The NewCentury Bible Prophets Division Sectioa ^^ THE NEW-CENTURY BIBLE THE MINOR PROPHETS NAHUNr, HABAKKUK, ZEPHANIAH HAGGAI, ZECHARIAH, MALACHI THE NEW-CENTURY BIBLE. NEW TESTAMENT. 1. MATTHEW, by Prof. W. F. Slater, M.A. 2. MARK, by the late Principal Salmond, D.D, 3. LUKE, by Principal W. F. Adeney, M.A., D.D. 4. JOHN, by the Rev. J. A. McClymont, D.D. 5. ACTS, by Prof. J. Vermon Bartlet, M.A., D.D. 6. ROMANS, by the Rev. A. E. Gar VIE, M.A., D.D, 7. I AND II CORINTHIANS, by Prof. J . Massie, M.A., D.D. 8. EPHESIANS, COLOSSIANS, PHILEMON, PHILIP- PIANS, by the Rev.G. CuRRiE Martin, M.A., B.D, 9. I AND II THESSALONIANS, GALATIANS, by Principal W. F. Adeney, M.A., D.D. 10. THE PASTORAL EPISTLES, by the Rev. R. F. HoRTON, M.A., D.D. n. HEBREWS, by Prof. A. S. Peake, M.A. 12. THE GENERAL EPISTLES, by Prof. W. H. BENNETT, Litt.D., D.D. 13. REVELATION, by the Rev. C. ANDERSON ScOTT, M.A. OLD TESTAMENT. GENESIS, by the Rev. Prof. W. H. Bennett, Litt.D., D.D. JUDGES AND RUTH, by the Rev. G. W. Thatcher, M.A., B.D. I AND II SAMUEL, by the Rev. Prof. A. R. S. Kennedy, M.A., D.D. I AMD II KINGS, by the Rev. Prof. Skinner, D.D. JOB, by Prof. A. S. Peake, M.A. PSALMS (Vol. I) I TO LXXII, by the Rev. Prof. Davison, M.A., D.D. PSALMS (Vol. II) LXXIII TO END, by the Rev. Prof. T. WiTTON Davies, B.A., Ph.D. ISAIAH (Vol. I) I TO XXXIX, by the Rev. OWEN C. WhiTEHOUSE, M.A., D.D. MINOR PROPHETS: HosEA, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, MiCAH, by the Rev. R. F. HoRTON, M.A., D.D. MINOR PROPHETS : Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, by the Rev. Canon Driver, Litt.D., D.D. General Editor : Prin( Walter F. Adeney, M.A., D.D. NTRODUCTIONS REVIS D VERSION WITH NOTES INDEX AND MAP i ITED BY REV. S. R. DRIVER, D.D., Litt.D. j TiE'MV K ESSOR OF HEBREW a\ cano.; ? iRisT CHURCH, oxFORji— — ;rz FELLOV T ,E BRITISH ACAVEWT^f^'^^^ CT Pu/^ * JAN 3 1910 N^' '>^^ [VYORK: HENRY FROWDE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, AMERICAN BRANCH i.DliBURGH: T. C. & E. C. JACK \ 1906 ^- i; The Revised Version is printed by p^.hii Universities of Oxford and d ' ston c idgi OXFORD: HORACE MART PRINTER TO THE UtUVKRSITV PREFACE The aim of the present Commentary is to explain the prophets, whose writings it embraces, in the light of history, to make their words intelligible to modern readers, so far as our knowledge enables us to do so, in the sense which they conveyed to those who first heard or read them. This I understand to be the primary duty of a Commentary on the poetical or prophetical writings of the Old Testament, and to be the intention of the volumes in the present series. The gifted men of old who spake, 'being borne along by the Holy Ghost,' were, each and all, the children of their own times : each had his own distinc- tive individuality, but each, as he spoke or wrote, had his eye steadily fixed on the questions of national interest prominent at the time, on the social, moral, or religious needs of his fellow countrymen, on contemporary political movements in the world out- side; each either judged the present, or looked out into the future, from the standpoint of his own age. Neither the prophets' judgements on their con- temporaries, nor the great ideals which they project upon the future, can be rightly understood without reference to the influences under which they wrote, the moral and spiritual atmosphere in which they lived, the practical questions with which they had to deal : and hence the extreme importance of ascertaining, vi THE MINOR PROPHETS as fully as is possible, the historical conditions under which each prophecy was delivered, and which, — saving, of course, the individuality of the author, — determined essentially its character and scope. I have accordingly made it my endeavour to bring out the distinctive historical position and significance of each of the prophets with whom, in the present volume, I have had to deal. Of course, at the same time, the writings of the prophets abound in elements of permanent value : the great principles of religion and morality which they proclaim, and which they also make the basis of their ideals, are applicable to all time. Where occasion required it, I hope that I have not been neglectful in calling attention to this aspect of the prophets' writings; but homiletical or de- votional reflections, not strictly contained in the prophets' words, but only suggested by them, or capable of being developed out of them, I considered to lie beyond the scope of this Commentary. For these, references must be made to the larger Com- mentaries of Dr. Pusey and Professor G. A. Smith. The former of these, a work of monumental erudition, not only contains many valuable notes on questions of Hebrew philology and other departments of learned research, but abounds especially in devotional and homiletical expansions of the prophets' thought, partly the ripened fruit of the venerable author's own long spiritual experience, partly collected by him, with his wonted learning and industry, from the stores accumulated by the piety of older divines. Professor Smith's work, wliich is written from a more modern PREFACE vii point of view, while doing full justice to the claims of critical and historical exegesis, displays warm sympathy with the prophets' spirit, and contains many fresh and suggestive applications adapted to the circumstances of the present day. The two most recent exegetical Commentaries on the Minor Prophets, to both of which I must acknowledge my obligations, are those by Nowack and Marti; and the reader who desires further information upon difficult points of criticism and exegesis must, in addition to Professor Smith's volumes, consult these, without at the same time forgetting the older, but still very often useful. Com- mentary of C. F. Keil. Wellhausen's Die kleinen Propheten^ though not a complete Commentary, is marked by its author's usual insight and cleverness, and is a valuable contribution to the exegesis of the Minor Prophets. On Zechariah also. Dr. C. H. H. Wright's Zechariah a?id his Prophecies (the * Bampton Lectures' for 1878), with critical and grammatical notes, may often be serviceably consulted. The scale of the present Commentary has pre- cluded, as a rule, a detailed discussion of difficult or controverted points, whether of criticism or exegesis : I have, however, wherever possible, endeavoured to give the reader an indication of the grounds for the conclusions adopted. The Revised Version, superior as it is in clearness and accuracy to the Authorized Version, and though sufficient as a rule for ordinary purposes, not unfrequently contains passages in which the sense of the original might be more closely expressed : in such cases, where it seemed to be of X THE MINOR PROPHETS in a few cases, to be probable enough to deserve consideration. Here also I have made it my endeavour to state the facts in such a way that the necessity, or probability, of the proposed emendation may be apparent to the reader. But the extensive alterations of text, and rejection of passages as later insertions, assumed by some modern scholars, partly on the ground of imperfect agreement with the context, partly on account of the supposed exigencies of metre, appear to me to rest upon an insufficient basis. It seems to me far from clear that the Hebrew prophets, mostof whom were also poets, and evidently men swayed often by emotion, are to be regarded as necessarily developing their thought with exact logical precision ; so that, — to say nothing of the possibility that their dis- courses may have come down to us in a condensed form, with connecting links omitted, — imperfect agree- ment with the context appears to me, except in extreme cases, to be a questionable ground for suspecting the originality of a passage. And though the question of ancient Hebrew metre is an interesting one, and well worthy of the attention which has been recently paid to it, it surely deserves serious consideration whether a metrical system which, in order to be carried through, necessitates constant and often considerable changes in the text, can be reasonably regarded as the system actu- ally followed by the Hebrew poets. Of course there can be no doubt that the prophets show a great tendency to throw their discourses into a rhythmical succession of parallel clauses, of approximately the same length, and often, in the same context, of approximately the PREFACE xi same structure,— of three, four, or five accented sylla- bles, for instance : the question is whether what seems to be the prevailing measure in a given context was adhered to with such rigidity that whatever does not conform to it in our present text must be altered or excised '. The margins of the Revised Version are an integral and important part of the Revisers' work ; and, except where they merely repeat the discarded renderings of the Authorized Version, nearly always contain render- ings, or readings, superior to those adopted in the text. Hence they deserve careful attention on the part of any one using the version ; for those which, in the estimation of the best scholars, are preferable to the renderings of the text, ought, as a matter of course, to be substituted for the latter, when the Revised Version is read, whether privately or in public. Many readers, however, are probably often at a loss to know whether the rendering of the text or of the margin deserves the preference. The following practical method is strongly recommended. Whatever book is being read, in every case in which an alternative rendering, or reading, is mentioned, ascertain from a good commentary which is to be preferred ; and if the margin is to be preferred, draw a line against it for future use : when the passage is read or referred to again, the advantage of having thus noted beforehand * See further on the question of the metrical form of ancient Hebrew poetry, Budde's art. ' Poetry (Hebrew) ' in Hastings' Dirt, of the Bible ; and W. F. Cobb, A Criiidsw of Systems of Ilebreiv Metre (Oxford, 1905). xii THE MINOR PROPHETS the rendering to be preferred will soon be apparent. Naturally, a few difficult or ambiguous passages will remain in which a decision may be difficult or im- possible. In the present volume I have been careful, as far as was possible, to indicate the renderings to be preferred. May I in conclusion invite the reader's attention to what I have said more fully on the importance of the margins of the Revised Version in the Introduction to my recently published Book of Job in the Revised Version with Introductions and brief Annotations (Oxford, 1906), pp. xxiv-xxxiii? S. R. DRIVER. Christ Church, Oxford. February 24, 1906. CONTENTS PAGE Preface v Principal Abbreviations employed .... xiv Chronological Table ^ . xvi NAHUM Introduction 3 Plan of Nineveh 16 Text of the Revised Version and Annotations . 17 HABAKKUK Introduction . . 49 Text of the Revised Version and Annotations . 65 Additional note on Hah. Hi (a stonit in the Sinaiiic Peninsula) 99 ZEPHANIAH Introduction 103 Text of the Revised Version and Annotations . in HAGGAI Introduction 145 Text of the Revised Version and Annotations . 154 ZECHARIAH I-VIII Introduction 173 Text of the Revised Version and Annotations . 182 ZECHARIAH IX-XIV Introduction 227 Text of the Revised Version and Annotations . 236 MALACHI A Introduction 285 Text of the Revised Version and Annotations . 299 Note on the terms * Messiah ' and ' Messianic ' . . 33° Index 331 MAP Syria, Assyria, and Babylonia. PRINCIPAL ABBREVIATIONS EMPLOYED Aq. . . . Aquila (Greek translator of the O.T., of the 2nd cent. a. d.^). AVm. . . Margin of the Authorized Version. Bertholet . Die Bucher Esra u. Nehemia, 1902 (in Marti's ' Hand-Commentar zum A.T.'). Dav. . . . A. B. Davidson, Nahttm, Habakkuk and Zepha- niah, 1896 (in the 'Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges '}. DB. . . . Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. EB. . . . Encyclopaedia Biblica. EVV. . . Enghsh Versions (used in quoting passages in which AV. and RV. agree). Ewald . . Die Propheten des alien Bundes, ed. 2, 1868 (trans- lated). G.-K. . . Gesenius^ Hebrew Grammar as enlarged and edited by E. Kautzsch (translated by Collins and Cowley. 1898). Halevy , .J. Halevy, translation of Nahum and Zephaniah, with notes, in the Revue Semitique, 1905. Hitz., Hi, . F. Hitzig, Die zwolf kleinen Propheten^ ed. 2, 1863 ; ed. 3, revised by H. Steiner, i88i. Jer. . . . Jerome (346-420 A. D. Author of Commentary on the Prophets, and translator of the ' Vulgate '). KA T? . . Die Keilinschriften tmd das Alte Testament, ed. 3 (1902), by H. Zimmern and H. Winckler. Keil . . . C. F. Keil, Biblischer Commentar iiber die zwolf kleinen Propheten, ed. 3, 1888. Kirkp., Kp. A. F. Kirkpatrick, The Doctrine of the Prophets. Lex. . . . Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the O.T. LOT. . . S. R. Driver, Introdl to the Lit. of the O.T KB. . . . Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek (transliterations and translations of Assjrrian and Babylonian texts, edited by Eb. Schrader). Marti . . K. Marti, Das Dodekapropheton erkldrt (1904). ^ Such remains of his translation as have been preserved, together with those of Symmachus and Theodotion, are collected mostly in Field's edition of Origen's Hexapla (1S75). PRINCIPAL ABBREVIATIONS XV Meyer . . Ed. Meyer, Die Entstehnng des Judenthums (i896\ ,, (p. 282) H. A. W. Meyer, Commentary on Sf. Matthew. NHB. . . H. B. Tristram, Natural History of the Bible. Now. . . W. Nowack, Die kleivien Propheten itbersetzt u. erkldrt (ed. 2, 1905). P . . . . The Priestly sections of the Pentateuch. Parallel Psalter. S. R. Driver, The Parallel Psalter, being the Prayer-Book Version of the Psalms, and a new Version, arranged on opposite pages, with an Introduction and Glossaries, ed. 2, 1905. Pesh. . . Peshitto (Syriac version of the O.T. Probably of the 2nd cent. a.d.). PRE^. . . Protestantische Real-Encyklopddie, ed. 3 (ed. by Hauck). Pusey . . E. B. Pusey, The Minor Prophets, with a Com- mentary explanatory and practical. RVm. . . Margin of the Revised Version. Smith . . G. A. Smith, The Book of the Twelve Prophets {\n the ' Expositor's Bible '), vol. 2 (1898). Symm. . . Symmachus (Greek translator of the O.T., of the 2nd cent. A.D.). Targ. . . Targum (ancient Aramaic paraphrase of the Prophets). Theod. . . Theodotion (Greek translator of the O.T., of the 2nd cent. a.d.). Wellh., We. J. Wellhausen, Die klehten Propheten itbersetzt u. erkldrt (ed. 3, 1898). Wright . . C. H. H. Wright, Zechariah and his Prophecies (1879). (The ' Bampton Lectures ' for 1878.) In citations, the letters * and ^ denote respectively the first and second parts of the verse cited. Where a verse consists of three or four clauses (or lines), the letters ^> **> "t ^ are some- times used similarly to denote them. Letters with dots under them (as h, k, t, z), as also ' and ', are used, where it seemed worth while to" do so, for the purpose of distinguishing certain Hebrew letters ; but they have not been employed consistently, and particularly not in the case of familiar proper names. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE B.C. 705. Sennacherib. 698. Manasseh. 681. Esarhaddon. 670. Esarhaddon conquers Egypt. 668-625. Asshurbanipal. 663. No (Thebes) taken by Asshurbanipal. 641. Amon. 639. JOSIAH. c. 630. Irruption of Scythians into Western Asia. 625. Nabopolassar viceroy in Babylon. c. 625. Zephajtiah. 624. First siege of Nineveh by Nabopolassar. ? Nahwv. 621. Discovery of Deuteronomy. 620. Josiah's reform. c. 612. Babylon declared independent by Nabopolassar. 608. Death of Josiah at Megiddo. 608. Jehoahaz (3 months). 608. Jehoiakim. 607. Destruction of Nineveh. ? Nahitm. 605. Pharaoh Neco defeated at Carchemish by Nebuchadnezzar. 605-561. Nebuchadnezzar. 605-600. Habokkuk. 597. Jehoiachin (3 months). 597. Zedekiah. 586. Destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldaeans. 538. Babylon taken by Cyrus. 537. 42,366 exiles (besides slaves) return under Zerubbabel. 536. Foundation of Temple formally laid. 529. Cambyses. 522. Gaumata (usurper, for 7 months). 522. Darius Hystaspis. 520. Building of Temple begun. Haggai. Zechariah i-vi. 518. Zechariah vii-viii. 520. Temple completed. 458. About 1,750 exiles return under Ezra. c. 460-50. Malachi. 445. Nehemiah's first visit to Jerusalem. 444. Book of the Law accepted by the people. 432. Nehemiah's second visit to Jerusalem. 333. Persian empire overthrown by Alexander the Great. 332. Alexander's seven months' siege of Tyre. 'iZech. ix-x. 323. Death of Alexander at Babylon. 323-c. 300. Wars of his generals and successors. ? Zech. ix-xiv. 302-198. Palestine under the rule of the Ptolemies. 198. Antiochus the Great obtains possession of Palestine. 175-164. Antiochus Epiphanes. NAHUM INTRODUCTION AND REVISED VERSION WITH ANNOTATIONS NAHUM INTRODUCTION § I. The Person of Nahum. Respecting the person of Nahum nothing is known beyond the statement in the title (i. i) that he was an Elkoshite^ i. e. an inhabitant of a place Elkosh, A village bearing the name of Alkush, containing a tomb which is shown as that of Nahum, exists at the present day about twenty-four miles north of Kouyunjik (the ancient Nin- eveh) * ; but the tradition connecting this locality with the prophet cannot be traced back beyond the sixteenth cen- tury; and in all probability it arose simply from the simi- larity of the name to that of the prophet's native place, coupled with the fact that he prophesied against Nineveh. Another and more ancient tradition places Elkosh in Galilee. Jerome, in the preface to his Commentary on Nahum, says that there was a small village in Galilee called Elkese showing hardly any traces of ancient build- ings, but nevertheless known to the Jews, and pointed out to him by his guide (*et mihi quoque a circumducente monstratus '). But though it is of course possible for a prophet of Nahum's time to have lived in Galilee, it is not very probable. A third tradition makes Nahum a native of Judah. In a book O71 the Lives of the Pro- phets, attributed (doubtfully) to Epiphanius, a native of ^ See Layard's Nineveh and its Remains, \. 233, and Map. The • tomb ' is a ' simple plaster box covered with green cloth, and standing at the upper end of a large chamber.' in a house of modern building. The place is * held in great reverence by Mohammedans and Christians, but especially by Jews, who flock there in great numbers at certain seasons ol" the year.' 4 NAHUM Besanduke, a village in the south-west of Judah, and sub- sequently (a.d. 367) bishop of Salamis in Cyprus, it is said of Nahum that he was 'from Elkosh, beyond Beth- gabre, of the tribe of Simeon \' Beth-gabre is the place now called Beit-Jibrtn, the ancient Eleutheropolis, about twenty miles S.W. of Jerusalem ; and 'beyond' means presumably S. or S.W. of Beit-Jibrin. This tradition is decidedly more probable than either of the former ones : Nahum's interests are in Judah, and a prophet of Nahum's time is much more likely to have sprung from Judah than from Galilee : but no place, Elkosh, is at present known in the required direction. There is, however, a well called Bir el-Kaus about six miles E. of Beit-jibrin ; whether this be the place referred to must be left undetermined^. § 2. History of Nahum's Time. The prophecy of Nahum is devoted to a single theme : it is a cry of exultation over the impending fall of Nineveh, — and with it, of course, of the Assyrian empire, of which Nineveh was the capital. A brief outline of the history of Assyria during the past century will explain why there should be this exultation at the prospect of her fall. In the days of Hezekiah, Judah had suffered much at the hands of the Assyrians. After years of tribute, Hezekiah had at length revolted ; the sequel was the ex- pedition of Sennacherib in 701 B.C., when the country was overrun by the Assyrian troops, forty-six of the cities of Judah captured by the enemy, and Jerusalem itself only rescued from destruction by a pestilence which so crippled the army of the Assyrian king as to oblige him * On the reading of this passage see the article * Nahum ' in DB. iii. 474*. ' A Simeonite Elkosh, so far as inferences can be drawn from the largely unidentified places enumerated in Josh. xix. 2-8, would naturally be looked for considerably to the S. of Beit- Jibrin. See further, on this subject, G. A. Smith, ii. 79-81 ; and Budde's article ' Elkoshite' in EB. INTRODUCTION S to return home without delay. Sennacherib's death, by the hand of his sons, took place in 68 1. His successor, Esarhaddon (681-668), after various other successes, in 676 besieged and took the Phoenician city of Sidon, carrying off to Nineveh much treasure. Shortly after- wards, being about to build a new palace, he tells us how he summoned before him * twenty-two kings of the land Hatti (the Hittite land, but used in Assyrian at this time in a wider sense, so as to include Phoenicia and Palestine), who dwelt by the sea and in the midst of the sea,' and commanded them to furnish him with materials for the purpose. The list of kings thus summoned by him is headed by Baal king of Tyre, and Manasseh king ofjudah^ and includes the kings of Edom, Moab, Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Cyprus. Esarhaddon next, in 670, made a move to conquer Egypt, which was now under the rule of Tirhakah (Is. xxxvii. 9 = 2 K. xix. 9), the third king* of the twenty-fifth (Ethiopian) dynasty. He advanced as far as Memphis, which quickly fell into his hands : he then proceeded to organize the country into an Assyrian province, installing twenty-two native dependent rulers over the twenty-two 'nomes,' or administrative districts, into which it was already divided. After con- ducting expeditions into Media, Urartu (the ' Ararat ' of the Bible), and elsewhere, he died in 668, while on his way to Egypt to quell a revolt which had broken out there. Esarhaddon, before his death, had nominated Asshur- banipal his successor on the throne of Assyria, but appointed another son, Shamash-shum-ukin, to be vice- roy of Babylon under Asshurbanipal. Asshurbanipal's first step was to proceed with the expedition against Egypt, which Esarhaddon had begun. On his way he received the homage of twenty-two tributary kings, — ' B. c. 694-668, — called 'king' of Ethiopia in the passages quoted (which relate to b. c. 701) by anticipation. lb NAHUM mostly the same as those mentioned by Esarhaddon, — who also, he adds, accompanied him with forces and ships. Tirhakah advanced to meet him as far as Memphis, but retreated at his approach to No (Thebes), the capital of Upper Egypt : both cities were entered by Asshur- banipal, the governors appointed by Esarhaddon were reinstated, £.nd the authority of Assyria was re-established throughout the country. After Asshurbanipal's return home, however, the revolt in Egypt broke out again, under Turdamani (Urd-amani), Tirhakah's step- son ; and the Assyrian king had to hasten back in order to suppress it (663). Turdamani, being obliged to evacuate Memphis, retreated, like his father, to No, whither Asshurbanipal pursued him :~ He saw the approach of my mighty battle, abandoned No, and fled to Kipkip. This city (No) in its entire compass, in reliance upon Asshur and Ishtar, my hands conquered. Silver, gold, precious stones, the treasure of his palace, the whole that was there, richly-woven garments, fine horses, men and women, two lofty obelisks, 2,500 talents in weight, which stood before the gate of the temple, I removed from their place, and brought them to Assyria. Abundant spoil, beyond reckoning, I carried away out of No. Over Egypt and Cush (Ethiopia) I let my weapons gleam, and I established my might. With full hand I returned in safety to Nineveh, the city of my sovereignty. This capture of the ancient and splendid capital of Upper Egypt by the Assyrians is alluded to by Nahum (iii. 8-10), in terms which show the profound impression that it left upon men's memories. After his successes in Egypt, Asshurbanipal received the submission, accompanied by rich presents, of Baal, king of Tyre, and other princes of Syria and Asia Minor. Then, after a successful invasion of Man (the Minni of Jer. li. 27, near the modern Armenia), Asshurbanipal found himself obliged to send an expedition into Elam (Gen. X. 22), a country on the E. of the Tigris, inhabited by a powerful and well-organized people, where one Teumman had recently usurped the throne. In connexion INTRODUCTION 7 with this expedition an interesting fact which throws light on Assyrian prophecy is related. On the eve of the campaign, Asshurbanipal prayed solemnly to the goddess Ishtar, who to encourage him appeared in a vision to a seer, and promised victory to the Assyrian arms. Confident of success, Asshurbanipal set out for Elam, and pressed on up to the walls of its capital, Susa. Here, on the banks of the Eulaeus (the Ulai of Dan. viii. 2), there was a decisive battle, in which the Elam- ites were utterly routed : — The land of Elam through its extent I covered, as when a mighty storm approaches. I cut off the head of Teumman, their king, the rebel who had plotted evil. Beyond number I slew his warriors ; alive in my hands I took his fighting men ; with their corpses as with thorns and thistles I filled the vicinity of Susa ; their blood I caused to flow in the Eulaeus ; its waters I stained like wool ^ After this defeat, there was a temporary settlement in Elam : but before long disturbances broke out again, and another campaign was found necessary by Asshurbanipal. After capturing many cities, and ravaging the country on his march, Asshurbanipal at last besieged and took Susa. Then began ' a work of pillage which it would be difficult to parallel in all the earlier Assyrian records. From the treasuries were brought forth the gold and silver which the kings of Elam had plundered in raids into Babylonia and elsewhere. Precious stones and costly woollen stuffs, chariots and waggons, horses and animals of various kinds were sent away to Assyria ; ' Susa itself was razed to the ground ; temples were broken into, sacred groves cut down, sepulchres violated ; the whole country was left a waste ; and the conqueror boasts that ' the voice of men, the tread of cattle and sheep, and the sound of happy music,' were no longer to be heard in it ^. ^ King in EB. i. 374 ; more fully Maspero, Passing of the Empires, pp. 404 ff. * King in EB. i. 375 ; KB. ii. 209. 8 NAHUM The above is, of course, a very summary account of Asshurbanipal's principal military achievements ^ : but it will suffice, perhaps, to give the reader a general idea of their character and magnitude. The Assyrians were masters in the art of war ; and we can judge from the descriptions of Asshurbanipal with what terrible effect they launched themselves against their weaker neighbours. Almost every year a campaign against some tribe or people was being organized ; and, even allowing for some rhetorical embellishment in their reports, one and all were equally helpless before them (cf. the striking comparison in Is. X. 14), they trod down the nations like dust, spread ruin and carnage through their lands, plundered their treasures, treated prisoners with savagery, and the dead with ignominy. Asshurbanipal in particular was guilty of great barbarity towards the vanquished : captive prisoners were shut up in cages and exposed to the gaze of the populace, or compelled to carry in a procession the heads of such as had been executed, while others were flayed alive ^ We see also with what an iron hand the Assyrians interposed in the political affairs of their neighbours, * removing the bounds of the peoples ' (Is. x. 13), setting up or deposing kings, appointing governors at their will, or exacting tribute. Such a cruel and tyrannical power could not but be viewed with the intensest hatred by every nation which knew of it ; and though Judah, so far as appears, had suffered less from the Assyrians during Nahum's lifetime than many other nations, yet the Hebrew prophet would know of course by report how * The Inscriptions of Asshurbanipal fill some seventy-five pages in KB. ii. (pp. 121 ff.), and his campaigns are described with much fullness and graphic detail (cf. Maspero, Passing of the Empires, pp. 381-442). 2 Maspero, pp. 410, 413, 415, 423, 431, 438 f., &c. The brutality of Asshurbanipal is further illustrated by a bas-relief which represents him and his queen feasting in their garden with the head of Teumman hanging from a tree above them (cf. ibid. p. 412). INTRODUCTION 9 other countries had been treated by them ; and, we may feel assured, he does nothing more than 'utter the un- doubted feeling of the whole western world, when in speaking of the ruin of Assyria he says, "All that hear the bruit of thee clap the hands over thee ; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually ? '" ^ After Asshurbanipal, in spite of the external brilliance of his reign, the power of Assyria rapidly declined. The Assyrians had no genius, such as the Romans possessed, of civilizing conquered provinces or of constituting them parts of an organized empire ; no high moral ideal inspired and braced them ; their authority was maintained purely by the sword, and as soon as there was no strong hand to wield the sword, they speedily fell a prey to jealous or ambitious neighbours, and their empire broke up. Asshurbanipal was succeeded by Asshur-etil-ilani {626- c. 620), and Asshur-etil-ilani by Sin-shar-ishkun, the Saracos of the Greeks [c. 620-607) ; but both these seem to have been feeble rulers, and only three or four very brief and meagre inscriptions from their reigns have come down to us. Babylon at this time was under the rule of Nabopolassar (625-605), a Chaldaean (see on Hab. i. 6), father of the better known Nebuchadnezzar. At first Nabopolassar seems to have been viceroy of Babylon under Asshurbanipal and Asshur-etil-ilani ; but an irruption of tribes from the S. having taken place, probably in 612 or 611, being ordered by his suzerain Sin-shar-ishkun to take the field against them, instead of obeying the summons, he joined forces with the rebels, and declared the independence of Babylon '^. The precise course of events which terminated ultimately in the destruction of Nineveh is not perfectly clear; but for our present purpose the uncertainty is immaterial. According ^ Rogers, Hist, of Bah. and Ass. (1900), ii. 289. ^ Cf. Maspero, Passing of the Empires, p. 482 f. ; Rogers, ii. 307 9. lo NAHUM to Herodotus (i. 102-104), the Medes, whose home was in the mountains between Nineveh and the Caspian Sea, had made an irruption into Assyria {c. 635 B.C.), which proved fatal both to their king Phraortes and to the greater part of his army ; and a second invasion followed under Cyaxares, the son and successor of Phraortes, who, Herodotus says, even began the siege of Nineveh {c. 624), but was compelled to raise it, owing to his own country being invaded from the N.W. by Scythians. After the re- treat of the Scythians from Asia, some years afterwards, he renewed the attack, and then took Nineveh (Hdt. i. 106). Some further particulars of the final close of the Assyrian empire are given in an inscription of Nabuna'id (Nabonidus), the last native king of Babylon (B.C. 555-538}, found in 1895 at Hillah (Babylon)^. It would seem from this inscription that about 609 the Assyrian king, Sin-shar-ishkun, invaded Babylonia for the purpose of recovering his supremacy over it, and that Nabopolassar called in to assist him the Umman-manda, or 'hordes' of northern peoples, who are mentioned several times in the inscriptions as invading Assyria, and who were always ready for an excuse for doing so again. In Nabuna'id's own words, Marduk (Merodach, the supreme god of Babylon) summoned to his aid ' the king of the Umman-manda'^,' who thereupon 'above and below, right and left, overwhelmed the land like a deluge,' destroying all the temples, and laying waste the cities. Nineveh is not expressly mentioned, any more than any other city is, but it cannot be doubted that it is included. More specific particulars respecting its fate are wanting ; but the fact ^ See Messerschmidt, Die Inschrift der Stele Nabuna^icfs (1896). ^ I.e., if we combine this account with that of Herodotus, Cyaxares. According to Herodotus, the Medes were the de- stroyers of Nineveh ; but ' Umman-manda ' is a vague and general term, and must be understood as including the Medes (Messerschmidt, p. 71 ; Maspero, p. 484). INTRODUCTION ii remains that in or about the year 607 B. c. ^ Nineveh was destroyed ; her imposing fortifications (cf. p. 32) were powerless to save her : the palaces and other buildings, constructed mostly, except on the outside, of unburnt bricks, when once rifts had been made in them, quickly dissolved in the rains, and became masses of soft clay, which gradually shaped themselves into huge grass- covered mounds ; so that when two centuries afterwards (B.C. 401) Xenophon led home the remnant of the 10,000 Greeks, and passed by the spot, all that he knew was that a great and impregnable city had once stood there, but ' Zeus made its inhabitants senseless, and so it was taken.' It was reserved for the explorers of the last century, especially Botta, Layard, and Rassam ^, to penetrate into those mounds, and to exhume from them the still vocal monuments of the art, and literature, and history, and civilization of an empire which for more than five centuries had dominated the fortunes of the greater part of Western Asia, and which also, beyond perhaps anything else, had given occasion to the prophets of Israel for some of their greatest utterances ^ § 3. Contents and Occasion of Nahum's Prophecy. Chap. i. is introductory. It begins by declaring the character of Yahweh as 'a jealous and avenging God;' and then passes on to describe, in impressive imagery, ^ The date is fixed (within a year or two) by a passage in col. X of the Inscription, in which Nabuna'id says that the temple of Sin (the moon-god) in Harran (the Biblical Haran) was destroyed by the Umman-manda fifty-four years before he restored it, in his third year {KB. ii. 2, 99), i. e. in 552. * Asshurbanipal was a patron of literature ; and Rassam discovered in particular, in 1853, the library founded by him at Nineveh, which has furnished modern scholars with some of the most valuable monuments of Babylonian and Assyrian literature which they possess. ' Cf. Wellhausen, Hist, of Isr.^ p. 472 f. ; and the fine and instructive chapter in G. A. Smith's The Twelve Prophets^ i. 44ff. 12 NAHUM the effect upon the world of nature, when He appears for judgement (vv. 2-6) : Yahweh is good indeed to those who trust in Him, but upon His enemies, the unrighteous oppressors of His people, He pours forth His wrath, and Assyria He will utterly destroy {vv. 7-15) \ Chap. ii. A vivid imaginative description of the capture and sack of Nineveh. The prophet depicts in rapid succession the approach of the assailants, the preparations for the attack, the charging of the chariots, the opening of the gates, the flight of the population, the treasures plundered by the captors, the city which had hitherto been the home of fearless and ferocious warriors (the ' den of lions,' z^. il f.), deserted and silent. Chap. iii. Further development of the theme of chap. ii. The cruelty, the avarice, the unprincipled diplomacy of the Assyrians are the cause of Nineveh's fall : and again Nahum sees in imagination the chariots and horsemen of the victors forcing their way through the streets and spreading carnage as they go {vv. 1-4). For Yahweh is against Nineveh in the day of her calamity ; there will be none to comfort her ; as little will she be able to avert her doom as was Thebes, the great capital of Egypt, in spite of her strength, and the vast hosts of her defenders (vv. 7-1 1 ). Her fortresses will fall before the invader, as ripe figs fall into the mouth when the tree is shaken ; the busy crowds now thronging her streets will vanish like locusts; and amid the rejoicings of all who have suffered at her hands, the proud empire of Nineveh will pass for ever away {vij. 12-19). Nahum's poetry is fine. Of all the prophets he is the one who in dignity and force approaches most nearly to Isaiah. His descriptions are graphic and brilliant (e. g. ii. 3-5, 10, iii. 2-3) ; his imagery is effective and striking (e.g. ii. II, 12, iii. 17, 18); the thought is always ex- ^ On the question whether this chapter is really Nahum's, see below, pp. 15, 25 f. INTRODUCTION 13 pressed compactly ; the parallelism is regular ; Nahum nowhere displays that prolixity of style characteristic, for example, of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The direct teaching of the book is almost confined to chap, i, where the thought is developed that Yahweh is *a jealous and avenging God,' who, though He suffer long, will assuredly in the end punish wrong-doing, but who is faithful and good to those who are His true servants. Indirectly, the whole book is a prophecy of judgement upon brutahty and wrong. It is remarkable that, unlike most of the prophets (except in some measure Habakkuk), Nahum makes no allusion to the sins of his own people, and sounds no call to repentance. He is so absorbed with the thought of the iniquities and impending punishment of Assyria, that, though he is manifestly aglow with moral feeling, he does not in this connexion think of his own people. The violence, the oppressions, the inhumanities of the tyrant, which have afflicted not Judah only but the then known world, must have their end ; and the prophet for the moment will know nothing about his God, save that He is a God of vengeance. It is outraged humanity at large which calls for vengeance from his lips (ii. 13, iii. 4-5, 19^). * Assyria in his hands becomes an object-lesson to the empires of the modern world, teaching as an eternal principle of the divine government of the world, the absolute necessity, for a nation's continued vitality, of that righteousness, personal, civic, and national, which alone " exalteth a nation " ' (A. R. S. Kennedy in DB, iii. 477). For the date of Nahum's prophecy we have, as a terminus a quo, the capture of Thebes (alluded to in iii. 8-10) in 663, and as a ier7mnus ad quern the destruction of Nineveh by the Umman-manda in 607 ^. These some- what wide limits may, however, no doubt be reduced. * The view of Dr. Pusey, and other older commentators, that Nahum prophesied under Hezekiah, is seen to be unten- able, now that the date of the capture of Thebes is known. 14 NAHUM The Hebrew prophets usually had some historical occasion for their prophecies ; and that can hardly in the present case be anything but some great danger threatening Nineveh,— the * hammer,' as Nahum says in ii. i, has already ' come up before ' her: we should think naturally either of the occasion when, if Herodotus is to be believed, Cyaxares first laid siege to Nineveh in 624, or of the final and successful attack made by the Umman- manda in 607. We know too little of the preliminary movements of the attacking forces, or of the form in which the news of their approach first reached Judah, on either of these occasions, to be able with confidence to fix the date more precisely. The decision must depend largely upon the view taken of i. 13, 15. On the one hand, if these verses (see p. 26 n.) are really Nahum's, Kuenen's argument^ is forcible that, as Judah was probably throughout Asshurbanipal's reign tributary to Assyria (p. 3), the promises of freedom expressed in them suit the first of these occasions much better than the second (when the decline of the Assyrian power had more than begun, and Judah was probably no longer tributary to it) : on the other hand, chs. ii— iii seem certainly, in Prof. Kennedy's words {DB. iii. 476), to 'palpitate with the conviction that the "utter end" of the Assyrian is at hand,' and hence those scholars (as Wellh., Nowack, Kennedy, Marti), who reject Nahum's authorship of i. 13, 15 (see p. 26), have no hesitation in assigning those parts of the book which they attribute to Nahum to the period shortly before 607, when the enemy had already entered Assyria, but before they had actually invested the capital (see iii. 14 f.): it is also possible, even if i. 13, 15 are from Nahum himself, to refer the prophecy to the same date, if we may suppose Nahum to speak (G. A. Smith, p. 87) not from the feelings of any single year, but with ^ Einl. ii. § 75. 9, 10. Kuenen's date is accepted by Maspero {Passing of the Empires, p. 470 «.). INTRODUCTION 15 the impression upon him of the whole epoch of Assyrian servitude drawing to a close ^ We may wish that we had fuller information of the times : but for the purpose of understanding and appreciating the prophecy of Nahum, it is happily immaterial to which of the two occasions in question it is referred. The unity of the book was formerly (e. g. by Kuenen in 1891) unquestioned. A closer study of ch. i (see pp. 25 flf.) has, however, led most recent commentators and critics to believe that it is in reality composite, and that the genuine prophecy of Nahum is limited either to ii. i, 3 — iii. 19 (A. R. S. Kennedy, Marti — the latter, however, including i. 11, 14), or, as Nahum could hardly (Wellh.) have begun his prophecy with ii. i, to i. 9-12, 14, ii. I, 3 — iii. 19 (Nowack), to which the rest of ch. i and ii. 2 were prefixed afterwards as an introduction — i. 2-10 (to take Marti's view) being part of an acrostic Psalm, describing God's vengeance on His foes, and so enunciating the broad principle which is afterwards exemplified in the particular case of Nineveh (ii. i, 3, &c.), and i. 12 ^ 13, 15, ii. 2 proclaiming the other side of the judgement on the heathen, viz. the salvation of Zion, and written with direct reference to the following prophecy on Nineveh. Cf. p. 26 n. ^ Davidson (p. 17 f.), as well as G. A. Smith (p. 88), also apparently prefers the later date. ^ The first part of this verse is certainly more or less corrupt (see the note ad loc.) ; and Marti corrects it into, * The days of my controversy (with Israel) are ended, they are gone (Ps. xc. 10) and passed away ' (nin lu >2n O' ychx: for d-» pi D'obw dn iii-i iriJ3 pi). Kilometres 9 % \ Walker & Cockerell sc Plan of Nineveh. (From the Encyclopaedia Biblica, iii. 3423, by permission of the Publishers, Messrs. A. and C. Black.) Explanation of Symbols. Wr Nahum A Later Addition NAHUM The ^ burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of 1 Nahum the Elkoshite. * Or, oracle concerning i. 1. Title. 1. The burden of Nineveh. Render, with marg., TAe oracle concerning Nineveh. Massd means properly a 'lifting up,' and is hence used in a concrete sense sometimes of a * thing lifted up/ i. e. a * burden ' (e. g. Ex. xxiii. 5), sometimes of a * lifting up ' of the voice, or of a * word or speech taken up ' upon the lips ^, i.e. a 'solemn utterance' or 'oracle ' : so 2 K. ix. 25 {lit. * lifted up this uplifting* = 'uttered this utterance'; cf. RVm.); Jer. xxiii. 33-40 (where there is a play on the double meaning of the word, ' oracle ' and ' burden ') ; Prov. xxxi. i ; and often in the titles of prophecies, as Is. xiii. i, xiv. 28, xv. i, &c. (see RVm.). the vision. The ' vision,' especially in the earlier history of prophecy, appears often as a form of prophetic intuition (cf. Hos. xii. 10), and the prophets are frequently spoken of as 'seeing' things in vision (e.g. Nu. xxiv. 4, 14 ; i K. xxii. 17, 19; Am. vii-ix ; Is. vi ; Jer. i. 11, 13) : cf. the term ' seer,' i S. ix. 9, 11, 18, 19 [ro^eh']: 2 S. xxiv. 11 ; Am. vii. 12 [Jiozehl; and Is. xxx. 10 (where ' prophets ' and ' prophesy ' are lil. ' gazers ' and ' gaze ') ; and so in course of time 'vision' became a general term for a 'prophecy,' whether actually 'seen' or not (e.g. Is. i. i ; Obad. i) : and to 'see' came to be applied inexactly to 'oracle' (Is. xiii. i; Hab. i. i) ; 'word' (Is. ii. i; Mic. i. i) ; or * words' (Am. i. i). There is no reason for supposing, either here or in any of the other last-cited passages, that the prophecy following was originally the subject of a vision. Nahum the Elkoshite. See the Introduction, § i. The name ' Nahum' would, by analogy, mean ' full of comfort' [i. e., probably, ' is Yah '] : see DB. iii. 473 n. 2-15. Introduction. Yahweh is a God who hates oppression and is powerful in judgement {vv. 2-6), He will therefore assuredly ^ Cf. the cognate verb *to lift' or 'take up' in Nu. xxiii. 7, 18; Jer. vii. 16, 29; Am. y. i, &c. i8 NAHUM 1. 2, 3. A 3 [A] (^?) The Lord is a jealous God and avengeth ; the Lord avengeth and is full of wrath; [the Lord taketh ven- geance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his 3 enemies. The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, interpoee to overthrow the tyrant, and effect the deliverance of His own people {vv. 7-15). Vv. 2-8 consist really of a series of couplets : and might have been suitably printed in lines exhibiting the parallelism. They also show traces of an acrostic (indicated in the text by the Hebrew letters). See pp. 24-26. 2-6. Yahweh is a jealous and avenging God, who, though He may be long-suffering, does not eventually leave guilt un- punished, but manifests Himself terribly in judgement. 2. More nearly in the order of the original, and also more forcibly : — A jealous and avenging God is Yahweh, Yahweh is avenging, and full of wrath ; Yahweh is avenging towards his adversaries, And he retaineth (wrath) against his enemies. jealous: so that He will not endure that the honour which is His own or His people's due should be permanently withheld with impunity, and especially that it should be rendered to a false god (Ex. XX. 5, xxxiv. 14; Dt. xxxii. 21). Here the implicit thought is that His jealousy is now about to be aroused by the long-continued wrongs inflicted upon His people by its foes (cf. Is. xlii. 13 ; Ez. xxxvi. 5, 6, xxxix. 25). aveng'ing: cf. Is. i. 24; Ez. xxv. 14, 17; Is. lix. 17, Ixi. 2, Ixiii. 4, &c. The thought of Yahweh's vengeance is one which is much more prominent in the later than in the earlier prophets : see, e.g., Is. xxxiv. 8, xxxv. 4 (exilic); Jer. xlvi. 10, 1. 15, 28, li. 6, II, 36. full of wrath : lit. ' possessor of wrath ' (so Prov. xxix. 22**) : a poetical expression ; cf. (in the Hebrew) Prov. xxii. 24*. retaineth (wrath) : i. e. is with difficulty appeased. The same expression Lev. xix. 18 (EVV., idiomatically, 'bear any grudge') ; Jer. iii. 5 ; Ps. ciii. 9. What is here predicated of God is denied of Him in Jer. iii. 5, Ps. ciii. 9, and forbidden to man in Lev. xix. 18 (' Thou shalt not avenge, or retain (anger) towards thy neighbour ') : the differ- ence, in each case, of circumstance and situation must be noted. 3*. slow to ang-er : as first in Ex. xxxiv. 6 (JE), and repeated thence frequently. Lit. Mong of anger' (fxafepoOvfios) : cf. the opposite, 'short (i. e. quick) of anger,' Prov. xiv. 17. great in power : not here, as it seems, of physical strength NAHUM 1. 4. A 19 and will by no means clear the guilty \\ the Lord (3) 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 4 it dry, and drieth up all the rivers : Bashan languisheth, (Job ix. 4), but of power to control the feelings (Job vi. ii f.), and grant pardon to those who have given offence ; cf. Nu. xiv. 17 f. (JE), of which indeed the present passage is apparently a re- miniscence, ' Let the power of Yahweh be great (viz. to pardon, V. 19), according as thou hast spoken, saying, Yahweh is slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy . . . but will by no means clear (the guilty),' &c. but will by no means clear the guilty. The reverse side of the Divine nature : Yahweh is indeed not readily moved to anger, and is ready to pardon, but He will not in the end leave the impenitent unpunished. The first and third clauses of this verse are taken directly from the great declaration of Yahweh's character contained in Ex. xxxiv. 6f.. and repeated Nu. xiv. 18 (and in part elsewhere, as Joel ii. 13 ; Ps. Ixxxvi. 15, ciii. 8). clear : more exactly, ' treat as innocent,* or (as in the Decalogue) 'hold guiltless,' i.e. 'leave unpunished,' — an idea which is certainly included : cf. (in the passive) Jer. xxv. 29 ' and should ye be unpunished V 3^. To the Hebrews Yahweh seemed to manifest Himself particularly in storm and earthquake, and other great movements of nature ; and so there follows a description of His power, as seen in operation in a series of such phenomena : — Yahweh, his way is in the whirlwind and in the storm. And the clouds are the dust of his feet. For the first line cf. especially Ps. xviii. 9-14, xxix. 3-9 (which show how the Hebrews pictured Yahweh as borne along in the thunder-cloud), and see also Is. xxix. 6, and on Hab. iii. 3, 4; the second line suggests a sublime picture of His greatness and majesty. 4. He rebuketh the sea, &c. Viz. by driving it back by His wind, with allusion to the drying up of the Red Sea at the Exodus (cf. Ps. cvi, 9), though (as the participle in the Hebrew shows) the expression is here generalized, and intended to refer to all similar phenomena of nature (cf. Is. xliv. 27, 1. 2). and drieth up all the streams. As the Jordan (Jos. iv. 23 ; Ps. Ixxiv. 15); but also (notice 'all') streams in general, when the heat of summer or a protracted drought (i K. xvii. 7 ; Joel i. ao) empties the wadys. lang-uisheth, &c. Bashan, Cannel, and Lebanon are C 2 20 NAHUM 1. 5-7. A and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. 5 (n) The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt ; (1) and the earth is upheaved at his presence, yea, the world, 6 and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before (t) his indignation ? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger ? (n) his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks 7 are broken asunder by him. (d) The Lord is good, a mentioned as the most luxuriantly wooded parts of Palestine (cf. Is. ii. 13, xxxiii. 9, xxxv. 2 [read majesty for excellency']) ; but even they must droop and wither, when the hot sirocco (see on Hag. ii. 17), blowing up fiercely from the desert (Jer. iv. 11), strikes upon them (cf. Hos. xiii. 15 ; Is. xl. 7). The work and power of God are, indeed, manifest as truly and effectually in the tranquil and normal operations of nature as in those which are violent and extraordinary : but they do not impress the beholder as visibly ; and thus the latter are more naturally taken to typify, or illustrate, His revelation in judgement. flower: better, bud, i.e. not only the bud of flowers (Is. xviii. 5), but also budding shoots and foliage (cf. the verb, Pr. xi. 28). langfuisheth. Or, droopeth : cf. Joel i. 12. 5. The prophet returns here to the thought of v. s**, the de- scription of the theophany in the storm. As the thunder rolls along, the mountains seem to quake (cf. Ps. xxix. 6, 8 ; Hab. iii. 6), torrents of water pour down the gullies (Judges v. 5 ; Mic. i. 4), and the earth, shaken by the thunder (Ps. xviii. 7), seems to rise up out of its place. A thunder-storm in a mountainous region is evidently to be thought of; but the terms of the description are plainly hyperbolical. is upheaved. The rendering is doubtful. Perhaps, changing only the vowel-points, we should read is wasted (Is. vi. 11). 6. The application. Who can stand before such a God, a God at whose presence even the rocks are torn in pieces ? Who can stand, -^c. Cf. Jer. x. 10 ; Mai. iii. 2. is poured out. For the figure, cf. Jer. vii. 20, xliv. 6 al. like fire. It is as vehement and destructive as a stream of fire. and the rocks are torn down before him {lit. 'from him '). The allusion is to masses of rock loosened in a thunder-storm. * Torn down ' : the word is used oi pulling or tearing down an altar (Jud. vi. 30) a tower (viii. 17), a city-wall (a K. xxv. 10), &c. 7-15. Yahweh's wrath alights, however, not upon those who NAHUM 1. 8,9. AN 21 strong hold In the day of trouble ; and ("•) he knoweth them that put their trust in him. But with an overrunning 8 flood (a) he will make a full end of the place thereof, and will pursue his enemies into darkness. [N] What do ye 9 trust in Him, but only upon His foes ; and His people's oppressors \le will utterly destroy. 7. Yahweh is good, as a strong- hold, &c. Cf. Ps. xxxvii. 39 ; and especially Jer. xvi. 19. But LXX have * to them that wait for him ' (Ps. xxv. 3, &c. ; and especially Lam. iii. 25) for * as a strong hold ' : this yields a better sense and also forms a better parallel to the next clause, whether we substitute it for ' as a strong hold' (We. formerly, Dav., Smith), or suppose it to have fallen out accidentally before it (Gunkel, Nowack, "We. now, Marti), omitting in the latter case the ' as.' knoweth : i. e. takefh knowledge of, regardeth, as Ps. i. 6, xxxvii. 18 ; Gen. xviii. 19 (RV.) ; Am. iii. 2 ('You only have I known of all the families of the earth '). that take refuge in him. RV. * put their trust in him ' is a correct paraphrase, but one that entirely obliterates the ex- pressive figure of the original. The verb is cognate with the substantive rendered refuge in Is. iv. 6, xxv. 4, Ps. xlvi. i, Ixi. 3, &c. : it is rendered take refuge in RV. of Ruth ii. 12, Ps. xxxvi. 7, Ivii. I, Ixi. 4, xci. 4, Is. xiv. 32 ; and the same rendering might well have been adopted elsewhere, as Jud. ix. 15 ; Is. xxx. 2, 3 ; Ps. ii. 12, vii. i, xi. i, &c., and here. 8. with an overflowing flood. Carrying all before it (Is. viii. 8, xxviii. 15). a full end (Heb. kdldh). As Jer. iv. 27, v. 10, 18, xxx. 11 = xlvi. 28. (In Is. X. 23, xxviii. 22 rendered ' a consumption.') the place thereof. Heb. her place, i.e. Nineveh's, the pronoun referring to a subject not yet expressed, but in the writer's mind (cf. ' them,' in Is. xiii. 2, 'their' in Is. xxxiii. 2, which show that this use of the pronoun is defensible). LXX, however, have, with a very slight change in the Heb., them that rise np against him (Dt. xxxiii. 11 al.), which forms an exact parallel to ' his enemies ' in clause b, and is probably the original reading. Render then, with present tenses (the thought of the verse being now quite general), maketh a full end of them that rise np against him, and pursueth his enemies into darkness. pursueth into darkness. Cf., for the thought, Job xviii. 18. 9. What do ye imagine, &c. Cf. v. 11, It is folly to frame plans ' (cf. Hos. vii. 15) against Yahweh, or seek to thwart His ^ The intensive conjugation (to think much, ponder, meditate'). 22 NAHUM 1. 10. N imagine against the Lord? he will make a full end: 10 affliction shall not rise up the second time. For though they be like tangled thorns, and be drenched as it were in their drink, they shall be devoured * utterly as dry * Or, as stubble fully dry purpose ; for a full end is he maktiig' (or, * is he about to make') ; that is His intention : He is already carrying it out, and it will not be frustrated. trouble (v. 7) sball not rise up twice : i. e. (probably) the trouble which now threatens Nineveh will be once for all ; it will not need to be repeated. Cf. i S. xxvi. 8 ' Let me smite him with the spear to the earth once, and I will not repeat it to him ' (similarly 2 S. xx. 10). ' He will not take vengeance of his adversaries twice* (Gunk., Bick,, Now., Marti : suggested by the LXX) ^ suits, however, the context well, and may be the original reading (cf. p. 25). 10. The American Revisers (see their notes at the end of RV. of the OT.), more exactly, Por entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they shall be, &c. The words are understood to mean that the Ninevites, though in consequence of their strong defences they are as difficult to approach and deal with as a thorn-hedge (cf. 2 S. xxiii. 6f.), and though — with sarcastic allusion to their Supposed love of carousals— they are soaked through as with their wine, and consequently so wet that the flames, it might be thought, could not harm them, will never- theless be consumed as quickly as dry stubble. But the sense thus obtained is very forced ; and the words * drunken as with their drink ' come in strangely after the figure of the * thorns,' besides being (in the Heb.) open to the suspicion of being a corrupt repetition of ' entangled ' ; so that it is impossible to believe that we have this part of the verse in its original form ; the rendering ' like ' for n? is also very questionable. Marti proposes, They are all of them as thorns cut off (Is. xxxiii. 12) : this yields a good sense; but deviates considerably (except in 'thorns cut off') from the existing text. be devoured : viz. by the flames ; cf. Is. v. 24, xlvii. 14 ; Obad. 18. utterly. RVm. fully (connecting the word with the ad- is against the rendering adopted by many moderns, * What think ye with regard to Yahweh ? * ^ ms D'oye cnp> nV (Jos. x. 13), for ms D^oyD Dipn hV. NAHUM 1. IT, 12. N . 23 stubble. There is one gone forth out of thee, that imagin- 1 1 eth evil against the Lord, » that counselleth ^ wickedness. Thus saith the Lord : Though they be in full strength, 12 and hkewise many, even so shall they be cut down, and he shall pass away, c Though I have afflicted thee, I will * Or, a wicked counsellor ^ Or, worthlessness Heb. Belial. *= Or, So will I afflict thee, thai I shall afflict &c. jective dry). Either rendering is extremely doubtful : the word no doubt belongs really to v. 11; see note ^ below. 11. Did not^ one come forth out of thee, who imagrined evil against Yahweh, who counselled villainy ? The allusion is generally supposed to be to Sennacherib. The pronoun ( ' thee ') is pointed as a feminine, implying that some country or city is addressed, which, in the present context, can be only Nineveh. villainy. Lit. ' unprofitableness,' but in usage an opprobrious term for what is base (Dt. xv. 9 RV. ; Ps. ci. 3 RV.), unprincipled, villainous. The marg. says, ' Heb. Belial' ; but the word is not really a proper name, in spite of its use as such (in the form Beliar) in later times, as Jubilees i. 20, xv. 33, and in other writings of the same age*, and 2 Cor. vi. 15. 'Sons' (or 'men') 'of unprofit- ableness* (Jud. xix. 22, I S. xxv. 25 al.) means simply base (Dt. xiii. 13 RV.) or unprincipled fellows. 12* (to pass away). The hosts of Nineveh, however complete and numerous, will nevertheless vanish and pass away. The Hebrew, however, in which this thought is expressed is very strange, and inspires as little confidence that it is correct as that of V. 10. We. suggests tentatively. Though the great waters (fig. of the multitudes inhabiting Nineveh, cf. ii. 8) be never so full, they shall disappear and pass away : this would yield a good sense ; but the word rendered ' never so full ' (properly whole, complete) is not elsewhere used of waters. 12^ The text means: 'Though (lit. 'And') I have afflicted thee, (O Judah,) I will afflict thee no more' (so Keil, Marti'). The marg. is a threat to Assyria : 'And I will afflict thee, (O Assyria,) so that I afflict thee no more ' (so Ew., Hi., We., Dav., Smith), i.e. the blow will be a final one. The latter is the better rendering of the Hebrew as it stands ; but a very slight change (see note ^) would * So Wellh., very cleverly, reading the superfluous nVd (' utterly,' * fully '), at the end of v. 10, as N')n at the beginning of v. 1 1. * See EB. s. v. ; and Charles's edition of the apocryphal Ascension of Isaiah (igoo), pp. Iv-lvii, 6-7. ^ Marti, however, easing the grammar by reading, for vh "^'ir:?^, mVi "|'n':y, i.e. / have afflicted thee, but I will afflict thee no more. <24 ' NAHUM 1. 13,14. N A?N 13 afflict thee no more. [A?] And now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder. 14 [N] And the Lord hath given commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown : out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image ; I will make thy grave ; for thou art express unexceptionably the sense of the former rendering ; and in the uncertainty of the context it is difficult to say which was the sense originally intended. 13. Judah is addressed : she will now, it is promised, be freed from the yoke of Assyria. Judah was probably tributary to Assyria through much, if not the whole, of Asshurbanipal's reign (cf. pp. 3f., 12). Cf. the same promise as made by Isaiah (Is. x. 27, xiv. 25). his yoke. Properly, * his bar,' i. e. (here) the horizontal pole of the yoke, to which two other perpendicular 'bars' were attached, enclosing the neck of the animal : cf. the ' bars of the yoke,* Lev. xxvi. 13 ; Ez. xxxiv. 27 ; Jer. xxvii. 2 ; Is. Iviii. 6 (twice), 9 (where 'yoke' is properly 'bar,' as here). and will burst (or, better, snap, Is. v. 27) thy thongs asnnder. The thongs fastening the yoke to the animal's neck. The same two words are regularly used in the same connexion : cf. Ps. ii. 3, and especially Jer. xxx. 8. 14. Here the personified Assyrian people is addressed (the pronouns in this verse are pointed as masculines). As Wellh. has remarked, the verse would be much more forcible if the opening ' And ' (i) were omitted : Yahweh hath ^ven com- mandment, &c. no more of thy name be sown. More exactly, it shall not be sown from thy name any more, i. e. thou shalt be annihilated, there will be none to perpetuate thy name : cf. Is. xiv. 20^ and such expressions as destroy or blot out the name, Dt. vii. 24, xxix. 20; I S. xxiv. 21. out of the house (i. e. temple) of thy gods, &c. The Inscrip- tions have disclosed to us how many gods the Assyrians worshipped, Asshur, Ishtar, Anu, Shamash, Ninib, &c., and what honours they paid them ^ ; but now, the prophet declares, they will all be powerless to save their country ; their temples will be sacked, and their images destroyed. I will make thy grave, i. e. prepare a grave for thee. The prophet pictures the whole nation as doomed to be laid in the grave together. ^ Jastrow, Religion of Bab. and Ass. (1898), pp. 1S8-238. NAHUM 1. 15. N A? 25 vile. [A ?] a^Behold, upon the mountains the feet of him 15 that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace ! Keep thy feasts, O Judah, perform thy vows : for b the wicked one shall no more pass through thee ; he is utterly cut off. • [Ch. ii. I in Heb.] ^ Or, the man of wortklessness Heb. Belial. for thou art of small account. For the rendering, see Job xl. 4 RV. ; and cf. i S. ii. 30 (' be lightly esteemed '). vile in RV. is retained here from AV. ; and. as Kimchi's note on the passage shows \ vile in AV. has here its now obsolete sense (derived directly from the Lat. tilis, 'cheap'), of common or 0/ small account. The Heb. word kdlal does not mean * vile ' in its modern sense of 'morally detestable'^. But the verse ends weakly ; and perhaps, with a slight change, we should read (We., Marti), / zvill make thy grave a shame {'in. 5). 15. Assyria is no more ; and the prophet sees in imagination upon the mountains the messengers hastening to announce the glad tidings in Jerusalem. Judah is now free ; and she may keep her feasts in gladness, and offer thanks for her deliverance in fearlessness and security. The greater part of clause a is repeated by the author of Is. xl-lxvi in Is. Hi. 7, when announcing to his people the approaching fall of Babylon, and the restoration of the exiles (' How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet,' &c.). perforin thy vows. The vows made in the days of her adversity (Ps, Ixvi. 13-14). The command to perform, or pay, them implies indirectly that the prayer for dehverance has been granted, and that the danger is now past : cf. Ps. xxii. 25, Ixi. 8, Ixvi. 13. the villainous one. A term of reproach for the hateful Assyrian, whose officers appointed to collect the tribute (cf. pp. 3f., and Is. xxxiii. 18) will no more pass through Jerusalem. On the Heb. word used, see on v. 11 ; and for ' worthlessness,' as equivalent to ' worthless man {or men)/ cf. 2 S. xxiii. 6 (see RVm.), Job xxxiv. 18* (RV. 'vile,' in the modern sense of the word^. With the promise in general, cf. Is. Hi. i : also Joel iii. 17'' ; Zech. ix. 8. In parts of Nah, i there are traces of an alphabetic arrangement in the successive half-verses, similar to what we find in Pss. ix-x ^ The translators of 161 1 are often dependent upon Kimchi (a. d. 1 160-1235) ; and he explains here by looked down upon, despised. ^ The reader should remember that there are several passages in AV., and even in RV., in which * vile ' is used in this old sense, as Job xl. 4 AV., Jer. xv. 19 AV. RV. ; Lam. i. 11 AV. RV.; Phil, iii. 21 AV. {-raiiuvCjatois). 26 NAHUM 1. (imperfect), xxv, xxxiv, xxxvii, cxi, cxii, cxix, cxlv, Lam. i-iv, Prov. xxxi. 10-31 : it has accordingly been supposed that originally there was here a complete acrostic poem, and various attempts have been made to restore it completely. The alphabetical order is found actually in vv. 2» (a), 4'' (3), 5* (n), s^ (^), 6*" (n), 7* (^), 9* (d), and it can be restored by insignificant omissions in vv. 2^ (-)> 7^ 0)j ^2^ Wj ^^^ ^4* (^)> ^"^ ^y ^ transposition and the addition of a letter in v. 6* (i) : the remaining verses can be adjusted to it only by the assumption that more extensive alterations and transpositions have taken place in the text than are probable (see, for instance, the restoration in Nowack's Commentary ^). The best study on the subject is that of G. B. Gray in the Expositor^ Sept. 1898, p. 207 fF., who, working upon the results obtained by his predecessors^, restores the first 12^ couplets of the acrostic as follows' : — 2* (n) a God jealous and avenging is Yahweh ; Yahweh is avenging and full of wrath *. 3** (n) In whirlwind and storm is his way, and clouds are the dust of his feet. 4* (a) He rebuketh the sea and drieth it up, and parcheth all the rivers. 4^ (l) Bashan and Carmel lose their leaves ', and the bud of Lebanon languisheth. 5* (n) Mountains quake because of him, and [all] the hills melt. 5^ (l) And the earth becometh desolate* before him, the world and all that dwell therein. 6* (l) Before his indignation, who can stand ?^ and who can abide in the heat of his anger? ^ Ed. I : in ed. 2 the attempt is abandoned after v. 8, and it is admitted that it cannot be carried through without ' the greatest violence.' '^ Especially by Bickell (1S80, 18S2, 1S94), Gunkel (1893), and Novvack (1897). ' The English renderings are sometimes accommodated to those adopted in the preceding notes. * The four lines which here follow In the Heb. text must. If the poem was once an acrostic, be regarded as a gloss, intended to qualify the absolute statements contained in the two preceding lines. ' Lit. ' become thin ' (Sbl for "jtow). ^ MU?rn (Is. vl. 1 1), for Nbni : so Gunkel, Nowack. "^ In V. 6% however, vi^ij nny> ^o loi"^, though quite grammatical. Is less easy and natural than the existing order lOS" 'O TO?"! 'acS : see Ps. cxlvii. 17; and cf. analogously Job Iv. 2, xxvi. 14, xxxviii. 37, xxxix. 5, xH. 5, 6. 6^ (n) 7* (:.) 7^ 0) 8 (:3) $ (^) NAHUM 1. 27 His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are torn down^ before him. Good is Yahweh to [them that wait for him] ', a stronghold in the day of trouble. He knoweth them that take refuge in him, and in the overflowing flood ' [delivereth them]. An utter end he maketh of them that rise up against him, and he thrusteth* his enemies into darkness. Not twice doth he take vengeance on his adversaries ^, an utter end he maketh. 9* (o) What do ye devise against Yahweh ? As Dr. Gray points out, the successive Hebrev^r letters appear so often in the existing text at the constant interval of just two lines, that their occurrence can scarcely be accidental ; and if this be granted, it is legitimate to endeavour to restore the acrostic. Dr. Gray's restoration of vv. 2-9 postulates no unreasonable textual alterations, and is certainly plausible. He makes no attempt to restore the rest of the acrostic, rightly feeling that the changes required would be so radical that there could be no confidence in their correctness ^ We possess indeed no assurance that V. 10 ff. ever were part of the acrostic : the traces of the alphabetic order are here much slighter than in vv. 2-9, and the character of the verses differs ; in vv. 2-9 the description of judgement is quite general, whereas in v, 10 ff. there seem to be definite references to a particular foe, whose yoke has rested upon Judah, but whose destruction is now promised, and the way is thus prepared for chap. ii. A formal acrostic poem is not very likely to have been adopted by Nahum himself as an introduction to this prophecy : assuming its existence (as far as v. 9) to be established, the most probable view is that a later editor found the poem among the materials before him, and the beginning of Nahum's genuine prophecy being mutilated, he adapted it as a suitable introduction to a prophecy of judgement, attaching himself no importance to its alphabetical form as such, and so * Dr. Gray, with We., Gunk., Now., Marti, reads are kindled (ini*: for irn:) : but this change seems unnecessary. ' See the note on v. 7. ^ Cf. Ps. xxxii. 6^ * nin' for niT (so Gunk., Now., Wellh., Marti; see Job xviii. 18 Heb.). ' See the note on v. 9. * Wellh., in the third edition of his Kleine Propheten (1898), p. 159, rejects altogether the attempts made by Gunkel and Bickell to restore vv. 10 ff. : he accepts, however, the acrostic for vv. 2-8 substantially as given above. 28 NAHUM 2. T, 2. N A 2 [N] He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face : keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins 2 strong, fortify thy power mightily. [A] For the Lord combining it in its latter part with what was preserved of Nahum himself (cf. Budde, EB. iii. 3261) ^ ii. 1-10. A powerful and graphic imaginative description of the capture and sack of Nineveh. 1. The approach of the attacking army. Nineveh is addressed, Nahum ironically bidding her prepare to resist the assailant. He that dasheth in pieces : i. e. the destroying foe. As pointed, however, the Hebrew could only mean The scatterer; but probably the punctuation should be altered so as to express the sense of The Hammer or War-club (lit. The shatterer : Pr. xxv. 18 ' maul '), the same word which in Jer. 11. 20* (AV. and RV. ' battle-axe ') is applied to a formidable crushing power (cf. the cognate verb, vv. 2o''-23). is come up before thy face : i. e. has broken up camp, and is now advancing against thee. make strong (or firm) the loins : i. e. be courageous, the loins being the seat of strength. Contrast v. 10 'there is trembling in all loins,' and * make the loins to totter,' in Ps. Ixix. 23. fortify thy power mig-htily : better, ' strengthen (thy) might exceedingly,' i. e. collect thy powers, show both bodily prowess and mental intrepidity. Cf. the same expression, used similarly of a warrior, in Am. ii. 14. 2. The reason : Yahweh's purpose to restore the ancient glory and splendour of Jacob (cf. Is. xiv. i). The verse seems, however, to be misplaced : it interrupts the description of the advance of the foe {vv. i, 3), and would more naturally follow i. 15, even if (note ^ below ; p. 13) it is not a later addition to the text of Nahum. * In I. 12 — ii. 2 it has been noticed that Assyria and Judah are addressed alternately in alternate verses : and it has consequently been supposed that the verses relating to Judah (i. 13, 15, ii. 2) do not belong to the original context of Nahum (We., Smith), but are a later addition intended to express the joyful consequences for Judah of the fall of its great foe (Now., Marti). Certainly ii. 2 cannot be in its right place, and the terms in which it is expressed might even suggest that Judah had been 'emptied' as it was in the Babylonian captivity; but the terms of i. 13, 15 leave no doubt as to who is addressed; and there seems to be no reason why Nahum himself should not have turned aside from his main theme in order to congratulate his country on its coming deliverance. NAHUM 2. 3. AN 29 bringeth again the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel : for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches. [N] The shield of his mighty 3 bringretli agrain. Rather, is bringing back. Again was used in Old English where we should say back ; and is so found in EVV. in passages where back would be much clearer : cf. Gen. xiv. 16, xxiv. 5, 6, 8, xlviii. 21. The participle, is bnnging back (i. e. is on the way to bring back), as often in the prophets, of the imminent future (or of the future, conceived and pictured as im- minent). excellency (twice). Render majesty, or pride (in a good sense) : cf. Hos. v. 5 and vii. 10 (' the pride of Israel ' — referred here by some to Yahweh), Am. vi. 8, viii. 7, Jer. xiii. 9 (in a bad sense), Ps. xlvii. 4 (in a good sense), where a corresponding change should be made in EVV. Excellency (like excellent) retained in Old English its etymological sense, which it has now lost, of surpassingness, pre-eminence (from ex-cello, to rise up out of) ; and both words wherever they occur in AV. or RV. must be understood in this sensed Here, however, the Heb. word {go' on) does not mean even pre-eminence, but majesty or pride (by both of which words it is in fact often rendered : Is. ii. 10, 19, 21 ; Mic. V. 4 «/.). The retention of excellency and excellent in the RV. for words expressive of pre-eminence, superiority, or majesty, is much to be deplored'*. Jacob, — in poetry (e. g. Gen. xlix.) and the higher prose style, a synonym of Israel, — must here (from the context) denote Judah (as Is. xliii. i, xliv. i al.). as the majesty of Israel : i. e. if the text be sound, as He has promised (e. g. in Hos. xiv) to restore the glory of the Northern Kingdom, Butif a comparison between the two kingdoms had been intended, we should have expected it to be more clearly expressed by the use of 'Judah 'for 'Jacob' in the preceding clause : perhaps therefore the present clause is a gloss, added originally upon the margin by a scribe. emptiers. Fig. iox plunderers-, cf. Is. xxiv. i ; Jer. li. 2. and marred their vine branches. Judah is represented under the figure of a vine (Is. v. i ff. ; Ps. Ixxx. 8 ff.), which has been ravaged by rough assailants (cf. Jer. v. 10, xii. 10 — in each case the word rendered destroyed being the same as that rendered marred here). ^ Except Ps. xxxvii. 20, i P. ii. 9 (RV.), where the Revisers have introduced it in its modern sense. * See more fully the synopsis of passages in the writer's Com- mentary on Daniel (in the Cambridge Bible)t pp. 32-34. 30 NAHUM 2. 4. N men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet : the chariots *^ flash with steel in the day of his preparation, 4 and the ^ spears are shaken terribly. The chariots rage * Heb. are with fire of steel. ^ Heh.fir ttves. 3-5. Continuation of v. i ; and description of the assault. 3. The equipment of the warriors. xniglity men : i. e. warriors : a common usage, as in David's 'mighty men,' 2 S. xxiii. 8, i K. i. 8, 10. The pronoun ('his') refers to the destroyer mentioned in v. i. made red : the allusion is uncertain. It is generally supposed to be to shields covered with bright copper, which in the sunUght would reflect a reddish tint (Jos. Ant. xiii. 12. 5 ; i Mace. vi. 39) ; but shields were also often covered with leather, which may have been dyed red. Whichever of these views is correct, the red colour is no doubt mentioned particularly as being suggestive of blood. in scarlet. The army of the Persians, under the younger Cyrus (Xen. Cyrop. VI. iv. i), ' flashed with bronze, and gleamed with crimson military cloaks {y\vdH Sc ^. The besiegers' assault upon the walls. the mantelet: lit. 'the coverer.' The word occurs only here; but probably denotes the 'mantelet 2,' or movable shelter, which enclosed and protected the men who worked the ram, or other battering implement, employed in ancient warfare for making a breach in a wall. See illustrations of such movable shelters, as used by the Assyrians themselves, in Rawlinson, Anc. Monarchies, i. 470, or EB. s. v. ' Siege.' ^ Billerbeck und Jeremias, Der Untergang Nineveh's und die Weissagungsschrift des Nahum in Delitzsch and Haupt's Beitrdge sur Assyriologie, iii. (1895), p. 146. * * Mantelet ' (from mantle and mantel, both meaning, in different senses, a ' covering ') is defined as a movable wooden penthouse, used by miners in approaching the walls of a castle or town. 32 NAHUM 2. 7. N 7 rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved. "- And Huzzab is uncovered, she is carried away, and her hand- • Or, And it is decreed ; she is uncovered &c. 6. The entry into the city. (Cf. the plan, p. 16.) The gates of the streams. Nineveh lay on the E. bank of the Tigris, about 25 miles above its confluence with the Upper Zab (which flows into it from the NE.) ; it was in shape an irregular parallelogram, its NW. wall being about a mile long, and its SW. wall about two and a half miles long. The Khusur, a perennial mountain-stream, ran through it from NE. to SW. ; a little NW. of this there was also a canal, which left the Khusur higher up, and likewise flowed through the city till it entered the Tigris. The wall of the city was surrounded by a deep moat. E. of the city there was a strong semi-circular outwork ; and outside this, two massive walls, each at least fifty feet high, and nearly three miles long, with a broad moat between them. These moats were filled with water from the Khusur and the canal ; and remains of the large dams and sluices regulating the supply of water are still traceable in places. We cannot, however, be sure what exactly the * gates of the streams ' here mean. The sluices by which the moats were emptied have been suggested ; but perhaps the most probable view on the whole is that the reference is to the gates at the points where the Khusur and the canal passed through the city walls (the vulnerable side of Nineveh was on the N.). It is scarcely to be supposed that Nahum had an accurate topographical knowledge of Nineveh ; he knew, no doubt, generally that it was protected by strong walls and encircling moats : the details he would fill in with the help of his imagination. Whatever ' gates' he had in mind, the effect of their being opened, as the prophet pictured it, was that the city was at the mercy of the foe. the palace is dissolved. More clearly (for ' dissolve ' is not now used in its old fig. sense of relax^ enfeeble^ weaken)^ '■ is melted away (in fear) ' ; the meaning being that its inmates are incapaci- tated and helpless through terror and despair. We might say now, is in dismay. Cf. Ex. xv. 15 ; Jos. ii. 9, 24 ; Is. xiv. 31. 7. The capture and exile of the queen. Huzzah. The sequel shows (notice 'her handmaids') that this must either be itself the name of the queen, or be the corrup- tion of some word which was the name of the queen. Nothing more is known of the person intended ; nor has any light been thrown upon the word by Assyriology. The marg. it is decreed is doubtful philologically, and may be disregarded. uncovered : i. e. exposed, dishonoured : cf. iii. 5 ; Is. xlvii. 2, 3 (of Babylon, figured as a lady, led ignominiously into exile). NAHUM 2. 8, 9. N 33 maids * mourn as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their b breasts. But Nineveh hath been c from of old hke 8 a pool of water : yet they flee away ; Standi stand, they cry\ but none <^looketh back. Take ye the spoil of silver, 9 * Or, lead her ^ Heb. hearts. " Or, from the days that she hath been ^ Or, causeth them to turn carried away. Better, * taken off' {Jit. '■ taken up ' : cf. Ps. cii. 24, Job xxxvi. 20 RVm., of sudden removal). motirn. Moan (which is no doubt the sense intended by the Revisers in 'mourn '^). The verb means elsewhere in Heb. to lead (so AV. and RVm.) ; but * lead ' is here unsuited to the context, and * moan ' is supported by the use of the corresponding word in Syriac (see Ps. xxxviii. 8, in the Syriac Version). as withthevoiceof doves. For thecomparisonof themoaning of mourners to the note of the dove, cf. Ez. vii. 16 ; also Is. xxxviii. 14, lix. ii (in each case mourn being =' moan '). tabering- : i. e. drumming or beating 2. To smite the breast was a gesture of grief or despair : Luke xviii. 13 ; cf. also Koirrofxai (Mt. xi. 17, &c.), TvnTOfxai, and Aen. i. 481. 8. The vast population of Nineveh is compared to the water of a large tank, rapidly pouring away through opened sluices : the command to halt is unheeded ; none pauses in his flight. from the days that she hath been (RVm.) : i. e. ever since the beginning of her history. RV. ( = AV.) is a paraphrase ^ But it is very possible that some letters (^cn) have been repeated by error ; and that we should read simply. But Nineveh is like a pool of waters fleeing away. flee away : properly, * are fleeing ' ; the prophet realizes the scene with great vividness. 'They ' refers to 'water' {lit. ' waters'). look not hack. The marg. is unnecessary : see Jer. xlvi. 5. 9. The sack of the city. Nineveh being thus abandoned by its inhabitants, the prophet dramatically addresses the conquerors, and bids them plunder its treasures, which include every kind of valuable, and are endless. Take ye the spoil of silver, &c. Or, more tersely and forcibly (like the Heb.), ' Plunder silver ! plunder gold ! ' ' Cf. * mourn' (i.e. moan), said of doves, in Is. xxxviii. 14, lix. II ; Ez. vii. 16. ^ The verb used is derived from the Heb. word for a taber or timbrel, and is used in Ps. Ixviii. 25 of striking the timbrel. ^ The Heb. is, however, very peculiar. The same sense would be obtained much more naturally by reading "I'O^ for N'n ^^p: see I K. i. 6 J Job xxxviii. 12. 34 NAHUM 2. 10, II. N take the spoil of gold : for there is none end of the store, 10 the » glory of all pleasant furniture. She is empty, and void, and waste ; and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and anguish is in all loins, and the faces 1 1 of them all are waxed pale. Where is the den of the lions, * Or, wealth the glory (or as marg. : see Gen. xxxi. i. RVm., and cf. Is. X. 3 end) of all precious articles (Hos. xiii. 15, where the Heb. is the same). The word rendered articles is a wide one, and may include both jewels, or ornaments (Ex. xi. a), vessels (2 K. iv. 3), and household goods or furniture (Gen. xxxi. 37, xlv. 20, 'stuff'), as also weapons (i S. xxi. 8), instruments (Am. vi. 5), &c. The valuables of all kinds to be found in a great city are what is denoted by the expression. 10. In a series of exclamations, the prophet depicts graphically the desolation of the city, and the helplessness and dismay of those still remaining in it : Empty, and blank, and bare I and meltingr heart, and totteringf of knees, and ansTuish in all loins ; and the faces of them all are waxed pale. empty, &c. The first three words {bukdh iitnebukdh umebulldhdh, properly substantives) contain a paronomasia such as the Hebrew prophets love (cf. Is. xxii. 5, xxix. 2 ; Zeph. i. 15), but of a kind which cannot be reproduced in English. For the word rendered empty cf. the cognate verb, Jer. xix. 7, and of a land, as here, v. 2 above, Jer. li. 2, Is. xxiv. i, 3 ; for that rendered bare^ Is. xxiv. r (EVV. maketh . . waste : not elsewhere). meltingr heart : i.e. courage gone : Jos. vii. 5 ; Is. xiii. 7 ol. tottering* of knees. Cf. the 'bowing knees' of Job iv, 4, Is. XXXV. 3. For tottering, see Jer. x. 4 ('move'). Is. xxviii. 7 ('stumble'). ' Smite together' is a paraphrase, due to the Targ. and Kimchi explaining here by the word used in Dan. v. 6. angfnish (properly 'twisting,' 'writhing') in all loins. Cf. Is. xxi. 3. and the faces, &c. The same clause recurs in Joel ii. 6. The expression rendered ' are waxed pale ' is a peculiar one, and its exact meaning is uncertain (modern scholars commonly render withdraw beauty) : but the paraphrase of RV. no doubt expresses fairly the general sense. 11-12. The prophet, seeing in imagination Nineveh's place empty, inquires ironically what has become of it. He calls it a den of ' lions,' with allusion not only to the intrepidity of its warriors, but also to the cruelty, ferocity, and rapacity, with which, as their inscriptions abundantly testify, they treated conquered nations, dealing mercilessly with their captives, and, like lions carrying off NAHUM 2. 12, 13. N 35 and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion ^ and the lioness walked, the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid? The lion did tear in pieces enough for his 12 whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with prey, and his dens with ravin. Behold, I am against 13 thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will burn her chariots * Or, even the old lion prey to their dens, conveying the spoil to Nineveh for the beautification of their capital. the feeding- place of the yonng' lions. More exactly, and a pasture ground was it for the young lions. The rendering of RV. conceals a difficulty. The Heb. word used means a grazing- or pasture-ground (Ez. xxxiv. 4) for cattle, not a 'feeding-place' in which a carnivorous animal might find or devour its prey. By transposing two letters (We., Now., Marti), we obtain cave (not the word used in v. 12) for * pasture-ground,' which forms a good parallel to ' den.' and the lioness. The marg. may be disregarded. We., Now., Smith, Marti, however (following LXX, Pesh.\ read, for ' where the lion (and) the lioness walked,' * whither the lion retreated ' (/;/. * went to enter in,' ni^'j for N^nb). and none made them afraid. Finely suggestive of the security with which Nineveh exercised its supremacy over the nations. 12. Aneffective figurative description of the ferocity, destructive- nessand rapacity displayed by the Assyrians in theircampaigns. The verse might be illustrated from almost every inscription recording the exploits of the Assyrian kings. caves. Better, for distinction, holes: i S. xiv. 11 ; Job xxx. 6 :rv.). ravin. An archaism for plunder (Old-F. ravine ; Lat. rapina, the word used here in the Vulgate). Elsewhere we have the verb to ravin, as Gen. xlix. 27 ; Mt, vii. 15 : cf. Cymbeline, i. 6, 40. See Aldis Wright's Bible Word-book, s. v. 13. But now, ere long, all this will belong to the past ; Yahweh has pronounced the word against Nineveh ; and the voice of her emissaries, bearing unwelcome commands among the nations, will no more be heard. I am ag-ainst thee. So iii. 5 ; and often in Jer. (as xxi. 13, xxiii. 30, 31, 32) and Ezek. (as v. 8, xiii. 8, 20, xxi. 8). Not elsewhere : cf. the writer's Introduction to the Literature of the OT. p. 279 (ed. 6 or 7, p. 297). her chariots. Abrupt changes of person certainly occur in * D 2 6 NAHUM 3. r, 2. N in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions : and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard. 3 Woe to the bloody city ! it is all full of lies and rapine ; 2 the prey departeth not. The noise of the whip, and the Heb. poetry (e. g. Is. xlii. 20) : but the change from the second person to the third is here very weak, and the second person reappears directly afterwards : so that no doubt thy should be read for her. The war-chariots of the Assyrians were famous (cf. Is. xxxvii. 24). At the same time, as the figure of the lions is kept up in the sequel, we should rather expect some kindred expression here : Davidson suggests thy lair (so Halevy), Smend thy thicket (Jer. iv. 7). young lions. As in v. 11, a figure for warriors. thy messengers. Hateful officials like the Rabshakeh, Is. xxxvi. 4ff,,or the 'messengers' mentioned in Is. xxxvii. gfF., exacting tribute (cf. p. 12) or demanding submission : see also Is. xxxiii. 18. iii. In this chapter the theme of ch. ii is further developed and confirmed. The approaching downfall of Nineveh (which is again vividly portrayed, vv. 2, 3) is a natural consequence of her cruel and treacherous treatment of other nations, w. 1-7 ; the fate of Thebes, in Egypt, will also be hers ; her defences, one after another, will yield to the invader ; and, amid the rejoicings of all who have suffered at her hands, her power, invincible as it seemed, will pass for ever away, vv. 8-19. 1. Ah! the bloody city, &c. Alluding to the sanguinary military expeditions in which the Assyrians were nearly always engaged. Ah I not 'Woe' (see Jer. xxii. 18, xxxiv. 5): the interj. hoy is not denunciatory, but expresses dissatisfaction and pain : cf. Hab. ii. 6, 9, 12, &c. lies. Alluding probably to the delusive promises of help or protection by which the Assyrians would take advantage of the weaker nations, and get them into their power. rapine. Properly 'what is rent.' The cognate verb occurs in Ps. vii. 2, where it is used of a lion, and rendered in EVV. ' rending in pieces.' the prey. Properly, * what is torn,' as ii. 13 and frequently (cf. the cognate verb 'tear' in Ps. vii. 2). This word and ' rapine' show that the figure of ii. 11 f. is still in the prophet's mind : Nineveh is like a lions' den full of torn prey. The inscriptions of the Assyrian kings abound with descriptions of the NAHUM 3. 3, 4. N 37 noise of the rattling of wheels ; and pransing horses, and jumping chariots ; the horseman ^mounting, and the 3 flashing sword, and the glittering spear ; and a multitude of slain, and a great heap of carcases : and there is none end of the corpses ; they stumble upon their corpses : because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well 4 f-ivoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth * Or, charging endless booty which they took year after year from conquered nations. 2-3. A graphic description of the chariots and horsemen of the foe, forcing their way through the streets, and spreading carnage as they go. The series of exclamations, as ii. 10. 2. pransing'. Cf. Jud. v. 22. jumping-. So rapidly, viz., do they advance over the uneven ground. Cf. Joel ii. 5, where the same word is rendered ' leap.' 3. mounting-. The marg. charging is much preferable, the verb being causative {lit. < bringing up,' viz. the horse) : so Jer. Ii. 27 (RV. ' cause the horses to come up '). The sword and spear which follow are those of the foot-soldiers. 4. The reason why this doom falls upon Nineveh. Whoredom is here used figuratively of the deceptive friendship and specious promises by which the Assyrians beguiled the smaller states, so as to get them into their power. Nineveh is called by the opprobrious term harlot, because, being externally attractive (' well- favoured*) and plausible, she by these methods lured the nations to their ruin, merely in order to benefit and aggrandize herself^. well favoured: i.e. 'beautiful,' — 'favour' in Old English having the meaning of appearance, aspect, countenance (as in Shakespeare, Cymb. v. 5, 93 ' Wis favour \s familiar to me') 2. So Gen. xxix. 17, xxxix. 6, xli. 2, and elsewhere, in both AV. and RV. The allusion will be to the beauty and magnificence of the city, which dazzled and fascinated beholders. the mistress of witchcrafts : or, of ' sorceries ' (cf. Is. xlvii. ^ The terms 'whoredom,' * harlot,' 'go a- whoring,' are commonly used in a figurative sense of infidelity to Yahweh, and especially of the desertion of Him for other gods (as Ex. xxxiv. 15, 16) ; but this will not be the meaning here, where the reference is to a heathen state. ^ See further examples in Aldis Wright's Bible Word-booky s. v. * To favour ' is still used in many parts of England in the sense of to seem, appear (Jos. Wright's Eng. Dialect Diet., s. v.). 38 NAHUM 3. 5-7. N nations through her whoredoms, and famihes through her 5 witchcrafts. Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will discover thy skirts ^ upon thy face ; and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the 6 kingdoms thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a 7 gazingstock. And it shall come to pass, that all they that * Or, before 9 ; and ' sorcerers ' in Mai. iii. 5). The reference is to ' the arts of statecraft, the influences used upon the nations, which acted on them like the charms and incantations and drugs of the sorceress ' (Davidson). selletlx : i. e. betrays them, robs them of their liberty, brings them into slavery to itself. families. In a wide ^txi%^ = nations^ as Gen. xii. 3 ; Am. iii. I, 2 ; Jer. i. 15, al. 5. Behold, I am ag-ainst thee. As ii. 14. and I will uncover thy skirts (or train) before thy face. Cf. the very similar expressions in Jer. xiii. 22 (read * uncovered '), 26 (read '■ strip off . . . before'). The allusion is probably to the practice of exposing a woman convicted of unchastity (cf. Ez. xvi. 37 ; Hos. ii. 3) : Nineveh has acted as a harlot, and must receive the punishment of a harlot. ' Before thy face ' means, as a dis- grace which thou must witness thyself. ' Discover ' here in AV., RV. is an archaism, meaning to ' remove what served as a covering,' which occurs also in AV. of Jer. xiii. 22, 26 (where it is retained in RV. as here). Job xli. 13 (RV. ' strippeth off'), Ps. xxix. 9 (RV. * strippeth bare '), Is. xxii. 8 (RV. < took away '). thy nakedness and . . . thy shame : i. e. (dropping the figure) thy humiliation at the hands of the conqueror. 6. Further stages in the humiliation of Nineveh, abominable filth. The rendering is unnecessarily strong. The Heb. is detestable things, which commonly means idols or things connected with idolatry (cf. on Zech. ix. 7) : here the meaning is more general, loathsome thingfs. make thee vile. Rather, 'treat thee with contumely' or ' disgrace thee ' : cf. Dt. xxxii. 15 (RV. * lightly esteemed '), Jer. xiv. 21 (' disgrace '), Mic. vii. 6 (' dishonoureth'). set thee as a gfazingstock : to be looked at with derision. Cf. Ez. xxviii. 17 end\ and the inscription of Mesha, 1. 12 (see DB. iii. 407*; EB. iii. 3045 f.) : 'And I slew all the people from the city (Ataroth), & gasingstock unto Chemosh and unto Moab.' NAHUM 3. 8. N 30 look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste : who will bemoan her ? whence shall I seek comforters for thee ? Art thou better than No-amon, that 7. All that see her will flee from her in horror and aversion ; none will pity her ; all will be only too ready to rejoice at^ her fall. bemoan (better, conuniserate, — nitd does not imply the idea of 'moaning') . . . comforters. Cf. Is. li. 19 ; Job ii. 11. 8-10. Has Nineveh any reason to expect a better fate than No (Thebes) in Egypt, which, in spite of the god who was its protector, and its strong material defences, had been taken by Asshurbanipal some fifty years before (b. c. 663) ^ ? 8. Art thou better ? i. e. better placed and protected, No-amou. Rather, No of Amon, or Amou's No. Amon (or Ammon) was the name of the tutelary god of No, in whose honour had been built the immense temple, with its fajades, columns, and huge hypostyle hall covering more than an acre of ground, which is still the wonder of Karnak. The expression thus suggests that No was specially under Amon's protection "^ * No * is the Egyptian Net, ' city ' ; and the city here referred to was called by the Egyptians (see DB. s.v.) sometimes N,t rsJ, 'southern city,' sometimes N.t Ymn, 'city of Amon,' as here, sometimes simply A'l^, the * city ^ par excellence (so Jer. xlvi. 25 ; Ez. xxx. 14', 15 ^, 16). By the Greeks it was called Thebes : it was the great and celebrated capital of Upper Egypt, situated far up the Nile (some 400 miles above Cairo), in the centre of a broad green plain, into which the Nile-valley here expands, the capital of the brilliant rulers of the 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasties, who constructed there the great temples, with their halls, colonnades, colossal statues, obelisks, and sculptures, on a scale of imposing magnifi- cence, to which there is probably no parallel in the world. The city proper lay on the E. bank of the Nile — here a stream nearly half a mile broad, which, just at Thebes, broadens out so as to enclose three islands — the extensive ruins of Luxor and Karnak (one and a half miles N. E. of Luxor) marking its site ; there was a suburb (now Kurnah) on the opposite side of the river, but this consisted chiefly of an immense necropolis, there being in front a long row of temples devoted to the worship of former kings, and behind them thousands of tombs (many of which have recently been excavated), hewn out in the gorges and rocky sides of the * See particulars above, p. 6. ' The mediaeval Jews identified Anion here with the Hebrew hamdn, 'multitude ' : hence the rendering of AV. 'populous No.' ^ Where notice in the Hebrew for * multitude ' {hamdn) the play upon * Amon.' 40 NAHUM 3. 9. N was situate among the «■ rivers, that had the waters round about her ; whose rampart was ^ the sea, and her wall 9 c was of the sea ? Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, * Or, canals See Ex. vii. 19. ^ That is, the Nile. *^ Some ancient versions have, was the ivaiers. Libyan hills ^. The comparison is the more apposite, as Thebes had been the capital of great conquering dynasties, who had beautified it from the wealth gained in their wars, and erected in it the magniloquent records of their successes, just as the Assyrian kings had done in Nineveh. that was situate. Lit. ' that sat ' or * dwelt,' viz. proudly and securely. The city is almost personified : cf. Is. xlvii. 8RVm. upon the rivers. Render, upon the Wile- streams (plur. of ye'dr, the regular Hebrew word for the Nile, and usually denoting arms, or canals running into it, as Ex. vii. 19). The Nile, as remarked above, does divide into two or three streams at Thebes, but it may be doubted whether Nahum was aware of this fact. Rather, he knew that Thebes was on the Nile, and he uses the plural to amplify the picture. rampart. Heb. hel, the outer, smaller wall, in front of the principal wall : so 2 S. xx. 15; Ps. xlviii. 13 (RV. 'bulwarks'). Lam. ii. 8 al. the sea: i. e. the Nile, as Is. xviii. 2, xix. 5 ; Job kli. 31. and her wall was from the sea : i. e. consisted of the sea (the Nile). But a simple change of vocalization, and her wall was the waters, greatly improves the clause, and avoids the repetition of the same word 'sea.' The position of the city is idealized : for the greater part of its circumference Thebes was not bounded by the Nile at all ; and, according to recent authorities, was not protected by walls of any kind '^. 9. No was defended, further, by the number of gallaht soldiers who served in her hosts. Ethiopia. Heb. * Kush,' as always (e. g. Is. xviii. i ; cf. Gen. X. 6). Kush (Egypt, Kash, Kesh) was the name of a people, whose home was on the S. of Egypt proper (S. of the First Cataract, lat. 24° N.), and whom the Egyptian kings often boast of subduing ; but at the time here referred to (663 b. c), Kush and Egypt were virtually one, the kings of the twenty-fifth or ^ W. M. Muller in EB. iii. 3428. ' Murray's Hand-book to Egypt (ed. 10, by Mary Brodrick, 1900), col. 776. NAHUM 3. lo, ir. N 41 and it was infinite ; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity : her 10 young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets : and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. Thou 11 also shalt be drunken, thou shalt be hid ; thou also shalt Ethiopian dynasty having been on the throne of Egypt, with Thebes as their capital, since b. c. 715. Egypt. The whole force of the world-renowned empire of Egypt was at her disposal, and could act as her defenders. it was infinite. In the Heb. there was no end — the same phrase which occurs in ii. 9 (Heb. 10), iii. 3 ; also in Is. ii. 7 (twice). Put and Xiubim. Peoples of N. Africa, mentioned elsewhere also as contributing contingents to armies. Put is in Gen. x. 6 the third ' son ' of Ham, next to Kush and Mizraim (Egypt) ; and the Lubim are very probably the same as the Lehabun of Gen. X. 13 (one of the tribes * begotten ' by Mizraim, i. e. a tribe con- tiguous to, or dependent on, Egypt). Put is named among the mercenaries of Tyre in Ez. xxvii. 10 ; as serving in the Egyptian army in Jer. xlvi. 9 ' Cush and Put, that handle the shield ' (cf. Ez. XXX. 5) ; and as forming part of the hosts of Gog in Ez. xxxviii. 5. The Lubim are mentioned otherwise only in very late writers (2 Ch. xii. 3, xvi. 8, Dan. xi. 43) : they may well be the * Libyans ' of the classical authors, thy helpers. Read, with LXX, 'her helpers.' No is spoken of, both before and afterwards, in the third person ; the second person {yv. 8% 11) denotes Nineveh. 10. Yet, notwithstanding her queenly position, and the hosts of her defenders, Thebes was taken by the enemy ; and her people were ignominiously carried into exile. Asshurbanipal (above, p. 6) speaks at length of the spoil which was carried off by him from Thebes ; but it would hardly be inferred from the terms used by him that the population as a whole was taken into exile. dashed in pieces. According to a barbarous usage of ancient warfare : cf. 2 K. viii. 12 ; Is. xiii. 16 ; Hos. xiii. 16. at the top of all the streets. And so in the public view : cf. Is. Ii. 20 ; Lam. ii. 19, iv. i. and they cast lots, «Scc. Viz. for the nobles taken as captives : cf. Ob. II ; Joel iii. 3. 11-13. A similar fate will also be Nineveh's. 11. Then Shalt he drunken: viz. with the cup of Divine wrath, the figure being descriptive of the stupefaction produced by some dire calamity : see Jer. xxv. 15, 16, 27 ; Is. Ii. 17, 21 42 NAHUM 3. 12-14. N 13 seek " a strong hold because of the enemy. All thy fortresses shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs : if they be shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater. 13 Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women ; the gates of thy land are set wide open unto thine enemies : 14 the fire hath devoured thy bars. Draw thee water for the siege, strengthen thy fortresses : go into the clay, and * Or, a defence against ('drunken, but not with wine'), 22 ; Ez. xxiii. 33; Hab. ii. 15, 16 ; Ps. Ix. 3 ; Lam. iv. 21. thou slialt be hid. Interpreted to mean 'thou shalt dis- appear ; ' but the sense is a doubtful one, and the thought would come too early in the description (see the following clause). With the change of a letter, we could read * thou shalt faint' or 'swoon,' prostrated by the disaster : cf. Is. li. 20 (where the context is similar). thon also slialt seek (viz. in vain) a strongr hold (or place of refng-e ^ : cf. Is. xxx. 2^ R Vm. ) from the enemy. Fleeing, viz. , before him. 12. The fortresses of Nineveh — i. e. probably, the forts and watch-towers, which, as existing mounds seem to show, guarded the approach to the capital — arc compared to fig-trees with early figs upon them, which, when the trees are shaken, fall into the mouth of the eater ; a figure of the ease with which they will be taken by the besiegers. For early, or first-ripe, figs, which were accounted a delicacy, cf. Is. xxviii. 4, Mic. vii. i. 13. All the defences of Nineveh will fail her. are women : i. e. feeble, powerless to resist the foe : cf. Is. xix. 16 ; Jer. 1. 37, li. 30. the grates of thy land. The mountain -passes, or other approaches of the country, defended very probably by fortresses. Cf. such expressions as the ' Caspian Gates,' the * Caucasian Gates,' &c. thy bars. Either lit. the bars of the gates of these fortresses, or fig. the bars of these ' gates,' or mountain-passes, i. e. the fortresses themselves (Hitz., Keil, Now.). 14. Let Nineveh, then, the country being thus open to the foe, prepare for the siege. go into the clay, &c. : i. e. make bricks to repair old forti- fications, or to construct new ones. ^ The Hebrew word may be derived either from WS, to be strong, or from w, to flee for refuge (see Is. xxx. 2 RVm. ; Jer. iv. 6, vi. i ). NAHUM 3. 15, 16. N 43 tread the mortar, ^make strong the brickkiln. There 15 shall the fire devour thee ; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall devour thee like the cankervvorm : make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locust. Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the 16 * Or, lay hold of the brickmould make strong tlie brickkiln. RVm. lay hold of the brick- mould is preferable (see the writer's Notes on the Hebrew Text of Samuelj on 2 S. xii. 31). 15-18. But her preparations will be in vain : the multitudes of Nineveh, though they may be as numerous as locusts, will also disperse as rapidly as locusts ; and her warriors will be laid low in the dust. 15. There, within thy strong defences, will the fire devour the city, and the sword cut off her inhabitants. it shall devour thee like the young- locust. As easily and quickly as the young locust devours grass and herbage. But the clause is rather redundant, and (with the 'young locust' following, in a different connexion) weak ; and Wellh. may be right in regarding the two words of which (in the Hebrew) it consists as a gloss, suggested by the context, on ' devour ' just before. the yotmg' locust (Heb. yelek, properly, as it seems, the lapper) is very probably the locust in its second or pupa stage of growth : see on v. 16. make thyself many as the youngf locust, &c. The two imperatives are meant ironically (cf. the imperatives in i K. ii. 22; Am. iv. 4) : ' though thou make thyself many as the young locust, &c., it will be of no avail : all will vanish away before the enemy.' * Many' (twice) is ht. 'heavy,' i. e. a vast, compact mass*. 16*. The allusion is to Nineveh's having been a great com- ^ vv. 14-16 are much improved if, with Wellhausen, we redivide them and, omitting a letter in v. 16°", get an imperative, 'make thyself many,' parallel to the two preceding Imperatives : — ' Draw thee water for the siege, strengthen thy fortresses. Go into the clay, and tread the mortar, lay hold of the brick- mould : There shall the fire devour thee, the sword shall cut thee off. Make thyself many as the young locust, Make thyself many as the locust. Multiply thy merchants above the stars of heaven; The young locust strippeth itself, and flieth away ! ' 44 NAHUM 3. I^ N stars of heaven : the cankerworm ^ spoileth, and flieth 17 away. Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy ^mar- * Or, spread eth himself ^ Or, scribes mercial centre : caravan routes between E. and W. met there ; the river was another great channel of communication ; and her native manufactures were also celebrated (see further Dr. Pusey's note on this passage). the stars of lieaven. A figure of a countless multitude : Ex. xxxii. 13; Dt. i. xoal. 16^. The young' locust strippeth itself', and flieth, away. The locust, when in its pupa stage, is able only to hop, its wings being enclosed in rough horny sheaths (cf. Jer. li. 27 ' as the rough yelek ') : these, after about a month, it strips off, and then, being now the complete insect, it mounts quickly into the air, and flies away '^. The rapidity with which a swarm of such locusts flies off is here a symbol of the rapidity with which the busy merchant population of Nineveh will melt away. 17. Thy crowned. The Heb. word occurs only here, and its meaning is uncertain. If the consonantal text is correct, this rendering may be retained (though it would be better to change the points^), the allusion being then to the diadem, or head-band, worn by the grand vizier*, and perhaps by other high Assyrian officers of state. Or the word (with the same change of punctua- tion) might mean thy separated (or consecrated) ones, i.e. thy princes or nobles (cf. nastr, so rendered in Lam. iv. 6 RV,, and RVm. of Gen. xlix. 26 = Dt. xxxiii. 16). But the possibility cannot be excluded that it is the Hebraized (or corrupted) form of some native Assyrian title (cf. the next note). thy marshals. Heb, tiphsar, found besides only in Jer. li. 37. No doubt the Assyrian dupsarru, properly, tablet-writer, a very common word for scride (e. g. the scribe of a contract or other deed), used here, it seems, of a military official, the muster-master, or ' marshal,' of an army ; cf. the Heb. sopher, ' scribe,' in a similar application, Jud. v. 14 (see RVm.). ' RV. text ( = AV.) gives to the Hebrew verb used a sense borne only by the causative conjugation ; RVm. is a sense found only in connexion with an army making a marauding Incursion (e. g. i S. xxiii. 27 * make a raid '). ^ See Tristram, Natural History of the Bible, p. 30S ; or the writer's Joel and Amos (in the Cambridge Bible), p. 85. ° ^T>^2p for '^.':;2'?. * See Rawlinson, Anc. Monarchies, i. 499 f . (with illustrations). NAHUM 3. 18. N 45 shals as the swarms of grasshoppers, which camp in the a hedges in the cold day, but when the sun arrseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria : thy ] * Or, tvalls as tlie swarms of ^asshoppers. 'As grasshoppers \* Another of the many Heb. synonyms for ' locust^,' some of which, it seems probable, denote different species, and others the same species in different stages of its development. The usual word is arbch (v. 15 end, v. 17 beginning) : this word (gobai) occurs besides only Am. vii. i, and in the plural, differently pointed (gebim), Is. xxxiii. 4 ^. As we have in English only one word for ' locust,* we are compelled to represent gobai here, inexactly, by 'grass- hoppers.' which camp on the waUs (RVm.), &c. : i.e. the stonewalls surrounding a field, especially one in which sheep were kept : Nu. xxxii. 16, 24 ; Zeph. ii. 6 al. (' folds ') *. where they are : i. e. to which they have fled. Locusts are benumbed by cold, their wings becoming cramped and stiff. Thomson {Land and Book, p. 418 of the one-vol. edition), describing the advance of a swarm of locusts, says that in the evenings they literally 'camped' in the hedges and loose stone walls, covering them like a swarm of bees settled on a bush : if the next day was warm, they resumed their march, but if it was cold, the majority did not move at all, and those that did move crept along very slowly and heavily. Like the locusts which, after a cold night, fly off as soon as the sun begins to warm them, so will the Assyrian leaders vanish from Nineveh. 18. Thy shepherds. Fig. of leaders and rulers, as often in Jer. (e.g. ii. 8, xxiii. i, 2, 4), and in Ez. xxxiv, the people being frequently at the same time represented as sheep (cf. here 'are scattered upon the mountains '). slumber. In death : cf. Ps. Ixxvi. 5 (< they slumber their sleep'); also Jer. Ii. 39, 57; Ps. xii. 3. ^ The Heb. is gob gobai, and ' swarms of in RV. (like ' great ' in AV.) is an attempt to express gob ; but the word has no such meaning, and it is evident that it has simply arisen from the gob of gobai having been accidentally written twice over by error. ^ See the writer's Joel and Amos, pp. 85 f. ^ It is found also in the Aramaic of the Targums. * This, and not * hedge,' is the meaning of g^derdh : cf. ' build ' in Nu. II. cc. The masc. gdder is used of a wall surrounding a vineyard, Nu. xxii. 24 j Is. v. 5. 46 NAHUM 3. 19. N worthies are at rest : thy people are scattered upon the 19 mountains, and there is none to gather them. There is no assuaging of thy hurt ; thy wound is grievous : all that hear the bruit of thee clap the hands over thee ; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually ? thy worthies : cf. ii. 5. are at rest. A doubtful paraphrase, shdkhan meaning to dwell in a place, and, used absolutely, to abide or continue (as Ps. cii. 28) but hardly (in spite of Ps. Iv. 6 [Heb.]) to 'abide stiU: We should doubtless, omitting one letter, read sleep. are scattered S &c. The fig. of a flock underlies the expres- sions used : cf. i K. xxii. 17, Ez. xxxiv. 6. 19. Nineveh's ruin is irreparable ; and there is none who will not exult over her fall. assuag-ing". The Heb. hehah cannot have this meaning-; read probably gehdh, healingf (Prov. xvii. 22 ' medicine,' RVm. * healing'). thy hurt. Properly, thy breach, i. e., as we should say, thy wound. Cf. Am. vi. 6 (AV. and RV., discarding the figure, 'afiliction ') ; and especially in Jen, as vi. 14 (RVm.), viii. 21, X. 19 ('Woe is me for my breach (wound) ! my stroke is grievous '), xiv. 17 (* the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great 6;vrtc/», with a very grievous stroke '), xxx. 12 {^ihy breach (wound) is desperate, thy stroke grievous ') ; Lam. ii. 13. thy wound is grievous. Better, thy stroke is grievous (lit. made sick) : cf. Jer. x. 19, xiv. 17, xxx. 12, just quoted. bruit. An archaism for * report ' (Fr. bruit, * noise '), very common in writers of the sixteenth century. See in AV. Jer. x. 22, 2 Mace. iv. 39, viii. 7 ; Troilus and Cressida, v. 9. 4 ' the bruit is. Hector 's slain, and by Achilles ' ; and cf. Aldis Wright's Bible Word-book s. v. clap the hands. In exultation (Ps. xlvii. i), and derision (Ez. XXV. 6, where, however, the Heb. word for 'clap' is not the same). ^ Read 1SC3 (as i K. xxii. 17, &c.), for the unknown VCC3. ' kahdh is to be dim, as of the eye. Gen. xxvii. i ; of a plague- spot, Lev. xiii. 6: but 'dimness' is a strange word to use for the assuaging of a wound. HABAKKUK INTRODUCTION AND REVISED VERSION WITH ANNOTATIONS HABAKKUK INTRODUCTION § I. The Person of Habakkuk. Of Habakkuk's * personal life nothing is known with certainty, though it has been inferred, from the fact that he is termed specifically 'the prophet,' that he held a recognized position as prophet (i. I, iii. i), and from the expression 'on my stringed instruments' (iii. 19), that he was a member of the temple choir, and belonged, consequently, to the tribe of Levi. The first of these inferences is a possible one, though it does not add much to our knowledge of Habakkuk. The second is doubtful, if only on account of the uncertainty attaching to the pronoun *my,' which is against the analogy of other similar notices (Pss. iv, v, &c.), and which moreover, even if correct, may refer not to the author of the ode but to the worshipping congregation. Although, however, little is thus to be learnt of Habakkuk from the Old Testament itself, later Jewish Haggadah had much to tell of him. The most widely diffused legend about Habakkuk, often, for example, re- ferred to by the Fathers, is that found in Bel and the Dragon {vv. 33 ff.), according to which the prophet, while carrying pottage to his reapers, was suddenly directed by an angel to carry it to Daniel, who had been cast a second time, by Cyrus^ into the lions' den in Babylon : upon 1 The form of the name is peculiar, and its meaning is uncertain. 50 HABAKKUK protesting that he had never seen Babylon, and did not know where the den was, he was Hfted up miraculously by a lock of his hair (cf. Ez. viii. 3), and carried through the air to Babylon ; having there provided Daniel with his repast, he was immediately taken back by the angel to his own place. In the Codex Chisianus of the LXX ^, the story of Bel and the Dragon is prefaced by the words fK 7rpo(jir)Tclas 'A/x/3a/cou/i vtoO'l);(roi;,e*c riji (jivX^s Aevi, showing both that the story was taken from an apocryphal work attributed to Habakkuk and also that the prophet was described in it as the son of Jesus (i.e. Joshua, or Jeshua), and of the tribe of Levi. What authority there may have been for the statement about his father we do not know : the description of him as belonging to the tribe of Levi may be merely an inference from the expression in iii. 19, quoted above. According to the Lzves of the Prophets, which, in two recensions, are attributed respectively to Dorotheus, Bishop of Tyre {d. 362), and Epiphanius {d. 403), he was of the tribe of Simeon, e| dypoO B»;^i toO Kup (Epiph. c| ciypoi) Bj^^^o^^p), which Delitzsch thinks may be the Beth-Zachariah of i Mace. vi. 32, 33, the modern Beit-Sakariyeh, ten miles SW. of Jerusalem, though this, it is true, would be not in Simeon, but in Judah. In the same 'Lives' it is further stated that when Nebuchadnezzar advanced against Jerusalem, Habakkuk fled to Ostrakine (now Straki), on the Egyptian coast, twenty-six miles W. of the Rhinocorura, but that, after the Chaldaeans had withdrawn, he returned to his own land, where he died and was buried, two years before the return of the Jews from Babylon in 537. Eusebius, in his Onomasticon, states in one place (p. 346) that his tomb was shown at Gabatha (Gibeah), elsewhere (pp. 256, 270), that it was shown at Echelah, or Keeila (Keilah) — twelve and eighteen miles, respectively, SW. of Jerusalem. What value all these statements possess we do not know. * Swete, The O. T. in Greek, vol. iii, pp. xii, 586. INTRODUCTION 51 § 2. Date of Habakkuk, and Contents of his Prophecy. Habakkuk prophesied most probably about 600 B.C. The times were anxious ones ; and the perplexities and questionings to which they gave rise are reflected in his prophecy. Twenty-one years had elapsed since the discovery of Deuteronomy in the temple in the eighteenth year of Josiah (B.C. 621), and nine since the death of Josiah at Megiddo (609), when he went to oppose Pharaoh- Necho in his effort to annex all Syria as far as the Euphrates to his dominion. Jehoahaz, Josiah's third son, upon whom the popular choice fell as his successor, after a three months' reign — in the course of which, it may be presumed, he had pursued an anti-Egyptian policy — was summoned by Necho to appear before him at Riblah (on the Orontes), only to be thrown there into chains, and carried away into Egypt, while a heavy fine was imposed upon Judah. His elder brother Eliakim was then put on the throne, his name being changed by the Pharaoh to Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim was a selfish and tyrannical ruler. At a time when the country was impoverished by the collection of the tribute imposed by Necho he developed a passion for regal magnificence ; as Jeremiah tells us (xxii. 13-17), he built by the forced, but unpaid, labour of his subjects a spacious palace ' panelled with cedar, and painted with vermilion ' ; he moreover abused his position to indulge in the common vices of an Oriental despot — his eyes and his heart were set only 'upon dishonest gain, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression and for violence, for to do it.' Nor were such crimes confined to the king. As allusions in Jeremiah show clearly, the reformation of Josiah (620) had affected the masses only superficially : though there were still faithful souls left, lawlessness, injustice, dishonesty, and oppression were only too rife in the nation at large, and idolatry was widely and openly practised (Jer. xi. 10 fif., xiv. 7, E 2 52 Hx\BAKKUK IO-I2, 20; perhaps also vii. 5-11). Meanwhile, political movements of importance had been taking place in the East. In 625* Nabopolassar, a man of enterprise and energy, had become ruler of Babylon ; and though at first nominally viceroy under the suzerainty of Assyria, he had in 612 or 611, if not before, declared his independence. A year or two afterwards Sin-shar-ishkun, the last king of Nineveh, invaded Babylonia for thepurposeof recovering his supremacy ; but the Umman-manda (p. 10), called in by Nabopolassar to assist him, overran Assyria and laid Nineveh in ruins (607). In 605 Necho, again endeavouring to assert his claim to the country west of the Euphrates, sustained a crushing defeat at Carchemish, on the upper course of the Euphrates, at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, acting as general for his father Nabopolassar^. This victory of Nebuchadnezzar was the turning-point in the history of the age. It meant that the Chaldaeans were destined to acquire supremacy over the whole of Western Asia. Jeremiah, especially, quickly perceived that this was inevitable : he accepted it at once as providentially intended, and counselled his people to accommodate them- selves to circumstances, and acquiesce in a position of dependence upon the Chaldaeans (Jer. xxv, xlvi). In point of fact, the countries west of the Euphrates probably at once submitted =^. Jehoiakim, it is expressly stated (2 K. xxiv. i), became Nebuchadnezzar's servant for 'three years' — though which three years these were between 605 and his death in 597 is not known: then he ' turned and rebelled against him.' The consequences of Jehoiakim's revolt were— first, the guerilla war men- tioned in 2 K. xxiv. 2 ; next, almost immediately after ^ See above, p. 9. 2 Nabopolassar died a month or two after the battle of Carchemish, and was succeeded on the throne by Nebuchad- nezzar (605-561). 3 Cf. the writer's Daniel (in the Cambridge Bible), p. 2, with the references, especially 2 K. xxiv. 7. INTRODUCTION 53 Jehoiachin's accession in 597, a siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldaeans, resulting, in the third month of Jehoiachin's reign, in the deportation of the king and the dlite of the capital to Babylon ; and finally— in consequence of Zedekiah's pursuing the same anti-Chaldaean policy as Jehoiachim, and refusing to listen to Jeremiah's counsels — the capture and destruction of Jerusalem, and second deportation of captives to Babylonia, in 586. It is to be regretted that we have not further particulars of Nabopolassar's rule. Did we know more of the military expeditions in which he was engaged, we might be better able to appreciate Habakkuk's allusions to the prowess and conquests of the Chaldaeans. As it is, almost the only exploit of the Chaldaeans, prior to the two sieges of Jerusalem, of which we have actual information, is the victory over Necho at Carchemish. To judge from 2 K. xxiv. I, the Chaldaean arms were not seen in Judah itself before 602 B. c.,— possibly, indeed, not before 598 — according to the date at which the three years' vassalage mentioned in that verse terminated. Our knowledge of the times is not minute enough to enable us to fix dates with precision : but Hab. i. 5-1 1, it is natural to suppose, was written shortly after the battle of Carchemish in 605 (so Davidson), when the first rumours of the character and military capacities of the Chaldaeans reached Judah, but before the formidable dimensions which their power would shortly (' in your days,' v. 5) assume, had yet been realized. Hab. i. 12 ff., ii, presupposing a time when the Chaldaeans had made more conquests, and when men had become familiarized with their tyrannical treatment of subject nations, may have been written some years later (cf. p. 57), though before the end of the Chaldaean rule could be regarded as at all immediate, on account of ii. 3. The Book of Habakkuk opens with a dialogue between the prophet and his God (cf., for the form, Jer. xiv-xv, Mic. vi. I — vii. 6, vii. 7-20). The prophet begins (i. 2-4) 54 HABAKKUK by complaining to Yahweh for permitting lawlessness and social disorder to continue so long unchecked in the land. Yahweh replies (i. 5-1 1) by pointing to the Chaldaeans, the powerful and terrible people whom He is raising up to be the ministers of judgement. But the answer involves a fresh perplexity. How can the pure and holy God employ as His instruments this proud, idolatrous nation, which destroys the righteous with the wicked, and tramples inhumanly, not upon Israel only, but upon all the nations of the known world ? Is not this the prevalence of wrong upon a larger scale ? (i. 12-17). Habakkuk's complaint being ended, he places himself in imagination upon his prophetic watch-tower (cf. Is. xxi. 6), and looks out to see what answer he may receive to it (ii. i). Yahweh's answer, the significance of which is marked by the emphasis with which it is introduced, is this : The soul of the Chaldaean is elated with pride j hit the righteous will live by his faithfulness^ — i. e. by his moral steadfastness and integrity (ii. 2-4). The different characters of the Chaldaean and of the righteous carry in them their different destinies : the pride of the former, it is implied in particular, will prove in the end his ruin. There follows (ii. 5-20) a series of ' woes,' in which the prophet singles out, and threatens with retribution, the crying sins of the Chaldaeans— their insatiable lust of conquest, the ruthlessness with which they plundered the nations, the crimes and injustice by which they had established their empire and beautified their cities, their savage triumph over the nations which fell into their power, and their insensate idolatry. Chap, iii consists of a lyric ode, of remarkable sublimity and poetic force, in which the poet first [v. 2) entreats Yahweh to interpose on His people's behalf, and after- wards {vv. 3-15) describes, as in a vision {v. 7), in an imaginative form, how he pictures his prayer as being answered. The prophet imagines a theophany ; and depicts, in brilliant imagery, Yahweh's approach amid INTRODUCTION 55 the accompaniments of a great thunderstorm, from His ancient seat in Edom (Dt. xxxiii. 2, Jud. v. 4), and His progress over the earth, for the deliverance of His people and the discomfiture of their foes. The poet closes {vv. 16-19) with a description of the effect which the vision of judgement wrought upon himself: on the one hand, it filled him with agitation and alarm ; on the other hand, it evoked in him a joyous confidence that, whatever happened, Yahweh would remain His people's salvation. § 3. Some critical questions relating to the Book of Habakkuk. The explanation of chap, i given above, and adopted also in the notes, is the usual one ; but, as even Davidson (p. 46) admits, * there are very great difficulties connected with the exposition of the prophecy * ; and it is fair to state that it has failed to satisfy most recent scholars. Thus {a) whereas in i. 5, 6 (* Behold, I am raising up,' &c.), the advent of the Chaldaeans seems still to lie in the future, elsewhere, and especially in i. 13-17, ii. 8*, 10, 17, the prophet describes their treatment of conquered nations, and reflects upon the moral problems to which this gave rise, in a manner which seems to imply that they had been for some time on the stage of history ; indeed ii. 17 ('the violence done to Lebanon shall cover thee') plainly implies that their armies had reached Palestine. {b) If i. 2-4 be the prophet's complaint respecting wrongdoing prevalent in Judah, which (i. 5-11) is to be punished by the Chaldaeans, how can he con- sistently complain of the Chaldaeans' treatment of his people, and pronounce judgement upon them on account of it ? {c) We should expect the subject of the complaint in ii. I (the Chaldaeans' unjust treatment of Israel) to be the same as that of i. 2-4, whereas, upon the usual explanation of i. 2-4 (wrongdoing in Israel), it is different. 56 HABAKKUK (d) The ' wicked ' and the * righteous ' would naturally be the same, respectively, in i. 6 and i. 13, whereas upon the ordinary interpretation they are the wicked and the righteous in Israel in i. 4, and the Chaldaeans and Israel [or, and the righteous generally] in i. 13. Upon these grounds it was argued by Giesebrecht in 1890 that the true sequel to i. 4 was i. 12, that i. 5-1 1 (announcing the advent of the Chaldaeans) was a complete, independent prophecy, written before the rest of chaps, i-ii, and not now in its original place, and that i. 2-4 describes the tyranny of the Chaldaeans {vv. 2, 3*» ^, 4^), and its effects as shown in the relaxation of law and religion in Judah {y. 4^^), — the ' wicked ' in v. 4^ being now the Chaldaeans, and the 'righteous' Israel. Wellhausen and Nowack agree with Giesebrecht, treating i. 5-1 1 as the older prophecy, and regarding i. 2, 3». ^4a»^as continued by i. 12* (to * mine Holy One'^), 13-17, &c. ; also, in so far as they hold i. 5-1 1 to be out of place where it now stands, Budde and G. A. Smith (see p. 58). There is unquestionably force in Giesebrecht's argu- ment ; and were it not for the interpretation of i. 2-4 which it involves, the present writer would not hesitate to accept his conclusion. But though the * violence * &c. of vv. 2, 3 *>^ might in the abstract denote the tyranny of the Chaldaeans, how can the * strife ' and ' contention ' of V. 3<', and the slack iorah and perverted judgement of V. 4 *.®, be regarded naturally as the effects of it ? Nowack, feeling these difficulties, follows Wellhausen in expunging vv. 3", 4^^ as glosses, and understanding torah and 7nishpdt mv. 4 * as merely synonyms for religion gene- rally (Is. xlii. I, 4, h. 4), which, in consequence of the Chaldaeans* triumph over Judah, came to be questioned or rejected. But the excision of vv. 3*', 4*^ is a violent measure ; and Is. xlii. i, 4, li. 4 are a doubtful support ' The rest of v. 12 being rejected as a later gloss, interrupting the connexion. Vv. s*" and 4'' ore also regarded as glosses. INTRODUCTION 57 for this generalized sense of tor ah and mishpat. On the other hand, it is true that i. 5-1 1 does seem to spring out of a different historical situation from i. 13-17, ii. 5 ff. For those who cannot accept the view just mentioned, perhaps the simplest explanation of the fact will be to suppose that i. 2-4 (as ordinarily understood), 5-1 1 was actually written by Habakkuk before i. 12 ff. : the book, as Kirkpatrick observes ^, * is the fruit of religious reflection, and exhibits the communing and questioning of the pro- phet's soul with God,* which may represent a prolonged mental struggle, and have extended over a considerable time (notice the terms of i. 2) : thus i. 2-1 1 may reflect the impression left upon his mind, when he first thought of the Chaldaeans as appointed for the punishment of Israel's sin, and i. 12 ff. may express the perplexity which he became conscious of afterwards when the character of the Chaldaeans became more fully known to him. Other suggestions that have been made are (Baudissin, Einl. p. 540) that Habakkuk in i. 5-1 1 quotes an older prophecy of the rise of the Chaldaeans, for the purpose of thus indirectly pointing to the astonishing character of their ' work ' as Yahweh's ministers, although this work when he wrote was an accomplished fact ; or (Kuenen, Davidson, pp. 48, 49 f., 55 — though allowing this construction of the book to be somewhat artificial) that the prophet (whose main object is to foretell the_/rt// of the Chaldaeans) may describe the moral cause of their rise by dramatically representing it as having been revealed to him by Yahweh in the past. Any one of these suppositions would remove what is the great difficulty of chap, i, by throwing back i. 5-1 1 to a date anterior to i. 12 ff. Nor does there seem to be any intrinsic reason why * righteous ' and ' wicked ' should refer to the same persons, respectively, in i. 4 and i. 13: the prophet might indeed describe Israel (i. 13) as relatively * more righteous than ' the Chaldaeans ; but The Doctrine of the Prophets, p. 268. 58 HABAKKUK would a contemporary of Jeremiah speak of Israel absolutely as ' the righteous ' ? (i. 4). On Budde's very original view of Hab. i-ii, — viz. that i. 2-4, 12-17, ii. 5-20 referred originally to the Assyrians^ and was only afterwards accommodated to the Chaldaeans, and that the original order was i. 2-4, 12-17, ii* ^-4) i- 6-11 (the Chaldaeans announced as the destroyers of the Assyrians) ; ii. 5-20 (woes directed against the Assyrians), — followed virtually by G. A. Smith, pp. 119 ff., 132 ff . : see his article * Habakkuk' in EB., and the criticisms of Davidson, pp. 50 ff., and of Peake in The Problem of Suffering in the O. T. (1904), pp. 4-11, 151 ff. (who himself agrees substantially with Giesebrecht). Another solution of the problem of Hab. i-ii is offered by W. B. Stevenson, Expositor, May 1902, pp. 388 ff. (i. 2-4, 12-13, and i. 5-11, 14-17 [with 'and he maketh ' for ' and makest * in v. 14, — the change in the Hebrew is only of one letter], two distinct, unconnected prophecies). Marti, the most recent commentator upon Habakkuk, con- siders the elements contained in the book to be too dissimilar for its unity to be maintained ; and analyses chaps, i-ii as follows : — 1. The genuine prophecy of Habakkuk, announcing the appearance of the Chaldaeans upon the stage of history, and dating shortly after the battle of Carchemish (b. c. 605), i. 5-10, 14 [with 'and he maketh *]-i6. Vv. 11 [the verbs being translated as pasts], 12'' (from 'O Lord'), 17 are later additions, written at a time when the victories of the Chaldaeans were matter of history. 2. A series of woes directed against the excesses of the Chaldaeans, and announcing their approaching fall, ii. 5-19 (with a few glosses ; v. 20 is a later addition, leading on to ch. iii). These 'woes' could not have been written 'in the same breath' with No. i, which announces the Chaldaeans as appointed by Yahweh to execute judgement upon Judah, but must date from a time considerably later, when their empire was waning to its close {c. 540) [? later than is necessary], 3. A psalm (post-exilic), dealing with the problem arising out of the sufferings of the righteous, and stating the solution which the prophet received, i. 2-4, 12* (to ' Holy One '), 13, ii. 1-4. The present disarrangement of the text of the Psalm is ingeniously explained by the supposition that it was written originally on the three margins of the manuscript containing i. 5-10, 14-16, from which it was carelessly incorporated into the text by a scribe. Marti undoubtedly succeeds in extracting from chaps, i-ii three consistent and logical wholes ; but the dislocation which INTRODUCTION 59 has to be postulated for No. 3 is too improbable. On the whole, the reader will perhaps be disposed to agree with Prof. Davidson when he says (p. 55) that the ordinary view of chaps, i-ii, — at least with the slight modification suggested above on p. 57, — 'has the fewest difficulties.' (2) In chap, ii many recent scholars have thought some, or even all, of the taunts in vv. 9-20 to be not part of the original prophecy of Habakkuk, but exilic, or post-exilic, additions. The grounds for these conclusions are, how- ever, too slight to need detailed discussion here. They are strongest, perhaps, in the case of vv. 12-14, which it is urged, are deficient in originality, being in substance little more than variations of Mic. iii. 10, Jer. li. 58 (late exilic), and Isa. xi. 9. Habakkuk himself may, however, have adapted phrases from Micah and Isaiah ; and, as Jer. 1. 2- li. 58 is, from a literary point of view, anything but an original composition, it is at least equally probable that Jer. li. 58 is borrowed from Hab. ii. 13. See further Davidson pp. 56-58; DB. ii. 271. (3) Whether the ode in chap, iii is really the work of Habakkuk may be more doubtful. The title and the musical notes {vv. 3, 9, 13, 19), both resembling closely those in the Psalter, suggest the inference that it was excerpted from a liturgical collection (in which it was already attributed to Habakkuk), and placed here by a compiler on account of its title (Kuenen, Wellhausen, Nowack, Marti, and others). It is further argued that the ode was originally an independent poem, unconnected with the prophecy of Habakkuk : it contains no allusions to the circumstances of Habakkuk's age, so clearly re- flected in chaps, i-ii: the community is the speaker {vv. 14, 18, 19, and no doubt also in vv. 2, 16) ; it trusts that Yahweh will interpose in its behalf ; but the descrip- tions of the foe {vv. 13, 14) are quite general, with- out any features pointing specifically to the Chaldaeans ; and the comparison to a murderer delighting 'to devour the afflicted in a secret place ' (cf. Ps. x. 8, 9) suggests 6o HABAKKUK attacks made insidiously against the theocracy, rather than the open warfare of the Chaldaeans ; while, at least in V. 17, the calamities referred to (failure of crops and flocks) are altogether different from those which were the burden of Hab. i-ii. The ode thus does not seem to reflect the historical situation of Hab. i-ii. Conversely, the promise in ii. 4, which is the prophet's consolation, does not at all suggest a theophany as its complement ; and whereas in ii. 7 ff. the Chaldaeans are overthrown by the natural retribution which overtakes a despot when his power has become effete, the foe, in chap, iii, is over- thrown by the direct interposition of Yahweh. No doubt it is true that the downfall of the Chaldaeans, though brought about by natural causes (ii. 7-8, &c.), might be represented as the result of a direct divine intervention (cf. Is. ii. 12 ff., xiii. 4flr.); but even after making every allowance for the fact that chaps, i-ii are only elevated prose, while chap, iii is written in a lyric strain, it remains that the thoughts most characteristic of chaps, i-ii are not developed further in chap, iii, but are replaced by new ones. Wellhausen insists strongly that w, 17-19 are not the original close of the poem, and that they cannot be used for determining the real aim and scope oiw, 2-16. If vv. 17-19 might be regarded as an appendix attached to vv. 2-16 by a later hand, one ground for doubting Habak- kuk's authorship of the poem as a whole would certainly disappear. There would remain the other differences between chap, iii and chaps, i-ii, adverted to above ; it is also doubtful whether the nation — supposing this to be intended by the term— would, before the monarchy had ceased to exist, be described as Yahweh's 'anointed* {v. 13). On the whole, however reluctant we may be to conclude that the ode in chap, iii is not the work of Habakkuk, it must be admitted that it contains* features which make it difflcult to affirm his authorship confidently (cf. Davidson, pp. 58 f ). INTRODUCTION 6i § 4. The Theological Teaching of the Book. Theologically, the different point of view of Habakkuk, as compared with Jeremiah, ought to be noticed. Jeremiah is so deeply impressed by the spectacle of his people's sin that he regards the Chaldaeans almost exclusively as the instruments of judgement ; their destruction is seen by him only in the distant future, and is viewed rather as involved in God's purpose to restore His people than as a retribution for their own tyranny and excesses. Habakkuk, on the other hand, though not unmindful of Judah's faults (i. 2-4), is engrossed chiefly by the thought of the cruelties and inhumanities of the oppressor : an empire founded upon brutality and injustice is, in his eyes, doomed to fall ; and the outraged nations of the earth execute the doom upon their tyrant, and give vent to their elation at his fall. Further, Habakkuk is conscious of a problem, a moral difficulty, which is not the case with Jeremiah \ The wrongdoing of the Chaldaeans is more unbearable than the evil it was meant to punish: hence their continued successes seem to the prophet inconsistent with Yahweh's righteousness, and it is the existence of this inconsistency which forms the motive of his book. Thus while Jeremiah bewailed the sins and coming misfortunes of his people, for their own sake, Habakkuk brooded over the moral problems which the contemplation of them raised in his mind. The age, we may be sure, was to all the faithful servants of God one of trial and perplexity ; but, in virtue of their different temperaments and mental habits, the two con- temporary prophets were impressed by different aspects of it, and were moved to extract from it different lessons. The central and distinctive teaching of the book lies in ^ Except indeed in so far as it is exemplified in his own personal experience, in the impunity, viz., enjoyed by his own enemies (xii, 1-6). 62 HABAKKUK the declaration of ii. 4 ' Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not even in him ; but the just will live by his faithful- ness ' ^ ; and (as is shown in the note ad loc.) the true sense of this is that, while the wild excesses of the tyrant carry in them the germs of certain ruin, the ' faithfulness ' of the righteous — i. e. his honesty, integrity, trustworthi- ness—will be to him a principle of life. It is evident that this declaration is no solution of the moral anomaly which the prophet discerns. The empire of the Chaldaeans might indeed, in virtue of its very nature, be doomed ultimately to perish : but it survived for sixty years ; and meanwhile Habakkuk's compatriots, so far from abiding in peace and security, experienced the indescrib- able hardships of siege and exile. But 'live* is here used in the full and pregnant sense, which it has some- times in the O. T. (e. g. in Ezek. xviii), of living in the light and consciousness of divine favour; and what Habakkuk promises is thus not 7Here material prosperity, but the moral security — of course often not unaccompanied by material happiness— which righteousness brings with it and secures, even in the midst of external calamities, and the sense of divine approval which, happen what may, never deserts it. The righteous man, even in normal conditions of society, endures where others fall ; he escapes where others, as a consequence of their imperfect moral nature, are brought to ruin ; while, even if calamities overtake him, he is still conscious of a moral triumph. It is enough for Habakkuk if he can mitigate the difficulty which pressed upon him, as it pressed, no doubt, upon many of his contemporaries, by recalling to them these two truths of God's providence — the doom which, if they will but wait patiently (ii. 3), they will find at last over- takes the tyrant, and the moral, if not the physical, security enjoyed by the righteous. ^ The text and meaning of the first clause are not perfectly certain (see the note, p. 76) ; but the uncertainty does not affect the general sense of the verse. INTRODUCTION 6$ In the New Testament the second clause of Hab. ii. 4 is quoted twice by St. Paul (Rom. i. 17, Gal. iii. 11), in the sense, ' The just shall live hy faith ^' in support of his doctrine of justification by faith ; and the last clause of V. 3, and the whole of v. 4, almost as it stands in the LXX version (see below, p. Tj), is quoted in Heb. x. 37 f., also to illustrate the benefits of 'faith.' This sense, though it can hardly have been intended by the LXX translators^, whose version the Apostles used, was at any rate one which the Greek word used by them permitted ; and it was accordingly adopted by St. Paul in his argument, and also by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews in Heb. x. 38,— the pronoun *my,* which is unfavourable to this interpretation, being omitted by St. Paul, and attached to * righteous ' in Heb. x. 38. But * faith ' is not the sense belonging to 'emiinah. This does not mean that principle of trustful reliance upon another which we call * faith,' but the quality of being oneself firm, steady, reliable in intercourse with others, i.e. trustworthiness, or ' faithfulness.' * A man oi faithfulness' it is said in Prov. xxviii. 20, *aboundeth in blessings.' * Lying lips,' says another proverb (Prov. xii. 22), * are an abomination to the LORD, but they that do faithfulness ^ Hab. ii. 4'' is rendered by the LXX 6 h\ S'lKaios €k mffrews nov [ \n2inNO for in2'«nN3 ] (■naerai, i. e. * but the righteous shall live through [lit. from] my faithfulness.' ' Faithfulness ' is the general meaning of mans in the LXX : see e. g. 2 K. xii. 15, xxii. 7 ; 2 Ch. xxxi. 12, 15, 18 ; Ps. xxxii. (xxxiii.) 4 ; Hos. ii. 20 (22) ; Jer. XV. 18, xxxix. (xxxii.) 41 ; Lam. iii. 23 (iroWri -q it'kxtis aov [God's]), in all (except the two passages from Jer.) for the same Heb. word n:TD« as here. By the omission in Rom. i. 17, Gal. iii. ir, of the pronoun nov ('my '), and by its being in Heb. x. 38 transposed so as to connect with ' righteous,' it becomes possible to understand niaris in the sense of * faith.' Uiaris, in the sense of 'faith,' is construed in the N. T. with a genitive of the person who is its object (e. g. Gal. ii. 16, 20, iii. 22 ; Phil. iii. 9) : but the sense is there clear from the context, and the known use of the word by St. Paul ; it could scarcely be so understood in the LXX of Hab. ii. 4. 64 HABAKKUK are his delight.' The men to whom money was given for the repair of the Temple 'dealt in faithfulness^ i.e. honestly (2 K. xii. 15 [Heb. 16], xxii. 7). 'Faithfulness' was an attribute of the ideal king, in his exalted office (Is. xi. 5). It was also a virtue which, Jeremiah tells us, though earnestly sought for by Yahweh, was sadly lacking in Jerusalem in his day (Jer. v. i, 3, vii. 28, ix. 3,— all RVm.). The word is also used often of God's 'faithfulness' (Is. XXV. I ; Ps. Ixxxix. i, 2, 24, 33, &c.)^ The New Testament gives us what is really a development of the prophet's thought. St. Paul, familiar with the verse as it read in the LXX version, ampUfies and spiritualizes the words of Habakkuk— as he does sometimes with other passages quoted by him from the O.T.— interpreting them in a sense which does not properly belong to them, but which, as it was permitted, or suggested, by the Greek, fitted them in that form for use in his argument. And the passage is interpreted similarly in Heb. x. 'i^Z. ' Wellh. and Nowack understand nnt)« in Hab. ii. 4 in the sense oi faittiful allegiance to God, in the firm assurance that in the end (cf. v. 3) the righteous cause will triumph, and the tyrant be overthrown. But, though a word, expressing the idea of steadfastness or faithfulness, might, no doubt, if hmited to a relation towards a particular person, pass into that of fidelity or loyalty towards him, the O. T. furnishes no evidence that n2iD« ever acquired this meaning. Explanation of Symbols. H' . . . . Earlier prophecy of Habakkuk. H^ . . . . Later prophecy of Habakkuk. A Probable later Addition. HABAKKUK The «- burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. 1 [W] O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not 2 hear ? I cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save. Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and ^ look upon 3 * Or, oracle ^ Or, cause me to look i. 1. The oracle did see. See the first two notes on Nah. i. i. The Book opens with a dialogue between the prophet and his God. The dialogue extends into ch. ii ; and the subject of it is the moral difficulty which the prophet feels in Yahweh's first allowing lawlessness to prevail unchecked in Judah, and then entrusting the punishment of it to a cruel and godless nation like the Chaldaeans. 2-4. The prophet expostulates with Yahweh for permitting wrong to continue so long unchecked in Judah. 2. How long, O Yahweh, do I cry /or help, and thou hearest not? I cry unto thee, Violence ! and thou dost not save. The word rendered ' cry ' in the first clause means always to cry for help : it occurs frequently in the Psalms, e. g. Ps. xviii. 6* 41, xxii. 24: cf. Job xix. 7^ With clause b cf. Job xix. 7, (RVm.), Jer. xx. 8. The complaint of the prophet is no doubt more than a merely personal one : he cries out in the name of his faithful compatriots, who have to sufier equally with himself from the violence and injustice of the wicked. To judge from the terms of the verse, the prophet has felt this moral anomaly long and keenly. 3. God the Holy One seems to look on quietly, and permit injustice and wrong to pass unpunished. shew me : better, canse me to see — i. e. to behold it around me. iniquity : ^dven is not the regular Heb. word for * iniquity,' but is a term of disparagement, meaning properly, it seems, worthless conduct, naughtiness. It occurs frequently in the Psalms. See the writer's Parallel Psalter, pp. 449 f. and look upon : viz. without interfering to punish it. Con- trast V. 13, Ps. x. 14. But probably, changing a letter, we should read with Targ., Pesh. ' and (why) do I look upon ?' 66 HABAKKUK 1. 4. IP perverseness ? for spoiling and violence are before me: 4 and there is strife, and contention riseth up. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgement ^ doth never go forth : * Or, goefh not forth unto victory perverseness. Rather mischief, or, more clearly, oppres- sion: cf. Is. X. r. 'Amal is properly /aiowr, /o// (Gen. xli. 51); then fig. travail (Is. liii. 11), trouble, whether experiencecj by oneself (Ps. Ixxiii. 5), or prepared for others, and in the latter case commonly, for clearness, rendered tnischief (Ps, vii. 4, 16, 8cc.). Here the sequel shows that the latter is the sense intended ; for the combination with ^dven, as here, cf, Ps. x. 7, Iv. 10 (in a city). spoiling* and violence. So Am. iii. 10 ; Jer. vi. 7, xx. 8 ; Ez. xlv. 9. 'Spoiling' (Heb. shod: 'destruction,' Isa. xiii. 6; 'desolation,' li. 19, lix. 7) means violent ill-treatment; 'violence,' wrong or injury, whether accompanied by force or not (w. 2, 9, ii. 8, 17 ; Gen. xvi. 5, &c.). and there is strife, &c. The consequences of so much violence and wrong : society is unsettled ; disputes arise, and instead of being decided by law, they are perpetuated and spread. For the two words used see Prov. xv. 18, xxvi. 21. 4. Therefore direction is numb. The disorder and lawless- ness prevalent in Judah incapacitated even the priests in the discharge of their duties. Tordh was the ' direction ' given orally by the priest, chiefly on points of ritual observance, but including also a moral element : on the importance attached to it, and for other allusions to neglect in regard to it, see Mic. iii. 11; Dt. xvii. II (of judicial decisions), xxiv. 8 ; Jer. ii. 8, xviii. 18 ; Zeph. iii. 4 ; Ez. vii. 26, xxii. 26 ; Mai. ii. 6-9 (in EVV. * law ' and ' teach,' but ' direction ' and * direct ' would be better). See further the article ' Law ' in DB., p. 65 ; and on Hag. ii. 11. niunh : i. e. chilled and paralysed, bereft of life and force, inefficient. Cf. Ps. xxxviii. 8 (RV. 'am faint'), Ixxvii. 2 (RV. 'slacked'). judgement doth never go forth : i. e. right (Is. x. a), both in a forensic sense, and also in social life generally, does not come forth (Ps. xvii. 2, xxxvii, 6) and assert itself, as it should do: cf. Is. lix. 14, and the picture in Mic. vii. 2-6, or Jer. ix. 3-5. The rendering of the margin is derived from the Aramaic sense of the root, to conquer, be victorious, which the word here used has in the late Hebrew of i Ch. xxix. 11, and which is also given to it in the Greek version of Is. xxv. 8 (which agrees with that of Theodotion), followed by St. Paul in i Cor. xv. 54, ' death is swallowed up in victory' (cf. Hab. iii. 19, LXX rov viK^aai for n'j:o'5). HABAKKUK 1. 5,6. H' 67 for the wicked doth compass about the righteous \ there- fore judgement goeth forth perverted. Behold ye among 5 the nations, and regard, and wonder marvellously : for * I work a work in your days, which ye will not believe though it be told you. For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that 6 * Or, one worketh compass about. In a hostile sense (Ps. xxii. 12), at once depriving him of his rights, and limiting his influence for good. 5-11. The answer of Yahweh to the prophet's complaint : already He is raising up the ministers of judgement, the Chal- daeans, a people mighty and terrible, imperious and all-subduing. 5. Behold ye among' the nations : viz. to see what is there happening, to watch the storm of judgement arising, and advanc- ing from nation to nation, till finally it breaks upon you (Jer. XXV. 32). ' Ye ' (i. e. the Judahites) is to be taken closely with 'behold': the meaning is not *Ye among the nations, behold.' Perhaps, however, with Nowack, Marti, and others, we should read, following the LXX, ' Behold, ye faithless ones ^ (i. e. ye faith- less Judahites), and regard.' I work. The marg. is added for a grammatical reason. *Work ' is in the Hebrew a participle, with no subject expressed ; and in such cases a subject in the third person, not in the first, is usually understood (G.-K. § ii6'»'). The general sense remains the same : for even though the grammatical subject be * one,' the real agent is still implicitly Yahweh. work a work. Both words are often used of a Divine opera- tion, especially of one on a large scale : iii. 2 ; Is. v, la ; Ps. xliv. I, Ixiv. 9, xc. 16, xcv. 9. ye will not believe, &c. Better, ye would not btlieve (viz. under other circumstances), though it were told you, i. e. unless you had express evidence of it. The following verses describe what this work is, viz. the establishment of the power of the Chaldaeans, with indirect allusion to the manner in which that would affect Judah. 6. Por, lo, I am raising up. The words cannot refer to the first appearance of the Chaldaeans upon the stage of history (for Nabopolassar had been upon the throne of Babylon for some * onan for D^"i:a. The actual rendering of LXX is, * Behold, ye despisers, and regard, and wonder marvellously, and perish ' ; but that 'despisers' is a misrendering of Dn:3 is apparent from v, 13. The words * and perish ' are an addition of the translators. The LXX rendering is followed (substantially) in the quotation in Acts xiii. 41. F 2 68 HABAKKUK 1.7. H^ bitter and hasty nation ; which march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelHng places that are not theirs. 7 ^ They are terrible and dreadful : their judgement and * Heb. He^ and so in vv. 8, 9. twenty years) ; but the Chaldaeans were for the Jews a new power — they had just gained a great victory over Egypt, and the expression rather means *am raising up so as to estabhsh and confirm.' The partic. after lo (or behold)^ as often, especially in prophecy, of the imminent future. the Chaldaeans (Heb. Kasdim). Kasdim is the Heb. form of the Bab. and Ass. Kaldu (XaASarot, ' Chaldaeans '), a tribe often mentioned in the Assyrian Inscriptions from about 880 B.C.: their home at that time was in Lower Babylonia (the Persian Gulf is called the < sea of the land of the Kaldu ') ; afterwards, becoming more powerful, they gradually advanced inland ; in 721 Merodach-baladan, ' king of the land of the Kaldu,' as he is called in the inscriptions, made himself for twelve years king of Babylon (cf. Is. xxxix. i) ; and ultimately, under Nabopolassar (above, pp. 9, 52) and Nebuchadnezzar, the Kaldii became the ruling caste in Babylon. After Jehoiakim's revolt (2 K. xxiv. 1) they became the most formidable enemies of Judah ; and in the end (b. c. 586) destroyed Jerusalem. bitter : i. e. fierce, unpleasant to those who come in contact with it : cf. 6///^>'q/'5o///= angry, enraged : Jud. xviii. 25, 2 S. xvii. 8. hasty : i. e. vehement, impetuous : in Is. xxxii. 4 (see RVm.) precipitate (in judgement). which inarch, &c. Their object is conquest, to seize for a possession the dwelling-places of other peoples. The verbs and pronouns from here to the end oi v. 11 (except v. 9 'their faces') are all singular in the Heb.) 'which marcheth . . . that are not its. It is terrible,' &c.), the nation being treated as a single whole. Similarly elsewhere, as Is. v. 26-30 (see RVm.), xvii. 13, 14 (RVm.), Jer. v. 16*, 17 (Heb.). 7. The formidable character of this nation: its military strength inspires terror into other peoples, and in its policy it is guided by no considerations except those proceeding from itself. its rig'ht, &c. It is an imperious and autocratic nation : its right— the word {ntishpdt) means properly the decision of a judge, and is then used in an extended sense of right, both legal and moral (cf. Is. x. 2; Jer. v. 28, xvii. 11) — and its dignity (Gen. xlix. 3) or loftiness (Job xiii. 11, xxxi. 23 [EVV. badly, excellency\) — i. e. its pre-eminence above other nations — proceed from itself have their root only in itself, not in God : it owns no superior. HABAKKUK 1. 8. H^ 69 their dignity proceed from themselves. Their horses also 8 are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves ; and their horsemen » spread themselves ; yea, their horsemen come from far ; they fly as an eagle * Or, bear themselves proudly Cf. the words put by Isaiah into the mouth of the Assyrian, Is. X. 8-1 1, 13-14. 8-10. Their armies advance swiftly, and are irresistible. His horses are swifter than leopards (cno:'^). Varied from Jer. iv. 13 'His horses are swifter than eagles (cn^rco).' The leopard is noted both for the swiftness of its course and also for the celerity with which it springs upon its prey ^ : it ' will take up its station in concealment by a village or watering-place, and await for hours its opportunity of pouncing upon the cattle' (Tristram, NHB. 112: cf. Jer. v. 6; Hos. xiii. 7). are keener (viz. in attack : lit. ' sharper ') than eveninjf wolves. Wolves in the East conceal themselves during day, but prowl forth at nightfall and watch their opportunity of leaping suddenly into the fold, and seizing a sheep (Tristram, iV^5. 152-4), Cf. Zeph. iii. 3. spread themselves. This rendering, retained from AV., has no probability : RVm. bear themselves proudly, though not, perhaps, certain, is decidedly preferable ; the correctness of the text, however, is not entirely above suspicion '-. they come from far, &c, A point in the marvel : they come from far, like the eagle (cf. Dt. xxviii. 49 'from the end of the earth '), and, like the eagle, they light on the prey that they intend to devour. For the comparison cf. Dt. xxviii. 49 ; Jer. iv. 13, xlviii. 40 = xlix. 22 (of Nebuchadnezzar) ; Lam. iv. 19. an eagle. Heb. nesher^ more exactly 2, a vulture — not, ^ Cf. Oppian, Kyneg. 75 f., quoted by Bochart, Hieroz. ii. 104 — '0.KV7aT0v OeUi, Kai r d\Kifioy Wvs opovei, iairjs oiriTOT* tdoio lirjipi-qv (popieaOai. ' The verb (^^^£) occurs twice besides, each time of an animal, Jer. 1. 10 (RV. are wanton), Mai. iv. 2 (RV. gambol). In Arabic \ric means to glory, boast, magnify oneself; and this meaning would suit the three passages, but the sibilant in the Heb. does not corre- spond as it should do. Possibly, however, the Massorites are at fault in pointing ir. Here, however, the entire clause (rc\C "iirci), which makes the verse unduly long, is open to the suspicion of being a corrupt anticipation of the following Vtt?iE ; and we should perhaps read, with Wellh., Marti (after * leopards ')» ' ««^ their horsemen are keener than evening wolves ; they come from far, ^ &c. ^ See Mic. i. 16 * Enlarge thy baldness (viz. in mourning) as the 70 HABAKKUK 1.9-ii. H^ 9 that hasteth to devour. They come all of them for violence ; ^ their faces are set eagerly ^ as the east wind ; 10 and they gather captives as the sand. ^ Yea, he scoffeth at kings, and princes are a derision unto him : he derideth every strong hold ; for he heapeth up dust, and taketh it. 1 1 ^ Then shall he sweep by as a. wind, and shall « pass over, * Heb. the eagerness (or assembling) of their faces is &c. ^ Or, towards the east Or, forwards *= Or, And they scoff &c. ^ Or, Then shall the ivind sweep by, and he shall pass away ^ Or, transgress however, the carrion-vulture, but the great vulture, or Griffon- vulture, a majestic bird constantly visible in Palestine, as it circles higher and higher in the heavens, and then rapidly (Lam. iv. 19 ; Job ix. 26) swoops down upon its prey (Tristram, NHB. 172-179). 9. tbeir fac33, &c. A most uncertain clause. Assuming the text to be correct, the most probable rendering would be (cf. RVm.), the assembling^ of their faces is eastwards; but, as 'east- wards' is unsuitable, in view of the relative situations of Babylon and Judah, the very questionable alternative forwards (marg.) has been proposed. There must be some deep-rooted error in the text. No plausible emendation has hitherto been suggested. as the sand : i. e. as innumerable as the sand : Gen. xxii. 17, xli. 49 ; Jud. vii. 12 ; 2 S. xvii. 11. 10. The Chaldaean mocks at all attempts to check his advance : kings and princes oppose him in vain, and every fortress he quickly reduces. he heapath up dust, a^d taketh it. His means are simple — nothing more than 'dust' — but effectual. The allusion is to the ancient method of taking cities by throwing up a long mound • of earth from the lines of the besiegers, until it rose to the level of the city walls, so that the assailants, advancing along its top, could fight their way in. The technical expression is to ' throw up a mound ' (spilt in EVV. mount) : 2 K. xix. 32 ; Jer. vi. 6 al. 11. Then he sweepeth on like a wind, and passeth throngh, nJsher ' — a description satisfied by the Griffon-vulture, the head and neck of which are bald, and covered with down, instead of feathers, but not by the eagle (Tristram, NHB. 173). ^ This rendering connects rr^JO (which occurs only here) with the Arab, j'amma, 'to be abundant'; 'eagerness' depends upon an assumed connexion with the Heb. XOJ, ' to swallow down ' (Job xxxix. 24), which is questionable philologically. HABAKKUK 1. 12. H'H^ 71 and be guilty : even he whose might is his god. [H^J Ajct 12^ not thou from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? *we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained * Or, According to an ancient Jewish tradition, thou diest not. and becoxnetli grnilty : this his migrht becometh his g-od. The fortress taken ('Then'), he sweeps on like a hurricane in his career of conquest ; and, elated by victory, deifies his own might {Dextra ntihi deus). The margins of RV. may be disre- garded. But the text in parts of clause a is suspicious ; and the correction (one letter only), and maketh this his strength to he his god, for * and becometh guilty,' &c., is at least very probable. 12-17. But a fresh difficulty now arises : granted that Israel deserves punishment, how can the righteous Ruler of the world employ as His ministers this proud, idolatrous nation, which tramples down inhumanly and indiscriminately all men alike ? Is this righteous judgement ? Is it not rather the triumph of violence on a larger scale • 12. Can it be that Yahweh means Israel to perish ? Surely He cannot intend that the Chaldaeans should do more than correct it? Cf. the same distinction in Jer. xxx. n. Art Then not from of old, Yahweh, my God, mine Holy One ? i. e. (' Yahweh ' being the predicate) * Art Thou not our national God, Yahweh, from of old ? ' The prophet in using the pronouns of the ist pers. sing, speaks in the name of the nation : and, from the fact that Yahweh, the faithful and unchangeable One, has been from of old the national God of Israel (Hos. xiii. 4 RVm.), argues ('we shall not die') that it cannot be His intention that Israel should perish at the hands of the Chaldaeans. from of old : lit. ' from before ' or * from aforetime.' The expression denotes what is ancient rather than what is eternal : it is often used, for instance, of the Mosaic age or other distant periods of Israel's past (e. g. Ps. xliv. i, Ixxiv. 2, 12) ; it is applied to God, as here, Dt. xxxiii. 27 ('The God 0/ old is a dwelling place '), Ps. Iv. 19 ^ mine Holy One : adapted from Isaiah's title of Yahweh, the ' Holy One of Israel,' Is. i. 4, v. 19, 24, &c. we shall not die. According to Jewish tradition (cf. RVm.), this is one of eighteen passages called ' corrections of the scribes ' {tikkHne sopherim), i. e. passages in which the original reading was supposed to have been altered by the scribes on account of its ^ It may even be applied to a former period of a single lifetime, Job xxix. 3. 72 HABAKKUK 1. 13. H- him for judgement ; and thou, O »^Rock, hast estabhshed 13 him for correction. Thou that art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and that canst not look on perverseness, wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacher- ously, and boldest thy peace when the wicked swalloweth * See Deut. xxxii. 4. containing something which appeared to them to be unseemly or irreverent. The passages must be considered each on its own merits : in some cases, there may be some support for the allegation ; in others, it is probably nothing more than a Jewish fancy. Here the original reading is alleged to have been ^ Thou wilt not die/ changed to * We shall not die,' on account of the irreverence implied in bringing together the ideas of God and death. The context, however, in this case lends no support to the view that this was the original reading ; the deduction ' Wc shall not die ' is necessary to give point to the verse. thou hast ordained, &c. ' Judgement ' and ' correction ' are the emphatic words : the Chaldaean, the prophet would fain believe, has been appointed by Yahweh to judge and correct Israel, but not to exterminate it (Jer. xxx. ir). Bock. A poetical title of God, designating Him as the unchangeable support or refuge of His people — usually the Rock of Israel, or his, my, their Rock, or the Rock of his {thy) salvation, Dt. xxxii. 4 (' the Rock'), 15, 18, 30 ; 2 S. xxiii. 3 ; and often in the Psalms, as Ps. xviii. 2, 31, 47, xix. 14. 13. How, moreover, can Yahweh, the pure and Holy God, look on with unconcern {v. 3) while the Chaldaean outrages alf right and justice ? perverseness. Rather, as v. 3, mischief, or oppression. The 'evil' and 'mischief are here those wrought by the Chaldaeans. them that deal treacherously : i. e. faithlessly, unconscion- ably, viz. in war. The expression is used also in Is. xxi. 2, xxiv. 16, xxxiii. I, of ruthless, barbarous plunderers. Here it refers of course to the Chaldaeans. holdest thy peace. Lookest on silently, without interfering : cf. Is. xlii. 14 ; Ps. 1. 21. the wicked. The ' wicked ' is here (otherwise than in v. 4) the Chaldaean : the ' man that is more righteous than he ' 'is generalized to include the other nations, victims of the Chaldaean barbarities, though Israel may be specially in the prophet's mind. But in vv. iz-iq the prophet speaks out of the heart of humanity. The anomaly is that the righteous God, whose nature cannot HABAKKUK 1. 14-16. H^ 73 up the man that is more righteous than he; and makest 14 men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them ? He taketh up all of them with 15 the angle, he catcheth them in his net, and gathereth them in his drag : therefore he rejoiceth and is glad. Therefore he sacrificeth unto his net, and burneth in- 16 endure wrong, looks on and is silent over this wrong which is as large as the human race' (Davidson\ 14-16. The prophet's thought illustrated by a simile. Men are become like fishes, which the Chaldaean sweeps into his net, paying afterwards Divine honours to the instrument which thus enriches him. 14. and makest. Rather, and hast made. The condition is one which has already begun. It might be that the Chaldaeans were appointed to ' correct ' (v. 12) : but they had exceeded the terms of their commission (cf. Is. xlvii. 6) ; they had reduced men to the condition of fishes, without organization, without leaders, helpless before their captors. The prophet, with that disregard of secondary causes which is characteristic of Hebrew thinkers (cf. Am. iii. 6; Job ix. 24^, boldly charges God with being the cause of all the outrages inflicted upon mankind by the Chaldaeans. creeping' thing's. An expression generally denoting reptiles (Gen. i. 26, vi. 7 ; i K. iv. 33), but used also of small aquatic creatures, Ps. civ. 25 ('wherein z.re things creeping \r\nnmtv3h\G^). It might be meant here in the former sense, as a parallel among land-animals to the ' fishes of the sea ' ; but the context, especially V. 15, rather favours the supposition that small marine animals are intended, — or at least that they are included in the expression. no ruler. Cf. Prov. vi. 7 (of ants), xxx. 27 (locusts). 15. catcheth in: better, sweepeth along (Pr. xxi. 7) with. in his drag'. The Heb. word occurs only here, v. 16, and (with one vowel different) Is. xix. 8 (' nets ') : LXX here and in one rendering of Is. xix. 8, aa-yqvT], i. e. a large drag-net, or seine (Ital. sagena), whence the verb aa-yqvevoj, to 'sweep clear' a conquered country (Hdt. iii. 149 a/.). he rejoiceth, &c. Exulting over his successful haul. 16. The Chaldaean deifies the instruments — i. e. his weapons of war — to which he owes his successes. Herod, (iv. 59, ,60) states that the Scythians offered a yearly sacrifice of sheep and horses to the scimitar as the symbol of the war-god Ares : but whether a knowledge of this fact suggested the figure used by the prophet is uncertain : it may merely be another more pointed way of stating what was said before in v. 11, that the Chaldaean 74 HABAKKUK 1. 17—2. i. H« cense unto his drag ; because by them his portion is fat, ; and his meat ^plenteous. Shall he therefore empty his net, and not spare to slay the nations continually ? I I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the * Heb./fl/. so trusted in the material strength of his empire and army that it became to him his god. The description is spoken from the standpoint of a Hebrew prophet : the inscriptions of Nabopolassar (b. c. 625-605), and of his son Nebuchadnezzar, one of whom must have been on the throne when Habakkuk wrote, show that both were loyal and devoted worshippers of Marduk, Nebo, and Shamash, who, if their inscriptions had recorded victories, would, we may be sure, have gratefully attributed them to their help. his portion is ricli, and his food fat : i. e. his catch of 'fish,' fig. for the gains accruing to him from his conquests. In the Heb. there are two synonyms for 'fat,' which are perhaps best distinguished by the renderings here given. Meat in RV. ( = AV.) is used in the now obsolete sense of the word (except in ' sweetmeat ') for food generally, not animal food in particular : so often in EVV., as iii. 17 ; Gen. i. 29 ; Is. Ixii. 8. 17. Render : Shall he therefore — viz. because he thus rejoices over his gains, and honours his net as a god — empty his net (and, it is implied, go on casting it and filling it again), and shall he continually slay nations unsparing'ly ? Giesebrecht, however, followed by Wellh., Now., Smith, Marti, making two slight changes, suggests, very cleverly, Shall he for ever draw his sword, and continually slay nations unsparingly ? This yields a better sense than the Massoretic text, and may well be the original reading. For the rendering draw (of a sword), see Ex. XV. 9, Lev. XX vi. 33 al. ii. 1-4. The prophet's * complaint * (in ch. i) respecting the justice of God's government of the world, is ended ; and he waits patiently, like a watchman on his out-look tower, to see what answer the Almighty may vouchsafe to it. 1. A soliloquy of the prophet. The figure is that of a watchman mounting a high tower in order to see afar (2 S. xviii. 24; 2 K. ix. 17) ; and it expresses the spiritual preparation of the. prophet's soul, the earnest expectation with which he waits for the Divine answer : he will retire from the distracting crowd, will direct his gaze to heaven, and look out till the answer comes. I will stand, &c. The prophet describes indirectly what he has done by citing the resolve which he had made to do it watch. Better post, lit. place to be guarded or kept (cf. 2 Ch. HABAKKUK 2. a, 3. H^ 75 a tower, and will look forth to see what he will speak ^with me, and what I shall answer concerning my com- plaint. And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the a vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for the appointed 3 * Ovy fortress *» Or, by vii. 6 ('the priests were standing upon their posts '). Exactly so, Is. xxi. 8, in a similar connexion (EW. ward). the tower. Better, the muniment : cf. Nah. ii. i — some part of the fortifications on which a watchman might naturally place himself. look forth: viz. as a watchman, the word being that of which the ordinary Heb. word for * watchman ' is the participle : cf the term * watchman' used of the prophets, Jer. vi. 17; Mic. vii. 4 ; Ez. iii. 17 ; Is. Ivi. 10 ; and see especially Is. xxi. 6-9. with me. This is better than the marg. by me : cf. Zech. i. 9 ; and see Dr. Gray's note on Num. xii. 2. what X shall answer to my complaint, or, better, to my reproof (Pr. i. 23, and often), or impeachment, viz. of God, that He leaves the wicked unpunished, and even entrusts to him the punishment of the righteous (i. 13-17). Pesh. for ' I shall answer ' has he will answer, which agrees better with ' he will speak,' and is probably correct. 2. Yahweh's answer, heard by the prophet's mental ear. The significance of this answer is betokened by the terms in which it is introduced : it is to be written, viz. on tablets, in order that all may read it easily, and also because it will only be fully verified in the future, when the tablets will be evidence that the prophet has spoken it (cf Is. xxx. 8). the vision : i. e, the prophecy, or revelation : cf on Nah. i. i. tables: as in Luke i, 63 AV., an archaism for tablets; cf Is. viii. I, xxx. 8. Make it plain, as Dt. xxvii. 8. that he may run, &c. That he who readeth it may run, — viz. in his reading, i. e. may read it fluently, without being hindered by any indistinctness in the writing. 3. For the vision is still for the appointed time : it still relates to the time appointed by God for its fulfilment ; there is an end, or goal, towards which it still presseth, and which, though it may be far distant, and the time of waiting may seem long, it still will not fail to reach. hasteth. Or, presseth : lit. , if the text be right ( for the figure is rather a strange one), puffeth or panteth (Ps. xii. 5 RVm.) ; cf the Lat. inhiare. The prophecy is, as it were, personified, and represented as pressing on eagerly to its accomplishment. 76 HABAKKUK 2.4. H* time, and it » hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie : though it tarry, wait for it ; because it will surely come, it will not delay. Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not b upright in him: but the just shall live ^by his faith. •'■ Heb. panteth. ^ Or, straight ° Or, in his faithfulness will not lie : i. e. will not deceive, or disappoint, those who trust in it, will not fail. Cf. (of waters) Is. Iviii. 11 (EW. ' fail'). tarry: linger (Gen. xliii. 11) would perhaps be better. come : i. e. come to pass, be fulfilled, as Dt. xviii. 22 al. delay. Or, be late : lit, ' be behind,' arrive after its appointed time \2 S. XX. 5). 4. The contents of the ' vision,' Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not even in him ; but the just (or, the righteous) will live by his faithfulness. The pronoun his refers to the Chaldaean, so that the meaning is : The soul of the Chaldaean is elated with pride ; but the righteous zvill live by his faithfulness. The words express a moral distinction ; and the distinction carries with it the different destinies of the Chaldaean and of the righteous ; des- truction (it is implied) for the one, and life for the other. But the distinction is one which may not be verified at once ; the destruction of the Chaldaean may be deferred for many years ; hence the stress laid in v. 3 on the need of patience. even. Or smooth , plain (cf. Pr. xi. 5 RVm. ; Is. xl. 3 RVm.), also (RVm.) straight (Ez. i. 7), and so (in a moral sense) upright: the antithesis of '■ swollen ' or ' puffed up ' (assuming this word to be correct ^) is an indication that the physical idea of the word is predominant, though the other, doubtless, is also present as well. faithfulness. Not 'faith,' — for which (Davidson) 'Heb. has no word.' n3ra>« means primarily steadiness, firmness, in a physical sense (Ex. xvii. 12, of the hands of Moses) : then, as a moral quality, steadfastness, trustworthiness, faithfulness ; see especially sK.xii. 15 [Heb. 16], xxii. 7, 'dealing \n faithftdness^ (in handling money), where we might say 'honestly' ; often parallel with ' righteousness,' i S. xxvi. 23 ; Is. xi. 5 ; Jer. v. i RVm. ; Is. lix. 4 ^ The pron. ' his ' has no antecedent : and there is force in the remark (We., Dav.) that we want a substantive to which this pron. may refer : !jW for nS^:^ has been suggested — * Behold, as for the tmrighteous, his soul is not even {or upright) within him.' The predicate, ' is not even {or upright),' is, however, in this case rather weak. But clause a balances clause b so imperfectly that even on this ground it may well be doubted whether its text is sound. HABAKKUK 2. 5. H^ 77 a Yea, moreover, wine is a treacherous dealer, a haughty 5 man, and ^ that keepeth not at home ; who enlargeth his * Or, ^ud also because his wine . , . he is a haughty man ^ Or, he shall not abide (EVV. ' truth '). The righteous man — i. e. here the righteous Israelite — who is faithful in all the relations of life, and is sincere and upright, in heart and purpose, has in his character a principle of permanence which cannot be shaken, and which, whatever external troubles may assail him, should be to him a source of moral strength and security. See further on this verse, and also on the quotations of it in the N. T., above, pp. 62-64 ^ 5-20. A series of woes, each denouncing some characteristic sin of the Chaldaean, and threatening him, expressly or by implication, with condign retribution for it. As the text stands, there follow, after the introductory words {vv. 5, 6* ), five paragraphs, each introduced by Ah ! (cf. Is. v. 8-24), and each purporting to be spoken {y. 6) by the nations whom the Chaldaean has victimized. As the prophet proceeds, however, he seems to forget V. 6, and to speak in his own person ; and if (see the next note) V. 5 began originally with Ah ! the words spoken by the nations may be confined to vv. 6^-8. 5. The first 'woe,' directed against the ambition of the Chaldaeans and their insatiable lust of conquest. Yea, moreover, wine, &c. No intelligible sense can be extracted from these and the following words : ' wine ' is out of place here, the context relating entirely to the ambitious doings of the Chaldaeans; and the rendering ' keepeth at home ' is more than doubtful. No entirely satisfactory emendation has been suggested : the best is to read nn ah ! for ^"ri 'wine,' though this leaves '3 F]N1 'yea, moreover,' as an unexplained residuum, which nevertheless must be disregarded : we shall then get. Ah! the treacherous (or ruthless) dealer (i.e. the Chaldaean, as i. 13), the haughty (Prov. xxi. 24) matt, that resteth not (mr for mr) — the words thus referring to the restless ambition of the Chaldaeans. who enlargeth his desire as Sheol, &c., i. e. as Hades, or ^ The LXX, partly misunderstanding, or confusing, the Heb., and partly reading differently, render w. s**, 4: 'If he tarry, wait for him, for coming he will come and will not delay. If he (one) shrink back, my soul [^e: for ^^rc:] hath no pleasure [nnsi for m^" — or, more probably, a loose rendering of mc] in him ; but the righteous shall live through [lit. from] my faithfulness [\"i:TDNr: for \T2TDm].' The quotations of v. 4** in Rom. i. 17, Gal. iii. 11, and of vv, 3**, 4, in Heb. X. 37 f., are based upon this version of the LXX (cf. p. 63). 78 HABAKKUK 2. 6. H" desire as » hell, and he is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him 6 all peoples. Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting ^ proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his ! how long ? ^ Heb. Sheol. ^ Or, tiddle the Underworld : he is as insatiate as the grave, or as Death (which is here personified). Cf. Is. v. 14 ' Therefore Sheol hath enlarged her desire^ and opened her mouth without measure ' ; Prov. xxvii. 20 * Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied* xxx. 15 f. ' Desire' is lit. so«/— the 'soul ' in the psychology of the Hebrews being regarded as the seat of desire and appetite : cf. Ex. xv. 9 *My5o«/ shall be filled with them'; Is. Ivi. ii 'greedy,' lit. 'strong of sotd ' (see more fully the writer's Parallel Psalter, p. 459 f.). but gatheretlx, &c. Sweeps all nations into his net. 6*. a parable. Rather, a taunt-songr. To define the exact meaning of mashdl in some of its usages is very difficult : see Dr. Gray's Comment, on Numbers, pp. xiii — xiv, 299 f., 344 f. It means properly a likeness or representation ; it thus (besides its usual sense o{ proverb) denotes sometimes (Ez. xvii. 2, xxiv. 3) ji. parable or allegory, i. e. a representation symbolizing, in indirect or figurative language, something else, and sometimes (as Nu. xxiii. 7, 18 ; Job xxvii. i, xxix. i) an elevated and declaratory poetical discourse. Here, Is, xiv. 4, and Mic. ii. 4, it is used of a lamentation over the fall of a nation or its ruler. * Parable ' in these passages suggests a wholly incorrect idea ; and the best rendering is probably taunt-song (cf. Is. xiv. 4 AVm. 'taunting speech '). and a figTire (Prov. h 6), even riddles, in regurd to him. Synonyms for a ' taunt-song,' derived from the fact that its meaning was often concealed under allusive, enigmatic figures or expressions. 6^-8. The taunt-song. The nations tax the Chaldaeans with the spoliation and bloodshed with which their conquests had been eff'ected, and for which, they declare, a just retribution will be inflicted on them. Ah I (Nah. iii. i) he that increaseth that which is not his (by plundering other nations). There is probably, as in v. 7, an allusion to the custom of taking interest, which was viewed with disfavour by the Jews, and stigmatized by them as unjust : the verb rendered ' increaseth ' being cognate to one of the Hebrew words for * interest ' (Prov. xxviii. 8 ; Lev. xxv. 36 : E\^. * increase '). HABAKKUK 2. 7, 8. H^ 79 and that ladeth himself with pledges ! Shall they not rise 7 up suddenly that shall »bite thee, and awake that shall ^ vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them ? Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant 8 of the peoples shall spoil thee ; because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all that dwell therein. * Or, exact usury of thee ^ Or, toss thee to and fro ladeth bimself with pledg-es. The Chaldaean is compared to a merciless usurer (Dt. xxiv. 10), who compels the nations to give him heavy pledges : but the day will come when these pledges will have to be repaid. *t. The retribution. There is a play here on the double sense of the word ndshak, which means both to bite (Gen. xlix. 17), and also (metaphorically) to bite offirom the principal lent, i. e. to give interest : the ptcp. nosltek means accordingly a giver of interest or a debtor, and the subst. neshek, lit. a biting ojf, means interest (EW. usury). The Chaldaean is represented as a creditor who exacts heavy interest : the victimized nations are thus nosh^kim, ' debtors 'S but also 'biters,' who, when their day comes, will punish him remorselessly for his exactions. that shall vex thee. ' Vex ' was in Old English a stronger word than it is now, and corresponded more closely to the Lat. vexare, to drag to and fro; it is now inadequate as a rendering of the Heb. word here used. Render that shall shake thee (cf. RVm.), viz. to make thee disgorge thy plunder, or disturb thee from thy ill-gained possessions. booties. The plural is intensive, and hints at the amount and variety of the spoils to be wrung from the oppressor. 8. The lex talionis will be put in force against the Chaldaeans : cf. Is. xiv. 2'', xxxiii. i. the remnant of the peoples': i. e. those who have escaped destruction, whether among (Jos. xxiii. 12), or outside of, the ' many ' nations despoiled by the Chaldaeans. because of men's blood, &c. Because of the violence done to humanity. ' City ' is to be understood collectively, of the cities which the Chaldaeans had ravaged or burnt. Cf. the description of Babylon as the * hammer of the whole earth,' Jer. 1. 23, also li. 7, 85, Is. xiv. 6. * Not, as RVm., they that exact usury of thee^ which would be expressed by the Hiphil conj. (Dt. xxiii. 20), not by the Kal. 8o HABAKKUK 2. 9, 10. H' 9 Woe to him that getteth an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be dehvered 10 from the hand of evil ! Thou hast consulted shame to thy house, by cutting off many peoples, and hast sinned 9-11. The second 'woe.' The rapacity and violence by which their empire had been established. Ah I he that g-etteth an evil gain for his house : i. e. for his dynasty ; the ' evil gain ' thus obtained by the Chaldaean being, as the following words signify, employed by him in fortifying and securing his abode. set his nest on higfh, &c. : i. e. secure himself against calamity, the figure being derived from the custom of certain birds, especially (Tristram, NHB. 175) the 'eagle' or Griffon- vulture (see on i, 8), of building their nests amid inaccessible rocks, along the steep sides of gorges and defiles, which can be reached only by the most intrepid cUmbers. Cf., for the figure, Nu. xxiv. 21 ; Ob. 4 = Jer. xlix. 16. hand. Fig. for power, as often in Heb. : e.g. Ps. xxii. 20, xlix. 15. of evil : i. e. calamity from assailants. 10. Thou hast purposed shame to thy house. An oxy- moron : the Chaldaean of course planned in reality the safety of his own house, but his plan resulted in its confusion and disgrace. Cf. Hos. iv. 18 ' her rulers love ignominy,' i. e. love the course of action which leads to it ; and the similar cases in which the result of a course of action is described ironically as its purpose, Hos. viii. 4 ; Is. xxx. i ; Jer. vii. 18, 19 {Lex. p. 775^). ' Consult ' in RV. is used here as in Mic. \n.. 5, in the sense, now obsolete, of purposing or devising', see Murray, Engl. Did., who cites from Ussher (1658), 'Vologeses was supposed to have consulted the invading of Armenia.' (even) the cutting- off of many peoples. This clause explains what the Chaldaean had in reality purposed, and what it was which had led to the 'shame' or confusion of his * house,' viz. the cutting off (2 K. X. 32) of many peoples. The versions, with different vowels, read thou hast ad off, perhaps rightly (EW. ''by cutting off' is an impossible rendering). and hast sinned, &c. Render : forfeiting thine own life. Hdid is used here in its primary sense of missing (Jud. xx. 16, in the caus. conj., ' let (the stone) miss '), Job v. 24 RV., Prov. viii. 36 RVm., xix. 2 RVm., and especially xx. 2 'he that angereth himself against a king is on the way to forfeit his own life.' In using violence towards the nations the Chaldaean was so acting as ultimatel}'^ to bring ruin upon himself. HABAKKUK 2. 11-15. H^ 81 against thy soul. For the stone shall cry out of the wall, n and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and 12 stablisheth a city by iniquity ! Behold, is it not of the 13 Lord of hosts that the peoples labour for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity ? For the earth 14 shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that 15 11. The very stones and wood of which his houses and palaces are built will bear witness to the robbery and injustice by which they were procured. 12-14. The third 'woe.' The cruelty and oppression which had given them the means of building and beautifying their cities. The allusion may be either to the plunder and bloodshed by which the Chaldaean enriched his coffers, or to the forced labour of con- quered subjects, by which, with disregard to the lives lost in the process, public works and buildings are constructed in Eastern despotisms. 12. All I he that buildeth, &c. Cf. Mic. iii. 10 'Building up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity' (viz. by forced labour, wealth gained by oppression and judicial murders, &c. : cf. Jer. xxii. 13, 17, of Jehoiakim). 13. But the nations, such is Yahweh's decree, toil only to satisfy the fire — for fire will destroy the cities they have built ; and they weary themselves only for vanity (Jit. 'emptiness'), for their empires will fall into ruins. Cf. the citation in Jer. li. ^&*. of: i.e. from (as often in Old English ; cf. Ps. xxii. 25 PBV.) : the Heb. exactly as i K. xii. 24 (EVV. 'the thing is of {^= from) me') ; Ps. xxii. 25, cxviii. 23, «&c. 14. Reason for w. 12, 13. The civilizations of heathendom will perish ; for something better will take their place : the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh's glory (as mani- fested, viz. in their overthrow: see, for this sense of 'glory,' Is. Ixvi. i8, 19; and cf. Ez. xxviii. 22, xxxix. 13, 21), and its inhabi- tants will no longer care to toil for the fire. The verse is based upon Is. xi. ^ (which closes the description of the blissful reign of the ideal king), but differs from it both in wording (especially in the addition of 'the glory of) and in application. 15-17. The fourth 'woe.' The Chaldaeans' savage triumph over the nations which fell into their power. 15. Ah I he that giveth his neighbour drink, &c. Drunken- 82 HABAKKUK 2. i6. H^ ^addest thy ''^ venom thereto^ and makest him drunken 1 6 also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness ! Thou art filled with shame for glory : drink thou also, and c be as one uncircumcised : the cup of the Lord's right * Or ^ pourest ^ Or, fury '^ Or, lei iky /oreskin be uncovered ness is here a figure of the prostration and helplessness of a conquered people, powerless under the stupefying or paralysing effects of a great catastrophe : cf. Nah. iii. ii and the passages there quoted. addest: RVm. pourest. Both renderings are uncertain. The verb used occurs in the sense of ' attach ' or 'join,* i S. ii. 36, xxvi. 19, Is. xiv. I, and (probably) Job xxx. 7, though this is not quite the same as that of adding something to a liquid ; and the sense ^ pour ' is supported by the Arabic, and by the derivative 'overflowings' in Job xiv. 19. But see the next note. venom: RVm, fury. The word [hemdh) signifies properly heat ; hence it means fig. (a) fury, Nah. i. 6, and often, (b) poison or venotn, Dt. xxxii. 24, 33. If the text is sound, the meaning will thus be that the wine is, as it were, heated, or strengthened, by the fury (or venom) of the nations being mingled with it so as to make it more efficacious in producing drunkenness. But the text (see the last note) is suspicious ; and the clever emendation of Gratz and Wellh., which involves extremely slight change in the text, may safely be accepted : ' Ah ! he that giveth his neigh- bour drink /fom the bowl (Zech. xii. 2) of his fury, and maketh him drunken also ! * in order to look, &c. That he may gloat over the spectacle of his exposure (Gen. ix. 21), fig. for the humiliation and dis- grace accompanying his 'drunkenness.' Cf. Lam. iv. 21^; Nah. iii. 5^ 16. But in doing this the Chaldaean has only prepared humilia- tion and disgrace for himself. Thou art sated with ig-nominy rather than ( = and not with) gflory. The 'prophetic' past, describing the future as already accomplished : the Chaldaean will be sated (an oxymoron) not with glory but with ignominy. The same two words are opposed in Hos. iv. 7 'Their glory I will exchange for igno- miny.' drink thou also. How this effect will be produced : it will now be the Chaldaean's turn to drink ; for the stupefying draught which he has given the nations of the earth to drink (cf. Jer. Ii. 7) will soon be given by Yahweh to himself (cf. Jer. xxv. 26 end). and be uncircumcised (without 'as one'). More exactly, if the text is correct, get thee a foreskin, i. e. become an object of HABAKKUK 2. 17. H^ S^ hand shall be turned unto thee, and foul shame shall be upon thy glory. For the violence done to Lebanon 17 shall cover thee, and the destruction of the beasts, ^ which made them afraid ; because of men's blood, * According to many ancient versions, shall make thee afraid. mockery. But the figure is both very harsh and also foreign to the context ; so that Wellh. is almost certainly right in trans- posing two letters and reading with LXX (aa\ivQr]Ti : see Zech. xii. 3) and stag-ger', which forms a good sequel to 'drink'; see Is. li. 17, 22 ('the cup oi staggering') ; and cf. Jer. xxv. 15, i6. the cup of Yahweh's rigrht hand. The cup of His wrath (Jer. xxv. 15, 17, 28\ which intoxicates, and renders helpless, those who drink it : fig. of a great and overwhelming disaster. Cf. Is. li. 17, 22, just cited ; Jer. xxv. 16, 27; Ez. xxiii. 31-33; and especially Lam. iv. 21. he turned. Better, come round: cf. for the thought Jer. xxv. 15 ; Lam. iv. 21. 'Be turned' is, however, no doubt meant here in the now obsolete neuter sense of turtt round : see in AV. Rev. i. 12**, compared with i. 12* {Parallel Psalter, p. 483). 17. The reason why this doom will fall upon the Chaldaean : the violence wrought by him in the world will recoil upon his head. the violence done to Lebanon. ' Lebanon ' might be in- tended to typify the land of Israel generally (cf. Is. xxxiii. 9 ; Jer. xxii. 20, 23) ; but more probably it is meant literally : the inscrip- tions of the Assyrian kings abound with accounts of the amount of timber cut down in the forests of Amanus or Lebanon- for building temples and palaces in their capitals, and also of their great hunting exploits in the same regions ; and the Chaldaeans acted in these respects like their predecessors (see especially Is. xiv. 8). and the destruction of the heasts shall dismay thee. So we must read, with the ancient versions and RVm. ; the textual change is exceedingly slight ("]nn' for ]nn''). because of men's blood, &c. The same words as in v. 8, repeated as a kind of refrain. They must not be understood as explanatory of the two preceding clauses, but as parallel to them, only the form of expression being changed : the shame described in V. 16 will overtake the Chaldaean both because of the violence * This rendering is in fact already suggested by Kimchi. ^ From Amanus, KB. \. 131 f., 141, 161, III. ii. S3, loi, 109; from Lebanon, II. 23 (Tiglath-pileser), 135 (Esarhaddon), 235 (Asshurbanipal) ; cf. Is. xxxvii. 24; III. i. 15 and 39 (Nebuchad- nezzar). G 2 &4 HABAKKUK 2. 18, 19. H= and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all that dwell therein. 18 What profiteth the graven image, that the maker thereof hath graven it ; the molten image, and the teacher of lies, that the maker of ^his work trusteth therein, to make [9 dumb idols? Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake ; to the dumb stone, Arise ! Shall this teach ? *Or, its done to Lebanon and the beasts, and also because of that done to human beings. 18-20. The fifth ^ woe.' Their irrational and bootless idolatry. On the analogy of the other ^ woes' v. 19 should precede v. 18; and this order would improve the sequence of thought, v. 19, stating the sin generally, being followed (as in the other cases) by a reference to its effects, viz. the inability of the idol to help or deliver its owner. Even, however, with this transposition some more direct application of what is said to the case of the Chaldaeans is desiderated, and possibly a verse to this effect has fallen out, 18 (the sequel, really, of v. 19"). The uselessness of idols in the hour of need. For the thought that idols, or false gods, do not ' profit/ cf. I S. xii. 21 ; Jer. ii. 8, 11, xvi. 19 ; Is, xliv. 9, 10, Ivii. 12; and the satire upon idol-makers, Is. xli. 6-7, xliv. 9-20, xlvi. 6-7 ; Jer. x. 2-9; on the idols of the Chaldaeans, also, Is. xxi. 9 ; Jer. 1. 38. the teacher of lies. I. e, the idol itself, which ' teaches ' through its priests, and so sustains the delusion that it is a god. The word 'teach' (or 'direct') is the one used technically of ' direction ' given by a priest in the name of his god : see on Hag. ii. 11; and cf. in Gen. xii. 6 the ' directing terebinth,' of an oracular tree, the maker of his work. More exactly, he that formed his framed thing (Is. xxix. i6), i. e. his idol, or he that fortned its (RVm.) frame (Ps. ciii. 14), gave it (the idol) its particular size and contour (AVm. fashion) . The verb (with which in the Heb. the subst. is cognate) means properly to mould as a potter; but it is often used in various fig. applications. Of idols, as here, Is. xliv. 9, 10, 12, and above in the present verse ('maker'). dtuuh idols. LXX, ctSwXa fcojipd ; cf. z Cor. xii. 2 (i5u\a afuva. The word rendered * idols ' (Q'b'bN) suggests the idea of what is unsubstantial and worthless (Job xiii, 4 * worthless physicians,' Jer. xiv. 14 'a thing of nought') ; cf. Is. ii. 8, i8, 20. 19. Awake I . . . Arise I viz. to help me : the words addressed HABAKKUK 2. 2c— 3. i. H^ A? A 85 Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. [A?] But the Lord 20 is in his holy temple: «^let all the earth keep silence before him. [A] A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to Shig- 3 ionoth. t * Heb. be silettt before hint, all the eatih. elsewhere to Yahweh, Ps. xxxv. 23, xliv. 23. Cf. similar irony in Dt. xxxii. 37 f. ; Jer. ii. 28 ; Is. xlvi. 7. SbaU this teach? Or, direct? i.e. give answers, when consulted, as to what is to be done. An exclamation of contempt at the infatuation of those who would resort to such an object for guidance. there is no breath, &c. Cf. Jer. x. 14 ; Ps. cxxxv. 17 ; also Dt. iv. 28 ; Ps. cxv. 6. See developments of the thought of these two verses in Is. xliv. 9-20, and the prophecy inserted in Jeremiah's book which now stands as Jer. x. 1-16. ao. The prophet's thought now passes by contrast (cf. Jer. x. 10) from the dumb and helpless idol to Yahweh, the living God : He is in His heavenly Temple, where He sits enthroned as Governor of the world, watching the deeds of men, and ready, if need be, to interpose and punish them (Ps. xi. 4, 6). be silent before him. In the Heb. an exclamation, hush I or be still! so Zeph. i. 7; Zech. ii. 13 (Heb. i7\ The ex- pression is perhaps (but not certainly) intended to form the transition to ch. iii. iii. This chapter consists of a lyric cde, in which the poet, with great brilliancy and poetical power, develops the thought of Yahweh's coming to judgement, and executing vengeance on His people's foes. The * prayer ' (as it is called in the tit!e> is limited to t;. 2 ; and is to the effect that Yahweh will ' revive' His work 'in the midst of years,' i.e. renew or repeat, in the midst of the years that have passed since the Exodus, the great ' work ' (Ps. xliv. i) of deliverance wrought by Him of old. As an answer to this prayer the prophet pictures a theophany, in which Yahweh appears to judge and to redeem. The theophany is described in language and imagery suggested by the Exodus and by the terms of Dt. xxxiii. 2, Jud. v. 4, 5. The scene is laid in the desert region on the S. of Judah : a great thunderstorm comes up from the mountains of Edom and Paran ; it bursts over the wilderness; neighbouring peoples are in dismay; and the op- pressors of Israel are scattered before it. In the description past 86 HABAKKUK 3. 2. A O Lord, I have heard ^ the report of thee, and ^ am afraid : O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the years make it known ; ^ Or, thy fame ** Or, was tenses predominate (see in the Heb. vv. 3*, 6, 8*, 10, &c.), the future, in accordance with a frequent usage of the prophets (see e. g. Is. ix. 2 ff., xxxiii. 3), being vividly imagined as past, and described accordingly. In English we should more naturally in such a case use presents (cf. RVm. on v. 3). For other descrip- tions of a coming deliverance, painted in colours suggested by the Exodus, see Is. xi. 15, 16, xliii. 16, 17, xlviii. 21, Hi. 12. On the question of the authorship of the ode, see above, pp. 59 f. 1. The title resembles those in the Psalms, e. g. Ps. xc. set to Shigyonotli. Shigyonoth would be the plural of Shiggdyon, which appears in the title of Ps. vii, '• ShiggayOn of David.' The meaning, like that of most of the other musical terms occurring in the titles of the Psalms, is obscure ; the verb shdgdh means to go astray or wander (Ez. xxxiv. 6; through wine, Is. xxviii. 7 [thrice] ; and morally, to err^ i S. xxvi. 21 at.) ; hence it has been supposed that Shiggdyon may denote a dith}'- rambic poem, written in wandering irregular rhj'thms, and ' set to Shigyonoth,' one sung to music of a similar character : but this explanation has only the value of a conjecture. 2. I have heard. The prophet speaks most probably in the name of the community, as he does clearly in v. 14 : cf similarly Is. Ixi, 10 f ; Jer. v. 19 f., x. 19 f , 24; Mic. vii. 7-10, &c. {LOT., p. 390). the report of thee, and am afraid. The prophet had 'heard the report ' (Dt. ii. 25), or ' fame ' (Nu. xiv. 15 ; Is. Ixvi. 19 ; i K. x. i), of what Yahweh had done at the Exodus ; and, realizing it vividly, was * afraid ' (cf Ex. xiv. 31) : when God appears in judge- ment, even though His judgement alights onl}'^ on His foes, all who witness it will naturally be filled with awe and dread. revive thy work, &c. The prophet looks back to the great 'work' of the Exodus, and forward into the indefinite future; and, fearful lest Yahweh may still defer His redemption, praj-s that, 'in the midst' of this long period 'of years,' He will interpose quickly on His people's behalf. make (it) known. Wellh., Now., Marti, adopt the reading which underlay the rendering of LXX, make thyself known (cf. Ps. ix. 16, xlviii. 3 ; Ez. xx. 9, xxxviii. 23)*. * LXX for most of the last clause and for this have the curious and in part double and even treble rendering, ' In the midst of two HABAKKUK 3. 3. A 87 In wrath remember mercy. God ^ came from Teman, * Or, Cometh (and similarly to the end of ver. 15) In wrath remem'ber mercy. Yahweh's wrath with Israel might lead Him to defer His interference, and allow the time of trial and waiting to be protracted : he prays, therefore, that this may be shortened, and that in His anger with Israel He \yill remember mercy. Others understand the ' wrath ' of that which the Judge will manifest when He appears in judgement, and which the prophet prays may not alight upon Israel; but the form in which the clause is expressed suggests that it does not introduce a contrast to, or qualification of, the two preceding clauses, but is rather parallel to them. 3-7. The theophany. The poet describes a great storm, advancing from the south, the region of Paran and Sinai : in the dark thunder-clouds he conceives Yahweh to be concealed ; the lightning-flashes which illumine heaven and earth disclose glimpses of the dazzling brightness immediately about Him ; the earth quakes, the hills sink, and neighbouring desert-tribes look on in dismay. The Hebrewshabitually pictured Yahweh as borne along in the thunder-cloud (see Ps. xviii. 7, and cf. on Nah. i. s\ S) ' the usual word for * thunder ' in Heb. is voices (viz. of Yahweh), e. g. Ex. ix. 23 (Heb.), 28 (cf. RVm.) ; 1 S. xii. 17 ; and cf. Ps. xxix. 3-9. For illustrations, from an actual storm in the same region, of many traits in the poet's imagery, see pp. 99 f. from Teman. A district in the N. or NW. of Edom (Ez. XXV. 13 ; Am. i. 12 a/.). Cf. Dt. xxxiii. 2, Jud. v. 4, where Yahweh is represented similarl3' as coming to the help of His people from Edom. animals [a misreading or confusion of the Heb. words rendered rightly, * In the midst of years revive it '] thou shalt be known, when the years draw nigh thou shalt be recognized, when the time approaches thou shalt be declared.' These words were supposed by the Fathers to be a prediction of the birth of Christ; and the first clause has had considerable influence upon Christian art; for it is the origin of the pictorial representations of the Infant Saviour, lying in the stable'at Bethlehem between an ox and an ass (these two animals being suggested by Is. i. 3, which was interpreted mystically of Christ). See on this subject an article by A. West, in the Contemp. Review, Dec. 1903, pp. 873 ff., according to whom (p. 879) this interpretation of the LXX rendering of Hab. iii. 2^ is first found at the end of the fifth century in the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew (trans- lated into Latin by Jerome) : see also ibid. p. 88 1 on other patristic exegesis of the same rendering. S$ HABAKKUK 3. 4, 5. A And the Holy One from mount Paran. [Selah His glory covered the heavens, And the earth was full of his praise. And /lis brightness was as the light ; He had «■ rays co7?ii7ig forth ^ from his hand : And there was the hiding of his power. Before him went the pestilence, * Heb. horns. * Or, at his side the Holy One. Who cannot endure wickedness (i. 13), and who will judge the world, and destroy the wicked oppressor out of it (iii. 12-14). Cf. the same title (also used absolutely) in Is. xl. 25 : usually it is the ' Holy One of Israel ' (cf. on i. 12). from Paran. The elevated region between the Sinaitic peninsula and Kadesh-barnea (Gen. xxi. 21 ; Nu. xii. 16, xiii. 26) : cf. especially Dt xxxiii. 2. His glory. Rather, His majesty, as of a King, Ps. xxi. 5'', civ. i'^ (in each render ' majesty and state ') : here with reference to the splendour of the lightnings, which seemed to cover the whole heavens (cf. p. 100). Not the word used in Ps. xix. i. his praise. Not the praise addressed to Him by men, but that in God which evokes men's praise, His splendour or jflory. Cf. similar uses of ' praise ' in Is. Ix. 18, Ixii. 7 ; Jer. xlviii. 2, li. 41. 4. And his brightness was as the light, the full light of the sun (Job xxxi. 26 RVm.). The rendering implies two slight changes in the text (in:: for ttj: ; and rvrv for rrnn) ; but this, or something similar, must, it seems, be adopted. He had rays (lit. homs : see Ex. xxxiv. 29 RVm.) coming forth at his side (i. e. at either side), alluding to the flashes of lightning accompanying the storm. Cf. Dt. xxxiii. 2 * at his right hand was a burning fire ^ for them ' ; and Ps. xviii. 12, 1. 3, And there : viz. where the lightnings played ; the lightnings forming, as it were, a veil concealing Yahweh's full 'power,' or Godhead. 5. Yahweh is figured as a king, making a victorious progress through his enemies' countr}'^: Pestilence and Fever are personified as His attendants, the one preceding Him as His armour-bearer (i S. xvii. 7), or courier (2 S. xv. i), the other following behind * An emended text : * fiery law ' cannot be right — the word for * law ' being a Persian one, only found in very late Hebrew (Ezr. viii. 36; Est. i. S, &c.). HABAKKUK 3. 6. A 89 And a fiery bolts went forth at his feet. He stood, arid ^ measured the earth ; < He beheld, and drove asunder the nations : And the eternal mountains were scattered, The everlasting hills did bow ; * Or, burning coals ^ Or, shook (i S. XXV. 42) as His servant, and executing His behests (cf. I S. xiv. 13). the pestilence. Lev. xxvi. 25 ; Ps. xci. 3, 6 al. And flery darts went forth at his feet (i. e. as He v(^ent along). Resheph is a pointed, darting flame (Cant. viii. 6 ; Ps. Ixxvi. 3 RVm. ; Ixxviii. 48 poet, for lightnings), here, as in Dt. xxxii. 24, used poetically of the fiery darts, sent by Yahweh, to which either the poet, or popular imagination, attributed fever, or other pestilential complaint. Reshef or Reshuf seems to have been the name of the Fire- or Lightning-god in Phoenician '. 6. The storm now descends from heaven, and approaches the earth, and its effects, as it bursts close upon it, are described : the ground rocks, mountains are cleft, and human beings start back in terror. The description may be merely that of the storm (cf. p. 100) ; or the theophany may be pictured as accompanied by an earthquake. measured. The meaning has been supposed to be, measured with the eyes, i. e. surveyed ; but this is very improbable. We may read, either with RVm. shook (for this implies a slight change in the text 2), or with Wellh. made the earth to melt^ (cf. Nah. i. 5, and especially Am. ix. 5). For similar effects represented as produced by Yahweh's touching or marching over the earth, cf. Am. ix. 5 ; Mic. i. 3, 4 ; Nah. i. 5. He looked, and made the nations start (or, leap) ; the Judge's look made them quail with terror. Not drove asunder: see Lev. xi. 21 ('to leap'), Job xxxvii. i^ (read 'starteth' for the colourless * is moved '). were scattered. Were shattered, cleft asunder before Him (cf. Mic. i. 4). See Jer. xxiii. 29 ('breaketh in pieces'). did bow. Better, did sink (cf. Job ix. 13 ' did stoop ')— viz. in the earthquake accompanying the tempest. The words eternal and everlasting would probably be better rendered ancient and ^ Cf. the writer's Comm. on Deut. pp. 367 f. ; Maspero, Struggle of the Nations,^. 156; Cooke, North-Sem. Inscriptions, pp. sSi., 8g. 2 CTODM (cf. Is. xxlv. 19) for nn^l. There is no word HID or ^10 meaning 'to shake.' ^ ym'^ for moM. go HABAKKUK 3. 7, 8. A a His goings were as of old. I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction : The curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. Was the Lord displeased against the rivers ? Was thine anger against the rivers, Or thy wrath against the sea, That thou didst ride upon thine horses, Upon thy chariots of salvation ? * Or, His ways are everlasting primaeval, the point being that mountains which had been fixed immovably for long centuries now gave way : see the same two expressions in parallelism in Gen. xlix. 26 RVm.; cf. Dt. xxxiii. 15 (in the Heb. a different word for ancient). His goingfs were as of old (the word rendered everlasting in the preceding clause). His progress (Ps. Ixviii. 24), as the poet pictured it, was as it had been of old, when He came forth at the Exodus for the deliverance of His people. The marg. ( = AV.) is not probable. 7. As of yore, at the Exodus (Ex, xv. 14-16), neighbouring tribes quaked with terror. Cushan. Only mentioned here. Presumably some neigh- bouring tribe to Midian. curtains. I. e. tent-hangings ; in parallelism with * tents,' as Is. liv. 2 ; Jer. iv. 20, x. 20, xlix. 29. the land of Midian. Properly the country on the E. side of the Gulf of Akabah ; but Midianites were also settled in the Sinaitic Peninsula (Ex. iii. i, xviii. i), and apparently (i K. xi. 18) between Edom and Paran. Named as one of the peoples who would be among the first to be alarmed, as Yahweh came forth from ' Teman ' and ' Paran ' {v, 3). 8-15. The motive of the theophany. 'Was Yahweh angry,' the poet asks, ' with seas or rivers, that He thus came forth riding through the heavens ? ' and again he depicts, in splendid imagery, the course of the storm {vv. 9-1 1). Vv. 13-15 give the answer to the poet's question ; it was to save His people, and annihilate those who sought to destroy it. 8. asrainst the rivers (first time). Read probably, with Gratz, merely dropping one letter, ajfainst the mountains : this both relieves the tautology, and is suited to the context {v. 6). of salvation. Better, of deliverance or victory : the Heb. word — which, as Arabic shows, means properly breadth, spacious- ness, freedom— haying the same sense of a material deliverance HABAKKUK 3. 9, 10. A gi Thy bow was made quite bare ; 9 a The oaths to the tribes were a sure word. [Selah Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers. The mountains saw thee, and ^' were afraid ; k The tempest of waters passed by : ■ Or, Sworn were the chastisements (Heb. rods) o/thy word ''Or, were in pain which it has in Ex. xiv. 13, i Sam xiv. 45, Ps. iii. 8, and else- where (cf. the writer's Parallel Psalter, pp. 455 f.). The 'horses' and 'chariots' are here the storm-clouds, upon which Yahweh is elsewhere also pictured as 'riding,' Is. xix. i ; Ps. xviii. 10, civ. 3 : cf. Dt. xxxiii. 26 ; Ps. Ixviii. 33. 9. Thy bow was made quite bare ; i. e. taken out of its covering for use. The arrows (?;. 11) which the poet pictures it as discharging will be here the lightnings or thunder-bolts which strike the earth in the storm. The oaths to the tribes, &c. The text of this clause must be corrupt : not only are the renderings of both RV. and RVm. very questionable, but any mention of the tribes is altogether out of place : it is only the stonn which is here described, and a refer- ence to the deliverance of the people follows only in vv. 12-14. What is really wanted here is some description of the discharge of arrows from the bow. No certain emendation can be proposed. Marti, supposing ' thy quiver ' to have been lost at the beginning of the verse, conjectures (partly on the basis of a group of LXX MSS.), Thou didst wholly empty thy quiver, thy bow was satiate (for the figure, cf. Jer. xlvi, 10) with shafts [the word rendered in the marg. < rods ']. Thou didst cleave the earth into rivers. The rush of waters, pouring down the mountain-sides, dug out channels in the earth, and filled the dry wadys with torrents. See p. 100. IQ. The continued description of the storm : torrents of rain pour down ; the waves of the deep roar aloud, and mount high, as though in amazement. O^ vv. 10, 11 there are evident reminis- cences in Ps. Ixxvi. 16-17 (of the storm accompanying the passage of the Red Sea). were afraid. Better, were in pang's — the word is com- monly used of the pangs of childbirth : in the thunder and earth- quake the mountains seemed to quiver and be in throes. Cf. P.S. Ixxvii. 16* * The waters satv thee, O God, the waters saw thee, they ivere in pangs.'' The tempest of waters passed by. Rather, passed on, advanced. In the Hebrew, however, the words differ only by two ^2 HABAKKUK 3. it, 12. A The deep uttered his voice, And lifted up his hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation ; At the light of thine arrows as they went, At the shining of thy glittering spear. Thou didst march through the land in indignation, Thou didst thresh the nations in anger. letters from Ps. Ixxvii. 7* the clouds flooded forth uaters ; and Now., Wellh., Marti would read accordingly here. uttered its voice : i. e. roared (Ps, xciii. 3). Cf. Ps. Ixxvii. 17^ ' the skies uttered their voice' The * deep ' may be the neighbouring sea {v. 15); or (p. 100) the roaring torrent produced by the storm in a mountain wady (cf. Ps. xlii. 7). (And) lifted up its hands on high. Poet, for, its waves mounted high, the 'deep' being personified. But Wellh., Now., Marti are probably right in regarding the clause as corrupt, and as forming properly the beginning oi v. 11, the first two lines of which would then read somewhat as follows (the exact words of which line i is a corruption are uncertain) : — The sun [withdrew its light], 77?^ moon stood still in its habitation {"rhyC), Observe that in v. 11 there is no ' and' in the Heb. before ' the moon,' and the verb 'stood' is singular. Cf. LXX (Codd. 23, 62, 86, 147), 0WJ TO Xa/xirpov toG jjXi'oy CTrt'oxcv to bk (piyyos rrjs a(Krjvr)S kaTadrj. 11. Sun and moon are in retirement, hidden by thedark thunder- clouds, and eclipsed by the brilliant play of the lightnings. stood still in (their) habitation. Did not come forth, re- mained hidden in the abode in which, as the Hebrews imagined, they regularly passed the night. Cf. the ' tent ' of Ps. xix. 4. At the light of thina arrows as they went abroad, &:c. Fig. for the lightnings (Ps. xviii. 14, Ixxvii. 17), which lit up the heavens, and made the sun and moon, so to say, afraid to show themselves. Cf. Ps. Ixxvii. 17"^ ' yea, thine arroius went abroad.^ 12-15. Hitherto the poet has described the effe ts of Yahvveh's appearance upon nature : he now proceeds to describe how it would result further in the deliverance of Israel, and in a judgement upon Israel's foes. 12. In indignation thou didst march along the earth, In anger thou didst thresh (or, trample down) the nations. The motive by which Yahweh was actuated is placed first for emphasis. March, as Jud. v. 4 ; Ps. Ixviii. 7. Thresh : the word means properly to tread or trample (Dt. xxv. 4 ' when he treadeth out the HABAKKUK 3. 13. A 93 Thou ^wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, 13 ^ For the salvation of thine anointed ; c Thou d woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, Laying bare the foundation even unto the neck. [Selah * Or, art come ^ Or, For salvation (or victory) with thine anointed Or, Thou didst smite off the head from the house &c. corn ') ; for threshing was (and is still) often performed in the East by animals, usually oxen (Dt. loc. at.), which were driven round the threshing-floor till their hoofs trampled out the grain ^ For the same fig. use of the word, see Mic. iv. 13, Is. xli. 15 ; cf. 2 K. xiii. 7. 13-14. The object of the theophany is here at last stated explicitly. Margins a, d, on this verse, and a on vv. 14, 15, are in- tended to throw the description into the present, in conformity with the first margin on v. 3. 13. salvation : i. e. deliver auce, as v. 8. tMne anointed 2. Either the king — i, e. the Davidic king in the abstract, not necessarily Jehoiakim— or, as others (Hitz., Ew., We., Dav.) prefer (agreeably with the parallelism with line i), the people, who, at least in later times, are sometimes regarded as inheriting the position and dignity of David. The word has been supposed to have the same sense in Ps. xxviii. 8, Ixxxiv. 9, Ixxxix. 38, 51 : cf. cv. 15 (where it is appHed, in the plural, to the patriarchs). Thou didst shatter the head off the house, &c. Mdliaz is to crush or wound severely by a heavy blow, — on the head, as here, Jud. v. 26, Ps. Ixviii. 21 f smite through'), ex. 6 ('strike through ') : seeing that ' from ' follows, RVm. 'smite off' is hardly too strong. * The foe is compared to a house, the top of which is smitten away from it, so that it falls to pieces, and the foundation is laid bare' (Dav.). Laying bare the foundation : viz. by destroying the house so completely that the foundations appear (Mic. i. 6) ; cf. Ps. cxxxvii. 7 'Lay it bare, lay it bare, even to the foundation in it.' Even unto the neck seems to mean, up to the top of the walls, after their 'head,' or roof, had been knocked away. Several moderns, * Special implements were, however, also used, as the threshing- board, and threshing- wagon : seethe writer's y^e/ andAtnos, pp. 227 f., or Whitehouse, Primer of Heb. Antiquities^ pp. 87, 92. * The very strange nx rT'7 must doubtless be corrected. 94 HABAKKUK 3. 14. A Thou ^ didst pierce with his own staves the head of his b warriors : They came as a whirlwind to scatter me i Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly. ■• Or, hast pierced ^ Or, hordes Or, villages however, omitting a letter, read ' even unto the rock,'' — i. e. the rock upon which the foundation rested. 14. And so the foes who sought to ruin Israel are destroyed themselves. with his own staves. If the text is correct, the meaning will be that the enemy were thrown into a panic, and turned their weapons against themselves (cf. Zech. xiv. 13). But, as Dav. remarks, there is nothmg in the context to suggest such an idea ; and probably we should, with Ew. and others, as well as Codd. 23, 62, 86, 147 of LXX, read thy staves. The word rendered staves often denotes a rod or staff, whether used as a support in walking (Ex. iv. 2, &c.), or for beating with (Is. ix. 4, xiv. 5) ; but only here, and (possibly) in v. 9, a warlike implement. the head. The word is used collectively = heads. of his warriors. The word thus rendered is of unknown meaning; the rendering wairiors (so Vulg. ; cf. LXX, Pesh., rulers, leaders) being merely a conjecture suggested by the context. Words apparently allied mean open country (Zech. ii. 4 ; see the note), and dwellers in the open country, or peasantry (Dt. iii. 5 lit. * cities of the peasantry ') : hence RVm. hordes, as though the word denoted dwellers on steppes, such as the Scythians, who actually overran Western Asia about 630 b. c. (Hdt. i. 104-6), and who came, not as a regular, organized army, but as wild, undisciplined hordes. But the correctness of the text is open to suspicion, though no obvious emendation suggests itself. came as a whirlwind. . For the comparison cf. (though the Heb. word is different) Is. v. 28 (of the Assyrians), Jer. iv. 13 (of the Scythians). to scatter me. Like chaff: Is. xli. 16; Jer. xiii. 24, xviii. 17. The first person refers to the people, in whose name the words are spoken : cf. on v. 2. Their rejoicing, &c. The foe are compared to robbers, who exult as soon as they have the defenceless wayfarer in their grasp, and feel that they can plunder or murder him at their pleasure in some unfrequented corner (cf. the description in Ps. x. 8, 9). to devour. Like a wild beast (Ps. xvii. 12) : cf. Prov. xxx. 14 ; or, in so far as the nation is referred to, Jer. x. 25, xxx. 16, 1. 7 ; Ps. xiv. 4 (the Heb. in all is lit. eat, as here). the poor: i.e., here, the suffering and afflicted people of HABAKKUK 3. 15, 16. A 95 Thou ''^ didst tread the sea with thine horses, 15 The ^ heap of mighty waters. I heard, and my belly trembled, 16 * Or, hast trodden ^ Or, surge God. ^Ant is properly humbled or afflicted; thus it comes to denote the 'poor' (Ex. xxii. 25 al.), describing him, not as a person in want, but as a person hutnbled or afflicted, especially by oppression, deprivation of rights, or other misfortune ; then lastly the word acquired a moral and religious connotation, and came to denote the godly poor, the men who, while in various ways humbled and afflicted, were at the same time the godly servants of Yahweh: so, for instance. Is. xiv. 32, xxvi. 6, and often in the Psalms, as Ps. x. 2, 9, xii. 5. See further the writer's article ' Poor' in DB. ; and cf. on Zeph. iii. 12. secretly : more exactly, in a secret place. So Ps. x. 8 (RV. in the covert places), 9 (RV. in the covert), xvii. 12 (RV. in secret places), Ixiv. 4 (RV. id.), Lam. iii. 10 (RV. id.). 15. Generally taken as a figurative description of the final ruin of the foe, the imagery being suggested by the passage of the Red Sea, when Yahweh, passing with Israel through the sea, over- threw the hosts of Pharaoh in the waters. The verse, however, says nothing about the destruction of any foe ; the change of figure from v. 14* is violent ; and there is probability in the sug- gestion that the verse has become displaced, and that it originally followed V. 7 : standing there, it would describe how the storm of vv. 3-6 proceeded to agitate the waters of the sea, and it would give point to the question in v. 8, ' Was Yahweh's wrath against the sea ? ' The surge (RVm.) of miglity waters. The reading of Codd. 33, 62, 86, 147 of LXX {Irapaxdr)), adopted by Wellh., Now., the mighty waters surged or (PBV. of Ps. xlvi. 3) swelled (iipn for -inn) has much to recommend it ; the words will then describe the effect of Yahweh's ' treading ' the sea with His ' horses ' (fig. for the storm-clouds, as v. 8) : the waters foamed and swelled ^ 16-19. Conclusion. The poet closes by reverting to the thought of V. 2, ' and was afraid,' and describing the impression which the theophany made upon him : on the one hand, it filled him with agitation and alarm ; on the other, it evoked within him a joyous 1 For heap (RV.) see Ex. viii. 14 [Heb. 10]. The word is ex- ternally the same as that for surge, but it is really different, the initial guttural, as Arabic shows, being not the same. 96 HABAKKUK 3. 16. A My lips quivered at the voice ; Rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in my place : That I should rest ^ in the day of trouble, ^When it cometh up against the people ^ which invadeth him in troops. * Or, waiting/o/' ^ Or, IVhen he that shall invade them in troops cometh up against the people *= Or, to invade them confidence that, whatever happened, Yahweh would prove Himself His people's salvation. 16. I lieard. Viz., in spirit, the storm described in w. 3-15. belly : i. e. the inward parts generally. quivered. The word used elsewhere of the ears 'tingling' (i S. iii. II ; 2 K. xxi. 12 ; Jer. xix. 3) ; here of the lips striking together in fear. voice : rather, sound, viz. of the roaring storm. Sottenness entered into my bones : i. e. the bones, the framework of the poet's body, seemed to give way through ifear ; his strength utterly failed him. For the fig. cf. Prov. xii. 4, xiv. 30 ; cf. also the hyperbolical poetical descriptions of the effects of pain or suffering on the 'bones' in Ps. vi. 2, xxii. 14, xxxi. 10, xlii. 10 ; Is. xxxviii. 13 ; Lam. i. 13, iii. 4. in my place : or, where I stood (lit. underneath myself— an idiomatic usage, 2 S. ii. 23, vii. 10; Is. xxv. 10 a/.). That I should rest, &c. This and the next line are most obscure and uncertain, the Heb. being in parts ambiguous, and the text open to suspicion. Assuming the text to be substantially correct, the best rendering is that of RV., with margin a, and with the one change (in punctuation only) of * us ' for ' him ' : that I should rest (waiting calmly) for the day of trouble (the day of judgement described in vv. 3-15, which, though it may end In Israel's deliverance, is nevertheless fraught with terror for those who witness it), when it cometh up against die people (i. e. if Habakkuk be the author, the Chaldaeans) who troop (Gen. xlix, 19 *Gad, a troop shall troop upon him') upon us^ (so substantially Nowack)^. ^ LXX upon me (^:il3- for MTW) in the same sense, the sing, pro- noun referring to the people : see vv. 14, 19. * Other renderings that have been proposed are — (i) That I must voait calmly for the day of trouble, for the coming up against the people (Israel) of him who will troop upon it (Del., Keil, Kirkp. : HABAKKUK 3. 17. A 97 For though the fig tree shall not blossom, 1 7 Neither shall fruit be in the vines ; The labour of the olive shall fail, And the fields shall yield no meat ; The flock shall be cut off from the fold. And there shall be no herd in the stalls : 17. The tenses of the Heb. must here describe a series oi facts, whether present actually, or pictured in imagination or vision as present ; hence the ' though ' (which is not in the Heb.) must be understood, not as introducing a merely hypothetical case (as e. g. in Am. ix. 2, 3), but as simply bringing out, for English ears, the antithesis to v. 18 (cf. Job viii. 7). The connexion with what precedes is, however, difficult. V. 16 describes the prophet's alarm at the manifestation of Yahweh for the overthrow of His people's foes : but how can the failure of the fig and other crops give a reason ('For') for this? V. 17 is commonly understood as a prophetical picture of the land of Judah desolated by the invaders {v. 16) ; but, as Now. and Dav. have remarked, the terms of the verse suggest more obviously a failure of crops due to natural causes. It must be allowed that Wellhausen may have seen rightly when he says that vv. 17-19 are not the genuine close of the poem : even Davidson observes, ' It is possible that the poem ended originally with v. 16, and that vv. 17-19 are an addition.' so RV. margins a and b) -, and (2) That I must -wait calmly for the day of trouble, for its coming up against the people (Israel) to troop upon it (Evvald : so RV. margins a and c). But the con- text seems decidedly to require that the * day of trouble ' should come up not against Israel, but against Israel's / : (i) implies also a forced construction of the Heb. MTiV ; and the figure * troop upon ' in (2) is a strange and improbable one to apply to a ^ day * (' invade * is a paraphrase which conceals the difficulty). It is some objection to all these renderings that to rest nowhere else means to wait calmly. Marti reads (with Wellh.) nw [ormn: seePs. xxxvii. 31] M:r "nnni for "ir« ^3iM 'nnnt, and in the last clause nr for orS : we then get (after ' bones '), and my steps tremble -where I stand ; (but) / shall rest in the day of trouble, vahen the people that troopeth upon me Cometh up ; i. e. the poet, speaking in Israel's name, trembles at the prospect of Yahweh's appearing {vv. 4-15), but is nevertheless con- fident that he will have peace in the day of trouble, viz. through Yahweh's striking down his nation's assailants. This yields a good sense, and may be right : the case is one in which it is impossible to speak with confidence. H 98 HABAKKUK 3. 18, 19. A 18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 19 Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength, And he maketh my feet Hke hinds' y^/, For the fig tree doth not bud (LXX bear), And there is no increase in the vines ; The produce of the olive hath failed^ And the fields yield no food ; The flock is cut off from the fold, And there is no herd in the stalls. This is how the verse ought to read. For increase, see Lev. xxvi. 4 ; Ps. Ixvii. 6 ; Zech. viii. 12 : iov fail {lit. ' he,' i K. xiii. 18), Hos. ix. 2. Meat in RV. does not xtiCdiU flesh : the word has its old, but now obsolete, sense of food in general, noticed on i. 17. 18. But I (emph.). Introducing an antithesis, as often in the Psalms (e. g. Pss. v. 7, xiii. 5, xxxi. 14). The speaker is the nation (or the prophet representing the nation) : ' in spite of calamities \v. 17) the nation will joy in God ; though earthly blessings perish. He remains their portion. The joy is partly a present one in the possession of God, as Ps. Ixxiii. 23 ; and partly one of hope in His future salvation ' (Dav.). the God of my salvation. Or, deliverance {v. 8). The title is a frequent one ; e.g. Is. xvii. 10 ; Ps. xviii. 46, xxiv. 5, xxv. 5, xxvii. 9. 19. The nation still speaks, expressing its confidence in Yahweh, as the source of its strength, who gives it the means of overcoming all its enemies, and plants it securely in its own land. The verse is full of reminiscences of Ps. xviii. 32, 33. my miffht. Cf. Ps. xviii. 32 * the God who girdeth me with might.' Not the word generally used when God is called * my strength ' (Ex. xv. 2 al). And he maketh, &c. Varied (in the Heb. word for maketh) from Ps. xviii. 33". The allusion is to the swiftness and sureness of foot which are characteristic of the hind, and which make it an apt type of the brave and successful warrior (Ps. xviii. 33 ; see 2 S. i. 23, I Ch. xii. 8). At the same time the comparison suggests '■ the freshness of life, the power and confidence in action, which are felt to be drawn from God ' (Dav.). And he maketh me to tread, &c. Varied from Ps. xviii. 33'' (* maketh me to stand'). RV. retains walk from AV. ; but tread is (like the Heb.) a more uncommon and choicer word, besides being the one used in the same phrase (in both AV. and RV.) in Dt. xxxiii. 29, and (of Yahweh) in Am. iv. 13; Mic. i. 3; Job HABAKKUK 3. 19. A 99 And will make me to walk upon mine high places. For the Chief Musician, on my stringed instruments. ix. 8. To ' tread upon the high places 'of a land is a phrase implying triumphal possession of it (cf. Dt. xxxiii. 29, and, with ' maketh to ride,' Dt. xxxii. 13, Is. Iviii. 14) — here, with *my,' of the mountain-ranges of Judah, on which Yahweh enables His people to step securely by giving them victory over their foes. The words express the final triumph of the people of God over the powers opposed to it. Per the Chief Musician, &c. The subscription to the ode, indicating that it was taken from some collection of Psalms sung in the Temple services. The expression ' Chief Musician ' occurs otherwise only in the titles to fifty-four Psalms — Ps. iv, &c. It is in the Heb. the participle of a verb found only in late Hebrew (Chr., Ezr.), and signifying to oversee or superintend a work, i Ch. xxiii. 4 ; 2 Ch. ii. 2, 18, xxxiv. 12, 13 ; Ezr. iii. 8, g; in music, to lead, viz. with harps, I Ch. xv. 21. To judge from i Ch. xv. 21, the wenazseak was, in modern phraseology, the leader of the band, who may very likely have had under his charge other matters connected with the musical services of the Temple (e. g. he may have been the director of the music generally). ' For the leader of the band ' will mean, presumably, either to be arranged by him for music, or to be performed under his direction, perhaps both. on my striug-ed instmments. If the pronoun is correct, it can only refer to the worshipping congregation. That, however, is not natural in a subscription forming no part of the original ode. More probably the pronoun (which is only a single letter in the Hebrew) should be deleted : the entire note will then be exactly the same as that found in the titles of Pss. iv, vi, liv, Iv, Ixi, Ixvii, Ixxvi. Additional Note on Hab. iii. Storms of great violence, such as the one imagined by Habakkuk, visit the Sinaitic Peninsula every year, and produce the floods, or seils (i. e. * torrents'), so much dreaded by the Bedawin, The Rev. F. W. Holland gives a graphic description ^ of one which he witnessed on December 3 1867, when encamped some way up the Wady Feiran (which runs up from the west to Jebel Musa), * The Ordnance Survey of the Peninsula of Sinai (1869), pp. 226 f., 244. H 2 100 HABAKKUK 3 almost opposite to the mouth of Wady 'Aleyat. The following is an abridgement of his description. 'At 4.30 p.m. a few heavy drops of rain began to fall ; and at 5 a tremendous thunderstorm began. The rain fell in torrents, and the roar of the thunder echoing from peak to peak, and the howling of the wind, were quite deafening. It soon grew dark, but the flashes of lightning were so incessant that we could see everything around us [cf. Hab. iii. 3, 4, ii]. In less than a quarter of an hour every ravine and gully in the mountains was pouring down a foaming stream ; and soon afterwards a tremendous torrent burst down a little wady just below our tent, carrying with it a mass of debris into Wady Feiran [cf, Nah. i. 5 ; Jud. v. 4*', 5]. The bed of Wady Feiran was as yet dry ; but soon a white line of foam appeared in the watercourse, and quickly grew in size.' Wave after wave came rolling down; the torrent rose higher and higher ; a few minutes after 6, when it had ceased raining, a great wave suddenly demolished the wall near which Mr. Holland and his party had taken refuge, and forced them to retreat for their lives further up the mountain-side. The storm was now over, and the moon soon began to shine out brightly. ' It was a grand but awful sight. It seemed almost impossible to believe that scarcely more than an hour's rain could turn a dry desert wady upwards of 300 yards broad into a foaming torrent from 8 to 10 feet deep [cf. Hab. iii. g*', 10]. Yet there it was, roaring and tearing down, and carrying with it tangled masses of tamar- isks, and hundreds of palm-trees. A few miles above where I stood a whole Arab encampment was swept away from the mouth of Wady Umm Takhah, and thirty persons perished, besides scores of sheep and other animals. The roar of the torrent was tremendous ; the boulders ground along beneath the water with the noise as of a hundred mills at work, and every now and then the ground on which I stood shook again as some huge rock charged down against it from Wady 'Aleyat [cf. Nah. i. 5, 6^]. At 9.30 the flood was rapidly subsiding ; and by the next morning a gently flowing stream, but a few yards broad and a few inches deep, was all that remained of it. But the whole bed of Wady Feiran had been changed : huge banks of sand and stones had taken the place of hollows, and large groves of tamarisks and palm-trees had become barren wastes of sand.' This seil, Captain (afterwards Sir Charles) Wilson discovered subsequently, had swept away so much of the soil of the Wady Feiran as to lower its bed by 8 feet. From the suddenness with which such storms arise, and produce a seil, the Bedawin of the Peninsula will never encamp in the bed of a wady, or in spots where precipitous mountain-sides would prevent a hasty retreat in case of need. ZEPHANIAH INTRODUCTION AND REVISED VERSION WITH ANNOTATIONS Explanation of Symbols. Zephaniah. Later addition. ZEPHANIAH INTRODUCTION § I. The person and date of Zephaniah. Zephaniah ^ is earlier in date than Habakkuk, and in all probability earlier also than Nahum. For he mentions various forms of idolatry as still openly practised in Judah (i. 4, 5), which were publicly put down by Josiah in the reformation which followed the discovery of Deuteronomy in the Temple in his i8th year, B.C. 621 (2 K. xxiii. 4, 5, 12) ; and the general picture of the moral and religious condition of the people, as implied in i. 8, 9, 12, iii. 1-4, 7, points also to the same period : the reformation is still in the future. Of the prophet himself nothing is known beyond what is stated in the title (i. l) ; but inasmuch as his genealogy, contraiy to the usual practice (see e.g. Is. i. I ; Hos. i. i ; Ez. i. 3), is carried back to the fourth generation, it has been inferred that his great-great- grandfather, Hezekiah, must have been a man of some note, and in fact that he was the king of that name ; so that, if this inference be correct, Zephaniah will have been related to the royal family of Judah. A passage from an apocryphal prophecy, ascribed to Zephaniah 2, is quoted by Clement of Alexandria {Strom, v. II, § 77) : ' And the spirit took me, and carried me up into the fifth heaven, and I saw angels called lords, and their diadem placed upon them by the Holy Spirit, and the throne of each of them was seven times (brighter) than the light of the rising sun, dwelling in temples of salvation, and hymning the un- speakable God Most High.' Some other fragments, preserved in a Coptic version, have also been discovered and pubhshed lately : see Schurer, Gesch. d. Volk. Isr., ed, 3, iii. 271 f. ' The name means ' (he whom) Yahweh hath hidden ' (Ps. xxvii. 5, xxxi. 20, Ixxxiii. 3). 2 Cf. the apocryphal prophecy ascribed to Habakkuk (p. 50), the ' Ascension of Isaiah,' &c. 104 ZEPHANIAH § 2. The contents and characteristics of THE PROPHECY OF ZEPHANIAH. The prophecy of Zephaniah may be divided conveniently into three parts — the menace (ch. i), the admonition (ii. i — iii. 7), and Wx^ promise (iii. 8-20). I. Chap. i. Here Zephaniah proclaims the approach of a universal judgement, which, embracing {vv. 2, 3) the world at large, will alight in particular upon Judah and Jerusalem, and carry off thence all idolaters and apostates {vv. 4-6). Let the earth be silent ! for a ' day of Yahweh ' is at hand, a day of sacrifice, in which the victims are the Jewish people, and those invited to partake in the sacrificial meal are the heathen nations, ' sanctified ' for the occasion. Three classes are mentioned particularly as those whom the judgement will sweep away— viz. court officials, who either aped foreign fashions or were foreigners themselves, and who were addicted to cor- ruption and intrigue ; the Phoenician merchants in Jerusalem ; and Jews sunk in unbelief and religious indifferentism {yv, 8-13). In vv. 14-18 the prophet develops the figure of the ' day of Yahweh,' describing the terrors by which it will be accompanied, and the onset of the fierce, inexorable foe, who will be the instru- ment for carrying out Yahweh's purposes. II. Zephaniah now urges his people to repent, if perchance they may escape, in the day when the storm bursts (ii. 1-3). The Philistines, and Moab and Ammon, Judah's neighbours on the W. and E. (vv. 4-1 1), as also the more distant Ethiopia, and Nineveh {yv. 12-15), representing the great empire of Assyria, will all be overwhelmed by the judgement. From Nineveh the prophet turns to address Jerusalem : he reproaches her rulers and leading men with avarice, worldliness, and dis- honesty ; and blames her for her refusal to take warning from the fate which had overtaken other nations (iii. 1-7). INTRODUCTION 105 III. Let the faithful in Jerusalem, then, wait patiently, until the approaching judgement is completed (iii. 8), and the 'remnant of Israel,' purified of all its proud and worldly members, will in faith and humility cleave sincerely to its God, and dwell in safety upon their own land (iii. 11-14). Vv. 9, 10 interrupt the connexion, and are perhaps the insertion of some later prophet : they are an anticipation, — like Is. ii. 2-4, xviii. 7, xix. 23-25, Jer. xiii. 19, for instance, — of the golden age in which the nations of the world will unite harmoniously in the service of Yahweh. In conclusion the prophet, in jubilant tones, bids the purified nation exult in the God who now dwells, as a powerful and loving protector, in their midst (vv. 14-17), and who will bring back those still in exile, and give His restored people ' a name and a renown ' among all the nations of the earth {vv. 18-20). Marti has drawn out well the historical importance of Zephaniah's book. It is, he points out, an invaluable docu- ment, springing out of the years immediately preceding Josiah's reformation ; for we hear in it a voice testifying to the religious and social condition of Jerusalem at the time, and evidently proceeding from the same prophetic circle in which the Deuteronomic law originated. We realize from it the opposition which then arose against the intrusion into Judah of foreign influences and foreign customs, which were undermining the national religion, and destroying the simplicity of life and manners which had been inherited from the past. Zephaniah is a true successor of Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah, who saw in the ascetic Nazirites genuine Israelites (Am. ii. 11), repudiated foreign rites as Baal-worship in disguise, and combated energetically the evils which the increasing luxury brought in its train, the oppression of the poor, injustice in trade (Am. viii. 5), and a supercilious disregard of Yahweh's moral demands. Zephaniah gives us a glimpse of the religious syncretism, which Manasseh had favoured and io6 ZEPHANIAH promoted ; and makes us realize how the cults of neigh- bouring peoples, and especially of the Assyrians, had penetrated into Judah (Zeph. i. 4f., 8 f.). In his prophetic ideals Zephaniah follows largely in the footsteps of Isaiah. With Zephaniah, as with Isaiah, the central idea is that oi dL judgement ^ to be executed by Yahweh upon Judah, which will sweep away from it the idolaters, the men of violence and wrong, judges and others in high position who forget their responsibilities, false prophets and profane priests, the hardened men of the world who have no religion at all (' the men that are thickened upon their lees,' i. 12), and who think that Yahweh can do * neither good nor evil,' and the impeni- tent who will not listen to ' correction ' (i. 4-6, 8 f., 12, iii. 2, 3 f., 11) ; but which will leave behind a meek and pious * remnant,' who trust simply in their God, and do their duty in every way to their neighbours (ii. 3, iii. 12, 13), who have no longer anything to fear from their ancient enemies (ii. 4-15), but live a life of peace and felicity under Yahweh's immediate kingship (ii. 7, iii. 14-17). This is, in general, the doctrine of Isaiah (i. 25-27, iv. 3-6, xxviii. 5 f., XXX. 19-26, 27-33, xxxi. 8 f., xxxii. 16-19 ; cf. on Zeph. iii. 11); though Zephaniah emphasizes more strongly than Isaiah does the particular virtue of 'humility.' But with Zephaniah the judgement, more distinctly than in Isaiah (iii. 13), is a w^r/^-judgement ; it embraces all nations (i. 2 f., iii. 8), not Israel only (i. 4 ff.). The figure of Yahweh's ' Day ' he doubtless owes to Is. ii. 12 flf. ; but ^the imagery of war and invasion, under which its approach ^vs pictured (i. 14-18), is Zephaniah's own, and was no doubt suggested to him by the recent irruption of hordes of Scythians into Asia (cf. p. 119), who seem also to be referred to in some of Jeremiah's prophecies dating from the same time (as Jer. v. 15-17, vi. 1-6, 22-25). The great and abiding religious value of the book consists in the profoundly earnest moral tone which pervades it, and in the prophet's deep sense of the sin of INTRODUCTION 107 his people and of the stern need which impels Yahweh, who would only too gladly rejoice over His people, if it would permit Him to do so (iii. 17), to visit it with a discipline which will purge away its unworthy members. Zephaniah's gospel has been described as * simple and austere.' It is true, he goes back to and insists with pathetic eloquence upon the most primary and elementary of religious duties, earnestness and sincerity of life, justice and integrity, humility, and a simple trust in God. *A thorough purgation, the removal of the wicked, the sparing of the honest and the meek ; insistence only upon the rudiments of morality and religion; faith in its simplest form of trust in a righteous God, and character in its basal elements of meekness and truth — these alone survive the judgement ' (G. A. Smith, p. 7 1). He does not, as other prophets commonly do, call the wicked to repent, or dwell upon the divine grace which is ever ready to forgive the penitent : it may be that the doom seemed to him to be too imminent ; the time for pleading was past ; there remained only the separation of the evil from the good. But he recognizes and teaches clearly the moral qualities which have a value in Yahweh's eyes, and which will not be swept away when the judgement comes (cf. Is. xxxiii. 14-16). As happens, however, sometimes with the prophets, Zephaniah hardly presents a logical and consistent picture of the future. He does not explain what is to become of the nations alluded to in i. 13-18, after they have per- formed their work of judgement upon Israel. As Robertson Smith has pointed out {EB. iv. 5403-4), he seems to have borrowed the idea of a chastising nation from Isaiah, but to have developed it without that definite relation to present political facts which Isaiah's construction has: the foreign conqueror by whom Judah is to be chastised, and Nineveh and Ethiopia destroyed, is * brought on the stage, but never,' like Isaiah's Assyrians, * taken off it. It is safe to conclude that the principal actor in the io8 ZEPHANIAH prophetic drama,'— suggested, as Rob. Smith also thought, by the Scythians, — ' was not as real and prominent a figure in Zephaniah's political horizon as Assyria was in the horizon of Isaiah.' And how in other respects is the future to be constituted? Is the purified Israel to be the sole nation left upon the earth? Even if ii. ii, iii. lo-ii be Zephaniah's, the relation between the nations who are converted and saved, and those who are de- stroyed (ch. ii, iii. 8), is not clearly defined. The fact is, the prophets project great ideals upon the future : while each picture, taken by itself, is the expression of a truth, they are not always careful to harmonize their ideals in details. § 3. Critical questions connected with THE Book of Zephaniah. 'The genuineness and integrity of the short Book of Zephaniah,' Robertson Smith wrote in 1888 ^, 'do not seem to be open to reasonable doubt ' ; and he adds (in answer to Stade, who even then, on account of the ideas expressed in them, had questioned ii. 1-3, 11, iii) that 'though the sequence of thought is not as smooth as a Western reader may desire, a single leading motive runs through the whole, and the first two chapters would be incomplete without the third.' But times have changed since 1888 ; and now considerable parts of the book are regarded by most critics as later additions to the original prophecy of Zephaniah. Thus Kuenen in 1889, while defending ii. 1-3, II against Stade, allowed that iii. 14-20— on account, chiefly, of the great contrast between it and the denun- ciations of i. 2— ii. I, iii. 1-7— was a supplement, dating probably from shortly after the restoration in B. C. 536. Wellhausen (1892, 1898) is suspicious of ii. 3, and rejects ii. 7*'°, 8-1 1 ; he treats ch. iii as an appeiiJIx, added subsequently in two stages, first iii. 1-7 (cf. Mic. vii. 1-6), and then iii. 8-20 (cf. Mic. vii. 7-20) — iii. 8-20 being ^ Encyd. Brit, s.v. (reprinted in the Encycl, Biblica). INTRODUCTION 109 separated from iii. 1-7 on account of the sudden change of tone and subject. Davidson (1896) defends ch. ii as a whole, admitting only (p. 102) that ii. 4-15 may in parts have been expanded : in ch. iii he is disposed to question 7/. II (which is textually obscure and uncertain), and vv. 14-20 (substantially upon Wellhausen's grounds). Nowack (1897, 1904) rejects ii. 3, 7*.% 8-II, 15, iii. 9-10, 14-20. G. A. Smith (1898) accepts all ch. ii except vv. 8-1 1 ; in ch. iii he regards vv. 9-10 as 'obviously a later insertion,' and iii. 14-20 as clearly a lyrical epilogue of peace and hope (pp. 44 f.), a * new song from God ' (p. 73), which came to some prophet shortly after the return, and expressed for the remnant that survived, the ' afflicted and poor ' people of V. 12, the brighter hopes which the restoration fostered. Marti, lastly (1904), retains for Zeph. only i. 7, 2, 3^% 4, 5, 8a^-iia, 12, 13% 14-17 (except 17^7), ii. I, 2*, 4, 5-7, 12-14— the rest of the book consisting of additions reflecting the hopes and feelings of later times, iii. 1-7 being added first ; then iii. 8, 11-15, I7-i9j and various passages in chs. i, ii, for the purpose of changing the original prophecy of Zephaniah into an eschatological prophecy of the final judgement upon allmen^; and, lastly, ii. 11 and iii. 9-10, expressing greater friendliness of feeling towards the heathen. It is difficult not to consider the grounds for so largely limiting the genuine text of Zeph. as sometimes arbitrary, and in other cases insufficient. Thus the principal reasons upon which ii. 8-1 1 is rejected are that there was no sufficient motive for the mention of these countries c. 625 B. C, and that the reproaches of ii. 8, 10 presuppose the destruction of Jerusalem in 586, which gave occasion for them (Ez. xxv. 3, 6, 8) ; but is our knowledge of the times suflicient to justify either of these contentions? It is also urged against ii. 8-1 1 that these verses differ ^ According to Marti, the judgement announced by Zephaniah included, besides Judah, only the Philistines, Kush, and Assyria. no ZEPHANIAH metrically from the context (Nowack, Smith, pp. 42 f. ; cf. Marti, who, however, has to alter vv, 5-7 to reduce them to metre). This argument would be weightier if the principles, and rules for the application, of Hebrew metrical forms were more clearly ascertained than they at present are ; but though much has been written lately on the subject of Hebrew metre, and though Duhm and Marti have thrown,— often, it is true, at the cost of very considerable textual alterations,— the Psalms, and the whole of the poetical parts of Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the Minor Prophets, into metrical forms ^ it may be doubted whether the time is yet ripe for making metre a criterion of authorship. As regards the later ideas alleged to occur in parts of Zeph., it may be questioned whether it has yet been conclusively shown that they point necessarily to an age later than that of Zephaniah himself. And it is difficult also to understand why iii. 14-20 should be deemed inconsistent with ch. i : for though Israel is threatened with judgements in ch. i, and is the recipient of promises in iii. 14-20, yet it is not the same Israel in the two cases: and where is the incon- sistency in a prophet announcing judgements upon the degenerate Israel of the present, and promising blessings to the purified and regenerate Israel (' the remnant,' ii. 7, 9, iii. 12, 13) of the future ? It is, however, possible that ii. 7° and iii. 18-20 (presupposing restoration from exile', see on ii. 7), and ii. 11 and iii. 9 f . (on account of their very imperfect connexion with the context : see the notes), may be later additions to the original text of Zeph. : though, as Jeremiah, his younger contemporary, foresaw not only exile, but restoration from exile, Zephaniah him- self may have added iii. 18-20 many years after the rest of his book was written, at a time when exile was seen more clearly to be inevitable than was the case in 626 or 625. ^ Not, however, a syllabic metre, but a metre of accents, or beats. ZEPHANIAH The word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah 1 the son of Cushi, the son of Gedahah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah. [Z] I will utterly consume all things from off the face 2 of the ground, saith the Lord. I will consume man and 3 beast ; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the face of i. 1. Title. The word of Yahweh wMch came unto. The title, as Hos. i. I ; Joel i. i; Mic. i. i : the expression, the word of Yahweh came (rr^n = kyivero Lukeiii. 2), is also common besides, especially in Jer., Ezek., and Zech. i-viii. the son of Kezekiah. See p. 103. 2-18. Description of the coming judgement. It falls first, with destructive force, upon the world at large, and afterwards in particular upon Judah and Jerusalem. 3. The ' all things * of z/. 2 particularized : the judgement will sweep away not only man, the real offender, but beasts, and fowl, and fishes as well : cf. Gen. vii. 21, 23; for the inclusion of fishes, also, Hos. iv. 3, Ez. xxxviii. 19. and the stiunblingrhlocks with the wicked : i. e. all objects giving occasion to (moral and religious) * stumbling ' (cf. Mt. xiii. 41 ; Ez. xiv. 3, 4, 7), especially those connected with idolatry, together with the wicked themselves. The clause is, however, open to the suspicion of being an addition to the original text of Zeph,, made by one who desiderated an express mention of the objects referred to ; for ' it introduces an idea not in harmony with the rest of the verse ' (Davidson) ; the ' wicked ' are of course included implicitly in the terms of lines i and 4 ; and the word rendered * stumblingblocks ' does not elsewhere have this mean- ing, but signifies a ' fallen mass ' (Is. iii. 6). 112 ZEPHANIAH 1.4. Z 4 the ground, saith the Lord. And I will stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem ; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from 4-6. But the prophet is concerned chiefly with the judgement as it affects his own people ; and he proceeds accordingly to describe the sins of Judah and Jerusalem, especially their idolatries, which have called it forth. For Israel as the centre, or culminat- ing point, of judgement, cf. Am. i-ii ; Is. ii. 12 — iii. 5, iii. 13-14. 4. stretch out mine hand upon : viz. in order to smite, as Is, xiv. 26, xxiii. ri al. the remnant of Baal. It seems clear that Zephaniah pro- phesied before the reformation in Josiah's i8th year ; and hence the expression ' remnant ' (which appears to imply that in the main the worship of Baal had been already extirpated) occasions difficulty. The supposition that the reference is to the idolatry that was spared in tlie reformation which, according to 2 Chron. xxxiv. 3-7, took place in Josiah's 12th year, is questionable : for the historical character of that reformation is very doubtful : it is not mentioned in the nearly contemporary narrative of 2 K. xxiii (2 Ch. xxxiv. 3-7 being not excerpted from this narrative, but an addition, evidently the composition of the Chronicler himself), and, in a matter of this kind, the unsupported testimony of the Chronicler alone (writing 350 years afterwards) is of slight weight. However, it is thought by many (Ew., We., Now., Dav.) that 'the remnant' may mean '(even to) the last remnant,' ' the last vestiges ' (cf. Is. xiv. 22) : the meaning will then be that the worship of Baal will be whollj'' destroyed out of Jerusalem ; and of course this might be said before Josiah's reform. The LXX, however, for remnant (iKir) read name (cur), — perhaps rightly (so Marti) : cf. Hos. ii. 17 ; Zech. xiii. 2, as well as the next clause here. Baal. The god of the Phoenicians and Canaanites, whose worship possessed a great fascination for the Israelites, and often made its way into both Israel (cf. i K. xviii ; 2 K. x. 19) and Judah (2 K. xxi. 3; Jer. vii. 9, xi. 13, &c.). The word 'Baal' signifies owner, possessor; and applied to a god it denotes him properly as the owner of a particular region or place (as Baal of Peor, Baal of Lebanon, Baal of T3're, &c.) : there were thus numerous local Baals (hence the plural, ' the Baalim,* Jer. ii. 23 a/.),— Baal in the singular (in the Heb. 'the Baal') denoting the particular ' Baal ' prominent at a given time or place. The Baals were regarded generally as the givers of the fruits of the soil, and the increase of the flocks, and were worshipped by offerings of the products of nature (Hos. ii. 7, 12, 13). ZEPHANIAH 1. 5,6. Z us this place, ciMd the name of the aChemarim with the priests ; and them that worship the host of heaven upon 5 the housetops; and them that worship, which swear to the Lord and swear by ^Malcam ; and them that are 6 * See 2 Kings xxiii. 5, Hos. x. 5. Kemarim. In the sing, komer, an Aramaic word for ' priest,' found in inscriptions (G. A. Cooke, North-Seniiiic iHscriptions, nos. 64, 65, 69, 98), and also common in Syriac : in the O. T. used only of idolatrous priests, and no doubt denoting properly the priests of foreign cults, introduced with their rites into Israel (so here) ; elsewhere applied contemptuously to the priests of an unspiritual or syncretistic worship of Yahweh, viz. Hos. x. 5, of the priests of the golden calves, and 2 K. xxiii. 5 of the priests of the high places, put down by Josiah. with the priests : i. e. the degenerate regular priests of Yahweh. 5-6. Three classes of the laity particularized, who will also be swept away in the judgement. 5. (i) Those who practise open idolatry, and, in particular, worship the host of heaven upon the housetops. The allusion is to the worship of the heavenly bodies, a cult which became very prevalent in Judah in the later period of the Kings : see 2 K. xxi. 3, 5 ; Jer. viii. 2, xix. 13. The Israelites are warned against being seduced into it in Dt. iv. ig, xvii. 3. upon the housetops. Where they would obtain a more open view of the objects of their adoration : cf. Jer. xix. 13, xxxii. 29; also 2 K. xxiii. 12. (2) Those who worshipped Yahweh and 'Malcam ' (see below) together, syncretistically. which swear to Yahweh (i. e. swear fealty to Yahweh, Is. xix. 18, xlv. 25) and swear by this other god (i. e. and yet, when they come to take an oath, have the name of Milcom or Molech on their lips : — contrast the law of Dt. vi. 13, x. 20 ' and by his name shalt thou swear ')^. Such 'syncretism' was com- mon in the polytheistic worships of antiquity ; cf. in Israel Ez. xxiii. 39. Malcam. As pointed by the Massorites this means * their king.' Most moderns, altering the vocalization, read with Codd. 22, 36, 56 of LXX, Pesh., and Vulg., Milcom — the name of the ^ The clause is a little overloaded ; and perhaps we should read simply, without altering the general sense, and them that worship Yahwehf who swear by Milcom. 114 ZEPHANIAH 1. 7 Z turned back from following the Lord; and those that have not sought the Lord, nor inquired after him. 7 Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God : for the day of the Lord is at hand : for the Lord national god of the Ammonites (i K. xi. 5, 7 [read with LXX Milcom for Molecli], 33 ; 2 K. xxiii. 13 ; Jer. xlix. i, 3 [where the context relates to Ammon, so that Milcom is undoubtedly to be read, with LXX, Pesh., Vulg., for Malcant]). Although, however, Solomon, to gratify his foreign wives, built high places to Milcom (i K., 2 K., //. cc.) and other gods, the worship of Milcom is not alluded to elsewhere in the O. T., and does not seem, therefore, to have been prevalent in Israel ; hence Davidson and G. F. Moore (EB. iii. 3085) think a reference to him here to be improbable ; they accordingly retain the Mass. vocalization, but render their king-, supposing the reference to be to the god who bore in particular the title of 'king,' i.e. Molech (or, as the name ought to be pronounced, Milk'^), the Phoenician god, whose inhuman rites, as 2 K. xxiii. lo, Jer. vii. 31, Ez. xvi. 20 f., and other passages, sufficiently show, were prevalent in Judah in the age of Zephaniah. 6. (3) Those who have no thought or care for religion at all, who are turned back froiu foUowiug Yaliweli, and that have not sought Yahweh, nor inquired after him, i. e. the religiously indifferent. *7. In view of this approaching judgement, the prophet pauses to bid all prepare to meet it with becoming reverence. Hold thy peace : lit. Hush ! or Be still I cf. on Hab. ii. 20. for the day of Yahweh is at hand (or near). The same words, V. 14 {^^ the great), Ob. 15 ; Is. xiii. 6; Ez. xxx. 3; Joel i. 15, iii. 14 (cf. ii. i). The ' day of Yahweh ' is an expression used frequently by the prophets. From Am. v. 18 we learn that it was a current expression in Israel in Amos's time : the people believed that Yahweh would appear ere long, and confer some crowning victory upon His people, and they even *■ desired ' the advent of the day on which He would do this. Amos replies that whether this ' day ' would be what they expected it to be depended upon their moral condition : it would be a day on which Yahweh would manifest Himself against sm, whether in His own ^ The name forms part of many Phoenician proper names, and is then so transliterated by the classical writers : e. g. Milkydthdn, * Milk has given.' The Phoen. Milk (' Molech ') must not be con- fused with the Ammonite * Milcom ' ; they were two distinct deities (see 2 K. xxiii. 10, 13). ZEPHANIAH 1. 8. Z 115 hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath » sanctified his guests. And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord's 8 sacrifice, that I will ^ punish the princes, and the king's '^ See I Sam. xvi. 5. ^ Heb. visit upon. people or among foreign nations. Amos thus transformed a popular idea ; and the prophets use the expression in this trans- formed sense to denote the day on which Yahweh is conceived as manifesting Himself in His fullness, striking down wrong and illusion and human pride (Is. ii. 12 ff.), and giving the final victory to righteousness and truth. The presentiment of the near approach of ' Yahweh's day ' was often awakened in the minds of the prophets by some striking occurrence (as in Joel by a calamitous visitation of locusts), and especially by some great moral or political crisis. Cf. Davidson, Theol. of the OT,, pp. 374 flf. prepared a sacrifice. The sacrifice, which is Israel, is slain, and the guests who are to eat of the sacrificial meal, i. e. the foes who are to execute the judgement upon Israel (cf. vv. 15-17), are invited. The perfects are ' prophetic ' perfects : the prophet pictures the destruction of Judah as already accomplished. For the figure, cf. Jer. xlvi. 10, Is. xxxiv. 6, Ez. xxxix. 17. For 'guests' (lit. called or invited ones), cf. i K. i. 9 'called,' 41 'guests' (lit. called ones) ; and, at a sacrifice, i S. ix. 13 ' they that be bidden (called),' 22, xvi. 3, 5. The foes whom Zephaniah in all probability has in his mind are the Scythians (cf. pp. lo, 119), whose movements in the North seem to have suggested to Jeremiah also at about the same time (cf. Jer. iv. 13, 15-17, 29, v. 15-17, vi. 22 f.) that they would ere long invade and ravage Judah, and who actually, on their way to Egypt, advanced through Palestine as far as Ashkelon (Hdt. i. 105). sanctified : viz. to take part in the sacrificial meal : see I S. xvi. 5. There is, however, no doubt an allusion to the use of the same word of war and of warriors, — whether the idea was that a war undertaken in the name of the national god, Yahweh, was a holy one, or whether the reference was to the sacrifices with which a campaign was opened : see RVm. of Jer. vi. 4, xxii. 7, li. 27 f,; and cf. Is. xiii. 3, where Yahweh's ' consecrated (0** sanctified) ones ' mean the people who are to be the destroyers of Babylon. 8-12. The classes who in particular will be swept away by the judgement : viz. princes and court-officials who assumed foreign fashions, and perverted justice for purposes of gain {v. 8 f.) ; the merchants and traffickers in Jerusalem {v, lof.); and the Jews sunk in religious indifferentism {v. 12 f.). 8. punish. Heb. visit upoti, as regularly, especially in Jer., as ix. 25, xi. 22, xiii. 21. the princes : i. e. the nobles, especially those entrusted with I 2 ii6 ZEPHANIAH 1.9,10. Z sons, and all such as are clothed with foreign apparel. 9 And in that day I will a punish all those that leap over the threshold, which fill their master's house with violence 10 and deceit. And in that day, saith the Lord, there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling * Heb. visit upon. judicial or other responsible offices, which they often abused (cf. iii. 3, Is. i. 23, Mic. vii. 3, Ez. xxii. 27 ; and contrast Is. xxxii. i). the kingr's sons. The expression means the royal house in general, and is not to be limited to the sons of the reigning king ^ (cf. I K. xxii. 26 ; 2 K. xi. 2 ; Jer. xxxvi. 26, xxxviii. 6). with foreign apparel. Depreciating their own nationality, and parading their sympathy with some foreign country, such as Egypt or Assyria (Jer. ii. 18). that leap over the threshold. The allusion appears to be to some superstitious foreign custom. It is a widespread belief, found in many parts of the world 2, that it is unlucky to step upon a threshold ; and from i S. v. 5 we learn in particular that it was a Philistine custom not to tread upon the sacred threshold of a sanctuary (which is what the Hebrew word used here and elsewhere denotes, i S. /. c, Ez. ix. 3 «/.). The reference here is not improbably to the foreign bodyguard of the Jewish kings (cf. 2 S. XV. 18 ; I K. i. 38), who, like Oriental janissaries generally, were addicted to corruption and intrigue, and so could be spoken oin.% filling their masters house with violence and deceit'^. 10. No class of the population will, however, be spared : for the wail of lamentation will be heard from every quarter of the city when the judgement breaks. the fish g-ate. So called, probably, from its being near the fish-market. It is mentioned besides in Neh. iii. 3, xii. 39 ; 2 Ch. xxxiii. 14 ; and appears from the first two of these passages to have been in the N. wall of the city, not far from the NW. corner. Judah was approached regularly from the N, by an invader (cf. Is. xiv. 31, Jer. i. 14) : and this is doubtless the reason why one of the gates on the N. of Jerusalem is here mentioned first. * Josiah's two sons, Jehoiakim and Jehoahaz, would, in his iSth year, be not more than 12 and 10 years old respectively (see 2 K. xxiii. 31. 36). ^ See Trumbull's Threshold Covenant (1S96), pp. 10 ff. 3 W. R. Smith, Old Test, in the Jewish Churchy pp. 249 f. ; ed. 2, pp. 261 f. ZEPHANIAH 1. ir, 12. Z 117 from the « second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills. Howl, ye inhabitants of ^Maktesh, for all ^the n people of Canaan are undone : all they that were laden with silver are cut off. And it shall come to pass at that 1 2 * Heb. Mishtteh. ^ Or, The morfar '^ Or, the merchant people the second (quarter). Mentioned also in 2 K. xxii. 14 ; the city was perhaps divided into districts for administrative purposes. Or (Hitz., Now., Dav.) the 'second quarter' may have been so named from its having been recently added to the city ; in 2 Ch. xxxiii. 14 Manasseh is stated to have built an ' outer wall ' extending as far as the fish gate, and the name may have been given to the ground thus enclosed. The site is not known. and of a great crashing*. Lit. a great breaking (Jer. iv. 6, vi. r, xlviii. 3, 1. 22, li. 54 : EW. ' destruction ') : the noise of this resounds from the hills (niyu, not Cirr, Ps. cxxv. 2\ upon which in particular the N. parts of Jerusalem were built. 11. the Maktesh. Evidently a part of the city in which traders dwelt, — perhaps (Ewald) the '■ Phoenician quarter ' of Jerusalem (see the next clause). The name means a pounding place, or 'mortar' vProv. xxvii. 22), and is used fig. in Jud. xv. 19 of a depression in the ground, or 'hollow place.' No doubt it denotes here some basin-like hollow in the city, perhaps the upper part of the Tyropoeon valley (between the E. and W. hills on which Jerusalem was built). It may have been mentioned by the prophet here on account of the omen of its name : it is a place in which people will ere long be ' brayed ' (Prov. xxvii. 22) or ' pounded ' by the foe. the people of Canaan. The expression is correctly para- phrased on the margin : the Canaanites, i. e. the Phoenicians (see Gen. x. 15, and cf. Is. xxiii. 11), were the chief traders in Palestine, and so the term came to be used to denote a merchant ; see Is. xxiii. 8 (where 'traffickers' is lit. Canaanites), Zech. xiv. 21, Job xli. 6 (' merchants ' is lit. Cajtaanites), Prov. xxxi. 24 ; and cf. Hos. xii. 7, Ez. xvi. 29 (where RVm. must be followed), xvii. 4 (where ' traffic ' is lit. Canaatt). However, the ' merchant people ' here referred to were, no doubt, principally actual ' Canaanites,' or Phoenicians : cf. Neh. xiii. i6, where Tyrian traders sell fish in Jerusalem. It may be inferred from the present passage that they resided chiefly in the ' Maktesh.' all they that were laden with silver. Or, with money ; the allusion being to the Phoenician merchants, laden with their gains, or with the money required for the purchase of goods. 12. search. The word used implies minute and diligent ii8 ZEPHANIAH 1. 13, 14. Z time, that I will search Jerusalem with ^ candles ; and I will ^'punish the men that are c settled on their lees, that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither 13 will he do evil. And their wealth shall become a spoil, and their houses a desolation: yea, they shall build houses, but shall not inhabit them ; and they shall plant 14 vineyards, but shall not drink the wine thereof. The * Heb. lamps. ^ Heb, visit upon. ''Or, thickejted search : see e. g. 2 K. x. 23 ; and by a foe, as here, i K. xx. 6, Ob. 6. with lamps : i. e. so that the darkest corners may be thoroughly explored (Luke xv. 8). The agents by whom the search will be accomplished are the foreign conquerors (cf. v. 13% who would naturally penetrate into the darkest places in quest of treasure (cf. Is. xlv. 3), and at the same time slay those whom they might find concealed in them. thickened* on their lees: i.e. sunk into a state of moral stagnation and spiritual indifference. The figure is taken from wine, which, after the process of fermentation was complete, was left upon its sediment or 'lees' (Is. xxv. 16) 'only long enough to fix its colour and body. If not then drawn off, it grew thick and syrupy — sweeter indeed than the strained wine, and to the taste of some more pleasant, but feeble and ready to decay. *•' To thicken upon one's lees " became a proverb for sloth, in- difference, and the muddy mind ' (G. A. Smith, p. 52). will not do grood, &c. A proverbial expression, meaning, will not do anything at all, will, in other words, give no evidence that He exists. Cf. Gen. xxxi. 24 ; and see especially Is. xli. 23, Jer. X. 5. The men here referred to are those who were utterly indifferent with regard to Yahweh (cf. Ps. xiv. i), and thought of Him as a lifeless heathen god (Jer. x. 5), who never asserted His power, and had no concern or regard for the affairs of human life. 13. Yahweh, whom they thus despise, will, however, assert Himself : He will ' search ' Jerusalem by the hand of the foe ; and their substance will be plundei'ed, and their homes ruined. they shall huild houses, &c. Cf. Am. v. 11, Mic. vi. 15, Dt. xxviii. 30, 39; and contrast Is. Ixv. 21. 14-18. Development of the figure of v. 7 ; and picture of the terrors of the approaching 'Daj'' of Yahweh. The imagery of ^ Or stiffened, solidified (Ex. xv. 8, Job x. lo). The rendering * settled,' besides being incorrect, introduces confusion with a different word, with a different meaning, which is so rendered in Jer. xlviii. 1 1. ZEPHANIAH 1. 15, i6. Z 119 great day of the Lord is near, it is near and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord; the mighty man crieth there bitterly. That day is a day of ^5 wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and 16 the passage is suggested probably by the recent irruption into Asia of hordes of Scythians (Hdt. i. 103-6), a wild and fierce people, whose home was N. of the Crimea, but who, like the Huns or Bulgarians of a later day, were apt to make destructive predatory incursions into distant parts. The Scythians seem also to be the * foe from the north ' referred to, at about the same time, in many parts of Jer. iv-vi. 14. is near. Cf. on v. 7. (even) the voice, &c. Render (after a colon at ' greatly ') : the sound of ... I i. e. in our idiom. Hark ! the day of Yahweh ! the mighty man : i. e. the warrior : see on Nah. ii. 3. there : the prophet localizes the scene in his imagination (cf. for this use of 'there' Ps. xiv, 5, xxxvi. 12) ; and sees the warrior crying there bitterly^ unable to deliver himself (Am. ii. 14-16), and consequently in despair (Jer. xxx. 6f., Is. xiii. 7). 15. That day is a day of wrath. These words, as rendered in the Vulgate, Dies irae dies ilia, form the opening words of the well-known hymn of Thomas of Celano (a. d. c. 1250) on the Last Judgement. wasteness and desolation. In the Hebrew an alliterative combination (cf. on Nah. ii. 11), which recurs in Job xxx. 3, xxxviii. 27. a day of darkness, &c. These and the following words, to the end of the verse, are repeated by Joel (ii. 2) in his description of the coming Day of Yahweh. For the celestial manifestations accompanying Yahweh's * Day,' cf. Am. v. 18, 20, viii. 9 ; Is. xiii. 10; Joel iii. 15. 16. Close of the description, showing that the Day will be one on which a foe advances with the alarm of war against the defences of Judah and Jerusalem. of the trumpet (more exactly, of the horn ^^, and of shout- ing" ^ : accompanying the assault of the foe. Cf. Am. i. 14 'with ^ See the writer's note on Am. ii. 2 in the Canib. Bible for Schools. ^ ' Alarm ' has in modern English lost the martial sense which it once expressed (Ital. All^ anne I ' To arms ! '), and expresses merely the general idea of consternation : it is thus no longer an adequate rendering of the Hebrew here. I20 2EPHANIAH 1. i?, i8. Z alarm, against the fenced cities, and against the high 17 ^battlements. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like Wind men, because they have sinned against the Lord : and their blood shall be poured out 1 8 as dust, and their flesh as dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath ; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy : for he shall make an end, ^ Or, corner towers shouting in the day of battle,' ii. 2 'and Moab shall die . . . amid shouting, and the sound of the horn.' fenced. Render rather, fortified: 'fenced' being obsolete in the sense here intended. Cf. Is. ii. 15. battlements. The word used signifies properly corners (Jer. xxxi. 38, 40), i. e., no doubt, fortified corners of the wall (cf. RVm.). So iii. 6, 2 Ch. xxvi. 15. 17. The verse expands the thought of the distress of v. 16. Men will be so bewildered by the calamity that they will be helpless, and as little able as the blind to find a way of escape (cf. for the figure Dt. xxviii. 29, Is. lix. 10) ; their blood will be poured out as though it were of as little account as dust (cf. ' like water,' Ps. Ixxix. 3), and their flesh as if it were nothing better than dung. sinned: in the manner described in vv. 4-6, 8-12. their flesli. The word is not the usual Heb. word for ' flesh,' and the meaning has been questioned : but it has support from Arabic (cf. Job xx. 23"= ' into his flesh '). as dung. The comparison (though the Heb. word used is different), as i K. xiv. 10, Jer. ix. 22. 18. Even their treasures will not be able to save their lives : cf. Ez. vii. 19 (almost the same words). Is. xiii. 17. land (twice). This rend, suits the context (in which, from V. 4, Judah alone has been spoken of) ; but most moderns (Keil, We., Now., Dav.), observing that this verse closes the entire de- scription, think it more likely that the prophet would revert to the thought with which he opened, vv. 2 f., viz. the universality of the judgement, and render therefore each time by earth (cf. iii. 8, where ' earth ' is certainly right). the fire of his jealousy. Cf. on Nah, i. 2. God's ' jealousy ' is aroused by the dishonour shown towards Him, and the dis- regard of what is His rightful due : cf. Dt. iv. 24, xxix. 20 ; Ez. ZEPHANIAH 2. i, 2. Z 121 yea, a ^terrible end, of all them that dwell in the land. Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O 2 nation that hath no ^ shame ; before the decree bring 2 * Or, speedy ^ Or, longing xxxvi. 5, xxxviii. 19; Ps. Ixxix. 5 (in which passages jealousy is also, as here, compared to fire). The entire clause is repeated in iii. 8 end. yea : implying a slight but necessary correction (r[« for -|^»). a terrible end. Marg. Or, a speedy end. The Heb. includes both ideas, a sudden terror or dismay being what is denoted by it. Cf. the cognate subst. in Lev. xxvi. 16 ('terror'), Is. Ixv. 23, Jer. XV. 8, Ps. Ixxviii. 33. The clause seems suggested by Is. X. 23 (the word rendered ' consummation ' there being the same as that which is rendered * end ' here). ii. Having finished his picture of the impending judgement, the prophet now proceeds to urge his people to repent, if perchance they may escape the threatened doom ivv. 1-3), which will engulf, he declares, in succession, the Philistines, Moab and Ammon, Ethiopia, and even Nineveh, the proud capital of Assyria, itself {vv. 4-15). Gather yourselves togetlier, yea, gfather togfether. The rendering is most uncertain. The Hebrew verb is formed from the Hebrew word for stubbhy and means onl}^ to gather like stubble (Ex. V. 7, Nu. XV. 32^1 ; and a figurative application of such a verb either in the sense of assembling together, or 1 KeiH of collecting oneself mer\\.3\\y, for self-examination and reflection, the first step towards repentance, is most improbable. Read probably (with Gratz, Cheyne, and Budde), changing two letters, Get you shame, and he ye ashamed, O nation unabashed ^. 2. The ground for the exhortation in z;. i : be ashamed, and repent of your past lives, before the judgement overtakes you, and it is too late. before the decree, — i.e. God's decree of judgement. — bring's forth, i. e. takes effect (cf. Prov. xxvii. i). The next words, as they stand, can be rendered only as a parenthesis, as they are on ^ This meaning for F|DD3 is supported by the sense of the root in Aramaic (see theTarg. of Ps. xxxv. 4, Ixix. 7). RV'm. that hath no longing understands the verb in the meaning it has elsewhere in Hebrew (Gen. xxxi. 30; Ps. Ixxxiv. 2) : but the sense thus obtained is incomplete, * for God ' or ' for amendment ' being more than could be reasonably understood without being expressed. 122 ZEPHANIAH 2. 3. Z forth, ^ before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the 3 Lord's anger come upon you. Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgement ; seek righteousness, seek meekness : it may be ye shall be * Or, (the day passeth as the chaffs) the margin : the day, — i.e. the time of respite till the decree takes effect, — passeth away rapidly as the chaff. But both these opening clauses are expressed unnaturally, and yield a forced sense ; and there is little doubt that the true text is that restored by Gratz and Wellh., on the basis of the LXX : before ye become as chaif that passetli away. For the comparison with chaff, cf. Ps. i. 4. before the day, &c. The clause reads like an explanation of the more general words, Hhe fierceness of Yahweh's anger,' in the preceding clause : as the Syriac translation of the Hexaplar text of the LXX shows, it was not part of the original LXX ; and recent scholars are generally disposed to regard it as a gloss. 3. As the judgement is thus near, let the faithful, especially, seek Yahweh in prayer and supplication (2 S. xii. 16, Hos. v. 6), if perchance they may escape the calamity which will engulf their neighbours ; let them follow, even more earnestly than before, righteousness and meekness. aU ye meek of the land. So Is. xi. 4, Ps. Ixxvi. 9. Humble would, however, be a better rendering than ' meek ' ; for the Heb. 'dndw predicates not an attitude towards men, but an attitude towards God, and denotes one who bows or humbles himself under the hand of God. The word is often used in the prophets and Psalms (e. g. xxxvii. 1 1) of the pious and faithful worshippers of Yahweh, as opposed to the '■ wicked,' the ' evil-doers,' the ' proud,' &c. From another side of their character the same God-fearing Israelites are often spoken of as the 'poor,' or the 'afflicted' : see on iii. 12. his judg-ement. Rather, his ordinance, as the word is often rendered (e. g. Is. Iviii. 2, Jer. viii. 7). Properly, indeed, it means the judgement or decision of a judge : then it comes to mean (as Ex. xxi. i) a ' judgement ' which is made a statute of permanent obligation ; and finally, in a wider sense, it is used of a moral or religious ordinance, whether it has originally been prescribed as a particular 'judgement' or not. So Jer. v. 4, 5 (cf. viii. 7). it may be ye shall be hid, &c. For the figure, cf. Is. xxvi. 20. ' Even amidst what looks like absolute certainty of the Divine judgement, the prophets cannot renounce the idea of the possibility ZEPHANIAH 2. 4,5. Z 123 hid in the day of the Lord's anger. For Gaza shall be 4 forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noonday, and Ekron shall be rooted up. Woe unto the inhabitants of ^ the sea coast, the 5 °- Or, t/ie region of the sea of the people's repenting and averting the impending wrath : cf. Jer. vii. 5-7, xxvi. 3, xxxvi. 3, 5 ; Am. v. 6, 15 ' (Davidson). These * humble * are naturally those of whom the ' remnant ' of w. 7, 9, iii. 12 f. consists, who are to escape the judgement, and form the nucleus of the purer community of the future. 4-14. The ground of the preceding exhortation ('For,'t;. 4) : the entire heathen world, represented partly by some of Israel's nearest neighbours, partly by ancient and famous nations further off, will be overwhelmed by the judgement. The nations men- tioned are intended to represent the world at large. 4-7. The Philistines were old enemies of the Israelites, and ready to harass them whenever the opportunity offered : hence many of the prophets have oracles against them (Am. i. 6-8 ; Is. xiv. 29-32; Jer. xlvii ; Ez. xxv. 15-17 ; Zech. ix. 5f.). 4. The places mentioned are four of the five principal Philistine cities (i S. vi. 17), the fifth being Gath. In the Hebrew for ' Gaza shall be forsaken ' {^azzdh 'asiibah), and ' Ekron shall be rooted up' {^ekron ie^dkei'), there are assonances, such as the Hebrew prophets love, which cannot be reproduced in English (cf. Mic. i. 10 ff., Ez. xxv. 16) : each city will fulfil, as it were, the omen of its name. forsaken : i. e. depopulated ; cf. Is. vi. 12, vii. 16. drive out Ashdod : i. e, expel forcibly (Ex. xxiii. 28-30) its inhabitants. at the noonday. At the time of the noonday siesta (2 S. iv. 5), and implying consequently a sudden surprise (cf. Jer. xv. 8 'a spoiler at noonday'). 5. The entire people and land of the Philistines are here ad- dressed. Ah ! the inhabitants of the region of the sea (RVm.) : i. e. of the strip of territory on the Mediterranean Sea, on the W. of Judah, belonging to the Philistines : cf. Ez. xxv. 16 ('the remnant of the sea coast,' of the Philistines then remaining). ' Coast ' in RV. is here an archaism, the word being used in its now obsolete sense of side (Fr, cote, Old-Fr. coste, Lat. costa, a rib), border, part, which it often has in AV. (as Ex. x. 4 ; Dt. ii. 4, xi. 24, xvi. 4, xix. 8, — all changed in RV. to ' border ' ; Mt. ii. 16, viii. 34, xv. 21 ; Acts xix. i), in RV. retained only here and vv, 5, 6. For Ah ! see on Nah. iii. i. 124 ZEPHANIAH 2. 6. Z nation of the Cherethites ! The word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, the land of the Phihstines ; I 6 will destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant. And the sea coast shall be pastures, with «■ cottages for shep- * Or, caves the Cherethites. Apparently the name of a clan, or sub- division, of the Philistines, mentioned besides in i S. xxx. 14, and Ez. XXV. 16. Most probably so called as being immigrants from Crete; cf. Am. ix. 7, Dt. ii. 23, which state that the Philistines were immigrants from 'Caphtor,' which is generally identified with Crete. Canaan. Applied unusually to the land of the Philistines : see, however, Jos. xiii. 3. Wellh., Now. omit it, reading at the same time 'against thee' for 'against them': but the LXX express the same Hebrew text which we have now. 6. RV. is singularly simple and flowing ; and no reader would suspect from it the extraordinary Hebrew of which in the middle clause it purports to be the translation. The word rendered 'cottages,' or (RVm.) 'caves/ is otherwise unknown in either sense : and 'with' is a thoroughly illegitimate paraphrase. The text cannot be correct. LXX render (as if they read m: niD for ntD pnz) : And Chereth (i. e. the land of the Chfirethites, v. 5) shall become an habitation^ of shepherds (Jer. xxx. 12', and folds for flocks (the country, viz., being depopulated ; cf. Is. v. 17, xxvii. 10, Ez. xxv. 5): we may either adopt this, or, treating mD as a faulty repetition of m2, render simply, And it shall become an habitation^ &c. "■* 7. The Philistine country will become a pasture-ground for the remnant of Judah : they will feed their flocks by the sea, and come to rest for the night in the deserted houses of Ashkelon. For the thought of Israel in the future taking possession of the territory of its neighbours, cf. Am. ix. 12, Is. xi. 14, Jer. xlix. 2, Obad. 19-20. ^ RV. * pastures ' : but m: — properly, a homestead^ or country habitation (Is. xxvii. 10, xxxii. 18), but sometimes used more generally, as Ex. xv. 13, Prov. iii. 33 {Lex. 627'')— does not mean this, except in so far as a habitation for flocks would be a ' pasture ' (Is. Ixv. 10) ; in Ez. xxv. 5 it is even rendered 'stable.' (Read rn:, not ni:, an anomalous and improbable form of the plural.) ^ a»rT bin (RV. 'the sea coast'), at the beginning of the verse, seems to have come in here by error from v. 7 (where both words must have once stood : see the note on that versed : observe that rrrTn (* shall be') does not agree in gender with San. ZEPHANIAH 2.^,^ ZKZ 125 herds and folds for flocks. And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed their flocks thereupon ; in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening ; [A] for the Lord their God shall visit them, and bring again their captivity. [Zj I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children And tlie coast. Read, with LXX. And the regfion of the sea, as V. 5. the remnant of the house of Judah : i. e. those who escape the coming judgement, and, it is implied (see on iii. 11), are righteous, and worthy of God's favour and protection. thereupon. The Hebrew is upon (or by) them. Read with We., Now., Smith, Marti, by the sea (err br for cn'ry). lie down. The word means to lie doivn as an animal (cf. V. 14) : but it is used here fig. of men, as iii. 13, Is. xiv. 30, Job xi. 19. visit. In a favourable sense, as Jer. xxvii. 22, xxix. 10. and turn their captivity. The prophet pictures, therefore, the ' remnant ' as in exile. This, however, though not impossible in itself, agrees badly with the representation in v. 3 t^where Zephaniah holds out to the godly Israelites the hope that they will escape the coming judgement, and consequently not be carried into exile) ; so that perhaps this and the last clause are a later addition, made by one who did not notice the inconsistency with v. 3. 8-11. The judgement is addressed next to Moab and Ammon, two kindred peoples, who had often in the past shown themselves unfriendly towards Israel, and manifested a haughty and encroach- ing spirit. The territory of Moab was on the E. of the Dead Sea : that of Ammon was on the NE. of Moab, their principal town being Rabbah (2 S. xii. 26, 29; Jer. xlix. 2), called by the Greeks Philadelphia. 8. Z have heard. The speaker is Yahweh (see v. 9). The words read like a reminiscence of Is. xvi. 6 (cf. Jer. xlviii. 29). the reproach of Moab, &c. Contemptuous and reproachful words uttered against Israel or Yahweh, such as the taunts in Ez. xxv. 3, 6, 8 (cf. xxi. 28), spoken at the time when Jerusalem was taken and burnt by the Chaldaeans (b. c. 586), — though this cannot be the occasion actually referred to, unless indeed (see p. 109) w. 8-10 are an addition to the original prophecy of Zephaniah made by a later writer. The attitude of Moab, especially, towards Israel seems to have been in general arrogant and overweening: cf. 2 S. x. 4 ; Is. xvi. 6, xxv. 11; Jer. xlviii. 26, 27, 29-30 (expansion of Is. xvi. 6}, 42. 126 ZEPHANIAH 2. 9. Z of Ammon, wherewith they have reproached my people, 9 and magnified themselves against their border. There- fore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, a possession of « nettles, and saltpitS; and a perpetual desolation : the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my nation * Or, wild vetches ag'ainst their border. In the endeavour to enlarge their own territory : cf. (of the Ammonites) Am. i. 13, Jer. xlix. i. 9. as Sodom . . . and as Gomorrah. The site of which is referred to elsewhere also as a salt and barren plain, a type of desolation (Dt. xxix. 23; Is. xiii. 19; Jer. xlix. 18 = 1. 40). of nettles. The rendering is uncertain : but, whatever the hdriil may have been, it must have been a plant characteristic of uncultivated places (Job xxx. 7 ; Prov. xxiv. 31). * Thorns ' in Prov. xxiv. 31 ought to be * nettles ' (cf. Hos. ix. 6, Is. xxxiv. 13); hence hdrid, which stands in the parallel clause, must be some- thing different ; and in Syriac /it7;'o/ signifies a vetch (hence RVm.). On the other hand, Job xxx. 7 seems to require some kind of shrub; and v^hereas the present passage implies that the hdriil MTould grow in a poor or salt soil, vetches love a good soil. Tristram {NHB. 475) suggests the Prickly Acanthus; Post {DB. s. v.) some kind of thorny shrub such as the Boxthorn, three species of which are indigenous in Palestine, and grow in waste places and salty soil. saltpits. The comparison is suggested by the country border- ing on the Dead Sea. At the SW. of this sea there is a remark- able range of cliffs, some 600 feet high, and 5 miles long, called Jebel Usdum, composed almost entirely of salt — deposited in the remote period when the whole of the Jordan valley, and the depression containing the Dead Sea itself, was a great inland lake. Salt for Jerusalem is still procured chiefly from this district, being partly cut directly from the salt cliffs, partly obtained from pits dug into the sand or slime of the shore, into which the waters of the Dead Sea are admitted, and then allowed to evaporate (cf. the allusion in i Mace. xi. 35). spoil them . . . possess them. The pronouns must refer to * Moab ' and 'the children of Ammon,' the prophet turning from the contemplation of their territory to that of the peoples them- selves : they will be plundered by the ' remnant ' of Israel, and taken by them for their own possession as slaves (cf. for the thought Is. xiv. 2, Ixi. 5). ZEPHANIAH 2. 10-12. ZAZ 127 shall inherit them. This shall they have for their pride, 10 because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts. [A] The Lord i i will be terrible unto them : for he will famish all the gods of the earth ; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the * isles of the nations. [Z] Ye la * Or, coast-lands 10. This verse finishes and rounds off the passage on Moab and Ammon by repeating the thought of v. 8. 11. Heathen gods will be overthrown ; and men generally will worship Yahweh. The verse agrees badly with its context : the fact that Yahweh will overthrow the heathen gods in general does not seem to be a natural reason ('for') for the destruction of Moab and Ammon ; and v. 12, instead of pursuing the thought of V. II*', resumes the enumeration of particular nations (like w. 4-9) upon whom the judgement will alight. Many recent scholars think the verse to be an addition by a later writer, who desiderated here some expression of the two thoughts of the destruction of heathen gods, and the recognition of Yahweh by the world in general. ■ante them. Over tlxem, — appearing over them in judge- ment (Zech. ix. 14). The pron. (as the verse stands) refers to Moab and Ammon. famish. Better, make lean : for the figure, as expressing the weakening or failing of a nation or army, see Is. x, 16, xvii. 4. It is, however, somewhat strange as applied to heathen gods : if the text is correct^, the meaning will be that they will be rendered powerless by Yahweh, and so be unable to defend their worshippers ; for the general thought Is. xix. 1-3, Ez. xxx. 13 might then be compared. and men shall worship him, &c. Being brought to perceive the unreality of heathen gods, by their inability to save the peoples who trusted in them. every one from his place : i. e. each from the place in which he lives, without, — at least necessarily, — making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, such as the prophets usually picture the nations as making, after they have been brought to the knowledge of Yahweh, for purposes of worship (Is. ii. 3, Ixvi. 23 ; Zech. viii. 22, xiv. 16). all the isles of the nations. The word rendered 15/^5 ^ In any case nn must be read for the intransitive nrj, 128 ZEPHANIAH 2. 13, 14. Z 13 Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword. And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry 14 like the wilderness. And herds shall lie down in the midst of her, » all the beasts of the nations : both the * Or, all beasts 0/ every kind includes also coast-lands (RVm.), being used primarily of the islands and jutting promontories of the Mediterranean Sea (see Gen. X. 5, Ez. xxvi. 15, 18), though sometimes, especially in the Second Isaiah (e. g. xli. i, xlix. i, li. 5), these are taken as representative of the heathen world generally. And the latter, no doubt, is the sense in which the expression is used here. 12. EtMopians. Heb. Kushites (see on Nah. iii. 9), on the S. of Egypt, taken as an example of a distant (Is. xi, 11) and also famous (Is. xviii. i f.) nation, upon which Yahweh's judge- ment will alight. also. As well as the Philistines and Moab and Amnion {vv. 4-7, 8-10). slain "by my sword. Cf. Is. Ixvi. 16, Jer. xxv. 33. 13-15. In the opposite direction Nineveh, the proud and magnificent capital of Assyria, will be humbled, and become a desolation. 13. against the north. Nineveh was 550 miles NE. of Judah; but Assyrian armies having Palestine as their goal would naturally cross the Euphrates at the great ford of Carchemish, 300 miles W. of Nineveh, and so would make their entrance into Palestine from the north (cf. on i. 10). Hence Assyria, and even Babylon (Zech. ii. 6), though this was due E. of Judah, are designated as the 'north.' See further 'North Country' in DB. 14. The desolation of Nineveh : its site will become the haunt of wild animals, especially of such as frequent ruins. Cf. the pictures of Babylon in Is. xiii. 21 f., and of Edom in Is. xxxiv. 13-15. The fate of Nineveh is thus worse than that of the Philistine land (y. 6) : the Philistine land is depopulated, and becomes a pasture-ground for flocks ; Nineveh becomes a waste^ haunted only by desert animals. herds. As the sequel shows, not of domestic animals, but of wild creatures. all the beasts of the nations. The text cannot be in order, ' the nations ' being an impossible rendering of '1:, and RVm. implying the addition of a word, 'every* (id: cf. Gen. vii. 14, Ez. xvii. 23, 2 Ch. xxxii. 15), besides giving to '1: the other- wise unsubstantiated sense of ' kind.' We may read S"-*: 'nations'; ZEPHANIAH 2. 14. Z 129 pelican and the porcupine shall lodge in the chapiters thereof: their voice shall sing in the windows; '^desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he hath laid bare the cedar * Or, drought or we may follow LXX and read ' all the beasts of the earth'* (as Gen. i. 24, Ps. Ixxix. 2), supposing (Marti) yiN to have fallen out in the Heb. text, and nj to be a faulty anticipation of the following d: ; or, with Halevy, read ' of the valley'* (yci for ^ij). the pelican and the porcupine. The pelican is mentioned in Ps. cii. 6, the porcupine in Is. xiv. 23, and both together in Is. xxxiv. II, — each time as haunting a solitude, or ruined site. The pelican lives upon fish : it abounds, for instance, in the great sandy wastes near the mouths of the Danube, and in the swamps of the Jordan valley and the Orontes. The porcupine is a shj-, solitary animal, which might well choose its home among desolate ruins(Z)S., s. V. 'Bittern,' as the Heb. ^i^/d^/ was renderedinAV.). The correctness of the rendering ' porcupine ' has been questioned upon zoological grounds ; but the ancient versions all so render, and this is also the meaning of the corresponding words in Arabic and Syriac (see further on this question M^^Lean and Shipley in EB., s. v. ' Bittern '). The rendering ' bittern ' (AV.) appears to have no authority earlier than the sixteenth century. in the chapiters thereof : i. e. in the carved tops of the pillars (i K. vii. 16, 17, &c.), belonging to the temples or palaces of Nineveh, and pictured as now prostrate upon the ground. (their) voice shall sing- in the windows. The expression is unnatural : read with We., Now., Smith, &c., the little owl for ' (their) voice ' (did for bip), — one of the three species of owl mentioned in Lev. xi. 17 f, which is shown by Ps. cii. 6 to have been accustomed to haunt desert places or ruins. The 'little owl' is ' by far the most abundant of all the owls of Palestine,' and ' in the tombs or on the ruins, among the desolate heaps which mark the sites of ancient Judah, his low, wailing note is sure to be heard at sunset' (Tristram, NHB. 194 f.). Or perhaps, with Halevy, as the owl hardly ' sings,' the voice of the great owl >]"nr3' for -n"i\C') shall be in the windows, of the raven in the thresholds. The 'great owl ' (Lev. xi. 17), also called the 'eagle-owl,' is like- wise abundant in ruins (Is. xxxiv. 11 Heb. : NHB. 193). The ' windows' are of course those of the now uninhabited and neglected palaces and temples. desolation. Read with LXX, Ew., We., &c., the raven (yr: for y>n) : and see Is. xxxiv. 11. The raven also is a bird that loves desolate places, frequenting, for instance, the barren cliffs and shores of the Dead Sea (Tristram, NHB. 201). the cedar work. With which the walls of her palaces and K I30 ZEPHANIAH 2. 15— 3. i. Z work. This is the joyous city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none else beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in ! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand. Woe to her that is rebellious and polluted, to the temples were panelled (cf., in Jerusalem, i K. vi. 9. 10, &c., vii. 3, 7) : this will now be laid open to wind and rain. The Assyrian kings often speak of the cedar brought by them from Lebanon, Araanus, &c., to beautify their buildings (cf. p. 83 «.). 15. Close of the description. Such will then be the once proud and careless city, — a desolation, a resort of wild animals, an object of derision to all who pass by her site ! joyous. Or, exTdtingf (iii. 11). The word used suggests the idea of exuberant joy, unrestrained by any thought of responsi- bility or care: cf. Is. xxii. 2, xxiii. 7, xxxii. 13 ; also v. 14, I am, and there is none beside me. A proud expression of Nineveh's sense of her unique imperial position. The same words, as also the preceding ones, from * that dwelt carelessly,' are re- peated in Is. xlvii. 8 with reference to Babylon, the successor of Nineveh as the imperial city of Western Asia. how ... I An expression of amazement at such a tragic turn of fortune : cf. Jer. 1. 23, li. 41. every one that passeth by her shall hiss. In scorn and hatred. Cf. with the entire clause i K. ix. 8, Jer. xix. 8 = xlix. 17 = 1. 13: hiss, also, Ez. xxvii. 36 and elsewhere. and shake his hand. In anger and aversion. This ex- pression does not occur elsewhere : we have only s/iake the head (viz. in derision), Lam. ii. 15, Ps. xxii. 7. On the fall of Nineveh in b. c. 607, and subsequent desolation of its site, see above, pp. 10 f. iii. 1-7. The prophet here returns to Jerusalem. He describes afresh the sins rampant within her, especially the sins of her ruling classes, princes, judges, prophets, and priests ; and blames her, in Yahweh's name, for her refusal to take warning from the example of her neighbours. 1. Ah I she that is defiant and polluted, the oppressiucr city ! For Ah ! see on Nah. iii. i. rebellious. Better, defiant. Mdrdh is to resist contumaciously, and is nearly always used of an obstinate refusal to listen to Yahweh's will (e.g. Dt. i, 26, 43 ; Is. i. 20 ; Ps. IxxviiL 8, 17, 40, 56): though commonly rendered 'rebel,' 'rebellious,' it thus corresponds more closely to *defy/ ' defiant.' (To ' rebel,' both ZEPHANIAH 3. 2-4. Z 131 oppressing city ! She obeyed not the voice ; she received 2 not ^ correction ; she trusted not in the Lord ; she drew not near to her God. Her princes in the midst of her 3 are roaring lions ; her judges are evening wolves ; they ^ leave nothing till the morrow. Her prophets are light 4 * Or, instntction ^ Or, gnaw not the bones on the morrow politically (2 K. xxiv. i), and religiously (Ez. ii. 3), is ntdrad: ma rah is never used of political rebellion). pollnted, viz. by sins of various kinds. The word is a rare and late one — in Lam. iv. 14, Is. lix. 3, used in particular of pollution by bloodshed. the oppressing' city. Alluding especially to the oppressions and extortions practised by the upper classes upon their less fortunate neighbours : see, for instance, Is. i. 23, v. 8-10, 23, x. 2, Mic. ii. 2, iii. 1-3, Jer. vii. 6, xxii. 3, 13. Ez. xxii. 29 shows, however, that the people generally shared the same faults, 2. Development of the thought of Jerusalem's * defiance,' v. i : she would not listen to Yahweh's voice, or be reformed, but turned persistently from Him. obeyed. Lit. (as always) hearkened unto. the voice : i. e. the voice of God by the prophets : Jer. vii. 23, xi. 4, 7, and often. received . . . correction. A favourite expression of Jeremiah's (Jer. ii. 30, v, 3, xvii, 23, xxxii. 33, xxxv, 13) : compare especially vii, 28 ' This is the nation that hath not hearkened unto the voice of Yahweh their God, nor received correction.^ 'Instruction' (marg.) means moral education : cf. Ps. 1. 17 ; Prov, i. 8, xii. r, xiii. r, 18, &c. she trusted not, &c. Distrusted His promises, disbelieved in His power to help or save (cf. i. 12) ; and consequently, hoping for nothing from Him, drew not near to Him. 3. The sins of the leading classes particularized in detail. Like the prophets generally (e. g. Am. vi. i ; Is, i. 23, iii, 14 ; Mic, iii. I, 9), it is especially the official and responsible classes whose sins and neglect of duty Zephaniah denounces. Hor princes. As in i. 8 (cf Is. i. 23 ; Ez. xxii. 27), the nobles, in whose hands lay the judicial and governing power. roaring* lions. Ready at any moment to seize and rend the prey : cf. Prov, xxviii, 15, Ez, xxii, 25, evening" wolves. So Hab. i. 8, where see the note. The extortion of superior officials, the corruption of justice, and judicial murders, are crying vices in Oriental countries ; and the denunciations of the prophets show that they were only too pre- valent in ancient Israel as well. leave nothing till the morning : so voracious are they. K 2 132 ZEPHANIAH 3. 5. Z. and treacherous persons : her priests have profaned the 3 sanctuary, they have done violence to the law. The Lord in the midst of her is righteous; he will not do iniquity; » every morning doth he bring his judgement * Heb. monnng by morning. But the rendering 'leave' is very doubtful, depending upon a questionable combination with an Arabic and Aramaic verb. That of the marg. (which has the support of Nu. xxiv. 8, Ez. xxiii. 34) implies that all is devoured voraciously over«night ; though the words might also be rendered, * her judges are evening wolves, (which) gnawed not bones in the morning,' and so were doubly hungry and ferocious in the (following) evening. T . li^ht. I. e., as often in Old English (e. g. Jud. ix. 4), marked by levity^ thoughtless^ frivolous. But pohez means rather unrestrained, feckless, — in Jud. ix. 4 (see Moore) reckless in action, here reckless in assertion, boastful : the prophets referred to being men eager for notoriety, who, ' instead of being humble declarers of the will of God, sought to give utterance to their own ideas' (Hitz.). Cf. Jer. xxiii. 32, where the cognate subst. recklessness (RV. vain boasting) is also used of the prophets. The delusive promises of the ' false prophets,' who sought by making them to gain popularity, are often alluded to : see e.g. Mic. iii. 11 ; Jer. xiv. 13 f., xxiii. 16 f.. 26 f., xxvii. g{., 16, xxviii. 2 flf. treacherous. Or. faithless, viz. against God, by giving out their own imaginations as revelations from Him (Hitz., Keil). have profaned that which is holy (not 'the sanctuary'), they have done violence to the law. Ez. xxii. 26 is an ex- planatory parallel : ' Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned mine holy things ; they have put no difTerence between the holy and the common [cf. xHv. 23, Lev. x. 10, xx. 25], neither have they caused men to discern between the un- clean and the clean [Lev. xi], and they have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned in their midst.' Cf. also Jer. ii. 8, V, 31 [RVm.]. With vv. 4, 5 cf. especially Ez. xxii. 25-28, where rulers [so read for 'prophets' in v. 25, with LXX, and all moderns], priests, princes, and prophets are denounced succes- sively, and the language is often remarkably similar to that used here. ' Law ' is here, as always, properly direction (Hnb. i. 4). S. And they do all this, undeterred by the fact that Yahweh is in their midst, giving daily evidence of the righteousness of His rule. he doeth no tmrigrhteousness : cf. Dt. xxxii. 4. morning* by morningr. For the thought of morning as the time of judgement, cf. Jer. xxi. 12, Ps. ci. 8. The Hebrew idiom 'd. marg. ; and see G.-K. § 123*^), as Ex, xvi. 21, Is, 1. 4, and elsewhere. ZEPHANIAH 3. 6, 7. Z 133 to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame. I have cut off nations, their '' battlements are desolate ; 6 I have made their streets waste^ that none passeth by : their cities are destroyed^ so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant. I said, Surely thou wilt fear 7 me, thou wilt receive ^correction; so her dwelling should not be cut off, *^ according to all that I have appointed concerning her : but they rose early and corrupted all * Or, corner towers ^ Or, instructton '^ Or, howsoever I punished her he toringreth his judgement to lijfht. In so far as, to those who will see it, both the daily life of individuals and the history of nations [v. 6) afford examples of the righteous being rewarded, and the wicked punished. Cf. Hos. vi. 5 (reading as RVm.) ; also Ps. xxxvii. 6. he faileth not. Or better, perhaps, it (his judgement) faileth not. So Keil, Nowack. hut the unrighteous knoweth no shame. Is unmoved by the evidences of Yahweh's righteousness, and continues, without any sense of shame, in his course of wrong-doing. 6. Yahweh is now introduced abruptly as speaking, and remind- ing Israel of the evidences of His righteousness afforded by history. battlements. See on i. 16. so that none passeth through : Jer. ix. 10, 12 ; £z. xiv. 13. so that there is no man: Is. vi. 11 ; Jer. xxxii. 43, xxxiii. 10, 12. that there is no inhabitant. As ii. 5, Is. v. 9, vi. 11, and eight times in Jeremiah. *7. Yahweh desired and hoped that Israel would take warning by such examples, but was disappointed : on the contrary, Israel the more strenuously corrupted their doings. Z said: i. e., as frequently ^e. g. Is. Ixiii. 8), I said mentally, I thought. (according to) all, &c. The ellipse is greater than is legiti mate ; nor does the sense obtained agree well with ' so her dwelHng,' &c. There is little doubt but that we should read, by a very slight change in one word, with LXX, We., Now., &c. (after 'correction '), and nothing that I have enjoined her will Le cut off {^= fade) from her sight, i.e. she will continually keep My commandments before her (cf. Ps. xviii. 22). but. In the Heb. a strong adversative, but in fact, intro- ducing the reality, as opposed to what has been wrongly expected 134 ZEPHANIAH 3. 8, 9. ZA 8 their doings. Therefore wait ye for me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey : for my ^determina- tion is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger ; for all the earth shall be devoured with ^ the fire of my jealousy. [A] For then will I turn to the ^ Heb. judgement. or imagined. Exactly so Ps. xxxi. 22^, Jer. iii. 20 (RV. ' surely '), Is. xlix. 4^ (each time after / said = I thought), liii. 4 (RV. 'surely'). rose early and corrupted: i. e, corrupted actively and strenuously. This fig. sense of * rose up ' is otherwise found only in Jer., viz. vii. 13, 25, xi. 7, xxv. 3, 4, &c. (in all eleven times), and 2 Ch. xxxvi. 15 (a reminiscence from Jeremiah). 8-13. Let the faithful in Jerusalem, then, wait patiently, until the approaching judgement is completed (v. 8), when the ' remnant of Israel,' freed from all unworthy members, will cleave to God in sincerity of heart, and dwell in safety upon their own land. 8. wait ye (Is. viii. 17, Ixiv. 4) for me, . . . for the day when I, &c. The faithful in Israel are addressed, as in ii. 3 : they are to wait trustfully for the day when Yahweh's judgement upon the nations (i. 2 f.) is accomplished ; for that judgement will sweep away the sinners and oppressors (v. 3) in Israel as well as in other nations, and so will issue in their own deliverance. to the prey : i. e. for the destruction of the nations. LXX, Syr. read as a witness {'ed for 'ad), viz. against the nations (not as We., Now.); so Smith, Marti. Cf. for the figure Mic. i. 2; Mai. iii. 5. Halevy would read, 'until the day that I rise up to set in order my judgement, to gather the nations,' &c. (py> for '3 ivb). to gather, &c. The picture is that of the nations assembled for judgement : cf. Jer. xxv. 31, 33, Is. Ixvi. 16, Ez. xxxviii- xxxix, Joel iii. 11-16. Read then, to assemble, &c. (pp7 for '^^pb). for all the earth, &c. Repeated from i. 18. 9-10. The peoples will then unite harmoniously in the service of Yahweh. The connexion with vv. 1-8 must be admitted to be very imperfect, (i) The terms of v. 8 imply not purification, but destruction : if, however, all the nations are destroyed, how can any remain to be converted ? (2) What does ' For ' in v. 9 give a reason for? It might give a reason for God's purpose to purge or renovate the nations : but not for His purpose to destroy them {v. 8). Can it, then, give a reason for ' wait ye,' addressed to the pious in Israel, in v. 8 (so Keil) ? It can only do this, if the conversion of the Gentiles anticipated in v. 9 be assumed to involve the destruction of evil-doers not only in the nations at ZEPHANIAH 3. lo. A 135 peoples a pure ^ language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one ^ consent. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia cmy suppliants, even 10 » Heb. I$p. ^ Heb. shoulder. '^ Or, shall they bring my suppliants^ even the daughter of my dis- persed, for an offering unto me large {v. 8), but also in Israel itself (where they afflict and oppress the righteous, v. 3) : yet if these links in the argument had been in the prophet's mind, would they not naturally have been expressed by him? Either, \i w. 9-10 are really Zephaniah's, the connexion of thought is imperfect, and we have, perhaps, his discourse in a condensed form, with links in the argument omitted ; or the verses are an insertion made by a later hand. 9. turn. Cf. i S. x. 9. a pure lip. ' Lip ' may in Heb. stand for ' language ' (see e.g. Gen. xi. i RVm., Is. xix. 18 Heb.) ; but it is better to take it here in its literal sense. The * lips ' of the nations are unclean, either from their general sinfulness (Is. vi. 5, cf. 7\ or, more particularly, from their taking the names of false gods upon them (Hos. ii. 19, Ps. xvi. 4). with one consent. Heb. with one shoulder. The metaphor does not occur elsewhere in the O. T., but is found in Syriac. 10. Ethiopia is again, as in ii. 12, taken as a type of a distant nation. The verse has, however, been very differently under- stood, the Heb. being in parts uncertain or ambiguous, (i) RV. Here ' daughter of my dispersed ' is taken as a poetical expression, formed on the analogy of the ' daughter of Jerusalem,' v. 14, 'daughter of Babylon,' Ps. cxxxvii. 8, &c. (meaning the community or people of Zion, Babylon, &c.), and signifying the community of scattered Israelites ; and the meaning is that the dispersed people of God would be brought back from their most distant places of banishment (cf. Is, xi. 11, xxvii. 13, «&c.), and again bring Him offerings in Jerusalem. (2) RVm. The meaning of this is that the Gentiles would themselves bring back the dispersed Jews as an oflfering to Yahweh : for the thought in this case, cf. Is. Ixvi. 20. As Davidson, however, remarks, the expression 'suppliants' seems then not very natural. (3) The word following ' daughter of in the expressions mentioned under (i) is, however, elsewhere always, — or (see Mic. iv. 5) nearly always, — the name of a people ; the word rendered dispersed is a peculiar one, which does not occur elsewhere ; and hence Ewald conjectured ' the daughter of Put^ (cis for -i^'E), the African people mentioned in Nah. iii. 9 in parallelism with Kush (Ethiopia' ; the verse would then describe the homage of the heathen, and be parallel in thought to Is. xviii. 7 (cf. also Is. xlv, 14 ; Ps. Ixxii. 10), There 136 ZEPHANIAH 3. n. AZ the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering. [Zj In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me : for then I will take away out of the midst of thee ^thy ^ Or, them that exult in thy majesty is in the context no mention or thought of the restoration of the Jews, so that this last sense is decidedly the most appropriate ; but it must remain an open question whether the subject, ' my suppliants (also a doubtful word, not found elsewhere), the daughter of Put,' expressing the heathen nations, really represents the original text of the passage. the rivers of KtMopia. So Is. xviii. i. The Hebrews may- have heard of the Blue Nile and the 'Atbara, which join the main stream from the S.E. at about 15^ and 18^ N., respectively. bringf. The word used means to conduct, lead up ; and implies that the offering (or [collectively] ofierings) was led or brongJit tip in some state, accompanied by a procession : cf. ^like- wise of gifts or offerings) Ps. Ixviii. 29, Ixxvi. 11 ; Is. xviii. 7. offering. Or, present, as token of allegiance (i S. x. 27). 11-13. Then the purified remnant of Israel will cleave faith- fully to its God, and trusting in Him will dwell unmolested in their own land. The picture is in designed contrast with the corrupt Jerusalem of the present, vv. 1-7. 11. In tliatclay: i.e. in the general period spoken of in the context (Is. vii. 18, 20, and often) ; here of the period after the judgement (v. 8;, when the prophet pictures the kingdom of God established in Judah, not "be ashamed, &c. Because viz. (Keil) such doings no longer occur, or (Ew., Dav.) because they are so completely passed away as to be no longer remembered. Or Nowack, Marti), in accordance with a common use of the word, ' shalt thou not be put to shame on account of all thy doings,' — the actual offenders {vv. 3, 7 end) having been all cut off {v. 11^ 'for then I will take away,' &c.). for then, &c. Zephaniah adopts here (cf. ii. 7, 9) Isaiah's characteristic doctrine of the purification of Judah by a judgement, sweeping away its unworthy members, and leaving only a righteous ' remnant ' to escape, who will then be the founders of a new community, to be established in the future, endowed with the true, or ideal, perfections of the Israel of God (Is. i. 25-27, iv. 3, X. 22, xi. II, 16, xxviii. 5, xxxvii. 22)'. ^ See more fully the writer's Isaiah, his Life and Times (in the ' Men of the Bible ' series), pp. 21 f., 26, no. ZEFHANIAH 3. 1-', 13. Z ^.g proudly exulting ones, and thou shalt no more be haughty in my holy mountain. But I will leave in the n midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. The remnant of Israel 13 shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies ; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth : for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid. thy proudly extating- ones. The upper classes of Judah, confident in themselves, proud and elated. The same expression is used in Is. xiii. 3 of Yahweh's warriors, the Medes, elated with martial pride. 12. leave. Heb. cause to remaiti over (cognate with 'remnant,' V. 13). an afflicted and poor people. Only these survive the judge- ment, to form the nucleus of the worthier community of the future. The ' remnant ' is characterized by the qualities usually found in the pious servants of Yahweh. The godly men of Israel were found, as a rule, not among the nobles or the wealthy, who too often abused their position to defraud or oppress these lower in the social scale than themselves (see e. g. Ps, x. 2, 9), but among those who are described as the 'poor,' the 'needy,' or the ' afflicted '\ It is these, accordingly, who enjoy Yahweh's favour and regard : cf., for instance, Ps. xviii. 27, where He is spoken of as saving the 'afflicted people,' but as abasing the 'haughty eyes'; and such passages as Is. xiv. 30, 32, xxv, 4, xxix. 19 ; Ps. xii. 5, XXXV. 10. trust. Properly, take refuge in: see on Nah. i. 7. 13. The remnant of Israel. See on t/. 11 ; and cf. ii. 7, 9, Mic. ii. 12, v. 7, 8. not do unrighteousness. As v. 5. nor speak lies, &c. ' They will not deceive, or take advan- tage of one another, or embitter one another's life, but will lead together an idyllic existence of peace and tranquillity, none harming or disturbing another' Hitz.). Contrast v. 3, and the picture in Jer. ix. 3-5. feed, &c. Like a flock, grazing and lying down in complete security. For ' feed ' and ' lie down ' (fig.) cf. Is. xiv. 30, Mic. vii. ^ Or, the ' humbled.' The word is cognate to that rendered 'humble' in ii. 3; but, while that denotes those who voluntarily humble themselves under the hand of God, this denotes those who are humbled by human oppression, or other adversity. Cf. on Ilab. iii. 14; and see, further, the art. 'Poor * in DB, '^^ ZEPHANIAH 3. 14-16. Z i^ Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and 15 rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy judgements, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the Lord, is in the 16 midst of thee : thou shalt not ^fear evil any more. In * Another reading is, see. 14; for 'and none shall make them afraid' — a standing phrase to describe a condition of unmolested security — Is. xvii. 2, Mic. iv. 4, Job xi, 19, 14-20. Conclusion. In vv. 14-17 the prophet, with his eye fixed on this blissful future, in jubilant tones bids the people rejoice in the restoration of Yahweh's favourable presence in their midst; in vv. 18-20 Yahweh speaks, and promises that those now in exile will be brought back, and assume an honour- able position among the nations of the earth. 14. Sing-. As Is. xlix. 13, liv. i. More exactly, S,iag out (thy joy) : see Cheyne, The Psalms (1888), on Ps. v. 12, or the writer's Parallel Psalter, p. 455. O daugfliter of Zion. ' Daughter, ' in such expressions, is a poetical personification of the population or community : it is particularly used where it is desired to portray the people as feeling or expressing some keen or vivid emotion : see e. g. Is. x. 30, xxxvii. 32 ; Jer. vi. 26 ; Zech. ii. 10, ix. 9. 15. hath taken away . . . hath cast out. ' Prophetic ' perfects: the prophet transports himself in imagination into the time when the various judgements that have fallen upon Israel during her history are all past, and there is no longer any enemy to vex her. thy judgements. We., Now., Marti, with a change of points, would render thine opponents (viz. in judgement: see Job ix. 15 Heb. [G.-K. § 55^]). But it is perhaps doubtful whether a term having a forensic sense is suitable here to the context (Is. liv. 17 is different). cast out. Rather, cleared away : see Lex. 815^ the king' of Israel. So Is. xliv. 6; cf. the king 0/ Jacob, xli. 21. in the midst of thee. Protecting Israel; it being at the same time implied that Israel is worthy of His presence in its midst. Cf. Nu. xi. 20, xiv. 14 ; Is. xii. 6 ; Jer. xiv. 9 ; Joel ii, 27 : also Ez. xlviii. 35. fear. Marg. see, i. e. experience ; cf. Jer. v. la, and especially Ps. xc. 15. The two words differ in the Heb. very slightly, and are confused elsewhere (see Jer. xvii. 8 RV.). LXX, Pesh., express see, which is preferred generally by moderns. ZEPHANIAH 3. 17, 18. Z A 139 that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: ^O Zion, let not thine hands be slack. The Lord thy God 17 is in the midst of thee, a mighty one who will save : he will rejoice over thee with joy, he will ^ rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. [A] cj will gather 18 them that ^ sorrow for the solemn assembly, who were of * Or, and to Zion ^ Heb. be silent " Or, lliey have been sorrowful for the solemn assembly which I took away front thee, for the lifting up of reproach against her ^ Or, are removed from 16. Pear thou not. As Is. xli. 10, 13, 14, and often. The marg. ( = AV.) is improbable, and maj^ be neglected. be slack. Properly, hang down, in want of energy, or terror. The expression is a common one : see e. g. Is. xiii. 7 ; 2 S. iv. i, xvii. 2 ; and (with let not, as here) 2 Ch. xv. 7. 17. The verse repeats and expands the thought o(v. 15. Yahweh is not only in Israel's midst : He is there also with His might, as its defender, and His love to it is restored. a mighty one : i. e. a warrior (see on Nah. ii. 3) ; applied to Yahweh, as Jer. xx. 11, and especially Is. xlii. 13. rejoice. A strong word, implying full and exuberant joy : of Yahweh, as Dt. xxviii. 63, xxx. 9; Jer. xxxii. 41; Is. Ixii. 5. Ixv. 19. be silent in his love. The expression is interpreted to mean a 'silent ecstasy' of love; but such an idea agrees badly with the words following ("with ringing cries' : see Cheyne on Ps. v. 12 ; or the writer's Parallel Psalter, p. 455). Buhl has sug- gest- d a'siight but very plausible emendation, ' He will renew His ^^ -20. Promise of restoration to those in exile. 18. The text must be rendered, them that sorrow (Lam. i. 4) away from ; or (RVm.) them that are removed (2 S. xx. 13) from : in either case the allusion being to those exiled in foreign lands. the solemn assembly. Heb. moed, meaning properly a stated place or time, and applied in particular to the fixed sacred seasons of the Jewish year : see especially Lev. xxiii, which is a calendar of such sacred seasons (RV. set feasts ; RVm. appointed seasons) : for other references, see Hos. ii. 11 ; Is. i. 14, xxxiii. 20 (EVV. solemnities) ; Ez. xliv. 24. In RV. the word is usually * ^'vy for tthrr : the Piel con jug. with 3 (lit. make newness, or act newly, with), as Is. xxii. 4, Gen. xliv. 12. 140 ZEPHANIAH 3. ly, 20. A thee: ^to tvhom the burden upon ^her was a reproach. 39 Behold, at that time I will deal with all them that afflict thee : and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven away; and I will make them a praise and 20 a name, whose shame hath been in all the earth. At ^ Or, which hast borne the burden of reproach *• According to some ancient authorities, thee. rendered in Lev., Nu., Chr., set feast, in the prophets appointed feast or solemn assembly, — ' solemn ' in this expression having not its mode^'n sense, but the force of the Lat. solemnis, i. e. stated, fixed ^. to whom the burden upon her was a reproach. Or, better, upon whom [fem., referring to thee, i. e. Jerusalem] reproach was a hurden, i. e. upon whom there lay the heavy reproach of national disaster, and the exile of her children. RVm. is just a paraphrase of this rendering. For 'reproach,* cf. Isa. liv. 4 'the reproach of widowhood' (i.e. of the time of exiled; Ez. xxxvi. 15 (with •bear'); Ps. xliv. 13, Ixxix. 4. The first RVm. on this verse may be disregarded. The Heb. of the verse is crabbed and strange ; and, though it is translatable, it can hardly be through- out in its original form. Halevy would read, ' I will gather them that are removed from the solemn assembly, they shall be with thee (-{or for 'po), that thou bear not reproach because of them ' {urfrp T|nK^'p for rf':^ n^^ipp). This is plausible, though whether it is the original text is more than we can say. 19. deal with. Cf. in the Heb. Ez. xx. 44, Ps. cix. 21 (in a good sense) ; and in a bad sense, as here, Ez. xxii. 14 '. For the thought, cf. Is. li. 23. that afSict thee: i. e. the heathen nations, Is. Ix. 14. n her that halteth, &c. The people are spoken of under the figure of a flock, of which some are lame, and some have '°'en driven away : cf. Mic. iv. 6, 7, Ez. xxxiv. 4, 16. Zech. xi. 16." a praise and a name. Cf. Dt. xxvi. 19 RVm. whose shame, &c. Viz. on account of their exile (cf. Ez. xxxvi. 15). But the clause is (in the Heb.) attached very awkwardly to the preceding one ; and this rendering (as Dav. remarks) lays an unnatural emphasis upon the pron. them, which ^ *Set (or 'appointed') feast,' the English reader should be aware, means in EVV. something quite different from 'feast.' ' Feast ' {hag) denotes a pilgrimage, and there were only three of these in the Jewish year (Ex. xxiii. 14-17) : 'set feast' {md'id) is a wider term, and denotes any sacred season (Levi xxiii). ^ Where of course tjpSn is for T[ri« : see Lex. pp. 85^', 86*. ZEPHANIAH 3. 20. A 141 that time will I bring you in, and at that time will I gather you : for I will make you a name and a praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I bring again your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord. (in the Heb.) instead of being the antecedent to whose^ refers far more naturally back to the persons mentioned before. It is very probable that the last word in the Heb. ('their shame') is not original ; and that we should read simply * and I will make them a praise and a name in all the earth ' : cf. v. 20 ' for I will make you,' &c. Or (Gratz, Halevy) nnn may have fallen out: 'and I will make them a praise and a name in all the earth in nturtifor their shame ' : cf. Is, Ixi. 7. The two Heb. words, however, drag a little, in this case, at the end of the verse. 20. and at that time will I gather you. A clause such as this suits the context excellently ; but it cannot by any possibility be extracted from the existing Heb. text^ (which is, in fact, untranslatable). I will make you, &c. Cf. Jer. xxxiii. 9. when I turn your captivity. As ii. 7. before your eyes: i. e. so that you will witness and experience it yourselves ; it will not be delayed till only your children can take part in it. * It implies □D^,^« ynps N'nn n»a"\ for can** ^inp nyii. \ HAGGAI INTRODUCTION AND REVISED VERSION WITH ANNOTATIONS HAGGAI INTRODUCTION Historical CIRCUMSTANCES of Haggai's time; and THE occasion AND CONTENTS OF HIS PROPHECY. The prophecies of Haggai are dated in the second year of Darius Hystaspis (B.C. 520), seventeen years after the return of the Jews from Babylonia in the first year of Cyrus (b. c. 537). Not, of course, that the whole body of exiles availed themselves of the permission granted by the edict of Cyrus (Ezr. i. 1-4) and returned to the home of their fathers. Many had, no doubt, followed the advice given by Jeremiah (Jer. xxix. 5-7) to the first band of exiles, who had gone into captivity with Jehoiachin in 597 : they had built houses, planted gardens, and brought up families in Babylonia ; ihey and their children had in many cases grown accustomed to their new home, and not even the inspiring utterances of the Second Isaiah had been sufficient to induce them to leave it. Neverthe- less, according to the list in Ezr. ii. 1-70 ( = Neh. vii. 6-69, with textual variations), 42,360 Israehtes, — or (according to the separate items ^) 29,818 (in Neh. 31,089) Israelites (including 4,289 priests, 74 Levites, 128 (148) singers, and 139 (138) gate-keepers),— besides 7,337 male and female slaves, and 200 singing men and women, formed the company which returned to Judah in 537. The bulk of the laity were naturally of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, the only two secular tribes left in Palestine after the end of the Northern Kingdom in 722. ^ The sum total (in both Ezr. and Neh.) is considerably in excess of that obtained by adding together the numbers of the several items. The source of the discrepaiicy is uncertain. 146 HAGGAI The civil head of the restored community was Sheshbazzar (Ezr. i. 8, II, V. 14, 16), of whom it is disputed whether he is identical with Zerubbabel or not : even, however, if (as most modern scholars hold ^) he is not, Zerubbabel, the grandson of Jehoiachin, and therefore a prince of David's line, had taken his place as pehdh, or governor, of the Persian province of Judah, and civil head of the Jewish community, before 520, the year in which Haggai and Zechariah began to prophesy (Ezr. v. i ; Hag. i. i). The ecclesiastical head of the community was Jeshua, or Joshua, grandson of Seraiah, who was chief priest at the time of the destruction of the Temple in 586 (2 K. xxv. 18). The returned exiles settled partly in Jerusalem, partly in a number of towns and villages in the neighbour- hood, such as Gibeon, Beth-lehem, Anathoth, Kiriath- jearim, Beth-el, &c. (Ezr. ii. 20 ff.). The first public act of the restored community was the erection of the altar of burnt-offering upon its old site (Ezr. iii. 2 f.). This statement of the Book of Ezra is confirmed by the contemporary allusion in Hag. ii. 14 ; but with regard to the date of the foundation of the new Temple, a difficulty arises on account of the conflict of authorities. According to Ezr. iii. 8-13 this ceremony took place in the second year of the return (i.e. in 536) ; and with this statement agrees the representation of Ezr. iv. 1-5, 242, according to which the enemies of the Jews succeeded in interrupting the rebuilding of the Temple till the second year of Darius (b. c. 520) ; it is also supported by Ezr. v. 16, where the elders of the Jews, in reply to the letter sent to them in 520 by the Satrap Tattenai, asking what authority they had for building the Temple, after appealing to the permission granted by Cyrus to Shesh- ^ See art. * Sheshbazzar • in DB. - Vv. 6-33 relate both to a different (and later) occasion and to a diflferent subject, viz. not the Temple^ but the city-walls : see the Commentaries, or the writer's Intyod, to the Lit. of the OT., Rp. 514 f (ed. 7, pp. 547 f.). INTRODUCTION 147 bazzar, proceed to state that Sheshbazzar Maid the foundation of the temple, and since that time even until now it hath been in building, and yet it is not completed." Of these passages Ezr. iii. 8-13 and iv. 1-5, 34 are plainly the work of the compiler of the Book of Ezra*, i. e. of the Chronicler who lived some 250 years after B.C. 536, so that his statements have not the value of contemporary history. On the other hand, a number of mostly contemporary passages seem to imply that the foundation of the new Temple was not laid till the second year of Darius (b. c. 520) ; thus Hag. i. 4, 9 speaks of the Temple in that year as being still ' waste ' ; Ezr. v. 2 describes Zerubbabel and Jeshua as 'beginning' to build the house of God, with the encouragement of the prophets (i.e. Haggai and Zechariah ; see Ezr. v. i, vi. 14, as well as Hag. i. 14 f., Zech. iv. 7-9), not in 536 but in 520 ; Hag. ii. 18 can hardly be naturally understood except as dating its foundation in the same year^ ; and Zech. viii. 9,— written in, or after, Darius's fourth year, 518 (see vii. l),— appears to state explicitly that its 'foundation was laid ' at the same time (viz. when the same prophets were active, two years previously). Upon the strength of these latter passages it was argued by Schrader^, Kuenen, and others, that the Chronicler, thinking naturally that the first care of the returned exiles would be to give effect to the permission granted by Cyrus, and begin the work of rebuilding the Temple, ante-dated its foundation by six- teen years, assigning to B. c. 536 what really did not take ^ See the writer's Introduction^ p. 514 (ed. 7, p. 547). 2 In the verse, 'Consider, I pray you, from this day r»nward : from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, from the day that the foundation of Yahweh's temple was [o>'has been] laid, consider it,' the two clauses beginning with 'from' can hardly be an3rthing but parallel, so that the 'day' on which the Temple was founded will be identical with the twenty- fourth day of the ninth month, viz. (see v. 10) in Darius's second year, b. c, 520. ^ In an essay written on the subject in 1867. L 2 148 HAGGAI place till 520. In view of the frequently unhistorical statements and descriptions of the Chronicler, especially where religious ceremonies or institutions are concerned (e. g. in I Ch. xv-xvi and much of xxiii-xxix), there would certainly be nothing intrinsically improbable in such a supposition : but the terms of Ezr. v. 16 seem to be too explicit to admit of it * ; and so the more probable view appears to be that the foundation was laid originally in 536, but that, as all attempts to carry the work further proved for the time abortive, either the ceremony was actually repeated when the work was resumed in earnest in 520^ or at any rate that the twenty -fourth day of the ninth month in 520, when the work was so resumed, was treated as the day on which the foundation of the Temple was really and effectively laid, and Haggai and Zechariah ignored what took place in 536 altogether. We may, then, picture the foundation-stone of the restored Temple as having been laid formally in 536. No further progress was, however, made for sixteen years. Various causes contributed to this inactivity. The fifty years of captivity had taught the exiles that it was possible to preserve at least the main principles of their religion without Temple or altar. The more zealous party would, no doubt, have made some effort to rebuild the Temple, ' Schrader, arguing that if ' that time ' in Ezr. v. 16 meant 536 the verse would directly contradict Ezr. iv. 16, concluded that it described what was done by Sheshbazzar in 520. This, however, is hardly likely, — and indeed, if Sheshbazzar be not Zerubbabel, impossible : the statement 'since that time,' &c., must be allowed to be an exaggeration, but it is to be explained, probably, partly by the fact that the work had been nominally in hand since 536, and partly by the evident desire of the elders to satisfy Tattenai that it had not been begun at their own initiative, but that it had the sanction of Cyrus, and was merely the continuation of what had been begun originally by Sheshbazzar sixteen years before (so Stade, Gesch., ii. 123, Meyer, Bertholet, &c.). 2 So Stade, Meyer, Bertholet; of. G. A. Smith, pp. 217 f., Nowack (ed. 2), pp. 323, 328. INTRODUCTION 149 and reorganize public worship upon its former footing, had not a series of untoward circumstances stood in the way. The half-caste Samaritans,— descendants partly of foreign colonists, partly of Israelites who had escaped the captivity of the Northern Kingdom (b. c. 722),— had begged to be allowed to help in the work of rebuilding the Temple ; but their offer had been refused by the Jews,— partly, no doubt, upon religious grounds, but partly also, it is probable, from a fear of compromising their political independence, and forfeiting the privileges secured to them by the edict of Cyrus, if they formed alliances with their neighbours: and the effect of the refusal was that the Samaritans became the determined foes of the Jews, and, probably by misrepresentations to the local Persian authorities, succeeded in seriously im- peding the further progress of the work (Ezr. iv. 1-5, 24^). The country was also insecure : according to Zech. viii. TO, before 520 'there was no safety to him that went out or came in because of the adversary,'— the reference being probably to raids made by the Samaritans or other neighbours, though troubles arising from the passage of Persian troops through Judah, when Cambyses invaded Egypt in 527, may also be included. Nor was this all. The land had lain neglected for fifty years, and it was a long and laborious task to bring it into proper cultiva- tion again : a succession of bad seasons added to the difficulty ; droughts prevailed ; the scanty crops were blasted by irrildew and beaten down by bail : a few indeed were prosperous enough to dwell in ' panelled ' houses, but the people generally were impoverished and disap- pointed (Hag. i. 4, 6, 9-II, ii. i6, 17; cf. Zech. viii. 10). The Second Isaiah liad portrayed dazzling visions of the restoration : a triumphai progress of the exiles returning through the desert ; noble trees and cooling waters ' Kf. 6-23, as already remai-ked (p. r46>/.\ hnve nothfng to do with vv. 1-5, 24. I50 HAGGAI aftbrding them refreshment by the way; Jerusalem re- splendent with every glory ; the people basking in peace and felicity ; the nations of the earth envious of their happiness, and vying with one another in showing them honour and respect (Is. xli. l8f., xlviii. 20 f., xlix. 10 f., 22 f., lii. 12, liv. II f., Iv. 12 f., Ix, Ixi. 5 f., Ixv. 17-25). The reality was a bitter disenchantment: the people were disheartened : they concluded that the wrath of God was not yet removed from them (Zech. i. 12), and that ' the time had not yet come for Yahweh's house to be built' (Hag. i. 2). Meanwhile, important events were taking place in the Persian empire. After the death of Cambyses in 522, the Magian Gaumdta, who pretended to be Cambyses's brother Smerdis, usurped the throne, and held it for seven months. His murder by Darius Hystaspis and six others, and the elevation of Darius to the throne (Hdt. iii. 67-88), was the signal for the outbreak of great disturbances in the Persian empire. As we learn from the Behistun inscription, a series of pretenders arose in different parts of the empire, and many provinces revolted, which had all to be reconquered by Darius. First Susiana rebelled under one Atrina, who styled himself king there ; then Babylon under Nidintubel, who claimed to be * Nebuchadnezzar, son of Nabuna'id,' and who is shown by contract-tablets to have reigned in Babylon from Oct. 521 till Aug. 520, when Darius defeated Nidintubel in front of Babylon, and, entering the city a few days afterwards, put him to death. Whilst he was in Babylon, Darius tells us, the provinces of Persia, Susiana, Media, Assyria, Armenia, Parthia, Margiana, Sattagydia, Sacia all revolted \ The revolt in Susiana was soon subdued, but the others were more serious, and were not suppressed without many months of hard fighting ^ Altogether Darius enumerates (including ' Beliistun Inscr.. col. i. par. 16 — col. ii. par. 2. '^ It is unnpces«vary to state particular*; here : the}' are given INTRODUCTION 151 Gaumdta) nine pretenders, and says that it cost him nine- teen battles to put them down. His authority was not finally established in his empire till the spring of 519. News of these occurrences would naturally reach Jerusalem ; and as in the past the prophets had often caught their inspiration from great movements around them, in which they traced the workings of Yahweh's hand, so, it can hardly be doubted, this shaking of nations in the East helped to awaken the spirit of prophecy in Haggai, and determine the direction of his thoughts. It was a shaking which, as he wrote in 520, seemed destined to spread ; it seemed destined to embrace other nations, and to be likely before long to issue in that overthrow of heathen powers to which the older prophets had often looked forward as preceding the advent of the Messianic age. It was imperative, therefore, that Yahweh's Temple should be made ready for Him as speedily as possible : when this was done, the people would no longer have cause to complain of bad seasons and other disappointments : Yahweh's blessing would rest upon them (Hag. ii. 19) ; there would be a 'shaking' both of * heaven and earth,' and of ' all nations' : some would offer willingly of their costliest treasures to beautify the restored Temple; nations unfriendly to Yahweh and His people would be overthrown, and perish by internecine strife : the Messianic age of peace and felicity would thereupon begin in Judah, with an honourable place reserved in it for Zerubbabel (Hag. ii. 7, 9, 21-23). Haggai thus reaffirms the Messianic hope of the older prophets, in a form suggested by, and adapted to, the circumstances of the age in which he lived. Of course Haggai, in his picture of the future kingdom of God, portrays, like the other prophets, an ideal. As he looks out into the future he idealizes it : he pictures ____ — , * .It length by Darius in the same Inscr., colli, par, 3 -col. iv par. 4. 152 HAGGAI the restored Temple as the religious centre of the world (Is. ii. 2-4), nations coming m pilgrimage to it, delighting to honour it with their gifts, and so making it more glorious even than the Temple of Solomon. The vision has not been fulfilled (cf. p. 180), and of course can now never be fulfilled except in a spiritual sense. AJl nations may own one religion and one God ; but the one Temple in which, when this consummation has arrived, they will offer their worship and their gifts can obviously be only a spiritual Temple. Haggai's book consists of four distinct, though related, prophecies, all belonging to the second year of Darius, B.C. 520. 1. Chap. i. On the first day of the sixth month Haggai appeals publicly to the people no longer to postpone the work of rebuilding the Temple : their neglect was not due to want of means, for some, ai any rate, had built panelled houses for themselves, and it had been followed by failure of crops and drought, indicative of the Divine displeasure: if they would regain Yahweh's favour, let them fetch timber from the mountains, and begin the work of restoration at once. His words produced such an effect upon those who heard them that, on the 24th of the same month, the people, headed by Zerubbabed, and the high priest Joshua, began the work. 2. Ch. ii.1-9. On the 2ist day of the seventh month the prophet addresses words of encouragement to those who felt disheartened as they gazed upon the ruined remains of Solomon's Temple, and wondered whether they could ever be restored to their former magnificence : the future glor>' of the Temple, he declares, will exceed its former glory ; for soon a great * shaking ' of all things will take place ; the Messianic age will be established ; and the Temple will be beautified by the offerings of the Gentiles. 3. Ch. ii. 10-19. On the 24th day of the ninth month, Haggai, in order further to impress upon the people the im- portance of pressing on with the restoration of the Temple, INTRODUCTION 153 teaches them, by means of a kind of parable, that so long as it remains unbuilt, a taint of guilt clings to everything that they do, and they cannot expect the unfruitful seasons to come to an end ; if, however, they will only continue the good work which they have on this very day begun, they may confidently look forward to receive Yahweh's blessing. 4. Ch. ii. 20-23. An encouragement addressed, on the same day, to Zerubbabel personally, as the representative of the Davidic dynasty, and therefore the object of patriotic hopes. Zerubbabel is assured by the prophet that, in the approaching overthrow of heathen powers, his position will remain unshaken, and he will be made Yahweh's honoured and trusted vice-gerent. The literary style of Haggai, though not devoid of force, is, comparatively speaking, simple and inornate : he lacks the imagination and poetical power possessed by the prophets generally. But he possesses all the feeling and spirit of a prophet ; and his ministry was rewarded with a success which was denied to some of his greater predecessors. Times had changed : and though he had to arouse the people to exertion on God's behalf, he had not, like most of the pre-exilic prophets, to call them to repentance, or to threaten them with judgement for their idolatry and other national sins. ' In his opening message Haggai evinced the first indispensable power of the prophet — to speak to the situation of the moment, and to succeed in getting men to take up the duty at their feet ; in another message he announced agreat ethical principle^; in his last he conserved the Messianic traditions of his religion, and, though disappointed in the personality (Zerubbabel) to whom he looked for their fulfilment, he succeeded in passing on their hope undiminished to future ages ' (G. A. Smith, p. 252). * Viz. (ii. 10-19) that evil has a greater infectious power than holiness. HAGGAI 1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the 1. the second year, &c. b. c. 520. See the Introduction. Darius. Heb. Darydvesh^ which corresponds very closely to the form used by Darius himself in his inscriptions, Ddryavush. ' Darius,' comes, of course, through the Latin, from the Greek form of the name, Aap€io<{. Darius Hystaspis (b. c. 522-485) is the Persian king of whom we hear much from Herodotus, and who led the expedition against Greece, which was repulsed by the Athenians at Marathon, b. c. 490. Darius the kingf. The order usual in Aramaic, and found as a rule in the post-exilic books of the O. T. In the older books the order, almost without exception, is the king David, the king Solomon, &c. the sixth month. The month called by the Assyrians and Babylonians Elid (Neh. vi. 15 ; i Mace. xiv. 27), corresponding to our Aug.-Sept. the son of Shealtiel. Cf. Ezr. iii. 2, 8, v. 2 ; Neh. xii. i ; Mt. i. 12 ; Luke iii. 27. Shealtiel was son of Jeconiah (i. e. Jehoiachin), the king of Judah who (2 K. xxiv. 15) was taken captive to Babj'lon (i Chr. iii. 17) : Zerubbabel was consequently in the direct line of descent from David. g-overnor of Judah : i. e. governor of the Persian province of Judah. The word pehdh is of Assyrian origin : it occurs constantly in the Ass. and Bab. inscriptions of the * goverrior ' of a province ; and when the Persians succeeded to the empire of the Babylonians the name passed on to them. It often occurs in post-exilic writings in the same sense, as ii. 2, 21, Mai. i. 8, Neh. ii. 7, 9, &c. Joshua. The first high-priest after the restoration, often mentioned in the Book of Haggai (see i. 12, 14, ii. 2, 4 . and Zechariah (iii, vi. ii\ called in Ezra (ii. 2, iii. 2 al.) and Nehemiah (xii. i ah) Jeshun. He was son of Jehozadak. the high- priest who was taken to Babylon by the Chaldaeans i Chr. vi. 15^, and grandson of the liigh-prirst Seraiah. who was put to death bj' HAGGAI 1. 3-6 155 son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, Thus speaketh 2 the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, '^It is not the time for its to come, the time for the Lord's house to be built. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai 3 the prophet, saying, Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell 4 in your cieled houses, while this house lieth waste ? Now 5 therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts : ^ Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little ; ye eat, 6 * According to many ancient versions, 77?^ time is not come for the Lord's house &c. ^ Heb. Set your heart on your ways. Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah, after the capture of Jerusalem, b. c. 586 (2 K. XXV. 18-21;. 2-6. The prophet, in Yahweh's name, rebukes the people : they have been remiss in making no effort to rebuild the Temple; hence their present distress and want. 2. This people. With a touch of depreciation, as Is. vi. 9, 10, xxviii. II, 14 aL The time is not come for Yahweh's house to be built. , So we must read, following RVm.: the Hebrew text has a forced and unnatural construction. The people were disheartened : the glowing promises of the Second Isaiah had not been fulfilled ; a succession of bad harvests (vv. 6, 11) seemed to indicate that Yahweh's anger still rested upon them. So they argued that the time had not yet arrived for the Temple to be built. 3. The prophet retorts the word they use upon themselves : is it, then, the 'time' for them to live in well-built, panelled houses? in your cieled houses. More exactly, in your houses, (and that too) panelled. * Cieled ' is here a very misleading archaism (see W. A. Wright's Bible Word-Book, s. v., or Hastings' DB., s. V.) : for the word has no reference to what we now call the ' cieling,' but means panelled : the walls, viz. were wainscotted with costly woodwork (cf. Jer. xxii. 14). * Cieled ' has the same mean- ing in 2 Chr. iii. 5, Jer. xxii. 14, Ez. xli. 16 (AV. and RV.), 5. Consider. Heb. set your heart on (i. e. give 3'our attention to) : so V. 7, ii. 15, 18 ; also Job i. 8 a/. your ways : i. e. what 3'ou have been doing, and what it is leading to, viz. (v. 6) impoverishment and want. 6. The crops are scanty and poor, men are consequent!}' insufficiently nourished, unable to resist the cold, and im- poverished. 156 HAGGAI 1. 7-9 but ye have not enough ; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink ; ye clothe you, but there is none warm ; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag 7 with holes. Thus saith the Lord of hosts : a- Consider 8 your ways. Go up to the ^mountain, and bring wood, and build the house ; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will 9 be glorified, saith the Lord. Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did cblowuponit. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because * Yitki. Set your heart on your ways. ^ Or, hill country ^ Or, blow it away "but ye have not, &c. More exactly, but ye cannot have enoiig-h; ye drink, but ye cannot be filled with drink; yc clothe you, but ye cannot get warm. he that earneth wagfes, &c. An expressive figure. Earnings quickly disappear : they are small in themselves, and are soon spent in providing the merest necessaries of life. Cf. Zech. viii. 10. 7. 8. The people are again bidden to 'consider their ways,' with the view of beginning to do now what they have so long neglected. 8. Go up to the hill country, «&c. : i. e. into the mountainous country about Jerusalem, where there must at this time have been woods (cf. Neh. ii. 8, viii. 15). There would probably be almost sufficient stonework remaining from Solomon's Temple; but the woodwork had been burnt, and would have to be replaced. be crlorified: or, glorify myself, viz. by pouring out My blessing upon you, and bringing in the Messianic age. 9-11. The cause of the recent bad harvests and scarcity of food. 9. A double misfortune had fallen upon them. They had expected plentiful harvests, but had had scanty ones ; and what they had gathered into the barns, being sickly or blighted, had quickly become spoilt. blown (or breathed) upon. Either with the collateral idea (cf. RVm.) oi blowing away, or (We., Marti), in accordance with a popular superstition, with that of spoiling : cf. the statement of a modern traveller, cited by Marti, 'The Muslims dislike it ex- tremely, when any one breathes on a threshing-floor full of corn ; they say that the devil then comes by night, and carries away a part of the harvest.' Because, &c. The bad seasons, so far from being, as the HAGGAI 1. lo, II 157 of mine house that lieth waste, while ye run every man to his own house. Therefore ^ for your sake the heaven is 10 stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed frof/i her fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the 1 1 mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth * Or, over you people thought (v. 2), an indication that the time for building the Temple had not yet arrived, are in fact a sign of Yahweh's dis- pleasure for their slackness in the work, at the same time that they are ready enough to build and adorn their own houses (cf. v. 2). run ... to. Fig. for devote themselves eagerly to (cf. ' run to evil/ Pr. i. 16). But perhaps, with a slight change, we should read (We., Now., Marti), take pleasure every man in. 10. for your sake. The Heb. preposition is ambiguous, and might mean either for your sake (cf. Ps. xliv. 22), or over you (cf. Dt. xxviii. 23). In the former case, however, the words arc superfluous after Therefore ; and in the latter case the point would not have the full force that it has in Dt. xxviii. 23. LXX do not express the words ; and it is possible that cs''?? io due to a faulty- repetition of the preceding p ^ ' therefore ' (so We., Now., Smith, Marti). is stayed, &c. Read (omitting one letter) : hath withheld the dew, and the earth hath withheld her increase (Zech. viii. 12). The Heb. verb is never used intransitively. Even RV. ( = AV.) implies the addition of a letter : notice the itsdic from. dew. Dew in Palestine is copious, as it is also indispensable for vegetation, during the hot and rainless summers : hence it is often mentioned as a condition of fertility, e. g. Dt. xxxiii. 13, 28, Zech. viii. 12. 11. A drought had fallen consequently upon the entire produce of the soil. called. Cf. 2 K. viii. i. wine : rather, must. The Heb. tirosh appears to have been a comprehensive term, denoting sometimes (cf. Joef ii. 24) the freshly-expressed juice of the grape, sometimes (cf. Jud. ix. 13 ; Hos, iv. 11) a light kind of wine, such as the ancients often made by checking artificially the fermentation of the juice before it had run its full course (see more fully the note in the writer's Joel and Amos, in the Cambridge Bible, pp. 79 f.). 'Corn, must, and fresh oil ' {yizhdr) are often mentioned together as the three staple products of the soil of Palestine : e.g. Dt. vii. 13, xi. 14 ; Hos. ii, 8, 32 : for tirosh cf. albo Is. Ixii. 8, Ixv. 8 ; Zech. ix. 17. 158 HAGGAI 1. 12-14 forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands. 13 Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest^ with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him ; and the people did fear before the Lord. 13 Then spake Haggai the Lord's messenger in the Lord's message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the 14 Lord. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel labour: i.e. labour connected with agriculture ; here of the product of labour, as Dt. xxviii. 33, Ps. Ixxviii. 46. ' For ourselves, Haggai's appeal to the barren seasons, and poverty of the people, as proof of God's anger with their selfishness, must raise questions. But we have already seen, not only that national calamities were by the ancient world inter- preted as the penal instruments of the Deity, but that all through history they have had a wonderful influence on the spirits of men, forcing them to search their own hearts, and to believe that Providence is conducted for other ends than our own physical prosperity ' (G. A. Smith, ii. 239 f. ; cf. i. i6a f.). ia-15. The effects of Haggai's prophecy. A little more than three weeks afterwards, the people, headed by Zerubbabel and the high-priest Joshua, began the work. 12. the remnant of the people : i.e. those who had returned from Babylon, the ^ remnant ' of a once more numerous nation. So V. 14, ii. 2 ; Zech. viii. 6 : cf. Is. xlvi. 3. obeyed. Lit. hearkened to, — which is, of course, the etymological meaning of ^ obeyed ' (pb-audio). So always. did fear before Yahweh. Recognizing His hand in the bad seasons that had befallen them, and accepting them as a punish- ment for their neglect of His house. 13. in Yahweh's message. Rather, by Yahweh's messengrer- ahip : i.e. in virtue of his being commissioned by Yahweh as His prophet The word '■ messenger ' (often in the common sense of the word, and also as = angel) is applied only here to a prophet. Z am with you. A word of encouragement and consola- tion : ii. 4^, Gen. xxviii. 15 ; Ex. iii. 12; Jos. i. 5; Jer. i. 8, and frequently. 14. stirred up the spirit of . . . So Jer. Ii. 11 ; i Chr. v. 26 ; 2 Chr. xxi. 16, xxxvi. 22 (^ Ezr. i. i) ; Ezr. i. 5. HAGGAI 1. 15—2. 2 159 the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people ; and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, in the four and twentieth day of the month, in the 15 sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king. In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of 2 the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying. Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of ^ Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of and they came, &c. Cf. for the fact Ezr. v. 2. did work. As 2 K. xii. 11. 'Work' is a substantive. As the actual building seems only to have begun later (see on ii. 15-19), the reference will probably be to the preliminary labour of clearing away rubbish, &c. ii. 1-9. Those among the people who remembered what the Temple of Solomon was like, before it had been pillaged, and its woodwork burnt, by the Chaldaeans (2 K. xxv. 9, 13-17), were no doubt greatly discouraged when they saw its dismantled walls and ruined courts, which had now lain neglected for more than sixty years, and wondered whether it would ever be possible to restore them to their former magnificence : whatever had been done during the past month (i. 15), the Temple in its present condition presented a disheartening spectacle. It was to counteract such despondency that Haggai spoke the words of encouragement contained in ii. 1-9, promising that, in spite of its present un- worthy appearance, the later glory of the Temple would transcend its former glory, for the Messianic age is speedily approaching : the ideals of prophecy (e. g. Is. Ix) will be shortly fulfilled ; and the Temple will be beautified with the wealth of the nations (Is. Ix. 5, 7, 13). The Temple was actually completed four years afterwards, in 516 (Ezr. vi. 15). Its completion 'marks a new stage in religious history. It was the first and most definite step towards the realization of Ezekiel's vision of a holy community having the sanctuary as its visible centre and rallying-point. That Haggai connected the advent of the Messianic age with Zerubbabel is an instance T)f the inevitable limitations of prophecy. But he at least succeeded (G. A. Smith, ii. 252) in " asserting the Messianic hope of Israel, always baffled, never quenched, in this reopening of her life"' (Ottley, Religion of IsraeL 1905. p. 128}. 2. Zerubbabal, &'c. See on i. r. i6o HAGGAI 2. 3-5 Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the 3 people, saying, Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory ? and how do ye see it now ? is it not 4 in your eyes as nothing ? Yet now be strong, O Zerub- babel, saith the Lord ; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest ; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work : for I am with 5 you, saith the Lord of hosts, ^ according to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, * Or, Remember the word, ifc. the remnant of the people. See on i. 12. 3. Who is left, «S£C. Solomon's Temple was burnt by the Chaldaeans sixty-six years before (b. c. 586) ; so that none but a few very aged men could have remembered it. this house : the dismantled walls of Solomon's Temple. as nothing : i. e. in comparison with what it was in its glory, when it was not only panelled on its inner walls with cedar, and decorated with carvings, but also,— even though there may be some exaggeration in the descriptions', — in many parts overlaid with gold. 4. he strong* : !• e. be of good courage, as 2 S. x. 12 al. (Heb.). for I am with you. Cf, i. 13. 5. The Hebrew is highly anomalous : ' the word ' is preceded by the mark of the accusative, and there is no verb to govern it ; the insertion of 'according to' in AV., RV. is utterly ungrammatical. If we understand 'Remember' (RVm. ; cf. Zech. vii. 7), the reference will be to Yahweh's promise or covenant that, if Israel would be obedient to His voice, He would make it His possession out of all peoples (Ex. xix. 5; cf. Jer. xi. 3-5). But to understand ' Remember ' is more than is possible. It seems that we must, with We., Now., Smith, Marti, follow the LXX, which does not express the first clause of v. 5 at all, reading {v. ^) 'for I am with you, saith Yahweh of hosts, and my spirit abideth in your midst : fear ye not.' This yields an excellent sense, in agreement with the context : the omitted words, on the contrary, introduce a thought foreign to their context, and are apparently a gloss, intended to remind the reader of the covenant made with Israel at the Exodus, as forming the basis of all Yahweh's sAsequent relations with His people. ^ See DB. iv. 701*; EB. 'Temple,' §9; Barney, Notes on the Hebre-w text of Kings, pp. 73 f. (with reserve). HAGGAI 2. 6 i6i and my spirit » abode among you : fear ye not. For 6 thus saith the Lord of hosts : Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and » Or, abide th abode. RVm. abideth is much preferable. It is the presence of Yahweh's spirit in Israel now (Zech. iv. 6), not in the past (Is. Ixiii. ii), to which Haggai appeals. 6-9. The promise itself, giving the grounds of the encourage- ment expressed in vv. 4, 5. In the first two years of Darius' reign (522-520) his empire was in a disturbed state ; many important provinces revolted under pretenders, and were with difficulty reduced to submission (see p. 150) ; and as in the past movements among the nations, or approaching political crises, taken in conjunction with their bearing upon Israel, had often given the impulse to prophecy, and determined the form and imagery of prophetic utterances, so now Haggai throws his prophetic thought into a form suggested by the circumstances of his time : he announces the signs that are to precede the advent of the ideal kingdom of God : nations will be shaken, and earthly kingdoms overthrown (cf. especially ii. 21-23); ^nd then, as God's kingdom is established upon Zion, the peoples of the earth will vie with one another in bringing their costliest offerings to beautify His Temple (cf. Is. Ix. 5-7, 11). 6. a little while. The future, as often in prophecy, is fore- shortened. Isaiah, for example, anticipated the ideal kingdom of God as being established immediately after the overthrow of Sennacherib (Is. xi. i-io, cf. x. 33 f. ; xxxii. 1-8, cf. xxxi. 8-9) ; the Second Isaiah represents the ideal future as beginning im- mediately after the people's return from Babylon (e. g. Is. Ix, Ixi. 4-9) ; and here Haggai similarly pictures the Gentiles as coming to do homage at Jerusalem within *a little while.' Cf. ii. 20-23, where Zerubbabel is assigned a place in the Messianic kingdom, I will shftte, &c. As ii. 21-3 shows, political convulsions are what the prophet has primarily in view ; but he pictures them here as accompanied by earthquake, and other physical manifesta- tions (cf. Is. xiii. 10, 13, as accompanying the fall of Babylon ; Ez. xxxii. 7 f.). This verse is quoted (partly) in Heb. xii. 26 f. The apostle finds an emphasis in the expression Yet once, implying the finality of the * shaking ' referred to by the prophet ; and he interprets the passage as signifying 'the removal of the things that are being shaken, as of things that have been made ' (i. e. of the earthly and transitory Jewish dispensation, then, as he wrote, on the point of passing away), ' that those things which are not shaken may remain ' (i. e. the spiritual or Christian order of things, spoken M i62 HAGGAI 2. 7-9 7 the sea, and the dry land ; and I will shake all nations, and * the desirable things of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. S The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord 9 of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater '^ Or, the things desired (Heb. desire) of all nations shall come of in the next verse as a ' kingdom which cannot be shaken,' which he and those whom he is addressing have received). 7. The effects of this 'shaking' upon the nations. the desirable thing's of all nations shall come, &c. : i. e. their costly treasures will be brought to beautify the Temple (cf. V. 8). The thought is exactly the same as that of Is. Ix. 5, where, speaking of the Temple to be built in the restored city, the prophet says, 'The abundance of the sea shall be turned unto thee, the wealth of the nations shall come unto thee^ (cf. also vv. 6, 7 [RVm.], II, 13). For the word rendered desirable (i. e. precious) things, cf. another derivative of the same root rendered 'precious' in 2 Chr. xx, 25, Dan. xi. 43. And for Zion, as the future spiritual metropolis of the world, cf. Is. ii. 2-4, Zech. viii. 21 f , xiv. 16. The passage is, of course, ' Messianic ' in the broader sense of the term ; but the old rendering (Vulg. et veniet desideratus cunctis gentibus: AV. and the desire of all nations shall corne), according to which it had specifically a personal reference, and spoke of the coming of the Messiah, is impossible upon grammatical grounds : the verb ' shall come ' is in the Hebrew plural, showing that the subject hemdath, though in form a fem, sing., is really a collective term, and denotes ' desirable things ' : see in the Heb. exactly similar constructions in Jud. ix. 55, xv. 10 ; Is. xvi. 4 ; Ps. ix. 7, &c., and as here, with Zifem. subject. Is. xxvi. 19; Ps. cxix. 103 (cf. G.-K. § 145*^'*^). The LXX already render correctly /cat ^^ft ra. (K\eKTa iravTuv tS)v kOuwv. Z will All this house with glory. It is tempting to think (with some older commentators and Wellh.) of i K. viii. 10 f., and to refer the words to the glory of the Divine presence ; but the context (y. 8, as well as v. 7 ") rather strongly supports the view that the ' glory ' pictured by the prophet is that which will accrue to it from the offerings of the nations (cf. Is. Ix. 5-7, 13). 8. The silver is mine, &c. The 'wealth of the nations' is Mine ; and they will offer to Me of it willingly and abundantly. 9. The latter jflory of this house: as the walls built by Solomon were probably, at least in part, still standing, the 'house,' or Temple, of which they were to form part, is regarded as one and the same as the previous one ; cf. the same expression in v. 3. The latter glory of the Temple will be greater even than the HAGGAI 2. 10-12 163 than the former, saith the Lord of hosts : and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts. In the four and twentieth day of the ninth months in to the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying. Thus saith the Lord of n hosts : Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, If 12 one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any former {v. 3), on account, viz. of the splendid offerings of gold and silver made to it by the nations. Cf. Tobit xiv. 5. will I give peace. The final blessing. Though the nations may be in commotion {vv. 6\ 7*), Jerusalem will enjoy God- given peace (cf. Is. Ix. i8). Betw^een this prophecy and the next {yv. 10-19), spoken two months afterwards, falls chronologically Zech. i. 1-6 (in the eighth month of Darius' second year). 10-19. Haggai here adopts another means of encouraging the people to proceed with the work of rebuilding the Temple, by pointing to the consequences which their remissness in the past had brought upon them, and promising that henceforth the blessing of Yahweh should rest upon them. On the 24th of the ninth month — three months after work had begun on the site of the Temple (i. 14 f.), and two months after the last prophecy (ii. r-9) —by means of replies elicited from the priests on two points of ceremonial observance, he teaches the people that, so long as the Temple remains unbuilt, they are as men that are unclean ; their offerings are unacceptable; and hence the late unfruitful seasons. From the present day, however, the day on which the foundation of the Temple was laid, Yahweh promises to bless them. 11. Render: Ask, now, direction of the priests. The Heb. torah (from hordh, to point out, direct, teach) means oral direction given by the priests to the laity, in accordance with a traditional body of principles and usages, on (principally) points of ceremonial duty : in process of time the term came further to denote a body 0/ technical direction (or 'law') on a given subject (e.g. on leprosy, Lev. xiv. 2, 32, 54, 57), and finally to denote * the law,' as a whole. Cf. Jer. xviii. 18 ^direction will not perish from his mouth ' ; Ez. xliv. 23 (cf. Lev. x. ID, xi. 47) 'They shall direct my people (so as to discern) between the holy and the common, and make them to know (the difference) between the unclean and the clean ' ; Dt. xxiv. 8; and see further the art. * Law' in DB. (iii. 65). 12. holy flesh. The flesh of a sacrifice, which is sacred as belonging to Yahweh : so Jer. xi. 15 (RVm.). M 2 1 64 HAGGAI 2. 13.15 meat, shall it become holy? And the priests answered 13 and said, No. Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean ? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean. 14 Then answered Haggai and said. So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord ; and so is every work of their hands ; and that which they offer 15 there is unclean. And now, I pray you, consider from meat. Rather, food : see on Hab. i. 16. shall. We should now say, will. So v. 13 (twice). 13. unclean by a dead body. Ceremonially '■ unclean,' through contact with, or even proximity to, a corpse (Nu. xix). it will be unclean. See Nu. xix. 22. What was ceremonially ' holy ' hallowed what it touched, but not more (Lev. vi. 27); what was ceremonially ' unclean ' infected not only the person in contact with it, but whatever he touched as well (Nu. xix. 22) : uncleanness had thus a greater infectious power than holiness. The application follows in v. 14. 14. So it is with the people : ' The faint aroma of sanctity, coming from their altar and sacrifices, was too indirect and feeble to affect and pervade the secular atmosphere of their life and circumstances — ^just as holy flesh carried in the lap will not sanctify what the lap touches ; while, on the other hand, the work- a-day worldliness of their minds and life infected everything connected with them, defiling even their religious actions — just as one unclean from touching a corpse defiles even the holiest things when he comes near them ' (Davidson, The Exile and Restoration ^ p. 82). The lesson is, Less worldliness, more holiness, more thought for God and His Temple. there. A contemptuous reference to the provisional altar, which had been erected immediately after the return from Babylon (Ezr. iii. 3). 15-19. Let the people lay to heart their remissness in making no effort to rebuild the Temple during the seventeen years which had passed since their return from Babylon : a succession of infertile seasons had been the consequence of their neglect ; only now, when they have seriously girded themselves to the work, can God promise them His blessing. This is clearly the general sense of the passage ; but parts of it are difficult, and have been very differently understood. To the present writer the best rendering appears to be that of Nowack, which has been accepted by Wellh., in his third edition (1898), in preference to the one which he had HAGGAI 2. 15. 165 this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon adopted previously ^ ; and also by G. A. Cooke (* Haggai ' in DB. ii. 280*' «.), and Marti. It will probably conduce to clearness if the rendering of RV. (which is also that of Keil) is first explained, and then that of Nowack given as a whole, explanations of details being added afterwards. (i) Explanation of RV. : Consider from this day and backwards, back from before one stone was laid upon another in the Temple (i.e. back from before the building of the Temple was resumed, three months ago, i. 14 f.) ; {v. 16 f.) during all this time there were bad seasons : {v. 18) consider from to-day and backwards, [beginning now at the other end] since the day when (sixteen years ago, Ezr. iii. 10) the foundation of the Temple was laid : {v. 19) Is the seed [which has been gathered] still in the barn ? [No : the scanty produce has all been consumed,] yea, the vine, &c., have not brought forth (on account of the bad seasons) : from this day (now that the work of rebuilding the Temple has begun in earnest) I will bless you. Here (a) the day on which the foundation of the Temple was laid is taken to have been in the year after the return, sixteen years previously ; (6) the interpretation of ' upward ' as backwards is questionable; (c) in v. 18 the rendering 'since' {lit. 'from') implies a forced exegesis ; the sudden transition from the end to the beginning of the sixteen years is awkward, and the same sense would have been more naturally expressed by ' from the day that the foundation of the Temple was laid until to-day, consider it* (cf. G. A. Smith, p. 248). (2) As rendered by Nowack (except in one or two minor points) : * ^^ And now, I pray you, consider from to-day and onwards ! Before a stone was laid upon a stone in the Temple of Yahweh [i. e. before to-day], ^^ how did ye fare ? when one came to a heap of twenty se'ahs, there were but ten ; when one came to the wine-vat to draw off fifty trough-fulls, there were but twenty. ^"^ I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail, (even) all the work of j'our hands ; yet were ye not (disposed) towards me, saith Yahweh. ^^ Consider, I pray j'ou, from to-day and onwards [resuming -y. 15*] : (yea,) from the four and twentieth day of the ninth (month), from the day on which the foundation of Yahweh's Temple has been laid [i.e. from to-day], consider! '* Is the seed [to be sown] still in the barn [viz. in the future, which the prophet here has in mind] ? do the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree still [i3?for nr] not bear ? [No : they will then bear ; for prosperity will have returned] : from this day I will bless you ! ' ' See for this Smith, pp. 247 f., who substantially follows it. i66 HAGGAI 2. i6 1 6 a stone in the temple of the Lord: «^ through all that time, when one came to an heap of twenty vieasures, there were but ten ; when one came to the winefat for to * Heb. since those days were. Here the day on which the foundation of the Temple was laid is taken to be the day on which Haggai is speaking. The other variations from the sense expressed by RV. will be apparent from the translation : see also the following notes, and p. 170. 15. this day. The day on which the prophet is speaking, the 24th of the ninth month (Chislev [Zech. vii. i] = Nov.-Dec.). and upward. This is the crucial word in the interpretation of the passage. Everywhere else the expression means 'and omvards ' (i S. xvi. 13, xxx. 25 ; and in the formula, ' from [ twenty] years old and upwards^^ i. e. and onwards^ Nu. i. 3, and often) ; and it is very doubtful whether, here and v. 18, it can be rightly understood in the opposite sense of backwards. Nowack under- stands the expression in the sense that we should expect it to have from the analogy of its other occurrences. 16. In consequence of the poor crops, both harvest and vintage had yielded much less than had been expected. throngh all that time. Heb. since they were, — an incredible expression for 'through all that time.' The text is beyond ques- tion corrupt : the emendation of Matthes, how did ye fare ? (///. 'what did ye become? '), suggested by the LXX (rtVcs ^tc;), and adopted by Nowack, implies merely nn^ n no for cnvno. twenty measures. Read with LXX {para) twenty seahs ; the same word is also supplied by Rashi and Kimchi. The 's6'ah' was the third of an ephah, and equal to about 2f gallons : it is often in EVV. concealed under the colourless 'measure' (Gen. xviii. 6 ; I S. XXV. 18 ; i K. xviii. 32; 2 K. vii. i ; Mt. xiii. 33 [(tqtoi/] ). winefat. ' Fat ' is here an archaism for vat (Germ, fass, Icel. /a^, A.-S./o?/), as elsewhere in EVV., viz. Joel ii. 24, iii. 13, Is. Ixii. 2, Prov. iii. 10 RV., Is. v. 2 RVm., Mark xii. i AV., Hos. ix. 2 AVm. (cf. Antony and Cleop. ii. 7, 22, cited by Aldis Wright, Bible IVord-Book, s.v. Fat). The 'wine-vat' was the receptacle in which the juice, trodden out by the feet of men in the 'wine-press,' was collected. Both were commonly cavities hewn out in the rock (cf. Is. v. 2) at different levels, the upper one, the gath or the wine-press, having the larger superficial area, the lower one, the yekeb or wine-vat, the greater depth ; the juice expressed in the gath flowed down into the yekeb through a connecting channel. Many remains of ancient wine-presses and wine-vats have been found in Palestine : see Rob. BR. iii. 137 (here the gath was 8 ft. square and 15 inches deep, the ye^eb HAGGAI 2. 17, 18 167 draw out fifty vessels, there were but twenty. I smote 17 you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the work of your hands ; yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord. Consider, I pray you, from this day and 18 4 ft. square and 3 ft. deep), 381 ; EB. iv. 5312 (with a plan and sectional drawings). to draw out. Rather, to bale out, — the word meaning to scoop or ladle off from the top ; cf. Is. xxx. 14 ' a potsherd ... to bale out water from a cistern.' Indeed, this would be the only way in which a cavity sunk in the rock could be emptied. fifty vessels. Heb. ^ ^{iy ptlrdhs'' or trough-fulls, — 'purah* meaning a wine-trough, and being in Is. Ixiii. 3 a syn. of the ' wine- press,' and so, it is supposed, signif^nng here the measure of juice which was generally obtained from one filling of the press with grapes. But the expression is rather strange ; and perhaps, supposing a letter to have fallen out, we should read, with We. (and AV. !) 'to draw off fift}-- (seahs) /rom the wine-troughy'' — '■ purdh' being here in this case a synonym of the ' wine-t/a^' 17. I smote you witli blasting- and with mildew. A reminis- cence of Am. iv. 9 ; see also Dt. xxviii. 22, i K. viii. 37. blasting: i. e. the blasting of the sirocco (cf. Gen. xli. 6, where the 'east wind,' — as indeed always in the OT., — means the sirocco M, a hot and scorching wind which in Palestine is apt to blow up with great suddenness and violence from the desert, withering and burning the growing corn so that no animal will touch it, and described by travellers as striking the face like a blast from a furnace. mildew : i. e. a blight causing the ears to turn a pale yellow, and yield no grain. The Heb. word signifies (pale and unhealthy) greenness. and with hail, (even) all the work of your hands: i.e. your undertakings, especially your agricultural enterprises (cf. Dt. xvi. 15, xxviii. 12). For the destructive effects of hail, cf. Ex. ix. 25, 26, Ps. Ixxviii. 47. yet were ye not towards me : i. e. were not disposed towards me (2 K. vi. 11, Hos. iii. 3, Ez. xxxvi. 9 ' 1 am towards you '). The Heb. here is peculiar : it is varied from ' yet ye returned not unto me' in Am. iv. 9 (also vv. 6, 8, 10, 11), just referred to. It is best explained philologically by Wellh. The correction cnic? s'^i is violent. 18. See the alternative explanations of this verse above, p. 165. On the difficult question of the date of the foundation of the * 'Sirocco' is itself merely a corruption of the kxd\iK. sherkiyehy 'eastern.' i68 HAGGAI 2. 19-22 upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth months since the day that the foundation of the Lord's 19 temple was laid, consider it. Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, the vine, and the fig tree, and the pome- granate, and the oHve tree hath not brought forth ; from this day will I bless ^6?«. 20 And the word of the Lord came the second time unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, 2 1 saying, Speak to Zerubbabel; governor of Judah, saying, I 2 2 will shake the heavens and the earth : and I will over- Second Temple, see p 147 f., where it is shown that, though there is some conflict of authorities, it is on the whole most probable that the ceremony did take place in 536, but, as it was not followed by any actual building opei-ations till Haggai and Zechariah induced the people to proceed with the work in 520, it came to be ignored, and the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month in 520 was treated as the day on which the foundation of the Temple was really and effectively laid. 19. On the two different interpretations of which this verse (as far as ' brought forth ') is susceptible, see also p. 165. yea. The Heb. is unusual; but the rendering ' yea ' or ' even ' may be defended by i S. ii. 5, Job xxv. 5. Nowack's rendering < still ' implies only the change of a vowel point. from this day I will bless you : now that the people have set themselves earnestly to the work of restoration, a blessing is promised. 20-23. Conclusion. A second prophecy, delivered on the same day as the last, and addressed specially to Zerubbabel, in which the prophet develops further the thoughts expressed by him two months previously (ii. 6 f. ; see ii. i) ; and promises Zerubbabel that on the approaching overthrow of the powers of the world, which is to inaugurate the Messianic age, his position will remain secure, and Yahweh will constitute him His trusted representative. The thought of the approaching downfall of the powers opposed to Israel appears also in Zechariah (see i. 15, 21, ii. 9, vi. 8) : for the honour and distinction vouchsafed to Zerubbabel, see also Zech. iv. 7-10, and cf. on Zech. vi. 13. 21. g-overnor of Judah. See on i. i. I will shake (Heb. am shaking) the heavens and the earth. As ii. 6. The participle, of the imminent future, as Nah. ii. 2. 22. The political aspect of the approaching crisis is developed here more fully and distinctly than in ii. 6 f. HAGGAI 2. 23 169 throw the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations ; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them ; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. In that day, saith the 23 Lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the Lord, and will make thee as a signet : for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts. the strength of the kingdoms : i. e. their chariots, horses, fortresses, and other military resources. come down : i. e. be struck down. Cf. Is. xxxiv. 7 ; Jer. xlviii. 15, 1. 27 (where * come down ' has the same meaning) ; Zech. xi. 2 end. every one, &c. Thej' will fall by one another's hands, — either through a panic seizing them or through quarrels breaking out among them. Cf. Jud. vii. 22 ; Ez. xxxviii. 21 ; Zech. xiv. 13. 23. The promise to Zerubbabel : Yahweh will make him His signet-ring, inseparable from Himself, and the symbol of His authority. as a signet. The signet in the ancient East was a mark of honour and distinction, and was given by a monarch to an important minister, as a mark of confidence and authority (cf. Gen. xli. 42 ; Est. iii. 10). For the figure, as here used, cf. Jer. xxii. 24 ; and observe that the honourable position from which it is there said that Yahweh would degrade Jehoiachin is here conferred by Haggai upon his grandson (see on i. i), Zerubbabel. The Messianic aspirations which attached formerly to the Davidic king are transferred by Haggai to Zerubbabel, who becomes, in virtue of the position thus assigned to him, a type of Christ. I have chosen thee: viz. to be the Messianic ruler of the future : cf. Zech. vi. 9-13, with the notes. chosen. As Saul or David, for instance, had been 'chosen' in the past, i S. x. 24, i K. viii. 16, xi. 34 al. lyo Additional Note on ii. i8. It is no doubt strange to find the date specified in a prophecy delivered on the very day itself; and hence it is possible that the words * from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month ' in this verse are a gloss derived from v. lo. Wellh., Nowack, and Marti go further, and reject the following clause, ' since the day ' &c., as well, regarding it also as a gloss, based upon an incorrect explanation of v. 15. But for this view there are no sufficient grounds : if the clause be omitted, not only is no date mentioned for the foundation of the Temple, but the stress laid upon * this day ' in vv. 15, 18, 19, as marking a change in Yahweh's attitude towards the people (t/. 19''), remains unaccounted for. ZECHARIAH INTRODUCTION AND REVISED VERSION WITH ANNOTATIONS CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE Hag. i . . . . Second year of Darius, 6th month. Hag. ii. 1-9 . . ,, ,, ,, 7th month. Zech. i. 1-6 . . ,, ,, „ 8th month. Hag, ii. 10-23 . ,, „ „ 9th month. Zech. i. 7 — vi. 15 ,, „ ,, nth month. Zech. vii-viii . . Fourth year of Darius, 9th month. f ZECHARIAH I-VIII INTRODUCTION ZECHARIAH, son of Berechiah, and grandson of Iddo, of priestly descent (Neh. xii. 4, 16), prophesied, accord- ing to i. 1-7, and vii. i, in the second and fourth years of Darius Hystaspis (b. c. 520 and 518). He was thus a con- temporary of Haggai ; and he is unquestionably identical with the Zechariah, son of Iddo, who is named in Ezr. V. I, vi. 14 as co-operating with Haggai in his efforts to induce the people to prosecute the work of rebuilding the Temple. The historical situation in 520 B. c. has been sufficiently described in the Introduction to Haggai. To recapitulate briefly what was there stated in greater detail : in the first year of Cyrus, B. C. 537, a large body of exiles returned from Babylon to Judah ; they settled down in their old homes, but, partly from the difficulty of bringing the land again into cultivation, partly from a succession of bad seasons, and partly from troubles arising from their neighbours, the people fell into a state of apathy and despondency ; and though the work of rebuilding the new Temple had been begun formally in 536, nothing further had been done to it till Haggai, two months before Zechariah's opening prophecy (i. 1-6), succeeded in stirring up the people to resume the work (Hag. i. 14, 15). A month later, Haggai had allayed the doubts of those who questioned whether the new Temple would ever be comparable to the old with the promise that the latter glory of the house should exceed its former glor}', on account, viz., of the treasures which the nations would 174 ZECHARIAH I-VIII offer for its adornment (Hag. ii. 1-9). In the following month Zechariah begins to prophesy. Zechariah's prophecies fall into three clearly-defined parts, which may be headed respectively: (i) A call to repentance (i. 1-6) ; (2) Visions of hope and encourage- ment for Judah (i. 7 — vi. 15) ; (3) Yahweh's promises and demands for the future (chs. vii-viii). I. i. 1-6 (eighth month of Darius* second year). A call to repentance, as the first condition of the return of Yahweh's favour, which the people thought had for ever left them. II. i. 7 — vi. 15 (three months later, and two months after Hag. ii. 10-23). Visions of hope and encouragement for Judah (i. 7 — vi. 8), with a closely related historical appen- dix (vi. 9-15). This forms the central and most charac- teristic part of Zechariah's prophecy. The visions all centre upon the great questions of the day : what were the prospects of Judah for the future ? how did she stand towards her heathen neighbours ? would the Temple ever be finished ? They form a well-arranged whole, showing how Yahweh's promises to His people will be fulfilled, and how the various obstacles, whether from without or within, which seem destined to thwart them, will one after another be removed. The answers given to these questions are not mere temporal promises : they all contain a large ideal or 'Messianic' element, which differs from the corresponding element in previous pro- phets only in being determined by, and accommodated to, the historical conditions of the time. The^^rs/" vision (i. 7-17). Yahweh's Four Horsemen. Yah- weh's horsemen, who act as scouts or patrols, report that the earth is at rest : there is no sign of any movement among the nations, such as Haggai, a few months before (ii. 6 f., 21 f.), had declared would within ' a little while ' bring in the Messianic age : but Yahweh assures the prophet that He is still, as of old, jealous for His people, and ere long Jerusalem and the cities of Judah will be rebuilt, and His people again be pros- perous. The 5^co«(5^ vision (i. 18-21). The Four Horns and the Four INTRODUCTION 175 Smiths. Four horns, symbolizing the nations opposed to Israel, have their power broken by four smiths. The third vision (ii. 1-5). The Man with the Measuring- Line. The new Jerusalem is to have no walls; for its popula- tion is to be free to spread far and wide, and Yahweh will be its sufficient defence. In a lyric epilogue, attached to the vision (ii. 6-13), the prophet calls upon the Jews still in Babylon to hasten and return ; for Yahweh is about to take up His abode in Zion, and many peoples will join themselves to Him. The fourth vision (ch. iii). The High-Priest, Joshua, and the Satan. The calamities which continued to beset the people seemed to them an indication that there was still some sin clinging to them, which was an obstacle to their complete restoration to Yahweh's favour, and the advent of the promised future. By the vision of the high-priest, Joshua, representing the people, accused by the Satan, but acquitted, and clothed in clean garments, it is shown that this sin is done away with ; and a promise is added of the speedy advent of the Messiah, and of the consummation of national felicity. Thejifth vision (ch. iv). The Seven-Branched Candlestick, and the Two Olive-Trees. Whatever the candlestick may be taken to signify (see the notes), this vision shows that the community presided over by Zerubbabel and Joshua is ever under the watchful care of Yahweh's eyes ; and that Zerubbabel, in spite of difficulties, will successfully complete the building of the Temple- The sixth vision (v. 1-4). The Flying Roll. The land to be purged of sinners. A roll, inscribed with curses, ffies over the Holy Land, as a token that in future the curse for sin will never fail to light upon the sinner. The seventh vision (v. 5-1 1). The Woman in the Barrel. The land to be purged of sin. Israel's sin, personified as a woman, is carried off in a barrel, and deposited in Babylonia, where for the future it is to remain. The eighth vision (vi. 1-8). The Four Chariots. Four chariots, drawn by variously- coloured horses, go forth to execute God's judgements upon the heathen, in different parts of the earth, especially in Babylonia. vi. 9-15. Historical Appendix. A crown to be made of the gold and silver which some of the exiles had sent as an offering to the Temple, and placed on the head of Zerubbabel*, who is to complete the building of the Temple, and be the Messianic ruler of the future, with Joshua as priest at his side. See the note on vi. 11. 176 ZECHARIAH I-VIII III. Chs. vii-viii (two years afterwards, in Darius' fourth year, B. c 518). Yahweh's promises, and moral demands, for the future. Zechariah, in answer to an inquiry addressed to him (vii. 1-3), declares that Yahweh de- mands no fasts, but only the observance of His moral commands, which their forefathers, to their cost, had neglected (vii. 4-14). And he ends his Book with a decalogue of promises (ch. viii), describing the happy days in store for Judah, if only it will satisfy Yahweh's moral demands. The most characteristic feature of Zechariah's pro- phecies are the visions. The vision was a frequent mode of prophetic intuition in Israel (cf. Hos. xii. 10 ; Am. vii-ix ; Is. vi ; Jer. i, xxiv) ; but, in the prophecies which we still possess, it is most fully represented in the Books of Ezekiel and Zechariah. The vision is a projection or creation of the mind, analogous to the dream : the subject falls into a state of trance, or ecstasy, in which the channels connecting the brain with external objects are closed ; the power of the will to guide thought is relaxed : on the other hand, the hnagination^ or faculty of combining images and ideas, which have been previously apprehended, into new forms, is abnormally active ; and the pictures created by it stand out the more vividly, in the absence of the sharper impressions produced in a waking state of the senses. Psychologically the vision may thus be described as a combination into new forms, under the influence of some determining impulse, of the images and impressions with which the mind, through its waking experience, is stored. In a prophetic vision the determin- ing impulse will have been due to the operation of the revealing Spirit : Zechariah, we may suppose, had been brooding over the condition and prospects of his people : the restoration of God's favour, the triumph over the heathen, the completion of the Temple, to be followed immediately by the advent of the Messianic age, the position to be taken in it by Joshua and Zerubbabel, and INTRODUCTION 177 the felicity and sinlessness which would then be the nation's lot— these and kindred subjects had been long in his mind : he had, perhaps, thought of some of them in connexion with the same figures and imagery with which they appear associated in the visions; and the visions exhibit the shape which they ultimately took in his imagination. How some of the same subjects are treated by him without the concomitants of a vision may be seen in vi. 9-15, and in chs. vii-viii : the predomi- nant ideas are still clearly the same. It remains, however, a question whether in the case of Zechariah, whose visions in some cases are much more circumstantial than those of the earlier prophets, we have throughout the narration of actual visions, and not rather (G. A. Smith, p. 274) ' a series of conscious and artistic allegories— the deliberate translation into a carefully con- structed symbolism of the Divine truths with which the prophet was entrusted by his God.' At least in part, the visions may well be not more than literary forms. And if we ask further why a man 'with such gifts of direct speech, such a keen desire to stir the public conscience ' (see i. 2-6, vii-viii), and 'such clear views of his people's character and history,' should choose to express the latter by an imagery so artificial and involved, we may per- haps answer with the same writer that this, if partly a result of the natural bent of the prophet's mind, was partly also a result of the circumstances of his time : ' the exiles were not responsible citizens or statesmen, but dreamers. They were inspired by mighty hopes for the future, and not fettered by the practical necessities of a definite historical situation upon which these hopes had to be immediately realized.' They consequently gave the reins to their imagination, and threw the truths which they were inspired to discern into symbolic pictures care- fully elaborated in all their details. A standing feature in Zechariah's visions is the presence in them of angels. In the visions of the earlier prophets N 178 ZECHARIAH I -VIII (Am. vii-ix; Jer. i, xxiv) angels do not appear ; whatever is said or done, Yahweh Himself is the speaker or doer ; the only exceptions being i K. xxii. 19 ff., and Is. vi, where, in the representation of Yahweh's celestial court, angelic beings are naturally present. But in Ezekiel's visions angels, there regularly called 'men,' are a frequent feature : some execute Yahweh's judgement upon Jeru- salem (Ez. ix. I — x. 6) ; and another, in Ezekiel's vision of the restored Temple (Ez. xl-xlviii), conducts the prophet through the different parts, measures them, and explains the details to him (Ez. xl. 3, 4, 5, &c.). In Zechariah's visions angels are a constant feature : Zechariah never sees Yahweh, or is spoken to by Him directly. And so in his book we have the ' man that talked with me,' the interpret- ing angel who explains the visions to the prophet (i. 13, 14, 19, ii. 3, iv. I, 4, 5, V. [2, 3,] 10, vi.4), and we have besides the * man ' riding the red horse in i. 8, * another angel ' in ii. 3, and 'Yahweh's angel ' himself in i. 11, 12, iii. i, 2 [see note], 3, 5, 6. This predominance of angels in the visions of Ezekiel and Zechariah is due, probably, to a changed conception of the method by which Yahweh operated in the world. The earlier prophets had such a vivid sense of Yahweh's personal and practical interest in the affairs of His people that they were conscious of no need for the intermediate agency of angels : but with Ezekiel there arose an increased sense of the loftiness of God, and of the distance separating Him from earth ; and so in Zech. iii, for instance, when Joshua and the Satan appear before the Divine tribunal, judgement is given by 'the angel of Yahweh,' who, as in the older historical books, ' though distinct from Yahweh, yet represents Him so directly and fully that when he speaks or acts Yahweh Himself is felt to speak or act ' ^ : elsewhere, if the material details of a vision have to be explained, this is done by a ' man,' i. e. by an angelic being, acting on Yahweh's behalf, * W. R. Smith, art. 'Angel' in the Encycl. Bntannica, Cf. A. B. Davidson, art. < Angel ' in DB., p. 94^ INTRODUCTION 179 but of a decidedly lower rank than ' the angel of Yahvveh,' and by no means representing Him with the same fullness or authority ^ On the ' Satan,' see on iii. I. Of Zechariah's eight visions, three, the first two (i. 7-17, 18-21) and the last (vi. 1-8), deal with the relation of Israel to the heathen world without. In his method of deahng with this relation we observe a further difference between Zechariah and the older prophets. The older prophets, — Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, for instance,— have always in view the actual nations, the Assyrians or the Chaldaeans, as the case may be, who are threatening Israel at the time when they are writing: Zechariah, developing a line of treatment which had begun with Zephaniah and Ezekiel (chs. xxxviii-xxxix), deals with heathen powers in the abstract : their overthrow is predicted ; but what powers are intended, and by what historical movements they are to be destroyed, does not appear : the prophet employs indefinite symbolical or apocalyptic represen- tations, — angelic horsemen patrolling the earth in i. 8-1 1, ' horns ' and ' smiths ' in i. 18-21, and ' chariots ' carrying God's wrath into different quarters of the earth in vi. 1-8. This, again, is a peculiarity connected with the same absence of a definite political situation remarked upon above. It was necessary to assure the people that Israel, and the kingdom of God which it represented, would not succumb before the powers of the world : but there being no dangers actually threatening it, Zechariah conveys this assurance through symbolical representations of the means employed by God for its protection. In the peculiar character of their symbolism the visions of Zechariah prepare the way for the symbolical representations of the later Apocalypses, Daniel, Enoch, 2 Esdras, &c. The remaining five visions (chaps, ii-v) deal with the future of Israel itself as a nation. Zechariah, as we have seen, was of priestly descent; and this no ^ See further G. A. Smith's chapter on ' The Angels of the Visions,' p. 310 ff. N2 i8o ZECHARIAH I-VIII doubt accounts to a certain extent for the prominence which the Temple, and the high-priest, assume in his outlook into the future. But the completion of the Temple was the pressing question of the day : Ezekiel had seen in vision (x. i8 f., xi. 23), shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem, Yahweh leave the Temple ; he had after- wards (chaps, xl fif.) made elaborate provision for its restoration, and had also in vision seen Yahweh solemnly re-enter it (xliii. 4, 5). Without a Temple God could not dwell in the midst of His people, and the national restoration was incomplete. Haggai and Zechariah both urged upon the people the duty of hastening on the re- storation of the Temple. To its completion they attached, as other prophets had done to the great coming events of their day, ideal hopes. Isaiah, for instance, had pictured the golden reign of righteousness and peace as beginning immediately after the downfall of the Assyrian (cf. on Hag. ii. 6) ; and so Zechariah, idealizing similarly the approaching future, pictures the completion of the Temple as inaugurating the same ideal age, when Judah and its inhabitants, with Yahweh again dwelling in their midst (ii. 10-12), will be prosperous and happy (ii. 4, 5, iii. 10), no longer assailed by foes (ii. 8, 9, and elsewhere), purged of sinners (v. 1-4), and sin (iii. 9, v. 5-1 1 ; cf. Is. i. 26, iv. 3, xxix. 20-24, xxxiii. 24), ruled by their ideal king,--whom Zechariah, as can scarcely be doubted (see on iii. 8, vi. 11), conceives as represented by Zerubbabel,— with Joshua as priest at his side (vi. 13), maintaining faithfully the ritual observances of the Temple (iii. 7), and when * many nations ' (as Isaiah also had foretold, ii. 2, 3, and else- where) will press forward, eager to share the same spiritual privileges, and 'join themselves' to Yahweh (ii. 11). Many of the same thoughts of Israel's felicity, in the coming Messianic age, recur in chap, viii {vv. ^-Z, 12-13, 15 ; also, vv. 20-3, the adhesion of foreign nations). Like Isaiah, Zechariah was disappointed : the completion of the Temple was not followed by an age of INTRODUCTION i8i ideal happiness and goodness : nevertheless, his visions remain as ideals of the goal designed by God for man, and of the goal to which, we may hope, human history is, if slowly, advancing. The Messianic expectations attached to Zerubbabel were naturally fulfilled, in a larger sense, by Christ. Zechariah was not, like the older prophets, called upon to rebuke : he nowhere, for instance, refers to idolatry: his task was to reassure and encourage his people at a time when despondency and depression had taken possession of them (p. 150). Nevertheless he opens his prophecy with a call to repentance (i. 2-6) ; and in chs. vii and viii he appears as a true heir of the older prophets, insisting upon the moral demands of righteous- ness and mercy which Yahweh made of His people, and which, he declares, are the condition upon which alone His bright promises for the future can be fulfilled. Zechariah thus teaches, more distinctly, perhaps, than any other prophet, how only man's co-operation, respond- ing to the promptings of the Spirit of God, can ever bring in the golden age upon earth. For the Introduction to chaps, ix-xiv, see p. 227 ff. ZECHARIAH 1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah the son of 2 Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying, The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers. 3 Therefore say thou unto them. Thus saith the Lord of hosts : Return unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and 4 I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets cried, 1. The second j'ear of Darius was B.C. 520. The day of the month (cf. v. 7) has probably fallen out accidentally. son of Iddo. See Neh. xii. 4, 16, from which it appears that Zechariah was of a priestly family (cf. p. 179). Part I (i. 2-6). A call to repentance. 2-6. A call to repentance, as the condition of the return of Yahweh's favour. The call is founded upon the experience of the past : the pre-exilic Israelites had turned a deaf ear to the warnings of the prophets, and Yahweh's judgements had overtaken them ; let those whom the prophet now addresses take a lesson from their example. 2. with your fathers : who, viz. {v. 4), turned not at my rebuke : if, therefore {v. 3"), you wish me to deal differently with you, act yourselves differently from them ; return unto me, and I will return unto you. 3. Betnru, &c. This is what had been taught in substance by many previous prophets (e. g. Hos. xiv. 2-4 ; Is. i. 19 ; Jer. iii. 12-15, xxix. 12-14) ; but the/orm occurs here for the first time. Cf. Mai. iii. 7 ; 2 Chr. xxx. 6 ; also Jas. iv. 8. 4. the former prophets : i. e. the pre-exilic prophets ; cf. vii. 7, 12. As Wellh. has remarked, the expression shows how deeply the Jews of the restoration felt the gulf which separated them from pre-exilic Israel. ZECHARIAH 1. 5-7 183 saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Return ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings : but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord. Your fathers, where are they ? and the prophets, do they 5 live for ever? But my words and my statutes, which I 6 commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? and they turned and said, Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us. Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh 7 Beturuye, &c. Into these words Zechariah casts the quintes- sence of the teaching of the pre-exilic prophets : man's repentance is the condition of God's assistance. The phraseology is modelled upon that of Jeremiah: see esp. Jer. xxv. 5 ; cf. also xviii. ir, xxiii, 22**, XXXV. 15. now : the enclitic ' now ' («3), better rendered, I pray you. but they hearkened not. Cf, Jer. vii. 24, xxix. 19, xxxv. 16, 17, &c. nor attended unto me. Cf. Jer. vi. 10, 17, 19, xviii. 18 (Heb.). 5, 6. An objection met. The people are supposed to argue that the fathers are long dead, and what have the former prophets to do with the present generation ? Zechariah replies : It is true, your fathers and the prophets belong to the past ; but (v. 6) not so my words : your fathers were obliged to own that they were fulfilled in their case ; and unless you repent, they will be fulfilled again in yours. 5. where are they? The word ' they ' is emphatic. 6. my statutes, &c. Rather, my decrees (viz. of judgement) with which I commissioned, &c. my servants the prophets. So first in Am. iii. 7 ; most fre- quently in Jeremiah (six times), and thecompilerof Kings (five times'. overtake. Cf. Dt. xxviii. 15, 45. and they turned. Viz. not at the warning, but at the judge- ment, which forced them, when it was too late, to acknowledge the truth of what the prophets had said. thoug-ht . . . dealt. So Lam. ii. 17" (Heb.). Part II (i. 7— vi. 15). Visions of hope and encouragement for Judah. *7-\*I. Zechariah' s first vision. Yahweh's Four Horsemen. On the circumstances in which the people now found themselves, and i84 ZECHARIAH 1. 8 month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, 8 saying, I saw in the night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the ^ bottom ; and behind him there were * Or, shady place the direction which they may be supposed to have given to the prophet's thoughts and feelings, which formed, no doubt, the human occasion of these visions, see the Introduction, p. i']6i. The object of the first vision is to show how, in spite of appearances to the contrary, God's anger with His people is at an end, and that ere long they will be in possession of every prosperity. The prophet finds himself in imagination in one of the myrtle- covered glens near Jerusalem : he sees what is in appearance a body of horsemen, — a reflection, perhaps, of the military bands and patrols of the Persians. The leader of the party is in front, the others are behind. It soon appears, however, that they are not in reality Persians ; they are angelic beings, scouts of God, who have come in from patrolling the earth, bringing their reports with them. The whole earth, they declare, is at rest : there is no sign of any movement upon it, such as Haggai, only a few months before, had foretold was in ' a little while ' to overthrow the powers of the heathen (Hag. ii. 6, 7, 20-22), and bring in for Israel the Messianic age. The angel who is speaking with the prophet thereupon inquires how much longer Jerusalem is to rest under the Divine displeasure, and is assured in reply that Yahweh's wrath now at last is turned to pity : Jerusalem and the Temple will ere long be rebuilt, and the prosperity of His people will be no longer delayed. *7. the four and twentieth day, &c. Three months since Zechariah had come forward with his call to repentance (i. 1-6), and exactly two months since Haggai's encouraging prophecies, ii. 18-19, 20-23. Shebat, i. e. Feb.- Mar. One of the post-exilic names of the Jewish months, derived from Babylonia. Cf. vii. i. 8. red; i. e., probably, as we should say, chestnut. in the bottom. The word is used elsewhere only of the ' deep ' of the sea (Ps. cvii. 24 al.) ; and its applicability to a valley- bottom is very doubtful. The rend, of RVm., shady place 'cf. LXX Twv icnraaKKtiv^, or glen, implying the least possible change in the vocalization, is preferable. ZECHARIAH 1. 9-12 185 horses, red, sorrel, and white. Then said I, O my lord, 9 what are these ? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be. And the man 10 that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. And they answered the n angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest. Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord 12 sorrel : i. e. yellowish'red. The reason why the horses are mentioned, rather than their riders, appears to be because some significance is regarded as attaching to their colours ; though what this significance is, is not explained, and is by no means self-evident. Most probably the colours stand in some relation to the quarters of the earth which the horsemen are supposed to have been severally patrolling (cf, vi. 2, 3, 6) : the supposition (Keil) that they have a reference to the mission which they had to discharge is not supported by the context : all bring back the same report (the case of Rev. vi. 2, 4, 8, is obviously different). 9. O my lord, what are these? The words are addressed to the interpreting angel, of whose presence in the vision we are first made aware by this question and the following answer. the angel that talked with me. The title by which the angel who explains to Zechariah what he beholds is distinguished throughout the visions (i. 13, 14, 19, ii. 3, iv. i, 4, 5, v. 10, vi. 4). I will shew thee {lit. ' make thee see '). He does not say, / will tell thee, but / will shew thee, i. e. thou wilt see directly what they are. 10. And the man that stood, &c. The rider on the front horse mentioned in v. 8 here interposes, and explains that the horsemen are the scouts whom Yahweh has sent out to patrol the earth, and report what is taking place upon it. to walk to and fro : i. e. to patrol (cf. Job i. 7). 11. Hereupon the horsemen speak themselves, and report to Yahweh's angel — who also, it now appears, as well as the rider of vv. 8, 10, stood among the myrtle-trees— that nothing is stirring in the whole earth ; there is no sign of any movement bringing in for Israel the Messianic age. Zechariah did not attach to the commotions in the Persian empire (p. 150) the same significance that Haggai appears to have done. 12. Taking the text as it stands (see note on v. 13), Yahweh's i86 ZECHARIAH 1. 13 of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jeru- salem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years? 13 And the Lord answered the angel that talked with me angel, though from one point of view representing Yahweh {v. II), is from another point of view independent of Him, and represents the feelings of Zechariah and his countrymen, who could not but be disappointed at the answer given by the horsemen in v. II ; accordingly he makes intercession on behalf of Israel, and asks Yahweh why, though seventy years have passed (b. c. 586- 520), His anger, — as was popularly inferred at the time (see p. 150)10 be the case, — still rested upon Judah and Jerusalem. In this intercession of Yahweh's angel on Israel's behalf we may, perhaps, see the beginning of the doctrine of patron angels, representing particular peoples, which meets us later in a more developed form in the Book of Daniel (Dan. x. 21, xii. 1). answered. The word does not necessarily mean ' replied to a question' ; it may mean, as it does in v. 11, ' spoke in a manner corresponding to a particular situation, or the feelings called forth by it ' : cf. for instance. Job iii, 2 ; Is. xiv. 10 ; Dan. iii. 14, iv. 19. not have mercy. Better, have no compassion, — the word used in Is. xiv. i, xlix. 13 ; Ps. cii. 13. 13. Yahweh Himself now intervenes, and ' answers' the inter- preting angel with comforting assurances. Under what form Yahweh appeared in the vision is not indicated by Zechariah, any more than it is by Amos in Am. vii. 1-9, viii. 1-3, ix. i : He is introduced abruptly, just as the interpreting angel is in v. 9, and * Yahweh's angel ' in t;. 11 *. * The explanation of this vision given above (which is that of Keil) appears to the present writer to be the most satisfactory and con- sistent : but it must be allowed that the description, in some of its details, is not very distinctly expressed ; and some commentators have identified the ' angel of Yahweh that stood among the myrtle trees ' of ii. 11 with the ' man riding the red horse,' and also 'stand- ing among the myrtle trees,' of vv. 8, 10 (so e. g. T. T. Perowne), and (understanding 'answered' in v. 13 in its strict sense) the ' angel of Yahweh' in -y. 12 with the 'angel that talked with me' of vv. 9, 13. This interpretation certainly imparts clearness into the description ; but it can scarcely be the intention of the text as it stands. Accordingly We., Now., Marti, who adopt it, suppose the text to have been altered, and confused, in consequence of a mis- understanding, and correct it so as to make it express it distinctly ; thus they read in v. % 'a man standing among ' &c. (so already ZECHARIAH 1. 14-16 187 with good words, even comfortable words. So the angel 14 that talked with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying. Thus saith the Lord of hosts : I am jealous for Jerusa- lem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am 15 very sore displeased with the nations that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they '^helped forward the affliction. Therefore thus saith the Lord : 16 * Or, helped for evil. good words : i. e. gracious words, promises of prosperity : cf. Josh, xxiii. 14 ; Jer. xxix. 10. 14-17. The assurances of v. 13 particularized more closely, and communicated by the interpreting angel to the prophet, to be proclaimed by him to the people at large. 14. Cry: i.e. Proclaim ; cf. Is. xl. 6, Iviii. i. I am jealous. * I have been and still am jealous * is what the Heb. tense used implies. Yahweh's 'jealousy' for His people (cf. viii. 2) prompts Him now at last to interpose on its behalf : cf. Ez. xxxvi. 5, 6, xxxviii. 19 ; Is. xlii. 13, lix. 17. 15. But Yahweh is sore displeased with the nations ; for they had done more evil to Israel than they were commissioned to do : He was angry (relatively) but a little with Israel, but they had helped unto evil, i. e. had helped, not simply as His instru- ments for the correction of Israel, but ^br evil (Jer. xliv. 11), or calamity, seeking to exterminate Israel. ' The fall of the Chal- daeans had effected nothing; the Persians were no better than the Chaldaeans ; the power of the heathen had yet to be broken before the Messianic kingdom could be reaHzed. The Jews were evidentl3' in despair, because, even after their return to Palestine, things still went on quietly in their old way ' (We.). at ease : in careless and godless security (Am. vi. i ; Is. xxxii. 9, 11), indifferent or contemptuous towards others (Job xii. 5; Ps. cxxiii. 4). 16. VI. Now, therefore, Yahweh*s anger against His people is turned into compassion : the Temple and city will be rebuilt, and His people will again enjoy prosperity. 16. am returned, &c. Cf. Is. lii. 8^ E\vald% and 'before' for 'behind,' they omit i;. 10 as an incorrect gloss, anticipating v. 11, and they read \nv. 11 'the man' for 'the angel of Yahweh,' and in t». 12 ' the angel that talked with me ' for * the angel of Yahweh.' These corrections are, however, violent ; and the indistinctness in the representation may, r.fter all, be original. i88 ZECHARIAH 1. 17,18 I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies; my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and a line 17 shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem. Cry yet again, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts : My cities ^through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. 18 ^And I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four * Or, shall yet overflow with prosperity b [Ch. ii. I in Heb.] with mercies. Rather, with compassion (as in vii. 9). my house shall be built in it. The rebuilding of the Temple, in which Yahweh might again, as of old, take up His abode (cf, ii. 10), would be the final proof that the period of His wrath was at an end, and that He again viewed His people with favour. Cf. the solemn departure of Yahweh from His Temple, as seen in Ezekiel's vision, Ez. x. 18 f., xi, 23, and His re-entry into it, Ez. xliii. 4, 5. and a line, &c. : i. e. the measuring-line ; fig. for ' the city will be rebuilt.' Cf. Jer. xxxi. 38-40. 17. my cities. The promise is here extended to the other * cities of Judah ' (v. 12) inhabited by the returned exiles : cf. Jer. xxxiii. 12, 13 ; and Neh. xi. 25 ff. shall yet overflow (Pr. v. 16) with prosperity. The marg. of RV. is to be followed. shall yet conxfort Zion. Cf. Is. Ii. 3, Hi. ^. LXX, how- ever, has have compassion on (cm for nn:), which suits the con- text better (see v. 12). Cf. Is. xiv. i, of which 'shall yet choose ' is in any case a reminiscence ; also xlix. 13^ Jer. xxx. 18 fl/. 18-21. The second vision. The Four Horns and the Four Smiths. The prophet sees four horns, towering up, we ma}' suppose perhaps, out of the distant darkness, with threatening mien, which he is told are the powers that have scattered Judah. Thereupon four smiths appear, who, he learns, are to strike down and disable the horns of the nations. The vision symbolizes the destruction of the heathen powers which had oppressed Israel, and threatened now to frustrate the fulfilment of the promises given in v. 16. The four horns point to the four quarters of the heavens (cf. ii. 6, vi. 2-6), and represent consequently' Israel's enemies in every direction, or the heathen world at large. The hostility shown towards Israel by its more immediate neighbours is here generalized, and becomes an antagonism between Israel and the world at largo (comp., later, Dan. ii and vii). ZECHARIAH 1. 19—2. i 189 horns. And I said unto the angel that talked with me, 19 What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. And the Lord shewed me four smiths. Then said I, ao, 21 What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head : but these are come to fray them, to cast down the horns of the nations, which lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it. ^ And I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold a 2 ^ [Ch. ii. 5 in Heb.] 18. four horns. The horn is the symbol of aggressive might : Mic. iv. 13 ; Ps. Ixxvi. lo, and frequently. 19. scattered. The expression is not applicable to a 'horn,' as such ; but the prophet is thinking of the powers or peoples which the horns represent. Judah, (even) Israel and Jerusalem. So the text must be rendered, the last three words being epexegetical. But they look very much like an explanatory gloss (cf. 'Judah ' alone, v. 21). £0. shewed me. In the vision : as Am. vii. i, 4, 7, viii. i ; Jer. xxiv. i. smiths, i. e. ^Vow-smiths, the horns being, no doubt, pictured as made of iron (Mic. iv. 13). These 'smiths' are symbolical representations of the agencies by which God will overthrow the enemies of His people. 21. And he spake: viz. the interpreting angel. so that, &c. Read probably so that it lifted not up its head (nCN for u,"N : cf , for the Hebrew, Mai. ii. 9). to fray them. An archaism for to make them afraid (so, for the same Heb., Zeph. iii. 13 al.), — 'afraid' being just the passive participle of to ' af-fray.' Better (as ' afraid ' is now a weaker word in English than it was formerly), to affright (or disturb) them. In using the word Zechariah is thinking, as in the case of 'scattered,' not of the 'horns' (which could not be 'affrighted'), but of the peoples which the horns represent. ii. 1-5. The third vision. The Man with the Measuring Line. A man with a measuring-line goes forth to lay out the site of the restored city ; but he is interrupted by the interpreting angel : the new Jerusalem is to have no walls, for its population will be free to spread far and wide; and Yahweh will be its sufficient defence. I90 ZECHARIAH 2. 2-5 a man with a measuring line in his hand. Then said I, AV'hither goest thou ? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what 3 is the length thereof. And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out 4 to meet him, and said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall ^be inhabited as villages without walls, by reason of the multitude of men 5 and cattle therein. For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and I will be the glory in * Or, dwell 2. what is, &c. Rather, what should he ; for Jerusalem was still only partially built. 3. went forth : viz. from beside me. But probably we should read, with LXX {ficfrrjKu), stood still (cf. iii. 5 end), — 'went forth' oeing a lapsus calami, occasioned by the following * went out ' (the Hebrew for both expressions being the same). went out. Better, came forth, viz. from some other part of the field of vision. 4. and said. Rather, and he said, the subject being, most probably, the interpreting angel, who remains always beside the prophet, and is not likely to have been sent on a message else- where (v. 4). unto him : i. e. to the * other angel ' of v. 3. this young" man. The man with the measuring-line, — the expression being, perhaps, used as implying one liable to act with- out consideration (i K. iii. 7). The man with the measuring-line is to be stopped in his attempt to define the limits of the new city : Jerusalem will be too populous to admit of walls, and too secure, under Yahweh's protection {v. 5), to need them. shall be inhabited: Heb. shall sit. A city, or country, when inhabited and prosperous, is said in Hebrew to sit or dwell (Is. xiii. 20 ; Jer. 1. 13 al.). Cf. on Nah. iii. 8. as villag-es without walls. Lit. ' as open-country-districts,' as opposed to walled cities : cf. Ez. xxxviii. 11 ('a land of open- country-districts,' II 'dwelling without walls'); also i S. vi. 18, Dt. iii. 5 (see on Hab. iii. 14). The idea of the expansion of Jerusalem in the ideal future as Is. xxxiii. 17, xlix. 19, 20, liv. 2. 5. For the thought of Yahweh surrounding Jerusalem with His protection, cf.,— though the figures are different,— Is. xxxiii. 21, xxvi. I, Ix. iS''. and a erlory wUl I be, &c. Cf. Is. Ix. i, a ; Ez. xliii. 2, 4, 5. ZECHARIAH 2. 6, 7 191 the midst of her. Ho, ho, flee from the land of the 6 north, saith the Lord : for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord. Ho 7 Zion, escape, thou that dwellest with the daughter of 6-13. A lyric epilogue, attached to the vision, in which the prophet (i) in jubilant tones, recalling parts of 11 Isaiah, bids the Jews still in exile escape from the judgement about to break upon the heathen, and return to Palestine, vv. 6-9 ; and (2) calls upon Zion to exult, because Yahweh is about to take up again His abode in Jerusalem, and many nations will join themselves to Him, w. 10-13. 6. flee. Cf. Is. xlviii. 20, lii. 11. the land of the north. An expression used vaguely, especially in Jeremiah (iii. 18, xxiii. 8 al.), of the land of Israel's exile, and understood, it seems, as including even Babylonia. Cf. on Zeph. ii. 13- for I have spread yon abroad, &c. The passage is difficult. (i) As rendered in RV., have spread abroad will naturally mean ' have scattered you ' (see the same Hebrew in Ps. Ixviii. 14, Ez. xvii. 21): in this case, however, 'as the four winds of heaven' agrees badly with ' the land of the north ' from which alone Israel has just been bidden to return (see also v. 7 ' Babylon '). (2) Hitzig, Keil, Wright, therefore, understand the words as a promise of future extension, the perfect being the prophetic perfect = ' I will spread you abroad ' ; but the thought of the restored Jews being spread abroad 'as the four winds of heaven,' i. e. generally over the earth, does not harmonize with v. 12, which implies that they are to be confined to Judah. (3) LXX has 'for I mil gather you from the four winds of heaven ' : this yields the best sense ; and, in spite of the not very easy corruption of 'Pi^^p to 'n\r"ic, which it presupposes, is probably to be preferred (so We., Now., Marti). the fonr winds of the heaven. A late expression : vi. 5 ; Jer. xlix. 36 ; Dan. viii. 8, xi. 4. V. Zion: i. e. the population of Zion ; here, of such parts of it as were still in exile. However, We., Now., G. A. Smith, render more probably (with LXX), //o, escape unto Zion : for the order of words in the Heb. in this case, cf. Josh. ii. 16; i S. v. 8; I K. ii. 26 ; Jer. ii. 10 ; Is. xxiii. 12. escape. For a judgement is impending over the heathen world (v. 9 ; i. 21) : cf. Is. xlv. 20 ; Jer. 1. 8, 10, Ii. 6, 45. thou that dwellest with. In the Heb. * inhabitress of,' the term denoting the community, as often (e. g. Jer. x. 17 ; Mic. i. 11, 12 : see RVm.). The ' daughter of Babylon ' is a personification of the population of Babylon (on Zeph. iii. 14) ; but the entire 192 ZECHARIAH 2. 8, 9 8 Babylon. For thus saith the Lord of hosts : » After glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you : for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his 9 eye. For, behold, I will shake mine hand over them, •^ Or, AJter the glory, he hath &c. expression, as here used, is peculiar ; and probably ni (' daughter ') is simply a dittograph, and we should render, * Ho, escape unto Zion, thou inhabitress of Babylon ' (i. e. the Jewish community still resident in Babylon). 8, 9. A very difficult passage, though the general sense is plain : let the exiles still in Babylon hasten to quit it {v. 7), because {y. 9) it is God's purpose to execute judgement upon the nations who have spoiled them. As the text stands, the speaker must be the angel of v. s**, who was told by the interpreting angel to give the promises contained in vv. 4^, 5 ; and he must say that he had been sent against the nations which had spoiled Israel after glory, i. e. either to ivin glory or success in his mission (Hitz., Ew.), or (Keil) to gain glory or honour (as the cognate verb is also rendered, Ex. xiv. 4, 17, 18) over the heathen, by executing God's judgement upon them (cf. Ez. xxviii, 22, xxxix. 13). There is, however, nothing to suggest that the angel is the speaker here, especially as a new paragraph appears to begin with v. 6 ; and that the speaker in ' hath sent me ' is the prophet is strongly supported by V. 9 end, compared with v. ii**, iv. 9*^, and vi. 15. Hence We., Now., G. A. Smith, Marti, suppose that the words 'after glory he hath sent me ' are either out of place, or parenthetical ; and render, ' For thus saith Yahweh of hosts— (after glory hath he sent me) — unto {or concerning) the nations that spoil you (for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye), that, behold, I will swing my hand over them,' &c. This yields a more probable general sense : the objection to it is that the appearance here of the words after glory hath he sent me is unexplained : why should either the prophet himself, or, if the words are a gloss, another on his behalf, thus strangely express his hope of success in his mission 8. touchetli the apple of his eye : i. e. touches what is most precious to Him, and most carefully guarded : cf. Dt. xxxii. 10 (where Israel is said to be ' kept ' by Yahweh * as the apple of his eye ') ; Ps. xvii. 8. 9. shake. Better, swing: see Is. xi. 15, xix. i6; cf. x. 3a. * RVm. ( = AV.) means ' After the glory promised in v. 5 has come upon Israel * ; but there is no art. in the Heb. to show that there is any reference to v. 5, nor is the sense thus obtained probable in itself. ZECHARIAH 2. 10-13 193 and they shall be a spoil to those that served them : and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion : for, lo, I come, 10 and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in 11 that day, and shall be my people : and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. And the Lord shall 12 inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. Be silent, all flesh, before the 13 Lord : for he is waked up out of his holy habi- tation. and they shall he a spoil, &c. The tables will be turned ; and now the nations will become a spoil to Israel. Cf. Is. xiv. 2^, li. 22^ 23*, Ez. xxxix. 10^. and ye shall know, &c. Cf. v. i\^, iv. 9**, vi. 15. 10. SinsT and rejoice. Cf. Zeph. iii. 14. and Z will dwell in the midst of thee : viz. when the Temple is rebuilt. The expression, as in the priestly narrative of the Pc.it., with reference to the Tabernacle (Ex. xxv. 8, xxix. 45, 46; cf. also I K. vi. 13) : in the future which the prophet here con- templates the ideal relation of Yahweh to His people will be established (cf. Ez. xliii. 9). 11. Many nations will moreover yo/« themselves (Is. xiv. 1^ ; Jer. 1. 4) to Yahweh, and become His people (cf. viii. 22). A reaffirma- tion of older prophecies of the future adhesion of heathen nations to the religion of Israel : e. g. Is. ii. 3, xviii. 7, xix. 18-25 » Jer. xvi. 19. be to me a people : commonly said of Israel : see on viii, 8. li**. The thought oi vv. lo^ 9**, repeated for emphasis. 12*. Cf. Dt. xxxii. 9. the holy land. This expression occurs only here. Cf. ana- logous expressions in Ex. xv. 13, Is. xi. 9, Ps. Ixxviii. 54 RVm., &c. shall yet choose Jerusalem. Cf. i. 17^, Is. xiv. i. 13. The judgement upon the unfriendly heathen world {v. 9; cf. Hag. ii. 20) is imminent : already Yahweh is bestirring Himself in His holy place ; let all, therefore, be silent in awe before Him. Be silent, &c. As Zeph. i. 7, Hab. ii, 20. Lit. Hnsh 1 is waked up. Cf., for the word, Ps. xliv. 23 ; for the thought, Is. Ixvi. 6, out of his holy habitation. Cf. Dt. xxvi. 15 ; Jer. xxv. 30. 194 ZECHARIAH 3. i 3 And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and ^ Satan standing at * That is, the Adversary. iil. The fourth vision. The High-Priest, Joshua, and the Satan. Joshua, the high-priest, appears, standing before Yahweh, clothed in filthy garments, symbolizing the iniquities of the people : the Satan, essaying to accuse him, is rebuked ; his filthy garments are removed from him, and his iniquities are taken away {vv. 1-5). After this he is given rule over the Temple, with the right of priestly access to Yahweh, and receives a promise of the advent of the Messiah, the forgiveness of the people's sin, and the restora- tion of national felicity (yv. 6-10). The disappointments and vexations of the restoration (p. 149) were felt keenly by the returned exiles, and seemed to them to be an indication that Yahweh was still angry with His people (i. 12 ff.), on account viz. of the idolatries and other iniquities of their forefathers, the guilt of which still rested upon them, and was brought to remembrance against them before God. In the present dramatically conceived vision, these disturbing thoughts are set at rest. It is emphatically taught that no impediment exists in God's eyes to Israel's complete restoration : the Satnn, who is pictured as the accuser, is silenced ; whatever guilt ;:.till attaches to Israel is removed by Yahweh's free grace. 1. And he shewed me. As i. 20. Joshua. See on Hag. i, i, standingr before Yahweh's an^rel : viz. in a forensic sense, as his judge (Dt. xix. 17 ; Rom. xiv. 10; Rev. xx. 12). the Satan. The word ' Satan ' means opposer ; and denotes one who sets himself to oppose or thwart another in his purpose (Nu. xxii. 22, 32 ; 2 S. xix. 22 ; i K. v. 4, xi. 14, 23, 25 : EW. 'adversary'), or claims, sometimes with the collateral idea, of accusing maliciously or falsely (Ps. cix. 6 ; cf. the cognate verb vv. 4. 20, 29, Zech. iii. i end). It appears further in the OT. as the name of a specific angel, 'the Opposer,' whose part it is to oppose men in their pretensions to a right standing with God, and to test their sincerity (Job iii), to prompt them to do acts which will bring them into disfavour with God (i Chr. xxi. i), and, as here, to remind God, in no friendly spirit, of their sins. The Satan does not appear in the OT., as in the NT., as definitely tempting to sin. The word always in the OT., except in i Chr. xxi. I, has the article, and was therefore felt distinctly to mean 'the Opposer.' In LXX it is represented by Sm/SoAos, the 'false accuser,' from the collateral idea referred to above. See further ZECHARIAH 3. 2-4 195 his right hand to be his adversary. And the Lord said 2 unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan ; yea, the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee : is not this a brand plucked out of the fire ? Now Joshua was 3 clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto those that stood 4 before him, saying. Take the filthy garments from off him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee A. B. Davidson's note on Job i. 6 (in the Cantbr. Bible) ; and G. A. Smith, pp. 317 ff. at his rigfht hand. The place of the accuser, Ps. cix. 6. to be his adversary. In the Heb. one word, the verb cognate with 'Satan' (see the last note but one), and meaning to oppose, especially with false or malicious accusations (Ps. xxxviii. 20, Ixxi. 13, cix. 4, 20, 29), 2. And Yahweh said. As the sequel shows, 'Yahweh' must here mean ' Yahweh's angel,' even if it be not a textual error for it (We., Now., Marti). Joshua is the people's spiritual representative ; and in opposing him before Yahweh the Satan is in effect opposing, or maliciously accusing, the people, with the object viz. of showing that they had not yet been punished as much as their sins deserved. But he is silenced by Yahweh's angel : Yahweh, he is reminded, has chosen Jefusalem (i K. viii. 44, xi. 13, &c. ; cf. ch. i. 17, ii. 12) ; and was it necessary to persecute still further a ' brand plucked out of the fire ' ? a brand plucked out of the fire : i.e. already greatly burnt, and only just saved from complete destruction. Nearly the same expression occurs in Am. iv. 11. 3. with filthy garments. Symbolizing the iniquity of the people. For ' filth ' (n^Jiv) as fig. of sin, cf. Is. iv. 4, Pr. xxx. 12 ; and for the figure of the garment, Rev. iii. 4, 5, vii. 14, xix. 8. stood before. As v. i, in a forensic sense. 4. Symbolical removal of Joshua's (i. e. the people's) iniquities. he: i. e. the angel. 'Answered,' as i. 12. those that stood before him. Viz. in attendance, waiting upon him, the allusion being to subordinate angels, by whom he would be pictured as surrounded. To stand before often has the sense of to 'wait upon'; for instance, Dt. i. 38, i S. xvi. 21, I K. X. 8. caused to pass . . . from upon thee. As 2 S. xii. 23, xxiv. 10 ; Job vii. 21. O 2 196 ZECHARIAH 3. 5-7 5 with rich apparel. And ^ I said, Let them set a fair ^ mitre upon his head. So they set a fair ^ mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments; and the 6 angel of the Lord stood by. And the angel of the 7 Lord protested unto Joshua, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts : If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou also shalt judge my ^ According to some ancient authorities, he said. ** Or, turban Or, diadem ricli apparel. As a mark of honour, and (indirectly) of purity. The word occurs besides only in Is. iii. 23, where it is rendered in RV. festival robes. 5. And I said, &c. If the text is correct, we must suppose that the prophet, anxious to see the high-priest more suitably clad, and watching with keen interest what was being done, involuntarily gives vent to his feelings, and expresses, though only as a wish, not as a command, what he desires to see done. But this is not very natural. The Syr. and the Vulg. (cf. RVm.) have And he said (i. e. the angel said\ which is probably right. The LXX also, omitting And I said altogether, expresses the same sense. fair. Better, clean, as the word (-"irno) is usually rendered. This, however, was a common meaning of 'fair' in Old English {^DB. s. v.) ; cf. in the Communion Service '■ a. fair white linen cloth.' mitre. Better, turban (^'3!?), the word used of the turban of rich women (Is. iii. 23), or of royal or eminent persons (Is. Ixii. 3; Job xxix. 14 : not elsewhere), from F]rj to 'wind round' (Is. xxii. 18 RVm.). It is here a mark of the dignity possessed by the high-priest ; but the high-priest's ' turban ' itself was called not zamf but miznepheih, Ex. xxviii. 4 al. and the angel of tlie Iiord stood by. Rather, the angel of Yahweh standing (a circumstantial clause), viz. while the high- priest's garments were being changed. 6-7. Promise to Joshua : if he is faithful to Yahweh, and duly maintains the rites of His worship, then he will have permanent authority over the Temple (* judge my house, and keep my courts '\ and enjoy the right of entry to Yahweh's presence (viz. as the people's representative). In pre-exilic times the king was supreme over the Temple : here the authority which belonged formerly to the king is conferred upon the high-priest, upon the one condition of his being faithful to his charge. 6. protested: i. e. solemnly declared (Gen. xliii. 3 ; Jer. xi. 7). 7. keep my charge. In a ritual sense : Ez. xliv. 15, xlviii. 11. ZECHARIAH 3.8,9 197 house, and shall also keep my courts, and I will give thee '^a place of access among these that stand by. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou and thy 8 fellows that sit before thee ; for they are men which are a ^ sign : for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the c Branch. For behold, the stone that I have set before 9 * Or, places to walk ^ Or, wonder « Or, Shoot Or, Sprout a place of access. RVm. gives the lit. rendering : RV. text is a paraphrase, explaining what is really intended. Cf. Jer. XXX. 21. amongr these that stand by. I. e. that stand in attendance (iv. 14), the reference being to the attendant angels mentioned in V. 4. Cf. I K. xxii. 19, of Yahweh's celestial court. 8-9. Promise of the advent of the Messianic age. 8. thy fellows : i. e. the other, inferior priests, who 'sit before* (cf. 2 K. iv. 38, vi. I ; Ez. viii. i, xiv. i) the high-priest, receiving their instructions from him. they are men of omen that, behold I Z am bringring my servant, &c. The restored priesthood is a pledge of the approach of the Messianic kingdom. For * portent ' or ' omen ' (nC'Q), cf. Is. viii. 18, where Isaiah and his sons, in virtue of their names, are ' signs and omens ' of a brighter future for Israel ; and Ez. xii. 6, iijxxiv. 24, 27, where Ezekiel, in what he there does, is an < omen ' or ' portent ' of the future. As the text stands, it is only Joshua's brother- priests, not Joshua himself, who are the ' men of omen ' : and We., Now., Smith, Marti are p robably right in omitting ^d ('for') after yic'? ('before thee'), and rendering ' Hear, now, O Joshua the high-priest : thou and thy fellows that sit before thee are men of omen that I am bringing,' &c, . my servant. Of the ideal ruler of the future, or ' Messiah,' as Ez. xxxiv. 24, xxxvii. 24. the Shoot (or rather, since there is no art., as a pr. name, Zemah, 'Shoot'). The Heb. zemah cannot mean 'branch': as its other occurrences show, it is a general term for what sprouts or shoots from the ground (see e. g. Gen. xix. 25 ' the growth of the ground,' where ' branch ' would obviously be unsuitable). In Is. iv. 2 the ' growth ' or * shooting ' of Yahweh means generally the produce of the soil, quickened and blessed b}' Yahweh in the blissful future which the prophet is there looking forward to : in Jer. xxiii. 5 (' Behold the days come, saith Yahweh, that I will raise up to David a righteous shoot, and he shall reign as king and prosper'), and in the parallel passage, xxxiii. 15 (• In those days 198 ZECHARIAH 3. lo Joshua ; upon one stone are seven eyes : behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. 10 In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every will I cause to shoot forth unto David a shoot of righteousness ') it is a fig. designation of Israel's future ideal king, represented as a sprout or shoot ; and here and in Zech. vi, 12, obviously on the basis of the two passages of Jeremiah, it is used actually' as a title of the Messiah, vi. 12, compared with iv. 9, seems to show that Zech. means Zerubbabel, whose person is idealized, and who, when the Temple is finished, and the Messianic age has begun, will be the supreme civil ruler in it (cf. Hag. ii. 23). Observe that the expression, Behold, I am bringing, implies something conceived as taking place in the immediate future. 9. The meaning of the symbolism of this verse is uncertain. The following are the two most probable explanations, (i) That of Ewald, Steiner, T. T. Perowne, and Marti (Comm.) that the 'stone ' is the same stone as that of iv. 7, the head or coping- stone of the Temple : it is lying in the vision before Joshua ; the 'seven eyes' are those of Yahweh, symbolizing (as in iv. 10) His all-seeing providence ; they are ever 'upon ' it (Ezr. v. 5), and it will be engraven by Him with some appropriate inscription or ornamentation. The symbolism thus expresses in a word Yahweh's care for the completion of the Temple. (2) That of We. and Smend, that the ' stone ' is a jewel in the diadem of the coming Messiah : the seven * eyes ' are seven facets upon it ; upon one of these, probably the central one, Yahweh will engrave the name of the Messianic ruler, i. e. Zerubbabel (see the last note';. Upon this view, the symbolism declares how all is ready for the advent of the Messianic ruler : Yahweh has even prepared the crown that he is to wear. and I will remove, &c. With the completion of the Temple, the Messianic age begins ; and the first event by which it is marked is the removal of the people's sin. The prouiise to Joshua {vv. 7-9) thus ends appropriately with words showing that a repetition of the Satan's accusation {v. i) will be no more possible. Freedom from sin is one of the standing traits of the ideal future, as depicted by the prophets : cf. Is. i. 26, iv. 3-4, xxxii. 1-8, xxxiii. 24 ; Jer. xxxi. 33 f ; Ez. xxxvi. 25 f ; Dan. ix. 24. in one day. Quickly, and completely : cf. Is. ix. 14, x. 17, xlvii. 9. 10. The general felicity which will then prevail. shall ye call . . . under : i. e. call them in tinder (nnn •?*<»), in- vite them to come and sit under. To sit under one's own vine and ZECHARIAH 4. i, 2 199 man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree. And the angel that talked with me came again, and 4 waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep. And he said unto me. What seest thou ? And I said, I 2 have seen, and behold, a candlestick all of gold, with its bowl upon the top of it, and its seven lamps thereon ; fig tree implies peace and security (i K. iv. 25 [Heb. v. 5] ; i Mace, xiv. 12, of the days of Simon) : here a characteristic trait of the Messianic age, borrowed from Mic. iv. 4. Cf. viii. 12. iv. The fifth vision. The Seven-Branched Candlestick and the Two Olive-Trees. The prophet sees a seven-branched golden candlestick, such as stood afterwards in the Second Temple, with seven lamps, fed by seven pipes from a bowl or reservoir of oil standing above them, and two olive trees standing beside it, one on each side, which if v. 12 is genuine) supplied oil to the reservoir (comp. the illustration in Wright, p. 84). Vv. 6-10 contain an encouragement addressed to Zerubbabel : difficulties, it is said, will disappear before him, and in spite of mockers, he will himself finish the Temple which he has now begun. The vision is a difficult one, and has been very differently interpreted. Taking the text as it stands, the candlestick with its seven lamps is generally supposed to symbolize the restored Jewish Church shining with the light of the Spirit (cf. Rev. i. 20), and receiving its supply of Divine grace (the oil) through the two channels of the spiritual and temporal power, Joshua and Zerub- babel (represented by the two olive trees, with the connecting spouts oiv. 12). In the following notes the text is first explained in accordance with this general view, a new interpretation, which has much in its favour, being given afterwards. 1. and waked me, &c. The prophet, though still in his trance, was so affected by what he had seen and heard in the preceding visions, that he seemed to himself to have fallen into a state of stupor, from which he had to be roused by the interpreting angel, before he could become conscious of a fresh vision. as a man, &c. He was not roused actually out of sleep. 2. What seest thou ? introducing the description of the vision, as Am. vii. 8, viii. 2, Jer. i. n, 13. bowl : i. e. reservoir of oil. seven lamps. In the Temple of Solomon there were ten separate golden candlesticks ;i K. vii. 49; cf. Jer. Hi. 19) ; but in the Priestly Code \^Ex. xxv. 31-40) a single seven-branched 200 ZECHARIAH 4. 3-7 a there are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are 3 upon the top thereof : and two oHve trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the 4 left side thereof. And I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my 5 lord ? Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? 6 And I said. No, my lord. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by ^ might, nor by power, but 7 by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Who art thou, * The Sept. and Vulgate have, and seven pipes to the lamps. ^ Or, an army candlestick, also of gold, is prescribed, — the lamps of which, however, were not, like those in the vision, supplied with oil from a reservoir, but were trimmed and fixed on daily (Ex. xxvii. 20 RVm., 21) by the priests ; and a candlestick of the same kind stood in the Second Temple, as we learn from i Mace. i. 23, iv. 49, and from the representation on the Arch of Titus. seven pipes to eaoli of the lamps. To symbolize, it has been supposed, the plentiful supply of oil. But the number, which would obviously give forty-nine pipes in all, is improbably large ; and LXX and Vulg. Tcited on RVm.) are most likely right in reading seven pipes to the lamps, i. e. one to each. upon the top thereof: i. e. upon the top of the candlestick. But we should expect simply ttpon it (n^br, as just before, * thereon '). 4. The prophet inquires the meaning of the seven lamps. And I answered : i.e. began, in the sense explained on i. 12. 6-10. Promises to Zerubbabel. 6. This is the word, &c. If the text is here in order (see below) the meaning must be. This is the teaching of the vision, it is a message from Yahweh to Zerubbabel. Not by might, &c. Zerubbabel will accomplish the work that he has in hand, not by human ' might.' or 'power,' but by the spirit of Yahweh (Hag. ii. 5) strengthening him. *7. Who art thou, &c. : i. e. whatever obstacles or difficulties may arise to impede Zerubbabel in his work, they will disappear before him. The apathy of the people, and the opposition of the Samaritans and others, had indeed, at any rate for the time, been ZECHARIAH 4. 8-10 201 O great mountain ? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain : and he shall bring forth the head stone with shoutings of Grace, grace, unto it. Moreover the word 8 of the Lord came unto me, saying, The hands of 9 Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house ; his hands shall also finish it ; and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. For who hath ic despised the day of small things ? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel, overcome, and the building was in progress : but there might still be reason to fear these or similar hindrances recurring. lie shall bring- fortli, &c. I. e. he will complete the building of the Temple amid the acclamations of the multitude : Zerubbabel will bring forth in triumph, from the workshop in which it had been hewn into shape, the head stone, — the final coping-stone of the entire fabric, — with shoutings of Beautiful! beautiful! (Now., Marti), i. e. amid the applause and admiration of the people, as they see their Temple at last completed. ' Beautiful, beautiful ! ' is lit. Grace (i. e. graciousness, beauty, as Prov. i. 9 ' a chaplet of grace,' iv. 9), grare to it ! However, the words might also mean Favour, favour to it ! (Hitz., Ew., Keil), i.e. May all favour it ! ' Faveat ei Deus, faveant homines ! * 8-9. A further promise, given through the prophet, that as Zerubbabel has begun the Temple, so he will assuredly finish it : the fulfilment of this prediction will be evidence that Zechariah has not spoken of himself, but has been truly sent by Yahweh (cf. Dt. xviii. 22). 9. thou Shalt know : Read, in accordance with the following * you,' ye shall know. hath sent me unto you. Cf. ii. 9, 11^, vi. 15. 10. The verse, as the text stands, will mean (Keil), For who ever despised the day of small things ? i. e. No one who desires to accomplish, or does accomplish, anything great, despises the day of small beginnings ; and these seven, (even) the eyes of Yahweh,— they run to and fro through the whole earth, — will rejoice and see (i.e. will see with joy) the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel: the verse as a whole thus meaning, ' If no one despises the small beginnings of the Temple, then Yahweh will watch with joy the progress of the work, and assist it with His blessing.' But the sense thus obtained implies a strained interpretation of the words used ; and the second part of the verse is very imperfectly connected with the first : see pp. 203 f. 202 ZECHARIAH 4. 11-13 even these seven, which are the eyes of the Lord ; they II run to and fro through the whole earth. Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two oHve trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left i: side thereof? And I answered the second time, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches, «• which are beside the two golden spouts, that empty ^the 13 golden oil out of themselves ? And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said. No, * Or, which by means of the two golden spouts empty ^ Heb. the gold. they run to and fro throug-h the whole earth: and see consequently every danger, from whatever quarter it may arise, which may~ threaten the progress of the building (Hitzig). Cf. 3 Chr. xvi. 9 (an evident reminiscence of the present passage) ; Rev. v. 6 : also, for the general thought, Prov. xv. 3. 11. 12. The prophet now inquires the meaning of the two olive-trees {y. 3) ; and then, struck by the two * spikes,' which, as it seems, supplied oil from the olive trees, through two golden spouts, to the reservoir of the candlestick, asks more particularly to have the meaning of these explained to him. 12. these two olive spikes (Pusey). Apparently the extreme ends of fruit-laden boughs ; for elsewhere the Hebrew word always means an * ear' (of corn), as Gen. xli. 5. the g-olden oil. Lit. * the gold,' — a very strange expression for 'golden oil.' Perhaps some words have dropped out and we should read, 'that empty out of themselves [the oil into] the [bowl of] gold.' Targ. has ' into the lamps of gold,' LXX either read or understood ' the pipes of gold ' {v. 2). that empty, &c. : as it seems, into the ' bowl' oi v. z. out of: lit. 'from upon,' as * spouts' would do. 13. The same reply, expressing surprise that Zechariah should not understand the symbolism, as in v. 5. these: i.e. the olive trees of z;. 11. 14. the two sons of oil. The Heb. word (yi'ahdr),— the word used in Dt. vii. 13, xi. 14, &c., — denotes the freshly expressed juice of the olive ; and is not the word (s/ie'men) which denotes the oil as prepared for use, and ready, for example, to be employed for a lamp (Ex. xxv. 6), or in anointing (i S. ;c. i). The expression is commonly understood (e.g. by Ew., Hitz., Keil) to mean the two anointed ones, and to symbolize Joshua (as the anointed high-priest. Lev. iv. 3) and Zcrubbabel, as representing re- ZECHARIAH 4. 14 203 my lord. Then said he, These are the two sons of oil, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. spectively the priestly and kingly offices, the channels by which, U V. IS is genuine (see below), Israel (symbolized by the lamps) is kept supplied with the Divine spirit (symbolized by the oil). 'Sons of oil' would , however, suggest rather the idea of/ull of oil, — as indeed an olive tree might be metaphorically said to be, — than anointed with oil : cf. p. 204 '. that stand by, &c. : characterizing the two 'sons of oil' as Yahweh's servants : see Jud. iii. 19 ; i K. xxii. 19. The expression hardly differs from ' stand before,' iii. 4. the Lord of the whole earth: as vi. 5, Josh. iii. 11, 13, Mic. iv. 13, Ps. xcvii. 5. It can hardly have escaped the reader's notice that vv. 6-14, as they have been now explained, do not in parts yield a satisfactory sense. In v. 6 < This is the word,' &c., is not a natural answer to the question asked in v. 4 ; vv. 6 (from 'This is the v^^ord')-io* in fact interrupt the explanation of the vision with a different subject altogether, viz. the promise to Zerubbabel ; and v. 10 yields an improbable sense, to say nothing of the awkwardness of the Hebrew (from n^N nyivr), rendered as it must be rendered, with the text as it stands. On the other hand, as Wellhausen was the first to perceive, the words in v. 10, which are so awkward where they now stand, would form a perfectly natural answer to the question in z/. 4 ; and if it might be assumed that the promise to Zerubbabel in vv. 6-10* had become misplaced, and that it was originally an independent prophecy, standing perhaps at the end of the chapter, all would run smoothly. We should then have, viz. : — ' "And he answered and spake unto me, saying, '*' ^ These seven are the eyes of Yahweh, which run to and fro through the whole earth. ^'Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? ['^ And I answered a second time and said unto him, What be these two olive spikes, which are beside the two golden spouts, that empty the gold(en oil) out of themselves ?] *^ And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. i*Then said he. These are the two sons of oil, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. ' The use of the expression * the two olive trees and the two candlesticks, standing before the Lord of the earth,' in Rev. xi. 4, of the two * witnesses ' (probably Moses and Elijah : notice v. 6), though both figures are evidently suggested by this vision of Zcchariah, does not throw light on the meaning of its symbolism. 204 ZECHARIAH 4. 14 ^^ This is Yahweh's word to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by force, but by my spirit, saith Yahweh of hosts. "' Who art thou, O great mountain ? before Zerubbabel be thou a plain ! and he shall bring forth the top stone with shoutings of Beautiful ! beautiful ! * And Yahweh's word came unto me saying, ' The hands of Zerubbabel have founded this house, and his hands shall finish it ; and ye shall know that Yahweh of hosts hath sent me unto you. ^" For whosoever hath despised the day of small things, they shall see with joy the plummet in the hands of Zerubbabel.' This view of the original form of the passage has been accepted by Nowack, G. A. Smith, and Marti. If it is correct, the seven lamps {v. 2) will symbolize Yahweh's eyes, which, on the one hand, sweep through the whole earth to descry approaching danger or trouble, and to protect and deliver His loyal servants (see especially a Chr. xvi. 9), and, on the other hand, are specially present in Israel, to watch over and defend it. V. 12 is regarded by Wellh., Nowack, and Marti as an interpolation : not only is the object of the re-formulation of the question in v. 11 far from apparent, but the verse describes the candlestick quite differently from vv. 2, 3, and is also entirely disregarded by the angel in his answer, v. 14 ; //, moreover, it is true that the lamps symbolize Yahweh's eyes, it is incredible, whatever the ' sons of oil ' in v. 14 signify, that these can be regarded as supplying them with brightness and light. If v. la is an interpolation, it must be supposed that the olive trees in v. 3 were (incorrectly) assumed to be intended for the purpose of supplying the lamps with oil, and that this verse was added in order to express this more distinctly. Of course i( v. 12 be omitted, the olive trees of v. 3 merely stand beside the candlestick ; they are otherwise uncon- nected with it, and do not supply the lamps with oil. And the object of this part of the vision, as a whole, will be now to show how Joshua and Zerubbabel, — who, as before, are symbolized by the two olive trees, — (i) stand under Yahweh's ever-watchful protection {v. 10*'), and (2) are — not channels of Divine grace to Israel, but — {v. 14) filled themselves with Yahweh's spirit (symbol- ized by the ' oil," cf. Is. Ixi. i). In the paragraph which now follows (vv. 6**-io*), the promise to Zerubbabel will be interpreted exactly as explained above, only V. 10* will have a clearer and better sense : it will form a suitable close to the entire promise, declaring how those who once scoffed at the small beginnings of the Temple will rejoice when at length they see Zerubbabel fix the top-stone in its place. And the • plummet ' will now be, not the plummet by which the building, as course after course of stone is added to it, is kept perpendicular, but (Smith, p. 301) the plummet laid to it for the last time to test the straightness of the top-stone. ZECHARIAH 5. 1-3 205 Then again I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and 5 behold, a flying roll. And he said unto me. What seest 2 thou ? And I answered, I see a flying roll ; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. Then said he unto me, This is the curse that 3 goeth forth over the face of the whole land : for every one that stealeth shall be purged out ^on the one side * Or, from hence V. The two visions described in this chapter both emphasize and develop the thought of iii. 9, the removal viz. of sin from Israel in the Messianic age. 1-4. The sixth vision. The Flying Roll. The prophet sees a large roll flying through the air. It is inscribed with curses for sins committed ; and it enters the house of every thief and perjurer in the land, and destroys it. The vision is intended to symbolize the complete extermination of sinners from the Israel of the future. 1. a ilying* roll: viz. of skin or parchment, the material ordinarily used for writing on. The flight of the roll signified the swift coming of punishment ; its flying from heaven (cf. v. 4), that the sentence proceeded from the judgement-seat above (T. T. Perowne). 2. And he said: viz. the interpreting angel (i. 9, &c). the leusrth thereof, &c. The colossal size of the roll, some thirty feet long by fifteen broad, is an indication of the number of curses inscribed upon it. From the dimensions given, it is evident that it must be pictured not as wound up, but as unrolled, and forming a huge oblong sheet. The dimensions specified have no particular significance ; they merely indicate that the roll is a very large one. 3. 4. The explanation of the vision. The curse goes out over the whole land, and brings punishment upon every thief and perjurer in it. 3. purg-edout: better, cleared or emptied out (Is. iii. 26 RVm.). Every thief and perjurer on the one side and on the other side *, i.e. wherever he may be in the land, is cleared away, or utterly destroyed, according to the curse written in the roll, when it alights upon him. The verb nikkdh is, however, more frequently used in the fig. sense of, to clear from guilt, hold guiltless, leave ^ RVm. from hence is a legfitimate alternative ; but the repeti- tion of rro creates a presumption that it has the force of on this side and on that side (cf. Ex. xvii. 12; Nu. xxii. 24). 2o6 ZECHARIAH 5. 4 according to it ; and every one that sweareth shall be purged out *on the other side according to it. I will cause it to go forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name : and it shall abide in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof. ■ Or y from hence. tmpunished; hence Now., Marti, following a suggestion of Wellhausen's, read rros rn for rrb3 mr? and render : ' for how long hath every one that stealeth been unpunished ! and how long hath every one that sweareth (falsely) been unpunished ! * ' i. e. crime has hitherto been practised with impunity : henceforth (v. 4) that will no longer be the case. that sweareth. The meaning must be t/iat sweareth falsely, even if the words ' by my name falsely ' (see v. 4) have not accidentally fallen out (We., Novt^., Marti) ^ The two sins specified correspond to the third and eighth commandments : but they are manifestly typical of transgression in general. 4. I have broug-ht it out . . . and it shall enter, &c. Yahweh has brought it out ; and it will alight with destructive effect upon every thief and perjurer in Israel. 'Perhaps in ancient times curses were written on small pieces of parchment, and committed to the wind, that they might alight upon the houses of those against whom they were directed' (Smend). shall abide, &c. It will take up its abode there, till it has effected the purpose for which it was sent. and consume it. The destruction of the tent or house is an old form of punishment (cf. Dan. ii. 5), and is equivalent to the exclusion of the offender and his family from the community to which they belong (We.). 5-11. 77?^ seventh vision. The Woman in the Barrel. The prophet sees an Ephah, in which, as shortly appears, a woman, the personification of wickedness, is seated. Two winged women then come forward, carry away the Ephah, and deposit it in Babylonia. The vision supplements the preceding one, declaring that not only the sinner, but wickedness, the living principle of sin, is to be permanently banished from the Israel of the future. * ni, ' now,' as Gen. xxxi. 3S, &c. ; Zech. vii. 3 {Lex. p. 261 *") ; but there is no other case of m being so used with nr)3 alone. * To smear by Yahweh's name, expressed absolutely, is not a sin, but a mark of loyalty to Him (Dt. vi. 13). ZECHARIAH 5. 5-8 207 Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and 5 said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth. And I said, What is it ? And 6 he said, This is the ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their ^ resemblance in all the land : (and behold, there was lifted up a ^ talent of lead :) and 7 this is a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah. And 8 he said, This is Wickedness ; and he cast her down into • Heb. eye. According to some ancient authorities, iniquity, ^ Or, round piece 6. went forth : rather, came forth. After the close of the last vision he vanished into the surrounding darkness : now he comes forth from it into view of the prophet. and see, &c. The word 'ephah' has probably fallen out; and it is better to read, and see this ephah that cometh forth, viz. into the prophet's field of vision. The ephah was equivalent to about seven gallons ; it was consequently of considerable size. From V. 7 it appears that it had a circular lid ; so that it may naturally be supposed to have been shaped like a barrel. 6. Read (for the whole vei-se) : And I said, What is it? And he said, This is their iniquity in all the land. The angel's first answer, — at least, if the emended text oiv. 5 is accepted, — is tauto- logous ; and, in any case, the double answer is awkward and im- probable. The ephah, the angel says, contains the whole iniquity of the land. The Hebrew text, resemblance (lit. eye, fig. appearance, Nu. xi. 7 ; Lev. xiii. 55), is understood to mean (Keil), This is the appearance which the wicked in the whole land will present, after the roll of curses {vv. 1-4) has passed over it ; they will all, as it were, be concentrated in the ephah. But this explanation is very forced ; and it is far better to read, with LXX, their iniquity (2;w) for their eye (cyr). a talent of lead. Or, more clearly, a round plate of lead, which, as the sequel shows, proved to be the lid or cover of the ephah. As the text stands, the first part of the verse is a parenthesis describing what took place, and the second part con- tinues the angel's words in v. 5, describing what he saw, as soon as the circular plate of lead was lifted off the top of the ephah. But probably we should read, with LXX (without the parenthesis), And behold, a round plate of lead was lifted tip ; and lo, a woman sitting, &c. The talent was called a ' round ' from its shape. 8. The woman is said to be Wickedness, i. e. she represents and personifies the entire wickedness of the land. As she apparently 2o8 ZECHARIAH 5. 9-11 the midst of the ephah : and he cast the weight of lead 9 upon the mouth thereof. Then Hfted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, there came forth two women, and the wind was in their wings : now they had wings like the wings of a stork : and they lifted up the ephah 10 between the earth and the heaven. Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the I ! ephah ? And he said unto me, To build her an house in the land of Shinar : and when it is * prepared, she shall be set there ^ in her own place. * Or, established ^ Or, upon her own base raises herself up, and seeks to escape from the ephah, she is thrust back by the angel, and the heavy leaden top is forced down upon her. the weight. Lit. ' the stone,' stones having been originally used as weights. So Dt. xxv, 13, 15 Heb,, Prov. xi. i Heb. 9. Two women, with large outspread wings, inflated with the wind, i. e. adapted and ready to travel swiftly, appear, and lift up the ephah, preparatory to carrying it away. No meaning attaches to the number ' two,' any more than to the ' wings ' of the women : the ephah, with its heavy cover, would naturally require more than one person to lift it up. like the wing's of a stork. The stork is a migratory bird, with powerful wings, capable of flying over long distances : every spring, on their return to Palestine (Jer. viii. 7), they appear in great numbers flying high up in the sky (Tristram, NHB. 246). 10. 11. In answer to his inquiry, the prophet is told that the ephah is to be transported to Babylonia, where it is to find a per- manent resting-place. The meaning obviously is, that sin, which has hitherto been so active in Judah and wrought there so much ruin, is henceforth to be banished permanently to Babylonia, the country of Israel's deadly foe, and the proper home of all that is evil. 11. Shin'ar. A Hebrew name of Babylonia, of uncertain origin (Gen. xi. 2; Is. xi. 11 a/.). set : i. e. set down, deposited. in her own place. Hardly an improvement upon AV. upon her own base. The word used means a fixed resting-place : it is used of the bases of the ten la vers (i K. vii. 27), or of the base of an altar (Ezr. iii. 3). The ephah, when the' house' in Babylonia is ready for it, is to be deposited in it, on its proper stand or base. ZECHARIAH G. 1-3 209 And again I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, 6 there came four chariots out from between ^ two moun- tains; and the mountains were mountains of brass. In the first chariot were red horses ; and in the second 2 chariot black horses ; and in the third chariot white 3 horses; and in the fourth chariot grisled ^bay horses. * Or, the two ^ Or, strong The word is omitted in the Syriac. vi. 1-8. The eighth vision. The Four Chariots. The prophet sees four chariots, with horses of different colour in each, coming forth from between two mountains of bronze. They represent the four winds of heaven ; and they come forth with their com- missions from the presence of the Almighty. They are destined for different quarters of the earth, to check, viz., or to overthrow, any power which might threaten Judah, wherever it might be ; and one chariot is commissioned in particular to execute Yahweh'a anger upon the ' north ' country (Babylonia). 1. two znonntains. The Heb. has, the two mountains. The reference may be to two mountains which the prophet had already noticed in his visions, though he had not before mentioned them in his descriptions. They are to be pictured {v. 5) as near the abode of God : Marti compares Enoch xviii. 6-10. of brass. Rather, of bronze, — which, indeed, was what was meant by * brass,' w^hen AV. was made (Wright's Bible Word- book, s, v.). 2, 3. The differently coloured horses in each of the chariots. It does not seem that any significance attaches to the particular colours ; they are rather simply intended to distinguish the chariots which were to proceed to different quarters of the earth. At most, black might be chosen with reference to the dark north {v. 6). 2. red : i. e. chestnut, as i. 8. 3. grisled. Rather, dappled or spotted. The same word is used in Gen. xxxi. 10, 12 of goats, where it is also misrendered grisled. Grisled (now spelt grizzled) is an archaism, meaning ^»X)> (Fr. gris). bay. The Heb. word can only be rendered 'strong.* There must be some error in the text : for the descriptions of the horses in vv. 2, 3 and vv. 6. 7 do not agree, as they should do : the * red ' horses are wanting in vv. 6, 7, while the ' dappled strong ' ones, which are in one chariot in v. 3, are distributed between two chariots in vv. 6 end, 7 : 'strong,' moreover, though tolerable in 2IO ZECHARIAH 6. 4-7 4 Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked 5 with me, What are these, my lord ? And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four ^ winds of heaven, which go forth from l* standing before the 6 Lord of all the earth. The chariot wherein are the black horses goeth forth toward the north country; and the white went forth after them ; and the grisled went forth 7 toward the south country. And the « bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through * Or, spirits ^ Or, presenting themselves *^ Or, strong The Syriac and Aquila have, red. V. 3, is unsuitable in v. 7, where evidently the name of some colour is desiderated. No doubt the Syriac is right in omitting * strong ' in V. 3, and in reading ' red ' (D'D^N) for ' strong ' (c^jDt*) in v. 7. 4-6. The explanation of the vision. 5. from standing' before. Better, as marg., from presenting- themselves before : i. e. from appearing before Him, to report themselves, or receive His commands : cf. Jos. xxiv, i ; Job i. 6, ii. I. For the winds, as Yahweh's agents, executing His behests, cf. Ps. civ. 4 ('Who maketh winds his messengers'), cxlviii. 8. We., Now., Marti, however, adding a letter, read, 'These are going forth towards (Dan. viii. 8, xi. 4) the four winds of heaven, from standing,' &c. ; in this case, of course, the chariots no longer represent the four winds, though they are still Yahweh's symbolic messengers (cf. i. 8ff.). 6. toward the north country. Babylonia. See on ii. 6. after them. Following them into Babylonia, as though this needed two chariots, to be dealt with effectually. The Heb. is, however, peculiar ; and we expect another direction to be specified. Perhaps (We., Now.) after them (onnnN S^i) is a corruption of to the east country (aipn yi« bx '. grisled. Render, dappled, as v. 3. 7. the bay. Read, the red {chestnut), as v. 2* : cf. on v. 3. and sought to go, &c. The red horses display impatience to course through the earth in every direction ; and they are com- missioned accordingly to do this. The meaning is generally understood to be that no definite direction is assigned to them, in order that they may be ready to attack any new power which may arise to threaten Israel, wherever it may show itself. But again it is difficult to avoid suspecting the text : v. 5 implies that the four chariots are intended to go forth towards the four quarters of the earth ; and We., Now., Marti may well be right in reading ZECHARIAH 6.8-10 211 the earth : and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth. Then cried he upon me, and spake unto me, 8 saying. Behold, they that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 9 Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of 10 (after * south country ' at the end of v. 6) ' ; and the red went forth toward the west country. And they sought to go,' &c. The subject in * they sought ' will now be the horses in all the four chariots : they were all alike impatient to start on their mission ; and they are all dispatched accordingl}'. For ' walk to and fro,' i. e. to patrol, cf. i. 10. 8. The interpreting angel calls the prophet's attention to what has been done by the horses dispatched into the north country. cried npou me. An archaism for 'cried to me,' still current colloquially in Scotland. See the Additional Note on p. 226. have quieted my spirit, &c., i. e. have pacified my anger ('spirit,' as Jud. viii. 3 RVm., Eccl. x. 4), by pouring it forth upon Babylonia. Cf. for the expression Ez. v. 13 'And my anger shall be accomplished, and I will satisfy {lit. 'quiet') my fury upon them, and I will be comforted ' (viz. by thus disburdening myself), xvi. 42 'And I will satisfy {lit. 'quiet') my fury upon thee . . . and I will be at rest, and will be no more vexed.' For the thought of judgement imminent specially upon Babylonia, the centre of the anti-theocratic power of the world, see ii. 7-9 ; and cf. v. 11. 9-15. Historical appendix. A crown to be made, as it seems, for Zerubbabel : he and Joshua will rule harmoniously side by side in the Messianic future. A deputation from the Jews still in Babylon had just arrived in Jerusalem with gifts, intended probably as a contribution towards the restoration of the Temple ; and the prophet is commanded to take from these gifts enough silver and gold to make a crown (or crowns), either — as can hardly be doubted — for Zerubbabel alone, or for Zerubbabel and Joshua, the civil and religious heads of the community {cf. chaps, iii, iv). Zerubbabel will successfully complete the building of the Temple (cf. iv. 9) ; and he and Joshua will then rule, the one as Messianic king, and the other as priest at his side, in perfect concord with each other. 10. of them of the captivity. Or, of the gola (the company of exiles). The term regularly applied to the Jews resident in Babylonia (Ez. i. i; Ezr. i. 11, &c.). Heldai, Tobijah, and Zephaniah formed the deputation. P 2 2 12 ZECHARIAH G. ii Tobijah, and of Jedaiah ; and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, I whither they are come from Babylon ; yea, take of them silver and gold, and make * crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high * Or, a crown, and set it and come thon, &c. More exactly, 'and come thou (emph."! in that day, and come into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, into which they are come from Babylon,' or, more naturally, 'who are come from Babylon.' The Hebrew, as the literal rendering at once shows, is awkward ; the verb take, also, at the beginning of the verse, has no object, nor has any 'day' been mentioned to which in that day might refer. In view of the difficulties of the passage, though the correction may seem violent, there is much to be said in favour of the proposal (We., Now., Marti) to read (after 'and of Jedaiah'), 'and of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, who are come from Babylon ' ; sirtn era phs being omitted, nwi being a corruption of nxni (' and from '), and n'l nwi being two corrupt repetitions of it. 11. crowns. The Hebrew word is plural; it may, however, denote a single 'crown' (RVm. ; cf. v. 14), the plural referring to the several circlets of which it might be composed. The pro- noun after set is not expressed in the Hebrew : so of course either them or it may be supplied. Whether one or two crowns are actually meant must thus depend upon the view taken of the sequel. upon the head of Joshua, &c. The text here must be in some way or other at fault. In the first place, the words at the end of v. 13, ' and the counsel of peace shall be between them both,'' makes it evident that two personages must have been referred to in the preceding verses ; and secondly, the * crown ' — or, if there were two crowns, one of them — is evidently intended for the ' Shoot,' or Messianic king (iii. 8), of vv. 12, 13, to whom the principal promises here given are addressed, whereas in the text as it stands it is placed on the head of the high-priest Joshua. It seems, therefore, that one of two corrections must be made. We must either (Ewald, Hitz., Stade) read in v. II^ 'and set them upon the head of Zerubbabel, and upon the head of Joshua,' or (We., Now., Smith, Marti) omit v. 11^ (from ' and set ') altogether, —in either case, at the beginning of z;. 12, reading 'unto them^ (i. e. the persons mentioned in v. 10) for ' unto him.^ The crown —or (Ewald) the principal crown — was intended originally for Zerubbabel, upon whom Haggai had already (ii. 23) bestowed Messianic promises, and who Zechariah (see below, comparing ZECHARIAH 6. 12,13 213 priest; and speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the 12 Lord of hosts, saying, Behold, the man «■ whose name is the ^ Branch ; and he shall c grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord: even he 13 shall build the temple of the Lord ; and he shall bear * Or, whose name is the Bud ; and it (or they) shall bud forth under him '' Or, Shoot Or, Sprotit « Or, shoot iv. 9) expected would become the Messianic ruler of the future : since, however, as time went on, the high-priest, and not a descendant of David's line, became actually the supreme authority in Israel, the text was altered in accordance with the history ; and either (Ewald) ZerubbabePs name was omitted or (We.) Joshua's name inserted. the man whose name is (the) Shoot. See on iii. 8. and he will shoot forth out of his place : i. e. he will flourish and prosper (Jer. xxiii. 5), the figure being suggested by the name * Shoot.' ' Out of his place ' is lit. ' from underneath himself,' 'underneath oneself being a Hebrew idiom for 'where one stands' (see on Hab. iii. 16) ; cf. Ex. x. 23 * and no one rose up/;om underneath himself { = from his place). The Hebrew is, however, ambiguous, and might also be rendered as on RVm. (so We., Now., Marti) ; the meaning then being that he will become the founder of a flourishing dynasty (cf. Jer. xxxiii. 15-17, esp. V. 17). But it is doubtful whether the prophet looks beyond Zerubbabel himself. and he shall build : i. e. Zerubbabel ; see iv. 9. But the clause is superfluous by the side of the following clause (which, it maybe observed, begins with the emphatic Kini 'and he'), and is very probably nothing but a faulty anticipation of it. 13. 'And he (emph.) shall build Yahweh's Temple; and he (again emph.) shall bear majesty.' The word rendered ' majesty' (th) denotes properly the majesty of a king : see Jer. xxii. 18 end (EVV. 'glory') ; Ps. xxi. 5 and civ. i (EVV., weakly, 'honour' : render rather ' majesty and state ') ; i Chr. xxix. 25 (EVV. 'majesty'). the temple. This can mean only the literal Temple (cf. V. 14^) : the explanation (Keil, al.) that the spiritual Temple — the community, or Church of God (Eph. ii. 21)— is meant, is incon- sistent with the context, besides giving the word 'Temple' a sense unknown to the O. T., and one which it only acquired after Eph. ii. 21^ had been written (where it comes in naturally as the climax of the Apostle's figure, w» 20, ai*). But no doubt the 214 ZECHARIAH G. 14 the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and ^ he shall be a priest upon his throne : and the counsel 14 of peace shall be between them both. And the ^^ crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and cto Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the * Or, there shall be ^ Or, crown *= Or, for the kindness of the son &c. prophet does not think here simply of the actual Temple, but of the actual Temple endowed with ideal splendour (Hag. ii. 9), as he thinks also of Joshua and Zerubbabel as ruling in ideal state. and lie shall sit (i K. ii. 12), &c. : Zerubbabel is pictured as a king ruling in state upon his throne. and he shall be a priest, &c. This cannot be right : the closing words of the verse, * between them both,' shows that two persons must have been mentioned previously^. The least change that can be adopted must be, therefore, to read with RVm. ^ and there shall be a priest upon his throne, with reference to Joshua ; but it is more than possible that Joshua was once named here explicitly, and that we should read, with Ew., Stade, We., Now., Smith, and Marti, 'and Joshua shall be priest upon his throne [or, with LXX, Stade, We., Now., Smith, Marti, 'shall be priest ott his right hand,'' — 'upon his throne' being repeated accidentally by error from the previous line]; and there shall be counsel of peace between them both,' i. e. Joshua will be priest beside Zerubbabel, and there will be complete harmony between them both ; the civil and religious heads of the community will consult together harmoniously for the welfare of their people. Are the closing words an indication that rivalries had already begun to spring up between them ? ' The (later) hegemony of the priesthood cast its shadow before ' (Marti). 14. The crown (or crowns) to be preserved afterwards in the Temple in memory of the donors {v. 10). the crowns. The plural will be right if both Zerubbabel and Joshua were mentioned in v. 11, the singular crown (RVm.) if there was originally no name in v. 11^, and the ' crown ' mentioned in V. II* was intended really for Zerubbabel {vv. 12, 13*). Kelem. The Syr. has Heldai, no doubt rightly : see v. 10. Ken. Apparently a corrupt and mutilated fragment o{ Josiah, V. 10. In the abstract, we might render (cf. RVm.), and for the favour of the son of Zephaniah, — with reference to his hospitable ^ It is incredible that 'between them both' can refer to one person holding t-voo offices. ZECHARIAH 6. 15—7. i 215 temple of the Lord. And they that are far off shall 15 come and build in the temple of the Lord, and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God. And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, 7 reception {v. lo, as rendered in RV.) of the deputation from Babylonia ; but such a rendering is not here probable ; Hen can only be taken naturally as a proper name, and if so it can scarcely be anything but a corruption of ' Josiah ' {y. lo). Zerubbabel and Joshua may be regarded naturally as types of Christ, the Messianic expectations which Zechariah attached to them being fulfilled afterwards, in a larger sense, by Him. 15. The building of the temple will progress rapidly: 'far-off ones,' — Jews from a distance, and perhaps (cf. Hag. ii. 7 ; Zech. viii. 22) Gentiles as well, — will come and assist in the work ; and its completion will be evidence to the people of Judah that the prophet has been sent by Yahweh (cf. ii. 11, iv. 9^). The thought may have been suggested to the prophet by the interest shown in the Temple by the exiles who had sent gifts for it from Babylonia. build in. Or, 'build at/ i.e. assist in building : the prep., as Neh. iv. 4 Heb. [EVV. iv. 10]. and this shall come to pass, &c. There is no * this ' in the Hebrew. The words must be rendered as in other exactly similar cases (Dt. xi. 13, xxviii. i ; Jer. xvii. 24^ : And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently to the voice of Yahweh your God. . . . Some promise must have originally followed ; but it has been torn away : the prophecy in its present form ends in the middle of a sentence. Part HI (chs, vii-viii). YahweWs promises, and demands, for the future. • The visions have revealed the removal of the guilt of the land, the restoration of Israel to their standing before God, the revival of the great national institutions, and God's will to destroy the heathen forces of the world. With the Temple built, Israel should again be in the position which she enjoyed before the Exile, Zechariah, therefore, proceeds to exhort the people to put away the fasts which the Exile had made necessary, and address themselves, as of old, to the virtues and duties of the civic life ' (G. A. Smith, p, 320). He reminds them how their forefathers, to their cost, had neglected those duties (cf. i. 4-6) ; but now, if they will obser\'e them faithfully, he assures them of Yahweh's 2i6 ZECHARIAH 7. 2,3 that the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah in the 2 fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chislev. » Now they of Beth-el had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, 3 and their men, to intreat the favour of the Lord, a?id to speak unto the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so * Or, Now they of Beih-el, even Sharezer . . . had sent blessing, he describes the felicity which they will enjoy, and he ends with a picture of heathen nations eagerly pressing forward to share their blessings. vii. 1-3. The occasion of the following prophecy. In 518, two years after the work of rebuilding the Temple had been resumed, a deputation came to Jerusalem to inquire of the priests and prophets there whether the fasts which had been obser\'ed during the years of exile should still be continued. 1. Chislev: i.e. Dec-Jan, 2. The text is highly suspicious, though it cannot be restored with certainty. Sharezer is an Assyrian name (see Is. xxxvii. 38), and must have been given to its bearer in Babylon : it means ' Protect the king,' the name of the deity addressed * being either omitted or having dropped out. Not improbably it is concealed in the preceding ' Beth-el ' ; and we should read, for instance, * And Belsharezer and Regem-melech and his men [so the Heb.] sent to intreat,' &c., or, with greater changes in the Heb., but better sense, 'And Belsharezer sent Regem-melech and his men' (We., Now.), or 'And B. and R. sent men ' (Cheyne, Marti). to intreat Yahweh's favour. Whether by supplication (Ex. xxxii. II ; I K. xiii. 6; Jer. xxvi, 19); or sacrifice, i S. xiii. 12, and probably here. 3. Shall 1 weep. The ' I ' represents the community : the senders were probably men of some position in it. the fifth month. The tenth of the fifth month was observed as a fast in memoi-y of the burning of Jerusalem by the Chaldaeans in 586 (Jer. lii. 12, 13). separating myself. Better, abstaining, viz. from food and drink. now 80 many years ? for sixty-eight years, the fourth j-ear of Darius being b. c. 518. ' CI. Bel-shar-uzzur (Belshazzar) *0 Bel, protect (iii:) the king!' Nergal-sharezer (Jer. xxxix. i.O,i,e. N'ergal-shar-uzzur (Neriglissar), ' O Nergal, protect the king ! ' ZECHARIAH 7. 4-7 217 many years ? Then came the word of the Lord of hosts 4 unto me, saying, Speak unto all the people of the land, 5 and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh months even these seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me ? And when 6 ye eat, and when ye drink, «• do not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? SJiould ye not hear the words 7 which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and * Or, are not ye they that eat &c. Yahweh's answer, which now begins, falls into three parts (v. 8 being omitted : see the note\ each introduced by the words, And Yahweh's word came to me, vv. 4-14, viii. 1-17, 18-23. 4-7. Your fasting has had so little reference to Yahweh, that He cares not whether you fast or not : what He demands, as He often told your fathers b}' the older prophets, is a spiritual service, the service of the heart. 5. and xuonrned. Rather, and wailed, — with loud demon- strations of grief, in the Eastern fashion. This is the regular meaning of saphad : cf. Mic. i. 8 ' I will make a wailing like the jackals,' with palpable reference to the cries of the wallers. in the fifth, month. See on v. 3. and in the seventh month. In memory of the murder of Gedaliah, whom Nebuchadnezzar had made governor of Judah, by fanatic Jews at Mizpah (see 2 K. xxv. 23, 25, or more fully Jer. xl. 5, 7, &c., xli. 1, 2). even. The word (Heb. 1, i. e. ' and ') is better omitted. did ye at all fast unto me ? It was a merely external observance, as little expressive of or conducive to the temper in which I delight as your eating and drinking are (f. 6). Cf. Is. Iviii. 3-5. 6. do ye not, &c. Lit. 'are not ye the eaters, and ye the drinkers?' i.e. the act is limited entirely to yourselves, it in no way affects me. Cf. i Cor. viii. 8. 7. (Should ye) not (hear). This is a good deal to supply ; the LXX read preferably, Are not these the words, &c. (n^s for rw ; cf. viii. 16). The meaning is, This, — i. e. Yahweh's indifference to a merely external ceremonial, apart from the moral and spiritual feelings of which it should be the expression, — is the gist of what the older prophets so often preached (e.g. Is. Iviii. 6-12, on fasting; also Is. i. 10-17 ; Am. v. 21-24, &c.). the former prophets: i. e. the pre-cxilic prophets, as in i. 4. 2i8 ZECHARIAH 7. 8-10 the cities thereof round about her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited ? 8 And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, 9 saying, Thus hath the Lord of hosts spoken, saying, Execute true judgement, and shew mercy and com- 10 passion every man to his brother : and oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; was inhabited. Lit. 'sat,' in accordance with the idiom explained on ii. 4. So were inhabited, at the end of the verse. the South. Or, the Negeb, a district in the south of Judah, often mentioned (cf. Gen. xii. 9 RVm.), the cities of which are enumerated in Jos. xv. 21-32 (see ' Negeb' in DB.). the lowland. Or, the Shephelah, the technical name of another district of Judah (Jos. xv. 33-44), comprising the low hills and flat valley land stretching down towards the Philistine plain in the W. and SW. of Judah (see ' Plain ' 7 in DB.). Cf. Jer. xiii. 19, xxxii. 44, xxxiii. 13. 8-14. A summary of the teaching of the * former prophets,' vv. 9-10, followed by a description of the manner in which the people turned a deaf ear to it, and were visited by Yahweh in consequence with disaster and exile, vv. 11-14. 8. 9. As the text stands, the reference to the teaching of the former prophets is the subject of a fresh revelation from Yahweh. But the connexion of this passage is greatly improved if we adopt, with Now., Smith, and Marti, We.'s illuminative sug- gestion to omit V. 8, as the gloss of a scribe who did not notice that vv. 9^, 10 contained God's teaching by the former prophets : we then get, ' ' These are the words which Yahweh hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited, &c. . .* ; and then the words spoken by them immediately follow, ^ * Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, Execute true judgement,' &c. 9. Execute true jndgfement. Lit. ' Judge judgement of truth.' The expression y«fl^^^m^;7^ of truth occurs elsewhere only Ez, xviii. 8 ; but the principle here inculcated is insisted on repeatedly, from the ancient ' Book of the Covenant,' Ex. xxiii. 6-8, onwards, e. g. Am. V. 12, 16 ; Is. i. 17, v. 23 ; Dt. xvi. 19, 20. shew mercy (or kindness) and compassion, &c. Cf. Hos. vi. 6 ; Mic. vi. 8. 10. The oppression of ' the widow, the fatherless, and the stranger' (/;/. 'the sojourner,' i.e. the foreigner, settled more or less temporarily in Israel, but possessing no legal status there) is repeatedly prohibited : Ex. xxii. 21, 22; Dt. xxiv. 17 ; Is. i. 17; Jer. vii. 6, &c. nor the poor. Cf Am. viii. 4 ; Is. iii. 14-15, x. 2. ZECHARIAH 7. 11-14 219 and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. But they refused to hearken, and * pulled n away the shoulder, and ^stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an 12 adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by his spirit by the hand of the former prophets : therefore came there great wrath from the Lord of hosts. And it came 13 to pass that, as he cried, and they would not hear ; so they shall cry, and I will not hear, said the Lord of hosts; but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among 14 ^ Or, titrned a stubborn shoulder ^ Or, made their ears heavy See Is. vi. 10. imagfine evil. Cf. Mic. ii. i, 11, 12. The obstinate and persistent refusal of the people to listen to these admonitions. 11. refused to attend. Cf. i. 4 ; Jer. vi. 10, 17, i9,xviii. i8(Heb.). pulled away the shoulder. Lit. 'gave a stubborn (Dt. xxi. 18) shoulder.' The same phrase in Neh. ix. 29. The figure is taken from an animal which will submit tono j'oke upon its neck : cf. Hos. iv. 16 ' For like a stubborn heifer, Israel hath been stubborn.'' stopped. Lit. , 14-17. The people have nothing to fear, if only iyv. 16-17) they observe the moral conditions which Yahweh imposes. 14, 15. to do evil ... to do g'ood. Contrast Dt. xxviii. 63 ; Jer. xxxi. 28. 16, 17. Yahweh's moral demands are substantially the same as those laid upon the forefathers, vii. gf. 16. Speak . . . truth. Cf. Ps. xv. a. judge truth, and the judg-ement of peace (RVm.) : i. e. judgement leading to peace, as opposed to unrighteous judgement, such as leads only to dissatisfaction and discord. in your gfates. Or, gateways, with seats along the sides, where persons often met for conversation or business, and where justice was also often administered : see e. g. Dt. xxv. 7 ; Ruth iv. I, n ; Am. v. 15 ; Is. xxix. 21 ; Job v. 4 ; Ps. cxxvii. 5. 17. and let none of you, &c. Nearly identical with vii. 10^'. no false oath. Cf. v. 4. 18-19. Now at last comes the direct answer to the original question (vii. 3% out of which the entire prophecy arose : Do ZECHARIAH 8. 19-22 225 saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts : The fast of the 19 fourth vionth^ and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love truth and peace. Thus saith the Lord 20 of hosts : // shall yet come to pass, that there shall come peoples, and the inhabitants of ^ many cities: and the 21 inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to intreat the favour of the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also. Yea, many 22 peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to intreat the favour of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts : In those days 23 // shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of * Or, great what is just and right, and the felicity which you will then enjoy will cause the sad memories of the past to be forgotten. The answer embraces two other fast-days, besides those mentioned in vii. 5. 12, On the ninth day of ^e fourth month, a breach was made in the walls of Jerusalem, Zedekiah and his men of war fled, and the Chaldaeans entered the city (2 K. xxv. 3-5^ Jer. lii. 6-8^ ; on the tenth day oiihe fifth month, the city, palace, and temple were burnt (Jen lii. 12, 13) ; in the seventh month, the governor Gedaliah was murdered (above, on vii. 5) ; on the tenth day of the teuth month (a year and a half before the day on which the breach in the walls was made) the siege of Jerusalem began (2 K. xxv. i = Jer. lii. 4). cheerful feasts. Better, cheerful seasons (Zeph. iii. 18). so love truth and peace (cf. v. i6''\ In order, viz., that this happy change may come to you. 20-22. So great will be Judah's felicity that the sight of it will attract many and mighty nations to Jerusalem, to seek Yahweh's favour there. 21. let us §"0. They exhort one another to make the pilgrim- age : cf. Is. ii. 3 = Mic. iv. 2. There is no ' speedily ' in the Hebrew : the inf. abs. suggests emphasis, but not (at least directly) speed. to intreat the favour. Cf. on vii. 2. 22. many peoples and strong' nations. Cf. Mic. iv. 3. 23. Ten men will press round a single Jew : so eager will the Q 226 ZECHARIAH 8. 23 all the languages of the nations, shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. nations be, not merely to worship the God of Israel, but to join themselves to Israel (cf. ii. 11 ; Is. xiv. i^, Ivii. 6 f.), because, viz., God is ' with ' Israel, and blesses it with prosperity (cf. Gen. xxi. 22, xxvi. 28 f., xxxix, 2, 23% Cf. Is. xlv. 14. lanffuag-es. In the late sense of ' peoples speaking different languages,' as Is. Ixvi. 18; Dan. iii. 4, 7, 28, &c. : so Rev. v. 9, vii. 9, X. II al. Additional Note on Zech. vi. 8. < Cried upon ' here, in the sense of * called to,' is an isolated and somewhat curious archaism, inherited through the Geneva Version (1560), and the Great Bible '1539}, from Coverdale (1534). It was presumably current in Old Enghsh ; but in the instances given by Murray ri3oo Cursor Mundi 6139 ; 1400 Destruction of Troy 6^0^ ; 1532 More, Works, ed. 1557, p. 396* 'he cryed upon them to do penaunce ' ; and others) it has the force of call on or appeal to. It is still, Dr. Hastings tells me, used colloquially in the sense of ' call to ' in Scotland : ' A mother will say, " Your father's in the garden, cry upon him to come in." ' And Jos. Wright, in his Dialect Dictionary, quotes two examples of it in the same sense from Scott : Border Minstrelsy (1802), i. 144, ed. 1806, or ii. 8, ed. 1848 in ' Jamie Telfer'), ' But fj'e gar cry on Willie my son,' and Redgauntlet. Letter xii, towards the end, ' If ony body stops ye, cry on me.' ZECHARIAH IX-XIV INTRODUCTION Zechariah ix-xiv falls into two main parts (though it is doubtful whether each part forms a single continuous prophecy), viz. (i) ix-xi, xiii. 7-9; (2) xii. i— xiii. 6, xiv. Contents of the two parts, (i) {a) ix. Establishment of ihc Messianic kingdotn. Yah- weh's judgement falls upon Syria, Phoenicia, and the Philistines {vv. 1-8) : their depopulated territory is incorpor- ated in the Messianic king^dom : the Messianic king enters his capital in triumph {vv. 9-10) ; the Israelites still in exile, having vanquished the Greeks, return to their own land, to enjoy there the blessings of peace {vv. 11-17). {b) X. 1-2. Ask help of Yahiveh. not of the teraphim or diviners! An exhortation to pray for rain to Yahweh, and not to expect it from teraphim and diviners : trust in them leads only to misfortune. (c) X. 3-12. The fall of the godless foreign tyrants. Yahweh will visit His flock (people), free them from their foreign rulers, and appoint them native rulers of their own {yv. 3, 4;. Endued with new strength, they will thereupon vanquish their foes ; the exiled Ephraimites will return ; Egypt and Assyria will be humbled ; and the restored nation will glory in its God {vv. 5-12). {d) xi. 1-3. A fire devours the cedars of Lebanon ; and the oaks of Bashan will soon share the same fate : shepherds bewail their desolated pastures, and lions roar because their lairs along the Jordan are destroyed. Perhaps a figurative description of the downfall of heathen rulers. {e) xi. 4-17 ; xiii. 7-9. The people's rejection of the good shepherd, the substitution of a worthless shepherd^ and its conse- quences for both. Israel has been the prey of selfish shepherds ''i.e. rulers), who have made traffic with it ruthlessly. The prophet is therefore commissioned to enact the part of a good shepherd, and rule the people on Yahweh's behalf : but they Q 2 228 ZECHARIAH IX— XIV resent his authority, so he leaves them to their fate {vv. 4-14^ After this, in order to exhibit the consequences which their rejection of Yahweh will entail, he assumes the character of a worthless shepherd, who will plunder the people for his own aggrandizement, but who will eventually meet with a just retribution {vv. 15-17) : his flock will be dispersed ; and only a remnant, purified by further trial, will be preserved to form the faithftil people of God (xiii. 7-9). On the probable meaning of the allegory see the notes, esp. p. 253 f. (2) xii. I — xiii. 6, xiv. The delivt^rance and glorious future of Jerusalem. — {a) xii. i — xiii. 6. The deliverance of Jerusalem from the attack of the heathen, its penitence, and its purifi- cation from all sin and uncleanness. The prophet sees an assembly of nations advancing against Jerusalem : but Yahweh smites them with a sudden panic, the country folk of Judah are first victorious, and then they assist in saving the capital {vv. 1-9). After this triumph, the whole nation, every family by itself, from the noblest downwards, holds a great lamen- tation over a martyr 'whom they have pierced' {vv. 10-14). Henceforth a fountain for purification from sin is permanently opened in Jerusalem (xiii. i) ; and all idolatry and degraded prophecy are exterminated from the land (xiii. 2-6). {b) xiv. The deliverance of Jerusalem from the heathen, and its elevation into a centre of monotheism for the world. Another assault upon Jerusalem is here described. The nations this time capture the city ; and half of its population is taken into captivity {v. if.). Yahweh next appears, in order to fight against the assailants, and rescue the remainder : He stands upon the Mount of Olives, which is rent in sunder beneath Him, and through the chasm the fugitives escape {vv. 3-5). Thereupon the Messianic age commences : the light is perpetual, and the air serene ; the territory of Judah becomes a fertile plain, Jerusalem alone retaining its former elevation, conspicuous from afar, the goal of the nations' pilgrimages, and holy entirely to Yahweh {vv. 6-21). That Zechariah, the author of chs. i-viii, should be also the author of either chs. ix-xi, xiii. 7-9, or xii, xiii. 1-6, xiv, cannot be said to be probable, even upon internal grounds. Zechariah uses a different phraseology, evinces different interests, and moves in a different circle of ideas from those which prevail in chs. xii-xiv. Thus Zechariah is peculiarly fond of the confirmatory formula, *(Thus) saith Yahweh' (twenty-three times), and ' came the INTRODUCTION 229 word of Yahvveh unto . . .' (eight times) ; in xi-xiv we have the former only in xi. 4, the latter not at all ; the parenthetic ' saith Yahweh ' is also much more frequent in i-viii than in ix-xiv : on the other hand, ' in that day' (of the future , which occurs seventeen times in xii-xiv, occurs thrice only in i-viii (ii, ri, iii. 10, [vi. 10 j), and only once in ix-xi (ix. 16). In i-viii the circumstances of the author's lifetime, and the objects of his interest— the Temple, the affairs of the restored community, Judah's prospects for the future — bulk largely : in ix-xiv the circumstances and interests of the author are very different : there is nothing about the restoration of the Temple, or about Joshua and Zerubbabel ; but we read of the evil rulers, foreign and native alike, who maltreat their subjects, and enrich themselves at their expense. Zechariah's pictures of the Messiah and the Messianic age are coloured quite differently from those of either ix-xi or xii-xiv (contrast iii. 8, vi. 12 f. with ix. 9 f. ; and viii with xiv) ; and the prospects of the nation are also different : in Zechariah the outlook is one of security and peace (i. 17, 21, ii. 9-1 1, iii. 10, viii. ^-8, 12), in xii. 2 ff., xiv. 2 ff., war and siege are imminent, and only when these have been passed through, and Jerusalem has been captured and plundered (xiv. 2), will Judah's salvation be secured (xiv. 6 ff.}. And if (see below) ix-xiv are not earlier than the Greek age, Zechariah's authorship is upon chronological grounds impossible. When, however, we endeavour, by means of internal evidence, to fix the date of these prophecies, we are met by a difficulty. Especially ix-xi, xiii. 7-9 contains passages, some of which seem to point to a /r^-exilic date, while others point to a ^^j/-exilic date. Thus, on the one hand, the kingdom of the ten tribes is spoken of in terms implying apparently that it j//// exists (ix. 10, XL 14), Assyria and Egypt are mentioned side by side (x. 10, 11), just as in Hosea (vii. 11 a/.) \ the tera- phim and diviners (x. i f.) have been thought to point to a date before rather than after the Exile (but see Mai. iii. 230 ZECHARIAII IX-XIV 5) ; the nations threatened in ix. 1-7 are those prominent in the age of Amos (cf. Am. i. 3, 6, g). On the strength of these facts, many of the older critics, Ewald, Hitzig, and others, assigned ch. ix to the end of the reign of Jeroboam II, ch. x to a somewhat later date, v. 10 al- luding to the deportation of the inhabitants of N. and N.E. Israel by Tiglath-pileser in 734 (2 K. xv. 29), and xi. 4-17 being interpreted as a symbolical description of Yahweh's rejection of the kingdom of the ten tribes in the troubles which followed the death of Jeroboam II. Upon this view the author would be an older contemporary of Isaiah. On the other hand, the prophecy also contains passages which appear to imply a ^<7J'/-exilic date : ix. 11 f. and X. 6-9 seem to presuppose the captivity of Ephraim (b. c. 722) ; in ix. 8 it is said that no oppressor shall any more pass through Jerusalem; and in ix. 13 the Greeks are mentioned, not as a distant, unimportant people, such as they would be in the eighth century B.C., but as a world- power, and as Israel's most formidable antagonist, the victory over whom inaugurates the Messianic age. This position, however, was only attained by the Greeks after the overthrow of the Persian empire at Issus, in Cilicia, by Alexander the Great, B. c. 333. Upon the whole, the arguments in favour of a post- exilic date preponderate. Not only is the manner in which the Greeks are mentioned in ix. 13 a grave objection to a pre-exilic date, but the portrait of the Messianic king seems to be original in Isaiah, so that it is scarcely pos- sible to regard ix. 9 f as earlier than Isaiah; and inasmuch as there are clear indications in some parts (as ix. 11, 12, xi. 4-17) that the writer for some reason veils his meaning, and speaks allegorically, a presumption arises that he may do the same elsewhere. And so the terms 'Ephraim' and 'the house of Joseph' maybe explained as symbolical designations of the members of the ten tribes still in exile (the Diaspora), whose return was anticipated by the INTRODUCTION 231 prophets long after 722 (Jer. iii. 12, xxxi. 4 fif, ; Ez. xxxvii. 16 ff.) ; while ' Assyria,' the name of the country to which, and the people by whom, Ephraim was carried into exile, may have been used .0 denote the lands belonging geographically to the ancient Assyria, or their present owners, whether the Persians (cf. Ezr. vi. 22), or Alexander (if X. 10, II was written during his victorious campaigns, ^' c. 333-323), or his successors on the throne of Syria, the Seleucidae. If, however, we ask more particularly to what date in the Greek period the prophecy is to be assigned, it is impossible to give any confident answer : for our know- ledge of Jewish history from 333 to c, 175 B. c. is too meagre to allow us to determine what the events alluded to in the prophecy are. There were, however, more occasions than one, in the half-century following the battle of Issus in 333, which, so far as we can see, might have given rise to such a prophecy. Alexander himself, having, in 332, taken Tyre after a seven months' siege, marched along the coast of Palestine on his way to Egypt, spending two months on the way in the reduction of Gaza. There followed the ten years of Alexander's wonderful career of conquest in the East. After his death at Babylon in 323, his empire, from Macedon to the Indus, became the prey of his generals' ambitions ; and Coele-Syria and Palestine, the debatable border-land between Syria and Egypt, were repeatedly invaded by rival armies and repeatedly changed hands. Syria was originally allotted to Laomedon ; but Ptolemy Lagi (who had secured Egypt) in 320 sent an expedition through Palestine (in the course of which he is said to have surprised Jerusalem on a Sabbath), and annexed Syria by force of arms. In 318 Eumenes, Alexander's former secretary, who had received the satrapy of Cappadocia, easily wrested one city after another in Palestine from Ptolemy's garrisons, but was obliged to abandon them in consequence of his fleet deserting to Antigonus. In 315 Antigonus (the general who had obtained Phrygia) laid siege to Tyre, took Joppa and Gaza, and in 314, after a fifteen months' siege, reduced Tyre, and so gained possession of Palestine. In 312, however, Ptolemy defeated Antigonus' son. Demetrius, at a great battle fought near Gaza, the result of which was 232 ZECHARIAH .IX~^XIV that he recovered Palestine as far as Tyre But he did not retain it for long: in 311, heaifing that Antigonus was advancing against him with a largi2 army from Phrygia, he evacuated it, destroying on his retneat Acco, Joppa, Samaria, and Gaza. From 311 to 302 Palestine remained in the hands of Antigonus. In 302, however, it was again recovered by Ptolemy. After the battle of Ipsus, in Phrygia, in 301, in which Antigonus was defeated and slai.i by Seleucus, Ptolemy, under protest from Seleucus, still retained Palestine. In 297 or 296 Demetrius appears to have taken Samaria '. There were also, during all these years, numerous wars between the former generals of Ale?cander in other parts of Asia. Amid times such as these, a prophet might well have been moved to attach his thoughts about the future to imagery such as that of the invasion of Palestine from the north in ix. 1-8, or the assault of nations upon Jerusalem in xii. 1-9, or its capture by them in xiv. 1-2, and so Stade, in his elaborate study onZech. ix-xiv in the Zeitschr. fiir die alttest. Wissenschaft. for 1881, 1882, dates the prophecy (1882, pp. 293 f., 305) between 306 and 278. G. A. Smith (p. 461) agrees that this date is probable. Kuiper {Zach. ix-xiv, Utrecht, 1894, pp. 134 f., 160 f.) thinks chs. ix-x may have been written in 332 during Alexander's siege of Tyre, considering ix. 5-8 to be a prediction of his ensuing march towards Egypt, and understanding the two chapters generally as giving ex- pression to the hopes of deliverance and restoration aroused by his successes ; xi, xiii. 7-9 he thinks was written somewhat later, after these hopes had been dis- appointed, and the people had shown themselves un- responsive to Yahweh's demands ; xii. i — xiii. 6 and xiv describe the hopes cherished still later by the same prophet. This view is plausible : whether it is right is more than we can tell. Nowack declines to say more than that the prophecy belongs to the Greek period. ^ Stade, in the study mentioned above, 1882, pp. 301-4 ; Niese, Gesch. der Griech. u. Maked. Staaten, i. ' 1893), pp. 230, 275 f-, 283 f., 295-300, 349> 352, 355 n- 6; ii. ^1899), pp. 124 f. INTRODUCTION 233 The date, in fact, cannot be fixed definitely till we know who the ' three shepherds ' cut off ' in one month ' are (xi. 8). Marti (see p. 254) places the prophecy as late as B.C. 160 ; but if this had been the date we should have expected the Hebrew style to be of a later type than it is. Chs. xii. I — xiii. 6, xiv (which differ from ix. i ff. in making no mention of the northern kingdom) were as- signed by Ewald and other older critics to a prophet living shortly before the close of the kingdom of Judah, under either Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, or Zedekiah, the descriptions in xii. 2ff. and xiv. i ff. being supposed to refer to the approaching capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldaeans in 586, and to the escape (xiv. 2^) of a fraction of the inhabitants. But a closer study of the contents of the prophecy reveals indications, too clear to be mistaken, of its post-exilic origin. The terms in which the foe is spoken of in xii. 2 ff., xiv. i ff. are very different from those used by Jeremiah or Ezekiel of the Chaldaeans : there is an ideal or imaginative element in the descriptions, showing that the prophet has not actual enemies in view, but that he is following Ezekiel (chs. xxxviii-xxxix) in picturing an imaginary attack of nations upon Jerusalem in the future. Such a feature has no organic connexion with the prophet's own times, but is eschatological. The prophets of the Chaldaean age dwell constantly upon the iniquities of the people : the burden of these chapters is not the need of repentance, or the judgement upon sin, but deliverance and future blessedness. The independent position assigned to the ' house of Levi,' as a whole, be- side the 'house of David ' (xii. 13 ; cl vv. 8, 10, 12, xiii. l) is unlike the representations of the earlier period : on the other hand, it would harmonize with post-exilic relations, when the family of David was reduced in prestige, and the priestly tribe possessed great influence in Jerusalem, the high-priest being head of the state. Hence there is no sufficient reason for attributing xii — xiii. 6, xiv to a substantially different age from ix-xi, xiii. 7-9. 234 ZECHARIAH IX^XIV Whether the six chapters are all by one hand is a difficult question, which can hardly be answered with certainty. The chapters, no doubt, all move in the same general circle of ideas : but there are at the same time considerable differences between them. Thus in xi. 4-17, xiii. 7-9 the figure of the shepherds is the same as in x. 3, but it is worked out in a different and highly original manner ; the outlook into the future in xi. 17, xiii. 7-9 is very different from that of ix. 9-17, x. 4-12, as it is also from that of xii. i — xiii. 6 : Ephraim, who is so prominent in ix-x, appears nowhere in xi-xiv, not even in the pictures of the future: the 'shepherds,' also, whether ofx. 3 or of xi. 4-17, xiii. 7, are not to be found in xii. r — xiii. 6, xiv : xiv. 1-5 is parallel in general thought to xii. 1-9, but again there are great differences ; for whereas in xii. i ff. the assailants are dispersed before Jerusalem, in xiv. i f they enter and spoil the city, and half its inhabitants go into exile : xiv. 4 f , 12-15, also, are very different from anything in xii. 3-9 ; and xiii. 8 f., again, differs from each of these. Some of these differences (e. g. those between ix-x and xi. 4-17, xiii. 7-9) might no doubt be accounted for by the fact that the prophecies, even though they may be the work of the same author, were not written by him at the same time, and do not reflect the same historical situa- tion (so Kuiper). The question must be left an open one. Stade, Marti, and G. A. Smith, though they allow that unity of authorship cannot be proved, think the differences, in view of the plastic character of the eschato- logical material, not far-reaching enough to imply a difference of author : Nowack, on the other hand, is of opinion that the phenomena presented by the chapters point to the conclusion that they consist of four distinct prophecies (ix. i — xi. 3 ; xi. 4-17, xiii. 7-9 ; xii. i— xiii. 6; xiv), the work of four different authors. The prophecies contained in Zech. ix-xiv are thus suggested in part (ix. 1-8 ; x. 3 f. ; xi. 4fr. ; xii. 5 and 7 (rivalry between Judah and Jerusalem) ; xii. 10) by the circumstances of the time, though we are not in a position to say definitely what the circumstances alluded to are. INTRODUCTION 235 Except, however, in xi. 4 14 (15 17 :)' which has a character of its own, the writer does not deal so largely with his own present, as the prophets generally do. He does not, like the older prophets (e. g. Is. i, vj, attack the moral or social abuses of his time, or denounce religious backsliding, or call to repentance ; he lives in the future, and we only learn indirectly, or incidentally (e. g. x. 2, xiii. 2-6), what the faults of his contemporaries are, or what reforms he would introduce among them. In xii. 2 f., xiv. 2f., 14, the assault of 'all' nations is connected loosely with the present ; it is thus (p. 233), though ex- pected to take place shortly, an eschatological trait. In the representations given in them of the future kingdom of God, the prophecies consist largely of re-affirmations, in form adapted to the age in which they were written, of characteristic elements of older prophecies — victory over foes, Ephraim restored, the advent of the age of godliness (xiii. 9), felicity, and peace (ix. 10, 17, x. 4-12, xii. 6, &c.), the removal of idolatry and spurious prophecy (xiii. 2-6), and purification from sin (xiii. 1). Ch. xiv, moreover, anticipates a time when monotheism will pre- vail throughout the world, and all nations will serve Yahweh,--with the limitation, however, that the thought is expressed under the forms of the Jewish dispensation, which even the most catholic of the prophets could not conceive as entirely abolished, Jerusalem the religious centre of the world, the feast of Booths observed, and other ceremonial institutions in force (xiv. 9 f., 16, 20 f.). The ideal of Zech. ix-xiv is, in one word (Marti), *a Judaized world-empire, with the Prince of Peace ruling in Jerusalem.' Explanation of Symbols. A ^, A ', A ^ A * . . . . Four anonymous Prophecies, perhaps the work of four dis- tinct Prophets. ZECHARIAH IX— XIV 9 [A^] The ^ burden of the word of the Lord upon the land of Hadrach, and Damascus ska// be its resting place: * Or, oracle ix-xi, xiii. 7-9. This prophecy falls into two main parts : (i) ix-x a symbolic picture of the overthrow of the heathen, and estabHshment of the kingdom of God ; (2) xi. 4-14, xiii. 7-9 Israel's misgovernment by certain evil 'shepherds,' and the consequences for both it and them. The interpretation of xi. 1-3 is uncertain (see the notes). As shown in the Introduction, the prophecy is almost certainly later than b. c. 333, the year of Alexanders victory over the Persians at Issus, and reflects some part, or parts, of the anxious and often troubled years which began then for Palestine : but our very meagre knowledge of the internal history of Judah during this period (till c. 175) prevents us from fixing the date more precisely. ix. Establishment of the Messianic kingdom. 1-8. Yahweh's judgement upon Syria, Phoenicia, and the Philistines, enabling the depopulated territory to be made a province in the Messianic kingdom (y. 9 ff.). The tide of invasion iiweeps on from the North, over Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine, destroying all before it vv. 1-6) ; the few survivors are cleansed from their iniquities, and incorporated in Judah, which is pro- tected by its God [yv. 7, 8). 1. The oracle (or utterance : see on Nah. i. i) of Yahweh's word. A peculiar combination, recurring only xii. i, Mai. i. i see p. 285 n. Here the expression is the more peculiar, from what is elsewhere the title of a prophecy forming part of a sentence. Stade and Marti, supposing ' Yahweh' to have fallen out, would read, 'The oracle of Yahweh's word. Yahweh is in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus is his resting place ' (Ps. cxxxii. 8), i. e. Yahweh is in these two countries, and holds them, as conquests, for His people (cf. v. x<^). For the idea, if the text be kept as it is, of Yahweh's word (of judgement) 'resting,' or alighting, upon a country, cf. Is. ix. 8. Hadrach. The name of a country mentioned in the Assyrian Inscriptions, sometimes beside Damascus and Hamath, sometimes beside Zobah, ^emar and ArJ an 'exactor' -2 K. xxiii. 35^ throngh them. Rather, by them ; e. g. bj' the coast-route. for now have I seen with mine eyes : viz. the violence done to my people, and, it is implied, am prepared to interpose and check it. Cf. Ex. iii. 7 ; Ps. x. 14. B-\*7. The Messianic king enters his capital in triumph, as the Prince of peace {vv, 9-10) ; and the Israelites still in exile, having vanquished the Greeks, return to dwell in safety in their own land. 9. The advent of the ideal King, or Messiah, is an occasion worthy to be greeted by Zion with acclamation and rejoicing. daugrhter : the personified population ; cf. Zeph. iii. 14. just. Or, rigrhteous. The first attribute of a ruler, and hence ZECH.VKIAH y. lo. A' 241 ass, even upon a colt the foal of an ass. And I will cut 10 off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jeru- predicated emphatically of the Messianic king, Is. xi. 3-5, xvi. 5, Jer. xxiii. 5 (|| xxxiii. 15). The position of the word before •saved' '\.&. victorious), and the fact that the rule of the ideal king is first characterized in v. 10^, lead Hitz., Now., and Marti, however, to think that it has here the meaning of in the right (viz. against his foes) ; cf. for this sense of the word Dt. xxv. i. having' salvation. The Heb. word is a passive participle, and means simply saved (Dt. xxxiii. 29 ; Ps. xxxiii. 16), viz. through Yahweh's having given him ' salvation,' i. e. (see on Hab. iii. 8) deliverance from his foes. The Messiah is described not as bringing, victory or salvation, but as the passive recipient of it. ' Saved ' is, however, rather a poor word to use in such a con- nexion ; and victorious is the word that would most adequately express what is intended. lowly. This is 1:^, not '3y, the word used here (see ' Poor ' in DB.) ; to obtain the idea ' lowly ' or ' humble ' (cf. LXX. vpats^ 'meek ' ; so Mt. xxi. 5), we must alter the text and read^;^, *3y, properly afflicted, poor, is the word used often, as explained on Hab. iii. 14, Zeph. iii. 12, to denote the pious servants of God ; and that is probably the sense which it has here : it characterizes the Messiah as belonging ' not to the worldly or godless party dominant in Jerusalem, but to that of the oppressed pious' (We.). riding upon an ass. Another point in which Israels ideal king will differ alike from the earlier kings of Israel and from ordinary worldly rulers ; he will appear riding, not like a worldly conqueror on his war-horse (for in his day the war-horse is to be no more, v. 10), but upon the ass, the beast of peace (cf. Gen. xlix. ii). See the fulfilment in Mt. xxi. 5, John xii. 15. But, as in other cases, the prophet's ideal as a whole, in the form in which he projected it, has never been fulfilled : for the picture drawn by him is not that of a spiritual ruler, swaying the hearts of men by the influences of a great religion, but that of a conqueror, returning from the defeat of earthly foes, cutting off the implements of war, and securing peace for his subjects by righteous govern- ment. 10. All implements of war will be destroyed ; the ideal king will maintain a far-reaching rule of peace. For the picture, cl. Hos. ii. 18^, Is. ii. 4 (-^Mic. iv. 3^ ix. 5. Mic. v. 10. I wUl cut off. LXX, We., Now., Marti, he will cut off. from Ephraim. The prophet pictures the northern tribes as restored to their old homes, which are now {v. i fl".^ free for them to occupy. So in the sequel, v. 13, x. 6, 7, 10. Cf. Is. xi. 12; Jcr. iii. 12. 18. xxxi. 4-9, 15-20; Zech. viii. 13, tScc. R 242 ZECHAKIAH 9. u. A^ salem, and the battle bow shall be cut off; and he shall speak peace unto the nations : and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from * the River to the ends of the II earth. As for thee also, because of the blood of thy ^ See Ex. xxiii. 31. speak peace vinto the nations. He will maintain peace among the nations, who are represented as owning his sway, »ot by force, but by his righteous decisions (cf. Is. ii. 4* = Mic. iv. 3»). from sea to sea, &ic. Verbally as Ps. Ixxii. 8, also of the ideal king. The ' River ' is of course the Euphrates, the ideal limit of Israel's territory towards the E. in the promises Gen. xv. 18, Ex. xxiii. 31, Dt. i. 7, xi. 24, Jos. i. 4 (cf. Is. xxvii 12) : the two 'seas' will be the Mediterranean Sea (Dt. xL 24; Jos. i. 4) and the vaguely known sea supposed to encircle the E. of Asia. The entire picture is of a rule like that of Solomon (i K. iv. 21, cf. vv. 24^, 25, 34), extended so as to embrace in effect the entire known earth. 11-12. The Israelites scattered among the heathen may now hope for restoration ; and Zion will receive double compensation for what she has gone through. If the prophecy dates from b. c. 332, the reference may be general (cf. Is. xxvii. 13) ; if it is later, the reference may be in particular (cf. v. 13) to Jews settled, or enslaved, in Greek cities, who after Alexander's conquests soon became numerous : Josephus, for instance, tells us (Ant. xii. i) that Ptolemy Lagi (b. c. 322-285) transported many either as slaves or as compulsory settlers to Egypt, others also migrated there voluntarily on account of the advantages which the country offered them (cf. MahafTy, Empire of the Ptolemies, p. 85 ff. ; and Schiirer, art. 'Diaspora' in DB. v. 91, 95, 96, &c.). Seleucus Nicator (b. c. 312-280), also, planted many Jewish colonists in Antioch and elsewhere, giving them rights of citizenship ^^Jos. Ant. xii. 3. I). 11. Thou also. The pron. is fem., showing that the daughter of Zion (v. 9) is still addressed. But the ' also ' refers really to the ' prisoners ' : these also — i. e. the Israelites still in captivity — will share in Yahweh's deliverance, as well as those in Judah and Jerusalem. because of the blood of thy covenant. Because of Yahweirs covenant with Israel, which was concluded solemnly with blood (Ex. xxiv. 5-8). It is argued, however, that had this been the meaning, my covenant would have been said ; and so Now., Smith, Marti render because of thy covenant-blood, i. e. the blood which the people shed daily in sacrifice to maintain the covenant. ZECHARIAH 9. 12-14. A^ 243 covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. ^Turn you to the strong hold, ye 12 prisoners of hope : even to-day do I declare that I will render double unto thee. For I have bent Judah for me, 13 I have filled the bow with Ephraim ; and I will stir up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O ^ Greece, and will make thee as the sword of a mighty man. And the Lord 14 * Or, Reiurn ^ Heb. Javan. have sent forth : i.e. will assuredly send forth ; cf. Mai. ii. 9. thy prisoners. I. e. thy children still in captivity : cf. Ps. Ixix. 33 (see v. 35), cii. 20. the pit (Gen. xxxvii. 24 '. Or, the dnngfeon (Jer. xxxviii. 6) : in either case a figure of captivity. wherein is no water. And in which, consequently, the prisoner vjzs in danger of perishing from thirst. 12. These 'prisoners,' who now at length may cherish 'hope' of deliverance, are accordingly invited to return (RVm.) to the ' strong hold,' fig. of their home, as a place of security, — perhaps with allusion to the rocky fastnesses of Palestine. even to-day. Rather, to-day (i. e. now) also,— viz. as before, when the return granted by Cyrus was in prospect. ' Thee ' is Zion {v. 13). double. I. e. double compensation : cf. Is. Ixi. 7. 13-16. The great victory which the Jews, with Yahweh's help, will gain over the Greeks, inaugurating thereby the Messianic age {v. 9 f.). 13*. A poetical way of saying that the warriors of Israel are weapons in Yahweh's hand : Judah is His bow, and Ephraim His arrows. As before (v. 10), the Israelites of the Northern kingdom are pictured as brought back from exile, and taking part in the conflict. 13*'. and will make thee— i. e. Zion — as the sword of a mighty man : i. e. of a warrior (see on Nah. ii. 3). Greece, Heb. Yavan. I. e. 'Idfovf^, lonians, the name by which the Greeks were always known to the Hebrews (Gen. x. 2, 4; Ez. xxvii. 13 ; Is. Ixvi. 19 ; Joel iii. 6 Heb. ; Dan. viii. 20, 31, xi. 2). 14. In the midst of the fray, Yahweh Himself will appear above the combatants, in order to help the Israelites. The imagery is evidently suggested by a great storm ; but whereas elsewhere (e. g. Is, XXX. 30) the lightning, for instance, is Yahweh's arrow, and the thunder is His voice, here His arrows (Hab. iii. 11 al.) are only compared to llie lightning. R 2 244 ZECHARIAH 9. 15, 16. A^ shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning : and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, 15 and shall go with whirlwinds of the south. The Lord of hosts shall defend them ; and they shall devour, and shall tread down the sling stones ; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine : and they shall be filled 16 like bowls, like the corners of the altar. And the Lord blow the trtimpet : the signal for the attack. in whirlwinds of the south. Such as were especially vehe- ment and destructive (Is, xxi. i ; cf. Job xxxvii, 9). For Yahvveh traveUing in the storm, cf. on Nah. i. 3^ 15. they shall devour, &c. If the text is correct, the meaning must he shall devour {their enemies), and trample down contemptu- ously the sling stones which have been hurled against them, but have missed their mark. But perhaps We., Now., Marti are right in reading, and they shall prevail (ibo'i for i?3Ni), and tread down the sons of . . . {"ii for ':in) ; the word rendering * sling ' being a corruption of the name or description of their foes. and they shall drink (viz. their blood), and make a noise as (through) wine (i. e. as if intoxicated through wine). But a much better sense is obtained by reading, with MSS. of LXX, dot for yorv\ ; we then get, and they shall drink their hlood as wine ; cf. the next clause. and they shall be filled (viz. with the blood) like bowls. The ' bowls ' (lit. tossing-vessels ; EVV. ' basons,' Ex. xxxviii. 3 al.) in which the sacrificial blood was thrown in a volume, or tossed (sdrak), against the sides of [not 'upon'] the altar, Lev. i. 5, ii al. (RV. unfortunately, as AV., 'sprinkle,' which not only conveys an incorrect idea of the action meant, but also confuses it with an entirely different word, correctly rendered sprinkle, Lev. iv. 6, 17) V, 9, viii. II al.). like the corners of the altar. Against which, as just described, the blood would be tossed, — in such a way, viz. that with two tossings the four sides of the altar were drenched with it (Zebdhim v. 4). It is a strange picture : the victorious Jews as full of the blood of their foes as the sacrificial basons when an animal has been just slaughtered for sacrifice ; and as drenched with it as the sides of the altar when the blood has just been tossed against them. But it reflects, no doubt, the animus with which a people that had suffered much regarded its oppressors. Cf. Nu.xxiii, 24 (where, however, though Israel is meant, the figure is that ul a wild beast) ; also Is. xxxiv. 7, Ixiii. 3. ZECHARIAH 9. 17. A* 245 their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people : for they shall he as the stones of a crown, ^ lifted on high over his land. For how great is ^ his ^ goodness, 17 and how great is ^ his beauty ! corn shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the maids. * Or, glittering upon dc. ^ Or, their ^ Or, prosperity 16. as the flock, &c. Better (Keil), (even) his people as a flock ^ ; for (they are) stones (i. e. jewels) of a crown, glittering ^ (RVm.) upon his land ; Yahweh will deliver His people, and tend them like a flock, for they are as jewels upon His land, which He prizes highly. The text is, however, suspicious : the comparison to a ' flock,' and afterwards that to the jewels of a crown, both come in abruptly : the subj. ' they ' (rrDn) after ' for ' is also much desiderated. ' For (they are) stones' looks much as if it were an error for 'as stones' (':3x 'D for ^:i^?3) ; and We., Now., Marti, would omit * like the glittering stones of a crown ' as a gloss, and read (Marti), <■ And Yahweh their God will save them in that day ; like a flock will he shepherd them (crT for vzv) upon his land.' The omission, however, is violent ; and perhaps ' as jewels of a crown glittering upon his land ' should be retained after ' shepherd them.' 17. The fertility of the land, and the happiness of the people, after their deliverance. The pronouns must refer to ' his people,' and are therefore pro- perly, for clearness, rendered their in RVm. RV. 'his' is intended to refer to Yahweh ; but * beauty ' is never predicated of Him. 3^^, applied to Israel, may mean either fairness (Hos. X. 11) or (RVm.) prosperity ; but its goodness or good things (Gen. xlv. 18 ; Is. i. i9\ and its beauty, referring to the land, with a slight change in the Heb. pron. (,We., Now., Marti), would be a great improvement. For fertility of the soil as a blessing of the Messianic age, see on viii. 12. corn and must (see on Hag. i. 11) are mentioned as two of the most valued gifts of the soil of Canaan (see ibid.). That one is to make 'young men ' to flourish, and the other ' maids,' is of course merely a rhetorical distinction : cf. Is. xi. 12 (where outcasts is masc, and dispersed fern.). ^ Reading ]NS3 for ;x23. ^ Implying msi'"i:no for mrDi3r.D : cf. V""-" 'spark' (Is. i. 31), C'l'LO: * sparkling ' (Ez. i. 7). ntCiino, if correct, would mean lifte-d up as an ensign (AV.), an improbable epithet to apply to the jewels of a crown; RV. lifted on high is a questionable paraphrase of this. 246 ZECHARIAH 10. I, 2. A» 10 Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain, €ve7i of the Lord that maketh lightnings ; and he shall give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. 2 For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie ; and ^ they have told false dreams, they * Or, the dreamers speak falsely X. 1-2. A short piece standing b}' iiself, without any obvious connexion either with ch. ix or with x. 3 ff., the gist of which is, Ask help of Yahweh, not of the teraphim or diviners ! 1. Render : Ask of Yahweli rain in the time of the spring*- rain ! Yahweh maketh the lightning-flashes, and the winter- rain he giveth to them, to every one herbage in the field. rain. The occasion of the prophecy may naturally be supposed to have been a failure of rain at a time when it was expected and required ; but no doubt ' rain ' is also intended as a t3^pe of other blessings, which are dependent upon God's favour and peace. lattsr rain. Spring-rain would be a clearer rendering. What is meant is the rain which fell in March or April, and was needed to mature the ripening crops (cf. Dt. xi. 14 ; Jer. v. 24 ; Joel ii. 23). It is opposed to the 'former' or autumn-rain, which fell in October or November, and was necessary to fit the soil to receive the seeds (//. cc. ; Jer. iii. 3). Yahweh maketh lightning-flashes (the rare word found otherwise only Job xxviii. 26, xxxviii, 25) : the precursors and accompaniments of rain (Ps. cxxxv. 7). The words give the reason why rain should be sought from Him. the winter-rain. * Showers of rain ' is a weak rendering : geshent means a burst of rain, and is used specially of the heavj' rains of winter (Cant ii. 11 ; Ezr. x. 13 * it is a time of heavy rain ') : cf. the writer's note on Am. iv. 7. 2. For the teraphim and diviners can give no help, but are on the contrary the cause of the calamities under which the people suffer. the teraphim. Probably house-gods, high!}' venerated b}' the superstitious Israelites (Jud. xvii. 5. xviii. 14: Hos. iii. 4), regarded as the givers of famil}' prosperity (cf. Gen. xxxi. 19), and also used in divination (Ez. xxi. 21). Thej'^ were apparentlj' figures in human form (i S. xix. 13. 16). have spoken . . . have seen . . . have told. Better, speak . . . see . . . tell : an established fact, not an event of recent occurrence, is what is referred to. For * see,' cf. on Nah. i. i. vanity: i. e. what is empty and useless. Cf. Is. xli. 29. idle dreams. For dreams and diviners in connexion, cf. ZECHARIAH 10. 3. A^ 247 comfort in vain : therefore they go their way like sheep, they are afflicted, because there is no shepherd. Mine anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will 3 punish the he-goats : for the Lord of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and shall make them as his Jer. xxvii. 9, xxix. 8. RVm. (which is a paraphrase of ' the dreams speak falsely [idly] ') implies a not very probable correc- tion of the text {aw mo'jnrT for Nicrr nio^n). they comfort in vain. Viz. when they promise rain and fruitful seasons. Cf. Jer. xiv. 22. therefore : because, viz., they consult teraphim and diviners, they move from place to place (Jer. xxxi. 24 Heb.) like sheep : i. e. lead an unsettled, restless life, and fall into various misfortunes for lack of Yahweh's guidance. For * they are afflicted,' t/iey zvander about (lyr for 1:1") would yield an idea more consonant with the context. X. 3-12. The fall of the godless fat eigtt tyrants. Yahvveh will visit His people, free them from their foreign rulers ('shepherds' and ' he-goats '), and appoint them native rulers of their own {vv. 3, 4}. Endued with new strength, they will thereupon vanquish their foes ; the Ephraimites in exile will return ; Egypt and Assyria will be humbled ; and the restored nation will glory in its God {w. 5-T2 . The imagery in v. 3, as in Jer. xxiii. 1-4, Ez. xxxiv (where, however, the * shepherds ' represent native rulers). 3-5. Yahweh is angry with the ' shepherds,' and '■ he-goats,' by both of which foreign rulers seem to be meant (see v. 4) : He will visit His flock, and change the poor leaderless sheep, the Jews, into war-horses, give them strong chiefs of their own and weapons of war {v. 4), and enable them to prevail against their enemies {v. 5). 3. punish: Heb., as often, viisit upon. See the next note. hath visited. The prophetic perfect = will visit. The word is here used in its favourable sense, of visiting for the purpose of delivering, freeing from oppression, &c. (Ex. iii. 16 ; Jer. xxix. 10). It is used similarly in its two opposed applications in Jer. xxiii. 2. he-sfoats. Fig. oi leaders, inlcrs, as Is. xiv. 9 ; Ez. xxxiv. 17 ^here of the Israelitish magnates, who secured all the best things for themselves, vv. 18. 19). as his goodly horse. A weak rendering : his stately (or majestic) horse is what the Heb. word used (Tin) means. Yahweh will transform His helpless sheep into splendid war-horses. A prophecy, remarks We., which was remarkably fulfilled in the Maccabean age. 248 ZECHARIAH 10. 4-6. A' 4 goodly horse in the battle. From him shall come forth the corner stone, from him the nail, from him the battle 5 bow, from him every ^ exactor together. And they shall be as mighty men, treading down f/m'r enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle ; and they shall fight, because the Lord is with them : and the riders on horses shall be 6 confounded. And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will ^^ bring ^ Or, itiler ^ Or. catise ihem to dwell 4. Judah will now be no longer under the rule of foreign tyrants, but will have native rulers of its own. Prom him. I. e. from Judah : cf. Jer. xxx. 21 ^ And his noble shall be from himself, and his ruler shall come forth from his midst ' (Dt. xvii. 15). 'From himself would be here clearer. the corner (stone). Fig. oi pHnces, or leading men, supports of the state. See Jud. xx. 2, and i S. xiv. 38 (* chiefs/ RVm. corners), Is. xix. 13. The same figure is found in Arabic, where nikn, properly the • corner ' upon which a building is supported, also means a ' noble.' the nail. Better, the tent-pin, another figure for those who are the stays or supports of the state. exactor. Better, governor, ruler (RVm.), — here, unlike ix. 8, without any bad connotation, as Is. iii. 12, Ix. 17. 5. How, their martial power now restored, they will triumph over their foes. as mig'hty men. I. e. as warriors (ix. i3\ But perhaps, interchanging a 1 and a 3, we should read (We., Now., Smith, Marti), ' and they shall tread down (more exactly be treading* down) the mighty men as mire in the streets ' : the comparison, as Mic. vii. 12 ; Ps. xviii. 42. the riders on horses. A designation of the foes, su^ested perhaps by Ez. xxxviii. 15. cf. xxiii. 6. 12, 23. 6-7. Thus Judah will be 'strengthened,' i.e. autonomous and victorious ; and then the * house of Joseph ' also, i. e. the Israelites of the ten tribes still in exile (cf. ix. 10. 13, will be brought back, and again live in the light of Yahweh's fa /our, and s'. 7^ in the consciousness of new strength. 6. stren^hen. Better, give mig-ht to (cognate with 'mighty,' ''. 5\ i. e. martial prowess, independence, &c. hring . . . again. Better, bring . . . back. ' Again,* when AV. was made, was often used in the sense of ' back,' and the ZECHARIAH 10. 7-9. A' 249 them again, for I have mercy upon them ; and they shall be as though I had not cast them off : for I am the Lord their God, and I will hear them. And Ihey of Ephraim 7 shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and rejoice ; their heart shall be glad In the Lord. I will 8 hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them : and they shall increase as they have increased. ^ And I will sow them among the peoples ; and they shall 9 * Or, And though I sow them . . . they shall remember &c. archaism has been frequently retained in RV. (cf. on Nah. ii. 2). But it is liable now to be misunderstood ; and the meaning is more clearly expressed by back. In foi-mj the Hebrew word is anomalous, and looks like a hybrid form, compounded of I will bring them back, and / will cause them to dwell (RVm.). The anomaly can. however, in reality be due only to textual corruption ; and the context shows that I will "bring them back is right. I have mercy. Better, I have taken compassion (the proph. perfect). Cf. Jer. xxxi. 20 (the same Heb.), also of Ephraim, 7. The Ephraimites' proud consciousness of their new strength. like a mighty man. I. e. like a warrior {v. 5). shall see it. Viz, Yahweh's deliverance {v. 5^, 6*). 8-9. The means by which their return will be effected. 8. hiss for them. Poet, for call them together, the figure being borrowed from the practice of bee-owners. Cf. Is. v. 26, vii. 18. as they have increased. Viz. in the past : they shall again be as numerous as they were before the judgement overtook them. Cf. Ez. xxxvi. 10, 11. 9. I will sow them, &c. The words are understood to mean, I will spread them abroad among the peoples, not for their destruction, but, like seeds scattered broad-cast in the earth, for their multiplication. But the context, which on both sides {vv. 6, 8, 10) speaks of Ephraim's return from exile, does not favour this interpretation ; and in Hos. ii. 23, Jer. xxxi. 27, which have been quoted in support of it, the expressions used are different. Probably we should read (We., Now.) 'And though I scattered them (□'itH'' for cri'ixi) among the peoples, yet in far countries shall they "remember me,' i.e. ■ Ez. xx. 43, xxxvi. 31) think of me, and turn to me in penitence. 250 ZECHARIAH 10. lo, n. A' remember me irt far countries: and they shall live with 10 their children, and shall return. I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria ; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon ; and place shall not be found for them. [ T And he shall pass thTough the sea of affliction, and shall smite ''^the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the Nile shall dry up : and the pride of Assyria shall * Or, the sea of waves live witli. Rather, with a change of points, nourish up (2 S. xii. 3), preserve alive (Gen. xlvii. 25), no longer lose them, and return. Viz. to their own land. 10. The reference is still to the ten tribes {v. 7) ; and so Egypt and Assyria, not Babylonia, are spoken of as the places of exile (cf. Hos. ix. 3, 6, xi. 11). As, however, mv. 11 'Assyria ' is the name not of a country, but of a power or people, there may be at the same time a reference to the Egypt of the Ptolemies, and to the Syrian empire of the Seleucidae, represented by ' Assj'ria ' (cf. p. 231). ag'aiu. Better, back ; cf. on v. 6. Gilead and Lebanon. Mentioned as representing the terri- tory, on the E. and W. of Jordan respectively, possessed formerly by the ten tribes. Cf. Mic. vii. 14 ; Jer. 1. 19. place shall not be found for them. So numerous will the restored Israelites be. Cf., for this trait in the ideal future, Is. xxvi. 15, xxxiii. 17, xlix. 20, liv. 3, Obad. 19 f. 11. And he — i.e. Yahweh, as Ephraim's leader (Ex. xiv. 19 f., cf. Mic. ii. 13 '')— shall pass through the sea (of) straitness ',the sea, which threatens to leave no passage wide enough for the returning exiles to pass through), and he will smite the sea (of) waves (so that a path is made through them, with allusion to Ex. xiv. 16, 21 f.). The imagery is borrowed from the account of the passage of the Red Sea, and generalized : whatever rivers or seas impede the progress of the returning exiles will be smitten by Yahweh, and dried up (cf. Is. xi. 15). as of old He smote and dried up the waters of the Red Sea : ' Assyria,' and Egypt, alike powerless to arrest the return of the exiles, will thus both be humbled. But the expression, 'the sea, straitness,' is a strange one ; and it is quite possible that we should read for it (with We., Now., Marti) * the sea of Egypt' (an:^'n D' for mu c^ : so Is. xi. 15). the pride of Assyria. Cf. Is. x. 8f., 12, 13 f. ZECHARIAH 10. 12— 11. 2. A^ A- 251 be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away. And I will strengthen them in the Lord ; and they 1 2 shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord. [A*^] Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may 11 devour thy cedars. Howl, O fir tree, for the cedar is 2 sceptre. Or, rod, the emblem of oppression (Is. ix. 4, xiv. 29). 12. The prophet returns to the thought of z^. 6. I will grive them migfht {v. 6) by Yaiiweh. Emphatic for 'by myself ; cf. Hos. i. 7. But the change of person is awkward : read prob., with other points, ' their might shall be in Yahweh.' walk up and down in iiis name : i. e. behave (Ps. xxxv, 14) as if acting in His authority. But LXX, Pesh. have the more forcible and probable reading (We., Now., Smith, Marti), 'and in his name shall they make their boast' ■ Vr'-n;,' for i^Trrp), Ps. xxxiv. 2, and especially cv, 3 (where the same verb is rendered ' glor^' '}. xi. 1-3. A fire devours the cedars of Lebanon ; the oaks of Bashan will soon share the same fate : shepherds bewail their desolated pastures, and lions roar because their lairs by the Jordan are destroj^ed. What the meaning of this is, is uncertain. It may mean merely that the way will shortly be open for an invader to advance from the north, and penetrate into Judah (so Wright) : but the description is usually understood in a symbolical sense, the cedars and oaks, the shepherds and the lions, representing either (Hitz., Ew.) the rulers of Israel, or (We., Now.. Marti, Kp.) the rulers of the nations, — in Kirkp.'s words, ' the rulers and potentates of the nations are swept down by the storm of war. The rulers are heard lamenting the loss of their magnificence : the potentates mourning for the destruction of their strongholds.' It is also disputed whether the verses form the close of x. 3-12 (We., Now., Marti u or the introduction to xi. 4-17 (Hitz., Ew., Wright, Kp.), or are an independent prophecy by themselves (Smith"). But x. 12 seems a natural close ; and the context speaks not of an invasion of Israel, but of Israel's deliverance from tyrannical rulers ; so, though it is impossible to feel entire confidence in any view, the verses may perhaps be meant as a symbolical description of the ruin of nations declared in xi. 6 to be approaching (Kp.). 1. Lebanon is bidden poetically open its doors, in order that the enemy may enter in, and fire its cedars. 2. Howl, O fir tree, See. When the 'cedar' is 'fallen,' the smaller ' fir tree ' may 'howl" ; for the same fate will now assuredly befall it. g-oodly. Better, noble, glorious: of a cedar, as Fz. xvii, 23. 252 ZECHARIAH 11. 3,4. A« fallen, because the ^ goodly ones are spoiled : howl, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the ^strong forest is come down, 3 A voice of the howling of the shepherds ! for their glory is spoiled : a voice of the roaring of young lions ! for the pride of Jordan is spoiled. 4 Thus said the Lord my God: Feed the flock of * Or, glorious ^ Or, defenced oaks of Bashan. The oaks of Bashan ai*e alluded to elsewhere in the O. T. (e. g. Is. ii. 13) : there are still forests of them on the slopes of Jebel Hauran, about 60 miles E. of the Sea of Galilee. strongr. Rather, inaccessible, with reference no doubt to the steep mountain sides, up which alone the cedars of Lebanon could be reached. The Hebrew is lit. cut off', and is the word used regularly of what we, from a diflfei-ent point of view, describe as a 'fortified' city EVV. 'fenced,' or 'defenced': cf. RVm. here), properly one cut off^ and so maccessible to assailants. is come down : i. e. is felled ; cf. Is. xxxii. 19*. 3. Hark ! the howlin^T of the shepherds, for their gflory, — cognate with the word corrected to 'glorious' in v. 2, — is laid waste : i. e. their broad and noble pasture lands. Cf. Jer. xxv. 36 ' Hark ! the cry of the shepherds, and the howling of the noble ones of the flock (fig. for the ruling men of Judah) ; for Yahweh is laying waste their pasture.' Hark ! the roaring of the yonugr lions : for the pride of Jordan is laid waste. The banks of the Jordan, especially in its lower course, are fringed b3' a thick growth of sub-tropical trees and shrubs, which was anciently the haunt of lions ; and this was called the pnde of Jordan : see Jer. xii. 5 (where its dangers, as a region infested by wild beasts, are alluded to), xlix. 19 = 1. 44 (where Nebuchadnezzar is compared to a ' lion ' coming up out of it). Here the young lions are represented as roaring, because their lair has been laid waste by the invader. xi. 4-17. The people's rejection of the good shepherd. The substitution of a worthless shepherd, and its consequences for them. Israel has been the prey of selfish shepherds (i.e. rulers) who have made traffic of it ruthlessly ; and the prophet describes what, under these circumstances, he has done by Divine direction. First he enacted the part of a good shepherd, who rescued his flock from its oppressors, and took measures to secure his people's welfare ; then, being rejected by his people, in order to mark the • consequences which will follow, he assumes the character of r 1 worthless shepherd, who will make havoc of the people for his : own advantasfe, but who will eventually meet with a just retribution. , ZECHARIAH 11. 4. A'^ 253 The sequel follows in xiii. 7-9. The prophets were in the habit sometimes of making their preaching more effective by embodying it in accompanying symbolical acts (Is. xx ; Jer. xiii. 1-14, xix. 1-17 ; Ez. xii. 1-16) ; and here by this means 'the history is presented in living figures, and at the same time the Divine judge- ment pronounced upon the persons represented' (Marti). In the present instance, however, from the nature of the case, the prophet could not, any more than Jeremiah in Jer. xxv. 15 ff., have actually enacted the actions narrated ; he can only be describing what was in reality transacted either in imagination or in a vision. The prophecy is the most enigmatic in the Old Testament. It is obviously an allegory, the imagery, like that of x. 3, being based upon Jer. xxiii. 1-4, Ez. xxxiv, in both of which passages it is taught how Yahweh will overthrow Israel's unworthy shepherds, and appoint in their place one or more true shepherds (Jer. xxiii. 4; Ez. xxxiv. 23 ff., cf. xxxvii. 24). The meaning of the allegory is, however, obscure : it is neither interpreted, nor apparent, as in the case of the allegories in Ez. xvii, xix, xxiii. Very few particulars of the internal history of the Jews from the time of Nehemiah (432 b. c.) to c. 175 b. c, when Antiochus Epiphanes began his reign, have been handed down to us : if our information were fuller, we might perhaps find that, at least as far as V. 14, perhaps as far as v. 16, it described in a symbolical form, with the view of drawing out the lessons which they taught, events which had actually happened. Or it may be that the prophet founds his allegory upon historical facts, but does not reproduce them exactly : upon the basis of such facts as that Israel was a prey of foreign despots, was neglected by its own rulers, and despised all wiser counsellors, he may have drawn an emblematic picture of the evil results which the rejection of Yahweh's counsellors would entail. The 'traffickers of the sheep ' might be either the generals of Alexander, who after his death contended for the possession of Coele-Syria and Palestine (p. 231); or their successors on the throne of Egypt or Antioch, the Ptolemies or the Seleucidae, both of whom valued Palestine chiefly as a source of revenue ^ : the * shepherds ' seem to be the ^ As shown above (pp. 231 f.), between 323 and 301 B. c. Palestine repeatedly changed hands : from 301 it continued for many years in the undisturbed possession of the Ptolemies ; but Antiochus the Great (223-187) made strenuous efforts to gain possession of it : in 217 he invaded it with a large army, but was defeated by Ptolemy Philopator at Raphia, on the border of Egypt, and obliged to retire ; in 202 he again occupied it temporarily, taking possession of Jerusalem : in 198 by his victory over Ptolemy Epiphanes, at Paneion, near the sources of the Jordan, he finally secured it for Syria. Cf. the writer's Daniel (in the Ca7nbridge Bible), pp. xxxiv-xxxvil, iCC-173. 354 ZECHARIAH 11. 4. A« native rulers, primarily the high-priests (see xiii. 7), who in post-exilic times wielded the chief power in the state, though others in authority at the time are perhaps included : three of these ^,v. 8) may have been suddenly overthrown. Attempts have been made to fix the allusions more definitely. By those who (see p. 230) consider the prophecy to be pre-exilic, the ' three shepherds ' are generally supposed to be Zechariah, Shallum (2 K, xv. 8, 13), and some third usurper, not mentioned in the history, of the same time ; a common and ancient interpreta- tion is of the three offices of king (or prince , priest, and prophet, supposed to have been brought to an end either at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 586, or by the death of Christ : Keil thinks of the rulers of the three world-monarchies, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans ; Stade suggests the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians; Dr. Wright (pp. 313, 316 f.) explains the passage as a prediction of the fall of the three Syrian kings, the foes of the Jews, Antiochus Epiphanes (b. c. 175-164), Antiochus Eupator (164-162), and Demetrius I (162-150), who all met their death within a period of thirty years (symbolized by the '■ one month ' = thirty days) : Wellhausen (thinking the passage to be ivfitten between b. c. 200 and 166) considers the allusion to be to some of the high-priests who at that time, just before the Maccabean rising, followed one another in rapid succession : Marti thinks definitely of Jason, brother of the legitimate high- priest Onias III, who purchased the high-priesthood from Antiochus Epiphanes, expelled Onias III, and became after- wards the leader of the Hellenizing party in Jerusalem (b. c. 174- 171) ; Menelaus, who, outbidding Jason, secured the high-priest- hood for himself (b. c. 171-164) ; and Lysimachus, brother and deputy of Menelaus, who excited the hatred of the populace and was killed in a riot (2 Mace, iv-v, xiii. 3-8), — the 'month' being taken generally to signify a short time. Marti suggests further that the worthless shepherd of xi. 15-17 may be Alcimus, the treacherous and unsatisfactory high-priest (b.c. 164-160), appointed by Demetrius I (i Mace. vii. 5-25, ix. i, 54-56). Kirkpatrick, on the other hand, thinks that no precise meaning need be attached to the expression : the three shepherds are ' a part of the furniture of the allegory, and their removal by the prophet within a month is intended to signify God's intention to deal promptly and cfTectually with the oppressors of His people, whoever they may be.' The expression does, however, t;eem to point to three definite persons, though our knowledge of the history does not enable us to say who they are. We are equally unable to explain with certainty other historical allusions in the prophecy. In xi. i5-i7» xiii. 7, however, the representation may be purely ideal : and it is at least not necessary to suppose any definite person to be referred to. ZECHARIAH U. 5, 6. A^ 255 slaughter ; whose ^ possessors slay them, and hold them- 5 selves not guilty ; and they that sell them say, Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich : and ^ their own shepherds pity them not. For I will no more pity the in- 6 '^ Or, buyers ^ Or, iheiy shepherd pitieth Wliatever, however, its historical occasion may have been, the general teaching of the prophecy remains sufficiently distinct. It teaches the consequences which may follow from the rejection of God's means of help. "It is a solemn warning of the way in which Divine grace may be frustrated by human obstinacy. The truth which it conveys had been abundantly illustrated in the past history of Israel. It was to receive a more terrible illustration in the subsequent history of the nation' (Kirkp. ). 4. The prophet is to enact the part of the ruler after God's own heart. Thus said. Viz. at some time in the past. Shepherd the flock of slaughter : i. e. the flock exposed to slaughter, as explained in v. 5. What is meant appears more clearly from v. 15 (where 'yet again' points back to the present verse) : the prophet is to act the shepherd, to assume the garb and accoutrements, the staff, club, scrip, &c. of a shepherd. 5. The sheep in this flock are done to death by buyers and sellers ; and receive no pity even from their own shepherds. "Who the ' buyers ' and ' sellers ' are is uncertain : most probably, perhaps, some of the Ptolemies and Seleucidae, between whom, after b. c. 323 pp. 231 f., 253) Israel was often exchanged, not in- deed by actual barter, but by the issues of war, undertaken usually, on each side, with the hope of some gain. Or the ' sellers,' as they use the name Yahweh, may be unpatriotic native leaders, who played into the hands of the foreign ' buyers.' The shepherds are seemingly the r-'tive rulers, probably the high-priests, with those who assisted them in the management of the state. possessors : better, "buyers (marg.), as the context shows. hold themselves not groilty: better, are not held guilty (Jer. ii. 3 RV.', i.e. are not punished for it: the entire clause is thus equivalent to, ' slay them with impunity.' Blessed, &c An exclamation, implying the satisfaction of the sellers at the good price which they have obtained. their own shepherds, &c. RVm. is possible grammatically, but not favoured by the context (cf. v. 8). 6. The verse seems to be parenthetic {v. 7 continuing v. 5) ; and to give a second reason for the comma.nd of v. 4 : this guidance is needed for Israel, because a period of anarchy is :oming upon the earth. 256 ZECHARIAH 11. 7. A- habitants of the land, saith the Lord : but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them. So I fed the flock of slaughter, verily » the poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves ; the one I called ^ Beauty, and the other I called ^ Bands ; and I fed the '' Or, the most miserable of sheep ^ Or, Graciousness *= Ofj Binders Or, Union the land (twice). Rather, the earth : as the object of the command in v. 4 is to rescue the flock (Israel) from its cruel rulers, the land of Israel can hardly be referred to. For ' his neighbour ' (inrn) the parallelism with 'his king' strongly suggests that we should read 'his shepherd' (nrwn) : the meaning will then be that Yahweh will deliver the nations to the ambition and caprice of their rulers. As Stade remarks, the expression would well suit the period c. 320-300 b. c, when Alexander's generals were contending for the possession of the countries conquered by him. will deliver. Heb. ant delivering, of the imminent future. smite. Rather, beat to pieces; a strong word, lised of beating to pieces an image, Dt. ix. 21 ; oi beating down an enemy, Nu. xiv. 45 = Dt. i. 44 ; cf. 2 Chr. xv. 6 (read beaten for broken). 7. verily, &c. RVm. is better than RV., for the context shows that the reference is to the whole flock, and not merely to a part of it : but p: nowhere else means ' verily ' ; and most probably, throwing two words into one, we should read, for the traffickers of the flock;; the prophet, though really he took the sheep away from their merciless owners, says ironically that he shepherded them /or them. And I took unto me two staves. S5mibolizing the maxims of government, which he would adopt in his rule. The two * staffs ' are such as a shepherd still uses in the East, a short ' rod ' (or rather, 'dub') to ward off wild beasts, &c., and a longer 'staff* to lean upon in walking. Cf. Ps. xxiii. 4 ; and DB., s. v. ' Rod.' Beauty. An extremely bad rendering : no^am means pleasantness, sweetness, or CRVm.) graciousness : see Prov. iii. 17, XV. 26, xvi. 24 ; and of Yahweh, Ps. xxvii. 4 (see RVm.), xc. 17. Cognate words in Arabic mean * favour.' The 'gracious- ness * was shown (see v. 10) in the means taken to secure Israel from molestation by other nations. Bands, lit. Binders. The other principle which he adopted was, ill a word, union. ZECHARIAH ll.S-n. A^ 257 flock. And I cut off the three shepherds in one month : ^^ for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me. Then said I, I will not feed you : that that dieth, 9 let it die : and -'that that is to be cut off, let it be cut ofif ; and let them which are left eat every one the flesh of another. And I took my stafi* Beauty, and cut it asunder, 10 that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples. And it was broken in that day : and 1 1 * Or, that that is lost, let it be lost 8. He cut off" ' the three ' pitiless * shepherds ' {v. 5) in ' one month.' The allusion seems to be to some incident of the time, now unknown to us. See the note above, p. 354. one month. Perhaps not to be understood literally, but meaning a comparatively short time. and — not ' for.' which is an illegitimate paraphrase — Z was impatient with them ; lit. viy soul was short with them, — a Heb. metaphor for to be impatient: cf. Nu. xxi. 4 (RVm.), and with 'spirit' for 'soul,' Mic. ii. 7 (RVm.), Job xxi. 4 Heb. with them. I.e. with the people, as is clear both from the preceding 'and,' and from v. 9. This and the next clause describe the failure of the good ' shepherd,' personated by the prophet, in his mission, and the mutual antipathy which sprang up between him and the people, even after he had removed their evil rulers. 9. The ' shepherd ' accordingly leaves the people to their fate, that dieth. I. e. that is on the way to die. that that is to be cut off, &c. The marg. is a paraphrase of the more lit. rendering of the text and let them which are left, &c. I. e. let them destroy one another by internecine conflict. 10. The people thus rejecting his rule, the prophet breaks his staff, ' Graciousness,' to symbolize that Yahweh's favour towards them was at an end, and that the ' covenant ' which he had (metaphorically) made with the nations that they should not molest Israel was now annulled. Though the expression is general {-all the peoples " \ the peoples whom the prophet has specially in view are no doubt Israel's neighbours, tlie Philistines. Idumaeans, Samaritans, Ammonites, &c., who in the post-exilic period often caused Judah serious trouble. For the fig. application of the idea of a 'covenant,' cf. Hos. ii. 18, Ez. xxxiv. 25, Job v. 23. 11. By the fact that, as soon as the staff was broken, the 'covenant' of peace with the nations ceased likewise, the dealers of the sheep, who had been watching closely and suspiciously the 258 ZECHARIAH 11.12,13. A^ a thus ^the poor of the flock that gave heed unto me 1 2 knew that it was the word of the Lord. And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my hire ; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my hire thirty pieces of 13 silver. And the Lord said unto me. Cast it cunto the potter, the goodly price that I was prised at of them. And * Or, the poor of the flock . . . kntu) of a truth ^ Or, the most miserable of sheep * The Syriac reads, into the treasury. prophet's movements, perceived that he had been acting as Yahweh's agent. and thus the poor of the flock: better (see on v. 7), the most miserable of sheep. But probably we should again read (with LXX 01' yMvavaioi), and the trafllckers of the sheep ("2V':3 for ":!? p, p here being as unidiomatic as pb in v. 7). gave heed unto. Or, were watchingf (i S. i. 12 ; Eccl. xi. 4" Heb.). 12-13. The prophet now asks for his wages; and receives from the people the paltry and insulting sum of thirty shekels of silver, the amount fixed in the 'Book of the Covenant' as the compensation for an injured slave (Ex. xxi. 32). As if to show that it was Yahweh Himself (whose representative the prophet is) whom they paid with so wretched a sum, he casts it, by divine command, into the Temple treasury. 12. unto them. I. e. to the sheep (people). Xf ye think g-ood, &c. Implying that he leaves it entirely to them to determine what they think his services are worth. weigrhed: in accordance with ancient usage, Gen. xxiii. 16. I K. XX. 39 Heb., Jer. xxxii. 9 al. pieces. It is better to supply '■ shekels.' A shekel of silver was worth probably about 2s. 9^. {DB. iii. 420), so that thirty shekels would equal about £0^ 2s. (>d. 13. Cast it into the treasury. So we must clearly read, with the Pesh. and RVm. ("iij\vrT for i^vn) ; notice especially ' infto) Yahweh's house ' at the end of the verse. The ' potter,' by those who adhere to this reading, is supposed to be mentioned as one of the lowest of the labouring classes, the malier of the commonest and cheapest of vessels, so that casting to the potter would be equivalent to throwing away ; but this explanation is very far-fetched. the g'oodly price. Better (cf. on v. 2), the nohle price. Of course the expression is meant sarcastically. that 1 was prised at. We., Now., Marti would read, that thou wast prised at (mp' for "mp^) ; but as the prophet represents Yahweh the sense remains substantially the same. ZECHARIAH 11. 14, 15. A'^ 259 I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them » unto the potter, in the house of the Lord. Then I cut asunder 14 mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet again 15 * The Syriac reads, into the treasury. of them. A weak and also incorrect rendering. The Heb. prep, is lit. from upon (see Lex. p. 759 ^), and it is used here pregnantly, ' that I was prised at (and dismissed) from them.' and cast tliexn, &c. Render, in the order of the Heb., and as before with the Syriac, and cast them into Yahweh's house, into the treasury. For ' cast,' cf. 2 Chr. xxiv. 10. Verse 13 is quoted (with variations from both the Heb. and the LXX) in Mt. xxvii. gf. (cf. also v. 12^ with Mt. xxvi. is**) ; and applied to the purchase of the potter's field with the money returned by Judas. Clearly, however, the context contains no reference to the future Messiah : so that cannot be the original intention of the passage. The Evangelist follows the exegetical methods current among the Jews of his time (cf. Mt. ii. 15, 18 ; and on ch. xiii. 7). See further, p. 282. 14. The prophet now breaks his second staff, * Union,' to signify that the brotherhood between Judah and Israel was broken. By breaking both his staffs he shows that he will have nothing more to do with the ungrateful people : he leaves them to their fate. And what have they to expect, when friendly relations with their neighbours are at an end {v. 10), and there is no longer any unity among themselves ? and Israel. The mention of Israel is remarkable, as the reference is not, as ix. 10, 13, x. 6, 7, to an ideal future, but, as it seems, to the prophet's owm time. If the text is correct, it seems that the growth of party-factions in the present must be represented (cf. Keil) as a revival of the ancient rivalries between the N. and S. kingdoms. Wellh. conjectured that 'Israel' was an error for 'Jerusalem,' comparing xii. 2ff. and xiv. 14, which testify to the existence of antagonisms between the capital and the province of Judah in post-exilic times ; and, as Nowack has pointed out, ' Jerusalem ' is actually read by two MSS. of the LXX (according to Field, belonging to Lucian's recension). It is quite possible that this is the correct reading. 15-17. The prophet is now directed to personate the ' foolish shepherd,' who, as the people have rejected the good shepherd, will be raised up over them, and who will neglect the flock, or only use it for his own purposes, though in the end a just retri- S 2 26o ZECHARIAH 11. i6, 17. A= r6 the instruments of a foolish shepherd. For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not ^ visit those that be ^ cut off, neither shall seek c those that be scattered, nor heal that that is broken ; neither shall he feed that which '^ is sound, but he shall eat the flesh of 1 1 the fat, and shall tear their hoofs in pieces. Woe to the worthless shepherd that leaveth the flock ! the sword shall * Or, miss ^ Or, lost '^ Or, the young <^ Heb. sfandeth. bution will overtake him. To judge from xiii. 7, the ' foolish shepherd ' is pictured as a high-priest. 15. the instrnments. I.e. garb and accoutrements, rod, club, scrip, &c., which in the present case must be pictured as worn out and useless. The word (^b:) is a general one for articles of furniture or dress, armour, utensils, implements, &c. 16. visit. I.e. look after (Jer. xxiii. 2, also of sheep), which, if a thing is destroyed or lost, is equivalent to miss (RVm.) : of. I S. XXV. 7, 21 ; Jer. iii. 16 RVm. For the picture of the bad shepherd, cf. Ez. xxxiv. 4. On RVm. lost, see on v. 9. those that be scattered. Something of this sort is no doubt intended (LXX, to kafcopntafxevoi', Jer. disperstitn), though it cannot be extracted from the existing text. Perhaps we ought to read nnn^n that which is driven away (Now.) for "\:*:n, as in Mic. iv. 6, Zeph. iii. 19, Ez. xxxiv. 4, 16 ; or n"vnrin that which is lacking (which would more nearly resemble -iv':n). RVm. ( = AV.) is quite out of the question : the word might mean the yotmg man (or inc7i), but it is never used of the young of animals. broken. I. e. wounded : see Ex. xxii. 9 ; Ez. xxxiv. 4, 16. feed. Better, sustain, nourish (i K. xvii. 4, 9). Not the word rendered ^^rf (properly 'shepherd ') in vv. 4, 7, 9. eat the flesh, &c. : instead of caring for the sheep, preying upon them for his own benefit ; cf. Ez xxxiv. 2, 3, tear their hoofs in pieces. Either fEw., Hi.) by driving the sheep cruelly over stony places ; or (Keil"! devouring their very hoofs in his voracity. 17. The sentence on the foolish shepherd. Woe to. Better, Ah I (Nah. iii. i). the wortMess shepherd : lit. the shepherd of nothingness ; cf. the same Heb. in Job xiii. 4 ' phj'sicians of no volue.^ that leaveth the flock. Cf. John x. 12. The sequel to this prophecy follows in xiii. 7-9, where see the notes. ZECHARIAH U>. I, 2. A- A'' 261 be upon his arm, and upon his right eye : his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened. The » burden of the word of the Lord concerning 12 Israel. [A^] Thus saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him : Behold, I will make 2 Jerusalem a cup of reeling unto all the peoples round * Or, oracle xii. 1 — aciii. 6, xiv. The deliverance and glorious future of Jerusalem. The prophecy, like ix-xi, xiii, 7-9, will belong to the Greek period, but its exact date in it is uncertain. (i) xii. 1 — xiii. 6. The deliverance of Jerusalem from the attack of the heathen, its penitence for a great national crime, and its purification from all sin and uncleanness. xii. 1-9. The prophet sees an assembly of nations, including Judah, advancing against Jerusalem {w. 1-3) ; but their forces are smitten vvitli a sudden panic (v. 4), and the chieftains of Judah, perceiving that Yahweh fights for Jerusalem, turn their arms against the other nations (v. 5 f.) : the men of Judah are first victorious, and then they assist in saving the capital {vv. 7-9;. The earlier prophets spoke of the actual nations, the Assyrians or Babylonians, who were hostile to Israel : the thought of an imagined attack of hostile nations in the future is an eschatological trait, suggested probably by Ez. xxxviii-xxxix (cf. pp. 233, 235). 1. Tlie oracle of Yahweh's word, &c. See on ix. i. Thus saith Yahweh. One of the very few cases in which the prophetical formula, mn"' 0X3 (properly '('tisj Yahweh's whisper'}, instead of being thrown in parenthetically, precedes the words spoken (Is. Ivi. 8 ; Ps. ex. i). which stretcheth forth, &c. The epithets point to Yahweh as all-powerful, and therefore as able to bring about the events- here foretold. Cf. Is. xiii. 5, xliv, 24. 2. 1 am makingf : i. e. am about to make ; see on Nah. ii. 2. a cup of reeling". Better, a bowl (Ex. xii. 22 ' bason ') of reeling" : Jerusalem is figured as a vast bowl, large enough for many to drink from at once : the nations gather round it eager to taste its contents ; but the draught intoxicates all who drink it and causes them to reel, or stagger back, cohfused and discomfited. Jerusalem, in other words, is represented as alluring the nations to their ruin. Cf. on Nah. Hi. 11, Hab. ii. 15. t6, where the same 262 ZECHARIAH 12. 3,4- A^ about, and '^upon Judah also ^^ shall it be in the siege 3 against Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples ; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be 4 gathered together against it. In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house * Or, against ^ Or, shall it fall to be figure of intoxication is used of the paralysing effects of a great calamity upon a nation. the peoples round, about. I. e., more particularly, Israel's neighbours, the Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, &c. and upon (or ag-ainst) Judah, &c. A very difficult and uncertain clause. In RV. ' it ' is best taken to mean (Keil) what has just been described {v. 2*) : this will fall upon Judah as well as upon Jerusalem. But the thought is not expressed at all naturally. RVm. has 'and upon Judah also shall it fall (to bc\' &c., i. e. it will be incumbent upon Judah, Judah also will be obhged to take part in the siege against Jerusalem. This would agree with the sequel ; but the absence of * to be * in the Heb, is an objection to it. The same sense would be better obtained by the omission (We., Now., Marti) oCyj (' upon '), 'And Judah also will be in the siege against Jerusalem,' but, as Marti points out, i^HD2 n'rt means elsewhere not ' to take part in a siege,' but ' to be besieged' (Ez. iv. 3). Marti himself cuts the knot by reading (partly with LXX), 'and there shall be a siege against Jerusalem.' 3. a hurdensome stone. A stone so heavy that those who attempt to lift it only wound and lacerate themselves in the process. The expression may be borrowed from the custom which Jerome says prevailed in Palestine in his time, of young men testing their strength against one another by the height they were able to lift (not to ' throw') stones of great weight. wounded. Better, lacerated. The word occurs besides onl3' in Lev. xxi. 5, where it is used of making tncisions in oneself, or tattooing oneself, in mourning. 4-6. Yahweh strikes with a panic all the besiegers, except Judah, who, perceiving thus that God is on the side of Jerusalem, turns to her help, and proceeds to attack the other assailants. 4. will smite . . . with astonishment . . . with madness . . . with blindness. A reminiscence of Dt. xxviii. 28. open mine eyes upon. I.e. regard with favour : cf. ZECHARIAH 12. 5-7. A« 263 of Judah, and will smite every horse of the peoples, with blindness. And the chieftains of Judah shall say in their 5 heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the Lord of hosts their God. In that day will I make 6 the chieftains of Judah like a pan of fire among wood, and like a torch of fire among sheaves ; and they shall devour all the peoples round about, on the right hand and on the left : and Jerusalem shall yet again dwell in her own place, even in Jerusalem. The Lord also shall save 7 I K. viii. 29; Jer. xl. 4 (Heb. M will set my eye upon thee'). 5. Judah will thus be brought to recognize that Jerusalem, instead of being its foe, is in reality its natural ally, and a source of strength to it, through being under the protection of its God. the chieftains. More exactly (see on ix. 7), the clan-chiefs. We., Now., Marti would read the clans ('cV^ for 'pVyt, as in ix. 7) : the sense, however, remains substantially the same ; for the ' clan-chiefs ' are naturally regarded as representing the corre- sponding ' clans.' 6. Judah now destroys the other assailants : they are as power- less against her as a heap of faggots, or a shock of corn, against the flames. the chieftains. As before, the clan-chiefs. Or, making again the same change in the punctuation, the clans. shall yet ag-ain dwell. Or, sit, i. e. be again a flourishing and prosperous city : see on ii. 4 ; and cf. xiv. 10. even in Jerusalem. There is no ' even ' in the Heb. ; and *in Jerusalem' (which is unsuitable after "^ Jerusalem shall sit') is doubtless to be omitted, with nineteen MSS. of LXX. 7. * The glory of the victory is first Judah's, so that the house of David may not ha>ie too much fame, or boast over the country districts. The writer doubtless alludes to some temporary schism between the capital and the country caused by the arrogance of the former. But we have no means of knowing when this took place. It must often have been imminent in the days both before and especially after the Exile, when Jerusalem had absorbed all the religious privilege and influence of the nation ' (G. A. Smith, pp. 478 f.) \ ^ We., Now. regard the verse as an interpolation, dating from the Maccabaean ag-e. In vv. 4, 6 Judah Is not represented as being- in 264 ZECHARIAH 12. 8-io. A^ the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem be S not magnified above Judah. In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem ; and he ^ that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David ; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord 9 before them. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against 10 Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, * Or, that stumbleth the house of David. I. e. members of David's family, who no doubt took a prominent and influential place in Jerusalem in post- exilic times. Cf. vv. 8 (where see the note), lo, 12, xiii. i ; Ezr. viii. 2 ; I Chr, iii. 17-24. 8. The inhabitants of Jerusalem will be supematurally strength- ened to overcome the foe. he that is feeble. Lit. as marg., he that sttinibleth, he who from weakness cannot stand firm upon his feet : cf. i S. ii. 4, Ps. cv. 37,2 Chr. xxviii. 15, Is. xxxv. 3, — in all which passages the Heb. verb is the same as here. as David. Named as the type of a brave and dauntless warrior (i S. xvii. 34 ff. ; 3 S. xvii. 8). the house of David. The existing representatives of the ancient royal house, — perhaps (We., Now.) used here in an en- larged sense to denote the government generally (cf. Ps. cxxii. 5). These will be strengthened, so as to be comparable even to God, or a divine being, — and Yahwch^s angel, the powerful protector (Ps. xxxiv. 7) and leader of His people (with 'before them,' cf. Gen. xxiv. 7, Ex. xiv. 19, xxiii. 20, 23, xxxii.34). With the com- parison to Yahweh's angel in general, cf. i S. xxix. 9, 2 S. xiv. 17, 20. xix. 27. 10-14. After this triumph, the whole nation, every family by itself, from the noblest dov^mwards, holds a great lamentation over a martyr ' whom they have pierced.' 10. The house of David and inhabitants of Jerusalem is any need of help or deliverance j on the contrary, it is Judah which delivers Jerusalem. The representation, however, suits the situation in the Maccabaean period, when the deliverance of Jerusalem and of the cities of Judaea did not come from Jerusalem, but was effected by means of the Maccabees from Modin (i Mace. ii). ZECHARIAH 12. lo. A=' 265 and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication ; and they shall look unto » me whom * According to some MSS., him. a comprehensive expression, intended to include the entire people, under the two categories of the rulers and the ruled. Upon these Yahweh will then pour a spirit of ^race and supplication (or Sfrace-seekingr, the Heb. word being cognate with that for -grace'), i.e. a spirit eager to obtain 'grace' or favour, and impelling to supplicate for it, — the ' favour ' meant here being forgiveness for the great sin which they have committed. • Spirit,' in Heb., in passages such as the present, signifies an impulse, the genitive following denoting its character, as Nu. v. 14 a spirit of jealousy, Dt. xxxiv, 9 of wisdom. Is. xix. 14 of perverseness, xxviii. 6 of judgement, xxix. 10 of deep sleep, Hos. iv. 12 of whoredom. The 'spirit' may be regarded as sent from Yahweh, and there- fore as in a sense Divine ; but it is not the Divine spirit, even where Yahweh is expressly named as its author, as Is. xix. 14, xxix. 10 (where it is used in a bad sense) sufficiently show. For ' pour out,' cf. Ez. xxxix. 29 (of Yahweh's spirit to be poured out upon Israel in the future after its deliverance from the ideal assault of nations under Gog), Joel ii. 28-29. and they shall look upon me, whom they have pierced. The words describe the effect of the 'spirit,' eager to obtain Yahweh's favour and forgiveness : they will look upon him whom they had pierced, with grief and penitence. The passage is, how- ever, one of those which our ignorance of the circumstances of the time makes it impossible to interpret as a whole satisfactorily or completely. As the text stands, the speaker must, of course, be Yahweh, and it is, no doubt, perfectly true that ' the Jews had pierced Him metaphorically by their rebellion and ingratitude throughout their history. They pierced Him, literally and as the crowning act of their contumacy, in the Person of His Son upon the Cross, John xix. 37 ' (T. T. Perowne). But these considerations do not explain the passage here. However true in themselves, and however remarkable an anticipation of the literal piercing of Christ the words may be, neither the Israelites' rejection of Yahweh in the past, nor their rejection of Christ in the future, can be referred to here ; not only does the context point plainly to some historical event in the prophet's own time, for which the people would eventually ieel the sorrow here described (vv. io'»- 14), but tlie Jews, as a nation {vv. 12-14), certainly never felt any grief or remorse for the death of Christ. Accepting the text as it stands, the meaning can only be that, in the murder or martyrdom referred to, Yahweh had been thrust through in the person of His representative. But as Kirkpatrick remarks ^p. 4681, -The 266 ZECHARIAH 12. ii. A^ they have pierced : and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the difficulty of the text is very great. Could the prophet have spoken of thrusting Yahweh through ? The construction, too, excites suspicion.' The reading of the marg. (some fifty MSS., Ew., Smith) implies only V7s for "'?«, and seems required by the following clause. Even so, however, the Heb. remains peculiar ^ ; and We., Now., Marti conjecture that something has either fallen out, or been intentionally omitted, from the text (' and they shall look unto . . . whom they have pierced'). But whoever the martyr or godly counsellor alluded to may have been, his rejection by the Jews is undoubtedly a striking type of their rejection of Christ afterwards ^. and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth, &c. A very inadequate rendering : we may ' mourn ' in silent grief, but ICD is to wail, in loud and passionate grief. Render, and they shall wail for him, as one waileth/or an only son — mentioned like that for the firstborn in the parallel clause as an instance of particularly poignant and bitter grief. Cf. Am. viii. lo (where 'mourning' is correct), Jer. vi. 26 (where, for consistency, lamentation should be wailing) ; also, for ' wail,' on Zech. vii. 5. 11. Render, In that day the wailing in Jerusalem shall be ^ The n*< before ittX, resuming loosely another prep. The construction is strange, an^ against analogy ; but there are isolated parallels in Jer. xxxviii. 9, Ez. xjv. 22*^, xxxvii. 19*^. ^ LXX, misreading "npi as npn (leapt or danced), have the strange rend, koi kiti^Kixpovrai irpbs fif, dvO^ uv (strictly — "it,"« nnn, but probably here a loose rend, of "ITTS n«) KaTOjpxnaavTo ' because they insulted* (lit. danced down-, see Hdt. iii. 151). This rendering was early discovered to be faulty ; and so it was corrected by Aq., Symm., and Theod. (who has Kai kiti^XiXpovTai irpos fie els ov f^eKiv- TTjaav), and in Lucian's text of the LXX {(is bv k^eKevTijaav), as also in the version followed in John xix. 37 (orpuvrai (is bv f^(K€v- TTjaav) and alluded to in Rev. i. 7 {tal otf/erai avrbv rrds d, leading men to it. 3. If any one comes forward as a prophet, his own parents will be prepared not merely to disown him, but even to put him to death, so convinced will they be that he can be only an impostor. Cf. Dt. xiii. 6-10 (where, if any one attempts to seduce his country- men into idolatry', his nearest relations are to be the first to come forward and stone him to death), xviii. 20 (death to be the punish- ment of the false prqphet). 4. Even the prophets themselves will be ashamed of their visions, and will hasten to give up such a discredited profession. a hairy mantle. A * mantle ' was the distinctive garb of a 2 70 ZECHARIAH 13. 6. A^ shall say, I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground ; 6 for I have been made a bondman from my youth. And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds between thine * arms ? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my ^ friends. * Heb. hands. ^ Or, lovers prophet (i K. xix. 13, 19, 2 K. ii. 8) ; this passage and a K. i. 8 (RVm.) sh6w further that it was of hair, — whether a sheep's skin (LXX, of Elijah's mantle, fxrjXuTrj), or woven of camel's hair, like that worn by John the Baptist (Mt. iii. 4). Here the * hairy mantle* is in particular a mark of the prophet of the degraded professional type referred to above, which had fallen into disrepute. 5. One who had once been a prophet will disclaim his profession, and own only to having been a tiller of the soil. for Z have been made a bondman. Lit. /or man has made (others) bi^iy me = caused me to be bought, — a singular expression, which occurs nowhere else. Wellh.'s clever emendation is ex- tremely probable : forth.^ land lias been my possession (':':p noi*^ for -::pn ant*)/n)m my youth. 6. But the wounds on his person seem to contradict his claim to be a mere tiller of the soil ; so he has to own that they are the blows which he received from his friends, when they went about to kill him (cf. v. 3), on account of his coming forward as a,prophet. between thine bands (RVm.). A peculiar expression, meaning, as is generally supposed, on thy breast (cf. 'between his arms,' i.e. on his back, 2 K. ix. 24, ' between your eyes,' i. e. on your fore^ heads, Dt. xiv. i), or possibly (We.), which arc before thee, which thou canst not deny. friends. The Heb. is the ptcp. of the intensive conjug. (Piel), which elsewhere means lovers (RVm.\ or paramours, a term used by Hosea of the Baals (Hos. ii. 5, 7, 10, 12, 13), and by other prophets of foreign allies (Jer. xxii. 20, 22, xxx. 14 rt/.), whose favour and help Israel or Judah courted. Hence the answer has been supposed to be a confession by the prophet of former idolatries, the ' wounds ' being those which were self-inflicted in the service of the false gods alluded to (cf. i K. xviii. 28). The passive, was smitten, is however against this interpretation; and a reference to idolatry is foreign to the context : it is the prophet in general, not the prophet of false gods, who is represented in the context as discredited. It seems, therefore, that the word must here denote the prophet's 'friends,' who sought to kill him, for the reason stated above. ZECHARIAH 13. 7,8. A^ 271 [A^] Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against 7 the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts : smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered ; and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. And it shall come 8 7-9. The close of the prophecy xi. 4-17. It must be obvious that the passage is out of connexion both with xiii. 1-6 and with ch. xiv, whereas it is connected with xi. 4-17 not only by the figure of the shepherd and the flock, but also by the fact that xi. 15-17 supplies the reason why the * shepherd ' of v. 7 is to be smitten, which conversely appears nowhere either in ch. xii or in xiii. 1-6. Since Ewald, who first pointed out that xiii, 7-9 supplied the natural close to xi. 4-17, this view of it has been generally accepted by critical commentators. The passage describes the ultimate fate of the ' foolish shepherd' of xi. 15-17, and of his flock : the ' shepherd ' will be smitten, and the 'stieep,' who had rejected (xi. 12-14) the ruler after Yahweh's own heart, will be scattered : but a portion will be left in the land ; and these, after being purified by severe trials, will form the nucleus of the future faithful people of God. 7. The sword is personified, as Jer, xlvii. 6, 7. my shepherd. The ^foolish shepherd' of xi. 15-17, called 'Yahweh's shepherd,' in so far as, however unworthy, he stands oflficially at the head of Yahweh's people. the man that is my fellow. The high-priest. The titles of honour applied to the ' foolish shepherd ' throw into the greater relief his abuse of the office that he holds, and his unfitness for it (xi. 16). The word rendered * fellow ' is an uncommon one, and occurs besides only Lev. vi. 2 (Heb. v. 21) twice, xviii. 20, xix. 11, 15, i7,xxiv. 19, XXV. 14 twice, 15, 17 (EW. 'neighbour,' 'another'). smite. The verb in the Heb. is masc, so the unnamed foe, not the sword, must be addressed. LXX (B a) read the plural, Traro^aTf. though most MSS. have the sing, irdra^ov : three have TTttTo^cy ' t will smite ' {pDH for yi), a reading followed also in the quotation, Mt. xxvi. 31. This agrees with the following ' I will turn ' and is probably right : the sword is directed by Yahweh Himself. The words are quoted in Mt. xxvi. 31 with reference to the dispersion of the disciples after the betrayal of Christ ; but, as the context shows (see esp. v. 8f.), that cannot be their original intention : rather, we must suppose, they are quoted, without regard to their original import, as a description in Old Testament phraseology of a New Testament fact : see similar cases in Mt. ii. 15, 18, xiii. 14 f., 35, XV. 8, Rom. viii. 36, ix. 25 f., x. 18, and elsewhere. turn mine hand upon. Or, against, viz. in judgement : see the same expression in Am. i. 8, Is. i. 25, Ps. Ixxxi. 14. 272 ZECHARIAH 13. 9-I4. r. A^ A* to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die ; but the third shall be 9 left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried : they shall call on my name, and I will hear them : I will say, It is my people ; and they shall say. The Lord is my God. 14 [A*] Behold, a day of the Lord cometh, when thy the little ones. Viz. of the flock : cf. Jer. xlix. ao = l. 45. 8, 9. The prophet here deserts the figure of the flock, and speaks literally. Two-thirds of the people will perish, but one- third will survive : this, after having been further purified by severe trials, will form the loyal and devoted people of God. The doctrine of the purification of Israel through a judgement, and the pre- servation of a faithful remnant, is pre-eminently Isaiah's : see on Zeph. iii. 11. The 'third part' may be a thought suggested by Ez. v. 2, 12. 9. through the fire. Fig. of severe trial, as Is. xliii. 2, Ps. Ixvi. 12. and will smelt them as silver is smelted, and try them an gold Is tried. Both figures of testing by severe trial, and r^i- moving, if they exist, ignoble elements. Cf. Is. i. 25 'and smelt away as in a furnace [ -qd, Is. xlviii. 10] thy dross ' ; Jer. vi. 29 ' in vain the smelter smelteih, for the evil are not separated,' ix. 7 ' Behold, I will smelt them, and try them ' ; Ps. Ixvi. 10 ' For thou hast tried us, O God, thou hast smelted us, as silver is smelted.' they shall call on my name, and I will answer them. A mark of the changed relations between them and God : they will be forward to call upon Him, and He will be ready to answer them (cf. Is. Iviii. 9, Ixv. 24). * To call om,' both here and elsewhere, is properly 'to call untlt,^ i.e. to use the name in invocations. I will say, &c. Another sign of the mutual harmony and cordiality established between the purified remnant and Yahweh ; cf. Hos. ii. 23 ; also ch. viii. 8. i;;^^ xiv. The deliverance of Jerusalem from the heathen : and its elevation into a centre of monotheism for the world. Another assault upon Jerusalem is here described. The nations this time capture the city, and half of its population is taken into captivity {vv. X, 2) : Yahweh next appears, in order to fight against the assailants, and rescue the remainder ; He stands upon the Mount of Olives, which is rent in asnder beneath Him by an earthquake, and through the chasm thgjMBJtives escape {w. 3-5). Thereupon ZECHARIAH 11. 2-4. A* 273 spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will 2 gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished : and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against 3 those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of 4 Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, afid there shall be a very the Messianic age commences : the light is perpetual, and the air is serene {vv. 6f.) : the territory of Judah sinks and becomes a well- watered plain, Jerusalem alone retaining its former elevation, conspicuous from afar, a goal to the nations for, their annual pilgrimage at the feast of Booths, and holy entirely to Yahweh \vv. 8-21). The prophecy is largely in substance a resume oi older prophecies of a glorious future, combined into a single picture, and expected to be shortly fulfilled (notice '■ is coming ' in v. i). 1. Behold, a day is coming' for Yahweh. A day when He will manifest Himself in judgement. Cf. on Zeph. i. 7. and thy spoil, &c. The pronouns in the Heb. are fem., showing that Jerusalem is addressed. The prophet, instead of adhering to strict chronological order, and beginning with a descrip- tion of the assault and capture of the city, starts with a picture of the enemy partitioning their spoil in the midst of it. 2. all nations. The expression shows that the prophet has in view an ideal attack upon the Holy City : cf. on xii. i. rifled. The word generally rendered spoiled (Is. xiii. 16). ravished. The usual concomitant of the sack of a city in ancient times : cf. again Is. xiii. 16. 3. Yahweh will appear, to fight against the assailants, and secure the safety of that half of the population which still remained in the city {y. 2 end), fought. Better, fighteth, viz. on whatever the occasion may be. battle. Not the usual Heb. word, but an Aramaic word, found elsewhere only Ps. Iv. 18 (? ; see RVm.), 21, Ixviii. 30, Ixxviii. 9, cxliv. i, Job xxxviii. 23, Eccl. ix. 18 (in 2 S. xvii. 11 read in their midst with LXX, Pesh., Vulg.). 4. shall cleave. Cf. the pictures of the mountains quaking or melting before Yahweh, Jud. v. 5, Nah. i. 5, Ps. xcvii. 5. T 274 ZECHARIAH 14. 5, r>. A* great valley ; and half of the mountain shall remove 5 toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And * ye shall flee ^ by the valley of ^ my mountains ; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azel : yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah : and the Lord my God 6 shall come, and all the holy ones with thee. And it shall * Or, as otherwise read, tlie valley of my tnountains shall be stopped »> Or, to « Or, the 5. Through the chasm thus made in the mountain, the people still remaining in Jerusalem (v. 2^) will escape. to the valley : the cleft, running from W. to E., described in V. 4. My Mountains and the mountains, if the text is sound, must be the mountains just formed, by the Mount of Olives being cleft in twain. LXX, Targ., Symm., and the Oriental MSS. of the Hebrew text, read for the first 'and ye shall flee,' &c. 'and the valley of my mountains shall be stopped up ' (oriD:") for cnp3"i). The avoidance of the double ' and ye shall flee ' is some improvement ; but otherwise this reading has no advantage over the Heb., nor does it agree with the next clause, even though with We. we alter further and read, 'And the valley of Hinnom shall be stopped up.* Marg.*^ (so Targ., Syr.) requires a change of text. to Azel. An otherwise unmentioned locality, — presumably some place beyond the Mount of Olives, on the east. tlie earthquake, &c. The one mentioned in the title of the Book of Amos (Am. i. i), c. 750 b. c. The allusion is probably an archaistic trait : for a living memory of an event which happened some 400 years previously could hardly have been current among the people. and Tahweh, &c. Yahweh, attended by all His angels (read with LXX, 'with him' for 'with thee"), will now * come,' i.e. apparently come nearer, or enter Jerusalem, to complete the defeat of His foes, and establish His kingdom. The picture, as elsewhere in the prophets (cf. Joel iii. 14-16), is in parts incom- plete : it is not said, for example, what happens afterwards to those who escape through the cleft in the Mount of Olives. the holy ones. I. e. the angels, as Job v. i, Ps. Ixxxix. 5, 7, Dan. iv. 13, viii. 13. 6-V. In the glorious future, then to begin, there will be no ex- tremes of temperature, and perpetual light will prevail. Cf. Is. iv. 6, XXX. a6, Ix. ao ; also Rev. xxai. S, 2 Esdr. vii. 39-42. 6. A \cry uncertain verse. RV. (based on the Heb. niarg.) is ZECHARIAH 14. 7. A* 275 come to pass in that day, that ^the light shall not be '^with brightness and with gloom: but it shall be one day ; which is known unto the Lord ; not day, and not night : but it shall come to pass, that at evening time there shall ^ Another reading is, there shall not be light, the bright ones shall contract themselves. ^ According to some ancient versions, but cold and frost. very improbable^ : the glorious ones - will be thickened (condensed, or congealed) is a possible rendering of the Heb. text, but yields a poor and doubtful sense^: the statement 'there shall not be light' seems also to conflict with v. 7 end. Perhaps We., Now., Marti are right in reading, there shall be neither heat (oin for nis) nor cold (niiiT) for ninp^' ; so LXX, Syr., Targ., Symm., Vulg.) wof frost C^iNEj:") : so Heb. marg., and the same versions: cf. the cogn. verb, Ex. XV. 8), i. e. there will be no extremes of heat and cold, the day vvill be of an equable temperature (cf. 2 Esdr. vii. 41). 6. And it shall be one day (i. e. one long continuous day) : it (emph.) is known to Yahweli, i. e. either known to Him, but not to us (Dt. xxix. 29), or (Keil) noted or regarded by Him above other days. not day, and not nisfht, &c. I. e. with no interchange of light and darkness, but wholly light : even at nightfall there will be still light. Cf. Is. Ix. 20. / , *V. A further trait. Perennial streams flowing E. and W. of Jerusalem will irrigate and fertilize the whole land. The greater part of Judah, except for occasional wells, is practically waterless (Smith, Hist. Geogr. of the Holy Land, p. 307) : the high central part is mostly a stony moorland ; rounded and barren limestone hills line many of the wadys ; the descent to Jordan and the Dead Sea is down stony wadys, or over the rocky and desolate 'wilderness of Judah.' Hence the prophets picture its irrigation in the ideal future by copious streams. Cf. Is. xxx. 25 ; and esp. ^ * Brightness' and 'gloom' are philological tours deforce. ^ From the sense borne by the root in Aramaic (where it often corresponds to the Heb. n2D and derivatives) : e. g. Ps. xxiv. 8 Targ. ' the king of glory ^ Dt. xxviii. 58 Targ. ' the glorious name.' ^ It is supposed to mean the stars (cf. the same word glorious of the moon in Job xxxi. 36) •will draw in their light; but the metaph. use of thickened is very doubtful (see how the word is actually used, Ex. XV. S, Zeph. i. 12, Job x. 10^, and there is also a grammatical anomaly (see, however, Is. xlix. 11, and G.-K. § 146"). RVm. is a questionable paraphrase of this. T 2 276 ZECHARIAH 14. 8-10. A* 8 be light. And it shall come to pass in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem ; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the 9 western sea : in summer and in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth : in that day 10 shall the Lord be one, and his name one. All the land shall be turned as the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon Ez. xlvii, the source no doubt both of the representation here and of Joel iii. 18 : also Rev. xxii. i f. living waters. I. e., as regularly in Heb., moving, runningf waters : see Gen. xxvi. 19 RVm. ; Lev. xiv. 5 RVm., &c. the eastern {lit. the front) sea. I. e. the Dead Sea. So Ez. xlviii. 17 ; Joel ii. 20. In fixing the quarters of the heavens the Hebrews thought of themselves as turning towards the East. the western (lit. the hinder) sea. I.e. the Mediterranean Sea. So Dt. xi. 34, xxxiv. 2 ; Joel ii. 20. in summer, &c. The streams will be perennial : they will not, like many of the streams in Palestine, fail in the hot summers. 9. Yahweh will then be the one King, and the one God, of the whole earth. shall Yahweh he one, and his name one. Universal mono- theism will prevail : Yahweh, the true God, will no longer be confused with other gods ; there will no longer be gods bearing many names: Yahweh will be everywhere recognized as one, and all worship will be Yahweh-worship. 10. The territory of Judah generally, —which is mostly a mountainous country, rising up gradually from the Mediterranean Sea on the W., and more precipitously from the Dead Sea (1,292 feet below the Mediterranean Sea) on the E., to the central ridge (in which Jerusalem is 2,500 feet, and Hebron 3,000 feet, above the Mediterranean Sea), — will then sink and become a plain, Jerusalem alone remaining at its former elevation, and so rising majestically out of it. The physical elevation of Jerusalem is a material expression of the spiritual pre-eminence of the religion of Zion ; and is a trait pretty clearly derived from Is. ii. a f. =Mic. iv. I f. (where the Temple hill, exalted above other mountains, and visible from afar, attracts the gaze of distant nations, and is the goal of their pilgrimages). as the 'ArSbSh. I. e. like the level floor of the great trough or depression through which the Jordan flows (Dt. i. i RVm.), once, in ages long before the appearance of man upon the globe, the site of an inland sea. the deposits from which formed originally the floor of the 'Arabah. ZECHARIAH 14. n. A* 277 south of Jerusalem ; and she shall be lifted up, and shall dwell in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel unto the king's winepresses. And men shall 1 1 dwell therein, and there shall be no more » curse ; but * Or, ban Oeba'. Now Jeba, 6 miles NE. of Jerusalem, on the S. edge of the steep Wady Suweinit (cf. i S. xiii. 3, 16, xiv. 5) ; men- tioned in 2 K. xxiii. 8 as a point on the S. border of the Northern kingdom, and here as one on the N. border of Judah. Bimmon. No doubt, the place called *En-Rimmon (' Rimmon's spring') in Neh. xi. 29, and the corrected text of Jos. xv. 32, xix. 7, I Chr. iv. 32 ; probably the modern Unitn er-immanitn, 9 miles N. of Beer-sheba, and about 35 miles SW. of Jerusalem. dwell. Or, sit, i. e. be inhabited ; cf. xii. 6. from Benjamin's g-ate. This was a gate leading into the territory of Benjamin (see Jer. xxxvii. 13, and cf. v. 12) ; it must have been consequently in the N. wall of the city ; from the present passage it may be inferred that it was at the E. end of this wall. The 'gate of Ephraim ' (2 K. xiv. 13 ; Neh. viii. 16, xii. 39^ with which it has been identified, seems to have been more nearly at the centre of the N. wall. tlxe first gate. Obscure : perhaps the same as the ' corner gate,' Or perhaps the former g-ate (note 'the place of), i.e. some gate disused at the time when the prophet wrote. the corner gate (2 K. xiv. 13 ; 2 Chr. xxvi. 9 ; Jer. xxxi. 38) : this was 400 cubits (700 feet) to the W. of the gate of Ephraim (2 K. /. c), and stood no doubt at the NW. corner of the city. and from the tower of Hanan'el. To judge from Neh. iii. r, xii. 39, a tower in or near the NE. corner of the city walls, ^^j^t far from the gate of Benjamin. ^^M to the king's wine-vats. Probably near the ' king's garden ' WMd pool of Shiloah (Neh. iii. 15), at the SE. corner of the city, Jjt far from the former royal palace. The verse thus specifies Wo of the former boundaries of the city, one on the N., and one (]| the E., within which, after its elevation, it will still be inhabited :Q of old. Cf. Jer. xxxi. 38, where Jeremiah promises that Jeru- lem shall be rebuilt from the towe?- of Hanatt'el unto the cornier te, meaning thereby to indicate the line of its N. wall. .*l|ll. The inhabitants will not again have to go into exile, as had ely {v. 2) been their lot : nor will the ' ban ' again fall upon it, it had done in the past (Is. xliii. 28 [read the past tenses, as in "m.] ; and in the threat, Jer. xxv. 9). Cf. Rev. xxii. 3. bant Fig. for destruction. To ' ban ' (the cognate verb is 278 ZECHARIAH 14. 12.-14. A* 1 2 Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the peoples that have warred 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 13 consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great ^ tumult from the Lord shall be among them ; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against J 4 the hand of his neighbour. And Judah also shall fight ^ against Jerusalem ; and the wealth of all the nations * Or. discomfiture ^ Or, at usually in RV. rendered by ' devote,' or by ' utterly destroy,' with ' devote ' in the margin) was to devote to Yah web for destruction : it was especially put in force against heathen people or cities, after they had been conquered. See Nu, xxi. 2 ; Dt. ii. 34, vii. 2 ; Josh. vi. r^, 18, 21 ; i S. xv. 3, 8 : and cf. 'Curse' in DB. dwell {v. 10) safely. As Lev. xxvi. 5 ; Ez. xxviii. 26, xxxiv. 25, 28 al. 12-15. The prophet now comes back to describe the destruction of the nations who had been warring against Jerusalem (vv. a-3). 12. An appalling plague falls upon them : they are smitten, as they stand, into mouldering corpses. plague. I. e. irXTjyT], a severe stroke or blow (cognate with the verb rendered 'smite'), not necessarily (see 2 S. xviii. 7 ' slaughter '), though it is so in the present case, a ' plague ' in the modern sense of the word (cf. Nu. xvi. 48-50, xxv. 8, 9 ; 2 S.xxiv. 21). consume away (each time). Moulder (Is. xxxiv. 4 RVm^ or rot ; in Is. iii. 24, v. 24, the cognate subst. is rendered rotten- ness. In the Heb. the pronouns 'their,' 'they,' from 'their flesh' to ' their tongue,' are all singular, individualizing the description. 13. 14. A great panic will seize them, causing them in their bewilderment to slay one another ; and their wealth will become the spoil of the Jews. Cf. Jud. vii. 22 ; 1 S. xiv. 20 ; 2 Chr. xx. 23 ; and esp. Ez. xxxviii. 21 (in the picture of the rout of the hosts of Gog after their assault upon the land of Israel). discomfiture (RVm.). I.e. confusion, rout: cf. i S. -,. 20 ; and the cognate verb in Jos. x. 10, Jud. iv. 15, i S. vii. 10 at. 14. And Judah also. In distinction from, if not (see the n«*t note) in opposition to, Jerusalem : cf. xii. 2*, 7. *^ affalast (or in) Jerusalem. I, e. either (We., Now., Smith. ZECHARIAH 14, 15, i6. A* 279 round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance. And so shall be the 15 plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in those camps, as this plague. And it shall come to pass, that every one 16 that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Marti), Judah also will be seized by the panic, and fight agamst Jerusalem (cf. xii. 2^), though this is not a thought suggested by the context ; or Judah, though once (xii. 2^, 7) unfriendly to Jerusalem, will now fight in it against the common foe. ajid the wealth, &c. The tables will be turned ; and the lot of Jerusalem {v. i^) will now become that of its foes. Cf. Ez. xxxix. 9, 10 (the vast spoil taken from the hosts of Gog) ^ 15. The sequel to v. 12. A plague similar to that oiv. 12 will fall also upon the invaders' beasts of burden and other animals, and so. I. e. like the plague off. 12, which is also referred to by 'this plague ' at the end of the verse. The close connexion of V. 15 with V. 12, and esp. the words * so ' and ' tjtiis,' give some colour to the suggestion that vv. 13, 14 are not original here, but have been introduced by a later writer from the point of view of ch. xii (' agamst Jerusalem ' being in this case the meaning in V. 14). 16-19. The effects of this judgement upon Israel's foes. Those who survive of the nations will become worshippers of Yahweh, and keep the feast of Booths every year at Jerusalem {v. 16). Drought, or some equivalent misfortune, will be the punishment of any nation which neglects this pilgrimage {vv. 17-19). With the general thought of the passage, cf. Is. Ixvi. 18, 19, 20, 23 (effects of the judgement described in vv. 15-17 upon the nations). 16. which came agfainst Jerusalem. See vv. 2, 3, 12. the Kinsf. Absolutely, the Sovereign of the world. The feast— or, strictly (p. i4o\ the pilgrimage — of Booths (Lev. xxiii. 34 ; Dt. xvi. 13-16), also called the feast of Ingathering (Ex. xxiii. i6 = xxxiv. 22), was pre-eminently an occasion of thanks- giving for harvest and vintage (Dt. /. c.\ It is mentioned, probably, partly as the most important of the three annual pilgrimages of the Jews (Ex. xxiii. 14, 15-17 = xxxiv. 18, 22, 23; Dt. xvi. 13-17), — it is sometimes spoken of absolutely as 'wr * The Hebrew scholar should notice in this verse the late idiom 37^ (more than thirty times in Chr., e.g. i Chr. xxii. 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 14, T!^ : see the wrxtGr^s Introduction, p. 502 f. (ed. 7, p. 535), No. 2^. 28o ZECHARIAH 14. 17-19. A* 1 7 Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso of all the families of the earth goeth not up unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the 18 Lord of hosts, upon them there shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, » neither shall it be upon them: there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the nations that go not up to keep 19 the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the ^ punishment of Egypt, and the ^ punishment of all the nations that go * Or, shall there not be upon them the plague d-c. ? The text is probably corrupt. The Sept. and Syr. have, upon them shall be the plague &c. ^ Or, sin pilgrimage' (i K. viii. 2, 65; Ez. xlv. 25; Neh. viii. 14), — partlj' because it was the feast at which the nations could give direct expression to their own religious thankfulness for the fruits of the earth, and partly (Wellh.) because at the time when the prophecj' was written the yearly pilgrimage to Jerusalem was an important agency for keeping alive the connexion of the Diaspora with the capital, and so it would naturally be thought of as a means for promoting the same end in the case of the nations also. 17. there shall he no rain. The feast of Booths being an expression of thankfulness for the year's produce, the neglect of it is appropriately punished by the withholding of the rain upon which the crops depend (cf. Am. iv. 7). The failure of rain naturally implies other ills : not only scarcity of food, but disease, mortality among men and cattle, &c. 18. neither, &c. The rend, of RV. implies such an elliptical and strangely expressed text, and that of RVm. is so forced and unnatural, that we can hardly be wrong in reading with l.XX, Syr. (see RVm.), upon them shall he the plagne where- with, &c. The prophet recollects that the punishment threatened in V. 17 would not affect Egypt (where rain is very rare (cf. Hdt. ii. 13 f., iii. 10), the soil being fertilized not by the rainfall, but by the annual rising of the Nile) ; but, he adds, its people will not escape : the same ' plague ' of scarcity, famine, disease, &c. which is to affect other nations will affect them also, though it will be due, it is implied, not to the failure of rain, but to the failure of the annual rising of the Nile. 19. punishment. Lit. ' sin,' but regarded here as including its consequences ; cf. Nu. xxxii. 23, and * iniquity ' in Gen. iv. 13, a K. vii. Q. ZECHARIAH 14. 20, 21. A^ 281 not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. In that day shall 20 there be upon the bells of the horses, holy unto the LORD ; and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and 21 in Judah shall be holy unto the Lord of hosts : and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe 20-21. The final and crowning trait in the picture : the holiness of Jerusalem. This is a frequent feature in the prophets' delineations of the ideal future : see e. g. Is. iv. 3 ; Jer. xxxi. 40 (cf. V. 38, cited above on v. 10) ; Is. Ix, 21, Ixii. 12 ; Joel iii. 17. 20. Even horses, which, as used principally for warlike pur- poses, were viewed with disfavour by the prophets, and threatened with extinction in Jerusalem (ix. 10 ; Is. ii. 7 ; Mic. v. io\ will now be withdrawn from secular uses, and consecrated to Yahweh, bells. Bells upon the necks of animals are very common in the East. K0I7 unto Yahweh. The same inscription which was on the turban of the High-Priest (Ex, xxviii. 36). the pots. Such as were used either for removing ashes from the altar of burnt offering (Ex. xxvii. 3 ; i K, vii. 40 RVm., 45% or (see V. 21) for boiHng sacrifices in. The bowls, or basons, were large vessels, used (see on ix. 15) for dashing the blood of the slain animals against the sides of the altar. The meaning therefore is, either that the altar pots, used only for mean purposes, will become as holy as the bowls used for the reception of the sacrificial blood ; or (We., Now., Smith, Marti), as all the altar utensils would be holy alike (Ex. xl. 10; Lev. viii. 11), that on account of the crowd of pilgrims attending the feast of Booths (vv. 16-19), the boiling-pots will have to be 'like' the great altar-bowls in size, capacious enough to contain the sacrifices that would be required. 21. Not only this, however, but every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to Yahweh, and so available for the use of the crowds offering sacrifice. The general thought of the holiness of Jerusalem is here developed with special reference to the annual pilgrimages {v. T6ff.), and the sacrifices by which they would naturally be accompanied. and all they that sacrifice, &c. The pilgrims, in preparing their sacrifices, will be able to use any of the pots in Judah and Jerusalem, and not merely those belonging to the Temple. and seethe (i. e. boil) therein. For the boiling of sacrifices, see I S. ii. 13 (at Shiloh\ Lev. vi. 28 (the sin ofierinj), E2. xlvi. ao. ff4, a Chr. xxxv. 13. 282 ZECHARIAH 14. ar. A* therein : and in that day there shall be no more a a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts. * Or, trafficker a Canaanite. According to Keil and others, mentioned as a type of an unclean person (cf. Is. lii. i). But more probably the marg. is right (see Zeph. i. ii) : the meaning then being that as any vessel in the country could now be used for sacred purposes, traffickers — perhaps actually Canaanites — with boiling-vessels for sale or TiTfe would no longer have occasion to haunt the Temple, and desecrate it by their presence (cf. Mt. xxi. 12). Additional Note on Zech. xi. 12, 13. It may be worth while to place here the quotations in St. Matthew side by side with the Heb. text and the LXX. Mt. xxvi. 15 : And they weighed him thirty pieces of silver {apr^vpia). Zech. xi. 12 LXX : And they weighed as my hire thirty pieces of silver {apr^vpovi). Zech. xi. 13 Heb. : And Yahweh said unto me, Cast it to the potter [Pesh. : into the treasury], the noble value that I was valued at (and dismissed) from them. And I took the thirty (pieces of) silver, and cast it [s^c] into Yahweh's house, to the potter [Pesh. : into the treasury]. Zech. xi. 13 LXX : And the Lord said unto me, Let them down (/fa0€s avTov'i) into the furnace {xt. -rrl i), blemished or imperfect animals, such as thei. own I'ersian governor would not think of accepting as a present, n blind MALACHI 1. 9, lo 303 it as no evil : and when ye offer the lame and sick, it is no evil ! Present it now unto thy governor ; will he be pleased with thee ? or will he accept thy person ? saith the Lord of hosts. And now, I pray you, intreat the favour 9 of God, that he may be gracious unto us : this hath been ^ by your means : will he ^' accept any of your persons ? saith the Lord of hosts. Oh that there were one among 10 you that would shut the doors, that ye might not kindle * }\eh. from your hand. ^ Or, accept any because of you and lame there may be reminiscences of Dt. xv. 21 (of the firstlings). it is no evil ! i. e. You say, There is no harm in it, it does not signify. thy g-overnor: the pe/i ah, or Persian governor, of Judah ; see on Hag, i. r. be pleased with thee : perhaps with it (LXX [codd. AQl ; We., Now., Marti would be better : cf. w. 10, 13 ' accept ' (the offering), ii. i3*> (• with acceptance-). The Hebrew for 'be pleased with' is the same as that rendered 'accept,' vv. 10, 13, and in the passive ' be accepted.' Lev. i. 4, vii. 18, xix. 7, xxii. 23, 25, 27 cf. cognate words, vv. 19, 20, 21, 29 ; Lev. i. 3, xix. 5). ' To be pleased ' or ' favourable ' is the proper meaning of the word. accept thy person : h't. ' hft up thy face,' — a common Heb. Igure for 'receive favourably,' meaning properly, lift up the face cf a suppliant : see e. g. i S. xxv. 35. The opposite expression is ' turn back the face,' i K. ii. i6. 9. intreat the favour, &c. The close of this verse and v. 10 seem to Show that the words are meant, not as a serious exhorta- tion to repentance (Hitz., We., Now.), but ironically (Keil, Oelli, Marti) : since your governor will not accept such offerings, eitreat God's favour, and see whether He will ! this: the presenting of such unworthy offerings (vv. 7, 8*). For from your hand (marg.), cf. 'at i^Heb. from) your hand,' vii I ', 13, ii. 13 ; and Is. i. 12. ' s ry of your persons. The marg. is less probable. kO. Better that the Temple were shut up altogether than that such sacrifices, presented in such a spirit, should be offered on itl The v/ish is of course intended ironically. ' the doors. Not the doors of the Temple itself fthe only altar in vhich was the altar of incense, in the Holy Place), but the doors of the gates (i Chr. xxii. 3; also, of a city-gate, J ud xvi. 3 a/.) If ading into the inner court, in which the altar of burnt-offering stood. 304 MALACHI 1. ir fire on mine altar in vain ! I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering 1 1 at your hand. For from the rising of the sun even unto in vain : i. e. to no purpose, because viz. the sacrifices offered upon the altar were not accepted by Yahweh, accept. Properly {v. 8), be favourable to : the word used with reference to sacrifices in Lev. i. 4, vii. 18, &c. (cited on v. 8), Ps. li. i6b. an offering*. Heb. minhdh, properly a. comphmentary present. or a present made to secure or retain goodwill (Gen. xxxii. 13. 20, xliii. II ; Jud. iii. 15, 17), or as a mark of allegiance (i S. x. 27), offered, as something expected, by a political subject (2 S. viii. 2, 6 ; 2 K. xvii. 3, 4 al.); then of a tribute offered to God, both generally (including animals), Gen. iv. 3, 4, 5, i S. ii. T7, 29, iii. 14, xxvi. 19, and specifically (as always in the Pries ! Code of the Pentateuch) of the 'meal-' or cereal-offering (e Lev. ii; and repeatedly in Nu. xxviii-xxix). As the word, \^:.th righteousness, is acceptable to Him ' (Acts x. 35). ' The book of Malachi even recognizes in the religious earnestness Gentiles a form of devotion which Yahweh is willing to ; MALACHI 1. II :,o O^D the going down of the same my name ^ is the Gentiles ; and in every place '^ incense is offered unto * Or, shall be ^ Or, incense and a pure oblation ate ojjfefed AV. (whence RVm. 'shall be') interpreted the verse of the uture ; and so most of the older expositors understood it to refer D 'he future acceptance of Israel's religion by the nations. But ihough of course this thought would be in harmony with what is taught elsewhere by the prophets (see on Zech. ii. ii), it can hardly be expressed here. There being no verb expressed in the Heb., a'lai *t3c "Jiu can only be naturally rendered 'My name is great among the Gentiles' ; inasmuch further as vv. ii, 12 plainly give a reason (' For ') for the disapproval expressed in V. IO^ they must describe a condition of things existing in the prophet's own present ; the contrast between what is done at the time by the Jews in v. is with what is done elsewhere in I'. II points to the same conclusion. Notice also the exactly ,sifnilar words in v. 14, ' And my name is feared among the / iGcntiles,' where no one has ever thought of rendering by a future. Hence it is extremely difficult to think that v. 11 can refer to any time except the prophet's own present. On the other hand, it is urged that the expression, * my name,^ ':pposes the Divine revelation, and cannot refer to an un- -oub worship. Hence Ewald, Kirkpatrick (p, 505), and ..V s, whi!*^ ag eeing that the passage relates to the present, :mpi >se the reference to be to the Jews of the Dispersion, who, scat! :red through the world, rendered by their offerings of prayer ^nd .jraise a more acceptable service to Yahweh than the careless priet'.s in the Temple at Jerusalem, and that thus Yahweh's name was magnified among the heathen more than in His own Temple and in the city of His choice. The contrast would then be between the faithful Jews of the Dispersion and the lax and indifferent Jew.; of the capital. It is some objection to this interpretation tliat it requires 'incense' and 'offering' to be understood in ■ritual sense, of prayer (Ps. cxli. 2 ; Rev. v. 8, viii. 3), and 5.e (Ps. 1. 14 ; Heb. xiii. 15 ; i Pet. ii. 5), or self-dedication Aom. xii. i), which is not very natural where Jews are the fferers, and where there is nothing, as in the passages quoted, to suggest that the terms are used in such a sense. Perhaps also the argument founded on ' my name ' lays rather too much stress upon this particular expression. incense is offered, &c. It is difficult to see how RVm. diffei-s from RV. (-- AV.), except in the order of words ('oblation ' is substituted for ' offering ' on account no doubt of the proximitj' ot* 'offering'. The Heb. is, however, bomevvhat peculiar: 3o6 ISIALACHI 1. la my name, and a pure offering : for my namk *ib grei 2 among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hobts. But y profane it, in that ye say, The table of the Lord . polluted, and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is con » Or, shall be the subst. rendered 'incense' does not occur cr^ewhere, an Ewald and Keil, taking it as a ptcp., construe different^ ', bu obtain the same general sense. We., Now., A^arti, however think that * it is offered ' is a gloss on ' it is incensed {or burnt), and omitting a i, render, 'and a pure offering is burnt unto m> name,' — the word rendered ' burnt ' being the one regularly used of consuming the sacrifices on the altar (Lev. i. 9, &c.), and meaning properly made into sweet smoke (^Kvlarf). a pure offering". Heb. utitihdh, to be understood in the same sense as in v. 10. * Pure,' as unsullied by irreverence, like the sacrifices offered in the Temple at Jerusalem {vv. 7, 12), or by anj, ungodly spirit in the offerers (2 Tim. ii. 22). '|a From Justin (c. Tryph. § 41, cf. § 117) and Irenaeus (iv. 17. 5 onwards, it has often been supposed that this passage of Malach is prophetic of the Eucharistic offering, to which, it is also pointec out, niinJidh, in the sense of a meal-offering, would be entirel^f appropriate. As we have seen, however, the context seems plainly to show that the reference is to offerings made in Malachi's own time ; and secondly, when minhdh has been usee ji:st before (y. 10), and is used again just after {v. 13), in a continuou"s argu- ment, in its wider sense of sacrifices in general (inclu'ding animal sacrifices), it is not consistent with sound exegesis to understand it differently in this one \«erse. 12, 13. In contrast to the honour which the heathen thus render to Yahweh, the priests of Israel ^whonour Him, treating His worship with disrespect and contempt. 12. in that ye say, &c. As in v. 7, not literally, but by irreverence towards Yahweh's altar and offerings. and the fruit thereof, &c. If correct, * fruit ' (a':, a rare word, Is. Ivii. 19) will be a figure for 'offerings.' But the figure is a strange one : the Heb. construction is forced ; and most probably m^: is simply an incorrect anticipation of the following nja: (W. R. Smith, Now., &c.). Render then, and his food is contemptible. * Meat' in AV. is here used in its now obsolete sense noticed on Hab. i. 16. \ , , V ' * It (impcrs.) is incensed, it is offered, arid that (with) a'purc ofTering.' MALACHI 1. 13, 14 307 ptible. Me say also, Behold, what a weariness is it ! 13 and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts ; and ye !ir,^ e brought that which was taken by violence, and the lame, and the sick ; thus ye bring the offering : should I accept this of your hand ? saith the Lord. But cursed 14 be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a blemished thing : 13. what a weariness is it! What a trouble the service of the sanctuary is ! and ye have, &c. Present tenses would be better : and ye puff . . . and ye briug*. puff at it. I. e. contemn it. For the figure cf. Ps. x. 5, xii. 5 (where the Heb. word is almost the same) ; and the note on Hag. i. 9. * It' will refer to the ' altar,' v. 12. The passage is, however, one of the eighteen ' corrections of the scribes ' (see on Hab. i. 12), and 'me ' (which is found in some MSS.) is said to have been the original reading for ' it ' ; and perhaps Now., Marti, and others are right in adopting this. * Snuff' is an archaism for 'sniff' ; but 'puff,' or 'blow,' is the idea which the Heb. word expresses. and ye bringr that which hath been taken by violence (■ robbed). Treating therefore Yahweh with contempt, as though He cared so little what was offered to Him that He would even accept this. There is, however, an awkwardness in the Heb., which makes it possible that we should read (We., Now., «/.) ' and ye bring the blind'' ; cf. v. 8. thus ye bring- the offering. The clause is much improved if, with We., we make a very slight change (nn:n in« for rin:on nw), ard -ead, and ye bring it as an offering". of your hand. ' Of is here an archaism for ' from ' : cf. Ex. /i. 3 ; John iv. 22 (AV.) ; 2 Cor. v. i (AV.), &c. See ' Of ' in DB. x4. The prophet closes the paragraph with an indignant rebuke, addressed to the laity, who also, like the priests, failed in treating Yahweh with becoming reverence. A vow was made; and the vow was redeemed by offering a sickly or inferior animal. Naturally, the priests also were to blame for allowing such sacrifices to be presented. the i eceiver. Or, the fraudulent man. ard voweth. I. e. and voweth it (LXX, Now., Smith, &c.). LACHI 2. 4 309 lor your sake, and will 5 pread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your ^ sacrijfices ; and ye shall be taken away ^with it. And ye shall know that I have sent this command- 4 * Or, Jfeasfs ^ Or, tinto 1 will rebnke yoiar seed '. I. e. prevent your seed from springing up or comin© to maturity, make your field unfruitful. But as the priests did not practise agriculture, such a threat would not have any special significance for them. Hence nearly all moderns, including everi Keil, changing merely the vowel-points, read, with LXX, Aq., Vulg., as RVm. rebnke your arm.incapacitate you for performing your duties in the sanctuary. But it is quite possible that we should make a further correction, and read (with We., Now., Marti) n2 for nra : behold, Z will hew off your arm, — a forcible figure for depriving them entirely of their power, their position, and their authority. Cf. especially i S. ii. 31, where the same figure (render ' hew ' for ' cut ') is used to express the humili- ation about to come upon Eli's house. and will spread offal npon yonr faces. A still greater insult and indignity. The 'ofl'al' meant is that which was removed from the animals ofi*ered in sacrifice, and either thrown away, or (in the case of the sin-off*ering burnt : Ex. xxix. 14 : Lev, iv. II, xvi. 27 (where the Heb. word is the same). sacrifices. Better, pilgrrimaeres (Ex. xxi'i. 14-17 l ic-e p. 140 w.): the V ord scarcely, either here or in Ex. xxiii. i8*>, actually menrs th ^ * sacrifices ' offered at them. with it. T 's possible X J OS. xiii. 22, Lam. iii. 41, Heb.), though RVm. nn* \, ir; the more obvious rendering. The priests, who had dishor.uu.cd Yahweh's offerings, th- n?e'vo^ r-on- be- spattered with the offal o/' the sacrifices, will be taken off" ignomini- ously to the place whf re it is thrown away as refuse. 4. When this disgrace falls upon them, they will know (i. e. realize) that ^ahwch had sent this charge {v. i) unto them, in order that His ancient covenant with the tribe of Levi might stand fast ''ie.' it seems, must here have the force of continue or be f>i 'irtt^'^ffi' For the ' covenant ' with Levi, i. e. the conditions of holiness, separation to Yahweh, and faithfulness in the dis- charge «>f ^^^eir duties, under which the tribe of Levi possessed the priesthood, cf. Dt. xxxiii. 9 (in the ' Blessing ' attributed to Moses), Ter «txiii. 21. •u. • for your sake ' : the 7 in 03? is the "? of reference {lit _.. ., :he seed for you '), often used idiomatically in such phrases : <;ee ( • 11. 12, iii. 1 1 (second and third clauses\ Lev. xxvi. 5 (///. ' the thre n,r shall reach for you '), 26 ('when I break for you'), 1 K. xiv. cut off for Jeroboam '\ al. (Lex. 512''). 310 MALACHI 2JK 6 ment unto you, that my covenai^Jt might be with L^vi, 5 saith the Lord of hosts. My co^Venant was with hi:n of life and peace; and I gave them'^to him that he might fear, and he feared me, and stood ' in awe of my me. 6 The law of truth was in his mouth," and unrighteousness I.evi. I.e. the tribe of Levi, the prieistly tribe. The expressions ' Levi/ here and y. 8, ^nd * sons of Levi ' (iii. 3), are noticeable. In the Pentateuch the term ' Levite ' or ' sons of Levi ' is used in two senses, — reflecting, as can hardly be doubted, tv^ro different stages in the history- of the priesthood. In Deuteronomy it is applied to ail members of the tribe without distinction ; and every ' Levite,' i. e. every member of the tribe, possesses de jure priestly rights, and may exercise them, if he comes to reside at the central sanctuary (Dt. xviii. 6 f. ; see further the writer's Commentary on Dent. pp. 213 ff., 219 f. ; or W.R.Smith, OTJC? pp. 358 fT., 383 f.). In P the priesthood is rigidly limited to the descendants of Aaron; and the term * Levite' is applied to inferior members of the tribe, who are assigned various subordi- nate duties in connexion virith the sanctuary (Nu. iii-iv), but are strictly forbidden to intrude upon the office of priest (Nu. iv. 20, xvi. 7''-ii, 40). Thus in Deuteronomy the distinctive title of the priests is 'the priests t^e Levites ' (or < the sons of Levi'), i.e. the Levitical priests (xvii. 9, 18, xviii. i, xxi. 5, xxiv, 8, xxvii. 9, xxxi. 9) : in P it is 'the sons of Aaron' (Lev. i. 5, and often). Malachi thus follows, here, v. 8 and iii. 3, the Deuteronomic phraseology. . 5. The conditions of the covenant. The Heb. is expressed obscurel3'. According to the Massoretic interpunction. it reads, < My covenant was with him, life and peace : and I gave them to him (as) fear, and he feared me ' : but thii yields no satisfactory sense : RV. * that he might fear ' is also too free. It is better to render : ' My covenant was with him : life ^i\d p^^ace, and I gave them '=which I gave) unto him, [and] fear and he feared me,' &c. : the verse then states the conditions of the covena^, on the one side life and peace (i. e., in a broad sense, welfare and prosperity), promised by Yahweh to Levi; on the other side fear, or reverence, which in the past, according to ^Ialachi*s representation, the priests had duly rendered Him. For 'life' see Dt. XXX. 15 ; for ' peace ' cf. the ' covenant of pea ,e ' of Ez. xxxiv. 25, xxxvii. 26. Is. Irv. 10, in Nu. xxv. la also(P given ;o ^hinehas. ,.,/.,.. "^1 6. How this tear of God displayed itself in thefaithfil di&-.\arge of priestly duties. Tlie law of truth, &c, Rr?'hi"r Th/? tllr' -tion C: t«acl"Vng) of truth wa« in his montr. .'en MALACHI 2. 7, 8 311 i foi. id ii^his lips: he walked with me in peace ::d u^Jrighi lessiin^d did turn many away from iniquity. I'or 'he p" estch'*Ps should keep knowledge, and they 7 shorid seek i^ law at his mouth : for he is the messenger of the LoF r](of hosts. But ye are turned aside out of the 8 way ; ye h.i i- caused many to stumble in the law ; ye have by the prif ?< to the laity on matters of moral and ceremonial duty (see en Hal • 4, Hag. ii. 11) : this 'direction,' Malachi says, was formerly gi n correctly and faithfully by the priests. Observe, in s'corda :P with the proper oral character of 'torah,' how elsev^here < |o, even in some cases in a non-technical sense, it is referred tc h being in the ' mouth ' (v. 7, Job xxii. 22, Ps. cxix. 7a), or ' nil jhe tongue ' (Prov. xxxi. 26). innrighjeotisness. I.e., here, 'direction' given with such laxit^ as t.; Dishonour Yahweh (cf, on Zeph. iii. 4), or perverted hv bribfiy (Wic. iii. ir ; cf, also Jer. viii. 8). lie -w alited with jne Gen. v. 22) in peace and uprigrhtness : e. in a state of conttntjnent, not disturbed by jealousies, or unsatisfied :i^bitio>SE, and of uprightness in the discharge of the duties of h s offic^^^ turn bac^fc many from iniquity: viz. by teaching them lat they jught to do and avoid. 7. The 1 i^al of a priest. Por thdvlips of a priest keep knowledge, — the knowledge . of th : law (Jer. viii. 8;, and in particular of its ceremonial servances. and men seek direction (v. 6) at his month, hecanse he ia Yaiiweh's messenger : it is Yahweh's torah which he admin- isters. Messenger' is otherwise used of the priest only in Eccl. V. 6 of. Hag. i. 13 (of the prophet). Compare the eulogy of the pri' tly tribe in Dt. xxxiii. 8-1 1, especially vv. 9, 10 : 'They keep thy saying, and observe thy covenant : they teach (Jif. ^rect') Jacob thy judgements, and Israel thy "direction." ' ^. The reality contrasted with the ideal. But ye (emph.) have turned aside out of the way (Ex. i. 8. ^ud. ii. 17), — the way described in vv. 6, 7, in which you U.o_L .^ have walked. ye have made many to stumble by direction not * in the 1; vv'). ' Unrighteousness' {v. 6) was on your lips, and you have cuised many to err by giving them false "direction': the con- squence is, you have corrupted, i. e. ruined, destroyed, the covenant with Levi : the ' life and peace ' on the one hand, and the ' fear ' on the other {v. 6\ are all at an end. Cf. Neh. xiii. 312 MALACHI 2. 9, 4 corrupted the covtinant of Levi, saith t-e Lot o of hosts. 9 Therefore have I also made you conf ° ntibl? and base before all the people, according as ye . /e not kejkt my ways, but have had respect of persons in ik^e Jaw. o Have we not all one father ? hath not om God created 29, where the priests who had married foreign wiv^s are described as having ' defiled the priesthood, and the covenant tf Jk priesthood and of the Levites.' 9. The retribution. have Z also. The 'also' (dj) of 'corresponde.ce * (Ps. h 5; Hos, iv. 6: Lex. p. 16^)'. I also, on my par^., v/ill a,~sc: myself, and visit you with condign retribution, 't.ive made' here equivalent to 'will assuredly make,' — the actii 1, though i accomplishment is still future, being so fully resolvei upon ti-t is spoken of as already done : so Gen. xv. 18, Jud xv. 2 • Is. xliii. 14 al. ^ base: i.e. low, abased, in position, not in charaaer, as oti in Old English : cf. Ez. xvii. 14, xxix. 14 ; 2 Cor. x. r AV. accordiugr as ye do not keep my ways, but res ect per so v (i.e. show partiality) in (giving) direction. The pri ts. it seerr were open to bribery (Mic. iii. 11 'her priesin^ dircc for hire" and, it may be supposed, permitted to one what tlv v refused another, or exacted from some lower fees, or less co Uy sacrific- than they exacted from others : legal decisions 1 !so, such . could easily be vitiated by unjust interest or influer :.;, appear i have been included in the tordh (Dt. xvii. 8-12 ; Ez. xliv. 24\ respect persons. The Heb. expression is th same a in i. 8; but it is used here in a bad sense, of favourinj u j Ps. Ixxxii. 2, Dt. X. 17. However, the omission of a let. an attractive emendation, nor respect me, which forms parallel to the preceding clause. 10-16. Malachi here turns to rebuke his contemporaries for a great social wrong, to which they were addicted at the time, viz. the divorce of their native wives {vv. 10, 13-16), for the s^e, apparently {vv. 10 end, 1 1-12), at least in some cases, of contracmg marriages with foreign women (cf. Ezr. ix-x ; Neh. xiii. 23-20), a fashion which the prophet also censures at the same time. Tie practice of divorce he declares to be an offence against the lo*e and faithfulness which as children of one Father they all owe co one another, an unnatural cruelty towards those who have been long bound to them by the ties of affection, and a challenge to the Divine judgement. 10. Yahweh is Israel's father (Dt, xxxii. 18 ; Is, Ixiii. 16) : ve ttte all, therefore, brothers one of another : oup-ht w«* not th^n MALACHI 2. II, 12 313 us ? v/hy do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers ? Judah 1 1 hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem ; for Judah hath profaned the °- holiness of the Lord which he loveth, and hath married the daughter of a strange god. The Lord will cut off to 1 3 * Or, sanctuary to treat one another with brotherly regard, and not be faithless to the 'covenant,' by which (cf. Ex. xix. $i.) Yahweh separated us from the heathen, and made us a people peculiar to Himself? deal treacherously. Or, faithlessly. The word Is used also elsewhere of faithlessness to the marriage bond, vv. 14, 15, 16, Ex. xxi, 8. Jer. iii. 20*. profaningr the covenant of our fathers. Viz. by marrying foreign wives, and thereby, in heedless disregard of the covenant by which Israel was separated f-om the heathen, imperilling its distinctive nationality (cf. the prohibition of such marriages, Ex. xxxiv. 16, Dt. vii. 3f.). ' 11. Judah. The entire people is spoken of as implicated in the wrong. The wprds ' in Israel and' should doubtless be omitted ; for ' Israel ' is here out of place : a scribe probably wrote inad- vertently * in Israel ' as a natural parallel to ' Judah,' then discovering his error he wrote 'in Jerusalem' as well, and the two remained in the text together. hath dealt faithlessly. Here the expression is used not of faithlessness to the marriage-tie, but of faithlessness to Yahweh in discarding Him, at least constructively (viz. by marrying foreign women), for other gods : cf. Jer. iii. 7, 8, 20^, v. 11. an abomination is wrousrht : on account of the heathen practices and worships likely to be involved : cf. Dt. xiii. 14, xvii. 4 (the same phrase) ; Ezr. ix. 14. Yahweh's holiness (or holy thingf) : i. e. Israel itself, as holy to Yahweh. Cf. Jer. ii. 3 ; also Ex. xix. 6, Dt. vii. 6, xiv. 2, &c. Or^marg.), Yahweh's sanctuary (i K. viii. 10, 2 Chr. xxix. 5 HeD.), which is also profaned by the people's sins (Ez. v. 11, Lev. XX. 3, cf. xxvi. 2). which he loveth. The addition accentuates the enormity of the offence. the dausrhter of a foreign god. I. e. a foreign woman, belonging to another religion. The expression suggests pointedly ^he motive of the rebuke. For the figure cf. Dt. xxxii. 19, where he Israelites are called the sons and daughters of Yahweh, and ^u. xxi. 29 (the Moabitcs, sons and daughters of Chemosh). ^tranye' (tVW.), from the Lat, extraneus, is used bete in the 314 ' MALACHI 2. u ' the man that doeth this him that waketh and him that answereth, out of the tents of Jacob, and him that offereth now obsolete sense, which was formerly very common, oi foreign : of. the expressions 'strange women,' 'strange wives,' i K. xi. i, Ezr. X. 2, ID, &c., Neh. xiii. 26, 27 ; ' strange gods,' Gen. xxxv. 2, 4 AV. (RV. 'alien'), Dt. xxxii. 12, Ps. Ixxxi. 9^ a/. ; 'a strange land,' Ps. cxxxvii. 4. So the Homilies (cited by Aldis Wright) speak of *a certain strange philosopher,' meaning, not an eccentric one, but a foreign one. But, as now understood, ' strange ' so little suggests what is intended that it is a pity that ' foreign ' has not been regularly substituted for it in RV. ^ 12. May the man who does this be left with none in any way to stand by or assist him ! May Yahweh cut off ... ! The Heb. word, as pointed, has an optative force. him that waketh and hint that answereth. If correct, this will be (in the Heb.") an alliterative proverbial expression (like ' him that is shut up, and him that is left at large in Israel,' I K. xxi. 21), meaning every one i. e., here, every one belonging to him, every member of his family, Is. xiv. 22), and generally supposed, after Gesenius, to be derived from the challenge and reply given by sentries or watchmen as they went their rounds in the night. Gcs. quotes a rather similar expression, used by an Arabic writer, • There was not in the city a caller or answerer,' i.e. any one alive. Hitz. and Keil, however, render hint that is awake and answereth (both words referring to the same person), i. e. any one alive, objecting to Ges.'s explanation that that would require 'him that calleth and him that answereth.' We., Now. and Smith, read, after LXX (ecus), ly for ys^ ^witness and answerer ' (viz. in a court of law : see Job xiii. 22) : may he be ^ ' Stranger ' also is often used similarly in the now obsolete sense of 'foreigner,' as Lev. xxii. 25 AV. (RV. 'foreigner'), i K. viii. 41, Neh. ix. 2, xiii. 30, Ez. xliv. 7, 9 AV. (RV. ' aliens '), Ps. cxliv. 7^1 1. In fact 'stranger' is used in EVV. in three distinct senses, c* re- sponding to three distinct Heb. words : {i) = outsider {Heb. sdr),zs belonging to another family, Dt. xxv. 5, or nation. Is. i. 7 and often ; of a non-Levite, Nu. xviii. 4, a non-priest, Nu. xvi. 40; (2) = foreigner (Heb. nokri, and cognates), as in Lev. xxii. 25, &c., just cited; i:^) — resident alien (Heb. ger, 'sojourner'), see oir Zech. vii. 10. And 'strange' occurs similarly in senses corresponding to the first two of these heads : thus for (i) see Dt. xxxii. 16, Ps. xliv. 20, IxNxi. 9* (== strange to the theocracy); Lev. x. 1 (= strange to the law) ; and for (2) the passages cited above in the text. '4 MALACHI 2. 13, 14 315 an offering unto the Lord of hosts. And this ^ again yc '?< do: ye cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, neither receiveth it with good will at your hand. Yet ye say, Wherefore ? Because the 14 Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, though she is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. * Or, rt second time deprived of all civil rights, and be as an outcast, with no one to defend him in a court of law ! and Mm that offereth, &c. May he further be deprived of all religious rights, and have no one even to offer a sacri«fice on his behalf ! an offering'. Heb. mi'nhdh, as i. 10 (see the note). So v. 13. 13. The prophet, after the digression of vv. 11, 12, reverts to * the subject of divorce, with which the paragraph began {v. 10). again : not the usual word ; lit. '■ as a second thing.' ye cover, &c. RV. means, Ye cover Yahweh's altar with the tears of the divorced wives, who complain there to Yahweh of their wrongs, so that the gifts offered upon it are no more acceptable in His sight. But this interpretation of either 'ye do' or ' ye cover ' is not very natural ; and We., Now., Smith, Marti may be right in rendering, ' Ye cover the altar with tears, because i^see Is. 1. 2 Heb.) he regardeth not,' &c., supposing some calamity (cf. iii. II) to have overtaken the nation, which the people regarded as a sign that Yahweh was displeased with them, and would not accept their offerings ; they accordingly pressed round the altar, and implored there, even with tears, the return of His favour. with g-ood will. Or, ivith acceptance. The Heb. word (pin) is the one rendered in Lev. i. 3, xix. 5, and elsewhere, that he {ye) may U accepted (Jit. ' for his (your) acceptance '}. Cf. on i. 8, 10. 14. The people are supposed to ask why Yahweh does not accept their offerings : the prophet replies, Because of their unfaithfulness to the marriage-tie. hath been witness: at the time of the marriage, when Yahweh was a witness (cf. Gen. xxxi. 50) and surety of the agresehient. the wife of thy youth (Is. liv. 6) : once beloved, but now that she is grown older, in spite even of the years of companion- ship, and the solemn marriage-contract, cast oflf.- the wiffe of thy covenant ; the marriage-contract ; cf. Pr. ii. 3i6 MALACHI 2. 15 a And did he not make one, although he had the residue of the spirit? And wherefore one? He sought a godly * Or, And not one hath done so who had a residue of the spirit. Or what ? is there one that seeketh a godly seed ? 17. Or, perhaps (Now., Marti), the wife belonging to the covenant between Israel and its God, in which thou sharest, as opposed to the 'daughter of a foreign god/ v. 11. 15*. A difficult and certainly corrupt passage. Four views of it may be noticed: (i) RV. (substantially = AV.) means: Did not he (God) make but one (Adam), although He had the residue of the spirit (of life: Gen. vi. 17), (and could therefore have made as many as He pleased). Why then did He make but onel Because He sought a godly seed (which could only be secured by the union of a single man with a single woman). But this interpretation is very forced. (2) RVm. means : Not one hath ever done this (viz, faithlessly divorced his wife), who had a vestige (cf, on Zeph. i. 4) of the spirit (of God, Ps. cxliii. lo, — though there is no article herein the Heb.). Or is there any one seeking godly children (and so with- held by this from divorcing his wife) ? (3) Hitzig and Keil render : ' And not one hath done so, who had a vestige of reason (* spirit,' as Job xxxii. 8, but here of the moral sense). And what (did) the one (do)? He was seeking a seed of God.' ' And what did the one do ? ' is supposed to be an objection raised by the Jews : But what, they ask, did ' the ' (well-known) ' one,' Abraham, do, when he sent away Hagar ? The prophet replies. He was (not gratifying himself, as you are, but) seeking the promised ^eed. But ' the one ' is a strange ex- pression by which to denote Abraham (Is. li. 2, Ez. xxxiii. 24 are^j different) ; nor was Hagar Abraham's 'wife.' ^^ (4) We., emending slightly the text, renders (so Now.) : ' Hatl^^ not (s'jn for inb<) One (God : cf. v. 10) made and left over (-iN\r'"i fo "WCi), i. e. preserved (i S. xiv. 36, xxv. 22), to us (i:S for ib), tl^^-^ spirit (of life : Gen. vi. 17 ; Is. xlii. 5") ? And what doth the Oi^j^^ seek ? a seed of God (i. c. children, the gift of God, Ps. cxxvii. ^^ The passage then gives two reasons against divorce : (i) we ,pgg^' all members of God's family, and should treat one another acc( ' ingly : (2^ when our wives give us children, we have obtainec^^^^. much as Yahweh designs, or we ate entitled to expect ; we not entitled to discard our wives afterwards, because they ^^^d ' old. This interpretation yields an excellent sense, and is at^j^ , tive, though to ' leave over ' (viz. from destruction : i S. (^•C,taJ;^,(, not a natural expression to use in the present connexia^j^^y^j^ to ♦ preserve.' MALACHI 2. 16, 17 317 seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. For 3- 1 16 hate putting away, saith the Lord, the God of Israel, and him that covereth his garment with violence, saith the Lord of hosts : therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously. Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye 17 » Heb. he hateth. \b^. to your spirit : the Heb. can mean only ' in your spirit,' i. e. in your mind. Reading b for 1 we could render for your spirit (i. e. for your life), — a variation of the more common 'take heed to yourselves' (lit. for your soul), Dt, iv. 15 al. But the same error is hardly likely to have happened twice {v. 16 end). and let, &c. The Heb. is, 'And against the wife of thy youth let him not {or let none) deal faithlessly.' This is obviously wrong. We must either, with Pesh., AV., RV., read 'his' for 'thy' (vTir: for -imi-:), or, with several Heb. MSS., LXX, Targ., T yulg., read 'deal not' for 'let none deal' (uan for lyy). The \ atter is more pointed, and preferable. 1 16. Divorce is hateful to Yahweh. Dt. xxiv. 1-4 regulates vlivorce, but does not prohibit it. An ambiguous expression in iDt. xxiv. I (RV. 'some unseemly thing' ; see the writer's note ' / jjrf loc.) may have contributed to the laxity which afterwards pre- /if ailed Ccf. Mt. xix. 3 'for every cause'). Malachi's words are an /'•'*• rc^ticipation of the higher teaching of Mt v. 32, xix. 6, 8. I hate. The Heb., as RVm. states, is ' he hateth ' ; but the he?t person is required by the context, so that either .v:xrN or po;:ir' must be read for x:tu. ' Putting away,' as Dt. xxiv. i. ] that covereth his g'arment with violence: apparently datig- expression for, covereth himself with violence (viz. in ill- clai^ting his wife). In the Kor'dn ii. 183 it is said, 'You are on rfnitted to approach your wives in the night of the fast. They jyour garment, and you are theirs ' ; and some commentators a frtjrdingly take * garment ' here as a figure for ' wife.' But it is Uful whether 'his garment,' standing alone, without any ' misV^st^o" (^s in the Kor'an passage), could have this sense. j o your spirit. Read in, as before ; and then ' deal not \ssly: Revisl^^ — ^* ®' There was a class among Malachi's contempora- distinr^° were not irreligious (cf. iii. 14''), and are not to be often ifi^*^ with the godless of iii. 15, 18, but who were deficient niarke^*'*'*'*'y> ^"^ were tempted consequently by the troubles nal anomalies which they saw about them to question God's 3i8 MALACHI 3. i say, AMierein have we wearied him ? In that ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he dehghteth in them ; or where is the God of judgement ? 3 Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me : and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple ; " and the ^ messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in, behold, he cometh, * Or, even ^ Or, angel justice, and to doubt whether He would ever interpose, to dis- tinguish between the evil and the good. To such the prophet reph'es that the day is at hand when Yahweh will suddenly appear in His Temple to separate between the righteous and the wicked, and to purify His ungodly nation, priests and laity alike, in the furnace of judgement. 17. wearied. A strong word : properly made to toil, fig. for, been a burden and trouble to me ; cf. is. xliii. 23^, 24^ (where the parallel clause has made to serve). Not the word used in Is. vii. 13, yet ye say. The objection stated, as before, i. 6, 7, &c. or where ? &c. There is no God of judgement ; or else H would have interposed long ago. 3 iii. 1. The judgement which has been called in question wig come : Yahweh Himself will suddenly appear in His temple, an* execute it. \ Behold, I am sending" : the participle, as often in tl' : prophets, especially after ' behold,' of the future, conceived ai. 2 pictured as imminent. The judgement described by the propha is pictured by him as falling, upon the present generation ; cf. ^I iv. I, 5; Nah. ii. 2; Hag. ii. 21 ; Zech. iii. 8. For other example (in the Heb.), see Hab. i. 6 ; Zeph. iii-. 19 ; Zech. ii. 8, 9 [H 13, 14], iii. 9, viii. 7, xi. 6, 16, xii. 2, xiv. i ; Mai. ii. 3, iii. i ei^^^i prepare : properly, clear, remove obstacles from. The f^j. pression is very probably suggested by Is. xl. 3 ; cf. Ixii. 10. jj^^ my messenGfer : an ideal figure, who will clear the way bcQ^e Yahweh, — fig. for, prepare men to receive Him, like the courier \ j precedes an earthly monarch to announce his approach. Cf. i whom ye seek : alluding to the wish to see Him ap implied in the words 'or where,' &c., at the end of ii. 17. suddenly. A graphic and significant addition, at a m^ when you do not expect it. Cf. in the N. T. Mt. xxiv. 42, 4. the messenger of the covenant : a synonym of ' the ftr*. (]ns), — notice 'whom ye desire,' parallel to 'whom ye se^f ^ jg i. e. Yahweh, not in Himself, however, but in a represe^j^ ' f^r form (just as ' Yahweh' s angel ' in the historical books is V MALACHI 3. 10, II 323 Bring ye the wnole tithe into the storehouse, that there 10 may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord uf liosls, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the i r devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground ; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. 9. the curse (ii. 2) : viz. drought, locusts, and bad crops {vv. Io^ II). and yet me (cmpli.) are ye robbing, ye whole nation : undeterred by the curse. 10-12. If, however, the tithe is paid regularly in lull, pros- perity will return. 10. the whole tithe. From the emphasis laid upon the ' whole ' tithe, it is evident that a part must often have been withheld. the storehouse. Or, treasury: a chamber in the Temple (-inirt, into which the tithe and tcn'tmdh were paid : see Neh. x. 38, xii. 44, xiii. 5, 12, 13. The payment of the whole tithe into the Temple treasuries for the priests and Levites is m accordance with the regulations of P (Nu. xviii. 21-32 ; cf on v. 8. meat. I.e. food (Hab. i. 16), the meaning being provision for the maintenance of the priests and Levites : cf. Neh. xii. 37-39. prove me, I pray you, herewith : and see whether, if you return to me, I shall not return to you {v, 7). if I will not open for you (Dt. xxviii. 12) the windows of heaven (Gen. vii. 11, viii. 2 ; cf. 2 K. vii. 2, 19) : that they may pour down an abundant rain. 11. rebuke for you the devourer. Not ' for your sakes ' : the dative is the dat. of reference, exactly as in the two following clauses (where it is paraphrased by ' you ') : cf, the footnote on p. 309. the devourer. Lit, the eater ; i. c. (cf. Joel i. 4) the locust, a frequent and destructive plague in Palestine. cast her fruit before her time : in the Heb. one word, lit. ' miscarry,' i. e. fail to ripen her fruit ; cf. 2 K. ii. 19, 21. term, and to put a mark ('n or t.) against them on the margin of his Revised Version j he will then perceive for himself how special and distinctive the use of the term is, {Minhdht and korbdn, are also often rendered in EVV, ' oblation ' or * offering,' and should be marked similarly, for distinction from each other and from terilmdh.) y 2 324 MAJ.ACHI 3. 12-15 12 And all nations shall call you happy: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts. 13 Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. 14 Yet ye say, Wherein have we spoken against thee? Ye have said, It is vain to serve God : and what profit is it that we have kept his charge, and that we have walked 15 ^mournfully before the Lord of hosts? And now we call * Or, in mourning apparel 12. shall call you happy (Ps. Ixxii. 17*^). Cf. for the thought Is. Ixi. 9. ye. The pron. is emphatic. a delig-htsome land. Cf. Is. Ixii. 4 (see RVm. there). iil. 13 — iv. 3. Another paragraph, addressed apparently to the same class of impatient murmurers as ii. 17 — iii. 6. These com- plained that their rehgious observances brought them no advantage ; it was the wicked who prospered : the prophet repHes that the day is coming when the distinction between the evil and the good will be made manifest : the workers of wickedness will be ex- terminated, and the righteous will triumph over their fall. 13. are stout {lit. ' strong/ ' hard') against me. The prophet censures the spiritual tone and attitude adopted by these mur- murers. Cf. the reproach in ii. 17. 14. what profit . . .? Cf. Job xxi. 15 ; also above, ii. 17. kept his charge. In the more general sense of the ex- pression, of religious duties in general (Gen. xxvi. 5 ; Dt. xi. r ; I K. ii. 3), not specifically of ritual observances, as Zech. iii. 7 ; Lev. viii. 35 ; Nu. iii. 7, &c.' walked mournfully : cf. Ps. xxxviii. 6, xlii. 9. The meaning is, with outward marks of mourning ; and the marg., ' in mourning apparel,' is added to indicate this, iip does not denote a state of mind (sorrowing or grieving), but (meaning properly to be dirty) has reference to the squalid person and attire of a mourner in the East (2 S. xix. 24 ; Est. iv. i : cf. sackcloth and ashes as a mark of humiliation and contrition, Jon. iii. 6, Dan. ix. 3, I Mace. iii. 47). The class of persons referred to are not the godless : they kept up the forms of religion, but were deficient in spirituality ; hence they were impatient, and complained that, when they humbled themselves, and aoSumed the garb of mourners, on account of their sense of God's anger (as shown by the disasters alluded to in v. 11), their humiliation passed un- heeded, and brought their country no relief. Ijefore. Lit, 'from the face of,' i. e. on account of, as after MALACHI 3. 16,17 325 the proud happy ; yea, they that work wickedness are built up ; yea, they tempt God, and are delivered. Then they 16 that feared the Lord spake one with another : and the Lord hearkened, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him, for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be 17 mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day ^ that I ^ do * Or, wherein I do make a peculiar treasure *» Or, do this other verbs implying humiliation (i K. xxii. 29, 2 K. xxii. ig), the prep. 0:20, not ':i:7) expressing not locality, but causation. 15. ITow, therefore, we (emph.), &c. : as their religious observances bring them no advantage, they pronounce the godless happy. the proud: i.e., probably, the lax and worldly Israelites, who, prosperous themselves, looked down with cold and haughty indifference upon their poorer brethren, took advantage of them (v. s''), and treated the conscientious servants of Yahweh with disdain. Cf. in a Psalm dating from the same period, or a little later, Ps. cxix. 21, 51, 69, 78, 85, 122 (where the 'proud' are spoken of as in various ways vexing the faithful Israelites). are built up : fig. for, are successful ; cf. Job xxii. 23 ; Jer. xii. 16. yea, they tempt God, &c. : i. e. they challenge God's judge- ment by their wickedness, and yet it comes not upon them. ' Tempt ' is the word rendered ' prove ' in v. 10 ; here in a bad sense, of proving in a spirit of scepticism and disbelief, i. e. to put to the proof ; so Ps. xcv. 9^ 16. Theu — when they heard these arguments of the sceptics {vv. 14 f.) — the pious God-fearing Israelites discoursed together, doubtless reassuring each other with thoughts of faith and trust in God. and Yahweh hearkened, &c. Yahweh heard what His righteous servants thus said, and resolved to reward them for their fidelity. This resolution is expressed by a figure derived from the custom of the Persian monarchs to have the names of public benefactors inscribed in a book in order that in due time they might receive a suitable reward. See Est. vi. i (where ' book of record(s) ' is in the Heb. the same as book of remembrance here) ; and cf. Hdt. iii, 140, v. 11, viii. 85. thoug'ht upon: or, regarded ({s. xiii. 17, xxxiii. 8). 17. The destined reward : they will be Yahweh's own posses- sion, and under His fatherly protection, in the day upon which He appears to judgement. 326 MALACHI 3. t8— 4. i make, e^'en a peculiar treasure ; and I will spare them, as iS a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that 4 serveth him not. ^ For, behold, the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace ; and all the proud, and all that work wicked- ness, shall be stubble : and the day that cometh shall » [Ch. iii. 19 in Heb.] in the day on which Z do (or act) : nu:? (*'do') used absolutely, as Ps. xxii. 31, xxxvii. 5**, Hi. 9; Is. xliv. 23, xlviii. 11 Cthere is no 'it' in these passages in the Heb.); Jer. xiv. 7 •work"). 'That I do make' (RV\), though quite possible grammatically (Ps. cxviii. 24}, is less probable. The recurrence of these words (alone) in iv. 3 is against marg. * (p. 325). a peculiar treasure. In the Heb. one word, the one (rr^;?) applied to Israel in Ex. xix. 5: and repeated thence (with 'people' added) in Dt. vii. 6, xiv. 2, xxvi. 18, Ps. cxxxv. 4 (cf. i Pet. ii. 9) : see also, in illustration of the proper sense of the word, Eccl. ii. 8. The high privilege, which Israel as a nation had forfeited, of being Yahweh's segulldh, or special possession, is here transferred to the faithful minority of true and loyal worshippers. ' Peculiar' is used in the old etymological sense of the word of ' specially one's own ' (Lat.peculium, the private property of a child or slave). will spare : in contrast to the condemned wicked. as a man spareth his own sou that serveth him : at a time viz. when he would be punishing his 'stubborn and rebellious son' (Dt. xxi. i8-2t). Yahweh, in the day of judgement on the wicked, will display towards His own faithful servants the love and affection of a father towards his dutiful son. 18. And so, when the judgement breaks, ye shall return from j'our present scepticism {v. i^O, and perceive what you now deny, the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, iv. 1. Por: giving the reason for iii. 18. cometh. Properly, is coming-. Cf the note on iii. i. burning as an oven. The tanwlr (Gen. xv. 17 ; Hos. vii. 4' was a portable earthenware jar, in shape like a truncated cone, heated by burning embers placed in it : see an illustration in Whitehouse, A Primer of Heb. Antiqtiities, p. 73 : cf EB, i. 605. stubhle : for the comparison, cf. Is. v. 24, Obad. 18. shall set them ablaze {"crh) : thus signally reversing the judgement of the sceptics, iii. 15. MALACHI 4. 2, r, 327 burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my 2 i name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings ; and ye shall go forth, and gambol as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked ; for they 3 neither root nor branch. The figure changes from that of * stubble ' to that of a tree utterly destroyed by some great con- flagration. Cf. Job XV. 30. 2, 3. The very different future in store for the righteous. 2. the sun of rig-hteousness. A beautiful and striking figure : the deliverance of Yahweh's servants on the day of judgement will be a signal vindication of their righteousness ; and so this is figured as a sun beaming forth, conspicuous to all, and bringing healing in its wings — i. c. curing them for ever from the wounds which their present trials have inflicted. The 'of is epexegetical ( = consisting in). The figure has close analogies in Ps. xxxvii. 6 ; Is. Ixii. i^ arise. Properly beam forth, as regularly, when 'rise* or * arise ' is used of, or with allusion to, the sun : e. g. Dt. xxxiii. 2^, Is. ]x. i^, 2^, s^ in its wing's. Either directly fig. for rays; or indirectly, with allusion to representations of the solar disk with wings issuing from either side, often found on Assyrian and Persian monuments : as the ra3's of the physical sun spread light and warmth over the earth, so will the • wings ' of the ' sun of righteousness ■ bring healing, i. e. new life, health, and strength to the suffering righteous Israelites. His in RV. (in the Heb. ha; referring to the fem. ' sun ') is an archaism for its (which never occurs in AV. of either OT. or NT.\ The Fathers interpreted the * sun of righteousness ' of Christ (hence no doubt the capital S in 'Sun' in AV.) ; but though the figure is a beautiful and appropriate one to apply to the Saviour of the world, this cannot be the sense intended by Malachi : for Malachi is addressing the righteous of his own time, and promises how t/iey will soon have their righteousness vindicated, and enjoy the satisfaction of triumphing over the wicked. 2'', 3. The exultation of the righteous at their deliverance. 2^. They will come forth from their hiding-places, and ' break into life and energy, like young calves leaping from the dark pen into the early sunshine' (G. A. Smith, p. 370). On 'gambol' (LXX aKipTTjafTf), see on Hab. i. 8. 3. ' To this morning landscape a grim figure is added. They 3^8 MALACHI 4. 4-6 shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I a do make, saith the Lord of hosts. 4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes 5 and judgements. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord 6 come. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers ^to the * Or, do this ^ Or, with will tread down the wicked and the arrogant like ashes beneath their feet' (ibid.). Cf. the picture in Is. Ixvi. 24. ashes : to which they will have been reduced by the fire oiv. i. in the day on which Z do. As iii. 17. 4-6. Final exhortation to obey the Mosaic law, with a promise that Elijah will be sent to restore love and unity to the divided people, and avert if possible the threatened doom. 4. the law {^ tordh') of Moses, my servant. Both are ex- pressions used often by Deuteronomic writers : see (all being passages due to the compilers) (i) Josh. viii. 31, 32, xxiii. 6, I K. ii. 3; 2 K. xiv. 6, xxiii. 25 ; and (2) Josh. i. 2, 7, and ' Yahweh's servant,' Dt. xxxiv. 5; Josh. i. x, 13, 15, and often in this book. in Horeh. Both ' Horeb * and ' statutes and judgements ' are expressions characteristic of Dt. (i. 2, 6, 19, iv. 10, 15 al. [P always says * Sinai'] ; iv. i, 5, v. i, xii. i, xxvi. 14 al). The prophet is probably thinking of the moral and spiritual precepts of Deuter- onomy. V. 6 seems to show that dissensions were rife among the people at the time, which might be put an end to by obedience to the principles of love and philanthropy so often inculcated in Deuteronomy. judgrements. Better, ordinances : see on Zeph. ii. 3. 5. Elijah, the great reformer, who, according to 2 K. ii, had been carried up into heaven, will reappear to prepare the people for the great day on which Yahweh comes for judgement. The expression is borrowed from Joel ii. 31 ; in fact the whole of v. 5^ (from ' before') agrees verbatim with Joel ii. 31. I will send. Properly, I am sending: his appearance is pictured as immediate. Cf. on iii. i, iv. i. 6. shall turn, &c. : i. e. shall restore unity in the divided people. A state of grave social discord and family division fcf. Mic. vii. 1-6, especially v. 6), imperilling even the existence of the community, seems to be indicated. RVm. means, ' shall turn (to God) the heart of the fathers together with (that of) the children,* &c. ; but this is a forced and unnatural interpretation. MALACHI 4. 6 329 children, and the heart of the children ^ to their fathers ; lest I come and smite the ^ earth with a ^ curse. » Or, m'i/i ^ Or, land " Or, ban lest, &c. Unless Elijah does this, ruin is imminent for the land. the earth. RVm. the land is preferable ; for Malachi is thinking only of the land of Israel. with the ban. I. e. with destruction : see on Zech. xiv. 11. Elijah was a prominent figure in later Jewish belief; and, at least about and after the period of the Christian era, many legends were current about him. The belief that he would reappear for the moral and social reformation of Israel may have been already formed before Malachi wrote ; but whether that was the case or not, it was subsequently, and still is, firmly held by the Jews. Thus in the NT. we read (Mk. ix. iif.= Mt. xvii. 10 f.), 'The scribes say that Elijah must first come' (cf. the references to Elijah in Mt. xxvii. 47 = Mk. xv. 35 'Behold, he calleth Elijah,' and John i. 21 < Art thou Elijah ? ' 25), and our Lord replies, ' Elijah indeed cometh first and restoreth all things,' adding in the following verse that he had already come, and they had done unto him as they listed, with evident reference to John the Baptist: cf. on iii. i ; and see also Mt. xi. 14 'If ye are willing to receive (it), this is Elijah, which is to come'' ; Lk. i. 17 ' He (John) shall go before his face in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the dis- obedient (to walk) in the wisdom of the just ; to make ready for the Lord a people prepared ^for him).' In the eulogy on Elijah in Ecclus. xlviii. i-ii, v. 10 is based upon this passage of Malachi ^ For further particulars respecting the post-Biblical Jewish beliefs about Elijah, see Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus, ii. 703-6 ; Schurer, § 29 (ii. 440-2). The general Jewish view was, and still is, that he is to be the fore- runner of the Messiah, especially for the sake of bringing peace, solving difficulties, settling legal and other disputes, deciding who were by birth entitled to belong to Israel, and calling to re- pentance. The Jew in Justin {c. Tryph. cc. 8, 49) says further that Elijah was expected to anoint the Messiah. ^ Render: *Who is written down [viz. in Mai. iv. 5f.] in (i.e. to come with) reproofs for (their) seasons [in the Heb. text: * as ready for a season '], * To appease anger before wrath [Heb. : * To make to cease anger before ' (the text here breaks off ; supply perhaps, as suggested by the Syriac, ' the day of Yahweh ')], *To turn the heart of the father to the son [Heb., Syr. : 'of the fathers to the sons '], ' And to establish the tribes of Israel.' 330 Additio7mI Note 07i Nah. i. i^. The two cuneiform tablets, found recently at Gezer, i8 miles north-west of Jerusalem {Quarterly Statement of the Pal. Explor. Fund, 1904, pp. 229 ff., 1905, pp. 206 ff.), seem to afford direct evidence of the political influence of Assyria in Palestine during the reign of Asshurbanipal (b. c. 668-625). The tablets, which date from b. c. 651, and 648 {ibid. 1905, pp. 209, 210), are con- tracts for the sale of land : they are both dated by Assyrian epony- mies,— the second by that of a viceroy {shaknu) of Carchemish ; and the sellers in one, and most of the witnesses in both, bear Assyrian names. They may be taken to show at least that there was an Assyrian colony or garrison at Gezer, if not that the country round was under Assyrian domination. Note on the terms * Messiah ' and ' Messianic' In order rightly to understand these terms, it is necessary to bear in mind the proper meaning of the word 'Messiah.' ' Messiah ' means ' anointed ' ; and in its Hebrew form it is often used of the Israelitish king as ' Yahweh's anointed' (i S, xvi. 6, xxiv. 7, II, &c.). The later Jews, upon the basis of this usage, designated the future ideal ruler, whom the prophets often depicted, by the title, 'the anointed king ' (in Aramaic, Nn'iop >»3bn). This is the origin of the term '■ Messiah * : it is properly appli- cable only to the ideal king of such passages as Is. ix, 6f., or Zech. ix. 9 ; and ' Messianic' ought strictly to be limited to those prophecies of an ideal future in which the ideal ' king ' is also included. The latter term is, however commonly applied, in a wider sense (cf. on Hag. ii. 7\ to other prophecies of an ideal future, even though the figure of the ideal king forms no feature in them. It is, however, a serious mistake to apply the term ' Messiah ' to ideal figures drawn by the prophets, which, though fulfilled by Christ, are still not figures of an ideal ' king.' Thus there is no 'Messiah,' or ideal 'king,' in Is. xl-lxvi. When a Jew is asked, Can you not see the Messiah in Is. xlix, liii, &c. ? he naturally, and rightly, answers. No. The figure of the ' Righteous servant,' who combines in himself the ideal attributes of the prophet and the nation, prefigures Christ, not as a' king.' but as a prophet ; and only confusion and misunderstanding can result if this ideal figure is described as the 'Messiah.' The two ideal characters, of the prophet in Is. x'-lxvi, and of the king ' ' Messiah ') in other prophets, were united, when the time of fulfilment came, in Christ ; but in the Old Testament they aro distinct 'cf. Richm., Messianic Prophecy. i89i,pp. 121, 191^.283-8. INDEX Acrostic poem, i8, 25-8, adamant, 219. Alexander the Great, 231, 236, 237 ; his successors, 231 f,, 240. alliteration, 34, 119, 314. Ammon, Zeph. ii. 8, 9. angels in visions, 177 f.. 184 ft\ Apocryphal prophecy of Zcpha- niah, 103. 'Arabah, the, Zech. xiv. 10. Archaisms, or unfamiliar ex- pressions, occurrins: in RV:— again (back), 29, 248 f. alarm (To arms 1 .. 1197/. base (abased), 312. brass (copper), 209. bruit (report), 46. cielcd (panelled \ 155. coast (border), 123. consult 'plan), 80. cry upon (cry to\ 211, 226. discover (strip off), 38. dissolved (melted avray in fear, unstrung), 32. excellency(pre-eminence\29. fair (clean), 196. fenced (fortified), 120, 252. fray (frighten), 189'. grisled (gre}'), 209. his its), 327. light (frivolous), 132. mantelet (siege-shelter), 31. meat (food\ 74, 98, 323. mourn (moan), 33. of (from), 81, 307. peculiar (special), 326. plague (blow^, 277. ravin (plunder). 35. seethe ''boil), 281. snuff (sniff), 307. solemn (stated, recuiring). 140. sorrel (yellovvish-rcd^, 185. staves (plur. of 'staffs, 94, 256. strange, stranger, ' foreign, foreigner), 313 f., 314 u. taber. to 'to drum), 33, table (tablet;, 75. tempt (put to the proof), 325. turned, to be (to turn\, 83. vex (harass or trouble physic- ally-), 79. vile (common). 25, 38. well favoured (beautiful), 37. vvinefat (wine-vat), 166. Ashdod, Zeph. ii. 4, Zech. ix, 6. Ashkelon, Zeph. ii. 4, 7, Zech. ix. 5. ass, the beast of peace, 241. Asshurbanipal, 59, ii«., 330. * So also Dt. xxviii. 26, Jer. vii. 33. Elsewhere, as Is. xvii. 2, Nah. il. II, Ez. xxxiv. 28, the same Hebrew is rendered *make afraid.' * See DB., or Wright's Bible Word-Book, s.v. The Hebrew in Hab. ii. 7 means ' to shake to and fro or strong-ly.' 33^ THE MINOR PROPHETS ' Assyria,' apparently = Syria, 231, 250. Assyrians, character of their empire, 8 f , 13. Azel, Zech. xiv. 5. Baal, 112. Babylon, Israelites to flee from, 191 ; sin to be banished there, 208. Rashan, Nah, i. 4, Zech. xi. 2. bastard, to dwell in Ashdod, 238. Benjamin gate, Zech. xiv. 10. blasting, 167. Booths, pilgrimage of, 279 f. Canaan, of Philistines, 124 ; people of, or Canaanites (as merchants), 117, 256 and 258 (Heb.), 282. candlestick, golden, seen in vision, 199, 204. Carmel, Nah. i. 4. Chaldaeans, rise of, 68 ; growth of empire, 52 f., 57 ; character of, 67 flf., 76, 77-84. Chemarim, 113 (Zeph. i. 4). Cherethites, Zeph. ii. 5, 6 (note). Chief Musician, the, 99. Chislev (month), 216. Christ, birth of, supposed pre- diction of, 87. corner gate, the, Zech. xiv. 10. covenant : in fig. applications, 257 ; with the tribe of Levi, Mai. ii. 4, 5, 8. See under Words and Expressions. curse (ban), 277 f,, 329. curses, supposed force of, 206. Cushan, Hab, iii. 7. Damascus, Zech. ix. i, David, house of, 233, Zech. xii. 7, 8, 10, 12, xiii. I. Diaspora (or Jews in dis- persion), promised return of the, 221 f., 223f., 241, 242. 248-50. ' Dies irae ' (hymn), 119. divorce, frequency of, in Judah, 297, 312 ; condemned by Malachi, 315-17. eagle (properly great vulture), 69 f , 80. Edom, 299-301. Egypt, 39-41 ; invaded by Asshurbanipal, 6 ; Israelites exiled in, 250 ; no rain in, 280. See Ptolemies. Ekron, Zeph. ii. 4, Zech. ix. 5. Elam, conquered by Asshur- banipal, 7. Elijah, 328, 329. Elkosh, 3, 4. ephah, 207. Ephraim, 23of.; future restora- tion of, 241, 242, 248-50. Esarhaddon, 5. Esau, 299, 300. Ethiopia (Kush), Nah. iii. 9, Zeph. ii. 12, iii. 10. exiles, return from Babylon, 145 f., 288 ; condition of, after return, 148-151. eyes of Yahweh, 202, 204. Ezra, 285, 287 ff. fasts, 216 f., 225. first person singular, of people, 86, 94, 98. fish gate, Zeph. i. 10. flying roll, 205 f. gate, the first, Zech. xiv. 10. Gaza, Zeph. ii. 4, Zech ix. 5. Geba, Zech. xiv. 10. Gilead, Zech. x. 10. Greeks, 230, 243. Habakkuk, legends about, 49 f. Hadadrimmon, Zech. xii. 11. INDEX 333 I Hadrach, Zech. ix. i. Hamath, Zech. ix. 2. Hananel,towerof,Zech. xiv. 10. head stone, 201. high priest, the, 194, 213, 214. holy land, the, Zech. ii. 12. Horeb, Mai. iv. 4. host of heaven, worship of, 1 13. Huzzab, Nah. ii. 7. ideal future (or the kingdom of God), characteristics of: general, io6, 108, 151 f., 180, 235 ; inaugurated by over- throw of hostile powers, 161, i68f., 209; victory of Jews over the Greeks, 243-5 5 felicity of J udah, 124 f., 136 f., 138 ff., 151, 163, 180, 198 f., 220-3, 245> 274-8, 323^-5 325- 7 ; removal of sin, 198, 207 f., 268 f., of sinners, 205 f. ; Messianic ruler, 169, 211-13 ; Messiah, 227, 240-2; Mes- sianic kingdom, 227 f., 236, 240-2 ; glory of Temple, 159, 162, 215 ; Yahweh to dwell in Zion, 188, 193, 220 ; ex- pansion of Jerusalem, 190 ; elevation of Jerusalem, 276-8 ; holiness of Jerusalem, 281 f. ; of Israel, 320 ; Ephraim (the Northern tribes) to be re- stored, 223 f., 241, 242, 248- 50 ; homage of nations, 127, 134 f., 162, 225 f., 279 f. ; many nations to join Israel, 193 ; nations to observe the Feast of Booths, 279 f., mono- theism to prevail, 276. Cf. ' judgement ' and ' remnant.* idols, 84, 85. interest, allusion to, 78, 79. jackals, 301. Javan (Greeks), Zech. ix, 13 marg. Jebusite, Zech. ix. 7. Jerusalem, to be rebuilt, 188 ; to have no walls, 190 ; to be elevated and a goal for the nations' pilgrimages, 276 f, 279-81 : to be holy, 281. Joseph, house of, 230, Zech. x. 6 and note. Joshua (the high-priest), 154 f., 194 ff., 211-15. J udah, probably subject to Assyria under Asshurbani pal, 14,24,330; opposed to Jeru- salem, 259, 262, 263, 278. judgement on the heathen world, 106, iiiff., 123 ff., 134, 188 f., 191, 192 f., 193; on Babylon, 211 ; on Judah, 106, 112 ff., 318-ai, 326 f. Kimchi, David, 25, 34, 83, 166. kingdom of God : see ' ideal future.' king's wine-vats, the, Zech. xiv. 10. Kush, Nah. iii. 9, Zeph. ii. 12, iii. ID (notes). law, the : proper meaning 'direction,' 66, 163, 219, 310- 12 ; of Deut., 292, 310, 328 ; * Law of Holiness, '302, 307 f.; of Priestly Code, 292, 310; neglected by priests, 132, 301 ff., 308-12. leading classes, sins of the, 106, 115 f., 131 f., 294. Lebanon, Nah. i. 4, Hab. ii. 17, Zech. x. 10, xi. i. Levi, the house of, Zech. xii. 13 ; the covenant with, Mai. ii. 4, 8 ; the sons of, Mai. iii. 3. ' Levite,' different sense of, in Deut. and in P, 310. locusts, 43, 44, 45, 323. love of Israel, Yahweh's, 299. Lubim, Nah. iii. 9. 334 THE MINOR PROPHETS Maktesli, the. Zeph. i. ii. Malcam, Zeph. i. 5. mantelet. 31. mantle, hairy, ^69 f. Mcgiddon. Zcch. xii. n. Messiah, Messianic, note on terras, 330. Messianic king, 169, 198, 211- 13, 227, 240-2. — kingdom, 159, 168 f., 227 f.. 236,240-2. Cf. Mdeal future.' Midian, Hab. iii. 7. Milcom, iisf. mildew, 167. Moab, Zeph. ii. 8, 9. Molech, 114. 1 monotheism of world, future, j 276. j nations, overthrow of, 161, 168 f. . | 209, cf. 243-5 ; judgement on. \ see 'judgement * : ideal attack of on Jerusalem in the future, 261, 273 f,; destruction of nations engaged in it, 261-4, ; 278 f. ; favourable view of, : 305 ; to do homage to Yah- weh in the future, 127, 134 f., 162, 193, 225, 276, 279 f. Neheraiah, 289 ff. i nettles (?), 126. ■ New Testament, quotations in. j 63 f. and 77 «. (Hab. 'ii. 4^ ' 67 (Hab. i. 5), i6rf. (Hag.ii. ' 6), 241 (Zech. ix. 9,, 259 and 282 (Zech. xi. 13), 265, 266 ; (Zech. xii. 10), 271 (Zech. ' xiii. 7), 301 (Mai. i. 2f.), 319 (Mai. iii. i), 329 (Mai. iv. sf.). Nile, 39, 40, 050; the Blue Nile, 136. Nineveh, plan of, i6 ; situation | of, 39 f.; fall of, 9-n, 14 f. 28 ff., 128-30. I No (Thebes), conquest of, 6, i Nah. iii. 8-10; situation of, 39'"- Olives, Mount of. Zech. xiv. 4. oven, 326. owls in ruins, 129. Paran, Hab. iii, 3. pardon of sin, in the Messianic age, 198, 268 f. paronomasia, 123. participle, of imminent future, 318 (with references), past tense, of future, 243, 312. Patristic interpretations, 87, 306, 327. pelican, 129. personification, 24, 138. Philistines, 123, 238, 239. pilgrimages, 140 «., 309. pledges, 79. porcupine, 129. priests, lax, 132, 293 f,, Mai. i. 6_ii. 9, iii. 3. prophetic ideals, relation to ful- filment, 151 f., 159, 161, 235, 241, 319- 'prophetic' perfect, 82, 86, 115, 138, 247. prophets, unworthy, 132, 269. 270. Ptolemies, the, 231 f., 253. Put, Nah. iii. 9; Zeph. iii. 10 (note). raven, 129. refining, 272 ; process described, 319 f- remnant, of the returned exiles. 158, 221, 223; of the faithful Israelites who survive the coming judgement, 106, 125, 136 f., 295. Revelation, the, 203 «., 266 tt. Rimmon, Zech. xiv. 10. River, the (the Euphrates), 242. saltpits, 126. Satan, the, 194 f. INDEX 335 Scythians, irruption of, into Asia, 94, 115, 119. scah (a measure), 166. Selcucidae, the, 231 f., 253 1. Sennacherib, 4, 23. Sharezer, Zech. vii. 2. Shebat (month), 184. Shigionoth, 86. signet, 169. sirocco, 20, 167. Smith, W. R., on Zeph., 108. soap, fullers', 319. sorcerers, Mai. iii. 5. spirit, Yahweh's, 161, 200, 219. spiritual worship, delighted in by God, 217, 297. stork, 208. Teman, Hab. iii. 3. Temple, the Second, foundation of, 146-8, 222 ; rebuilding of, 151, i55ffji79f.j 188, 200 f., 213 f. tcraphim, 246. threshing, 93. thunder-storm, Yah vveh pictured as present in, 19, 20, 87 ; effects of, 20, 89, 91, 92, 100: described by Hab., 87 ff. ; descrijjtion of one in the Sinaitic Peninsula, 100. tikkiin aophcriiii. 71, cf. 307. tithes, 321 f., 323, trumpet (horn), iigf. Tyre, Zech. ix. 2, 3 ; siege of. by Alexander, 237. Umman-manda. the. 10. vine, fig. of Israel, 29. vision, prophetic, 17, 75, 1761. vows, 25, 307 f. wine, new {tirosh), 157, 245. wine-presses, wine-vats, 166 f. wolves, 69, 131. Yahweh, honoured among the Gentiles, Mai. i. 1 1 ; Israel's father, Mai. ii. 10. yoke, 24. Zechariah, symbolism of, 179. Zephaniah, follows the teaching of Isaiah, 106-8. Zerubbabel, 154, 199 ft'.. 211 ft". ; Messianicaspirationsattachcd to. 151, 168 f., 198, 21 1- 15. Zidon, Zech. ix. 2. Words and Expressions explaitied. accept,acccptance;^ofsacrifices), 303, 3^5- accept persons, to, 303. anointed, thine, 93. answer, peculiar use of, 186. appointed feast, 139 f. arm, fig, of authority, 309. arrows, fig. of lightnings, 92. ban, 277 f. Belial, 23, 25. bones (in poetry), 96. bowls (at altar), 244. 281. Branch (rather, Shoot), 197, 212, 213. bread (of sacrificial flesh), 302. broad places, 31,221, burden (in title of prophecy), 17, charge, to keep my, 196, 324, chieftain ,' = clan-chief), 239,263. corner, fig. use of, 248. correction {nnisar), 131. covenant : blood of thy, Zech. ix. II ; of the fathers, Mai. ii. 10 ; wife of thy, ii. 14 ; mes- senger of the, iii. i. cup of Yahweh, 83. curse, to be a, 223. curtains (of tent;, 90. 336 THE MINOR PROPHETS daughter, fig. of population, 135, 138. 191 f., 240. day ofYahweh, 106, 114 f., i i8f., a73> 319, 326. detestable things, 38, 239. drunkenness, fig. application of the idea, 41 f., 82, 83, 261 f. eastern sea, the, 276. faithfulness, 63 f. , 76 f. feast (^pilgrimage), 140 «. feed (graze), fig. of men, 137 f. flock, see sheep, former (autumn) rain, 246. gate (as place ofjudgement), 224. gazingstock, 38. governor {pehdh)^ 154. hammer (fig. of destroying foe) , 28. heart : as seat of courage, 34 ; ~ attention, 155. high places (of a land), 98 f. hiss, to : in scorn, 130 ; fig. for call, 130. Holy One, mine, 71 ; the, 88. holy ones ( = angels), 274. homestead, 124. I am against thee, 35. impurity {nidddh), 268 f.' inhabitress (fig. of population), 191. iniquity {'dven), 65. isles, 127 f. jealous, jealousy, of Yahweh, 18, 120 f., 187, 230. judgement: = right, 66, 68; = ordinance, 122, 328. king's sonsj the, 1 16. languages ( = peoples), 226. latter (spring) rain, 246. lees, 118. lie down (as cattle), fig. of men, 125, 137- living(i.e. running) waters, 276. lowland, the, 218. lowly, 241. marshals, 44. meek (humble), 122, 123, 137 «. messenger, Yahweh's, Hag. i. 13, Mai. iii. i. mighty man, mighty one (a warrior), 30, 119, 139, 243, 248, 249. mischief ('awa/), 66, 72. mitre (turban), 196. mourn, to : = to moan, 33 ; i. e. to wail, 217, 266. mournfully (i. e. in squaHd attire), 324. Nile streams, 40. north (country), the, 128, 191, 210. offering : = minhdk, 136, 304, 306; = ter-iimdhj^sa', = korbdn, 323 w. omen, men of, 197. parable (false rendering), 78. peculiar treasure, 326. people, to be to me a, 193, 222. pleasant land, the, 220. poor (or aflflicted : of the op- pressed servants of God), 94 f., 137, 241. pride of Jordan, the, 252. proud, the, 325. quiet one's spirit, to, 211. rebellious, 130, reeling, bowl of, 261 f. refuge in, to take (fig.), 21. remembrance, book of, 325. respect persons, to, 312. INDEX 337 rise early (in fig. sense), 134. Rock (of Yahweh), 72. salvation, 90 f., 98, 241. sanctify guests and warriors, to, 115. say, to ( = to think), 133, 134. set feast, 139 f. sheep, fig. of people, 137 f., 140, 245, 255-60, 271 f. shepherds, fig. of rulers, 45, 247, 252-60, 271 f. sit, to, said of a city, 40, 190, 218, 238, 263, 277. solemn assembly, 139. sons of oil, 202 f., 204. soul ( = desire, appetite), 78. South, the, 218. spirit, Yahvveh's, 161,200,219. spirit := anger, 211; impulse, 265, 269 ; of life, 261, 316. sprinkle (properly 'toss' : ritual term), 244. stagger {or reel), to, 83. stand before, to, 195. strange ( = foreign), 313 f. stranger: = outsider, 314 m. ; = foreigner, 314 n. ;- sojourner (Heb. ger), 218, 314 n., 321. teach, to (to ' direct ' as a priest), 84, 85. Cf. ' law,' p. 333. tent-pin (fig.), 248. thresh, to (fig.), 93. threshold, the, to leap over, 116. tt'rosh, 157. treacherous dealers, 72, 77. treacherously, to deal, 313 (twice). under, idiom, use of, 96, 213. vengeance, said of Yahweh, 18. visit, to, 125, 247, 260; visit upon (to punish), 1 13, 247. watchmen (fig. of prophets), 74, 75- weigh, to (to pay), 258. western sea, the, 276. whoredom (fig.), 37. winds of heaven, the four, 191, 210. winter-rain, 246. Woe (Ah !), 36, 77 flf. OXFORD '. 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