiller, Gesenius
and Maurer, in li'niis to33, is that of dis
regarding or not avenging, but there is
no ground for rejecting the radical idea
of trampling under foot as enemies. Sin
must ever be regarded as hostile to man.

It_ is not only contrary to his interests,
but it powerfully opposes and combats
the moral principles of his nature, and
the higher principles implanted by grace ;
and but for tbe counteracting energy of
divine influence, raust prove victorious.
Without the subjugation of evil pro
pensities, pardon would not be a blessing.
If the idolatrous and rebellious disposi
tion ofthe Jews had not been subdued
during their stay in Babylon, they would
not have been restored. The total and
irrevocable forgiveness of sins is forcibly
expressed by casting tbem into the
depths of the sea, Wbat is deposited
there is corapletely hid from the view,
and cannot in any way affect us. Instead
of DnsBn, their sins, five MSS, read
12'nNran, our sins, whicii is the reading
of the LXX,, Syr,, Vulg., and Arab.
It may, however, only be a correction ;
the change of person we have frequently
had occasion to notice,
20, The return from captivity, while it
furnished a striking speciraen of the
covenanted fidelity and kindness of
Jehovah, was only preliminary to the
infinitely greater display of these attri
butes in the mission of the Messiah, the
Seed of Abraham in whom all thefarailies
of the earth were to be blessed. The
words of this verse are quoted, with
scarcely any variation, in the inspired
song of Zacharias, with direct applica
tion to Him of whom bis son had just
been born to be the forerunner, Luke
i, 72, 73, Before the names of the
patiiarchs, a verb signifying to declare,
promise, or the like, is understood.

NAHUM.

PREFACE.

Owing to the paucity of information respecting the prophet
Nahum, little can be said in regard to his life and times. All that
we know of him personally is, that he was the native of a town or
village called Elkosh, chap. i. 1.
The only historical data furnished by the book itself with respect
to the period at which he flourished, are the following : the
humihation of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, by the Assyrian
power, chap. ii. 3 ; the final invasion of Judah by that power,
i. 9, 11 ; and the conquest of Thebes in Upper Egypt, iii. 8 — 10.
But the removal of the glory of the Hebrew kingdoms, to which
reference is made, could only be that which was effected by
Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser, by whom the Israehtes were
carried into captivity ; when the Jews also were harassed and
spoiled by the Syrians, as well as impoverished by the large sum of
money paid by Ahaz to the former of these monarchs. See Is.
vii. — ix. ; 2 Chron. xx'viii. Sargon, who appears to have succeeded
Shalmaneser, not satisfied with the reduction of Phoenicia by that
king, and fearing lest Egypt should prevail upon the conquered
provinces of the west to join her in a confederacy against him,
undertook an expedition into Africa ; and, though history is silent
as to the event, it would appear from chap, iii, 8 — 10, that the
expedition proved so far successful, that he took Thebes, the

270

preface to nahum.

celebrated metropoUs of Upper Egypt, It was by his successor,
Sennacherib, that the last attempt was made by the Assyrians to
crush the Jewish people, which issued in the total defeat of their
army. Now, since the last of these events took place in the fourteenth
year of Hezekiah, and the circumstances connected with it are
clearly referred to by Nahum, partly prophetically, and partly as
matter of historical notoriety, chap. i. 9 — 13, it follows that he
must have Uved in, or about the year b,c, 714, Jarchi, Abarbanel,
Grotius, Junius and TremeUus, and Justi, place him in the reign
of Manasseh, and some, as Ewald, would make him contemporary
with Josiah ; but Bp, Newton, Eichhorn, Bertholdt, Rosenmiiller,
Newcome, Horne, Gesenius, de Wette, Jahn, Gramberg, Winer,
Maurer, and Knobel, unanimously agree with Jerome in referring
his ministry to the latter half of the reign of Hezekiah, Neither
the opinion of Josephus, that he foretold the destruction of Nineveh
in the reign of Jotham, nor that of Clement of Alexandria, that he
Uved between Daniel and Ezekiel, has met with any supporters.
But if, as is highly probable, he fiourished in one of the latter years
of Hezekiah, his prophecy must have been deUvered nearly one
hundred years before its accomplishment ; for Nineveh was over
thrown, and the Assyrian power destroyed, by the joint forces of
Cyaxeres and Nabopolassar, in the reign of Chyniladanus, b.c. 625.
Considerable difierence of opinion obtains with respect to the
birth-place of the prophet. That "'tt^pt'^i^^, the Elhoshite, was
designed to point out the place of his nativity, andnot his paternity,
as the Targumist interprets, is evident from a comparison of the
form with similar instances of the Yod affixed, 1 Kmgs x'vii. 1 ;
Jer. xxix. 27 ; Micah i. 1. There are two cities of the name of
Elkosh, each of which has had its advocates, as that which may lay
claim to the honour of having given birth to Nahum, The one,
yi'^i Elkosh, is situated in Koordistan, on the east side of the
Tigris, about three hours' journey to the north of Mosul, which
Ues on the same side of the river, opposite to Nunia, supposed
to be the site of ancient Nineveh, It is inhabited by Chaldean
or Nestorian Christians, and is a place of great resort by Je'vvish

PREFACE TO NAHUM, 271
pilgrims, who firmly believe it to be the birth-place and the burial-
place of the prophet, to whose tomb they pay special respect. It is,
however, generally thought that the tradition which connects this
place •with his name is of later date ; and that it owes its origin to
the Jews or the Nestorians, who imagined that he must have lived
near the principal scene of his prophecy ; and that the name had
been transferred to the place from a town so called in Palestine,
just as our colonists have given the names of towns in Britain to
those which they have erected in America and AustraUa, The
other place is Elcesi, or Elkesi, a village in Galilee, which was
pointed out to Jerome as a place of note among the Jews, and
which, though small, stiU exhibited some slight vestiges of more
ancient buildings,* Eusebius mentions it in his account of Hebrew
places; and Cyrili (ad cap. i, 1,) is positive as to its situation being
in Palestine, f It has been thought, and not without reason, by
some, that Capernaum, Heb. Din3 133, most properly rendered the
-Billage of Nahum, derived its name from our prophet ha'ving resided
in it, though he may have been born elsewhere in the vicinity, just
as it is said to have been jJ iSm -rrokig of our Lord, though he was
bom at Bethlehem.
Where the prophet was when he delivered his predictions, is not
specified ; but, from his familiar reference to Lebanon, Carmel, and
Bashan, it may be inferred that he prophesied in Palestine ; while
the very graphic manner in which he describes the appearance of
Seimacherib and his army, chap. i. 9 — 12, would seem to indicate
that he was either in, or very near to Jerusalem at the time. What
goes to confirm this supposition, is the number of terms, phrases,
&c., which he evidently borrowed from the lips of Isaiah. Comp.
ntyj;? n^a nnv ^PQ, i. 8, and nt'j; mn n^3, ver. 9, with na:^ ^mi,
Is. viU. 8, and VifV H^ll, Is. x. 23 ; "Tp^'^t:;'^ n'iXlXJ T^p^2., U. 11,
with PiR'?')^!) '^¦i«n ppia, Is. xxiv. 1 ; D:'3np-'?5? n'^nt'm, u. ll, with
* "Porro quod additur, Naum Elcescei, quidam putant Elcesajum patrem esse Naum
et secundum Hebrseam traditionem etiam ipsum prophetam fuisse ; quum Elcesi usque
hodie in Galilsea viculus sit, parvus quidem et vix ruinis veterum aedificiorum indicans
vestigia, sed tamen notus Judaeis, et mibi quoque a circumducente monstratus," —
Hieron. Prcef. in Naum.
f — TOV dnd Tfjs 'E\Ke(r^' Ktipr} Si avryj trdvTas nov r-fjs 'lovSatwv xdpas.

272

PREFACE TO NAHUl

rhnyn ''jna •iN'70, is, xxi, 3; D'i'?Ef i^'-ati/a li^aa r^j-i nnnn-'?;' nan,
ii, 1, with r^S7^ i?''ptt/p -litrnro "hrt onnn-'^js; •'iwrna, is, Ui, 7, &c.
The subject of the prophecy is the destruction of Nineveh, which
Micah introduces, after having in the first chapter, and at the
beginning of the second, depicted the desolate condition to which,
in the righteous providence of God, the country of the ten tribes
had been reduced by the Assyrian power ; the invasion of Judah
by Sennacherib, whose destruction, and that of his army, he pre
dicts ; and the joyful restoration of both the captivities to their
own land, and the enjoyment of their former privileges. His
object obviously was, to inspire his countrymen with the assurance,
that, however alarming their circumstances might appear, exposed
as they were to the formidable army of the great eastern conqueror,
not only should his attempt fail, and his forces be entirely de
stroyed, but his capital itself should be taken, and his empire
overturned. The book is not to be divided into three separate
parts, or prophecies, composed at different times, as some have
imagined, but is to be regarded as one entire poem, the unity of
which is plainly discoverable throughout.
The style of Nahum is of a very high order. He is inferior to
none of the minor prophets, and scarcely to Isaiah himself, in
animation, boldness, and subUmity; or, to the extent and pro
portion of his book, in the variety, freshness, richness, elegance,
and force of his imagery. The rhythm is regular and singularly
beautiful ; and -with the exception of a few foreign or provincial
words, his language possesses the highest degree of classical purity.
His description of the Divine character at the commencement is
truly majestic ; that of the siege and fall of Nineveh inimitably
graphic, vivid, and impressive.

CHAPTER I,
The prophet opens with a sublime description of the attributes and operations
of Jehovah, with a view to inspire bis people with confidence in his protection,
2 — 8. The Assyrians are then unexpectedly addressed and described, 9 — 11 ;
and their destruction, together with the deliverance of tbe Jews connected with
that event, are set forth in the language of triuraph and exultation, 12 — 15.

The Sentence of Nineveh :
The Book of the Vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
Jehovah is a jealous and avenging God ;
Jehovah is an avenger and furious ;
Jehovah is an avenger with respect to his adversaries ;
He keepeth his anger for his enemies.

1. For the meaning of Nton, see on
Is. xiii. 1 ; and for tbe historical circum
stances connected with Nineveh, see on
Jonah i, 2, Between the time of tbe
prophet just referred to and that of
Nahum, tbere elapsed a period of about
one hundred and fifty years. The in
scription consists of two parts ; the
forraer of which is supposed by some
to be from a later hand. If genuine,
we should rather expect tbe order to
have been reversed.
2. The exordium, which begins here
and reaches to ver 8, is highly magnifi
cent. The repeated use of the Incom
municable Narae, and of the participle
t3i?.i, avenging or avenger, gives great
force to the coraraencement. Nothing
can exceed in grandeur and sublimity
the description which the prophet fur
nishes of the Divine character. The
attributes of infinite purity, inflexible

rectitude, irresistible power and bound
less goodness, set forth and illustrated
by images borrowed from tbe history of
the Hebrews, the scenery of Palestine,
and the more astounding phenomena of
nature, present to view a God worthy
of the profoundest reverence, the most
unbounded confidence, and the most
intensive love. How inferior tbe other
wise sublirae description given of the
anger of Jove by .flischylus :
x6av aeadXevrai'
Ppvxta h'rjxd napapvKarai
Ppovrrjs, eXiKes 6 iKXdpnovai
areponrjs (dnvpoi, arpdp^oi be Koviv
etXtaaovat- aKtpra h dvepav
nvevpara navrav, ets dXXrjXa
ardatv dvrlnvovv dnohetKvupeva.
Prom, vinctus, 1089,
Ni3i2, jealous, from K?!?, to be warm, ^rjXda,
burn with zeal, anger, jealousy. The
N N

274

NAHUM,

[chap. I.

Jehovah is long-suffering, but great in power,
He will by no means treat them as innocent :
Jehovah hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm,
And the clouds are the dust of his feet.
He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry,
He parcheth up all the rivers :
Bashan languisheth, and Carmel,
And the bloom of Lebanon languisheth.
The mountains quake at him,
And the hills are melted ;
The earth heaves at his presence,
The world and all that inhabit it.
Before his indignation who can stand ?
And who can subsist in the heat of his anger .?

term is bere used dv6panonadds,Y<mc\-
pally in tbe last of tbese acceptations,
though not to the entire exclusion of
the others. The terra describes a keen
feeling of injured right, coupled with a
strong inclination to see justice done to
the parties concerned. nm'jsa, lit. a
lord, or master of fury, an idiom by which
the possession of an attribute or quality
is frequently expressed, Comp.ni&'jnn'jss,
a master of dreams, i.e. a dreamer; ''S3,
^itoVn, a master ofthe tongue, i.e. eloquent.
In these verses the prophet appears to
have an eye specially to the judgments
which God had brought upon his country
by means of the Assyrians, both when
they carried away the ten tribes, and
now when they had again rushed into
the land, and taken the fortified cities of
Judah. 3C3, properly signifies to watch,
observe, in a bad sense, io mark for
punishment. Arab. Jai, oculos con
vertit ad rera ; jlai, custodem et observa-
torem egit. Comp, Ps, ciii. 9 ; Jer. iii.
5, 1 2 ; and 3pto, Ps. cxxx. 3.
3. nji; vib ng:, holding pure w'ill not
hold pure, i.e. will not treat as innocent
those who are guilty, but, on the con
trary, punish them according to their
demerit. LXX. dBodv ovk dBodai.
Corap. Exod, XX. 7, xxxiv. 7. The idea
conveyed by the metaphor, the clouds
are ihe dust of his feet, is exceedingly

sublime. Large and majestic as the
clouds raay be, in reference to God, they
are but as the raost minute particles of
dust raised by tbe feet in walking. p3N,
signifies light dust or powder, what is
easily raised.
4. What is here predicated of Jehovah
is^ attributed to our Saviour, Luke
viii. 24 : intriprjae — ra KX-uhavt tov
vharos. 'The action involves omnipo
tence, intoiini is a contracted forra of the
Piel, for inipii;;), as n|»i for na:;i. Lam,
iii. 33, in hoth of wbich the radical
Yod gives its vowel to the preformative
letter. 5. There is no authority for render
ing Nteni, to be burnt up : none of the
MSS. or ancient versions directing us to
any root signifying to burn. The verb
is likewise thus rendered in our comraon
version, 2 Sara. v. 21, but the raarginal
reading is, took them away. The 'Targ,
indeed has n3i3n, vasiata est, but the
LXX. render dveardXr]. Symm. eKivrjBrj.
9 p
The Syr. J^_;^^, shakeih. Vulg, cok-
tremuit. The root is Nto, to raise, lift
up ; intransitively, to lift up oneself; and
appropriately expresses here the raising
or heaving of the ground by an earth
quake, 6. The pouring out of wrath, like fire,
would seem to be a comparison taken
from volcanoes, which pour out furiously
their streams of liquid fire over the

CHAP. I.J

NAHUM.

275

His fury is poured out like fire,
And the rocks are overthrown by him.
7 Jehovah is good, a fortress in the day of distress ;
And knoweth those that trust in him.
8 But with an overflowing inundation
He will effect a consummation of her place,
And darkness shall pursue his enemies.
9 What devise ye against Jehovah ?
He will effect a consummation ;
Distress shall not twice arise.

circumjacent regions. The breaking in
pieces of the rocks, in the following
hemistich, confirms this idea. Corap.
Jer. li. 25, 26.
7, 8, There is a marked antithesis in
these two verses, in tbe course of which
the prophet arrives at bis main topic, the
destruction of Nineveh. Ver. 7 beauti
fully depicts the safety and happiness of
those who make God their refuge, how
severe soever may be the calamity which
threatens or may have overtaken them ;
and was priraarily intended to administer
comfort to the pious Jews in the prospect
of tbe Assyrian attack by Sennacherib.
ST, to know, is here, as frequently, taken
in the sense of knowing with regard,
kindness, or love. Corap. Ps, i. 6,
cxliv, 3 ; Araos iii, 2. In 333) F|'.Dto3, the
raetapbor of a river impetuously over
flowing its banks, rushing into the
adjacent country, and passing through,
carrying all before it, is employed to
denote the ruthless invasion of a country
by a hostile and powerful army. It
is used by Isaiah, chap, vin, 8, to de
scribe the resistless entrance of the
Assyrian army into Palestine ; and here
Nahum appropriates the language for
the purpose of describing the triumphant
progress of the Medo-Babylonian troops
when advancing towards Nineveh, He
not only beholds, in prophetic \ision,
their approach to the devoted city, but
announces its complete destruction. It
is usual with the prophets, as it is with
the Oriental poets, when powerfully
affected, to introduce into their discourse
persons or objects as acting, without
having previously named tbem. See
on Is. xiii. 2 ; and comp. 'qKip, ver. 1 1
of the present chapter. See Nord-

heiraer's Heb. Gram., § 867. They,
as it were, take it for granted, that every
one raust, like theraselves, clearly perceive
the reference. On this principle tbere can
be no difflculty in accounting for the
feminine pronominal affix in npipp, " her
place," i.e. the place of Nineveh, the
TS, ciiy, or metropolis of Assyria, the
overthrow of which the prophet was
afterwards to describe, and which he
here raerely touches upon by way of
anticipation. The use of OipD, place, is
not without eraphasis. Comp. chap,
iii. 17, Those who desire to see the
difference of opinion existing both among
ancient and modern writers respecting
the actual site of Nineveh, may consult
Bochart, Phaleg. lib, iv. cap. xx. Lucian,
speaking of if, says, i; Nivos pev dndXa-
Xev rjhrj, Kal o-vhev 'txvos i'n Xetndv avrfjs,
ovh' dv e'lnrjs ottov nor rjv. Dialog,
entitled 'EntoKonovvres. Bochart, re
ferring to the city of the narae raentioned
by Aramianus, expresses himself thus :
" Merito dubitatur an restaurata fuerit eo
in loco, in quo prius condita." In the
Hebrew MSS. there is no various reading
of naipn ; but tbe rendering ofthe LXX.,
TOVS entyeipopivovs, and of Aq , avnara-
pevav, supported by Theod. and the
fifth Greek version, would indicate, that
their authors read n'Di3 or n'paipm, in
favour of which l'TV< in the following
hemistich might be adduced. The
Syriac, however, Vulg., and Symm.,
read with the received text.
9. By a sudden apostrophe Nahum
here turns to the invaders, and boldly
challenges them to account for their
temerity in daring to oppose themselves
to Jehovah. On which he repeats what
he had declared in the preceding verse

276

NAHUM.

[chap, I.

10 For though they are closely interwoven as thorns,
And thoroughly soaked with their wine,
They shall be consumed like stubble fully dry.
From thee he came forth,
The deviser of mischief against Jehovah,
The wicked counsellor.
Thus saith Jehovah :
Though they are complete and so very numerous,
Yet in this state they shall be cut down,
And he shall pass away :

11

12

respecting the total destruction of the
Assyrian power, and adds, for tbe special
encourageraentof the Jews, thatit should
never annoy thera again. The parallel
to this brief apostrophe we have more
at length. Is. xxxvii. 23 — 29. For tbe
force of d:i3SB, twice, corap. n''1 nriN dsb
i'; n^«iN, 1 Sara. xxvi. 8. That tbe renewal
of the affliction does not refer to any
supposable future overthrow of the
Assyrians, as Michaelis, Rosenraiiller,
Hitzig, Ewald, and others maintain,
but to any further calamity to be appre
hended from thera by the Jews, appears
frora ver. 12 to be the true construction
ofthe meaning.
10. However strong and vigorous the
Assyrian army might be, its complete
destruction would easily be effected by
Jehovah. 3S, to, even to, is here used as
a coraparative particle of degree : to ihe
same degree as, or like thorns. Comp.
1 Chron. iv. 27. Briers and thorns
are eraployed by the prophets to denote
tbe soldiers composing a hostile army.
See Is. x. 17, xxvii. 4. The metaphor
is here taken from a thicket of thorns,
the prickly branches of wbich are so
closely intertwined as to present an
impenetrable front to those who would
enter it. Such were the celebrated
military phalanxes of antiquity, con
sisting of bodies of troops arraed with
long spears, and arranged in the forra
of a square. The other metaphor is
taken from drunkards who drench or
saturate theraselves with wine, and
denotes the degree of moisture which
those thorny warriors possessed, and
by which they were prepared to resist
the action of fire. No account is to
be made of the reading D'lto, princes.

whicii Newcome adopts from the Targ.
and Syr. It is found in no Heb, MS.
¦jJN, to eat, is often used to express
consumption by fire. Tl'.e application
of the hinguage of this and the preceding
verse to the literal inundation of the
Tigris, tbe drunkenness of the Assyrian
carap, and the burning of the palace,
&c., at Nineveh by Sardanapalus, as
related by Diodorus Siculus, lib. ii., is
not justifled either by tbe import and
usage of tbe terras, or by chronology,
the catastrophe described by Nahura not
having taken place till long after the
time of that raonarch,
1 1 . t|Qn, from thee, O Nineveh ! in the
ferainine. Sennacherib, whose machina
tions against Jehovah had been adverted
to ver. 9, is here intended. The Heb,
'U")}, frequently rendered in our coraraon
version Belial, properly signifies worth
lessness, inutility, and by implication,
badness in a moral sense, wickednes':.
Hence the idiomatic corabinations, djn
^B.'ba, a man ef Belial, a wicked man ;
'!»"'73"]3, a son of Belial, a bad man ;
';s;;i3"n3, a daughter of Belial, a wicked
woman. The word is compounded of
''53, without, and 'JS^, profit.
12. Another description of tbe for
midable appearance of the hostile army,
accompanied with a prediction of its
sudden and coraplete annihilation, the
flight of Sennacherib, and tbe future
immunity of the Jews from an invasion
on the part of the Assyrians. D'oW,
complete, expresses tbe unbroken con
dition of the army of the enemy, and
their being fully provided with every
thing requisite for the successful siege
of Jerusalem. The word may also be
des'gned to convey the idea of mental

CHAP, I,]

NAHUM.

277

Though I have affiicted thee,
I will afflict thee no more.
13 For now I will break his yoke from off thee,
And burst thy bands asunder.
14 And with respect to thee, Jehovah hath commanded :
There shall no more be sown any of thy name ;
From the house of thy gods I will cut off the graven and the molten

completeness, i. e. in this connexion,
security, martial courage. Thus Kimcbi,
TO33 ni33Nn ta '3 ?3N13 i3nD' n'p, they are
not afraid of man, for ihey have subdued
all the countries. ;3, as used tbe second
tirae, signifies thus, so, in this state, as
thus constituted. The change of nuraber
from the plural 11133, " they are, or shall
be cut down," to 33S, " he passeth away,"
is obviously intended to distinguish
between the overthrow of the Assyrian
army, and the iraraediate departure of
Sennacherib to his own land. The
norainative to 33S is bs^b-i ysi' in the
preceding verse. il|, to cut, or mow
down, is a raetapbor derived from the
hay harvest, and forcibly sets forth the
sudden and entire destruction of an
army. See for tbe historical facts,
2 Kings xix. 35 ; Is. xxxvii. 36, 37. At
the close of the verse, Jehovah directs
the discourse to his people, graciously
assuring them that, though be had
eraployed tbe Assyrian power to punish
them, he would do so no raore. New
corae, almost entirely on the authority of
the LXX., iraproperly changes cob^ dn
33S1 3V03 pi D'3-1 pi into p D'3T d;d bsa DN
33S pi bn, '" 'Phough the Ruler of many
waters has thus ravaged, and thus
passed through." That these ancient
translators did, from hearing O'Dbip dn
read as C3;p ';tfi3, render, Kardpxav
vhdrccv noXXdv, there can be no doubt;
but then, they place the words in apposi
tion with rdhe Xiyet Kvptos ; and make
the Lord, and not the king of Assyria,
to be " the ruler of many waters." The
Syr, following the LXX., only changing
the singular into the plural, bas '^ii
" ^^ 7 P ^ 7
[La^-CD )^^ >~»Aut.'> " respecting the
heads of many waters." ijnjs is merely

a defective reading of 'Tn'SS, which is
found in a number of MSS., and in sorae
editions. The object of tbe verb is
Judah, understood, which Jehovah here
kindly addresses, and not Nineveh, as
Michaelis and Hitzig suppose. "The
Jews are addressed as a female, as they
are in the words ^;'i3? 'P)?) Tin n3in; i|n.
Celebrate ihy festivals, 0 Judah ! perform
ihy vows. Chap. ii. 1. On the introduc
tion ofa predicate without previous raen
tion of the subject, see on ver, 8, The
raeaning is, thatthe Jews were to be no
more afflicted by the Assyrians, and not
that Divine judgments vvere never after
wards to be inflicted upon them by others.
13. The suffix ^ has here the same
reference as in the preceding verse, and
in in inraft, " his yoke," to the king of
.Assyria. Comp. Is. x, 27 ; Jer. ii. 20,
For iniaft, some think the LXX. and
Vulg. read inian, which is the reading
of several MSS. ; but they both signify
a staffer pole ; only the former denotes
what is placed on the neck, in order to
bear a burden.
14. We bave here another apostrophe
to the Assyrian monarch, announcing
to him, that his dynasty should not be
perpetuated, that his favourite idols
should be destroyed, and that the very
teraple in which he worshipped them
should become bis grave. When it is
said, tbat " no more of thy name shall
be sown," the raeaning is not, tbat none
of bis sons should succeed liira in tbe
governraent, but that his dynasty should
cease on tbe arrival of the event pre
dicted by Nahura, the destruction of
Nineveh, The Medes being great ene
raies to idolatry, those of them who
composed the array of Cyaxeres would
take singular pleasure in destroying the
idols whieh they found in the chief
teraple at Nineveh, No mention is made

278

NAHUM.

[chap. II.

I will make it thy grave,
Because thou art worthless.
in history of the sepulture of Senna
cherib, but we are expressly told,
2 Kings xix. 37, Is; xxxvii. 38, tbat he
was slain by two of his sons while in the
act of worship in tbe temple of Nisroch
his god ; and there can be no doubt that
it is to this event reference is here raade.
D'toN stands elliptically for iso'iBN, I will
make it, i.e. the temple of thy gods, thy
grave. Some take ni^i^, thou art light.

in the sarae sense in which the Chaldee
''1:13 is used Dan. v. 27, but without
sufficient ground in Hebrew usage.
In apphcation to persons it always sig
nifies to be the object of sharae or dis
grace. Though to be buried in a teraple
naturally conveys to our rainds the idea
of honourable interment, it is otherwise
bere, owing to the peculiar circumstances
of the case.

CHAPTER 11,
After prophetically describing the joyful announceraent of the overthrow of the
Assyrian power, 1; and calling upon the Jews manfully to defend Jerusalem
against the attack of Sennacherib, in the assurance that there would be a glorious
restoration of the whole Hebrew people, 2, 3 ; tbe prophet arrives at his raain
subject, the destruction of Nineveh, the siege and capture of wbich he portrays
with graphic rainuteness, and in tbe raost sublirae and vivid raanner, 4 — 11, In
a beautiful allegory he then, with triumphant sarcasm, asks wbere was now the
residence of the once conquering and rapacious monarch ? 12, 13; after which,
Jehovah is introduced, expressly declaring that he would assuredly perform what
he had inspired his servant to predict.

Behold ! upon the raountains are the feet of him that announceth
good,
That publisheth peace :
Celebrate thy feasts, O Judah ! perform thy vows,
For the wicked shall no more pass through thee ;
He is entirely cut off.

1, Some interpreters refer these words
to the messengers which should arrive
from the East, announcing to the in
habitants of Judah the joyful intelligence
of the destruction of Nineveh, which bad
been briefly hinted at in the course of
the preceding chapter ; but it better
accords with the spirit and bearing of
the immediate connexion to apply them

to what took place on the miraculous
deliverance of Jerusalem, recorded Is,
xxxvii. 36. They are almost identical,
so far as they go, with the language of
Isaiah, chap. lii. 7, relative to the return
from Babylon. During the Assyrian
invasion, tbe inhabitants of Judah were
cut off from all access to the raetropolis ;
now, they would be at liberty to proceed

CHAP, II,J

NAHUM,

279

The disperser hath come up before thee ;
Keep the fortress, watch the way,
Make fast the loins,
Strengthen thee with power to the utmost.
For Jehovah will restore the excellency of Jacob,
As he will the excellency of Israel ;
Though the emptiers have emptied them,
And destroyed their branches.
The shield of his heroes is dyed red,
The warriors are clothed with scarlet ;

thither as usual, in order to observe
their religious rites. '!S»'!3, Belial, doubt
less raeans the same as Ss;;)3 ysi', wicked
counsellor, chap. i. 11 ; i.e. as there
explained, Sennacherib. Restricted as
the declaration here made raust neces
sarily be to this monarch, the passage
is nowise at variance with the fact, tbat
Manasseh was for a time in tbe power
ofthe Assyrians, 2 Chron. xxxiii, 11.
2. Most moderns adopt the interpreta
tion of Jerome, who is of opinion, tbat
the prophet here turns to Nineveh, and
directs the attention of her monarch to
the approach of the Medo-Babylonish
array. I rather think with Abarbanel,
Kimcbi, Jarchi, Hezel, Dathe, and oihers,
that the words are addressed to Hezekiah,
and tbe inhabitants of Jerusaleni, for
the purpose of inspiring them with
courage to hold out during the Assyrian
attack, ypo, frora yiB. Arab. (jflJJj
abiit,peregrinatus fuit, to scatter, disperse,
properly signifies the Disperser, and is
appropriately applied to tbe king of
Assyria, by whose army the inhabitants
ofthe different countrieswhich it invaded
were scattered from their abodes. Some
prefer rendering tbe word by hammer,
and corapare Prov. xxv. 18, and Jer.
li. 20, in the latter of which passages
we bave yep frora yoj, to break in pieces,
disperse, Szc, rendered in our coramon
version battle-axe. The address is beauti
fully abrupt, and derives great force
from the use of the Infinitive instead of
the Imperative of all the four verbs
wbich here occur. The fuller forms
would be 3213 3iS3, nBsn nss, Szc, 3i3i
rnisp form a paronoraasia.

3, Further to encourage the inha
bitants of Jerusalem, a promise is here
given of the restoration of the Hebrew
people to tbeir former independence and
glory. 3ps; ]iN3, &c., is not to be in
terpreted of the pride of the Hebrews,
nor of the proud and insulting conduct
of tbeir enemies towards tbem ; but, as
in Ps. xlvii. 5 ; Amos vi. 8, it means tbe
land of Canaan, as distinguished above
all other countries. This land, as the
prophet immediately adds, had been
spoiled by tbe Assyrians, who had not
only carried away the ten tribes into
captivity, but taken the fortified cities
of Judah; but it was again to be
restored, partly on the destruction of
tbe Assyrians, and completely on the
return from Babylon. 3'^, to return,
bas here the force of the Hiphil 3'iijn, to
restore, as in Numb. x. 36 ; Ps. Ixxxv. 5,
Connected as this verb is with the future,
implied in the abbreviated forra 3isi, &c.,
in the preceding verse, it is to be rendered
in this tense, Jacob and Israel are, as
frequently, put for the people of the two
kingdoms. The devastation effected by
the Assyrians is described by a metaphor
taken fiom the pruning of vines, or the
cutting off of the young twigs or shoots.
Parallel to tbe proraise raade in this
verse is that given by Isaiah, chap,
xxxvii. 31, 32.
4. The prophet now proceeds to de
scribe the siege and capture of Nineveh,
whicb involved the downfal of the
Assyrian erapire. The formidable, ter
rific, and invincible appearance of the
Medo-Babylonish army is first noticed,
wiisa, his heroes, i. e, the mightj' men
of Cyaxeres, Tlie suffix is the less fre-

280

NAHUM.

[chap. II.

The chariots are furnished with fiery scythes,
In the day of his preparation ;
And the cypresses are brandished.

quent form, instead of v, but represents
more of the priraitive pronoun Nin, of
which both are fragments, djno is the
Pual participle of ti3N, to be red; and is
applied to the shields, to intimate that
they were dyed red. 'The bull's hide
with which they were commonly covered
was easily susceptible of this process ;
and, on being anointed with oil, would
shine brightly. See on Is. xxl. 6. 'This
interpretation of the word, whicb is con
firmed by tbe meaning of tbe corre
sponding participle, in tbe following
hemistich, is preferable to tbat wbich
would make it express the idea of fiery,
sparkling, or the hke. "Bloodstained"
is altogether tobe rejected, Tbe LXX,
raistaking D3ND for citno, preposterously
render oTrXa hvvaare'tas avrdv e^dvBpd-
nav. D'SjnQ, lit. are crimsoned, is a
aira| Xey., but is the Pual participial
form, and is evidently derived frora Sjin,
the name specially used to denote the
coccus, or worm wbich was used in
dying, to give to cloth a deep scarlet
colour. The manufacture of such stuffs
was chiefly carried on by tbe Tyrians and
Lydians. 'The LXX. bave also rais
taken this word for D'>^S.no, ipnal^ovras,
in which tbey are followed by the Syr.
Pollux describes the Medes as wearing
a cloth called Sarages, which was of
scarlet colour, striped with wbite ;
^apayrjs, Mrjhav n (f>opr]p.a, nop(j>vpovs,
peaoXevKOS X"''^"' ^^^- '" ""P' ^¦^'
n35B -iJS!]!, with fiery scythes. That rhbs
stands liere by transposition of the two
first letters for rhBb, cannot be admitted ;
the plural of Tp'j, a lamp, or torch, he'mg
always D''3'B^, in the masculine, so tbat
the Syr., 'Farg., &c., give an erroneous
interpretation, nj^B, iren, steel. Syr,
1^2 the sarae. Corap. the Arab.
liii, secuit, in partes concidit. t)lLii
ferrum durum, chalybs. j Ji«, e chalybe
confectus, de gladio. For the manufac
ture of swords of the finest steel, not
only Damascus but certain towns on the

east of the Caucasus have long been
celebrated; and tbat tbis corapound
raetal is of high antiquity, is universally
allowed. Its name, Chalybs, is derived
from the Chalybes, a people bordering
on tbe Euxine sea. It is doubtless what
the prophet Jeremiah means by jiDSp ';J33,
'iron from the North, and which he dis
tinguishes from ''133, common 'iron, chap,
XV, 12. Now there appears to be no
part of the war-chariots entitled to the
character of irons dashing with fire, but
the falces or scythes, wbich were "fixed
at right angles to the axle, and turned
downwards, or inserted parallel to the
axle into the felly of tbe wheel, so as to
revolve, when the chariot was put in
raotion, with thrice the velocity of tbe
chariot itaelf; and soraetimes also pro
jecting from the extremities ofthe axle,"
Dr. Williara Sraith's Diet, of Greek and
Roman Antiquities, art. Falx. The
op/iaTaSpe7rai'j)(^dpa were justly reckonei
araong the most terrific iraplements o,
ancient warfare, as tbey mowed dowi:
all that came in their way. The tiw fire
of these scythes was the coruscations
produced by their excessive brightness
and the rapidity of tbeir motion. Instead
of 1EN3, "w'lth fire," seven MSS., ori
ginally one more, and the Soncin. edition
of the Prophets, read siN?, "like fire."
The suffix in ii'sn raay either form an
accusative to 33^n, or the genitive of an
agent not mentioned — the hostile com
raander. The latter construction is pre
ferable, as it refers the day of his pre
paration to tbe period fixed upon by the
general for coraraencing the attack. It
would only be then that the scythes
would be fixed in the chariots : it being
not only useless but dangerous to bave
thera attached at other times. By
D'S5l33, cypresses, are raeant spears or
lances, tbe staves of wbicb were made of
the branches ofthe cypress. The LXX.,
followed by the Syr. and Arab., have
taken the word for D'-JriB, horsemen,
rendering it ol OTiraf, which Michaelis
is inclined to prefer, and Newcome has
actually adopted. There is, however.

chap, II,]

NAHUM.

281

The chariots dash madly on the commons,
They run furiously in the open places ;
Their appearance is like that of torches,
They flash like lightnings.
He remembers his nobles ;
They stumble in their march ;

no just cause for stumbling at the bold
ness of tbe figure. Homer, describing
the spear of Achilles, calls it an ash :
'Ek 8' dpa avpiyyos naTpdCtov iandaar'
BptBd, peya an^apdv to pev ov hvvar
aXXos ' Axaidv
"RaXXetv, aXXa pev oios entararo nf]Xai
' AxiKXevs.,
UrjXtdha MEAIHN, K. t. X.
Iliad, xix. 387—390.
Hesiod also designates the lance iXk-nj,
u, pine. Scut. Here. 188 ; and Virgil
uses the^r for the spear of Camilla:
 " cujus apertum
Adversi longa transverberat abiete pec
tus." jEneid. xi. 667.
i''?3n, a dna^ ^^y-t frora the root bin,
Syr. '^\,-^j,tremuit, io move tremulously,
wave, shake ; hence ^S3 and H)*'??, trem
bling, Zech. xii. 2 ; Ps. lx. 5. 'The refer
ence seems to be to the custom of the
spear-men to wave their lances before
engaging in battle, for the purpose of
evincing tbeir eagerness for tbe contest
5. Tliis verse Ewald explains of the
preparations raade by the Ninevites for
the defence of tbe city ; but the war-
chariots could not be used within the
walls : they could only be effective in
the open field, nisin signifies not merely
streets, as being without tbe houses of a
city, but also the out flelds or commons
without the city itself, Comp. Job v. 1 0 ;
Ps. cxliv. 13 ; Prov. viii. 26. In like
manner ni3rri, as its parallel, denotes
any wide or open spaces in the suburbs
without the gates. Comp, 2 Chron,
xxxii. 6 ; Ps. cxliv. 14. ''Vinnn signifies
te act the part of a madman, io show
one's self -violent, rage, and the like. Tbe
reduplicate form ^ipaipri'ti; is obviously
intended to give great force to the
expression ; on which account, to render

it run up and down is too weak, I have
aided furiously, wbich makes this hemi
stich better agree with tbe preceding,
Noris tbe reduplication ofthe third radi
cal of yi3, to run, in Piel, issi3'!, without
a corresponding degree of energy. It
expresses the rapid zig-zag course of the
chariots, reserabling the quick flashing
of lightning. As 333 is masculine, the
feminine suffix in ^n'N'ip must be taken
for a neuter, or regarded as an instance
of neglected gender.
6. Tbe king of Nineveh is here repre
sented as roused from a profound stupor;
and, contriving the necessary means of
defence, as first of all turning his atten
tion to his principal offiicers, whom he
sumraons to their posts, Michaelis,
Maurer, and others, think that by these
officers, the generals coraraanding in
tbe provinces are intended ; but it is more
likely the prophet means the military
leaders within tbe city, since it is repre
sented inthe preceding verses as already
invested by the eneray ; and they are
spoken of as hastening to the wall, and
not to the city, which the former inter
pretation would require. 331 is here used,
not in the sense of siraply recollecting,
or calling to raind, but with the acces
sory idea of carrying out or giving effect
to the recollection, in regard to the object
of reraerabrance. It therefore iraplies,
that the monarch ordered tbem to occupy
each his place in the defence of Nineveh,
On receiving the orders, they make such
haste, that they and their troops stumble
while marching to the walls. Instead
of 3 in nnoin, eight of De Rossi's MSS.,
another originally, the Brixian, and
another ancient edition, exhibit the local
n, which is supported by the Targ., Syr.,
and Arab. By the "^P, protector, or
protection, here mentioned, sorae under
stand tbe vinea, or tbe tesiudo, military
coverings used by the besiegers of a city,
under the shelter of whicb they might
safely carry on their operations in under-
o o

NAHUM.

[chap, II.

They hasten to her wall,
And the defence is prepared,
7 The flood-gates are opened,
And the palace is dissolved,
Though firmly established.
8 She is made bare ; she is carried up,
While her handmaids moan like doves,
And smite upon their hearts.

mining, or otherwise destroying the
walls. As, however, the term is bere
applied to soraething eraployed by those
who acted on the defensive, it cannot be
so interpreted. In all probability, sorae
kind of breastwork, composed of tbe in
terwoven boughs and branches of trees,
erected between the towers upon tbe
walls, is intended. According to Dio
dorus Siculus, Nineveh had fifteen hun
dred towers, each of which was two
hundred feet high. '^30 signifies to iveave,
intertwine, fence, and the like, and so to
protect, shelter. LXX. Kal erotpdaovai p p p
Tas npocjivXaKas avTav. Syr. l^iA^
fortiflcations. Targ. N''i33p, towers.
7. Though it is not unusual in Hebrew
to represent invading arraies or raul
titudes of people under the image of
floods or waters, an interpretation adopted
here by Rosenraiiller, De Wette, and
others, there does not appear to be suf
ficient ground to depart from the literal
meaning. By ni3n5, rivers, or streams,
are meant the canals dug from the Tigris,
which intersected the city, and more
especially tbose wbich afforded a supply
of water for the defence of the palace.
'The gates or sluices of these canals were
doubtless strongly constructed, to prevent
a greater influx of water than what was
required ; but having upon tbe present
occasion been burst open by the be
siegers, tbe waters of the Tigris rushed
in, and, completely inundating the royal
residence, dissolved and ruined it. The
verb 3iD3 describes the physical effects of
the inundation, not metaphorically those
produced by the event upon the minds
of the inhabitants.
8. 3Bn has occasioned a great diversity
of interpretations. Gesenius, dissatisfied
with all those derived from its being the

Hophal of 3S3, to place, settle, flx, has
recourse to a new root, 33S, which he bor

rows from the Arab.

0, fluxit, siil-

lav'it aqua, (_^vO, fudit, effudit ; and,
then reraoving the word to tbe end of the
preceding verse, reads thus, 3iD: 'Jp'nn
3Sni, the palace is dissolved and made to
flow away. That the verb is to be
connected with the preceding 3iDi, the
gender at once shows ; but there is no
necessity of departing from the usual
signification of 3?3, to place, fix, stand
firmly ; in Hiph. io cause to stand, esta
blish. However strongly the palace
might have been constructed, it would
not be able to resist the fury ofthe water.
1 has here the force of though, and
though. Corap. ^friw N'ni, Mal, iii, 14,
The norainative to the ferainines nn)3 and
nn'jsh is Nineveh understood. The first
of these verbs sorae render, is carried
into captivity ; but this signification is
confined to the Kal and Hiphil conju
gations. It here describes the ignominy
with wbich the Ninevites were treated,
when, stripped of everything, tbey were
forced from tbeir capital. Comp, Is,
xlvii. 3, Nineveh is represented as a
queen degraded frora her dignity, and
led away captive by the enemy; her
feraale slaves following and deploring
her fate. That the queen of Nineveh her
self, supposed to be here called Huzzab, is
intended, is a position which cannot be
sustained, though adopted by several in
terpreters, and recently by Ewald. Per
sons are never introduced by name into
prophecy, except for some important
purpose, as in the case of Cyrus, For
3n:, to pant, sigh, moan, comp, the Arab,

^?J.

graviter, continue anhelav'it, vix

chap.

I..]

NAHUM.

283

9 Though Nineveh hath been like a pool of water,
From the most ancient time,
Yet they are fleeing :
" Stop 1 stop !" but none looketh back,
10 Plunder the silver, plunder the gold ;
There is no end to the store ;
There is abundance of all covetable vessels.
Emptiness and emptiedness and void,
Heart-melting and tottering of knees ;
There is intense pain in all loins,
And all faces withdraw their colour.
Where is the den of the lionesses .''
And the feeding-place of the young lions ?
Where the lion and the lioness walked,
The lion's cub also, and none disturbed them.

11

12

interrupto spiritu ; Syr. >.. . oiJ > clamavit,..
rugiit. 9. The comparison of the population
of Nineveh to a collection of water is
here appropriate. N'n 'p'p is an anti
quated mode of expressing the feminine
pronorainal affix — the absolute form of
the pronoun being retained instead of
the fragraental n heing attached to tbe
noun, N'n 'p'p=n'p'p; ht.frem her days,
i.e. during the whole period of her ex
istence, or, from tbe raost ancient time.
The prophet compares the royal city to
a reservoir of water, on account of the
confluence of people from the surround
ing provinces. All who could make
tbeir escape, now took to flight, and no
entreaties could induce them to remain.
10. Nahum here apostrophizes tbe
victorious enemy. They had now only
to possess themselves of the imraense
riches which had been abandoned by the
inhabitants, or whioh they might plunder
at pleasure. The repetition of tbe verb
113 gives force to the diction, n3l3l3, frora
p3, in Hiphil, to set up, prepare ; any
thing laid up, prepared, and ready for
use, as costly garments, ornaments, &c,
Comp. Job xxvii. 16. LXX. roO Koapov
a-vrfis. Vulg, divitiarum. Targ. NnsiN,
treasures. 333, followed by JP, is here a
norainative absolute : as for the abund
ance, it consists of, Szc.

11. The three synonymes fiijttp njjia
n^Vip, all from roots signifying io empty,
empty out, are exquisitely chosen, and
frora tbeir increase in length, as well as
from their similarity both in sound and
meaning, give great force to the expres
sion of total desolation- — the idea bere
intended to be conveyed, Gesenius
considers them tobe onoraatopoetic, irai-
tating the sound of emptying out a
bottle, Comp. Is. xxiv. 1, for the ety
raology of the verbs Pp3=pi3 and p/3 ; and
for a sirailar use of words varied in forra,
but nearly alike in sound, Is. xxiv. 3, 4,
xxix. 2 ; Ezek. xxxiii. 29 ; Zeph. i. 15.
'3iC^n, an intensive form, from bv^, io be
in pain. For 313NB see on Joel ii. 6.
12 — 14. A beautiful allegory, setting
forth the rapacious, irresistible, and lux
urious character of the king of Assyria,
and the destruction of Nineveh, the
seat of his erapire, with all his arraies,
and tbeir raeans of supply. In the last
verse, the literal is intermixed with the
figurative. Corap. for the raetapbor. Is.
V, 29 ; Jer. ii. 15. Nin, in ver. 12, has
the force of thai which ; ''3, ver, 13, asvffi-
ciency, supply, &c. F|'im and nBia are
employed idiomatically in the two gen
ders to express different kinds of prey.
Comp. Is. iii. 1. For ]^3 the Targ. has
NBiiiNl, with fire. The meaning is, that
such should be the number of chariots
consuraed, that the smoke arising from

284. NAHUM. [chap. hi.
13 The lion tore for the supply of his cubs,
And strangled for his lionesses ;
He filled his dens with prey,
And his habitations with rapine.
14 Behold ! I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts ;
I will burn her chariots into smoke ;
The sword shall devour thy young lions,
And I will cut off thy prey from the land :
The voice of thy messengers shall be heard no more.
the fire in which they were to be burnt, can be little doubt that it is a defective
should be visible to all. Comp. Ps. reading, njSN'jp, for l33'3N^p. Corap. n3B3,
xxxvh. 20. The MSS. and editions differ Ps. cxxxix. 5. The Syr. and LXX,
in their punctuation of n33NiiQ, but tbere have read '^^Mn^P, " thy works,"

GHAPTER IIL
The prophet, resuraing his description of the siege of Nineveh, 1 — 3, traces it to
her idolatry as its cause, 4, and repeats the divine denunciations which he had
introduced chap. ii. 13, ver. 5 — 7, He then, to aggravate her misery, points
her to the once formidable and celebrated, but now conquered and deso
late Thebes, 8 — 10, declaring that such should likewise be her fate, 11 — 13 ;
calls upon her sarcastically to raake every preparation for her defence, but
assuring her that it would be of no avail, 14, 15 ; and concludes by contrasting
with the nuraber of merchants, princes, and generals, which she once
possessed, the raiserable, reraediless state of ruin to which sbe was to be
reduced, 16 — 19,
1 Wo to the city of blood f
She is wholly filled with deceit and violence ;
The prey is not removed,
2 The sound of the whip, and the sound of the rattling of the wheels,
The horses prancing, and the chariots bounding ;
], A portraiture of the atrocious cha- 2, 3, The description which the pro
raoter of the Ninevites. p3B «)n3 forra phet here gives of the approach of the
an asyndeton. The non-reraoval of the enemy, his attack on the city, and the
prey refers to the fact, that the Assyrians slaughter of tbe besieged, is exquisitely
had not restored the ten tribes, graphic. Every translator must acknow-

chap, iii,J

NAHUM.

285

3 The mounting of horsemen, the gleaming of swords,
And the lightning of spears ;
The multitude of slain,
And the mass of corpses ;
There is no end to the carcasses ;
They stumble over their carcasses :
4 Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the harlot.
The very graceful mistress of enchantments ;
Who sold nations through her fornications,
And tribes through her enchantments.
5 Behold ! I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts ;
I will throw up thy skirts upon thy face,
And show the nations thy nakedness,
And the kingdoms thy shame.
6 I will cast abominable things upon thee.
And disgrace thee ;
And will make thee a gazing-stock.

ledge with Jerorae : " Tam pulchra
juxta Hebraicum et pictura similis ad
proelium se preparantis exercitus de
scriptio est, ut omnis meus sermo sit
vilior." The passage is unrivalled by
any other, either in sacred or profane
literature. Comp. however Jer. xlvh. 3.
3n7 occurs only here, but in Judges v. 22,
we find I'l'SN ni3n3, the charges ef his
mighty warriors, in connexion with DID,
the war-horse. It would seera to have
? ? ^ ^
sorae affinity to the Arab. Jbii, celeriter
incessit, and expresses the coursing or
prancing of tbe cavalry, when rapidly
advancing to the attack. Their eager
ness the LXX. expresses by render

ing it htaKovTos. Syr,

Vaj,

ebullivit.

anhelavit. D, Kimchi : ni33 DiBn np'33
itiJ'Sini, the powerful trampling or prancing
ef the horse and his course. 'The col
lectives require to be rendered in the
plural, b-ip is not to be understood as
repeated before did and the following
substantives. Instead of tnii^\ or iW3'.,
as it is read in some of the old editions,
the Keri, many MSS,, and the Soncin.,
Brix., and Complut. editions, read i''>63i.

whicii is favoured by the renderings of
the LXX. and Vulg.
4. The idolatrous practices of the Nine
vites, and the raeans wbicb tbey eraployed
to seduce others to worship their gods, are
here represented as tbe principal cause
of their destruction. At the sarae tirae,
tbe coraraerce, luxury, &c. wbich they
carried to the greatest height, are not to
be excluded; for in raaking contracts and
treaties with the more powerful of their
neighbours, they not only eraployed these
as inducements, but did not scruple to
deliver into their power, nations and
tribes that were unable to defend them
selves. Comp. Joel iv. 3, 6 — 8 ; Amos
i.6. The raetapbor of an unchaste female,
and the seductive arts which she eraploys,
is not unfrequent in the prophets.
5, 6. The language of coramination
here used, is suggested by the metaphor
of an harlot, employed in the preceding
verse. It would seem to refer to an
ancient mode of punishing strumpets, by
stripping thera of all their gaudy attire,
and exposing them, covered with mud
and filth, to the gaze of insulting spec
tators. 'The abhorrent character of the
figure constitutes the very reason of its
selection, Comp. Ezek. xvi. 37 — 41.
The ? in 'N33 is the Caph veritatis, LXX,
els napdhetypa.

28& 7

NAHUM.

[chap. III.

And every one that seeth thee shall flee from thee,
And shall say, Nineveh is destroyed !
Who will commiserate her ?
Whence shall I seek comforters for thee .'
Art thou better than No-Ammon,
That dwelt in the rivers,
That had water around her;

7, '^N3 carries out the idea implied in
'N3, ver, 6, It is in the plural, but is fol
lowed by a singular verb,, to agree with
'^. Comp, for the sentiment Is. li. 19.
8. liDN Nb, No Amon, Egyp. ItOZ
A.AJlOYrf , the Une, or portion of Amen,
thus etymologically tbe LXX. pep'tha
'Appdv, though in Ezek. xxx. 15, tbey
render Atoo-ffoXir, i.e. tbe residence or
possession of the Egyptian deity known
by the name of Jupiter Ammen. The
stateraent of Macrobius, that be was the
representative of the sun, is confirraed
by the narae of Amon-Re, i. e. "Amon,
the Sun," being given to him in Egyp
tian inscriptions. On Egyptian monu
ments this god is represented by the
figure of a raan sitting upon a chair,
with a ram's head, or by that of an
entire ram. In Jer. xlvi. 25, we have
«3p pDN, Amon of No, where, as well as in
tbe present passage in Nahura, our trans
lators have regarded "iOM as equivalent to
'inn, a multitude. Bochart, Schroeder,
and sorae others, have contended that
Aio'o-TroXts, near Mendes, in Lower Egypt,
is intended, but all the later coraraen
tators are in favour of Thebes. The
Targura preposterously renders,.N»'i33p5bN
Nnp'i, Alexandria the Great, which Je
rorae, deferring to his Rabbi, has adopted
in the Vulg. The city, wbich frora its
being the principal seat of his worship,
was called by the Greeks Aioo-ttoXis, is
the celebrated Thebes, the ancient capital
of Upper Egypt, situated on both sides
ofthe Nile, about two hundred and sixty
miles south of Cairo, It was renowned
for its hundred gates, and was of such
extent, that its remaining ruins still de
scribe a circuit of twenty-seven railes:
¦  ovh' daa Qrj^as
Alyvmtas, oBt nXeiarahopois ivKrrjpara
Kelrat,

At B' eKardpnvXot elat, htrjKoatoi h' av'
eKaarrjv
'Avipes i^oitxvevat avv tnnoiaiv Kal
o'txea<ptv Iliad, ix. 381.
Of tbe raagnificent ruins, the raost re
markable are tbe temples of Luxor and
Karnac, on the eastern side of the river.
The architecture is of the most gigantic
and superior description. Fragments of
colossal obelisks and statues are found
in every direction. The stupendous
colonnade at Luxor is in tbe highest
degree imposing ; but the grand ball of
the temple at Karnac is of surpassing
interest, Wilkinson, in his 'I'hebes,
p. 174, describes it as "one hundred and
seventy feet by three hundred and twenty-
nine, supported by a central avenue of
twelve massive columns, sixty-six feet
high, (without the pedestal and abacus,)
and twelve in diaraeter, besides one
hundred and twenty-two of sraaller or
rather less gigantic dimensions, forty-
one feet nine inches in height, and
twenty-seven feet six inches in circum
ference, distributed in seven lines on
either side of the former." The walls
of the temples are covered with hiero
glyphics, chiefly representing tbe vic
tories gained by the Egyptian kings over
their enemies. One of the walls exhibits
the result of the expedition of Shishak
against Jerusalem, 1 Kings xiv. 25, &c.;
2 Chron. xii. 2 — 9, in the leading away
of the Jewish captives.
Of tbe conquest of this famous city,
here referred to by Nahum, no mention
is made in profane history, but it not
improbably took place on Ihe advance
of the Assyrian army under Sargon, in
tbe year H.C. 714. See on Is. xx. Itwas
afterwards taken by Cambyses, b.c. 525,
and its ruin corapleted by Ptolemy
Lathyrus, B.C. 81. According to the

chap.

III,]

NAHUM,

281

Whose strength was in the sea ;
Her wall was on the sea ,''
9 Cush strengthened her, and Egypt,
With countless hosts ;
Put and the Lybians were thine auxiliaries.
10 Yet she became an exile,
She went into captivity ;
Her young children also were dashed in pieces,
At the top of all the streets ;
They cast lots for her honorable men,
And all her great men were bound with chains.
11 Thou also shalt be drunken,

representation of our prophet, Nineveh
could not vie with it either in point of
grandeur or of strength. They both
possessed the advantage of raighty rivers
for their defence — a circumstance to
which he gives a special prorainence, as
it was that on which the inhabitants
placed great dependence. By p;, sea, is
raeant the Nile; see on Is. xix. 5 ; by
n'3'N^, streams, the sarae as rii3n3, Nah,
ii. 7, viz. the canals by whicb tbe water
of the river was carried round or through
the principal parts of the city. Ewald
proposes to connect o; with Djp, thus,
D^p ?;, and renders from sea to sea, which
he attempts to justify by appealing to
Micah vii. 12, but tbe cases are not pa
rallel, b'n stands elliptically for n'l'n, "The
preposition p in PiJ? expresses the mate
rial out of which the defence was raade ;
and the triple reference to the Nile as a
sea, in this verse, indicates the great
iraportance which attached to it as a
raeans of protecting tbe city,
9, Not only was Thebes strong by
nature and art, and in the number
of ber native troops ; she also pos
sessed immense railitaryresources in her
African auxiliaries. For B)i3, Cush,
see on Is, xi, 11, WB, Put, Egypt.
Mj^l^T, the region iramediately to
the west of Lower Egypt, and con
terminous with Lybia Proper, with the
inhabitants of which, ?'3i'5, it is here
raentioned. Gesenius derives the narae
from niT or c|>|T, a bew, and thinks
the people were so called from their

being expert as archers. Tbat tbey
were descended from Ham, see Gen,
X, 6. Josephus speaks of tbem as
Mauritanians, Antiqq. i. 6, 2 ; and tbe
river of the same name, which he de
scribes as flowing through their country,
is called Fut by Pliny, v. 1, and Phtuth
by Ptolemy, iv. 1, They are spoken of
as forming part of the Egyptian array,
Jer. xlvi. 9, and as being in the Syrian
marine, Ezek. xxvii, 10. Winer's Real
W. B. ii. p. 308, D'31';, Lybians, the
inhabitants of Africa to the south and
west of the forraer country, stretching
as far as Nuraidia, Hitzig, on Is. lxvi, 19,
has endeavoured in vain to establish the
hypothesis that the people of Nubia are
meant, Corap, 2 Chron, xii. 3, xvi. 8,
p'3Sp, Egypt, is here taken for Lower
Egypt, as distinguished from the Upper,
of which Thebes was itself the capital.
There is no reason, with some, to change
the -^ in '^n3W3 into n, though the LXX,
and Syr. bave the third person. The
prophet concludes bis description by
apostrophizing Tbebes, 3 is the Beth
essentice. 10, 11, If tbe celebrated metropolis
of Egypt, with all its means of defence,
was captured, and its inhabitants sub
jected to all the cruelties and indignities
usually inflicted by the victors, wbat
was there in Nineveh to claim exemption?
Instead of 33a), to drmk, be intoxicated, a
raode of speech not uncoraraon in tbe
prophets, denoting participation in severe
punishment, Newcome, without autho
rity, reads 32i), to hire, and renders, thou

288 NAHUM. [chap. iii.
Thou shalt hide thyself,
Thou also shalt seek a refuge from the enemy.
12 All thy fortresses are like fig-trees with early figs ;
If they shake them, they fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Behold ! thy people are as women in the midst of thee ;
The gates of thy land shall be thrown wide open to thine enemies ;
Fire shall consume thy barriers.
14 Draw water for the siege ;
Strengthen thy fortifications;
Enter the mire, and tread the clay ;
Repair the brick-kiln.
IS There shall the fire consume thee.
The sword shall cut thee off;
It shall consume thee like the licking locust;
Be thou numerous as the licking locusts ;
Be thou numerous as the swarming locusts.
16 Thou hast increased thy merchants more than the stars of heaven ;
The licking locusts spread themselves out,
And took their flight
17 Thy princes were as the swarming locusts.
And thy satraps as the largest locusts ;
That encamp in the hedges in the cold day :
shall become an hireling. In 1 Sam. cisterns, Szc, were well filled. They
ii. 5, to which he refers, tbe latter, and were also to put the fortifications in a
not the forraer verb, occurs. perfect state,
12,13. Two figures strikingly expres- 15 — 17. na), iAere, points emphatically
sive of the extrerae ease with which the to the fortified city. 'The nominative to
Assyrians should be subdued. For tbe 333nn is the masculine noun DS, people,
former, see on Is. xxviii. 4 ; and comp. i.e. the inhabitants ; that to '333nn, the
Rev. vi. 13 ; for tbe latter. Is. xix. 16 ; ferainine 3'S, city, understood. Instead,
Jer. 1. 37. OS, wiih, in tbe phrase D'lNfi however, of 333^ri, six MSS., originally
D'3i33 QS, denotes accompaniment, Szc ; four more, and one by correction, read
the phrase itself is equivalent to D'iNiji '"ijEiin. For the naraes of the locusts
D'3i33 DnJ 3S)N. Thus the LXX. avKal whicii here occur, see on Joel i, 4, and
aKono-us exovres. Corap. for this rare Amos vii. 1. The reduplication '3i3 3i3,
use of the preposition, 1 Sara. xvii. 42. locust of locusts, is ^designed to express
.¦^.'"'¦i?) Michaelis translates thy fugitives, the largest or raost forraidable of that
but as fugitives are always represented kind of insect. For the plural form
as perishing by the sword, and never by '3i:, see on Araos vii. 1. a-nm is a dna^
fire, the signification barriers must be Xey., derived from 3}i, to consecrate,
retained. separate and devote to a high or noble
14. The prophet ironically sumraons office; hence 3'13, prince, 3J5, consecra-
the Ninevites to make every effort in tion, diadem. It denotes here tbe princea,
the way of preparing for a long and crowned with diadems, who forined the
vigorous defence of the metropolis itself, glory of the Assyrian court. Thus
As water is one of the first necessaries, Kimchi : ¦?n'fflN3 ¦:? n3iD»l 3i: 3\1)N Dio,
it behoved them to see to it, that the " Princes with diadems and crowns on

CHAP. HI.]

NAHUM.

289

The sun ariseth, then they flee,
And the place where they are is unknown.
18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria !
Thy nobles have lain down ;
Thy people are dispersed upon the mountains.
And there is none that collecteth them.
19 There is no alleviation of thy ruin ;
Thy wound is grievous ;
All that hear the report of thee
Shall clap their hands at thee,
For upon whom did not thy wickedness unceasingly pass ?

their heads." The Arab. .jJu, monitor,
i.e. counsellor, is less apt, as the cora
parison to the locusts shows. Six of De
Rossi's MSS. and three ancient editions
omit the Dagesb in the Nun. The
parallel terra D'3Dpp occurs only here,
and in Jer, U. 27,' in tbe singular 313810.
Is is obviously a foreign word, and is in
all probability compounded of what we
still find in the Persic, jli', or t—jli,
strength, power, and -m, chief capiain,
prince. It occurs in tbe Targum of
Jonathan, Deut. xxviii. 12, as the narae
of a superior angel. For otber deriva
tions see Gesen. Thesaur. in voc. Dr.
Lee prefers deriving it from tbe Chald.
3m, egregius, and 3to, dux. Whatever
might be the power of these princes and
generals, and whatever number of troops
they might have at their command, they
would, on tbe approach of the enemy,
betake themselves to flight, and leave
Nineveh to her own defence. No trace
of them would be found.
18. The masculine suffixes in this and
the following verse, refer to the king of
Assyria, The D'B3, shepherds, were the

satraps or viceroys appointed to govern
the provinces under the king of Assyria ;
the D'3''3N were the nobles, wbo, as
parallel with the D'S3, are to be regarded
under tbe same iraage. See Jer. xxv. 34,
where principals would have been better
than principal in our coraraon version.
pti, corresponding to mi, ihey slumber,
is a vex pregnans, iraplying, not only
that they had lain down, but that they
were taking rest or were asleep, tiis is
cognate with yiB, to scatter, disperse,
Arab. [il^i. propagata et multiplicata suni
pecora, but is not to be substituted for
it, as sorae propose, Comp, the Arab,
. uXflj, pastum nectu incesserunt cameli
aut oves sine pastore. The figure is
carried on throughout the verse,
19. iTiii? J'N, lit, nothing of infirmity,
by litotes, for powerful, great is thy
breach. The deliverance of the king
of Nineveh was utterly hopeless. Nothing
remained butfor tbe prophet to announce
his end, and the joy which the surround
ing states would express at the irre
trievable ruin of an empire, whose iron
sway had been so extended, and whose
cruel oppressions had been uninter-
mitting.

P P

HABAKKUK.

PREFACE.

Of the prophet Habakkuk, we possess no information but 'what
is purely apocryphal. The position of Delitzsch, founded upon
the subscription, chap, iii. 19, that he -was of the tribe of Levi, and
engaged in the temple service, is too precarious to warrant its
adoption. The statement made in the inscription to Bel and the
Dragon in the LXX., which has been preserved from the Tetrapla
of Origen, in the Codex Chisianus, ek -!rpo(j>r]Teiag 'A/xfiaicovfi viov
'Iriarov ek rrjc (pvXijc Asvi, may be nothing more than conjecture.
Considerable difi'erence of opinion obtains respecting the time at
which he flourished — the Rabbins ; Grotius, Kalinsky, Kofod, Jahn,
and Wahl, placing him in the first years of Manasseh ; Friedrich,
De Wette, Bertholdt, Justi, and Wolf, in the period of the exile ;
while Usher, Newcome, Eichhorn, Horne, Winer, Maurer, and
Ewald, are of opinion that he prophesied in the reign of Jehoiachin,
about 608 — 604 before Christ. This last hypothesis seems best
supported, siiice the Chaldeans are spoken of chap. i. 5, 6, as being
upon the point of invading Judah, but not as having actually entered
it. The position of Rosenmiiller, that chap. i. was composed under
Jehoiakim, chap. ii. under Jehoiachin, and chap. iii. under Zede
kiah, is altogether gratuitous. The whole forms one prophecy,
and does not admit of being thus dissected.

•292

PREFACE TO HABAKKUK.

The book embraces the wickedness of the Jews which demanded
the infliction of punishment, the infiiction of this punishment by
the Chaldeans, the destruction of the latter in their turn, and an
ode composed by the prophet in anticipation of the consequent
deliverance of his people. Its position immediately after Nahum
is most appropriate, setting forth the judgments of God inflicted by
and upon the Chaldeans, just as the latter treated of those to be
inflicted upon the Assyrians. The two prophets take up separately
what Isaiah had expatiated upon at large.
In point of general style, Habakkuk is universally allowed to
occupy a very distinguished place among the Hebrew prophets, and
is surpassed by none of them in dignity and sublimity. Whatever
he may occasionally have in common 'with previous -writers, he
works up in his own peculiar manner, and is evidently no servile
copyist or imitator. His figures are well chosen, and fully carried
out. His expressions are bold and animated ; his descriptions graphic
and pointed. The paraUelisms are for the most part regular and
complete. The lyric ode contained in chap. iii. is justly esteemed
one of the most splendid and magnificent within the whole compass
of Hebrew poetry. See the introduction to that chapter.
The words nSJp, i, 9, ID'J^TJ, ii, 6, and li'^j^p, ii, 16, are peculiar
to this prophet.

CHAPTER I.
The prophet commences by briefly, yet emphatically and pathetically, setting forth
the cause of the Chaldean invasion, which was to forra the burden of his
prophecy — tbe great wickedness which abounded in the Jewish nation at the
time be flourished, 2 — 4. He then introduces Jehovah summoning attention
to that invasion as the awful punishment of such wickedness, 5 ; describes, in a
very graphic raanner, the appearance, character, and operations of the invaders,
6 — 11 ; and then, by a sudden transition, expostulates with God, on account
of the severity of the judgraent, whicii threatened the annihilation of the Jewish
people, 12 — 17,

1 The Sentence, which Habakkuk the prophet saw.
2 How long shall I cry, O Jehovah ! and thou hearest not .''
How long shall I cry to thee of violence, and thou savest not ?

1, For the signification of Nfflo, see on
Is, xiii. 1 ; and for the forra pil?3n, cora
pare 313811), Jer. V. 30, xxiii. 14.
2. The evils coraplained of in this and
the two following verses, are, by raany
interpreters, considered to be those con
sequent upon the invasion of Judea by
the Chaldeans. Such a construction,
however, breaks up the syrametery of
the connexion, as raarked by ver. 5, and
leaves out of view the wickedness of
the Jews as the cause of the calamity,
contrary to the universal custora of the
Hebrew prophets. They were the in
testine broils, litigations, and acts of
oppression, which sprang up in the
kingdora of Judah, after the death of
the pious reformer Josiah, and bad been
long the subject of complaint on tbe
part of Habakkuk. That such was tbe
state of things at tbat tirae is evident
from Jer. xxn. 2, 13. The arguraent

in favour of the contrary hypothesis,
derived from the recurrence of the words
Don, bo-f, Szc, and the phrase BBtip ns.%
&c., in the following part of the chapter,
with undoubted application to the Chal
deans, is of no weight, since they are
rather to be regarded as modes of
expression farailiar to the prophet, than
indicative of identity of subject. The
influence of 533n~iS, hoiv leng, upon the
Preterite and Future tenses in this verse,
so raodifies thera as to give thera the
force of a present tirae, though the one
includes what had taken place down to
such tirae, and the other, the possibility
of its being still carried forward into the
future. Because Don, violence, occurs
without a preposition, Hitzig thinks it
was what was done to the prophet hira
self; but it is better, with Kirachi, to
suppose an ellipsis of 3i3»a, or, to supply
'ts, on account of, because ef, with the

294

HABAKKUK.

[chap, I.

3 Why dost thou permit me to see wickedness,
^, And beholdest misery ? ,
4 Un this account the law faileth,
And true judgment goeth not forth ;
Because the wicked circumvent the righteous,
Therefore perverted judgment goeth forth.

'--^-r^

Targum, Comp, Job xix. 7 ; Jer. xx. 8.
siti and psj are synonyraes, but the latter
is the raore expressive of tlie two.
3, Sorae, regarding 'iN'in and ia'3n as
strictly parallel, understand the suffix '3
to be omitted in the latter verb, and
render : Why dost theu cause me te see
wickedness, and make me look upen
uireng? but B'3rr, though tbe Hiphil
conjugation, is never used in a causative
sense. Besides, '333'), and not t0'3n, is the
proper synonyme, corresponding to 'iN'in.
Between the two clauses, the prophet
introduces Jehovah, with whom he ex
postulates, as an inactive spectator
of the evil, because his providence did
not interfere for its reraoval, and it was
allowed, unavenged, to take its course.
The expostulation thus gains in force,
and scope is afforded for the striking
contrast, ver. 5, in which the Most High
is represented as interposing for the
punishment of the wicked. Nte' Ji3p has
been variously explained. The LXX.,
taking ]i3p for )'"!P, render it d KpiT-rjs
XapPdvet ; which the Syr. explains,
P .X .. 7 ^P P
](..i»aA '^.aO \i^}, the judge taketh a
bribe. Abenezra translates thus : I'n'l
Dtis^-i iNte; 3tiN ]i3ni 3'3 'tipN, and there are
men ef strife and contention who lift up
their head. 'The structure of the sentence,
however, obliges us to regard Nto; as
paraUel to 'I3',i, so tbat it stands in the
same relatioii to li3a, that the substantive
verb does to 3'3. Tbe nouns in both
cases are nominatives to the verbs, and
Nta is here to be taken intransitively in
the sense of exalting or raising oneself up.
Corap. Ps. Ixxxix, 10; Hos, xiii, 1 ; Nah,
i. 5. Thus Dahl, combining the two
nouns, Und Hader, und Gezank erheben
sich ; and Perschke, Es g'lbi streit, und
zw'ist erhebet sich. The language is
descriptive ofthe prevalence of ahtigious
spirit, in consequence of which no one
was permitted quietly to possess or enjoy

^-

his rights. What was not seized upon
by main force, was obtained by perver
sion of law,
4. 1.3"''?, therefore, on this account,
refers not to the state of things set forth
in the verse imraediately preceding, but
to Jehovah's forbearing to punish, spoken
of ver. 2. Of the law, which ought to
have been raaintained in all its vital
energy, it is said HBn, 'it chilleth, groweth
frigid, languisheth, faileth ; by which is
raeant, that it was not enforced, but left,
as it were, to grow stiff and torpid, from
want of use. Tbe words, naij Ns;-ii';i
TDBipp, raay either be rendered, judgment,
i.e., what is strictly and properly such,
righteous judgraent, never geeth forth ;
or, judgment goeth not forth according to
truth; nsrt, signifying to perpetuity, for
ever, and, with a negative, never, like
?Ms) Nil, and truly, according to truth.
Comp. the Arab. ^5,^, sincerus fidelis
fuit; and the Eth. lX"fh : purus,
mundus fuit. The latter signification of
the word is that adopted by the Syr.
jzloVS jl»j unaJ Po. and judg
ment goeth net forth in purity ; and is
approved by Scheltinga, Hesselberg,
Wolf, Rosenmiiller, De Wette, Winer,
Gesenius, Lee, and Ewald, chiefly on
the ground of ''iwp TOBi^Sp, wrong or per
verted judgment, occurring, as a con
trasted formula, at the close of the verse.
By the going forth of judgraent is nieant
the publication of legal decisions dehvered
by a judge. In the time of the prophet,
justice was utterly corrupted, in con
sequence of which there was no security
either for person or property. 3'lji3D,
from 3133, to surround, is here used in a
bad sense, to express the ensnaring of a
person by fraud and artifice ; it depicts
the windings of intrigue, and is best
rendered by circumvent. Thus Dathe :
cum impius pium circuiiwenit. ''ij^'p, dis-

CIIAP, I.J

HABAKKUK.

295

Look among the nations, and behold !
Be ye greatly astonished ;
For I will perform a work in your days,
Which ye will not believe, though it should be told you.
For, behold ! I will raise up the Chaldeans,
That bitter and impetuous nation ;
Which traverseth the wide regions of the earth,
To seize upon habitations belonging not to it.

torted, perverse, wrong, from the root ''!?s,
Comp, the Syr, ^aiu pervertit, Arab,
Ajict constrinxit, distortos habuit pedes ;
i^ji£., distortie linguce in loquendo. LXX.
Kptpa hiearpappivov.
5. By a sudden apostrophe Jehovah
calls upon the Jews, in anticipation ofthe
punishment whicb tbeir sins deserved,
and wbich should assuredly be inflicted
upon them, to direct their attention to
the events that were taking place araong
the surrounding nations. Nabopolassar
had already destroyed the mighty empire
of Assyria and founded the Chaldeo-
Babylonian rule ; he had raade himself
so formidable, that Necho found it
necessary to raarch an army against
him, in order to check his progress ;
and, though defeated at Megiddo, he bad,
in conjunction with his son Nebuchad
nezzar, gained a complete victory over
the Egyptians at Carchemish. These
events were calculated to alarra the Jews,
whose country lay between the dorainions
of the two contending powers ; but,
accustoraed as they were to confide in
Egypt, and in the sacred localities of
their own capital, Is. xxxi. 1 ; Jer. vii. 4,
and being in alliance with tbe Chaldeans,
they were indisposed to listen to, and
treated with the utmost incredulity, any
predictions which described their over
throw by tbat people. Such overthrow
God claims as his work, though he might
employ men as his instruraents in effect
ing it, nN'3 and Mn are frequently
corabined as here for the sake of effect.
The phrase D'.i33, among the nations, is
translated by the LXX., ot KaracfiovriTal,
ye despisers, in which they are followed
by the Syr. and Arab.; and this rendering
is adopted by Paul in his quotation of

the verse, Acts xiii. 41, On the other
hand, the Targ. N"poS3 iin, Aquila, Syrara.,
Theod., and the Vulg. aspicite in gentibus,
which is sustained by all the Heb. MSS.
that have been collated, except five of
Kennicott's, which have D'iJ, nations,
without the preposition. To account for
tbe rendering ofthe LXX., some are of
opinion tbat instead of Q'i33, tbey raust
have read n''333, ?''3313, or ?''ps ; other.s
with Pococke, in his Porta Mosis, chap, iii.,
suggest a supposititious root, N33, the cor
responding Arab. Ijo, signifying, injustus
fuit, superbe, insolenter se gessit ; most
unjustifiably insisting on the preference
of some such reading to that of the
Hebrew text. With respect to the quota
tion. Acts xiii. 41, it was obviously raade
by the apostle on account of the exact
similarity of the case of the Jews in his
day, both as regards the destruction of
Jerusalem by the Romans, and the
incredulity of the nation in reference to
that event. " Paulus fideliter accomraodat
in usum suum Prophets verba, quia
sicuti semel minatus fuerat Deus per
prophetam suam Habacuc, ita etiam
semperfuitsuisirailis." Calvin, m^oc. 'The
double form, V\m impnn, is used for in
tensity, inpnn is the Hithpael for inpmn.
Comp. inn^i inp;|ipnn. Is. xxix. 9, and ray
note on that verse. Before b^k subaud. 'i^,
6. Now follows a lengthened and
fearful description of the character and
operations of the instrument which Je
hovah would eraploy in executing his
work. D'iJQ -'^^n, which has unquestion
ably the force of the future, raust be
referred to the special raising up of the
Chaldeans to undertake the expedition
against Judea, and not to their orga
nization as a political power, since they
had already been upwards of twenty

296

HABAKKUK.

[chap, I.

7 It is terrible and dreadful;
Its judgment and its dignity are from itself.
8 Swifter than leopards are its horses,
And lighter than evening wolves ;
Its horse spread proudly along ;
Yea, its horse that come from afar :
They fly like an eagle hastening to devour.
9 It cometh entirely for violence ;
The aspect of their faces is like the east wind ;
It collecteth the captives as sand.
10 It maketh a mockery of kings,
And princes are a laughter to it ;

years in possession of such power under
Nabopolassar. On this account, some
prefer rendering the phrase. Behold ! I
will excite. For an account of this
people, see on Is. xxiu. 13. In 3np3ni 3pn
is a paronomasia. By 3n, bitter, the
fierce and cruel disposition of the Chal
deans is expressed ; comp. Jer, 1. 42 ; by
3nn:, rash, hasty, the rapidity or im
petuosity of their operations. In the
latter part of the verse, tbeir widely ex
tended conquests under Nebuchadnezzar
are clearly predicted.
7. nNto, the LXX. render Xrjppa, p fl.
Syram. hdypa, Vulg. onus, Syr. |oi,4»,
vision, Targ. n3;3, decree or sentence, all
deriving it frora NWi, in the sense of
b\p Nto, to lift up, or utter anything with
the voice, and regarding it as equivalent
to Ntop, from the same root. The sig
nification decree, tbough approved by
Hesselberg, De Wette, Winer, and Ge
senius, is less appropriate than that of
dignity, which is that of our common
version, andis adopted by Hitzig, Maurer,
and Ewald. Corap. Gen. xlix, 3 ; Job
xiii. 11; Ps. Ixii, 5, nNip nowhere occurs
in reference to a judicial decree, Wbat
the prophet has in view appears to be
the self-assumed pohtical superiority of
the Chaldeans in the Babylonian empire.
As they had raised theraselves to this
dignity, so they would permit none to
share in their counsels and deterrai
nations, but would act in the raost arbi
trary manner,
8, Frequent reference is made in

Scripture to the " evening wolves," on
account of the sudden ravages which,
in tbe keenness of their hunger, they
comrait on the flocks at that time
of the day. See Gen. xlix. 27 ; Jer.
V. 6 ; Zeph. iii. 3 ; and comp. Virgil's
Georg. iii. 537, iv. 431 ; and the jEneid,
ii. 355, ix. 59. The LXX. render im
properly, XvKovs TTJs 'Apafiias. tiB,
from tbe root tiiB, having here the signi
fication of the Arab, ijlli, superUvit,
gloriatus fuit, describes the proud and
spirited mien of the horses composing
the Chaldean cavalry. Corap. the inimi
table description of the Arabian war-
horse. Job xxxix. 19 — 24. The meaning
ofthe two last lines of the verse is, that
the eagerness of the cavalry to plunder
the Jews should be so great, that they
would make no account of the fatigue
occasioned by the length of their march.
9, 10. ri'te is tbe less correct ortho
graphy of i''3, which occurs several tiraes
in the course of tbe Hebrew Bible. The
affix refers to 'is, ver. 6. So great was
to be the invading army, that it would
seem as if it were coraposed of the
entire nation. Considerable difficulty
has been experienced in the interpreta
tion of the words, np'-ijT. nrpiB npjp. By
the, LXX, the ana^ Xey. noJD is ren
dered dvBeaTTjKOTas ; by Symm. npoao-
p „.
i/'is; by the Syr. loi**' <^V^<'t; by
tbe Targ. b^ffo, front, what is opposite to
anything. 'The Vulg. oraits the word
altogether, obviously on the principle of
its being sufficiently expressed hy fades

chap. I.]

HABAKKUK.

297

It smileth at every fortress ;
It heapeth up earth and taketh it.
11 Then it gaineth fresh spirit ;
It passeth onward, and contracteth guilt, [saying,]
Is this his power through his God ?

immediately following. With these
Abenezra and Kimcbi agree ; and thus
also generally, Munster, Vatablus, Pag
ninus, Castaho, Calvin, and others. On
the other band, Gesenius derives the
word from the supposititious root Qpj,
Arab. ^^, io congregate, heap up, and
renders it host, troop ; but, as Lee
observes, the host of their faces is any
thing but Hebrew phraseology. Rosen
miiller, Lee, Maurer, Hitzig, and Ewald,
derive it from the same root in the signifi
cations, impetus, desire, a striving after ;
Ger. streben : while our own, and sorae
other raodern translators, adopt the idea
of absorption, supping up, Szc, frora the
signification of nos, nd'h. Considering
the marked and independent coincidence
of the ancient versions above quoted,
borne out, as they are, by the Arab.
l^S'-, adparuit ; quod de re quavis ex-
trinsicus apparet; corpus rei, seu res
individua existans et conspicua, I cannot
but regard aspect or appearance as the
terra best adapted to convey the meaning
of the prophet. fipHiJ, in every other
passage in which it occurs, bas the
signification of eastward, and it is taken
in this acceptation by Abarbanel, Park
hurst, Dahl, Wolff, and Hitzig, who
explain it either of the direction in which
the Chaldeans would return horae with
their booty, orof their first coming down
along the coast of the Mediterranean,
and then turning direct east upon the
Jews, Both constructions are forced.
Gesenius renders forwards, and gives
the whole sentence thus : the host of their
faces is forwards. Here again I prefer
tbe rendering of Syrara. dvepos Kavaav ;
the Targ. npwj? O'yg nn?, the Vulg. ventus
urens, which, or east wind, its equivalent,
is the rendering of raany of the moderns.
It is true, that the east wind is elsewhere
uniforraly expressed by D'"!!?, without the
!3 ; bnt this letter seeras clearly to be
here used paragogically, just as it is in

niiBS, ny;, nW, the primitive forms of
which are )iB2, 333, bb. In some instances,
indeed, it is the n directive, indicating
motion towards the quarter specified,
but in others it has lost all such power.
For the east wind, or saraoora, see on
Is, xxvii. 8. Nothing could more ap
propriately describe the terrific appear
ance of the destructive Chaldean army,
than this phenomenon, which occasions
awful devastation in the regions over
wbich it passes. The collecting of the
captives like sand, wbicb the prophet ira
raediately adds, corroborates the opinion
that the saraoom is intended, as it is
frequently accompanied with whirlwinds
of sand, which is collected and carried
with great rapidity across tbe desert.
The loth verse sets forth the haughty,
fearless, and irresistible character of the
Chaldeans. Tbe last clause of the verse
describes the throwing up of walls or
batteries before fortified cities, from whicii
to attack them. 3BS seldom signifies
fine dust ; it is more coraraonly used of
earth generally, including clay, raire, &c.
11. IN, rdre, usually rendered then,
has here tbe force of thereupon, marking
the transition frora what had just been
described to what imraediately follows,
and their intiraate connexion with each
other, ni3 is the accusative to f]^n, whicii
denoting to succeed, exchange, change,
renew, Szc, the phrase raeans, to assurae,
or gain a fresh accession of courage or
military spirit. For tbis signification of
ni3, corap. Josh, ii, 11, v. 1. Elated by
tbe fortresses they had taken, and the
victories they bad won in heathen
countries, the Chaldeans are represented
as passing onwards into Judea ; and
treating with contempt the puny re
sistance made to thera by the Jews,
asking sarcastically, " Is this all your
boasted power conceded to- you by the
God in whom you confide? " Corap. Is,
X. 10, 11, xxxvi. 19, 20; Ps, lxxix, 10,
cxv. 2. The aggravated guilt which they
contracted (DtiN) lay in their vilifying
QQ

298

HABAKKUK.

[chap, I.

13

12 Art not Thou from eternity,
0 Jehovah ! my God, my Holy One ?
We shall not die :
0 Jehovah ! thou hast appointed it for judgment,
O Rock ! thou hast ordained it for correction.
Thou art of purer eyes than to regard evil ;
Thou canst not behold injustice.
Why dost thou behold the plunderers.?
Why art thou silent when the wicked destroyeth
Him that is more righteous than he ?
And makest men as the fishes of the sea,
As the reptiles which have no ruler ?
15 It bringeth up all with its hook,
It gathereth them into its net,
It collecteth them into its drag ;
Therefore it rejoiceth and exulteth.

14

Jehovah, by speaking of him as in
capable of protecting his people. This
simple construction of the verse at once
frees it frora the nuraerous difficulties
with which it has been clogged by in
terpreters, and gives peculiar force to
the interrogatory appeal in tbat wbich
follows. The ellipsis of TbN^is of frequent
occurrence in Hebrew. The absence of
the interrogative n is more seldora; but
comp. Gen. xxvii. 24, nj n™ forn; nnxri;
2 Sara. vii. 19, HNl, this is, for niJin, is
this; and xvi. 17, 193-nN ?[3Dn ni, " This
is thy kindness to thy friend," for, Zs
this, Szc.
12, The conteraptuous manner in
which the eneray had treated the Most
High calls forth an irapassioned appeal
from the prophet, in which be vindicates
the eternal existence and purity of
Jehovah, as that God who bad formerly
wrought deliverance for his people, and
who was now employing the Chaldeans,
not for their annihilation, but only for
their punishment and correction. Since
312, Reck, is elsewhere used metapho
rically of God, I have retained it in the
translation. See on Is, xxvi, 4. It is here
parallel to nin'. The Tikkun Sopherim
ninn n^ is unsupported by any authority.
13, Habakkuk resuraes the expostula-
tory mode of address which he had

eraployed, verses 2, 3. The onAi, plun
derers, were the Chaldeans who had been
the allies of the Jews, but now treated
thera with violence. Comp. Is. xxi. 2,
and xxiv. 16. The LXX., Syr., and
Arab , have nothing corresponding to
lipp, but it is expressed in Aqud., Symm.,
Tiieod., the Targ., and Vulg. Wicked
as the Jews were, they were righteous
in comparison ofthe Babylonians. Comp.
for the sentiment, Ezek. xvi. 51, 52.
14. God is often said to do what he
permits to be done by others, icp^ is
used of aquatic animals, such as crabs
and other shell-fish, Ps. civ. 25, a sense
which the parallelisra and connexion
here require.
15 — 17. n'n is allowed by all to be
here the accusative, tbough it was, in
the same position, the norainative, ver. 9.
Converting the simile employed in the
preceding verse into a metaphor, the
prophet describes the rapacity of the
Chaldeans, the indiscriminate and uni
versal havoc whicb they would eff'ect,
and their proud confidence in their own
prowess, nbsn, an unusual punctuation
for njsn. Tlie hook, the net, aud tlie
drag, are separately mentioned, to in
dicate that every means would be
employed in taking captives, and what
ever else came in their way. To their

CHAP. II.] HABAKKUK. 299
10 Therefore it sacrificeth to its net,
And burneth incense to its drag ;
Because through them its portion is fat,
And its food fattened meat.
17 Is it for this it emptieth its net,
And spareth not to slay the nations continually ?

arms, signified by tbese implements of meant the depositing of the captives,
fishers, they rendered divine honours, &c., in Babylon, in order to go forth to
ascribing to them solely the success fresh conquest and plunder. It isstrongly
which they had in war. Comp. Justin, implied in the questions with whicii the
43.3. " Aborigine rerura prodiisiramor- chapter concludes, that God would not
talibus veteres hastas coluere." Lucian perrait the Chaldeans to proceed in their
in Trag. SKuflai pev aKtydB-rj Bvovat. By selfish conquests without a check, but
tbe emptying of the net, ver, 17, is the answer is reserved for the sequel.

CHAPTER II,
This chapter contains an introductory statement respecting the waiting posture in
whicii the prophet placed hiraself, in order to obtain a divine revelation in refer
ence to the fate of bis people and of tbe Chaldeans, their oppresssors, 1 ; a
coramand which he received to commit legibly to writing the revelation which
was about to be made to him, 2 ; an assurance, that though the prophecy should
not be fulfilled imraediately, yet it would certainly be at length accoraplished, 3 ;
and a contrasted description of the two diff'erent classes of the Jews to whom it
was to be communicated, 4, The insolence of the Chaldeans, and their insa
tiable lust of conquest, are next set forth, 5 ; on which tbe proper Nton, sentence,
or prophetical denunciation, commences, in the form of a taunt on the part of
the nations, in which they anticipate the downfal of that hostile power, 6. — 8 ;
and the punishment of its rapacity, 9 — 11 ; of its cruelty and injustice, with a
special view to the universal spread of true religion, 12 — 14 ; of its wanton and
sanguinary wars, 15 — 17, and of its absurd and fruitless idolatry, 18, 19. The
last verse of the chapter beautifully contrasts with tbe two preceding, by repre
senting Jehovah as the only God, entitled to universa] submission and homage.

1 I WILL stand upon my watch-post,
And station myself upon the fortress,
1 . n'lOtip properly signifies observance, the place, or pest of observation. Comp.
guard, watch, from 3pti, to watch, observe, Is. xxi. 8, where it is similarly used,
preserve, Szc, but here, as a concrete, with nspjo for its parallel. Thus the

300 HABAKKUK,
And will look out to see what he will say to me,
And what I shall reply in regard to my argument.
2 And Jehovah answered me and said :
Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets,
That he who readeth it may run.

[chap. II,

Sy- i-iZvaO) my place. Frora the use
of 3isp in the corresponding beraistich,
it is obvious that the post of a sentinel
or watchman appointed to keep an eye
upon what raay transpire without a for
tified city, is that frora which the idea
is here borrowed. It has been ques
tioned whether our prophet has any real
locality in view, or whether the words
are to be understood raetapborically.
The forraer is advocated by Hitzig, who
after describing it as a high and steep
point, such as a tower, and comparing
2 Kings ix. 17, 2 Sara, xviii. 24, says,
" Here, in a solitary position, far from
the bustle and noise of raen, with bis
eye directed towards heaven, and bis col
lected spirit fixed upon God, he looks
out for revelations." With the excep
tion, however, of Wolff", who preceded
him, the hypothesis has raet with no
approbation. All that the passage seeras
to teach is, that Habakkuk, anxious
to ascertain the Divine purpose relative
to the eneraies of his people, brought
his raind into such a state of holy ex
pectancy as was favourable to the recep
tion of supernatural coraraunications.
nB2, to look about, frora whicb tiBis, a
speculator, watchman, is derived, as like
wise ns^p, a watch-tower, is eraployed,
as here in Piel, to express the looking
out for an answer to prayer, Ps. v. 4.
The paragogic n of tbe Futures, marks
the intensity of his desire. The for
mula 3 n33, which the Syr. and 'Targ.
render ^Jjc;^ ^'iilaiiiC '^^ ''^'?'?-' ^"
the sense of speaking or conversing with
a person, the LXX. give by XaXrjaet iv
epol, "will speak in me." 'That the
preposition 3 is here purposely used, in
jireference to 'JN, ), DS, or nN, to denote
the internal mode of the Divine com
munication which the prophet received,
has been maintained by sorae wbo cora
pare '3-333 nin;nn, " the Spirit of Jeho

vah spake in rae," 2 Sam. xxiii. 2 ; Num.
xii. 6, and particularly Zech. i. 9, 13,
14, ii. 2, 7, iv. 1, 4, 5, v. 5, 10, vi. 4,
where the interpreting angel that ad
dressed him in vision is uniformly styled
'3 333n '^N'jpn, the Angel that spake in me,
which tbe LXX. as uniforraly render
d XciXdv iv epot. This view was .an
ciently expressed by Jerome, wbo says,
"Sed et hoc notandura, ex eo quod dix
erat, ut videara quid loquatur in me,
propheticam visionera et eloquiura Dei
non extrinsicus ad Prophetas fieri, sed
intrinsicus et interior! horaini respon
dere." The sarae construction is put
upon the phrase by Delitzsch, in his
able commentary on our prophet. But
it seems after all more than doubtful
whether any such construction can fairly
be put upon the phrase in most of
the passages in whicb it occurs. In
2 Sam. xxxiii. 2 it raay be admitted,
though through or by will equally
well suit. The other declarations made
Nura. xii, 6, show that it cannot there
be so understood, while wbat Moses
states, taken in connexion with 1 Sam,
xxv. 39, and the passages in Zechariah,
goes to prove that if any stress at all is
to be laid upon the preposition, it must
be regarded as conveying the idea of
familiar or intimate communication. In
'nroin, the suffix is not to be taken pas
sively, but actively ; i. e. the nn3in, ar
gument, complaint, reproof, or in whatway
soever the word may be rendered, was
not any eraployed by others, but what the
prophet hiraself had eraployed in thepre-
ceding chapter. What be was desirous
of obtaining, was an answer to the state
ment which he had tbere raade respect
ing the Divine conduct in permitting
the Chaldeans to multiply their conquests
without end. Maurer : " causa queri-
monias mese."
2. pin, the vision, or prophetic matter
which was about to be coramunicated to
the prophet. That tbe idea of digging,
boring, or graving, is to be attached to

chap, II,]

HABAKKUK,

301

For the vision is still for an appointed time,
But it shall speak at the end, and not lie ;
Though it should delay, wait for it,
For it will surely come, and not tarry.

3|<3, the position of the verb in such con
nexion clearly forbids. Had the cha
racter of the writing been durability,
such an idea might fitly have been ex
pressed by a word signifying to grave or
dig deep, into a hard substance, but as it
is unquestionably legibility that is in
tended, we are compelled to understand
the verb as relative to 3fi?, and that either
as a new Iraperative, or as an adverbial
Infinitive qualifying it. In tbe latter
case the clause should be rendered,
Wr'ite the vision, and that clearly. Thus
the LXX. : Ppoi/'oi' dpaatv, kcu aa^ds.
The Targ. has Ntinspi NnNi3i N3'n3, with
which the Syr. so far agrees, rendering
the verb by ,_^i2! to explain. Comp.
— 3i0'n 3N3 — !3|?n3i, write — very plainly,
Deut. xxvii. 8. The command, there
fore, has respect to the size, and not to
the depth of the writing, nin^n, tables,
having the article, Ewald thinks the
prophet refers to tbe tables which were
openly exhibited in the market-place,
on which public announcements were
graven in large and clear characters, in
coramon use among the people. 'The
article, however, may only designate the
tables which were to be employed for
the purpose. It may merely indicate
these as definite in the mind of the
speaker. This is often the case in
Hebrew, when it cannot be rendered by
the definite article in other languages.
For the writing tablets of the ancients,
see on Is, viu, 1. The LXX. have
7rD|ioit boxwood. The reason why the
prophecy should be easily legible, is
stated to be, that whosoever read it
might run and publish it to all within
his reach. It was a joyful message to
the Jews, involving as it did the de
struction of their oppressor, and their
own consequent deliverance. Corapare
Dan. xii. 4, nS3n nsTni ?'3'i iiopiii^, " Many
shall run to and fro," viz. with the ex
planation ofthe prophecy when unsealed,
" and knowledge shall be increased."
The two passages are remarkably pa
rallel as to their general meaning, though

the tiraes and events to which they
refer are totally diff'erent. Corap. also
Rev. xxii. 17, Kai d OKovav e'tnare-
"Epxov ! yi3, to run, is equivalent to
Nai, to prophesy, Jer. xxiii. 21, obviously
on the principle that those who were
charged with a divine raessage were to
use all despatch in raaking it known.
The comraon interpretation, indeed, re
presents the meaning to consist in the
writing being so large as to be easily
read even by persons who were hasting
past it. But in order to bear this con
struction, the words must read thus :
y3n 13 N^K pp"), that the runner, or, he
thai runneth, may read it. Besides, such
an addition would scarcely be requisite
after 3^13, and certainly would not corre
spond to the force of )Sp!), in order that,
with which the hemistich commences.
3. The particles '?, and 5, in npn, are
correlative, 3510, from 3S;, to fix, appoint,
denotes, in such connexion, a season or
period of tirae definitely fixed in the
purpose of God for the occurrence of
tbe predicted events. It is frequently
employed by Daniel in this acceptation,
along with yi?, the end, or termination
of the state of the things coraprehended
in the prophecy. Comp. Dan. viii. 17,
19, xi. 27, 35; and soraewhat sirailar
phraseology, chap. viii. 26, x. 14. The
term obviously implies tbat the period
was still future, which is also expressed
by the use of 3is, still, yet. This adverb
is too closely connected in sense with
3»iD, to admit of the rendering of Mi
chaelis: " There will still come a vision,
which shall determine the time ;" which
he refers to Jeremiah's prophecy of the
seventy years, n?; has been variously
translated. LXX. dvareXei; Syr. ]^J,
te come; Y u\g. apparebit; Targ, IJjna,
prepared. As, like its cognates np; and
nB3, the root nis, of which ng; is the
future in Hiphil, signifies to "breathe,
blow, puff, Michaelis, Bauer, Staudlin,
De Wette, Hesselberg, Maurer, Winer,
Hitzig, Ewald, and Hengstenberg, in his
Psalms, vol. i. p. 255, contend, that it is

302 HABAKKUK, [chap. ii.
4 Behold the proud ! his soul is not right within him ;

here to be taken in the acceptation of
panting, hasting, eagerly moving forward
to an object, and that the meaning is,
that the prophecy hastened to its accom
plishment. Such construction, however,
requires us to attach to yi?. the idea of
the object or objects on which a pro
phecy terminates, the end or extreme
point beyond which its import does not
extend. But tbe word nowhere occurs
in this acceptation, but, as Delitzsch has
shown, it always designates, in a pro-
phetico-chronological sense, the time ef
ihe end, whatever raay be tbe compass
of events to which reference may hehad.
Besides, yE^ and 3SiQ^ are so obviously
parallel, that they do not adrait of being
differently construed, yi?). here, is only
an abbreviation of the phrase yi?Tis'?, Dan.
viu. 17, of which we have again a varied
form in yi?. 3SiD'), ver. 19. I therefore
agree with Abarbanel, Jarchi, Kimchi,
Vatablus, Calvin, Cocceius, RosenmliUer,
Wolff, and Delitzsch, in assigning to
ns; in this place the acceptation of speak
ing, breathing oui words, in which accep
tation the verb is used Prov. xii, 17,
xiv. 5, 25, xix. 5, 9. This interpretation
derives support from the antithetical
313' iib), in which the idea of speaking is
obviously iraplied. The raeaning of the
verse will accordingly be, that though
the destruction of the Chaldean power,
about to be predicted, was not to take
place immediately, yet it was definitely
fixed in tbe Divine counsel, and would
infallibly happen at the terraination of
the period appointed for the exercise of
its oppression, and for the deliverance of
the captive Hebrews ; it was to be an
object of confident expectation, tbough
its arrival raight be somewhat protracted.
For npnpn;, see on Is, xxix. 9. N3; N3,
is emphatic, denoting the certainty of
the event. 3nN, signifies io stay long,
and intimates that the predicted event
would not be protracted to any great
length. Instead of 3nN; n3, upwards of
forty of Kennicott and De Rossi's MSS.,
four ancient editions, the LXX,, Aquil,,
Syr., Targ., and Vulg., read 3nN; n'ji.
4. Most interpreters apply tbe former
hemistich of this verse to the Chaldeans,
supposing the denunciation against them
to begin here; but its coherence with

the preceding verse is too close to admit
of this construction, while tbe latter
hemistich, were such application ad
mitted, would awkwardly interrupt the
prophecy at its very fcoramenceraent.
On the other hand, the whole verse
raost naturally and appropriately applies
to the Jewish people, and contains
a description of those who would
proudly reject the prophetic vision,
and of those wbo would give it a
cordial reception : the two merabers
forraing a marked and striking anti
thesis. 'JBS, of which nbBS may either be
the third feminine singular of Pual, or a
noun formed from that part of the verb,
occurs elsewhere only in Hiphil, Nura,
xiv. 44 ; but it is evident, frora the use
of the derivative ''Bi>, as denoting a
swelling, tumour, mount, hill, Szc, and
the comparison of the context of both
passages, tbat it is employed metapho
rically to express the idea of mental
inflation, elation, pride, presumption, or
the like. Such Hebrew usage supports
the relation of the verb to the Arab.
(Lie, tumore laboravit, rather than to
jlac, neglexit vel omisit rem, per so-
cordiam non curavit, for wbich Pococke
contends at great length in his Porta
Mosis ; though tbe rendering of the
LXX. vnoaretXrjTat, and that of Aquila,
vaxeXevdpevov, may both be referred to
the radical notion conveyed by this
root. Its reference to ''DN, to set, become
dark, as proposed by Abarbanel, and
approved by Deutsch and Wolff, cannot
be sustained. Nor must it be overlooked,
that though the following words, nj* ^
ia itiBi, are not to be regarded as epexe
getical of the terra in question, they
nevertheless appear to have been sug
gested by it. 3* signifies not only to
be straight or right, in opposition to being
crooked, but also, even, level,plain, smooth,
in opposition to wbat is rough, rugged,
and difflcult. See 1 Kings vi. 35 ; Ezra
viii. 21 ; Ps. v. 9 ; Prov. xxiii. 31, where
D'3ti'p3 'n;?nn; raeans, goeth sweetly or
pleasantly down, or as Jerome gives it,
ingreditur blande ; De Dieu, subitfadl-
lime. Corap. the Arah. .m)_, facilis fiiU

CHAP, II.] HABAKKUK.
But the righteous shall live by his faith.

303

res; facilitas, lenitas. Of the reading
nB';ls,'found in one of Kennicott's MSS.,
or nsbs, as it is written in another, no
account is to be made, though in his
Dissert. Gen. § 72, that author prefers
it to that wbich is attested by all the other
p ?
codices. The Syr, ^Qi^, wickedness, is
founded upon a mistake of n^^is for nbis.
rijES I consider to be an abstract noun,
used elliptically for nJBS ti'N, a man ef
arrogance or presumption, and so to be
rendered adjectively, the proud, presump
tuous, &c. For instances of sirailar
ellipsis, corap, n^pn 'in, I am prayer, for
n^n ti'N 'IN, I am a man of prayer, Ps.
cix. 4; li3i, arrogance, for p3i. ti'N, mmi of
arrogance, i.e. arrogant, Jer. 1.31,32;
Dan.ix. 23. nnN niion, thou art delights,
for nnN ni3Qn ti'N, thou art a man of
delights, i.e. greatly beloved, as it is
expressed in full, chap.x, 11, 19, See
on Micah vi, 9. The terra is thus
strictly antithetical to p''33, ihe just, in
the following hemistich, precisely as the
predicate i3 itiBi rntij-Nii, his soul is noi
right within him, is to n'n' injiDNa, by his
faith he shall live. With respect to this
latter point ofantithesis, it raust be evident,
that, as n^n, the latter predicate, signifies
not raerely to live, but ie live well, be
happy, the forraer raust convey the idea
of its opposite. This was clearly per
ceived by Luther, wbo often discovers a
wonderful sagacity in seizing upon the
meaning of a passage, though in his
translation he raay not adhere to the
strict significations of single words. He
renders the words thus: Siehe wer hals-
starrig ist, der wird Iceine Ruhe in seinem
Herzen haben. " Beholdhe whois stubborn
shall have no tranquillity in his heart."
So also Gesenius: " Lo, the lofty-rainded,
his soul is not tranquil within hira."
Maurer : "Non planus, complanatus, com-
positus, tranquillus, &c., est animus ejus."
To this interpretation I adhere, as best
meeting the exigency of the passage.
While those Jews who, elated by false
views of securit}', refused to listen to the
Divine message should have their security
disturbed, and their rainds agitated by
tbe calaraities with which they would be
visited, such as lived righteously before
God and men, should experience true

happiness in the exercise of faith in that
message, and others which God might
communicate to tbem by his prophets.
Thus a Lapide : " Incredulus habet ani
mam, id est vitam, non rectam, sed dis-
tortara, anxiam, raiseram, et infelicem ;
jussus autem in fide et spe sua agit vitam
rectara, putalsetara, quietara, sanctam et
felicera." 13, in, or within him, is added
to show that the verb 3ti; is not to be
taken here as referring to any thing of
an objective character, such as the Divine
estiraation, agreeably to the meaning of
the phrase nin; 'i'.Sji 3ti;, to be right in the
sight of Jehovah, but must be understood
as marking the subjective sphere of the
predicate. For the fullest view of tbe
various constructions, both logical and
philological, that have been put upon
this verse, I refer the raore curious reader
to Delitzsch, Frora the discrepancy
existing between the Hebrew, and the
version of the LXX,, some have argued
a corruption of the former, and have
proposed emendations, but tbe difference
has arisen either from a desire on the
part of these translators to render the
sense plainer, or from their raistaking one
letter for another that is similar. Tbey
render, eav vnoaretXtjrat ovk evhoKel tJ
yjrvxr} pov iv avrd. d he hUatos eK niareas
pov ^rjaerat. To such rendering, its
quotation by Paul in Heb. x. 38 gives
no sanction, since he not unfrequently
quotes passages from that version, con
taining renderings to which there never
could have been anything corresponding
in the Hebrew text. In the present
instance he takes a liberty with the
version itself, placing the latter part of
the verse first, and the forraer last, and
oraitting fiou after nians. Nor, it must
further be observed, is it his intention
either bere, or in Rora, i. 17, and Gal,
iii. 11, in employing the words, d SiKuior
6K niareas fi/erf Tat, to maintain, thatthe
doctrine of justification by faith in Christ
is taught by Habakkuk ; he merely
applies the principle laid down by tbe
prophet respecting the instruraentality
of faith in securing the safety and happi
ness of the pious portion of the Jewish
people to the subject of which he is
treating — the influence of faith in the
gospel scheme of salvation. As p''3S is

304

HABAKKUK,

[chap. II,

5 iVIoreover wine is treacherous ;
The haughty man stayeth not at home,
Because he enlargeth his desire as Sheol ;
He is even as death, and cannot be satisfied ;
He gathereth for himself all the nations,
And collecteth for himself all the people,
6 Shall not all these utter an ode against him.

the norainative absolute, inilDNa cannot
be connected with it, except in regard to
the pronorainal reference, but must be
joined with n.;ri;, as for ihe righteous, he
shall live by his faith. From the circum
stance, however, that the two former
words are, iu most MSS. and editions,
joined by the accents Merca and Tiphca,
while the latter, as a disjunctive, separates
the second frora the third, it raight seem
that the Rabbins construed the clause
thus : but the just by his faith, shall live.
And this construction would seem to
conflrm the hypothesis tbat in his quota
tion, Rora. i. 17, Gal. iii. 11, tbe Apostle
connects eK ntareas with d hUaios, and
not with ^ijaerai ; but as quoted by bim,
Heb. X. 38, the former division of the
words alone suits tbe connexion, in
which his object evidently is to show the
necessity of faith as a raeans of per
severance under all the afflictions and
persecutions of the christian life. See
Owen on the passage.
5. Tbe two first lines of this verse
partake of the nature of a proverb, being
expressed in a short and pithy manner,
and admitting of general application. It
is, however, obvious from the connexion
with what follows, that they are in
troduced with special reference to the
Chaldean power, the nefarious conduct
of which the prophet imraediately pro
ceeds to describe. The phrase 33i3 ^j^ri,
wine is a deceiver, has its parallel, Prov.
xxx. 1, ].'»n yl), wine is a mocker. 3'n;
occurs only here, and Prov. xxi. 24,
where, from its connexion with 3.1., proud,
as its synonyme, it clearly signifies elated,
haughty, LXX. dXa^dv. Chald. 3n;, as
used by the Rabbins, superbit. See Buxt.
in voc. Thus also in the Nazartean Syr.
7
JOX*) Ethpa. superivit. There is, there
fore, no necessity for recirring to the
Arab., the attempted derivations from

which are very precarious. The in
troductory particles '? fjNl are designed
to connect the proper prophecy with
what had just been developed of the
vision, as that which fonned the most
iraportant part of it. PjN is expressive of
addition, and '3 of certainty. That the
prophet has his eye upon the intera
perance to which the Babylonians were
greatly addicted, there can belittle doubt.
Comp. Dan. v. ; with Herod, i. 191 ;
Xenoph. Cyrop. vii. 5, 15. "Babylonn
maxirae in vinura et quK ebrietatem
sequuntur eifusi sunt." Curtius, v-. 1.
How strikingly was the deceptive cha
racter of wine exemplified in the case of
Belshazzar ! nil, primarily signifies to
dwell, remain at rest, whicii signification
better suits the present passage than the
secondary one of being decorous, proper,
Szc, adopted by tbe Vulg., Ewatd, and
some others. Still it is a question, whether
the not remaining tranquil is to be viewed
as a voluntary or as an involuntary act.
The Targ., Rashi, Kimchi, Ben-Melee,
De Wette, Justi, Maurer, and Delitzsch,
refer it to the forcible ejection of
the Babylonians: Abenezra, Abarbanel,
Rosenmiiller, Wolff) Wahl, Gesenius, and
Hitzig, to their restless disposition, by
which they were continually impelled to
go forth upon new expeditions for con
quest. The latter seeras, from what
follows, to be the preferable interpreta
tion. For i«S)i 'liNti? 3'rp.n, see on Is,
V. 14, and comp. Prov. xxvii. 20, xxx. 15,
Tbe insatiable desire of conquest, which
specially showed itself in the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar, is here forcibly pre-,
dieted. D'isn-')3 and ?'psrrti must be
restricted to all the nations with which
the Jews were familiar,
6, Comp. Is. xiv. 4, and see my notes
on ''tip as there occurring, ris'bip occurs
only here, and Prov. i. 6, in which verse
also all the three synonymes ''tip, ns'ta,

CHAP, n,]

HABAKKUK.

3C5

A song of derisive taunt against him, and say :
Wo to him that increaseth that which is not his !
How long ?
And ladeth himself with many pledges !
Shall not they rise up suddenly that have lent thee on usury ?
And awake that shall shake thee violently ?
And thou shalt become their prey.

and nTn are found. It properly signifies
derision, taunt, scorn, frora yi'', to stammer,
speak barbarously or unintelligibly ; hence
to mock, deride; and thus the sub
stantive obtained the acceptation, taunt,
taunting song. LXX. cricoTEii'd!' Xdyov.
In later Hebrew the word is used to
denote poetry in general, nTn raeans
oratio inflexa, perplexa, an enigma, highly
figurative and difficult language, requiring
acuteness and ingenuity fully to under
stand it, Comp. the Arab, jls*.) j».»-
superavit negotii difficultatem. Delitzsch
not unaptly instances tbe words lO'ipiU',
ver. 6, fCSfi, ver. 7, and fy^., ver. 16,
as enigmata of this description. The
derisive ode or song commences ira
mediately, and occupies the rest of the
chapter. It consists of five stanzas, the
three first of whicb are composed of
three verses each, the fourth of four
verses, and the last of two. Each stanza
has its distinct and appropriate subject;
and, with the exception of the last, they
all commence with 'in, wo, the denuncia
tive interjection ; and have each a verse
at the close, beginning with 'S ; thus
forming an organic whole of singular
force and beauty, 3p^'l is to be taken
irapersonally or collectively, iD'aas has
been variously interpreted. Several ofthe
Rabbins, tbe Syr., Vulg., and after them
Luther, and otber translators, take it to be
compounded of 3S, dense, and tfl'p, clay,
wbich ten of Kennicott's MSS. read as
two words, and most commentators who
follow them suppose riches or earthly
goods to be meant ; but it is more in
accordance with the grammatical form of
the word to regard it as a quadriliteral
noun, frora the root B3S, to exchange,
give a pledge ; in Hiph., io lend on a
pledge. The signification of Ihe noun
is thus correctly given by Lee: "an
accumulation of -pledges in the hand of

an unfeeling usurer." The form is that
of '''^iDi? as in ''•ton from ''3n ; 3'3D3 or 3'3p3
from 303 ; T33D from 330 ; 3'3Bti from 3pti,
Tbe reduplication expresses intensity or
augmentation, Maurer, copia pignorum
captorura, an interpretation already given
by Nic. Fuller in his Miscell. Sac. lib. v.
cap. viii. Tbe Chaldean power is thus
represented as a rapacious and cruel
usurer, whohad accumulated the property
of others, and frora whom it would again
be taken. Comp. Deut. xxiv. 10 — 13,
for the use of toas, and tbe law against
cruelty in usurers. The hypothesis of
Delitzsch, thattD'p3» is, as an enigmatical
term, to be understood both as a com
pound, and as a quadriliteral, is not in
keeping with his usual good sense.
7. sns, suddenly, corresponds to 'np-3i',
hew long ? in the preceding verse, and
not improbably refers to the unexpected
ness of the attack made upon Babylon
by the Medes and Persians. See on Is.
xxi. 3, 4. ^i)3 properly signifies to bite, and
thus it is rendered in most versions. Sorae
translate, oppress ; but, since it likewise
signifies io lend on usury, tbere can be
little doubt the prophet intended it to
be understood in this acceptation, as a
striking antithesis to id'id3S at tbe close
of the preceding verse. Corap. the Aram,
V
"^^^i h.:;^,memordit,usuras exegit. Arab.
l>OjS, the sarae. 'The sarae mode of
speech was not unknown both to the
Greeks and Romans. Aristoph. Nub.
i. \2, haKvopevos -vnd rdv xpedv. Lucan.
i. 171, usura verax. The meaning is,
that as the Babylonians had cruelly
amassed the property of others, so other
nations, like devouring usurers, would
unmercifully deprive thera of all they
had acquired, ispi, defective for isp'ji,
as in Jud. xvi. 20. '^Wip, the Pil,
particijile of Sli, to shake, agitate. The
R R

306

HABAKKUK,

[chap, II,

8 Because thou hast plundered many nations,
All the remainder ofthe people shall plunder thee ;
Because ofthe blood of men, and ofthe violence done to the earth,
To the city, and all that dwell in it,
9 Wo to him that procureth wicked gain for his house,
That he may establish his nest on high,
To be preserved from the power of calamity.
10 Thou hast devised what is a disgrace to thy house,
Cutting off many people, and sinning against thyself.
11 For the stone crieth out from the wall,
And the brick from the timber answereth it :

reduplicate form conveys the idea of
violent or excessive agitation. The allu
sion is to the violent seizure of a debtor
by his creditor. See Matt. xvhi. 28.
8. The remainder of the nations con
sisted of those wbo had ~ escaped tbe
devastation ofthe Chaldeans, Tbe terras
man, earth, and city, are to be understood
generally, and are not tobe restricted to
the Jews, with their country and its
raetropolis, y^N"Dpn is the genitive of
object. 9. In the stanza, coraprising tbis and
tbe two following verses, the avarice and
selfishness of the Chaldeans are de
nounced. The phrase SS3 S53 is very
coraraon in Plebrew. The verb denotes
to cut, or break off, as the Orientals,
especially tbe Chinese do, pieces of silver
and other raetals in their raoney transac
tions with each other. Hence it carae
to be applied, in a bad sense, to such as
were greedily occupied with such transac
tions, and its derivative ssa, to signify
wicked gain, lucre. To mark it, in the
]n-esent instance, as specially atrocious,
S3, wicked, is added, n;a, house, stands
here for the royal family ; |i?., nest, for the
arx regia, to express its inaccessible
height, the allusion being taken from the
nest of the eagle, which is built on high
rocks, difficult of access. See Job
xxxix. 27, and comp. Nurab. xxiv, 21 ;
Jer, xlix. 16.
10. "Thou hast devised disgrace to
thy house," means, thy schemes and
projects shall issue in tbe infamy of thy
family. Instead of nisj?, the infinitive of
ns;?, the ancient versions have read nisi?,
the preterite of y?ij. The infinitive may

either follow in construction nss; pre
ceding, or the following Nipin. I have
adopted the latter, and rendered it parti-
cipially. It properly denotes the direct
aira of the action predicated by tbe pre
ceding finite verb. For tbe last clause,
corap. Prov. viii. 36, xx. 2.
11. An exquisite instance of bold and
daring personification, by which the
raaterials used in the construction ofthe
royal palace, and other sumptuous build
ings, at Babylon, are introduced as re-
sponsively coraplaining of the injustice
which tbey had sufi'ered, either in their
having been taken from their original
owners, or in their being made sub
servient to the scenes of wickedness that
were enacted in their presence. Comp,
Luke xix, 40, The 'Targ, adds to the
first line, n'b d:n3 bS, because violence has
heen dene io it. D'ps occurs only here,
but frora the signification of the cognate
V
Syr, . rng>i>\. connexuit, it has been sup
posed to mean the cross beam by which
the walls of a building are held together.
Thus Sym., Theod., and the 5th vers.,
a-vvheapos, LXX. KavBapos, scarahmus,
but which some think was originally Kav-
Briptov, wbich Vitruvius explains as
signifying a cross beam. Arab, Aiyl,
iijsA'l ,-«, the pin from the wood.
According to the Mishnah, the word
signifies a half brick, which Parchoii
also gives as the raeaning. He thus
describes it : ]»a33 p'liBS D'llDp D'33'' 'E D'B3
?'I'lan Dn3 D'Jiai D3n 'baa, small bricks pre
pared in the kiln, like pottery, and used

CHAP. II.]

HABAKKUK.

307

12

13

14

15

Wo to him that buildeth a town through bloodshed,
And establisheth a city through injustice.
Behold I is it not from Jehovah of hosts .?
So that the people shall labour for the very fire ;
'Yea, the nations shall weary themselves for mere vanity.
For the earth shall be filled
With the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah,
As the waters cover the sea.
Wo to him that giveth drink to his neighbour.
Pouring out thy wrath, and making him drunk ;
In order to look upon their nakedness.

in building edifices. This interpretation
is confirmed by the rendering of Aquila,
pd^a, what is baked, and by the abundant
use of bricks by the Babylonians, which
are still visible in tbe ruins of their city.
Citing this passage in the Taanith,
Rashi explains it to be "half a brick
which is usually laid between two layers
of wood," Delitzsch, That it was not
the wood itself is evident from the
following ysp, from or out ef ihe wood,
except we take the preposition as in
dicating the material of which tbe beam
consisted. In this latter case, the words
should be rendered. And the wooden
beam answereth it; but against such
construction the parallel 3'i?P, out of ihe
wall, is an insuperable objection.
12, 13. The subject of the third stanza,
whicii begins bere, was naturally sug
gested by the concluding verse of the
preceding. The riches which enabled
the king of Babylon to rebuild and
enlarge the royal city, were procured in
the bloody wars in which he had
engaged ; and the works theraselves
were carried up by people from diff'erent
parts of the empire, and by captives
from other nations. The preposition ip
prefixed in nin^ nsp, points out the ulti
mate cause of the destruction of the
Babylonian empire — the overruling pro
vidence of God, who, in order to give
prorainence to bis resistless oranipotence,
is designated niN32 nirr, Jehovah of hosts.
For this epithet, see on Is. i. 9. 'la is
not a poetic forra for a, but is intensive,
'1, signifying sufficiency, abundance. The
preposition here points out the final issue
or result of the labour and fatigue con

nected with the erections in question,
tbe conflagration and depopulation of
the city of Babylon. The last two
lines of ver. 13 are found in Jer. li. 58 ;
only tiN and PI have exchanged places,
1BSJ stands for iBS;, and tbe defective
form iS3;i for iS3".i. For tbe destruction
by fire, comp. jer. li, 30, 58 ; for her
desolation, ver. 43, Hitzig, from the
mere circumstance of the use of the same
terms Micah vu. 10, applies tbe pro
phecy to Jehoiakim !
14. This verse is clearly predictive of
the gospel dispensation, to the introduc
tion of which the destruction of the
Babylonian power was indispensable, in
asmuch as it involved the deliverance
of the Jews frora captivity, and tbeir
re-occupation of their own land before
the advent of tbe Messiah. See on Is.
xi. 9, 11, the former of which verses
contains a similar prediction of the same
event, D^, sea, is used for the bed of ihe
sed. 15. The coramencement ofthe fourth
stanza. Though the idea of the shame
less conductof drunkards, bere depicted,
may have been borrowed from the profli
gate manners of the Babylonian court,
yet the language is not to be taken
literally, as ifthe prophetwere describing
such manners, but, as tbe sequel shows, is
applied allegorically to the state of stupe
faction, prostration, and exposure, to
which tbeconquered nations were reduced
by the Chaldeans. See on Is. li. 17, 20 ;
and comp. Ps. Ixxv. 8; Jer. xxv. 15 — 28,
xlix. 12, li. 7; Ezek. xxiii. 31, 32; Rev,
xiv. 10, xvi. 9, xviii. 6. ins3 is a collective,
and thus is equivalent to in'y3 in the

308

HABAKKUK,

[cHA

P. II.

16

17

Thou art filled with shame, not with glory ;
Drink thou also, and show thyself uncircumcised ;
The cup of Jehovah's right hand shall come round to thee,
And great ignominy shall be upon thy glory.
For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover thee,
As the destruction of beasts terrifieth them ;

plural, whicb is required to agree with
the suffix in on'^isp. The latter noun
is derived from 31S, Arab. Xc, to be
naked, as its synonyme ni3S is from
n3S. In 'ppn is a change from the
third person to the second, for the
sake of eff'ect. There not being any
thing in the ancient Greek versions cor
responding to the 1, is no ground for
its rejection, since tbeir authors fre-
quent.y took liberties even when pro
fessedly raost verbal, npn is not tbe
construct of npn or npn, bottle, but of
npri, heat, cr wrath. Comp. 'npna DiatiNi,
Is. Ixiii. 6, and li. 17; Jer. xxv. 15;
Rev. xvi. 1 9, Delitzsch atterapts in vain
to set aside the signification of pour, as
inhering in the rootnED; Arab. ,^stM,
effudit. Cognate T|Bti. Targ. f]bl. 33ti
is the infinitive used instead of the
participle. The language of the con
cluding clause of the verse is expressive
of the deepest hurailiation on the one
hand, and of the raost haughty wanton
ness on the other.
16. 'fhe preposition in 3ia3p is nega
tive, as in airap S3 n;n«, Ps. lii. 5. The
full force of the beraistich is, " Thou art
satiated, but it is with sharae, not with
glory." Kirachi and others, comparing
nJs-inriDia, Is. li. 17, and bmrp, Zech.
xii. 2, suppose that in ''3Sn, be thou
uncircumcised, there is a transposition
of tbe letters S and 3, and that tbe verb
has originally been ''S3n, reel or stagger.
And thus the LXX, (Kaphia aaXeridrjn
Kal aetaBrjTt) have interpreted it, and
llave been followed by the Arab., Syr.,
and Vulg. There is, however, such a
raanifest agreementwith OTVys-o, pudenda
eorum, at the close of tbe preceding
verse, that tbe interpretation cannot be
admitted. In the mouth of a Hebrew
no term could have expressed more in
effable contempt, Corap. 1 Sam. xvii. 36.

As the Chaldeans had treated tbe nations
which they conquered in the raost dis
gusting manner, so they, in their turn,
should be similarly treated. To express
tbe certainty of the event, the vetbs are
in the imperative. See on Is. vi. 10. .^
aion is tbe future in Jfi^alT and conveys 1;
tbe idea of the cup of suffering being
transferred from one nation to another,
each, in its turn, being raade to drink of
it. Comp. Jer. xxv. 6; Lam. iv. 21,
liVi'-i 'be Vui, renders, vomitus ignominice,
as if compounded of 'P for N'p, vomit, and
fh]^, shame. In nine MSS, it is read as
two words, and this etymology is ap
proved by most Jewish and Christian
interpreters. It is, however, more in
accordance with the genius of tbe
Hebrew language, to regard it as a re
duplicate form of p''p, eraployed for the
sake of intensity, after the forra ipjjp:
only instead of '('bj>bp^ we have the softer
fi'jp.'p. Corap. the Syr. '\\ for D'^ste, P 7
Thus the LXX. dnpla; Syr. ki., .
Targ. Nljp. The glory ofthe Babylonians
was to be completely eclipsed by the
deep disgrace in which they should he
involved. 17. pia'j Dpn and y3N"Dpn are genitives
of object. That Lebanon is not bere to
be understood literally, but figuratively,
of Jerusalem, seeras fully established by
the prophetic style in other passages,
especially Jer. xxii. 23; Ezek. xvii. 3, 12;
Zech. xi. 1. Tbe aptness of the figure
consists partly in the circumstance, that
cedars frora that raountain were em
ployed in the construction of the temple
and other houses in Jerusalem, 1 Kings
vi. 9, 10, 18, vii. 2, ix. 10, 1 1 ; 2 Chron.
i. 15; and partly in its stateliness and
grandeur as the metropolis, .'\gainst
tbis interpretation, the objections do
not apply which Delitzsch makes to
the opinion of those who maintain that

CHAP, II, J

HABAKKUK,

309

Because of the blood of men, and the violence done to the earth,
To the city, and all that dwell in it,
18 What profiteth the graven image which its maker gravcth
The molten image, and the teacher of falsehood ?
In which the maker of his work trusteth—
Making dumb idols,
19 Woe to him that saith to the wood, Awake !
Wake up ! to the dumb stone.
It teach ! There it is,
Overlaid with gold and silver,
But there is no breath at all within it,
20 But Jehovah is in his holy temple ;

by Lebanon the land of Palestine is
meant, nB3, to cover, is used emphati
cally to express the completeness of the
destruction whicb should overtake tbe
Chaldeans. Similar violence to that
which they bad exercised should be
brought upon themselves. Tbe 1 in Tti^
is a particle of coraparison, retaining,
indeed, its ordinary conjunctive power,
but also introducing a clause designed
to illustrate the preceding. Of thisidiora,
the following are instances : 3)l' 'ips'j D3N
tlis in'33; P]ti3 ':;i| Man is born io trouble,
AND (as) birds of prey fly aloft, Job v. 7,
'¦j'Mb dsb; ':jrn )nan j'to ;i>r'3, /'or the ear
trieth words, and (as) ihe palate tasteth
food. This construction entirely obviates
the difficulty which necessarily attaches
to the attempts that have been made to
interpret the niDn3, beasts, of the inhabi
tants of Palestine. The prophet com
pares the confusion and destruction which
should come upon the enemy of the Jews
to those experienced by the wild beasts
when brought into circumstances frora
wbicb they cannot escape, nnn, signifies
to be broken, broken in pieces, destroyed,
confounded, terrified. In the present
form p'lT, the Yod is substituted for the
Dagesb in tbe regular forra JWi?, as
f[PTrj for ?ipnn, Is. xxxiii. 1. The Nun
appended is not paragogic, but the ver
bal suffix of tbe third ferainine plural,
agreeing with niorra. There is no suf
ficient ground for changing \ into "[,
though the authors of some of the ancient
versions raay have thus read. For the
last clause, see on ver. 8,

18, 19. These verses expose the folly
of idolatry to which the Babylonians
were wholly addicted. It raight be sup
posed, frora all the other stanzas having
lieen introduced by a denunciatory 'in,
ivo, that a transposition has bere taken
place, and that the nineteenth ought to
be read before the eighteenth ; and
Green has thus placed tbem in his trans
lation ; but tbere is a manifest propriety
in anticipating the inutility of idols, in
close connexion with what the prophet
had just announced respecting the down
fal of Babylon, before delivering his de
nunciation against their worshippers
theraselves. '?, in both instances, is used
as a relative pronoun, as in Gen, iii. 19,
iv. 25 ; Is, Ivii, 20. The idol is called
" a teacher of falsehood," on account of
the lying oracles that were connected
with its worship. For these verses,
compare Is. xliv. 9 — 20 ; Jer. x. In
the latter part of tbe nineteenth verse,
the language is highly and pointedly
ironical. iJii' Nin, it teach ! is an era
phatic forra of putting a question wbich
requires a negative reply. n3i' forras a
paronomasia with nnio in the preceding
verse. Nin nin, there ii is. Such is the
force of the interjection nsn in this place
— it not being followed as usual by the
accusative, but for the sake of making
the idol more prominent, by the nomi
native case,
20. In striking contrast with the utter
nihility of idols, Jehovah is here intro
duced, at the close of the prophecy, as
the invisible Lord of all, occupying hia

310 HABAKKUK, [chap, hi.
Keep silence before him all the earth.
celestial teraple, whence he is ever ready Comp. Is. xxvi. 21. Such a God it
to interpose his omnipotence for the de- becomes all to adore in solemn and pro-
liverance and protection of his people, found silence. Ps. Ixxvi. 8, 9; Zeph.
and the destruction of their enemies, i. 7; Zech, ii. 13.

CHAPTER III.
Though forraing a distinct whole, this chapter is intiraately connected with the two
preceding, the subjects contained in which it presupposes, and is evidently de
signed to afford consolation to the Jews during the national calamities there
anticipated. It exhibits a regular ode, beginning with a brief, but simple and
appropriate exordium ; after wbich follows tbe main subject, wbich is treated in
a manner perfectly free and unrestrained, as the different topics rose, one after
another, in the powerfully excited raind of the prophet ; and finishes with an
epigraramatic resuraption of the point first adverted to in the introduction, and
tbe practical lesson which the piece was intended to teach.
With respect to the body of the ode, interpreters are greatly divided in opinion-
The Fathers generally, and after thera raany Catholic coraraentators, and ainong
Protestants, Cocceius, Bengel, Roos, and others, apply the whole chapter, with
certain modifications, to New Testaraent tiraes, and subject it to all the uncer
tainty of imaginary interpretation. But the principal point of disagreement
relates to the theophania, or Divine interposition, so sublimely set forth, ver. 3 —
15. According to the Targum, Abarbanel, Abenezra, Tarnovius, Munster,
Clarius, Drusius, Schnurrer, Herder, Michaelis, Green, Lowth, Tingstadius, Eich
horn, Justi, Hesselberg, Ackermann, and Ewald, the prophet adverts to tbe won
derful displays of the power and majesty of God during the early history of the
Hebrews, Maurer, Hitzig, and Delitzsch, on the other band, contend that the
future interposition of Jehovah for the destruction of the Chaldeans, is what he
exclusively conteraplates. The last-raentioned author has not only gone at
great length, and with rauch minuteness, into the subject, but appears to have
exhausted all his critical and exegetical ingenuity in his attempt to establish his
hypothesis. Taking for granted tbat Ni3^, ver. 3, cannot, by any possibility, be
construed otherwise than to express the strict futurity of the advent predicated,
he proceeds to show, frora wbat he considers to be the organic structure of the
ode ; frora tbe connexion of 'nspti and iJ'ini, ver. 16 ; and from certain features
of the picture itself, that what he calls the lyric-prophetical view is alone to be
admitted. I must, however, confess, that after a careful examination of his
arguraents, I can discover nothing in them tbat goes to overturn the historical
position adopted by the numerous writers above mentioned. That nothing m
the shape of a regular and specific recital of distinct facts is exhibited in the
tableau, cannot fairly be urged against this interpretation, since such a recital

chap. III.] HABAKKUK, 311
would ill accord with the enthusiasra and impetuosity which are so characteristic
of the ode as a species of poetry. The abrupt and rapid transitions of the
prophet did not admit of raore than a slight, though subliraely figurative allusion,
to one or two localities, which it was necessary to specify, in order to call up the
general scene of events to the raind of the reader : all the rest is left to be sup
phed by his familiar acquaintance with the sacred national records. What he
aims at is to produce a powerful impression, by condensing, within the shortest
possible limits, a view of the magnalia Dei, as exhibited in these records. And
tbis be does by giving utterance to the total irapression which they produced
upon his own raind, rather than by furnishing a detailed historical description.
Regarding the coraposition in this light, tbe obscurity and apparent incoherence
vvhich attach to certain parts of it are at once accounted for.
As parallels to this ode, we raay adduce Deut. xxxiii. 2 — 5 ; Jud. v. 4, 5 ;
Ps. Ixviii. 7, 8, Ixxvii, 13—20, cxiv, ; Is. Ixiii. 11—14. That the Holy Spirit
availed himself, so to speak, of sorae of these passages in presenting the subject
to the view of the prophet, tbere can, I think, be little doubt. The agreeraent in
point of phraseology, especially as it respects Ps. Ixxvii. is raost palpable. Some,
indeed, have raaintained the priority of our ode to the Psalra ; but Delitzsch has
proved, by an elaborate collation of passages and expressions, that this hy
pothesis is entirely without foundation, and that Habakkuk had the Psalm brought
to his mind, just as be bad the song of Moses called up to his recollection.
The following description of this sublime ode, by the master pen of Bishop
Lowth, is not more beautiful than just : " The prophet, indeed, illustrates this
subject throughout with equal magnificence ; selecting from such an assemblage
of miraculous incidents, the most noble and iraportant, displaying thera in the
most splendid colours, and embellishing them with the sublimest imagery, figures,
and diction, the dignity of which is so heightened and recommended by tbe
superior elegance of the conclusion, that were it not for a few shades, which the
hand of time has apparently cast over it in two or three passages, no, composition
of the kind would, I believe, appear more elegant or more perfect than this
poem." Lect. xxvni. Whether the hand of time has really cast any shades
over it will appear in the sequel.
That it was designed for use in public worship, appears both from the inscrip
tion and the subscription, as well as frora the rausical terra nto, Selah, occurring
verses 3, 9, 13.
The chapter begins with the title and introduction, ver. 1, 2. Habakkuk
then represents Jehovah as appearing in glorious raajesty on Sinai, 3, 4 ; describes
the ravages of the plague in tbe desert, 5 ; the, consternation into which the
nations were thrown by the victorious approach of tbe Hebrews to Canaan and
tbeir wars with tbe inhabitants, 6—10; specially refers to the celestial phe
nomenon at Gibeon, 11 ; and then sets forth the auspicious results of the inter
position of God on behalf of his people, 12 — 15. The prophet concludes by
resuming the subjectof the introduction, 16; and strongly asserting his unshaken
confidence in God in the midst ofthe anticipated calamity, 17  19.

312 HABAKKUK. [chap, hi.
1 A piiAYER of Habakkuk, the prophet: with triumphal music.
2 0 Jehovah ! I heard the report of thee, I was afraid ;
0 Jehovah ! revive thy work in the midst of the years ;

1, n)Bn, usually rendered ^rai/ej-s, com
prehends all kinds of devotional cora
position, whether abounding in petitions,
supplications, &c., or not. Hence it is
applied tol all the Psalras of David
collectively, Ps. Ixxii. 20 ; and is other
wise only used in tbe inscriptions of
Psalras xvii. Ixxxvi. xc. cii. cxiii. The
terra is derived from ''^B, to separate,
distinguish ; cognate to njB ; and so to
form an opinion or judgment, to judge,
give a verdict. In Hithpael the verb
signifies to apply to a judge for a favour
able decision, to supplicate, pray. Sec. ;
and is eraployed at the comraenceraent
of the song of Hannah, 1 Sara. ii. 1.
Though the only precatory sentences
are those contained in ver. 2, yet there
are several instances of direct address
to God, which impart to the ode one of
the characteristic features of prayer.
The Lamed prefixed in plp3n'7 is that
of authorship. ni3'ati''S. That "this is a
musical term seeras beyond dispute,
frora sirailar terms occurring in the
titles of the psalms, such as n'n3n-''S,
D'jm rai' te, &c. For the explanation of
the noun, wbich only occurs here, and
in the singular )i'3ti, in the title of Ps. vii.,
different methods have been proposed.
Bauer, Herder, Perschke, De "Wette,
Rosenraiiller, Lee, Hitzig, and Maurer,
have recourse to the Arabic -sf^t
anx'nis, tristis, mcestus fuit, and render
nii'iti"''?, after the manner of elegies, but
there seems no reason deducible either
from the present ode or from the Psalm,
why they should be thus characterised,
or why they should be sung to a plaintive
tune, but the contrary. Others, as Wahl,
Justi, Gesenius, derive the word from
p
the Syriac l,_EOi in Pael, u,>-£Oi cecinit,
p -J.
whence ]A, om. carmen, cantus, to
which it has justly been objected, that
it is too vague and indefinite to admit of
adoption. 'The LXX., indeed, have
¦^dXpos in the Psalm, and here dhls;

but without any apparent reference lo
the specific raeaning of the term. Other
philologists, more reasonably content
themselves with nati, an indigenous
Hebrew verb in common use, signifying
to err, wander, reel, Szc. This inter
pretation Aquila, Symin., and the fifth
Greek version so far support, rendering,
£7ri dyvorjpdrav, which Jerorae adopts,
on the principle that nati signifies to sin
through ignorance. To this derivation
Hengstenberg has recently given bis
adhesion (Comm. on Psalms, vol, i,
p. 144), but most preposterously affirms,
that in our ode the sins or crimes ofthe
Chaldeans are intended. There is nothing
either in the Psahn or in the song of
Habakkuk to warrant tbe appropriation
of any such signification of the term.
The raost probable explanation is that
given by Delitzsch, who is of opinion
that Ji'ati ineans a dithyrambos, or cantio
erratica, a species of rhythmicalcomposi-
tion, which, frora its enthusiastic irregu
larity, is adrairably adapted for songs of
victory or triuraph. It is obvious, how
ever, frora the established use of the pre
position ''S, upon, after the manner of, or
accompanied w'lth, in the titles of the
Psalras, that the plural niJ'Jti, to which,
in like raanner, it is here prefixed, must
be understood as describing a correspond
ing kind of rausic with which the ode
was to be accompanied. The translation
of Theodotion, vnep t&v eKovaiaapdv,
i.e. as Jerome interprets tbe words, pro
voluniariis, has, in all probability, some
such reference.
2. The snti, report of Jehovah, here
referred to by the prophet, does not
mean what God had coramunicated to
hira, but a report respecting Jehovah,
or the punishment which he had threat
ened to inflict upon the Jews for their
sins. The genitive is that of object.
That it cannot refer to what follows in
the ode is certain, since the exhibition
there given of the Divine interposition
for the overthrow of the enemies of his
people was calculated to inspire the
prophet with joy, and not with the fear

chap

III.]

HABAKKUK.

313

In the midst of the years make it known :
In wrath remember mercy.
God came from Teman ;
The Holy One from mount Paran : Pause.

of which he declares he was conscious.
His prayer also, that while punishment
was being inflicted, God would exercise
pity, shows that the Jews, and not the
Chaldeans, were to be the subjects of
the infliction. It may, therefore, be
regarded as certain, that what he has in
view is the prediction chap. i. 6 — 11.
The fear with which the prophet was
seized, he particularly describes ver. 16.
By 1'?SB, thy work, Abarbanel, Kirachi,
Schnurrer, Justi, and some others,
understand the Jews, on the ground
that they are designated tbe ''SB, work
of Jehovah's hands, Is, xlv, 11 ; but the
simple occurrence of the same word,
irrespective of the specific claims of the
connexion, cannot justify such a con
struction of the raeaning. In chap. i. 5,
the term is used of the Divine judgment
upon the Jews, as il also is Is. v. 12,
and of tbat upon their eneraies, Ps.
lxiv. 9. This latter sense, which involves
tbe exercise of tbe power and goodness
of God on behalf of his people, alone
suits the present context. Comp. Ps.
xc. 16. What the prophet prays for
is the renewal of such interposition.
This he expresses by the strong term
njn, quicken, restore to life, whicii sug
gests thc idea of a long cessation of
the avenging and delivering power of
the Most High. It had been, in regard
to its exertion, as if it had been dead,
and required to be called forth afresh
into action. Thus Jarchi: •]''SB in"n
msn ':«) 33p3 ii'aiND n'' stb: nn"niB 'ic^nn
ina'ffini im3iB 3i3i''3 in"n na d"13ib unic.
Thy former work, when thou didst avenge
us of our enemies, in ihe midst of the
years ef the calamity in which we live,
revive ii,'i.e. rouse it up, cause it to return.
Corap. Is. li. 9, 10. No stress is to be
laid on the phrase D'lti a'lpa, in the midst
ef the years, frora which Bengel deduced
so much fanciful support to his chrono
logical calculations ; maintaining that
the middle point of the years of the
world is meant. The D':ti are unquestion
ably the years, or period of affliction.

which was to come upon the Jewish
people. a3p.| is not to be taken in tbe
strict acceptation of the middle point of
any given period of time, but is, as
frequently, only a more eraphatic pre
positive form, instead of a, in. The
meaning, therefore, simply is. During
the period of suffering, or, in the course
of our punishraent by the Chaldeans,
interpose for our deliverance. Syrara.
e'vTos rdv eviavrdv. To give pathos to
the language, the phrase is repeated ;
and B'^iin is added, as synonyraous with
irr'n, the suffix of which is to be under
stood, though not expressed. The verb
ST, to knew, is here used in the sense
of experiencing, knowing by experience.
om, the infinitive, is to be regarded
as an accusative, Corap. Ps. xxv. 6 :
nnn D'jsp '3 ?['3prTi njn^ iTpni'33!. It is
merely necessary to exhibit the version
of this verse as now found in the text of
the LXX. to show that it can only
have originated in the amalgaraation of
different readings, sorae of thera probably
raarginal glosses, and that it would be
raost unwarrantable to atterapt any
correction of the Hebrew text bv it :
Jlfpte, etaaKrjKoa Ti]v aKorjv aov, Kat
ecl^o^rjBrjv, Karavorjaa rd epya aov Kal
e^iaTrjV iv peaco hvo ^dav yvaaBrjar),
iv TO) iyyt^eiv rd 'errj eniyvaaBrjarj iv to
napelvui rdj' Katpdv dvahetxBrjari, iv tm
rapaxBijvat ttjv -^vxr'iV fiou, ev dpyrj
eXeovs pvrjaBrjarj.
3. ni^H is not used by any of the
rainor prophets except Habakkuk, and
by hira only here, and chap. i. 11. It
occurs four tiraes in Daniel, and once
in Isaiah, but never in Jereraiah or
Ezekiel. There is no foundation what-
everforthe position assumed by Gesenius
and some others, that this use of the
singular belongs to the later Hebrew,
though it is allowed to belong to the
poetic diction. It is employed forty
times in the book of Job, one of the
most ancient specimens of Hebrew com
position extant, and twice by Moses,
Deut. xxxii. tii3/7, Holy, which is here
S S

314 HABAKKUK.
His splendour covered the heavens,
And the earth was full of his praise.

[chap. 111,

parallel to ni''N, God, also occurs in this
application to express the absolute purity
of the Divine Being, Jobvi. 10; Is.
xl. 25 ; and in the plural, D'ti3p, Prov.
ix. 10, xxx. 3; Hos. xii. 1, Delitzsch
contends, that, as t<3^ is uninfiuenced
by any preceding preterite, it cannot
possibly be taken otherwise than as
strictly future in signification, as it is in
form. But this is not the only instance
in which the future stands absolutely at
the coraraenceraent of a sentence or
paragraph, yet clearly indicating a past
transaction. Thus Num. xxiii. 7, D3N-jp,
pb3 'jna; ; Jud. ii. 1 , onspp D3.iin nVsN ;
2"Sam. iii. 33, 333N nip; ''31 nitaan ; Job
iii. 3, i3 3'?iN Di' 3aN^ ; Ps. Ixxx. 9, on^^p |B3
S'tsn. The idiora, in these and similar
cases, is sufficiently accounted for on
the principle that tbe speaker places
himself, in imagination, anterior to the
action expressed by tbe verb, and tbus,
regarding it as still future, puts the verb
in that tense. Having prayed that God
would remember tbe mercy which he
had shown to his people in ancient days,
the prophet has his mind carried back
to their affliction in Egypt, in their
deliverance frora which that mercy was
signally displayed ; and assuming thait
as his point of observation, be proceeds
at once to describe the Tlieophania .as
future in regard to such position. The
past, thus iraplied, tbough not expressed,
as completely modifies a future tense,
as if a preterite, or any qualifying parti
cle, had preceded it. ]^'B, Teman, the
LXX. retain as a proper name : tbe
Targ., Syr., Theod., Vulg., and raany
raodern versions read, the^ south. The
word is doubtless to be taken as desig
nating the country to the south of Judea,
and east of Idumea, in wbich latter
country Mount Paran CnNB 3n) was
situated. Sorae, indeed, haveendeavoured
to identify this raountain with Sinai, on

the ground that

u!/:^ i^'^'j

*il,- Wady

/'/(eiran, which extends north-west frora
Sinai, is the same as I3NB i33p, the desert
of Paran, mentioned in Scripture. But
although this desert might bave stretched

so far towards the south-west as to touch
upon the Wady, and so give it the name,
it is certain, from Paran being raentioned
in connexion with Kadesh and Beer
sheba, that the wilderness of that name
extended to the southern confines of
Palestine, including the mountainous
region to the west of the Ghor, or great
valley stretching from the Dead Sea to
the Elanitic gulf. In 1 Kings xi. 18, it
is spoken of as lying betvveen Midian
and Egypt. From Sinai occurring along
with Seir and Paran, Deut. xxxiii. 2,
and with Seir and the country of Edom,
Jud. V. 4, 5, it is probable that Habakkuk
here alludes to tbe regions to the south
of Palestine generally, as the theatre of
the Divine raanifestations to Israel, only,
like Moses and Deborah, specifying
the two points nearer to that country.
In this view, his omission of Sinai, which
they notice, is not of material raoment.
The glorious displays of the power and
raajesty of Jehovah which had been
made in that quarter occupied his
thoughts, and inspired him with feelings
of the most exalted devotion, nto, Selah.
'This word, which occurs thrice in this
ode, and seventy-three times in the
Psalras, has been variously interpreted.
That it is a rausical sign is now almost
universally adraitted. It is found at the
end of certain sections, or strophes, and
always at the close of a verse, except
Hab. iii. 3, 9 ; Ps. lv. 20. Ivii. 4 ; where
however, as always, it ends the hemistich.
Soraetiraes it occurs at the end of a
Psalm, as Ps. iii. ix. and xxiv. The
current, and apparently the traditionary
interpretation, is that ofthe Targ. )'p';?5 ;
Aq. dei; Syrara.sometimeseif Toi/aifflro;
Theod.soraetiraes€isTfXof ; the V.Greek
version, htanavrds ; but Symm, and
Theod. most coraraonly coincide with
the LXX., who uniforraly render, htd-
ij/aXpa. This last translation is de
cidedly entitled to the preference, in
so far as it confines the idea to the
rausic, tbough the exact raeaning even
of tbis Greek terra has been matter of
dispute, Suidas, however, seems to coine
nearest to the raark, when he gives as-
its meaning piXovs evaXXayri, a change

CHAP, III,]

HABAKKUK.

315

The brightness was like that of the .sun,
Rays streamed from his hand,
Yet the concealment of his glory was there.

of the raodulation, and with hira Hesy
chius agrees, explaining it by piXovs
htaXXayrj. "rhe hypothesis that nto is
merely -an abbreviation, consisting of
tbe initial letters of three Hebrew words,
is altogether gratuitous, there not being
the least shadow of evidence that the
Jews, in ancient tiraes, ever eraployed
abbreviations. Pfeiffer, in his work, Die
Musik der Alten Hebr. p. 17, proposes
to explain the term by the Arab. J^i,,
membrum, or section ; Prof. Lee, by
is Juo, 'iit*' wbich he renders, Dei invo-
catio.and derives from JwOi he blessed;
but neither of these derivations will suit
all the passages in which it occurs.
Indeed, bless ! or praise ! would corae
in raost incongruously in such con
nexions as Ps. vii. 5, xxxix. 5,11; lii. 3.
Of the two Hebrew roots to which the
word bas been referred, ''to, te raise,
elevate, and nto, which, besides signify
ing io raise, has been supposed to be
equivalent to nVti, to rest, pause, the
latter, on the wliole, seems to deserve
the preference. There are several in
stances in which the letter ti has been
softened into D, as in Ji'Tii and ]i'3p ; 3'pti
and 3ipp ; just as, in raost cases, we find
it expressed in Arabic by ^_ This
derivation, in which Gesenius finally
acquiesced, has been approved of by
Delitzsch and Hengstenberg. Tbe term
raay be regarded as a substantive, sig
nifying silence or pause ; designed, in all
probability, to coraraand a cessation of
the song or chant, while the instruraents
either repeated what bad just been
played, or introduced an interlude be
tween the parts. At the end of a psalra
it raay have been intended to prevent
a repetition on the part of the singers,
while the instruraental rausic continued.
Having, by a soleran pause, prepared
the mind for the contemplation of the
manifested glory of Jehovah, the prophet
proceeds to describe this glory in the
most sublime and magnificent language.

By rfrin is never meant splendour or
briyhtness, as the Targ., Kirachi, and
Hitzig interpret ; nor does it here express
the actual praises of the inhabitants of
the earth produced by the efi'ulgence of
Deity, for tbe effect of this efi'ulgence is
described, ver. 6, to be fear and trera
bling; hut matter ef praise, or the glory
which was calculated to call forth uni
versal adoration.
4. By 3i« vve are not here to under
stand light siraply, but tbe sun as the
source of light. Comp. Job xxxi. 26,
xxxvii. 21. The Karaetz of the article
in 3 renders the noun more definite.
n;nn, which Heidenheira would connect
with yiNn, and Hitzig with injm, in the
preceding verse, can bave no other
nominative than nil, wbich, like other
substantives in the Oriental languages,
e-xpressive of flre or light, is conceived
to be of the feminine gender, or it may
be regarded as neuter in signification,
and so taking the feminine of the verb.
That by D;i"ip, horns, we are here to
understand rays, is obvious frora the
connexion, frora the coraparison of the
rising sun scattering his rays upon the
earth to the gazelle, Ps. xxii. 1, and
frora its being common with the Arabs
tq corapare thera to the horns of that
animal. Thus the Arab. J, cornu
animalts, latus supjerier pars solis, primi
radiis sells. Kamoos and Djauhari.
Hence,the verb pp. signifies to emit rays,
Exod. xxxiv. 29, 30, 35. Though in the
dual, tbe noun, like others of that
nuraber wbich describe objects naturally
existing in pairs, is here expressive of
the plural. Comp. D;^a-i S33N, Lev. xi. 23 ;
D;iti ti'jti, 1 Sara. ii. 13 ; b;a3a ''3, Ezek'.
xxi. 12 ; and see my note on Is. vi. 2;
D.'1'.V fiMti, Zech. iii. 9, The phrase i3'a,
from his hand, is equivalent to ^i-o^,from
him; and a verb of flowing, streaming,
or the hke, must be supplied, i^ is the
dative of possession. Dti, there, refers
to the scene of splendour just described,
which, though so excessively bright,
instead of exhibiting the Divine glory.

316 HABAKKUK,
5 Before him went the plague ;
The burning pestilence followed him,
6 He stood, and made the earth to tremble ;
He looked, and caused the nations to shake ;
The old moimtains were shattered in pieces,
The ancient hills sank down —
His ancient's ways.

[chap, IH,

only veiled or concealed it. Corap. Ps.
civ. 2. The LXX., Syr., Aq., and
Symra., have read Dto), and he put, in
stead of Dtil, and there, and are followed
by Hitzig and Maurer, but this render
ing is less apt. is in sucb connexion
denotes majesty or glory rather than
power. Corap. Ps. cxxxii. 8, lxxviii. 61.
For nis raany MSS. read iis, the regular
affix. Whether the substratum of tbe
vivid representation here furnished of
tbe glorious majesty of Jehovah be the
syrabol ofthe Divine presence exhibited
upon Mount Sinai, Exod. xxiv. 17, or
the Shekinah which accorapanied the
Hebrews through the desert, chap. xvi.
7,10; Lev. ix. 23, xl. 35, &c., cannot
be determined. See on ver. 3.
5. fl'ii'i, from f]ti3, to inflame, has two
leading significations, that of Ughtning, or
flame, and that of hot, or burning fever.
The latter is required in the present
case to correspond to 33'1, plague, in the
preceding hemistich : a circumstance
which forbids the adoption of the pre
carious rendering, birds of prey, though
supported by tbe Syr., Aq., Syrara.,
Theod., the V. Greek version, Michaelis,
Schnurrer, Herder, Kofod, Dahl, Rosen
raiiller, and others ; as well as that of
lightning, adopted by Kalinsky, Wahl,
Bauer, and others ; and burning coals, as
in our coramon version. Thus Kirachi:
'nrti 131, nura ni''m ''laa psni, 333 loa t]iB3
nn'»3Di nB3iiDn non Ninin nn3pn '''in Nim, rjiin
n3nn, i.e. "r]iB3 corresponds to 3ai, tbe
same thing being expressed in diff'erent
words. The word has the same significa
tion Deut. xxxii. 24, and denotes the
fever, which consists in a burning heat,
and speedily causes death." The Vulg.
has, " Et egredietur diabolus ante pedes
ejus! " byfi^-^ or 'Tj''n, means to track or
follow any one. Here it is opposed to
nsb, before him. What the prophet has
in vievv, vvould seem to be the plagues

with which the enemies of the Hebrews
were visited, of which we have an in
stance 1 Sam. V. 9, 11.
6. 33fe;i ips, forras an easy and elegant
paronoraasia, and, at the sarae time,
exhibits one of the boldest, most abrupt,
and sublime turns to be found in sacred
poetry. While Jehovah is raarching
forth for the deliverance of his people,
he stops all of a sudden in his progress,
the iramediate effects of whicb are uni
versal consternation and terror. Nature,
in ber strongest and raost ancient forma
tions, is broken in pieces before him. The
inhabitants of the earth tremble at his
look. 33.1b; may either be the Poel of
3'ip, to measure, or the Pilel of 3ii3, which,
like the Arab. t)L«, signifies to be agitated.
The latter derivation best suits the con
nexion. LXX. taaXevBrf i; y!;. Targ.
NB3N b;in. Arab. , ^,S| i.::^'^-V. Comp.

the cognate mn. Thus Gesenius, Lee,
Maurer, Ewald, Heidenheira, Hessel
berg, Delitzsch. The primary idea con
veyed by 3ni is that of bounding, springing
up, as a person does when overtaken by
sudden fear. In issBii; we have all the
force of intensive verbs, heightened in
effect by the harsh sound of the redupli
cated Tzade, yiB signifies to break
or dash in pieces, and al.«o to scatter,
disperse. For 3S-'33n and Djis ni93a,
comp. Gen. xlix. 26; Deut. xxxiii. 15.
Sb ob\s ni3'';n, His ancient ways, I consider
to be epexegetical of the preceding ; and
ni3'to is to be taken in tbe same sense as
D'^^¦;' in the sentence ''n-'33'1 n'tiNl sin.
Job xl. 19, which describes the hippo
potamus as " the first or principal of
the ways of God," i.e. his creative acts,
his works. Tbe words may be resolved
into i'' 3tiN. D^is ni3'';n, or into io^il* '^''°'%
The mountains which Jehovah had
created of old, and which had resisted

CHAP. I

II,]

HABAKKUK,

317

I saw the tents of Cushan in trouble ;
The tent-curtains of Midian trembled.
Was it against the rivers it burned, O Jehovah ?
Was thine anger against the rivers ?
Was thy wrath against the sea ?
That thou didst ride upon thy horses,
In thy chariots of victory.

the revolutions of ages, were now shat
tered in pieces, and dissipated like dust
before hira. "The irresistibility of his
power, and the utter imbecility of tbe
most formidable enemies of his people,
are tbe ideas conveyed by tbe language
of the prophet.
7. pN nnn, " Mn&r affliction," is more
expressive than ']1N3, "m affliction," as it
suggests the idea of a heavy load by
which those spoken of were oppressed,
^tiia, Cushan, is now generally admitted
to be the same as til3, Cush, as ipi'',
Lotan,Gen. xxvi. 20, is only another form
of -of), Lot; but whether it be intended
to designate tbe African or the Arabian
Cush, is disputed. Gesenius, Maurer,
Delitzsch, and others, contend (br the
former ; but the connexion of the name
with that of l'^p, Midian, is decidedly
in favour of the latter. For a satis
factory refutation of the position adopted
by Gesenius, tbat Cush, and all the
tribes connected with tbis name, are
only to be sought in Africa, see Robin
son's Calmet, art. Cush. That any re
ference to Cu.shan-rishathaira, Jud. iii.
1 0, is intended, does not appear, Midian
appears to have stretched from the east
ern shores of the Elanitic Gulf to Mount
Sinai, and the frontiers of Moab. Edrisi
speaks of a town called jj.^, Madian,
about five days' journey frora Ailah, or
Akabah, and six from Tubuk. 'The
"tents" and "cmtains" describe the
nomadic mode of life as still found
among the B.-dawin of the Arabian
deserts. - ni9'3;, the coverings ofthe tents,
so called frora their tremulous raotion
when hanging down like curtains and
aff'ected by the wind. The word is here
used merely as a synonyme of d'.''^n,
tents ; and both are put by metonymy
for the persons dwelling in them.
8. The prophet rising in his graphic

description of the ancient manifestations
of Jehovah, now by a bold apostrophe
inquires why the rivers were affected by
thera? Was it on account of any cause
in the rivers? The iraplied answer is,
No ; and the true cause is assigned at
tbe close of the verse — the safe and vic
torious deliverance ofthe Israelites frora
Egypt, and their introduction into Ca
naan, nin; is in the vocative, and the
subject of tbe verb n3n is tjBN, in the
second hemistich. D'^ni, the rivers, mean
the waters of the Red Sea, and the
Jordan, which were dried up to allow
them to pass over on foot. The former
is not indeed a river, but may not in
aptly be included under tbe terra, on
account of the flowing of the tide, which
is said to rise at Suez to about the height
of seven feet. On the rairaculous
division of the sea, recorded Exod. xiv.,
it was m;ide to go or flow back the whole
night, ver. 21. For the application of
3rii to the streara tide of the Mediter
ranean, see Jonah ii. 4. That the rivers
of Cush should be intended is altogether
out of the question. Specifically, how
ever, to mark out the Red Sea, it is
afterwards expressly called D; in the third
hemistich. Corap. as parallel with the
present verse, Exod. xv. ; Ps. Ixxvii. 13,
cxiv. 3, 5. Jehovah is here, and in the
following verses, represented as a mighty
and victorious warrior, giving orders to
his array, and, in triuraphant progress,
carrying all before hira. Corap. Exod.
XV, 3, xiv. 14. r]N, anger, and nj^s,
wrath, are synonyraes, only the latter is
the stronger of the two, signifying unre
strained indignation ; frora 33S, to pass
over, or beyond a boundary. By " horses"
and "chariots," tbere is no necessity for
our understanding either the angels, or
thunder and lightning, as some would
interpret. They are merely figurative
expressions, designed to carry out the

318

HABAKKUK.

[chap. III,

9 Naked and bared was thy bow,
" Sevens of spears " was the word: Pause.
Thou didst cleave the earth into rivers.

metaphor adopted from military opera
tions. In the phrase nsiti; fi'naa3i3, sup
ply 'JB, upon, before the former'word, and
repeat nia?3p, chariots, before the latter.
Comp. for instances of similar construc
tion, '':n 'lisp, 2 Sam. xxiii. 33. ti> 'oma,
Ps. Ixxi. 7 ; DQi r[333, Ezek. xvi. 27.—
^iti; has, in such connexion, the specific
signification of victory, though the idea
of salvation or deliverance, as the result,
is not to be lost sight of.
9. The corabination 3isn n;-!S, which
forms a paronomasia, determines the
signification of 31S, as here employed,
to be that of being bare or naked, and
not that of rousing or exciting. For
tbough the Piel 33.is is used of tbe lifting
up of a spear, there would be no pro
priety in thus applying it to a bow:
whereas the substantive nj'iS, nakedness,
having just been employed, nothing was
raore natural than to add 3isn, to be bared
¦ — 31B being thus cognate in signification
vvith n'ls, from which nns is derived,
and with tis. nns is useii adjectively,
as in nnsi ?3,s pNi, Ezek. xvi. 7. 3isn is
not the second, but the third person
singular in Niphal, having for its no
rainative nti,'3, which is of coraraon
gender. Sorae of the moderns have
explained ntip, of the rainbow, than
which nothing can be conceived more
incongruously out of place in a passage
containing a sublime poetical description
of warlike operations. The making
bare the bow, refers to the reraoval of
the cover in which it was carefully
wrapped, to prevent its receiving injury,
or of such a leathern case as the yapvrds,
KapvTos, corytus, of the Greeks and
Roraans. Of the following words, niS3ti
3p'N niiap, upwards of one hundred differ
ent interpretations have been proposed.
'That which I have adopted appears to
me best to suit tbe connexion. It keeps
up the spirit of the poera, and is fully
justified on the simplest and most legiti
mate etymological grounds. That nisati
cannot signify oaths, is deterrained by
tbe circurastance that " the oaths ofthe
tribes," the rendering of our coramon
version, affords no tolerable sense as

here introduced, whether we regard the
tribes as the persons swearing, or as
those to whora oaths were sworn. The
other signification of nsiati, is seven, a
hepiade, or what is raade up of seven.
It is elsewhere literally applied only to
this number of weeks ; but in connexion
with language so highly figurative as
that of our prophet in the present
chapter, no objection can reasonably be
taken against its being used otherwise
than as a designation of time. It appears
to have been appropriated by hira, to
express tbe perfection, fulness, or abun
dance, of the nuraber, instead of the
usual numeral sati or nsati, when em
ployed symbolically as a sacred and
indefinite number, npp signifies a tribe,
but also, as iD3ti, 2 Sam. xviii. 14, a
lance or spear ; and that the latter sig
nification is that in which Habakkuk
bere uses it may be inferred from his
using it in this acceptation in the Hth
verse. Thus the Syr, jyl . 3nl< has
been variously ren dered by word, promise,
epicinium, commander, &c. I take itin
the first of these significations, as speci
fically designating the military order
or word of command. Compare Ps.
Ixviii. 12, 3q!<-jw ':3n, ".the Lord gave
the word," Szc Thus 3pN, like the Arab.
j.<l, signifies to order, command. The
meaning of the prophet will therefore
be, that Jehovah prepared his bow for
battle, and ordered numerous spears lo
be produced ; in other words, that he
brought the most formidable and eff'cc-
tive instruraentality to bear against the
eneraies ofhis people. The nominative
to spa.-ii is not yiN, as some would construe
the words, but nin; understood from the
suffix in ?jn^p. Corap. Tapa D'li sga;,
Ps. lxxviii. 1'5. Before ni3ni supply ) or
3 ; to cleave into rivers. 'The effect of
the Divine comraand is sublimely re
presented under the idea of that which
is frequently produced by earthquakes,
when imraense quantifies of water gush
out of the fissures, and flow like rivers

CHAP. III.J

HABAKKUK.

319

10 The mountains saw thee, they were in pain ;
The inundation of water overflowed ;
The abyss uttered its voice,
It raised its- hands on high.
11 Sun and moon stood back in their habitation,
At the light of thine arrows which fiew,
At the glittering brightness of thy lance.

through the country. The whole verse
is distinguished for its sublimity and
beauty ; and the sentiment conveyed in
the two first lines was regarded as so
weighty that a nto, Selah, or pause, is
added, to give tirae for its producing its
proper eff'ect, before suppleraenting the
concluding line.
10. The mountains being tbe raost
prominent objects on tbe surface of the
globe, Habakkuk reiterates, in a sorae
what different form, what he had ex
pressed, ver. 6, in order to preserve the
impression of the treraendous character
of the transactions, to illustrate whicb
they had been figuratively introduced.
In tbe forraer case nN3 is used of Jeho
vah : in tbis, of the mountains, which
are, by a bold figure, represented as
inspired vvitb life, and capable of taking
sensible cognizance ofthe manifestations
of Deity. To express the instantaneous
character of tbe effect, I'J'rr, they quaked,
is put in tbe future. The root ''in or >n
properly signifies to ttvisi, writhe, as with
pain, and is frequently used of a woman
in travail. It is also employed in the
sense of quaking or trembling, which
idea is conveyed by it in this place.
" Silvarum juga coepta moveri
Adventante Deo." Virgil.
D?P D3;, a torrent of water, i. e. an
extreraely heavy rain, in contradis
tinction frora 333 D'TI, a hail storm. Is.
xxviii. 2. Di3, elevation, is used ad
verbially. By in'T, the elongated pro
norainal form of I'X, its hands, is meant
the waves of the ocean. Di»n, the ocean,
its antecedent, is of both genders. The
whole of nature is here exhibited as
thrown into consternation at the ap
proach of God. The mountains trerable;
the heavens pour down sweeping tor
rents of rain ; the sea roars, and causes

its billows lo "run raountains high,"
Corap. Ps. Ixxvii. 17.
11. IXJ 1'''?''? form an asyndeton, and
are probably so put for the sake of effect.
In many MSS., however, the ellipsis of
the 1 is supplied. The paragogic n in
n^ai, is that of direction or motion, and
the idea which it conveys, as here used
with the verb 3pB, is not that the sun
and raoon reraained. stationary in a part
of the firmament, whicb is represented
as their dwelling or habitation, but that
they stood back or withdrew into tbat
locality. It was usual with the Arabian
astronomers to assign houses or chambers
to the celestial orbs. Thus /Jlv*,
mansio, domus, is the name of the signs
of the Zodiac ; and cj| (Uj, the
circle of the palaces vvhich the sun
occupies. Job, likewise, speaks of '3.313
]pn, the chambers of ihe south, anti
thetically with the northern constella
tions, ch. ix, 9; as also of ni3ip, chap,
xxxviii. 32, the same as ni'iip, inns or
lodgings, 2 Kings xxiii. 5. That specific
reference is made to what is recorded
Josh. X. 12, is, after the Targ., very
generally admitted ; but, though it were
granted that the event tbere described
may have suggested the language of the
prophet, yet the point of view in which
he presents the heavenly luminaries is
altogether different. In the history,
the construction to be put upon their
standing still or being arrested in their
course, is obviously their continuing to
shine, in order to afford light to Joshua,
while following up his victory over
the eneray; whereas, in tbe present
connexion, they are sublimely intro
duced as retiring into their abode before
the brighter refulgence of the arrows
and lances eraployed in the conflict.
So completely were they eclipsed by

320

HABAKKUK.

[chap. ih.

1^ Indignant thou didst march through the earth ;
Wrathful thou didst tread down the nations.
13 Thou wentest forth for the deliverance of thy people,
For the deliverance of thine anointed ;

this refulgence, tbat it seemed as if they
had set. Schnurrer and Justi interpret
the language of tbeir remaining in their
habitation, in the sense of not rising,
but tbe n of motion is directly opposed
to such construction. The '' in 3iN'; and
nii'j is the dative of cause, as in 33ri.'.nl<l';
'ail, "at, or owing to tliis, my iieart
trembled," Job xxxvii. 1. Supply 3'i£'N
before i3^.n;, which is put in Piel for the
purpose of marking the velocity of tbe
motion of the arrows. Tbe words 3iN
and nab, which are elsewhere used of the
light of tbe sun and the moon respec
tively, are here transferred to the glitter
of the weapons specified.
12. 3S2, to march, is used of the
soleran and raajestic proceeding of Jeho
vah before the Hebrews, Judges V. 4; Ps.
Ixviii. 8. tin, to thresh or tread down,
is applied metaphorically to tbe de
struction of enemies, Micah iv. 13.
13. Having described, in language of
the most sublirae and terrible iraport,
the manifestations of Jehovah in refer
ence to his eneraies, Habakkuk now
proceeds to specify in express terras the
end whicb tbey were designed to answer,
viz. the deliverance and safety of his
chosen people ; and then depicts their
fatal effects in the destruction of every
hostile power. The second Spb is era
ployed instead of the infinitive S'tiinb,
and thus governs tbe accusative 5^n'i?i3TaN.
These last words Aq. and the author of
the fifth Greek version render els aa-
TTjptov avv Xptard aov, and the Vulg.
in salutem cum Christo iuo, which has
led raany interpreters, both ancient and
modern, to refer rrtip, ihe anointed, to
our Saviour. This construction of tbe
passage is adopted even by Delitzsch,
on tbe principle that as the term here
designates the regal office of those who
were ofthe Davidic dynasty, and Christ
is represented as the greatest king of
that family, consequently The Anointed
by way of erainence, be is to be regarded
as included in the prophetic reference.
By the law of parallelisra, however, we

are corapelled to identify in'tip, thine
anointed, with ^jps, thy people, in the
preceding hemistich. The noun is thus
a collective, and is rendered in the plural
by the LXX. ro-us xpt-o-Tovs aov, or, as
in the Alex. MS,, to-vs iKXeKrovs aov.
The plural ^'n'tip is actually found in
two of Kennicott's MSS., and apparently
in two more : in one of De Rossi's, and
two more originally. It is denied, in
deed, by Delitzsch, that n'tip, anointed,
is ever used of tbe people of Israel ; and
certainly none of the passages which
bave usually been adduced in support
of this application of the terra, can be
fairly vindicated to it, except, perhaps,
Ps. xxviii. 8, where in'vSn corresponds to
inb, or iias'^, acccording to the reading of
six MSS., originally tliree more, and the
rendering of the LXX., Syr., Vulg., and
Arab. Still, as the Hebrews were nstoo
D'3n|), a kingdom of priests, Exod. xix. 6,
they may with as much propriety be
said to have been anointed, as tbe
patriarchs are, 1 Chron. xvi. 22; Ps.
cv. 15. The terra, as thus applied,
expresses their destination. The Dagesh
forte is found in the initial i of tiN3 in
sorne editions, and is one of the few
instances ofits occurrence in this letter,
contrary to rule. Corap. 1 Sam. i. 6,
A. 24 ; 2 Kings vi. 32 ; Prov. iii. 8,
xiv. 10 ; Song v. 2 ; Jer. xxxix. 12 ;
Ezek. xvi. 4. Delitzsch accounts for it
on the principle of the word being short,
and occurring after a Milel. The pre
positive D in n'ap intimates, that the
ruler here spoken of as the head, was
not merely over the house, which thc
simple construct forra would have ex
pressed, but that he sprung from it. It
is raost probable that one or other of
the Canaanitish kings is intended ; per
haps J abin, whose city Hazor is said to
have been tiN3, the head of all the con
federate kings, Josh. xi. 10; and vpas
the most forraidable of all the kings
with whora the Hebr.ewshad to contend.
Judges iv. 3, 13. The general sense of
the concluding hemistich is apparent;

chap. III.]

HABAKKUK.

321

Thou dashedst in pieces the head of the house of the wicked,
Laying bare the foundation to the very neck : Pause.
14 Thou piercedst with his own spears the chief of his captains,
That rushed on like a tempest to scatter me ;
Whose joy it was to devour the poor in secret.
15 Thou wentest with thy horses through the sea,
The boiling up of many waters.

but considerable difficulty attaches to
the interpretation of 3ni2, neck, as here
connected with Tio;, foundation. This
connexion is so strongly marked by the
force of the preposition 3B, even te, that
the former substantive cannot be sepa
rated from the latter, and referred to
some supposable higher part of the
figurative building. It must, from the
structure of the language, describe tbe
very lowest part of the foundation, or
that on which tbe foundation itself rests ;
but how either of these could be called
the neck, it is impossible to conceive.
There is, therefore, very great probability
in the conjecture of Cappellus, which
bas been approved by Herder, Green,
and some others, that instead of tnis,
neck, the text originally read T12, rock,
which makes all plain. Both words are de
rived from the same root ; and 3!«s occurs
with the N, Neh. iii. 5. All the MSS,
and versions support the present reading,
ni"* is tbe infinitive absolute, wbich is
often employed in the prosecution of a
statement, instead of the finite forra of
the verb. The historical facts which
the prophet here poetically describes,
appear evidently to be those narrated
Josh, xi. ; Judges iv., involving the
complete destruction of tbe Canaanitish
nations, and raore especially the dis
comfiture of Sisera, celebrated by De
borah in her splendid triumphal song,
Judges V.
14, After a solemn pause, marked by
ti^D, Selah, Habakkuk prosecutes bis
subject, which still embraces the dis
comfiture of the enemies of Israel, ved,
his own spears, tbe same as niisp, ver. 9.
Interpreters are divided in regard to
the signification of iriB, or, as it is in
the Keri, and in the text of a great
number of MSS., and of four of the
early editions, 1'13B. The traditionary
interpretation is that of villagers, or the

inhabitants of the country ; hence hordes,
which Delitzsch adopts, and explains it
of armies or soldiers. Thus the Vulg.,
capiti bellaterum ejus. Perschke, Gese
nius, Ewald, and other moderns, how
ever, derive the word frora tbe Arab.
jji, segregavit, discrevit, modum peescrip-
sit, statuit, Szc, and explain it of judges,
captains, Szc, which appears to be the
raore appropriate raeaning. Thus the
„. p
LXX., hwdarai ; the Syr. liA^^A !
just as tbe former in tbe Vatican codex
render tbe cognate noun liTi?, Judges
V. 7, 11, by hvvaTo\ and the Vulg. by
fortes. The pronorainal suffix refers to
stir, the wicked, in the preceding verse.
Before 13S13; supply TtiN. In using the
first personal suffix singular in the
following verb, the prophet so identifies
himself with bis people as to represent
wbat was aimed at them as designed
for hira. Corap. ch. i. 12, The norai
native to Dr«'iis is I'lTB, his captains. Iu
the last beraistich, the object of cora
parison is tbe robber who lies in wait
for the poor defenceless traveller, and
exults when he sees hira approach. Such
was the exultation of the Canaanitish
chiefs when the Israelites entered the
country. Corap. Ps, x. 8 — 10.
15. Tj'DiD must either be taken as an
accusative absolute, as to thy horses ; or
it must have a 3 supplied before it. The
latter I have adopted as the easier mode
of resolving the forra. Tpri describes
here the boiling up or foaming of the
sea in a storm. Tbe immediate con
nexion, however, shows, that what the
prophet bas in view is not the Red Sea,
but the hostile army of the Canaanites,
which presented a furious and impene
trable aspect to the Hebrews, Through
this array Jehovah is represented as
T T

322

HABAKKUK,

[chap, hi.

16 I heard, and my inward parts trembled,
At the sound my lips quivered ;
Rottenness entered my bones,
I trembled in my place :
Yet I shall have rest in the day of distress,
When the people that shall attack us come up,
17 Though the fig-tree should not blossom,

walking with his warriors, as if a general
were coolly to march his cavalry through
the thickest of a proud and vaunting
foe, which he knew would prove utterly
powerless in the attack, Comp. Ps, h. 4,
where Jehovah is said to smile at the
puny atterapts of his eneraies,
16. Having finished the poetic re
hearsal of tbe mighty acts of Jehovah
on behalf of bis people in ancient times,
which be had composed in order to
inspire the pious with unshaken con
fidence in hira as tbeir covenant God,
Habakkuk reverts to the fear whicb had
seized him on hearing of the judgments
that were to be inflicted upon his country
by the Chaldeans, '?ipa 153131 'nspti is
a varied repetition of ^pti 'nspti nin;
'ONT!, ver. 2. Instead of there entering
into a description ofhis feelings, he broke
out in an earnest prayer that God would
exercise pity towards Israel, from wbich
there was an easy transition to the
ancient Divine interpositions. He now
describes those feelings in very forcible
and affecting language, ''ip, ihe voice,
is to be referred to the Divine threatening
recorded chap. i. 6. The quivering of
the prophet's lips is merely expressive
of the effect of the fear with which he
was seized, and has no reference to bis
delivery of the threatening, 'nnn, literally
under me, i.e. my under parts, limbs, or
the like. Comp the Arab. 1. " -jg^. pars
Inferior. LXX. vnoK 'raBiv fioi) era-
pdxBq rj ?|is pov. The Syr. .^syoS
my knees. Jarchi and Kimchi, 'laiptaa,
in my place. tniN 3ti>) has been variously
rendered, " That I may rest ; " " That I
must expect; " " O that I might rest ; "
"Yet I shall rest," or "have rest," The
last construction is alone suitable. 3tiN,
which the LXX. have entirely omitted,
is here a conjunction, connecting the

following clauses with those which are
antecedent to it, but obviously intended
to qualify wbat bad been there expressed.
It thus forras a particle of transition
frora one class of circurastances to
another of a different character. See
Noldius, sub voce. Deeply as tbe prophet
was affected, and overpowering as were
the feelings of apprehension with which
he anticipated tbe awful calamity that
was coraing upon his people, he did not
abandon hiraself to despair, but, on the
contrary, consoled bis raind with the
assurance, that God, in whom be trusted,
would keep hira in perfect peace in the
day of trial. Nothing can be more
uncritical than the eraendation of DllN
into niiN, proposed by Houbigant, the
verb nia or n_'a having no such significa
tion as tbat which he ascribes to it. The
preposition b in nr^ Di''; and ni''S^ is to be
taken as signifying the time when the
events were to happen ; in DS) it is the
sign of tbe genitive ; so that DS'; ni'» is
equivalent to DS niiw, ihe coming up of
ihe people. The infinitive is the infini
tive construct. 'Qy the people, the Chal
deans are raeant. They are, as usual,
said to come up, because of the elevated
position of Jerusalem, both in a local
and a religio-political point of view.
Corap. 2 Kings xxiv. 1. Before UTii;
supply TtiN. Tbe verb 313, like its cognate
3T3, signifies to cut, or break in upon an
eneray, attack. Hence the substantive
3133, a troop or band of warriors, chiefly
used of such as engage in plundering
expeditions. It is tbe veiy term em
ployed in the account given us of the
fulfilraent of the prophecy, 2 Kings
xxiv. 2 : " And the Lord sent against
him D'Tipa '¦Tl3rnN, the bands of the
Chaldeans," &c.
17, 18. From a statement of the as
surance which he possessed ofthe mental
tranquillity whichhe should enjoy during

chap.

Ill,]

HABAKKUK.

233

18

19

And there should be no produce on the vines ;
Though the fruit of the olive should fail,
And the fields should yield no food ;
Though the flocks should be cut ofi' from the fold.
And there should be no cattle in the stalls :
Yet I will exult in Jehovah ;
I will be joyful in the God of my salvation.
Jehovah the Lord is my strength ;
He will make my feet like those of gazelles,

the anticipated calamity, Habakkuk rises
to a triumphant assertion of the holy
joy and exultation whicb would be
vouchsafed to him amidst all the desola
tion to wbich bis country might be sub
jected. The desolation here so graphically
and forcibly described, is tbat which vvas
to be effected by the Chaldeans, whose
army would consurae or destroy the best
and raost necessary productions of the
land ; not only seizing upon the cattle,
and devouring the fruits of the earth,
but so injuring the trees as to render
tbem incapable of yielding any produce.
The passage contains the raost beautiful
exhibition ofthe power of true religion
to be found in tbe Bible. The language
is that of a raind weaned frora earthly
enjoyments, and habituated to find the
highest fruition of its desires in God.
When every earthly streara is dried up,
it has an infinite supply in his all-
• sufficient and exhaustless fulness. No
affliction, however severe or trying, can
cut the believer off frora this blessed
resource. On thecontrary, its tendency
is to bring him into closer contact with
it. niDSp is not the labour bestowed
upon the olive-tree, but the fruit wbich
the tree produces. Comp. the phrase
'¦IB nfes, to make or produce fruit. Tbe
irregular construction of the singular
masculine nto with the feminine plural
niO'Tti is to be accounted for on the prin
ciple, that in tbe raind of tbe prophet
both nuraber and gender had merged
in the totality and irapressiveness of bis
subject, Comp. bm^ niOTti, Is. xvi. 8.
It is what is commonly called, con-
structio ad sensum. Some vvould refer
niDi'0 to an obsolete root D'lti, which tbey
take to be cognate with f]3ti, to burn;
but it seeins preferable to regard it as

a derivative like n™, both signifying a
smooth or level fleld, such as was pre
pared for grain or vines ; frora 33ti, to
break, and 3'iti, to be level, as ground is
which is broken np. and levelled by the
plough, the hoe, and tbe harrow. 3]a is
bere used intransitively, and is equiva
lent to the Niphal 3151. ntap stands for
Ntap, just as nTiD for NTira, and ntf'pp for
Ntipp or nNtipp" The root is nJi, io shut
up, confine. rni''BN and ntoN are syno
nymes. in the elongated future-^the n
directive expressing the strong bent of
the mind towards the exercise. The
words 'S* 'ri'jNj are rendered in the
Vulg, in Deo Jesu meo ! The LXX.
have inl rd Bed rd aarrjptpov.
19, The'formula 'itn nin', instead of
nin; 'Itn, is of infrequent occurrence.
Comp.Ps.lxviii.21, cxl. 8. The language
of this verse is found in Ps. xviii. 33, 34 ;
and in part, Deut. xxxii. 13 ; Is. Iviii. 14.
It expresses the confident hope that
Jehovah would prove the support and
defence of the prophet, and of all who
made Hira the object of their trust, and
that he would grant thera complete
deliverance frora their enemies, and
restore tbem to the fall and undisturbed
possession of their own land. nJjN, the
gazelle, is so swift-footed, that grey
hounds are liable to be killed by over
exertion in the chase, 'nina, my high
places, stands for '33.N niD3, the heights of
my country. Except for purposes of
warfare, the elevated parts of aland are
the last that are occupied. The present
is the only instance in which a rausical
direction is placed at the end ofa psalm
or ode. nsip^, which occurs fifty-five
tiraes in the titles to the Psalms,
is derived frora the root ^9), to over
come, excel, take the lead, direct, super-

324

HABAKKUK,
And cause me to walk on my heights. '
To the precentor, with my stringed instruments.

[chap. ih.

intend, preside, Szc It is used in refer
ence to the prefects or overseers, whom
Soloraon appointed over the workmen,
2 Chron, ii. 2, 18 ; and speciahy of the
masters or directors of the rausic era
ployed in the teraple, 1 Chron. xv. 21 ;
Neh. xii. 42. By the LXX. raia'j is
alraost always rendered ets to reXos;
Aq. Td vtKonota; Syram. entvUiov ;
Theod. els to vIkos ; Targ. Nmti). In
2 Chron. ii. 17, however, the" LXX.
render the noun by ipyohtdKTr]s, and
ver. 1, and xxxiv. 13, by intaTarris.
The forra is tbat of the participle in
Piel, (he ";_ taking the Patach of the
article— acircurastance whicb shows tbat
it cannot be, as some have supposed, an
infinitive, nmp (from I?:, lap, to strike
the strings, ^Zai/ on a stringed instrument,
and then, generally, to perform either
vocal or instrumental music, but chiefiy
the latter) signifies wbat is thus per
formed: music, melody, song, and also the
stringed instruments with which it was

accorapanied. The preposition a is that
of accorapaniment, Delitzsch infersfrom
the use of the affix in 'nii'ij, my music,
that tbe prophet hiraself was to take an
active part in the perforraance of it ; and
further, frora this circurastance, that he
was of the tribe of Levi, and engaged in
carrying on the temple rausic. But these
inferences cannot be sustained, since, if
the reasoning were valid, it would equally
prove that Hezekiah must have belonged
to that tribe, and been thus officially
engaged; for be uses the very same
form : Tiiwi, " my stringed instruments,"
Is. xxxviii. 20. On what ground either
the prophet or the king claimed tbese
instruments, itis irapossible to determine.
The conjecture of Schnurrer, that 'nii'ij
was originally 'ni'il, and that the termi
nation V~ is merely paragogic, as in
'OI'I, is overturned by the fact, tbat this
paragogic forra is never found except
when the word in which it appears is in
the construct state.

ZEPHANIAH.

PREFACE.
All that we know of Zephaniah is furnished by the title to his
book, in which it is stated, that he was the son of Cushi, grandson
of Gedaliah, great grandson of Amariah, and great great grandson
of Hezekiah. As in no other instance do we fiiid the pedigree of
a prophet carried so far back, it has not unfairly been inferred that
he must have belonged to a family of considerable respectabihty.*
Whether, however, the Hezekiah there mentioned were the king of
that name, or some other person of note so called, cannot be deter
mined with certainty. The circumstance that the words, " king of
Judah," are not added to the proper name, rather militates against
the position that he was descended from that monarch, since this
addition always occurs when primary reference is made to any of
the Jewish kings ; and, what is specially to the present point, when
such reference is made to Hezekiah. See Prov. xxv. 1 ; Is.
xxxviii. 9. The number of generations also forms an objection
against the hypothesis, since it is scarcely possible to make room
for them in the short space of time which elapsed between Heze
kiah and Josiah.
As our prophet is stated, chap. i. 1 , to have received his pro
phecies in the days of .Josiah, he must have flourished between the
year B.c, 642, and b,c. 611. This statement is corroborated by
* Ovk aarjpos dv rd Kara adpKa yfi/os. — Cyril, Prcef. ad Zeph.

326

PREFACE TO ZEPHANIAH,

certain circumstances in the book itself For instance, he predicts
the fall of Nineveh, and the overthrow of the Assyrian empire ;
consequently he must have prophesied prior to the year b,c. 625,
when these events took place ; i. e. in the former half of the reign
of Josiah. The mention, too, of the destruction of " the remnant
of Baal," chap. i. 4, e^vidently implies, that the abolition of idolatry
had been carried on to a considerable extent, but had not yet been
completed. Now this exactly tallies with the state of things in
Judah from the twelfth to the eighteenth year of Josiah ; for
though this monarch began, in the former of these years, to effect a
reformation, it was not till the latter that it was prosecuted with
raore successful results. If, therefore, we suppose that Zephaniah
delivered his predictions between these two terms, we shall not be
wide of the mark. To the objection, that no mention is made of
him or his labours in the historical books, which we might expect
on the ground of the valuable service he must have rendered to the
zealous monarch, it is sufficient to reply, that the same objection
would lie against the prophetical existence of Jeremiah at the same
period, though we know that he then fiourished at Jerusalem, under
the very eye of his sovereign. The mention made of " the king's
sons," chap. i. 8, cannot be urged in favour of a later date ; for it is
altogether uncertain whether we are not to understand by the
phrase the princes of the royal house generally, or such of the royal
children as should be alive at the time of the fulfilment of the
prophecy. The connexion and manner in which they are introduced
favour the latter construction.
The predictions contained in the book are chiefiy directed against
the Jews, on account of their idolatry, and other sins of which they
were guilty. The awful judgments to be executed upon them and
the neighbouring nations by the Chaldeans are denounced with
great force and effect, Hitzig, indeed, has recently revived the
opinion advocated by Cramer and Eichhorn, that the invasion of
these countries by the Scythians, about the year b,c, 630, whose
incursion into Western Asia is described by Herodotus, i, 105, is
vvhat the prophet has in his eye ; but the Jews appear to have been
so little affected by their progress, that it by no means corresponds
to that of the enemy described by Zephaniah, in the course of

PREFACE TO ZEPHANIAH,

321

which not only Judea, but the adjacent countries were to be entirely
laid waste. His predictions received their accomplishment during
the successes of Nebuchadnezzar. Towards the close of the book
the restoration and prosperity of the Jewish people are introduced.
In respect to style, Zephaniah is not distinguished either for
sublimity or elegance. His rhythm frequently sinks down into a
kind of prose ; but many of the censures that have been passed
upon his language are either without foundation, or much exagge
rated. In point of purity it rivals that of any of the prophets. He
has much in common with his contemporary Jeremiah, and some,
after Isidore, have regarded him as his abbreviator. A careful com
parison of the two, however, proves the futility of this hypothesis.
Occasionally he borrows the language of former prophets. Comp,
chap, ii, 14, with Is, xiii, 21, xxxiv, 11 ; chap. ii. 15, with Is. xiii. 8.

CHAPTER I.
The prophet begins by announcing the universality of the judgments which God
was about to bring upon the land, 2, 3 ; specifies the different classes of trans
gressors whose conduct had merited the infiiction of these judgments, 4 — 6 ; and
calls attention to the speedy approach, and the features of the period of punish
ment, which he intermingles with further descriptions of tbe character of the
ungodly, 7 — 13. He then dwells upon the awfully calamitous nature of the
visitation, and points out the impossibility of escape, 14 — 18,

The word of Jehovah which was communicated to Zephaniah
the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son
of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of
Judah :
I will utterly take away every thing from the face of the land,
Saith Jeliovah.
I will take away man and beast ;
I will take away the birds of heaven, and the fishes of the sea ;
And the causes of stumbling along with the wicked ;
And I will cut off^ man from the face of the land,
Saith Jehovah.

1, See the Preface.
2, 3, flPN, whichis variously employed
in Scripture in the sense of gathering,
collecting, Szc, is here used, as in Jud,
xviii. 25 ; 1 Sam, xv, 6 ; Ps, xxvi, 9 ;
Ezek, xxxiv. 29, to denote the taking
away by death, or other violent means ;
to destroy. Thus Jarchi, ;i'''3 p'as, " Its
signification is destruction." What
clearly shows this, is the use of tbe cog
nate verb f)iD, to scrape, or sweep off, in
tbe form f)'PN=F]pN, which the Rabbi just
mentioned erroneously takes to be the
Hiphil of FjDN, by elision for F]pNN. The
latter verb is never used in Hiphil ; but
the same combination of the two verbs

in the infinitive and finite forms occurs
Jer. viii. 13, ds'DN t]bN, Compare for
similar usage ntin; tiiTN, Is, xxviii, 28 ;
N3n Nis:, Jer, xlix, 9, 'The enumeration
of particulars is designed to augment
the fearful and universal character of
the punishment, nbtipp does not appear
to differ in this connexion from b-titya, a
stumbling-block, cause of moral offence,
what occasions, excites to, or promotes
O 0. '3
sin, Syr. PoAa^ ; Symm. Td aicdv-
haXa. There can be no doubt that the
different objects and rites of idolatrous
worship are what the prophet has in
view. Thus Jarchi, nni niTias on. The

CHAP.

I.J

ZEPHANIAH.

I will also stretch forth my hand against Judah,
And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem ;
And will cut ofi" from this place the remnant of Baal,
The name of the idolatrous with that of the other priests ;
And those that worship the host of heaven on the roofs.
And those that worship and swear to Jehovah,
And swear by their king ;

329

i-epetition of D'IN shows the prophecy
had special reference to human beings,
as the guilty party. The particle nN
before D'sm3 has the signification of with,
together wiih, tbus denoting accompa
niment. Corap. Jud. i. 16, The idols
and tbeir worshippers were to be involved
in one comraon destruction, Newcome
improperly renders nN as a sign of the
genitive, 4. To sti-etch forth the hand against
any one, means not raerely to threaten,
but to exert one's power to his injury.
rrin Dippn, this place, means Jerusalem.
By ''Ssn tj^, the remnant, or resi of Baal,
we are to understand tbe statues, images,
&c., dedicated to the chief domestic and
tutelary god of tbe Phcenicians, to whose
worship tbe Hebrews were addicted as
early as tbe time of the Judges, (ii. 13,)
and araong whom it afterwards spread
more and more, especially in the ten
tribes. Altars and high places were
reared to this deity by Manasseh, even
in the temple of Jehovah itself, 2 Kings
xxi. 3, 5, 7; 2 Chron. xxxui. 3, 7, These
Josiah destroyed in the reformation
whicb he undertook in the twelfth year
of his reign, 2 Chron, xxxiv, 4 ; but it
appears from tbis passage of our prophet,
compared with 2 Chron, xxxiv. 8, that
idols continued to be worshipped, raost
probably in places which were raore
remote from public observation, or whicii
had been formed after tbe destruction of
the others, and tbe cessation of the re
forraation referred to, Marckius and
Gesenius interpret tbe phrase ''Ban tncS,
of the people of Baal, but this seems
less probable, 'The phrase corresponds
to ni'jtfpo in tbe preceding verse, and is
in like manner iramediately followed by
the nN of accompaniment, pointing out
the persons that encouraged idolatry.
ForTNi?! the LXX., who have to dvopara,
must have read nioi^J, or they may have

been misled by the D^ following,_ D*,
however, is found in two of Kennicott's
MSS., and in the margin of another.
Upwards of twenty MSS., four ancient
editions, and all the versions, read nNi
D* instead of DiS nx. For o-yxsn, the
idolatrous priests, see on Hos. x. 5.
Both in the ancient and in the latter
Hebrew, the term ]^ is used of the
priests of idols, as well as of those be
longing to Jehovah. See Gen. xii. 45,
50 ; 1 Kings xiii. 2, 33 ; 2 Kings x. 19,
xi. 18. It may to some appear doubtful
whether the former be not here intended ;
but as such are undeniably included in
the D'3D3, it is more probable that in
using the term D'3rfe, the prophet had in
his eye those wbo were professedly
priests of the true God, but who, instead
of cbecking, or endeavouring to eradi
cate idolatry, encouraged it by their in
difference, or the inconsistency of tbeir
conduct in otber respects. Comp. Jer.
ii. 8, V. 31, The Targ. renders ^irrrts
fin'TQis DB, f.heir worshippers with their
priests. Neither were to be left in the
land by tbe Chaldeans. Their very
names were to be forgotten,
5, Having directed his prophecy
against the priests, the prophet now
denounces those of tbe people who
indulged in idolatrous practices. He
first takes up tbose who were the vo
taries of Sabiism, or the worship of
the heavenly bodies; a system wbich
had, at an early period, become exten
sively prevalent, and continued to exert
its influence, not only over the nomades
of Arabia, but over the philosophers and
wise raen of the East; but which, in
whatever forra or degree it obtained,
had the laraentable effect of deifying
the creature, and obscuring the exist
ence, claims, and glory of the Creator.
That it was adopted, and its rites prac
tised to a great extent by the jews,
u u

330

ZEPHANIAH.

[chap. I,

6 And those that have turned back from Jehovah,
And that neither seek Jehovah nor apply to him.
7 Keep silence before the Lord Jehovah,
For the day of Jehovah is near ;
For Jehovah hath prepared a sacrifice,
He hath consecrated those whom he hath invited.
8 And it shall come to pass on the day of Jehovah's sacrifice,
That I will punish the princes and the king's sons,
And all that wear foreign apparel.

appears from 2 Kings xxiii. 5, 6 ; Jer,
vii. 17, 18, xliv. 17—19, 25. The nijs,
roofs or house-tops, in the East are flat,
and are used for various purposes. The
idolaters may have chosen them for
secrecy in the time of the prophet; or
they may have selected thera for the
purpose of obtaining a fuller view of tbe
planetary objects of their worship, Jer.
xix. 1 3, xxxii, 29. The planet to which
they specially burnt incense on the roofs
of tbeir bouses is supposed to have been
tbe Moon, or it was more probably
"Venus, called D'DiBn rabp, " the Queen
of heaven," Jer, vii, 17, 18, 19, 25,
The prophet next instances a mongrel
class of worshippers, such as pro
fessed attachment to Jehovah, as the
national God, but, at the sarae time,
were devoted to the service of Moloch,
whom, in reality, they regarded and
honoured as their king. For the forms
^bib, D3to, Dij^jp, DSf)!?, see on Araos v. 26,
and Gesenius under the word '^. In
stead of iraraediately connecting these
opposite objects of worship with the
participle D'lnpniiprr, as he had done in
the preceding clause, Zephaniah stops
short, as if uncertain how to describe
the persons whom he had in view, and
then proceeds to characterise them as
combining, by acts of solemn profession,
the worship of the true God with tbat
of Moloch. Corap. 1 Kings xviii. 21,
3 B3U.*3, to swear by a deity, raeans to
acknowledge hira in a public, soleran,
and binding raanner; openly to pledge
oneself to his service.
6. This verse is more comprehensive
in its import, being descriptive of all
who were in any way guilty of defection
from Jehovah, and lived in total neglect
of him and his ways.

7. For D'iBp Dn, corap. Hab. ii. 20 ;
Zech. ii. 13. In the syrabolical language
of prophecy, a sacrifice denotes tbe
slaughter or destruction of an army or
people. In the words I'NtI? *3pn, he
hath consecrated his called ones, how
ever, tbere is no allusion to guests invited
to partake of a sacrificial feast, as there
unquestionably is . Ezek. xxxix. 17; — 20 ;
Rev. xix. 17, 18. Tbe D'Ntj, called ones,
were the Chaldeans, who, as the Divine
army, or the instruraents of his retribu
tive justice, were called into tbe field
against the enemies of the Most High.
In this sense Cyrus is said to have been
called, Is, xii. 9, xlviii. 15, Comp. also
Is. xiii, 3, and my note there, in which
iti'lR, to sanctify, consecrate, is explained
ofthe selection of troops for war, and the
religious rites engaged in when they set
out upon the railitary expedition,
8. That by the phrase ij^l" '??, the
sons ef ihe king, we are to understand
the iramediate cbildren of Josiah, does
not appear. He could not have had
sons of an age sufficiently mature at the
time the prophet uttered his prediction,
to allow of their contracting guilt to
such a degree as that which the con
nexion necessarily requires ; for he could
not himself have been above seventeen
years old. It may either raean the
princes of the royal bouse generally, or
the children of the king who should be
on the throne at tbe tirae of the ac
complishment of the prophecy. That
the latter supposition is the more pro
bable, appears from 2 Kings xxv. 7,
where it is stated, that tbe king of
Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah
before his eyes. By those that wore
foreign attire, the prophet means the
rich and great generally, who, in viola-

chap, 1,J

ZEPHANIAH.

331

10

11

I will also punish all who leap over the threshold in that day,
Who fill the house of their lord with violence and deceit.
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith Jehovah,
That there shall be the sound of crying from the fish-gate,
And of wailing from the second,
And of great destruction from the hills.
Howl, ye inhabitants of the Mortar !
For all the people of Canaan are destroyed ;
All who are laden with money are cut ofi".

tion of an express ordinance relative to
national costume, whicb was designed to
preserve tbem distinct from other people.
Numb. XV. 37 — 40, arrayed themselves
in the more costly and gorgeous garb of
idolaters, and tbus more easily mixed
with thera in the perforraance of their
idolatrous rites.
9, Because the priests of Dagon ab
stained from treading on the threshold
of his temple, 1 Sam, v. 5, it has been
by some inferred that Zephaniah alludes
here to some such superstitious custom
as practised by the Jews. Thus the
Targ, wni;*'!? 'I31d'3.3 )'3^nOT to, all who
walk in the laws of ihe Philistines. But
this construction has little to support it
beyond the simple occurrence of the
word jriBn, threshold, in both passages ;
for in Samuel it is merely said, I33'i; )ib—
Jill \Fm, " they tread or walk not over
the threshold of Dagon ; " whereas the
language of the prophet, jnpanto jWirr,
"him ihat leapeth over the threshold,"
is expressive of a more violent action ;
and, as the parallel hemistich shows,
characterises the eagerness with which
theservants of the great rushed out of
their palaces in order to seize upon the
property of others, and thereby increase
the wealth of their masters. If we raay
apply the signification of the cognate
word in Arab. Jj^, principio, or sub
finem noctis iter fecit, we should in
terpret the term as denoting their setting
out on their predatory expeditions under
cloud of night. Thus, as to the general
sense, the Syr. |sa^;,;^ ^pai!;^3
(loJiiO) "tl -'"ho commit violence and
plunder. Kimchi explains the word of

their forcibly entering the houses of the
poor, and robbing thera of their goods.
10, 11. These verses describe tbe state
of Jerusalem when besieged by Nebu
chadnezzar. D'sin i?«j, thefish-gate, occurs
2 Chron, xxxiii. 14 ; Neh, iii, 3, xii, 39 ;
but there is nothing in these passages
by which we can determine its exact
position. From tbe name it might be
inferred, that it was situated either on
the north or the north-east side of the
city, that being the direction from which
those would arrive who brought fish
from 'Tiberias and the Jordan, and cor
responded to what is now called the
Daraascus Gate, or to that of St. Stephen,
It was frora this side, being that which
was most accessible, that Jerusalem was
attacked by tbe enemy. That njsip, the
second, is not to be referred to 3Sifl, gate,
as its antecedent, but to T'S, city, under
stood, appears from Neh, xi, 9, where
we have in full ni'^ip T'sn, the second city,
i.e. the second division of tbe city.
Ewald renders the word by Neustadt,
" Newtown." In all probability it waa
what was afterwards called Akra, or the
lower city, which lay to the north of the
ancient city on Mount Zion, and was
separated from it by the Tyropoeon, a
valley wbich ran down between tbem to
the present pool of Siloam. In our
common version the word is improperly
rendered college, 2 Kings xxii. 14,
2 Chron, xxxiv. 22, after the interpreta
tion of the Rabbins. The nisja, hills,
here mentioned, were not those'around
tbe city, such as tbe Mount of Olives,
the Mount of Evil Counsel, &c., but
Zion, Moriah, Ophel, and other elevated
localities within the walls, occupied by
the temple, the royal palace, and the
houses of the richer portion of the in-

332

ZEPHANIAH.

[chap, I,

12 And it shall come to pass at that time
That I will search Jerusalem with lights,
And punish the men who are hardened on their lees.
Who say in their hearts,
Jehovah will not do good, neither will he do evil.
13 And their wealth shall become a spoil,
And their houses a desolation ;
They may build houses, but they shall not inhabit them,
And plant vineyards, but they shall not drink the wine of them.
14 The great day of Jehovah is near;
It is near and hasteth greatly ;
The sound of the day of Jehovah :
There the mighty man shrieketh bitterly.

habitants. The prophet graphically re
presents the progress of the Chaldeans,
from the gate at which they entered,
into the second division of the city, until
they had ultimately taken possession of
tbe whole, and destroyed the principal
buildings. This destruction is very ap
propriately expressed by tbe noun 3311),
frora 33m, to break, break in pieces,
2 Kings xxv. 4, 8, 9. Minsp is not a
proper narae, as the article prefixed
shows, but an appellative, signifying
mortar, from iL'n|, to bray, pound. See
Prov. xxvii. 22. It appears to have been
applied, from its resemblance to that
vessel, to one or other of tbe valleys in
or about Jerusalem. Theod. iv ra ^d6et.
Aq. els TOC oXpov. According to the
Targum, li3'ii?3 N^ni, it was that through
which tbe brook Kidron flows. Others
think it was the Tyropoeon, the locality
of the bazars, wbere the merchants
carried on tbeir business. Frora what
follows in the verse, the latter is most
probably tbe true interpretation. It is
thought by sorae that the term was
purposely chosen by the prophet, on
account of its resemblance in sound to
i^Tpp, a holy place, and that Jerusalera
itself is raeant ; but this word is ex
clusively appropriated to tbe tabernacle,
or temple, and other sacred places, and
never to the city, though it is called
"^ir^ 3'B, the Holy City, just as it is still
known in the East by the names

.^.

Jsiil), El-Kuds, and i^iiiJI L;:^^Jk^,

Beit-el-Mukeddes, of sirailar signification.
By IB?? DB, the people cf Canaan, the
prophet does not mean the inhabitants
of Canaan generally, nor Phoenician
merchants in particular, who carried on
trade with those of Jerusalem, but ironi
cally tbe Jerusalera merchants them
selves, who not only reserabled the
forraerin their raodes of acquiring gain,
but adopted their idolatrous manners
and customs. See on Hos. xii. 8.
12. The Divine judgments were to
reach those who practised wickedness
in the most bidden places, and in the
most covert raanner. This is meta
phorically expressed by searching out
with lights wbat is concealed in the
dark. The metaphor following is taken
from the firm crust which is formed on
the surface of fermented liquors when
they have been long left in an un
disturbed state. NEg, signifies, to con
tract, become concrete, hard, Szc, and
strikingly expresses the hardened state
of the rich who have settled down into
infidelity and atheism. Comp. Jer.
xlviii. 11. Their practical denial of a
superintending and governing providence
is expressed in so raany words at the
end of the verse.
13. It is here implied that those of
whora the prophet speaks would go on
building and planting till the judgment
of God overtook thera, and deprived
them of all their property. Comp.
Matt. xxiv. 38, 39.
14. Tnp is not the participle in Piel,

CHAI'

I.j ZEPHANIAH. 333

15 That day is a day of indignation,
A day of trouble and distress,
A day of desolation and ruin,
A day of darkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and obscurity ;
16 A day of the trumpet and the war-shout,
Against the fortified cities,
And against the lofty towers.
17 And I will bring trouble upon men,
So that they shall walk as the blind ;
Because they have sinned against Jehovah,
Their blood shall be poured out as diist,
And their flesh shall be as dung,
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
Shall be able to rescue them
In the day of Jehovah's indignation ;-
But the whole land shall be consumed
By the fire of his jealousy :
For a consummation altogether sudden will he make
Of all the inhabitants of the land.

with tbe affirmative Mera rejected, but turn. It thus signifies what is at the
the infinitive of the same conjugation, turning, corner, or angle of a building,
used as an abbreviated form of 3np'^ 3np. and that whether at the top or the
TD, bitter, is here used adverbially. So bottom. Tacitus, describing the walls of
irresistible should be the attack of the Jerusalem, says : " Per artem obliques et
Chaldeans, thatthe Jewish warrior would introrsum sinuatos, ut latera oppugnan-
be compelled to abandon himself to tium ad ictus patescerent." Hist. lib. v,
shrieks of hopeless grief, cap, 11, § 5,
15, 16. A beautiful araphfication, for 17. Dirt, or, as in sorae MSS, and
the purpose ofaggravating the character editions, Drt, ^^s/,, Arab, ^, care.
of the calaraity. Passages soraewhat '¦' •' f
similar occur in the prophets, but none Root Drt, to eat. ipp raay, by zeugma,
equal to this, njjispi ms, as well as be raade to govern Dpinii as well as Doj,
nNisipi n^\l3, are instances of paronoraasia, but it is preferable to supply the sub-
Comp. Job XV. 24, xxx. 3, xxxviii. 27, stantive verb after Dnirt, For thelatter
ninhfrn nissn form a Hendiadys, and figure, corap. Job xx. 7,
describe the high towers or turrets, at 18. DJ — D3, also — also, meaning both
tbe angles of fortified walls. Gesenius the one and the otber. As here with a
assumes an obsolete root ]% to separate, negative, neither — nor. " Fire " is often
divide into classes, as that from which used figuratively to denote war, because
nm, a turret, is der'ivei; but there is no of its devastating effects. Is. x. 16,
occasion to depart from its usual deriva- xxvi. 11. '^ is to be taken in the sense
tion from the Piel of niB, to cause to of wholly, entirely, altogether.

334

ZEPHANIAH.

[chap. II.

CHAPTER II.
A solemn admonition is now given to the Jewish people to repent during the short
space of time that would be allotted them before tbe Chaldean invasion, 1, 2 ;
followed by an exhortation to the pious to persevere in their devotedness to
God, and the interests of righteousness, 3. The prophet then proceeds to fore
tel the destruction of those nations which had always been hostile to tbe Jews,
as the Philistines, 4 — 7 ; the Moabites and Araraonites, 8 — 10 ; parenthetically,
the idols ofthe nations, 11 ; the Ethiopians, 12; and the Assyrians, 13 — 15.

Bend yourselves, and be ye bent,
O nation not desired I
Before the birth of the decree ;
The day passeth away as chaff;
Before there come upon you the burning anger of Jeliovah ;
Before there come upon you the anger of Jehovah.

1. itiipi ii*aipm, the Hithpolel and
Kal conjugations joined for the sake of
intensity. Corap. Is. xxiv. 19, The
words have been variously rendered,
LXX, avvdxBrjTe Kal avvheBr]Te. Vulg.
convenite et congregamini. De Wette,
priifet euch,ja priifet. Gesenius, collect
yourselves, and be ye collected; i.e. collect
your thoughts, look into your own raind,
prove yourselves : thus agreeing with
De Wette, after the interpretation of
Pagninus, Vatablus, Cocceius, and others.
Ewald, erbleichet und bleichet. Most
refer to ilWg as the root, which signifies
in Poel to collect stubble, wood, Szc ;
but it is never used with respect to
huraan beings. I prefer deriving it
frora lliip, to bend, be beni. Arab.
iw.^. II, incurvavit arcus more ; in-
curvatus fuit senex. Hence ntip., a bow,
from its being bent. Bend yourselves.

and be ye bent, will then be the proper
rendering. Comp. tbe use of nmti, to
bow down, Is.lx. 14, Tbe prophet calls
the Jews to deep humility before God
on account of their manifold sins. Be
cause tlps signifies to be pale, Gesenius
renders tbe words F]D33 n'j 'ijn, 0 nation
net ashamed ! but F|P3 never denotes to
be pale from a feeling of shame, but as
the effect of desire, tbe verb everywhere
else expressing tbe idea of pining, long
ing, being intensely desirous of any
object. 'The phrase r|D3; n'j, not desired,
is here used by litotes for abominated,
hated. 2. The Divine decree or purpose of
punishment announced in the preceding
chapter, is here tropically represented
as a pregnant female near the time of
her delivery. The words Di' T3B yiD3,
as chaff the day passeth, do not refer to
the coming of the period of calamity,

chap. II,]

ZEPHANIAH.

335

Seek ye Jehovah, all ye humble of the land,
Who perform his judgments ;
Seek righteousness, seek humility,
If perhaps ye may be hid
In the day of the anger of Jehovah.
For Gaza shall be forsaken,
And Askelon a desolation ;
As for Ashdod, they shall drive her out at noon-day,
And Ekron shall be rooted up.
, Woe to the inhabitants of the line of the sea !
The nation of Kerethites !
The word of Jehovah is against you ;
0 Canaan ! the land of the Phihstines,
I will destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.

but the rapid lapse of the time of
repentance. The iraage of chaff is always
used of that which flies quickly away,
never of what comes to any one. They
are introduced parenthetically. The
sentence nin; fjN ^iTn D3'^B Ni3;-N'' dtid? is
wanting in six of Kennicott's MSS.,
probably in two raore, and originally in
eight of De Rossi's. It is also omitted
in the Arabic version. The declaration,
with the trifling change of a single
word, is properly repeated for the sake
of emphasis,
3, The prophet here addresses him
self to the afflicted and humble among
his people, from whom some hope of a
better state of things might be expected.
'Vin, rendered perhaps, is not intended
to express a doubt respecting the safety
of the pious, but the extrerae difficulty
of escaping the threatened judgraent.
The poor of the land were left by
Nebuzar-adan to be vine-dressers and
husbandmen, 2 Kings xxv, 12.
4. The connective force of the particle
'3, for, with which this verse coraraences,
lies in tbe universality of the calamity
which was about to come, not upon the
Jews only, but upon all the nations with
which they had been brought into con
tact. There would be no country to
which they might flee for safety, for all
were to be visited by tbe Chaldeans.
For the cities of the Philistines here
specified, see on the parallel prophecy,

Amosi. 6— 8; and Is. xx. 1. Dnns,
the meridian or noon, being the hottest
part of the day, is generally spent by
tbe Orientals in sleep, and is tbe less
likely time for any military operations
to be carried on. 2 Sam. iv. 5 ; Jer. vi. 4,
XV. 8. The paronomasias, n3iis nw and
Tpsn ]iTps, are not to be overlooked,
5. Tbis and the two following verses
contain an araplification ofthe prediction
against the Philistines. Djn ''3n, LXX,
rd axolvtapa rrjs BaXdaarjs, the line of
the sea, i.e. tbe region or coast along the
sea-shore, and so called from the custom
of using a cord or line in measuring off
or dividing a territory. Comp. with the
same application, Djn pjin, the coast ofthe
sea, Jer. xlvii. 7 ; Ezek. xxv. 16, By
D'nTS'iJ, nation ef Cretians, we are not
to understand the actual inhabitants of
Crete, but the Philistines, a nation
descended from those who originally
eraigrated frora that island, and took
possession of the south-west coast of
Palestine, D'niiiiiB, the name of ihe
Philistines, properly signifies the emi
grants, from -iiibB. Eth, ^A I^, te rove,
migrate. According to Stephen of By
zantium, Gaza was originally called
Minea, after Minos, king of Crete, who,
with his two brothers, Arakus and
Rbadaraanthus, undertook an expedi
tion to the coast, and gave the city his
own name, Comp, Deut, ii, 23 ; 1 Sam,

336 ZEPHANIAH. [chap. ii.
6 And the line of the sea shall be pastures,
With cisterns for shepherds.
And folds for sheep.
7 Yea, the line shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah,
Thereupon shall they feed ;
In the houses of Askelon shall they lie down at even ;
For Jehovah their God shall visit them,
And reverse their captivity.
8 I have heard the reproach of Moab,
And the revilings of the sons of Ammon,
Who have reviled my people,
And carried themselves haughtily against their border,
9 Wherefore, as I live, saith Jehovah of hosts,
The God of Israel :
Surely Moab shall be as Sodom,
And the sons of Ammon as Gomorrah ;
A region of overrunning brambles and salt pits,
And a perpetual desolation ;
The remnant of my people shall plunder them,
And the residue of my nation shall possess them,
10 This shall happen to them for their pride,
Because they reproached and carried themselves haughtily,
Against the people of Jehovah of hosts,
XXX, 14 ; Jer. xlvii. 4 ; Ezek. xxv. 16 ; 1 — 6 ; Amos i. 13 — 15. ''S b-iyn means
Amos ix, 7. |B?3, Canaan, wbich is not to carry oneself haughtily against any
only eraployed to designate tbe whole one. There is uo occasion to supply
country taken possession of by the ne or any other noun. The suffix in
Hebrews, but more specially Phoenicia, Dto has 'ps for its antecedent. The
is here to be understood as restricted to formulas 'in 'n, I living, or as I live,
the country ofthe Philistines, ver. 9, and ni.n; 'n, D'rtN 'n, as Jehovah,
6. It is thought by some tbat there is as God liveth, are solemn modes of
an allusion to D'nT? in tbe word nT?, expression, by which the Divine Exist-
which properly signifies wells or cisterns, ence is pledged for the certainty of the
from Tr^, to dig. Instead of continuing declarations which they introduce. pi*30,
tobe a thickly populated and well culti- a drawing, or extending out, from ptio,
vated country, the land of the Philistines cognate 'Tiip, io draw out, extend. As
.should be converted into a region fit connected with bramble, it denotes the
only to be occupied by nomades, overspreading or overrunning of that
7. Instead of beingany longer annoyed shrub, rtp nT3p, a pit or excavation,
by tbe Philistines, the Jews, restored to such as are found in the vicinity of the
their land, would occupy the territory Dead Sea, in whicb, when it overflows
as described in the preceding verse. in spring, its water is collected, and pure
8 — 10. Comp. the parallel prophecies salt obtained by evaporation. The idea
against Moab, Is. xv, xvi.; Jer. xlviii.; conveyed by both metaphors is thatof
Araos ii, 1 — 3 ; and Ammon, Jer, xlix. sterility and desolation.

CIIAP,

II,]

ZEPHANIAH,

337

11 Jehovah is to be feared above all the gods of the earth,
For he will cause them to waste away ;
And all the inhabitants ofthe maritime regions
Shah worship him — each from his place.
Also ye, O ye Cushites !
Shall be slain by my sword.
And he will stretch his hand over the north,
And destroy Assyria ;
He will also make Nineveh waste,
An arid region like the desert.
And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her ;
All the wild beasts of the nations ;
Both the pelican and the porcupine
Shall take up their abode in her capitals ;
A voice shall sing in the windows,
Desolation shall be in the thresholds,
For the cedar-work is laid bare.

12

13

14

11. This verse connects so slightly
with the preceding, and, as the forraer
part is usually rendered, affords so little
suitable a sense, tbat I cannot but
regard the suffix in D^jbs as possessing
an anticipative pronorainal reference to
yi¥7 '^''S. *^« 9°^ of t^e earth, with
respect to whom Jehovah was to show
himself worthy of exclusive veneration
by effecting tbeir destruction. In Hebrew
poetry the pronoun or pronorainal affix
frequently occurs before the noun. See
on Is. xxviii. 26, While announcing
the destruction of the surrounding idola
trous nations, the prophet was inspired
to predict the gradual, but certain de
struction of idolatry universaUy through-
outtbe earth. Theperiodpredictedshould
be one in which all peculiarity of local
worship would cease, and Divine worship
be acceptable wherever presented in
sincerity and truth. Corap. Mal. i. 11 ;
John iv, 21—24; 1 Cor. i, 2. For the
phrase Dn'.te NTi:, corap, Ps, xcvi, 4. The
13 prefixed in ioippp expresses siraply the
locality in whicii the persons spoken of
resided. Corapare n;3p, 'jiap, )'py3, DTpo,
Szc njT, Arab. ]:., to make thin, lean,
diminish, cause to waste away, and to
destroy. LXX, i^oXoBpevael. The

knowledge and worship of the true God
were to be extended not only over the
vast continental regions of the globe,
but over those which bordered on, or
existed in tbe sea. In D>n >'«, the isles,
or maritime regions, there is, as usual, a
special reference to the West; though
in connexion with bs, all, the universality
of such regions is intended. The passage
is strictly Messianic, since the accom
plishment of the prediction has been,
and is being effected by raeans of the
gospel. 12, For tfi3, Cush, see on Is, xi, 11,
xviii. 1, The prophecy received its ful
filraent when Nebuchadnezzar invaded
and conquered Egypt, with whose raili
tary operations and fate the Ethiopians
were more or less raixed up. Jer. xlvi, 9 ;
Ezek. xxx. 5, 9. There is, indeed, reason
to think tbat Egypt herself is designed
to be included in tbe term as here
employed, 13 — 15. From the reraote South into
which the prophet had carried his
hearers, he turns suddenly back to the
North, where there still existed a mighty
empire, wbich must of necessity be
overthrown, before the Divine sword, i.e.
tbe arms of Babylon, could reach the
countries againstwhich hehad denounced
X X

338

ZEPHANIAH.

[chap, ni.

15 This is the exulting city which dwelt securely,
Which said in her heart,
I am, and besides me there is none.
How she is become desolate !
A resting-place for wild beasts !
Every one that passeth by her shall hiss,
He shall shake his head.

the judgments of God. This empire
was the Assyrian, which was drawing
towards its end, and was actually sub
verted when Nineveh was taken and
destroyed by Cyaxeres and Nabopo
lassar, B.C. 625. It is this catastrophe,
with its disastrous consequences, which
Zephaniah so graphically describes in
these verses. So corapletely was the
celebrated metropolis of the ancient
world to be desolated, that not even tbe
Nomades would seek a temporary shelter
among her ruins. They should only be
inhabited by the wild beasts of the
desert. That by D'tts we are to under
stand herds of savage animals, and not
flocks of sheep, goats, &c., is apparent
from the mention raade in tbe parallelisra
of 'iJTn;n-''3, every wild beast of ihe nation.
'iJ, nation, has by some been thought to
stand poetically for a collection of
animals, just as DB, people, does, Prov.
xxx, 25, 26 ; but it is rather to be
regarded as synonymous with pN, land.

country ; only restricting it to the par
ticular country in which Nineveh had
been situated; so that tlie phrase will
be equivalent to y3N-in'n, Gen. i. 24.
The LXX. render ndvra rd Brjp'ta rfjs
yfjs. Targ, nt3 nyn ')3, all the beasts of
the field. The 1 in in;n is merely
paragogic. For nNp and TEp, see on_
Is, xxxiv, 11, Some interpret ''ipof the
Arab. (J»i, the demon ofthe desert, aud
convert 3'in, desolation, into 3Ti>, raven,
but without sufficient ground. See
Maurer, wbo, in opposition to Hitzig,
takes both words in their usual accepta
tion, nrs, the Piel of n^, is here used
impersonally, and is best rendered in
the passive, TnD3, chapiter, see on
Amos ix, 1, By nnN is meant the
wainscoting and fine carved cedar work
with which the walls, ceiling, &c., of
the houses were ornaraented. For the
language of pride and carnal security
expressed in ver. 15, comp. Is. xlvii. 8.

CHAPTER III.
Having digressed to predict the fate of the surrounding nations, Zephaniah returns
to his own countrymen, and specially directs his prophecy against Jerusalem,
tbe leading persons in which had persevered in wickedness in spite of all the
warnings which tbey bad received, 1 — 7, After addressing the pious members
of the theocracy, and encouraging them to wait for the development of the
Divine purposes, 8, he proceeds to predict the conversion of the Gentiles, 9,
and ofthe Jews, 10; describes their character when converted, 1 1 — 13; con
gratulates them on their deliverance, and enjoyment of the presence of their
heavenly King, 14 — 17; and concludes by adverting to the circumstances con
nected with their return to Palestine after their conversion, 18 — 20,

chap, hi.]

ZEPHANIAH.

339

Wo to the rebellious and pollnted,
The oppressing city !
She listened not to the voice.
She received not instruction ;
She trusted not in Jehovah,
She drew not near to her God.
Her princes in the midst of her
Are roaring lions ;
Her judges are evening wolves ;
They gnaw no bones in the morning.
Her prophets are vain-glorious,
Hypocritical men ;
Her priests profane what is sacred ;
They do violence to the law.
Jehovah, the righteous One, is in the midst of her,

1, It has been thought by some tbat
in nN3iD, rebellious, as here applied to
Jerusalem, there is a play upon the
name of rpTt3, Moriah, on which the
temple was built. If so, it was calculated
to suggest to the minds of the Jews the
gross inconsistency of their laying claim
to any connexion with that sacred place,
while they obstinately refused to obey
the law of God. The root is ntd, cognate
with nrp, to prove refractory, rebel. The
LXX, rendering the word by enKfravrjs,
iUustrious, have doubtless mistaken it
as coming from Itnt, io see ; as tbe Syr,
p
likewise has done, rendering jli^»,» H'
noted, celebrated, fii', the Benon. par
ticiple of ny, to rage, be cruel, oppressive,
Szc. What the prophet has in his eye
is the rage and cruelty with wbich the
idolatrous inhabitants persecuted such
as adhered to the worship and service
of Jehovah, as well as their oppression of
tbe widows, orphans, &c. See Jer. xxii. 3,
2—4. Not only did the inhabitants
generally refuse to receive instruction
from the Lord, and alienate their affec
tions from him and bis service, but the
rulers, both civil and ecclesiastical,
evinced the grossest dereliction of duty,
and the most flagrant inconsistency of
character, i^W '3Ni, evening wolves, i.e.
wolves which come forth from the forests

or other lurking places in the evening,
and, greedy with hunger, seize or devour
during the night, whatever animals they
fall in with, Comp, Hab. i. 8, Xvkoi
vvKTepivol, Oppian. Cynoget. 3, 266,
The voracious and insatiable cupidity
of the judges is further expressed by
Tp,35 ID'iJ ^b, nothing is craunched in ihe
morning ; i, e, all is devoured in the
night, and not so much as a bone left
to be gnawed in the morning, D'ia is
bere used impersonally. Thus, as to the
sense, the LXX. and Vulg. ovx vnoXl-
novTo ; non relinquehant. 'The prophets,
instead of evincing that gravity and
humility which became those who pro
fessed to deliver Divine messages, were
D'lniB, light and vain-glorious persons,
trifling with the most serious subjects,
and carrying themselves haughtily to-
¦wards others, Tbe verb ins properly
signifies to heil up like water, Comp,
Gen, xlix, 4 ; Jud, ix. 4 ; Jer, xxiii, 32,
Arab, ys?, superbivit. The priests were
equally corrupt. They made no dis
tinction between tbe holy and profane,
and distorted the meaning of the law,
when expounding it to the people, Comp,
Ezek. xxii. 26, where similar language
is used, and explained.
5. Jehovah had his residence in the
temple, connected with the daily worship,
in which were those unfailing revela-

340

ZEPHANIAH.

[chap. III.

8

He doeth no injustice ;
Every morning he bringeth his judgment to light,
It is not lacking ;
But the unjust know no shame.
I have cut off the nations ;
Their corner-stones are laid waste ;
I have made their streets desolate,
Without any one passing through them.
Their cities are destroyed ; they are without a man ;
There is no inhabitant.
I said : Only fear me ;
Receive instruction ;
That her habitation might not be cut off',
According to all that I had appointed concerning her :
But they rose up early ;
They corrupted all their doings.
Nevertheless, wait for me, saith Jehovah,

tions of the rectitude of his character
that brought to view a glorious pattern,
which it was the duty of the Jews to
imitate ; but, hardened in wickedness,
they were conscious of no feelings of
shame. T,^133 Tp.33, in the morning in the
morning, i.e. according to a comraon
Hebrew idiom, every morning.
6. Besides the plentiful instruction
with wbich theinhabltants of Jerusalem
had been furnished by the public in
stitutions that existed among them, and
from which they might conclude wbat
punishment they had to expect if they
persisted in sin, they had examples frora
whicb to take warning in the desolate
condition to which other nations bad
been reduced on account of their wicked
ness. Under the long and happy reign
of Josiah, the Jews enjoyed rest and
tranquillity until the last year, while
other neighbouring nations were laid
waste ; for it was during his reign tbat
the great incursion of the Scythians
into western Asia took place, while
Judea was spared, Michaelis, niB is
here to be taken in its literal acceptation
of corner-stone, but the ruin or desola
tion of the building resting upon it is
implied, its: is tbe Niphal of n^js, to
cut down, lay waste.
7. 'NT'Pi an d VPP are both futures used

for imperatives. In niisp and nijs is a
change, by no raeans uncomraon, of the
second person to tbe third. In b2 there
is an ellipsis of 3, according to. bS 3pB
is not to be here taken in the sense of
punishing, but of appointing for punish
ment. Cornp. Jer. XV. 3. The appointed
and threatened judgraents should be
averted from Jerusalera, if theinhabl
tants would only turn frora their evil
ways, and walk in tbe fear of tbe Lord,
Sucb was the announcement which he
graciously made to them by his servants
the prophets ; but, instead of reforming,
they addicted themselves more sedulously
and entirely to the practice of iniquity,
D'3^n, to rise early, is frequently used
in the Hebrew Scriptures in a tro
pical sense, to indicate that a person
does anything with preparedness or full
purpose of mind. The primary idea
conveyed by tbe verb seems to be that
of placing the burdens on the shoulders
of caraels, &c., before setting out on a
journey, which, in the East, is done very
early in the raorning. Root D3iii, s/ioaWcr.
Eth. rt Yl «ro "- bajulavit. hflYl O" =
onus imposuit humeris.
8, Most expositors interpret the words
-b isn, expect or wait for me, as if they
were addressed to the profligate charac-

CHAP,

III,]

ZEPHANIAH.

341

In the day when I rise for the prey ;
For my determination is to assemble the nations,
To gather the kingdoms ;
To pour out upon them my fury,
All the heat of my anger ;
For by the fire of my jealousy
The whole earth shall be consumed.
For then I will turn to the nations a pure language,
That they may all invoke the name of Jehovah ;
That they may serve him with one accord.

ters described in the preceding verse,
but this construction is admissible only
on the principle of their being applied
ironically, since the phrase is never
used except in a good sense. Yet even
this but ill suits tbe entire connexion,
I consider tbem to form an apostrophe
to the pious araong tbe Jews, calling
upon them to look forward, amid all tbe
calamities whicb were approaching, to
the glorious period which these calami
ties were designed to usher in, and
which the prophet specially describes in
the following verses. The LXX., and
all tbe other Greek versions, as also the
Syr,, render tb, by testimony or witness ;
a signification whioh only attaches to
the letters when pointed ts. The sig
nification of prey is more appropriate
bere. Compare for this signification
Gen, xhx. 27 ; Is. xxxiii. 23. What
is meant by rising up to the prey is
explained in the following clause of the
verse. Indeed, the very derivation of
the word from nrs, to pass on in a hostile
manner, to rush upon, attack ; Arab.
liXc, irruit in aliquem ; i__j'iiiC, inimici,
hostes; at once suggests the ideas of
conflict and destruction.
9. From tbis verse to the end of tbe
book the prophecy relates exclusively to
Messianic times. The nriTS nsiij, purified
lip or language, means the profession
of pure religion, a language freed from
the polluted names of idols, and of
every abomination connected with tbeir
worship. As this was to be realized by
the nations, tbe D'bb, as distinguished
from the Jews, it fohows that the spread
of Christianity, and the consequent sub
version of idolatry throughout the world.

are here specifically predicted. This
prediction, however, has hitherto been
only partially fulfilled. By the gospel,
indeed, idolatry has been dislodged frora
many parts of the globe, but its place
has to a great extent been occupied by
the pollutions of antichristian systeras of
worship, while vast regions are still the
scenes of varied and most degrading
idolatrous abominations. And, as to
the unity so strikingly expressed by
TTTN D3\i), one shoulder, whatever there
raay be of tbat real substantial unity
which binds all true believers to Christ
as their Head, and to one another as
merabers of the sarae family, there is
still a deplorable want of the visible
manifestation of oneness in obeying the
laws of Christ, and observing the or
dinances of his house. These laws are
spoken of as a burden. Matt, xi. 30; Acts
xv.28; Rev.ii.24; and the metaphor here
employe^ by the prophet is taken from
two persons jointly carrying a burden
between them, shoulder to shoulder.
Compare the use of dpodvpahdv. Acts
i, 14, ii. 1, 46, iv, 24, v, 12, xv, 25 ;
Rora, XV, 6. What has prevented the
outward visibility of the unity of be
lievers bas been, that some of them have
added burdens of their own to that of
the Redeemer, while others have sub
mitted to those iraposed by men pro
fessing to be acting by his authority,
but who have had no scripture warranty
for their pretensions. Until there is a
return to an unanimous adherence to
the simplicity which is in Christ, there
can be no such unity as that taught in
tbis verse. Yet for such the Bible
teaches us to look ; and it behoves every
Christian to do whatever lies in his

342

ZEPHANIAH.

[chap. III.

11

10 From beyond the rivers of Cush,
My suppliants, the daughter of my dispersed,
Shall bring my off'ering.
In that day thou shalt not be ashamed
On account of all thy doings,
By which thou hast transgressed against me ;
For then I will remove from the midst of thee
Thy proud exulters ;
And thou shalt no more be haughty in my holy mountain.
And I will leave in the midst of thee
An humble and poor people,
And they shall trust in the name of Jehovah.

12

power, in order to bring about so blessed
a consummation, Comp. 2 Cor. vi. 14,
Mr] yiveaBe erepo^vyovvres dntarots ;
and 1 Cor. i, 10, ^re hi KaTrjpnapivot
ev Ta avra vo't Kat iv rrj avry yvdprj.
10, Having foretold the conversion
of the Gentiles, the prophet in this
verse predicts that of tbe Jews ; quite
in accordance with other passages of
Scripture, in which they are placed in
jiixta-position with each other, '3ns,
my suppliants, from Tns, to burn incense
to a divinity ; pray, supplicate. Arab.
jlac, bonos oderes spiravit. Syr. 'fS"^!
fumavit odore suavi. Corap. Rev. v. 8,
where the prayers of saints are called
Bvpidpara, odours or incense, and Ps,
cxli, 2, where David corapares his prayer
to nTiop, the Hebrew synonyrae tor in
cense. Who the worshippers are, the
prophet explains in tbe following words :
'SiB-n3, the daughter of my dispersed, i.e.
by a coraraon Hebrew idiora, my dis
persed people, tbe Jews ; and the locality
in which we are directed to look for
them is I2'i3'''inij T3B, beyond ihe rivers of
Cush, i.e. Ethiopia or Abyssinia itself,
the rivers of which enclose it on the
north. See on Is, xviii, 1, where the
sarae phraseology occurs, but where the
Ethiopians, and not the Jews, are the
subjects of the prophecy. It is a well
ascertained fact, though all the historical
circurastances with which itis connected
have not yet been brought to light, that
there bas long existed in the west of
Abyssinia, a people called Falaslias, or
eraigrants (from the Eth, <5.A iX ' to

migrate ; hence <i, A ll, - o sojourner,
stranger, tbe root from which 'nslto,
Philistine, is derived, and for the same
reason), who maintain that they de
rived their origin from Palestine, and
all of whom profess the Jewish reli
gion. They are identified, as to phy
sical traits, not with the African races
living in Ethiopia, but with the tribes
of Arabia, They have tbeir own go
vernraent conceded to them by the
Negus, or king of Ethiopia, When
Bruce was there tbey bad a Jewish king
named Gideon, and his queen, Judith.
Considering how greatly the Christianity
of Abyssinia has been mixed up with
Judaism, tbere is every reason to believe
that most of tbe early converts in that
country belonged to tbis very people.
That the Falashas are part of the dis
persed people whose conversion is here
predicted, I can have no doubt. They
are singled out as a separate portion of
the scattered seed of Abraham, most
probably on account of the peculiar
circumstances in which tbey bave lived
during the dispersion. Their bringing
of Jehovah's off'ering does not necessarily
iraply that tbey are, on tbeir conversion,
to come with gifts to Jerusalem; all that
is intended may only be nrimp nnip, the
pure offering, which, under the new
dispensation, was to be presented ia
everyplace, SeeMal, i, 11; aud comp.
ver. 9.
11 — 13. These verses contain a de
scription of restored and regenerated
Israel. The not being ashamed of their
sinful practices does not mean their not

CHAP. in.J ZEPHANIAH. 343
13 The residue of Israel shall not commit injustice ;
They shall not speak lies ;
Neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth ;
But they shall feed and lie down,
And none shall make them afraid.
14 Rejoice, 0 daughter of Zion !
Shout, O Israel !
Be joyful and exult with all thy heart,
0 daughter of Jerusalem !
15 Jehovah hath removed thy judgments ;
He hath cleared away thine enemies ;
The King of Israel, Jehovah, is in the midst of thee,
Thou shalt see calamity no more.
16 In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear not ;
O Zion ! let not thy hands be feeble ;
17 Jehovah thy God is in the midst of thee,
The Mighty One, that will save ;
He will rejoice over thee with gladness,
He will be silent in his love ;
He will exult over thee with a shout of joy.

feeling a compunctious sense of their 15. This and the following verses
intrinsic odiousness and demerits, but is furnish the reasons why the Jews should
expressive of the great change that indulge in exultation. n3S, in Kal, io
should take place in tbe outward con- tum ; in Piel, to cause to turn out ef
dition of the Jews, That condition into the way, remove, destroy. Instead of
which they have been brought by their '^3;K, thine enemy, t)airty-tvio MSS., origi-
obstinale rebellion against Jehovah and nally six more, and two by correction,
his Messiah, is one of disgrace. When read ^.11^, thine enemies, which reading
recovered out of it, all tbe marks of is also supported by two early editions,
shame and infamy sball be removed, the Babyl, Talmud, and all the versions.
The Pharisaic spirit of pride, and the For 'Kin, sixty-eight MSS,, and among
vain confidence in tbe temple and tbe these some of the raost accurate Spanish,
temple worship, which proved the ruin read 'N3'I3. In the full enjoyraent of
of the nation, shall be taken away. Tbe tbe presence of tbeir God, the con-
converted residue shall be a people -verted Jews should have nothing to
humble and poor in spirit, Matt, v, 3, fear,
xi, 5, and of a truly righteous and up- 17. A beautiful description of the
right character ; and having fled for dehght which Jehovah shall take in his
refuge to the hope set before them in recovered people, and of their con-
tbe gospel, shall be safe under the pro- sequent and continuous happiness. The
tecting care of their heavenly Father, phrase iti3riN| tfirn^ has occasioned sorae
14. A call to the converted Israelites, difficulty to interpreters, Houbigant,
restored to their own land, and especially after the LXX, and Syr,, and following
to the inhabitants of Jerusalera, to exult him Newcome, and recently Ewald,
in their distinguished experience of the propose to read *Tn', " he will renew
Divine loving-kindness, his love ; " but this verb nowhere occurs

344

ZEPHANIAH.

[chap. III.

18 I will gather those that are grieved for the festivals,
(They were of thee ;)
Burdened with reproach for her sake.
19 Behold ! I will deal with all thine oppressors at that time,
And will save her that halteth,
And collect the expelled,
And make them a praise and a name,
In every country where they have been put to shame.
20 At that time I will bring you in,

in Hiphil, and the conjectural emenda
tion is wholly unnecessary, Mi3rT, to be
dumb, keep silence, has the same signi
fication in Hiphil, to be silent, not to
speak, and is here very appropriately
employed to express tbe non-remem
brance of iniquity. Justly as God might
set the sins of his people before tbem,
he, in the exercise ofhis love, raakes no
mention of them, having freely forgiven
them for the sake of the atoneraent
made by his only-begotten Son. Comp.
Ps. xxxii. 2; Jer, xxxi, 34; Ezek.
xxxui. 16,
18, ns. of which D'3i: is the Niphal
participle, has two significations, that of
being pained or grieved, and that of
being separated, removed, Szc Both
derivations may be supported by the
Arab. -»->) doluit, and Conj. iv. procul
a se avovit. The former, which is here
most approved, fully meets the exigency
of the passage, and may be said to
iraply the latter. The Jews, in a state
whicb rendered it irapossible for tbem
to celebrate tbeir sacred festivals at
Jerusalem, are represented as filled
with grief when they reflected on the
privileges of their ancestors, "rsya, festival,
is here a noun of multitude, rrto, on
her account, is introduced, for tbe sake
of emphasis, between the words nNicp
fiBTlT, ihe lifting up, or utterance of re-
preach, which would otherwise have
appeared in the construct state. By
metonymy, the Jews, who are the
objects of such reproach, are intended,
Comp. Micah vi. 16. "The feminine
suffix in iT^B refers to Jerusalem or
Zion, understood : tbe change of person
is, as frequently, for the sake of effect.
The various reading "^bs, though sup

ported by more than twelve MSS., the
Targ. and Syr., is most probably an
emendation. 19. nN Tms, means to deal with, in the
way of retribution or punishment. Vulg.
interficiam. Targ. DS NT'pj t'.3b nin, /
will an end of. 'The restoration of the
Jews is uniformly represented as taking
place in connexion with the destruction
of those nations that are hostile to the
cause of God, and that shall, in a special
raanner, oppose tbe accomplishment of
his purpose respecting the final deliver
ance of tbat long depressed and scattered,
yet beloved people. Comp. Is. lix.
17—21, l.'cvi. 15, 16. nsb2,halting, and
™TT3, driven away, cast out, express the
deplorable circurastances of the Jews
during the dispersion; and the verbal
forras indicate that such shall be their
condition till the time of restoration.
The illustrious character of that restora
tion, however, shall redound to the
celebrity of the covenant people in all
the countries where they have been the
objects of reproach and ignorainy, ^m,
land, is used collectively forniSTN, lands ;
and onto pN, the land of their shame,
means tbe countries in whicii tbey have
been the objects of contumely and dis
grace. Ezek. xxxiv. 29. The occurrence
of the article in yrNn, whicb is in con
struction with Dnipi, is contrary to rule,
but is otherwise not without examples.
See Josh, iii. 17 ; 1 Sam.ii. 13 ; 2 Kings
vii. 13. In such cases, however, the
article is generally repeated before the
following noun. See Josh. viii. 11 ;
Jer. xxv. 26. Sorae would account for
the irregularity by an understood repeti
tion of the noun, thus, Dnti3 yTN y3.Nrr''33.
20. After D3nN n'3n supply D3S3,s3.
The 1 in nB3i is exegetical. The period

CHAP. Ill,] ZEPHANIAH. 345
Even at the time when I collect you ;
Yea, I will make you a name and a praise
Among all the nations of the earth,
When I reverse your captivity in their sight,
Saith Jehovah.
of the re-introduction of the Jews into how greatly and how long soever they
their own land is here rendered dis- may have desired it, Jehovah, to re-
tinguishingly prominent by repeated move all doubts, declares that he will
and pointed reference. So wonderful, bring it about 6e/bre their eyes; i.e. it
however, shall be the circumstances shall certainly become the object of
connected with the event, that they their delightful contemplation,
shall scarcely believe it when it happens.

Y Y

HAGGAI.

PREFACE.

It is generally thought that the prophet Haggai was among the
Hebrew exiles who returned 'with Zerubbabel, and Joshua the
high priest, from Babylon in the year B.C. 536, when Cyrus granted
them their liberty, and ordered them to be furnished with
what was necessary for the restoration of the temple at Jeru
salem, His book itself vouches for the fact that he prophesied
in the reign of Darius Hystaspis, who ascended the Persian
throne b,c, 521. Having been interrupted in building the temple
by an uiterdict, which the Samaritans obtained from Smerdis
the usurper, the Jews became in some measure indifferent to
the work ; and when Darius came to the throne, an event which
must have deprived the prohibition of all authority, instead of
vigorously recommencing their labours, the more influential persons
among them pretended that, as the prophecy of the seventy years
applied to the temple as well as to the captivity in Babylon, and
they were only yet in the sixty-eighth year, the proper time for
rebuilding it had not arrived, and gave their whole attention to the
erection of splendid mansions for themselves.
To rouse them from their selfish indifierence to the clairas of
religion, Haggai and Zechariah were commissioned, in the second
year of Darius, i.e. b,c, 520, to deliver to them rousing appeals
from Jehovah. These appeals had the desired effect, and the work
proceeded with vigour.

348 PREFACE TO HAGGAI.
The book is made up of five messages, whicii were all delivered,
at successive periods, within the short space of three months. They
are so exceedingly brief, that they are, not without reason, sup
posed to be only a summary or epitome of the original discourses.
The style of Haggai is not distinguished by any peculiar excel
lence ; yet he is not destitute of pathos and vehemence, when re
proving his countrymen for their negligence, and exhorting thera
to the performance of duty. To these, the interrogatory form
which he frequently adopts, in no small degree contributes. He is
not without elevation when predicting the future. Certain portions
of the book are purely historical ; and the rest, though exhibiting
raore or less of the parallelism of members which characterises the
usual prophetic style, are but faintly rhythmical. The phrases,
ni><5:^ np''^ D«:i ; QD^I'? 1»''ty, are frequently repeated. nVt] Uii}
occurs not less than thrice in a single verse, chap. ii. 4.
r^P !|nb3, ii. 3 ; I2Va /inSt, ii. 6 ; D^;^Sl r^, ii- 16, are peculiar,
and indicate the Chaldee age.

CHAPTER I.
The prophet calls the attention of the principal civil and ecclesiastical authorities
to the negligence of the people in not building the temple, 1—4 ; directs that of
the people to tbis as the cause of tbeir want of outward prosperity, 5—1 1 ; and
subjoins a notice respecting the success with which the delivery of his message
was accompanied.

In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on
the first day of the month, the word of the Lord was communicated
through Haggai thc prophet to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel,
governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Josedech, the high
priest, saying :

1. The Darius here mentioned is
Darius the son of Hystaspis, of the
faraily of the Achseraenidse, who, in
consequence of an oracle, was raised to
the throne of Persia, on the death of
the usurper Smerdis, B.c, 521, and
reigned thirty-six years. That this must
be the monarch intended is obvious
from tbe facts, that Darius the Mede,
mentioned Dan. v. 31, ix. 1, lived be
fore the return of the Jews from Baby
lon ; and that Darius Nothus and Darius
Codomannus fiourished, the former
ninety-three years after the completion
of the temple, and the latter at a much
later period. Darius Hystaspis is re
presented by Herodotus as a raild and
benevolent ruler. He protected the Jews
from the opposition of their enemies,
and carried into effect the edict of
Cyrus, Ezra vi. The narae '<o'y.^i^,Dary-
avesh, or, as it appears in the cuneiform
inscriptions of Persepolis, Daryawus, is
derived by Lassen (iib. d, Keilform.
Inschriften, p. 158'), frora the root darh,
to preserve, with the affirraative awu.

the s being the sign of the nominative ;
and thus signifies conservator. Comp,
Herodotus, vi. 93, where the signification
ep^eirjs, coercer, is given to the name.
The date in the prophecy is taken from
the reign of this monarch, because at
the time he swayed his sceptre over all
the countries with which the Jews were
brought into contact, from Lybia in
Egypt, and tbe frontiers of Europe, to
the Oxus and the Indus on the east.
The raonths specified by Haggai and
Zechariah are those not of tbe Persian,
but of tbe Hebrew year. See Zech.
i. 7, vii. 1, viii. 19. Zerubbabel, whose
Chaldee narae was Sheshbazzar, Ezra
i. 8, V. 14 ; comp. v. 16, iii. 8, 10, was
the grandson (]3 is used by Haggai
in its more extended signification) of
Shealtiel, of the royal house of David,
1 Chron, iii. 9—19. Cyrus comraitted
to his care the sacred vessels of the
temple, and appointed hira governor of
the colony which returned to Judea,
'The title of nriB, prefect or governor, by
which he is designated, is applied to

350

HAGGAI,

[chap. I.

Thus saith Jehovah of hosts :
This people say, The time is not come,
The time for the house of Jehovah to be built.
Yea, the word of Jehovah was communicated through Haggai
the prophet, saying :
Is it time for you, O ye,
To dwell in your wainscoted houses,
And this house lie waste ?
Now, therefore, thus saith Jehovah of hosts :
Consider your ways.
Ye have sown much, but brought in little ;
Ye have eaten, but not had enough ;
Ye have drunk, but not to the full ;
Ye have put on clothing, but none is warm ;

persons bearing rule in provinces or
divisions of the Persian oupire of less
extent and iraportance than satrapies,
Comp. the Pracrit. Pakkha, and the
present Turkish Pasha, though the latter
word. Lib, Basha, is rather to be referred
to , iL), Bash, head, commander, ruler.
Joshua the high priest is repeatedly
mentioned in the book of Zechariah,
as presiding over the Jewish affairs at
the sarae tirae with Zerubbabel. That
^iTjn 5n3n, the high priest, is to be con
nected, not with the raore proximate,
but with the more remote noun, i.e. with
Slljin', Joshua, is clear, not only from the
sirailar coherence of nnD, but from all
other instances in which offices and
genealogical statements are blended.
2. Simple as are the words ns N'a ns ><';
"131, tbe construction is somewhat difficult,
owing to the position of the infinitive N3.
Either we raust, with Hitzig, give to
the former ns tbe points nB=niTB, now, as
in Ps. Ixxiv. 6 ; Ezek. xxiii. 43 ; or con
vert N'3 into N3 of the preterite, as one of
De Rossi's MSS. reads, and agreeably
to tbe rendering of the LXX., Syr.,
Vulg., 'Targ., and Arab.; or, wbat is
preferable, regard N'3 as put absolutely
ibr the purpose of more emphatically
expressing the sentiraent that the time
was not yet really corae in which to
erect the teraple. As two of the seventy
years' captivity had yet to elapse, the

colony which had arrived at Jerusalem
encouraged theraselves in their neglect
of present duty, by assuraing that the
building of the temple was included in
the calculation, and that, till the full
time had expired, they were under no
obligation to recommence tho work.
4. Repeating the word ns, time, which
he had eraployed twice, verse 2, the
prophet makes an appeal full of point
and cogency to those whora he addresses.
The use of ditn before DS'j adds to the
force of the language. ]Bp signifies to
cover, cover over, wainscot, or overlay
with boards, so that what is predicated
of the houses is not to be confined to
the ceiling, but raust be extended to the
walls wbich were thus covered, at once
for conifort and ornaraent. How beauti
fully the feelings of David, 2 Sam. vu. 2,
contrast with those of the persons re
proved by Haggai.
5. The 1 in nnsi is inferential, while
nns is eraployed, not in its temporal
acceptation, but arguraentatively, as in
Ps, ii. 10. D3'3-iir';B D333'>^ lO'iD, lit. place
your heart upon your ways, an idiomatic,
but very expressive mode of speech.
Corap. ver. 7, and ii. 18, twice, in the
elliptical forra DSU) lO'ip.
6. N3n, "3i3N, iniS and i!5i3$, are historical
infinitives, whicb carryforward the force
of the finite form in ditsti at the com
mencement of the verse, and, at the
same time, give a greater degree of
prominence to the actions which they

CHAP. I,]

HAGGAI.

351

And he that earneth wages, earneth them
To put them into a purse with holes.
7 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts :
Consider your ways.
8 Go up to the mountain, and bring wood,
And build the house, and I will take pleasure in it,
That I maybe glorified, saith Jehovah,
9 Ye looked for much, but, behold ! little ;
And ye brought it home, and I blew upon it.
Wherefore '? saith Jehovah of hosts.
Because of my house which lieth waste,
And ye nm each to his own house.
10 Therefore, it is on your account the heavens withhold the dew,
And the earth withholdeth her produce.
11 And I have called for drought.

express. Nothing prospered, and nothing
could be expected to prosper, while the
Jews were living in the flagrant neglect
of their duty. They had brought property
with thera frora Babylon, with which
they had erected splendid houses for
themselves, but God blasted tbeir agri
cultural and other expectations ; and
tbey had nothing in prospect but a season
of scarcity and want. The necessaries
of life were already become so dear, that
those who wrought for day's wages
parted with all that they earned, as if
they had put it into a bag or purse with
holes, ^-^-^l, bored or perf orated.
7. A reiteration of the exhortation
contained in ver. 5.
8. The reason why the Jews are called
to provide wood only is thought by
Jerome tobe, that the walls ofthe temple
remained standing; but this hypothesis
is contradicted by repeated statements
in the books of Ezra and Zechariah, as
well as in Haggai n. 18, in which ex
press mention is made of laying its
foundations. It rather seems to have
been on accountof the time which would
be necessary to procure the article in
question frora Lebanon, since it required
first to be hewn down, and afterwards
transported by sea to Joppa. By T;n,
themountain, Rosenraiiller thinks Moriah
is raeant; Hitzig, tbe raountainous
country in the vicinity of Jerusalem;

but it is more natural to interpret the
terra of Lebanon, whence the wood was
actually fetched. It is true the Jews
themselves did not go to that mountain
for the timber; it was conveyed by the
Zidonians and Tyrians, Ezra iii. 7 ; but
persons are often said to do wbat they
perform through the instrumentality of
others. For teni, the textual reading,
which should be pointed T3|ni, the Keri
has nT3|Nl. The copula 1 marks here
the end to be obtained, or the result that
would follow the performance of the
enjoined duty. In such cases the
future has the force of a potential mood,
9. n;B, the infinitive absolute, as in
ver. 6. Even tbe small crop wbich was
reaped had no sooner been brought into
the barns or granaries, than it was dis
sipated. Tbeir running each to bis own
house is expressive of tbe eagerness with
which the Jews pursued tbeir own affairs,
and sought for self-indulgence. 'n'.3 and
in'3 stand bere in striking contrast.
10, D3'bs is not to be referred to the
heavens, and so rendered over you, but
on your account, for your sake. Comp,
D3'j^?3]3il, Micah iii. 12. The raeaning
is, on account of your neglecting to
build the temple. The preposition in
¦rep, following Nta, signifies with respect
to, but does not require to be trans
lated. 10. In the use of 33n, drought, there

352 HAGGAI. [chap. i.
Upon the land, and upon the mountains,
Upon the grain, and upon the new wine,
Upon the oil, and upon what the ground bringeth forth,
Upon man and upon beast,
And upon all the labour of the hands.
12 Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of
Josedech the high priest,and all the residue of the people, hearkened
to the voice of Jehovah their God, and to the words of Haggai the
prophet, according as Jehovah their God had sent him ; and the
people feared Jehovah.
13 Then spake Haggai, the messenger of Jehovah, in the message of
Jehovah to the people :
I am with you, saith Jehovah.
14 And Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, thc son of
Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of
Josedech the high priest, and the spirit of all the rest of the people,
and they came and did the work in the house of Jehovah of hosts,
15 their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the
second year of Darius the king.

is an obvious reference to33n, dry, waste, with their rulers in rendering obedience
desolate, verses 4 and 9. They form a to the Divine comraand.
paronoraasia. The lengthened amplifica- 13, To encourage them to proceed
tion is eraployed in order to add to tbe in the path of obedience on which they
force of the threatening. The LXX., had entered, Haggai dehvers to them
supposing it to be incongruous to speak tbe brief, but most cheering promise,
of _ bringing a drought upon man and nin.' dn3 d3^n 'pN, I am with you, saith
beast, read 3^in instead of iTfi, and ren- Jehovah.
dered the word by pdxatpav, a sword, not 14. niT T'Sn, to excite, or stir up the
adverting to tbe circumstance, tbat the spirit of any one (comp. Ezra i. 1, 6),
latter terra was still less applicable to means to render him inclined effectively
tbe other subjects here enumerated, to undertake the peiformance of any act,
What the prophet threatens is an uni- or to pursue a certain line of conduct.
versal drought, tbe effects of which 15. From the date here assigned it
would specially be experienced by living appears, tbat most of the month elapsed
creatures. before the work was fairly undertaken.
12. The prophet now describes the Several of the early editions of the
happy effect whicb was produced by the Hebrew Bible, as also the London Poly-
niessage whicii he had just delivered, glot, iraproperly place this versa at the
All the people who had returned united beginning ofthe next chapter.

CHA1-, II,] HAGGAI, 353

CHAPTER II,
This chapter contains three different oracles of the prophet. The first, designed to
encourage the people and their leaders to proceed with the building of the
temple, by considerations derived from the Divine presence, 1 — 4 ; from their
national covenant continuing in force, and that of the prophetic and gracious
influences of the Holy Spirit, 5 ; from the advent of the person and kingdom of
the Messiah, 6, 7 ; and from tbe universal proprietorship of Jehovah, the glory
of the Messiah, and the reconciliation whioh he should efi'ect, 8, 9, The second
oracle cautions them against intermission in tbeir labours, by showing that if
they did so, nothing they did could be acceptable to God, 11 — 14 ; and by re
ferring them to the infelicitous state of their affairs before the late revival, 15 — IS
and promises them prosperity, 19, The third is addressed to Zerubbabel in
dividually, to animate and encourage him in conducting the work.

1 In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the
word of Jehovah was communicated through Haggai the prophet,
2 saying : Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the governor
of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Josedech, the high priest, and
to the rest of the people, saying :
3 Who is there among you that remaineth,
That saw this house in its former glory .''
And how do ye see it now .''
Is it not, compared with it, as nothing in your eyes ?
4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel ! saith Jehovah ;
1, 2. This oracle was delivered nearly been, Haggai appeals respecting the
a month after the rebuilding of the disparity between the two, in regard to
temple had commenced, and was evi- the rough and unpromising appearance
dently designed to remove the despon- of the new structure, contrasted with
dency in which some of the people the elegant and splendid aspect of that
indulged, and to animate them to pro- of Solomon, previous to its destruction
secute the work, by the Chaldeans, TNW?n ig not in apposi-
3, It appears from Ezra iii, 10, that tion with D33, but connects with the
there were many present at the laying interrogative »P, The phrase 1!N3 inta
of the foundation of the second temple, is peculiar, but not difficult of resoliitioir
who had seen the first. To such of them the word for temple being understood,
as were still alive, few as they must have 4, The comparison instituted in the
z z

354

HAGGAI,

[chap, n.

And be strong, O Joshua! son of Josedech, the high priest;
Be ye strong also, all ye people of the land !
Saith Jehovah of hosts, and work :
For I am with you, saith Jehovah of hosts.
The covenant which I made with you,
When ye went forth out of Egypt,
And my Spirit remain among you ;
Fear not.
For thus saith Jehovah of hosts :
Yet once, within a little,
And I will shake the heavens, and the earth.
And the sea, and the dry land,

preceding verse, so far frora being de
signed to discourage those to whom tbe
appeal was made, was on the contrary
intended to inspire tbem with confidence
in their covenant God, whose prerogative
it is to call things that are not as though
they were. It is tacitly implied, that
whatever raight be the estimate they
might make of the work, it was very
different with respect to his. Comp.
Zech. viii. 6. And what is here only
implied is expressly declared ver. 9.
5, The government of TJ'rrrnN has un
necessarily puzzled interpreters. Ewald
thinks the sentence is incomplete, and
would supply 1T3!, remember. Hengsten
berg actually supplies the word in a
parenthesis. Maurer endeavours to make
it out to be an accusative modi s. normce,
and explains, secundum illud verbum :
and connects it with the preceding verse,
thus : I ara with you, according to that
word, Szc. ; and so our own translators,
after Calvin. Rosenmiiller would supply
lies fiom the preceding verse. The
particle nN I consider to be prefixed to
T3"jn, in order to give it a greater degree
of prominence, and to be equivalent to
that or the same covenant, &c. ; whde
Tj-jnriN, together with 'nn, forra the
norainative to the participle rnds ; onl}',
as separated from it by the intervening
predicate '"''ill 'PTJ TilJN, the participle is
"put in the feminine singular, to agree
with 'ruT, the nearer antecedent. For
this use of nN before the norainative,
though rare, see Neh. ix. 19. TIEB-IN
•\o-tib ijsn, the pillar of cloud did not
depart, Szc ; ver. 34, lies \^ — wsJp-nNi,

And our kings — have not kept, &c. ;
Dan. ix. 13, n'^ nN3 nNin ns-in-'js nN, All
this evil hath come upon us. T3T, word or
matter, is here employed to denote the
Sinaic Covenant, as the accompanying
verb nT3, to cut, or make a covenant,
obviously shows. Notwithstanding the
flagrant violation of that covenant of
which the Jews had been guilty, on
account of which they had been punished
in Babylon, it still continued in all its
force. They possessed it in its written
forra, and thus bad the pledge which
Jehovah had given thera, that he was
their covenant God, and would confer
blessings upon the obedient. They also
had his niT, the spirit of inspiration in
the prophets wbo were raised up in the
raidst of thera to declare his will, and
call to the discharge of duty, Ezra v. 1 ;
and of eflScient influence to induce them
to listen to, and enable them to comply
with such call, Zech. iv. 6; Hag. i. 14,
6. In this and the following verse the
Jews re encouraged to proceed with the
work by the assurance that Jehovah
would, as the Governor among the
nations, in a brief space, exert his Al
mighty power in effecting a great revolu
tion in the state of the kingdoms of this
world, preparatory to tbe establishment
of the kingdom of the Messiah, This
mighty change is first described in the
usual figurative language of prophecy;
as a convulsion of the physical uni
verse, and then literally as a con
vulsion of all nations. In the phrase
iDSp nnN TiB, it is only the numeral
nrjN which occasions any difficulty. The

cHap. ii.]

HAGGAI.

355

7 Yea, I will shake all the nations,
And the things desired by all the nations shall come ;

combination tDSp TiB, yet a little,'i.e. time,
occurs more than once. See Ps. xxxvii.
10; Is. xxix, 17 ; Jer, li,33. But that
here presented being peculiar to this
passage, naturally suggests some pecu
liarity in the meaning. Most supply Dsa,
time, after the LXX. en ajra|, quoted
and reasoned upon, Heb, xii, 26, 27, aud
7 7 *
the Syr, _zi\ L** ».2oZ- Comp. for
n.™ DBS, one t'lme, ence. Josh, vi. 3 ;
1 Sam. xxvi. 8 ; and for the ellipsis of
DBS, where nnN stands by itself, as
"here, Exod, xxx. 10 ; Job xl. 5 ; Ps.
Ixii. 12, Ixxxix. 36. And certainly, as
tOBO, Utile, is designed to express brevity
o/ii7ne,nothing can be raore appropriate
than such construction. Hengstenberg
labours bard to bring tbe idea of brevity
of time out of nnN, but fails to produce
any examples to confirm his hypothesis.
What the prophet has in view appears
to be the convulsions which were yet to
take place in tbe Persian and Greek
empires, some of which were soon to
commence, but all of which were more
pi'oximately, or raore reraotely connected
with the complete establishment of the
Jews in theirown land, and the splendour
of their temple as erected by Herod. Tbe
previous convulsion, implied in the phrase
yet once, does not appear to be the
shaking, &c., which took place at the
giving of the law on Sinai, but the
violent change which had lately taken
place in the condition of the Babylonian
empire, just as that yet to come is not to
be extended to the downfal ofthe Roman
empire, the destruction of Antichrist,
&c., but must be confined to events
which were to happen before the coming
of Christ, We have only to call to mind
the wars of the Persians in Asia Minor,
Greece, Egypt, and other parts; and
those of Alexander and his successors
which followed, till the period when the
establishmentof the power ofthe Roraans
at length gave peace to the world, in
order to read, in legible characters, the
fulfilraent ofthe present prophecy. Nor
does the coraraent of the writer of tbe
Epistle to the Hebrews require any other
application of it. His object is to show

that the dispensation or kingdom of the
Messiah is stable and immovable; and
in order to illustrate his point, be in
troduces, by way of contrast, the natural
phenomena which took place on the
promulgation of the Sinaic covenant, as
described by Moses, and the political
phenomena predicted by Haggai, all of
which indicated the mutable character
of the elements upon which tbey were
exerted. That the prophet intended to
include the dissolution of the Jewish
state in his prediction, does not appear;
indeed, the reference to such an event
must have increased the despondency of
his people, instead of inspiring them
with hope and courage, whicb formed
his only object in addressing them.
7, Having figuratively set forth the
great political changes which were still
to take place among the nations before
tbe introduction of the kingdora of the
Messiah, Haggai here repeats his pre
diction in literal terras, and then at once
announces the arrival of the eagerly ex
pected blessings of that kingdom. The
passage has long been regarded as one
of tbe principal prophecies relative to
the tirae of the Redeeraer's advent.
That it was so applied by sorae of the
early Jewish Rabbins, is undeniable.
Thus in the chapter of the Talmudic
treatise Sanhedrin, entitled f^n, the
following interpretation is given as that
of Rabbi Akiba, who flourished before
the time of Jerorae : Dni) yn ni3')D idsd
':in wQb-a iniN TnN'ji pTn thn^ 'jntid'';
rriBD N3'i yTNi D'dib otstd. For a little I
will give the kingdom to Israel, after eur
desolation, and after the kingdom, behold
I will shake heaven and earth, and Mes
siah SHALL COME. The rendering of
the Vulg. supports the same view : " Et
veniet Desideratus cunctis Gentibus,"
Leo Juda : " Et veniet qui desideratur ab
omnibus genitibus." Dathe : " Et deinde
veniet gentibus oranibus expetendus,"
On the other hand, Kimchi, Vatablus,
Calvin, Ribera, Drusius, Gafaker, Vi
tringa, and others, render : " The Gen
tiles shall come with their delightful
things," i.e. tbeir silver, gold, precious
stones, &c. Some, violently, " Come to

356 HAGGAI,
And I will fill this house with glory,
Saith Jehovah of hosts.

[chap, n.

the desire," &c., meaning thereby Jeru
salem, Most of the moderns, rejecting
this construction as altogether unwar
ranted, translate after the LXX, ij|fi
ra eicXeKTa navrav rdv iBvdv, " the
choice things," or '' the pleasant things of
all nations shall corae." Ewald : " dass
die liebsten aller Vblker koraraen :" i.e.
" That the most lovely of all people raay
come." Hengstenberg, who renders,
" the beauty of all the heathen," is at
great pains in endeavouring to make
good his translation, which he interprets
of what he says is always beautiful
araong them — all their costly good
things. But he fails alike in his attempt
to set aside the idea of desire as ex
pressed by nTpn, and in tbat to prove
that the prophet here foretels tbe rich
contributions which the heathen would
bring into the cburch. That tbe root
Tpn, priraarily and most commonly sig
nifies to desire or covet, both in a good
and a bad sense, must be evident to
eveiy one wbo will take the trouble to
consult the Hebrew concordance ; and
that nTpn, which is derived frora it, sig
nifies desire, an object of desire, see the
Lexicons of Gesenius and Lee. This
acceptation raust be vindicated to 1 Sara.
ix. 20, btrm', n'lpn-'jj 'p";!; to 2 Chron.
xxi. 20, nrpn A':i; and to Dan, xi, 37,
D'tfa njipn. The want of concord in
D'ian-'s nTOn in3i, tbe verb expressing
the predicate, being in the plural mas
culine, while nTpn, the subject of the
proposition, is in the singular feminine,
occasions no small difficulty, and presents
an insuperable objection to tbe usual
Messianic interpretation. That 1N3
should have been produced by zeugma
with D'ian, is totally unsupported by
analogy, just as a plural of excellence
in verbs is equally without exaraple.
The only practicable solution warranted
by grararaatical usage, consists in as
suming tiTpn to be a collective noun,
conveying a plural idea, the gender of
which not having yet presented itself to
tbe mind of the prophet when he enun
ciated tbe verb, he naturally expressed
it in the masculine as the more worthy
gender. The construction in such cases
is ed sensum ; i.e. it is not formal, but

logical. The proper translation, there
fore, of o>)ir\-b^ nTpn in3i will be, And,
or. And ilien ihe things desired by all
nations shall come. 'The Genitive being
the Genitive of object, must be thus ex
pressed. Now these objects of desire
on the part of all nations, cannot mean
their riches, for no such riches were
brought to Jerusalem by all tbe nations
— the gifts bestowed by some few ofthe
heathen princes after the time of Alex
ander not in any degree 'exhausting the
force of the language here employed,
Neither could the prospect of contri
butions in more reraote future tirae have
operated in the way of encouragement
upon the minds of those whom the
prophet addressed, so as to induce them
to proceed with tbeir work. The objects
in question, therefore, must have been of
a higher order — ra peXXovra dyaBd, the
good things io ceme, i. e. the blessings of
tbe New Covenant. There was found to
pervade the rainds of the heathen, a deep
and dark feeling of tbe necessity of super
natural light and influence. Bewildered
in the mazes of error and superstition,
they could find nothing satisfactory re
specting the Divine Being, pardon, eman
cipation frora the power of moral evil,
and a future state of existence; and
more or less earnestly desired to obtain
information in regard to these important
and necessary points To adduce only
one testiraony from among many to be
found in ancient pagan writers. So
crates, endeavouring to satisfy the mind
of Alcibiades on the subject of accept
able worship says : ai'ayKaToj' o^i' iart
nepipevetv eas dv ris padrj ds het npos
Beois Kal npds dvBpdnovs htaKetaBat,
It is therefore necessary to wait till some
one may teach us how it behoves us to
conduct ourselves, both towards the gods
and men. To which Alcibiades re
sponds : nore ovv napiarat d xP"'""*
OVTOS d ^aKpares ; Kat Tts d nathevaav ;
TJhtara ydp dv poi haKa Ihelv tovtov rov
dvBpanov ris eanv ; When shall that
time arrive, 0 Socrates ? and who shall
ihat Teacher be ? for most eagerly do I
wish to see such a man. — Plato, Alci
biades, ii. near the end. And, as the
time of tbe Redeemer's advent drew

chap, ii,]

HAGGAI.

357

8 Mine is the silver, and mine is the gold,
Saith Jehovah of hosts.
9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former
Saith Jehovah of hosts.
And in this place I will give peace,
Saith Jehovah of hosts.

near, there was a general expectation of
a Teacher and Deliverer, not only in the
Jewish nation, but througbout the world,
ToChrist, as tbe Light of the world, and to
the spiritual blessings which flow through
his mediation, the prophecy strictly ap
plies; aud, with tbis reference, was
admirably calculated to stimulate the
Jews to perseverance in building the
temple, with which was inseparably con
nected tbe restoration of their ancient

erected by the celebrated Jewish mon
arch ; but this was all. The stateinent
raade by Josephus, Bell, Jud. lib. vi. cap.
iv. 8, tiiat it was the most admirable of
all the works he had seen or heard of,
does not include Solomon's temple, but
has respect to other erections in different
parts of the world. But if the second
Iiouse was inferjor in point of surap
tuousness to the former, and wanted, as
tbe Jews admit, the Urim and Thum-

polity, during the existence of which raira, the ark, the pot of manna, Aaron's
the Messiah was to appear. The "glory" rod, and tbe visible_ glory, which was

with which the temple was to be filled,
was not the rich and splendid furniture,
&c,, but a resplendence, consisting in tbe
manifestation of Jehovah himself. Corap,
Zech, ii. 5, with Ezek, xliii. 4, 5 ; Exod.
xl. 34, 35 ; 1 Kings viii. 11,
8. 'The Jews needed to be under no
concern about tbe raeans requisite for
the erection of the temple. The earth
is the Lord's and the fulness thereof, so
that whatever amount of earthly riches
was wanted, he would in his providence
supply, Tbe declaration contained in
this verse is introduced parenthetically,
to relieve their minds from any momen
tary anxiety, arising out of the circum
stances in which, as a poor and despised
people, they were placed,
9, The LXX. refer the terms prittn,
the latter, and jiiiiN^n, the former, not to
ip i;3n, this house, hut to Ti3|, ihe glory.
And thus Hitzig, Maurer, and Ewald ;
but Ezra iii. 12, determines to the con
trary. The glory here predicted was
to be greater than that of the former
temple, not merely in degree, but in
kind. That the second teraple, even as
renewed and beautified by Herod, at all
equalled in magnificence that of Solo
mon, there is no reason to believe. This
must appear on comparing the descrip
tion given of the former by Josephus,
Antiq. Jud. lib. xv. cap, xi., with tbat
furnished of the latter, 1 Kings vi, vii,
13 — 50. In point of size, indeed, the
temple of Herod exceeded the structure

the syrabol of the Divine presence, it
follows that tbe greater glory by which
it was to be distinguished, must denote
soraething altogether different in kind,
and which could only be supplied by Him,
in whose person the glory of God ap
peared, 2 Cor. iv. 6, who is the " Bright
ness of the Divineglory," Heb.i.2; whose
glory was beheld as that of the only-
liegotten of the Father, John i, 14 ; who
could say of hiraself, " that in this place
is one greater than the teraple," Matt,
xii. 6; and who satin it daily teaching.
Matt, xxvi. 55. In support of this in
terpretation, and indeed of the Messianic
character of the entire prophecy, ver,
7, 9, the declaration made in the con
cluding clause of tbe latter verse may
with all propriety be adduced. When
" peace" is spoken of in an absolute
sense, in the prophets, it denotes the re
conciliation between God and sinful
men, to be effected by the Messiah,
Comp, Is. ix. 6, 7, liii. 5, Ivii. 19 ; Micah
V, 5 ; Zech, vi, 13 ; with Luke ii, 14 ;
.\cts X. 36 ; Rom, v. 1 ; Eph. ii. 14, 17,
This peace was to be granted nin DipB3,
in this place, i.e. in Jerusalem. It was
there the Messiah made peace through
the blood of his cross, Col. i. 20, It
has with some been matter of dispute,
whether the temple erected by Zerub-.
babel, and that built by Herod, are to
be regarded as identical, or whether the
latter is not to be considered as a third
teraple. Strictly and architecturally

358 HAGGAI. [chap. ii.
10 On the twenty-fourth of the ninth month, in the second year of
Darius, the word of Jehovah was communicated through Haggai the
11 prophet, saying: Thus saith Jehovah of hosts : Ask now the priests
as to the law, saying : If any one should carry sacred flesh in the
12 skirt of his garment, and touch with his skirt bread, or pottage, or
wine, or oil, or any eatable, shall it be holy ? And the priests an-
13 swered and said, No. Then said Haggai: If any one who is
unclean on account of a dead body, should touch any of these, shall
it be unclean ? And the priests answered and said, It shall be un-
14 clean. Then Haggai continued, and said :
Thus hath this people, and thus hath this nation been,
Before me, saith Jehovah ;
And thus hath been every work of their hands,
And what they have offered there hath been unclean.
15 And now consider, I beseech you,
From this day and backward,
Before one stone was laid upon another
In the temple of Jehovah.

considered, that of Herod was entirely
new, for he caused tbat of Zerubbabel to
be taken down to the very foundations ; but
in the popular and religious language tbey
were identical ; just as Josephus speaks
of those built by Solomon and Zerub
babel as one. Bell. Jud. hb. vi. cap. iv. 8.
Accordingly nothing is raore customary
than for Jewish writers to speak of only
the first and the second temple. In the
present verse, Haggai is to be understood
as speaking in an architectural sense,
inasmuch as the second temple was then
being actually built.
10. This prophecy was delivered
nearly two months later than that con
tained in the preceding verses of the
chapter. 11 — 13. To convince his countrymen
of the impossibility of their conduct
being well-pleasing to God, and of their
obtaining bis blessing, while in any one
point they neglected to comply with his
will, the prophet directs them to consult
the priests on tvvo legal questions; tbe
one, relative to the coramunication of
cereraonial sanctity to any object, by its
having been brought into contact with
what had been sanctified ; and the otber,
respecting the comraunication of cere

raonial irapurity by one who was himself
impure. The forraer was denied ; the
latter affirraed. Whatever the Jews
might otherwise rightly perform, would
not corapensate for their neglect in
building the teraple ; on the contrary,
their neglect in this matter would taint
or vitiate all tbeir other actions. Comp.
in illustration of these questions. Lev.
vi. 27 ; Numb. vi. 6, xix. 13; in which
latter passages the abbreviated form liBi,
a dead body, is expressed in full by i&i
np, or by nmniiiN DTijn li'Bi.
14. The application of tbe legal de
cisions of tbe priests to tbe case of the
Jews, wbo had neglected tbe building of
the teraple. It describes them, not as
they now were, engaged in the work,
but as tbey had been, and is designed to
put them upon their guard against falling
back into the sarae state. The adverb
Dffl, there, points graphically to the altar,
which had been erected at Jerusalem,
and whicii was, in all probability, within
view of tbe audience whicii the prophet
addressed. Ezra iii. 3.
15 — 17. The Jews are earnestly ex
horted to reflect upon the state of their
affairs during the period in which they
bad intermitted the work, God had

chap, ii.]

HAGGAI.

359

16 Since these days were,
One came to a heap of twenty sheaves,
And there were but ten ;
One came to the vat to draw fifty purahs,
And there were but twenty.
17 I smote you with blight, and mildew, and hail,
In all the labours of your hands ;
Yet ye turned not to me,
Saith Jehovah,
18 Consider, I beseech you,
From this day and backward,
From the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month,
From the day when the temple of Jehovah was founded,
Consider I
19 Is the seed still in the granary ?
And as yet the vine, and the fig-tree,
And the pomegranate, and the olive have borne nothing ;
From this day will I bestow the blessing.
20 And the word of Jehovah was communicated a second time to

frowned upon tbem, and rendered them
infelicitous. *?P, a substantive, with
the local n, used adverbially. Properly
it signifies upward, being derived from
njs, to ascend ; but used, as here, of tirae,
it means back, backwards. In Dpi'ir, the
word D'p^, days, is understood. N3 is to
be taken impersonally. At D'T^B npTB,
a heap of twenty, supply nia^N or D'^ips,
sheanes. rniB, which is used for the
wine-press itself, Is. Ixiii. 3, is here em
ployed to denote a liquid raeasure in
which the wine was drawn out, LXX,
perprjrrjs. The quantity being unknown,
I have retained the original word. For
ver. 17, comp. Amos iv. 9, where we
have the words ''IB dto^-n'), ye turned not
unto me, instead of '^n D3nN-]'M, used by
Haggai, in which there is an ellipsis of
the participle D'3tf. For tbis use of nN,
as a nominative, or as indicating tbe
subject of discourse, see on ver. 5, In
ver. 18, tbe exhortation is once and
again reiterated for the sake of effect;
and to render it still more definite, the
exact date is added to the formula Di'n
10, ihis day, which had been eraployed
ver. 15. rfep is here to he taken, as in

that verse, in reference to past time, and
not, as the Vulg., Hitzig, &c., in refer
ence to the future.
19, To the question put at the be
ginning of the verse, a negative is to be
given. The seed was no longer in the
granary. It had been sown in the course
ofthe month, and there were no signs of
its springing up any more than there were
of the produce of the fruit-trees. Jeho
vah had formerly blasted tbeir harvest ;
but now that the people were diligently
engaged in building his temple, they
might confidently calculate upon one of
plenty. He gives them a positive
proraise to this effect. The repetition
of nin Di»n-p, from this day, which bad
been twice used in the preceding verses,
gives eraphasis to the declaration, TS,
usually signifying until, is here eraployed
in the sense of while, or as yet, as in
Judges iii, 26 ; 2 Kings ix. 22 ; Job i. 1 8,
where it corresponds to TiB in verses
16 and 17.
20 — 23. These verses contain a special
message to Zerubbabel, in which there
is a repetition of the prediction, some
what amplified, respecting the revolu-

360

HAGGAI,

[chaf. II.

21 Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying : Speak
Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, saying :
I will shake the lieavens and the earth,
22 Ivvill overthrow the throne of kingdoms,
I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations,
And overthrow the chariots and those who ride in them ;
The horses, also, and their riders shall come down,
Each by the sword of another.
23 In that day, saith Jehovah of hosts,
I will take thee, O Zerubbabel ! the son of Shealtiel,
My servant, saith Jehovah,
And will make thee as a signet ;
For in thee I take pleasure,
Saith Jehovah of hosts.

tions that were about to take place,
which had been delivered in verses 6
and 7. In ver. 22, the verb tt;, to go,
or come down, is equivalent to 'jp:, to fall.
That the proraise made, ver. 23, cannot
be viewed as having respect to Zerub
babel in bis individual capacity, has
been thought to be quite obvious frora
the fact, that he lived upwards of an
hundred years before the time of Alex
ander, whooverturned the Persian throne,
and subdued the rest of Asia ; but the
predicted convulsions did not commence
with the conquests of that monarch.
Many of thera took place during tbe
reign of Darius, whose arras were carried
not only into Scythia, Asia Minor, and
Greece, but, according to Herodotus,
into India. It is, therefore, not at all
improbable tbat Zerubbabel survived
several of these wars, and thus lived in
the beginning of Ninn Di'n, that day, or
the period in the course of which the
prophecy was' to be fulfilled ; and as
the Persians occasionally experienced
serious reverses, as, for instance, in the
Scythian expedition, it was natural for
tbe Jews, who were under the protection
of Darius, to have their minds unsettled

by apprehensions respecting the ultimate
state of their affairs. To inspire thera
with confidence, Jehovah bere assures
tbeir governor of his regard and pro
tection araid all the coraraotions that
might take place in the surrounding
nations. r\^b, to take, is raerely em
ployed for the purpose of introducing
the action expressed by the following
verb. For Dnin3 Tpnpii), I will place thee
as a signet, corap. Song viii. 6; Jer,
xxii. 24. Dnin, from Dnn, to seal, or close
by sealing, signifies a ring with the seal
or signet in il, with whicb the impression
was made. Seals were comraonly raade
of silver, but soraetiraes of the most
precious stones, and, consequently, held
111 high estimation by their owners.
Being worn on one of tbe fingers of the
right hand, they were likewise objects
of constant inspection and care. In all
these points of view Zerubbabel was to
be regarded by God, He was to be an
object of his incessant care and delight.
The latter idea is raore definitely ex
pressed by the addition 'B'ira ?[3 — tm,
signifying not only to try objects, and
then to select what is valuable, but also
to take pleasure in what is thus selected.

ZECHAHIAH.

PREFACE.

Zechariah was of a sacerdotal family. His father Berechiah
was a son of Iddo, one of the priests who returned with Zerubbabel
and Joshua from Babylon. Neh. xii. 4. When he is said to have
heen the son of Iddo, Ezra v. 1, vi. 14, the word \2, is used, accord
ing to a common Hebrew idiom, in the sense of grandson. He
must have been born in Babylonia, and been young, rather than
otherwise, at the time of his arrival in Judea. He was con
temporary with Haggai, and, Kke him, received his prophetic com
mission in the second year of Darius Hystaspis, B.C. 520, only the
latter began his ministry two months earlier. Both prophets were
employed in encouraging Zerubbabel and Joshua to carry
forward the building of the temple, which had been intermitted
through the selfish and worldly spirit of the returned exiles —
a spirit which they boldly and variously reproved.
The most remarkable portion of the book is that containing the
first six chapters. It consists of a series of visions which were
vouchsafed to the prophet in the course of a single night, in which,
hy means of symbolical representations, the dispensations of Divine
Providence relative to the nations that had oppressed the Jews, the
entire removal of idolatry from the latter, the re-establishment of
the city and temple of Jerusalem, and the certainty of the Messiah's
advent, were strikingly and impressively revealed.
3 a

362 preface to zechariah.
The next portion comprises the seventh and eighth chapters, and
contains an answer to a question which the inhabitants of Bethel
had proposed respecting the observance of a certain fast, together
with important ethical matter necessarily arising out of the subject.
The remaining six chapters contain predictions respecting the
expedition of Alexander the Great along the west coast of Palestine
to Egypt ; the Divine protection of the Jews both at that time, and
in that of the Maccabees ; the advent, sufferings, and reig^ of the
Messiah ; the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and dissolu
tion of the Jewish polity ; the suflferings of the Jews during the
dispersion ; their conversion and restoration ; and the sacred character
of their worship, in which the Gentiles shall join, after the
destruction of the wicked confederacy which will be opposed to
their final establishment in Canaan.
The authenticity of this last portion has been, and still is strongly
contested. Not only has it been denied to be the production of
Zechariah, but it has been broken up into fragments, the independent
authorship of which has been ¦vindicated to as many anonymous
authors. The first who ventured upon such a denial was Joseph
Mede, whose opinion was adopted by Hammond, Kidder, Whiston,
and Bridge, and more recently by Seeker and Newcome in this
country, and on the continent by Fliigge, Doderlein, J, D.
Michaelis, Seller, Eichhorn, Bauer, Bertholdt, Forberg, Rosen
miiller, Gramberg, Hitzig, Credner, Maurer, Ewald, and Knobel.
The authenticity, on the other hand, has been mantained by
Carpzovius, Blayney, Jahn, Beckhaus, Koester, Hengstenberg,
and Burger.
The principal objection is taken to the language and character
of the materials, as being very different from those which are found
to distinguish what is universally allowed to have been written by
Zechariah. To this, however, it has been replied, that granting
such to be the case, there may have elapsed a long period of time
between the composition of the former and latter portions of the
book, during which any observable change in the style of the
prophet might have taken place. It is evident, from there being
no reference whatever in the chapters in question to the completion

preface to zechariah, 363
of the temple and the restoration of the Jewish affairs after the
captivity, that, if they had not been written previously, they must
have been composed long after these events had become matter of
history, and in circumstances altogether different from those which
occupied the attention of the prophet at the commencement of his
ministry. That these chapters were written long before, and, indeed, during
the existence of the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel, is a position
maintained by most of those who dispute their authenticity ; but
it is based upon too feeble and precarious a foundation to recom
mend it to the adoption of any who wiU impartially examine into
all the circumstances of the case. The mere mention of Judah and
Ephraim, upon which so much stress is laid, can yield it no real
support. Not the smallest hint is anywhere dropped which would
lead us to infer the existence, at the time, of a separate political
or religious establishment in the northern part of Palestine ; nor is
there any thing, but the contrary, to induce the conclusion that a
king reigned in Judah in the days of the author. That Ephraim
should be spoken of as existing after the captivity cannot be matter
of surprise, when it is considered, that a very large, if not
the larger, portion of the ten tribes availed themselves of the
liberty granted by the Persians to the Jews in Babylon, and
hkewise returned to the land of their fathers. This view of the
subject is confirmed by the application of the term " Israel " to
all the tribes, chap. xii. 1, just as it is used in the identical formula
Mah i. 1. Compare Mal. ii. 11, 12, iii. 6. The few references to
a return relate to those Jews which were in a state of banishment
or slavery und?r the Grseco-Syrian and Grseco-Egyptian kings.
The historical circumstances connected with the Egyptian expe
dition of Alexander are so strongly marked in the prophetic
announcements, that they cannot without -violence be identified
with any previous events. The absence too of the slightest allusion
to the Babylonish captivity, either in the way of threatening or
warning, while the prophet minutely describes the character of the
Jewish rulers, and the condition of the Jewish people, in immediate
connexion with the sufferings of the Messiah, the destruction of

364 preface to zechariah,
Jerusalem, and the consequent fate of that people, goes convincingly
to show that the captivity must have taken place, and that the
whole of this portion of the book has respect to times future to
those in which he flourished. So strongly, indeed, has this feature
of the case presented itself to Eichhorn, and other sharp-sighted
critics, that, rejecting, as their neology compelled them to do, all
ideas of actual prophecy, they scruple not to affirm that the dis
puted chapters must have been composed in the days of Alexander,
Antiochus, Epiphanes, or Hyrcanus I. It also deserves notice that
no reference whatever is made to the existence of royal govern
ment among the Jews, at the time the author wrote, or to any cir
cumstances in the history of that people previous to the captivity.
When, therefore, the difference both in regard to time and sub
ject-matter are taken into consideration, it must be regarded as
sufficient to account for any difference of style that may be detected.
It is, however, after all, a question whether there really does
exist such a difierence in this respect, as that to which it has
become so fashionable to appeal. Be it that the introductory for
mulas which occur in the first eight chapters do not occur in the
last six, the objection, if fully carried out, would go in like manner to
dismember the Book of Amos, and assign its composition at least
to three diSerent authors. The first two chapters of that prophet,
it may be alleged, cannot have been ¦written by the same person
that wrote the three which foUow, since in the former every pre
diction is ushered in by the marked formula, " Thus saith Jeho
vah," whereas in the latter no such formula occurs, but another
equally marked : " Hear ye this word." And upon the same prin
ciple, the seventh and eighth chapters must have come from the
pen of a third writer, since the distinguishing formula there is,
" Thus hath Jehovah showed me,"
The very peculiar character of the first six chapters of Zecha
riah, is such as to exclude all comparison of any other portion
with it, while the more adorned and poetical style of the concluding
chapters, which is so admirably adapted to the subjects treated of,
ought equaUy to be regarded as exempting them from the category
of comparison. In these no dates were requisite, though they were

preface to zechariah. 365
in the former, in which they occupy their appropriate place in
necessary connexion with the events which transpired at the time.
With respect to the titles, chap. ix. 1, and xii. 1, they are pre
cisely such as might be expected to mark the strictly prophetic
matter to which they are prefixed. The exactly parallel title,
Malachi i. 1, naturally suggests the idea, that they belong to a
common period, especially as nothing analogous is found in any of
the earlier prophets.
On the whole, I cannot but regard the objections to the authen
ticity of the disputed chapters as the offspring either of a holy
jealousy for the honour of the Evangelist Matthew, who attributes
chapter xi. 12, 13, to Jeremiah, and not to Zechariah,* or of a
spirit of wanton and unbridled hypercriticism, which would unsettle
every thing, in order to satisfy the claims of certain favourite prin
ciples of interpretation that may happen to be in vogue.
In point of style, our prophet varies, according to the nature of
his subjects, and the manner in which they were presented to bis
mind. He now expresses himself in simple conversational prose,
now in poetry. At one time he abounds in the language of symbols ;
at another in that of direct prophetical announcement. His sym
bols are, for the most part, enigmatical, and require the expla
nations which accompany them. His prose resembles most that of
Ezekiel ; it is diffuse, uniform, and repetitious. His prophetic
poetry possesses much of the elevation and dignity to be found in
the earlier prophets, -with whose ¦nrritings he appears to have been
familiar ; only his rhythmus is sometimes harsh and unequal, while
his parallelisms are destitute of that symmetry and finish, which
form some of the principal beauties of Hebrew poetry.
* See Comment, on the passage

CHAPTER I,
In tbe first six verses, which serve as a general introduction to the whole book,
the prophet is charged to warn the Jews by the consequences which resulted
from the impenitence of their forefathers, not to be backward in complying with
the Divine will. We have then the first of the prophetic visions, with which
Zechariah was favoured, containing a symbolical representation of the tranquil
condition of the world at the tirae, 7 — 11 ; followed by an expostulation respect
ing the desolate state of Judea, 12, 13, and gracious promises of its restoration,
14 — 17, The last four verses set forth, by appropriate syrabols, in a second
vision, for the encourageraent of the Jews, the destruction of the hostile powers
by which they had been attacked, at different periods of their history.

1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of
Jehovah was communicated to Zechariah (the son of Berechiah, the
son of Iddo,) the prophet, saying :
2 Jehovah hath been greatly displeased with your fathers.

1, See preface, and on Haggai i. 1,
2, The special object which the prophet
has in view in this and the following
verses, is to call those Jews who had
returned frora Babylon to Jerusalem,
to repent of the selfish negligence which
they evinced in regard to the building
of the temple, Comp. Hag. i. 4, 5, 7,
This repentance is urged upon them by
the consideration of the severe punish
ment which had overtaken their fathers.
The arguraent is of the kind called
enthymeme, in which theantecedentonly
is expressed, and the consequent pro
position is left to be supplied by the
reader. " Jehovah hath been very angry
with your fathers, and so be will be
with you, except ye repent and reform
your conduct." F|Si7. rpj;. The construction

of a verb with a noun derived frora it,
is found in other languages, as pdxeaBai
paxrjv, gaudere gaudium; but its fre
quency in tbe Hebrew is such as to
entitle it to be regarded as one of its
idioras ; and, generally, it expresses
augmentation or intensity. Hence the
LXX, render here, dpyiaBrj — dp-yrjv
p ^
peydXtjV

\=>i

and the Syr, |^^J  ^
In ver, 15, the intensity is still

more strongly marked by the addition
of Wtj, great : — t^sp ':n biTj fjaii^. The
persons addressed in 0-ynSiit, your fathers,
are the Jews to whom the prophet had
been sent. There is no occasion, with
Blayney, to suppose that the text is
defective.

chap. I,]

ZECHARIAH.

367

Say therefore unto them.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts !
Return unto me, saith Jehovah of hosts,
And I will return unto you, saith Jehovah of hosts.
Be not like your fathers,
To whom the former prophets cried, saying,
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts :
Turn now from your evil ways,
And from your evil practices ;
But they did not hearken,
Neither did they give heed to me, saith Jehovah.
As for your fathers, where are they ?
And as for the prophets, do they live for ever ,''

3, The 1 in ""jON't is not merely con
tinuative, but argumentative, and in
ferential. For tbe defective form DrfjN,
twenty-eight MSS,, and three editions,
read dit^Jn in full. The phrase niNls nirr,
Jehovah of hosts, is of unusually fre
quent occurrence in the eight first
chapters of this book, and in that of
Haggai, written about the same tirae.
In the last six chapters, however, it
occurs not fewer than nine times. See
on Is, i, 9, Its use appears to have
been designed to inspire the mind with
unshaken confidence in the supreme
and irresistible power of God, The 1 in
liniNi marks the apodosis, and has the
force of and then, or, in that case. Comp,
James iv, 8,
4, The prophets here referred to are
those who lived before the captivity, and
the fathers are those who lived in their
time, whose wicked practices had brought
upon the nation that dire calamity. The
appropriation of the phrase D'pisJNT D'N'33,
the former prophets, as a designation of
the booka of Joshua, Judges, Samuel,
and Kings, is of much later date. The
returned Jews are here reminded that
the same announcement which was
made to them had been made to their
ancestors, and that they might have
escaped all the evil by a timely repent
ance, to which Zechariah now urgently
calla them. The former ' in D3'.Ws)0 is
marked in the margin as redundant, and
is omitted in the text of more than

twenty MSS, and some printed editions.
The plural of ''^a, viz. D')5»d, is the only
form in which the word occurs. Comp,
ver. 6,
5, Jerorae refers D'N'3|tt to the false
prophets by whom the Jews who lived
before the captivity had been deceived —
an interpretation which appears to have
been suggested by Jer, xxxvii, 19:
" Where are now your prophets, which
prophesied unto you, saying, The king of
Babylon shall not come against you, nor
against this land ? " The most natvtra!
construction of the verse, however, is
that which connects it closely with what
goesbefore, and identifies " the prophets "
here spoken of with " the forraer pro
phets " there mentioned, just as the
" fathers " in both verses correspond to
each other. The question, DiTTPN, where
are they ? is equivalent to isi'N, they are
not; i.e. in the land of the living. This
the foUowhig question clearly shows.
In Hebrew, simple interrogatives fre
quently iraply the contrary : so that the
language of the prophet is equivalent to
"your fathers are no more, neither do
the prophets live for ever," The latter
declaration seems to involve the idea,
"but my words never fail," as it follows
in ver. 6, This had been proved by
the fulfilment of the Divine threatenings
in the mournful experience of their
fathers, and would again be proved in
theirs, except they repented, which idea
is amplified in the following verse.

368

ZECHARIAH.

[chap. I,

8

But my words, and my decrees.
Which I gave in charge to my servants the prophets,
Did they not overtake your fathers ?
So that they turned and said,
According as Jehovah of hosts purposed to do to us,
According to our ways, and according to our practices,
So hath he dealt with us.
On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the
month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of Jeho
vah was communicated to Zechariah, (the son of Berechiah, the son
of Iddo,) the prophet, saying :
I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and

6. '^n, my decrees, i.e. my firm and
determined purposes to punish your
fathers, if they did not repent, wbich I
comraunicated to them by the prophets.
The root is Pfefj, io hack, cut, cut letters,
&c., in stone or other bard substances.
Thus laws were originally written on
tablets, and hung up for public inspection.
The confession made in this verse is
that which the captives were compelled
to make by the sufferings which they
endured in Babylon, How far their
n3ii2)n, conversion, extended we are not
informed. It is, however, generally
admitted that, as regards the great body
of the nation, it involved the entire
abandonment of idolatry. That 3iit> is
here to be strictly taken as signifying to
turn, return from evil to good, and not
according to its idiomatic usage before
another verb, as siraply expressing tbe
repetition of the action described by such
verb, is required by the exigency of the
passage, tiSh? and p. are correlates ;
the 3 repeated, qualifies a subordinate,
but iraportant part of the proposition.
7, Frora this part of the book to chap,
vi. 8, we have a series of eight syra
bolical visions, tbe language of which is
exceedingly siraple, but, in many cases,
the interpretation is matter of no small
difficulty. The general plan on which
it is constructed, is, first to present to
view the syrabol or hieroglyphic, and
then, on a question being put respect
ing its iraport, to furnish the inter
pretation. Though the visions are
described as distinct frora each other,
the one following the other in regular

succession, yet they are so closely con
nected as to form one grand whole ; and,
as we learn from ver. 8, were all pre
sented to the mind of the prophet in
the course of a single night. The period
of these nocturnal revelations was be
tween two and three raonths after the
prophet first received his commission,
Comp. ver. 1. toji?^, Shebat, is the
eleventh month of the Jewish year, ex
tending from the new moon in Feb
ruary to the new moon in March.
Like other names of the months, the
word is Chaldee ; Syr. ^A^A I Arab,
bLuj and isUuj. The etyraology is not
certain ; but the reserablance of the
word to the Hebrew io.3il), a sheet, rod,
staff, suggests the idea of the month
being so called because it was that
in which the trees began to put forth
their shoots or sprouts. As the follow
ing statement does not contain tbe iden
tical words merely of the communi
cations made to the prophet, but an
account of the scenes with all tbeir ac
companying circumstances, the formula
TD-Nb must be taken as signifying, " to
the following effect," " as follows," or
the like. VISION I,
8, It has been doubted whether the
article n in nbj^n is to be regarded as
definitely raarking the particular night
on whicb the visions were vouchsafed to
the prophet, or whether it is not rather
to be taken as expressing the adverbial

CHAP. I.] ZECHARIAH. 369
he stood among the myrtles in the shade, and behind him were

determination of the noun — in the night,
or, hy night. The latter seeras prefer
able, Comp, nWi, Job V. 14. The
person here described as riding upon a
red horse, is spoken of as tf'N, a man,
i. e. in the shape or appearance of a raan ;
for that an angel, and not a human
being, is intended, is evident frora verses
11 and 12, in which he is expressly
called "the Angel of Jehovah." And
that he was no ordinary angel, but the
Divine Mediator, the Angel of the
Covenant, and of the presence of Jeho
vah, will not be denied by any who bave
rendered themselves familiar with tbe
attributes and circumstances in con
nexion with whicb the Person so desig
nated is presented to view, both in our
prophet and in other parts of the Old
Testament. One of the most remark
able of these circurastances, is his being
identified with Jehovah himself. This
Gesenius, so far from denying, or at
tempting to explain away, expressly
asserts both in his Thesaurus, and in
the last edition of his Hebrew Lexicon,
under the word ^INte. "Sometiraes,"
he writes, " the same divine appearance,
which at one time is called nirp ':|n'?o, is
afterwards called simply rnn;, as Gen,
xvi. 7, et seq. coll. v. 13; xxii. 11 ;
colh 12; xxi. 11, coU. 16; Exod, iii. 2,
colh 4; Jud. vi. 14, coll. 22; xin. 18,
coll. 22. This is to be so understood,
that the Angel of Ged is bere nothing
else than the invisible Deity itself, which
thus unveils itself to raortal eyes ; see
J. H. Michaelis de Angelo Dei, Hal.
1702. Tholuck, Comment, zum Ev.
Johannis, p. 36. Hence Oriental trans
lators, as Saadias, Abusaides, and the
Chaldeo-Samaritan, wherever Jehovah
himself is said to appear upon earth,
aliifays put for the narae of God, tbe
Angel of God." See tbe very satisfac
tory observations of Dr. M'Caul on this
subject, in his translation of Kim
chi on Zechariah, pp. 9 — 27, in wbich
he has shown that there is but one being
who is called in Scripture nin? ¦qNto, the
A-ngel of Jehovah; that the proper
name of this one Being is nirp, Jehovah;
that this Being says of himself, distinctly
and unequivocally, that He is the God
whom Jacob worshipped, the God of

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and that
some of the Kabbins themselves have
been corapelled to admit the facts. See
also Dr. J, Pye Smith's Scripture Tes
tiraony to the Messiah, vol. i. pp. 445 —
463; and Stonard on Zechariah, pp. 15
¦ — 19. In the Babylonian Talraud, San
hedrin, fol, 93, col. 1, the following
brief exposition is given of the man
here referred to by the prophet : " This
man is no otber than the Holy One,
blessed he He ; for it is said, ' The
Lord is a man of war.' " The position
of this Captain of the Lord's liost, is
stated to be " araong the rayrtles which
were in the shady valley," Many con
jectures have been advanced respecting
both the myrtles and the valley, but, in
my opinion, they are all gratuitous, since
it does not appear that these objects were
designed to be symbolically understood,
but are merely added as incidental
circumstances, to give vivacity and force
to therepresentation, njisp being always
used, hke nbiSD and n^is, of depth in
reference to water or mire, it is clear
frora the connexion that such cannot be
the signification of ti^^P, wbich is a
derivative, not frora bvi, to sink, be deep,
but from bbs, to be shaded, darkened;
hence the shade or shady place, probably
that of a mountain. Such derivation is
indicated by the Dagesh compensative
in the Lamed, and is supported by the
renderings of the LXX. and Syr.
Hitzig and

KaraaKtav,

.^.^-

Ewald, coraparing the Arab. iXlio*,
umbraculum, tentorium, interpret the
word as meaning tent or tabernacle,
and suppose heaven, as the dwelling-
place of Jehovah, to be intended ; but
the exegesis is far-fetched and inept.
Equally unsatisfactory is the attempt of
the latter of tbese writers to palm upon
D'DTIT the signification of D'Tn, mountains,
by comparing the term with Tnn, height,
Is. xlv. 2. Tdv dpiav of tbe LXX.
must have originated in their having
mistaken D'DTn for D'^Tn, or it may be an
interpretation derived from chap, vi, 1,
Behind the rider, who appears as their
leader or captain, follow three cora
panies of horsemen, distinguished from
3 B

370

ZECHARIAH.

[chap, I.

9 horses that were red, bay and white. Then I said, What are these,
my lord ? And the angel who spake with me, said to me, I will

each other by the colour of the horses.
It is not to be inferred, that, because
D'piD, horses, only are mentioned, we are
to conceive of them as being presented
to view without their riders. Tbis is
evident frora the reply given by the
riders, ver. 11. DID, like our English
horse, is soraetiraes used in a railitary
sense, to denote cavalry. Still, as the
colour of the horses forras an iraportant
feature in the representation, they must
have been specially prominent to the
raental vision of the prophet. On a
coraparison of the present verse with
chap. vi. 1 — 8, and Rev. vi. 2 — 8, it will
appear that horses with their riders are
employed in the symboUcal language of
Scripture to denote dispensations of
divine providence. The peculiar nature
of the dispensations is indicated by the
colour of the horses, and tbe armour
and appearance of the riders. Red,
the colour first mentioned, being tbat of
fire and blood, is the appropriate sym
bol of war and bloodshed. That of the
second company of horses is expressed
by D'i?3ip, bay, or brown, perhaps not dif
fering frora what is commonly called
chestnut. See Bochart, Hieroz. tom. i.
lib. ii. cap. 7. What induces the belief
that this colour is meant is, that D'i^n?)
signify vines which bear purple, or dark
coloured grapes. Comp. the Arab,
yjiijj, rufus color; Jsimj], valde miens
seu rufus camelus. The LXX. \jrapol;
Vulg. varii. The addition, Km noiKiXot,
in the text of the LXX. is doubtless a
gloss. This colour is syrabolical of a
middle state of things — a dispensation
neither characterised by bloodshed, nor
by victory and joyous prosperity, which
the white colour is universally allowed
to represent. Frora what is stated, ver.
11, it is obvious we cannot interpret the
dispensations, thus emblematically set
forth, of events still future at tbe time
of the vision. The different cohorts
speak of their commission as already
fulfilled. The colours raust, therefore,
denote tbe Medo-Persian war, in which
the Babylonian empire was subverted ;

the raixed or transition state of affairs
which followed ; and the coraplete esta
blishraent of the new dynasty in the
room of the tyrannical power by which
the Jews had been enslaved. In con
sideration of the awful vengeance which
had been infiicted upon that power, the
colour of the horse on which the com
mander rode is represented as being
red, rather than bay or white — evidently
with tbe design of affecting the minds
of the Jews with a sense of the great
deliverance which had been wrought for
thera by their Divine Protector.
9. Marckius, Ch. B. Michaelis, Rosen
raiiller, Maurer, aud Ewald, are of
opinion, that the angel here spoken of
is identical with the raan riding on the
red horse raentioned in the preceding
verse, but the contrary is properly main
tained by Vitringa and Hengstenberg, as
a comparison with ver. 10 is sufficient to
show. Though the angel who made the
coramunications to the prophet bad not
been forraerly mentioned, be had pre
sented himself to hira, or stood beside
hira, ready to discharge the duties ofhis
oflBce. This angel is uniformly spoken
of as '3 T3-in ¦^jN'ran, the anyel that spake
with me. See verses 13, 14, chap. u.
2, 7, iv, 1, 4, 5, V. 5, 10, vi. 4. The
language is pecuhar to our prophet ;
and frora the office specially assigned to
the angel, he is usually called tbe ange
lus interpres, or the angelus collocutor.
That stress is to be laid upon the use of
the preposition 3, following the verb 333,
io speak, as if it were designed to mark
tbe intemal character of tbe coramuni
cations made by the angel to the pro
phet — a position maintained by Jerome,
Ewald, Delitzsch, and some others —
cannot be satisfactorily made out. The
utmost that can be conceded respecting
the force of the preposition, in such
connexion, is its expressing the familiarity
or intimacy of the intercourse between
the Divine raessenger and the prophet.
When the angel says 'JN'^n, I will show,
or cause thee io see these things, the
reference is to a mental perception or
understanding of their meaning.

CHAP, I.]

ZECHARIAH.

371

10 show thee what these are. And the man that stood among the
myrtles answered and said, These are they whom Jehovah hath
11 sent to walk to and fro through the earth. And they answered the
Angel of Jehovah that stood among the myrtles, and said, We have
walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold ! the whole earth
sitteth still and is tranquil.
12 Then the Angel of Jehovah answered and said : 0 Jehovah of
hosts ! how long wilt thou not compassionate Jerusalem, and the
cities of Judah, with which thou hast been angry these seventy
13 years.'' And Jehovah answered the angel who spake with me with

10, 11, fi», signifies to commence or
proceed to speak, as well as io answer.
Comp, the use of dnoKptvopat in the
New Testament. Instead of the re
quisite information being comraunicated
by the interpreting angel, it is iraparted
by the Angel of Jehovah himself, and
by those who acted under his coraraand.
Because the phraseology yiN3 l]^nnn is
almost identical with that employed to
describe the roaming of Satan through
the earth, Job i. 7, ii. 2, it has been
inferred that the horsemen represent
celestial spirits sent forth for the execu
tion of the divine purposes ; but the
ground is too precarious to admit of any
such theory being built upon it, as a
comparison with Rev, vi. 2 — 8, is suffi
cient to show. The simple occurrence
ofthe same terms cannotof itself justify
this interpretation. From tbe reply
being given to the Angel of Jehovah,
vie may conclude, that he had signified
to them that they should raake their
report for the information of the prophet.
In consequence of their several opera
tions, the obstacles had been removed
out of the way which prevented the
restoration of the Jews ; the wars in
which the Persians had been engaged
had ceased ; and, at the time the pro
phet had the vision, in the second year
of Darius, universal peace obtained in
all the regions with which the people of
God had any connexion. For the use
of logti to denote a state of tranquiUity
after war, comp, Jud. v. 26. A similar
corabination of n3«i' with ni!>^ occurs
ch. vii, 7, and is intended to express the
profound character of the peace which
was then enjoyed, . •

12. rtw, to answer, is here, as in other
instances, used in the simple acceptation
of speaking, or continuing a discourse.
The language is that of intercessory
expostulation. While all the heathen
nations around Judea enjoyed prosperity,
that country was still much in the sarae
state in which it had been during the
captivity, Sorae of the captives had
returned, but they were too few to pro
duce anything like a raarked change in
its circurastances. Vitringa, Stonard,
and sorae others, without suflBcient
reason, think that a different terra of
seventy years is here intended frora that
predicted Jer, xxv. 11, xxix. 10. What
in reality were the years of indignation
upon the cities, but the years of the
captivity of their inhabitants ? D'S^ti nt
niffl, "these seventy years," express em
phatically the period during which the
captivity had continued. ' Two of these
years, dating frora the destruction of
Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, had yet
nearly to run before the expiration of
tbe predicted period, so tbat tbe language
ofthe expostulation is most appropriate,
when viewed as calculated to meet the
feelings of the Jewish people.
13. That it is the sarae being who is
styled ni.n^ '^¥'5'?, the Angel of Jehovah,
ihat is here designated by the incom
municable name nin;, Jehovah, just as
in the passages quoted by Gesenius,
ver. 8, seeras past dispute. As the
Divine Mediator, after having raade
intercession with the Father, who is
addressed by the title niN3:^ nin;, Jehovah
of hosts, he coraraunicates to tbe in
terpreting angel the consolatory answer
which was to be made to the prophet.

372

ZECHARIAH,

[chap.

14 good and comfortable words. And the angel who spake with me
said to me, Cry, saying,
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts ;
I am zealous for Jerusalem,
And for Zion, with great zeal ;
And I am very greatly displeased
With the nations that are at ease ;
Because I was a little displeased,
And they helped forward the affliction.
Wherefore, thus saith Jehovah :
I have returned to Jerusalem in compassion ;
My house shall be built in her, saith Jehovah of hosts,
And a line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem,
Cry again, saying,
Thus saith Jeliovah of hosts :
My cities shall yet overflow with prosperity ;
For Jehovah will yet comfort Zion,
And will yet take pleasure in Jerusalem,
18 Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and, behold! four horns.

15

16

17

D'nni D'TS'i, are in apposition : lit. words,
consolations, i. e. consolatory words.
LXX. Xdyovs napaKXrjTiKovs. Corap.
Is. Ivii. IS; Hos. xi. 8.
14. This and the three following
verses contain the consolatory words
just referred to, wbich the prophet is
coraraanded by the interpreting angel
to coramunicate to the Jews. Nip con
strued with 3, or with the accusative,
signifies to envy, be jealous, indignant
at any person or thing ; with b as bere,
it is taken in a good sense, to be zealous
for anything, actively to interest oneself
en behalf of any one. Corap. Numb.
xxv. 11, 13 ; 2 Sara. xxi. 2; 1 Kings
xix. 10.
15. The adjective ^iNi£ signifies not
merely to be at rest, as the whole earth
is described, ver. 11, but, in a bad sense,
to live at ease, be carnally secure. The
eneraies of the Jews had not siraply
executed the Divine indignation against
that people, but they bad done it wan
tonly. Such seems to be the force of
r\s-^b r\-}S.
16. The building of the temple had
been begun, but it still lay for the most

part in ruins, and was not finished till
the sixth year of Darius. See Ezra
vi. 15. nii7, for wbich tbe Keri has, by
eraendation, the more usual form liJ,
occurs 1 Kings vii, 23 ; Jer, xxxi, 39,
17, Few as were the inhabitants of
Judea at the tirae of the vision, the
land was speedily re-occupied ; and the
population bad greatly increased by the
timeof the Maccabees, Josephus informs
us, that overflowing with numbers, Jeru
salem gradually crept beyond its walls,
till a fourth hill, called Bezetha, was
covered with habitations, yiB, Arab,
i)o\i, itoii, effusus fuit, to overflow.
That the overflowing, however, is to be
interpreted of prosperity, and not ofthe
inhabitants, appears frora tbe D, in
dicating the subject-matter, being pre
fixed to liio, VISION II,
18, 19, (Heb.ii, 1,2,) This vision is so
intimately connected with the preceding
tbat the break in the Hebrew Bible
here, occasioned by the commencement
of a new chapter, is very unhappy. As

CHAP. I.]

ZECHARIAH.

373

19 And I said to the angel who spake with me. What are these ? And
he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah,
20 Israel and Jerusalem. And Jehovah showed me four workmen.
21 Then I said. What are these coming to do ? And he spake, saying,
These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man

usual in tbese visions, tbe hieroglyphic
is first presented. p.ij, a horn, is the
symbol of a kingdom, or political power,
the figure being taken from bulls,
and otiier horned aniraals having their
strength in their horns. Thus the ten
horns of the fourth beast in Daniel's
vision, are symbolical of the ten king
doms into which the Roman empire was
divided on the overthrow of the imperial
throne, chap, vii, 20 ; and in the repre
sentation made of the sarae subject to
John, the ten horns of the seven-headed
beast are said to have upon them ten
crowns, Rev. xiiL 1, xvii. 3. Comp. ver,
12, where it is expressly stated, that
"the ten horns which thou sawest are
ten kings," i.e. kingdoms, the ruling
power being put for the whole govern
ment. The powers referred to by Zecha
riah were those which had been hostile
to the Jews, and had scattered them
abroad from their own land, Jerorae,
Kimchi, Abarbanel, Vatablus, and others,
have been led by tbe occurrence of the
number four, to interpret the horns of
the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and
Hgman empires; but to this exegesis
it has justly been objected, that ofthese
powers two were not yet in existence,
and cannot be prophetically spoken of,
because the hostility described was that
which had already taken place. Neither
is it true that the Jews were scattered
by the Persian power as they had been
by the Babylonian. What took place
under Darius Ochus cannot be taken
into the account here. Tbe nuraber is
rather to be referred to the four quarters
of the earth in their iraraediate relation
to Palestine, Corap, chap, ii, 6, Thus
Theodoret, Clarius, Ribera, Sanchez, a
Castro, Munster, Calvin, Newcorae,
Rosenmiiller, Hitzig, and Maurer. "Je
rusalem " is added to render the de
scription more emphatic, being the
metropolis, the site of the temple, and
the royal residence.

20, 21, (Heb, ii. 3, 4.) Here, again,
the same Divine Person is called nirp,
who was formerly spoken of as ni.n' ^INto.
See on ver, 13. D'SjTn, workmen in
iron, brass, stone, or wood, from «)Tn, to
cut, grave, fabricate. Frora the special
eraployraent assigned to these artificers,
we raay not inaptly corapare n'n«)p 'i^hn,
workmen of destruction, which is rendered
in our comraon version, " skilful to
destroy," Ezek. xxi, 36, The atterapt
of Blayney to justify his rendering the
word by plowmen, first suggested by
Michaelis, raust be regarded as a failure.
On the inquiry being raade, what these
artificers were coming to do, a reply is
given, which further describes the ty rn n ny
exercised over the Hebrew people, and
then states that they were the instru
raents commissioned to destroy the hostile
powers. By again pressing the number
four, interpreters have involved them
selves in inextricable diflficulties. All
that is meant to be conveyed, is the
adequacy ofthe means employed to effect
the punishraent of the nations which
had affiicted the people of God. That
no appeal can he made, in illustration,
to the history of the four great mon
archies, is proved by the fact, that the
workmen are represented as distinct
from the horns, whereas these mon
archies successively destroyedeach other.
The rabbinical reference to tbe days
of the Messiah is altogether aside from
the point, as is likewise tbe reference
which some have made to angels. There
can be no doubt that the several human
instrumentalities are intended, which
God called into operation to crush the
powers in the different countries around
Palestine, by which it had been invaded,
and its inhabitants carried away captive.
Tbe conjecture of Blayney, who would
read TTlrninstead of T'Tnn, and, changing
the punctuation of Dni« into DnN, renders,
" to sharpen their coulter," has not been
approved. Nor is anything of the kind

374 ZECHARIAH. [chap, it,
lifted up his head ; but these are come to terrify them, to throw
down the horns of the nations, which raised the horn against the land
of Judah to scatter it.

necessary. Terror implies a sense of rained by the context. Here that'of cast-
inferiority, weakness, and exposure to ing down, or effecting an overthrow, is the
suffering, and is here appropriately re- mode most naturally suggested. The
presented as a precursor of that over- signification io handle, exercise the hand,
throw to which the eneraies ofthe Jews which sorae have proposed, is less apt,
were to be subjected. Comp. Jud. viii. T, hand, being derived from tbe verb,
12 ; 1 Sam, xiv. 15 ; Ezek. xxx. 9. nj; and not the verb from tbe noun. yrN,
signifies to throw, cast, stretch, the par- land, is here, as frequently, put for its
ticular manner of which is to be deter- inhabitants.

CHAPTER II,
In a third vision, a man with a measuring line is represented as going forth to take
the dimensions of Jerusalem with a view to its restoration to its former condition,
ver, 1 — 3 ; an act^ which is virtually declared to be unnecessary, by the pre
diction that such should be the increase of the population, and such their pro
sperity, that the city should extend, like unwalled towns, into the surrounding
localities ; and that, under the immediate protection of Jehovah, walls would be
altogether unnecessary, 4, 5, In the faith of this prophetic announcement, and
with a view to their escape frora the judgraent which was still about to be in
flicted upon Babylon, the Jews which reraained in that city are summoned
; to return from their captivity, 6, 7; an assurance of Divine protection, and of
the destruction of their enemies, is given them, 8, 9; and they are cheered by
the promises, that Jehovah would again make Jerusalem his residence, and
effect, in connexion with the restoration of his people, the conversion of many
nations to the true religion, 10 — 12, A solemn call to universal reverence con-
' eludes the scene.

1 Then I lifted up my eyes, and looked, and, behold ! a man with
2 a measuring line in his hand. And I said : Whither art thou going .''
And he said to me, To measure Jerusalem, to see how much is the
3 breadth thereof, and how much is the length thereof. And, behold !
VISION HI. as already rebuilt, as Stonard supposes.
1 — 4. (Heb. ii. 5 — 7.) The measure- The diraensions are those of the city
ment here specified was not that of the before its destruction bj' the Chaldeans,
houses, but of tbe whole extent of the and were now being taken, in order to
city, Jerusalem is not here considered ascertain tbe extent of the work tbat

CHAP. II.J

ZECHARIAH.

375

the angel who spake with me went forth, and another angel came
forth to meet him. And he said to him, Run, speak to this young
man, saying,
Jerusalem shall be inhabited into the open country,
Because of the multitude of men and cattle in the midst of her.
And I will be to her, saith Jehovah,
A wall of fire around,
And will be the glory in the midst of her.
1 Ho ! ho ! flee from the north country, saith Jehovah,
For as the four winds of heaven
Have I spread you abroad, saith Jehovah.

was to be effected in its complete restora
tion. The symbolical action was cal
culated to encourage tbe Jews to pro
ceed with the building of the temple
which they had commenced. Who the
measurer was has been disputed. Jarchi,
J. H. Michaehs, Rosenmiiller, are of
opinion that the angelus interpres is
intended. Hengstenberg thinks that, in
all probability, he is none other than the
Angel of Jehovah himself. But for
neither of these opinions is there suffi
cient foundation, any raore than there is
for the supposition of Blayney, that be
was Nehemiah. He appears to have
been merely an additional person intro
duced into the scenic representation, for
the purpose of calling forth, by the sig
nificant action which he was about to
undertake, the important information
contained in the following part of tbe
chapter, vtf, as twice used here, has
reference to two different localities ; in
the former instance, in which it is em
ployed of the interpreting angel, the
presence of the prophet is the terminus
a quo; in the latter, that of the Angel
of Jehovah, In opposition to the hy
pothesis of the Rabbins, Vatablus,
Ribera, a Lapide, Drusius, Blayney,
Rosenmuller, Hengstenberg, andKnobel,
who maintain that Zechariah hiraself is
meant by i^n ¦isan, this young man, and
argue from it, tbat the prophet was of
youthful age at the time he had the
vision, I cannot but concur with Stonard,
Hitzig, Maurer, and Ewald, in thinking,
that the person intended is the man
with the measuring line, spoken of vers.

1, 2. The verb yiT, run, implies the
necessity of despatch, which could only
have been occasioned by the intended
procedure of the measurer. He is
arrested in his progress, and virtually
told, that the former dimensions of the
city would be totally inadequate to con
tain tbe nuraber ofits inhabitants, nilTB
obimf. Sltin, lit, Jerusalem shall dwell, or
inhabit open places, i.e. the inhabitants
will not confine themselves within her
walls, but will occupy the localities in
the open country around. Thus Syrara,
dreixtaras ; Jarchi and Jerorae, ^'NO
nmn, absque muro. Comp. 1 Sara. vi. 18,
wherg 'JTgn TSp, the country village, is
contrasted with T23n T'S, u, fortifled dig.
See also Esth. ix. 19; Ezek. xxxviii, 11,
5. (Heb. ver. 9.) Though " the wall
of fire," and " the glory," are doubtless
both to be taken figuratively, the former
denoting certain protection, and the
latter, illustrious displays of the Divine
presence in affording all needful supplies
of grace, strength, and corafort, we are
not hence to conclude with Stonard, that
more is meant by the city than the literal
Jerusalem, as the centre of the restored
theocracy. The entire connexion, and
all the circumstances of the prophecy,
demand tbis limitation.
6,7. (Heb. 10, 11.) It is generally
thought tbat the urgent calls here
given to those Jews wbo still re
mained in Babylon, were designed
to induce tbem to leave that devoted
city before its approaching siege and
capture by Darius. In all probability
many of them had acquired wealth, and

376 ZECHARIAH,
7 Ho! deliver thyself, 0 Zion !
That dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.
8 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts :
After the glory he hath sent'me
To the nations which spoiled you ;
Surely he that toucheth you
Toucheth the pupil of his eye.

[chap, ir.

might have been induced to remain in
the enjoyment of their possessions. It
was necessary that such should take the
alarm, and, with the rest of their country
men, avail themselves without delay of
the opportunity they now bad of return
ing to their own land. The urgency of
the call is expressed by the repetitious
forra, 'in 'in, Ho ! ho ! which occurs,
so far as I am aware, in no other part
of Scripture. The verbs Dip, arise, sniS,
hear, or the like, being readily suggested
by tbe interjection, will account for the
use of the conjunctive Vau in iDi'i. The
land of the north is Babylon, and the
regions adjacent. See Jer. vi. 22,
xvi. 15. Between the former and the
latter clause of the verse there seems, at
first sight, a palpable discrepancy. How,
it raay be asked, could the scattering of
tbe Jews like the four winds of heaven
be a reason why tbose, in particular,
wbo lived in the north quarter should
return? But this apparent incoherence
has originated in the supposition that
the prophet here asserts the dispersion
of that people into the four quarters of
the globe. Had this, however, been
his meaning, he would bave employed
b after the verb, as in Ezek. xvii. 31.
Nor can such construction be supported
by substituting tbe various reading 3,
viz. S3TN3, instead of ? ; for the words
could then only properly be rendered,
"1 have scattered you iy," and not "ira"
or "into the four winds." This reading,
though supported by fifteen MSS., ori
ginally by seven raore, and perhaps by
another, by thirteen printed editions,
and by the Syr. and Vulg., is in
ferior in point of authority to that of
the Textus Receptus. The raeaning
seems to be, that the scattering of the
Hebrew people had been so violent and
extensive, tbat it could only be fitly com
pared to the force and effect of the com

bined winds of heaven being brought to
bear upon any object susceptible of dis
persion. The scattering had been raost
severely felt by those resident at the
tirae of the vision in Babylon, and
other regions in that quarter ; on
which account it is described with
special reference to thera. '3 is here
used, not as a causative, but as a
concessive participle, as in Gen. viii.
21; Exod. xni. 17. Nothing can be
more forced, or unsuited to the con
nexion, than the interpretation, which
assumes that 'i3to3S is future in signi
fication, and that the words contain a
prediction of a future spreading abroad
of the Jews as missionaries among the
heathen. What can be conceived more
incongruous, than a return of the Jews
from Babylon, induced by the motive
of a still more extended dispersion
among the nations of the earth, without
the smallest hint of this as their des
tination ! By ]i'2, Z'lon, are meant the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, at that time
still in Babylon. The words njtfi'
taSTis are not in apposition, but in con
struction, and are equivalent to Habita-
trix Babelis. For this idiomatic use of
nil see on Is. i. 8. Comp. D^sp-nj njtii',
Jer. xlvi. 19.
8. (Heb. 12.) Sorae suppose tbe pro
phet to be the person who here speaks
of hiraself as having been sent ; others,
tbe angel raentioned ver. 4; but that
the Messiah is intended, raust be in
ferred from what is predicated of
hira, ver. 9, that he would shake bis
hand at the nations which had afflicted
tbe Jews. Comp. Is. xlviii. 16, where
the divine mission of the Second Person
of the Trinity is described in parallel
language. Blayney, Newcome, Ge
senius, Hitzig, Maurer, and Ewald,
strangely concur in rendering Ti3| ins
'inW, He hath sent me after glory, in the

CHAF.

II.J

ZECHARIAH.

377

9 For, behold ! I will shake my fist at them,
And they shall be a spoil to their slaves ;
And ye shall know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me.
10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion !
For, behold ! I come,
And I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith Jehovah.

sense of, with a view to acquire it. In
no other passage, however, is titn em
ployed, except as an adverb or prepo-
sifion of place or time ; nor is it ever
connected as a preposition with nW.
This verb is not even here construed
with it, but with the preposition 'jn im
mediately following. It can only, there
fore, be employed to denote the poste
riority of the mission specified to the
restoration of the glorious presence of
the manifested Jehovah to his recovered
people. Thus the LXX. ontaa ho^ovs.
p p IP
Syr. JLO,] ih^, after the glory, vihich
is falsely rendered in the London Poly
glott, ad prosequendum honorem. Targ.
]i3'to riNnjN'! 3'»>T NTp^'. Tn3, after the
glory which he hath promised to bring to
ym. Vulg. post gloriam. Such exe
gesis is most naturally suggested by the
use of 3133, glory, ver. 5, After what
had been tbere promised should have
been accomphshed, tbe Divine Legate
bad a commission to punish the nations
in the immediate vicinity of the Holy
Land, such as the Moabites, Idumeans,
Ammonites, Philistines, and Syrians, by
whora the Jews had been attacked and
plundered on various occasions, and
especially on that of the Chaldean inva
sion. The Jews in Babylon needed,
therefore, to be under no apprehension
from these enemies, and might return
with confidence to their own land. The
tender regard which Jehovah cherished
for them, is expressed with exquisite
beauty in the concluding clause of the
Verse, No member of the body is more
susceptible of pain, or more vigilantly
protected, than the eye, especially the
pupil, or aperture through which the
rays of light pass to the retina. n33, in
the phrase ]'.» n33, the pupil of the eye,
Gesenius now derives frora 331, te bore,
make hollow, and considers it to stand

for n33:, a hole gate, like the Arab. »— >b I
but his forraer etyraology is preferable,
according to which it is to be derived
from n33, Ai-ab, uu, dixit baba, Gr,
iranna^eiv, to say papa, spoken of a,
child. Hence the Arab, ^^, booboo,
(the origin of our English booby,) pu-
ellus, boy. The phrase thus corresponds
to the other Hebrew raode of expressing
the same thing, ];? jiir'N, the Utile man of
the eye, Deut, xxxii, 10 ; Prov, vii, 2,
Both modes of expression, ^Jkc OjJ
and ..jJwJI .,U>Jl are used in Arabic ;
and the Arabs say in language quite
parallel to that of the prophet, ici Jb
Jut y»j ^< iC'^' ^^ ^ dearer
io me ihan the pupil ef mine eye. Both
modes are more expressive than the
Latin of Catullus : multo quod carius
illi est oculis, or, ni te plus oculis meis
amarem. The pronominal aflfix in ii'?,
his eye, is to be referred to niN3S nin;,
Jehovah of hosts, at the beginning of
tbe verse, the nominative to 'irtijS, and
not with Kimchi, Blayney, Stonard, and
others, to the enemy himself,
9. (Heb. 13.) For the phrase T ^I'lO,
corap. Is. xi, 15, xix, 16. It is indica
tive of the threatening attitude of Je
hovah when about to inflict vengeance
upon his enemies. By XSV-rp, their
staves, are meant the Jews, whom the
nations, either by capture or purchase,
had brought into a state of slavery,
Comp, Is, xiv, 2, 3>t;, here and in ver,
11, signifies, as frequently, to knew by
experience. 10, 11, (Heb. 14, 15.) The divine
residence here predicted, must be inter
preted of that which took place during
the sojourn of the Son of God in the
3c

378 ZECHARIAH. [chap. hi.
11 And many nations shall join themselves to Jehovah in that day,
And shall become my people;
And I will dwell in the midst of thee.
And thou shalt know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me unto thee.
1 2 And Jehovah shall possess Judah his portion,
In the holy land ;
And shall again take pleasure in Jerusalem,
13 Let all flesh be silent before Jehovah,
For he is roused from his holy habitation,
land of Judea, The almost entire iden- 12. (Heb. 16.) As raention had just
tity of the language here employed, been made of the adoption of the nations
with tbat used chap. ix. 9, where, in like to be the people of the Messiah, the
manner, the daughter of Zion is called prophet, to preclude the idea, that the
to hail the advent of her King, corapels Jews were no more to enjoy that pri-
to this conclusion, Comp. Ps. xl. 7; vilege, proceeds to describe a future
Is. xl. 9, 10, So evidently is tbis the period, during which they should again
only fair construction of the meaning, be tbe objects of the Divine favour and
that Kimchi hiraself refers the passage delight. Restored to tbe Holy Land,
n'lBDn ''ID'3 T'ns'), to future events in the they shall again be the possession ofthe
times ef the Messiah. The phrases Lord. Corap. Exod. xxxiv. 9 ; Deut.
DDn D'pfl, Kinn Di'n, that day, those days, iv. 20, ix. 26, 29, xxxii. 9. Tbe ideas
frequently point out the period of his suggested by their being the possession
manifestation and reign. With tbis ap- of Jehovah are those of their being the
pearance and residence of the Messiah objects of his regard and care, Ps.
are connected, as their consequents, the xxviii. 9.
extensive conversion of the heathen 13. (Heb. 17.) A call to universal
nations, and their being constituted a reverence and submission in prospect
people devoted to bis service and glory, of tbe wonderful interpositions of Jeho-
The repetition of the prediction relative vah on behalf of his church, Comp.
to bis residence in Zion, is designed to Ps. lxxvi. 8, 9 ; Zeph. i. 7.
express tbe certainty of the event.

CHAPTER III,
In this chapter a fourth vision is described, in which Joshua the high priest is
represented as occupying his oflficial position in the Divine presence at Jeru
salem, but opposed in his atterapt to recoramence the service of Jehovah, by
Satan, who accused hira of being disqualified for the discharge of his functions,
ver, 1. The accusation is met by a reprimand, drawn from the Divine purpose
to restore Jerusalem, and the narrow escape wbich the priesthood had had from
total extinction, 2, The guilt attaching to the high priest, in his representative
capacity, and its removal, is next figuratively set forth, 3 — 5, He has then a
soleran charge delivered to him, followed by a conditional promise, 6, 7 ; after
wbich we have a prediction ofthe Messiah, as a security that the punishment of
the Jews would be entirely reraoved, their teraple completely restored, and a
period of prosperity introduced, 8 — 10,

CHAP. III.]

ZECHARIAH.

379

And he showed me Joshua the high priest, standing before the
Angel of Jehovah, and the Adversary standing on his right hand to
oppose him.
And Jehovah said to the Adversary,
Jehovah rebuke thee, O Adversary !
Even Jehovah that taketh delight in Jerusalem, rebuke thee ;
Is not this a brand snatched from the fire ?

VISION IV,
1, The nominative to '?nt?i is the
interpreting angel, understood, Comp,
ch. i. 9, As the phrase '.ip^ Tp», to stand
before, is sometimes used of appearing
before a judge. Numb, xxxv. 12; Deut,
xix. 17; 1 Kings iii. 16; it bas been
inferred that we have here the repre
sentation of a judicial transaction, an
exegesis which is supposed to derive
confirmation from the circumstance of
an accuser being mentioned in th e follow
ing verse. But as the person bere de
scribed is the high priest, and the phrase
in question is that whicb is appropriated
to express the position of the priests
when ministering to Jehovah, Deut, x, 8;
2 Chron. xxix, 11 ; Ezek, xliv, 15; it is
more natural to conclude that Joshua
is here represented as having entered
the new temple which was in the course
of erection, and taken his position in
front of the altar before the holy of
holies. The high priest not only entered
the most sacred place once a year on
the dayof atonement, but was authorized
to perform all the duties of the ordinary
priests ; so that he raay here be con
ceived of as about to offer sacrifice for
the people, when he was opposed by
Satan, That the altar of burnt offering
was erected before the building of the
temple was proceeded with, is clear,
from Ezra iii, 2, 3, 6, 7, The ni.n; ijNbip,
before whom Joshua stood, was no other
than nin; himself, as ver, 2 evidently
shows. It has been matter of dispute,
whether by jEffiri we are here to under
stand the great enemy of God and raan
d avrihiKos, 1 Pet, v, 8 ; o Karriyap, Rev,
xii, 10; or, whether a human adversary
or adversaries are intended. Those who
advocate the latter position think that
Sanballat, or some other eneray of the
Jews, is meant; but the eraphatic form

of the term, investing it, as it does, with
the nature of a proper name (Gesen,
Heb. Gram. § 107, 2), decidedly favours
the former interpretation. We find this
narae given to the chief of the evil spirits
in the book of Job, the most ancient in
the Bible, See chap. i. and ii. Some
have compared Ps. cix, 6, but the
parallel terra s-&\ is against such con
struction in that passage. From the
identity of the phraseology, however,
whicb represents the adversary as taking
his place at the right hand ofthe accused,
it has been concluded, that it was cus
toraary in the Jewish courts for the
accuser to assurae tbis position. What
the ground of opposition on the part of
Satan was, we are not here informed ;
but if the construction put by sorae
erainent coraraentators upon jude 9,
which resolves " the body of Moses," ¦
there mentioned, into the Jewish church,
and supposes the apostle to refer to the
passage before us, be'the true one, (and
of this I cannot entertain a doubt,) it
will follow, that the character of the
J ewish people, as not having been legally
purified from their idolatries, and the
backwardness which tbey evinced in
rebuilding tbe temple, were urged as
pleas against tbem. It is true, the
opposition is said to have been made to
Joshua ; but it must be remembered
that he appears here, not in his personal,
but in his official character, as tbe re
presentative of the whole body of the
people, 2, Almost all tbe comraentators, even
Maurer and Hitzig, agree in the opinion,
that the incommunicable name ni.n;,
Jehovah, is here given to tbe angel
spoken of in the preceding verse. See
on ch. i. 8, So obvious did this appear
to the Syriac translator, from the spirit * 7 7
of the context, that he renders ^^ XL'iO

380

ZECHARIAH,

[chap. III.

Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and he stood
before the Angel. And he answered and spake to those that
stood before him, saying, Remove the filthy garments from him.
And he said to him, See ! I have caused thine iniquity to pass
away from thee, and I will invest thee with costly habiliments. He
then said. Let them place a pure mitre upon his head. And they
placed the pure mitre upon his head, and invested him with the

p p
],»i^j, the Angel of the Lerd, a render-
ving which Newcome would, very un
critically, have adraitted into the text.
The interpretation of Rosenraiiller, " vo
catur legatus de nomine principis sui,"
is a pure fiction, and directly opposed
to Scripture usage. The verb T»a signifies
to chide, rebuke, so as to silence those
who are the objects of the reproof, and
restrain them from carrying tbeir designs
into effect. It is repeated for the sake
of emphasis, to express the absolute
certainty that the machinations of Satan
should prove utterly abortive. In tbe
reference to the Divine choice of Jeru
salem, there is a recognition of the
promise, ch. i. 17, ii. 16. The pointed
interrogation has respect to Joshua, and
forcibly, though tacitly, conveys tbe
idea, that his deliverance, and that of
the people whom he represented, frora
the destruction which threatened thera
in Babylon, was the result of sudden
and efiicient interposition on the part
of Jehovah. It was not, therefore, for
a moment to be supposed that he would
now withdraw his favour from them, and
abandon them to their enemies. He
had rescued them, in order that they
might be preserved.
3, 4. Because tbe Romans used to
clothe persons who were accused in a
sordid dress, Drusius and others have
jmagined that the idea of a criminal is
still kept up. That the filthy garments
in wbich Joshua appeared were sym
bolical of the guilt and punishment of
the Jews, seems beyond dispute ; just
as their reraoval, and his investment
with splended attire, indicates a state
of restoration to the full enjoyraent of
tbeir religious privileges, r[^S^,fllth, is
used metaphorically to denote the moral
pollution contracted by sin. See Prov,
jfxx, 12; Is, iv, 4, He is represented

as appearing in tbe squalid garments
in which he had returned from a state
of captivity in Babylon, and as having
restored to bim the gorgeous dress of
the high priest, niirtnp, costly or splendid
habiliments, such as were worn on special
occasions, and put off as soon as the
occasion was over. See on Is. iii. 22,
Those wbo are here commanded to
change the dress of Joshua are not, as
Ewald supposes, attendant priests, but
attendant angels. The nominative to
p.»i and I'lBii is nirp, and not siSin;, 3'3.9n
-ps does not mean, as Gesenius interprets,
to let iniquity or sin pass by, but to
remove its guilt or punishment, and thus
effectively to remit or forgive. This
guilt or punishment is represented as
having lain as a heavy load upon Joshua,
and to bave been removed ''So, from
upon him. tobn is not to be changed
into iiis^N, as in the Targ. and Syr., but
is to be regarded as a not unusual
elliptical form of the idiomatic lUsbN iSsbn.
5. The punctuation ToKsi is obviously
incorrect, since it introduces the prophet
as taking a part in the transactions
exhibited in the vision, which is alto
gether foreign to the position he occupied .
The word should be pointed tdhi, and
has been so read by the Targ., Syr., and
Vulg. translators. Pl'is, iiara, or turban,
is used instead of nwsp, the term em
ployed in the Pentateuch to denote this
part of the high priest's dress, LXX,
Kthapts. At D'Tii the adjective D'^inp is
to be supplied from tbe preceding,
or the article may be understood, Tpi' is
more appropriately rendered " stood up,"
than, as in our common version, " stood
by." The latter rendering presents the
Angel of Jehovah to view as a simple
spectator; the former in the solemn
posture of one who is about to deliver
an iraportant charge. And this, as the
following verses show, was precisely the

CHAP,

in,J

ZECHARIAH.

381

habiliments. Then the Angel of Jehovah stood up. And the
Angel of Jehovah protested to Joshua, saying :
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts :
If thou wilt walk in my ways,
And if thou ¦wilt observe my charge,
Then thou shalt both judge my house,
And keep my courts,
And I will give thee guides among these who are standing by.
Hear now, 0 Joshua ! the high priest,
Thou and thy companions that sit before thee ;

character in wbich he appeared. He
had been sitting upon his throne,
but now rises to announce the divine
decree respecting the responsible duties
which devolved upon Joshua in his
sacerdotal capacity, I do not agree
with Dr. Stonard, who supposes that
the Angel assumed the character and
position of a witness. The participial
form of the verb is adopted for the
purpose of varying the style,
6, 7. Ti», as here used in Hiphil, sig
nifies to make a solemn declaration.
LXX, htepuprvpaTo. Targ. and Syr,
t™. Vulg. contestabatur. 'l3Tpi?Jp,
my charge, means the laws, prescriptions,
or rites, which I have given in charge,
namely, the Mosaic Institute, Obedience
to this the high priest was bound to
render himself, and upon hira supremely
devolved the obhgation to see that it
was obeyed by others, "79^9, from
3D^, to guard, keep, observe, is jfrequently
uaed by Moses to denote the office, duty,
or charge, to which the priests were to
attend. See Lev. viii. 25 ; Numb. i. 53,
iii. 28, 31, 32, 38. By the " house " of
the Lord here, we are not to understand
the temple, as some have iraagined, but
the people of Israel, viewed as composing
his household or family. Corap. Nurab,
xii, 7; Hos, viii. 1, ix, 15, p, to judge,
is always employed in reference to
persons ; never with respect to things.
There appears to be in the declaration
here made, an anticipation of tbe part
which the sacerdotal family of Joshua
was to take in the government of the
Jewish state, D'S^rip is the Hiphil parti
ciple of ':|^, just as D'p^jnp is of D^n, Jer,
xxix, 8 ; and D'TWp of tw, 2 Chron,
xxviii, 23, It raiist, therefore, signify

those who cause io go or walk, leaders,
conductors, guides. Who these were we
are not inforraed, farther than that they
were standing in the presence of the
Angel, and were pointed at by him.
Some have thought that the subordinate
priests who attended upon Joshua are
intended ; but such interpretation ia
altogether unsuitable fo the dignified
character which, as high priest, he
sustained. As none but superior beings
could be his leaders or conductors, it
follows that the angels must be meant.
This view is confirraed by the circum
stance of their being represented as
" standing," naraely, in the presence oF
Jehovah, ready to execute his behests,
whereas the subordinate priests are
spoken of in the following verse as
" sitting " before Joshua, The iraport
of the promise is, that he and his
successors in oflfice should enjoy the
care, direction, and aid of celestial
spirits in theraanageraent of the national
affairs, Munster, Vatablus, Rosen
miiller, Ewald, and Hitzig, take D'3iinn
to be the plural of the noun ij^np, a
walk, or walking place ; bnt this affords
no appropriate sense, except it be re
ferred to the heavenly state — a con
struction put upon the clause by tbe
Targura, Kirachi, and several Christian
interpreters, but which is little suited to
the language of the connexion, and is a
mode of representation otherwise foreign
to Scripture,
8, The corapanions of Joshua were
the ordinary priests, who were associated
with him for the purpose of carrying
on the service of the temple. They are
represented as " sitting before " him,
not at the time the words are addressed

382

ZECHARIAH,

[CHJ

\P. IH,

(For they are typical persons)
For, behold ! I will introduce my servant THE BRANCH,
For, behold ! the stone which I have laid before Joshua,
Upon the one stone shall be seven eyes :
Behold ! I will form the sculpture thereof,
Saith Jehovah of hosts ;
And I will remove the punishment of that land in one day.

to him, for they are spoken of in the
third person, but usually, when con
sulting together about religious matters.
On such occasions he occupied a more
elevated seat or throne as their president,
while they sat on chairs or benches be
fore him. By npin '^;n, men of sign
or portent, are meant symbolical men,
persons prefiguring, or foreshadowing
some person or persons still future,
Corap. Is, viii. 18, xx, 3; Ezek. xii. 6,
xxiv. 27. That only one person is here
referred to as typified by the Jewish
priests, and that this one person is none
other than tbe Messiah, the following
clause of the verse incontrovertibly shows.
In their sacerdotal character, and in
the presentation of sacrifices before Je
hovah, they foreshadowed the High
Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus,
and the one sacrifice whicb he offered
for sins, when he presented hiraself as
a propitiatory victira in the room of the
guilty. For the derivation of nsin, see
on Joel ii. 30. Though nan, they are,
refers immediately to the subordinate
priests, we are not to suppose that
Joshua is excluded, or that he was not
a symbolical person as well as tbey.
This use of the third person of the pro
noun instead of the second is not with
out example. See Zeph. ii. 12. — The
author of the Targura adraits that by
nps, Branch, the Messiah is raeant.
His words are, 'l??n;3 nitiep 'T3?n', " My
Servant, the Messiah who shall be re
vealed." The sarae interpretation is
found in other Jewish authorities, as
both Kimchi and Rashi admit. Some
few Christian interpreters, araong whom
Grotius and Blayney, adopting the
opinion of the two Rabbins just men
tioned, suppose Zerubbabel to be in
tended ; but, in my opinion, very pre
posterously, for tbat prince was already
in existence, and in the full exercise of

his official duties; whereas the person
to whom Jehovah refers had not yet
appeared. Even Gesenius, Hitzig, and
Maurer, make no scruple in applying
tbe title to the Messiah. It is that
given to him, Is. iv. 2 ; Jer. xxiii. 5,
xxxiii. 15 ; and Zech. vi. 12 ; and is
equivalent to Son. See on Is. iv. 2,
where it is shown that in the writings
of the ancient Persians, " the branch "
of any one means his son, or one of his
posterity. The verb nns, from which
the noun is derived, signifies to spring
forth or up, as plants ; but the LXX,
have adopted the word dvaroXxj, which
expresses the sun-rise. Hence the
Saviour is called dvaroXrj i^ v-ijrovs,
" the Day-spring from on high," Luke
i. 78. Comp. Mal. iv, 2, where iSpti nriTi
iiijiif, " the Sun of righteousness shall
arise, " is rendered by the LXX. dvareXei
rjXtos StKatoavvr/s. The Vulg. adducam
servum meum orientem. For '33?, my
servant, as a designation of the Messiah,
corap. Is. xiii. 1 — 7, xlix. 1—9, 1. 5 — 10,
lii. 13 — liii. ; and see my Coram, on the
first of these passages.
9. Most interpreters regard this verse
as a continuation of the subject treated
of at the close of the preceding, and
explain the '3N, stone, of the Messiah,
in accordance with such passages as
Ps. cx'viii. 22 ; Is. xxviii. 16, This
view is largely insisted upon by Stonard ;
but wbat, in my judgraent, renders it
altogether untenable, is the circumstance
that the stone is spoken of as ha'ving
been laid before, or in ihe presence of
Joshua — language which can with no
propriety be employed with reference
to the Messiah, Neither can the refer
ence be to VTin l3Nn, the -plummet, spoken
of ch. iv. 10, that tjeing represented as
ill the hand of Zerubbabel, and noc
placed or laid before bis associate in
the government. I cannot, therefore

CHAP. III.]

ZECHARIAH.

383

10 In that day, saith Jehovah of hosts,
Ye shall each invite his neighbour,
Under the vine, and under the fig tree.

imagine any otber stone to be here in
tended than the foundation stone of the
temple, which had been laid by Zerub
babel in „tbe presence of Joshua and
his brethren the priests, who celebrated
the joyful event in songs of praise to
Jehovah, Ezra iii, 8—13, When it is
said, that upon this " one stone " were
" seven eyes," we are not to conclude
that they were e.-ihibited upon it. The
meanmg is, that tbey were duected
towards it, or intent and fixed upon it,
as an object of special attention and care.
¦While with us an eye is the hieroglyphic
of Divine Providence, the Hebrews, to
express tbe perfection of knowledge and
wisdom in whicb all its affairs are con
ducted, employed tbe hieroglyphic of
"seven eyes," — seven, in the Oriental
style, denoting fulness or perfection.
Such symbolic representations were
common among the Persians. Comp,
Rev, i. 4, V. 6. Jehovah here declares,
that the erection of the temple, the com
mencement of which had been made, in
the course of his providence, by the
laying of the foundation, should be an
object of his special care and regard.
For bs )'», the eye being upon any person
or tiling, as denoting the exercise of kind
and vigilant care, see Ps. xxxn. 8, The
attempt of Vitringa and Blayney to ex
plain D'I'*, of fountains, and so apply
the passage to living waters flowing
from Christ as the antitype of the rock
smitten in the wilderness, is a complete
failure. The singular j;», signifies, in
deed, /oMMiaim as well as eye, but it is a
settled principle of Hebrew grammar
that when fountains are intended, the
plural feminine is uniformly employed,
just as the dual d;3'» is as uniformly and
exclusively used to express eyes. See
for tbe principle, Gesen. Lehrgeb. pp.
539, 540. That the dual is employed to
express things that exist in pairs, even

when more than two is intended, see on
Is. vi, 2, nnns nnpp '3?n, Behold! I
will form the sculpture thereof: lit. " I
will open the opening thereof." What
kind of architectural ornaraents are
hereby intended, it is impossible to say ;
but that they were cut out or engraven
in the foundation-stone, the exigency of
the place requires, except we regard the
stone as here used by synecdoche for
the whole temple, in wluch case reference
will be had to the finishing off of the
structure, tbe foundation of which had
been laid in the presence of Joshua,
V P P
hXX. dpvaaa ^oBpov. Syr, ,.4»2\a ]ai
7 P
Ci^'iZ. Xl], " Behold, I open the gates
of it.'' i!iii3 is here used in Kal, but with
a causative signification : to remove, cause
to depart. -fcS is to be understood, not
of iniquity, but of the punishment of
iniquity, the troubles and sufferings to
which the Jews were subjected on
account of it. Thus the iniquity of
Sodom, Gen, xix, 15, was the punish
ment to be inflicted upon it; and that
of Babylon, Jer, li, 6, the same. The
land of Judea had borne its punishment
during the captivity, hut was now to be
occupied and cultivated. To sufferings
the Jews were still exposed on the part
of tbeir enemies, who caused an inter
ruption of the building of the teraple,
and prevented the comfortable settle
raent of the people in their own land.
For tbeir encouragement Jehovah pro
mises to put an end to tbeir distress,
TttN Di'3, in one day ; i.e, soon, in the
shortest space of time, N'nn yrNn is
specifically the land of Palestine.
10. A proraise of the tranquillity and
social enjoyment that were to be ex
perienced by the restored Hebrews,

384 ZECHARIAH. [chap. iv.

CHAPTER IV.
Under the syrabol of a golden candlestick is represented the pure and flourishing
state of tbe Jewish churcb as restored after the captivity, 1 — 3. The signification of
this syrabol the prophet is left to find out, 4, 5 ; only a clue is given him in the
message which he was comraissioned to deliver relative to the completion of the
temple, in spite of the formidable diflficulties which interposed, and to the
Messiah who was to corae after the teraple was in a finished state, 6, 7. He
was further instructed to announce tbe certainty of the forraer event, on the
ground that Zerubbabel, who superintended the work, was under the special
care of Divine Providence, which should so arrange the course of human affairs
as to render them subservient to tbe undertaking, 8 — 10. Under tbe additional
syrabol of two olive trees, which supplied the candlestick with the necessary oil,
are represented Joshua and Zerubbabel, the two principal oflficial persons in the
new state, 11 — 14.

1 And the angel who spake with me awoke me again, like one who
2 is waked out of his sleep. And he said to me, What dost thou
see .' And I said, I see, and behold ! a candlestick wholly of gold,
and its bowl upon the top of it, and its seven lamps upon it, and
VISION V. tbecontemplationof theprecedingvision,
1, We are not to conclude from the that he required to be roused, as in the
use of the verb 3iiD at the beginning of case of a person in profound sleep,
this verse, thatthe communicating angel 2. Instead of the second ton'I, a vast
had removed to a distance from the number of the MSS. read correctly
prophet, and now returned to him, TpV<i, as tbe word is found also in some
When employed by itself, 3i\B certainly of the earliest editions. Many MSS.
signifies to return; but, according to a and several printed editions exhibit nba
common Hebrew idiom, when used be- without Mappick in the n, and tbus
fore another verb, it merely indicates bring tbe word into accordance with the
the repetition of the action expressed feminine forra, as occurring in the fol-
by such verb. See Gen, xxvi. 18, xxx. lowing verse. It has been thus read
31 ; 2 Kings i. 11, 13. Connecting the by tbe LXX, and Syr, ; still it seems
verb in this manner with 'iT'»;i, reference preferable to regard it as a masculine
will be had, not to any absence of the noun, and read nja, with the pronominal
angel, but to his renewed exciteraent of afiix. It signifies an oil-cup, bowl, or
theprophettogivehis attention toanother bason, and was placed at the top of the
vision which was to be presented to his candlestick for the purpose of supplying
view. He had becorae so absorbed in with oil the sraall tubes or pipes leading

chap. IV.j

ZECHARIAH.

385

seven pipes to the lamps which are upon the top of it. And two
olive-trees beside it, one on the right side of the bowl, and one on
the left side of it. And I addressed myself farther to the angel
who spake with me, saying, What are these, my lord ? And the
ancel who spake with me answered and said to me, Dost thou not
know what these are .'^ And I said, No, my lord. And he answered
and spake to me, saying, This is the word of Jehovah to Zerubbabel,
saying :
Not hy inight, nor by power,
But by my Spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts.

to the several lamps. Considerable diffi
culty has been found in endeavouring to
account for the double numeral form
twjiBi rTO3iS, seven and seven. Some think
the nuniber is to be midtiplied by itself,
and rendered forty-nine ; but this is not
only abhorrent from the representation
otherwise given of the candlestick, but is
unwarranted by Hebrew usage. Others,
as Stonard, take the words in a distribu
tive sense, and make the number to be
fourteen, understanding by seven and
seven, twice seven. To tbis hypothesis,
however, the copulative Vau forms an
insuperable objection, since it conveys
the idea not of distribution raerely, but
also that of diversity or variety. The
instance adduced from 1 Kings viii. 65,
is not exactly parallel, as the noun is
there repeated, whicb is not the case in
Zechariah ; nor, so far as I can find, do
we meet with any instance parallel to
nipsm TO3i£i TOliD. Our translators re
move the one seven, and place it before
"lamps;" but such construction is alto
gether unwarranted, and, indeed, they
appear to have placed only a qualified
reliance upon it, for tbey render in the
niargin, seven several pipes. There is
every reason to suspect that tbe forraer
['??«' is an interpolation which has found
Its way into some ancient MSS. and
been copied into all the rest. This sus
picion is confirmed by two circurastances,
'fhe word occurs only once both in the
hXX, and the Vulg. The forraer ren-
P ',*'" ^-''rd enapvarpthes tois X-dxvots
rois enivoj avrijs ; tbe latter, et septem
tnfmoria lucernis, quce erant super caput
pus. The other circurastance is, that, as
in conformity to the nuraber of lamps be
longing to the candelabrum in the taber

nacle, Exod, xxv, 37, from which the
symbol was evidently borrowed, it is
expressly stated, that there were only
Pi3.: nss'ii, seven lamps attached to that
presented to view in the vision, we can
not conceive of there being to each two
pipes or conductors for tbe oil. The
D'jji, reeds or tubes of Moses, Exod. xxv.
32, 33, 35, xxxvii. 18, and the nipsiD,
pipes or tubes of Zechariah, both signify
the same objects, viz. those used for
conveying the oil into the laraps. The
latter word is derived from i's;, to pour
or flow. Vulg. infusoria. That the
candlestick was symbolical ofthe Jewish
church cannot be doubted. Comp. Rev.
i. 20 ; xi. 4, where the sarae syrabol is
used in reference to Christian churches.
The idea which it conveys is that such
churches are placed in the world for the
sake of its illuraination. Thus it was
with the Jewish church in the midst of
the surrounding darkness of Paganism ;
and thus it hath been with Christian
churches in every age of their history.
3. Of what the two olive-trees were
emblematical, we learn from ver. 14.
4, 5. ni», like aTTOKpivo/iai in the New
Testament, signifies to proceed or begin
io speak, as well as to answer. It is
obviously thus used at the beginning of
ver. 4. Comp. chap. i. 10. While the
angel had it in commission to explain
what was meant by these trees, he was
to reserve the explanation till after he
had raade certain coraraunications rela
tive to the building of the temple, and
the advent of Messiah.
6. Frora the purport of the raessage
which the prophet was to deliver to Ze
rubbabel, it raay be inferred tbat he was
labouring under despondency, produced
3d

386

ZECHARIAH,

[chap. IV,

Who art thou, 0 great mountain,''
Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain :
And he shall bring forth the Chief Stone,
With shouts of Grace ! Grace to it !

by the consideration of the powerful op
position with wbich he had to contend,
tbe greatness ofthe undertaking in whicii
he bad erabarked, and the inadequacy of
the huraan means which he had at his
disposal, Between 'J'.n and na there is
no clearly defined difference of raeaning.
They are both used equally of physical
and of mental and moral power ; and
are here employed as synonyraes, to ex
press the idea that huraan raight, of
whatever description, was of no account
with the Alraiglity ; that be can effect
his purposes by few as well as by raany,
by tbose whom the world accounts foolish
as well as by tbose of superior intellect ;
and tbat it is by the exercise of his own
spiritual agency excithig to action, and
sustaining and giving efficiency to it,
that its performance is secured. There
seems to be bere a reference to what
we read, Haggai ii. 5 : " My Spirit re
maineth among you : fear ye not." The
truth, however, is of universal applica
tion, and is clearly taught in the New
Testaraent in reference tothe conversion
of sinners. 1 Cor. iii. 6; 2 Cor. x. 4;
Eph. i. 19 ; Col. i. 12.
7, However lowly the feelings enter
tained by Zerubbabel, he is bere taught
by the sublirae and noble figure of the
depression of a large mountain into a
level plain, that none of the formidable
impediments which he apprehended,
should, in the smallest degree, obstruct
his progress. 'P, who, sometiraes refers
to things, yet so as to include the idea
of the huraan agency connected with
thera. Before TiilJ'pii supply n'.n or n;.nn.
Tbe interpretation of Stonard, who applies
the raountain to the Christian churcb, is
altogether forced and inept. By J3.N
n^Nin is meant, not any stone uniting
the two sides of a building at the top,
but the lapis angularis, or foundation
stone, on which at tbe angle both rest,
andwhich, being necessarily much larger
and more ponderous, as well as more
serviceable than any other, was fully
entitled to the distinctive character of
ihe chief or principal stone. The foun

dations of the literal temple having
already been laid by Zerubbabel, it must
be obvious, that the language is merely
borrowed frora that event, and that his
attention is directed to Him of whom
David had prophesied as ni? ii)n3 i.3n,
the chief or principal corner stone, Ps.
cxviii. 26, and wbo is called in the New
Testament, Ke(paXrj yavlas, and A'tBos
aKpoyaviaXos. Syrara. renders : rdv
XiBov rdv uKpov ; Theod, roi' XtBov tov
npdrov; A([.TdvXi6ov TdvnparevavTa;
all conveying the idea of the priraary or
principal stone of tbe building. The
LXX. raistaking n*>4Tn for ntfr;, render,
TOV X'tBov Tijs KXrjpovopias. The nomi
native to N'Sin is not Zerubbabel, but
Jeliovah. This was perceived by the
Targumist, who puts tbe sarae Messianic
interpretation upon the passage, para
phrasing it tbus : n'piti t'p.nt n'n'tip n; ;.ii3'.i
Nnwp tos Bi70'.l I'p-ipto, And he shall
reveal his Messiah, ivho was named of
old, and he shall rule over all kingdoms.
The introduction of this stone was to
be accorapanied with acelaraations of
" Grace, Grace to it," niNilil^, shouts
or acclamations, frora nNffl, to make a
noise, shout aloud, cry as a crowd; hence
the noun carae to signify the shouting
of a raultitude. The repetition of )n,
favour or grace, is for the sake of
intensity ; and the ascriptions of tbis
favour to the stone (n^) implies that it
was possessed of this quality, and was to
be tbe raediura or raeans ofits conveyance
to others. This prediction was clearly
fulfilled in our Redeemer. " Grace," or
favour, " was poured through his lips."
Ps. xlv. 3. At his birth the niN^n, accla
mations of the heavenly choir, were,
" Glory to God in the highest, on earth
peace, goodwill toward men," Luke
ii. 14. As be approached Jerusalem, the
raultitudes were loud in tbeir acclaims
of " Hosannah to the Son of David.
Blessed be he tbat cometh in the name
ofthe Lord! Hosannah in the highest."
Nor is the phrase, " The grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ," of unfrequent occur
rence in the New 'festaraent. The usual

CH.

AV. IV,]

ZECHARIAH.

387

8 And the word of Jehovah was communicated to me, saying,
9 The hands of Zerubbabel have founded this house,
And his hands shall finish it :
And ye shall know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me to you.
10 For who hath despised the day of small things ?
For those seven eyes of Jehovah
Which run to and fro through the whole earth rejoiced,
When they saw the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel.
11 Then I proceeded and said to him, What are these two olive-
trees on the right side of the candlestick, and on the left of it ?

application of the words to the coraple
tion of the work of grace in the soul of
a believer, or to the addition of the last
convert to the church, is quite incon
gruous. Whatever grace is possessed
by the people of God is altogether de
rived, and is not to be ascribed to thera
selves, but to Him to whom alone they
are indebted for its communication. It
may farther be observed, that perhaps
the repetition in the phrase p p, Grace,
Grace, may have been intended to ex
press the infinite value of the Corner
Stone. In Prov. xvii. 8, we read that " a
gift is p |3N, a precious stone in the eyes
of him that hath it;" and one of the quali
ties of the stone laid for a foundation
in Zion is, that it is nTji;, precious. Is.
xxviii. 16.
9, 10. I3p: is the Preterite of Piel,
'SI signifies to cut, cut off, bring to an
end, finish, in which last acceptation it
is here used. The verse contains a
posifive assurance that the temple should
be completed by Zerubbabel. " The
day of small things" raeans the short
period which had elapsed since the Jews
had begun to rebuild the teraple, and
the commencement, wbich had been
inconsiderable and inauspicious. The
efforts bore no proportion to the magni
tude of the undertaking, and could only
provoke the scorn and contempt of un
believers. 13 is derived from 1]3, as 30
is from 33D ; only with the signification
of M and Tra, to despise, m otherwise
signifies to plunder, spoil. "With the
human estimate of the enterprise, foi-
cibly expressed in the interrogative form,
raat of Jehovah is strikingly contrasted.
His eyes rejoiced when they saw the
work marked out by Zerubbabel with

the plumraet. This instrument was
called 'J'Tsn ]3N, ihe stone of separation,
because it consisted of tbe alloy of lead
or tin, which was separated by sraelting
frora the silver ore with which it was
corabined. The Vau prefixed in inti is
to be rendered when, as in l|^pi, Judges
xix. 1. Tbe norainative to inti mota is
n^N-nS3iri, with which nin.":'?, as expletive,
is in apposition. This, which appears to
me to be the only tenable construction,
is that given in the margin by our
Translators. It relieves the passage
frora the burden of fanciful conjectures
which bave been advanced in regard fo
the meaning, and brings out the simple
but encouraging truth, that, how rauch
soeverraen raight despise the coramence
ment of the work in which Zerubbabel
and his compatriots were engaged, it
was the object of peculiar regard and
delight to Divine Providence, which was
acquainted with all huraan designs, and
frora its universal activity could not only
defeat the raachinations of eneraies, but
command the agency of tbose who should
help forward the cause of truth and
righteousness. Comp. chap. iii. 9 ; 2
Chron. xvi. 9; Prov. xv. 3.
11, 12. It is not a little remarkable
that the prophet had to put tbe question
three times respecting the two olive-trees,
before be received any reply ; firat, ver.
4; a second time ver. 11; and a third
tirae ver. 12, The question is varied
each time, and becoraes at last minute
and particular. The reason seeras to
be, that it could scarcely be conceived
possible for hira not to understand their
syrabolical reference to the two raost re
markable persons with whora he was con
versant, Joshua and Zerubbabel, n'73Ui,

388

ZECHARIAH,

[chap. v.

12 And I proceeded a second time, and said to him, What are the two
branches of the olive-trees, which, by means of the two tubes of
13 gold, empty the golden liquid out of theiuselves .'' And he spake
14 to me, saying, Knowest thou not what these are "f And I said,
No, my lord. Then he said, These are the two anointed ones, that
stand before the Lord of the whole earth.

a branch. LXX. Kkdhos, so called frora
its resemblance to an ear of grain. Tn3»,
a tube or canal, through which oil or any
other liquid is poured. The etymology
of this quadriliteral is uncertain. LXX.
pv^arfjpes. With the tubes the two
brancbes were exhibited as connected,
to indicate the source whence tbe candle
stick was supplied with oil. By 3nin,
the gold, is meant the oil, wbich is so
called because its purity and brightness
resembled those of gold.
14. Tnv:'n-'.i3 '.ii?j, two sons of oil, i.e,
two anointed ones, Joshua and Zerubba
bel, who are so called, because, when

installed into oflfice, they had oil poured
upon their heads as a symbol of the
gifts and influences of the Holy Spirit,
which alone could fit thera rightly to
discbarge their iraportant functions.
Their services to the new state were of
such value that tbey might well be re
presented as furnishing itinstruraentally
with what was necessary for enabling it
to answer the purposes of its establish
raent. bs D'TpiJn is elliptical for — D'Tipsn
'.IS to, who stand before. The phrase ex
presses the posture of servants waiting
to receive orders frora their raasters.

CHAPTER V.
The two visions exhibited in this chapter are of a very different character frora any
of the foregoing, and were designed to furnish striking and instructive warnings
to such of the Jews as might refuse to render obedience to the law of God, and
might not have been thoroughly weaned from idolatry. In verses 1 — 4, is the
description of a flying roll, presented to the view ofthe prophet, on whicb were
inscribed the threatenings of the Divine law, which still reraained in all their force,
and were ever ready to be executed upon transgressors. In verses 5 — 11, the
raeans are erableraatically set forth which Jehovah had eraployed for tbe entire
removal of idolatry frora the Holy Land, and its abandonraent to raingle with
its native eleraents in Babylon — the land of graven iraages.

And I again raised my eyes, andlooked, and, behold ! a flying roll.

VISION VI,
1, For the adverbial use of 31115 see
on chap. iv. 1. itVm, a volume or roll,
frora tbe root ''^3, to roll. The ancients
wrote upon the inner bark of trees,
wbicb was rolled up for tbe sake of
convenience, and for the better pre
servation of the writing. They also

used rolls of papyrus and of the dressed
skins of aniraals. Aq. and Theod. ren
der the word by httpBipa, a skin or
parchment ; Symm. by KetjiaXls, the
term by wbich the LXX. have ren
dered it, Ps, xl. 8. Mistaking nto for
bm, tbey have here translated 'ithpinavov,
a scythe or sickle.

CHAP, v.]

ZECHARIAH.

389

And he said to me, What seest thou.'*- And I said, I see a
flying roll, the length of which is twenty cubits, and the breadth
of it ten cubits. And he said to me, This is the curse which goeth
forth over the face of the whole land ; for every one that stealetli
shall be cleared away on this side, according to it, and every one
that sweareth shall be cleared away on that side, according to it.
I bring it forth, saith Jehovah of hosts, and it shall enter the house
of him that stealeth, and the house of him that sweareth falsely by

2. The roll here described was of
large dimensions, more than ten yards
in length, by upwards of five in breadth.
To compose such a roll several skins
had to be sewed together, as we find to
be the case with the Jewish .Megillahs,
or rolls containing the Pentateuch and
other portions of tbe Old Testaraent,
read in the synagogue at the present
day. One of these synagogue rolls, pre
served in the British Museum, contains
the Pentateuch, written on forty brown
African skins. In the Rabbinical divi
sion ofthe books of the Old Testaraent,
the title of the five Megilloth is given
to those of the Song of Soloraon, Ruth,
Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther ;
but in Ps. xl. 8, the term n^ip is applied
by way of eminence to tbe roll or book
ofthe law. The large size of the roll
seems to have beeu intended to indicate
the number of the curses which it con
tained. The circumstance, that the
dimensions of the roll correspond to
those ofthe porch of the temple, 1 Kings
yi. 3, seems rather to be accidental than
intended to convey any specific in
struction. The participle nos, flying,
expresses the velocity with vvhich the
judgments denounced in tbe volume
would come upon the wicked,
3, nVi TDltt, this is, or signifies, re
presents the curse, a phrase altogether
parallel with that used by our Lord
when instituting the sacred supper :
roiro ecrrt to adpa pov ; in Heb. nrfi
¦S'' '^" '¦^' '¦^" ^sP^'ssents my body,
"^, curse, is to be taken as a collective,
comprehending all the curses denounced
against transgressors of the Divine law.
After rwsi'n supply nirr'jo^p, "from the
presence of Jehovah.''' Because nipi nra,
<m this side and on that, is used when t'he
wnting of the law on both sides of the

tables is spoken of, Exod. xxxii. 15,
Abenezra, Kirachi, Rosenraiiller, Heng
stenberg, and sorae other interpreters,
have argued in favour of the position,
that the roll,^ like that of Ezek. ii. 9, 10,
was also written in tbis raanner ; but
the iraraediate construction of the pro
noun with n|ii in both instances, shows
that it cannot be maintained. Reference
is had to the place where the transgressor
may be, Frora that place, whether on
the right hand or on tbe left, he should
be swept away by the Divine judgment.
Nowhere should he find protection. The
curse went forth over the whole land.
It has been properly reraarked, that an
individual exaraple of transgression is
selected frora each of the two tables of
tbe law : 3.i3n, he who stealeth, standing
for those who break the rule of duty in
regard to their neighbour; and sisiin,
he who sweareth, for those who are
guilty of a violation of such duties as
have immediate reference to God, niP;
is not to be taken here in the sense of
treating as innocent, but with the sig
nification of emptying, clearing, sweep
ing clean away. Comp. Is. iii. 26 ; Jer,
xxx. 11. It isiu the Niphal conjuga
tion, the forra of which is tbe same as
that of Piel, The ancient translators
are at fault here, having mistaken njij
for Dgl. Thus the LXX. eKhtKrjBrjaerat ;
Syrara. htKrjvhday. Nor can the render
ing of Stonard, "pleadeth not guilty," be
sustained, tjios, like, or according to it,
if fully expressed, would be 3in3 3ifiN3,
according as it is written, referring to
the curse or threatening inscribed upon
the roll, Tbus Jerorae, sicut ibi scriptum
est. 4, The pronominal affix in n'riNSin
refers to n^Nn in the preceding verse,
TlJf^ Bsiiii is an aggravation of »3*?. The

390

ZECHARIAH.

[chap, v.

my name, and it shall continue in the midst of his house, and
destroy it, and its wood, and its stones.
Then the angel who spake with me came forth, and said to me,
Raise thine eyes, now, and look what this is that cometh forth.
And I said, What is it.'' And he said, This is the ephah that
cometh forth. He said, moreover, This is their appearance in all
the land. And, behold ! a round piece of lead, and there was a

punctuation of nrt is irregular for nib,
the third ferainine of the preterite of
lib, which one of De Rossi's MSS,
exhibits, )ib not raerely signifies to
turn aside and spend the night in any
place, but also to remain permanently.
See Ps. xlix. 13, inV3=inn^?. A like
curse was pronounced by tbe Delphic
oracle against perjury ;
 ILpatnvds he perepxerat,
elaoKe ndaav,
^vppdp-y^/as dXiaet yeverjv Kal o'Ikov
dnavTa. Herodot. vi. 86.
VISION VII,
5. NS.>1, came forth, i.e. carae again
into view to explain the new vision.
6. The ephah was one of the larger
Jewish corn measures, containing about
an English bushel, or seven gallons and
a half. The LXX. give it simply by
TO perpdv. Symra, leaves it untrans
lated, oltpl, which presents it pretty
much in its original Egyptian 'form,
which was CUini- Comp. the Arab.
Xy*- Some have supposed that it is
not to be specifically understood of the
measure so cahed, on the ground that
such a measure could not have contained
tbe woman menlioned ver. 7 ; but the
assumption is altogether gratuitous, since
there is no necessity for maintaining
that tbe feraale represented was actually
in appearance of the ordinary size.
There is equally little foundation for
tbe interpretation of the Targura, that
the use of false measures was intended
by this itera of the vision. oy-S, iheir
eye, has been variously regarded by
different translators and expositors. The
LXX., Arab., and Syr., have read D3i»,
iheir iniquity, which raany think rauch
more suited to the connexion, but this
reading is supported by only one of De
Rossi's MSS. It is clear from what

Jerome says on the subject, that the
text was the sarae in his day as we have
it at present. The latter reading is
adopted by Houbigant, Newcome, and
others of the sarae school. That j;?
signifies appearance, or that which pre
sents itself to tbe eye, is fully established
by reference to Lev. xiii. 55 ; Numb.
xi. 7 ; Ezek. i. 4, 7, x. 9 ; and tbis sig
nification is appropriately applicable in
the present passage. Hengstenberg,
taking the word in its primary accepta
tion, considers the raeaning to be that
their eye was universally set on evil ;
it was the effort of the whole people to
fill up the raeasure of their sins, and
thereby bring upon theraselves a full
raeasure of divine punishment. When
it is said that the ephah (for this is the
nominative to the latter r\ii}, this is,') was
their appearance, the language is meto-
nyraical ; the container being used for the
thing contained, i.e. Trstrm, wickedness,
or idolatry, as further explained, ver. 8,
7. The T33 contracted for 33't3, what is
round or globular, from Ti|, to go round,
was the heaviest weight in use araong
the Hebrews, being equal to 3000
shekels, or, according to Jahn, 125
pounds, English troy weight, Luther
renders it here by centner, or hundred
weight ; but it is obviously to be taken,
not in its strict estimate as a raeasure,
but in its etymological iraport, as sig
nifying a flat, roundish lump or cake of
lead, yet not whhout some respect to its
heaviness, in consideration of the end it
was designed to serve — the security of
the woman in the vessel over which it
was placed. To express the idea of
weight it is called J3N, a stone, in the
following verse. nNffii is the feminine par
ticiple in Niphal. nNi does not refer to
the talent or weight going before, but
to mflN imraediately following, and is
equivalent to there was. The woman

CHAF. v.]

ZECHARIAH,

391

8 woman sitting in the midst of the ephah. And he said, This is
wickedness. And he threw her down in the midst of the ephah,
9 and threw the weight of lead on the mouth of it. Then I raised
my eyes and looked, and, behold ! two women came forth, and the
wind was in their wings, for they had wings like the wings of a
stork ; and they bore away the ephah between earth and heaven.
10 Then I said to the angel who spake with me, Whither are these
11 conveying the ephah.'' And he said to me, To build for it a house
in the land of Shinar ; for it shall be set up, and placed there on its
own hase.

was placed in the ephah in order to be
conveyed to Babylon.
8. By TW&i in this place is meant
idolatry, which was the most flagrant
kind of wickedness with respect to God,
and the fruitful parent of every other
species of iniquity. To raark it more
emphatically, the article is prefixed.
ifWiT, as used both times, conveys the
idea of a forcible action. In tbe pre
ceding verse the woman is represented
as already sitting in the midst of the
ephah; the action here described may
either be carried back to a period pre
ceding the vision, or it may be intended
to indicate what was further done, in
order to cause her to occupy a lower
position in the vessel, so as io allow of
the leaden cover being thrown over her.
The latter is the more probable inter
pretation, Jarchi is of opinion that the
feminine suffix in ttb, her mouth, refers
to the woman ; but it can alone with
propriety be referred to the ephah,
9. The two females here raentioned
are regarded by Maurer and Heng
stenberg as merely belonging, by vvay
of colouring, to the symbol as such,
two persons being required to carry
so large a measure as the ephah. I
should rather, however, infer that the
Assyrian and Babylonian powers are
intended, by which, as instruments, God
removed idolatry in the persons of the
apostate Hebrews out of the holy land.
By their having the wind in their wings
is conveyed the idea of the celerity of
their motion. nTpn, the stork, so called
from the affection which both tbe parent

bird and her young show to each other.
Aq., who frequently gives the etymology
of Hebrew words, renders it ''Epahtos,
in which he is followed by Theod. and
Syrara, This Greek term is derived
frora 'epas, leve. The large wings of
the stork greatly accelerate its flight,
when aided by tbe wind. In niiani is
an elision of the letter N, the third
radical, for niNicm, which is found in a
great nuraber of MSS. and sorae of the
earliest printed editions.
10. Instead of the defective ortho
graphy niSbiD, many MSS, and sorae
editions read in full, niS'bin.
11. TWtt) y-jN, the land of Shinar, is
rendered in the LXX. yfj BafivXavos,
and in the Targ, b33 ro'Tp, which is the
proper interpretation, )3in is to be con
strued with n'3, and irri'in with nB'M, in
cluding the idea of the woraan, or of
idolatry, of which she was tbe symbol.
To the latter also the affix in Tirpya
belongs. In tbis striking hieroglyphic we are
taught how idolatry, with all its accom
panying atrocities, was removed from
tbe land of the Hebrews, which it had
desecrated, to a country devoted to it,
and where it was to commingle with its
native eleraents, never to be re-iraported
into Canaan. How exactly has the pre
diction been fulfilled ! Frora the time
of the captivity to the present, a period
of more than two thousand years, the
Hebrew people have never once lapsed
into idolatry ! The whole vision was
intended to convince thera of the great
ness of the evil.

392 ZECHARIAH. [chap, m

CHAPTER VI.
Having warned the Jews against indulging in the evil practices which had
occasioned their removal to Babylon, Jehovah now, in another vision, exhibits
to their view the warlike and unsettled state of political affairs in tbe imraediate
future, during the reigns of Darius, and his successors, 1—8. Most com
raentators seera to have concurred in the opinion expressed by Munster : "Haee
visio est valde obscura." The symbols are in theraselves simple, consisting of
four chariots drawn by horses of different colours, whicb issue from between
two mountains of copper, and proceed in different directions with respect to the
land of Palestine. That they betoken certain dispensations of Divine Providence,
in reference to the nations by which the Jews were immediately surrounded, and
by whose fate tbey were raore or less affected, appears to be tbe raost consistent
position that cau be assuraed in interpreting them, especially as such is the
application of similar symbols elsewliere in tbe prophetic records. The colours
of tbe horses denote, as usual, the character of these dispensations, as either
calamitous, prosperous, or raixed. Comp. chap. i. 8 ; Rev. vi.
This vision, which is tbe last, is followed by a splendid prophecy of the
Messiah in bis co-ordinate offices of Priest and King, to typify whicb the
syrabolical action of making two crowns and placing them upon the head of
Joshua, is ordained by Divine authority, 9 — 15.

1 And I raised my eyes again, and looked, and, behold ! four
chariots came forth from between two mountains, and the mountains
1. For the idiom NteNistfNl, see on ch, been raatters of dispute, I ara strongly
iv. 1. Considering that the events re- inclined to regard thera as erablems of
ferred to are those of war, it is most the Medes and Persians, and thus cor-
iiatural to infer that war-chariots are responding to the two horns of the ram
here intended. By raountains of copper which are eraployed by Daniel to denote
are raeant solid, strong and durable the sarae people. See chap, viii, 3, 4.
mountains, such as those in which copper Frora between these, or frora the power-
and other raetals are ordinarily found, ful erapire which tbey forraed, the in-
Comp. Jer. i. 18. Of wbat these raoun- struraents of Divine Providence were
tains were designed to be the syrabols, to proceed to execute his purposes in
or whether they are introduced merely punishing the nations. That mountains
as an ornamental part of tbe vision, have are employed in the figurative language

chap. VI.]

ZECHARIAH.

393

2 were mountains of copper.. In the first chariot were red horses ;
3 and in the second chariot black horses ; and in the third chariot
¦white horses ; and in the fourth chariot were piebald grey horses.
4 I then proceeded and said to fhe angel who spake with me. What
5 are these, my lord ? And the angel answered and said to me, These
are the four spirits of heaven, coming forth from presenting themselves
6 before the Lord of the whole earth. That and the black horses in
it are going forth into the north country ; and the white go forth to
the west of them ; and the piebald go forth to the south country.

of prophecy to signify kingdoms or
govemments, see Is. ii, 2, xii, 15 ; Jer,
li. 25; Dan. ii.35.
2, 3. The red horses are symbolical
of war and bloodshed; the black, of
general calamity and distress ; the
white, of victory and prosperity ; and
thc piebald greys, of a dispensation,
mixed in its character, partly pro
sperous, and partly adverse. The last
word, O'spN, would seem most naturally
to be referrible to the root ypN, te be
strong, active, Szc. ; and this raode of
solution would at once be satisfactory
were there no qualifying circurastances
in the immediate context to require
another interpretation. But as all the
other terms here employed in describing
the horses are expressive of colours, we
should ex-pect something of the same
character to be intended by tbe word in
question. I, therefore, prefer adopting
a derivation from the Arab. (>a«.
leviter splenduit, and regard it as qua
lifying D'TQ, immediately preceding.
Thus, the Targ. VPnEp, ash-coloured,
grey; so that the most appropriate ren
dering of the two terms will be spotted,
or peloid greys.
5. Though the phrase ffpi|n niniT 93TN
is that employed chap. ii. 1 o' (Heb,) to
denote the four quarters of the horizon,
yet, that it cannot have this raeaning in
the present instance, is evident frora its
being added that the ninn are such as
had taken their station, or presented
themselves^ before tbe Lord, in order to
receive their commissions for tbe execu
tion of his will. In our common ver
sion, therefore, the 3vords are properly
rendered as to the meaning, spirits of
'he heavens; or, as we now comraonly

say, celestial spirits, thereby raeaning
angels, Tbese are represented, as in
Job i. 6; ii. 1, as eraployed by God to
carry into effect bis high behests, which
they receive in his iramediate presence,
and then proceed to the different quarters
of the globe in which the special opera
tions of Divine Providence are to be
carried forward.
6, By pDS^TN, the tiorih country, we
are to understand, as usual, the land of
Babylon, Comp. Jer, iii, 18, vi, 22,
X. 22, xlvi. 10 ; Zecb. ii. 10. Though
that erapire had been subdued by
Cyrus, yet the Babylonians revolted in
the beginning of the fifth year of Darius,
on which that raonarch besieged them
with all his forces ; and, after rauch
devastation, corapletely depopulated it,
and reduced it to solitude. To set fortii
syrabolically this fearful event, black-
coloured horses are represented as con
veying into the country the executioner
of the Divine indignation upon that
devoted people. It is reraarkable that
the red-coloured horses, which had been
introduced into the vision, ver, 2, are
entirely passed over. The reason may,
perhaps, be, that, disastrous as was the
final destruction of Babylon, it was un
accompanied with any thing like the
quantity of bloodshed wbich characte
rised the battles of conflicting arraies in
the open field, though at the coraraence
ment there was every appearance of
much blood being shed. Notwithstanding,
therefore, the chariot with the red horses
appeared along with the others, it seems
to be intiraated, by no further notice
having been taken of it, that it was not
eraployed. — The whiie horses, denoting
victory and prosperity, point out the
successes of Darius in different parts
3 E

394

ZECHARIAH.

[chap. VI.

7 And the greys went forth, and asked to go to walk to and fro through
the land ; and he said, Go, walk to and fro through the land ; aud
they walked to and fro through the land.
8 Then he summoned me and said to me, See, those that went to
the nortli country have appeased my anger in the north country.
9 And the word of Jehovah was communicated to me, saying : Take
10 from the captivity, from Heldai, from Tobijah, and from Jedaiah,

of Greece, whicb, though checked by
the battle of Marathon, contributed to
the strengthening of bis power in that
quarter. The phrase, D.n'.TnN-bN, literally
raeans behind them, but geographically,
to ihe west of them. That it is to be so
taken bere, the use of bN, to, correspond
ing with tbe use of the sarae preposition
after tbe verb, both before and after in the
verse, sufficiently shows. The dappled
horses were syrabolical of the varied
condition of the Persian affairs, which
followed the battle of Marathon, espe
cially the changes which took place on
the death of Darius, and the expedition
of Xerxes for the reduction of Egypt.
This last circuiftstance is particularly
pointed at in the reference, l^'fiTyTN, the
country of the South. That by JD'n,
Teman, we are not here to understand
the city or region so called on the east
of Idumea, but a land to the south of
Palestine, is obvious frora the article
being prefixed, and from a comparison
of the use of the terra in sucb passages
as tbe following. Job ix. 9; Is. xliii. 6.
It is synonyraous with pp;, on the right
hand, which geographically -raeans ihe
South, and here specifically signifies
Egypt, to express which Daniel uses
the word 331, chap. xi. 40.
7. yTNn, the land here referred to, but
not described by any qualifying epithet,
raust be understood of the country of
Palestine, the peculiar features of the
dispensation of Providence with respect
to which are raarked by two circum
stances : tbe grey colour of tbe horses,
which indicated the raixed state of the
Jewish affairs till the tirae of Artaxerxes
Mnemon; and the form of the verb Tjbn,
to go or walk, which is in Hithpael, and
signifies to go about, or to walk up and
down. Tbey were not to be raolested
by the hostile incursion of foreign arraies,
but neither were they to be free froni
annoyaiices. Accordingly, we find them

involved in troubles by Sanballat, and
other chiefs of the Samaritans ; and,
as tbe Persian army marched through
Palestine to attack the Egyptians in the
reign of Darius Nothus, the inhabitants
must have been exposed to numerous
inconveniences, which tbey could not
but feel the more severely, owing to
their having only just begun to take
possession of their patrimonial inheri
tances. On the other hand, the appoint
ment of Nehemiah to be governor of
Judea, and otber favours conferred by
the Persian monarch, were calculated
to mitigate their distress, and inspire
them with the bope of a, complete and
happy restoration to tbe enjoyment of
their ancient privileges. These dappled
horses supply the place of the red, speci
fied ver. 2, but are omitted in the ex
planation, ver. 6, so that the number of
chariots is still four.
8. Tbe nominative to \!S-p. must either
be Jehovah, or the Angel of Jehovah,
understood as the pronominal affix in
'nn, " my anger," shows. That aniong
other significations niT has that of anger,
see Jud.viii.3; Eccles. x.4; Is. xxxiii. 1 1,
The phrase, niTirin, to cause anger io
rest, is equivalent to npn n'pn, Ezek.
V. 13, xvi. 42, xxiv. 13; and raeans
io satisfy, pacify. The final judgment
having been inflicted upon Babylon, the
Divine displeasure should no more be
manifested in that direction.
The tendency of tbe whole vision was
to assure tbe Jews of tbe care and pro
tection of their covenant God, and thus
lead them to exercise confidence in him,
while prosecuting the restoration of the
temple and their forraer institutions.
9 — 11. Here commences a separate
prophecy, calculated, like the preceding
vision, to stiraulate the Jews in their
work. That what was comraanded was
actually perforraed by tbe prophet, and
that it was not done in vision, seems the

CHAP. VI.]

ZECHARIAH.

395

11

12

whoare come from Babylon, and enter thou on that day, yea, enter
the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah ; yea, take silver and gold,
and make crowns, and place them upon the head of Joshua, the son
of Josedech, the high priest ; and speak to him, saying, Thus
speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying :
Behold the IMan whose name is THE BRANCH,
For he shall grow up out of his place,
And he shall buUd the temple of Jehovah.

only tenable construction that can be
put upon it. The infinitive riipb, at the
beginning of tbe 9th verse, is to be taken
in connexion with the finite form of the
same verb at that of the 11th, both
having injl ^153 for their object. The
preposition which is prefixed to the
following nouns is not to be taken par
titively, as if some of the captivity, and
one of each of the families, tbe heads of
which are supposed to be here specified,
were meant, but is used in its primary
and most coramon signification. The
persons named appear to have forraed
a deputation from the nVi3, captives still
remaining in Babylon, wbo had sent
them with contributions in gold and
silver to help forward the building of
the temple at Jerusalem, These deputies
had deposited their gifts in the house of
Josiah, .to which the prophet is com
manded to repair and take what was
necessary for making the two crowns
which were to be placed on the head of
the high priest. It is not improbable
that Josiah was pnblic treasurer at the
time. The language of Zechariah is
here more heavy and verbose than usual,
which has occasioned some difflculty to
interpreters. Instead of b33p in3 t^n,
two of Kennicott's MSS., the 'LXX.,
Syr., and Targ., read N3 in the singular,
and restrict tbe declaration to Josiah,
mentioned iramediately before ; but there
can be little doubt that this various
reading is merely an eraendation of
some copyist, who took Josiah, and
not the three persons spoken of at the
heginning ofthe verse, to be the subject
ofthe predicate. To reraove the ambi
guity, our translators have properly con
nected the words immediately with the
names of the persons to whom they
belong, Hengstenberg contends tbat
only one crown is intended, and that

tbe plural form, niTQS, is to be referred
to several small crowns or diadems of
which it consisted. With raany other
interpreters, he adduces in support of
the opinion the hiahrjpara jroXAd, many
crowns,-v/hich are described asbeingupon
the head of the Saviour, Rev. xix. 12 ;
but the reference there is purely to the
crown of a conqueror, coraposed of many
diadems, which Christ is represented as
wearing, as a symbol of the numerous
victories he had won over the enemies
of his church. It appears, however,
essential to the thing signified, namely,
the priestly and regal offices, that they
should have been distinct crowns, in
which case either the one may have
been placed upon the head of Joshua
after the other, or they may have been
joined together so as to form a double
crown, and so placed upon his head at
once. What favours the latter view of
the subject is the circumstance, that the
plural n3Q» is construed with n;ni3, the
singular of the substantive verb, ver. 14.
Maurer not inaptly illustrates this by a
reference to the triple crown or the tiara
of the popes, by wbich they arrogate to
themselves a higher degree of dignity
than that of Hira whose servants tbey
profess to be,
12. The syrabolical action perforraed
upon Joshua as representative of tbe
Messiah, is here followed by an expla
natory prophecy, in wbich his person,
offices, and worle are distinctly set forth.
For the signification of nps. Branch, see
on Is. iv. 2. That the Messiah is raeant
must be evident to all who will impartially
compare Is. iv. 2; Jer. xxiii. 5, xxxiii. 15 ;
Zech. iii. 8, Tbus the Targ. expounds :
'bjn'T T'n» npil) Nn'tip NT33 Nn, " Behold
the Man, Messiah is his narae ; who is
to be revealed." The sarae view is
taken by Moses Hadarsan : ticn bNun

506

ZECHARIAH.

[chap. VI.

13 Even he shall build the temple of Jeliovah,
And he shall bear the glory ;
And he shall sit and rule upon his throne,
And shall be a priest upon his throne,
And the counsel of peace shall be between them both.

H31C nns iCN nin ":ic 3n ib |'n d3d D'pN
nns^ vnnnni, "The Redeemer whom
I will raise up from you shall have no
father, as it is said; Behold the man,
whose name is Zemach, and he shall
grow up frora bis place." The Rabbins
Jarchi, Abenezra, and Kimchi, and after
thera, Bauer and Ewald, suppose Ze
rubbabel to be intended. Tbe last-
raentioned writer, after tbe example of
Eichhorn and Theiner, conjectures that,
instead of »^in.' ii)nt3, on the head of
Joshua, tbe text has originally read,
riBin; i25s-i3i bj^'ii tiNij, on the head of
Zerubbabel, and en the head of Joshua.
But who does not perceive that this
conjecture is to be traced to the mere
love of hypothesis. Maurer scruples
not to regard it as doing violence to the
passage. The application of the words
to Zerubbabel is decidedly rejected by
Abarbanel, notwithstanding his bigoted
hostility to the Messianic interpretations.
Tbe words of tbe text can apply to no
one who was not a priest ; for it is ex
pressly declared that such was to be
the official character of bim wbo is the
subject of discourse. And that neither
Joshua nor any of his descendants could
be meant, is evident from tbe fact, tbat
tbey could not exercise the regal power,
none of them being entitled to occupy
the throne. Simon Maccabaeus, to whom
Michaelis applies the prophecy, never
filled the kingly office ; he was raerely
commander of tbe array, and civil go
vernor, subject to the kings of Syria.
Instead of building the temple, as is
here predicted ofthe Branch, he erected
a splendid palace for himself on the
mountain on wbich tbe teraple stood.
Nor did the work of repairing it, after
it had been pillaged by Antiochus
Epiphanes, devolve upon hira, but upon
his brother Judas. Besides, the decla
ration tbat the Branch should be invested
with tbe honour or glory connected with
the building of the temple, would be at
variance with tbe uniform ascription of

the glory of all great undertakings to
Jehovah and not to man, wherever in
Scripture such works are represented as
carried on under the special direction of
tbe Most High. In the phrase, rni^npi
nps^, and he shall sprout forth from his
place, "while there is a direct reference
to the name nps, here given to the Mes
siah, there seems to be no very indistinct
allusion to the miraculous conception.
vni3n, his place, tbe place wbich was
peculiar to him. The interpretation,
that " under him there shall be growth,"
which is adopted by Cyril, Jerome,
Luther, Calovius, Hitzig, Maurer, and
Ewald, applying it to the church, the
body of believers, or the affairs of Mes
siah's kingdora, is to be rejected on the
ground of its not being warranted by
Scripture usage. By nin^ b3'n, the temple
of Jehovah, wbicb the Messiah was to
build, the material teraple then in the
course of erection cannot be understood,
for that was to be carried on and com
pleted by Zerubbabel, chap. iv. S. But,
as we have just seen, Zerubbabel and
tbe Branch are not identical. We are,
therefore, compelled to interpret the
phrase in application to tbe New Testa
ment church, which is frequently spoken
of as a temple, 1 Cor. in, 17; 2 Cor,
vi, 16 ; Eph. ii. 22; 2 Thess. ii. 4 ; and
respecting wbich the Messiah himself
declares, " Upon tbis rock will I build
my churcb, and tbe gates of hell shall
not prevail against it." Matt. xvi. 18.
13. The repetition nvi; bS'rrnN n33'. Nini
is not, as has been conjectured, to be
ascribed to an error of some transcriber,
and on the authority ofthe LXX., Arab.,
and Syr., to be expunged as superfiuous,
but is singularly in its place, as giving a
high degree of emphasis to the statement
raade respecting the personal work of
the Messiah. The erection ofthe spiri
tual temple was to be effected exclusively
through his mediation. With the decla
ration, that he should " bear tbe glory,"
compare Ps. xxi, 5, cii. 16; Is. hi. 13;

chap. V

I-J

ZECHARIAH,

397

14 And the crowns shall be for Helem and for Tobijah, and for
Jedaiah, and for Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the
15 temple of Jehovah, And those who are far off shall come and build
in the temple of Jehovah ; and ye shall know that Jehovah of hosts
hath sent me to you. And it shall come to pass, if ye will diligently
obey the voice of Jehovah your God * * * *

Heb. ii. 9. The declaration has reference
to the crowns, the insignia of glory and
majesty, which were to be placed on the
head of Joshua. In the following clauses
of the verse the union of the regal and
sacerdotal offices in the person of tbe
Messiah is distinctly set forth, thus ex
hibiting the peculiar feature of tbe
Melchezedekianpriesthood, Gen. xiv. 18;
Ps. cx. 4; Heb, v. 6, 10, vi. 20, vii.
While our Lord continues to officiate in
the heavenly temple as the Great High
Priest of his people, ever living to raake
intercession for them, he exercises his
mediatorial rule over the world and the
church— that over the forraer being
rendered subservient to the adrainistra
tion of tbat which he exercises over the
latter. Vitringa, Reuss, Dr, McCaul,
and others, refer the pronorainal affix in
iND3, "his throne," to Jehovah, or the
Deity absolutely considered, but, in ray
opinion, without sufficient ground. The
natural construction requires the person
who is prominently before the reader to
be the object of reference. The rendering
of Newcome, Hitzig, and Ewald, " and
a priest shall be upon his throne," is
forced and unwarranted; the Vau clearly
connecting the substantive verb with the
preceding verbs Nte; and nn;, the norai
native to which is Nin, the Branch, or
Messiah. The nominatives to Dn'iiS,
"them both," are neither Jehovah and
the_ Messiah, as maintained both by
ancient and by many modem interpre
ters, among others, Cocceius, De Dieu,
Vitringa, Bengel, Reuss, Dr. McCaul,
and Dr. J. Pye Smith ; nor Jews and
Gentiles, as Dr. Stonard strangely in
terprets; but the nin?, priesthood, and
the btipo, regal dignity, wbich had just
heen mentioned as unitedly exercised by
'he Branch, Thus Jerome, Marckius,
Dnisius, Lowth, Dathe, Rosenmiiller,

Hengstenberg, and others. The reason
assigned by Dathe forras an insurmoun
table objection to the first opinion :
"Quoniam enim Deus in toto hoc loco
loquitur, affixum tertise persons in Dmi?)
non potest ad Jovani referre," The same
objection lies against the reference of
the affix in ind? to Jeliovah, By nss
DibiS, the counsel or purpose of peace, is
to be understood the glorious scheme of
reconciliation between God and man,
effected by the joint exercise of the
sacerdotal and regal offices of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Comp. Is. ix. 6 ; Micah
V, 5; Eph, ii, 14—17; CoL i. 20, 21;
Heb, xiii, 20.
14, Helem is, in all probability, the
sarae as Heldai, ver. 10, and Hen another
name of Josiah, there also raentioned.
There seeras no ground for rendering
p, favour, and interpreting it of the
hospitality shown to the deputies by
Josiah ; the construction adopted by
Hengstenberg, Maurer and Ewald. The
words Dbn^ rrnn n305)n, the crowns shall
be to Helem, Szc, do not raean that they
were to belong to the persons specified,
but that they were to be for a meraorial
to them of the symbolical act that had
just taken place, and were for this purpose
to be deposited in the temple, where it
is'possible they reraainedtill the Messiah,
as high priest and king of his people,
had taken possession of his mediatorial
throne, when teraple, and crowns, and
the whole Jewish polity, were taken or
destroyed by the Roraans.
15, This verse contains a striking
prophecy of tbe calling of the Gentiles,
together with a solemn warning to the
Jews, in whicb, the sentence being left
unfinished, their rejection in consequence
of unbelief is forcibly implied. It is a
striking instance of dnoatdnrjais.

398

ZECHARIAH,

[chap, vji.

CHAPTER VII,
This and the following chapter are occupied with replies to questions which had
been proposed for solution, relative to certain fasts which the Jews had observed,
but wbich they supposed might no longer be binding after the restoration of
their prosperity, 1 — 3. From this circurastance Zechariah is coraraanded to
take occasion to reprove thera for their selfish observance ofthe days appointed
for fasting, 4 — 7 ; to enforce attention to the weightier matters of the law,
8 — 10 ; and to warn them, by placing before them the rebellious conduct of
their fathers, and the punishment with which it had been visited, 11 — 14.

1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of Darius the king, that
the word of Jehovah was communicated to Zechariah on the
2 fourth day of the ninth month, whicii is Chislev ; when Bethel
sent Sherezer, Rcgem-melech and his men, to conciliate the regard

1. The occurrence here described took
place two years later than those described
in the preceding chapters, lbD3, Chislev,
the narae of the ninth raonth of the
Hebrews, which corresponds to part
of Noveraber and part of Deceraber.
Some think it is of Persic origin, but
tbe idea of torpor, rigidity, stiffness,
which is conveyed by tbe Heb. bp3,
is sufficient to justify its being re
ferred to this root : such being the
character assuraed by nature in the
course of this month. The 3 prefixed
may be regarded as the Beth essentice.
2. The words bN-n'3 nbi|J;i have occa
sioned considerable perplexity to inter
preters. Some ofthe earlier Jews took
Bethel to be the name of a person.
Lightfoot supposes that it means the
congregation of the Jews who had
reraained in Babylon. To the sarae
effect Michaelis, " The congregation of
God at Sharezer," though he acknow-

ledges,he had no idea ofthe geographical
position of the city so called. Heng
stenberg and Maurer think the people
of the Jews are intended. The Vulg.,
Grotius, Dathe, Newcorae, De Wette,
and Arnheim, supply bN before the word,
and render, " to the house of God." The
LXX., Syr., Targ., Drusius, Blayney,
Hitzig, and Ewald, regard it as the
narae of tbe city so called, in the tribe
of Benjarain ; only the ancient versions
just specified represent it as the place
to which the deputation was sent.
Against the interpretation which explains
it of the teraple, there lies the insuperable
objection, that that sacred edifice is
uniforraly called nin^ n'3, the house of
Jehovah — never bN-n'3, ihehouse of God;
and that it should have been so desig
nated after the recovery of the Jews
from idolatry is altogether incredible,
considering the infamy attached to the
city so named. I entirely concur in the

CHAP, VII,J

ZECHARIAH.

399

3 of Jehovah, speaking to the priests which were in the house of
Jeliovah of hosts, and to the prophets, saying: Shall I weep in
the fifth month, separating myself as I have done these many
years .''
4 Then the word of Jehovah of hosts was communicated to me,
saying : Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests,
5 saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh
montli, even those seventy years, was it at all to me that ye fasted ?
6 And when ye ate, and when ye drank, was it not ye that ate, and
7 ye that drank ? Are not these the words which Jehovah proclaimed
by the foriner prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and at peace,
and her cities around her, when both the south and the plain were
inhabited .?

last opinion, which refers it to the city
of Bethel, which is used by metonymy
for its inhabitants. The word occupies
its proper place as the nominative to
the verb, which cannot bere be taken
impersonally, as such construction would
exclude all reference to those wbo sent
the deputation, a circumstance not to
be reconciled with the express specifica
tion of the names of the persons who
composed it. nibrt, lit, to streke the
face, to ingratiate oneself with another,
conciliate his regard.
3. The city having been introduced
in the preceding verse as sending the
deputation, speaks here in the first
person singular. Comp. 1 Sam. v. 10 ;
2 Sam. XX, 19; Zech, viii. 21, The
question related to the continuance of
the fast in the fifth month, which had
been instituted to comraemorate the de
struction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans.
As the city was now being restored, it
was presumed tbere would no longer
he any necessity for keeping up the
humiliating memorial, n33Nn is not
simply. Shall I fast ? but. Shall I con
tinue to fast ? The following words
indicate, that it was felt to be a tedious
and irksome performance of duty. The
persons speaking were thoroughly weary
of it, 3i.3ti, theinfinitive in Niphal of ti3,
to separate, consecrate, vow; in Niphal,
to abstain from food, and the ordinary
employments of life.
5, 6. Though tbe question had been
proposed by the leading men ot a single

city only, yet the burden was generally
felt, on which account the prophet is
directed to address the Divine reply to
all the inhabitants of the land, the priests
not excepted, who appear to have been
desirous of getting rid of the fast as well
as others. Their fasts had not been
perforraedfrom a purely religious raotive,
but were self-righteous and hypocritical.
While theyohserved thera, they neglected
the weightier raatters of the law. At
TiDD is an ellipsis of the finite forra of
the sarae verb. In '3N 'inns Dian there
is a double idiora, which renders it
peculiarly emphatic. Not only is the
finite form used after the infinitive of
the same verb ; but the nominative of
the personal pronoun is employed after
the usual verbal suffix. Comp. Gen,
xxvii. 34. '.3N D3 '3333. The fast in the
seventh month was in coraraeraoration
of the murder of Gedaliah, and those
who were with hira at Mispah. See
2 Kings xxv, 25, 26; Jer, xii. 1 — 3.
Neither in fasting nor in feasting had
the Jews any regard to Jehovah, but
did all from self-interested motives.
The feasting referred to is that which
took place on the festival days, which
were always days of rejoicing,
7. The forraer prophets bad taught the
worthlessness of attention to meats and
drinks while God was forgotten, and
the weighter raatters of his law neglected.
Ifthe Jews had listened to, and coraplied
with the messages of the prophets, none
ofthe evils which had come upon them

400 ZECHARIAH. [chap. vii.
8 And the word of Jehovah was communicated to Zechariah, saying,
9 Thus spake Jehovah of hosts, saying :
Execute true judgment,
And show kindness and mercy one to another ;
10 Oppress not the widow and the orphan,
The stranger and the poor ;
And think not in your heart of the injury
Which one hath done to another.
11 But they refused to attend,
And turned their back rebelliously ;
They made their ears heavy,
That they might not hear.
12 They made their heart an adamant.
That they might not hear the law,
Nor the words which Jehovah sent by his Spirit
Through the former prophets ;
And there was great wrath from Jehovah of hosts.
13 And it came to pass,
When he called, and they would not hear,
So they called, and I would not hear,
Saith Jehovah of hosts,
14 But tossed them ainong all the nations which they knew not,
And the land was desolate after them ;
No one passed through or returned,
For they had made the land of delight desolate.
would have been inflicted. For " the hamond, from the Arab. ,^, to pierce.
forraer prophets, see on chap. i. 4. By /
tbe "south and the plain," are raeant Here the idea of hardness is that con-
tbe soutbern and western parts of Judah. veyed by its use. In D'N'33n T3 inm
9, 3pN is here to be taken in the the double agency by which the Divine
strictly past tense, as the beginning of will was comraunicated is recognised —
tbe 11th verse clearly shows. that of the inspiring Spirit, and that of
10, Though ili'N intervenes between tbe instruraents inspired.
n*T and I'riN, tbey are to be regarded as 14. dtsdn is an anoraalous forra, after
in construction. Corap. Is. xix. 8 ; Hos. the Ararasean manner, according to
xiv. 3. No one was to harbour any wbich Zere is placed where there would
feelings of resentraent against another otherwise be a moveable Sheva. Regu-
for any injury he might have done him. larly, it would be dtSdn. It is ofthe Piel
11. r|n3 pi, io give the shoulder, is conjugation. nTipn yiN, the land of
equivalent to turning the back upon delight, Canaan. Comp. Jer. iii. 19.
any one. Tbe cause of such action is Maurer proposes to take in'ip^i imper-
traced to a refractory, rebellious, and sonally. Others more properly consider
intractable disposition. The n prefixed the Jews to be the nominative, who, by
in sinfp is privative. their criraes, had brought judgraents
12, T'ptf signifies both a thorn anda upon the land.

CHAP, VI II.J ZECHARIAH. 401

CHAPTER VIII.
This chapter is a continuation of the subject introduced and treated of in the
preceding. Having shown the awful consequences of disregarding the Divine
will, which had been clearly announced by tbe prophets, God promises the
renewal of his favour towards those who had returned from the captivity.
Restored to purity, 3, Jerusalem should enjoy security and prosperity to a
degree far exceeding the conceptions of those whom the prophet addressed,
4—6. Those who were still in heathen countries should be brought back, and
share in tbe general prosperity, 7 — 17, The chapter closes with a direct answer
to the question relating to the fasts, and a prediction of the great number of
proselytes that should be made to the true religion by the display of the Divine
goodness towards the Jews, 18 — 23,

1 And the word of Jehovah was communicated to me, saying:
2 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts :
I have been zealous for Zion with great zeal,
Yea, with great indignation have I been zealous for her.
3 Thus saith Jehovah, I am returned to Zion,
And will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem ;
And Jerusalem shall be called, The city of truth,
And the mountain of Jehovah of hosts, The holy mountain,
4 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts :
Aged men and aged women shall yet be sitting in the streets of
Jerusalem,
Each man with his staff in his hand for very age ;
5 And the streets of the city shall be filled
1. Before 3f3Nb the word 'bN, to me, is 3, Comp, Is. i. 26, and the remarks
found in thirty-three Heb. MSS. ; it has there made on the idiomatic use of nt;?,
been in ten more originally, and is now to call.
in three by correction; it is the reading 4, 5, These verses beautifully depict
ofthe Soncin., Brixian, and Corapluten- the security and happiness of the in-
sian editions, and is supported by the habitants of Jerusalera. Longevity and
Syr, and "Targ, a nuraerous offspring were specially
2. Comp, i, 14, 15, promised under the old dispensation,
3 E

402

ZECHARIAH,

[chap, viii.

With boys and girls, playing in the streets of it.
Thus saith .Tchovah of hosts :
Though it should be wonderful
In the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days,
Should it also be wonderful in my eyes '^
Saith Jehovah of hosts.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts :
Behold, I ¦will deliver my people
From the land of the rising,
And from the land ofthe setting ofthe sun,
And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of
Jerusalem,
And they shall become my people,
And I will become their God,
In truth and in righteousness.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts :
Let your hands be strong,
Ye that hear in these days
These words from the mouth of the prophets,
Whicii were spoken on the day when the foundation was laid

but uniformly in connexion with obe
dience to the law, Deut. iv, 40,
V. 16, 33, vi. 2, xxxiii. 6, 24 ; Is.
Ixv. 20. The idea conveyed by D'pnfop
in such connexion is exquisite, Wbat
can be more gratifying to the uncorrupted
siraplicity of human feelings, than to
witness a number of young children
enjoying their innocent garabols ? For
it contrary state of things, see Jer, vi,
11, ix. 21.
6. NbB, though like its cognate nba, is
not used in Kal, yet, frora its significa
tions in Niphal, Piel, Hiphal, and Hith
pael, it cannot be doubted that it raust
have conveyed the idea of separation,
distinction, difficulty ; hence in Niphal,
it signifies io be distinguished, io stand
out prominently, from comraon events,
to be impossible to huraan power, to be
miraculous. niNbei, the participial noun,
is often used for rairaculous occurrences.
Dnn D'p^3, in those days, i.e. at the time
when I fulfil my promise. To justify
the rendering of our coramon version,
"in these days," the Hebrew should
have been nbNn D'p;3. See ver. 9.

7, The east and west are here put as
parts for the whole. The meaning is,
I will deliver ray people frora every
region whither they have been scattered.
Were there any reason to believe that
the prophecy bas respect to a restoration
of the Jews yet future, there would be
a singular propriety in the use of Ni3a,
liJp'^iT, ihe setting of the sun, the Jews
being now, for tbe raost part, found in
countries to the west of Jerusalem ; but
there is every reason to conclude that
it has an exclusive reference to what
¦was to take place soon after it was
delivered. Vast numbers were carried
away captive after the time of Alex
ander. Not fewer than 100,000 were
carried by Ptolemy to Egypt, and were
settled in Alexandria and Cyrene,
8. The words nj-wa npN3 belong to
both the niembers of the sentence, and
express the reality and sincerity of the
relation on both sides,
9. D3'3; njiJinn, let your hands be strong,
a figurative raode of e.'spression, denoting
courage, resolution, effort. Jud. vii. 11 ;
2 Sara. xvi. 21. 'The prophets here

CHAP, VIII,j

ZECHARIAH,

403

Of the housc of Jehovah of hosts,
The temple, in order to its being built,
10 For before those days
There was no hire for man,
Neither was there any hire for beast ;
And to him that went out or came in
There was no peace, because of the eneiny :
Yea, I sent all men each against another,
11 But now I will not be as in the former days
To the residue of this people,
Saith Jehovah of hosts.
13 For the seed shall be prosperous,
The vine shall yield her fruit,
And the earth shall yield her produce,
And the heavens shall yield their dew,
And I will cause the residue of this people
To possess all these things.
13 And it shall come to pass,
As ye have been a curse among the nations,
0 house of Judah, and house of Israel,
So I will deliver you, and ye shall be a blessing :
Fear not, let your hands be strong.

referred to were Haggai and Zechariah,
See Ezra v, 1, 2, The words which the
people heard were those of consolation
and encouragement, Haggai ii, 18, 19,
After 3^, subaud, it3T.
10. Such was the danger to which
tie Jews were exposed before the actual
commencement of building the teraple,
that all intercourse between the city and
the country was interrupted. The
Samaritans pressed sore upon them,
and annoyed thera in every possible
way. See Ezra iv, 1—5, By T3 is not
nieant affliction, BXiylns, tribulatio, as
'he Eng., LXX., and Vulg. ; but the
enemy, or as we have it, p.;??! njin^ '33,
the enemies of Judah and Benjamin,
Ezra iv. 1, In the last clause of tbe
verse reference is had to the intestine
hroils and contentions which prevailed,
11,12, nnsi stands forcibly in con
trast with '.3pb' at the beginning of the
preceding verse. The providence of
God brought about a complete change

in the circumstances of the Jews who
had returned. As they obeyed his voice
and prosecuted his work, he gave them
outward tranquillity, and prospered their
agricultural pursuits. After DibiDn syt,
the seed of prosperity, i.e. healthy,
prosperous seed, such as would not fail,
supply n^n;, there shall be. Their fields
should not be trodden down by the
enemy, nor suffer from drought, mildew,
locusts, and other calaraities,
13. By the Jews being a curse and a
blessing, is not meant that they were
the instruraents of coraraunicating either
evil or good to the nations, but that they
themselves experienced either the one
or the other. They were subjects of tbe
curse and the blessing. "The house of
Israel," or the ten tribes, as distinguished
from " the house of Judah," shared in
tbe happy fulfilment of the prophecy.
It follows, that tbey also returned to
Palestine, nbsin D'p;?, in the very days to
which it refers. All atterapts to discover

404

ZECHARIAH,

[chap, VIII.

14

15

16

17

1819

20

For thus saith Jehovah of hosts:
As I purposed to afflict you,
When your fathers provoked me to wrath,
Saith Jehovah of hosts, and I repented not ;
So again I have purposed, in these days.
To do good to Jerusalem and the house of Judah :
Fear ye not.
These are the things which ye shall do :
Speak truth one to another ;
Execute true and sound judgment in your gates.
And think not in your hearts of the injury
Which one hath done to another,;
And love not the false oath ;
For all these are things that I hate,
Saith Jehovah.
And the word of Jehovah of hosts was communicated to me>
saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts : The fast of the fourth month,
and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of
the tenth, shall , become joy and gladness to the house of Judah,
even cheerful festivals ; but love ye truth and peace. Thus saith
Jehovah of hosts :

them at more recent periods have
proved utterly fruitless ; and the idea
that they must still exist somewhere in
the world, and are still to be restored in
their tribal state, has arisen frora a rais-
construction of those prophecies which
refer to the return from Babylon.
14, 15. An araplification of what had
been stated in the preceding verse,
16, 17, These verses contain a virtual
and instructive reply to the question
relative to the celebration of the fast,
chap, vii, 3, It was not in such merely
external, ritual, or cereraonial obser
vances that Jeliovah delighted, but in
the love and practice of moral rectitude.
The " gate " was, and still is, the forum
in the East, Dibaj lDBi?5p means sound,
wholesome 'judgment. TifiN, in ver, 17,
is wanting in three MSS., originally in
two more, and now by correction in
one; in the LXX., Syr. and Arab.
19. Now follows a formal reply to
the question just referred to. The fast
of the fourth month was on account of

the taking of Jerusalem, Jer, xxxix, 2,
lii, 5 — 7 ; that of the tenth was in com
memoration of the commencement of
the siege, Jer, lii. 4, For the other two
fasts, see on chap, vii, 3 and 5, The
Jews are distinctly informed that these
fasts should be turned into festivals of
joy. The 1 in noNni is adversative,
having the force of ¦ — but in order that
ye may enjoy the predicted and pro
mised blessing, see that ye be sincere
before me, and live in harmony among
yourselves, 20, The prophecy concludes with the
announcement that, in consequence of
the distinguished favour shown to the
Jewish people after their restoration to
their own land, multitudes of Gentiles
should be induced to embrace the worship
of Jehovah, Just before the appearance
of Christ, the heathen began powerfully
to feel the emptiness of their false re
ligions, and the unsatisfactoriness of
their systems of philosophy, and raany
of them, who were brought into contact

CHAP. VIlI,j

ZECHARIAH.

405

21 There shall yet come people.
And the inhabitants of many cities,
And the inhabitants of one shall go to another, saying,
Let us go speedily to conciliate the regard ^f Jehovah,
And to seek Jehovah of hosts :
I will go, even I also,
22 Yea, many people and mighty nations shall come
To seek Jehovah of hosts in Jerusalem,
And to conciliate the regard of Jehovah,
23 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts :
In those days ten men,
Out of all the nations,
Shall take hold, shall even take hold
Of the skirt of a Jew, saying,

with the people of God, found in their
religion, with all its imperfections, a
satisfaction which they had sought in
vain from any other quarter. It is
evident, fl:om various parts of the Acts
of the Apostles, that proselytes were
numerous in their day. Between Ti* and
1% supply rm. Two MSS,, the LXX,
and Arab, read D'3t, many, after D'p»,
which in afl probability existed originally
in the text,
21, The second nriN is equivalent to
n?™, Comp, Exod, xvii, 12, xviii, 4,
23, TtiN is redundant. Ten is put as
a round number, or a definite for an
indefinite, but indicating many rather
than few, Comp, Gen, xxxi, 7 ; Mic,
V. 5, D'iari niiic^ fep, of all the languages
of the nations, means, of all the nations
speaking different languages, Comp,
niiiii^ Q'ian-b3, all the nations and the
langmges. Is. lxvi. 18. See also Gen,
X. 5, 20 ; Dan, iii, 7 ; Rev, v, 9, vii, 9,
xiii, 7, To take hold ef the skirt, is not
intended to convey the idea of entreaty,
or the gesture of application for assist
ance, but is significant of a feeling of
inferiority, and a desire to enjoy the
happy privileges possessed by another.
The Gentile nations would be anxious
to participate in the blessings of the
theocracy. The repetition of the verb
P5 is emphatic, '¦iin; liJ'N, a man, a Jew,
is merely a periphrasis for a Jew. Comp,
ni-i/p 'lovhcCtos, Acts x, 28. The pro
phecy is generally regarded as having

respect to something yet future, and is
often interpreted of the instrumentality
of the Jews when converted in effecting
the conversion of the world, I can
find no such reference in the passage,
" Jerusalem" cannot be understood other
wise than literally, just as the term " Jew"
is to be so understood; but, according to
our Lord's doctrine respecting the New
Dispensation, that city is no longer the
place where men are exclusively to
worship the Father, John iv, 21 — 23.
Incense and a pure offering are now
presented to his name in every place
where his people assemble in the name
of Jesus and with a view to his glory,
Mal, i, 1 0, 1 1 , It was otherwise before
the advent of Christ, Jerusalem was
the place which Jehovah had chosen to
put his name there, and thither all his
true worshippers were expected to corne
to the great festivals, in whatever country
they might reside. Thus, the treasurer
of Candace went all the way from Abys
sinia, Acts viii, 27 ; and thus numbers
from all parts of the Roraan erapire
assembled in that city at the first Pen
tecost after our Saviour's resurrection.
As the Hellenistic Jews and the Gentile
proselytes travelled along in companies,
they could not but excite the curiosity
of the pagans through whose countries
and cities they passed ; and celebrated as
the metropolis of Judea had become for
the favours conferred upon it hy some
of the greatest monarchs of the times

406 ZECHARIAH, [chai-, ix.
We will go with vou ;
For we have heard that God is with you.
immediately gone by, and for tho pro- ing nations to the character and claims
sperity aud warlikeprowess of the Jewish ofthe God wlio was there adored, and
people, it was impossible that it should who accorded such blessings to his wor-
not attract the attention of the surround- shippers.

CHAPTER IX.
For the arguments in opposition to, and tbose in favour of, tbe authenticity of that
portion of the book of Zechariah which begins with this chapter, and coraprises
it and the remaining chapters, see the Preface.
Having in prophetic vision exhibited sorae of the raore reraarkable events
connected with tbe continued rule of the Persians, Zechariah now proceeds to
predict those whicb were to take place under that of the Greeks, during the
military expeditions of Alexander and his successors, in so far as they had a
bearing upon the affairs of the Jews. He describes the conquest of Syria after
the battle of Issus, 1 ; and the progress of the array of Alexander along the
coast of the Mediterranean, involving the capture of the principal cities of the
Phcenicians and Philistines, but leaving tbe Jews unraolested, through the pro
tecting care of Jehovah, 2 — 8. He then contrasts with the character and railitary
achievements of tbat conqueror the qualities which should distinguish the Messiah
and his kingdom, whora he expressly predicts, 9, 10. After which he resumes
the thread of his historical discourse, and describes the wars of the Maccabees
with Antiochus Epiphanes, and the victory and prosperity with which they were
followed, 11—17.

1 The sentence of the word of Jehovah,
Against the land of Hadrach,
And Damascus shall be its resting place,
When to3vards Jehovah shall be the eye of man,
And of all the tribes of Israel.
1 . For the signification of NiBO, see my translation of Isaiah. With respect
on Is. xui. 1. The combination NiBp to T[TTn, .ffaj/racA, it is uncertain whether
nin'T3T, occurs only here, chap. xii. 1, it was intended to denote a country, a
and Mahi. 1. As T3t occurs in the sense city, or a king. The last is the raost
of oracle, and Niap signifies what is taken probable, on the ground that it is not
up and uttered by tlie voice, the phrase likely that the narae either of a country
might be rendered, The announcement or its metropolis, in a region near Da-
qf the oracle cf Jehovah ; but it is better mascus, would have entirely disappeared
for the sake of uniformity to retain the from the pages of history. But no such
term sentence, which I have adopted in name has been found in any Arabic work

CHAF, IX,]

ZECHARIAH.

407

2 Hamath also which is contiguous to it ;
Tyre and Zidon, though she be very wise.

either of history or geography, Joseph
Abassus, indeed, a native of that country,
informed Michaelis that there was a place
so called at the distance of sorae miles
from Damascus ; that it was now of sraall
consequence, but had once been a city
of great eelebrity ; but there is every
reason to believe that if he did not intend
to impose upon his learned interrogator,
the place he had in view was 's™, in
Arabic CjIc.JI, called by Eusebius
'ASpaa, and by Ptolemy "A8p a. It lay
about thirty miles from Damascus, The
same reraark applies to the statement of
Rabbi Jose, mentioned by Kirachi in his
Comm. on this verse, that he was from
Damascus, and that there was a place
there, of which the name was Hadrach.
The Rabbins consider the term to be a
compound appellative of the Messiah,
who was to be Tl?, sharp or severe towards
the Gentiles, but ^3, tender towards
Israel! Hengstenberg, who treats on
the subject at large in his Christology,
vol. ii. pp. 69 — 77, Keith's Translation,
denies that it is a propor narae at all,
and regards it as a symbolical appellation
of the Persian empire, wbich he thinks
Zechariah would not designate by its
proper name for fear of offending the
government under which he lived. His
reasoning in support of his hypothesis is
very unsatisfactory, and his construction
of 'S 3b, Jer. li. 1, is perfectly ridiculous,
I am compelled to acquiesce in the
opinion, that a king of this name is
meant, as the most probable of those
that have been advanced, especially as
the phrase, V the land of a king," is not
without example in Scripture ; see Neh,
ix. 22 ; and very much suspect that the
word ^¦113, Hadrach, is after all only a
corruption of T3n, the comraoii narae of
the kings of Syria, though such corrup
tion must have taken place at a very
early period, for it was found in the copy
from which the version of the LXX. was
made. The afiix in innm is T3t in the
preceding hemistich. Damascus was to
he the place in wbich the Divine word
or sentence was to rest or settle ; in other
wprds, where the threatened punishment

would permanently be inflicted. That
ancient city was taken by Alexander the
Great after the battle at Issus, and formed
part of the kingdom of the Seleucidje,
from whom it passed into the hands of
the Romans. The native rule, which
thus ceased on tbe Greek conquest, was
never afterwards recovered. Several
commentators, following tbe ancient ver
sions, render the words, bbj dtn ]'.i> njn'b '3
bNTto' 'cptJ, for the eye of Jeho-oak is
upon men and all the tribes of Israel,
and explain them with reference to tbe
universal judgments which the provi
dence of God had brought or would
bring upon the people in and around
Palestine, But it is more natural to
regard pi' in construction with "m dtn.
The reference will then be to the effect
produced upon the minds of others as
well as of the Israelites, by the success
and progress of the array of Alexander;
Apprehensive of danger, they should be
compelled to look to Jehovah alone for
deliverance. When Alexander threat
ened to punish the Jews on account of
the refusal of Jaddua the high priest to
swear fealty to hiiu, they were thrown
into the greatest consternation, and
offered raany sacrifices and prayers to
God for deliverance, '3 is here used as
a particle, of time,
2, Hamath was the capital of a king
dora ofthe sarae name, wbich lay between
Zobah and Reboh, and to the north of
Daraascus. Itwas called by the Greeks
Epiphania, but is now known by its
ancient narae, which it has all along re
tained among tbe natives. That the king
dom was conterminous to tbat of which
Damascus was the metropolis is here
expressed by iT3-b3?Pi, the feminine affix
referring to yTN, land, in the preceding
verse. The whole of Syria was sub
jugated by the Greeks, or subraitted to
Alexander. Tyre and Zidon, which lay
directly in the way of tbat monarch,
as he marched along the coast of the
Mediterranean towards Egypt, are next
mentioned. See on Is. xxiii. The
latter city voluntarily surrendered, and
had Abdolonymus appointed as viceroy.
Though originally the chief of all tbe

408

ZECHARIAH,

[chap.

IX,

Yea, thougli Tyre hath built a fortress for herself,
And heaped up silver as dust,
And fine gold as the mud of the streets ;
Behold, Jehovah will dispossess her,
And strike her wealth into the sea,
And she herself shall be burned with fire,
Askelon shall see it and be afraid ;
Gaza also, and shall be in great pain ;
And Ekron, because her expectation hath made her ashamed ;
The king shall perish from Gaza,
And Askelon shall not be inhabited.

Phoenician cities, and the mother of
many colonies, yet at the time here
referred to, she had become far inferior
to Tyre, and quite sunk in comparison
with her ; on whicii account the predicate
Tl^p no3n, she is very wise, though, in point
of position, it might seera tobelong to]i32,
Zidon, is nevertheless to be referred to
33, Tyre, as the raore iraportant of tbe
two cities. The Tyrians, who had long
been celebrated for their worldly wisdom,
Ezek, xxviii, 3, 4, 5, 12, 17, gave a
specimen of it on the approach of the
Grecian monarch. On his intiraating
that he wished to offer sacrifice in the
teraple of Hercules, they replied that
the ancient and true temple of that god
was at Old Tyre on the continent, and
sent him a crown of gold in testimony
of their respect for so great a conqueror;
hoping by these means to induce him to
pass on without visiting their island.
3, This verse is graphically descriptive
of the insular and strongly fortified posi
tion of New Tyre, at the distance of
seven hundred paces from the shore, and
of the iramense stores of wealth wbich
it contained as the great eraporiiira of
Phoenician coramerce. Ezek. xxvii.
4. Instead of 'Jtn, many MSS., and
sorae of them the best of the Spanish,
read ni^n;, which I have adopted as the
true lection. Here is set forth the
conquest of Tyre by Alexander, who
constructed a causeway with the rubbish
of Old Tyre from the shore to the island,
and after a siege of seven months took
the city by storm, put eight thousand of
the inhabitants, who had not taken flight
to Carthage, to the sword, sold thirteen

thousand into slavery, crucified two
thousand, and after plundering the city,
burnt it to ashes. Jahn's Heb. Com
monwealth, sect. 70,
5, It may easily be imagined what
terror the news of the fall of Tyre must
have struck into the inhabitants of the
cities further along the coast southward,
who knew the destination and route of
the victorious array, Tbe prophet
accordingly precedes the raarch of the
conqueror from Phoenician into Philistia,
The principal cities of the Philistines
are here enumerated: Gath only is
oraitted, owing, probably, to its being
farther inland, and thus lying soraewhat
out of the route of the army. For
Ashkelon, see on Amos i, 8, For Gaza
and Ekron, on Amos i. 6. Ekron, lying
farthest north of these cities, is repre
sented as exercising confidence in Tyre.
While that city withstood tbe attack, she
might expect Alexander to be arrested
in his course, and hope that he would
give up his plan of invading Egypt.
But when it fell, her hopes were gone.
History is silent respecting* the fate of
these cities on occasion of the present
expedition, but of Gaza it is recorded,
that it resisted, and was captured after
a siege of two months. Not fewer than
ten thousand of the inhabitants were
put to death, and the rest were sold
into slavery, Betis, the commander or
governor of the city, was bound to a
chariot with thongs thrust through the
soles of his feet, and in this raanner
dragged around the city. It is not
iraprobable, that it is specially to tbis
circurastance that the words ']b.p T3M

CHAP.

IX.J

ZECHARIAH.

409

6 A foreigner shall sit as ruler in Ashdod,
And I will cut off the pride of the Philistines,
7 I will remove his blood from his mouth,
And his abominations from between his teeth ;
And he, even he, shall be left for our God,
And shall be as a prince in Judah,
And Ekron shall be as a Jebusite,
8 And I will encamp about my house because of the army,
Both when it passeth through, and when it returneth ;
And no oppressor shall pass through them any more.
For now do I look with mine eyes.

TWp, the king shall perish from Gaza,
refer. The title of king is frequently
used in Scripture in a subordinate sense,
to denote any chief ruler or governor.
See Gen, xiv, 2.
6. For Ashdod, see on Araos i. 8.
The word Trap, which occurs only here
and Deut. xxiu. 2, has been considered
of uncertjin etymology. Lee thinks it
may probably be a compound of ]'0,fro7n,
D», a people, and 31, a foreigner ; but
this conjecture, however ingenious, is
not warranted by Hebrew usage. In
Deut. the LXX. render it by ex ndpvrjs,
one lorn of a whore, but dXXoyeve'is, of
a different race or people, best suits both
passages. See Blayney. According to
the form, it must be regarded as the
Hiphil participle of Tin, a root not
occurring in the Hebrew Scriptures,
but signifying in raore raodern Hebrew,
to mix. Comp. tbe Arab. .|X«, corruptus
fuit. Hengstenberg renders, rabble.
By )i>0, the pride of the Phihstines, we
are to understand the splendour of their
cities, especially of their teraples,
7. This verse contains a prediction of
the future conversion of the Philistines
tothe knowledge and service of the true
God. The pronorainal affix i refers to
ilPO, the foreign prince, as does Nin, he,
further on in the verse. Their abandon
ment of idolatry, and their embracing
the true religion, is represented by their
no longer drinking blood, and eating
things sacrificed to idols, both of which
Were common among the pagans, but
prohibited by the Mosaic law. Numb.
XXV. 2 ; Lev. vii. 26, xvii, 10, 12 ; and

by the apostles. Acts xv. 29. It is
implied that what the ruler did, would
be done by the citizens subject to his
power. He was to belong to God, as
one who bad joined himself to him by
an act of self-dedication. Comp. Is,
xliv. 5, lvi. 3. On his becoming a
Jewish proselyte, he should be regarded
as sustaining the dignity of one of the
princes of Judah ; no distinction should
exist between them. The same idea is
expressed in the parallel clause. The
Jehusites were the original inhabitants
of Jerusalera, who, on their subjugation
by David, were incorporated among the
Jews, and enjoyed their privileges,
2 Sam, xxiv. 16, &c.
8. For n3S, the Keri has the proper
orthography N33, a host, or army. Jeho
vah here proraises to afford protection
to the Jews (called, as in Hos, viii. 1,
njT n'3, the house of Jehovah). They
were not to be injured by the army of
Alexander, either on its march to or
from Egypt, a promise which was ful
filled to the letter; for while tbat
monarch punished tbe Samaritans, he
showed great favour to the Jews. Nor
was any foreign oppressor to invade
their land, as the Assyrians and Chal
deans had done, during the period which
was to intervene before tbe advent of
tbe Messiah, predicted in the verse
immediately following. They were,
indeed, subject to rauch suffering, both
from the Egyptian and the Syrian kings,
especially from Antiochus Epiphanes,
but their nationality was not destroyed,
and the evils to which they were
exposed only paved the way for the
3g

410

ZECHARIAH.

[chap. IX.

Rejoice greatly, 0 daughter of Zion !
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem !
Behold thy King will come to thee ;
Righteous, and having salvation,
Lowly, and riding upon an ass,
Even upon a colt the foal of an ass.

Maccabean victories, and the establish
ment of the Asraonean dynasty. For
this preservation they were indebted to
the providence of God which watched
over thera for good. This is erapbatically
expressed in the last clause of the verse,
9, Frora the great Grecian conqueror,
and the teraporal protection which Je
hovah would accord to his people, the
prophet abruptly, and in the most sublirae
and aniraated strain, calls tbe attention
of the Jews to a Royal Personage of a
very different character, the Messiah,
meek and righteous, the Prince and
pattern of peace, and the Author of
spiritual salvation to all his subjects.
His advent was to be accompanied by
such glorious results, that it was to be
hailed with the raost joyful anticipation.
That the subject of the prophecy is the
Messiah, is not only established by the
inspired authority of the EvangeUst
Matthew, chap, xxi, 4, but has the
suffrages of all the early Jewish autho
rities. It was not till the twelfth century
that it was otherwise interpreted. Thus
tbe Book of Zohar : n'»n bs TonN n'3'33i
Tion b» 33ni '33?. " On this account it is
said of Messiah, Lowly and riding upon
an ass;" a statement which is repeated
in the sarae work. The same construc
tion is put upon the passage by Joshua
Ben Levi, Saadias Gaon, and others. The
testimonies will be found in Wetstein on
Matt. xxi. 4, who says in reference to
thera : " Magno consensu Judsei dictura
Zacbariae de Messia interpretantur."
And Solomon Jarchi has the ingenuity to
acknowledge, n'fflan bs NbN iiniDb tibdn 'n,
that "it is impossible to interpret it of
any otber than the Messiah." Of Hira
as the king of Zion it is predicated that
he should be P'ts, righteous, a quality
frequently ascribed to hira in the Old
Testament. See Is. xlv. 21, hii. 11 ;
Jer. xxiii. 5, xxxiii. 15; Mal. iv. 2. With
respect to I'-cii, or, as it is pointed in
some copies, I'oii, of which Kimcbi

approves, on the ground of its being the
preterite converted into the future by
the 1 conversive, most modern comraen
tators construe it as strictly passive in
signification, and the raore orthodox
interpret it with reference to Christ's
deliverance frora the grave, after his
sufferings upon the cross, rendering the
passage, "righteous and saved." But
to such construction it must be objected,
first, that the passive signification does
not suit the connexion. If the people
had been the nominative to the verb,
this signification would have been ad
missible ; but it is the king who is here
described, and to speak of hira as saved
or delivered without any reference to
previous danger or suffering would be
most inappropriate. There is, therefore,
a real exigenlialoci: the context irapera
tively requires the verb to be understood
in an active sense. Secondly, though tbe
usual signification of Niphal is passive,
yet there are nuraerous instances in
which verbs of that conjugation have
a reflexive signification, which represent
the agent as showing hiraself possessed
of the quality of the action, or in which
the signification is purely active, espe
cially verbs, which are not used in Kal,
Thus TTN3, to show oneself glorious ; pbj,
to show oneself obstinate, to murmur,
complain ; N33, to prophesy ; f]P3i, to
desire greatly ; 3Tp3, to approach ; S3to,
io swear; I'P'pi, to obey, show oneself
obedient; l?ip?) *" lean, &c. And thus
in tbe present case I'tfiil, showing himself
a Saviour, having salvation, saving, a
Saviour. Thirdly, tbat the verb is so to be
interpreted here the combination ofthe
terra with i^''??, righteous, clearly shows ;
for it occupies the same position in rela
tion to that adjective, which the active
participle 333, riding, does to '3S, lowly,
in the following clause of the verse.
As in the latter case the Messiah's riding
upon an ass was a proof or manifestation
of his humility, so, in the former, his

GHAP, IX,]

ZECHARIAH.

411

10 And I will cut oflF the chariots from Ephraim,
And the horse from Jerusalem ;
The battle-bow also shall be cut off;
And he shall speak peace to the nations ;
And his rule shall be from sea to sea,
And from the river to the ends of the earth.

actually having salvation for others was
a manifestation of his possessing that
righteousness which was indispensable
for the justification of the guilty. See
1 Cor, i. 30 ; 2 Cor, v. 21 ; Phil. iii. 8, 9 ;
1 John ii. 2. As the one feature con
trasted with the haughty character of tbe
Grecian conqueror, so the other con
trasted with the cruelties that were in
flicted by him on the cities which he
captured. The Son of Man came not
to destroy men's lives, but to save them.
Fourthly, all the ancient versions render
the verb actively, LXX. ad^av, Targ,
p -X
f% Syr, 1^0' 3> ^"'S- Salvator. That
'19 is here to be taken in the sense
of meek, lowly, and not in that of poor,
or afflicted, the connexion sufficiently
shows. Thus the LXX. npavs. In
proof of the mild and gentle character
of the Messiah's reign, he is represented
as riding upon an ass, whicb, though not
in the East the degraded and despised
animal which it is with us, being used
by princes and other persons of rank,
is nevertheless comparatively so as it
regards the horse, and specially contrasts
with the war-horse in the following verse.
It was proverbially the symbol of peace,
so that what the prophet bere describes
was at once calculated to inspire the
mind with the conviction that the King
of whom he spake was none other than
the Prince of Peace, predicted Is. ix. 6,
Thei in 3'S b»j, "and upon a colt," is
exegetical of the preceding. Comp.
Gen. xlix. 11. niiriN, the-asses, does
not, as Michaelis woufd have it, convey
the idea of the pedigree of the colt, as
one of excellent breed, whose mothers
could be traced back through several
.generations, but is raerely an idioraatic
form, the plural being used for the
singular. Comp. bttn 'Tn, mountains, of
Ararat, i.e. one of the mountains, &c.,
Gen, viii, 4, Tsb; 't», c'liies of Gilead,
i.e. one of thera, Jud. xii. 7. For the ful

filraent of the prophecy, see Matt. xxi. 4,
and the Coraraentators on that passage.
10. This verse contains a distinct
announcement of the nature and extent
ofthe Messiah'sreign, Instead of leading
forth the Jews to battle and conquest, as
their Rabbins bave long taught them to
believe, he was in his proviijence com
pletely to disarm them, and render them
incapable of engaging in hostile conflict.
How literally this was accomplished their
history subsequent to the destruction of
Jerusalera by the Roraans convincingly
shows. The reign of the Messiah was
not to be that of a worldly conqueror,
like Alexander, nor was it tobe confined,
as to its boundaries, within the narrow
liraits of Palestine ; but it was to be tha^
under which tbe inestimable blessing of
peace was preeminently to be enjoyed ;
it was to embrace the Gentiles, who had
been excluded from the commonwealth
of Israel ; and, in point of extent, was
to cover a vastly greater portion of terri
tory than ever was possessed by the
warrior of Macedon. On the circuni-
stance that Ephraim is here mentioned,
no valid argument can be built in favour
of the hypothesis that this prophecy
raust have been delivered before the
captivity of the ten tribes, since it is
evidently the design of the prophet
merely to describe the whole land of
Canaan, the northern part of which still
w«nt by tbe ancient name, in contra
distinction from Judah, which is here
designated from Jerusalera, the capital.
Dibiti T3n, to speak peace, means to an
nounce the message of the reconciliation
effected by the Messiah. Frora the
express inclusion of the D'ia, nations,
araong those who were to enjoy the
benefits of the spiritual reign of the
King of Zion, it is raanifest that what
ever raay have been the originally re
stricted sense ofyTN-'DDN TSTrapi Dn» ay?,
as descriptive of the utraost bounds of
the Hebrew kingdom, the words raust

4-12

ZECHARIAH.

[chap, IX.

11 As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant,
I will send forth thy prisoners out of the pit
In which there is no water.
1 2 Return ye to the strong-hold, ye prisoners of hope,
Even to-day I declare I will render to thee double ;
13 For I have bent Judah for myself,
I have filled the bow with Ephraim,

here be taken in the widest possible
extent of raeaning, just as in Ps.
Ixxh. 8, where it is declared in the
connexion, that all nations should serve
the Messiah.
11. Having been led by his predic
tions respecting the expedition of Alex
ander in the direction of Egypt, to
exhibit in boldest contrast the character
and reign of the Prince of Peace, Zecha
riah returns to the subject which he had
in hand — the state of the Jewish people
in the tiraes succeeding the captivity in
Babylon. D3, also, connects what follows
with verses 6 — 8. The feminine pro
noun nN refers to f»s-n3, or Db*T;Ti3,
ver. 9. The covenant here called iJO'Tf,
thy covenant, means the covenant made
with the Hebrews at Sinai, and rati
fied by tbe sprinkling of the blood
of the victims slain upon the occa
sion. By tbat act the nation was
consecrated as a peculiar people to
Jehovah, and taken under his special
protection. The covenant is called
theirs, because it had their governraent
and happiness for its object. In virtue
ofthe blood then shed, it is here declared
that their covenant God would release
such of them as were still captives in
foreign lands. By IJH'PN is raeant, not
prisoners whora the Jews had taken,
but such of their own nation as were in
the condition just described. After the
death of Alexander many thousands of
Jews were in a state of exile in Egypt,
and many thousands more in that of
actual slavery in Greece and other parts
of the East. Their condition is described
as that of prisoners confined in dungeons,
3vbich were commonly cisterns without
water. See Jer. xxxviii. 6; Gen.
xxxvii. 24. In consequence of tbe raud
which reraained in them, they were
exceedingly noxious to health, and tbose
consigned to them were considered as
subjects of the deepest raisery. 'nnbsj is

not here the proper preterite, as some
interpreters construe it, but the prophetic
future, which is thrown into tbe forra
of the preterite to express the certainty
of the event.
12. With tbe Divine proraise of release
is connected the duty of the captives to
erabrace the opportunity afforded them
of returning to their own land, where
they should enjoy the protection and
favour of the Most High, JiTas occurs
only in this place. It is derived from
T?3, to cut eff, to prevent the approach
of an enemy, tb erect an inaccessible
fortification ; hence the signification of
the noun, strong-hold, or fortress. LXX.
dxvpapa. It forcibly contrasts with Ti3,
the pit, in tbe preceding verse, and for
this reason is not to be interpreted of
Jerusalera considered as again fortified,
but is used figuratively to express the
security and prosperity which those
should enjoy who returned frora cap
tivity. Though captives, their condition
was not hopeless. They were not to
abandon theraselves to despair, but to
exercise confidence in the proraise of
God that he would assuredly deliver
thera, nor were they to wait for the
arrival of any distant period when they
might return as a body ; even then
(Di'n D5) they might individually avail
themselves of the invitation, and share
in the blessings. The abundance of
these blessings is expressed by the
terra niipp, double, which is elsewhere
sirailarly eraployed to convey the idea
of full or araple corapensation, Is. Ixi. 7,
There is no foundation for the opinion
of Michaelis, adopted by Blayney, who
takes 3'ip to be a noun having tbe sig
nification of Tip, something precious, and
not the participle of Hiphil,
13. The declaration here made, that
Jehovah would lead forth tbe Hebrews
to military operations, and crown these
operations with success, cannot be recon-

CHAP. IX.J

ZECHARIAH.

413

And raised up thy sons, O Zion ,'
Against thy sons, O Greece .'
And made thee as the sword of a hero,
14 And Jehovah shall appear on their behalf,
And his arrows shall go forth as lightning ;
Yea, the Lord Jehovah shall blow the trumpet,
And inarch in the storms of the south.
15 Jehovah of hosts shall protect them.
And they shall devour, and tread down the sling-stones ;
They shall drink, they shall be noisy, as those who drink wine ;
They shall be full as the bowl,
As the corners of the altar.
16 And Jehovah their God shall save his people,

ciled with the statement made ver. 10,
pn any other principle but tbat which
refers them to two totally different
periods of time. The one, as explained
above, is predictive of the condition to
which the nation was to be reduced
after the advent of Messiah, instead of
having become, under his reign, as they
vainly expected, the conquerors of the
world ; the other sets forth the success
ful wars in which tbey would engage
with the Grecian rulers of Syria under
thc command of the Maccabees, The
prophecy is parallel with tbat of Daniel,
chap. xi. 32. For the fulfilraent, see
1 IMacc. i. 62, ii. 41 — 43, iii. 33, &c.
By a bold and expressive figure, the
Hebrews are represented as the bows
and arrows of Jehovah, tbe railitary
implements which he would eraploy in
resisting and overcoming the Grecians
under Antiochus Epiphanes, By ^i'.;'3.3,
the sons of Greece, we are to understand,
not the Greeks resident in Ionia or
Greece, but those composing the army
ofthe monarch just mentioned, Grotius
remarks, that at the tirae here referred
to, the Jews were accustoraed to call
the kings both of Syria and Egypt,
IJT?;'?, kings of Greece, because they
were of Grecian extraction.
14. Here coraraences a nuraber of
.special promises of Divine interposition
and protection. Considering what the
Jews had experiencedfrorahostile armies,
it was necessary to disarm their fears
by such assurances, that God was on

their side. He is represented as appear
ing in the thunderstorm, with the light
nings of which his arrows are compared,
and with the noise of its thunders, the
sound of his trumpet, summoning to
the attack. For " the storms of the
south," see on Is, xxi, 1,
15, After ibpN, they shall eat, supply
Tto, fiesh, i.e. of their enemies; and
after inttS supply DT, their blood. This
highly figurative language is frequently
employed in Scripture to express the
destruction of enemies in battle, J"ti3?,
like tvine, is elliptical for J^^-'niiJ-iDS, like
these who drink wine. Before mn, thirty-
two MSS,, originally four more, three
by correction, eight printed editions,
and the Rabbins Nathan, Kirachi, and
Abarbanel, supply the conjunctive 1,
By sbii '1.3N, sling-stones, the eneraies are
raeant, as clearly appears from the con
trasted form of expression, 31,3 '.33N, stones
ef a crown, descriptive of the Jews, in
the following verse. The phrase conveys
the idea of feebleness and contempt.
The stones used for slinging are other
wise of no use or value. Carrying
forward the idea of blood, reference is
made to pTip, the bowl, which was used
to receive that of tbe sacrifices, and to
li'ii, the corners of the altar, on the
horns of which it was sprinkled. Abun
dant as was the blood tbus shed and
sprinkled should be that of the enemies
of the Plebrews.
16. For iQ? 1N23, as sheep, his people,
comp. ^V l^sss. The words are neither

414 ZECHARIAH, [chap. x.
He shall save them as sheep in that day ;
For they shall be as the stones of a crown,
Carrying themselves highly over his land.
17 For how great is his goodness 1 and how great his beauty !
Corn shall cause the young men to thrive,
And new wine the maids.
in construction, nor in apposition, but thegoodnessandbeauty whichhebestows.
are to be separated, so as to connect Corapare Jer. xxxi. 12 ; Ps. xxv. 7. 33i3;,
is? with »'i?)in, understood as repeated though occurring in the latter half, is
frora tbe beginning of tbe verse. By coraraon to both parts of the sentence.
t;.3-'33N, crown stones, are raeant the Piel has here the causative power of
precious stones or geras which were set Hiphil. The root is 313, to sprout,
in crowns, and were of great value. The germinate, grow up. The prophet refers
elevation of tbese, and consequently of to the plenty which there should be in
the crown which contained thera, was the land after the destruction of the
strongly indicative of victory. For Dp3 enemy. Thedrinkingof must by young
in the acceptation of being high, comp, females is peculiar to this passage ; but
.its being here expressly sanctioned by
the Arab, (_^, elevavit rem; in the Divine authority, furnishes an unanswer-
viii, Conj, elatus fuit; ,j^, elevatus able arguraent against those who would
-' '^ interdict all use of the fruit of the vine,
thronus. siiT'n, new wine or must, so called from
17, The affix in i3ltD and vp^ is most viy, to take possession of because when
naturally to be associated with that in talten to excess, it gains tbe mastery
inpTN at the close of the preceding verse, over the person who indulges in it.
andreferredto Jehovah. The meaningis.

CHAPTER X.
This chapter continues the subject with which the preceding concluded. The
Hebrews are exhorted to apply to Jehovah for the constant supply of teraporal
blessings, 1, and are warned against an iraitation of the conduct of their
forefathers, who had recourse to false oracles, on account of which they and
their rulers had been carried into captivity, 2, 3, Proraises are then made of
governraent by rulers of their own nation, and the victorious operations of their
arraies, 4, 5 ; the coraplete re-establishraent of the theocracy, 6, 7 ; tbe restora
tion of such of the nation as still reraained in foreign countries, especially in the
East, and in Egypt, 8 — 11 ; and the chapter concludes with an assurance of
the security and happiness which they should enjoy under the divine pro
tection, 12,

1 AsE ye from Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain :
1. This verse stands in the closest Zif/Zitein^s, the precursors of rain. Tpp,
connexion with the , preceding. D'l'in, DttiaJ lit. rain of heavy rain, i. a. plentiful

CHAP, x;]

ZECHARIAH.

415

Jehovah maketh the lightnings,
And giveth them the heavy rain,
To every one grass in the field.
2 Surely the household gods spake vanity,
And the diviners saw a lie ;
They told false dreams,
They gave vapour for comfort ;
Therefore they wandered as sheep ;
They were afflicted because there was no shepherd,
3 My anger burned against the shepherds,
And I punished the he-goats ;
Nevertheless Jehovah of hosts hath visited his flock, the house of
Judah,
And made them as his splendid horse in war.
4 From him shall be the corner-stone,
From him the peg,

rain. Comp, Job xxxvii. 6, where the
same words occur, only their order is
inverted. 2. D'Diriri, the teraphim, or household
gods, are opposed to Jehovah in the pre
ceding verse. The term occurs only in
the plural, and is of uncertain deriva
tion. Gesenius refers it to the Arab.
lJ J, to live in comfort, and considers
it as signifying the indicators or givers
of pleasure or happiness ; Lee to the
Eth. TC*?. ¦ reliquus, superfuit, and
thinks relics are meant. They appear
to have had the form of the human body,
and to have been consulted as oracles.
See on Hos. iii, 4. The preterites and
futures, which are intermixed, are all to
be taken in the strictly past time, re
ference being had to the evils wbich had
prevailed araong the Jews, on account
of which they had been carried away to
Babylon, and against any further in
dulgence in whicli they are here warned.
They were exposed afresh to the influ
ence of idolatrous practices by their
intercourse with the Syro-Grecian and
Egyptian troops, which repeatedly tra
versed the land. Antiochus Epiphanes
actually set up a heathen idol in the
temple at Jerusalera, andoidered temples

and altars to be erected in the different
cities throughout the country.
3, The verb TIB is here used both in
a good and a bad sense ; followed by the
preposition bs, it signifies to visit for evil,
to punish; governing the accusative, to
visit with geod. The 1 in bs^ is properly
the 1 conversive, so that Tip?N is to be
rendered in the preterite, to agree with
iTjn. By "he-goats" are meant the
chiefs or leaders of the nation, lis; all
the versions render, as if it had been li^l,
in the preterite, which the connexion
requires. The " shepherds" and " he-
goats " are used synonymously ofthe
civil rulers. In tbe raiddle of this verse
is a sudden transition from the calamitous
condition to which the Jews had been
reduced as a punishraent for their sins,
to that of prosperity and railitary prowess
to which they were raised in the time
of tho Maccabees. In the preceding
chapter they had been set forth under
the images of the bows and arrows ; here
they are represented under that of the
battle-horse. The horse selected by the
comraander of an array on which to
ride at its head, was stately and richly
caparisoned. The 3 in DiD3 is the Caph
veritatis. 4. i3pp thrice repeated, possesses much
emphasis. The nominative is n3in; in the

416

ZECHARIAH.

[chap. X.

Prom him the battle-bow,
From him shall go forth each and every ruler.
And as heroes shall they trample the enemy
In the mud of the streets in battle ;
They shall fight, for Jeliovah is with theiu,
And put to shame the riders on horses.
I will strengthen the house of Judah,
And deliver the house of Joseph,
And will settle them, because I have pitied them ;
And they shall be as if I had not cast them off;
For I Jehovah am their God, and will answer them.
And Ephraim shall be as a hero,
And their heart shall rejoice, as those who drink wine ;
Their sons shall see it and be glad ;
Their heart shall exult in Jehovah.

preceding verse. The Hebrews were
not now to be subject to governors of
foreign extraction or appointraent, but
were to be independent, enjoying the
benefits of a native rule. By nse, corner
stone, is raeant tbe prince or governor,
on whora the political edifice raay be said
metaphorically to rest. The word is
derived from niB, to turn, and primarily
signifies a turning-point, angle or corner
of a building. With us a nail would
be an insignificant image, but Tn;, tbe
Oriental nail, is a large peg in tbe inside
of a roora, wrought into the wall when the
house is built, and on which is hung all
kinds of household stuff, together with
the different irapleraents of war. See on
Is. xxii, 23, One of these, ihe bow, is
mentioned iraraediately after, and stands
for the whole. iBii3 is used here simply
in the sense of ruler. Corapare the Eth,
5, Supply D'3;i<, enemies, as the object
to D'pi3, trampling, and corapare Is,
xiv, 25, Ixiii, 6, D'piD '353 refer to the
nuraerous cavalry whicii coraposed the
chief strength of the Syro-Grecian array
(see 1 Mace. iii. 39), but which were put
to the rout by a raere handful of Jews,
6. "The house of Joseph" stands for
the ten tribes, in contradistinction to those
of Judah and Benjamin, to which is given
tbe narae of " Judah" as the more ira
portant of the two. It is clear frora the

reference thus made, that part, if not
most of all tbe tribes, returned and took
possession of theirpatrimoniallandsafter
the captivity, D'ni3'iSin is a raixed form,
supposed by Kimchi, Abarbanel, and
sorae others, to bave been artificially
corapounded of D'ni'SSn, the Hiphil of
3111), to return, and D'nitfin, the Hiphil
of 3ffl', to sit or dwell, in order to express
in one word both verbs as used by
Jereraiah, D'mitirr! nin DipprrbN D'ni'sini
™3b, chap, xxxii. 37 ; but it is far more
probable that the word is a corruption of
D'm^in, introduced through inadvertence
by some transcriber. Such is, indeed,
the reading of raany MSS. and of four
printed editions, and is supported by tbe
LXX. KOTotKea. The reading D'ni'tfn,
has the support of the Syr., Vulg., and
Targ., but is less suitable to the con
nexion. 7. As the state of things here de
scribed was brought about by the heroic
conduct of Ephraira, it is obvious the
return frora the captivity cannot be in
tended, for the Hebrews were altogether
passive on that occasion. The reason
why special raention is here made of the
ten tribes may be their longer rejection
by the Lord, and the exiled state in
which many of them still were in the
days of the prophet. d;39N, as a col
lective noun, is the nominative to vm.
For 1"TD3 see on chap, ix, 15,

chap. X.]

ZECHARIAH.

417

8 I will whistle for them and gather them,
For I have redeemed them.
And they shall increase, as they did increase,
9 Though I have scattered them among the nations,
Yet they shall remeiuber me in the distant regions,
And shall live with their children, and return.
10 I will bring them back from the land of Egypt,
And gather them from Assyria ;
And I will bring them to the land of Bashan and Lebanon,
And room shall not be found for them.
11 And He shall pass over the sea,
He shall cleave and smite the waves of the sea.
And all the deeps of the river shall dry up ;
The pride of Assyria shall be brought down,
And the sceptre of Egypt shall depart.

8, An express promise of the restora
tion, settlement, and increase ofthe ten
tribes, many of whora were still at that
time in a state of exile. They were to
be brought back to Palestine, and placed
in a condition in which they should be
able to act valiantly in defence of their
country. The verb p'jti signifies to whistle,
or give a shrill sound, as those who keep
bees do, who, by means of a whistle, or
pipe, call them out from and back to
their hives. See on Is, v, 26, Josephus
informs us, that two hundred years after
the time here referred to, Galilee was
peopled to an amazing extent, studded
with cities, towns, and villages ; and
adds, that the villages were not what
were usually called by that name, but
contained, some of them, fifteen thousand
inhabitants. Jewish Wars, book iii,
ch, iii, § 2,
9, The first two Vaus are employed
antithetically, the former having the
signification of though or indeed'; the
latter, that of but or yet. »Ti cannot
here mean saved, as Hengstenberg con
tends, but must be rendered scattered,
which the verb primarily signifies, and
the connexion here requires. The last
clause of the verse indicates the settled
enjoyment of chartered privileges as
hefore the dispersion, when the Hebrews
should return to their own land,
10, We have no historical account of
any specific removal of any belonging

to the ten tribes into Egypt, but it cannot
be doubted that, as in the case of the
Jews in the time of Jeremiah, many of
them betook themselves to that country
for refuge on the invasion of Tiglath-
pileser ; and when Ptolemy attempted
to seize the whole of Syria, and carried
away 100,000 captives, whom he settled
in Alexandria and Cyrene, vast numbers
of them must have consisted of the
descendants of those Israelites who had
returned from the Eastern captivity.
Those who had remained in the East
were also to return, Comp, Is, xi, 1 1 .
NSpj has here the signification of there
being sufficient or enough, as in Kal,
Numb, xi. 22 ; Jud, xxi, 14. Dipn, room,
or place, is understood. So great should
be the number of inhabitants, that the
territory, however ample and fertile,
would not be able to furnish them with
the necessary supplies.
11. There is here an allusion to the
original deliverance ofthe Hebrewpeople
at the Red Sea. Comp, Is, xi. 15, The
Divine interposition in behalf of those
who were still in Egypt is not expressly
compared with what then took place,
but such comparison is iraplied, rns
has been variously rendered. The
pp- *.
LXX, arevfi, Yu\g. freto, Syr, Ij^o],
angustia, Calvin, affiictio, Hengstenberg,
the distress, Blayney, Tyre, Hitzig, Zara,
by which he understands the Nile. The
3h

418 ZECHARIAH. [chap, xi,
12 And I will strengthen them through Jehovah,
And they shall walk up and down in his name,
Saith Jehovah.
difficulty is at once reraoved by taking Euphrates, is meant, the use of the
nis as a verb, with tbe Aramaic signifi- Egyptian word TiN; places beyond dis-
„ ,„„ ,." , , ,. ., pute. See on Is. xix. 6. With respect
cation of NTif, ],^, cut, cleave, divide. V^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ j^ ^^^ j^^^j^ y^^ g^^^j^j
,-, .1 , , ., whether the Syro-Greek kingdom be not
Comp. the Arab, -.-«a, resecuit, ampu- . . , j ., •. i • j ^ ¦ „ „„.
'^ i_Sy^ intended — that kingdom occupying not
tavit. In which case three verbs, having only the territory which belonged to
Jehovah understood as their nominative, ancient Assyria, but extendingstill further
will follow in regular order : nraojaTpsi towards the east. The pride of that power,
D'ba d;3 rfini. And he shall pass over the as well, as the Egypto-Greek sceptre,
sea ; he shall cleave and smite the waves were to be swept away.
ofthe sea. The last words are literally, 12. Tbe phrase, Diiij Tjbnnn, <o waZ/c en
he shall smite the sea into waves ; or, as the name of a deity, is a Hebrew mode
to the sea, he w'ill smite its waves. Corap. of speech, descriptive of a course of
Exod. xiv. 16, 21 ; Is. xi. 15, 16. That action pursued in accordance with bia
by "the river," the Nile, and not the character and will. Corap, Micah iv. 5.

CHAPTER XI.
It is obvious, from the nature of the predictions contained in tbis and the following
chapters, that tbey must have been delivered at a tirae subsequent to the erection
of the teraple. As they are exclusively occupied with denunciations of evil
against tbe Jews, with the exception of interjected prophecies of the Messiah,
and one relative to tbe final deliverance of the covenant people, they must have
dispirited rather than encouraged tbose who were engaged in building the sacred
edifice. It raay be said, indeed, tbat there were raany carnal and secure persons
araong the Jews, who required to be warned, and that tbe following denunciations
were designed for tbeir benefit ; but, as tbe predictions do not relate to the times
in which those persons lived, it is not conceivable how they could have so appro
priated them as to derive effectual advantage from thera. Besides, they contain
no instances of direct address, or personal application of the truths delivered,
such as we find in the other prophets when addressing theraselves to their con
teraporaries for their iramediate benefit. It raay, therefore, be concluded, tbat
they were coraraunicated by Zechariah on some occasion or occasions of which
we bave no knowledge.
The scenes here depicted lay in the more distant future. In the present chapter
the prophet furnishes ahold figurative description of the destruction of the temple
by the Romans, and the utter consternation into which tbe priests and rulers of
the people should thereby be thrown, 1 — 3. He then describes certain symbolical
actions perforraed by hira in vision, by whicii be personated the Messiah, who
bad been proraised as the Shepherd of his people, setting forth his coramission
to teach and rule them, 4 ; their deplorable condition in consequence of the
rapacious disposition of their leaders, 5; and the judgraents that should over-

CHAP. X1,J

ZECHARIAH.

419

take them in consequence of their wickedness, 6, Under the emblems of two
staves, the relation of the whole uation to God, as their protector, and tbe relation
of the different tribes among themselves, are exhibited, and the cessation of
these relations is pointed out by the act of breaking the staves, 7 — 14. The three
last verses set forth the character of Herod, and the judgment of God upon him
for his wickedness.

Oi'EN, 0 Lebanon ! thy gates,
That the fire may devour thy cedars.
Howl, ye cypresses ! for the cedars have fallen,
Because the magnificent are destroyed ;
Howl, ye oaks of Bashan ! for the fortified forest hath come down.
There is the sound of the howling of the shepherds,
Because their magnificence is destroyed ;
There is the sound of the roaring of young lions,
Because the pride of Jordan is destroyed.

1. Some interpret this verse literally
of the locality so called ; others under
stand it figuratively, but apply it either
to Jerusalem, or to tbe whole land of
Palestine. The construction which raost
commends itself is that which applies it
to the temple restrictively. Such is the
ancient rabbinical interpretation. To
the same effect is the reraarkable de
claration of Rabbi Johanan Ben Zakkai :
" 0 sanctuary, sanctuary ! why dost
thon trouble tdyself? I know of thee
that thine end is to be left desolate,
for Zechariah, the son of Iddo, bas
prophesied against thee long ago. Open
thy doors, 0 Lebanon, that the fire may
devour thy cedars." Talmud, Bab.
Yoma. fol. 39, col. 2. This interpreta
tion seems to be referred to by Josephus,
in his Jewish Wars, bk. vi. ch. v. § 3.
The temple might with all propriety be
figuratively called Lebanon, not only
because the cedars with which it was
built were brought from that mountain,
but because as Lebanon was the raost
stately and raagnificent of all in the
vicinity of Palestine, so the temple was
the most glorious of all objects in or
about Jerusalem, Its gates were kept
carefully shut against all wbo had no
right to thread its courts. Now it was
to become a prey to the flames. The

prediction received its literal fulfilment
in spite of the utmost solicitude of the
Roraan general to preserve the edifice.
In vain did he attempt to save it from
the flaraes, so that in a short tirae it
was entirely consumed.
2. 11J1T3, the cypress, was greatly in
ferior to the cedar, but was eraployed
for the floors and ceilings of the teraple,
" The oaks of Bashan " were also used
for purposes of building. Tbese terras,
however, are likewise to be interpreted
figuratively of the priests and rulers of
the teraple, its superior and inferior
officers, together with the judges of the
people. T'^iN is used both of animate
and inanimate objects. It is here
employed to denote those wbo were
elevated in dignity and magnificent in
apparel. Comp. I^sn 't;-j_n. By Tissn T?;,
the fortified or inaccessible forest, is
meant Jerusalem, the houses of which
were numerous and close together as
the trees of the forest, and round wbich
the Jews had thrown up a wall of great
strength. Comp. Micah iii. 12. ForTW3,
many MSS., and two early editions, read
T'S3, whicb is only anotherform to express
the sarae thing.
3. The Jewish rulers are called
" shepherds," with reference to their
office, and "young lions," in regard to

420

ZECHARIAH.

[chap.

XI.,

Thus saith Jehovah my God,
Feed the sheep of slaughter ;
Whose possessors kill them, and are not held guilty ;
And each of those who sell them saith,
Blessed be Jehovah, I ara enriched ;
And none of whose shepherds spareth them.

theirfierceand rapaciousdisposition. Tbe
ti'l.'TN, was the magnificence of the temple
of which they boasted, Comp, Mark
xiii. 1 ; Luke xxi. 5. '{TfT} liNj, thepr'ide
of Jordan, i.e. tbe thickets which orna
ment its banks, and furnish excellent
lairs for lions, has the same figurative
reference, and is selected to correspond
to the young lions iramediately pre
ceding. Comp. Jer. xii. 5, xlix. 19. The
leaders of the Jews are represented as
indulging in loud wailings of despair,
on account of the destruction of their
temple and polity,
4, 5. The prophet now proceeds to
point out the cause of the destruction
which he had figuratively described,
and that of tbe people which was con
nected with it — the obstinate refusal of
their rulers to receive the doctrine of
the Messiah, By nmn ^l^s, the sheep of
slaughter, are raeant the people devoted
to destruction. Corap. nmp ^NS, Ps.
xliv, 23, At tbe fall of Jerusalera not
fewer than 1,100,000 Jews perished,
and near a million and a half altogether
in the course of the war. It has been
questioned, who is the person directed
in tbis verse to assume the office of a
shepherd, and wbo declares, ver. 7,
that he performed the duties of that
office ? Frischmuth, Marckius, Michaelis,
and others, are of opinion that it is the
Messiah, and, unquestionably,if ultimate
reference be had to him, this is the true
interpretation ; but it is equally clear
tbat tbe prophet is to be regarded as
having received the coramission, and
perforraed, in vision, what was enjoined
upon him. What proves this, is the
putting into the hands of the same
person the instruments of a foolish
shepherd, ver, 15, an action whicii can
with no propriety be referred to tbe
Messiah, On this principle, most ofthe
difficulties connected with the exegesis
of the intervening verses vanish, Zecha

riah had all the transactions presented
to his view in prophetic vision, but
what he describes was actually done,
not in his own personal history, or in
any outward occurrences between him
and the Jews of bis time, but in tbe
personal bistory and office ofthe Messiah
whom be personated. He did not really
feed or teach those who were to be slain,
but the Messiah and his apostles did ;
and had the Jews believed their message,
the awful calamity would have been
averted. The hypothesis of a prophetic
vision was first advanced by Maimonides,
and is ably supported by Hengstenberg,
in his Christology, and by Dr. McCaul,
in his translation of Kirachi on our
prophet. That by the buyers and sellers
of the Jewish people, we are not to
understand the Romans, but their owu
unprincipled teachers and rulers, the
facts of the case show. The correspond
ing terra Dn'»3, their shepherds,is raerely
expletive of what the same persons were
officially. The avarice of the Pharisees
was excessive, yet they had the bare
faced hypocrisy to thank God for tbeir
ill-gotten wealth, and because tbey were
not punished, they imagined they raight
persevere with irapunity. The con
struction of the plural nouns l^'ij?,
irTTpa, and OTfSb, with the singulars ton"'
and brarv, cannot, with any propriety,
be accounted for on the principle
advanced by Hengstenberg, that Jeho
vah himself was the principal actor, and
that the wicked rulers were merely his
instruments. It is only a more emphatic
mode of construction, by wbich each of
the individuals specified in the plural is
represented as performing the action,
see Gen. xxvii. 29 ; Exod, xxxi. 14 ;
Prov. iii. 18. The raasculine affix on
refers to the people, strictly so taken ;
the feminine jn, to them considered
under the idea of the sheep that were to
be fed, ji^S being of the coramon gender.

CHAP. XI, J

ZECHARIAH.

421

6 For I will no more spare the inhabitants of the land, saith Jehovah,
But behold! I will deliver the men,
Each into the hand ofhis neighbour, and into the hand of his king ;
And they shall destroy the land,
And I will not deliver them out of their hand.
7 And I fed the sheep of slaughter, truly miserable sheep ! And
I took to myself two crooks ; the one I called Grace, and the

There is, therefore, no ground for cor
recting the text by changing dtot into
iTPST, the reading of fifteen MSS, and
some printed editions,
6. The particle '?, for, connects what
follows with the coramand, ver, 4, The
Jews were no longer to have Divine
pity extended to thera, but were to be
abandoned to all the evils of civil discord,
and to the oppressions of a foreign rule.
That the king here referred to was the
Roman emperor, is obvious frora the
acknowledgment of the Jews them
selves : " We have no king but Csesar,"
John xix, 15, The verb nn?, to beat,
or dash 'vn pieces, is most appropriately
chosen to express the destructive measures
adopted by the Romans, by which the
Jewish polity was broken up. The
nominative is the troops of the foreign
ruler that had just been spoken of,
7, The prophet declares, in the name
of the Messiah, tbat he executed tbe
task committed to him. This was
fulfilled during the personal ministry
of our Lord, ]N2tn '.^» pb have been
variously rendered. LXX, els rrjv
* ... p p 7
Xavaavtnv Syr, '^A^ | /\ i " /> p
pap.,. ^
1^) L^ia, the little ones en account of
the collection of ihe sheep. Vulg. propter
hoc, opaupere egregis. Leo Juda, adeoque
pauperes gregis. 'Tremellius and Junius,
J»(W inquam, 6 pauperes gregis. Schmid,
J.H. Michaehs, Newcome, Hitzig, and
others, propter vos, e miseri gregis.
Maurer, pavi igitur miserrimas ovium.
Arnheim, furliialSr Hie elcnbcfitcn Bev
iceriie. Ewald, totrltlicS ate ungliiclt-
ItcjBten Srjafe, The only real difliculty
lies in the word pb. The LXX, have
read it, and tbe following word, as one,
thus, ''3»33b, and made Canaanite of it.
This rendering is adopted by Blayney,
only he attaches to the term the idea

of merchant, which it sometiraes has
(among these who trafficked with the
fleck), and explains it of the buyers and
sellers of the flock, described ver, 5,
The interpretation is so far specious,
and is approved by Jahn, but cannot be
philologically sustained. Some take pb
for the infinitive in Hiphal of ps, which
furnishes no tolerable sense ; others, for
the dative of the second personal femi
nine pronoun, supposing the Segol to
have been changed into a Tzere, but
this is liable to the sarae objection. Most
regard it as the particle pb, and construe
it either with its causal, or its adversa
tive signification; but neither do any of
the interpretations thus brought out
satisfactorily raeet the exigencies of the
case, I cannot help thinking that the
b is here redundant, as it is in many
instances, and that we must construe p,
as in ver, 11, where itoccurs without the
b. The term is properly a participial noun,
derived from ;i3, in the sense of the
Arab, X, esse, and implies reality,
certainty, or the like, but admits of being
variously rendered, according to the
context in which it is found. See Lee's
Heb. Lex. in voc. And thus it is under
stood by Kimchi, Jarchi, Castalio, De
Dieu, Drusius, Storr, Dathe, Arnheim,
De Wette, and Ewald, Even were the
b retained, tbe same result would be
brought out, the rendering in this case
being, with respect te truth, i.e truly ;
just as in nsib, with respect to perpetuity,
i. e. for ever. The words ]^2T^ ;?35 are
the superlative of construction, as in
D'iJ W, the most wicked of nations, Ezek.
vii, 24 ; I'tfra TlT3p, tlie choicest of his
cypresses, Jer. xxxvii, 7 ; or, what is
quite parallel with the present case,
]N2n 'T?»2, rendered in our comraon
version, ihe least of the fleck. The
article is as usual to be referred to the

422

ZECHARIAH,

[chap, XI.

10

other I called Bands, and I fed the sheep. And I cut off
the three shepherds within one month ; and my soul loathed
them, and their soul also rejected me. So that I said :
I will not feed you ;
That which is dying, let it die ;
And that which is being cut off, let it be cut off;
And as for the rest, let them eat each the fiesh of another.
I then took my crook Grace, and cut it asunder in order to break

former ofthe two nouns, and both might
be rendered, the most miserable of sheep,
or ihe most miserable sheep. Such was
the state to which the Jewish people
were reduced in the days of our Lord.
They were eaKvXpevoi Kal epptpevot,
aael npofdara prj 'exovra notpeva. Matt.
ix. 36. They were worried and harassed
in every possible way, npd^ara dnoXa-
Xdra, Matt. X. 6. The two staves were
symbolical of the different modes of
treatment which tbe Hebrews had expe
rienced under tbe guidance and pro
tection of the providence of God. One
of thera was called Di'3, Grace, or Favour,
to indicate the kindness of Jehovah to
them in restraining the surrounding-
nations frora overpowering thera, and
carrying them again into captivity. See
ver, 10. To the other was given the
narae of D'b3n, which Drusius, Marckius,
the Dutch translators, and others, render
Binders, but better, Bands, expressing
the ties whicb unite parties together.
The LXX., Aq., Syram., axoiviapa ;
"Vcdg.furiiculi ; Maurer, conjuncti, fcede-
rati. Reference is bad to the fra
ternal confederacy into which tbe Jews
and Israelites bad entered with each
other after the return from Babylon.
See ver, 14. The last clause of the
verse is a repetition of the first, for the
sake of emphasis.
8. Who " tbe three shepherds " here
definitely pointed out were, cannot be
deterrained with certainty. All kinds
of interpretations have been given, frora
Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, suggested
to Jerome, by his Hebrew Rabbi, to
the Roman emperors Galbus, Otho, and
Vitellius, in Calraet. Tlie only con
struction wbich is at all entitled to any
notice, is that which regards the language
as descriptive ofthe three orders of rulers
in the Jewish state — the priests, the

teachers ofthe law, and the civil magis
trates. These were the persons of
influence by whom the affairs of the
nation were conducted, and to whose
wickedness, which reached its culrai
nating point when they crucified the
Lord of Glory, the destruction of tbe
state is to be ascribed. TnN nT^, one
month, doubtless refers to the last period
of the siege of Jerusalera, when every
thing was thrown into confusion, and
all authority came to an end. "V^t^io
hide, conceal ; in Hiphil, as here, d<l>a-
vi^eiv, to cause to disappear, to cause to
cease with respect to office, to remove
from it. The last two lines of tbe verse
point out the mutual dissatisfaction and
disgust with whicb the wicked rulers
and the Messiah regarded each other.
bns, occurs only here, and Prov. xx. 21,
Comp. the cognate root b»3, to reject,
and the Arab. A^,, impulsus validus,
propulsio vehemens ; (Vp, maledixit. III,
execratus fuit.
9. Tbe entire abandonment of tbe
Hebrew people is here raost affectingly
set forth. For the threefold destruction
here predicted, corap. Jer. xv. 1, 2,
xxxiv. 17; Ezek. vi. 12. And for the
fulfilraent, see Josephus.
10. By this syrabolical action, tbe
reraoval of the restraint which Jehovah
had exercised over the nations, whereby
the destruction of the Jewish people
had been prevented, is strikingly repre
sented. The exercise of restraint with
respect to hostile forces is elsewhere
spoken of under the idea of a covenant.
See Job v. 23 ; Ezek. xxxiv. 25 ; Hos.
ii. 18. When this restraint was removed,
the Romans invaded Judea, and de
stroyed tbe city and polity of the ancient
people of God. That liy D'ps, peeple.

CHAP. XI.]

ZECHARIAH.

423

11 my covenant which I had made with all the nations. And it was
broken in that day, and the miserable sheep that gave heed to me,
12 knew of a truth that it was the word of Jehovah. And I said to
them, If it be good in your eyes, give my reward ; and if not,
13 forbear. So they weighed my reward, thirty pieces of silver. And
Jehovah said to me, Cast it to the potter, the splendid price at

or nations, we are to understand foreign
nations, and not tbe Hebrew tribes, is
now agreed among the best interpreters.
11. The anticipated accoraplisbraent
of the prediction, and the conviction
wrought in the minds of the pious por
tion of the Jewish people, that the
prediction was indeed divine. For the
force of p. see on ver. 7. The LXX,
again join the two words, and render,
01 S.avaavalot.12, 13. On the question of the appli
cation of these verses to the circum
stances narrated Matt, xxvii. 7 — 10,
a very decided difference of opinion
has obtained. This difference has been
occasioned, partly by tbe fact of cer
tain discrepancies existing between the
accounts which they furnish of the
transactions, and partly by tbe raore
important consideration that the Evan
gelist expressly ascribes the words which
he quotes to Jeremiah, and not to Zecha
riah. With respect to the forraer of
these points, it may, to a considerable
extent, be obviated by the general obser
vation, that the discrepancies are not
greater than we raeet with in several
other quotations made frora the Old
Testament by the writers of the New,
and are by no means such as to affect
the end whicb either the prophet or the
Evangelist had in view. In producing
the citation, the latter had his eye more
intent upon the historical circumstances
which he had just detailed, than upon
the strict grammatical construction and
verbality of the language employed in
the prophecy. He fixes upon the prin
cipal points, the despicable price at which
the Messiah had been sold, and the
appropriation of the money as a com
pensation to tbe potter for the possession
of his field ; and having faithfully ex
hibited these to the view of his readers,
he is less sohcitous about tbe wording of
the prophet. The very changes which
he introduces into the phraseology are

such as his position in the character of
an historian required. Thus, instead of
Dn'.bsp 'iT'ipMtf^, at which I was estimated
by Ihem, Matthew has ov inprjaavro dnd
vldv 'laparjX, at ivhich he was estimated
by ihe sons of Israel. Instead of irnpNi
Upsn D'liJbiiS, And I took the thirty pieces
of silver, we flnd, Kal eXafiov rd rpid-
KovTa dpyvpta, and ihey took the thirty
pieces of silver. Instead of inN iJ'bipNi,
and I threw it, the Gospel has, koI
ehaKav avrd, and ihey gave ihem. The
freedom with which the Evangelist ren
ders l|b^ by hthapt is the more noticeable,
since he employs the participle piyjras in
reference to the sarae subject in the fifth
verse, wbere, atthe sarae time, he renders
TTf^. n'3 by ev Ta vad. The conjecture of
sorae that T^i', potter, is a corruption of
TSiN, treasurer, is worse than gratuitous,
as the latter word nowhere occurs in
Plebrew in reference to such an office,
and as the potter was the raost suitable
person to whora to cast the despicable
sum, occupying as he did a workshop in
the valley of Ilinnom, Jer, xvui. 1, 3,
xix. 2, which was held in abomination
by the Jews. That the Evangelist should
have ascribed the prediction to Jereraiah
bas proved a source of great perplexity
to critics. No person who has read the
passage in Zechariah can peruse that in
Matthevv without at once being reminded
of it. And so exactly do they tally in
every important point, that no doubt of
their relationship can for a moraent be
entertained. On tlie other hand, no
such passage is to be found in any part
of the prophecies of Jereraiah. The
solution of tbe difficulty proposed by
Hengstenberg, tbat it was the object of
our prophet to bring forward to view the
predictions contained in Jer. xviii. xix.,
in order to point out the destruction of
Jerusalem by the Roraans, and tbat on
tbis ground the Evangelist raight, with
all propriety, ascribe the authorship to
Jeremiah, is very unsatisfactory ; and

424

ZECHARIAH.

[chap. XI.

which I was estimated by them I And I took the thirty pieces of
silver, and cast them into the house of Jehovah, to the potter.
14 Then I cut asunder my second crook Bands, in order to break
the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

we are shut up to one or other of the
following conclusions : First, that the
one narae was substituted for the otber
by a lapsus memories. Secondly, tbat
the portion of the book of Zechariah,
in which the words are found, though
now bearing his name, was actually
written by Jeremiah, and by sorae raeans
or other, to us unknown, has been ap
pended to tbe real prophecies of Zecha
riah. Thirdly, that the citation is raade
from an apocryphal book of the prophet
Jeremiah. Or lastly, tbat tbere is a
corruption of the name in the Greek
text of Matthew. The first of these
positions will not be adraitted by any
wbo believe in the plenary inspiration
of the Apostles ; a doctrine fully esta
blished on Scripture authority, and wbich,
if denied, would corapletely annihilate
our confidence in their testiraony. If
their raeraory raight fail, or they raight
be mistaken in one instance, sucli might
be the case in hundreds. For a refu
tation of the second hypothesis, see the
Preface, in wbich it is shown that there
is no solid foundation for the opinion,
that the last six chapters of Zechariah
were not written by that prophet. With
respect to tbe third supposition, it cannot
be denied that tbere was an apocryphal
book of Jeremiah, containing an analo
gous passage, Jerome found it araong
the Nazarenes, and a portion of it still
exists in a Sahidic Lectionary, in the Co
dex Huntingtonianus 5, in the Bodleian
Library, Oxford, and in the Coptic
language in the MS. 51 fol. in the
library of St. Gerraain in Paris. The
vvords are as follows : " Jereraiah spake
again to Pashur, Ye and j-oiir fathers
have resisted the truth, and your sons,
which shall corae after you, will coramit
more grievous sins than ye. For they
will give the price of him that is valugd,
and do injury to him that maketh the
sick whole, and forgiveth iniquity. And
they will take thirty pieces of silver, the
price which the children of Israel have
given. Tbey have given them for the
potter's field, as tbe Lord coraraanded.

And thus it shall bespoken : The sentence
of eternal punishraent shall fall upon
thera, and upon their children, because
they bave shed innocent blood," But
who does not perceive in this fragraent
the clurasy atterapt of one of the early
Christians to support the cause of truth
by what was deemed a harmless fraud ?
Jerome at once rejected it as spurious,
and expresses his belief tbat Matthew
made his citation from Zechariah, It
only remains that we assume a corrup
tion in the Greek text of the Evangelist,
That a variety of reading exists has long
been raatter of notoriety, Augustine
mentions, that in bis time sorae MSS,
oraitted the name of 'lepeptov. It is
also oraitted in the MS. 33, 157; in the
Syriac, which is the raost ancient of all
the versions ; in the Polyglott Persic,
and in a Persic MS, in my possession,
bearing date a.d, 1057 ; in the modern
Greek ; in tbe Verona and Vercelli Latin
MSS., and in a Latin MS. of Luc. Brug.
The Greek MS. 22, reads Zaxaplov, as
also do the Philoxenian Syriac in the
margin, and an Arabic MS. quoted by
Bengel. Origen and Eusebius were in
favour of tbis reading, I think it very
probable tbat Matthew did not insert
either name, but siraply wrote in bis
Hebrew Gospel, N'33n 3'3, by the prophet,
just as in chap, i, 22, ii, 5, 15, xiii, 35,
xxi, 4, xxvii, 35 ; and that his Greek
translator, mistaking T in T3 for t, read
T'3, which he considered to be a con
traction for in'nT'3, and so rendered it
htd'lepepiov TovnpotprJTov. This reading
having tbus found its way into the first
Greek MS,, will account for its all but
universal propagation. Another con
jecture supposes 'Ipiov to bave been
written by sorae early copyist instead
of Zptov. I only add, that there can be
no doubt the passage in question existed
in the book of Zechariah in the Jewish
canon in the days of the Evangelist,
since it is found to occupy tbat place in
the text of the LXX, wbich was forraed
three hundred years previously,
14. For the meaning of D'b3fi Bands,

chap, xi.j

ZECHARIAH.

425

15 And Jehovah said to me, Take to thee yet the instruments of a
foolish shepherd ;
16 For, behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land ;
Those which are perishing he will not visit,
That which strayeth he will not seek,
That which is wounded he will not heal,
That which standeth he will not nourish ;
But he will eat the flesh of the fat,
And will break off their hoofs.

see on ver. 7. The circumstances here
predicted were those ofthe utter breaking
up ofthe social condition ofthe Hebrews.
This dissolution was in no sraall degree
broughtahout by tbe internal dissensions
which prevailed among themselves, the
rage ofthe different parties against each
other, and the barbarities that they
practised, which none could have in
dulged in but such as had their hearts
steeled against every feeling of brother
hood or humanity. "Yet by these raen,"
says Josephus, "tbe ancient prediction
seemed rapidly drawing to its fulfilment :
That when civil war should break out in
the city, and the temple be profaned by
the hands of native Jews, tbe city should
betaken, and the teraple burned with fiie."
15. Tis, again, refers back to what is
recorded ver. 7, The D'bs, here as a
collective in the singular 'is, were the
articles usually belonging to shepherds,
m. a crook, a bag or wallet containing
food, a pipe or reed, a knife, &c. Instead
of % one of De Rossi's MSS., the
Halle Bible of 1720, the Vatican copy
of the LXX., the Syr., Vulg., and
Arab., read 'bs, the punctuation of the
plural, 'biN, foolish, by imphcation wicked,
as wickedness is often represented in
Scripture as folly.
16. D'5p is employed here, like sirailar
verbs in Hiphil, to denote not any direct
moral excitement to action, but the
operation of concurring circurastances,
under the Divine government, in con
sequence of which certain events are
brought about by responsible human
agency, niirojn, those that are perishing,
the Niphal participle of tto, which in
Hiphil and Niphal signifies io cut eff or
ie destroyed. T?3 is not to be taken in
the sense of young, as it is interpreted

by Kimchi and Hitzig, since it is never
so used, except with reference to human
beings, but signifies expulsion, that which
has been cast out, by implication, strayed,
wandered. Comp. the Arabic ,Uj,
repulsus, in fugam versus, njsan, that
which standeth still. 3S3 properly sig
nifies io set or place, in Niphal, to stand,
stand flrm, be strong, firm, sound; and
thus the LXX. here dXoKXi/poi', but this
interpretation is quite at variance with
the exigency of the place, which requires
the idea of weakness rather than strength
to be expressed. And this the verb
naturally suggests, reference heing had
to tbe standing, or standing still of sheep
that are obliged, through weakness or
faintness, to lag hehind. Comp. the
Arabic t_,^,.flj, posuit, flxil, and then
dolore affecit, lassus fuit,laberav'ii. Such
it devolves upon the shepherd to provide
with necessary nourishraent, or, as it is
here expressed, btps, fo sustain, furnish
with provisions. Root ,bi3, to measure
grain. Tbe words pTff ^n'DTB are ex
pressive of tbe greatest cruelty, being
descriptive of an act which must not
only occasion the most acute pain, but
disable the animals, and prevent their
going about in quest of pasture. Who
the ruler here depicted is, cannot with
certainty be determined. If taken as
pointing to an individual king, there is
none to whora it will more aptly apply
than to Herod, who was totally regard
less of the real interests of the Jews,
and whose reign was marked hy the
perpetration of the most shameful and
barbarous cruelties. What goes to con
firra this view is the circurastance ofhis
being said to be raised up " in the land,"
3 I

426 ZECHARIAH. [chap. xi.
17 Woe to the worthless shepherd, that leaveth the flock,
The sword shall be upon his arm,
And upon his right eye ;
His arm shall be utterly palsied,
And his right eye utterly darkened.

17. This denunciation seeras to be bb^-Tr^sb, the worthless or good-for-nothing
directed against tbe wicked rulers of shepherd. Corap. Job xiii. 4. Tbe root
the Jews wbo raight be in office between raust unquestionably have been bbN.
tbe tirae ofthe prophet, and that of the Comp. b'bj frombbs; 3'3D frora 33D. The
dissolution of the Jewish state, rather character described is that of negligence,
than against the person referred to in arising frora tbe total absence of a sense of
tbe preceding verse. The ' in '?t is not official clairas, and of personal responsi-
the pronominal affix, but the poetic bility. The rest of the verse from 3'in on-
paragogic, as in tbe following '3i!>, and ward, is to be taken optatively. Tbe
other participles. See Gen. xlix. 11; doora imprecated is truly awful — an utter
Deut. xxxiii. 16; Ps. ciiv. 8, cxxhi. 1. deprivation of power and intelligence.

CHAPTER XII.
This chapter contains a series of predictions, which relate to the future restoration
of the scattered people of the Jews, the destruction of whose national polity, and
their consequent wretchedness, had been so graphically set fortii in that which
precedes it. On their return to their own land, Jerusalem shall prove formidable
to the nations that oppose tbem, 2 — 4, having a regular ggvernraent, by which,
in reliance upon Jehovah, the inhabitants sball be protected, 5, 6, To prevent
the inhabitants of the raetropolis from glorying over their brethren in tbe
country, the latter shall be first delivered frora their invaders, 7 ; but Jerusalera
being the principal point of attack, special promises of deliverance are made to
it, 8, 9. When the Jews sball have been collected, and delivered frora the
opposing powers, tbere will be a reraarkable effusion of the infiuences of the
Holy Spirit, in consequence of whicb a season of great and universal mourning,
on account of the crucifixion of the Messiah, will be observed, each family
bewailing separately tbe guilt entailed upon it by the nefarious deed, 10—14.
As might be expected to be tbe case with unfulfilled prophecy, a considerable
degree of obscurity necessarily attaches to certain portions of this and the two
following chapters ; but the leading features of tbe Divine dealings with the
Jews in times yet future, are marked with a sufficient degree of distinctness to
enable us to form a general idea of the circumstances in which they will be
placed.

CHAP. XII.J

ZECHARIAH.

427

The Sentence of the word of Jehovah concerning Israel ;
Saith Jehovah, who stretcheth forth the heavens,
Who layeth the foundations of the earth,
And formeth the spirit of man within him :
Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of intoxication
To all the people around ;
And also with Judah it shall be thus,
In the siege of Jerusalem.
And it shall be in that day, I will make Jerusalem
A burdensome stone to all people.
All that lift it shall be cut in pieces :
Yet all the nations of the earth shall be gathered against it.

1. That Ntep does not necessarily
involve a sentence of judgment, see on
Is.' xiii. 1 ; and for the entire phrase,
riirr 333 Ntep, see on chap, ix, 1, That
it cannot be so taken here is manifest
from the connexion, Hengstenberg, in
order to establish the contrary hypothesis,
is obliged to have recourse to the despe
rate resort of interpreting Israel of the
enemies of God ! The terra is obviously
employed in its original acceptation, as
designating the whole Hebrew people.
With no other reference could it have
been introduced. To remove all the
doubts which unbelief raight suggest
respecting tbe possibility of tbe deliver
ance here predicted, a sublime descrip
tion is given of the omnipotent Creator
by whom it would be effected, than
which no introduction could have been
more appropriate. For dtnti13 T2', cora
pare Har^p rdv nvevpdrav, Heb. xii. 9,
and Numb. xvi. 22, xxvii. 16 ; and for
the several predicates, Is. xiii. 5.
2. ^?3 f]P, some render a shaking
threshold, in imitation of the LXX. ds
"poBvpa aaXevdpeva, and interpret the
declaration here made ofthe concussion
which Jerusalera should receive frora
the attack of the enemy ; but it is raore
natural to regard the phrase as only
another form for nbsrnn Dis, Is. li. 17, 22,
by which is meant a cup filled with
intoxicating liquors, causing tbose wbo
dtink it to reel and stagger to their
injury. Root bS'i, io shake, reel, stagger.
The attempt of Hengstenberg to deny
that Fip ia ever used to denote a cup, is

a coraplete failure, as raust be obvious
to any one wbo will take the trouble to
consult the Concordance, The secoud
part of tbe verse has occasioned no
sraall perplexity to interpreters. The
chief difficulty is created by the position
of the preposition b» in the phrase Dll
n3in'-b». The Targ., Jerorae, Kirachi,
Drusius, Rosenraiiller, Hitzig, Maurer,
and Ewald, suppose the raeaning to be,
that the inhabitants of Judah would be
corapelled to join the eneraies in the
attack upon Jerusalem, and with them
share in the punishment: making bBT-r]p
the norainative to n;n'. But this inter
pretation ill suits the context, in the
whole of which Judah is represented as
triumphant, and not as placed in the
degrading position of auxiliaries in a
war against its own capital. I con
sider the preposition to be here used for
the purpose of conveying the idea of
addition or accompaniment, so that,
connecting Judah with Jerusalem, it
represents the former, as well as the
latter, as a cup of intoxication to the
invaders. See for this use of bs.
Gen. xxxii. 12 ; Exod. xxxv. 22 ; Job
xxxvin. 32. In support of this inter
pretation, see especially ver. 6. The
same result will be brought out, if we
take bs in the acceptation in reference
io, with respect to ; thus : " And with
respect to Judah it shall also be in tbe
siege ; " i. e. Judah shall also be a
cup, &c,
3. Another metaphor employed like
the preceding to represent the victory

428

ZECHARIAH.

[chap. xii.

In that day, saith Jehovah,
I will smite every horse with consternation,
And his rider with madness ;
But upon the house of Judah I will keep my eyes open,
While I will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
And the chiefs of Judah shall say in their heart.
My strength is the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
Through Jehovah of hosts, their God.
In that day I will make the chiefs of Judah
Like a fire pot among sticks of wood,
And like a torch of fire in a sheaf,
And they shall consume all the people around,
On the right hand and on the left ;
For Jerusalem shall yet occupy her place in Jerusalem.
And Jehovah shall deliver the tents of Judah first.
In order that the splendour of the house of David,
And the splendour of the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
May not be magnified above Judah,

which the Jews shall obtain over their
eneraies, whose attack will only issue in
their own injury. Jerome mentions it
as a custom, which still obtained in his
time, in Palestine, for young raen to try
tbeir strength by lifting enormous stones
so high from tbe ground, as to place
thera upon their heads. It raay be
frora such an exercise that the metaphor
is borrowed. lOTiu describes the cuts or
gashes raade by the sharp edges or
corners of the stones tbus eraployed,
Tbough exposed to the punishraent here
predicated, the nations shall confidently
advance to the attack. The confederacy
against the Jews will be universal in its
character. 4, While Jehovah will specially in
terpose for the discorafiture of tbe
eneray by rendering tbeir cavalry in
capable of perforraing any effective
service, be will exercise the greatest
watchfulness over his people.
5. nsoN is a substantive, but occurs
only tins once. The LXX. have read
NSnN, and render evprjaopev. The
successful resistance offered to the
enemy by the inhabitants of tbe metro
polis, will inspire those of the country

with the assurance, that, through the
Divine aid, they shall obtain deliverance.
'b, which is the Dative of advantage,
stands collectively for lib. Two MSS.
and the Targ. read '3iE'b, but no doubt
frora correction. In two other MSS.
'b is oraitted.
6. Jerusalem, in the first instance,
stands for the inhabitants. After the
Jews shall have corapletely routed their
enemies, they shall dwell in peace in
their own land, and in the city of their
ancient solemnities. Houbigant proposes
to change Dbon), as occurring the second
tirae, into Dibifia, but, like most of his
other conjectures, the change is not
based upon any authority. One MS.,
tbe Arab, and the Greek MS. Pachom,
omit the word altogether.
7. The inhabitants of the country
being more exposed to the evils of the
war than tbose in the fortified city, shall
be the first to experience the Divine
help. Standing in antithesis with the
capital, their comparative helplessness
is clearly iraplied ; and the reason for
the preference being given to them is
assigned to be the prevention of that
spirit of pride and self-exaltation, in

CHAP

xn,J

ZECHARIAH,

429

8 In that day Jehovah shall protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem ;
So that he that stumbleth among them in that day shall be as David,
And the house of David shall be as God,
As the Angel of Jehovah before them.
9 And it shall be in that day,
I will seek to destroy all the nations
That come against Jerusalem.
10 And I will pour out upon the house of David,
And upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
A spirit of grace and of gracious supplications,
And they shall look unto me whom they have pierced.
And they shall lament for him,

which the inhabitants of a royal metro
pohs are too prone to indulge. The
reading nwN33, " as at the first," which
is found in two MSS., and is the
oviginal reading of three more, and is
favoured by the LXX., Arab., Syr., and
¦Vulg., is not entitled to consideration.
8. A gracious promise of Divine
assistance, supported, with admirable
effect, by a beautiful climax. From
the circumstance, tbat the LXX, have
in several instances rendered D'rib^, by
angels, some interpreters have supposed
that the term is to be so understood
here. The more enlightened moderns,
however, discard this signification alto
gether. See Gesenius, Thesaurus Ling.
Heb. p. 95, and Lee's Heb. Lex. p. 32.
What clearly shows that no such idea
can attach to tbe word in this place is
the corrective phrase, nin; ljNbn3, as the
Angel of Jehovah, immediately following.
The house of David was to be as God, yet
not as God in the abstract, of wbich no
proper conception can be formed, but as
God manifested to raen in his glorious
forthcomings under the ancient dispensa
tion, in the Divine Person of the Son,
who went before the children of Israel
as their Almighty Leader and Protector,
and to whom are vindicated the sum
total of the Divine attributes. See Exod.
xxxii. 34 ; where the words I'ipb TifSNbo
form the type of Dn'3.Bb nirr :^Nbp, here
adopted by Zechariah, Compare also
Exod. xxxui. 15, xxiii. 21 ; Is. Ixiii. 9 ; Mal.
iii. 1 ; and my Comment, on Zech. i. 11.
9. rq-pfj lBi5.3M, I will seek to destroy,
is spoken more humano, but conveys no

idea of weakness in the speaker, " Summo
studio ero attentus," Calvin,
10. We have here a clear and definite
prophecy of the future conversion of the
Jews, in consequence of a special and
extraordinary outpouring of the influ
ences of the Holy Spirit. Nothing that
has hitherto taken place in the history
of that people can be regarded as in any
degree answering to the description here
furnished, not even the numerous con
versions that accompanied the Apostolic
preaching on the day of Pentecost, and
subsequently as narrated in the Acts,
By niT, spirit, is not meant a gracious
and prayerful disposition produced in
the minds of the Jews, but the Divine
influence itself by which that disposition
will be created. It is called " spirit"
by metonomy of cause for effect, p and
D'3i3nn are from the same root, ]3n, to
regard with favour, exercise mercy, Szc.
Tlie verb 1333, here used in Hiphil, is
intensive in signification : to look to,
or regard with fixed attention, to con
template with deep interest, and with
believing expectation. Such is tbe nature
of that act of the mind which is exerted
by every converted sinner, when tbe
Saviour is spiritually discerned. In the
case of the Jews there will be a special
recognition of hira as the Messiah whom
tbeir ancestors crucified, and whose deed
they have appropriated by their personal
unbelief and opposition to the truth of
the Gospel, but whom they will then
regard as all their salvation and all their
desire. The textual reading 'bN, in the
phrase 'bNis'sn, "they shall look to Me,"

430

ZECHARIAH,

[chap, Xll.

As one lamenteth for an only son,
And be in bitterness for him,
As one is in bitterness for a first-born.

has been thesubject of much controversy.
It is found ill most MSS., and among
tbese the best, and is supported by the
LXX., Aq., Symm., Theod., Syr., Targ.,
Vulg., and Arab. It is the more difficult
reading, and one wbich has always proved
revolting to the mind ofa Jew, as there
is no otber antecedent to whora it can
be referred than nin|, Jehovah, verses
1 and 4, In order to avoid this reference,
Kimcbi gives to the following words,
iTiJT TU'N nN, the interpretation, because
ihey pierced, leaving it undetermined
who was pierced. But this construction
is altogether inadmissible, as it deprives
tbe verb of its accusative case, wbich is
expressed in every other instance in
whicii it occurs. It has accordingly
been condemned by Abenezra, Abar
banel, Alschech, and olher Rabbins.
Tbe rendering given to TgT by the LXX,
Karapx-rjaavTo, ihey insulted, bas been
eagerly seized upon by some, especially
by Tlieiner, Rosenmiiller, Eichhorn,
Gesenius, De Wette, Winer, and by
none raore than Maurer, who is at great
pains to prove that, like 3ii3 and 335, the
verb 3J7T is to be taken in the metapho
rical sense of blaspheming or cursing.
Against such interpretation it is justly
objected that this verb, which occurs in
ten other passages, is never used except
in the literal acceptation of piercing the
body. It is thus used in chap. xiii. 3,
of this very book. The sarae objection
lies against the metaphorical sense of
grieving or provoking, which even Calvin
adopted, though he admits that the pro
phecy was literally fulfilled in Christ.
That the passage has a Messianic re
ference has been adraitted both by the
ancient and the more modern Jews. In
the Geraara of Jerusalera, written some
tirae in the third century, we read :
n3Tim n'lCD biD iT'Bcn ni tcn Tn piON pn
I3n TS' bii) iT'Con m ton. Two opinions
are expressed: one states thai they mourned
on account of Messiah, and another thai
they mourned on account of corrupt
nature. A sirailar passage occurs in the
Geraara of Babylon, Tract Succoth, fol.
52, col. 1, in which tbe words of Zecha

riah are cited, after the declaration re
specting the mourning: bB 3t3NT )N(3b NDb»3
3Tn3iB P]Di' p n'lDD. May he be in peace
who refers it to Messiah the son of Joseph,
who shall be slain. See also the com
mentaries of Abarbanel and Abenezra,
wbo give the sarae interpretation, as
also does the Talkut Chasdash, fol. 24 :
's '3nN fiDV »3 n'lcn Ninic niv yv-a 'TnN '3
TIT p n'lL'D 13"m TIT N3'. For after they
have pierced Jonah, who is Messiah the
son of Joseph, then David will come,
Messiah the son of David. Hengsten-
berg's Christol. vol. iii. p. 222. The
fiction of two Messiahs, one the son of
Joseph, wbo should suffer and die, and
another the son of David, who should
prove victorious and reign for ever, was
invented purely with a view to reconcile
those passages which describe the Mes
siah now as suffering, and now as reign
ing in glory, and thus to evade the
Christiaii application of thera to our
Saviour. It only remains to inquire how the
Jews, who did not acquiesce in the
interpretation adopted by Kirachi, have
endeavoured to get rid of the pronorainal
reference in 'b!<. To this the reply is :
By changing the reading into I'bN, which,
however, they did not at first venture to
insert into the text, but merely gave it
as the Keri, or corrected reading in the
raargin. This Keri, however, is only
fouud in sixteen of Kennicott's and De
Rossi's MSS. ; but at length a raore
daring step was taken by receiving it
into the text itself, in which it is found
in thirty-four of Kennicott's MSS.,
originally in three more, perhaps in
five others, and now by correction in
six ; in six of De Rossi's own, in two
raore originaUy, now in five others,
and in twenty collated by him in other
libraries. Of tbis insertion a serious
coraplaint is made by Raymundus Mar
tini, in his Pugio Fidei, p. 411, Leipsic,
1687, fol. And so ashamed have Lip-
mann, Abarbanel, and other Rabbins
been of it, that they pass it entirely by
in their controversies with the Christians,
or candidly acknowledge that it is not

CHAP

. XII.]

ZECHARIAH.

431

11 In that day there shall be great lamentation in Jerusalem,
As the lamentation of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
12 And the land shall lament, every family apart ;
The family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart ;
The family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart ;
13 The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart ;
The family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart ;
14 All the families that are left,
Every family apart, and their wives apart.

to be regarded as forraing any part of
the sacred text. It is ranch to be re
gretted, that while it has been rejected
liy the liest Jewish and Christian critics,
the most free-thinking of the Gerraan
school not excepted, it should have been
adopted by Newcorae and Boothroyd,
who accordingly translate : " They shall
look unto Him whom they have pierced."
It is true, they may seem to bave the
sanction of the Evangelist John, who
quotes the passage thus : "0-\jrovrai els
ov i^eKevrriaav, xix. 37, and employs
the words, Kal olrives airdv i^eKevrrjaav,
Rev. i. 7; but it must be obvious that
he gives the prophecy historically, as
havingbeen literally fulfilled in Jesus of
Nazareth, without designing to exhibit
the exact wording of the prophet. See
on Zech. xi. 12, 13, It raight be sup
posed that 'bN being the true reading,
'^, andnotvbB, would be required in the
following sentence ; but the use of the
expletive phrase 3tiN nN, necessarily led
to the change of construction, Tpn is
the infinitive of Hiphil, which carries
forward the description instead of the
finite form. It is here used intransitively;
the root is 33^. The verb tdd signifies
priraarily to beat; then, as a sign of in
tense grief, to smite or beat the breast.
There being usually great wailing and
lamentation connected with such signi
ficant action in the East, it is also used
to denote the noise raade by raourners.
The instances selected for illustration
are of the most tender and touching
kind. 11. To represent the greatness and
universality of tbe laraentation which
he describes, the prophet corapares it to
the greatest ever known araong the
Jews, vix. that which took place on the

death of the excellent king Josiah, the
result of the wound which he received
at Hadad-riraraon, 2 Kings xxiii, 29 ;
2 Chron. xxxv. 23 — 25. See also the
Lamentations of Jeremiah, composed on
the occasion. Hadad-rimmon was the
narae of a place in the great plain of
Esdraelon, near Megiddo, and was pro
bably so called after the Syrian idol of
that name. In the time of Jerome it
was called Maximianopolis.
12 — 14. In these verses the universal
character of the mourning is described,
while, at the same time, its particular
and individual features are likewise set
forth. To show that all will be the
subjects of it, the prophet begins with
the descendants of David, and then
proceeds to those of the priests, on
account of the influence which their
example would have on the rest of the
people. Instead of Shimei, the LXX.
have Svpedv, supposing that a tribal
division was intended ; and some have
thought that siBifl, Shammua, one of the
sons of David, 2 Sam. v. 15, is meant ;
but it is raore natural to regard the
individual as one of the sons of Levi,
who is classed along with that patriarch,
just as Nathan, one of the sons of David,
is with hira, ver. 12. For '?i3il), Shimei,
see Nurab. iii. 18, 21, in which latter
verse 'Boi25n nnBi?io, the family ef the
Shimeites, occurs just as in Zechariah,
It is iraplied in the last verse, that sorae
families shall have becorae extinct at the
period referred to. The raen and women
mourning apart has reference to the
Jewish custora, according to which not
only did the feraales dwell in separate
apartraents frora the raales, but also
worshipped separately.

432

ZECHARIAH.

[chap, xiii.

CHAPTER XIII.
This chapter contains a continuation of the prophecy respecting tbe future con
version of the Jews, ver. 1 ; predictions relating to tbe entire abolition of idolatry
and false doctrine, 2 — 6 ; a resumption of the subject of tbe Messiah's suffering.?,
7 ; and an account of tbe destruction of tbe greater part of tbe Jews during
the Roraan war, the preservation of the rest, and their ultiraate restoration, 8, 9.

In that day there shall be a fountain opened
To the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
For guilt and for uncleanness.
And it shall be in that day, saith Jehovah of hosts,
I will cut off the names of the idols from the earth :

1. This verse is intiraately connected
with the subject of tbe concluding verses
of the preceding chapter. It is designed
to relieve tbe anxious and troubled
minds of the penitents there described.
Tipo, a well, or fountain, from Tip, to dig ;
not, perhaps, without reference to chap.
xii. 10. nN'cn, guilt, from Nicn, to miss a
mark or way, to sin ; hence the sub
stantive comes to signify tbe guilt con
tracted by sinning, the punishment to
whicii it exposes the transgressor, and
a sin-offering, for the purpose of raaking
expiation. That it is here to be taken
in the sense of guilt, is shown by the
acoorapanying term nni, uncleanness,
or the impurity contracted by sin. That
moral, and not ceremonial guilt and
pollution are intended, the circumstances
of the case evince; and the Jews are
taught, that their deliverance from these
is not to be effected by the Levitical
sacrifices and purifications, but by the

cleansing influence flowing from the
death of tbe Messiah. See Heb. ix.
13, 14 ; 1 John i. 7. The verse exhibits
the two grand doctrines of the gospcl :
justification and sanctification. The
fountain here spoken of was opened when
the Redeemer presented his sacrifice on
the cross ; but tbe Jews, with com
paratively few exceptions, after the
apostolic age, bave shut it against them
selves by tbeir impenitence aud unbelief.
When, however, these shall be removed
by the outpouring of Divine influence,
promised, chap. xii. 10, they shall find
it nnBi, opened, full, and overflowing with
all spiritual blessings.
2. As no idolatry bas existed among
the Jews since their return frora Babylon,
and it is in tbe highest degree improbable
tbat they will ever fall into it again,
yiNn should not be rendered, as in our
common version, ihe land, but ihe earth;
so that this and the following verses

CHAP.

XIII.]

ZECHARIAH.

433

And they shall not be remembered any more.
And I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit
To pass away from the earth.
3 So that should any one still prophesy.
His father and his mother — his parents
Shall say to him, Thou shalt not live ;
For thou speakest falsehood in the name of Jehovah ;
And his father and his mother — his parents
Shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.
4 And it shall be in that day,
That the prophets shall be ashamed,
Every one of his vision, when he prophesieth ;
And they shall not wear a hairy garment to deceive,
5 But each shall say, I am not a prophet,
I am a tiller of the ground ;
For I have been in a state of slavery from my youth.
6 Then shall it be said to him,
What are these wounds in thy hands .''

describe the total extinction of that
horrible evil, and all tbe other systeras
of superstition and false religion which
now impose upon the human faraily,
together with those who teach and
defend them. By nNpEn rm, the spirit of
impurity, is meant a person pretending
to inspiration, and in league with Satan,
the god of this world, to whom, in con
tradistinction to iSTpn nn, the spirit of
holiness, the designation raay well be
applied. Compare 7ryeC/ia nvBavos,
Acts xvi. 16; to TryeC/io rfjs nXdvrjs,
1 John iv. 6 ; and especially, Kal eK roO
(TTopaTOs Toi ^evhonpoCJirJTOV nve-vpara
rpla aKaBapra, Rev. xvi. 13.
3. There is in this verse a recogni
tion ofthe law against those who seduced
others to idolatry, Deut, xiii. 6 — 11.
O'I?', parents. TV, signifies both to beget,
and to bear children. The evil here
denounced will not be connived at even
hy the nearest relatives. The tenderest
parental feelings shall give place to the
infliction of raerited punishraent,
4, 5. The sharae with which false
teachers shall be covered is here set
forth. The hairy raantle, the garb of
the ancient prophets, and that of certain

orders of raonks still, which is assumed
in order to inspire the multitude with
an impression of the superior sanctity
of those by whora they are worn, shall
be thrown aside, as dangerous to appear
in. The false prophets wished to pass
off as those who had really been invested
with a Divine coraraission. The form
of the infinitive in'N33i7, is according to
the analogy of verbs in "nb. To the
singular Tdni, at the beginning of ver. 5,
each ofthe prophets previously mentioned
is the norainative. 'iiprj, lit, one sold
me as a slave, but taken in connexion
with the following, '-^}svo,from my youth,
it signifies to be held in a state of slavery,
to be a slave. The speaker declares
that he had always been in a conditiou
of life with which the exercise of the
prophetic office was altogether incom
patible. DTN, which sorae translators
have preposterously retained as the
proper narae, Adam, is here used ira
personally, precisely as the Gerraan
man, and is best rendered into English
by the passive of the acoorapanying
verb. 6, This verse is coramonly applied to
the sufferings of Christ, but without any
3k

434

ZECHARIAH.

[chap. xiii.

And he will say,
Those with which I have been wounded in the house of my friends,
Awake, O sword ! against my shepherd,
And against the man who is united to me,
Saith Jehovah of hosts :
Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered,
But I will turn back my hand upon the little ones.

further ground than its mere proxiraity
to that which follows, in which he and
his sufferings are clearly predicted. In
no tolerable sense could the Jews be
called his D'3nN)p, lovers, or friends ; on
the contrary, they hated both hira and
his Father. The words connect with the
preceding thus: The false prophet,
though he might rid himself of his
idolatrous vestments, would not be able
to efface tbe marks tbat had been made
on his hands in honour of the idol which
he served, yet as it was customary to
cut and raaira tbe body, especially the
hand, in token of grief for departed
relatives, he might hope to escape
detection by attributing his scars to the
latter cause.
7. Various opinions have been forraed
respecting the person here referred
to. Calvin thought he was Zecha
riah hiraself, as representative of all
the prophets, and that the prophecy
referred only indirectly to Christ. Grotius,
Eichhorn, Bauer, and Jahn, apply it to
Judas Maccabeus; Maurerto Jehoiakira ;
Ewald to Pekah; Hitzig to the pretended
prophets spoken of in the preceding
verses ! The only satisfactory solution
of the question is that which regards
tbe words as directly and exclusively
prophetic of tbe person and sufferings
ofthe Messiah. This solution is induced
not only by our Saviour's express appro
priation of thera to hiraself, Matt.
xxvi. 81, but also by the raanifest
identity of the subject treated of with
that exhibited chap. xi. 4, 7, 10 — 14.
The sarae subject there handled is
resuraed, and treated, just as it is there,
in connexion with the downfal of the
Jewisih state. The prophecy contained
in this and tbe following verses has no
coherence with what immediately pre-
cedes,_and was evidently delivered upon

a different occasion. A new section
m.oy, therefore, be considered as com
mencing here, though it only extends
to chap. xiv. 5. The language employed
is altogether peculiar. Not only is the
Messiah designated the Shepherd of
Jehovab, to indicate the relation in
which he stood to the Father in the
economy of redemption, but be is de
scribed as in'DB 333, the man of his union ;
i.e. conjoined or closely united to bim.
The term translated man, is not that
usually employed in Hebrew, which
in such construction would raerely be
idiomatic, but 333, a strong, or mighty
man, one who is such by way of
eminence. n'CB is used elsewhere only
in the Pentateuch, namely, in Lev. v. 21,
xviii. 20, xix, 11, 15, 17, xxiv, 19,
x.\v. 14, 15, 17 ; in all which passages
it is employed to denote persons who
were united together under comraon
laws, for the enjoyraent of coramon
rights and privileges. It is derived
from niDB, cognate with DOB, io bind,
bind together, unite in society ; Arab.
i£, communhfuit, communem fecit rem .-
hence the derivates DB, a people, i.e.
those united for their common interest ;
naB, conjunction, communion, association;
DB,' the conjunction with, indicating
accompaniment, society. The renderings
of the versions vary. LXX. avhpa
noXirrjv /iOU. Aq. avhpa a-dpCJivXdv pov.
Syrara. avhpa tov Xaov /iov. Theod. P 7
avhpa nXrjatov pov. Syr. 1*,^..
p
. .Vn..;. fhe man my friend. Targ.
n'b 'm'l iT'.niST n'33n n.iiid'jii:', the ruler his
compamon, his associate whe is like him.
Vulg. virum cohcereniem mihi. Leo
Juda, virum cocequalem mihi. Heng-

chap, xhi.]

ZECHARIAH.

435

8 And it shall be that in all the land,
Saith Jehovah,
Two parts therein shall be cut off and expire,
But the third part shall be left in it,
9 And I will cause the third part to go through the fire,

stenberg, a man, my nearest relation.
Burger, mon confident. De Wette,
jnt ftlami incines ffileicSen, the man
my equal. Arnheim, Btm i;Baniie, Jfll
irt rair {UJCSellt, the man tohom I have
associated with myself. The two last
are the more remarkable, coming, as
they do, the one from a Rationalist, and
the other fiom a Jew. The idea ex
pressed by the latter I conceive to be
precisely what was intended by the
Holy Spirit, by whora tbe words were
indited. But of whora can this associa
tion be predicated, except of Him whose
human nature was assumed into the
most intimate and perfect union with
the Divine — Immanuel, who was one
with the Father, and who could say,
" He that hath seen rae, hath seen the
Father! The union or association is
that of the two natures, and not that of
the Divine nature or substance. This
the use of the word 333, man, clearly
proves. To the objection, thatthe words
cannot be applied to our Saviour, since
he was not cut off by a sword, it has
been sufiiciently replied, that 3-in, sword,
is here used figuratively for any raeans
of taking away huraan life, just as in
Exod. v. 21 ; 2 Sam. xii. 9, compared
with 2 Sam. xi. 24. That the wicked
Jews are intended, see Ps. xvn. 13,
where the wicked are called the sword
of Jehovah. They are regarded as in
a state of sleep or inactivity, and are
summoned to perpetrate the awful deed.
According to an idiom coramon in the
Hebrew prophets, the iraperative is used
instead of the future, in order to express
with greater force the certainty of the
event. See my note on Is. vi. 10. For
a parallel instance of the personification
of the sword, see Jer. xlvii. 6, 7. As
'T? is feminine, and Tjn masculine, Hitzig
Would refer tlie latter to the human
agent handling the sword, but the
irregularity in point of gender is suffi
ciently accounted for by the remoteness

of the antecedent, ijn, smile, is quoted.
Matt. xxvi. 31, as if it were IJN, I will
smite, the first person singular of the
future in Hiphil. There is no diversity
of reading in the Hebrew MSS., but
the Aid. and Pachom. MSS. of the
LXX. read nard^ov, instead of nard ^a,
which the Evangelists Matthew and
Mark have copied. The difference is
unimportant, yet there seems to be more
propriety in the reading ¦:|i7, with re
ference to the sword addressed in the
preceding clause, than in connecting
this verb, whatever may be supposed to
have been its forra, with wbat follows
in the verse, Coraparing tbe present
verse with chap. xi. 4, 7, and especially
with wbat is predicted in the two follow
ing verses of the present chapter, in
which the sarae subject is continued, it
is evident the^NS, sheep, or flock, cannot
be restricted to the disciples of Christ.
The circurastances, however, in reference
to which our Saviour appropriated the
prophecy, afforded a striking type of
the dispersion of the Jewish people,
which is that intended by Zechariah.
The disciples as Jews formed part of the
flock wbich the good shepherd was cora
raissioned to feed, but they, together
with tbe Jewish Christians, converted
by tbeir rainistry, who formed the first
church at Jerusalem, were the D'TriS,
little ones, on whom the Lord promises
to turn back bis hand, in order to pro
tect thera in the time of calamity. That
the phrase b» t.; 3'itin, to turn, or turn
back ihe hand, upon any one, is used in
a good as well as in a bad sense, see on
Is. i. 25.
8, 9. In these verses are predicted
the destruction of two-thirds of the in
habitants of Judea by the Roman arms,
and by the faraine and pestilence, the
usual concomitants of war in the East,
and the preservation of the reraaining
third part, which, after having been
submitted to very trying and afflictive

436 ZECHARIAH, [chap, xiv.
And will refine them as silver is refined,
And will try them as gold is tried ;
It shall invoke my name, and I will answer it ;
I will say, It is my people ;
And it shall say, Jehovah is my God.
processes, should corae forth out of the or less carried forward ever since, but
furnace a regenerated and spiritual are, it is to be hoped, soon to terminate
people. The former was fulfilled not in the conversion of the Jews to God.
only during what is commonly called Then shall they enter into a new rela-
tbe Jewish war, but also, to a fearful tion to him, according to the terras of
extent, under more than one of tbe the better covenant, Jer. xxxi. 33 ; Heb.
succeeding emperors; the processes viii. 10, 11,
pointed at in the latter have been more

CHAPTER XIV.
In the first two verses of this chapter the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roraans
and the calamities consequent upon that event are set forth ; after whicii the
destruction of the forces coraposing the hostile array is predicted, 3, A
proraise of special interposition in behalf of the people of God is then given,
by which effectual provision is made for their escape, 4, 5, The prophet next
describes a period of great calaraity, wbich is to give place to one of unraixed
and perennial happiness, 6, 7 ; when the raeans of spiritual life and enjoyraent
shall be universal and continual, 8 ; and the true God the exclusive object of obe
dience and worship, 9 ; and while every barrier to the free intercourse of Christians
throughout the world shall be reraoved, special honour will be conceded to
Jerusalera as the raetropolis of converted Israel, 10, 11, The dreadful judgments
to be inflicted on their final enemies, and the coraplete discomfiture of these
eneraies, are depicted, 12 — 15; after which follow predictions respecting an
annual visit which all the nations shall pay to Jerusalem, 16; the punishment
of those which neglect to perform it, 17 — 19 ; and the universally holy character
which shall distinguish her inhabitants, their occupations and services, 20, 21,

1 Behold the day of Jehovah cometh,
And thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
1. For the phraseology rffi'b n3 Di', event wbich is here predicted, Joel ii. 31,
comp. Is. xxii. 5. The criticism of iii, 14 ; Mal, iv, 1, 5. By the spoil of
Hengstenberg, who denies tbat it is Jerusalem is meant all that her inliabi-
equivalent to ni.n; Di' N3, is without any tants had accuraulated, and which would
foundation. By the day of Jehovah is be fit spoil for the enemy, especially
raeant the period of the infiiction of the treasures of the teraple. Notwith-
judgraent. See, in reference to the sarae standing all that was consumed by fire,

CHAP. XIV,J

ZECHARIAH.

437

For I will collect all the nations against Jerusalem to battle,
And the city shall be taken,
And the houses plundered, and the women ravished ;
And half the city shall go forth into captivity,
But the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
And Jehovah shall go forth,
And fight with those nations,
As in the day when he fought
In the day of battle.
: And his feet shall stand in that day
On the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east ;
And the mount of Olives shall be split in its midst,
Toward the east, and toward the west,
Into a very great valley ;
Half of the mountain shall recede towards the north,
And half of it towards the south.
) And ye shall flee to the valley of my mountains,
For the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal ;
Yea, ye shall flee as ye fled from the earthquake,
In the days of Uzziah, king of Judah ;

the plunder obtained by the Roraans
was so great, that gold fell in Syria to
half its former value,
2. All the nations here mean soldiers
from all the different nations forraing
the Roman empire, which composed the
army of Titus, The verse contains a
fearful description of the capture of
Jerusalem under the comraand of that
general. After its destruction the raore
distinguished, handsome, and able-bodied
Jews were sold into slavery, or con
demned to work in the mines ; but the
poorer and more conteraptible sort were
permitted to remain among the ruins.
As usual, where nibiiijn occurs in the
text the Keri has !T333iBn, for the sake of
euphemism. The latter word has found
its way mto a great many MSS.
3. The Roman power was doomed in
its turn to destruction. Forraidable as
it might appear, Jehovah would in his
providence overthrow it, as he had done
the enemies of his people in forraer ages.
Comp, Exod, xiv. 14, xv. 3, &c.
4, 5. These verses convey in language
of the raost beautiful poetical imagery

the assurance of the effectual raeans of
escape that should be provided for the
truly pious. We accordingly learn from
Eusebius, that on the breaking out of
the Jewish war, the Christian cburch at
Jerusalera, in obedience to the warning
of our Saviour, Matt. xxiv. 16, fled to
Pella, a city beyond Jordan, where they
lived in safety. As the mount of Olives
lay in their way, it is represented as
cleaving into two halves, in order to
raake a passage for thera. Corap. chap.
iv. 7, 'Tn is not to be considered as the
less usual forra of the masculine plural,
but as a proper plural with tbe pro
nominal affix. Jehovah calls them his,
because he had formed thera, by cleaving
Olivet into two. The valley lay between
thera. bSN was the proper narae of a
place, close to one of the gates on the
east side of Jerusalem, to which the cleft
or valley was to extend westward, so as
at once to admit those who should flee
from the eneray. Most comraentators
think of sorae locality to the east of the
Mount of Olives, but far less aptly. The
word properly signifies to join or be

438

ZECHARIAH,

[chap. xiv.

For Jehovah my God shall come,
And all the holy ones with thee.
And it shall be in that day
That there shall not be the light of the precious orbs,
But condensed darkness.
But there shall be one day,

joined to, be at the side, near. Its
proximity to the city must have origi
nated the name. For Dlrpii, ye shall fiee,
we find the reading DBt?35, shall be stopped
up, in four of De Rossi's MSS. and in
the margin of Romberg's Hebrew Bible;
but, though supported by the LXX.,
Arab., Targ., Syram., and the other
Greek interpreters, it is utterly to be re
jected, as unsuited to the connexion.
The very opposite of what would thus
be e.'^pressed, is required. Yet it is
adopted by Blayney and Boothroyd !
We have nothing in Scripture relative
to the earthquake here referred to except
as a date, Araos i. 1. Instead of T|Q5>,
with thee, nearly forty MSS. and all the
versions read iQ?, with him; and instead
of D'BJTp, the holy ones, one MS., the
Syr., Arab., and Targ., read I'fflTp, his
holy ones. To refer 'rjas, with the Rab
bins, Drusius, and Blayney, to Jerusalera,
is quite inadraissible, since such con
struction affords no tolerable sense. The
change of person was occasioned by a
sudden transition in the raind of tbe
prophet to the Lord, whora he addresses
as present. For the application of this
part of the prophecy, compare the parallel
prediction of our Lord hiraself. Matt.
xxiv. 30, 31, where those whora Zecha
riah designates D'tfT|?, holy ones, are called
TOVS dyyiXovs avrov. That a jfuture
personal and pre-millennial advent of the
Redeeraer is here taught, I cannot find.
6. Now follows the prediction of a
period of unraitigated calaraity, whicii
may be regarded as comprehending the
long centuries of oppression, cruelty,
mockery, and scorn, to which the Jews
have been subjected ever since the de
struction of Jerusalera. It has also,
for the raost part, been a period during
whicb the gross darkness of superstition
and delusion has reigned over the
land of their fathers. JiNBp; niT^; have
been variously rendered and interpreted.
LXX. -^I^vxos Kal ndyos. Vulg. frigus et

gelu. Syr. j" X q \l^ fl^j

N^

old

and ice. Thus also Maurer, and several
other moderns. But whatever connexion
there may be between the absence of
light and the production of cold and ice
in the depth of winter, the contrast is
not so natural as that between light and
darkness. Besides, niTj3) cannot with any
show of truth be rendered cold. It is
an adjective plural frora tbe root Tg',
io be precious, valuable, costly. The
idea of cold rests upon no better autho
rity than a mere Rabbinical conjecture
embodied in the Keri of Prov. xvii. 27,
which exhibits rm Tp;, instead of niT Tpi,
the proper and only term suitable in such
connexion. Tbat ni3p; may fitly be
understood as designating the celestial
luminaries, whence we obtain what, in
comraon parlance, we call "the precious
light of heaven," will appear on cora
paring Job xxxi. 26, where the raoon is
described as ijbn 3|y , walking preciously or
sjilendidly across the heavens. With
Prof. Lee, (Heb. Lex. p. 533,) I read
liTji' 3iN in construction, placing the
accent on the latter of the two words,
instead of retaining it over the forraer,
JiNEp properly signifies congelation, con
densation, excessive density, frora NB]3, to
draw together, contract, become thick,
dense, and tbe like, Blayney renders,
thick fog. The textual reading IINDJ!'.,
they shall iv'dhdraw themselves, is inferior
to that of the Keri pNEpi, wbich is found
in the text of one hundred and thirty-
four of Kennicott's MSS., and in twenty-
two raore originally, in nine of De Rossi's
Spanish MSS., which are reckoned the
best, in the Soncin., Brixian, aud Cora-
plutensian editions, and in Machzors of
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
None of the ancient versions employ a
verb. 7. Another period is here predicted,
but one entirely different from the pre
ceding — a day altogether unique, TnN Di',

CHAP. XIV.J

ZECHARIAH.

439

(It is known to Jehovah,)
When it shall not be day and night ;
For at the time of the evening there shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day
That living waters shall proceed from Jerusalem,
Half of them to the Eastern sea,
And half of them to the Western sea ;
In summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And Jehovah shall become king over all the earth ;
In that day Jehovah alone shall be,
And his name alone.

one peculiar day, the only one of its
kind. See Gesenius in titn, No. 5. Its
peculiarity is to consist in the absence
of the alternations of day and night.
It is to be all day — a period of entire
freedom frora war, oppression, and otber
outward evils whicii induce affliction and
wretchedness, interrupt the peace of the
church, and prevent the spread of truth
and righteousness, NO^ ydp ovk 'earai
eKii, Rev. xxii. 25, 33S-n», the time of
the evening, does not refer to the close
of the happy period just described, but
to that ofthe preceding period of afflictive
darkness. At the very tirae when a
dark and gloomy day is expected to
give way to a night of still greater dark
ness and obscurity, light shall suddenly
break forth, the light of the one long
day, which is to be interrupted by no
night. That this period is that of the
Millennium, or the thousand years, the
circumstances of which are described
Rev. XX. 3—7, I cannot entertain a
doubt. The time of its coraraencement
has been variously but fruitlessly calcu
lated. The knowledge of it the Father
hath reserved in his own power. " It
is known to Jehovah," and, by iraplica-
fion, to him alone,
8. D';n d;p, living, i.e. running, peren
nial, refreshing, and salubrious water, in
opposition to that which is stagnant and
noxious. 'liOTpn d;, the Eastern sea, i.e.
the Aspbaltitic Lake ; and pTirNn d;, the
Western Sea, i.e. tbe Mediterranean ; so
called because when a person resident
at Jerusalera faces the East, which is
the primary point of the horizon with
the Orientals, the Dead Sea is hefore him.

('3iQ3g), and the Mediterranean (J'lTnM)
behindhim. The raoreimportant portions
of the globe lying to the east and west
of Jerusalem, there is an obvious pro
priety in the selection of these two direc
tions. The declaration that these watera
are to flow fl3n3i y;i53, is expressive of
constancy, 'They shall neither be dried
up by the heat of suraraer, nor con
gealed by the frost of winter. The LXX,
have iv Bipei Kal ev 'eapi, " in suraraer
and in spring," which is to be accounted
for on the ground that what was winter
in raore northerly regions, was spring
in Egypt, in which country that version
was made. In the figurative language
of Scripture, water is not only used as
an emblem of purification, but also for
the purpose of representing the means of
spiritual life, refreshment, and fertility —
the doctrines and ordinancesof the gospel.
The descendants of Abrahara, restored
to their own land, and becorae his
children in the faith, will go forth, full
of zeal and spiritual activity, as rais
sionaries to other nations, to proraote
revivals in the churches of Christ by
rehearsing what great things God hath
done for them, and to carry on the work
of conversion among those nations and
tribes that shall not then have been
turned to the Lord.
9. In consequence of the universal
spread of the Gospel, the multiplicity
of heathen gods will be swept away from
the face of tbe earth, the unity of Jeho
vah universally acknowledged, and the
glorious harmony of those attributes
wbich constitute his one Divine character
(ioiiS, Ills name) clearly discovered, and

410

ZECHARIAH.

[chap, xiv.

10 And all the earth shall be changed
As it were into the plain from Geba to Rimmon,
South of Jerusalem ;
And she shall be exalted,
And be inhabited in her place,
From the gate of Benjamin
To the place of the former gate,
To the gate of the corners ;
And from the tower of Hananeel
To the king's wine-vats,
11 And they shall dwell in her,
And there shall be no more curse,
And Jerusalem shall dwell in safety.

heartily adored. According to the
ordinary raode of translating the words
TnN in* 3nN nin' n.;n'., there shall be one
Lord and his name one, they raay seera
clogged with little or no difficulty, as the
true God is thus set forth in opposition
to the " gods raany and lords raany "
of the heathen ; but we have only to
introduce the incoramunicable narae
Jehovah into tbe translation when the
greatest incongruity at once appears. If
we then render, thereshall be one Jehovah,
the conclusion is inevitable, tbat previous
to the predicted period, there raust have
existed raore Jehovahs than one. Or,
if we render, Jehovah shall be one,
we raake the passage teach either that
Jehovah was not one before, or, that he
will nolonger be three, ortriune — Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, in the undivided
unity of the Godhead. All arabiguity,
however, will at once be reraoved, if
TTO be taken adverbially, and rendered
only, alone, or the like. And tbus I
conceive it must be rendered in the
primary article of the inspired creed of
the Hebrews: titn nin; H'ribN nin', Jehovah
is our God, Jehovah alone. Thedoctrine,
therefore, taught in the present verse is
siraply that Jehovah sball be the only
existing object of religious worship and
obedience, and no characteristics but his
be any longer recognised as divine.
10, 11. These verses intiraate that
every obstruction shall be removed
which prevents the free and full flow
of the living waters throughout the

world. What is high shall be levelled,
and wbat is low shall be elevated. Tbis
idea was suggested by the natural im
possibility of water flowing in a westerly
direction from Jerusalera to the Medi
terranean, owing to the hilly country
which intervenes. In 3E; we have a
rather unusual signification of 33D, to be
turned, i. e. changed. The verb i]pn is
ordinarily used to express what is here
intended. »33, Geba, -vias a Levitical
city in the tribe of Benjamin, near to
Gibeah, on the northern border of the
kingdom of Judah. )iQT, Rimmon, was a
town in tbe tribe of Simeon, in the
south of Palestine, and to be distin
guished from tbe rock Riraraon, to the
north-east of Michraash. 'T3^»n, the
Arabah, is the level or plain of the
Jordan, extending frora the lake of
Tiberias to the Elanitic gulf, though in
tbe present day tbis narae is only applied
to that part of it whicb lies to the south
of the Dead Sea. The norainative to
npNT and nn*, is not yTNn, but Dbm;, ira
mediately preceding. For the ortho
graphy of npN3, comp. Hos. x. 14, and
other passages in which the N is inserted
as a mater lectionis. Great uncertainty
exists relative to the exact position of
some of the places here mentioned.
D'ln is used as in Mal. iii. 24, in the ac
ceptation, curse, LXX. dvdBrjpa. Comp.
Trav KaravdBepa ojj/c 'earat trt. Rev.
xxii. 3. There will be no raore any civil
or national punishments inflicted on
account of sin, these having been ren-

CHAP, XIV.] ZECHARIAH. 141
12 And this shall be the plague
With which Jehovah will plague all the people
That shall fight against Jerusalem ;
Their flesh shall consume away
While they stand upon their feet,
And their eyes shall consume away in their sockets,
And their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall be in that day
That there shall be great confusion from Jehovah among them,
So that each shall seize the hand of another.
And his hand shall be raised against the hand of another ;
14 And Judah also shall fight in Jerusalem,
And the wealth of all the nations around shall be collected,
Gold, and silver, and garments, in great abundance.
15 And the plague of the horses,
The mules, the camels, and the asses,
And all the cattle which shall be in those camps,
Shall be even as this plague.
16 And it shall be
That the whole residue of all the nations
That shall come up against Jerusalem,

dered unnecessary by the universal pre- Whether*God will employ the plague
valence of righteousness and truth. and other destructive diseases for the
12 — 15. The hostile powers whose annihilation of the eneraies of his people,
punishment is here denounced are those time must show. The genitive in npint?
which shall forra tbe great final con- ni.n; is that of cause, a consternation sent
federacy. Comp. Is. lix, 18; Ezek. or produced by Jehovah.
xxxviii. xxxix. ; Rev. xix. The repre- 16—18. nijiis n3^»4 'to, lit. from ihe
sentation of the punishment is the most sufficiency of a year in a year, i.e. when
horrible that can be imagined — a living tirae has fully satisfied the claims of one
skeleton, rapidly wasting away ! From year and enters upon another. It is
what is stated ver. 14, it appears that only an idiomatic mode of expressing
the Jews (nrin;, Judah,) shall not only from year te year, or annually. What
defend themselves at Jerusalera, but is here predicted is expressly restricted
raake a successful attack upon the enemy, to the particular nations which shall
I oriM, when used in reference to place, have engaged in the last great attack
signifies to fight at or in such place, upon the Jews. And, though the lan-
l''XX.napard^eTai ev 'lepovaaXrjp. ¦^39.n3 guage of the following verse may appear
-»n^3, Jud. V, 19. The collection of , the to be raore general, yet the circurastances
wealth ofthe surrounding nations, refers of the context require the restriction to
to the gathering of the rich spoil of the be carried forward beyond the liraits of
contingents furnished by them to com- the present. Still, however, even with
pose the hostile array, the entire this restriction, the prophecy cannot,
encampments of the enemy, including without manifest absurdity, be inter-
the cavalry and beasts of burden, were preted of the totality of the inhabitants
all to share in the awful catastrophe, of the nations in question. Let steam
3 L

442

ZECHARIAH.

[chap, xiv.

Shall go up from year to year
To worship the king, Jehovah of hosts,
And to celebrate the feast of tabernacles.
17 And it shall be that those who go not up
Of the families of the earth to Jerusalem,
To worship the King, Jehovah of hosts,
Upon them there shall be no rain.

vessels and railroads be multiplied to
any imaginable extent, the idea of the
possibility of conveying such imraense
numbers to Palestine cannot be enter
tained. Or, supposing them to have
been conveyed thither, few of thera would
after all bave an opportunity of wor
shipping at Jerusalem during the short
period allotted for theFeastofTabernacles.
Not only would the country be too sraall
to contain their encarapraents, and to
furnish them with necessary provisions,
but the pressure, noise, and bustle of
the crowds would be such as to destroy
everything in the shape of devotional
propriety and enjoyraent. I cannot,
therefore, but take the raeaning to be,
tbat the nations in question will go up
to Jerusalera in the persons of their re
presentatives, just as in former times
the Jews resident in foreign ^countries
had tbose wbo went to the annual festi
vals in their name, or on their behalf.
Why tbe Egyptians should be specially
introduced, ver. 18, it is difficult to de
termine, except it be, that as tbeir country
is watered by the Nile, and is not depen
dent for fertility upon rain falling in the
country itself, they raight be considered
as exerapt frora the threatened plague
of drought. But, if the rains fail in
Ethiopia, it will in effect be the sarae
as if they fail in Egypt itself. After
the words D'n'bs? sbi, the repetition of
Dtt'in, ihe rain, frora the end of the pre
ceding verse, is understood.
It is worthy of notice, that the Feast
of Tabernacles or Booths is the only one
of all the Jewish festivals which is re
presented in this prophecy as being ob
served at the period therein specified.
No raention is raade of the great day
of Atoneraent, the Passover, the Pen
tecost, &c. These have all been super
seded by their fulfilraent as types in tbe
substantial blessings of the Christian

economy. Theirre-establishment would
be a denial of the reality or efficacy of
their antitypes. It may, however, be
asked, Why should the Feast of Taber
nacles form an exception? To tbis it
may be replied, first, that such a festival
may be observed without any compro
mise ofthe principles ofthe New Dispen
sation. Secondly, it raay be considered
as peculiarly adapted to the retrospec
tions of the converted Jews, who will
bave to commeraorate the sojourn of
their fathers, not merely for forty years
in the wilderness, but their sojourn for
two thousand years in the countries of
the dispersion. And thirdly, it may
serve as a striking raeraento to them,
that, though tbey bave been restored to
the rest of Canaan, they are still only
strangers and pilgrims upon the earth,
and that there yet remaineth a rest foe
tbe people of God. In this point of
view, believing Gentiles, who may
go up to the festival, can find no
difficvdty in celebrating it with them
to tbeir mutual edification. That the
sacrifices which were offered at that feast,
or any other animal sacrifices, will then
be renewed, is a position, to maintain
which would be to counteract the express
design, and contradict the express decla
rations of the dispensation of grace.
It may be said, tbat Ezekiel gives
a full description of tbe re-establish
ment of the sacrificial system and
of the whole of the temple worship.
Nothing can be raore certain. But when
was this re-establishment to take place?
Any one who will only cursorily examine
the coraraenceraent of the fiftieth chapter
of that prophet will at once perceive,
that, though it follows iraraediately after
chapters relating to the destruction of
Gog and Magog, it was nevertheless
delivered to the prophet not fewer than
thirteen years afterwards, and raay,

CHAP,

, XIV.J

ZECHARIAH.

443

18 And if the family of Egypt should not go up, nor come,
Upon thein also there shall be none;
There shall be upon them the plague,
With which Jehovah shall plague the nations,
That will not go up
To celebrate the feast of tabernacles.
19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt,
And the punishment of all the nations
That will not go up
To celebrate the feast of tabernacles.
20 In that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses,
Holiness to Jehovah ;
And the pots in the house of Jehovah
Shall be as the bowls before the altar.
21 Yea every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah
Shall be holiness to Jehovah of hosts ;

therefore, naturally be expected to refer
to a subject altogether different, Tbat
subject 1 conceive to be the restoration
of the temple and the temple worship
after the return from Babylon — a subject
which cannot but have lain near the
heart of tbe exiles, and worthy to be
made the theme of prophecy, but which
is nowhere else referred to in the book
of Ezekiel. Difficulty there may be in
niaking the measurements there given
agree with those specified by Josephus
as the dimensions of the second temple ;
but far greater difiiculties attach to
every attempt to refer tbem to a temple
still future, or to view them as wholly
emblematical. 19. The connexion shows that nNran is
not here to be taken in the sense of sin,
but of the punishment of sin. Corap.
Lam. iii. 38, iv. 6.
20. The nibso were sraall metallic
plates, suspended frora the necks or
heads of horses and caraels, for the sake
of omament, and making a tinkling
noise by striking against each other like
cymbals. Root b%, to tingle, tinkle.
•is the inscription "nirrb *3ji, Holiness
10 Jehovah, was the sacred symbol
engraven upon the golden crown of the
Jewish High Priest, the design of tbe
prophecy is evidently to teach, that when
the Jews shall be restored to their own

land, there shall be no greater degree of
holiness attaching to what was formerly
accounted most sacred, than what will
attach to the ornamental trappings of
the horses. Devotion of person and
property to the service of God will
be the only holiness then recognised.
Ceremonial sanctity shall no longer
exist. The sarae thing is expressed in
the second clause of the verse. The
vessels in which the flesh was cooked,
and which were accounted the meanest
about the temple, shall, as to the degree
of holiness, be upon a par with those
which had been destined for the most
sacred purpose, namely, the reception
of the blood of tbe sacrificial victims.
All distinction shall be done away,
21. The same idea is here raore fully
carried out. Not only the coramon
utensils used by the priests, but those
employed for cooking in private houses,
both at Jerusalem and throughout the
country, shall all be regarded as equally
holy. From its being expressly stated,
that the flesh of the aniraals to be
slaughtered is to be boiled in the pots,
and no mention is raade of the sprinkling
of the blood, it must be inferred that
killing for food, and not for sacrifice, is
what the prophet has in view. Con
sidering what stumbling-blocks a mer
cenary and covetous priesthood has

444 ZECHARIAH. [chap. xiv.
And all who slaughter shall come,
And take of them and boil in them,
And there shall no more be a Canaanite
In the house of Jehovah of hosts in that day.

ever proved to the world, and to what chant; the Phoenicians, who inhabited
a fearful extent the rainistry in holy the northern part of Canaan, having
things has been made a matter of mer- been the most celebrated merchants of
cbandise, there is great force in the antiquity. See for this acceptation of
declaration with which tbe prophet the terra, Job xl. 30 ; Prov. xxxi. 24 ;
closes : " There sball no raore be a Is. xxhi. 8. It is here used metapho-
Canaanite in the house of Jehovah ! " rically.
By '3i>33, Canaanite, is meant a mer-

I i I

MALACHI.

PREFACE.

Malachi CSl^i^O, Messe-nger,) is the last of aU the Hebrew
prophets, but we are left in profound ignorance respecting his per
sonal history, and can only judge of the circumstances of his times
from what is contained in his book. According to the tradition of
the synagogue, he Hved after the prophets Haggai and Zechariah,
and was contemporary with Nehemiah, This statement is fully
borne out by the affinity of the book written by the prophet, with
that written by the patriot. Both presuppose the temple to have
been aheady built. The same condition of the Jews is described.
They hoth condemn foreign marriages, and enforce the due pay
ment of tithes, which had been neglected. They likewise correct
abuses which had crept in with respect to the sacrifices, and reprove
their countrymen for their want of sympathy with the poor.
In aU probability, Malachi occupied the same place with respect
to Nehemiah, which Haggai and Zechariah did with respect to
Zerubbabel. That the former was assisted in the discharge of his
duties by prophets, may be inferred from the charge brought
against him by Sanballat, Neh. vi. 7. He may therefore be con
ceived of as having flourished somewhere about the year B.C. 420.
His book is composed of a series of spirited castigations, in which
the persons accused are introduced as repelling the charges, but

446 preface to malachi.
thereby only affording occasion for a fuller exposure, and a more
severe reproof of their conduct. Both priests and people are
unsparingly reprimanded, and while they are threatened with divine
judgments, encouragement is held out to such as walked in the fear
of the Lord, His predictions respecting John the Baptist, the
Messiah, and the destruction of the Jewish polity, are clear and
unequivocal. Considering the late age in which he lived, the language of
Malachi is pure ; his style possesses much in common with the old
prophets, but is distinguished more by its animation, than by its
rhythmus or grandeur.

CHAPTER I,
With a view to work a conviction of ingratitude in the minds of his countrymen,
the prophet begins by setting forth the peculiar favour which Jehovah had
shown to them as a people in contradistinction to the Edomites, 1 — 5. He then
reproaches the priests for their unworthy conduct in presenting the refuse of the
animals in sacrifice, 6 — 8 ; charges them with a mercenary spirit, and threatens
to reject them, and supply their place with true worshippers from among the
most distant heathen, 9 — 1 1 ; and concludes with a renewed reprimand, and
the denunciation of a curse upon those who practised deception with respect to
the offerings, 12 — 14.

1 The Sentence of Jehovah's oracle to Israel by Malachii
2 I have loved you, saith Jehovah,
Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us '^

1. For the forraula nin; 333 Nfen, see
on Zech. ix. 1. That 'SNbn, ' Malachi,
is the proper narae of the prophet, and
not a mere official appellative, as the
LXX., Vitringa, and others, interpret,
may safely be inferred from the analogy
of the title with others prefixed to
the prophetical writings. As for the
form of the name, Vitringa, Hiller,
Michaelis, and Gesenius, take it to be
compounded of ilNbo and w, of whicii
they consider ' to be a contraction, and
accordingly explain thename as raeaning
'Ihe Messenger of Jehovah. To this,
however, it has been objected, that no
examples of an abbreviation of the
Divine name to this extent are to be
found; and, therefore, it has been
deemed more natural to regard the ' as
the pronominal affix of the first person

singular, and to render, My Messenger.
This latter solution has been adopted by
Hengstenberg, who labours in vain to
establish a connexion between the narae
of the prophet, and the same word as
occurring in its official signification,
chap. in. 1. Tbe form appears to be
really nothing more than an instance
of what Ewald calls " the last and
newest mode of deriving adjectives frora
nouns," and denoting origin or source,
Corapare '33», '3D9, '3r)p, '3iD, '333, 'b33,
&c. ''NW, Israel, is here used to denote
tbe whole of the twelve tribes, .which
had returned to their native land, Jer,
1. 4, 5, 19, 20.
2, 3. The sovereign benevolence of
Jehovah, and the ingratitude of the
Hebrews in the tirae of the prophet, are
strikingly contrasted. To the petulant

448

MALACHI.

[chap.

Was not Esau brother to Jacob ? saith Jehovah,
Yet I loved Jacob,
3 But I hated Esau,
And made his mountains a desolation,
And his heritage abodes of the desert,
4 Because Edom saith, We are impoverished,
But we will rebuild the desolate places ;
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts,
They may build, but I will overthrow ;
And men shall call them, The border of wickedness,
And, The people against whom Jehovah is indignant for ever.
5 And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say,
Let Jehovah be magnified, from the border of Israel,
6 A son honoureth his father,

question, " Wherein hast thou loved us?"
wbich is only the first of a series which
are put in the course of the book, the
answer is direct and conclusive — in
showing greater kindness to their pro
genitor Jacob, than he had done to his
brother Esau, The temporal advantages
of Palestine were vastly superior to those
of Idumea, which was comparatively a
sterile and desert country ; and the Jews
had, besides, experienced distinguished
favour in having been restored to their
land, and had prosperity conferred upon
thera, while the Edomites, who had
suffered frora the invasion of their
country by the Chaldeans, five years
after the capture of Jerusalera, had not
been restored. It is to the desolations
occasioned by this invasion tbat reference
is raade ver. 3. N3ii), to hate, is here
used in a comparative sense, qualifying
the preceding verb 3nN, to love. As the
opposite of love is hatred, when tbere
is only an inferior degree of the former
exhibited, the object of it is regarded as
being hated rather than loved. See for
tbis idiom. Gen. xxix. 30, 31 ; Deut.
xxi. 15, 16 ; Prov, xiii. 24 ; Matt. vi. 24 ;
Luke xiv. 26, corapared with Matt. x. 37.
nisn is considered by sorae to be the
ferainine of D'sn, and is rendered, serpents,
jackals, or the like; but it is preferable
to adopt the derivation frora the Arabic,
Uj, subst'ilit, habitavit. Hence iijijij',

hab'itaiio, mansio. By the " habitations
of the desert," are raeant deserted,
ruined dwellings, such as are still found
in great abundance in Iduraea, The
phrase is parallel to T\iyq<a in the pre
ceding hemistich, and corresponds to
the ni33n, waste places, or ruins, ver, 4.
4, 5. Every attempt on the part of
the Idumeans to recover themselves, and
enjoy permanent prosperity, should prove
abortive, and their continually depressed
condition should afford additional proof
to the Israelites of the kindness of God
towards his own people. bi3|, boundary,
is here used in the sense of territory, or
the space marked out by the surrounding
boundaries. Comp. Gen. x. 19 ; Nurab.
xxi. 24. bN'W).' bi33b b»p, according to
Rosenraiiller, Hitzig, Maurer, and Ewald,
means beyond the Hebrew territory, —
construing the words with b33;, but it
seems more natural to connect them
with i3i?Nn DnN. Ye who dwell upon
the land of Israel shall say from the
locality you occupy, and to whicb,
through the Divine goodness, ye have
been restored, Jehovah be magnified.
The ^ prefixed to bi33, adds nothing to
the force of the preceding preposition.
See Gesen, in bsp.
6. Upon the fact of the respect usually
shown by inferiors to their superiors,
Jehovah had a right to expect that
honour and reverence which corre
sponded to the high position which he

CHAP, I.J MALACHI, 449
And a servant his master :
If then I be a father, where is my honour .^
And if I be a master, where is my fear .?
Saith Jehovah of hosts to you, O ye priests,
That despise my name ; yet ye say,
Wherein have we despised thy name ?
7 In offering polluted bread upon my altar ;
But ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee ?
In your saying, The table of Jehovah is contemptible.
8 When ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil ?
And when ye offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil .'
Present it now to thy govemor ;
Will he be satisfied with thee,
Or accept thy person ? saith Jehovah of hosts.
9 Now, then, conciliate the regard of Jehovah, that he may pity us :
This hath been by your means ;
Will he accept your persons ? saith Jehovah of hosts.
10 Who is there even among you that would shut the doors ?
Yea, ye will not kindle the fire on my altar for nought.
I have no pleasure in you, saith Jehovah of hosts.
Neither will I accept an offering at your hand.
11 But from the rising of the sun to its setting,
My name shall be great among the nations ;
And in every place, incense shall be offered to my name,
occupied as Author and Moral Governor expressly prohibited in the law. Lev,
of the universe. These having, how- xxii, 22, 24 ; Deut, xv, 21,
ever, been withheld, chiefly owing to 9, How much soever the words nn»l
the irreligious and profane conduct of li.?™ bN-»3E! Ni-lbri, may at first sight
the priests, the charge is principally appear to contain a serious exhortation
laid against thera, to the priests to repent of tbeir wicked
7, That onb, bread, or feod, is here to conduct, and to pray for the Divine
be taken as the Arab. ^, caro, in the f^^°"J *« theraselves and the people,
f^ yet the connexion requires thera to be
sense of animal fiesh, is obvious, from understood ironically. No prayers or
its being presented on the 13310, dliar of supplications of theirs could avail any-
mcrifice, to which also the inbip, table, thing while they presented such unlaw-
iiiust be referred, and not totlie table ful sacrifices. This is expressly declared
of shew-bread. Contempt of sacred in the forra of a pointed interrogation
things involves conterapt of Him to at the close of the verse. C'lB D3a umi.
whom they appertain. is a more emphatic form, instead of
8. Another argumentum ad hominem. D3'3B NiH'.n.
The priests had tbe effrontery to present 10, 11 . Tbe rendering of the LXX,,
to Jehovah what they would not have adopted by Newcorae, "Surely the doors
eared to offer to their civil governor, shall be closed against you," cannot be
To offer animals with any blemish, was admitted. The authority for the change
3 M

450

MALACHI,

[chap. I.

And a pure offering ;
For my name shall be great among the nations,
Saith Jehovah of hosts.
12 But ye have profaned it by your saying.
The table of Jehovah is polluted,
And its fruit, even his food, is contemptible.
13 Ye have also said, What a weariness !
And have contemned it, saith Jehovah of hosts ;
And ye haye brought the torn, and the lame, and the sick.
Yea, have ye brought the offering ;
Should I accept it at your hand ? saith Jehovah.
14 But cursed be the deceiver, who hath a male in his flock,
And voweth, and sacrificeth to Jehovah that which is corrupt ;
For I am a great king, saith Jehovah of hosts,
And my name shall be feared among the nations.

of 'n, who, into '?, surely, is of no weight ;
and the verb 3ip is never construed with
3, in order to express the idea of exclu
sion. Such was the avaricious disposi
tion of the priests, that they would not
perform even the raost trivial services
without payment. How could such
expect to be acceptable to God ? These
verses contain an explicit prediction of
the rejection of the Jewish worship, and
of the reception of the Gentiles to
perform spiritual worship in the Church
of the Lord, His name, which the priests
had treated with contempt, ver, 6, should
receive universal homage among the
nations that had been addicted to
idolatry, and who vfere now the objects
of aboraination on tbe part of the Jews,
The sacrificial terras are transferred
from their original application to cere
monial objects and acts, to such as are
spiritual, agreeably to the nature of the
new economy, Comp, John iv. 20 — 24 ;
Heb, xiii. 10, 15, 16; 1 Pet. ii, 5, All
that Hitzig can discover in these verses
is, that God was worshipped by all
nations, under the different names of
Jehovah, Ormuzd, Zeus, &c, ! ! !

12 — 14, A renewal of the charge
against the priests, nearly in the sarae
words. iiNbna is an abbreviated form
for nNbip np. Comp. njp, Exod. iv, 2 ;
D3?p, Is. iii. 15. iniN, if, after Dnnen,
refers to ib?N in the preceding verse, and
is not to be changed into 'niN, me, as
proposed in the Tikkune Sopherim. The
1 in nperrnNi is oraitted in ninety-three
MSS., in seven printed editions, and in
all the versions except the Syriac,
Though it is not said that the rinip,
meat offering, consisted of inferior in
gredients, yet it is either implied, or the
idea is intended to be conveyed, that
the presentation of the other sacrifices
rendered this, however pure in itself,
unacceptable to God, Hitzig and Maurer
regard nnM to be a contraction of
the feminine finrrcio ; but I should rather
think it ought to be pointed nniiip, as in
Lev, xxii, 25, where it occurs, in applica
tion to the sarae subject, in the masculine
gender. Many MSS, and some of tbe
early editions read nin'b instead of 'inNb,
which has no doubt been substituted
for it by some superstitious Jewish
scribe.

CHAP. II.] MALACHI. 451

CHAPTER II.
Tlie prophet continues to urge the charge against the priests, warning them that if
they did not reform, they should be deprived ofall enjoyraent, and rendered the
objects of shame and contempt, 1 — 4, The original institution, and the sacred
nature and obligations of the priestly oflice, are then brought forward, with which
to contrast the baseness of their conduct in violating its responsibilities ; and the
section closes with another threatening of punishraent, 5 — 9, In a new section
the prophet takes up the subject of divorce, and marriage with foreign woraen,
and severely reproves the priests for the evil exaraple which they had set in this
respect, 10 — 16. They are finally charged with teaching immoral doctrine, 17,

1 And now, unto you is this charge, O ye priests !
2 If ye will not hearken, nor lay it to heart,
To give glory to my name, saith Jehovah of hosts ;
I will send the curse among you, and will curse your blessings,
Yea, I -will curse them singly,
Because ye lay it not to heart. '
3 Behold ! I will rebuke the seed to your hurt,
And I will scatter dung upon your faces,
The dung of your festivals ;
And ye shall be taken away with it.
4 And ye shall know that I have sent to you this charge,
Because my covenant was with Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts.
2, rn«pn is emphatic, and doubtless as Houbigant and Newcome do, merely
has reference to Deut, xxvii, 15, &c, on tbe authority of the LXX. There
The feminine suffix in n'ni3N is to be is great force in the reference to the
taken distributively, with reference to dung of the festivals, as the maw, which
the ni333, blessings, iramediately prece- contained it, belonged to the priests. Lev,
ding. vii. 32, bN in vbN has the signification of
. 3, The b in 0.3b is that of the Dativus with, together with, as in Lam. iii, 41,
incommodi', " to' "your detriraent or dis- Such usage, however, is rare. Nto is to
advantage." »3;, seed, is not to be be taken irapersonally,
changed into i>i3i,'and rendered shoulder, 4. s-v, to knew, has here the significa-

452

MALACHI,

[chap. II.

5 My covenant of life and peace was with him,
And I gave them to hira,
For the fear which he showed for me,
And the awe in which he stood of my name.
6 The law of truth was in his mouth ;
No iniquity was found in his lips ;
He walked with me in peace and uprightness,
And turned many from iniquity.
7 For the lips of the priest should preserve knowledge,
And men should seek the law at his mouth,
For he is the messenger of Jehovah of hosts.
8 But, as for you, ye have departed from the way,
Ye have made many to stumble in the law ;
Ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts.

tion, to Jcnew by experience, to feel tbe
consequences of transgression. From
the words which follow, we must infer
that knowledge issuing in reformation
of conduct is meant. On no other con
dition could the Levitical covenant con
tinue in force,
5, In this and the following verses
the prophet forcibly contrasts with the
base and unworthy conduct of the priests,
the noble character of their progenitor,
with whora officially Jehovah had
entered into covenant. The reference,
however, is not to Levi personally, but
to Phinehas, Nurab. xxv. 12, 13, where
we have an account of this covenant,
there called Dib^ 'mj, ny covenant of
peace, and Dbis? n3n3 n'i3, the covenant of
an everlasting priesthood. Both ideas
are expressed in tbe present verse, and
the raeaning is, that the covenant was
secured in perpetuity. Before tiibiSm 0'»nn
the word n"i3 is understood frora the pre
ceding. N3iD, fear or reverence, is here
the accusative absolute, nniis the Niphal
of nnn, to be terrified, dismayed. This
verb is here purposely employed to ex
press the extraordinary degree of pro
found and holy awe vpith which Phinehas
was inspired when zealously vindicating
the honour of Jehovah.
6, 7. A comprehensive and beautiful
description of the character and spiri
tual duties of Phinehas, which ought to
have been realized in the persons and

ministrations of all his successors in
office, and which suggests topics of the
most serious self-examination to all who
engage in the work of the Christian
ministry. The higher and more irapor
tant functions of the sacerdotal office
are here recognised, to the exclusion of
such as were merely ceremonial. These
the priests in the days of Malachi had
neglected, while they discharged the
latter in a perfunctory and niggardly
manner. That n3in is not here to be
rendered doctrine, but is to be taken in
its appropriated sense of law, appears
frora the use of the term in the two
following verses, nbw is in the accu
sative case, with which Njnj, as in other
instances of passive verbs, does not agree
in nuraber. See Gesen, Grara, § 140,
1 b. The priests were the ordinary
expounders of the law to the people ; it
was only on special and extraordinary
occasions that the prophets gave their
decision. Each of thera was, therefore,
to be regarded as ^n^P, a messenger, or
interpreter of the Divine will.
8. The character of the priests whom
Malachi was sent to reprove was the
very reverse of that exhibited by Phi
nehas. Not only did they violate the
law themselves, but, as is universally tbe
case, induced others by their bad example
to violate it likewise. They thus forfeited
all right to the sacerdotal imraunities
of the Levitical covenant.

CHAP. II.]

MALACHI,

453

10

11

12

Therefore have I also rendered you contemptible and base to all thfe
people ;
Forasmuch as ye have not observed my ways,
And have acted partially in the law.
Have we not all one Father .''
Hath not one God created us ?
Wherefore do we act unfaithfiilly one to another,
Profaning the covenant of our fathers ?
Judah hath acted unfaithfully ;
And an abominable thing hath been done in Israel and in Jerusalem ;
For Judah hath profaned that which was holy to Jehovah,
That which he loved,
And hath married the daughter of a strange god.
Jehovah will cut off the man that doeth this,
Him that watcheth, and him that answereth,

9. ':N-t331 is strikingly antithetical to
cm at the beginning of ver. 8, The
priests are here threatened with a re
tribution corresponding to their base and
contemptible character, an additional
and aggravating feature of which is
added, viz. partiality in the decisions
which they gave on points of law.
Instead of ?»!7, the people, twenty-three
MSS., and a few printed editions, the
LXX., Targ., Vulg,, Arab., and Hexapl,
Syr., read t3i3»n, the peoples or nations,
but much less appropriately,
10. The prophet now proceeds to
administer reproof to the people, and
especially to the priests, for their flagrant
violation of the law, which prohibited
intermarriages with foreigners. See
Exod. xxxiv. 16; Deut. vii, 3, For tbe
historical account of this violation, see
Ezra ix. 1, 2; Neb. xiii. 23—31, That
by 3nN iN, one Father, we are to under
stand Jehovah, and not Abraham., or
Jacob, as sorae have supposed, is deter
mined by the force of the parallelisra,
in which we have the corresponding and
elucidatory phrase 3nN bN, ene Ged. As
the Jews put away their wives, that they
might marry others, they are here dis
tinctly taught that both raales and feraales
stood in the sarae relation to God as
their comraon Father and Creator, He
had an equal propriety in thera, and
when the men acted the part for which

they are here reproved, they acted un
justly by their Maker, But, in addition
to this, they broke the covenant made
with their fathers, which interdicted such
practices, riN, brother, is not here to be
pressed, as if reference were had to the
father of the feraale who had been re
pudiated, l'nN3 ifi'N is the usual idiora,
one against another. Corap, 1 Thess,
iv. 6, The questions so pointedly put
at the coraraencement of this verse are
highly condemnatory of that degradation
which is experienced by Oriental females.
Not only do most of the Mohammedans
deny them the privilege of immortality,
but the Jews universally to this day give
thanks every morning — the man, that
God has not made him a woman ; and
the woman, tbat God has made her
i3iS33, according io his pleasure.
11, The norainative to n33i is y3N,
understood in n3in;. By nirr'iiijjj, the
holiness of Jehovah, is meant the people
of the Hebrews, who were separated to
be a people devoted to his service. Corap,
iti^ipn S31, the holy seed, Ezra ix, 2 ; and
nin'b bNTip'. iflip, Israel is holiness, i.e. holy
to Jehovah, Jer, ii. 3. For 3nN 3'iSn corap,
Ps, xlvii. 5. " The daughter of a strange
god" means an idolatress, a feraale ad
dicted to the worship of a false deity.
12, ni.r') 3» has been variously ren
dered. 'The LXX. raistaking 35 for 3?,
have etof Kal Ta-ireivaBfj. Vulg, magis-

454

MALACHI.

[chap. II.

From the tents of Jacob,
And him that presenteth an offering to Jehovah of hosts.
13 And this ye have done a second time,
Covering the altar of Jehovah with tears,
With weeping and groaning,
So that there is no longer any regard paid to the offering,
Nor is it favourably received at your hand.
14 Yet ye say, Wherefore ?
Because Jehovah was witness
Between thee and the wife of thy youth ;
To whom thou hast acted unfaithfully.
Though she was thy companion and thy covenanted wife.
15 Yet did he not make one ?
Though he had the residue of the spirit ;

trum et discipulum. Targ, 33 331 33, son
and son's son. Syr, ¦ •^N.r. oiia-iO
j]-^, both his son and his son's son.
Thus also Abarbanel, Sachs, Ewald, and
others. The phrase is obviously, from
its very forra, like 3331 ;'?, 3ni'i 312», pro
verbial, and has its parallel in the Arabic,
(w^Js^ Jl. c.\ii l^ LJ-'i^y There is
not in the city a caller, nor is there
a respender. Life of Tiraur, quoted
by Gesenius in his Thesaur. p. 1004.
Turkish, JjjJ h-'^^r" C^ ^.J^ (**.
both the watcher, and the answerer. The
meaningis, tbat none should beleft alive;
all should be cut off. Gesenius thinks
that the reference is probably to the
Levites who kept watch in the temple
by night, and who called and responded
to each other at certain intervals ; but
tbe raention that is raade of " the tents
of Jacob" iramediately after, shows that
the words are not to be thus restricted.
3? is the participle of 311?, to wake, be
awake. 13. n'lili is to be taken strictly in the
sense of a second time. Measures had
been adopted to cure the evil in the time
of Ezra, chap, ix. x. ; but the Jews had
relapsed into the same sin of marrying
foreign wives in that of Neheraiah,
and it is this latter which the prophet

here reproves. Neh. xiii. 23 — 31, The
language iraplies an aggravation of the
offence. The crying and weeping were
those of the Jewish wives who had been
repudiated by their husbands,
14, The legitimate marriages had
been contracted with special appeal to
Jehovah as witness of the transaction.
The phrase fpiwi n^N, the wife of thy
youth, has reference to the early mar
riages araongthe Hebrews, In Poland,
at the present day, they marry at the
age of thirteen and fourteen, and the
feraales still younger,
15, 16. Michaelis, Hitzig, Maurer,
and Hengstenberg, concur in tbe opinion
expressed in tbe Targum, and adopted
by most of the Rabbins, that by 3nN,
ene, and 3nNn, the one, Abraham is in
tended ; and raaintain, tbat what is here
stated, was designed to repel an objec
tion raised by the priests, viz. that
Abraham took an Egyptian female in
addition to Sarah, The prophet, ac
cording to thera, adraits the fact, but
denies the consequence, by showing
that Abrahara still retained the Spirit of
God,'because his object in contracting
tbis alliance was to obtain the seed
which God had promised hira, and not
to gratify carnal passion, to which the
evil here condemned was to be traced,
Ewald refers 3nN, one, to God, consider
ing the term to be used here in the same
sense as in ver, 10, but he fails in giving

CHAP,

II.]

MALACHI.

455

And why the one .?
That he might seek a godly seed :
Therefore take heed to your spirit.
That none act unfaithfully to the wife of his youth,
16 For I hate divorce, saith Jehovah, the God of Israel,
And for a man to cover over his garment with violence,
Saith Jehovah of hosts ;
Therefore take heed to your spirit,
That ye act not unfaithfully,
17 Ye have wearied Jehovah with your words.
Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him ?
In yom- saying, Every one that doeth evil
Is good in the sight of Jehovah, and he delighteth in them ;
Or, Where is the God of justice .''

a satisfactory explanation ofthe passage.
Nor does the other interpretation at aU
do justice to its clairas ; so that we are
shut up to the conclusion, that by TtJNi?,
the one, we are to understand nnN 3ta,
the one flesh, or conjugal body into
which the first couple were formed.
Gen. ii. Instead of forming only two
into one, the Creator might have given
to Adam many wives. There was no
lack of sphitual existence from which to
furnish them with intelligent souls.
When he gave to Eve such an exist
ence, he did not exhaust the immense
fountain of being. There remained all
with which the human race hath been
furnished throughout its generations.
What then, the prophet asks, was the
design of the restriction? to this he
replies, the securing of a pious offspring.
Divorces and polygamy have ever been
unfavourable to the education of chil
dren. It is only by tbe harraonious
and loving attention bestowed by parents
upon their children, that they can be
expected to be brought up in the fear
of God, The reply bore hard upon the
priests who had married idolatrous wives.

In such a connexion there was every
thing to counteract and destroy the
interests of piety,
16. Nito should be pointed Niia, with
the personal pronoun '3N understood.
By l!5l3b, garment, it is now generally ad
mitted we are to understand the wife,
who had the most glaring injustice done
to her by giving her a divorce, or by
taking one or more in addition to her.
Thus the Arab, ijuA, texit, induit ;
(M.U], vestimentum, " conjux tum mulier
viri, tum vir mulieris, quod sibi invicem
pro tegumento sunt," Freytag. Accord
ingly we read in the Koran, Sur, 183,
respecting the wives : jJ] LJ^ <.i*
ment, and you are theirs. In the eccle
siastical language of the East, matri
mony was called to Bvrjrdv Kal hovXiKov
tpdnov. 17, The old objection taken against
the providence of God from the afflic
tions of the righteous, and the prosperity
of the wicked.

456

MALACHI.

[chap. Ill,

CHAPTER IIL
This chapter commences with a lucid prophecy of John the Baptist, as the fore
runner of the Messiah, and of the Messiah himself, who was, as he had long
been, the object of delightful expectation to the Jews, 1. The aspect of his
advent in regard to the wicked, and especially to the ungodly priesthood, is next
introduced, together with tbe severe judgraents that were to be brought upon
the nation, 2 — 6. The people are then reproved for having withheld the legal
tithes and offerings, and are proraised a profusion of blessings in case of repent
ance, 7 — 12. To the infidel objection that there is no utility in religion, seeing
the wicked prosper, while the godly are oppressed, the prophet replies by point
ing to the day of retribution, when all should be treated according to their cha
racter, which would then be fully disclosed, 13 — 18,

1 Behold ! I will send my messenger.
And he shall prepare the way before me,
And suddenly there shall come to his temple
The Lord whom ye seek,

1, That by '3Nbn, my messenger, we
are to understand John the Baptist, is
placed beyond dispute by the appro
priation of the words of the prophecy
to bim, Mark i, 1, Corap, Is, xl. 3,
Hengstenberg strangely gives in to the
notion of Eichhorn and Theiner, tbat
the collective body of the prophets is
intended, though he thinks that tbe idea
of the messenger chiefly concentrates in
John, Not one of his five reasons is at
all satisfactory. The office of this mes
senger is described as preparing tbe way
for the Messiah. The language is bor
rowed frora the custora of sending pio
neers before an Eastern raonarch, to cut
through rocks and forests, and reraove
every impediment that might obstruct
his course, niB, which in Kal is never
transitive, signifies in Piel to clear, clear

away, put in order, prepare. This John
did by preaching repentance, and an
nouncing the near approach of the
kingdom of God, Corap. chap. iv. 5.
In tbis prophecy of the Messiah are
three palpable and incontrovertible
proofs of his divinity. First, he is iden
tified with Jehovah: "he shall prepare
the way before me" — " saith Jehovah,"
Secondly, He is represented as tbe Pro
prietor of the teraple. Thirdly, He is
characterised as li3Nn, The Sovereign,
a title nowhere given in this form to any
except Jehovah, In its anarthrous state
the noun ]i3N is applicable to any owner,
possessor, or ruler, and it is applied
in the construct state to Jehovah as
yiNn-bs ]i3N, the Possessor ef the whole
earth. Josh, iii, 11, 13; but when it
takes the article, as here, it is used Kar

CHAP.

UI,]

MALACHI.

457

Even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom ye delight,
Behold ! he shall come, saith Jehovah of hosts.
But who may endure the day of his coming ?
And who may stand when he appeareth .''
For he is like the fire of the refiner.
And like the soap of the fullers ;

Ihx^", and exclusively, of the Divine
Being. See Exod, xxiii. 17, xxxiv. 23 ;
Is. i. 24, iii, 1, x, 16, 33, xix. 4, See
Dr. J, Pye Smith's Messiah, vol. i. pp,
442 — 444, Abenezra thus explains the
term, and identifies the Sovereign Lord
with the angel spoken of iramediately
after: '3 n'33n -pbD Nin Ti33n Nin -(rtfin
bto DSBn, The Lord is both ihe Divine
Majesty, and the Angel of the Covenant,
for the sentence is doubled. It is like
wise admitted in Masbmiah Jeshua,
fol, 76, miBon -|bQ bs? ;i3Nn ensb 3iddn,
The Lord may be explained of the King
Messiah; and Kimchi not only, with
Abenezra, identifies tbe Lord and the
Angel, but applies both to the Messiah :
n'Tin -pba N'.m rraon -jba Nin p3Nn, The
Lord is the King Messiah, he is also ihe
Angel of the Covenant; though, in order
to elude the Christian application of the
passage, he suggests another interpre
tation, according to which Elijah is
meant. It has been questioned, whether
the phrase nnsn ';[Nbn, the Messenger of
the Covenant, is to be viewed retrospec
tively or prospectively ; in other words,
whether it be the Old or the New Cove
nant to which reference is made. Con
sidering the fact, that in sucb parallel
forms as Tn-i-n nrnb, the tables of the
covenant, n'-iOT ]i3i^, the ark of the cove
nant, rrart 3pp, the beok of the covenant,
"I?!? o-^_, the blood ef the covenant, Szc,
the ancient dispensation which Jehovah
granted to the Hebrews at Sinai is in
tended, it would seem natural to infer
that n'W '^N^ is to be understood in the
same way. This view of the subject
would seem to be corroborated by the
circumstances, that a l]Nbp, Angel or
Messenger, who is said to possess the
Divine narae, i. e. whatever is distinctive
of Deity, is frequently spoken of under
that economy ; that He is represented
as leading tlie Israelites out of Egypt,
giving thera the law, and superintending

the whole of the theocracy. All the
theophanies or manifestations of the
invisible Deity were raade in his Person,
He was the proper nuncius sent to
reveal the will of the Father, Moses
was only a Bepdnav, 33», or servant em
ployed by him, while he was God mani
fested in glory. I can put no other con
sistent construction upon such passages
as the following : Gen, xlviii, 15, 16 ;
Exod, iii. 2 — 15, xxiii. 20, 21 ; Is. Ixiii,
9 ; Zech, i, ii, iii, vi, ; Acts vii, 38 ;
Heb. xi, 26, xii. 26. In strict consis
tency with the representations of Scrip
ture, therefore, the Messiah may be
called the Messenger of that ancient
economy of which he was the Founder
and Head, Most interpreters, however,
understand the New Covenant, or the
dispensation of grace, with special refer
ence to Heb, ix, 15, where our Saviour
is called hiaBj^Ktjs Katv^s peatrrjs, the
Mediator of the New Covenant; among
others, Grotius, Rosenmiiller, and Ge
senius, The Jews may be said to have
sought and delighted in the Messiah,
because he was the object of national
expectation and desire, though the great
body of thera forraed no higher concep
tion of him than that of an earthly mon
arch, under whose reign they should
enjoy a profusion of temporal blessings.
When it is declared that he should come
"suddenly" to his teraple, it is not im
plied that he was to come in or near the
times of the prophet, but merely tbat
his coming would be sudden and unex
pected in the circumstances under which
it took place,
2 — 4. Eraploying a strong raetallurgic
raetapbor, the prophet shows that the
office of the Covenant Messenger would
be very diffgrent from that which the
carnal Jews expected. Instead of flat
tering their prejudices, and gratifying
tbeir wishes, he would, by his pure and
heart-searching doctrines, subject their
3n

458 MALACHL [chap, hi,
3 And he shall sit, refining and purifying the silver ;
He shall purify the sons of Levi,
And refine them like gold and like silver,
That they may present to Jehovah an offering in righteousness.
4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
Be pleasing to Jehovah,
As in the days of old.
And as in the former years.
5 But I will draw nigh to you for judgment,
And will be a swift witness
Against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers,
And against those who swear to a falsehood.
And against those who wrest the wages of the hireling,
The widow and the orphan,
Who turn aside the stranger as to his right,
And fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts.
6 Because I am Jehovah, I change not ;
Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
7 Even from the days of your fathers
Ye have departed from my statutes, and have not kept them ;
Return to me, and I will return to you,
Saith Jehovah of hosts.
But ye say, Wherewith shall we return .''

principles and conduct to the severest to be executed upon theni. Magic
test. Those of the priests should spe- greatly prevailed araong tbe Jews after
cially be tried. The object he was to the captivity, as did also the other
have in view in this trial, was their puri- crimes bere specified. How rauch they
fication, that they might serve him in obtained in the time of our Lord, we
righteousness. Matt. iii. 12 ; Johnxv. 3, learn frora the Evangelists and Josephus.
And such was the result with respect The prophet traces them all back to
to many of them. " A great company their true source — absence of the fear
of the priests were obedient to tbe faith," of God. After D'S3^33i, the phrase 'D'tj?
Acts vi. 7. Tbe influence of their con- is found in nineteen MSS., in some
version upon the people raust have been printed editions, and in the LXX., Syr.
very great, though we have no infer- Hexapl., and Arab.
mation respecting it in the Acts. Tbe 6, As the incommunicable name ni.n;,
religious services of the cburches com- Jehovah, implies a futurity of reference
posed of Jewish converts in Jerusalem with respect to the coraraunication of
and throughout Judea, are represented blessings, (see on Hos, xii, 5,) the
as peculiarly well-pleasing to God, For Divine irarautability secured the preser-
the raeaning of finpo, offering, as here vation of the Jewish people frora de-
used, corap. chap. i. 10, 11. struction, notwithstanding their flagrant
5. Malachi bere returns to his own wickedness, till he had accoraplished all
tiraes, and threatens his ungodly con tera- his purposes of mercy,
poraries with divine judgment, speedily 7, 'The b in 'O'pb is prosthetic, with

CHAP, III.] MALACHI. 459
8 Will a man defraud God ?
Yet ye have defrauded me.
But ye say, Wherein have we defrauded thee ?
In the tithes and the oblations.
9 Ye are cursed with the curse ;
For ye — the whole nation — have defrauded me.
10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be meat in my house.
And try me now with this, saith Jehovah of hosts,
Whether I will not open for you the windows of heaven,
And pour out a blessing for you,
Till there shall be a superabundance.
1] And I will rebuke the devourer for your sake,
And he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground ;
Neither shall your vine in the field be unfruitful,
Saith Jehovah of hosts.
12 And all the nations shall pronounce you happy,
For ye shall be a delightful land,
Saith Jehovah of hosts,
13 Your words against me have been hard, saith Jehovah ;
But ye say, What have we spoken against thee ,''
14 Ye have said :
It is vain to serve God ;
And what profit is it that we keep his ordinance,
And that we walk nlournfully before Jehovah of hosts ?
15 For now we pronounce the proud happy ;
They also that work wickedness are built up ;
They even tempt God, yet they are delivered,
somewhat of its temporal signification, suflJciency can have no more place,
There was still mercy in store for the more than sufficient, superabundantly,
Jews, if they only would repent. To this effect Jerome, Winer, De Wette,
8, Mp,, which occurs only in our Hitzig, and Maurer,
prophet, and in Prov, xxii, 23, signifies 11, By the bsVs, devourer, noxious
to cover, do anything covertly, defraud, aniraals and insects are meant, especially
r„~ .LAI. •• .7-. >•: the locusts, bsiii properiy signifies to
Comp, the Arab, ^, retrahit. ^J, ^^^^^ abortion, render childless, and
occultus. metaphorically, to raake barren or un-
9, Co'mp. chap. ii. 2, fruitful, when spoken of trees,
10. 'T-bns, usque ad defectum suffi- 13-15. pin signifies to ijnd/asi, ma/ce
cientice, i. e. not as Gesenius explains it, flrm, and, m a bad sense, to be hard,
till my abundance be exhausted, which obstinate, or the like, bueh was the
being impossible, the phrase is equiva- language of the Jews against Jehovah.
lent to, for ever, without end; but where Comp. Jude lb,nept navrav TavaKXrjpav

480

MALACHI,

[chap. III.

16 Then they that feared Jehovah
Conversed one with another ;
And Jehovah hearkened, and heard,
And a book of remembrance was written before him,
For those that feared Jehovah,
And that thought upon his name.
17 And they shall be a peculiar treasure to me, saith Jehovah of hosts,
In the day which I have appointed ;
And I will be kind to them
As a father is kind to his son who serveth him.
18 Then shall ye again perceive the difference
Between the righteous and the wicked,

dv eXdXrjaav kot' avrov. Some awful
specimens of their hard speeches are
here exhibited, in which the usual
objection against the rectitude of Pro
vidence is dressed up in sorae of its
more taking forras. Corap. Job xxi.
14, 15 ; Ps. Ixxiii. 1 — 14. ira is here
used like nB3 in the bad sense of terapting,
or braving the Most High by presurap-
tuous speeches and conduct. The walk
ing mournfully has reference to their
going about in sackcloth and ashes,
pretending to sorrow on account of their
sins. 33ii, te be dirty, to go about in
filthy garments, like persons who mourn ;
such being universally tbe custora in
the East,
16. IN, then, specially raarks the time
in whicii the impious conversations were
being held. Here 133"13 beautifully con
trasts with the same term in the thirteenth
verse. The verb is in Niphal, to express
the reciprocal or conversational character
of the language. As the ungodly did
not confine their hard speeches to the
mere utterance of thera to such in
dividuals as they might happen to raeet,
but raade .their infidel objections tbe
subject of mutual discussion, so the
pious are here represented as holding
mutual converse respecting the interests
of truth and godliness. It does not
appear that Niphal ever has the fre
quentative signification, expressed in
our coraraon version. The writing of a
book of reraerabrance is a metaphor
borrowed from the custom at tbe Persian
court of entering in a record the names

of any who have rendered service to the
king, with an account of the nature of
such service. See Esther vi. 1, 2.
17. nbip is to be construed with 'bTn\
and TWS is connected by means of 3\liN
with C3i'. The phrase Di' niB», to make a
day, which occurs chap. iv. 3 ; Ps,
cxviii. 24, raeans to fix, ordain, appoint,
such a period for the execution of a
special purpose. ^|.ip, signifies private,
special, or peculiar property. biD, like
the kindred root 3313, has the priraary
signification of shutting up, closing, and
then, secondarily, that of getting, or
acquiring, what is shut up, in order to
its being carefully preserved. Hence
the idea of what is peculiarly valuable
or precious. The terra is applied to the
people of Israel, Exod. xix. 5 ; Deut.
vii. 6, xiv. 2, xxvi. 18. It is used of
the choice treasure of kings, &c., Eccles,
ii. 8. It is expressive of tbe high estima
tion in which God holds his people, and,
in this connexion, of their perfect safety
in the dayof judgment.
18, 31113 is used idioraatically in con
nexion with nN3 to express the repeti
tion of the action, the idea of which is
conveyed by the latter verb. Notwith
standing the charge brought by the
wicked against the providence of God,
as if he treated all alike, the righteous
had already had opportunities of per
ceiving, frora observation and experience,
that the position was false, viewed in
application to the entire state and cir
curastances of the different characters ;
but they should have another and most

chap. it.J malachi. 4C1
Between him that serveth God,
And him that serveth him not.
convincing proof in the salvation of all the overthrow and destruction of his
who loved and feared the Lord, and in enemies.

CHAPTER IV.
Most editions of the Hebrew Bible, and most of the MSS., exhibit this concluding
portion of the book as a continuation of the third chapter. Not a few MSS.,
however, leave a blank space before it, and several editions make a separate
chapter of it. As this division obtains in all the versions, it is more con
venient to retain it.
The chapter continues the threatenings against the Jewish unbelievers, 1 ; exhibits
a luminous prophecy of the Messiah, and the prosperity of his people, 2, 3 ; and
concludes with a solemn call to the Jews, to observe the institutes of the old
economy, till the forerunner of the Messiah should appear, when the Jewish
polity should be destroyed, and a new and better dispensation established, 4 — 6.

1 For, behold ! the day cometh, it shall burn as an oven.
And all the proud, and every one that doeth wickedly, shall be
stubble,
And the day that cometh shall burn them up,
Saith Jehovah of hosts ;
That it may not leave them either root or branch.
2 But unto you that fear my name,
The Sun of righteousness shall arise,
And there shall be healing in his wings ;
And ye shall go forth and leap as calves of the stall.
1. Instead of nyah rra)», nearly eighty which meets the huraan eye. It is with
MSS., the most ancient and.several good reason supposed to be thus used
other editions, the Babylon. Talmud, tbe of the Messiah in the declararion, 2 Sam,
LXX, Syr., and Targ., read nsicn. 'im? xxiu.- 4:
in the plurab The phrase n;?! ^J'^. sio^niv 3i3niN3i,
root or brancli, is proverbial, and sig- „ ^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^_^^^; ^^,^ ,^^
mfies any, the least remnant. _ The arise— a Sun."
persons referred to were to be consigned
to utter destruction. The Targum has In the present verse there can be no
33 33133, son arson's son. do"^' with respect to the application.
2 The term nJoiiS, Sun, is metapho- Our Lord is elsewhere called 3in, Light,
rically applied to God, Ps. Ixxxiv. 11, which in Hebrew poetry is used of the
on account of that luminary being the sun, as the source of light. See Is.
most glorious and beneficent object ix. 1, xhx. 6 ; John i. 9, Viii, 12, What

4G2

MALACHL

[chap. iv.

And ye shall tread down the wicked ;
Surely they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet.
In the day which I have appointed, saith Jehovah of hosts.
Remember ye the law of Moses my servant,
Which I gave him in charge in Horeb for all Israel,
The statutes and the judgments.
Behold ! I will send to you Elijah the prophet.

the sun is to the natural world, that the
Messiah is to the raoral. The invaluable
spiritual blessings which he dispenses
are all coraprehended under the two
heads bere specified — righteousness and
raoral health, Corap. Is. Ivii. 19, Both
of these are indispensably requisite to
the happiness of our guilty and depraved
race, and frora no otber quarter can
they be obtained, than from Him, " who
of God is raade unto us wisdom, and
righteousness, and sanctification, and
redemption." lCor.i.30. By "wings"
we are to understand the beams of the
sun, on account of tbe velocity and
expansion with which they spread over
the earth. Corap. Ps. cxxxix. 9. Those
for whose immediate benefit the Sun of
righteousness was to arise, were such
as " feared the narae " of Jehovah^ike
Simeon, who was h'tKaios Kal evXa^rjs,
righteous and devout, waiting for the
consolation of Israel. Luke ii. 25. NS;,
to go forth, is here used in the sense of
escaping from the judgment to be inflicted
upon the unbelieving part ofthe Jewish
nation. This the Jewish Christians did
when they left Jerusalem, and proceeded
to Pella, where tbey were preserved in
safety, iiSiB, signifies to spread, take a
wide range, and is used of tbe proud
prancing of horses, and as here of the
leaping and sporting of calves. The
simile is designed to convey the ideas of
freedora frora outward restraint, and tbe
enjoyment of self-conscious hilarity.
3. This verse expresses the depressed
condition to which the Jews were to be
reduced after tbe destruction of their
polity, contrasted with the prosperous
condition of those who erabraced Chris
tianity, and who were no longer subject
to oppression on the part of their un
believing brethren.
4. As the law and tbe prophets were
to remain in force till the appearance of
John the Baptist, no prophet intervening

afler Malachi to make any further cora
raunications of the Divine will, it was
necessary to pay the closest attention to
the enactments and observances of the
Mosaic insritute. That there were no
raore inspired raessengers under the Old
Economy may be inferred, not only from
the nature of the injunction here given,
especially as taken in connexion with
the proraise of a new messenger in the
following verse, but also from Eccle
siasticus xlix. 10, where, after raen
tioning Jereraiah and Ezekiel, the author
closes with rdv hdheKa npocprjrdv, ihe
twelve prophets, as the last in the cate
gory, 5, The coherence of this verse with
the first clause of chap. iii. is too palpable
to be overlooked. Accordingly, the Jews
in the time of Jerome interpreted the
messenger of Jeliovah there predicted,
of Elijah the Tishbite, as tbey explain
the present verse to this day, believing,
that as the ancient prophet ascended. into
heaven both as to body and soul, he is
destined to reappear in the same upon
earth before the advent of Messiah the
Son of David, That Elijah here pre
sented to view is to be understood ideally
and not historically, and that the indivi
dual personally intended is John the
Baptist, are positions the certainty of
which is rendered indubitable by tbe
repeateddeclarationsof our Lord. When
John denied that he was Elias, John
i, 21, he is to be understood as making
the denial in reference to the personal
sense of the term as employed in the
question that had been proposed to him,
'i'he bistorical theory is entirely set aside
by the express testimony of the angel,
Luke i. 17, according to whicii all that
is meant by Malachi is, that tbe fore
runner of the Messiah was to corae " in
the spirit and power of Elias." Like
that prophet, he was to be endowed witli
extraordinary power and energy, to fit

chap, IV,J

MALACHI,

463

Before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come :
6 And he shall turn the heart ofthe fathers to the children,
And the heart of the children to the fathers,
Lest I come and smite the land with a curse.

him for the great work of reformation
which his ministry was designed to effect.
Adverting to the erroneous Jewish notion,
which even then obtained, relative to the
appearance of Elijali in person, our Lord
says of John, " If ye will receive it,
avrds iartv 'HXi'as o ptKXav epx^aBai,
he is Elias whowas te ceme," Matt, xi. 1 7.
And when tbe disciples asked him,
" Why do the Scribes then say tbat Elias
must first come ? he replied, Elias shall,
indeed, first come and restore all things.
But I say unto you that 'HXi'as ^'87
rj\6e, Elias is already come, and they
knew him not, but have done unto hira
whatsoever they listed," Matt. xvii.
10 — 13. Upon the circurastance that
our Lord uses tbe future tense, epxerai,
shail come, some Christian interpreters
have attempted to establish the hypo
thesis, that the prophecy is still to be
fulfilled before his second advent ; but
he is obviously speaking in the style of
language employed by the prophet, to
whom the event was future, and in adap
tation to the opinion of the Scribes,
though he iraraediately corrects what
was erroneous in their notion, declaring
that the event was no longer future, but
bad actually taken place in the person
and ministry of John. It is truly sur
prising that any should persist in giving
to the prophecy an aspect still future, in
the very face of an exposition at once
positive and infallible. That John the
Baptist was N'33, a prophet, Christ admits,
though he at the same time declares, that
he was " more than a prophet," Matt,
xi, 9. The " great and terrible day of
Jehovah" was the dreadful period of bis
judgment, effecting the destruction of Je
msalem by the Roraans, Comp, Joelii, 31,
6, The design of the ministry of John
is described as consisting in the produc
tion of universal peace and concord.
Family feuds had increased to an enor
mous extent by the time of John the
Baptist, the removal of which by genuine
repentance and reformation of conduct

might be taken as a specimen of the
dnoKardaTaais, or restoration of things
to a better state throughout Judea, Sorae
have proposed to take the preposition
b?, to, as equivalent to t3?, with, a signifi
cation which it sometiraes bas, and so to
explain the passage as simply predicting
tbe universality of the conversion spoken
of; but such an interpretation would
introduce an intolerable tautology into
the language of the prophet, and be at
variance with the construction put upon
it by the angel, Luke i. 17, in which
only one member of the sentence is
quoted. With respect to the extent of
the effects produced by John's ministry,
there can be no doubt it was very great.
Not only did immense multitudes come
to bis baptisra, confessing their sins, but
the great body of tbe common people
appear to have been prepared hy him
for the labours of our blessed Lord him
self, and thus the foundation was laid
for tbe recovery of tens of thousands
from Judaism to the faith of the gospel,
previous to the destruction of Jerusalem,
See Acts xxi, 20,
The prophecy, and with it the entire
Old Testaraent, closes with the awful
alternative — tbe denunciation of the
Divine curse, to be realized in the ex
termination of the impenitent Jews from
their own land, oy^ signifies utter de
struction, from D^n, to shut or stop up,
exclude frora coraraon use, place under
a ban, devote to destruction. It is one
of the raost fearful words in use araong
the Jews, and was specially applied to
the exterraination of the Canaanites,
whose cities were razed to the founda
tions, and their inhabitants utterly de
stroyed. Under this ban, the land of
Palestine has lain ever since the capture
of Jerusalem ; and the sufferings to
which, in consequence, the Jews have
been subjected are truly appalling ; but
incomparably raore dreadful is the New
Testament t33n_ ANAeEMA, MAPAN
AeA! 1 Cor. xvi. 22,

THE TND,

Recently published ly tlie Author,
In 1 Vol. 8vo, price 16s. Cloth,
THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH,
TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL HEBREW ;
WITH A COMMENTARY, CRITICAL, PHILOLOGICAL, AND EXEGETICAL;
TO WHICH IS PREFIXED,
AN INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION
On the Life and Times of the Prophet; the Character of his Style; the Authenticity
and Integrity of the Book ; and the Principles of Prophetical Interpretation.

CRITICAL NOTICES.
" The following is the plan adopted by our Author in the execution of his arduous undertaking. Having
aimed to fix the sacred text, he then proceeds to clear up philological and other difficulties, to mark
the peculiarities ofthe style, to trace the logical connexion, to catch the spirit and meaning of the
Prophet, and to express that meaning in language true to the original, yet not ungrateful to an En
glish ear. In this noble attempt he appears to us eminently to have succeeded; and all who wish
thoroughly to enter into the beauties of the Prophet's style, must henceforth consult Dr. Henderson's
work." — Chu-rchman.
" It is not too much to say, that this Commentary on Isaiah is the best, the most learned, and the
most satisfactory illustration ofthe prophetic text that exists in our language." — Briiish Magazine*.
" The Notes are ample, elaborate, skilful, profound ,- exhibiting treasures of information as unusual
as they are welcome to the scholar." — Christia-n Examiner,
" We lacked a work which should, within a moderate compass, interpret the evangelical Prophet
with a degree of learning equal to the magnitude of the task, and a devoutness caught from the
spirit of the sacred original. This great desideratum is supplied in the book before us." — Scottibh
Co-ngregaiional Magazine.

In 1 Vol. Post Svo, price Qs. Cloth,
THE VAUDOIS:
COMPRISING OBSERVATIONS MADE DURING A TOUR TO THE VALLEYS OF
PIEDMONT IN THE SUMMER OF 1844 :
Together with Eemarks, Introductory and Interspersed, respecting the Origin, History,
and Present Condition of that Interesting People.

CRITICAL NOTICES.
" The present is a volume of remarkable interest, abounding with fact, incident, and judicious obser
vation, and setting forth comprehensive sketches of the origin, history, and present condition ofthe
remarkable people in whose welfare the writer has taken so deep an interest. The work will, we are
satisfied, prove a very general favourite with all sections ofthe Church of Christ." — Christian Witness.
" The work before us is very pleasingly written, and has the advantage of bringing down accurate
information respecting the Vaudois to the latest period  The interesting details are rendered
doubly clear by two nicely-executed Maps of the Valleys and the Doctor's route." — Christian's Mon fhl-g
Magazine. " This is a very interesting volume on a very interesting subject. It is one of the books whicii we
cannot, without reluctance, lay down until we have finished its perusal." — Christian Examiner.
" No pious person can fail to find this a spirit-stirring volume." — Evangelical Magazine.

Li. CLAY, rXlINTEB, BREAD STRliJ;,T HILL.

3956