[1173]Chénier,Recherches Historiques sur les Maures, III., p. 496.[1174]Burckhardt,Notes, II. 90.[1175]Barrow,South Africa, p. 257.[1176]Journ. of Sac. Lit., October 1865.[1177]Lichtenstein,Travels in South Africa.[1178]Standard, December 25th, 1896.[1179]Fr. Alvarez.[1180]Barheb.,Chron. Syr., p. 784; Burckhardt,Notes, II. 90.[1181]i. 20, 17.[1182]i. 19.[1183]i. 5.[1184]Cf. i. 12, 13, and many verses in chap. ii.[1185]Of Merx and others: see above, p.394.[1186]See above, p.377.[1187]See Vol. I., pp.242,245f.[1188]Jer. xiv.[1189]Cf. Ezek. xlvi. 15 on the Thamid, and Neh. x. 33; Dan. viii. 11, xi. 31, xii. 11: cf. p.382.[1190]Acts xxvi. 7.[1191]XIV.Antt.iv. 3, xvi. 2; VI.Warsii. 1.[1192]i. 9, 13.[1193]i. 16.[1194]ii. 14.[1195]i. 8, 13.[1196]ii. 12.[1197]LXX. Βαθουήλ[1198]See above, pp.399f.[1199]חסילfromחסל, used in the O.T. only in Deut. xxviii. 38,to devour; but in post-biblical Hebrewto utterly destroy,bring to an end.Talmud Jerus.: Taanith III. 66d, “Why is the locust calledחסיל? Because it brings everything to an end.”[1200]A.V.cheek-teeth, R.V.jaw-teeth, oreye-teeth. “Possibly (from the Arabic)projectors”: Driver.[1201]Heb. text insertselders, which may be taken as vocative, or with the LXX. as accusative, but after the latter we should expectand. Wellhausen suggests its deletion, and Nowack regards it as an intrusion. ForאספוWellhausen readsהאספו,be ye gathered.[1202]Keshōdh mishshaddhai (Isa. xiii. 6); Driver,as overpowering from the Overpowerer.[1203]A.V.clods.מגרפותיהם: the meaning is doubtful, but the corresponding Arabic word meansbesomorshovelor (P.E.F.Q., 1891, p. 111, with plate)hoe, and the Aram.shovel. See Driver’s note.[1204]Reading, after the LXX. τί ἀποθήσομεν ἑαυτοῖς (probably an error for ἐν αὐτοῖς),מה נניחה בהםfor the Massoreticמה נאנחה בהמהHow the beasts sob!to which A.V. and Driver adhere.[1205]Lit.press themselvesin perplexity.[1206]Reading, with Wellhausen and Nowack (“perhaps rightly,” Driver)נשמוforנאשמו,are guiltyorpunished.[1207]מדבר, usually renderedwildernessordesert, but literallyplace where the sheep are driven, land not cultivated. SeeHist. Geog., p. 656.[1208]See on Amos iii. 6: Vol. I., p.82.[1209]Zeph. i. 15. See above, p.58.[1210]פרשׂin Qalto spread abroad, but the passive is here to be taken in the same sense as the Ni. in Ezek. xvii. 21,dispersed. The figure is of dawn crushed by and struggling with a mass of cloud and mist, and expresses the gleams of white which so often break through a locust cloud. See above, p.404.[1211]So travellers have described the effect of locusts. See above, p.403.[1212]Ezek. xxxvi. 35.[1213]Heb.in his own ways.[1214]יעבטון, an impossible metaphor, so that most readיעבתון, a root found only in Micah vii. 3 (see Vol. I., p.428),to twistortangle; but Wellhausen readsיְעַוְּתוּן,twist, Eccles. vii. 13.[1215]Heb.highroad, as if defined and heaped up for him alone.[1216]See above, p.401.[1217]Zeph. i. 14; “Mal.” iii. 2.[1218]So (and notelders) in contrast to children.[1219]Canopyorpavilion, bridal tent.[1220]למשל בם, which may mean eitherrule over themormock them, but the parallelism decides for the latter.[1221]A.V., adhering to the Massoretic text, in which the verbs are pointed for the past, has evidently understood them as instances of the prophetic perfect. But “this is grammatically indefensible”: Driver,in loco; see hisHeb. Tenses, § 82,Obs.Calvin and others, who take the verbs of ver. 18 as future, accept those of the next verse as past and with it begin the narrative. But if God’s answer to His people’s prayer be in the past, so must His jealousy and pity. All these verbs are in the same sequence of time. Merx proposes to change the vowel-points of the verbs and turn them into futures. But see above, p.395. ver. 21 shows that Jehovah’s action is past, and Nowack points out the very unusual character of the construction that would follow from Merx’s emendation. Ewald, Hitzig, Kuenen, Robertson Smith, Davidson, Robertson, Steiner, Wellhausen, Driver, Nowack, etc., all take the verbs in the past.[1222]This is scarcely a name for the locusts, who, though they might reach Palestine from the N.E. under certain circumstances, came generally from E. and S.E. But see above, p.397: so Kuenen, Wellhausen, Nowack. W. R. Smith suggests the whole verse as an allegorising gloss. Hitzig thought of the locusts only, and renderedהצפוניὁ τυφωνικός, Acts xxvii. 14; but this is not proved.[1223]I.e.the Dead Sea (Ezek. xlvii. 18; Zech. xiv. 8) and the Mediterranean.[1224]The construction shows that the clause preceding this,ועלה באשו, is a gloss. So Driver. But Nowack gives the other clause as the gloss.[1225]Nah. iii. 17; Exod. x. 19.[1226]De Civitate Dei, III. 31.[1227]I. 278, quoted by Pusey.[1228]i. 17–20: see above, p.403.[1229]Prophetic past: Driver.[1230]Opinion is divided as to the meaning of this phrase:לצדקה=for righteousness. A. There are those who take it as having amoralreference; and (1) this is so emphatic to some that they render the word forearly rain,מורה, which also meansteacherorrevealer, in the latter significance. So (some of them applying it to the Messiah) Targum, Symmachus, the Vulgate,doctorem justitiæ, some Jews,e.g.Rashi and Abarbanel, and some moderns,e.g.(at opposite extremes) Pusey and Merx. But, as Calvin points out (this is another instance of his sanity as an exegete, and refusal to be led by theological presuppositions: he says, “I do not love strained expositions”), this does not agree with the context, which speaks not of spiritual but wholly of physical blessings. (2) Some, who takeמורהasearly rain, giveלצדקהthe meaningfor righteousness,ad justitiam, either in the sense that God will give the rain as a token of His own righteousness, or in order to restore or vindicate the people’s righteousness (so Davidson,Expositor, 1888, I., p. 203, n.), in the frequent sense in whichצדקהis employed in Isa. xl. ff. (seeIsaiah xl.—lxvi., Expositor’s Bible, pp.219ff.). Cf. Hosea x. 13,צדק; above, Vol. I., p. 289, n.611. This of course is possible, especially in view of Israel having been made by their plagues a reproach among the heathen. Still, if Joel had intended this meaning, he would have applied the phrase, not to theearly rainonly, but to the whole series of blessings by which the people were restored to their standing before God. B. It seems, therefore, right to takeלצדקהin a purely physical sense, of the measure or quality of theearly rain. So even Calvin,rain according to what is justorfit; A.V.moderately(inexact); R.V.in just measure; Siegfried-Stadesufficient. The root-meaning ofצדקis probablyaccording to norm(cf.Isaiah xl.—lxvi., p. 215), and in that case the meaning would berain of normal quantity. This too suits the parallel in the next clause:as formerly. In Himyaritic the word is applied to good harvests. A man prays to God forאפקל ואתֹמר צדקם,fullorgood harvests and fruits:Corp. Inscr. Sem., Pars Quarta, Tomus I., No. 2, lin. 1–5; cf. the note.[1231]Driver,in loco.[1232]Heb. also repeats hereearly rain, but redundantly.[1233]בראשון,in the first. A.V. addsmonth. But LXX. and Syr. readכראשננה, which is probably the correct reading,as beforeorformerly.[1234]i. 18.[1235]Above, p.189.[1236]Cf.Hist. Geog., Chap. XXI., especially p. 463.[1237]By Thorold Rogers, pp. 80 ff.[1238]E.g.the Quakers and the Independents. The Independents of the seventeenth century “were the founders of the Bank of England.”[1239]All living things, Gen. vi. 17, 19, etc.; mankind, Isa. xl. 5, xlix. 26. See Driver’s note.[1240]Next chapter.[1241]Acts x. 45.[1242]I am unable to feel Driver’s and Nowack’s arguments for a connection conclusive. The only reason Davidson gives is (p. 204) that the judgment of the heathen is an essential element in the Day of Jehovah, a reason which does not make Joel’s authorship of the last chapter certain, but only possible.[1243]The phrase of ver. 1,when I turn again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, may be renderedwhen I restore the fortunes of Israel.[1244]See above, p.386, especially n.1130.[1245]xxxviii.[1246]Some have unnecessarily thought of the Vale of Berakhah, in which Jehoshaphat defeated Moab, Ammon and Edom (2 Chron. xx.).[1247]See above, p. 381, nn.1114,1115.[1248]ver. 6b.[1249]Orturn again the fortunes.[1250]Jehovah-judges.See above, p.432.[1251]See above, Obadiah 11 and Nahum iii. 10.[1252]בזונה. Oort suggestsבמזון,for food.[1253]Gelilôth, the plural feminine of Galilee—thecircuit(of the Gentiles).Hist. Geog., p. 413.[1254]Scil.that I must repay.[1255]LXX.they shall give them into captivity.[1256]Technical use ofעלה,to go up to war.[1257]עושו, not found elsewhere, but supposed to meangather. Cf. Zeph. ii. 1. Others readחושו,hasten(Driver); Wellhausenעורו.[1258]מגּל, only here and in Jer. l. 16: other Heb. word for sickle ḥermesh (Deut. xvi. 9, xxiii. 26).[1259]Driver, future.[1260]Not the well-known scene of early Israel’s camp across Jordan, but it must be some dry and desert valley near Jerusalem (so most comm.). Nowack thinks of the Wadi el Sant on the way to Askalon, but this did not need watering and is called the Vale of Elah.[1261]Merx applies this to the Jews of the Messianic era. LXX. read ἐκζητήσω =ונקמתי. So Syr. Cf. 2 Kings ix. 7.Steiner:Shall I leave their blood unpunished? I will not leave it unpunished.Nowack deems this to be unlikely, and suggests,I will avenge their blood; I will not leave unpunishedthe shedders of it.[1262]Heb. construction is found also in Hosea xii. 5.[1263]Gen. x. 2, 4.יוןJavan, is Ιαϝων, or Ιαων, the older form of the name of the Ionians, the first of the Greek race with whom Eastern peoples came into contact. They are perhaps named on the Tell-el-Amarna tablets as “Yivana,” serving “in the country of Tyre” (c.1400B.C.); and on an inscription of Sargon (c.709) Cyprus is called Yâvanu.[1264]xxvii. 13.[1265]Isaiah xl.—lxvi.(Expositor’s Bible), p.108f.[1266]iii. 6 (Eng.; iv. 6 Heb.).[1267]The sense of distance between the two peoples was mutual. Writing in the middle of the fifth centuryB.C., Herodotus has heard of the Jews only as a people that practise circumcision and were defeated by Pharaoh Necho at Megiddo (II. 104, 159; on the latter passage seeHist. Geog., p. 405 n.). He does not even know them by name. The fragment of Chœrilos of Samos, from the end of the fifth century, which Josephus cites (Contra Apionem, I. 22) as a reference to the Jews, is probably of a people in Asia Minor. Even in the last half of the fourth century and before Alexander’s campaigns, Aristotle knows of the Dead Sea only by a vague report (Meteor., II. iii. 39). His pupil Theophrastus (d.287) names and describes the Jews (Porphyr.de Abstinentia, II. 26; Eusebius,Prepar. Evang., IX. 2: cf. Josephus,C. Apion., I. 22); and another pupil, Clearchus of Soli, records the mention by Aristotle of a travelled Jew of Cœle-Syria, but “Greek in soul as in tongue,” whom the great philosopher had met, and learned from him that the Jews were descended from the philosophers of India (quoted by Josephus,C. Apion., I. 22).[1268]Jos., XI.Antt.iv. 5.[1269]Hist. Geog., p. 347.[1270]Hist. Geog., pp. 593 f.[1271]See above, p. 440, n.1267.[1272]Hence the Seleucid era dates from 312.[1273]Hist. Geog., 538.[1274]Cf. Ewald,Hist.(Eng. Ed.), V. 226 f.[1275]Asshur or Assyria fell in 607 (as we have seen), but her name was transferred to her successor Babylon (2 Kings xxiii. 29; Jer. ii. 18; Lam. v. 6), and even to Babylon’s successor Persia (Ezra vi. 22). When Seleucus secured what was virtually the old Assyrian Empire with large extensions to Phrygia on the west and the Punjaub on the east, the name would naturally be continued to his dominion, especially as his first capital was Babylon, from his capture of which in 312 the Seleucid era took its start. There is actual record of this. Brugsch (Gesch. Aeg., p. 218) states that in the hieroglyphic inscriptions of the Ptolemæan period the kingdom of the Seleucids is called Asharu (cf. Stade,Z.A.T.W., 1882, p. 292, and Cheyne,Book of Psalms, p. 253, andIntrod. to Book of Isaiah, p. 107, n. 3). As the Seleucid kingdom shrank to this side of the Euphrates, it drew the name Assyria with it. But in Greek mouths this had long ago (cf. Herod.) been shortened to Syria: Herodotus also appears to have applied it only to the west of the Euphrates. Cf.Hist. Geog., pp. 3 f.[1276]XII.Antt.i.: cf.Con. Apion., I. 22.[1277]See above, p.442. Eusebius,Chron. Arm., II. 225, assigns it to 320.[1278]Cheyne,Introd. to Book of Isaiah, p. 105.[1279]Except in the passage ix. 10–12, which seems strangely out of place in the rest of ix.—xiv.[1280]Works, 4th ed. 1677, pp. 786 ff. (1632), 834. Mede died 1638.[1281]Matt. xxvii. 9.[1282]Demonstration of the Messias, 1700.[1283]An Attempt towards an Improved Version of the Twelve Minor Prophets, 1785 (not seen). See also Wright on Archbishop Seeker.[1284]Die Weissagungen, welche bei den Schriften des Proph. Sacharja beygebogen sind, übersetzt, etc., Hamburg (not seen).[1285]Einleitung in A. u. N. T.(not seen).[1286]Isa. viii. 2. See above, p.265.[1287]ix. 1.[1288]See above, Chap.XXXI.[1289]x. 10.[1290]ix. 10, 13, etc.[1291]Dan. u. Sacharja.[1292]Page 503.[1293]See Addenda, p.462.[1294]Einl.in the beginning of the century.[1295]Neue Exeg. krit. Aehrenlese z. A. T., 1864.[1296]Einl., 1882, p. 709.[1297]Z.A.T.W., 1881, 1882. See further proof of the late character of language and style, and of the unity, by Eckardt,Z.A.T.W., 1893, pp. 76 ff.[1298]§ 81, n. 3, 10. See p. 457, end of note1310.[1299]Jewish Quart. Review, 1889.[1300]Einl.⁴[1301]A. T. Litt.[1302]Untersuchung über die Komposition u. Abfassungszeit von Zach.9–14, etc. Halle, 1891 (not seen).[1303]1892: quoted by Wildeboer.[1304]1893: quoted by Wildeboer.[1305]Doctrine of the Prophets, 438 ff., in which the English reader will find a singularly lucid and fair treatment of the question. See, too, Wright.[1306]Page 472, Note A.[1307]Kautzsch—the Greek period.[1308]Above, pp.451f.[1309]Robinson, pp. 76 ff.[1310]Z.A.T.W., 1893, 76 ff. See also the summaries of linguistic evidence given by Robinson. Kuenen finds in ix.—xi. the following pre-exilic elements: ix. 1–5, 8–10, 13a(?); x. 1 f., 10 f.; xi. 4–14 or 17.[1311]Kuenen.[1312]See above, p. 453, n.1297.[1313]See also Robinson.[1314]Jewish Quarterly Review, 1889, p. 81.[1315]As Robinson,e.g., does.[1316]E.g.holy land, ii. 16, andMount of Olives, xiv. 4.[1317]Op. cit., 103–109: cf. Driver,Introd.⁶, 354.[1318]Introd.⁶, p. 354.[1319]ix. 13.[1320]ix. 1 f.[1321]x. 11. See above, p.451.[1322]See above, pp.331ff., for proof of the original anonymity of the Book of “Malachi.”[1323]Above, p.331.[1324]So Staerk, who thinks Amos I. made use of vv. 1–5.[1325]ix. 1,אדם,mankind, in contrast to the tribes of Israel; 3,חרוץ,gold; 5,ישבas passive, cf. xii. 6;הוביש, Hi. ofבּוּשׁ, in passive sense only after Jeremiah (cf. above, p.412, on Joel); in 2 Sam. xix. 6, Hosea ii. 7, it is active.[1326]See p.442.[1327]ix. 1.[1328]Heb.resting-place: cf. Zech. vi. 8,bring Mine anger to rest. This meets the objection of Bredenkamp and others, thatמנוחהis otherwise used of Jehovah alone, in consequence of which they refer the suffix to Him.[1329]The expressionhath an eyeis so unusual that Klostermann,Theo. Litt. Zeit., 1879, 566 (quoted by Nowack), proposes to read forעיןערי,Jehovah’s are the cities of the heathen. Forאדם,mankind, as =heathencf. Jer. xxxii. 20.[1330]So LXX.: Heb.also.[1331]So LXX.: Heb. has verb in sing.[1332]Cf. Nahum iii. 8; Isa. xxvi. 1.[1333]Readמִבְטָחָה.[1334]Deut. xxiii. 3 (Heb., 2 Eng.).[1335]The prepositions refer to the half-breeds. Ezekiel uses the termto eat upon the blood,i.e.meat eaten without being ritually slain and consecrated, for illegal sacrifices (xxxiii. 35: cf. 1 Sam. xiv. 32 f.; Lev. xix. 26, xvii. 11–14).[1336]מִצַָּּבָהforמִן־צָבָא; but to be amended toמַצָּבָה, 1 Sam. xiv. 12,a military post. Ewald readsמֻצָּבָה,rampart. LXX. ἀνάστημα =מַצֵּבָה.[1337]ix. 10,מֹשֶׁל, cf. Dan. xi. 4;אפסי ארץonly in late writings (unless Deut. xxxiii. 17 be early)—see Eckardt, p. 80; 12,בצּרוןis ἅπαξ λεγόμενον; the last clause of 12 is based on Isa. lxi. 7. If our interpretation ofצדיקandנושעbe right, they are also symptoms of a late date.[1338]נושׁע(ver. 9): the passive participle.[1339]Cf.Isaiah xl.—lxvi.(Expositor’s Bible), p.219.[1340]Whychariot from Ephraimandhorse from Jerusalemis explained inHist. Geog., pp. 329–331.[1341]See above.[1342]Symbol of peace as the horse was of war.[1343]Son of she-asses.[1344]Mass.: LXX.He.[1345]Heb.blood of thy covenant, but the suffix refers to the whole phrase (Duhm,Theol. der Proph., p. 143). The covenant is Jehovah’s; the blood, that which the people shed in sacrifice to ratify the covenant.[1346]Heb. addsthere is no water in it, but this is either a gloss, or perhaps an attempt to make sense out of a dittography ofמבור, or a corruption ofnone shall be ashamed.[1347]Isa. lxi. 7.[1348]Doctrine of the Prophets, Note A, p. 472.[1349]14, onתימןsee Eckardt; 15,זויות, Aramaism;כבשׁis late; 17,התנוסס, only here and Psalm lx. 6;נוב, probably late.[1350]So LXX.: Heb. reads,thy sons, O Javan.[1351]LXX. ἐν σάλῳ τῆς ἀπειλῆς αὐτοῦ,in the tossing of His threat,בשער גערו(?) orבשער העדו. It is natural to see here a reference to the Theophanies of Hab. iii. 3, Deut. xxxiii. (see above, pp.150f.).[1352]Perhapsוְיָכְלוּ,overcome them. LXX. καταναλώσουσιν.[1353]Heb.stones of a sling,אבני קלע. Wellhausen and Nowack readsons,בני, but what then isקלע?[1354]Readingדמםfor Heb.והמו,and roar.[1355]Heb.like a flock of sheep His people, (but how is one to construe this with the context?)for (? like) stones of a diadem lifting themselves up (? shimmering) over His land. Wellhausen and Nowack deletefor stones ... shimmeringas a gloss. This would leavelike a flock of sheep His people in His land, to which it is proposed to addHe will feed. This gives good sense.[1356]Wellhausen, readingטובה, fem. suffix for neuter. Ewald and othersHe. Hitzig and othersthey, the people.[1357]Of these cf. “Mal.” iii. 5; the late Jer. xliv. 8 ff.; Isa. lxv. 3–5; and, in the Priestly Law, Lev. xix. 31, xx. 6.[1358]Z.A.T.W., I. 60. He compares this verse with 1 Sam. xv. 23. In Ezek. xxi. 26 they give oracles.[1359]חזיז,lightning-flash, only here and in Job xxviii. 26, xxxviii. 25.[1360]LXX. read:in season early rain and latter rain.[1361]נסעו, used of a nomadic life in Jer. xxxi. 24 (23), and so it is possible that in a later stage of the language it had come to mean to wander or stray. But this is doubtful, and there may be a false reading, as appears from LXX. ἐξηράνθησαν.[1362]Forיענוreadוינעו. The LXX. ἐκακώθησαν readוירעו.[1363]There can therefore be none of that connection between the two pieces which Kirkpatrick assumes (p. 454 and note 2).[1364]פקד על[1365]פקד את[1366]See above, p.444.[1367]x. 5,בוס, Eckardt, p. 82; 6, 12,גִּבֵּר, Pi., cf. Eccles. x. 10, where it alone occurs besides here; 5, 11,הבישוin passive sense.[1368]As we should say,bell-wethers: cf. Isa. xiv. 9, also a late meaning.[1369]So LXX., readingכי־יפקדforכי־פקד.[1370]Corner-stoneas name for a chief: cf. Judg. xx. 2; 1 Sam. xiv. 38; Isa. xix. 13.Stayortent-pin, Isa. xxii. 23.From Him, othersfrom them.[1371]Readבַּגִּבֹּרִיםandכְּטִיט(Wellhausen).[1372]Readוַהֲשִׁבוֹתִיםfor the Mass.וְהוֹשְׁבוֹתִים,and I will make them to dwell.[1373]רחמתיםandזנחתים,אלהיהםandאענם, keywords of Hosea i.—iii.[1374]LXX.; sing. Heb.[1375]Changing the Heb. points which make the verb future. See Nowack’s note.[1376]With LXX. readוְחִיּוּfor Mass.וְחָיוּ.[1377]See above, pp.451,471.[1378]So LXX.; Mass. sing.[1379]Heb.צרה,narrow sea: so LXX., but Wellhausen suggestsמצרים, which Nowack adopts.[1380]גברתםforגברתים.[1381]Forיתהלכוreadיתהללו, with LXX. and Syr.[1382]Heb. adds here a difficult clause,for nobles are wasted. Probably a gloss.[1383]After the Ḳerî.[1384]I.e.rankness; applied to the thick vegetation in the larger bed of the stream: seeHist. Geog., p. 484.[1385]xi. 5,וַאעְשִׁר, Hiph., but intransitive,grow rich; 6,ממציא; vv. 7, 10,נעם(?); 8,בחל, Aram.; 13,יְקָר, Aram., Jer. xx. 5, Ezek. xxii. 25, Job xxviii. 10; in Esther ten, in Daniel four times (Eckardt); xiii. 7,עמית, one of the marks of the affinity of the language of “Zech.” ix.—xiv. to that of the Priestly Code (cf. Lev. v. 21, xviii. 20, etc.), but in P it is concrete, here abstract;צערים; 8,גוע, see Eckardt, p. 85.[1386]Jer. xxiii. 1–8; Ezek. xxxiv., xxxvii. 24 ff.: cf. Kirkpatrick p. 462.[1387]Exod. xxi. 32.[1388]LXX.God of Hosts.[1389]Read plural with LXX.[1390]That is the late Hebrew name for the heathen: cf. ix. 1.[1391]Heb.רֵעֵהוּ,neighbour; readרֹעֵהוּ.[1392]Many take this verse as an intrusion. It certainly seems to add nothing to the sense and to interrupt the connection, which is clear when it is removed.[1393]Heb.לָכֵן עֲנִיֵּי הַצֹּאן,wherefore the miserable of the flock, which makes no sense. But LXX. read εἰς τήν Χαναάνιτην, and this suggests the Heb.לכנעני,to the Canaanites, i.e.merchants,of the sheep: so in ver. 11.[1394]Lit.Bands.[1395]The sense is here obscure. Is the text sound? In harmony with the contextעמיםought to meantribes of Israel. But every passage in the O.T. in whichעמיםmight meantribeshas been shown to have a doubtful text: Deut. xxxii. 8, xxxiii. 3; Hosea x. 14; Micah i. 2.[1396]See above, note1393, on the same mis-read phrase in ver. 7.[1397]Heb.הַיּוֹצֵר,the potter. LXX. χωνευτήριονsmelting furnace. Readהָאוֹצָרby change ofאforי: the two are often confounded; see n.1399.[1398]Wellhausen and Nowack readthou hast been valued of them. But there is no need of this. The clause is a sarcastic parenthesis spoken by the prophet himself.[1399]Again Heb.the potter, LXX.the smelting furnace, as above in ver. 13. The additional clauseHouse of Godproves how right it is to readthe treasury, and disposes of the idea thatto throw to the potterwas a proverb for throwing away.[1400]Two codd. readJerusalem, which Wellhausen and Nowack adopt.[1401]Heb.הַנַּעַר,the scattered. LXX. τὸν ἐσκορπίσμενον.[1402]הַנִּצָּבָה, obscure: some translatethe soundorstable.
[1173]Chénier,Recherches Historiques sur les Maures, III., p. 496.
[1174]Burckhardt,Notes, II. 90.
[1175]Barrow,South Africa, p. 257.
[1176]Journ. of Sac. Lit., October 1865.
[1177]Lichtenstein,Travels in South Africa.
[1178]Standard, December 25th, 1896.
[1179]Fr. Alvarez.
[1180]Barheb.,Chron. Syr., p. 784; Burckhardt,Notes, II. 90.
[1181]i. 20, 17.
[1182]i. 19.
[1183]i. 5.
[1184]Cf. i. 12, 13, and many verses in chap. ii.
[1185]Of Merx and others: see above, p.394.
[1186]See above, p.377.
[1187]See Vol. I., pp.242,245f.
[1188]Jer. xiv.
[1189]Cf. Ezek. xlvi. 15 on the Thamid, and Neh. x. 33; Dan. viii. 11, xi. 31, xii. 11: cf. p.382.
[1190]Acts xxvi. 7.
[1191]XIV.Antt.iv. 3, xvi. 2; VI.Warsii. 1.
[1192]i. 9, 13.
[1193]i. 16.
[1194]ii. 14.
[1195]i. 8, 13.
[1196]ii. 12.
[1197]LXX. Βαθουήλ
[1198]See above, pp.399f.
[1199]חסילfromחסל, used in the O.T. only in Deut. xxviii. 38,to devour; but in post-biblical Hebrewto utterly destroy,bring to an end.Talmud Jerus.: Taanith III. 66d, “Why is the locust calledחסיל? Because it brings everything to an end.”
[1200]A.V.cheek-teeth, R.V.jaw-teeth, oreye-teeth. “Possibly (from the Arabic)projectors”: Driver.
[1201]Heb. text insertselders, which may be taken as vocative, or with the LXX. as accusative, but after the latter we should expectand. Wellhausen suggests its deletion, and Nowack regards it as an intrusion. ForאספוWellhausen readsהאספו,be ye gathered.
[1202]Keshōdh mishshaddhai (Isa. xiii. 6); Driver,as overpowering from the Overpowerer.
[1203]A.V.clods.מגרפותיהם: the meaning is doubtful, but the corresponding Arabic word meansbesomorshovelor (P.E.F.Q., 1891, p. 111, with plate)hoe, and the Aram.shovel. See Driver’s note.
[1204]Reading, after the LXX. τί ἀποθήσομεν ἑαυτοῖς (probably an error for ἐν αὐτοῖς),מה נניחה בהםfor the Massoreticמה נאנחה בהמהHow the beasts sob!to which A.V. and Driver adhere.
[1205]Lit.press themselvesin perplexity.
[1206]Reading, with Wellhausen and Nowack (“perhaps rightly,” Driver)נשמוforנאשמו,are guiltyorpunished.
[1207]מדבר, usually renderedwildernessordesert, but literallyplace where the sheep are driven, land not cultivated. SeeHist. Geog., p. 656.
[1208]See on Amos iii. 6: Vol. I., p.82.
[1209]Zeph. i. 15. See above, p.58.
[1210]פרשׂin Qalto spread abroad, but the passive is here to be taken in the same sense as the Ni. in Ezek. xvii. 21,dispersed. The figure is of dawn crushed by and struggling with a mass of cloud and mist, and expresses the gleams of white which so often break through a locust cloud. See above, p.404.
[1211]So travellers have described the effect of locusts. See above, p.403.
[1212]Ezek. xxxvi. 35.
[1213]Heb.in his own ways.
[1214]יעבטון, an impossible metaphor, so that most readיעבתון, a root found only in Micah vii. 3 (see Vol. I., p.428),to twistortangle; but Wellhausen readsיְעַוְּתוּן,twist, Eccles. vii. 13.
[1215]Heb.highroad, as if defined and heaped up for him alone.
[1216]See above, p.401.
[1217]Zeph. i. 14; “Mal.” iii. 2.
[1218]So (and notelders) in contrast to children.
[1219]Canopyorpavilion, bridal tent.
[1220]למשל בם, which may mean eitherrule over themormock them, but the parallelism decides for the latter.
[1221]A.V., adhering to the Massoretic text, in which the verbs are pointed for the past, has evidently understood them as instances of the prophetic perfect. But “this is grammatically indefensible”: Driver,in loco; see hisHeb. Tenses, § 82,Obs.Calvin and others, who take the verbs of ver. 18 as future, accept those of the next verse as past and with it begin the narrative. But if God’s answer to His people’s prayer be in the past, so must His jealousy and pity. All these verbs are in the same sequence of time. Merx proposes to change the vowel-points of the verbs and turn them into futures. But see above, p.395. ver. 21 shows that Jehovah’s action is past, and Nowack points out the very unusual character of the construction that would follow from Merx’s emendation. Ewald, Hitzig, Kuenen, Robertson Smith, Davidson, Robertson, Steiner, Wellhausen, Driver, Nowack, etc., all take the verbs in the past.
[1222]This is scarcely a name for the locusts, who, though they might reach Palestine from the N.E. under certain circumstances, came generally from E. and S.E. But see above, p.397: so Kuenen, Wellhausen, Nowack. W. R. Smith suggests the whole verse as an allegorising gloss. Hitzig thought of the locusts only, and renderedהצפוניὁ τυφωνικός, Acts xxvii. 14; but this is not proved.
[1223]I.e.the Dead Sea (Ezek. xlvii. 18; Zech. xiv. 8) and the Mediterranean.
[1224]The construction shows that the clause preceding this,ועלה באשו, is a gloss. So Driver. But Nowack gives the other clause as the gloss.
[1225]Nah. iii. 17; Exod. x. 19.
[1226]De Civitate Dei, III. 31.
[1227]I. 278, quoted by Pusey.
[1228]i. 17–20: see above, p.403.
[1229]Prophetic past: Driver.
[1230]Opinion is divided as to the meaning of this phrase:לצדקה=for righteousness. A. There are those who take it as having amoralreference; and (1) this is so emphatic to some that they render the word forearly rain,מורה, which also meansteacherorrevealer, in the latter significance. So (some of them applying it to the Messiah) Targum, Symmachus, the Vulgate,doctorem justitiæ, some Jews,e.g.Rashi and Abarbanel, and some moderns,e.g.(at opposite extremes) Pusey and Merx. But, as Calvin points out (this is another instance of his sanity as an exegete, and refusal to be led by theological presuppositions: he says, “I do not love strained expositions”), this does not agree with the context, which speaks not of spiritual but wholly of physical blessings. (2) Some, who takeמורהasearly rain, giveלצדקהthe meaningfor righteousness,ad justitiam, either in the sense that God will give the rain as a token of His own righteousness, or in order to restore or vindicate the people’s righteousness (so Davidson,Expositor, 1888, I., p. 203, n.), in the frequent sense in whichצדקהis employed in Isa. xl. ff. (seeIsaiah xl.—lxvi., Expositor’s Bible, pp.219ff.). Cf. Hosea x. 13,צדק; above, Vol. I., p. 289, n.611. This of course is possible, especially in view of Israel having been made by their plagues a reproach among the heathen. Still, if Joel had intended this meaning, he would have applied the phrase, not to theearly rainonly, but to the whole series of blessings by which the people were restored to their standing before God. B. It seems, therefore, right to takeלצדקהin a purely physical sense, of the measure or quality of theearly rain. So even Calvin,rain according to what is justorfit; A.V.moderately(inexact); R.V.in just measure; Siegfried-Stadesufficient. The root-meaning ofצדקis probablyaccording to norm(cf.Isaiah xl.—lxvi., p. 215), and in that case the meaning would berain of normal quantity. This too suits the parallel in the next clause:as formerly. In Himyaritic the word is applied to good harvests. A man prays to God forאפקל ואתֹמר צדקם,fullorgood harvests and fruits:Corp. Inscr. Sem., Pars Quarta, Tomus I., No. 2, lin. 1–5; cf. the note.
[1231]Driver,in loco.
[1232]Heb. also repeats hereearly rain, but redundantly.
[1233]בראשון,in the first. A.V. addsmonth. But LXX. and Syr. readכראשננה, which is probably the correct reading,as beforeorformerly.
[1234]i. 18.
[1235]Above, p.189.
[1236]Cf.Hist. Geog., Chap. XXI., especially p. 463.
[1237]By Thorold Rogers, pp. 80 ff.
[1238]E.g.the Quakers and the Independents. The Independents of the seventeenth century “were the founders of the Bank of England.”
[1239]All living things, Gen. vi. 17, 19, etc.; mankind, Isa. xl. 5, xlix. 26. See Driver’s note.
[1240]Next chapter.
[1241]Acts x. 45.
[1242]I am unable to feel Driver’s and Nowack’s arguments for a connection conclusive. The only reason Davidson gives is (p. 204) that the judgment of the heathen is an essential element in the Day of Jehovah, a reason which does not make Joel’s authorship of the last chapter certain, but only possible.
[1243]The phrase of ver. 1,when I turn again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, may be renderedwhen I restore the fortunes of Israel.
[1244]See above, p.386, especially n.1130.
[1245]xxxviii.
[1246]Some have unnecessarily thought of the Vale of Berakhah, in which Jehoshaphat defeated Moab, Ammon and Edom (2 Chron. xx.).
[1247]See above, p. 381, nn.1114,1115.
[1248]ver. 6b.
[1249]Orturn again the fortunes.
[1250]Jehovah-judges.See above, p.432.
[1251]See above, Obadiah 11 and Nahum iii. 10.
[1252]בזונה. Oort suggestsבמזון,for food.
[1253]Gelilôth, the plural feminine of Galilee—thecircuit(of the Gentiles).Hist. Geog., p. 413.
[1254]Scil.that I must repay.
[1255]LXX.they shall give them into captivity.
[1256]Technical use ofעלה,to go up to war.
[1257]עושו, not found elsewhere, but supposed to meangather. Cf. Zeph. ii. 1. Others readחושו,hasten(Driver); Wellhausenעורו.
[1258]מגּל, only here and in Jer. l. 16: other Heb. word for sickle ḥermesh (Deut. xvi. 9, xxiii. 26).
[1259]Driver, future.
[1260]Not the well-known scene of early Israel’s camp across Jordan, but it must be some dry and desert valley near Jerusalem (so most comm.). Nowack thinks of the Wadi el Sant on the way to Askalon, but this did not need watering and is called the Vale of Elah.
[1261]Merx applies this to the Jews of the Messianic era. LXX. read ἐκζητήσω =ונקמתי. So Syr. Cf. 2 Kings ix. 7.
Steiner:Shall I leave their blood unpunished? I will not leave it unpunished.Nowack deems this to be unlikely, and suggests,I will avenge their blood; I will not leave unpunishedthe shedders of it.
[1262]Heb. construction is found also in Hosea xii. 5.
[1263]Gen. x. 2, 4.יוןJavan, is Ιαϝων, or Ιαων, the older form of the name of the Ionians, the first of the Greek race with whom Eastern peoples came into contact. They are perhaps named on the Tell-el-Amarna tablets as “Yivana,” serving “in the country of Tyre” (c.1400B.C.); and on an inscription of Sargon (c.709) Cyprus is called Yâvanu.
[1264]xxvii. 13.
[1265]Isaiah xl.—lxvi.(Expositor’s Bible), p.108f.
[1266]iii. 6 (Eng.; iv. 6 Heb.).
[1267]The sense of distance between the two peoples was mutual. Writing in the middle of the fifth centuryB.C., Herodotus has heard of the Jews only as a people that practise circumcision and were defeated by Pharaoh Necho at Megiddo (II. 104, 159; on the latter passage seeHist. Geog., p. 405 n.). He does not even know them by name. The fragment of Chœrilos of Samos, from the end of the fifth century, which Josephus cites (Contra Apionem, I. 22) as a reference to the Jews, is probably of a people in Asia Minor. Even in the last half of the fourth century and before Alexander’s campaigns, Aristotle knows of the Dead Sea only by a vague report (Meteor., II. iii. 39). His pupil Theophrastus (d.287) names and describes the Jews (Porphyr.de Abstinentia, II. 26; Eusebius,Prepar. Evang., IX. 2: cf. Josephus,C. Apion., I. 22); and another pupil, Clearchus of Soli, records the mention by Aristotle of a travelled Jew of Cœle-Syria, but “Greek in soul as in tongue,” whom the great philosopher had met, and learned from him that the Jews were descended from the philosophers of India (quoted by Josephus,C. Apion., I. 22).
[1268]Jos., XI.Antt.iv. 5.
[1269]Hist. Geog., p. 347.
[1270]Hist. Geog., pp. 593 f.
[1271]See above, p. 440, n.1267.
[1272]Hence the Seleucid era dates from 312.
[1273]Hist. Geog., 538.
[1274]Cf. Ewald,Hist.(Eng. Ed.), V. 226 f.
[1275]Asshur or Assyria fell in 607 (as we have seen), but her name was transferred to her successor Babylon (2 Kings xxiii. 29; Jer. ii. 18; Lam. v. 6), and even to Babylon’s successor Persia (Ezra vi. 22). When Seleucus secured what was virtually the old Assyrian Empire with large extensions to Phrygia on the west and the Punjaub on the east, the name would naturally be continued to his dominion, especially as his first capital was Babylon, from his capture of which in 312 the Seleucid era took its start. There is actual record of this. Brugsch (Gesch. Aeg., p. 218) states that in the hieroglyphic inscriptions of the Ptolemæan period the kingdom of the Seleucids is called Asharu (cf. Stade,Z.A.T.W., 1882, p. 292, and Cheyne,Book of Psalms, p. 253, andIntrod. to Book of Isaiah, p. 107, n. 3). As the Seleucid kingdom shrank to this side of the Euphrates, it drew the name Assyria with it. But in Greek mouths this had long ago (cf. Herod.) been shortened to Syria: Herodotus also appears to have applied it only to the west of the Euphrates. Cf.Hist. Geog., pp. 3 f.
[1276]XII.Antt.i.: cf.Con. Apion., I. 22.
[1277]See above, p.442. Eusebius,Chron. Arm., II. 225, assigns it to 320.
[1278]Cheyne,Introd. to Book of Isaiah, p. 105.
[1279]Except in the passage ix. 10–12, which seems strangely out of place in the rest of ix.—xiv.
[1280]Works, 4th ed. 1677, pp. 786 ff. (1632), 834. Mede died 1638.
[1281]Matt. xxvii. 9.
[1282]Demonstration of the Messias, 1700.
[1283]An Attempt towards an Improved Version of the Twelve Minor Prophets, 1785 (not seen). See also Wright on Archbishop Seeker.
[1284]Die Weissagungen, welche bei den Schriften des Proph. Sacharja beygebogen sind, übersetzt, etc., Hamburg (not seen).
[1285]Einleitung in A. u. N. T.(not seen).
[1286]Isa. viii. 2. See above, p.265.
[1287]ix. 1.
[1288]See above, Chap.XXXI.
[1289]x. 10.
[1290]ix. 10, 13, etc.
[1291]Dan. u. Sacharja.
[1292]Page 503.
[1293]See Addenda, p.462.
[1294]Einl.in the beginning of the century.
[1295]Neue Exeg. krit. Aehrenlese z. A. T., 1864.
[1296]Einl., 1882, p. 709.
[1297]Z.A.T.W., 1881, 1882. See further proof of the late character of language and style, and of the unity, by Eckardt,Z.A.T.W., 1893, pp. 76 ff.
[1298]§ 81, n. 3, 10. See p. 457, end of note1310.
[1299]Jewish Quart. Review, 1889.
[1300]Einl.⁴
[1301]A. T. Litt.
[1302]Untersuchung über die Komposition u. Abfassungszeit von Zach.9–14, etc. Halle, 1891 (not seen).
[1303]1892: quoted by Wildeboer.
[1304]1893: quoted by Wildeboer.
[1305]Doctrine of the Prophets, 438 ff., in which the English reader will find a singularly lucid and fair treatment of the question. See, too, Wright.
[1306]Page 472, Note A.
[1307]Kautzsch—the Greek period.
[1308]Above, pp.451f.
[1309]Robinson, pp. 76 ff.
[1310]Z.A.T.W., 1893, 76 ff. See also the summaries of linguistic evidence given by Robinson. Kuenen finds in ix.—xi. the following pre-exilic elements: ix. 1–5, 8–10, 13a(?); x. 1 f., 10 f.; xi. 4–14 or 17.
[1311]Kuenen.
[1312]See above, p. 453, n.1297.
[1313]See also Robinson.
[1314]Jewish Quarterly Review, 1889, p. 81.
[1315]As Robinson,e.g., does.
[1316]E.g.holy land, ii. 16, andMount of Olives, xiv. 4.
[1317]Op. cit., 103–109: cf. Driver,Introd.⁶, 354.
[1318]Introd.⁶, p. 354.
[1319]ix. 13.
[1320]ix. 1 f.
[1321]x. 11. See above, p.451.
[1322]See above, pp.331ff., for proof of the original anonymity of the Book of “Malachi.”
[1323]Above, p.331.
[1324]So Staerk, who thinks Amos I. made use of vv. 1–5.
[1325]ix. 1,אדם,mankind, in contrast to the tribes of Israel; 3,חרוץ,gold; 5,ישבas passive, cf. xii. 6;הוביש, Hi. ofבּוּשׁ, in passive sense only after Jeremiah (cf. above, p.412, on Joel); in 2 Sam. xix. 6, Hosea ii. 7, it is active.
[1326]See p.442.
[1327]ix. 1.
[1328]Heb.resting-place: cf. Zech. vi. 8,bring Mine anger to rest. This meets the objection of Bredenkamp and others, thatמנוחהis otherwise used of Jehovah alone, in consequence of which they refer the suffix to Him.
[1329]The expressionhath an eyeis so unusual that Klostermann,Theo. Litt. Zeit., 1879, 566 (quoted by Nowack), proposes to read forעיןערי,Jehovah’s are the cities of the heathen. Forאדם,mankind, as =heathencf. Jer. xxxii. 20.
[1330]So LXX.: Heb.also.
[1331]So LXX.: Heb. has verb in sing.
[1332]Cf. Nahum iii. 8; Isa. xxvi. 1.
[1333]Readמִבְטָחָה.
[1334]Deut. xxiii. 3 (Heb., 2 Eng.).
[1335]The prepositions refer to the half-breeds. Ezekiel uses the termto eat upon the blood,i.e.meat eaten without being ritually slain and consecrated, for illegal sacrifices (xxxiii. 35: cf. 1 Sam. xiv. 32 f.; Lev. xix. 26, xvii. 11–14).
[1336]מִצַָּּבָהforמִן־צָבָא; but to be amended toמַצָּבָה, 1 Sam. xiv. 12,a military post. Ewald readsמֻצָּבָה,rampart. LXX. ἀνάστημα =מַצֵּבָה.
[1337]ix. 10,מֹשֶׁל, cf. Dan. xi. 4;אפסי ארץonly in late writings (unless Deut. xxxiii. 17 be early)—see Eckardt, p. 80; 12,בצּרוןis ἅπαξ λεγόμενον; the last clause of 12 is based on Isa. lxi. 7. If our interpretation ofצדיקandנושעbe right, they are also symptoms of a late date.
[1338]נושׁע(ver. 9): the passive participle.
[1339]Cf.Isaiah xl.—lxvi.(Expositor’s Bible), p.219.
[1340]Whychariot from Ephraimandhorse from Jerusalemis explained inHist. Geog., pp. 329–331.
[1341]See above.
[1342]Symbol of peace as the horse was of war.
[1343]Son of she-asses.
[1344]Mass.: LXX.He.
[1345]Heb.blood of thy covenant, but the suffix refers to the whole phrase (Duhm,Theol. der Proph., p. 143). The covenant is Jehovah’s; the blood, that which the people shed in sacrifice to ratify the covenant.
[1346]Heb. addsthere is no water in it, but this is either a gloss, or perhaps an attempt to make sense out of a dittography ofמבור, or a corruption ofnone shall be ashamed.
[1347]Isa. lxi. 7.
[1348]Doctrine of the Prophets, Note A, p. 472.
[1349]14, onתימןsee Eckardt; 15,זויות, Aramaism;כבשׁis late; 17,התנוסס, only here and Psalm lx. 6;נוב, probably late.
[1350]So LXX.: Heb. reads,thy sons, O Javan.
[1351]LXX. ἐν σάλῳ τῆς ἀπειλῆς αὐτοῦ,in the tossing of His threat,בשער גערו(?) orבשער העדו. It is natural to see here a reference to the Theophanies of Hab. iii. 3, Deut. xxxiii. (see above, pp.150f.).
[1352]Perhapsוְיָכְלוּ,overcome them. LXX. καταναλώσουσιν.
[1353]Heb.stones of a sling,אבני קלע. Wellhausen and Nowack readsons,בני, but what then isקלע?
[1354]Readingדמםfor Heb.והמו,and roar.
[1355]Heb.like a flock of sheep His people, (but how is one to construe this with the context?)for (? like) stones of a diadem lifting themselves up (? shimmering) over His land. Wellhausen and Nowack deletefor stones ... shimmeringas a gloss. This would leavelike a flock of sheep His people in His land, to which it is proposed to addHe will feed. This gives good sense.
[1356]Wellhausen, readingטובה, fem. suffix for neuter. Ewald and othersHe. Hitzig and othersthey, the people.
[1357]Of these cf. “Mal.” iii. 5; the late Jer. xliv. 8 ff.; Isa. lxv. 3–5; and, in the Priestly Law, Lev. xix. 31, xx. 6.
[1358]Z.A.T.W., I. 60. He compares this verse with 1 Sam. xv. 23. In Ezek. xxi. 26 they give oracles.
[1359]חזיז,lightning-flash, only here and in Job xxviii. 26, xxxviii. 25.
[1360]LXX. read:in season early rain and latter rain.
[1361]נסעו, used of a nomadic life in Jer. xxxi. 24 (23), and so it is possible that in a later stage of the language it had come to mean to wander or stray. But this is doubtful, and there may be a false reading, as appears from LXX. ἐξηράνθησαν.
[1362]Forיענוreadוינעו. The LXX. ἐκακώθησαν readוירעו.
[1363]There can therefore be none of that connection between the two pieces which Kirkpatrick assumes (p. 454 and note 2).
[1364]פקד על
[1365]פקד את
[1366]See above, p.444.
[1367]x. 5,בוס, Eckardt, p. 82; 6, 12,גִּבֵּר, Pi., cf. Eccles. x. 10, where it alone occurs besides here; 5, 11,הבישוin passive sense.
[1368]As we should say,bell-wethers: cf. Isa. xiv. 9, also a late meaning.
[1369]So LXX., readingכי־יפקדforכי־פקד.
[1370]Corner-stoneas name for a chief: cf. Judg. xx. 2; 1 Sam. xiv. 38; Isa. xix. 13.Stayortent-pin, Isa. xxii. 23.From Him, othersfrom them.
[1371]Readבַּגִּבֹּרִיםandכְּטִיט(Wellhausen).
[1372]Readוַהֲשִׁבוֹתִיםfor the Mass.וְהוֹשְׁבוֹתִים,and I will make them to dwell.
[1373]רחמתיםandזנחתים,אלהיהםandאענם, keywords of Hosea i.—iii.
[1374]LXX.; sing. Heb.
[1375]Changing the Heb. points which make the verb future. See Nowack’s note.
[1376]With LXX. readוְחִיּוּfor Mass.וְחָיוּ.
[1377]See above, pp.451,471.
[1378]So LXX.; Mass. sing.
[1379]Heb.צרה,narrow sea: so LXX., but Wellhausen suggestsמצרים, which Nowack adopts.
[1380]גברתםforגברתים.
[1381]Forיתהלכוreadיתהללו, with LXX. and Syr.
[1382]Heb. adds here a difficult clause,for nobles are wasted. Probably a gloss.
[1383]After the Ḳerî.
[1384]I.e.rankness; applied to the thick vegetation in the larger bed of the stream: seeHist. Geog., p. 484.
[1385]xi. 5,וַאעְשִׁר, Hiph., but intransitive,grow rich; 6,ממציא; vv. 7, 10,נעם(?); 8,בחל, Aram.; 13,יְקָר, Aram., Jer. xx. 5, Ezek. xxii. 25, Job xxviii. 10; in Esther ten, in Daniel four times (Eckardt); xiii. 7,עמית, one of the marks of the affinity of the language of “Zech.” ix.—xiv. to that of the Priestly Code (cf. Lev. v. 21, xviii. 20, etc.), but in P it is concrete, here abstract;צערים; 8,גוע, see Eckardt, p. 85.
[1386]Jer. xxiii. 1–8; Ezek. xxxiv., xxxvii. 24 ff.: cf. Kirkpatrick p. 462.
[1387]Exod. xxi. 32.
[1388]LXX.God of Hosts.
[1389]Read plural with LXX.
[1390]That is the late Hebrew name for the heathen: cf. ix. 1.
[1391]Heb.רֵעֵהוּ,neighbour; readרֹעֵהוּ.
[1392]Many take this verse as an intrusion. It certainly seems to add nothing to the sense and to interrupt the connection, which is clear when it is removed.
[1393]Heb.לָכֵן עֲנִיֵּי הַצֹּאן,wherefore the miserable of the flock, which makes no sense. But LXX. read εἰς τήν Χαναάνιτην, and this suggests the Heb.לכנעני,to the Canaanites, i.e.merchants,of the sheep: so in ver. 11.
[1394]Lit.Bands.
[1395]The sense is here obscure. Is the text sound? In harmony with the contextעמיםought to meantribes of Israel. But every passage in the O.T. in whichעמיםmight meantribeshas been shown to have a doubtful text: Deut. xxxii. 8, xxxiii. 3; Hosea x. 14; Micah i. 2.
[1396]See above, note1393, on the same mis-read phrase in ver. 7.
[1397]Heb.הַיּוֹצֵר,the potter. LXX. χωνευτήριονsmelting furnace. Readהָאוֹצָרby change ofאforי: the two are often confounded; see n.1399.
[1398]Wellhausen and Nowack readthou hast been valued of them. But there is no need of this. The clause is a sarcastic parenthesis spoken by the prophet himself.
[1399]Again Heb.the potter, LXX.the smelting furnace, as above in ver. 13. The additional clauseHouse of Godproves how right it is to readthe treasury, and disposes of the idea thatto throw to the potterwas a proverb for throwing away.
[1400]Two codd. readJerusalem, which Wellhausen and Nowack adopt.
[1401]Heb.הַנַּעַר,the scattered. LXX. τὸν ἐσκορπίσμενον.
[1402]הַנִּצָּבָה, obscure: some translatethe soundorstable.