TI E
MINOR PROPHETS;
WITH
NOTE S,
CRITICAL, EXPLANATORY, AND  PRA CTICAL,
DESIGNED FOR BOTII PASTORS AND PEOPLE.
BY
REV. I-IENRY COWLES.
" Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some
man should guide me? "-ACTs 8: 30, 31.
NEW YORK:
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
443 & 445 BROADWAY.
1867.




ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866. by
REV. HENRY COWLES,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Northern District of Ohio.




PREFACE.
THE Christian commentator, assuming that the Sciriptures are from God, infers their inestimable value to mankind. Assuming also that God speaks to man in love and
for his good, he infers that originally, to common hearers
and readers, his words must have been readily intelligible.
Hence he finds his work to be, comprehensively, to get
possession of the same means for understanding the words
of God which were enjoyed by those first hearers and
readers, including specially the language in which God
spake, the historic facts to which he alludes, and the scenes
in nature and common life from which he drew his illustrations. So much he must have in order to a clear and full
understanding for himself of the ancient words of God
to men.- Then it remains only to put his readers in
possession of his views of the Sacred Word. To do this he
may lead them over all the ground which he himself has
travelled, i. e., through the original Hebrew, unfolding its
laws of etymology, syntax, and usage of words, and also
through all the details of historic investigation: or he
may place before his readers for the most part only the
results at which he has arrived. In the former case, he




iv                    PREFACE.
writes for scholars only; in the latter, for readers of all
classes.   I have adopted mainly the latter method, aiming to meet the wants, not of Hebrew scholars only or
chiefly, but of all English readers. I have had in view
somewhat specially those who have been and are yet to be
trained to thoughtful study of God's word in Sabbath
schools and Bible classes, and indeed all those laymen and
women who love the Sacred Scriptures, and who naturally
wish to know their full and precise meaning.-  While in
the main it has been my plan to give results only, and not
the processes by which I reach them, yet points of great
practical interest and value, e. g., those prophecies respecting the MIessiah and his kingdom which yet remain in part
to be fulfilled, I have deemed it important to discuss
fundamentally and thoroughly, so th~at the reader may see
what principles of interpretation I adopt, and why,-and
also to what results they have led me. A superficial treatment of these points ought to be eminently unsatisfactory.
The commentator has his option whether to restrict
his work mainly to the unfolding of the exact sense, or to
speak more or less fully of the practical and moral applications of the truth which he brings out. These moral
applications are, of course, of the utmost importance to
every reader; yet usually God has left each reader to make
them for himself, and adapt them to his own case. Hence
I have thought it cannot be unwise for me to follow for the
most part the same method-assuming that God's word as
it came from his lips will have power on men's hearts when
the full sense of it is clearly apprehended. I have therefore
spoken of the moral bearings and applications of the truth
only in fewest words, suggestively and by no means exhaustivcly, and rather as a specimen and illustration of




PREFACE.                    V
the practical use to be made of the divine word. By this
method, the work is much reduced in size and expense; is
brought within the means and the time for reading of a
much greater number; and still, it is hoped, without lessening its moral and spiritual value.
The study of the Bible has been to me, above all other
studies, my life-work and my life-joy.  Through divine
mercy and a fore-ordering providence, my attention has
been turned and held very considerably during forty years
past to the study of the Hebrew Scriptures, and especially
to the writings of the prophets. At the urgent suggestion
of friends, and under a strong conviction of the need of a
commentary on these books adapted to all readers, I
entered, three years ago, upon the preparation of these
volumes, fully purposed to spare no pains, first to reach
the exact and full thought in these sacred words, and then
to present it with whatever clearness, brevity, and force I
could command.   These years of study and writing have
been to me a continual feast. Such a profusion of literary
and poetic beauties as lie here, is one of God's great
benefactions, yet is not to be named in comparison with
the value of these truths fresh from the infinite mind of
our divine Father, and from his parental heart. It is a
luxury to see the lines of evidence converging to a focus to
certify the exact meaning of God's word, and to bring out
that meaning in sunlight before the mind. It ought to be
and is a luxury even more rich to feel the presence and the
power of such truth upon the heart. The writer has gone
through these prophetic books with a growing sense of the
richness and fulness of their provisions for both the mind
and the heart, earnestly wishing that his readers may
partake of this feast, and drink deeply at these fountains.




Vi                   PREFACE.
This volume is sent forth in the hope that it may aid the
studies and refresh the souls of those who prize the Sacred
Word, and rejoice in the growing sway of light and love
under the great Redeemer's reign.
It has been thought best to begin with the minor prophets. The notes on the remaining prophets, upon the same
general plan, have been prepared for the press, and may
appear at some future day, if it should seem desirable.
The reader will be careful to observe that in the notes,
italic words are emphatic; but in the sacred text, as in all
English Bibles, they indicate that there are no correspondling words in the original Hebrew. Hence they are often
the opposite of emphatic,-a more just translation dispensing with them altogether.
The author has aimed to give either a translation, more
or less free, or a paraphrase, in all cases where he has been
compelled to differ from the received version. These passages are usually indicated by marks of quotation.
OBERLIN, Ohio, Sept., 1866.




GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PROPHETS.
THE Mosaic system comprised institutions and agencies for
sustaining the religious life of the Hebrew people. The priests
and the Levites were religious orders, held responsible for this
service. In the degenerate ages of the nation, the forms of
their religion lost their spiritual power, and those religious
orders seem to have gone down morally in the general declension. Hence there arose a demand for a new order of men,
and prophets appeared, holding their individual commissions
direct from the living God. Singled out by his special call, they
went forth with his definite messages, calling upon the people
to hear his voice, and turn from their sins to righteousness.
Hence it resulted, from the very circumstances which called into
existence the order of prophets, that their main work should be
to preach reform; to rebuke the prevalent sins of the nation;
to denounce their idolatry, their self-righteousness, their heartless formality, and their oppression of the poor; to threaten impending judgments, and to call the people back to their forsaken God.
A portion of them (not all) have left in writing more or less
of the messages sent by them from God to the people. Some,
whose position is quite prominent in the history (e. g., Elijah
and Elisha), have left no books of their own. Others, whose
names are not in the historic annals, have left valuable writings.
Manifestly each followed, in this respect, his own word from




Viii   GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PROPHETS.
the Lord-the Lord in his wisdom using these servants of his
for the work which he most needed done and which they were
best qualified to do.
It is manifest, both from the history and from the tenor of
these recorded prophecies, that with few if any exceptions they
first bore their messages from God to the people, with the living voice, in the form of direct address.  It may be safely
assumed that those portions were committed to writing which
embraced prophecy yet to be fulfilled, or which would be
specially useful, either to the Jewish or the Gentile Church,
along the course of future ages.
These writings of the Hebrew prophets are now before us
-rich treasures of truth and experience from the ancient past,
God's own words, given to "holy men of old, who spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Noble men were they,
of martyr spirit, of Christian heroism, of faith and courage
inspired by the sense of a special mission from the Most High;
men whose record the world cannot afford to lose, nor the
Christian Church to drop from her living thought. With what
power of logic have they set forth the claims of God upon his
rational creatures! How have they depicted the ingratitude,
the meanness, the folly, and the madness of sin! With what
solemn and thrilling words have they spoken of the judgments
which God would send, and did, upon guilty nations, Jew and
Gentile, in retribution on sinners, whom no warning from his
voice availed to reclaim, and whose sins even the great forbearance of God could not longer endure! How pertinent and forcible are the moral lessons which come down to us from such
living examples!  Do proud rulers question whether there be
an infinite Moral Governor of the universe? Do they doubt
whether he takes note of the sins of mighty nations, and holds
both them  and their rulers to a strict moral accountability?
Do they vainly think to set justice at naught, and trample down
the helpless-no God from  on high regarding and avenging?
Or do they presume that he is too tender-hearted or too weak
to punish, so that strong men and proud nations shall feel it?
On all these and on all kindred points, the logic of facts




GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PROPHETS.    is
affords demonstration, not only convincing, but appalling.  It
must be morally wholesome to study such testimonies fiom the
actual ways of God in the teaching past.  It were madness to
ignore them.
IIere also, coupled with these terrible retributions from God
upon persistent sinners, are the most touching invitations to return in penitence, and the richest promises of pardon to the humble and the contrite. You are impressed as you read with a
sense that these words of promise are freighted with a wealth
of love unknown in human hearts, and truly worthy of a God.
Whoever with honest mind shall take in their full significance,
and not abuse it, will surely find in it a blessing.  It was
one of the special functions of those ancient prophets to minister to the faith and hope of the few yet found faithful among
the many faithless.  To them, and primarily for their sake,
God spake, through his servants, of the great things then in
the future of his Zion. The Messiah yet to come; the work
lie should achieve while yet among men in the flesh; the mission of the Holy Spirit; the conversion of the Gentiles; the
fortunes of the Jews-at first mostly cast off for their unbelief,
but ultimately brought in through great mercy; the abrogation
of the sacrificial system; the outgoing of the gospel to the distant nations of the earth; the mission of truth and its triumphs
in every land, and the final victory of Christ over all opposing
powers: these things are grouped together into these glorious
visions of the then distant future-a grand and sublime panorama of the Christian age in whole, making revelations even
to us who live midway in their fulfilment, such as no lover of
his race and lover of Christ can contemplate without being
quickened anew in faith and love for the prayer and the work
to which Christ calls him. How earnestly do these prophecies
invite the most careful study! We do not wonder that Peter
should endorse and commend them  to his Christian brethren,
saying: "We have also the word of prophecy made more
sure (i. e., by its incipient fulfilment), whereunto ye do well that
ye take heed as to a light that shineth in a dark place until the
day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts" (2 Peter: 1,




x      GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PROPHETS.
19). Truly this "prophetic word" does shed forth a glorious
light upon the future history of our world, a place otherwise
utterly dark to mortal vision; and equally true is it that in
giving due heed to this light, and in bringing our souls fully
under its illuminating power and its inspiring influence, a
glorious " day " dawns upon us; the day-star of faith and hope
arises, and we wake to the work of the millennial age, to joyful
anticipations of its approach, and to a sense of the ocean fulness
of its blessings for a world redeemed.
Yet, rich in gospel truth and inspiring to faith as this prophetic word truly is, no portion of the Scriptures is so little
read, so little studied, and so little understood. Nowhere else
in human language does there lie such a mass of haie-buried
and almost unknown treasures. True, they come to us in a
language now long unspoken, but diligent labor can unlock its
meaning; in figures somewhat unfamiliar, yet not unintelligible;
with allusions to history then past, and to life-scenes then present, which need from us some careful research to brine them
within command for ready use.  These circumstances make
labor for the commentator; yet when his work is well done,
the resulting profit-to the diligent reader will be richly remunerative.




1OSEA.
IN TRlODUCTION.
HosEA prophesied " in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and
Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of
Joash, king of Israel."  This covers a long period at the very least,
for, from the death of Jeroboam to the accession of Ilezekiah, was
fifty-six years; to which must be added whatever years he prophesied before Jeroboam's death and after Hezekiah's reign began.
Jeroboam reigned forty-one years (2 Kings 14: 23), and Hezekiah
twenty-nine. How much of either of these reigns fell within the
prophetic life of Hosea there are no positive data to show; proba
bly several from each. Various allusions to events past, then passing, or very near, locate the greater part of this book within the
sixty-two years lying between the death of Jeroboam and the fall
of the kingdom. Jeroboam's was the last long and vigorous reign,
and hence the only one in Israel worthy of being named in this
introduction. The ensuing period had two seasons of anarchy, one
of eleven years and the other of nine; besides the reign of Zachariah, six months; of Shallum, two months; of Menahem, ten years 
of Pekahiah, two; of Pekah, nineteen, and of Hoshea, the last, nine.
If, now, the reader recalls the facts stated in the history, that these
six kings belonged to five different dynasties; that four of them fell
by conspiracy, and a fifth with the final fall of his kingdom; and
that not one of them bears any other record than that of " doinr,
evil in the sight of the Lord, departing not from the sins of Jeroboam, son of Ncbat, who made Israel to sin," he will have valuable data for estimatin'g the deplorable state of morals, piety, and
1




2                    IHOSEA.-CHAP. I.
civil government at this time. During this same period Isaiah and
Micah were prophesying, chiefly in Judah, and Amos, like IIosea,
mostly in Israel. The latter were shut up by the force of circunmstances to one main effort to convict the people of their great sins,
and to call them to repentance toward God as the only means of
saving either the government or the people from utter ruin.Hence the prophecies of.I osea are full of rebuke and expostulation against sin, and of demonstrations of God's loving-kindness
and pity toward his people. It is preeminently the book in the
whole Bible for times of spiritual declension and sore apostasy —
God's voice of warning and entreaty to any people *who once
walked in fear and love before him, but who have become deeply
corrupt in heart and life. Must it not also have many points of
forcible application to the great American people-a nation eminently favored of God, but grievously apostate from his fear and
honor?
In style, Hosea is preeminently concise and abrupt, abounding
in historical allusions and also in sudden transitions, which involve
more or less obscurity. Yet the book will yield a rich reward for
close and earnest study. Let the reader come to it as to God's
own words, through one of his faithful but long and sorely-tried
servants, remembering his own closing testimony: "Who is wise,
and he shall understand these things; prudent, and he shall know
them; for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk
in them; but the transgressors shall fall therein."
CHAPTER  I.
TnE book opens with events peculiar to IIosea's prophetic ministry-the taking of a wife whose lewdness symbolized the infidelity of the nation to God, their Maker and Husband; and the birth
and naming of children whose names were significant before the
people of their relations to Jehovah.
1. The word of the LonD that came unto Hosea, thin
son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jothan, Ahaz, ae Z,Hezeliah, kings of Judtla, and in the dcays of Jeroboam
the son of Joash king of Israel.
The reader may wisely peruse the history of the period covered
by these reigns as recorded 2 Kings 14: 23 to 18: 12, and also in
2 Chron. chapters 26-31. The record is a dismal one-revolutions,




HOSEA.-CIIHAP. I.                     3
anarchy, conspiracies, universal idolatry, and outbreaking wickedness.
2. The beginning of the word of the LoRD by Hosea.
And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife
of whoredoms and children of whoredoins; for the land
hath committed great whoredom, departi'ny from  the
LORD.
It has keen questioned whether this taking of a lewd wife were
a real transaction. Some suppose it existed only in vision. The
laws of prophetic interpretation forbid this view. The command
is, "Go, take; " and nothing less than the strongest reasons can
justify us in rejecting the obvious sense of such language. Besides, what could be the use of such a thing, if done only in vision;
and especially, what could be the use of it to the people? Yet further, and more to our purpose as interpreters of God's word-if the
Lord meant only that Hosea saw or should see this thing in vision,
why did he not say so? Cases in which things were to be done in
the actual life of the prophets for the greatei effect as syirbols before the people, occur frequently in Ezekiel, and occasionally in
other Old Testament prophets. But see this subject discussed more
fully in the Appendix-Dissertation I.
A second question, of less importance, is, whether Gomer was a
lewd woman before marriage. On the one hand, the language does
not absolutely demand the affirmative, while yet it is the more obvious sense of the words. On the other hand, the negative is supported by the circumstance that, so interpreted, the case better
symbolizes the idolatry of Israel, inasmuch as the Lord entered into
covenant with them while yet they were mostly pure from this
great sin. It is not necessary, however, that the symbol should fit
at all possible points. The one main point is the grievous guilt of
such adultery. I pass this question, simply expressing my opinion
that she had been lewd before marriage, and was taken as a wife
upon a promise of conjugal fidelity. It is well to note carefully
that the Lord gave the reasons for this remarkable command-viz.:
because the land had become wholly adulterous and apostate from
God. Of course, adultery here means specially idolatry. By the
worship of idols the people had put other gods before Jehovah.
They had faithlessly broken their solemn covenant to fear and serve
the Lord alone. This covenant can find no better symbol among
human relations than that by which one man and one woman "become no longer twain, but one flesh."  The marriage relation, closer
and more endearing than any other, comes nearest to a perfect
symbol of the covenant relation between God and his chosen people. It is therefore used with great pertinence, beauty, and force.
-The fact is humiliating to the people of God that this symbol
should find its most abundant occasion for use, not on the bright
side of this marriage relation, but on the dark-the shameful infi



4                    IIOSEA.-CIIAP. I.
delities and apostasies of the people in the times of Hosea, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. The same idea, and mostly on its bright side,
underlies the forty-fifth Psalm, and (as the Jews must have unlderstood it) the Book of Canticles; but its fuller development waited
till flagrant sin called it forth.
Let us not pass this point without taking note of the keenness
of the domestic trial to which IIosea was subjected at his very entrance upon the prophetic work. We sometimes think of this work
as bringing the prophet into near and honored relations to Jehovah
-as, indeed, sublimely grand and glorious. We are liable to forget
that for even such prophets to live godly was to suffer. Isaiah
shrank from the work; Jonah fled, to escape its responsibilities;
Jeremiah felt heavily on his heart the message burdens he bore
from God to the people; and to HIosea was allotted this bitter affliction-a wife unfaithful to her marriage vows-that he might be
a living representative of the great sin of the people against their
divine Husband; and perhaps, also, that his own experience of domestic wrong and wretchedness might give him a keener sense of
the cruel guilt of the nation's idolatry, and might help him to sympathize with the feelings of Jehovah under such abuse.-These
trials in the prophet's mission have a vital bearing on the question
of his essential honesty. No selfish motive could have moved him
to such a life-work.. To rebuke sin in an age of such outbreaking
and universal wickedness, and to be subjected to such domestic affliction for the sake of more vividly illustrating the apostasy of Israel from their God involve and imply an honest, self-sacrificing
devotion to the will of God, and quite preclude the supposition of
his being an impostor.
3. So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblainm; which conceived, and bare him a son.
4. And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood
of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to
cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.
5. And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will
break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.
The word Jezreel has a two-fold significance; the one drawn
from its etymology, the other from its history. By its etymology
it means the Lord will sow, or the Lord's sowing. We have this
sense in v. 11. Great shall be the day when the Lord shall sow or
plant his people in their own land. By historical allusion, the
word carries us back to the city bearing that name, the royal residence of Ahab; to the blood shed there by Jehu, and to the avenging of that blood upon his posterity. See 2 Kings 10: 11, 14.Naming the prophet's first child Jezreel denoted that this avenging
was near at hand. Jehu by promise was to hold the throne to the




HOSEA.-CHAP. I.                     5
fourth generation. Jeroboam II. was the third in that line; his
son, Zachariah, was the fourth and last. A wicked reign of six
months ended his life and the dynasty of Jehu. See 2 Kings 15:
8-12.
The kingdom of the house of Israel was to cease soon. It
ceased fifty-one years after the death of this king, Zachariah. It
may be asked, Did not the Lord (2 Kings 10: 30) approve of Jehu's
deeds in destroying the house of Ahab? And if so, why should
he now avenge that blood on the house of Jehu? The true answer
seems to be that he in part approved it, and therefore in part rewarded Jehu-that is, by giving him the kingdom to the fourth
generation. But he could not approve his spirit, which was far
from being right before God; nor could he approve of his " taking
no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his
heart, departing not from the sins of Jeroboam," 2 Kings 10: 31.
Hence these judgments on his house.-" Breaking the bow of
Jezreel," is breaking their military power-the bow being then the
chief weapon of war. That this was done especially in the valley
of Jezreel is every way probable, though there is no definite record
of the event. This valley, since called Esdraelon, has been one of
the most noted battle-grounds in history.  Here Deborah and
Barak fought and conquered; here Gideon scourged and drove the
Midianites; here Ahab gained a great victory over Ben-hadad.
Here have fought Romans, Crusaders, Egyptians, and Frenchmen.
It is more than supposable that in this famous valley the enfeebled
hosts of Israel made their last stand against the Assyrian power.
6. And she conceived again and bare a daughter.
And God said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah: for
I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel;
but I will utterly take them away.
"Lo-ruhamah " is literally " not compassionated "-not a subject of mercy. This use of the negative Lo implies not merely the
absence of mercy, but the presence of wrath. The sense is not
suspended at the point of mere negation, but goes over to the opposite side. Here it means that the people had incurred Jehovah's
frown. He would not any more show mercy to the people of the
ten tribes in such form as to arrest and turn aside his impending,
long-deserved judgments.  On the contrary, he "would utterly
take them away" into captivity.-   s to the last clause, the
marginal reading suggests another possible sense of the original.
viz.: "that I should altogether pardon them." The original Hebrew verb means to take away, and is sometimes used for the taking away of sin. But the connecting particle gives this as the
course of thought: "I will not again show mercy to the house of
Israel, fbr I will utterly take them away," i. e., fiom their land.
This is my purpose.




6                    IIOSEA. —CHAP. I.
7. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah,
and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not
save them  by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by
horses, nor by horsemen.
There was still in Judah some true fidelity to God; he would
therefore yet have mercy on them. The expression-" Save them
by the Lord their God, and not by sword or battle," is beautifully
concise and forcible-as if Jehovah were himself the engines of
war, the sword and the bow, that should save them. The might of
his arm is finely contrasted with the might of human prowess in
war.
8. Now when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son.
9. Then said God, Call his name Lo-ammi: for ye
ar.e not my people, and I will not be your God.
"Lo-ammi" signifies not my people, and as said above of Loruhamab, it implies that they are in a state of positive rejection.
God was about to disown them-so utterly had they rejected him
by their abounding persistent idolatry, by forsaking the worship of
God, and by most flagrant immoralities.   IIow impressive to
HIosea must have been all the scenes and sounds of his household!
Often as he spake or heard spoken the names of these two children,
the thought came-No mercy! Not my people! A like testimony
it must have borne to the people among whom he was sent as the
prophet of the living God.
10. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall
be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor
numbered; and it shall come to pass, t/hat in the place
where it was said unto them, Ye are -not my people,
there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the
living God.
11. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land:
for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
Here is a sudden transition from extreme judgment to the fulness of mercy. " The Lord keepeth not his anger forever." Remarkably is it his method, whether by prophet or apostle, to blend
threatening with promise, and to follow the sternest denunciations
with outbursts of pity and love.   The general sense of the passage is-God hath not forsaken his church utterly and forever.
Notwithstanding this ruin now coming on Israel, the Lord shall yet




HOSEA. —CHAP. I.                       t
have a people, countless as the sands, united also aid prosperous,
the true Israel and Judah.    A number "as the sands of the sea"
is, of course, indefinitely great, denoting the highest prosperity and
a vast increase of population, compared with the Israel then present.-What is spoken of here as currently " said to them " must
be construed as said, because true. ~ The truth of it, rather than the
saying of it, is the thing specially affirmed. Whereas ye formerly
were not my people, ye shall, in the future time referred to, be
really the sons of the living God.   No special stress can be given
to the words "in the place where," as defining any particular
locality. It is used adverbially to mean that instead of-in place
of-their not being God's people, they shall really be his sons.
That Israel and Judah " gather together and appoint themselves
one head," looks by historical allusion to the sad history of the recent past, since the revolt under Jeroboam, and means to say that
in this good time coming, that sore breach shall be healed, the
rival kingdoms become one, and "Ephraim  no more envy Judah,
nor Judahl vex Ephraim."  The Church of God, in those times,
shall be one in love, and strong in its union.   To " co me up out
of the land " is the classic phrase for the exodus from Egypt, and
implies that God will work a like deliverance of his people from
their bondage, whatever the form of that bondage may be. When
we find a manifest historical allusion, we must accept it as illustrative, and not look for a precisely literal fulfilment. In the present
case, we are not to look for the geographical land, out of which
they come up. It is rather a moral state, and no land or country
whatever. -The " day of Jezreel " is here the day of the Lord's
sowing, or, in our English idiom, planting His people-with reference to the etymology of the word Jezreel. Looking historically
to the planting in Canaan, under Joshua, it means that God will
do a similar thing again. Great shall be the day when the Lord
thus lays anew the foundations of his Zion, and rebuilds Jerusalem
-plants his people in their new estate, and puts a new face upon
his earthly kingdom.  It does not necessarily follow that this planting is the locating of his ancient people in the land of Canaan.
Having now noted the sense of the several expressions, it remains to consider the meaning of the whole passage.   Here we
must. not fail to take account of the fearful things God had just
spoken against Israel: " I will cause to cease the kingdom of the
house of Israel;" "I will break the bow of Israel;" "I will no
more have mercy on the house of Israel, but will utterly take them
away," i. e., into captivity; " Ye are not my people, and I will not
be your God."    All this has the aspect of rejecting Israel, utterly
and forever.-Yes, and the Israel of the ten tribes'was substantially
rejected. But a new Israel comes up, a new or at least a modified
sense is given to the word Israel, so that it now means not merely
those born of Jacob, or those who were of the kingdom of the ten
tribes, but the real people of God; or, as the etymology of the
word implies, those who have a princely power with God through




8                     HOSEA. —CHAP. I.
prayer. See Gen. 32: 28, and Hos. 12: 3, 4. This play on the
different senses of a word, the one, perhaps, historical, and the
other drawn from its etymology, is by no means foreign to the style
of Hosea. We have seen it already in the'word Jezreel.
The general interpretation here indicated involves great questions and results, and should, therefore, be carefully stated and well
supported.   Let it, then, be considered,
(1.) The literal and old sense of Israel, in this passage, is simply
impossible. To hold, as some good men have done, that the ten
tribes did return in vast numbers with the Jews under Zerubbabel, their "one head," and that the richness of this glorious
promise had its fulfilment then, is to struggle in vain against the
whole array of authentic history. Ezra and Nehemiah have told
us (Ez. 2:1 if., and Neh. 7:6 if.) how many did return; about
50,000, all told. They have shown us that these were mostly of
the tribes of Judah and Levi, the lineal descendants of those who
belonged to that kingdom, and not to the kingdom of the ten tribes
(see Ez. 2: 1, and Neh. 7: 6). Hence they leave no place there
for the ten tribes, and, much more, no place for a multitude of
them, like the sands of the sea. And yet more, the ten tribes are
now plainly lost from the view of authentic history, leaving no
ground to suppose they can ever be discovered among the living
tribes of the earth. Therefore it is not too much to say that this
prophecy, if applied to the kingdom  of the ten tribes, has never
been fulfilled, and never can be. We are amply justified, therefore,
in looking for some other sense of the word "' Israel."
(2.) The construction above given, which supposes the word to
be used here for the true people of God, is in harmony with the
peculiar style of Hosea, as has been already stated.
(3.) It is abundantly endorsed by the New Testament. (a.) By
its use of the terms Israel, Zion, the temple, &c., &c. Thus Rom.
9: 6, "They are not all Israel which are of Israel," i. e., they are
not all God's true people who are lineally born of Israel-a case,
therefore, in which we have precisely the same new second sense
of the word Israel, which is claimed for Hosea in this passage.
Again, this same apostle closes one epistle —full of the doctrine
that  "all who are Christ's are Abrahlam's seed," by invoking
" peace upon the Israel of God." So Mount Zion (ieb. 12: 22) is
the whole Christian church: Christians (2 Cor. 6: 16) are God's
temple.-(b.) This construction is sustained by the whole doctrine of the New Testament in reference to the relation of Gentiles
to the church and kingdom of God. The great battle of the apostolic age was fought over this very question, whether Gentiles could
come in with Jews as heirs of God's promises, and really entitled to
the blessings foretold in prophecy for Israel. —(c.) But more
particularly, Paul (Rom. 9: 25, 26) quotes this very passage from
IIosea to prove that the " vessels of Ilercy'"'to whom God " makes
known the riches of his glory," are " not of the Jews only but also
of the Gentiles." That is, he assumes that in this very passage




HTOSEA.-CHAP. II.                       9
iHosea embraces Gentile Christians under the name Israel; and, of
course, that it is fulfilled in the New Testament age, and not exclusively before-in the Gentiles, and not otherwise. This ought to
be decisive.
(4.) While some of the prophets, e. g., Isaiah, speak of the Gentiles by name as coming into the church and sharing in the great
blessings of the latter days; others, like HIosea, predict the same
great blessings, but never name the Gentiles, and give them no
share except as they come in under the name Israel. We must,
therefore, either say that they rule out the Gentiles from the pale
of these blessings and give them to the lineal Israel, and to Israel
only; or we must admit that they modify the sense of the word
Israel, and use it to include all the real children of God in the
latter days.
Finally, we have the great fact that just at the point where the
Israel of the ten tribes was being cast off for their hopeless idolatry
and incurable corruption, a larger, richer promise is made to the
" children of Israel" than the literal Israel ever had before or since,
or ever can have. Moveover, what time the old Israel became lost
to history, a new Israel appears; Gentiles come into the church of
God; the world opens to the mission of the Gospel, and lies at the
feet of the Prince of Peace: and so his Israel becomes as the sand
of the sea; his people are the "sons of the living God;" old
antipathies give place to the oneness of love; under their one head,
they come up from their last house of bondage, and great beyond
all former thought is'" the day of Jezreel."- For all this let us sing
in words furnished to the church for this occasion by Isaiah (chap.
12). " O Lord, I will praise thee; though thou wast angry with'
me, thine angel'  is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. Behold
God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord
Jehovah Is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation."
CHAPTER II.
Ix this chapter, the Lord exposes and rebukes the sins of his
people, and threatens retribution, vs. 1-13; then turns to promises
of effective discipline and of restoring mercy, vs. 14-23.
It is noticeable that throughout this chapter, the adulterousmother, Israel, is spoken of in the third person, and the Lord
declares what he will do to her in judgment and for her in mercy.
Remarkably, and as if to give a more impressive sense of her horrible
guilt, her children are introduced-are apprised of the unnatural
crime of their mother, and are exhorted to plead with her to put
away her sins. What a family scene must be the reality presented
in this symbol-the children appealing to their mother to desist
from-n her adulterous life, and to put an end at once to all its indi1*




10                   HOSEA.-CHAP. II.
cations! It is manifestly the purpose of God, in this message by
Hosea, to paint a life-scene of the crimes of his covenant people in
their relations to himself.
1. Say unto   your bretlhren, Ammi; and to your
sisters, Ruhamah.
Say to your brethren, Ammi; to your sisters, IRuhamah.
Drop the negative particle from the names, Lo-Ammi, Lo-Ruhamah;
sound the sweet words, " my people;" " the pitied and beloved" —as
if to suggest that the heart of the Lord still yearns to make them
again his own, and to give the freest flow to his great and deep
comrpassions.   The persons exhorted to do this may be supposed
to be the few yet found faithful among the many faithless. The
Lord calls on them for one more effort to reclaim the nation.
2. Plead with your mother, plead; for she is not my
wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put
away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
3. Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day
that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and
set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.
"Plead with your mother," ye children of shalme; go and tell
her you cannot bear the disgrace and pain of her unnatural crime;
tell her-that her God disowns her as a wife, and puts her away for
her lewd idolatry. Such is this strain of fiery rebuke.- The last
clause refers to the incitements to lewdness common with bad
women. " Out of her sight," should read, "from her face," corresponding to " from her breasts " in the parallel member of the
sentence. The original has the same form of expression in each
case. The face and the bosom are alike used for incitement to
lewd passion; —paint, ornament, and lascivious expression in the
one; exposure of person in the other. In the spiritual application,
God frowns upon and would put away every form of inducement
to idolatry in Israel; every thing that in any age naturally tempts
his people to sin.
4. And I will not have mercy upon her children;
for they be the children of whoredoms.
Closely following out the symbol, the Lord appeals to the heart
of the mother, as if he would say: Though you have lost all sensibility to your own welfare, yet think of your children. I will not
have mercy on them; your unnatural crime comes down on them
with perpetual curses. Can a mother's heart resist such an appeal?
5. For their mother hath played the harlot: she that
conceived them  hath done shamefully: for she said, I




IIOSEA.-CIHAP. II.                 11
will go after my lovers, that give mne my bread and my
water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.
The adulterous mother is here seen, going after her infamous
paramours-as one who lives on the wages of her shameless crime.
This is turning over and over the leading symbol, to put in still
new light the shameful sins of the chosen people against their God,
and to show why he ought to and must visit them with terrible retribution.   The fifth and sixth verses stand related as cause and
result: "  Because their mother lath committed lewdness," " therefore will I hedge up her way," &c.
6. Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with
thorfis, and make a wall, that she shall not find her
paths.'7. And she shall follow  after her lovers, but she
shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but
shall not find tlem:: then shall she say, I will go and
return to my first husband; for then was it better with
me than now.
God will trouble her in every way; she shall follow hard (so
the original) after her lovers for help, but in vain, till affliction and
want bring her back to reason and to her forsaken God.
8. For she did not know that I gave her corn, and
wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which
they prepared for Baal.
9. Therefore will I return, and take away my corn
in the time thereof, and my Wine in. the season thereof,
and will recover my wool and my flax igive,, to cover
her nakedness.
Vs. 8 and 9 are correlated thus: " Because she did not know," &c.,
"therefore will I take away, " &e.   " Did not know that Igave her'
all, where the original makes the pronoun I emphatic. ~- God multiplied to Israel silver and gold, which they wrought into images of
Baal. This is one point of aggravation in all sin. Men take the
gifts of God and pervert them into means of sinning the mlore
against him; work them into idols to worship instead of Jehovah.
— Baal was one of the most ancient of the gods worshipped in
the East. He is supposed by many to represent the sun; by others,
the planet Jupiter, as the almoner of good fortune. He was worshipped by the people of Phcenicia and Tyre, and from them, at a
very early age, and in the reign of Ahab especially, his worship
passed over to the Jews.
10. And now  will I disov-r hler lewdness in the




12                  IIOSEA. —CIAP. II.
sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of
mine hand.
"Discover," in the sense of expose her nakedness before her
lovers-terribly significant of the fearful judgments God knows
how to send on his apostate people!
11.- I will also canse all her mirth to cease, her feast
days, her new  moons, and her sabbaths, and all her
solemn feasts.
These were seasons of special joy to the Hebrew people, and
stand here to represent all joy.
12. And I will destroy her vines and her fig-trees.
whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my
lovers have given me: and I will make them  a forest,
and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
The heathen regarded their idol gods as the givers of their vines
and fig-trees. Israel says the same thing. Those idol gods are heI
lovers, to whom, in her spiritual adultery, she gives her heart and
her confidence.
13. And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim,
wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked
herself with her ear-rings and her jewels, and she went
after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.
This strain of rebuke and threatening culminates with the
general declaration-" I will visit upon her for the guilt of her days
of Baal worship."  " Baalim," in the plural, refers to the numerous
images of Baal, or as others hold plausibly, to the diverse modes
of his manifestation. " Decking herself with ear-rings and jewels,
and going after her lovers," carries out the symbol-a harlot,
plying all the shameless arts of a common prostitute.
14. Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring
her into the wilderness, and speak  comfortably unto
her.
This verse is, for the chapter, the transition point between
rebuke and threatened retribution for the sins of idol worship on
the one hand, and promises of effective discipline and of restoring
mercy on the other.- "Behold;" calls special attention to the
great things God now proposes to do. —" Therefore," reminds us
to ask lwhy  What is the reason for the promises of good that follow?    Some have found a difficulty here, inasmuch as the grievous sins of Israel seem to be no natural reason for giving the blessings hereafter promised. — But the reasons, viewed fundamentally, lie deeper than the sins of Israel, even in God's covenant love




IIOSEA. —CIAP. II.                   13
and faithfulness. IIe cannot bear that his own Israel should sink
hopelessly under her sins into ruin. Therefore his pity moves him
to discipline and to mercy. —" Will allure her "-in a good sense;
persuade her, draw her by the sweet attractions of love.
This " bringing her into the wilderness," Dr. Henderson, following his principles of literal interpretation, finds fulfilled in
God's taking the whole IIebrew people into captivity to Babylon
and Assyria. Apparently he fails to notice that they were driven
not drawn thither, and also that neither Babylon nor Assyria are
known in Scripture as " the wilderness."    Dismissing, therefore,
this literal view of the language, I prefer to assume an historical allusion to the exodus from Egypt. God means —'" I will do to Israel
again what I did when I took them by the hand and led them out
of the house of bondage, and out of the land of idol gods, into the
wilderness, and there spake to them face to face " —spake most
effectively " to their heart," as the last clause reads in the original.
-We may fitly recall the fact that this wilderness-life was to the
Hebrew people a great and most effective theatre of moral discipline. No generation in all their history was so true to God or so
nmuch beloved of him as that which had its training in the wilderness, and went in under Joshua to the land of Canaan. God here
promises to do a like thing to his covenant people again.   With
allusion probably to this passage, yet amplifying it, Ezekiel (20: 35,
36) says: " And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people,
and there will I plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded
with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I
plead with you, saith the Lord."  This confirms the idea of an
historical allusion to the scenes of the exodus.
15. And I will give her her vineyards from  thence,
and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she
shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in
the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
" From thence "-from such a scene of moral discipline, God
will give her her vineyards-with historical reference to the grapes
of Eshcol, which ancient Israel found on entering Canaan. Blessings come after, and out of, efficient moral discipline.-" The
valley of Achor" is still another historical allusion. The word
Achor means by its etymology, trouble: in history it was the place
of trouble to Achan.  See Josh. 7: 24-26.  So the troubles of
Israel shall be her " door of hope."  — " And she shall sing there "
-with declared reference to the joy of the Hebrews when, led by
Moses and Miriam, they sang songs of deliverance on the hither
side of the Red Sea.   So joy comes from  sanctified sorrow.
Moral discipline that really turns the heart from sin to God, is
evermore a well-spring of blessings.
16. And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that




14                  HOSEA. —CIHAP. II.
thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more
Baali.
17. For I will take away the names of Baalim out of
her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by
their name.
The true and full sense of these verses is seen in the fact that
"Ishi," my man, and " Baali," my lord, were both sometimes used
to mean my husband. But the word Baal had become so dangerously
associated with idol worship that Jehovah forbade the use of it,
even to express an innocent relation. So there is sound wisdom in
forestalling all those temptations which steal upon us under the
laws of mental association. God would take away from us every
thing that may work, through the power of those laws of thought,
to beguile us into sin.
18. And in that day will I make a covenant for
them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of
heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground:
and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle
out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.
This covenant which God makes with the lower animals, debars
them from harming his people. I find here an allusion to vs. 12,
where God gives the beasts of the field license to devour the vines
and fig-trees' of his sinning people. This covenant recalls that
license, and even lays them under bond to spare to God's penitent
people the fruits of the earth. Sense: God's providence becomes
their shield and refuge.
19. And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea,
I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in
judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies.
20. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness:
and thou shalt know the Lor.D.
This betrothal assumes that her long-persistent adulteries had
ended in divorce. Now the marriage covenant is renewed-renewed "forever; " renewed "in righteousness, in judgment, in lovingkindness, and in great mercy; " where the reiteration is intended
to heighten the sense of God's great love in this transaction. Remarkably, it culminates in faithfulness; as if to say, This covenant
must stand, and be broken no more.-" Thou shalt know the
Lord," is one of the most expressive phrases possible to hunian
language, implying to know God in all the great elements of his
character, and in all the experiences of his spiritual power; to
know with a knowledge other and better far than theory; to know
with the heart brought fully under the power of JehoVah's presence
and love.




HOSEA.-CIIAP. iI.                  15
21. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will
hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they
shall hear the earth;
22. And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine,
and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.
This extraordinary passage means, comprehensively, that God
will hear the prayer of his people for the earthly good they may
need and shall ask of him. The manner of saying this gives us
what we may call a circle of prayer. " Hearing," means hearing
and answering the requests made. "Jezreel" stands here for the
people whom God plants in the land. Hence, the form of the
thought is: This people call for corn and wine and oil, and in a
sense cry unto these things, and are heard and answered: the corn
and wine cry to the earth; the earth to the heavens; and the heavens
to God. God hears the heavens; the heavens hear the earth; the
earth hears the corn, and the corn hears the people whom God
plants in the land. The agencies of providence that lie between
God and his praying people, which must be all put in operation in
order to give them corn and wine, are beautifully put into the links
of this chain of prayer.
23. And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I
will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy;
and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou
art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.
" I will sow her unto me," still keeps up the sense of the word' Jezreel."  " Unto me," shows that this planting of God's people
slall be for himself and not for another; no more for Baal. "' In
the earth," might have been as well expressed by "in the land,"
the allusion being to the fact that of old God had given to his people a land, specially their own by covenant promise.  I will now
and onward have mercy on her who was rejected from my mercy,
bearing the name Lo-Ruhamah: I will say to Lo-Ammi, Thou art
Ammi-beautifully expunging the negative; and he [my people]
shall say, My God! This is the concise, yet strongly expressive
form of the original.
Thus closes this richly instructive passage. Its whole strain is
one glorious testimony that our God, in the midst of wrath, remembers mercy.




16                  IIOSEA. —CIAP. II.
CHAPTER  III.
Tnis short chapter embraces one theme only-the prophet's
relation to a wife-adduced as the occasion of a remarkable prophecy of the future of the Jewish people.
1. Then said the LoRD unto me, Go yet, love a woman
beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the
love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look
to other gods, and love flagons of wine.
A question arises here, rather curious than vital to the general
sense of the chapter-whether this woman was or was not Gomer,
the wife brought to our knowledge in the first chapter. —On the
supposition that she was the same, it seems somewhat remarkable
that the statements are so indefinite, with no clear allusions to the
Gomer before introduced; yet, despite of this difficulty, the evidence preponderates in favor of their identity.  The Lord here
says, "Go, love," not take a woman; the latter being the usual
formula for entering the first time into the marriage relation. He
says simply "a woman," not "thy wife;" indicating a state of
separation and semi-divorce, such as would naturally result from
the lewdness of Gomer. She is further described as " beloved of
a friend," as the original has it (not " her " friend), a sort of freelove relationship, and yet an adulteress; and, of course, not living
with this friend in lawful wedlock. A further point in the description is, that this case corresponds to the love of the Lord toward
the children of Israel, who look (in the Heb. turn) to other gods.
Inasmuch as this is part of the description of this woman, it should
be allowed the more weight in identifying her. Its whole force
goes to show that she was Gomer, since it was the same Israel
with.whom the Lord had been in covenant, to whom lie now
returns in his great loving-kindness. And this is the very point
made in this chlapter. This main feature, therefore, forbids us to
think here of any other woman than Gomer.  -Our translation
renders the last word of this verse, "flagons of wine."  Modern
scholars agree in rendering the Hebrew word grape-cakes; i. e.,
grapes dried and pressed into the form of cakes. They were customarily offered in the worship of idols, and then eaten by the
worshippers. Another instance of the general policy of making
idol-worship every way attractive to the senses and animal appetites.
2. So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver,
andfor an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley.
It was common among the Jews, indeed it is in all the East, to




IIOSEA.-CHAP. III.                 it
this day, to buy a wife. Whether the price named here was the
standard one is of no special importance; if it were, our means of
fixing the value of a "piece of silver" are very imperfect. The
amount of barley was about fourteen bushels.   This buying does
not necessarily forbid the supposition that she had been his wife
before. It does, imply that she had forfeited that relation, and
could properly return only as one justly di-0rced. To show this
secems to be the chief or sole intent in this second verse.
3. And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me
many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou
shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee.
The prophet implores her to desist from her former crimes.
Probably the true sense of the verse is better given by omitting the
word "another," which has nothing to correspond to it in the Hebrew. "Thou shalt not be for man "-any man;-the special point
being to represent a state of Israel described in the next verse as
without any worship of either the true God or idols.
4. For the children of Israel shall abide many days
without a king, and without a prince, and without a
sacrifice, and without an image, and without ain ephod,
and without teraphim:
5. Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and
seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and
shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.
Here is an exceedingly interesting prophecy, to the effect that
the children of Israel shall remain a long time without king or
prince, without sacrifice, images, or any insignia of worship, whether true or false, required or forbidden. Images and teraphim
(household gods) must be put in the latter class. The ephod was
the outer robe of the high priest.-Curcd of idolatry, yet not
converted to the worship of the true God, they were to remain
long in this peculiar, extraordinary state. Considering how strong
their national passion has been to have a king and some established
ceremonials of worship, either divine or idolatrous, this prophecy is
surely such as no human sagacity could or would have made. Yet,
ever since their own Messiah came in the flesh, or, more definitely,
since the fall of their city under the Roman arms (A. n. 70), this
has been precisely their condition.  -" Afterwards " —somewhere
in the times yet future-" they shall return and seek the Lord their
God and David their king." Hosea is not alone in giving to David's greater Son the name David. Jeremiah (30: 9) says-" They
shall serve the Lord their God >and David their king, whom I will
raise up to them." Ezekiel likewise (34:23, 24, and 37: 24, 25).
David, considered as king, was a special type of the Messiah, so
that the transfer of his name to the latter is natural.   To " fear




18                   IHOSEA.-CIIAP. III.
the Lord " is the current phrase of the Old Testament for real piety
-naturally so under a dispensation of "'law  as a schoolmaster."
In this passage, the Hebrew verb which means, primarily, to fear,
is followed by a preposition, meaning toward or unto, showing that
this fear does not repel away from God, but rather draws toward
him. The precise sense seems to be-to draw near to God in reverential fear and trust.-  This view is confirmed by the addition of
the word goodness, which cannot be a thing for Christians to fear,
in the usual sense of this word. On the contrary, it draws them
very near to his feet in the spirit of filial confidence and hope.
In this spirit the children of Israel shall seek and approach the Lord
"in the latter days."  The time here designated can be no other
in this case than the Gospel age. The phrase, " latter days," almost
invariably has this sense.    The phrase, "the children of Israel,"
can have no special reference here to the ten tribes, but rather
comprises all the Hebrew people, without distinction between Israel
and Judah.-The ultimate conversion of the Jews is, therefore,
distinctly foretold in this passage. It must come to pass in the
latter days. It has not been yet, and therefore waits its fulfilment
in the future.
It may be asked-Why interpret chapter iii. throughout, of the
lineal Hebrew race, and not chapter i. likewise?
Ans. (1.) Chapter iii. bears this interpretation —has received,
and is yet receiving a most striking fulfilment on this principle.
Not this, but its opposite, is true of chapter i. It cannot be interpreted throughout of the lineal children of Israel. The facts of
history forbid it.
(2.) Chapter iii. demands this construction. The entire scope
of the chapter, so far as it is prediction, gives us precisely the
anomalous condition of the Hebrew race, from the fall of Jerusalem down to their ultimate conversion; nothing more, nothing
else.    On the contrary, in chapter i. there is no close connection
of thought, holding the interpreter to the people of the ten tribes,
or even to the lineal Hebrews. The last two verses may be applied
without violence to a new and other Israel.
(3.) In general, the construction given to chapter i.: 10, 11 is
justified, on its own proper grounds, to be determined in view of
what it is, and of its relations to history and to the doctrine of the
New Testament. So of the construction given above to chapter iii.
It must be interpreted in view of what it is. —Such I hold to be
the true theory of interpreting all prophecy.




HOSEA.-CHAP. IV.                    19
CHAPTER IV.
THE Lord sets forth the great sin of the people; charges it
largely to the account of the priests, whose flagrant neglects of duty
lie exposes and denounces, vs. 1-11; shows that idolatry is folly, v. 12, and begets licentiousness, vs. 13, 14. He solemnly warns
Judah to avoid the sin fnd doom of Ephraim, vs. 15-19.
1. Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LoRD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy,
nor knowledge of God in the land.
The word rendered " controversy " often means an occasion for
civil process in law-a case of crime so aggravated that it should
come before the judges.-The word which, applied to God, is so
well rendered mercy, might better, when applied to man, be rendered kindness, inasmuch as real mercy-the richest favors shown
to the utterly vile and guilty-though found abundantly in God,
can scarcely be predicated at all of men. Hence, kindness is, in
this passage, the better rendering.   The Lord can have no peace
with any people who misuse and abuse one another-truthless, unkind,'and discarding the knowledge and claims of their God.
2. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing,
and committing adultery, they break out, and blood
toucheth blood.
The Hebrew of this verse is a model of brevity and force-its
infinitives absolute, standing naked, and as compact as possible." Swearing, lying, murdering, stealing, committing adultery "-they
are outbreaking in all.  Scorning restraint, they break over all
bounds.-. "Blood toucheth blood" in the strong sense that the
streams from the first murdered man meet and mingle with the
streams from the second, and scarcely can there be found a spot
clean of the gore of murder.
3. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one
that dwelleth therein shall languish,-with the beasts of
the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes
of the sea also shall be taken away.
Under such wickedness the whole land suffers; society is paralyzed; even beasts, fowls, and fishes sympathize and suffer under
the general affliction.
4. Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another; for
thy people are as they that strive with the priest.




20                   11OSEA.-C(LAP. IV.
Worst of all is the hopeless moral infatuation of the people. It
is all in vain for one man to reprove another for sin. The people
are like him who resists the judicial decisions given by the priest
acting as judge, under God. Of him the law of Moses said (Deut.
17: 12), "The man that will do presumptuously, and will not
hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the
Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die, and thou
shalt put away the evil from Israel."-  This sin is referred to as
the height of defiant hardihood against God. Such were the people of Israel at this time.
5. Therefore, shalt thou fall in the day, and the
prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will
destroy thy mother.
This abrupt change of person to direct address is for the sake
of greater force.  "Thou "-the people-" shalt fall," by awful
judgments from God.  -" The prophet" here is the false prophet
who had misguided and deluded the people, and must perish with
them.- No special stress should be given to his falling by night,
and the people by day. Judgments fall thick; life is no longer sacred; men are dying day and night.   " Thy mother" is either
the capital, the mother city, or the state, involving the nationality;
probably, in this case, the latter. The nation was, in fact, utterly
destroyed very soon. —— The Hebrew word " destroy " carried here
the strong idea-brought to perpetual silence.
6. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee,
that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
From this doom the knowledge of God, exerting its legitimate
influence, would have saved them-a glorious but just testimony to
the value of this knowledge in sustaining the vital life of society.
— Again the prophet accosts the priests directly, as if they stood
in his eye, and fearlessly says, "Thou art the man! " Because thou
hast rejected knowledge, I have rejected thee from being a priest for
me; thou hast forgotten the law of thy God; I, even I, will forget
thy children."- God's forgetting their children means more than
it expresses. For God to forget to protect and bless is to give up
to unmingled curses. The turn given in this language is fearfully
significant of retribution. - The Hebrew makes God's agency emphatic: " I, yea, I, will forget thy children."
7. As they were increased, so they sinned  against
me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.
"They" refers to the priests. The "increase " might be either
in numbers or in wealth and honor; probably not either alone, but
all. The more they prospered, by so much the more they sinned




IIOSEA.-CHAP. IV.                   21
against God. 14ence he would convert their glory into disgrace.
The desolations of war and captivity soon fulfilled this threatening.
8. They eat up the sin of my people, and they set
their heart on their iniquity.
By " sin," in this passage, some suppose the sin-offerings of tlo
Mosaic law to be meant, and eating themi to be the sin committed
by the sons of Eli. See 1 Sam. 2: 12-17.   The usual sense of
the word is, however, preferable, and is fully sustained by the
parallel clause, which is, literally, "They lift up their soul to their
iniquity; " i. e., they are interested and pleasurably excited by the
sins of the people. They eat them, in the sense of enjoying them
as hungry men enjoy a feast.- How  horribly corrupt these
priests must have been! So far gone in sin that they loved to have
all the people sin! —The Hebrew verbs rendered "eat vtp" and
" set " are fiture, implying not only that they have done, but will
yet do this; are committed, past reclaim, to these sins.
9. And there shall be, like people, like priest: and
I will punish them'for their ways, and reward them
their doings.
No wonder God has judgments in store for them, from which
their superior dignity and rank shall by no means shield them.
Such is the import of this verse. As the people were doomed to
desolating judgments, so also are the priests. Their office shall not
conduct the lightnings of Jehovah's wrath. away from their heads,
but rather down upon them.
10. For they shall eat, and not have enough: they
shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase: because
they have left off to take heed to the LORD.
Resuming from v. 8 their eating the sins of the people, God
now declares-They shall eat, but shall get no good of it; this
being the sense of the words rendered "not have enough;" literally, " shall not be satisfied."
Adulterous life gives no increase of family-the natural consequences being the opposite of this. Barrenness was accounted one
of the greatest calamities.   These sins are due to the fact that
they have ceased to honor and fear Jehovah.
11. Whoredomn  and wine and new wine take away
the heart.
This verse is a grand moral adage-an axiom in the philosophy
of human life.-  The "heart," in Hebrew usage, is sometimes
wise and understanding, in reference to the intellectual faculties,
and sometimes includes the moral purposes of the soul, as when
God is said to be served with the whole heart.-" Taking away
the heart," therefore, is robbing a man of his good sense, his moral
stamina-of all that makes his manhood of any account. After




22                  IOSEA.-CHIIAP. IV.
whoredom and wine have done their work upon 1m, he is practically more brutish than rational and human. Hosea has a similar
use of the word "heart" (7: 11): "Ephraim is like a silly dove
without heart " —lacking even natural sagacity to avoid the snare.
12. Mly people ask counsel at their stocks, and their
staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms
hath caused them  to err, and they have gone a whoring
from under their God.
As if to prove how utterly whoredom and wine have robbed
the people of their good sense, the Lord adduces their confidence
in idol gods. " My people "-who ought to ask counsel of me"ask counsel of their sticks of wood "-a justly contemptuous
name for a wooden god; A" and their staff"-a divining rodl, makes
revelations to them as an oracle.-This divining rod has been
common among the miserable superstitions of heathenism, and is
not unknown in nominally Christian lands.- "Whoredom" in
this connection seems to be literal, sensual; not the spiritual whore,
dom of idolatry. The essential spirit of licentiousness has plunged
them into error and folly, so that, from " being uznder their God,"
in a state of humble dependence and moral purity, they have gone
utterly into this most imbruting sin. Idol worship in all ages and
countries has been intensely licentious, mixed up with abominations
too foul to be named.
13. They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains,
and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good:
therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and
your spouses shall commit adultery.
High places and groves of great natural beauty and sublimity
have always been favorite localities for idol worship-as said here
-— " because the shadow thereof is good "-pleasant and attractive,
it being the policy of Satan always to cluster around his worship
all possible sensuous attractions. —-Therefore the daughters and
wives of the Hebrew idolaters became licentious and corrupt. This
is only the natural consequence of such idolatry, practised amid
such temptations to lewdness.
14. I will not punish your daughters when they
commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit
adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and
they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that
doth not understand shall fall.
Some prefer to read interrogatively —" Shall I riot punish," &c.?
But the usual sense of the Hebrew words is simply declarative —
"I will. not."  The sense seems to be-I will not punish your




HOSEA. —CIIAP. IV.                  23
daughters and wives for sins for which you are mainly responsible.
So long as you lead them into such scenes of temptation, and allure
them on by your own example, upon yourselves and not upon them
shall fall my heaviest judgments.   " Themselves are separated,"
&c., refers not to the daughters and wives, but to the fathers and
husbands. The change of person is peculiar, but not uncommon
in iHosea.- The prophet is showing why the fathers and not their
daughters, the husbands and not their wives, should be specially
punished. They seek retired places with vile women; they offer
idolatrous sacrifices with harlots-a class of women, as the Hebrew
shows, consecrated to pollution in the idol temples.-Therefore
this people, so utterly void of understanding, moral sense, and
reason, shall fall, i. e., into ruin.
15. Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not
Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go
ye up to Beth-aven, nor swear, The LORD liveth.
Thus far in this chapter the sins of Israel, the ten tribes, have
been portrayed. Here the prophet turns to admonish Judah to
shun such crime and its consequent ruin. —Gilgal was one of the
centres of idol worship, as was also Beth-aven, house of vanity,
which was probably the place long known as Bethel-house of
God. The change of name represents the change from the worship of Jehovah to the worship of mere nothings, vanities.- Both
Gilgal and Bethel had been associated with the true worship of
God; Gilgal ever since the rolling up of the heap of stones there
on entering Canaan, and the circumcision of all the people there
(Josh. 4: 20 and 5: 9), and Samuel's holding his circuit court there
(1 Sam. 7: 16); and Bethel, from that eventful night when the Lord
met the youthful Jacob there (Gen. 28: 16-19). This appropriation of God's house (Bethel) to the devil's worship is one of his
own Satanic arts, kept up through all time. -" Nor swear," in
the profane way of idol worshippers, " The Lord liveth."  It seems
to have been common to blend with idolatry some of the forms of
recognizing the true God. This he abhorred.
16. For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer:
now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place.
" Sliding back " is not strong enough to represent the original
word. The figure supposes a young heifer under the yoke (for the
female was put to real work in the East), but resisting, refractory,
yerking her head away, and running back-a very different sort of
action firom that gradual down-hill sliding which is commonly associated with the English word, backslide. It is unfortunate that the
word backslide, taken from the Bible to describe a state of C(hristian experience, should by usage fall so far short of the Bible sense.
It means here that Israel is persistent, stubborn, half frantic in her
rebellion against God-a state of heart and life utterly far from true
piety. —Now, i. e., very soon, the Lord will give Israel a vast




24                   IIOSEA.-CHIIAP. IV.
range of wilderness for her wanderings-will cast her forth from
her land as a lamb might be cast forth from his secure and peaceful
fold, to roam at large, homeless and unprotected. The passage predicts the captivity of the ten tribes to Assyria, but keeps up the
figure of the refractory heifer, only changing from the heifer to the
lamb as being more defenceless, and more wretched when lost and
wandering alone. The heifer tears herself away; God lets her go,
a wandering lamb, into a hopeless captivity.
17. Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.
The I-Iebrew word for idols implies things made with the toilsome but fruitless labor of human hands.   Ephraim  is joined
to them in the strong sense of being closely united and adhering,
so to speak, to those senseless things. —" Let him alone," cannot,
in this connection, be the declaration of God's purpose to abandon
Ephraim and withdraw his Spirit, as has been supposed by some;
but is God's command to Judah to desist from  all society with
Ephraim and leave him to sin and suffer alone. The general course
of thought in the context, as well as the phrase itself, require the
latter construction.-  Here, for the first time in Hosea, we have
the word " Ephraim" used for the kingdom and people of the ten
tribes-a usage due to the great preponderance of this tribe in
population and also in dignity as having the capital, Samaria, and
as lhaving furnished the first king, Jeroboam.
18. Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom  continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give
ye.'" Drink," here, is not common drink, is certainly not cold water. The original is always strong, intoxicating drink, or the drinking itself-the carousals. The verb* which our translators have
rendered " is sour," is used very frequently in the general sense of
passing away, departing; and also in the special sense of departing
from  God, apostatizing, becoming degenerate. These two senses
indicate the two constructions between which our choice is to be
made. The general sense is here the more probable, as when Agag,
using the same word (1 Sam. 15: 32), said, " The bitterness of death
is past."  Hence I translate closely thus: "Their carousals are
over; they plunge into lewdness; their shields (rulers) love shame."
The better to bring out the sense, I paraphrase the verse thus:
"' When their carousals are past, their passions are sharpened for
baserwhoredom: their rulers, who ought to be their shields and
safeguards against such baseness, are themselves so corrupt as to
love what is only their shame."
The second construction is worthy cf being suggested. By it,
the first verb, rendered "is sour," has the sense of becoming apostate, thus: "He (Ephraim) becomes the more apostate from God
through strong drink; so they plunge the deeper into whoredom,"
* An




IIOSEA.-CIIAP. IV.                   25
&c. In this construction this verb looks toward its cognate* in
v. 16: There Israel is refractory, like an unbroken heifer; here he
becomes the more refractory as to God through strong drink. This
verb unquestionably bears the sense of departing fronl God, becomning apostate and refractory, as may be seen in Dent. 11: 16: "Ye
turn aside and. serve other gods."  Ps. 14: 3: " They are all gone
aside; they are altogether become filthy," &c.' But especially
Jer. 5: 23, where those two cognate verbs are brought together as
parallel: "This people bath a revolting t and a rebellious heart;
they are revolted T and gone."  This passage entirely confirms the
close'cognate relationship between these two verbs-that in v. 16,
and this in 18. -The rendering of the verb with its noun in the
first clause is more easy on the first construction above given, else
the second of the two would be preferable. The ultimate sense is
essentially the same, testifying to the fearfully demoralizing influence of strong drink toward lewdness in the orgies of idolatry.
The second verb in this verse, expressing the practice of lewdness, is made intensive by the usual repetition of the finite verb by
means of the infinitive.   The reader will notice that my translation of the last clause differs from that of our English Bible in two
respects, making "shame" the object of the verb, and entirely
omitting the words " Give ye."  This last change follows the best
critical authorities as to the original text. These omit this word
rendered " Give ye " as spurious, or, as some conjecture, attach it
to the previous verb, and thus reduplicate its two last radicals. The
very apposite sense thus obtained in the place of one very obscure
and inept, justifies this choice between the authbrities for the original text.
19. The wind hath bound her up in her wings, arnd
they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
The whirlwind affords a common figure for those providential
agencies with which God overwhelms and sweeps away the wicked.
See Ps. 58: 9; Prov. 1: 27; Isa. 40:24, and 66: 15, &c.- Here a
bold poetic imagination gives to the whirlwind real life, and wings
in which the guilty nation is enfolded, to be borne away to its final
doom —captivity. Zechariah (5: 5-11) has the same figure in a
slightly different dress. -" They shall be confounded because of
their sacrifices" to idol gods which cannot save. Their objects of
confidence shall utterly fail them; the idols in which they trusted
shall prove their curse.   So evermore must all the hopes of the
wicked perish! That on which they rely for help shall become the
millstone to sink them-the fire to scorch and blast them, for ever
and ever!
*2     a.                      S fo.
2




26                  HOSEA. —CHAP. V.
CHAPTER V.
Ix general, the course of thought is the same in this chapter as
in the fourth; rebukes for sin, threatening of near judgments, in
which God's own hand should be specially manifest. Judah is
spoken of more frequently than in chapter iv., and hence, Judah
being less hardened than Ephraim, the strain of remark gives Jnore
intimations of hopeful repentance.
1. Hear ye this, 0 priests; and hearken, ye house
of Israel; and give ye ear, 0 house of the king; for
judgment is toward you, because ye have been a snare
on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.
The priests and the king are specially called to attend to this
message, because the threatened judgments were to fall first and
most heavily on them. The word "judgment " in the original has
the article, and should have in English-" for the judgment "-the
one predicted and near impending-" is specially destined for you."
The reason given is, they have ensnared the people into sin —" havo
been a snare," such as is laid to catch birds, "on 3Mizpah," &c.
Mizpah and Tabor were " high places," locations for idol worship;
the former east of Jordan, the latter west.
2. And the revolters are profound to make slaughter,
though I haveh een a rebuker of them  all.
The verb rendered " to make slaughter " is most commonly used
for the slaughter of animals-rarely for the slaying of men; and
in reference to animals, more often for purposes of sacrifice, less
often for food. Here we may best take the most common sense.
-The word rendered " revolters," is used both in the concrete,
meaning revolters, and in the abstract, revolting, departure from
right, sin. The latter sense seems preferable here. I paraphrase
thus: "They," the priests and the king, "make their sins deep,
even in their slaying of animals for sacrifice; " they deviate widely
from righteousness and from God, even in their religious ceremonies.-" But I will chastise them all."  The sense given in the
English version may be the true one: the one given here seems
the more probable as being more in harmony with the course of
thought, and equally in harmony with the usual sense of the words.
The Lord assures them that their sacrifice of animals after the law
of Moses, whether mixed up with idol worship and all manner of
wickedness, or standing by itself, yet used as a cloak for their sin,
would avail them nothing. They might go deep into it; it could
be accounted only as so much the greater sin, and could by no
means screen them from the judgments of God.




TIOSEA.-C-CAP. V.                  27
3. I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from  me:
for now, O  Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and
Israel is defiled.
The special pertinence of the declaration "I know Ephraim,"
&c., comes from the thought in the verse preceding-the attempt
to cover up idol worship and all wickedness, with the established
religious rites of the Mosaic system. What if they do put on the
fairest semblance of true worship, slaughtering animals by the
thousand-" I know them; " I see through their hearts; Ephraim
is full of whoredom (idolatry).-  True it is that men only insult God the more when they assume that they can cover up sin by
the forms of religion. To assume that God cannot see through this
covering, is an insult to his omniscience; to assume that he can
ever accept such hypocrisy, is an insult to his holiness.
4. They will not frame their doings to turn unto
their God: for the spirit of whoredoms ts in the midst
of them, and they have not known the LORD.
A great moral truth lies here-that when men have given themselves up heartily to sin and the spirit of sinning rules, and they
do not care to know God, then they will not make any honest efforts to turn to God; they will not shape their external doings so
as to facilitate the turning of their hearts from sin to holiness. The
reason why they will not is given here-the spirit of sinning is in
them as the ruling power of their heart and life. They have not
known the Lord, and do not intend to think or to learn of him.
5. And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face:
therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity;
Judah also shall fall with them.
The pride of Israel is a true witness against him to the point
here charged; for pride seals the evidence that the heart is hardened and perverse. When a sinner is proud in his sin and of his
sin, he gives the strongest evidence of being fully committed and
awfully hardened.-Therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall under the judgments of God.-Judah comes in here, and henceforward through the chapter, as having shared in the guilt of Ephraim,
and consequently as bound to share her doom.
6. They shall go with their flocks and with their
herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him;
he hath withdrawn himhself from them.
In the day of their calamity they may summon to their help the
most costly forms and services of religious worship, but all in vain.
There comes a time when it is too late to cry even for mercy. The
Scriptures repeatedly affirm this awful truth, as e. g. Prov. 1::2431. When mercy has been abused too long, and patience in God




28                   IIOSEA, —CIIAP. V.
ceases to be a virtue, then retribution must take its coulrse-else
law were a farce, and the throne of justice would sink into contempt.
7. They have dealt treacherously against the LonD:
for they have begotten strange children: now shall a
month devour them with their portions.
The charge of treachery looks to their violation of their covenant vows to be the Lord's. One proof of this perfidy was that
they had begotten children of foreign mothers, by intermarriage or
by adulterous connection with the heathen round about them.
This, God had most explicitly forbidden, Ex. 34: 16.   The time
of their destruction hastens on; within one month they shall perish "with their portions " —their idol gods whom they had chosen
as their helpers and refuge.
8. Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet
in Ramah: cry aloud at Beth-aven; after thee, 0 Benjamin.
The enemy are near; let the war-cry ring out the alarm on the
very hill-tops where the idol temples stand. " Cry aloud at Bethaven "-that place once sacred as Bethel, the house of God; now
desecrated by idol-worship into Beth-aven- house of vanity-nothings.-" After thee, O Benjamin," it seems most natural to take
as the very words of the outcry. " The foe is after thee," or behind thee, close upon thee.
9. Ephraim  shall be desolate in the day of rebuke:
among the tribes of Israel have I made known that
which shall surely be.
The judgment on Ephraim should be sweeping and exterminating, putting an end to her nationality, and leaving her desecrated
land a desolation.'" Rebuke" here refers to deeds, not words;
to the judgments of war, subjugation, captivity.   The last clause
refers to the warnings God had given to the people of the ten tribes
by the mouth of Hosea and other prophets. What they had said
from the Lord was wholly true, and should surely come to pass.
10. The princes of Judah were like them  that remove the bound: therefore I will pomr- out my wrath
upon them like water.
The "' bound " referred to is the lamndmarlo by which contiguous
estates were defined. In the absence of fences these'lbounds"
were relied on in practice.  The sin of removin[g them is the
greater because so easily done and so difficult of detection. The
Mosaic law severely denounced this sin. (See Deut. 19: 14 and
27: 17.) It became a proverb to signify a man of no conscience
and no honor.




IOSEA. —CIIAP. V.                  29
11. Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment
because he willingly walked after the commandment.
Ephraim is crushed utterly under the divine judgments because
he heartily consented to walk after the commandment of Jeroboam,
son of Nebat, who bade the people worship the golden calves at
Bethel and at Dan. (1 Kings 12: 28-33.) This is the commandment referred to as the first fatal step-the occasion of the sad relapse which was so soon to end in the utter ruin of the people and
the kingdom.
12. Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth,
and to the house of Judah as rottenness.
This strong language implies sapping the nation's vitality and
leaving it utterly powerless.
13. When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw
his wound, then went Ephraim  to the Assyrian, and
sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure
you of your wound.
This "sickness " and "'wound" are of the body politic. The
sense is that each kingdom, conscious of its weakness and danger,
sent to the Assyrian power for help, but to no good purpose.Before the word "sent," Judah should be supplied.  Ephraim
-went to the Assyrian king, and Judah sent, &c. The history takes
note of both these facts. Ephraim (2 Kings 15:19, 20), threatened by Pul, king of Assyria, " gave him a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his
hand." Judah (2 Kings 16: 7), threatened by Rezin of Syria, sent
to Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria for help. In neither case was this
call for help of any avail.-" Jareb " is not the proper name of
any king, but is a verb, meaning one who should interpose, or, in
modern phrase, intervene. This was precisely what Ahaz king of
Judah sought of the Assyrian king, that he should intervene and
help himself against Rezin of Syria.
14. For I will be unto Ephraim  as a lion, and as a
young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear
and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue
him.
The connection of thought is-No good can come of Assyrian
help, "for I will be unto Ephraim as a lion," &c.,-the lion being a
symbol of power that turns not from its purpose for any. Compare Ps. 50: 22: " Consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear
you in pieces, and there be none to deliver." The symbol should
not be forced so as to carry over to the Almighty all the qualities
of the lion-not his ferocity, not his heartless cruelty, but only his
great power which none can evade, none escape, none withstand.




30                  )IOSEA. —CHAP. VI.
-  The manner of the lion is carried out hero to a remarkable extent. He tears his prey in pieces; goes away; comes again; then
takes some of it with him to his place, and none can rescue from
his grasp.   There were points analogous to this in the ways of
God toward Ephraim and Judah, as the prophet proceeds to show.
15. I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
Especially in this respect would the Lord be as a lion to those
kingdoms. He would send one fearful scourge; then retire as it
were to his place to watch and wait for the moral result. For
God's purpose in sending these afflictions was never vindictive, was
never merely to destroy, but only to constrain them to seek his
face in repentance.-  The verb rendered " acknowledge their offence" means primarily to be guilty; then to bear one's guilt in
the sense of suffering punishment or chastisement for it. The latter seems clearly to be the sense here. There is no decisive usage
to sustain the interpretation-" acknowledge one's offence."   The
Lord, having sorely chastised them, would wait till they had borne
the infliction, and had been brought by it to seek his face. He is
sure that in their affliction they will seek him early, or earnestly,
as one who is up betimes in the morning to a work lying near his
heart. So the original implies.   Here the chapter closes, but the
course of thought passes over to the next unbroken.
CHAPTER VI.
IN this chapter we have calls to repentance, assurances of God's
great mercy, but this mercy is grieved by the fickleness of God's
degenerate people. It closes with continued details of aggravated
wickedness.
1. Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he
hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he
will bind us up.
With unsurpassed beauty and force, the Lord himself gives his
people the very words with which they may exhort each other to
return to him. The marvel is that in the figure the Lord is no
more the lion, but an angel of mercy, coming down to bind up the
wounds himself has made! And it is he himself that declares
this —testimony, therefore, that could not be better. Indeed, we
could not reasonably accept any other. For who else could know,
or who else could make us believe, that the same God who hath
torn will also heal-the same who hath smitten will also bind up?
Such are the wondrous things of God's mercy.




HOSEA.-CIIAP. VI.                   31
2. After two days will he revive us: in the third
day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
The general sense is clear. God will soon revive us if chastisement has wrought its proper fruits.  Various conjectures have
been made to answer the question, Why does he say so definitely,
"After two days," "on the third day?" "Some have found
hbere, as they suppose, an allusion to the resurrection of Christ.
But this passage has the air of historic allusion and not of prophecy; and historic allusions look to the past, and not to the future.
The manner of this passage is not that of prophecy, foretelling some
future event to occur after two days or on the third, but it is rather
that of a statement shaped by the thought, then present to the
mind, of some analogous event in past, well-known history. Such
an event I find substantially in the case of the pestilence sent on
Israel for David's sin of numbering the people. (See 2 Sam. 24.)
When for this sin three forms of judgment were proposed to David
for his choice, he chose the pestilence, as coming more directly from
the hand of God, saying, "Let us fall now into the hand of the
Lord, for his mercies are great, and let me not fall into the hand
of man."  This pestilence continued three days, no more. The
Lord became a lion to tear, so long;-then turned to revive and
restore. This case, supposed to have been before the mind of Hosea, would fitly account for his naming two and three days. Hosea
abounds, beyond most of the sacred writers, in historic allusions.
-A case much less closely parallel may be seen in the plague of
darkness on Egypt of three days. And there may be a tacit allusion
to the fact that three days is about the extent of human endurance
under extreme privations and hardships, as e. g. the case of the
Egyptian found by David's men. (1 Sam. 30:11, 12.) The sentiment would then be that God is wont to arrest his judgments before
human endurance is quite exhausted.
3. Then shall we know,'f we follow on to know
the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning;
and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and
former rain unto the earth.
Our translators apprise us that they found no word in the original for "if."  It is more true to the original and equally pertinent
sense to read it, "Then let us know, let us follow on to know the
Lord," &c., i. e. encouraged by these demonstrations of his mercy,
let us seek to know, yea let us follow on earnestly to know the
Lord.  -"' His going forth," in this connection, is not his going
in general, but his going forth in the revelations of his great mercy
-his outgoing, as the sun comes to light after the darkness of
storm or of night-the original word being currently used for the
rising of the sun. David uses it in his exquisite nineteenth psalm,
saying of the sun, " His going forth is from one end of the heavens and his circuit to the other end thereof." So God's coming




32                   IIOSEA. —CHAP. VI.
forth in the displays of his mercy " is prepared as the morning,'
equally sure in its place, and nothing in nature more fitly represents the revelations of his mercy as they rise on benighted souls.
— The next figure also is rich in beauty and in blessings. —" He
shall come unto us, " corresponding in sense to his' going forth,"
"as the great rain " (often called the " former rain "), "and as the
latter rain that water the earth." This is a precise translation of
the original. —-The former rain, succeeding a long dry season,
falling from the middle of October to the middle of December,
prepared the ground for seed-sowing, and if abundant, gave assurance of harvests. The latter rain fell in March and April, maturing the crops, and continuing in some seasons quite to their
early harvest, from which fact it takes its Hebrew name.
Those who have " tasted that the Lord is gracious:" will appreciate the fitness and force of these illustrations, and will not wonder
that the most beautiful and beneficent things in nature are clustered
together to set forth the munificent loving-kindness of the Lord.
4. 0  Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee?  O  Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as
a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.
Alas! that there should ever be occasion to turn so abruptly from
the glory of God's mercy to the meanness of man's sin!-from the
enduring love and the well-ordered going forth of his light and salvation, to the fickleness of man's best resolutions, and to the inconstancy of his most hopeful professions!   The antithesis between
this verse and the preceding one should be noted. The morning
light, gloriously outbreaking from the east, is God's love-shining out
on the darkness of the sin-stricken soul. The morning cloud and
the early dew, hopeful and sweet for a moment, but soon gone up
as if they had never been, are the goodness of God's inconstant
people.  We cannot wonder that the Lord should exclaim: "O
Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? "  By what newx and untried
appliances shall I bring stability out of fickleness, and make your
wavering steps steadfast?
5. Therefore have I hewed themn by the prophets; I
have slain them  by the words of my mouth: and thy
judgments are as the light that goeth forth.
As to the figures in this verse-" hewing them  by the
prophets," "slaying them by the words of my mouth "-we may
fitly remember that Solomon says: "The words of the wise are as
goads and as nails" (Eccl. 12: 11), and Paul (Heb. 4:12) speaks
of "the word of God as sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit," and also (Eph.
6:17) of "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
The Lord signifies here that he has used sharp and cutting words in
his messages to the people-has, in fact, exhausted the power of




iOSEA. —CHAP. VI.                   g3
earnest language to pierce the hard shell.of their heart and reach
live flesh. —" Thy judgments are as the light "-clear, impressive,
awe-inspiring as the lightnings of heaven-for so the word nay
signify. The instances of this usage are comparatively rare, however, and the common sense, light, is pertinent and forcible. God
had made his displeasure toward their sins clear as the light.
6. For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the
knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings.
"]Mercy " here represents the whole circle of moral duties toward man, as in the next clause, "the knowledge of God" stands
for that which is practical, not theoretical only, and comprises all
right affections toward God.   The people had shown themselves
far more ready to offer sacrifices than to do right toward either
God or man. The Lord, on the contrary, held sacrifices in low esteem, but held in the highest esteem mercy toward man and the
intelligent worship and homage of the heart toward God.
See a similar doctrine taught in the Old Testament, Ps. 40: 7-9
and 50:8-23; Isa. 1: 11-17, and Micah 6: 6-8.
Our divine Teacher on two several occasions endorsed the sentiment of this verse most emphatically, Matt. 9: 13, and 12: 7;
" Go ye and learn what that meaneth; I will have mercy, and not
sacrifice "-said, in this case, to show why he ate with publicans
and sinners-viz., to save their souls.   "But if ye had known
what this meaneth —'I will have mercy, and not sacrifice,' ye
would not have condemned the guiltless; " said in rebuke of the
Pharisees for their judgments in regard to keeping the Sabbath.
This form of statement slhould not be pressed to mean that God
had never rqcuired sacrifice and burnt-offerings; this would not be
true.
This doctrine needs often to be revived and reiterated, so prone
are men to put the forms and ceremonies of religion in the place
of real kindness and justice toward man, and honest heart-worship
of God. American slaveholding Christianity is a striking case in
point-an effort to conform Christianity to the demands of the
time by framing a system of religion and morals with mercy and
even justice left out, and the real knowledge of God woefully perverted.
7. But they like men have transgressed the covenant;
there have they dealt treacherously against me.
The word rendered "men" is, in Hebrew, adam, and may be
either a proper noun, meaning Adam, or a common noun, meaning
man. Hence this clause has been construed three ways: (1.) " They,
like common men, have transgressed the covenant "-the point being
that they, being priests, princes, and a people long trained of God,
have yet broken their covenant, as common men might do; or,
(2.) "They are like men who break covenant "-the point here
being that they break their covenant with God as men are wont to




34                  HOSEA. —CHAP. VI.
break their covenants with each other, accounting obligation to God
no more sacred than a man's obligation to his fellow; or, (3.) " They,
like Adam, have broken covenant; " their obligation, like his, being
all the more sacred by reason of their intimate and honored relations to the glorious God.
Of these various interpretations, none bad, the last has in its
favor the obvious antithesis between "they " and'" Adam," which
stands out strongly in the original, inasmuch as the use of the personal pronoun in Hebrew is not common, and is, therefore, usually
somewhat emphatic where introduced as here.   A parallel case
of the use of Adam as a proper and not a common noun, is found
Job 31: 33: "If I covered my transgressions as Adam" did, etc.
-" There," in the phrase, " there have they dealt treacherously,"
refers to the kingdom of the ten tribes, where the great mass had
proved utterly treacherous toward God.
8. Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and
is polluted with blood.
From general charges of sin, the prophet here becomes specific.
- Gilead (often called Ramoth-Gilead) was a prominent city of
refuge (see Deut. 4: 43) on the east of Jordan. The cities of refuge
made special provision for the residence of the priests, who, indeed,
were needed there to hold civil courts and determine questions of
manslaughter, which naturally came to trial there. But this city
was full of bloody violence-as the last clause of the verse has it —
" tracked or footstepped with blood." Murderers left their bloody
footprints along its streets.-It appears from 2 Kings, 15:25,
that Pekah, in conspiring against and murdering Pekahiah, had
with him fifty men of the Gileadites. To this fact the prophet may
allude. From such a city he might get fit materials for conspiracy
and murder.
9. And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the
company of priests murder in the way by consent: for
they commit lewdness.
This might be closely translated thus: " As robber-gangs waylaymen, so bands of priests commit murder on the way to Shechem,
for they work out deep-laid schemes of crime."-Shechem  (by
mistake of our translators taken as a common noun) was another
city of refuge, inhabited largely by priests therefore, who waylaid
travellers coming to the city-perhaps the implication is, such as
were fleeing thither for refuge-so horribly did they pervert the
functions of justice committed to their hands!- -The last word
does not mean lewdness, but intentional, studied crime-all the
more guilty in the view both of God and man for the amount of
thought and deep-laid plot that entered into it.
10. I have seen an horrible thing in the house of




EIOSEA.-CHIAP. VI.                  35
Israel: there is the whoredom  of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.
It is in view of such particulars as these that the Lord now exclaims, "I have seen horrible things in the house of Israel! "-'' Whoredom " seems here to be idolatry, the mother sin of all sins
in the land.
1.1. Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee,
when I returned the captivity of my people.
This verse has caused commentators much perplexity.  The
questions have been, whether the " harvest " appointed of God for
Judah betokened blessings or calamities; and, if the latter, how it
can correspond with bringing back their captives-a fact which
naturally and usually indicates blessings. —The first word, well
rendered "also," implies that the Lord had something for Judah
qf the same sort which he was about to bring on Ephraim; and
there can be no doubt that the strain of the previous context assumes the near coming of fearful judgments on Ephraimn.   Then
further, prophetic usage very uniformly makes the harvest a symnbol of judgments. (See Jer. 51: 33; Joel 3:13; Rev. 14: 15-20.)
These considerations go far to show that the passage must predict
judgments on Judah-naturally, a great slaughter. It only remains to see how this can comport with the Lord's bringing back
the captives of his people. The history recorded 2 Chron. 28: 1-15
solves this remarkable problem, meeting all its difficulties, and
readily accounting for its apparent incompatibilities.
Ahaz, king of Judah, reigned wickedly; for which God delivered
him into the hand of the king of Syria, who smote him and took
many captives to Damascus. God also delivered him into the hand
of the king of Israel, who smote him with great slaughter. "' For
Pekah slew in Judah one hundred and twenty thousand in one
day, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers." He
also took away two hundred thousand captives, women, sons, and
daughters, and brought them to Samaria.   Here was a fearful harvest in the sense of a great slaughter. Yet, contrary to all human
expectation, it was closely connected with God's interposition to
bring back the captives of his people, for the history proceeds to
say that when the captives were brought into Samaria, a prophet of
the Lord was there by the name of Oded, and that he went bef "re
the host of Israel and expostulated with them earnestly, and finally
persuaded them to send all the captives home. Hence, although
God brought back their captives, yet a harvest was set for Judah in
the usual sense of an immense slaughter of their people.




36                 IIOSEA. —CIAP. VII.
CHIAPT]ER VII.
SPEAKING of Ephraim, this chapter continues to portray his
treachery, blindness, intense passion in sinning, and extreme folly.
It should be specially noted that throughout this and the succeeding
chapters to the twelfth, Ephraim, the kingdom of the ten tribes, is
the theme of remark, Judah being scarcely mentioned. The his
toric events alluded to fell within the last years of the kingdomsome of them in the reign of IIoshea, its last king.
1. When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity
of Ephraim  was discovered, and the wickedness of
Samaria: for they commit falsehood: and the thief
cometh in, and the troop of robbers spoileth without.
The time specially referred to, when the Lord sought to heal
Israel, and the indications were hopeful, may probably have been
when they sent home their Jewish captives, as in 2 Chron. 28: 915-historically coincident with the events referred to in the close
of the previous chapter. At that time " certain of the heads of the
children of Ephraimn " ackno.wledged the guilt of their nation, and
spake sensibly of "God's fierce wrath against Israel."  But these
hopeful appearances soon passed away; the nation proved false to
Jehovah and false to even common morality; thieves break into
houses and robbers plunder abroad.   So it often happens that the
deepest wickedness comes to light only under the special efforts
which the Lord makes to heal and restore. When wicked men
will not be healed, and only become the more infatuated and determined, and the more outbreaking in their sin for all the labor of
love which God bestows upon them to reclaim them, they are fast
verging to the brink of ruin. How painfully discouraging even to
infinite patience and pity!
Some suppose that the period specially referred to as one in
which the Lord would have healed Israel, was during the reign of
Jeroboam second. This reign was one of general prosperity. (See 2
Kings 14: 23-28.) He restored the coast of Israel on the north, as
had been foretold by Jonah: " For the Lord saw the affliction of
Israel that it was most bitter, for there was not any shut up, nor
any left, nor any helper for Israel; and the Lord said not that he
would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven; but he
saved them by the hand of Jeroboam, the son of Joash."
Manifestly here was one special effort to heal Israel. Ilosea
may have thought of more than one. The Lord is wont to repeat
such efforts of reclaiming mercy.
2. And they consider not in their hearts, that I
remember all their wickedness: now.their own doings
have beset them  about; they mrc before my face.




TIOSEA.-CHAP. VII.                   37
Literally-" They do not say to their heart, I remember all
their wickedness. Now their own doings invest them-lie on the
outside surface as a garment-palpably before my face, with no concealment."
3. They make the king glad with their wickedness,
and the princes with their lies.
Their king and princes, instead of frowning upon the wickedness of the people, were in full sympathy with it, and could be
drawn in to rejoice in it all.
4. They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the
baker, who ceaseth from  raising after he hath kneaded
the dough, until it be leavened.
"Adulterers," probably in the literal, not the symbolic sense.
Idolatry fostered lewdness.-The figure of an "oven," as used in
vs. 4, 6, 7, demands special notice. Of course, we must go far
back of the modern stove-oven in which the heat is generated and
used at the same time. In the kind of ancient oven here referred
to, as also in those used commonly before the age of stoves, the heating is done before the baking, and the excellence of the oven consists in its power to hold heat, and give it up gradually for baking
purposes.  Precisely at this point the figure applies. The baker
gets up an intense heat, and then takes out his fuel and lets it rest
till the first intense heat is somewhat abated. Hie trusts his oven to
hold heat while his dough is rising; indeed, by closing his oven
with his fuel in, he may keep the heat confined there so that he can
sleep all night, and yet find every thing ready for flaming out in
the morning. -So these wicked men are perpetually heated up
with the hot passions of sin. They do not need new incitements
continually. The old fires, smothered for a time, flame out again
on the first occasion. The heart of wicked men holds heat-the
heat of sinful passion-like an oriental oven.-The last clause of
v. 4, should read, "ceaseth from firing up," i. e., his oven, "after
the kneading of the dough, until it is risen." Once intensely heated,
it can be trusted to rest, and indeed to bake only the better
therefor.
5. In the day of our king the princes have made himr
sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand
with scorners.
" The day of our king" would naturally be his birth-day, or
perhaps his coronation-day-devoted, therefore, to special festivities. On that day, "the princes made him sick (intoxicated) with
the heat of wine," not "bottles."' "He stretched out his hand
with scorners," Belshazzar-like; for when men are inflamed with
wine, they are wont to scoff at things sacred.
6. For they have made ready their heart like an




38                 HIOSEA. —CHAP. VII.
oven, while they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all
the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.
7. They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured
their judges; all their kings are fallen: tihere is none
among them that calleth unto me.
The special form of wickedness spoken of here is that of plotting
the destruction of their princes, judges, and kings. That such conspiracies were shockingly common, the brief history of this period
shows.
The verse may be rendered thus: "For they bring their hearts
close together as in the oven, in their plots; all night their baker
sleeps" (so perfectly is the plot laid); "in the morning he burns as
with the fiery flame."  [The baker represents the managing spirit
of the plot.]  "All of them are hot as the oven: they devour their
judges," as fire devours; "all their kings fall" (before such conspiracies), " and none among them call unto me "-to the fear of
God and to repentance for such wickedness.
8. Ephraim, he  hath  mixed himself among the
people; Ephraim is a cake not turned.
The "people" here are the heathen nations.  Ephraim had
mixed himself with them by means of entangling alliances, but
more especially by importing their idol-worship. The figure of " a
cake not turned," is suggested by the oven. The kind of oven
thought of here seems to be different from that in mind in the
previous verses. The most ancient mode of baking was to heat the
naked sand with a fire; then remove the fire, and lay on the dough.
This, of course, must soon be " turned."  To this our verse alludes.
Another form of oven was a hole excavated in the earth and walled
up; and still a third, bearing the name given here, vs. 4, 6, 7, was
made of brick, besmeared within and without with clay.
"A cake not turned" in the first-nained sort of oven, would
naturally be burned on one side, and raw on the other-all worthless-spoiled by bad baking. The fact of its being spoiled, rather
than any particular analogy in the mode of doing it, seems to be the
thought of the passage.
9. Strangers halve devoured his strength, and he
knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon
him, yet he knoweth not.
As usual in the Scriptures, " strangers" are foreigners-born in
other lands. Indications of decrepitude and of death near at hand
are on him, and he is not aware of it.
10. And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and
they do not return to the LouD their God, nor seek him
Cor all this.




HIOSEA. —CIAP. VII.                 39
The same expression as to pride occurred above (5: 5). Pride
is working his ruin. The judgments of God fail of leading him to
return in penitence.
11. Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart:
they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.
A " silly dove." means one open to seductive influences-easily
drawn into the fatal snare. So, "without heart," means without
wisdom or sense to suspect and avoid danger. Ephraim plunges
into danger, as appears by his sendingto Egypt for help and going
to Assyria. This was putting his head within the jaws of the lion.
God had warned him against this course; he would not hear.
12. When they shall go, I will spread my net upon
them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the
heaven; I will chastise them, as their congregation hath
heard.
With the figure of the dove still before the mind, the Lord says
— " When they fly off to Assyria or Egypt for help I will spread
my net over them; I will bring them down as by the shafts of the
fowler; I will chastise them, as hath been heard from the lips of the
prophets in their congregation," where those prophetic messages
were publicly read.
13. Woe unto them! for they have fled from  me:
destruction unto them! because they have transgressed
against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they
have spoken lies against me.
"Fled " still keeps up the figure of the dove. The people utterly turned away from God, and this became their ruin. God had
redeemed them  often from their enemies-from  Pharaoh, and
from the strong nations on their borders; yet they would prove
false to all their professions of penitence and fidelity.   In the original the verb translated " have redeemed," is in the tense commonly
called the future, but perhaps better, the imperfect or incompleteindicating in this case not only that God had redeemed them, but
would now and hereafter-this being the permanent state of his
mind toward them.  The clause might be fitly paraphrased,
"Though I would gladly redeem them at any time, as I have often
done already, yet they only speak lies against me."
The passage puts in forcible contrast the loving faithfulness of
God, still warm and sure, on the one hand; and, on the other, the
treachery and utter infidelity of his people. The original makes
this contrast the more palpable by writing out in full the pronouns
"I" and "they."  These pronouns are not usually written in
Hebrew except for the sake of emphasis.-" Redeemed " is the
usual word for the deliverance God wrought for his people from
Egypt. (See Deuat. 7: S. and 13: 5, and ~Micnah 6: 4.)




40                 IHOSEA.-CIIAP. VII.
14. And they have not cried unto ime with their
heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against
me.
Under their affliction, when they howled upon their beds, in
their anguish, they would not sincerely cry unto God.. They assembled in their idol temples to implore corn and wine of their
false gods; and so they rebelled yet the more grievously against
Jehovah.   The last three verbs,'howl," "assemble," "rebel,"
are in the imperfect-incomplete tense, implying not only that they
had, but would yet. They were doomed to "howl; " it was fully
in their heart to "' assemble," and to " rebel."
15. Though I have bound and strengthened their
arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me.
The word rendered "bound " means to chasten and correct. God
had in this way taught them, and he had also made their arm strong
in war; yet they only do and will plot revolt and wrong against
him. HIere also the last verlt is in the imperfect, denoting a state
of mind yet active and fixed.
16. They return, but not to the Most High: they are
like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the
sword for the rage of their tongue: this scall  be their
derision in the land of Egypt.
If they turned, in any sense, it was not to the Most High. The
original most naturally reads, "They will turn to a no-god "-to
one not the Most High, but the opposite-one infinitely low and
mean.  So in the words, Lo-Ammi, Lo-Ruhamab, the negative
particle gives the opposite sense-a people rejected from being mine
-to whom mercy is denied. —" A deceitful bow " makes the arrow miss the mark, and therefore cannot be trusted. So with Israel.-" The rage of their tongue " is their insolence of language,
probably in boasting of help from Egypt, despite of God's warning
to the contra ry. When they shgll have come into Egypt, captive
and weak, this proud boasting will be their special derision.< Hoshea,
the last king of the ten tribes, sought help from Egypt against the
king of Assyria, but only to his shame and ruin. (2 Kings 17: 4.)
-— So shall it ever be with all who depart fronm God!




IHOSEA.-CHALP. VIII.                 41
CHAPTER VIII.
ISeAEL, is still the subject of rebuke, and of threatened judgment
-the prophet bringing forth to view her sins, her resort to idol gods
and to foreign alliances, to the rejection of her own ever-living
God, and showing that this policy must be utterly ruinous.
1. Set the trumpet to thy mouth.  Be shall come as
an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they
have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against
my law.
This verse is remarkably in the peculiar style of HIosea-abrupt
and bold. "'To thy mouth the trumpet;" [the foe comes down]
"as an eagle upon the house of the Lord, because they [my people] have broken my covenant and sinned against my law."
The blast of the trumpet, long and loud, was the alarm for war.
The coming of the foe is compared with the swoop of the eagle,
when, from his lofty height, he comes down upon the temple. This
coming down on the temple may suggest that even this sacred symbol of Jehovah's presence in the land cannot shield it from the
fierce invader.
The eagle in his flight is frequently, in Scripture, a symbol of
swiftness and of terrible conquest.  Thus, Deut. 28: 49: "The
Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the ends of
the earth, as swift as the eagle fiieth."  Also, Lam. 4: 19: " Our
persecutors are swifter than the eagles of heaven."- This fearful
foe comes because the nation has so utterly apostatized from their
God.
2. Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee.
Grievously as they had departed from God, they still made high
religious professions, vainly claiming to know the true God. So in
later times they said, " We have Abraham to our father."  "Have
we not prophesied in thy name? "
The English translation renders it " shall cry," as if the thought
were future only. The Hebrew imperfect rather means the past
running on into the future. They have done, and still do.
3. Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the
enemy shall pursue him.
The repetition of the name "Israel" is expressive. The same
people, Israel, who claim to know the true God, have, in truth,
scornfully repelled all that is good; i. e. both God and his blessings.
Hence, enemies shall pursue him; or, as the original word means,
chase him down.
The verb rendered " cast off" has, for its primary sense, to be




42                 IIOSEA.-CHAP. VIII.
foul, nauseous, loathsome; then, to reject and cast off as loathsome.
The latter is the sense here. With loathing has this Israel, who
claims to know me, spurned away all good, even God himself.
4. They have set up kings, but not by me: they have
made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and
their oold have they made them idols, that they may be
cut oR.
From Jeroboam of Nebat onward they have set up kings after
their own heart, with no regard to God's will. So of their princes;
they have made them, and without my approval-the word " know"
being used here in this not infrequent sense.
They had made idol images out of their silver and gold, to the
end that they might be cut off; i. e. not of their intention, but
of God's purpose, and-of both natural and actual result. The ruin
of the nation was both a righteous and a natural retribution for this
sin —natural because idolatry and its associate vices were essential
rottenness in the b6dy politic.
5. Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere
they attain to innocency?
" Thy calf, Samaria," is the golden one set up by Jeroboam (see
1 Kings 12: 26-33), out of which grew the idol worship of the kingdom of the ten tribes. Samaria, the capital, here represents the
whole kingdom; the calf was properly theirs.
The verb rendered " cast off" is the same that is used and so
rendered in v. 3, but manifestly here with a slight modification
of meaning;-there, in the sense of repelling with loathing; here,
in the sense of being loathsome, abominable. There is no word
for "thee," as found in the English translation, which unfortunately
fails to give the true sense.   There is great force and beauty in
this play upon the two kindred meanings of the same word. Thus,
v. 3: "With loathing has Israel rejected God and all real good; "
v. 5: "Truly and intensely loathsome is thy calf, Samaria." Thou
hast thrust from thee thy God and all his blessings, as things loathsome; the really loathsome thing is thy calf.
To this construction the next clause fits perfectly: "Mine anger
is kindled against the worshippers of that abominable calf.'" —— he
last clause is literally rendered, "IHow long will they be impotent
as to moral innocence?" i. e. with no recuperative moral power to
return to sense, and to the reasonable worship of the true God?In how many cases, throughout all ages, must a holy and compassionate God deplore the same moral impotence in wicked men!
Inasmuch as God was constantly acting upon them toward " innocency," we must understand this verse to imply that there was no
conscience, and no moral sensibility in them, to respond healthfully
under the divine efforts made for their recovery.




IIOSEA.-CIIAP. VIII.                 43
6. For from  Israel was it also: the workman made
it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria
shall be broken in pieces.
The aggravation of this case was that the calf " came out from
Israel "-from God's chosen people. " A workman made it" with
his human fingers, so that it is no god at all. On the contrary, according to the expressive Hebrew, " it shall become fragments."   -
The prophets were wonit to expose the ineffable folly of idol-worship and of all trust in idols, by referring to their origin as nothing
higher or other than human workmanship. A mere man made it,
made all there is of it; and can that senseless, helpless thing be God?
7. For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap
the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no
meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.
They-the idol-worshippers —in forsaking the true God for
idols, have sown the wind; and how vain a thing this is, any one
will see who will suppose himself actually attempting to do it.The passage becomes terribly forcible when this sowing of wind,
vain and empty as it would seem to be, brings forth for its harvest
the whirlwind-one of the most fearfully destructive agencies in
nature.
The idea of a harvest is still kept up, and the prophet proceeds
to say, " There is no stalk to it: its shoot will not produce meal;
or, if it should, foreigners shall devour it."-" Strangers," in the
Bible, are always foreigners; not merely those with whom we have
no personal acquaintance.
8 Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among
the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.
The last verb of the verse preceding gives the leading thought
of this verse. All Israel is " swallowed up; " not only will a foreign
foe swallow up all the harvests of the land; the very nation is
swallowed up, and its nationality is to become extinct.   " Now,"
i. e. shortly, they shall be among the nations as a vessel of no
value, for which nobody cares; a potsherd, a piece of broken
crockery, simply useless.
9. For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone
by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.
As showing how low they have sunk in general esteem among
the nations of their time, the prophet goes on to say, "They have
gone to Assyria for help "-wild, wayward, solitary and friendless
as the wild ass that has no affinities for other animals, and little, at
best, for his own species.
In the words "Ephraim  hath hired lovers," the idea of his
marriage relations to Jehovah reappears. This going to other nations and not to God for help, is the baseness of an adulteress, for



44                   HOSEA. —CIIAP. VIII.
saking the home and the love of her husband, and sunk so low
that, instead of being hired for prostitution, she herself hires her
paramours. Ephraim in his distress goes for help, not to his God,
who would have joyfully relieved him with no thought of pay, but
to heathen nations, and pays them enormously.  See a case of such
exaction, 2 Kings 15: 19, 20, where Menahem, king of Israel, gave
to Pul of Assyria one thousand talents of silver, and " exacted the
money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each
man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria." Ioshea
also, the last king, paid tribute, 2 Kings 17: 3.
10. Yea, though they have hired among the nations,
now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little
for the burden of the king of princes.
This verse has perplexed commentators, especially because of the
difficulty of determining the root and the exact sense of the verb
rendered, in our version, "sorrow." Without entering upon minute
Hebrew criticism, let it suffice that I find here threatening, not
promise, the former only being in harmony with the strain of the
context; and therefore I derive the verb from the root * which
means to writhe, to be in pain, etc. The sense of the passage then
is, "Although Ephraim hires foreign help. [in the line of ungodly
national alliances], yet now will I gather them. " (i. e. group them
all under this scourge), " and they shall soon be in anguish under
the burden of exactions imposed by the king of princes."
This "' king of princes " is the Assyrian who said (Isa. 10: 8),
"Are not my princes altogether kings? " Several kingdoms were
then his tributaries.
The received version unfortunately gives the sense of " sorrowing a little," instead of sorrowing severely, vERY sooN, as the
original obviously means.  The marginal reading-"in a little
while "-should have gone into the text. The verb is very intensive.
11. Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin,
altars shall be unto him to sin.
The verb rendered "to sin," in the phrases "made altars to
sin; " " altars shall be to him to sin; "-is the same in both clauses.
If taken in precisely the same sense in both cases, it would give
this as the meaning of the verse —" Because Ephraim has multipled
idol altars for purposes of sin, they shall be to him the occasion of
more and greater sin."
I suggest a slight modification in the sense of this verb on its
second occurrence-a usage quite common in Hosea. This verb,
to sin, means primarily, to miss the mark, to misdirect, and consequently to fail of one's object, and so to reap disaster rather than
M e* 




IIOSEA.-CHIAP. VIII.                 45
profit. Modifying this verb, therefore, on its second occurrence,
we have this sense-" Because Ephraim multiplied altars for sin,
altars shall be to him for ruin."  HIe meant to deviate from right:
he shall thereby, in fact, miss happiness. HIe meant to wander
from God: he shall really wander from all good.
Such a play upon two well-known senses of the same word. is
one of the beauties of the style of Hosea. The verb rendered
"cast off," in vs. 3 and 5 above, is another case in this chapter.
To make the mutual relation of "cast off," v. 3, to "cast off," v.
5, the more obvious, the verb in each case stands at the head of its
verse; as in the verse before us correspondingly, " to sin" is the
closing word in each clause.
12. I have written to him  the great things of my
law, but they were counted as a strange thing.
This had been the chief'aggravation of the sin of Ephraim. God
had sent to him in writing the great things of his law-its great
truths, principles, and rules of life; yet he had practically accounted
them as foreign and unworthy of his thought or care. This is the
monster sin of all those in Christian lands who repel the light of
God's word, and sin on as if no Bible had ever been given them.
Jesus said (John. 15: 22), "If I had not come and spoken unto
them, they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak [excuse]
for their sin."
The original verb, " have written," is in the tense which implies
incomplete action. God had written, and had yet more to write.
13. They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifice of mine offerings, and eat it; but the LoRD accepteth them not; now
will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins:
they shall return to Egypt.
"As to the sacrifices of things dedicated to me, they sacrifice
flesh, and then eat; —Jehovah does not accept them "-i. e. abhors
them. The sacrifices referred to were professedly made to God,
but made before the golden calves, or in the worship of Baal or
other idols. It should be remembered that Jeroboam's original
plan was professedly to change the place and, slightly, the form of
worship, rather than the God to be worshipped. Bringing forth
his two calves of gold, he said: "It is too much for you to go up
to Jerusalem; behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up
out of the land of.Egypt." —By a form of retribiution, strikingly in
line with the sin which was borrowed from Egypt, they were
doomed to return to Egypt. Some of them soon fled thither to
escape the Assyrian arms, and, contrary to their intentions, never
returned again to their native land. The whole nation returned
again to a state of captivity and oppression analogous to their
former one in Egypt.




46                   HOSEA. —CIAP. IX.
14. For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and
buildeth temples; and Judah  hath multiplied fenced
cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it
shall devour the palaces thereof.
These temples were for their idols. —The sin of Judah, in multiplying fenced (fortified) cities, lay in making strong cities rather
than the Almighty God their hope and refuge. God would soon
send a fire upon their strong cities and consume all their lofty
palaces.
CHAPTER IX.
EPrnAIM is still the subject; the strain of rebuke for sin is more
and more mingled with announcements of near impending judgment.
1. Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for
thou hast gone a whoring from  thy God, thou  hast
loved a reward upon every corn-floor.
The first clause means precisely-" Rejoice not, O Israel, unto
the point of exultation. as other nations may." Comparatively
speaking, it was legitimate for the latter to exult in their prosperity, and in the abundance of their fruits; but not so for Israel. She
had sinned against so much light and against obligations so sacred,
it was madness for her to exult in her blessings. God would surely
tear them away, and leave her to desolation.    So terrible a thing
it is to sin against great mercies! lIe who does it should take this
admonition. Rejoice not as others may fitly do, for there will soon
be an utter end to blessings so ungratefully and so fatally abused.
The idolatry of Israel is here, as heretofore, spoken of as adultery. The original word for " reward " is currently used for the
hire of harlots. It is spoken of here as being "on every cornfloor," because, like the heathen about them, idolatrous Israel had
sunk so low as to attribute her corn and wine to Baal's favor and
not to Jehovah's. Hence she paid her offerings to Baal-here
thought of as the harlot-hire of her spiritual adultery.
2. The floor and the winepress shall not feed them,
and the new wine shall fail in her.
Passing from the sin to the curse for sin, God declares that these
blessings-the fruits of the earth-shall fail them. Neither the
corn-floor nor the wine-press shall supply them food; the new
wine shall prove false-shall lie to them, as the original has it. The
last words (" in her ") mean either in the wine-press, or in the land;
-sense, shall lie to the people.
3. They shall not dwell in the LoRD's land; but




HOSEA.-CHAP. IX.                    47
Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean thlings in Assyria.
The land, sacred so long as the land of promise, and subsequently so long the land of Jehovah's presence and power, would spew
them out as unfit to live in it. Egypt and Assyria were their only fit
abode. It would seem that many individuals from the ten tribes
fled to Egypt for refuge from the impending storm of Assyrian invasion, hoping to return soon. Others, the greater portion, were
borne away into Assyria, and there doomed to eat things unclean
and abominable to a Jew-fit retribution on them for eating so
long and against so much light, in idol temples.
4. They shall not offer wine-oyferings to the LORD,
neither shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices
shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat
thereof shall be polluted: for their bread for their soul
shall not come into the house of the LORD.
According to the Mosaic ritual (Num. 15: 5, 7, 10) wine was
poured out in certain sacrifices. The prophet here says, they shall
offer it no more to the Lord; if they do, he will not accept it.
"The bread of mourners" was deemed unclean, as was also
whatever had been near a dead body.   " Bread for their soul "
probably means bread for sustenance, for the physical life. It had
been customary to feast upon large portions of what was offered in
sacrifice to God. The prophet here declares that this shall be no
longer. The food for their subsistence should no more come into
the sacred temple of Jehovah. He could no longer have such
fellowship with his apostate people as this communion in bread
would imply.   Another construction of this last clause (not preferred, however) may be noticed.-Their bread shall be for themselves alone; it shall not come into the house of the Lord. So
Gesenius and Henderson.
5. What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the
day of the feast of the LORD?
A rendering more true to the original, and giving better the
exact sense, would be-" What will ye do for the day of solemn
assembly, andfor the day of the feast of the Lord? "  They could
no more have them in the remote land of their captivity. They
would sadly miss those seasons of great public rejoicing.  (See
lHos. 2: 11.)
6. For, lo, they are gone because of destruction:
Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them:
the pleasant places for their silver, nettles shall possess
them: thorns shall be in their tabernacles.
The reason why they could not have those national festivals is




48                   HOSEA.-CIIAP. IX.
given-For they have fled their country because of impending
destruction. They shall die and be buried in Egypt —whither some
had fled, never thinking to lay their bones there.-Menlmplhis is
specially named because it was a noted burying-place of Egyptians,
as its tombs and mummies are proving at this day.   Tlhe clause
rendered " pleasant places for their silver," seems to wrcan, their
costly and most valued property-the original words making prominent the two ideas-desire and money,-that which men love, and
which costs silver.  Those things nettles shall inherit, and of
course, occupy. Desolation comes over whatever was fairest and
most valued.
7. The days of visitation are come, the days of recompense are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a
fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine
iniquity, and the great hatred.
This " visitation " is for judgment.  " Recompense," parallel to
it, is retribution for their great sin.-" Israel shall know it"
experimentally; know it in such a way as precludes not only all
mistake, but all indifference and ins nsibility. -- The "prophet"
here must be the false one who had misled the people. He is
shown to be a fool by the failure of all his predictions and promises. -" The spiritual man "-literally, " the man of the spirit "
represents the class who professed to be filled with some superhuman spirit, but were utterly far from God and his Spirit. These
men have been known by various names-magicians, sorcerers,
soothsayers, &c., down to "' spiritists."  It is here said of him that
he is "frantic," beside himself, because of the greatness of their
iniquity (and of its resulting punishment), and of the great hatredi. e. felt by God against such sin. Its sense is —In the days of God's
visitation, the false prophets, who had so long deceived the people,
were appalled, their folly exposed, and themselves driven mad
with vexation, chagrin, and shame, before the dreadful wrath of
Jehovah upon his people.
S. The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: bvt
the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and
hatred in the house of his God.
Our translators seem to have understood the first clause to
speak of God's true prophets, and as standing on the side of God.
But both the context and the grammatical construction oppose their
view. The course of thought here respects the false, not the true
prophet, and the form of the word requires us to render, not " the
watchman of Ephraim," but " Ephraim was watching," i. e. locking for and awaiting good from with my God. Despite of his great
sin, Ephraim was full of hope and expectation of good from Jehovah-probably with reference to help against their foreign enemies
-which help might have come had not the false prophet been as




HOSEA. —CHAP. IX.                  49
the snare of a fowler over all his ways, and the occasion of God's
hating them the more even for their coming into his temple. —-In
this manner repeatedly is this grievous apostasy of the people ascribed largely to the terribly pernicious influence of corrupt priests
and false prophets. Truly there can be no power for evil so active
and so fatal as a corrupt ministry-as flagrant sin in those who
speak for God and of him to men.
9. They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the
days of Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.
The sin of Gibeah at the time referred to may be seen, Judg.
19: 22-25. An appalling history! Alas for the dreadful corruption of the land of Ephraim, if it was fitly compared to those
scenes in Gibeah of Benjamin! Good reason why God should remember their iniquity and visit retribution upon the whole land!
10. I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I
saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig-tree at her
first time: but they went to Baal-peor, and separated
themselves unto that shame; and their abominations
were according as they loved.
The true light for seeing their sins can be had only through
contrast with the bright days of their early national history. Hence
this historical sketch. —-As one finds grapes in the wilderness,
himself weary and hungry, and not expecting luscious fruit amid
such barrenness, and therefore is filled with joy at the discovery,
so the Lord found Israel. The first ripe figs in their first bearing
year furnish the next beautiful figure. But the fatal mischief was,
they went after idol gods, and plunged into the vices associated
with idol worship. First at Baal-peor, in the wilderness; see Num.
25. —" Separated themselves unto that shame,"' means that they
set themselves apart by consecration as the Nazarites under their
vows-the original word being precisely this-they became Nazarites, not to a noble principle or a worthy purpose, but to that
shame! The last clause thus-" They became abominable, like
their paramours, lovers; " referring to the idol gods to whom they
gave their homage.   So evermore men become like the God they
worship; abominable and vile like tWeir idols, or pure-minded and
loving, like Him whose nature is purity and whose name is love.
11. As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like
a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from
the conception.
With th9 significance of the word Ephraimn in mind, viz., fruitful in offspring (see Gen. 41: 52), the reader will readily trace the
drift of thought in this and the subsequent verses.-" Ephraim,"
the populous-" their glory " (a dense population), " shall take wings
3




50                  lIOSEA.-CHAP. IX.
as a bird, so that there shall be no birth, no womb, no conception."
-This construction of the preposition before the last three nouns
is admissible by usage and pertinent to the course of thought. The
received translation gives it precisely this construction in the next
verse.
12. Though they bring up their children, yet'will I
bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea,
woe also to them when I depart from them!
Literally "bereave them from man," i. e. so.that they shall not
live to manhood; none shall come to man's estate. The curse of
God's departing from them shall fall on that which has been their
chief glory, as it is wont to do. Barrenness shall take the place of
numerous families and a dense population.
13. Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to
the murderer.
Ephraim as well as Tyre had a delightful country, surroundings
of beauty and prosperity; but what can these avail to stay the
wrath of God against their sin? -The language in this verse and
the next is plain;
14. Give them, O LonD: what wilt thou give? give
them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
The holy indignation of the prophet is kindled, and for once lie
gives it expression.
15. All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I
hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will
drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more:
all their princes are revolters.
The speaker in this verse, as also in verse 13, is the Lord. —--
Gilgal, as was remarked on Hosea 4: 15, was noted for its.idol worship. There the sins of the nation might be supposed to be concentrated. God abhorred this great sin, and in this sense hated
the sinners —would drive them from his temple and show them favor no more. -Reference is.again made to the wicked life and
pernicious influence of the chief men, all of whom were refractory-rebels against God-this being the sense of the last word in
the verse.
16. Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they
shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet
will I slay even the belovedfruit of their womb.
Ephraim now appears under the figure of a fruit-bearing tree,
smitten with death, dried up, to bear fruit no more. Then drop



IIOSEA. —CIIAP. X.                  51
ping, or rather changing the figure, God declares that if they have
children born to them, he will slay even their dearest and most
loved offspring.   So terrible are the curses that must come down
on those who sin so persistently, and against so great light and so
rich mercies.
17. Mly God will cast them  avway, because they did
not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers
among the nations.
"My God' will reject, them from being his people."  "They
shall be wanderers among the nations," with no settled habitation,
no loved home —a prophecy eminently improbable when spoken,
but eminently true for ages on ages. The ten tribes have long
since lost all distinct nationality. Their posterity, if yet living, are
wandering among the nations, unknown and of no account in history. Even the Jews are often known simply as "wanderers."
" The wandering Jew" is his style, both in common parlance and
in more stately history.   So signally are the words of prophecy
fulfilled, and so terribly do the judgrAents of God scourge and desolate thosec whom his great mercies fail to reclaim!
CHAPTER X.
ThE same general subject continues; the sin of Ephraim and
its just punishment, vs. 1-11; a call to repentance and a new life,
v. 12; judgments still more near and dire, vs. 13-15.
1. Israel'is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit
unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he
hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of
his land they have made goodly images.
I paraphrase thus: "A vine pouring itself abroad, in luxurious
growth, is Israel; he makes fruit for himself; according to the
abundance of his fruit he has multiplied altars; according to the
goodness of his land have they, the people, made good images."
Thie word rendered " empty" does not appear anywhere in use
in the intransitive sense of being empty, but does sometimes in the
transitive sense of making empty. Its usual and primary sense is
that of pouring out abroad.   The course of thought forbids the
sense of barren, fruitless, since the very point made is the abundant
wealth of Israel, perverted the more to idolatry and sin. The more
God gives them, the more they give to idols; the richer their land
and its products, the richer shrines and altars go up for Baal.
So sinful men everywhere are wont to pervert the earthly gifts of
God, till more gifts only make them more wicked and more ungrateful to the Giver; and so more mercy in this line becomes only




52                  HOSEA.-CHAP. X.
the greater curse, and sinners themselves compel their God to turn
from blessings to retribution.
2. Their heart is divided; now  shall they be found
faulty: he shall break down their alta'rs, he shall spoil
their images.
" Their heart is smooth," i. e., treacherous, deceitful, the verb
here having this its primary sense. Among the various meanings
of this word the idea of dividing is secondary and remote, growing out of the use of smooth stones in casting the lot for the purpose of dividing between rival claimants. There seems to be no
good reason here for departing from the primary sense of the word.
— " Now shall they be punished," not merely "found faulty."
The verb means first to sin, and then naturally to suffer for sin, to
bear punishment, as here.-" He," who " shall break down their
altars," &c., is God, named last in the closing verse of the previous
chapter, but naturally present in thought in this connection.-It
is altogether legitimate that his judgments should fall on the idol
altars and images, as here said.
3. For now they shall say, We have no king, because
we feared not the LORD; what then should a king do
to us?
The last clause should read —" As to the king, what shall he do
for us? i. e., to help us.   The time to which this applies would
naturally be in some of the seasons of anarchy when they had no
king, and the tone is that of discouragement, tending to despair.
Now they shall say, "We have no king, for we have not feared the
Lord," and therefore this judgment of anarchy has come upon us;
what help now can we have from the king?
4. They have  spoken words, swearing falsely in
making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up  as
hemlock in the furrows of the field.
" They speak mere words " (unreliable), "' swearing falsely, making covenants," in both of which their words go for nothing, and
hence " the judgments of God spring up as the poisonous poppy in
the furrows of the field." This plant was peculiar for spreading
rapidly, especially in a ploughed field, and for being injurious as a
poison. In this view the point of the figure would be the rapidity
with which the judgments of God on the people spring to light on
every hand, and the fearful devastations and mischiefs they bring
upon the land. -Or possibly the sense may be-Justice as determined among men, either publicly or privately, is perverted to become as the deadly poisonous poppy in the furrows of the field.This.figure appears twice in Amos, viz., 5: 7 and 6: 12.  " Ye
who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in
the earth."  "For ye have turned judgment into gall" (the same




HOSEA.-CHAP.  X.                    53
tIebrew words as in Hosea), "and the fruit of righteousness into
hemlock."    Now since'Amos prophesied somewhat earlier than
Hosea, the latter may have taken up this figure from his brother
prophet, changing it only as a mind of higher poetic culture and a
mnore vivid imagination would naturally do.
5. The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of
the calves of Beth-aven: for the people thereof shall
mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on
it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.
Beth-aven, house of idols (literally, of nothings, nonentities), is
instead of Bethel, house of God,-the name being changed to indicate the fearful fact that the people had ceased to be a house of
God, and had'become a house of idols, after Jeroboam of Nebat set
up his golden calf there. The sentiment of this verse is, that the
people of Samaria should be put in fear because of these calves. So
far from finding peace and help from their new gods, they should
find only peril and alarm. -" The people thereof" who " shall
mourn over it" are the worshippers of these calves. The next
clause should read-" And his priests " (those of the calf) "shall
be thrilled with terror," or perhaps " shall leap as men frantic with terror, on account of them, because of his glory"
(that of the calf), "for it is departed as into captivity."Sentiment-shame, confusion, and horror shall come on all the
worshippers and priests of these calves, under the force of God's
awful judgments on the land for this sin.
6. It shall be also carried unto Assyria, for a present
to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel
shall be ashamed of his own counsel.
" It " (the calf) "' shall be carried into Assyria for a present to the
king that intervenes," i. e., who is called in to defend the kingdom
against the Syrian power, but who, instead, becomes the conqueror
and devastator of the ten tribes. See 5: 13. Then Ephraim and
Israel shall be confounded by the result of their own counsels.
Their expedted helper becomes their actual destroyer.
7. As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam
upon the water.
" As for Samaria, her king is cut off as chips on the face of the
waters " —as if he were as insignificant as a floating chip, and as
easily taken away and destroyed. The original word demands the
sense chip, and not foam.
8. The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel,
shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come
up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains,
Cover us; and to fhe hills, Fall on us.




E4                  HIIOSEA.-CHAP. X.
" Aven " is here the Bethl-aven of v. 5-the locality of one of
the golden calves-long time known as Bethel. See notes on 4: 15.
Its high places, on which idol altars and temples stood, should be
destroyed.  -" The sin of Israel," is said of the calf at Bethel, as
being the occasion and manifestation of her sin of idolatry. The
growth of thorns and thistles in places once so much frequented
and so magnificent in works of art, gives a vivid sense of utter
desolation. The doom of the people would be so terrible that they
would cl-loose death rather than life, and hence would cry to the
mountains, "Cover us," and to the hills, "Fall on us! "-strong
poetic conceptions, but terribly significant of their awful doom.
9. 0 Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against
the children of iniquity did not overtake them.
" More than in the days of Gibeah, hast thou sinned, Israel; "thy sins are greater than theirs; for which, see Judges, chap. 1921. Of course, her doom is more terrible.  " There (in Gibeah)
they stood; " a remnant, even- six hundred men, survived, from
whom the tribe was again filled up. The battle in Gibeah against
the children of iniquity (those wicked men) did not overtake and
exterminate them. Ephraim need not expect to come off so well,
for of her no remnant shall survive to replace the fallen and rebuild
the kingdom.
10. It is in my desire that I should chastise them;
and the people shall be gathered against them, when
they shall bind themselves in their two furrows.
The received translation of the last clause scarcely gives an
intelligible sense. The passage has vexed commentators the more
because the reading of the -original, both in its vowels and consonants, is in dispute. -Omitting the details of this matter, suffice
it to say that I prefer to read after the margin-sins not furrows,
and hence to render the entire verse thus:
"It is in my purpose to chastise them, and the nations shall be
gathered against them  when they shall be bound for their two
sins,"-tliese sins having reference to the two golden calves at
Bethel and at Dan. In the same sense, the " high places of Aven "
are called " the sin of Israel" (v. 8). The idea is that, to chastise
them, God will bind them fast because of these sins of calf-worship,
and will then gather the nations (Syrians and Assyrians) together
to fall upon them.- So construed, the sense is vigorous, and
entirely in accordance with both the significance of the several
words and the grammatical construction.
11. And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and
loveth to tread out the corn, but I passed over upon
her fair neck: I will make Ephraim  to ride; Judah
shall plough, and Jacob shall break his clods.




IIOSEA.-CIIAP. X.                  55
To understand this verse readily, we need to bear in mind that
in the East, cows (heifers also) as well as oxen were put under the
yoke and to the plough. They were also used for threshing, and
under the Mosaic law- " Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn " (Deut. 25: 4), the latter may be supposed the
more pleasant service. Threshing, moreover, was a common symbol for the exercise of oppressive power, or for the infliction of
severe suffering.   Hence I render-"Ephraim is a well-trained
heifer, loving to thresh" (i. e., without a figure, to oppress), "but
I passed along over the beauty of her neck " (never yet galled with
a yoke); " I will yoke Ephraim; Judah shall plough; Jacob shall
harrow."- Some render-I will put a rider on Ephraim, i. e., for
a driver. Our English version quite misses the sense in saying-"I
will make Ephraim to ride," the idea-being that he shall draw and
soork7, not ride.- These figures, taken from the occupations of agriculture, are significant and forcible.
12. Sow  to yourselves  in  righteousness, reap  in
mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it ts time to
seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon
you.
With this new figure before the mind, the prophet turns here
to exhort both Israel and Judah to repentance and to works of
righteousness.  Here, as is very common in Hebrew, the second
of two successive imperatives should be rendered in the future as
a promise. i" Sow for yourselves, for righteousness; thus shall ye
reap according to your piety."  The " reaping in mercy " must be
promise, not command.   " For righteousness " is the literal rendering, meaning, sow what will naturally produce the fruits of
righteousness. The word rendered "mercy" must refer to man,
not to God, and is therefore piety. The Hebrew phrase meansaccording to the measure of your piety..   " Break up your fallow
ground;" make all due preparation for the harvest of blessings
you need and should seek.   " For it is time to seek Jehovah
until he come and teach you righteousness." The verb rendered
in our version to "rain" means to rain in a very few cases, to
teach in a much larger number. In the conjugation used here it
always means to teach, never to rain. And since in this latter
half of the verse the figure is dropped, and the prophet says without a figure-" it is time to seek the Lord," it is more consonant
with the strain of the clause to translate this word without a figure, "teach," rather than with a figure, " rain."
13. Ye have ploughed wickedness, ye have reaped
iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou
didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty
men.
Resuming the figures of husbandry, the prophet says-"Ye




56                   HOSEA.-CIIAP. X.
have ploughed wickedness," &c., in the same sense as Paul (Gal.6: 7),
" Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap;" or Solomon
(Prov. 1: 31), "' They shall eat of the fruit of their own way," &c.
— Ephraim had trusted, not in the Lord, but in the way of her
own choice, and in the multitude of her mighty men. The Lord is
now about to show her the folly of such trust.
14. Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman
spoiled Beth-arbel in the day of battle: the mother
was dashed in pieces upon her children.
" Tumult " is the panic-cry of men smitten with fear.'" Shalman" is abbreviated for Shalmaneser, king of Assyria (see 2 Kings
17: 3), the same who conquered the kingdom of the ten tribes,
besieged and took Samaria, and bore the people away into captivity.
— " Beth-Arbel" is probably Arbela of Galilee.  The fearful
judgments which have been spoken of repeatedly throughout chapters 4-10 culminate here. The time is just at hand, and the manner and form of the visitation are no longer couched in symbols,
but are announced in the plainest speech.
15. So shall Beth-el do unto you because of your
great wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel
utterly be cut off.
Bethel, the centre and hence the symbol of calf-worship, is here
used for the scourge sent of God to desolate the land. The sentiment is that their sin at Bethel becomes their ruin.
The king of Israel referred to here, I assume to be Hoshea, the
last in the kingdom of the ten tribes,-especially because the whole
tenor of chapters 7-14 implies that the destruction of the kingdom
was very near, and because chap. 13: 10, 11, implies that the king
is already cut off.   " In a morning," is in the Hebrew-" in the
morning; " and therefore cannot well mean that his being cut off
should occur in the morning hour of some indefinite day; but
either in the next morning; or taken adverbially, very soon-as the
Hebrews were wont to signify the doing of a thing early by a verb
formed from this same word, which means the morning dawn.There seems to be no objection, either grammatical or historical, to
the sense-in the next morning-to-morrow morning; —for it is
plain that this prophet continued to bear messages to the people
after the last king, Hoshea, was cut off. The history (2 Kings 17:
3-6) shows that this king was shut up and bound in prison, and
that, after this, the king of Assyria seized the whole country,
besieged Samaria, and took it after a siege of three years. But this
last king appears no more on the face of the history; —' he is'
utterly cut off."




HOSEA.-CHAP. XI.                   S5
CHAPTER XI.
TuE strain of rebuke and of forewarning of judgment having
continued with only brief interruptions from the beginning of
chapter 4, till we are brought almost to the very day in which the
king of Israel should be cut oft; the course of thought now turns to
reminiscences of love, and to the most touching expressions of pity
and grief over the impending ruin of Israel.
1. When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and
called my son out of Egypt.
Thinking of the nation as having a lifetime, analogous to that
of the individual, running through infancy and youth to manhood,
the Lord says,' When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and
called my son.out of Egypt." He had manifested a very special
interest in the fathers of the nation, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;
he had shown his care for their children during their oppressions
under the Pharaohs. It was precisely by means of the call of God
that Moses was trained, commissioned, and led on to become, under
God, the deliverer of the people from Egyptian bondage.   The
citation of this passage by Matthew (2: 14, 15), as being fulfilled in
the case of the young child Jesus, called up from Egypt, raises the
question, Does Hosea in this passage refer ifi any sense to the
Messiah? —The context decides this question in the negative.
The entire course of thought, both in what precedes and. in what
follows, relates to the nation of Israel.-  Hence Matthew must
mean " fulfilled " only in the sense of an analogous event-an event
which filled out the natural sense of the words "out of Egypt
have I called my son." The nation of Israel was God's child, and
might be called his son. So was Jesus. God loved and cared for
Israel; so and more for the child Jesus. God brought the former
out of Egypt; and the latter also. The same language, therefore,
fitly describes each event, and the second becomes in a sort a fulfilment of the'words which describe the first. It is not a case of
the fulfilment of prophecy, but only of the zcords of a certain history. The great value of the case lies in its moral bearings as
illustrating the ulchanging and oft-shown love and care of God
for his sons.
2. As they called them, so they went from  them:
they sacrificed unto  Baalim, and burned  incense to
graven images.
God's calling of his son Israel, especially by the agency of
Moses, suggested his continued agencies of calling the people by
later prophets, and of this he proceeds to spelak: " As they" —these
later prophets-" called them, so they went away from their pres3*




58                  IIOSEA.-CHAP. XI.
ence "-(so the Hebrew):-the more the Lord's servants called,
the more the people turned away; "they sacrificed to Baalirn," &c.,
as e. g. under Ahab and onward. Indeed, the worship of Baal
appears as far back as Num. 25: 3, 5, and Judg. 2: 11-13, and 6:
25-32. -The tense of the verbs " sacrifice " and " burn incense,"
implies not only that they had, but woould still-of set purpose and
fixed habit.
3. I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their
arms; but they knew not that I healed them.
" Ephraim," here as elsewhere, must be the kingdom of the tmn
tribes. There was no nationality known as Ephraim till the revolt
under Jeroboam. Hence the Lord speaks of his parental care of
this new-born nation in its infancy. " I taught Ephraim to walk,"
as a little child is taught, supported and helped along-" taking
them by the arms." But they did not recognize the Lord's hand in
their healing and help. He does not imply that they could not
know; and does not say'" they knew not " as lessening, but rather as
increasing, their guilt.
4. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of
love: and I was to them  as they that take off the yoke
on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.
The description of God's tender care and gentle loving ways
with his people continues. "I drew" (not drove) "them —with
cords of a man," not cords of a bullock, untamed, headstrong, and
wild. These cords are explained fully in the words "with bands
of love," by the sweet attractions which manifested love naturally
creates. -The next figure also is taken from the ways of the kind
husbandman: "I was to them as they that lift up the yoke which
presses on their cheek; "-for the rude yokes of oriental countries
are heavy and ill-adapted to the comfort of animals while eating.The description continues: "I brought food to them and caused
them to eat."  The Hebrew has two verbs here, of which the
literal sense is given in this translation. The tense of these verbs
implies that God is willing still to feed them, as of old. This showing of God's loving care and gentleness toward his people is at once
beautiful and strong. The facts of the case justify more even than
this.
5. He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but
the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to
return.
Ephraim as a nation is spoken of as one person.-He shall not
be suffered to turn back to the Egypt of his fathers, though the
people often manifested a strong desire to do so. God had another
and a more fearful doom for them; "the Assyrian shall be his
king"  The reason-bcxause the people refusced to return in peni



IIOSEA. —CHEAP. XI.                59
tenca to G-od.- losea is remarkable for his play on the various
senses of the same word-as here, between "returning to Egypt"
in the first clause, and " refusing to return " in the second-the latter
return being moral,-that of real repentance. Because they would
not repent, the Lord put them under the Assyrian king which they
abhorred, and forbade their returning to Egypt, which they sought.
6. And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall
consume his branches, and devour them, because of their
own counsels.
The word " abide'" does not give the full force of the Hebrew,
Mwhich means, to whirl, to be moved in a circle, brandished. Here,
the sword is said to be hurled down upon his cities-as if seen by
the prophet, uplifted and waving high in the hand of the Almighty.
-~Through the aid of progressive criticism, the word rendered
"branch" obtains a modified and better sense.  Primarily, the
Hebrew word means a part of a thing; then a branch as being part
of a tree; then from branch, the word comes to mean poles and
bars-the latter fastening the gates and becoming in a sort the
strength and protection of a city; and finally, by another change, it
is used for princes and chieftains, considered as the strength'of the
city. So here, from the cities on which the sword-falls, the prophet
passes, not to " branches," for these have no'natural connection
with the city, but to the chiefs and rulers, and says of them-The
sword shall consume and devour them; because of their vicious
counsels in departing from God. This last circumstance forbids us
to interpret the previous clause as being said of " branches."
7. And my people are bent to backsliding from me:
though they called them  to the Iiostf High, none at all
would exalt lhim.
Though they are mny people, yet despite of all my love and of
all my discipline, they are " bent " —fully purposed, committed-to
turning back and away from me. —T-'hough my prophets called
them to return to the Most High,'yet with one accord they " would
not exalt: him "-" exalt,1" in the sense of honoring him as the
supreme God-to be adored instead of senseless idols.
8. Iow shall I give thee up, Ephraim? h ow shall I
deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah?
how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned
within me, my repentings are kindled together.
The sense of this verse is plain. The " giving up," is to hopeless ruin and desolation. So the parallel word-" deliver thee "means to give over to the fell destroyer. —" Admah and Zeboim "
are associated with Sodom and Gomorrah as lying nearin Gen. 14:
8, and in Deut. 29: 23, as involved in the same terrible doom.
" Mine heart is turned within me " —with feelings of pity, and grief,




60                  HOSEA.-CHAP. XI.
and tender compassion. "My repentings are kindled together,"
implies that in this great conflict of emotions between the high
demands ofjustice and the pleadings of compassion, his relentings
were enkindled, and his very heart seemed to burn under the
intense yearnings of sympathy.   The reader will notice the striking contrast between his people, " bent to backsliding" from him,
and his own heart so tenderly bent to love and pity. How wonderful that the last words before this outburst of tenderness, and the
last antecedent thoughts, are concerning the cruel waywardness
and persistent rebellion of his people! But no words of comment
can heighten the beauty and force of this inimitable passage. The
very heart of the God of love stands forth revealed in its glowing
and expressive words.
The general strain of the message, sent of God by Hosea, had
been of necessity stringent and stern with rebukes for sin, and
oftentimes terrible in revelations of impending judgment-all right
because absolutely necessary. Yet this strain, alone and exclusive,
would not do full justice to the tenderness and the loving pity of
Israel's God. These messages therefore cannot close without a
most emphatic testimony to the loving-kindness of Jehovah.What do these testimonies concerning God prove?
(1.) That he has no pleasure in bringing ruin on even the guiltiest
sinner.-(2.) That he does not punish in the spirit of vindictiveness.-(3.) That he would always spare the sinner, and forbear to
punish, or even chastise, if he could do so wisely and safely. —(4.)
That he takes supreme delight in conferring good, and longs to bless
all his sentient creatures. -(5.) That it is only with the deepest
grief that he ever brings pain and woe upon his creatures. —— (6.)
Hence, that he will never punish any sinner beyond his real deserts
-never beyond what the good of the universe imperatively
demands.-(7.) That no sinner, however severely punished, can
ever blame God.-(8.) That all sinners are bound to do justice to
the divine love and pity, and should never impute to God feelings
and motives which his own heart-utterances unmistakably preclude
and forbid.   (9.) Finally, that the character and government of
such a God should command our unbounded and eternal confidence
and love.
9. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I
will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and
not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will
not enter into the city.
Speaking very much after the manner of men, God represents
himself as having more "fierceness of anger " than he executes on
the guilty. Often we need to make allowance for the necessity
resting upon God; if he would be understood by men, of adopting
their modes of expression, so as to speak of himself as men have
reason to speak of themselves. In such cases, we must qualify the




HOSEA.-CHAP. XI.                    61
statements by reference to the known attributes of Jehovah. In
the passage before us, we must not suppose that the anger of God
had become unreasonably fierce, and that, becoming himself aware
of this, he resolved not to execute it in full. It is in accommodation
to finite minds that he represents a conflict in his own between his
indignation against sin and his pity for the sinner. Such representations can scarcely mislead any except the captious and uncandid.
— In the phrase " I will not return to destroy," the first verb is
used adverbially, the sense being-" I will not again destroy."The reason given-" for I am God and not man," reminds us of
those beautiful words of Isaiah (55: 8, 9): "For my thoughts are
not your thoughts, neither are your ways, my ways, saith the
Lord. For, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my
ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
The last clause should read-not, " I will not enter into the city,"
but, " I will not come in wrath." The former makes no pertinent
sense in this connection. - The latter is entirely admissible on the
score of usage, and is perfectly in harmony with the scope of the
passage.
10. They shall walk after the LORD: he shall roar
like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall
tremble from the west.
11. They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and
as a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I will place
them in their houses, saith the LORD.
Better things are here. The people, once more, " follow after
the Lord "-a phrase which always means true obedience.   The
Lord is compared to the lion and his voice to the lion's roar with
reference to those fearful, awe-inspiring agencies of God in providence which startle and convulse the nations. It was such agencies
that overwhelmed the old Assyrian and Chaldean empires, and
raised up Cyrus of Persia to befriend the restoration of God's people.
"The children" here must be the people of God.. They
" tremble " —i. e., come with trembling " from the west," as not unaffected with awe under the majestic presence of Jehovah. Yet
they come with ease and rapidity, as is indicated by the flight of
the sparrow and the dove. They come from every quarter-from
Egypt on the south; Assyria on the north and east; and the west is
specially named. Only for the sake of the idea of universality
could we expect the west to be mentioned, since there lay the sea.
-God will place them in their habitations, for dwelling again in
peace and security.   These verses give promise of a successful
result, to some extent, and at some time, to the compassionate
labors of the God of Israel to reclaim and restore his people.
12. Ephraim  compasseth me about with lies, and the
house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with
God, and is faithful with the saints.




62                   IIOSEA.-CIIAP. XIT.
The Hebrew attaches this verse to the next chlapter. In the
course of thought it belongs there, and not at the close of this,
since it reverts again to the perverseness, treachery, and hypocrisy
of Ephraim and Israel; and when justly understood, makes Judah
only less treacherous and apostate. -What is said here of Ephraimn
and Israel is plain; the last clause which respects Judah has been
interpreted variously. The sense turns primarily on the Hebrew
word rendered " ruleth." *  The translators of our version derived
it from another root, which means to tread down, and then to bear
rule. But the sense above given is far more in harmony with the
preceding context, and also with 12: 2, which indeed quite forbids
our taking this passage in a good sense. The best modern critics
derive this verb from a root which means, to run wildly and at
large, as animals that, after long restraint, have broken loose. So
Judah has broken away from the Lord's yoke and runs wanton at
her will. The same word occurs (Jer. 2: 31), " Wherefor say my
people-We are lords; we will come no more unto thee."  We are
lords, gives the idea; we have broken loose from all authority and
restraint.  The entire  last clause may be translated-" But
Judah runs loose and wild as to God and as to the holy and faithful one" —where God's purity and faithfulness are put in contrast
with the infidelity and moral pollution of Judah. The word for
" holy " is indeed in the plural here. So are some of the names of
God. The marginal reading properly gives it, " the most Holy."
CHAPTER XII.
IN this chapter the prophet, besides bringing out yet more fully
the sins of Ephraim and of Judah, seeks to encourage repentance
and trust in God by referring to events in the early history of the
patriarch Jacob-his taking the precedence of his brother Esau (v.
3); his prevailing prayer at Peniel, and his meeting with God at
Bethel (vs. 3-5).
1. Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the
east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and'
they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is
carried into Egypt.
" Feedeth on wind," literally, pastureth himself on wind as shepherds pasture their flocks on grass, which represents his reliance
on the merest vanities, on that which can avail him nothing.
"' Chasing after the east wind" has the same significance. "Every
day he multiplieth lies," and consequently " desolation "-the desolation being manifestly spoken of here as the fruit-of his lies. The
e. —rood, expressed in English letters.




iOSEA.-CHAP. XII.                   63
prophet's eye seems to have been on the historic events narrated
(2 KIings 17: 3, 4), where it is stated that the king of Assyria came
against Hoshea, the last king of Israel; that Hoshea became  his
servant and paid him tribute; that subsequently the king of Assyria " found conspiracy in HIoshea because he sent messengers to
So, king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria,
as he had done year by year; therefore the king of Assyria shut
him up and bound him in prison," came up and besieged his capital, subdued his kingdom, and took his people captive. His lies did
not pay, but brought on him and his kingdom ruin.   " They
made a covenant with the Assyrians," but broke it; " they carried
oil into Egypt " as a present or tribute, but Egypt could not save
them from the Assyrian power. The last three verbs of this verse
-rendered " increaseth," " do make," " is carried "-are all in the
incomplete tense, which implies not only that they have done so,
but have the heart to do so still.
2. The LornD hath also a controversy with Judah,
and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according
to his doings will he recompense him.
" Controversy," in the same sense as in 4: 1-ground of grievous complaint. " And will visit upon Jacob "'(literally rendered),
in the sense of retribution for his sins.   " Jacob " in this passage
must mean Ephraim, the kingdom of the ten tribes.
3. He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and
by his strength he had power with God:
The name " Jacob," applied to the northern kingdom, helps the
prophet to pass by an easy transition to the early history of the
patriarch who bore this name.-   "He took his brother by the
heel in the womb," indicating that he would supplant him in the
matter of the birthright and of priority. See the history (Gen. 25:
26). The verb from which the name Jacob is derived means " to
take by the heel," to supplant.   No bad intention or purpose on
Jacob's part should attach to this supplanting as here spoken of.
It simply indicated the purpose of God to put Jacob before Esau,
although born last. This preference is alluded to in this passage to
encourage the people to return to their own God.-  The next
clause carries us to the celebrated scene of Peniel, where Jacob
wrestled with the angel of the covenant in struggling prayer all
night, and finally prevailed, "had power with God," and became
a prince through his perseverance and success. The Lord gave him
the name Israel, meaning a prince oitlh God, at this very time, both
to indicate and to honor his prevalence in prayer. (See Gen. 32:
28.) "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as
a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed."
4. Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed:




64                  HOSEA. —CHAP. XII.
he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found
him in Beth-el, and there he spake with us;
To give the nicer shades of thought from the original, and to
present the relations of the different persons brought to view, the
verse might be rendered somewhat freely, thus: "' And then he had
power with the angel and prevailed; he wept and made supplication to him. Also God met him (Jacob) at Bethel, and there spake
with him. and through him with us." The angel referred to is
called God (Elohim) in v. 3, and can be no other than the uncreated angel of the covenant, who appears not unfrequently in the
history of ancient Israel, manifesting divine attributes, and obviously being the very Messiah, then, as ever, the Head of the
Church on earth.-In the record of the scenes of Peniel (Gen.
32: 24-30), the historian does not call him " the angel," but says,
" there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day."
This gives his external appearance. But Jacob, when the scene
had passed, called the name of the place Peniel, the face of God,
" for he said, I have seen God face to face." Much to our point
are God's words to Moses (Ex. 23: 20, 21): " Behold, I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee into the
place which I have prepared. Beware of him and obey his voice;
provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions; for
my name is in him."  The power to pardon sin, implied to exist in
him, and especially the last words, " my name " (in the sense of
nature and attributes) "is in him," must be considered as amply
identifying him to be the second person in the Godhead.  With
him Jacob wrestled in agonizing prayer-the external struggle being only an index of the inward, which was the vital thing. Jacob
was in most imminent peril firom his enraged and powerful brother,
and therefore must seek help from God. His long agony of struggling prayer suggests that he may have had an unsettled account
with the "angel of the covenant," some of the items of which
may have been his complicity with his mother in the deception
practised by her to get from Isaac the paternal blessing; and not
improbably some lack of faithful reproof of his favorite Rachel in
the matter of her proclivities toward idol-worship-things to be repented of and adjusted as to God before any signal testimony of
his favor could be safely given. It need not surprise us, therefore,
that "he wept and made supplication."  The full history of his
heart might show how bitterly he repented of his sins, and how
earnestly he plead that God would remember his covenant, and not
account the great faults of his servant as a forfeiture of his claims
upon God for protection and help. —— In all its parts this- was a
wonderful case of persevering and prevailing prayer-one that
might well be suggested to the whole Hebrew people in the times
of Hosea as an assurance that such prayer might yet save them,
while nothing less or other than this could.   Abruptly the
prophet passes to the third scene in the life of Jacob —that which




HOSEA.-CHAP. XII.                   65
transpired at Bethel. There the Lord God met the youthful Jacob,
reminded him of his own covenant with Abraham and Isaac; renewed this covenant with Jacob, and left him. Then Jacob awoke
fr'om this blessed vision and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place,
and I knew it not."  " How dreadful is this place! This is none
other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven! "  See
Gen. 28: 11-22. - Some difference of opinion exists as to the significance of the last word of this verse, "Us."  In what sense did
the Lord speak with us in Bethel? Hosea says, " There the Lord
found Jacob, and there he spake with not Jacob only, but us."
Some have said, the prophet included with Jacob, himself, and
perhaps others also, on the score of a common sympathy, as writers
sometimes unconsciously suppose themselves to be participating in
scenes that awaken in their hearts deep interest.   Others, noticing that the verb rendered " spake " is in the future, have given
it this turn: There the Lord woill speak with us; did speak with
Jacob, and will no less with us if we seek him  as earnestly.The latter idea-that God will truly speak with us and with all
who wait earnestly on him-is no doubt implied; the Bible usually
implies this, though it is rarely deemed necessary to express it.The first of the two views above given is preferable, expanded with
this further idea, that the things Gbd said there belong to the
whole future family of Jacob, viz.: the promise of Canaan; a
countless seed; a blessing on all the families of the earth through
his offspring, and the Lord Jehovah for his God and their God. In
view of the broad application of the things said then and there to
all the Hebrew race, Hosea might well say, "There the Lord spake.with us "-with us none the less because through Jacob. In this
sense the future incomplete tense of the Hebrew is specially apposite.  There was peculiar fitness in this allusion to Bethel —the
place made so sacred in those ancient times by the presence of God
and by his renewed covenant, but, during many generations recently past, most horribly desecrated by giving to a calf the worship due to God alone.
5. Even the LoRD God of hosts; the LORD is his memorial.
This verse is a close continuation of the preceding. " There he
spake with us, even the Lord God of hosts." —— In most English
Bibles the name " Lord " is printed in small capitals when it translates the Hebrew word Jehovah. In this verse the Hebrew reads,
"Even Jehovah, God of hosts-Jehovah is his memorial."  By
this is meant that the name Jehovah is that by which he would be
specially known, or, more precisely, is that one of his various
names whose significance he would have his people evermore remember, as to be fulfilled all along onward in the lapse of the ages.
All the names given to the Supreme Being are significant, e. g.,
"God of Hosts," or of the celestial armies; "El-Shaddai," the
Omnipotent or Almighty; " El " alone, the exalted and the mighty




HIIOSEA.-CHAP. XII.
one; and in like manner " Jehovah," the immutable, " he that was
and is and. is to come," forever liiing and forever the same,
the real and the great "I am."  See Ex. 8: 13-15, and 6: 3,
where it is said, "This is my name forever, and this is my memrorial unto all generations;" and where also God said to Moses, "I
am Jehovah; and I appeared unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by
the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not
known unto them."  This cannot mean that they had never known
and used the name Jehovah, for they had. It must therefore mean
that God had not fulfilled to them the true significance of this
name, i. e., one faithful to his promises. The idea is that this faithfulness results from his immutability, and that his people do not
fully know this attribute of God till they have tested and proved it
in their experience of his faithfulness in fulfilling his promises. In
this sense the name Jehovah stands through all time as his memorial name-its significance to be remembered by his people, and
perpetually developed and fulfilled more and more in the lapse of
ages. The significance of his other names may be verified and fulfilled at once; his omnipotence is seen in the creation of worlds
and in every real miracle; but his name Jehovah is verified only
by the aid of time, through the occurrence of events transpiring all
along down the world's history. In this most expressive sense it
is his memorial name, and is adduced by Hosea most fitly in this
connection to encourage the people to put their trust in him.
6. Therefore, turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and
judgment, and wait on thy God continually.
Hence the application here made-" Therefore," since God is
forever faithful and true, since he ever has been and ever will be
the God of his people Israel, "therefore, turn thou to thy God."
"Keep mercy and judgment "-duties toward man; "' and wait on
thy God continually," living in dependence upon him, and expecting all needful good from him alone. Morality toward man and
piety toward God make up the sum of human duty —loving God
with all thy heart and thy neighbor as thyself.
7. He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in
his hand: he loveth to oppress.
The discourse here turns abruptly to another sin of the people
of Ephraim-covetousness and consequent oppression. "The Canaanite -balances of deceit are in his hand: " he loves to take advantage in trade, and to drive a gainful bargain to the extent of
real oppression. The word "Canaanite" is used for merchant,
that people being the traffickers of Western Asia. The Phoenicians,
long celebrated for commerce and navigation, were part of the
original people of Canaan. - The word Canaanite means in Hebrew
one who acquires, accumulates. To this also the present use of the
word may refer. ~-"Balances of deceit" were made to cheat
with-one weight for buying and another for selling. Thus (Prov.




IOSEA.-CIIAP.. XI.                   6t
20: 23), "An abomination to the Lord is a stone and a stone" (one
to buy with and one to sell with); " and balances of deceit are not
good," i. e., are utterly bad. -This allusion to the trading usages
of Canaan was shaped to take hold of the people of Ephraim, the
more so because the latter, while in general holding the Canaanites
in contempt, were yet trading, defrauding, and oppressing in the
same way. As if the prophet would say: See the Canaanite; -you
think meanly of him for his low tricks of trade; what do you think
of yourselves?
8. And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have
found me out substance: in all my labours they shall
find none iniquity in me that were sin.
"Also Ephraim  said: Surely I am rich; I have found wealth
for myself; in all the fruits of my business they shall find in me no
acts of extortion that are sinful."  The last word is from the verb
which means to miss the mark, to overdo, to overstep due bounds.
Ephraim quietly implies that in trade some little crookedness and
deception are quite admissible; (probably he would have said, Who
can live by trade otherwise?) But on the other hand there are
things so flagrant that all the world will call them sin. He hopes,
indeed he is quite sure, they will not find any of this bad sort of
sin in his business life. —— So human nature and the usages and
moralities of trade were much the same B. C. 750, when IIosea was
writing, as they are to-day!
9. And I that am  the LORD thy God from the land
of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as
in the days of the solemn feast.
Once more the prophet turns abruptly, as is his wont, to promises, yet again to try the power of persuasion and love on the people. "Yet I, the Lord thy God ever since Egypt" (i. e., sinte the
exodus from Egypt), " will yet make thee to dwell in tents," &c.,
with reference to the feast of tabernacles, the great national thanksgiving. This was always a joyful occasion. Hence this verse must
be interpreted as a promise of good, and not a threatening of evil.
10. I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have
multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry
of the prophets.
Literally, "I have spoken to the prophets "-that they might
speak for me to the people. During the great apostasy in the latter
years of the kingdom of Ephraim, the Lord greatly multiplied
prophets and visions.-" Similitudes" include poetic figures, and
also symbols, which latter comprise both illustrative acts done by
the prophets, and also things seen in vision.
11. Is t/here iniquity in Gilead? surely they are van



68                 IIOSEA. —CHAH. XIII.
ity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars
are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.
Literally, "Lo! Gilead is wickedness!"  The next clause is
parallel: " surely they are vanity."   Gilead, one of the cities of
refuge, where many priests dwelt, has been named for its great
wickedness above (6: 8). — Gilgal also was notorious for its idol
worship. The Hebrew word " heaps" is a play on the word Gilgal,
which means a rolled-up heap of stones. Idol altars were thick
there as the heaps of stones in a ploughed field.
12. And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and
Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.
This brief and abrupt allusion to Jacob was designed to suggest
God's watchful care through his providence over his trustful children. This familiar history is found, Gen. chapters 29-33.
13. And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out
of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.
By this prophet, Moses, the Lord brought up his people from
Egypt, and can do like things again; by this prophet Israel was
kept-the same word which is rendered kept in v. 12. As Jacob
kept sheep-a faithful shepherd-so the Lord by Moses kept his
people, and, as Hosea would have the people infer, can again.
14. Ephraim  provoked him to anger most bitterly:
therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.
But Ephraim has long provoked him most bitterly; therefore
shall his Lord leave his blood upon him, unpardoned, and not
washed away, and shall turn back his reproach upon himself. The
blood referred to is probably that of children sacrificed to Moloch;
his reproach is that which he had cast upon the true God by discarding his law and worship, and putting idols before him. God
would requite this reproach by consigning Ephraim to public contempt among the nations of the earth.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE main drift of this chapter is to set forth the sils of Ephraim
and their certain consequences in his ruin-intermingled with some
rich assurances of God's love and promises of mercy and help to
the penitent.
1. When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died.




HOSEA. —CHAP. XIII.                 69
Our translators seem to have supposed the first clause to refer
to a time when Ephraim was penitent and humble. More recent
investigations in the language show that this sense and construction
are scarcely admissible, and by no means probable. The word on
which the interpretation hinges, occurs in this precise form nowhere else in our Bible. But a cognate word, without much doubt
of the same meaning, occurs, Jer. 49: 24, where it means terror.
This word in our passage is a noun, not, as in the English translation, a participial adjective. I translate: "When Ephraim spake,
there was trembling; he stood high in Israel; but when he sinned
in the matter of Baal, he died."  Ephraim, as here used, is the
one tribe only, not the whole ten. In the early days of the kingdom the influence of this tribe was very great; the word of
Ephraim was law, and was heard with trembling. His sin in the
matter of Baal proved the ruin of his influence and of himself.
2. And now they sin more and more, and have made
them molten images of their silver, and idols according
to their own understanding, all of it the work of the
craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice
kiss the calves.
The word used here for idols, as above remarked, in 4: 17, is
itself significant of toil and labor in their construction.  -" According to their own understanding " means with their skill, with
the best art and tact they have.  — "Wholly the work of the
craftsmen," is yet further expressive of the leading idea that these
idols are nothing whatever beyond what men make them. There
is nothing else about them, in them, or of them.  The prophet
means to deny that there is any invisible God dwelling in them.
In the phrase " they say of them," the pronoun they is expressed
in the Hebrew, and hence is made prominent in the thought-referring here to the priests, who had the management of idol worship. They gave the order that the men who offered sacrifice
should kiss the calves. This ceremony was one form of expressing
their reverence, confidence, and affection for these calves.
3. Therefore they shall be as the morning clond,
and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff
that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and
as the smoke out of the chimney.
" Therefore," as the fruit of such senseless and guilty worship,
their glory shall be evanescent; the whole nation shall soon disappear from the face of the earth, and hold no longer any place
among the nations. The threshing floors were fitted up on high
hills, and in open, exposed situations, to get the benefit of the wind
in cleaning grain. But when an oriental whirlwind fell suddenly
upon this operation, the chaff was driven off fearfully.




70I HOSEA. —CIAP. XIII.
4. Yet I am  the LORD thy God from  the land of
Egypt, and thou shalt know no God but me': for tere is
no saviour beside me.
Yet fearful as their doom must be, and great as their guilt had
been, the Lord reminds them that he has been their God ever since
the nation came out from Egypt. He evinced this relationship to
them then, and had done nothing on his part since to change it.
5. I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of
great drought.
"I did know thee in the wilderness," means more than a mere
knowledge of what they were. It implies that he had manifested
his knowledge of their case by his sympathy, love, and care. He
let nothing pertaining to their case or wants escape his notice.
Tile word rendered " drought " means properly, thirst-a land celebrated for the thirst of the weary traveller-one where no. water
is. In that land, God brought forth uwater for them from the
rock.
6. According to their pasture, so were they filled;
and their heart was exalted: therefore have they forgotten me.
The better God made their condition, or, in the prophet's figure,
the better pasture lie put them into, the more they were sated; this
fulness begat pride; and in their pride, they forgat Jehovah.Alas, that this should be the history of so many myriads of sinners!
God blesses them (must we say) too much; they become too full;
then proud; then they forget God, and become awfully strong in
their wickedness!
7. Therefore I will be unto them  as a lion.: as a
leopard by the way will I observe them.
8. I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her
whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there
will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear
them.
The figures to represent swift destruction are multiplied.  To
"observe," as the leopard, is to lie in wait and watch as for prey.
-God representshimself as doing what is done instrumentally by
the Assyrian arms.
9. 0 Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; bu- in me
is thine help.
The received translation expresses rich truths with great force.
Thou art thine own destroyer; thy God thine only deliverer. The
destruction is wholly thine; the salvation altogether mine.
But although both these propositions are true, and although




IIOSEA.-CHAP. XIII.                       1
their beauty and force are much enhanced by this vivid juxtaposition and contrast, yet a close and careful study of the original raises
a serious doubt in my mind whether this is precisely its sense.
The first clause is all right.  " Thine is this destruction;" but
the last clause, having in Hebrew three words, is more closely and
perfectly rendered thus:  "' Because (thou art) against me, against
thy help." The strong objection to our received translation is the
proposition against before the last word, " thy help." The English
translation makes no account of it; but HIosea does not put in words
for nothing.  Then also the connecting particle more naturally
means because than but.
In this construction we miss the strong antithesis, but we get a
pertinent sense, and one in harmony with the previous and following context;-thbns v. 8, The Assyrian power shall devour thee:
v. 9, This destruction is all of thine own procuring, because thou
wast against me, against thy only help: v. 10, Where is thy king
now, or any one that can save thee? &c.
10. I will be thy king': where is any other that may
save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou
saidst, Give me a king and princes?
The most approved translation is that in the margin: " Where
is thy king now-that he may save thee in all thy cities? " In this
case the Hebrew marginal reading is followed, not the received
text. The difference between the two is that the marginal reading
transposes the last two radicals.*
The remark is pertinently made in our English margin, that
Hoshea, the last king, was at this time in prison, as is stated 2 Kings
17: 4.
11. I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him
away in my wrath.
This statement probably has reference to this very king Hoshea.
It was true of Saul, and no less so of many of the kings in the kingdoma of the ten tribes. But if we ask for the particular king thought
* The real question for the critic here is whether he shall read Lyn
"I will be;" or,sn " Where?"  The only difference is in the transposition of the last two radicals. The critical authorities for the two readings in Hebrew are conflicting. I prefer the latter ( rs ) " Where?"
(1.) Because as compared with the other, which is followed in our received
version, this flows easily, following the natural order of the Hebrew words;
while that one labors and almost does violence to the wbrd rendered
"where," in the clause, "where is any other," &c. (2.) This last-named
word (SRix) strongly indicates that the sentence in which it occurs commenced with an interrogative. This is its common use-an enclitic or
post-positive particle, after an interrogative.  Our received translation
makes this word itself an interrogative, which is scarcely admissible.
(3.) The sense is indefinitely more pertinent and forcible-a consideration
which, superadded to the preceding, is conclusive.




72                 HOSEA. —CHAP. XIII.
of by the author, no one meets the conditions so well as the last,
Hoshea.
12. The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is
hid.
This refers to what God, not Ephraim, has done with his sin.
It is not implied that Ephraim has been able to hide his sin from
either man or God. The figures are taken from a man's tieing up
and hiding his money or other valuables for safe-keeping. So God
has laid away the sin of Ephraim, to be brought forth another day
for terrible retribution! Of this coming retribution, the prophet
proceeds to speak.
13. The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come
upon him: he is an unwise son; for he should not stay
long in the place of the breaking forth of children.
The received translation of this verse can scarcely be improved.
The figure in the first clause suddenly changes. Ephraim is first a
mother in her travail pains; then an infant voluntarily retarding
his own birth, and thus fearfully imperilling both his own life and
the mother's.   No figures drawn from human experience can be
more forcible than this-the peril that ensues when " children come
to the birth and there is not strength to bring forth." If, now, to
get the full force of this passage as applied to Ephraim, we suppose
the son to bring on this danger by his own voluntary, intelligent
agency, we shall see the infatuation and very madness which Hosea
so temperately describes as being " unwise." Ephraim is going to
the judgment with God in charge of all his sins, and he still lingers
under the call to repent, and will not make peace with his offended
judge.-The primary reference here is to judgments on earth,
and very near; yet the principle is even more pertinent and forcible as applied to every sinner going to the final judgment.
14. I will ransom them from the power of the grave;
I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy
plagues, O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance
shall be hid from mine eyes.
Ephraim  is seen ruining himself by his madness.  The
figure in the prophet's mind suggests death in some of its most
painful forms; but God interposes, saying, "I will ransom thee
from Sheol; I will redeem thee from death." Sheol, the grave,
and death are, of course, personified here, and supposed to be living
agents of terrific power over frail mortals. -The clauses translated-" O death, I will be thy plagues;" " O grave, I will be thy
destruction-" raise the same critical question which came up in v.
10-the choice between the interrogative and the indicative formwith, however, less reason for the interrogative here than there.
The general sense is the same either way; the interrogative form




HOSEA.-CHAP. XIII.                   73
is the more bold and triumphant, and has yet this further fact in its
favor, viz.: that Paul (1 Cor. 15: 55) quotes interrogatively-" O
death, where is thy sting?  O grave, where is thy victory? "
-In regard to this quotation by Paul, it should be said further,
that the words as they stand here do not refer to the resurrection,
but to salvation from the ruin then impending over Israel; but
Paul's quotation applies them to the resurrection —the final triumph
of our frail mortality over death and the grave, under the power of
a resurrection to unfading life and immortality. The words are
beautifully applicable to the latter event, and are, therefore, fitly
used.   " Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes," must here be
taken as God's own declaration concerning his purpose just before
expressed: "' I will redeem my people and be the destroyer of their
worst foes, even of death and the grave, and there shall be no reversal of this purpose."-   This has no reference to God's hiding
his eyes from man's repentance in this world or any other. Whatever may be true as to this, the passage before us has nothing to
say about it. All language should be construed and applied with
reference to the subject in hand.  In this verse the Lord thinks
of Ephraim as bringing down on himself remediless ruin; but he
interposes one more promise: I will yet redeem them even from
this awful death if they will repent; or as the future might be rendered -I would, on my part, redeem them, if only they would
consent!
15. Though he be fruitful- among his brethren, an
east wind shall come, the wind of the LORD shall come
up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry,
and his fountain shall be dried up: he shall spoil the
treasure of all pleasant vessels.
Promise of help avails not; so, again, the prophet predicts for
Ephraim near impending judgments. Though he may have been
eminently fruitful, i. e., populous and prosperous among his brother
tribes (said with reference to the significance of his name —Ephraim,
the prolific, and with reference also to the facts of his history), yet
" an east wind "-often the simoom coming in upon Palestine from
the eastern quarter-" the wind of the Lord," i. e. sent by him
especially, "from  the desert "-this shall "dry up his fountain
and spring," and be the ruin of his land. In oriental countries the
great scourge of the land is drought. Cut off from water, the land
becomes one wide waste of desolation. So of Ephraim.   This
language has special reference to the Assyrian power, which was
God's great instrument for laying waste the kingdom of Ephraim.
To this Assyrian king the pronoun " he" must be referred; "' he
shall spoil the treasures of all desirable, valuable things."
16. Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath
rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword:
4




74                 IHOSEA.-CHAP. XIV.
their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women
with child shall be ripped up.
This clear, definite announcement of the ruin to come on the
kingdom of the ten tribes for their great sins, was obviously made
but a short time before the event. Hosea lived and prophesied in
the midst of these very scenes. Thus closes what he has to say in
the line of rebuking the sins of the people and announcing their
coming doom.
CHAPTER XIV.
Tins short chapter is a fit and striking sequel to the book of
Hosea, almost the entire strain of which sets forth the sins-the
ingratitude, incorrigibleness, and the coming doom of the apostate
children of Israel. But the Lord cannot let this stern message of
rebuke and threatening close without one more call to repentance.
If the nation must go down, like a sinking ship into the angry billows, with its vast freight of human' souls, they shall at least go
with the sounds of offered mercy still ringing in their ears; and
further, the Lord would not leave a shade of apology for the inference that his heart is vindictive. After so much said of judgment
and wrath, a wrong impression as to these points might be left if
the book were to close without yet another testimony to his merciful compassion. How tenderly careful not to crush out hope from
even the guiltiest bosom, saying, " I will not contend forever, neither
will I be always wroth, for the spirit should fail before me and the
souls which I have made."  (Isa. 57: 16.) - Yet again: the strain
of this closing chapter really glows with the beauty. and joy of God's
restored people when they repose under his shadow and drink at
his fountain of bliss-all in charming contrast with the utfer blight
that falls on the wicked who pasture themselves on wind and chase
after the east wind, and whose best delights turn to ashes on their
lips. The joyous prosperity of God's'penitent people is one of the
strong recommendations of true piety.-And finally, the strain of
this chapter is doubtless intended as an answer to the question
oftener thought than expressed, What will become of the cause
and kingdom of God on earth? If hls people prove so hopelessly
apostate, despite of such loving and persistent labor to save them,
what is the hope for God's kingdom? Here we have the answer.
It will yet be seen that this kingdom has the infinite God for its
king. The interests of truth and righteousness in the earth may
seem to go down in darkness; but they canm at worst only pass
under an eelipse, to shine out the more gloriously in their own
appointed time. In this point of view, this closing chapter must
be taken as a prophecy of the ultimate triumph of the cause and
kingdom of God on earth.




EOSEA.-CIHAP. XIV.                    75
1. 0 Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou
hast fallen by thine iniquity.
"To the Lord thy God' —thine own God still-a precious
reason for hope and encouragement in your return.
2. Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say
unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive'ts graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.
" Take words "-avail yourself of the aid which the expression
of your feelings in fit language will give you; and, moreover, do
this, not merely alone, each in his solitude; but socially, the great
body of the people uniting as the heart of one man.   To "render
the calves of our lips," means to respond to God's forgiving mercy
with oral expressions of gratitude and praise-offering our lips instead of bullocks. The word rendered "calves " means bullocks,
and is almost without exception used of bullocks offered in sacrifice. The construction in Hebrew is not-the calves of our lips;
but this-so will we give back our lips (as) bullocks-after the
manner in which bullocks are brought forth for offerings in sacrifice
to God.
3. Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon
horses: neither will we say any more to the work of
our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless
findeth mercy.
The returning penitents pledge themselves specifically against
three sins: seeking help from Assyria; from the use of horses in
war, usually brought from Egypt; and saying any more to what is
only the work of their own hands, " Ye are our gods."  The reason
given is ample-" In God, the fatherless find mercy; "-the helpless
and forlorn, like ourselves, find compassion in him. The word
used carries us back to " Ruhamah," as in chapters 1 and 2-this
being the same.
4. I will heal their backsliding, I will love them
freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
The Lord himself now spqaks in response to their vows and
prayers. " Heal them of their backslidings " means restore them
both in heart and in the external life.   " Will love them freely"
-the last most expressive word having the sense of spontaneouswith warm and full heart, even as the blessed God of love is wont
to love the truly penitent soul.
5. I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow ao
the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
The dews of Palestine were very heavy, and when in their fulness, went far to supply the want of rain.-  The " lily " is noted




76                  HIOSEA. —CHAP. XIV.
for its beauty. Our Saviour's reference to it will be readily recalled-" Consider the lilies of the field," &c. (Matt. 6: 28, 29)."He," Israel, "shall shoot forth his roots as Lebanon " —referring
to its lofty cedars which thrust their roots far out and deep down
(among the ancient foundations of the mountains, and so withstand
the tempests of ages."
6. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be
as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
The olive-tree with its lovely green, furnishes another image of
God's people under his faithful culture. Some of the trees and
shrubs of Lebanon were fragrant, and perfumed the atmosphere of
the mountain, as is indicated here, " the smell of Lebanon."
7. They that dwell under his shadow shall return;
they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the
scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
"His shadow " is that of God-perhaps suggested by the tacit
allusion to the cedars of Lebanon, whose shade is magnificent.The word rendered scent, in the last clause, is memorial-the same
used 12: 5-meaning, they shall be renowned in fame, as the wine
of Lebanon which has to this day the highest repute.
8. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more
with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am
like a green fir-tree. From me is thy fruit found.
Ephraim renounces idols for ever. The Lord takes note of this,
and will observe-watch over him with a loving father's care.The fir-tree is an evergreen, —setting forth here that God's love
and care are ever enduring-green through all the year. And if
the thought should arise,'"But it yields no fruit "-the Lord at
once forestalls that objection. " From me is thy fruit found;" all
fruit comes, not from creatures, even the best and surest of them,
but from myself.
9. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things?
prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the
LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the
transgressors shall fall therein.
The interrogatives here call the reader's special attention. The
subject-matter of this book-God's ways of judgment and of mercy
toward his people, wayward or penitent-are here set before you;
whoever is wise shall understand them and learn their lessons of
great truth and of practical life.-For God's ways are altogether
right; the just, in the sense of upright, honest, and sincere, shall
walk in them with peace and gladness through usefulness and honor
here to a blissful end hereafter; but transgressors, whom no truth




HOSEA. —CHAP. XIV.                    77
can reach to bless, shall stumble and fall under the very influences
that ]bring salvation to the just.
Such are the lessons of this richly instructive book of Hosea.
We shall need to go far to find other writings more forcible, more
tersely written, more beautiful in their poetic imagery, more burning in their rebukes of sin, and more glowing in their testimonies
to the deep compassion and yearning love of God toward sinful
man.




JOEL.
INTRIODUCTION.
THE precise date and duration of the prophetic life of Joel may
be conjectured, but cannot be certainly known. He is not named
elsewhere in the Old Testament Scriptures. His prophecy seems to
be quoted both by Amos (compare Amos 1: 2 with Joel 3: 16) and
by Isaiah (compare Isaiah 13: 6 with Joel 1: 15). Amos prophesied at some period within the long reigns of Uzziah of Judah, B. c.
811-759, and of Jeroboamn II. of Israel, B. c. 825-784. Hence, if
the writings of Joel were in the hands of Amos, he cannot have
prophesied later than the reign of Uzziah; he may have been many
years earlier. His book shows that he prophesied in Judah, and
that the temple worship was then kept up. Remarkably, the book
does not notice the kingdom of the ten tribes nor the sin of idolatry. The people are exhorted to repentance, to fasting, weeping,
and rending of the heart. It may be inferred that in such a book
idolatry would have been rebuked if it had been then prevalent.
Some have argued, from his silence respecting the Syrian power,
while he mentions Tyre and Sidon (3: 4) as enemies, that he must
have lived before their first invasion of Judah in the time of Ahab
(reigned B. C. 918-897). See 1 Kings, chapters 20-22. But this
cannot be conclusive, since he might know the Syrian kingdom as
an enemy, and yet not mention it. Some weight is rightly given to
the fact that the compilers of these sacred books have placed Joel
between Hosea and Amos. In general, they observed the order of
time, and it is safe to assume that, living, so near the age of those
prophets, they must have known with a fair measure of accuracy




JOEL. —CHAP. I.                     79
when Joel lived and wrote, This compilation is usually ascribed
to Ezra and his associates-perhaps we should rather say, Ezra and
his successors. The earliest historical notice of a collection known
as " the Twelve MIinor Prophets," is in the book of "Ecclesiasticus," or "Wisdom of Jesus, Son of Sirach" (49: 10), in these
words: " And of the Twelve Prophets let the memorial be blessed,
and let their bones flourish again out of their place, for they comforted Jacob and delivered them by assured hope." The original
of this book bears date 180 B. c. But there is good reason to suppose this compilation to be not much if any later than Malachi,
about 420 B. c. Joel may have been somewhat earlier than Hosea,
and yet be placed after him in order because shorter or for other
reasons. I incline to assign him an earlier date than Hosea. Possibly (not probably) the famine which he portrays so vividly was
that terrible one of seven years referred to (2 Kings 8: 1) in the
reign of Jehosaphat in Judah (reigned B. C. 914-891) and of Jehoram, son of Ahab, in Israel (reigned B. c. 890-884). With these
only approximate results I pass the question of date.
Another question, at once more difficult and more important,
respects the principles of interpretation which shall rule throughout
the first two chapters. On this depends the determination of the
primary and proper sense. On this point very able commentators
disagree. It is admitted by all that the language seems to describe
a fearful visitation of locusts, coupled with drought and consequent
famine. But some, with Dr. Hengstenberg, hold that there were
no real locusts. Foreign enemies "present themselves to the in'ward contemplation of the prophet as an all-devouring swarm of
locusts."-(Vol. 3: 103.) That is, Joel saw the locusts only in vision; the only real visitation was that of armed men —the real
scourge was war. —-Others, with Dr. Henderson, find real locusts,
desolating the land, throughout chapter 1. In chapter 2, armed
bands are the real thing, but they are compared to locusts. The
locust bands, then recent, furnish the imagery by which they are
described.- Others still suppose that real locusts are definitely
described throughout chapter 1, and also 2: 1-27. Yet this being a
most fearful visitation, a striking and even appalling proof of God's
power to inflict judgments on guilty men and guilty nations, it became naturally suggestive of what the wicked have to fear in some
other and more terrible "great day of the Lord."  Without admnitting the doctrine of a double sense, i. e., two distinct and coor



80                    JOEL.-CHAP. I.
dinate senses of the same words and phrases, it may yet be reasonably held that a fearful devastation by locusts may suggest the ruin
brought on a country by war, or by those unknown agencies of
destruction which God has in store for the guilty in his magazines
of wrath.-This latter view I accept, constrained in general by
the fact that this seems to be the obvious sense of the passage.
My plan of commentary precludes any extended discussion of
opinions from which I dissent, yet briefly I must reject the first
theory above named as too foreign from the obvious sense of the
language. There is no hint that the locusts are seen in vision only,
and stand merely as symbols and figures of armed men. Hengstenberg speaks of it as an " allegory," but the manner and air of
an allegory are wanting. Every allegory should furnish clear evi*dence of its being such. Besides this, an allegory should not give
a minute natural history of the locust.   The second theory fails
to harmonize with the drift of the description, for the second chapter gives us locusts as clearly as the first. In vs. 4-9 these locusts
are compared to armed men-not armed men to locusts-a distinction which Dr. Henderson seems to ignore or at least overlook.Other remarks bearing on the true interpretation may be suggested
in the notes on particular passages.
In this book there will be very little occasion to comment on
the meaning of particular words and clauses. The received translation in most cases is excellent, and gives the sense of the original
with accuracy. The point of chief difficulty and of greatest moment is, to arrive at the ultimate sense and instruction-the mind
of the Spirit of truth.
CHAPTER I.
APLAGCUE of locusts comes upon the land, unparalleled in its
kind; they are described, vs. 6, 7, their devastations, vs. 9-12, 1620, and various classes of the people are summoned to mourning,
vs. 5, 8, 9, 13, and to fasting, v. 14.
1. The word of the LoRD that came to Joel the son
of Pethuel.
With the greatest brevity we are simply told that this book is
the word of God that came to Joel.
2. Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhab



JOEL.-CIHAP. I.                    81
itants of the land. IIath this been in your days, or
even in the days of your fathers?
3. Tell ye your children of it, and let your children
tell their children, and their children another generation.
"' Hath this been in your days? " must mean, Hath any such
thing as this been-any visitation so fearful and so desolating? He
appeals to the oldest men to say if, either in their days or in the
days of their fathers, so great a judgment in its kind has befallen
the land. V. 4 opens the description.
4. That which the palmer-worm hath left hath the
locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath
the canker-worm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.
Successive armies of locusts come upon the land, each, according to the strong language of this description, devouring all that
the next preceding had left.- Great labor has been expended on
the natural history of the locusts spoken of in the Bible. They
appear under about ten different names, but whether these names
represent ten distinct species remains in doubt. This point has no
very great practical importance. —It is important, however, to
the full impression of these chapters, that the power of these locusts
for devastation should be understood. One author says: "'Man
can conquer the tiger and the lion; can turn the course of mighty
rivers, and chain the winds to his car, and can play with the lightnings of heaven, but he is nothing before an army of locusts."
Another says: " In some regions of the East the whole earth is at
times covered with locusts for the space of several leagues, often to
the depth of four, sometimes of six or seven inches. Their approach, with a noise like the rushing of a torrent, darkens the horizon, hides the light of the sun, and casts an awful gloom like that
of an eclipse over the fields."  Major Moore, when at Poonah, had
an opportunity of seeing an immense army of locusts which ravaged the Mahratta country, and was supposed to have come from
Arabia. Their column extended five hundred miles, and so compact was it when on the wing, that, like an eclipse, it completely
hid the sun. Pliny calls them " a scourge in the hand of an incensed Deity."  Before them  all verdure disappears; the wL1le
country puts on the appearance of being burnt. Fire itself devours
not so fast. Not a vestige of vegetation is left behind them. In
a few hours they eat up every green thing, and consign the miserable inhabitants to inevitable famine. " The husbandmen make
every effort possible to stay or turn aside these foes or destroy
therh; they build fires or raise a dense smoke to withstand them,
or dig trenches and fill them with water, but all to no purpose; for
the trenches are soon filled and the fires extinguished by infinite
swarms succeeding one another, and forming a bed on their fields
4*




82                    JOEL.-CHAP. I.
of six or seven inches in thickness. When they die the effluiia
becomes intolerable, and often has occasioned a pestilence fearfully
destructive to human life."  These few facts will suffice to show
that the locust is one of the most terrible agents for destruction in
the hands of the Almighty.
5. Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all
ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is
cut off from your mouth.
Wine-drinkers are called to weep and howl, because their new
wine, called " must," fails them.
6. For a nation is come up upon my land, strong,
and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion,
and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.'7. He hath laid my vine waste, and barked imy fig
tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the
branches thereof are made white.
The word here rendered " nation " is usually applied to heathen
nations, considered as the enemies of God and of his people. In
this case it implies that they are public enemies, a scourge sent of
G6d upon his land. They are strong by reason of their great numbers; their teeth are terrible because of the devastations they can
make. Stripping off all the foliage and even the bark, they leave
only a mass of ruins and bare white branches.-The grasshopper
of our country bears a close resemblance to the oriental locust.
The latter, however, appear -in immensely greater numbers, and
make their desolations absolutely complete and universal.
8. Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for
the husband of her youth.
9. The meat-offering and the drink-offering is cut
off from the house of the LOuD; the priests, the LoRD's
ministers, mourn.
10. The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the
corn is wasted: the new  wine is dried  up, the  oil
languisheth.
By a change in the usage of our English word " meat," within the
last two hundred years, it has come to mean the flesh of animals.
Anciently it was used in the general sense of food, and sometimes in
the specific sense of vegetable food. Thus (Gen. 1: 29, 30) God said, "I
have given to you," i. e. toman, " every herb, and the fruit of trees,
for meat;" and "to every beast," &c., "have I given every green
herb for meat." —So here, this "meat-offering" consisted of
flour, meal, or cakes, with oil, frankincense, but not a particle of
flesh. Hence the locusts swept it all avway. —Those who loved




JOEL.-CHAP. I.                    83
the service of the Lord were specially afflicted, because they were
no longer able to bring to his temple the accustomed and required
offerings;
11. Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye
vine-dressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because
the harvest of the field is perished.
Confounded expresses the exact sense, rather than " ashamed,"
since shame properly implies some sense of guilt. Here the idea is
that they were at their wit's end-all their labor had come to
naught.
12. The vine is dried up and the fig-tree languisheth; the pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, and the
apple-tree, even all the trees'of the field, are withered:
because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
13. Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl,
ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat-offering and
the drink-offering is withholden from the house of your
God.
14. Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather
the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the
house of the LoRD your God, and cry unto the LORD.
The evil was by far the more serious, since not only the vegetables-annual plants-but trees of many years' growth, withered
and died under this fearful scourge, so that joy-the joy men feel
in these sources of earthly good-withered away.   Here is another call to mourning over these calamities, and especially and
most pertinently to fasting, and to a general gathering in the house
of God to lift up their prayer to him. Nothing can be more appropriate in seasons of calamity than to humble our hearts before
the Lord, and seek his face with deep humility for our great sins.
15. Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at
hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it
come.
The locusts being spoken of as present and this " day of the
Lord" as being only "near," grave questions arise here; viz.: What
is this " day of the Lord " which is near, but not (as it would seem)
yet present? Is it the visitation of locusts, and nothing beyond
and greater? If something beyond and greater, then what precisely is it? Does the prophet intend to make his description of it
definite; as of some special event; or rather to leave it indefinite,
designing only to impress the thought of the awfulness and terror
of God's retributive judgments, however and whenever sent?




84                    JOEL.-CHAP. I.
If there were nothing else in Joel but this (v. 15), looking toward another great day of the Lord, there would be no special
difficulty in interpreting this of the locusts exclusively.  For it
might be urged that the locusts were even then scarcely present,
and the terribleness of this scourge was still in the nearer future;
that the tenses in Hebrew and especially in prophecy are not used
with such definite precision as in most other languages; also, that
the next verses continue the subject of locusts and the drought as
if no other thought had been before the writer's mind.- But
this verse does not stand alone in reference to the question now
before us. The passage (2:1) repeats-" For the day of the Lord
cometh, for it is nigh at hand;" and, of more weight still (in 2: 31)
we read: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon
into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come."
This plainly shows that the prophet has some thought of another
great and fearful, but somewhat remote, " day of the Lord," besides
this in which locusts are the manifestation of his retributive vengeance.   Here, then, are various allusions to a "great day of the
Lord," to be explained and accounted for. Do we not find the key
to their exposition in those laws of mental association which, under
the awe-inspiring power of a present judgment, like this of locusts,
carry the mind over to the more awful future —to the great power
of Almighty God to bring forth from the storehouse of his plagues
far more terrible, annihilating judgments, and which make every
mind feel that God's judgments are near at hand? This law of
mind is well known. The effect of any present judgment is to
make all future judgments seem near. It leads the mind to anticipate them with confidence, to take this present one as itself a prophecy and pledge of more and other in the future, and to lose sight
of whatever time may intervene before they come. Thus, a single
death-bed scene makes death seem near to ourselves. Sudden
deaths by hundreds, as in the awful cholera pestilence, make stout
hearts quail under a sense of God's power and justice, so that it
shall seem that death and judgment are at the door. Moreover, a
guilty conscience fearfully heightens this sense of the great day of
the Lord as near at hand.-Thus powerfully suggestive was this
fearful day of visitation by locusts. It brought fresh to the prophet's mind a sense of the awful guilt of his people, and of the
certainty and nearness of God's sorer judgments. And, moreover,
as he wrotefor moral impression, and as the divine Spirit had this
main if not sole purpose, it need not surprise us that he deems it
of no special importance to speak more definitely of the time or
manner of these yet future visitations of judgment. Suffice it if he
can impress on the souls of wicked men the solemn thought that
God's great day of judgment to them cannot be long delayed!
Yet further, as bearing on the sense of this verse, let it be noted
that the most fearful thing in any form of judgment is that it comes
from God, and is a proof of his stern displeasure. The conscious
sense of his wrath burning against us is of all things most awful.




JOEL. —CIIAP. I.                   85
This becomes fitly the all-absorbing thought. Any form of judgment may suffice to awaken this feeling. Once awakened in a
consciously guilty bosom, the man knows and feels that more and
greater demonstrations of God's displeasure must be near.
In view of these laws of mind and of their relations to the
question in hand, I see in this verse, and also in 2: 1, no evidence
of allusion to any other speciic day, as e. g. the invasion of the
Assyrian army. To suppose this, seems foreign from the general
drift of the prophet's thought. Besides, if he had wished to predict
that invasion, it is marvellous that he should not have made his
statements more defini te.   The original words rendered " destruction " and " almighty " are fiom kindred roots-as if we should say,
" a mighty ruin from the Almighty hand."
16. Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea,
joy and gladness from the house of our God?
The same idea as in v. 9, resumed and reiterated interrogatively
— Is it not so? The prophet reverts to the subject in hand (vs. 2-14)
as if no thought of any other day had come in to divert it. This
fact shows that v. 15 is no new and foreign subject, but only something naturally suggested by his main theme.
17. The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners
are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the
corn is withered.
The effects of extreme drought, coupled with the work of the
locusts. No seed vegetates; all harvests fail.
18. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are
perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks
of sheep are made desolate.
The "cattle are perplexed " —the original word, looking, however, not so much to a state of mind as to its manifestations. They
wander up and down as if bewildered and at their wit's end.
19. 0 LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath
burned all the trees of the field.
20. The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the
rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured
the pastures of the wilderness.
The prophet declares his purpose to cry unto the Lord for help
and mercy, for the twofold reason that his heart feels so, and that
he would lead the people also to. prayer for help.
Thus closes this chapter-a most graphic, life-like description of
a fearful devastation by drought and locusts-so severe and so terrible as to impress the mind with a sense of the weakness of man




86                    JOEL.-CHAP. II.
before the great and dreadful God, and of his guilt before Oneo too
holy to pass over sin without manifesting his sore displeasure.
CHAPTER II.
THE great alarm is sounded forth from the temple as usual in the
presence of some dire calamity (v. 1); a more full description of
the locusts is given-in part personal (vs. 4-9, and in part general
and in the line of their effects (vs. 2, 3, 10, 11): the Lord exhorts
the people to return to him (vs. 12-14). A  solemn assembly is
called for fasting and prayer (vs. 15-17); the Lord answers graciously (vs. 18-20), and passes over to rich promises of mercy, including rain and abundant harvests (vs. 21-27); and finally to the
fuller promise of his Spirit in the latter time (vs. 23, 28-32).
1. Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm
in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land
tremble: for the day of the LouD cometh, for it is nigh
at hand;
".Blowing the trumpet and sounding an alarmr' from  the
temple was of divine appointment in the law given through Moses.
(See Num. 10: 1-10.) It convened the people to consider and act
upon any case of general calamity, and had the promise-" Ye shall
be remembered before the Lord your God, and ye shall be saved
from your enemies.'!   The near " coming of the day of the Lord "
is analogous to chap. 1: 15, and must be explained in the same way.
2. A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of
clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon
the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath
not been ever the like, neither shall:be any more after
it, even to the years of many generations.
Darkness is often, with the Hebrew poets especially, a symbol
of calamity. In this verse, however, there is no occasion to interpret it as a symbol. It is rather actual-the darkness produced by
immense clouds of locusts, obscuring the light of day. This darkness came on and passed over the land " as the light of morning
spread over the mountains;" where the point of the comparison is
not in any supposed resemblance between darkness and light, for
there is none; but in the manner of its coming on over the face of
the earth. As the morning light sweeps up from the east, first
gilding the mountain-tops, and then quietly pervading the whole
face of the earth,' so this darkness swept on as an avalanche of
cloud, and rested like a dark pall of gloom and terror on the whole
land.-  That this visitation should be describcd as surpassing any




JOEL.-CIHAP. II.                   87
ever known before, and even any that should come after for many
generations, need not surprise us. It may have been strictly true of
it uwhile it lasted, and in reference to judgments of this sort. Moreover, men suffering under any fearful infliction, naturally express
themselves in such strong terms.
3. A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a
flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before
them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and
nothing shall escape them.
":Fire" and "flame" are probably figurative; the desolation
they wrought being like that of fire on the prairies, as if fire swept
on before them, and again behind them, leaving absolutely nothing more to be destroyed.  Exquisitely forcible and touching is
this-the land seen in all the beauty of Eden before them, but behind them only a desolate wilderness.
4. The appearance of them  is as the appearance of
horses; and as horsemen so shall they run.
5. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire
that devoureth  the stubble, as a strong  people set in
battle array.
Locusts have been often compared to horses, as in Rev. 9: 7:"The shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for
battle." They are fleet like horsemen, moving rapidly with the
wind.   The figure of an army moving in solid phalanx and fearful array, is constantly present to the mind. Yet the thing described
is an army, not of men, but of locusts. The locusts are like armed
horsemen. He does not say that armed horsemen are comning on,
and are like locusts.
6. Before their face the people shall be much pained:
all faces shall gather blackness.
The word rendered "blackness " means rather a glow or flush
of anxiety. The sense is-the people become intensely agitated
with fear and alarm.
7. They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb
the wall like men of: war; and they shall march every
one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:
8. Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk
every one in his path:  and when they fall upon the
sword, they shall not be wounded.
9. They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall




88                   JOEL. —CHAP. IL.
run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses;
they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.
It cannot be reasonably doubted that this is, and is intended to
be, a closely accurate description of locusts, as they sweep along in
their onward march for devastation. Every feature is in its place,
made true to the reality by a master's hand. That the sword avails
nothing against them goes to confirm this view, and to shut off the
possibility of applying the description to the Assyrian army.
10. The earth shall quake before them; the heavens
shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and
the stars shall withdraw their shining:
Strong poetic imagery should not be pressed to an extremely
literal sense. In this passage, we need not insist that the locusts
produced an earthquake, or any real concussion of the heavens.
Jerome says pertinently on this passage: "Not that the locusts
have so much power that they can move the heavens and shake the
earth; but to those who are in great suffering and extreme terror,
it will seen, that the heavens are falling and the earth tossing under
their feet."-Strong feeling naturally expresses itself in strong
language. The darkening of the sun, moon, and stars, is a common figure for a great calamity; as, on the other hand, sun-rising
and the joyous light of day are symbols of prosperity. The reader
may find scriptural examples in abundance, e. g., of the former
class-Jer. 4: 28; Ezek. 32: 7, 8; Isa. 13: 10; Matt. 24: 29.
The consternation commonly felt for many ages when an eclipse
occurred, shows how forcible this figure must have been in ancient
times. Moreover, there may be here a tacit allusion to the actual
darkening of the-heavens, occasioned by the flight of countless
myriads of locusts.
11. And the LORD shall utter his voice before his
army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that
executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and
very terrible; and who can abide it?
That " his army" is none other than the locusts, is put beyond
a doubt by the Lord himself (v. 25), where he says of the locust,
caterpillar, etc., "my great army which I sent among you." The
words in Hebrew as well as in the English version are the soame in
both passages. This locust army is strong to execute the mandate
of Jehovah. Sent by him, they are terribly efficient in devastating
the land.-This " day of the Lord " can look to nothing else primarily save the visitation of locusts.-" Abide " is here used in
the sense of endure.
12. Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even
to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with
weeping, and with mourning:




JOEL.-CHAP. II.                   89
13. And rend your heart, and not your garments,
and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious
and merciful, slow to anger, and, of great kindness, and
repenteth him of the evil.
14. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and
leave a blessing behind him, even a meat-offering and a
drink-offering unto the LORD your God-?
This is the only appropriate thing to be done-the only source
of hope for deliverance-to return and seek the Lord in penitence,
for he is gracious and delights in mercy. Who knows but he may
turn from scourging to blessing, and leave us at least so much that
we can bring meat and drink offerings before him at his temple?
-This moral lesson is for all time, and for all sorts of affliction
and calamity befalling men in this world. Everywhere and always,
be the scourge what it may, it behooves men to turn to God, confessing sin, imploring mercy, daring to hope, since they may, that
the Lord will yet turn from judgment to mercy.
15. Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a
solemn assembly:
16. Gather the people, sanctify the congregation,
assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that
suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his
chamber, and the bride out of her closet.
17. Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep
between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare
thy people, O LoRD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their
God 
This summons to a great convocation for fasting and humiliation
before God, differs from that in chap. 1: 14, in being more specific
as to the classes of people to be convened, and also in giving the form
of prayer appropriate for the occasion.   In this prayer, the phrase,
" that the heathen should rule over them "-has been thought by
some to be conclusive proof that the judgment described in this
chapter (or, as others think, in tile first as well) is not locusts, but
armed men-a foreign invasion.   But a single circumstance like
this cannot legitimately outweigh the continued tenor of the
description throughout these two entire chapters. Besides, the
thing chiefly feared from the heathen is reproach, not subjugation
-the reproach of having a God unable to save, and bent on scourging and devastation.  This is the thought in v. 17 —" Give not
thine heritage to reproach;" and also in v. 19 (the Lord's reply)
— " I will no more make you a reproach among. the heathen." It




90                    JOEL.-CHAP. II.
is also seen in the taunt, supposed to be in their mouth, " Where is
their God? "  It is therefore only in harmony with the drift of
thought to interpret the rwords rendered'' rule over them,", as in
the margin, " use a byword against them."  While it must be admitted that in most cases this verb means to rule, yet the noun
formed from it has the sense of byword, reproach, in many passages,
and the verb is used in this sense in Job, 17: 6. -  Or, it might be
said that giving this phrase the sense of ruling, it may still be
thought of as an evil to be feared in the future, not as one suffered
in the present. If the land were to remain long so desolate and
breadless, the people would become an easy prey to any foreign
enemy, for such famine at once cuts the sinews of' war and leaves
the people no power of self-defence. In this view, therefore, they
might fitly pray that God would remove this scourge of locusts, lest
otherwise the whole nation, being powerless, should fall before its
foreign enemies.
18. Then will the LonD be jealous for his land, and
pity his people.
19. Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his
people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil,
and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more
make you a reproach among the heathen:
"Then," i. e., when his people humble themselves, and with one
heart and voice implore his mercy.   Expressly the Lord is said to
be "'jealous for his land," for that land which had long borne his
name before the nations, and with which his honor was so deeply
involved. The Lord's answer promises blessings that lie over
against the previous curse. Ho will gloriously reverse the calamities with corresponding mercies.   It may be noted that all along
through verses 19-26, these blessings point to the devastations of
locusts, the destruction of all the fruits of the earth, as the evils
under which the nation had suffered, with no clearly defined allusion
to foreign invasion. This fact goes far to disprove any distinct reference in these chapters to such invasion.
20. But I will remove far off from you the northern
army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder
part toward the utmost sea; and his stink shall come up,
and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done
great things.
The phrase "northern army" is urged by some as decisive proof
of reference throughout this chapter to the Assyrians or Chaldeans,
and not to locusts.
Against this it may be said: (1.) The manner and the consequences of the destruction of- this army, as given in this verse, show




JOEL.-CHAP. II.                     91
that they are locusts, not men. In destroying this ariny, the Lord
sends a strong wind and drives them into the sea; then they are
thrown (this is implied) by the waves upon the shore, and their
stench becomes intolerable. Not so would he destroy an army of
men.   (2.) It is still a contested question, with authorities conflicting on either side, whether the locust armies do not sometimes
enter Palestine from the north or northeast, so that this army might
be called "northern" for this reason.   Or, (3.) It may be suggested whether, inasmuch as all the great powers, hostile to Israel
in the latter period of their history, lay on the north, viz., Syria
and Assyria, this term "northern" might not be a synonym for
powerful, so that an army so terrible as this locust horde might be
called northern for this reason.
In the last clause, "because he hath done great things," some
critics suppose they find voluntary and morally responsible agency,
and hence they infer that it can apply only to a human. foe. But
the indications of moral agency in this phrase are by no means decisive.
21. Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the
LORD will do great things.
22. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the
pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth
her fruit, the fig-tree and the vine do yield their strength.
By a bold personification the " land " and the " beasts " are exhorted not to fear any more, for God will remove his fearful scourge.'" The Lord will do great things," is here finely contrasted with
the locusts " doing great things," as in v. 20.  However great their
devastations, the Lord can make his ensuing blessings far greater.
He delights to set his mercies over against the mischiefs and mniseries that sin brings on men, and to show in this way how exceedingly he can surpass them in the greatness and glory of his grace.
23. Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in
the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former
rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you
the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first
month.
In the interpretation of this verse, the main question, one really
of great interest, is this: Whether the passage is a promise of rain
only, or whether it comprises a far richer promise and prophecy of
spiritual blessings?P- This question turns mainly on the sense
given to the original words rendei-ed in our English text, " the former rain moderately," but in the margin, " a teacher of righteousness." If the latter be the true sense, the passage will be found far
more rich in promised blessings than has been commonly supposed.
The point is worthy of careful attention, and no apology need be




92                    JOEL.-CIIAP. II.
made for a thorough, though it be a somewhat protracted examination.
The evidence in favor of translating'" the teacher of righteousness," is in my view fully conclusive.  It may be arranged thus:
(1.) This construction becomes antecedently probable in view of
the common prophetic usage of engrafting Messianic prophecies
upon analogous events of then current history. Some great present
mercy suggests the far greater mercies of gospel times. This usage
is so common that it may be considered one of the laws of Messianic prophecy. Thus in the passage Isa. 10: 24-34, with chap. 11
and 12, the deliverance wrought for Israel by the destruction of the
Assyrian army, suggested the greater deliverance wrought for Zion
by her King Messiah.  In Zech. 9: 8-10, the protection afforded
against Alexander the Great suggested the richer protection coming
from the meek and peaceful King, whose empire shall be wider as
well as more benign than ever was Alexander's..There is therefore not only no objection to the gospel idea in this connection, but
there is a measure of antecedent probability in its favor, inasmuch
as the circumstances are of that very sort in which prophecies of
the Messiah so often occur.   I adduce this point, however, especially to rebut the only objection made against the Messianic interpretation, viz.: that it is out of place here in a strain of remark
about rain and fertility after famine. Henderson, Rosemueller, Gcsenius, and others, seem to think this objection conclusive against
the reference of these words to gospel times.-  The facts of prophetic usage bear in precisely the opposite direction, and show that
Messianic reference is here precisely in place, opportune, natural,
probable.
(2.) The second argument is of the same sort with the foregoing,
heightening the antecedent probability of a reference to gospel
blessings. It lies in the fact that the prophet gives special notice
that he has great blessings to promise, by calling on " the children
of Zion to be glad and rejoice in the Lord their God." This notice
very commonly and very naturally precedes a prophecy of gospel
blessings, as a preintimation that they are to be brought forward.
Thus Zech. 9: 9, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O
daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King cometh unto thee," &c.
And Zech. 2: 10, "Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for lo, I
come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord." Or,
Isa. 49: 13, "Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth, and break
forth into singing, O mountains, for the Lord hath comforted his
people," &c.-This list might be extended almostindefinitely, sometimes indeed with only the special call of attention, "Behold! "
as in Isa. 52: 13, and Jer. 23: 5.  This may be set down, therefore, as one of the laws of the Messianic passages, all the more
strong in proof of Messianic reference here, because the prophet
had already announced the coming fulness of bread instead of
emptiness, plenty-in place of famine; so that there was really no
occasion to call for special joy in the prospect of mere rain. In




JOEL.-CHAP. II.                      93
fact, rain was already presupposed in the verse preceding —"tihe
pastures of the wilderness do spring; the fig-tree and the vine yield
their strength." —-Ience there are the best of reasons to look for
a promise of gospel blessings here. Let us now examine the words
themselves:
(3.) The specially essential word, rendered " the former rain,"
is in Hebrew, moreh,* a participle (Hiphil) from the verb t which
means, first, to throw or cast; then to throw javelins, spears, arrows; to throw drops of water, i. e., to rain; and to throw out the
hand in pointing out objects to another, and hence, to teach. Thus,
from this root we in fact get words both for rain and for teacher.
Indeed, the participle in one conjugation (Kal), is used to a limited
extent for rain, e. g., Deut. 11: 14 and Jer. 5: 24, &c.; while in another conjugation (Hiphil)-the one used here-it denotes teacher.
-   Of course this is a question of usage. Moreh, in precisely this
form, occurs in the Hebrew Bible, outside of the passage before us,
seven times, and in its plural three times-and in each case in the
sense of teacher only. The passages are 2 Kings 17: 28, "he became their teacher;" 2 Chron. 15: 3, " without a teacher, a priest;"
Job 36: 22-said of God-" who is a teacher like him?" Prov. 6:
13, "he is a teacher with his fingers "-(with an eye to the etymology); Isa. 9: 14, " the prophet, teacher of lies," &c.; Hab. 2: 18,
" teacher of lies."    Ps. 84: 7 may be considered doubtful. Our
English Bible has it-" The rain also filleth the pools;" but Dr.
Alexander, better, thus: "The teacher is clothed with blessings:"
-one of the good things about the house of God-this being the
subject-matter of the psalm.   Besides these, are three instances
of the plural in the same sense of teacher; viz., Prov. 5: 13, and
Isa. 30: 20 twice.   Hence the usage in the sense of teacher is
substantially universal, there being no clear case of the use of this
word in this form for rain, outside of this passage in Joel. The case
Ps. 84: 7 is the only one claimed. —-Yet further, the usage of the
finite verb (Hiphil conjugation), in the sense of teach, is most
abundant. Taylor's Concordance gives forty-three cases, but not
one in the sense to rain. Hence, it would seem that the facts on
the point of usage must be conclusive, in proof that the original
word moreh means here teacher.
(4.) The argument is heightened by the use of the article-the
teacher-the celebrated, distinguished teacher. The article appears
in none of the other ten cases where this word means teacher. This
then must be the teacher, in the highest, noblest sense. But if the
word is held to mean rain, no reason can be given for the use of
the article.
(5.) By a sort of attraction, the word in the last clause of the
verse, rendered "former rain," takes this form moreh instead of the
usual one yoreh,t but is without the article. In other respects the
form is the same as before, where I render it " teacher."  If this
-. Agt    -lT "tr




91                     JOEL. —CIAP. ITI.
were a case of 6" renewed mention," as grammarians call it, i. e., if it
were used in the same sense here as before, and referred to that use,
it should have the article. If that was former rain, this should be
the former rain, before spoken of. But this is not the rain; therefore that was not rain at all.
(6.) The word I render " righteousness" (in our English Bible,
"moderately ") demands the Messianic sense.  This word * is.
always used in the moral sense-never in the physical. It occurs
scores of times in the Scriptures; never in the sense of " moderately,"
as of rain in due measure, but always in the moral sense of morally
right doctrine, and a morally right life.
(7.) Another argument comes from the tenses of the two verbs
in this passage, rendered "hath given," and:' will cause to come
down." This argument perhaps will not be very clear to a merely
English reader, yet it has essential weight.-The first verb is indeed in the preter tense-a fact which may seem to preclude its
being a prophecy of distant future blessings. But almost all the
prophecies are in this very tense-so that this is often called " the
prophetic preter."- The tense of the second verb is Quite peculiar
— known by Hebrew grammarians as the future with vav conversive. It indicates a connection with the preceding verb, which
means more than " and," i. e., more than simply that one event
comes after the other. The connection may be expressed thus-:' And then or so, will he bring down rain," denoting what results
as a consequence, or inference, from what has been just said. In
the present case the relation of ideas involved in the tense of the
second verb may -be twofold: (a.) That having promised the Teacher
of righteousness whose very name is associated with rain, he will
much more give literal rain in its time; and (b.) That having thus
made provision for teaching the people righteousness, the reason for
withholding rain for discipline or in judgment, will cease, and the
Lord will now give rain without stint, since he safely can, without
moral harm. The latter I incline to make specially prominent.
(8.) If, with our English Bible, we render "the former rain
moderately," then the last part of the verse is tame repetition, and
makes no progress in the thought: thus-" He gives you the former
rain moderately, and he causes to come down the rain, the former
and the latter rain." It is scarcely supposable that this can be the
true rendering. -This objection cannot be relieved by the difference in tense, presented in our common version-" he hath given;"
and "6 he woill cause to come down;" for the Hebrew tenses do not
sustain this distinction.
(9.) Giving this clause the sense-" the Teacher of righteousness "
with reference to spiritual blessings, and somwewhat to gospel times,
there is a striking antithesis between this' verse and v. 28; v.
23 promises " the Teacher of righteousness, in the first place." (Our
translators found nothing for their word "month.")  The Hebrew
-I.n'ls




JOEL.-CHAP. II.                      95
means-" in the first place," the first instalment of blessings. Then
v. 28 promises that " afterwards " another instalment shall be given.
As the latter is not rain, so neither is the former. As the latter is
the Spirit, so is the former.-  I suggest yet another antithesis: v.
23, addressing specially "tile children of Zion," says-" He gives
to you the Teacher of righteousness;" v. 28, over againstthis, has
it-" I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh."  In verse 23, the pronoun you is fully expressed, and for this reason, by Hebrew law, is
slightly emphatic, or at least distinctly prominent. Hence the evidence of designed antithesis is the stronger.
(10.) This antithesis becomes yet somewhat more direct, if by
"the Teacher of righteousness " we understand the Holy Spiritthe same blessing promised in v. 28, given first to the children of
Zion, and " afterwards poured out on all flesh."    " All flesh," by
current usage as well as by the legitimate sense of the words, should
mean the whole human family, and in this antithesis, the Gentile
world.  (See Gen. 6:12; Ps. 65:2 and 145:21; Isa. 40:5, 6, &c.)
-.True, the specifications that immediately follow lead the mind
rather to the idea of all classes of society —" sons and daughters,"
"old men and young," "servants and handmaids "-this wide
range of classes being perhaps in antithesis with the former limitations to the priestly and prophetic orders, to which latter the promise (v. 23), may have special reference. That is, the promise of
"the Teacher of righteousness," referring primarily to the Holy
Spirit, would contemplate the Spirit as working upon the people
through his priests and prophets, and thus turning them  to rightcousness.-The next instalment of these blessings would greatly
increase the number of his immediate agents. The New Testament
seems to assume that, ordinarily, the Spirit reaches the ungodly
through the media of Christians, working and praying "'in the
Spirit," while he comes down upon Christians directly, both to
anoint them for their Christian labor for the ungodly, and to secure
their own sanctification.  This second instalment (v. 28) therefore
looks toward the unlimited extension of the Spirit's agencies by
multiplying the number and enlarging the circle of his immediate
agents.    The arguments then against restricting the effusion of
the Spirit, promised vs. 28, 29, to the Hebrew line, andfor its unlimited extension, stand briefly thus: (a.) "All flesh" legitimately
means all mankind. (b.) The specifications only show that the circle
of special agents through wholm the Spirit works will be vastly enlarged-indeed, will comprise all classes of society-and thus will
provide the instrumentalities for diffusing the Spirit's influence over
all the world. (c.) Peter applies "all flesh" in this large, unlimited
sense (Acts 2: 21, 39):  "  hosoever shall call on the name of the
Liord shall be saved," (which is his version of Joel 2: 32), and-" For
the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar
off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." This argument
from Peter's exposition of Joel is the stronger, because it is preeminently the Spirit's exposition, and not Peter's-the latter not




96                    JOEL. —CHAP. II.
having yet really understood the sense of these words. Acts 10
shows both when and how his mind was opened to the grmd idea
that "of a truth God is no respecter of persons;" but gives gospel
blessings to Gentile as to Jew.
(11.) That  ioreh, the Teacher, refers to the Holy Spirit rather
than specially to the Messiah, is certainly favored by the strong analogy, everywhere apparent throughout the Old Testament, between
the Spirit and the gift of rain-between the agencies of the
Spirit, and reviving, cleansing water. This analogy does not hold
between rain and the Messiah. That rain is a symbol of the Spirit,
probably both in manner of coming and in consequent effects, is
apparent even here in v. 28:  " I will pour out my Spirit."  The
very form of expression shows that this analogy is before the prophct's mind. So also Isa. 44: 3, "I will pour water upon him that
is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit
upon thy seed, and my blessing upon their offspring."  Or Ezek.
36:25, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall
be clean.... from your filthiness:"-" I will put my Spirit within
you and cause you to walk' in my statutes." The parallelisms here
furnish all the evidence needed to show that in these passages water
is thought of only as a figure for the Spirit. —— Many other passages
might be cited from the Old Testament in which the close analogy
between the Spirit and water is boldly prominent. Ezekiel, in his
last recorded vision, saw living waters flow from under the sanctuary
and soon become a mighty river-manifestly looking onward to
that blessed age when the fulness of the Spirit shall be shed forth to
make pure and effective all the forms of social and moral influences
in human society. Let us note also that this passage (Ezek. 47) is
the more in point here because it was manifestly suggested by the
passage Joel 3: 18, and is strictly an expansion of Joel's thought:
-" All the rivers of Judah shall flow with water, and a fountain
shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley
of Shittim."
(12.) It is plausibly objected to the rendering, "'Teacher of
righteousness," that, admitting it, the thought is dropped too soon,
and that the current of remark (vs. 24-27) seems to ignore it, as it
could not if the gospel idea were really there in the words which I
render "The Teacher of righteousness;" in other words, that
room enough is not allowed for a thought so great and so important as this.- A closer examination will obviate this objection.
First, the greatest joy is invoked in view of the gift of the Teacher
of righteousness. Then this teacher is to be a present as well as a
future blessing, inasmuch as he will manifest his power through his
anointed servants —the priests and the prophets of the old dispensation. See Zech. 4 throughout, and especially vs. 11-14. Hence
the prosperity of the people will hopefully become both great and
permanent, since, when they are radically turned to righteousness,
nothing will restrain the rich gifts of God's providence.~-Moreover, t.hese views and these only give their full force to verses 26,




JOEL.-CIIAP. I.                    97
27-" Ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name
of the Lord your God who hath dealt wondrously with you; and
my people shall never be ashamed; and ye shall know that I arn
in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God and none
else; and my people shall never be ashamed."    That they should
praise God who had " wrought wondrously " in scourging them for
their sins, and in thus drawing them back to humiliation, repentance, and a godly life; that they should know that the Lord is their
God and is verily in the midst of them-know it by his discipline
and by its " peaceable fruits of righteousness;" that they should
never be put to shame before their foes, but always live so that the
Lord should be their trust and salvation; all these things imply
more than a present supply of rain. Their meaning cannot be exhausted short of a living fountain of spiritual truth and life, flowing from the great Teacher of righteousness through his inspired
prophets.
(13.) Still another objection will strike many minds against the
assumed antithesis between the clauses "Teacher of righteousness," v. 23, and "I will pour out my Spirit," v. 28, viz., Why are
the names and statements so diverse if they mean the same thing?
If v. 23 means the Holy Spirit, why did not the language say so?
I reply (a.) As I have already hinted, there may be some regard to these facts, viz., that rain is before the mind; that the ideas
of rain and of teacher are associated in the same Hebrew verb; and
yet more, that there is a close and constant analogy in the Hebrew
mind between water and rain on the one hand, and the IIoly Spirit
on the other.-(b.) But probably more weight still in determining theform of the expression " Teacher of righteousness," is due
to the nature of the case in hand, the special sort of blessing
needed by the people, as seen in the light of events then present.
Great sin had brought upon them a great scourge of locusts, drought
and famine. Repentance and divine mercy had driven off the locusts and brought them rain and bread, but yet the people were
not half saved without a permanent Teacher of righteousness. A
divine teacher, himself teaching their teachers, and holding the
people permanently to righteousness, was precisely the greatest
blessing possible in their case; was the very blessing they needed;
wa_ the only thing requisite to fill their cup full.-These now are
not only Peasons why God should give the people his Spirit, but
were also reasons why He should designate him thus: " The Teacher
of righteousness." This name indicated the work most essential
then, in the light of the recent calamities and their causes. Hence
the name. It is shaped by the surroundings, by the facts then specially present to the mind. Why should it not be?
Finally, since this special interpretation which refers the phrase
" Teacher of righteousness " rather to the Spirit than to the Son, is
mainly if not wholly new, I choose to present it as a suggestion.
I do not press it as a point of vital importance. That the passage
promises spiritual and not temporal blessings, the teaching of right5




98                   JOEL. —CHAP. II.
cousness and not merely the gift of rain, I think is entirely clear
and withal a point of practical value.-Theologically there can
be no prejudice against it, for while teaching was one office of the
Messiah, it was not the only or the chief one, but it is the chief and
characteristic function of the Spirit. Jesus himself said of the
Spirit, "He shall teach you all things;" and yet more, if possible,
to the point in hand, "When he is come, he will reprove the world
of sin and of righteousness."
24. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the
fats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the canker-worm, and the caterpillar,
and the palmer-worm, my great army which I sent among
you.
In the clause " The years that the locust hath eaten," the plural "years " indicates that this scourge was not transient nor limited even to one year, but continued through several, a most terrific
visitation of divine judgment. But the Lord would make good to
his people all the losses and sufferings of those long-remembered
years. He seems to refer primarily to restoration in kind, i. e., in
corn, and wine, and oil; but if he would restore those things of less
value, how much more will he make up their losses in the earthly
line by superabounding mercies in the spiritual line! This is the
wise and ever precious way of the Lord to restore to his penitent
people earthly good in just measure, but heavenly, in all the plenitude of his grace.
26. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and
praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt
wondrously with you: and my people shall never be
ashamed.
27. And ye shall know that I am  in the midst of
Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else:
and my people shall never be ashlamed.
A thanksgiving festival over these mercies would be eminently
fitting, especially the thanksgiving and the praise.  This repetition is designed to give special force to two ideas: (1) that God's
people should know by their precious experience that their own
God is in the midst of them, a Power and a Refuge, and an only
God, there being no other; and (2) that his people, confiding in his
love and help, shall never be put to shame. This confidence in
their God-can never prove abortive. It is always safe to trust in
his name. So trusting, his people never have been confounded and
never can be.-  Knowing by personal experience that God is in
the midst of us through scenes of sore affliction, until deliverance
and restoring mercy appear, implies that we apprehend the great




JOEL.-CHAP. II.                    99
idea of God's use of earthly discipline, viz., to make all things work
together for good to those who love him. When Israel came out
from under the scourge of locusts, and famine, penitent and humbled, drawn thereby the nearer to God, and made fully aware that
his hand had been afilicting them in mercy for their spiritual good,
they might well be said to kniow that God had been in the midst
of them all the time as their own Lord God.
28. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will
pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and
your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream
dreams, your young men shall see visions:
29. And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit.
There can be no doubt that this passage predicts the effusion of
the Spirit in the gospel sense, and particularly, though not exclusively, in gospel times. That the specifications should point to the
extraordinary rather than the ordinary operations of the Spirit,
i. e., to visions, dreams, and prophetic functions, rather than to his
more common, now more useful but less palpable ministries of
convicting, converting, and sanctifying grace-has the same reason
in prophecy that it had in the fact itself on the day of Pentecost,
viz., the importance of having the Spirit's earlier manifestations
made so tangible as to convince gainsayers and demonstrate his
presence and power. —- "All flesh" must mean the whole race,
without distinction of Jew or Gentile. This usage is fully established. In addition to the passages referred to in notes on v. 23,
see Gen. 9: 17; Num. 16: 22; Isaiah 66: 23; Luke 3: 6; and John
17: 2. The specifications given here, "your sons and your daughters," "your old men and your young men," "the servants and
the handmaids," go to show that there shall also be no distinction
of sex or age, of rank or station. As the gospel was to be preached
to the poor, so the Spirit should come down upon servants and
handmaids, as well as upon their employers, however rich and
noble. It may also be intended that this spiritual illumination
shall not be restricted to the orders of priests and prophets, but
diffused through all grades and classes. —The question When.
must not be overlooked. The only designation of time given here,
"afterwards," in future time, was purposely left thus indefinite.
The period before Christ and subsequent to Joel, is not necessarily
excluded; the early years of the Christian age are certainly included, as Peter shows (Acts 2: 16-21) in his citation of this passage as then having its fulfilment; nor can the yet future periods
of the gospel age be shut out. Indeed, numerous prophecies show
that in the times yet future there shall be far richer manifestations
of the Spirit's power than.the world has yet seen. Nothing ill
prophecy, nothing in Peter's reference to Joel on the day of Pentecost, forbids this belief.  The connection of thought in which this




100                   JOEL.-CHAP. II.
prophecy stands has been already noticed. The great deliverance
wrought for the covenant people on their repentance, by driving
away the fearful locust army and by giving instead copious rains
and superabundant harvests, suggested the far richer mercies of the
divine Spirit. The underlying cause of both is the same-God's
loving-kindness and great mercy. It is only in accordance with
well-known laws of mind that one great blessing should suggest
another yet greater.   Finally, let us notice the favor shown by
the Lord to the saints of that early age, in setting before them such
glimpses of the better gospel days yet to come, and particularly
such revelations of the future effusions of the Spirit. It must have
ministered greatly to their faith in God and to their hope and joy
in his kingdom among men.
30. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in
the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
31. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the
moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day
of the LouD come.
Striking portents and prodigies shall precede the coming of
"the great and terrible day of the Lord."  The two main questions here are (1) Whether this language respecting the sun and
moon shall be taken in a strictly literal or a figurative sense? and
(2) Whether the reference is to some one great day only, and if so
to what? or whether the passage teaches or implies a general truth,
viz., that portents shall appear prior to all the really great and signal manifestations of the Lord's judgments on the wicked-?  As
to the first question, what is said of the sun and moon must be understood of their appearance, and not of their reality.  On the
question whether these extraordinary things pertain to the realm
of nature or the realm of society, I incline to decide for the
former, and so far forth to give them a literal construction. That
is, I do not favor the mode of interpretation which makes the sun
and moon represent the greater and lesser kingdoms or princes of
the world. The plagues on Egypt, prior to the great deliverance
wrought for God's people, seem to have been before the prophet's
mind as the case to furnish his illustrative terms. And further,
there seems to be a general expectation in the minds of men, in all
ages, that God will give preintimations in the natural world of his
special comings for judgment. To this point pagan writings furnish ample proof.   As to the question whether this prophecy
looks to one particular day alone, or rather announces a general
doctrine, I suggest that the phraseology " the great and the terrible
day" leads the mind specially to some one day, and yet the fact
that this day shall be heralded by portents in nature may be only
one striking case under a general law. —  If I am to look for the
definite day, I cannot place it earlier than the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, as to which day the evidence of portents




JOEL. —.CIAP. III.                101
and prodigies seems very strong. Beyond that I fix on no definite
day. The future may reveal it. -It may have its final and most
startling fulfilment shortly prior to the last great judgment day.
32. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall
call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in
Mount Zion and in Jerusalem  shall be deliverance, as
the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD
shall call.
In these times of terrible judgment on the incorrigibly guilty,
some shall escape altogether. This verse informs us very definitely
who they are, viz., those who " call on the name of the Lord," and
those whom "the Lord shall call." Moreover, the deliverance shall
be "in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem," i. e., for their inhabitants, for
those who are the Lord's true people.-" Calling on the name of
the Lord" must be of and from the heart, since such salvation can
be promised to no other.- The primitive Christians were distinguished as those who called on the name of Christ their Lord, as
God; and to this fact there may be here a prophetic allusion. The
common mode of reaching the sense, however, is preferable; all
those who heartily cry unto God for mercy and who cast themselves
wholly on his grace.-" The remnant whom the Lord shall call,"
are the same people, for they whom the Lord calls are brought to
call on the Lord. In this very thing consists the efficiency of God's
call to them. It moves their hearts to call upon him in sincerity.
— Thus, in the severest judgments of the Lord on the wicked,
salvation is sure to those who take hold of his promised mercy and
grace, and call on him in sincere and humble prayer. His people
find a sure and everlasting refuge beneath the wing of the same
Power, whose uplifted arm comes down in vengeance on his foes.
CHAPTER III.
THE most vital and therefore the first step toward the exposition of this chapter is, to determine the general principles of its interpretation. The choice lies between two methods. One of these
is ably carried out by Dr. Henderson, who always leans strongly to
a literal and specific construction. He holds that the passage 2:
28-32, is parenthetic, interposed between passages preceding and
succeeding, both of which were fulfilled at least a century or more
before Christ; while this parenthetic clause carries us forward (for
the moment only) to the times of Peter and the Pentecost; that this
third chapter returns again to the resforation from captivity in Babylon and to the destruction of Tyre, Zidon, &c., during the two or
three centuries next subsequent to that restoration. He accounts
it the main drift of the chapter to predict the retributive judgments




102                   JOEL.-CHAP. III.
of God on those particular nations, and then to portray the consequent peace and prosperity of the Jews-all in the period prior to
the Christian era.    The other method makes the main drift and
purpose of the chapter far more general and less specific in regard
to the nations specially named in it;. finds here the general doctrine
of God's retributive judgments in this world on nations and powers
arrayed against his people and kingdom, and accounts the reference
to Tyre, Zidon, and Philistia (vs. 4-8), as rather parenthetic and illustrative of the general principle, than as constituting the main
subject of the chapter.-   On this system it is not supposed that
more is said of Tyre and Zidon than was true, not more than has
been punctually fulfilled; but it is held that the chapter looks
far beyond the case of those nations, and teaches that the retribution which blighted them falls under the general law, serves to
illustrate that law, and finds a place in this chapter for this reason,
and not as being the leading theme.   I adopt this last-named
method of interpretation, and shall feel at liberty to present it without turning aside specially to controvert the other scheme.
The relation of this chapter to the first and second should be
noticed.-The locust army, and its attendant drought and consequent famine and distress, gave occasion to prayer, fasting, and penitence, and so opened the way for the signal extermination of that
army, and for timely rains and superabundant harvests. These
lesser gifts suggested the far greater gifts of the Spirit, the prediction of which constitutes the glory of the closing verses of
the second chapter.    But there remains yet another great lesson
of moral truth, suggested by the extermination of the locust horde
-a lesson hinted at (2: 30, 31) in the allusion to " the great and
terrible day of the Lord," but laid over for its special presentation
in the third chapter, viz., the fearful and exterminating retribution
which God will bring on all those nations and powers which persistently array themselves in arms against his kingdom and people.
Hence this is the great theme of the chapter before us. It naturally
closes with the resulting peace, prosperity, and purity of the rescued and saved people of God.
1. For behold, in those days, and in that time, when
I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,
The first word, t"For," indicates a close connection of thought
between this chapter and the preceding. The prophet had said
there should be " a great and terrible day of the Lord," so sweeping in the ruin it brings that none shall escape it but those who
call upon the name of the Lord. Here, resuming this subject, he
begins to give the reason, "For I will gather all nations," i. e., for
trial and retribution. —" Behold" calls special attention as to
truths of momentous import. —The time when, is indicated next,
viz., when he shall interpose to redeem his people and bring them
out of all their affliction. The phrase, "bring again the captivity




JOEL.-CIHAP. III.                 103
of Judah and Jerusalem," admits this general sense, as may be seen
in Job 42: 10, where it is said that "the Lord turned the captivity
of Job " -of course, not in the specific sense of bringing him back
from some captivity in a foreign land, but in the general one of
bringing him out of a state of great affliction.  So, also, Ezekiel
(16: 53-55) speaks hypothetically of bringing again the captivity
of Sodom and Samaria, but explains the sense by saying, "when
Sodom and Samaria shall return to their former estate." We are
not, therefore, shut up to find the fulfilment of this chapter at the
precise time of some actual restoration of Judah from a real captivity under some hostile nation. The general sense is indeed more
probable-When I shall turn my hand from afflicting to restoring
and blessing my people, then will I visit retribution on all their foes.
2. I will also gather all nations, and will bring them
down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead
with them  there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and
parted my land.
On this verse, the leading question is, whether this gathering of
all nations is to be understood literally, or only as a figure for
a general retribution? Under this arises the question, whether the
valley of Jehoshaphat, as thought of by Joel, was real, or only
ideal? -In my opinion ideal only, for there is no proof that any
actual valley was then known by this name. The name occurs nowhere else in the Scriptures, applied to any valley.  In later times
(i. e., since the middle of the fourth century), the name has been
given to the valley of the Kidron (in N. T., Cedron), which skirts
Jerusalem on the east. With this modern application of the name
is connected the current belief among Jews, Catholics, and Mohammedans, that the last judgment will be held in this valley. This
fact goes far to show that the name Jehoshaphat was applied to this
valley upon the mere supposition that Joel referred to it, and hence
is modern only and not ancient, and therefore affording no proof
that Joel referred to this valley.-On the other hand, the name is
chosen because of its Hebrew significance-Jehovah judges-and a
" valley " is thought of because in this hilly country valleys afford
the only fit locations for convening a vast multitude. —That the
writer's mind is specially on the significance of the word Jehoshaphat (Jehovah judges), is more obvious in the Hebrew than in our
English, since the verb rendered, "plead with," is from the same
root.  "I will bring them into the valley of the Lord's judgment,
and there will I judge them," i. e., hold court for their trial on the
charge of scattering my people and dividing their land. —The
reader should also notice in this connection v. 12: " Let the heathen
be wakened and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there
will I sit to judge all the heathen round about."  The idea is that
of a grand assize, a sublime court, held for the trial and condemna



104                   JOEL.-CHAP. III.
tion of the whole heathen world, so far as they have been guilty of
wrong and abuse against the known people of God.
The description of this scene is continued, vs. 11, 13-16.   The
conception is very similar to that of the final judgment, as it appears in the New Testament;'yet this day of Joel cannot be identical with that, because here we have nations on trial; there individuals: here only those nations which have been known as enemies
of the covenant people; there all people of all time-the entire
population of our earth. This takes place in time; that only at
the end of time, as measured for this world by the great lights
God has set in our heavens.   Let it be considered yet further:No valley, certainly not the one now called the valley of Jehoshaphat, could suffice for convening all the nations specially named in
this chapter-to say nothing of the untold myriads really included
under this general description.*
I am brought, then, by this mass of concurrent evidence, to
adopt the ideal sense of "the valley of Jehoshaphat " —-meaning
any valley-any circumstances in which Jehovah judges guilty nations. The fact that he does judge them, and visit upon them, retribution in time, is the thing taught;-the place where, and its surroundings, are only the ideal drapery of the scene, designed to
make the fact more tangible to the imagination.
3. And they have cast lots for my people; and have
given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that
they might drink.
Here are more specifications in the indictment against these nations. They have not only scattered the chosen people among the
nations and parted their land, but have cast lots over the captives
(see traces of this usage in ancient times, Obadiah, v. 11, and Nahum 3: 10); and as showing both the wickedness of these conquerors, and the conte'mpt they felt for their captives, they gave a boy
for the temporary hire of a harlot, and sold a girl for one drink of
wine.-  Is it strange that the heart of the great Father should
take fire against such abominations?
4. Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre,
and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompense? and if ye recompense me, swiftly
and speedily will I return your recompense upon your
own head;
* Still further; the Hebrews had one general term for a broad valley'
used here; applied also to the broad valley of Esdraelon, and to several
others; but never to the valley of the Kidron. They had another term,2
more specific, for a narrow gorge, the bed of a winter torrent, which is
commonly, if not universally, used for the gorge of the Kidron; e. g. 2 Sam.
15: 23, and 1 Kings 2: 37 and 15:13; Jer. 31: 40. Thus Hebrew usage
seems to forbid the reference of Joel to the gorge of the Kidron.
i ~r..              




JOEL. —CHAP. III.                 105
"What have ye to do with me? " fails to express quite clearly
the exact sense. Better, and strictly literal is this: " What are ye
to me, O Tyre? " etc. What account do I make of you? What
reason have I to fear your petty wrath? As the context goes on
to say-Will ye think to rise against my scourging hand and wreak
your vengeance on me, or on my people? Will ye retaliate on me?
If ye attempt it, very speedily and swiftly will I hurl back your retaliation upon your own heads.-Of course, in this lofty strain,
the Lord speaks after the manner of men, but as one conscious of
infinite power to punish his foes, and fully purposed to visit on
them most ample and righteous retribution.   As already intimated in the introductory remarks upon this chapter, these nations,
Tyre, Zidon, and Philistia, are named here, not as being the only
nations involved in this great judgment, but as present to the minds
of the prophet and of his first readers, and as fitting illustrations,
therefore, of the great truths he would impress.
5. Because ye have taken my silver and my gold,
and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant
things.
The silver and the gold which they had taken from Israel by
robbery, the Lord calls his own-" my silver."  Whatever of most
costly value they could find they had borne into their own idol
temples, as a trophy of conquest over the people of God, and the
Lord remembers this against them!
6. The children also of Judah and the children of
Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might
remove them far from their border.
The captives they had taken from his people they had sold to
the Grecians, in order to remove them far as possible from their
homes, that they might never return.
7. Behold, I will raise them  out of the place whither
ye have sold them, and will return your recompense
upon your own head.
God will recover them notwithstanding, and will bring retribution on their captors, who had held, or had sold them as slaves.
8. And I will sell your sons and your daughters into
the land of the children of Judah, and they shall sell
them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD
hath spoken it.
This retaliation in kind should perhaps be taken as a case of
speaking after the manner of men, and not by any means as implying that God can ever sanction the selling of men into slavery, or
can authorize his people to do it, even in ret+liation for like offence
5*




1.06                 JOEL.-CHAP. III.
and abuso.-It should, however, be considered that God, in re.
tributive justice and judgment on wicked nations, may, through his
providential agencies, suffer other wicked nations to enslave them,
without at all sanctioning as morally right their free acts in enslaving men. This distinction is one of vital moment in regard to
God's providential agencies in his government over nations, and, indeed. over individuals no less. When the Lord sends the scourge
of war on a nation it will not follow that he accepts as morally
right the ambition or the cruelty that instigated the aggressive
power, nor does he make himself responsible for their moral acts,
however lie may permit their existence and providentially direct
their blow.
9. Proclaim  ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare
war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war
draw near; let them come up;
10. Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your
pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
Having finished the digression in respect to Tyre, etc., and the
form of retribution destined for them, the prophet now, speaking
in behalf of the Almighty, daringly challenges the Gentile hosts to
muster for the mighty conflict.-The first word of the challenge,
rendered "prepare" war, carries with it the idea of proclaiming
war in the most solemn manner with religious rites. It is the common word for " sanctify," and means here-make this war a sacred
thing; bind yourselves to it by solemn oaths, and invoke all your
gods to your help. -Beating ploughshares into swords reverses the
long prayed for consummation when swords shall be beaten into
ploughshares. The sense is-prepare for universal war. The implements on hand might suffice for any ordinary war, but not for
this; now you must needs arm every man, and hence you must
convert even the tools of agriculture into weapons of war. —— et
the conscription be absolutely universal. Let no invalid plead exemption; "let even the weak say, I am strong."
11. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen,
and gather yourselves together round about: thither
cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.
Then with striking beauty and force the prophet suddenly turns
to the other party in the conflict: " Thither bring down thy mighty
ones, Jehovah! " —How fearful is this great battle of earth now
coming on!
12. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to
the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge
all the heathen round about.
See notes on v. 2. Observe also how quietly the strain of the




JOEL. —aIAP. III.                 107
passage assumes that this dread array of armed nations, vast as
numbers without number, and girded all for bloody war, results in
no war at all. Their weapons amount to nothing; they are there
only for judgment-culprits before the King and Judge of the universe! They suddenly find themselves on no battle-ground, but
summoned to the valley where Jehovah judges; and he comes
down to take his lofty judgment throne, and 1" sit to judge all these
nations round about."-TVhat quiet, unostentatious majesty!
How does such real greatness eclipse all the assembled littleness of
the gathered myriads of the heathen!
13. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe:
come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
Here are symbols of terrific slaughter-the sickle laying low
the ripened grain, and the wine-vats full and trodden till they overflow with wine-which in such a connection represents human
blood.   Dropping all figure, the reason is given in plain language
-" For their wickedness is great " —not " the wickedness," indefinitely, but theirs, the wickedness of these hostile nations.
14. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision:
for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
Their vast number strikes the prophet's mind, and prompts the
exclamation, " O, the multitudes! the multitudes in this valley of
judgment! "    The word rendered "decision" means judgment
in the sense of a final verdict which decides the criminal's destiny,
past all reversal. See the usage of the original word, 1 Kings 29: 40,
and Isa. 10: 22.   This is " the day of the Lord; " it comes exceedingly near in this valley of judgment. The word.'"near'
should not carry the mind onward to any other day beyond this.
God is here, and his great day has come!
15. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and
the stars shall withdraw their shining.
These figures must here take their usual sense-extreme calamity
-casting the deep shades of night over all the hopes of the wicked
-engulfing them  in deep, impenetrable darkness.  So in all
languages, of every land or nation, darkness is the symbol of whatever is most fearful to rational beings.
16. The LoRD shall also roar out of Zion, and utter
his voice from  Jerusalem; and the heavens and the
earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his
people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
In this strain of the boldest poetic imagery, the Lord becomes
a lion, and his roar shakes the heavens and the earth. See the
same figure under analogous circumstances, Jer. 25: 30; Isa. 42: 13.




108                  JOEL.-CHAP. III.
-This roar comes forth "out of Zion," because there, in the
deep recesses of the temple, Jehovah dwelt. This was not only
current and accepted Jewish opinion; it was fact. His manifested
presence was there; and he was careful to impress this upon the
hearts of the people.- The "voice of the Lord," in such a connection as this, is thunder, as throughout Ps. 29.- These figures,
combined, give the climax of the dreadful scene, in which blended
terror and majesty, justice and wrath, encircle and gird the throne
of the Almighty round about, as, with the guilty nations, the op
pressors of his people, assembled before him, he sits for judgment
and final decision.  Then, with inimitable beauty and force,
turning to those on his right hand (may we not borrow from that
other analogous scene?) he says: " But the Lord will be the hope
of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel." They
may trust their God forever. He is their strength in every hour
of their weakness. He stands for their deliverance, and for retribution on their foes. —" Children of Israel" is here parallel to
" his people," the latter, and consequently the former, including far
more than the lineal seed of Abraham.
17. So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God
dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through
her any more.
"So shall ye know "-know in your own case and by your own
full experience of his saving power and loving heart, that he is
Jehovah-forever the same; that he " dwells in Zion," manifesting
his presence, care, and love among his people forever; and, what is
more, making it his holy mountain by purifying his people there.
- " Then shall Jerusalem be holy"-a statement which clearly
identifies these events in their general character with those which
close the second chapter of this prophet-the outpouring of the
Spirit on the children of Zion first, and then on all flesh; for certainly, Jerusalem never becomes holy save under this great sanctifying agency.- "Strangers," foreign and alien in spirit, heathen,
wicked men-shall not traverse the holy city any more-shall not
come and go as if of her and having rights in her sanctuaries and
palaces. No more shall such intruders defile the church of God.This betokens an eminent degree of real purity and holiness among
God's people.
18. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the
mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall
flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow
with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house
of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.
This description, looking somewhat to that ancient one of
the goodly land as flowing with milk and honey, names earthly




JOEL.-CHAII. Ill.                  109
good, but manifestly means heavenly.  Jewish costume and
imagery are to be translated so as to give us the fulness of gospel
significance-the language of the material Canaan into the language of the spiritual, which is far better.-The last clause
strongly implies and demands this significance. " A fountain comes
forth from  the house of the Lord," where the institutions of
religious instruction and worship are in power-" and it waters
all the valley of Acacias," this being the sense of the word
" Shittim."  And inasmuch as the oriental acacia enjoys the sterile
valley, and puts forth its redeeming beauty and fragrance there
where nothing else does, we find here the idea that the gospel-turns
barrenness to plenty, sterility to verdure, sin to holiness, and woe
to bliss, all over this sin-wasted earth. Ezekiel's living waters
(chap. 47), starting from the same source, flow into similar desolations, and produce a like result of health, beauty, and glory.
19. Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom  shall be
a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in
their land.
Prophecies that are alike millennial in their import differ in one
respect among themselves, really falling into two classes. One class
represents the whole world as radiant with light and glory, peace
and love-the earth full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters
cover the sea (Isa. 11: 9):-" in every place incense offered to my
name, and a pure offering" (Mal. 1: 11); &c., &c.; while another
class (like the passage before us) still leaves on the picture some
traces of the awful mischiefs sin has wrought. "I Egypt is a desolation, and Edom a desolate wilderness," as if to heighten by contrast the beauty and glory of the people and kingdom of the Lord.
Pressed to its literal sense, it could only mean that some districts,
most notoriously representing the persistent and sworn enemies of
God's people, shall lie desolate, while all around them, even all else
on the face of the earth, blooms in beauty and fertility. Those
desolations lie in their ruins-like hell among the myriads of holy
worlds-a swift and perpetual witness to the fearfulness of sinning
against God, and to the certainty of woe to all sinners who will not
repent. —— Egypt and Edom were the oldest national enemies of the
covenant people. They are doomed because of their violence against
Judah and the innocent blood they have shed in the Lord's land.
20. But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem
from generation to generation.
21. For I will cleanse their blood that I have not
cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.
Judah shall be inhabited forever, dwelling in her places. This
perpetuity affirmed of Judah and Jerusalem, must certainly apply
only to the real Judah-the true people of God. The Judah that was




110                   JOEL. —CIA.T III.
after the flesh and was of the flesh only, never can fill the sense
of these precious words.  See Notes on Hos. 1: 10, 11, and also
Dissertation II. in the Appendix.-The word rendered'" cleanse'"
means, to regard as innocent, and therefore to treat accordingly. This might imply either that God, at length, freely and
fully forgives their sin and puts it forever away; or that he avenges
it upon her foes; probably the former, at least; possibly the latter
also. Both ideas are fully brought out in this chapter.-It might
well have been remarked ere this, that very much the same course
of thought as appears in this chapter of Joel may be seen also in
Isa. 66: 14-24, and in Jer. 25: 12-38; in Zech. 14; and in Ezekiel,
chapters 37-48.-The passage in Joel, coupled with these jpust above
noted, suggest this grave and truly momentous question-Whether
the final conquest of the world by the Messiah will or will not be
effected in large measure by the destruction of incorrigible enemies.
Are we authorized to expect a mingling of judgment and mercy
among the agencies in this great conquest; and if so, can we infer
with any considerable accuracy the relative measure of each? or to
put the case more precisely, the relative numbers of earth's population at that time, destroyed by judgments on the one hand, and
saved by mercy on the other. This is not the place for an extended discussion of this question.   Let it suffice then to say that the
tenor of prophecy as well as the genius of the gospel system,
authorize us to expect the conversion of the world by means of those
very gospel agencies which were employed and consecrated by
Christ himself-the preaching of the gospel, the faithful testimony
of his people, and the gift of his Spirit; that the Lord has always
carried along a coordinate work of retributive justice and judgment
on the wicked in this world, sometimes more and sometimes less
prominent; that he-may, to cut short the reign of Satan, intensify
these agencies of retribution in the latter days; that universally
the underlying principle is, bow or break-repent, or be broken
in pieces, so that the finally incorrigible may always know their
certain doom. Hence we should not expect a definite revelation of
the relative numbers of the saved on the one hand, or of the
hardened and destroyed on the other. It is God's way to leave the
principles of his moral government and his policy in its administration in such shape as will bring the most solemn and effective
moral pressure to bear toward repentance and consequent salvation.
HIis problem is-judgment and mercy being given —so to arrange
and mingle them as to persuade the greatest number to flee from
the judgment and take hold of the mercy. Could he do better?
Thus ends this grand, sublime, and glorious chapter! We might
fitly apply these epithets to the whole book, for few more sublime
compositions can anywhere be found, distinguished for conceptions
so lofty, a style so pure, truths so vast, so far reaching, so vital to
the moral government of God over nations, and so fraught with
instruction to mankind. —May the reader catch the inspiration'
of this admirable book, and drink deeply of its pure and healing
%waters!




AM 0 S.
INTRODUCTION.
OF the previous life of Amos before he became a prophet we learn,
from chapter 1: 1, that he "was among the herdmen of Tekoa, and
from 7: 14, 15, that he was not born in the line of the prophets, but
was " an herdman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit," and that "the
Lord took him as he was following the flock, and said to him, "Go,
prophesy unto my people Israel." What the book itself thus states,
its style, its choice of words and figures, and its numerous indications of familiarity with the scenes of husbandry, most abundantly
confirm. His case, therefore, shows that the old dispensation as well
as the new, honored the humble and laboring classes, and drew
some at least of its most effective helpers from among " the poor
of this world."   Though a native and early resident of Judah,
(" Tekoa" being within this kingdom), his prophetic mission was
to the northern kingdom exclusively. In chapter 7: 10-17 it appears that he was then in Bethel, and had made that city his residence. More than this is not known.   His first verse fixes the
date of his prophetic life within the reigns of Uzziah, king of Judah
(n. c. 811-759), and of Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel (B. a.
825-784). How large a part of the sixty-six years, from the accession of Jeroboam to the death of Uzziah, he was engaged in his
prophetic work, is not said, nor whether his time lay nearer the close
or the beginning of this period. There are good reasons for supposing that he was somewhat later than Joel, but contemporary, during
at least a part of his prophetic life, with Hosea, very probably earlier than the active years of Isaiah and Micah. He finds the same
sins prevalent and calling for rebuke that Hlosea found.   His ]nn



112                   AMOS.-CHIIAP. I.
guage is less terse than that of Hosea, less sublime than that of
Joel, but yet by no means unworthy of a place among the noblest
writings the world ever saw. His style is clear, forcible, and in
some passages grand, particularly in his descriptions of the majesty
and power of Jehovah.-Commissioned especially to rebuke the
sins of Israel, he yet in the first and second chapters denounces
judgments on six other contiguous powers outside of Judah and
Israel, and then upon these two in like general terms. Then in
chapters 3-6 he exposes and reproves in detail the sins of Israel,
and threatens judgments therefor.  -The last three chapters differ
from this middle portion by the introduction of visions for purposes
of more vivid illustration, and by the blending of promise with the
general strain of threatening. The book closes with predictions of
peace and prosperity to the kingdom of God on earth.
CHAPTER I.
AFTER a very brief introduction, which gives us the name of the
author and the date of his prophecies, the chapter proceeds at
once to name the crowning sin of five adjacent nations, and to announce the judgments of God upon them. They are Syria, the
Philistines, Tyre, Edom, and Ammon. His main object in this is
to make the stronger impression upon Israel. If for their sins God
must scourge and even exterminate heathen powers sitting in -the
dimness of the light of nature, how much more must he for your
sins scourge you to whom his word has come!
1. The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the
days of Uzziah king of Judah, in the days of Jeroboam
the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the
earthquake.
Most of the points named here came before us in the general
introduction. —This " earthquake" is commonly supposed to be
that of which Zechariah speaks (14: 5), "Ye shall flee like as ye
fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of
Judah." Since Amos prophesied during Uzziah's reign, and since
they both refer to an earthquake of great power and prominence,
it may be safely assumed that they speak of the same. But at
what point during the fifty-two years of Uzziah's reign this occurred is not said.
2. And he said, The LORD will roar from  Zion, and




AMOS.-CHAP. I.                    113
utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of
the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall
wither.
The first half of this verse seems to be borrowed from Joel
3: 16. In Joel the passage makes so close connection with what
precedes, that it must be admitted to stand "' in place," as the geologists say of specimens found in their original rock. Not so in
Amos. If we supply " as another prophet has said," we shall not
at all disturb the flow of thought. Moreover, Joel prophesied before Amos, according to the closest estimate, about seventy-five
years. -The last half of the verse is characteristic of Amos. A
man who came up among herdmen would naturally think of these
rather than other effects of the Lord's sore judgments. (armel
was ordinarily clothed with verdure even to its summit; hence the
fitness of saying "the top of Carmel shall wither."  This mountain lay in the northwest part of the kingdom of the ten tribes.
The word Carmel means a fruitful field, a fact which makes this allusion the more forcible.-In the passage " The Lord will roar
from Zion," the original word " roar" is used commonly of the
lion, and denotes here that the Lord has aroused himself like the
lion of the forest, to assert his rule among the nations, and especially to visit retribution on those which had filled up the measure
of their sins. Such a roaring, foreshowing terrible visitations of
judgment, would thrill the nations with terror, much as the beasts
of the forest tremble when the earth quakes, and the depths of
their solitudes reecho to the lion's roar.
3. Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of
Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed CGilead with
threshing instruments of iron:
4. But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael,
which shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.
5. I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut
off the inhabitant fi-om the plain of Aven, and him that
holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: and the
people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith
the LORD.
In the passage commencing here and extending to chap. 2: 6,
eight kingdoms are brought up in succession, with Judah and Israel last. Each receives its message, beginning, "Thus saith the
Lord;" in each is the phraseology-" For three transgressions, and
for four, I will not reverse it;" each specifies the last and most
heinous crime, for which, especially (it would seem), the judgment
named is sent; and each closes with naming the judgment. This
remarkable uniformity in style no doubt had its object. It natu



114                   AMOS. —CHAP. I.
rally implied that the same God of nations was taking them all
successively in hand to administer justice and judgment upon each
and on the same principles, common to all. It was well adapted to
confirm the impression that Jehovah is indeed the ruler of nations,
and holds them  to a solemn responsibility, /here in time, to bear
themselves justly and not oppressively toward each other. -Moreover, as already intimated, these nations contiguous to Judah and
Israel are mentioned first, to prepare the minds of the men of Judah and Israel to hear their own sin and doom-first to stir up
their sense of justice and draw out their approval of God's righteous ways, and then to say to them —" Thou art the man! "  Further, the argument is a fortiori: "If those things be done in the
green tree "-to those heathen benighted kingdoms,-" what shall
be done in the dry "-to a people chosen and long blessed of God,
but now shamefully apostate and incorrigible?    And yet further,
as if to insure the more certainly a righteous'judgment in the minds
of Judah and Israel against their heathen neighbors, the sins selected and named are chiefly those committed against Judah and
Israel. Everybody sees, feels, and condemns a wrong done against
himself. Under this law of even depraved human nature, God first
secured from his professed people their indignant condemnation of
other peoples' sins, and then lifted the curtain to show them their
own  -" For three transgressions and for four," as to the form
of expression, may be compared with numerous other passages of
Scripture of a like proverbial character; e. g. Ex. 20: 5-" Visiting
the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and
fourth generation of them that hate me; " Job 5: 19-" He shall
deliver thee in six troubles; yea, in seven shall no evil touch thee; "
Eccles. 11: 2-"Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for
thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth; " Mic. 5: 5" When the Assyrian shall come into our land, then shall we raise
against him seven shepherds and eight principal men."- These
cases establish a current usage of definite numbers to express the
indefinite idea of several.-   But the thought is more to us than
the drapery that clothes or adorns it. This thought is that these
nations had been adding sin to sin, running up a long unsettled account, until at last some one sin, perhaps more aggravated than any
preceding, filled up the measure of their iniquities, and demanded
of their righteous Ruler his visitation of terrible judgment. The
fourth and crowning crime is specified in each case. For three sins
they have deserved punishment, and the decree has gone out-for
the fourth " I will not reverse it," saith the Lord, but (as is implied)
will proceed without delay to execute it.   It is noticeable that
the original has no word for punishment. The little word "it,"
suffixed to the verb-I will not reverse it —leaves us to find its antecedent in the never-failing law of connection between sin and
punishment. The Lord assumes that men ought to know what he
will not reverse, after his allusion to such sins as these. This tacit
assumption that judgment must follow sin has in itself appalling




AMOS.-CHAP. I.                    115
force.   " Damascuns" represents Syria, a strong and flourishing kingdom on the north and northeast of Israel.  It was the
capital.
Their last sin was that of " threshing Gilead "-putting its inhabitants to torture and death under the huge threshing-wain,
armed with savage iron teeth, and drawn by animals over the grain.
See a case of such treatment, 2 Sam. 12: 31, and also 2 Kings 13: 7
-the last being done by this same Hazael.   The name Gilead
covers the territory of the two and a half tribes east of Jordan.
Lying contiguous to Syria, it suffered fearfully from that kingdom.
— The judgment was a devouring fire sent on the royal house of
Hazael, and of his son and successor, Ben-hadad. (Both his father
and his son bore this name, Ben-hadad; but Amos must allude to
the son. See 2 Kings 13: 3, 24.)-    The bar of Damascus" represents its means of defence and protection in war. " The inhabitant "-literally he who sits, i. e., on a throne-is parallel to " him
that holdeth the sceptre." The sense is that their government
should be utterly broken down, and their nationality cease.-Tho
word  "Aven" is probably changed from On, the Syrian name of a
beautiful valley, the country-seat, it may be, of their king. The
Hebrews, changing its vowels, called it Aven, to represent the contemptible idolatry of the Syrians.  See the same word, Aven,
wrought into the name Beth-el (Beth-Aven), for a similar reason,
Hos. 4: 15, and 10: 5, 8.   " House of Eden," equal to Paradise,
is another delightful locality, and was called in ancient authors,
Paradise.-Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, fulfilled this prediction. He took the people into captivity to Kir, the river and region
known as Cyrus, in Iberia. See this fact in history, 2 Kings 16: 9.
" The king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took it, and
carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin."
6. Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of
Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishrment
thereof: because they carried away captive the whole
captivity, to deliver theem up to Edom:
7. But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which
shall devour the palaces thereof:
8. And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod,
and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I
will turn mine hand against Ekron: and the remnant
of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord GOD.
Gaza, the northern of the five chief cities of the Philistines, represents here the whole cluster.  Gath, th6 only one of the five not
named here, is omitted, probably because it was already laid waste,
i. e., during the reign of Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26: 6, 7).  This was
within the personal knowledge of Amos.-Their crowning sin
was that they carried the entire body of their captives to Edom and




R116                 AMOS.-CIIAPr. I.
sold them for slaves. The phrase, "the whole captivity," affirms
nothing in respect to the number, as being great or small; it means
all they had. Edom, further advanced in wealth and the arts than
most of the nations adjacent to Palestine, seems to have been a notorious slave mart. The Lord accounted it the damning sin of the
Philistines, that they sent thither all their prisoners of war and sold
them into slavery! Who, after this testimony, can deny that God
abhors slavery, and will preeminently scourge and destroy the nation that makes itself preeminent for the enslaving of men?   The
"fire sent on the wall of Gaza" is the desolation of war, visited on
them by Uzziah, as above noted, and by Hezekiah (see 2 Kings 18: 8),
and later by various Eastern conquerors. -" The inhabitant " must
be understood here as in v. 5. See a striking prophecy of the final
fall of the Philistines, in Jer. 47.
9. Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of
Tyrus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment
thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity
to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant:
10. But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus,
which shall devour the palaces thereof.
Tyre, the city renowned for its commerce and wealth, on the
Mediterranean and very near the northwest corner of the land of
Canaan, had sinned, in common with the Philistines, by sending the entire body of their captives of war to Edom for slaves
-a sin in their case aggravated by the friendly and even covenant
relation existing of old between them and the ancient kingdom of
Israel. This was indeed a " brotherly covenant," binding each party
to mutual friendship and protection.  It commenced between
Hiram, King of Tyre, and David; the former making the first advances.  (2 Sam. 5: 11), "Hiram, King of Tyre, sent messengers
to David, and cedar-trees," &c.  It was ratified again between the
same Hiram and Solomon (1 Kings, 5: 12), "Hiram sent his servants to Solomon [for Hiram was ever a lover of David], and
they two made a league together."-It is obvious that the captives, which Tyre sent en masse to Edom, were Hebrews, else the
Lord could not have deemed it a breach of that " brotherly covenant." Tyre suffered fearfully from the arms of both Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander the Great. They were the fire of Jehovah's
vengeance upon her, specially for her sin of selling all her captives
into the horrible slave marts of Edom.
11. Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions
of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof: because he did pursue his brother with
the sword, and did cast off all pfty, and his anger did
tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever:




AMOS.-CHAP. I.                   117
12. But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall
devour the palaces of Bozrah.
Edom himself comes next-an ancient kingdom southeast from
Palestine, strong in arms, and very considerably advanced in culture
at the time when Israel, forbidden by him to travel through his territory, journeyed round it to reach the Jordan and pass into Canaan,
D. c. 1451. His crowning sin lay in his animosity against his
brother Jacob.  Intensely jealous of the greatness of the Hebrew
nation, Edom had almost never neglected any opportunity to
let loose his wrath upon them. As stated here, he had "pursued
his brother withthe sword," and had "cast off all pity." The original
more precisely says he "corrupted," in the sense of suppressing
and smothering the natural dictates of sympathy and compassion.
"I His anger did tear "-the common word used when savage beasts
of prey tear in pieces their victims, and he "kept his wrath
forever," not suffering even the lapse of time to abate its ferocity.
— Teman and Bozrah were principal cities in Edom, and here represent the nation.
13. Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of
the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn
away the _punishment thereof: because they have ripped
up the women with child, of Gilead, that they might
enlarge their border:
14. But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah,
and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting
in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of
the whirlwind:
15. And their king shall go into captivity, he and
his princes together, saith the LORD.
Ammon and Moab, nations taking their name and descent from
the two sons of Lot, were ancient kingdoms on the east of Jordan,
and of course contiguous to the country of the two and a half
tribes here called Gilead.   The last and fatal sin of Ammon was
their horrid cruelty upon the pregnant mothers of Gilead, as if it were
their purpose to exterminate not only the living population, but the
unborn no less. God holds nations solemnly responsible for the sin
of cruelty. It was an insignificant apology for such cruelty that
they wanted more territory.-The indignation of the Lord against
them for such cruelty stands out in the grouping of fire, the warcry of battle, the tempest and whirlwind, among the figures that
set forth the vengeance due and about to fall on Ammon. Oh, how
sublimely grand is such vengeance on a nation guilty of such horrid
sin!  Let us not fail to note the solemn lesson, which all people
of every age should learn from this recital of Jehovah's judgments
on nations for violating the plain dictates of common justice and




118                  AMOS.-CHAP. II.
humanity in their treatment of each other. —And let us revert
again to the fact that most of these last and damning sins were
committed against the Hebrews, a secondary object with Amos
being to draw out their verdict against these sins as perpetrated by
their enemies, and bring them to admit and endorse the principles
of God's administration as infinitely right and just, before he shall
come to say, "Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of,Judah and of Israel, and for four, I will not reverse it."  There
was no difficulty in getting them to condemn with burning indignation the sins under which themselves had suffered. This done, it
only remained to add, Thus saith the Lord; thou art the man!
Condemning others, thou hast confessed thine own desert and foreshadowed thine own doom!
CHAPTER II.
Tiis chapter continues the unfinished series of kingdoms doomed
for their national sins-Moab, the last outside of the chosen people;
then Judah and Israel. Israel once reached, becomes the subject
of rebuke, expostulation, and threatened doom throughout this
chapter and the four next following.
1. Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of
Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment
thereof, because he burned the bones of the king of
Edom into lime:
2. But I will send a fire upon Mloab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kiirioth: and Mloab shall die with
tumult, with  shouting, and with  the  sound of the
trumpet:
3. And I will cut off the judge from the midst
thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him,
saith the LoRD.
Moab closes the list of Gentile nations. In his crime-burning
the bones of the king of Edom into lime-his vindictive spirit followed his enemy even beyond death, into the grave. It may be
supposed that he came into possession of the body of his old enemy
by some. of the vicissitudes of war. Of the fact we have no history.
But this horribly vindictive spirit, and this savage act, called forth
the special curse of the Lord.
4. Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of
Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the pgunishnzent thereof: because they have despised the law of the




AMOS.-CHAP.. II.               119
LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their
lies caused them  to err, after the which their fathers
have walked:
5. But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall
devour the palaces of Jerusalem.
The crying sin of Judah, corresponding to the enslaving of their
captives by Gaza and Tyre, to the barbarities of Damascus and of
Ammon, and to the perpetual resentments of Edom, lay in her disowning God, spurning his authority, and turning her heart to idols.
The " law of the Lord " is the moral law; "the commandments "
are speciallyt the statutes, religious and civil; while their "lies which
had led them astray," were their idol gods. Those were lies in the
most emphatic sense-lies in act, every idol god being a lie acted
out, a living falsehood, representing nothing true and real, but only
a delusion; or, in the shortest, best phrase, a lie. This crime of
Judah was all the greater because it was committed against so
much light. "To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to
him it is sin " (James 4: 17). " If I had not come and spoken to
them "-so said Christ of the Jews-" they had not had sin; but
now they have no cloak for their sin "' (John 15: 22). Judah had
no doubt sinned in other ways; doubtless she had been cruel
toward other nations, oppressive toward her own poor, but none of
these sins were to be named in comparison with this mother sin,
this crowning sin of all-her reproach and dishonor cast upon God
in rejecting his authority, renouncing his worship, and giving her
heart publicly to lying vanities.   This passage reads to us the
guilt and the doom of thousands of ungodly men in Christian lands.
They know God and his gospel but too well-too well to have their
sin and damnation measured by even the savage barbarities of
heathen nations. Of the city where Christ wrought many miracles he said, " It shall be more tolerable in the day of judgment for
Sodom than for thee" (Matt. 11: 24). —The Chaldean was the
first terrible executioner of this threatened doom. (See 2 Chron.
36: 19; Jer. 52: 13; Lam. 2:1-10.)
6. Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of
Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the pzunishment thereof: because they sold the righteous for silver,
and the poor for a pair of shoes;
7. That pant after the dust of the earth on the head
of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and
a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to
profane my holy name:
8. And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid
to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the
condemned in the house of their god.




120                   AMOS. —CHAP. II.
Last of all is Israel, the northern kingdom, to whom especially
the prophet Amos was sent. It is remarkable that their chief sins,
as here developed, lay in the line of immoralities against their fellow-men: the violation of natural rights, the oppression of the
poor, and dishonoring the law of chastity.  This book of Amos
discloses startling facts in respect to the luxury of the wealthy, and
their oppression of the poor.  Note the particulars given here.
"They sold the righteous for silver;" good men, bearing God's
image, and beloved of him for their moral integrity, they sold for
paltry silver! Ought not the righteous Father of all to abhor this
crime, and hurl his bolts of vengeance on the heads of such criminals?-  They " sold the poor for a pair of shoes," so cheap did
they hold personal liberty and the rights of manhood! These
"shoes" were only sandals, nothing but soles of leather or wood,
fastened to the foot with straps; of course very'cheap.- " That
pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor: " so grasping, so avaricious, so bent on extorting every thing the poor man
had, if they saw a particle of dust settled upon his hatless head,
they are represented as panting after it, as if they could have no
rest till they had got it by extortion or by violence! A pretty
strong figure truly-but human depravity sometimes comes fully up
to the sense of it! Avarice not unfrequently becomes the ruling
master passion of a man's soul, and then no sin is more likely to
take on a development perfectly monstrous. It behooves men of
avaricious tendencies to beware!   Some interpreters suppose the
case thought of here is that of a poor man, robbed of all, throwing
dust on his head in his grief over his loss, while his rapacious oppressor grudges him even this poor dust! —-To "turn aside the
way of the meek" is to subvert justice in their case, and bar them
from redress for their wrongs through the courts of law.-The
case of a man, his father, and the same maid, refers probably to the
public prostitutes kept in the idol temples, such abominations being
part of that system of unutterable pollution. The prophet says
this was done to profane God's holy name, as if it were their set
purpose to dishonor God and trample under their feet his blessed
law of chastity.  IRetaining over night the garments of the poor
taken in pledge, was very expressly forbidden, Ex. 22: 26, 27: "If
thou at all take thy neighbor's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver
it to him by that the sun goeth down, for it is his covering only;
it is his raiment for his skin. Wherein shall he sleep? And it
shall come to pass when he crieth unto me, that I will hear, for I
am gracious." The poor in those countries had no bed-covering
other than their outer garments. The Lord would not let the grip
of avarice deprive the poor of their bed-covering. But these de-.
generate Israelites, instead of returning this bed-covering for the
owner to sleep under, "laid themselves down upon clothes laid to
pledge" (i. e., as security for debts), and this "' by every altar " in
the very presence of their gods, and in their places of religious
worship. Plainly their religion bore no testimony against out



AMOS.-CHAP. II.                   121
rageous inhumanity. Any form of religion is practically rotten which
bears no testimony or protest against hard-hearted cruelty to man.
There is never a stronger proof of religious corruption than a cool
and heartless mixing up of professed worship of God with remorseless crime toward man.   " To drink the wine of the condemned
in the house of their God," is another sin of the same.sort. Literally rendered, it is the wine of the ainerced or taxed-the wine
they had assessed upon their tenants or other poor, and by fraud
or force compelled them unjustly to pay. This they have the impiety to drink "in the house of their god," their religion having
no testimony to bear to the conscience against crime toward fellowmen.
9. Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose
height was like the height of the cedars, and he was
strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above,
and his roots from beneath.
Here the prophet turns to speak in the next three verses of
what God had wrought for his people, that in the light of these
great works of mercy they may see their more aggravated guilt.
-The Amorites, living of old on both sides of the Jordan, represent the nations of Canaan. Physically, they were a gigantic
race, and being proficient in the arts of war, they were exceedingly
strong. So they appeared to the twelve spies whom Mloses sent up
from the wilderness of Paran. They reported: " The people be
strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled and very
great, and moreover we saw the children of Anak there."  "All
the people that we saw in it are men of great stature; there we
saw the giants; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers,
and so we were in their sight " (Num. 13: 28, 32, 33). -The history shows that God's interposition to drive out this powerful
race before Israel, then altogether unused to war, was special.
He promised early (Ex. 23: 27-29), "I will send my fear before
thee, and will destroy all the people unto whom thou shalt come..
I will send hornets before thee who shall drive out the Canaanites,"
&c. See also Deut. 7: 20, and Josh. 24: 12. This hornet (so rendered) seems to have been some form of scourge, perhaps a pestilence, as Hab. 3: 5 would naturally imply. It was at least God's
hand, manifested either in some physical scourge, or in mental panic,
or in both, and designed to palsy their power and make them an
easy conquest to God's chosen people. This Amos beautifully sets
forth: "The Amorite, though in his early prowess as the height
of the cedars and the strength of the oaks, yet God's hand destroyed
his fruit above and his roots beneath."
10. Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess
the land of the Amorite.
6




122                   AMOS.-CHAP. IT.
The scenes of the Exodus and of those forty years in the wilder.
ness were full of divine care and love. Every day had its miracles
of mercy.
11. And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of
your young men for Nazarites.  is it not even thus, O
ye children of Israel? saith the LORD.
The order of prophets seems not to have been specially provided
for in the Mosaic institutes, but sprang up under the law of demand
-the exigencies of later times. For the order of Nazarites, however, special provision was made. (See Num. 6.) The persons composing this order were often set apart from their birth, e. g., Samson and Samuel. They were to abstain sacredly and specially from
wine and from every thing else that could intoxicate, standing as
living witnesses to the value of temperance and a perpetual protest
against self-indulgence.   It was truly a favor to the people that
the Lord took his prophets and Nazarites from their own sons.
We can suppose the case that the men for these orders should have
been called in from other nations. This supposition would show
at a glance how much better the social and general influence must
be to take them from Hebrew families.   Our translators and
many commentators interpret the question at the close of the verse
as the Lord's appeal to Israel to admit the fact that he had taken
his prophets and Nazarites from among them. In my view, such
an appeal can scarcely be deemed necessary, and is therefore very
improbable. I prefer to read, " And is there nothing of this, O ye
children of Israel?"  Is this a thing of no account?-implying that
it is @ matter of great account.
12. But ye gave the:Nazarites wine to drink; and
commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.
This fact evinces the daring impiety of the people. They sought
to frustrate the benevolent aims of God in establishing both these
classes of reformers. "Ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink"seducing them into the violation of their vows, and thus paralyzing
their influence. "Ye forbid the prophets to prophesy."  In some
cases, they persecuted, imprisoned, and murdered God's prophets,
to suppress their testimony.-Such a people must be fast filling up
the measure of their iniquities.
13. Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is
pressed that is full of sheaves.
14. Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift,
and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither
shall the mighty deliver himself:
15. Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow;
and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself:
neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself.




AMOS.-CHAP. III.                  123
16. And he that is courageous among the mighty
shall flee away naked in that day, saith the LoRD.
Here the prophet announces divine judgments for these sins of
the people. —The received version-" I am pressed under you,"
&c., represents the Lord as the cart pressed by its burden of sheaves
-with reference to the demand made upon him for vengeancewhich demand his justice could not resist, nor could his mercy
yield to it without strong pressure and keen anguish. This sentiment may be very true, but it is probably not the truth taught here.
The passage should rather be read —" Behold, I am pressing you
down as a cart full of sheaves presseth down," i. e., whatever it
passes over. The points in favor of this construction are (1.) That
the verbs are not passive-" I am pressed," &c., but are strongly
active, and even causative —"I am pressing you down " —causing
you to be pressed down. (2.) That the word "Behold," more
naturally calls attention to the punishment God will inflict than to
the state of his feelings in view of the necessity of inflicting it.
(3.) And it makes the logic of the following verse far more forcible:
-a people so pressed down as with a loaded cart upon them must
lose all power of flight, even the swiftest of them; the strong could
have no force available under such a weight, &c. This logical connection of thought, expressed by "therefore" (v. 14), is more than
lost by the rendering which assumes that the weight and burden
of this pressure come down upon God rather than upon his sinning
people.   The idea that none can escape is reiterated with great
force. The bowmen shall not stand; the swift-footed shall not save
even himself, nor he who has a fleet horse at command; and finally,
he who unites the utmost courage and the utmost strength shall
only escape (if at all) naked, saving nothing but his person.-The
reader will readily notice that the figure belongs to husbandry, and
is such as we might look for in one who was from boyhood " among
the herdmen of Tekoa."
CHAPTER  III.
Tms chapter continues the same strain, exposing the sins of the
people, showing that the Almighty awakes to judgment against
them, and calls his prophet to reveal the fearful truth. Foreign
nations are summoned to witness the sins of Samaria, and again her
doom is announced.
1. Hear this word that the Lord hath spoken against
you, 0 children of Israel, against the whole family which
I brought up frpm the land of Egypt, saying,
2. You only have I known of all the families of the
earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.




124                  AMOS. —CIIAP. III.
It was the peculiar aggravation of the sins of Israel that God
had known them as his own, and had blessed them only among all
the nations, with abundant revelations of his will; and that, notwithstanding all, they had persistently rebelled against him. Therefore; he -would surely punish them for all their iniquities. The sins
of other nations God might wink at and pass over with comparatively
little notice; the sins of Israel could not be passed over!
3. Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
4. Will a lion'roar in the forest when he hath no
prey? will a- young lion cry out of his den, if he have
taken nothing?
5. -Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where
no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the
earth, and have taken nothing at all?
6. Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the
people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and
the LoRD hath not done it?
These spirited interrogatives imply that God can go on no
longer with his covenant people; that the hour of his desolating
judgments hastens on; that for these judgments there is abundant
cause in their sins; and that the Lord has summoned his prophet to
become his oracle of solemn warning to the guilty people.   More
particularly, I paraphrase thus: Can God and Israel walk todether
unless agreed in sympathy of purpose and character, as they are
not now?-Will the' Lord roar out of Zion in premonitory foreshadowings'of coming vengeance, when there is no prey to fall
upon?-Can the people fall under war and captivity where no
war is,' and no captivity, and there is no wrath of God to fear?
Are these threatened judgments really nothing?   Are not people
wont to be afraid when they hear the clarion blast of war? And
shall they not fear as much now, before the awful blast of Jehovah's
trumpet, calling out the nations to bring war on his land? Shall
we not recognize God's agency as including and working all the
inflictions of calamity that fall on guilty cities?-This "' evil in
the city" which v. 6 assumes that the Lord has done, must be
natural, not moral-calamity, not sin. The original Hebrew is used
frequently for natural evil, e. g., Gen. 19: 19: "Lest some evil take
me and I die;" and Gen. 44: 34: "Lest peradventure I see the
evil that shall come on my father;" also Ex. 32: 14.   Besides,
the strain of the whole passage is of natural evil-the judgmenlts
about to come from God on apostate and guilty Israel. To construe
this evil, therefore, as being sin, and not calalmity, is to ignore the
whole current of thought, and to outrage the soundest, most vital
laws of interpretation.  Moreover, common justice toward God(
tbrbids this construction —" Shall there be sin in the city, and the
Lord hath not done it? " This would assume that God is the doer
of all the sin in our World!




AMOS.-CHAP. III.                  125
7. Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he
revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
8. The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord
GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?
The Lord is wont to forewarn his people by his prophets before
he smites them with desolating judgments. This forewarning the
prophet now gives, -as v. 8 implies: " The lion hath roared."  God
has uttered his fearful note of warning as one about to smite; who
can refuse to prophesy when thus called to it of God? The prophet
means to say that in the presence of such demonstrations of coming
judgments, he should be not only false to God, but false to his
countrymen, if he did not solemnly announce God's message, and
call them to repentance.
9. Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the
palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the
great tumults in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in
the midst thereof.
This is a call to the people of Ashdod and Egypt, and, by
implication, to all the nations named and doomed in the first two
chapters, to convene upon the mountains that overlook Samaria,
and be witnesses to her great tumults, disorders, and crimes, and to
the oppressions done in the midst of her. Guilty as those nations
are, they will see deeper guilt and more outrageous crime in Samaria. They are to be witnesses of her doom: let them first witness
her sins.-  The word "oppressed" in the text, should be "'oppressions," as in the margin.
10. For they know not to do right, saith the LorD, who
store up violence and robbery in their palaces.,
These are the people of Samaria. Despite of all the light of
nature and the superadded light of divine revelation, they yet act
as if they knew not how to do right. The trouble is not their
ignorance, but their moral perverseness. KI(nowledge of duty does
them no good: they will go on in sin as if they had no moral sensa
-no knowledge of right.-" They store up in their palaces " the
fruits of their "violence and robbery"-the cause, violence, being
put for the result-the property they wrest from the poor and innocent.- The frequent allusions to "palaces" imply that the
wealthy classes lived in luxury on the fruits of extortion and oppression.
11. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; An adversary
there shall be even round about the land; and he shall
bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall
be spoiled.




126                  AMOS. -CHAP. III.
There shall come an enemy-one who shall pervade the whole
land. IIe shall bring down thy strength, and shall spoil thy palaces.
— The Assyrians were this enemy. The desolation they wrought
was complete, as the reader may see in 2 Kings 17.
12. Thus saith the LORD: As the shepherd taketh
out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an
ear: so shall the children of Israel be taken out that
dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus
in a couch.
This figure, altogether natural for a shepherd-author, shows
that nothing but the merest wrecks and fragments of that great and
wealthy people would remain-only some of the aged, bed-ridden,
or sick, overlooked in the general slaughter and deportation of captives-here one in the corner of a bed; there anotler on a couch.
-   Some of the people might have fled to Damascus for refuge;
hence this reference to the few left there. The devastation would
be most terrific and complete.
13. Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith
the Lord GOD, the God of hosts,
14. That, in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him; I will also visit the altars of
Beth-el: and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and
fall to the ground.
15. And I will smite the winter-house with the summer-house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the
great houses shall have an end, saith the LORD.
Yet another message indicates the point on which especially the
judgments of the Almighty would fall, viz., on the idol altars of
Bethel, and, on the luxurious palaces of rich oppressors. God would
direct his judgments so in the line of the sins scourged as to indicate those sins. lie would show that his wrath burned especially
against those idol altars, and those palaces built with the fruits of
violence and wrong.-" The horns of the altar;" its projecting
points at each of the four corners, were highly ornamented; hence
these especially should be smitten, to rebuke the pride of the people.
— " The houses of ivory" were those in which ivory was used
for ornament. Only the wealthy could have one house for summer and another for winter. The curse of extermination fell on
Samaria mainly because her wealth was ill-gotten, and represented
her cruel, iniquitous oppression of the poor and innocent.




CHAPTER IV.
TIE prophet still addresses the proud, oppressive, but effeminate
people of Samaria, describing them (v. 1); predicting their captivity
(vs. 2, 3); in irony, bidding them go on in their sins (vs. 4, 5); reciting successive judgments from God-famine, drought, blasting, pestilence, and the overthrow of some of them  even as Sodom-all,
however, failing to bring them back to God (vs. 6-11); therefore the
Almighty bids them prepare to meet him in his desolating judgments (vs. 12, 13).
1' Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the
mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which
crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and
let us drink.
2. The Lord GoD hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo,
the days shall come upon you, that he will take you
away with hooks, and your posterity with fish-hooks.
3. And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at
that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the
palace, saith the LORD.
By the word'" kine " (the nearly obsolete plural of cow) some suppose the luxurious and corrupt women of Samaria are meant. It is
better to apply it to the same class hitherto spoken of, e. g., 2: 6-8,
11-16, and 3: 9-15, i. e., the wealthy, proud, oppressive rulers and
leaders in civil and social life, with no special reference to the female sex: (1.) Because the description given of them here identifies
them as the same; they oppress the poor, crush the needy, love
strong drink, &c.  (2.) Because these cows of Bashan are spoken
of in the Hebrew, now in the feminine and now in the masculine
gender, as if the figure drew the writer to the feminine, but the
fact to the masculine; and (3.) Because he had special reasons for
calling the men "cows of Bashan," as we shall see. -Concerning
this figure-Bashan, a region on the east of Jordan, was renowned
for its rich pastures and breeds of cattle, fine, fat, and strong. (See
Deut. 32: 14; Ps. 22: 12; Ezek. 39: 18.) Especially the "bulls of
Bashani" as in David's reference (Ps. 22: 12), were fat, strong, fearless, ferocious: " Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round."
Perhaps with a tacit but cutting allusion to them, Amos meant to
say-" Ye cows (not bulls) of Bashan, fat enough indeed and wellfed; fierce and cruel enough toward your helpless poor; but
shamefully effeminate and cowardly where real danger lies; —hear
ye these words! The Lord is about to put his hook in your nose,
and take you away to a hopeless captivity. Ye shall be driven out
through the breaches made in your city walls, as a man drives out
his cows through a gap in their fence-each cow straightforward,




128                  AMOS.-CInAP. IV.
i. e., with no option to turn to the right hand or to the left." -This
is the general course of thought in the first three verses.-Specially-(v. 1), "in the mountain" would be better on the mountain, with the figure in view-cows of Bashan, pasturing on the
mountains of Samaria.-" Who say to their masters," the kingthe plural being probably what is called- "pluralis excellentice," —
a plural form appropriated to one individual-(here a king) as a
distinguished honor. —-" The Lord hath sworn by his holiness "as if declaring solemnly-If I am holy; if I abhor sin; by all my
abhorrence of such outrages upon the innocent-ye shall be swept
from your land! —" Taking them away with fish-hooks," should
not lead our thought to fishing for small game, but to the harpoon.
ing of sea-monsters, or rather, to the hook in the jaws of leviathan,
or in the nose of fierce bullocks, as where the Lord said of the Assyrian king (Isa. 37: 29), "I will put my hook in thy nose and
turn thee back by the way by which thou camest;" or of Pharaoh
(Ezek. 29: 4), " I will put hooks in thy jaws," &c., " and will bring
thee up out of the midst of thy rivers;" or (Jolb 41: 1, 2), "' Canst
thou draw out leviathan with a hook? "  Thou canst not; but God
can!   In v. 3, the clause —" Ye shall cast them into the palace "
-should rather be read —" They "-the cows, alias the rich,
proud oppressors of Samaria-" shall be cast out of the palace,"
driven rudely from the ivory mansions, made so splendid by the
fruits of robbery and wrong. -Thus the entire passage is keenly
ironical and stinging.
4. Come to Beth-el and transgress: at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years:
5. And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven,
and proclaim  and publish the free offerings: for this
liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
These verses continue and even intensify the strain of irony.
" Come to Bethel, and sin on, since so you like; try it, if you will! 
-— Bethel and Gilgal were places noted for idol worship. —The
Mosaic law required a sacrifice each morning; tithes for the poor
at the end of each third year (Deut. 14:. 28, 29, and 26: 12), thankofferings, and free-will offerings also;-but the people of Samaria
mixed up these required ritual services with horrible idolatry and
not less horrid immoralities-oppression, slavery, outrages on all the
rights of the poor and the weak. IIence God abhorred them none
the less for their religious rites.  1" This liketh you "-means in
the original, this you like or love.
6. And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in
all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet
have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
7. And also I have withholden the rain from you,




AMOS.-CIIAP. IV.                  129
when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I
caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain
upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the
piece whereupon it rained not withered.
8. So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to
drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye
not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
9. I have smitten -you with blasting and mildew:
when your gardens and your vineyards and your figtrees and your olive-trees increased, the palmer-worm
devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith
the LORD.
10. I have sent among you the pestilence after the
manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with
the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I
have made the stink of your camps to come up unto
your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith
the LoRD.
Here is a series of milder chastisements which the Lord had
tried upon the people, but all in vain. The statement of each form
of infliction closes with the same sad result-" Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord."  They are enumerated in this
way to show the people how long, how patiently, how sincerely,
and with what varied appliances the Lord had labored to reclaim
them, that they might themselves see the necessity laid on him to
proceed to measures far more stern and fearful. —   " Cleanness of
teeth " is identical with want of bread, famine. He had withheld
rain, long before the maturing of the harvests, so that the harvest
must have utterly failed.-  The middle clause of v. 9 might be read:
"The multitude. of your gardens and of your vineyards, also your
fig-trees and olive-trees, the locust hath devoured."- V. 10
seems to imply that when the young men were slain by the sword,
their horses, left riderless, fell into the hands of the enemy and were
taken captive-fit retribution for their vain trust in horses.   A
great slaughter had left many bodies unburied, to aggravate tho
pestilence; but even this fearful scourge did not bring them back to
God.
11. I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a fire-brand
plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned
unto me, saith the LORD.
Some of their cities had been laid desolate, even as Sodom and
Gomorrah;-by what precise agency is not said; but the rest of




130)                 AIOS.-CHAP. IV.
the nation -might fitly regard themselves as a brand plucked from
the flames.  These figures occur, Zech. 3: 2, and I Cor. 2: 15.
Yet this most fearful scourge of all, which seemed almost to kindle
the very fires of perdition upon them, failed to secure repentance.
12. Therefore, thus will I do unto thee, O Israel:
and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet
thy God, O Israel.
" Therefore " implies that by the very necessities of his moral
government, since all discipline and chastisement fail, exterminating judgments must come!-   The word " thus," which here raises
the question, How will God deal with them? refers to the previous
verses. The answer therefore is-As I have exterminated some of
your cities, root and branch, even as Sodom and Gomorrah, so will
I do to the whole nation.   Because I have purposed to do this, I
now give thee warning-" Prepare to meet thy God! " Ye must
meet him, coming with exterminating judgments; there is no escape; therefore be in readiness!    The spirit of this announcement seems to be that the decree of judgment had gone forth, and
its execution was fixed in the counsels of Heaven; and yet this fact
is declared, not with the expectation that the masses will hear and
repent, but rather in the hope that some individuals might; and that
it might stand as a warning to all other guilty nations in later times.
— It will be noticed that the primary sense of the passage relates
to Israel as a nation, and had its fulfilment in the final desolation
and captivity effected by the Assyrian power as stated 2 Kings 17.
But in principle it applies with even augmented force to all the incorrigibly wicked, summoned to meet God in the final judgmentday. It warns them to be ready to meet him then and there, by
turning at once to become his friends and people. O might the
wicked only be wise in time, and make the Great Judge their friend
while they may, so freely and with such welcome!
13. For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his
thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The
God of hosts, is his name.
To give his readers some just sense of the majesty of that Being
whom sinners of that and of every age must meet in judgment, he
names a few of his mighty acts. The passage has scarcely a parallel for its beauty and sublimity.   The Creator must be indefinitely greater than his works;-but look at them-the mountains
and the winds; note how he can tell man all his thoughts; how he
can change the glory of the morning into darkness; and with the
majestic march of a God, tread upon the high places of the earthJehovah, God of the armies of heaven, his name: —then say —Is it
well for thee to rouse his wrath to flame and then to fall before it?




AMOS.-CHAP. V.                   131
Can thy heart endure and thy hands be strong in so dread a conflict? Wilt thou persist in having this Almighty God thine enemy?
— It is remarkable that though this chapter begins with caustic
irony, yet it ends with the most tender, solemn warnings. Hence
the irony is not malign, but is benevolent-used only for the better
moral effect-not for any satisfaction to be found in inflicting a
keen and cutting castigation.
CHAPTER V.
IN this chapter the prophet laments the fall of Israel; exhorts
the people to seek the Lord; portrays the glory and power of Jehovah, as reasons why he should be both feared and sought; rebukes the sins of the people, and affirms God's abhorrence of the
mere forms of worship without the heart and without justice and
righteousness toward fellow-men.
1. Hear ye this word which I take up against you,
even a lamentation, O house of Israel.
2. The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more
rise: she is forsaken upon her land: there is none to
raise her up.
This lamentation or elegy-a plaintive wail of grief-assumes
forcibly that Israel is seen as one fallen, and her nationality extinct.
She is compared to a maiden, now gone down to rise no more.
"'Forsaken upon her land" should rather be "prostrate upon her
own land," with none to help her rise.
3. For thus saith the LoRD God; The city that went
out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that
which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the
house of Israel.
The glory of cities was graduated by the number of men they
could send out for war. The passage shows how fearfully their
strength had departed. The city that once sent forth a thousand
had now but a hundred left; so that the house of Israel was shorn
of its military strength.
4. For thus saith the LoRD unto the house of Israel,
Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
5. [But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and
pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into
captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought.
"Seeking the Lord" is returning to him in penitence and inmploring his mercy.  The promise-" thou shalt live " —usually




132                  AMOS. —CHAP. V.
covers something more and other than natural life, and, in the case
of Israel, more than a prolonged nationality; it means the richest
blessings. Life is one of the most comprehensive and expressive
terms in human language to denote blessedness-substantial good.
-"Seek not Bethel; " i. e., the idol gods of Bethel. So Gilgal
and Beersheba are not to be sought, considered as seats of idol-worship. In the last clause the prophet fastens the thought in the
mind of his Hebrew readers by a play upon his words. Gilgal,
meaning the place of rolled-up heaps, shall be rolled away into
captivity; Bethel shall become Aven, nothing, void of any living
thing. The word rendered "nought" is'Aven. Bethel came to
be frequently called Beth-aven, because it was desecrated by its
idols.  Here the sense is even stronger-house of nonentities,
empty of even its senseless, powerless idols. Even they have gone
and perished!
6. Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break
out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and
there be none to quench it in Beth-el.
A further reason for seeking Jehovah is, "lest he break forth
like fire on the house of Joseph "-Joseph being another name for
the northern kingdom.-The last clause, literally rendered, is expressive: " And there be no quencher for Bethel "-no one to extinguish the fires the Lord kindles upon her.
7. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave
off righteousness in the earth,
"Wormwood" is one of the most bitter of herbs-significantly
put here for the grief felt by those who get only wrong and injury
where they should have right and good. The passage describes
those who wrest the cause of the innocent and pervert justice. —
The clause " leave off righteousness in the earth" is better rendered, "who cast righteousness to the ground."  The words imply also that they make it lie there-make that its resting-placeand allow it no practical sway in human affairs.
8. Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion,
and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and
maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the
waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face
of the earth: The LorD is his name:
Men should seek God because he is so great and so glorioushas such power to turn our-day to night, and our night to day-to
bring up the waters of ocean by his call, and pour them forth
as of old, in the deluge. The beauty and sublimity of this passage
are exquisite. Job has a similar allusion to those brilliant constel
lations (9: 9).




AMOS. —CIIAP. V.                 133
9. That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong,
so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.
This magnificent description of the power of Jehovah closes
with a word designed to make' it more practical to the Samaritans
who relied on the military strength of their capital-" Who makes
destruction flash out upon the mighty, and desolation shall coma
upon the strong city." The first verb, which I have rendered
"flash out," takes its figure from the breaking forth of the dawn
upon the darkness of the night-a figure which has most force in
countries near the equator, where the twilight is short. The received translation fails to give the exact sense.
10. They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and
they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
Again the prophet reverts to the reigning sin of the people.
They love darkness and hate light, because their deeds are evil, and
they are committed to wrong-doing. The " gate" was in that age
the court-house-the place where justice should reign, and sin be
always rebuked. The people of Samaria hated the upright, honest
judge, and whoever else should speak for righteousness.
11. Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon
the poor, and ye take from  him burdens of wheat: ye
have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell
in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye
shall not drink wine of them.
These " burdens of wheat " were cruel exactions in the form of
rents or taxes, yet oppressive and unrighteous. For these sins of
oppressing the poor, God will tear them away from their houses
and vineyards. However much they may build the one and plant
the other, he can frustrate their hope of enjoying them. It is hard
fighting against God. No wisdom and no strength can withstand
him.
12. For I know your manifold transgressions and
your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a
bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from
their right.
"For I know that your transgressions are many, and your sins
great." -" The poor in the gate" are before the courts of justice.
13. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that
time; for it is an evil time.
" The prudent" are the wise and good. They keep silence and
forbear to rebuke the sins of the age, because they see no hope of
doing good thereby. They recognize God's awful presence to scourge
the people, and they bow before his manifestly righteous ways.




134                  AMOS. —CIIAP. V.
14. Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and
so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye
have spoken.
"As ye have spoken" refers to their professions of being the
people of the Lord, and, as such, safe against harm from a heathen
foe. The prophet says to them-" Seek good, and not evil; " so
the Lord of hosts shall be with you truly-as ye have been saying
when it was not true.
15. IIate the evil, and love the good, and establish
judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of
hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
The phrase "remnant of Joseph" implies that the population
was already greatly reduced in numbers, of which fact there is
proof in 2 Kings 10: 32, 33: "In those days the Lord began to
cut Israel short, and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel."
16. Therefore, the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord,
saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall
say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call
the husbandmen to mourning, and such as are skilful of
lamentation to wailing.
17. And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will
pass through thee, saith the LORD.
The prophet Amos is remarkable for the fulness and solemnity
with which he uses the significant names of God. Here is an instance: "Jehovah, the God of hosts" (or celestial armies), "the
Lord, saith thus," &c. The people at that time had a very imperfect sense of the glory and majesty of the Lord their God. This
grouping of his majestic names was therefore entirely appropriate,
and had a most worthy object.- In this passage the Lord seeks to
impress the certainty of their impending doom by declaring that
soon there shall be wailing through all the populous cities and the
country. The "skilful of lamentation" were persons who made it
their profession to sing or chant mournful dirges at funerals, or on
other occasions of public sorrow. Eccles. 12: 5 speaks of this class
of persons as " going about the streets."  Jer. 9: 17-19 seems to
show that women were specially employed in this service. This
usage prevailed not only among the Hebrews, but among the
ancient Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and other nations also.God " will pass through" the land and among the people in such
a way that they shall feel his presence and be made fearfully conscious of his wrath.
18. Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD!
to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.




AMOS.-CHAP. V.                   135
19. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met
him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on
the wall, and a serpent bit him.
20. Sh/all not the day of the LonD be darkness, and
not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
In their foolhardiness some had expressed their desire that this
day of the Lord might come, madly daring Jehovah to do his worst.
Upon them God denounces special woe. He asks —What will this
day of the Lord be to you? and answers-Only darkness, and not
light; no rays of light in it; no mitigation to its horrors. Then,
by two expressive figures, of a class natural to the mind of one
trained in fields and deserts where wild beasts have their homes, he
shows that to attempt to flee from God in any direction would be
only to meet him there in a more fearful form. - What else can
any sane mind think of the daring impiety that challenges God
to show his power to curse and punish, save that it is the veriest
madness? IDo such men suppose they can cope with Omnipotence?
Do they assume that God's resources for making them feel the bitterness of his strokes, are likely to be soon exhausted? Or do they
glory in rousing their puny souls to bravery and daring, as if it
were noble to measure strength with the Almighty? Alas for the
folly and the madness that sin begets!
21. I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not
smell in your solemn assemblies.
22. Though ye offer me burnt-offerings and your
meat-offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I
regard the peace-offerings of your fat beasts.
23. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs;
for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
The people were deluding themselves with the notion that they
were high in favor with God, because they kept up the forms of
the Mosaic worship. To dispel this delusion, the Lord solemnly protests to them that He not only takes no pleasure in their worship,
but thoroughly abhors it: "I hate, I loathe your feast days."
The practice of burning incense in worship for the sake of its sweet
odors, led to the use of the verb to smell in this connection.  It
may perhaps be as well to translate so as to give only the ultimate
sense-I have no pleasure in your solemn assemblies. —The
"peace-offerings " are often called "thank-offerings," a term which
better expresses their significance-offlerings of gratitude and thanksgiving. -The word "noise" (v. 23) is highly expressive, showing
that music with no heart in it is only noise, and never melody to the
ear of God, a thought worthy of consideration in reference to the
" service of sacred song" in our own times.  If the Lord had a
prophet Amos to send now into modern congregations, would ho




136                   AMOS.-CIIAP. V.
not (sometimes) give him this very message?   The sentiment of
these verses appears in several other prophets-in Hosea, as we
have seen, 6: 6, and 8: 13, and 9: 4; and Isa. 1: 11-15.
24. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
The Lord asks them to reform, not their modes of worship, but
their morals, their monstrous wrongs and oppressions of their fellow-men. Let judgment (in the sense of justice) flow freely, rolling
on as water, smoothly and without obstruction; and let righteousness be as a perennial stream. Some critics say perennial; others
say strong, powerful. Either is good sense, and the original bears
either. A stream never dry, and never abating its flow, seems most
in harmony with the scope of thought.- How strongly does the
word of God affirm and reiterate the doctrine that God repels the
forms of worship, unless they are accompanied with an honest regard for our fellow-men! He will never accept of worship professedly offered to himself, in place of duties due to man.-This is
truly like a father, to insist that we shall treat all his children well,
as a condition of his accepting our worship of himself.  No
worship can be so costly or so imposing that it can supply the place
of " loving our neighbor as ourself."
25. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings
in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
26. But ye have borne the tabernacle of your IMoloch
and Chiun your' images, the star of your god, which ye
made to yourselves.
27. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity
beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The
God of hosts.
This question assumes that the answer is affirmative. Ye did,
indeed, i. e., your fathers, then living, did offer sacrifices in the
wilderness; but, ye also carried along your little idol images
secretly, stealthily, all that time. The same spirit'of idolatry has
become far more rampant, open, Heaven-daring, in these later
times, for which I shall send you into captivity beyond Damascus.
This is the general scope.   The particular explanation of v. 26
has been found somewhat difficult. The quotation of it by Stephen
(Acts 7: 42, 43), made from the Septuagint version, shows some
of these various opinions. The original words have been spelled
and read differently; e. g., the Hebrew reading is Melek, which
means king; the Septuagint is Moloch, an ancient idol.  Some
make Chiun a proper, others a common noun. None of these
points of difference materially affect the general sense of the
passage, which, beyond all doubt, means that the Israelites in the
wilderness bore along with them little shrines and images of idol




A3MOS.-CHAP. VI.                  137
gods, or of some of the planets.- The Hebrew text might be
rendered, "But ye bore the shrine of your king (meaning, your
idol)' and the little images of your idols, the star of your
god, which ye made for yourselves."  The last clause implies that
the images represented a star, and involved the worship of the
planet Saturn. They supposed the planets to-be animated, conscious
and powerful, wielding a vast influence over human destiny. These
ideas and usages they found and embraced in Egypt. Of their perpetual tendency to idol worship while in the wilderness, the history
gives painful evidence, especially in'the case of the golden calf (Ex.
32). In our passage it is assumed that, like Rachel in Jacob's family,
some of the Hebrews, during those forty years, bore along their
little idol shrines and worshipped them. -The Jews were never
thoroughly cured -'of their proclivities toward idols until their
seventy years' captivity. The captivity of the ten tribes practically
destroyed their nationality, and sunk them into oblivion, so that it
cannot be known whether they ever abandoned their idol worship.
CHAPTER VI.
WoEs on cities and their chief men who can be at ease in their
great sins, and in the very face of fearful judgments from the Almighty;
further specifications of their sins of luxury, intemperance, and
oppression; followed by announcements of yet more desolating
judgments, fill up this chapter.
1. Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in
the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the
nations, to whom the house of Israel came!
The word Zion embraces Jerusalem and her leading minds, as,
on the other hand, Samaria carries us to the chief city of the northern kingdom.  The people of Samaria trusted in the natural
strength of their position-on the mountains. —— " Judah and Israel
were renowned as chief among the nations" of Western Asia. The
clause "' to whom the house of Israel came," refers to the leading
men-princes,: judges, and religious teachers, to whom the people
came for'justice in the courts, and to whom they looked for influence
and direction.- This woe came on themn because of their great
guilt, especially the guilt of being reckless in the midst of awful sin,
and under God's revealed threatenings of exterminating judgments.
For the responsible leading men to say practically in the face of
~such threatenings, What do toe care? was fearfully provoking to
the Most High, and must inevitably seal their doom. In every age
sinners who scorn the warnings of Jehovah, and would fain be at ease
in Zion despite of them, are near the point where judgments break
forth and " there is no remedy  "




138                  AMOS.-CIHAP. VI.
2. Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from  thence
go ye to HIamath the great: then go down to Gath of
the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or
their border greater than your border?
This verse connects itself in thought with the clause " which
are named chief of the nations " (v. 1). The thought is-Judah
and Israel have stood high among the nations of their time, in
military power, in richness of country, and in the light of a true
religion: their responsibilities are therefore the greater, and so much
the more is their guilt in disowning and abusing the great Giver of
their blessings.   That they were truly renowned as first among
the nations, any one may see by going (in thought) to those nations
with whom the comparison should naturally be made. Pass thus
over the Euphrates to Calneh (called Calno, Isaiah 10: 9), on the
east bank of the Tigris, and see; from thence go to Hamathl the
great, on the Orontes, one of the great cities of Syria; then go down
to Gath of the Philistines: were they better than these two kingdoms, Judah and Israel? or had they a larger and better territory?
3. Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the
seat of violence to come near;
4. That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the
flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;
5. That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent
to themselves instruments of music, like David;
6. That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves
with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for
the affliction of Joseph.
Here is a rapid description of the social and moral life of the
classes in question-the leading minds, especially in the kingdom
of Israel. They "put far away the evil day," i. e., in thought, they
assume it to be far distant, and they act as if it were; but the
throne of violence-the bench of justice whence righteousness
should proceed and violence never should-they cause to come
near; —the form of expression being antithetic to that in the first
clause.  They thrust the fear of danger from sin far away, and
welcome near the worst forms of wrong, even legalized oppression,
rolling in luxury, lounging in idleness, feasting on fatlings from
flock and stall, chattering to the sound of the viol (where the word
used by the prophet has a spice of irony and contempt); but they
are fain to give themselves to music. as if nothing in their great,
guilt and near approaching doom should be allowed to trench on
their hilarity; and to crown all, they drink wine by the.bowlful,
and, anointing themselves with the richest oils, they think only of
personal self-indulgence and never "grieve for the affliction of




AIMOS.-CHAP. VI.                  139
Joseph."  Their country and the cause of their nation's God have
no place in their hearts. —This last clause, " they grieve not for
the affliction of Joseph," is analogous to " being at ease in Zion,"
and shows why the woes of God came down on Israel. They had
no true sympathy with God or with his people. —The name
"Joseph " represents the kingdom of Israel considered especially as
being the chosen people of God, and bearing his name before the
nations; yet may there not be, in the choice of this name, a tacit
allusion to the original Joseph among his envious, heartless brethren, when they " saw the anguish of his soul, and he besought them,
and they would not hear." Little did they heed the affliction of
Joseph then; alike heedless are the people of Samaria in the days
of this prophet. Hence the righteous woe, so soon to fall upon
them.'7. Therefore, now shall they go captive with the first
that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched
themselves shall be removed.
As the men of wealth and high standing have been foremost in
oppressing the poor and wresting the cause of the meek; foremost
also in luxury, self-indulgence, and recklessness of the cause of
God: so they shall be first among the captives, heading the sad
procession; and the banquet of those who lay stretched out around
(in beastly drunkenness, we must suppose), shall be quite broken
up. (The Lord has no special tenderness toward this beastly sin!)
8. The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the
LoRD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob,
and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the
city with all that is therein.
Note the solemn reiteration of the names of God in this case,
in which, since " he can swear by no greater, he swears by himself." The things so solemnly affirmed are two: (1.) That " God
abhors the excellency of Jacob," &c.; (2.) That he will abandon
the city and all its inhabitants to destruction.   The "excellency
of Jacob" has been alluded to in this chapter; see v. 1, "chief of
the nations," and v. 2, "better than other adjacent kingdoms; "this excellency being mainly thought of as lying in its natural advantages. The same sense must be the primary one here, the more
so because connected with " his palaces;" but the reason why God
has come to abhor and hate a noble country, once flowing with
milk and honey, and the glory of all lands, lies in the guilt, and especially the pride of its people. To this there seems to be a tacit
allusion in the very phrase, " the excellency of Jacob," since this
word in Hebrew is used for pride, as well as for naturally excellent
qualities. The sense then, here, is that the pride and moral corruption of the people were so monstrous and so intrinsically hateful
to God, that he abhorred the very country for their sake, and must




140                  AMOS. —CHAP. VI.
spoil its fair beauty and consign it to long and blank desolation.
And there the land of Palestine lies to-day-as yet, not half recovered from this fearful curse!
9. And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten
men in one house, that they shall die.
10. And a man's uncle shall take him  up, and he
that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the
house, and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the
house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No.
Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue: for we may not
make mention of the name of the LORD.
To show how utter would be the destruction of its inhabitants,
the prophet gives some particulars for illustration. If only a small
number, say ten (a definite number for an indefinite), remain in one
house, even they shall all die. And when a man's uncle (or other
friend), together with him whose office it shall be to burn the corpse,
bring out a dead body, and finding one poor invalid in some corner or
closet of the house, shall ask him, " Is there another dead man here? "
he shall say, "No more;" and then shall add, "Hush! for we may
not make mention of the name of the Lord."-This last phrase"make mention of the name of the Lord "-usually signifies, to
speak of God in grateful, appropriate acknowledgment, and due
honor. See Josh. 23: 7, where this is forbidden in reference to false
gods; also Ps. 20: 7, and Isa. 62: 6. Precisely what this prohibition meant in this case is not certain; perhaps it indicates such a
sense of the awfulness of God's presence in this scourge upon the
land that guilty men could not endure to hear his name!
11. For, behold, the LORD commandeth, and he will
smite the great house with breaches, and the little house
with, clefts.
All the houses, great or little, shall be smitten; the great shattered to pieces, as the Hebrew word implies; the little ones rent
with clefts. Oppressors, enriched by wrong, are remembered before God in this day of judgment.
12. Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plough
there with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into gall,
and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock:
These questions put cases, not of extreme difficulty so much as
of practical impossibility, and aim to illustrate the futility and absurdity of those vain reliances which have kept up the spirits of the
people. They had been hoping to repel their. foreign enemies and
withstand the threatened judgments of the Almighty. He hints to
them that they might as well plough the rock with oxen, or run
horses upon the precipitous cliffs of their mountain glens. - WLy




AMOS.-CHAP. VI.                  141
could they not escape? Why could they not resist Jehovah's wrath?
Because they "had turned judgment into gall "-that which is
always sweet to good men into the most bitter draught-" and the
fruit of righteousness "-righteous judicial decisions —' into the
poison hemlock." Such perversions of justice had insured Jehovah's wrath. - What a lesson of warning against American slaveholding!  See a like form of expression, Hos. 10: 4, and Amos
5:7.
13. Ye which rejoice in a thing. of nought, which
say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?
They had trusted joyfully in what could avail them nought, but
must prove a thing of no power to save-a mere nothing. They
had said, "Have we not taken to ourselves horns (always an emblem of power) by our own strength? " Not the least recognition
of God as their strength appears, but, on the contrary, every word
indicates the purest self-conceit, and the pride of self-made help.
Such "pride goeth before destruction," just a little way only, before!
14. But behold, I will raise up against you a nation,
O house of Israel, saith the LORD the God of hosts; and
they shall afflict you from  the entering in of Hamath
unto the river of the Wilderness.
This prediction almost names the Assyrian power-manifestly
means it. God raised them up; they came, and did indeed lay the
land desolate " friom the entering in of Hamath "-a very common
phrase for their northern border," and a natural thoroughfare outward to Hamath-" unto the river of the wilderness." This name,
" the wilderness "-in Hebrew, Arabah-with the article, is applied
in the Scriptures to the great valley of the Jordan, the Lake Genessaret (in Heb. Cinneroth), and the Dead Sea.  In later times, the
name Arabah has been specially given to the extension of this
valley southward, from the Dead Sea to the Elanitic Gulf. But in
the earlier ages, it was currently given to the portion north of the
Dead Sea, and usually translated in our English version, "the
plain."  The exceptions are Deut. 11: 30, "champaign," and Josh.
18: 18, "Arabah."  See other passages-" the plain," Deut. 3: 17,
and 4: 49; Josh. 3: 16, and 8: 14i and 11: 2, 16, and 12: 1, 3;
2 Kings 14: 25, and 25: 4, 5, &c.  This wonderful valley was one
of the natural boundaries of the kingdom.




142                 AMOS. —CHAP. VXI.
CHAPTER  V II.
TnIS chapter records three successive visions, shown to the
prophet, each indicating the judgments impending over the land
(vs. 1-9); then an attempt made by Amaziah, an idol priest of
Bethel, to prevent Amos from prophesying more in Bethel, and to
send him back into Judah; with the defence made by Amos, and
the response made by the Lord (vs. 10-17).
1. Thus hath the Lord GoD shewed unto me; and
behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the
shooting up of the latter growth; and lo, it was the
latter growth after the king's mowings.
That this is a vision presented to the spiritual eye of tlhe
prophet, is indicated by the language-" Thus did the Lord
God show me," i. e., cause me to see. Hie saw the Lord forming
grasshoppers. They were young, but fast coming forward for their
work of destruction; and he saw God's hand in them.  The time
was just when the meadows were putting forward their second
growth-the after-math.  The phrase, "the king's mowings," is
supposed to allude to a claim of the king to have a part, at least, of
the first growth of the meadows.
2. And it came to pass, that when they had made an
end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord
GoD, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob
arise? for he is small.
After he had seen them eat the last of the grass of the land, he
prayed that the Lord would forgive the sin for which this scourge
was sent, and used this plea:'"By whom else shall Jacob arise,"'
i. e., stand, live; "for he is weak" and without strength against
God, and against such agents of destruction as these.
3. The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith
the LORD.
The Lord heard his prayer and changed his purpose, sparing the
land the judgments which this vision portended. A clear and striking case of prevailing prayer, even when God's purpose to destroy
was not only formed, but made known. — What the precise form
of this judgment would have been, is not certain. The grasshoppers, being seen only in vision, may have been symbolic of some
other form of judgment, even as the fire in the next verse manifestly must have been.  Amos does not say here, as Joel did, that
actual grasshoppers came up over the land, visible to all the people,
and thrilling all hearts with fear and dread.
4. Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and,




AMOS.-CHAP. VII.                  113
behold, the Lord GOD called to contend by fire, and it
devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part.
5. Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech thee:
by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.
6. The LORD repented for this: This also shall not
be, saith the Lord GOD.
In the second vision he heard the Lord calling for the action of
fire. The original words imply a controversy, or legal judicial issue
by fire, probably only in the general sense of a judgment on the
people for their sins. Appalling to behold, this fire seemed to devour the great deep, and to eat up the dry land also. The original
word rendered "a part " is supposed to have here this sense-not
that it ate up a part of the great deep, but ate up the dry land.
The previous clause, using the same verb, affirms that it had eaten
up the great deep already. Of course I construe this as a vision,
and symbolic of some all-consuming desolation, doubtless by war
and conquest. —Again the prophet prays, but not in this case as
before —" forgive " —which, if answered, would have averted the
judgment; but, " desist; " cut short this judgment; let it be arrested
midway. He uses the same plea as before, in the same words; and
the Lord answered to the precise extent of his request. He desisted,
after the judgment had run a part of its course.  The scourge of
war and indeed of captivity came, but probably with the less
severity because of the prophet's prevailing prayer.-  These cases,
as thus recorded, mnust have been designed of God to encourage his
people to come before him with most importunate prayer that he
would avert, either in part or wholly, the judgments which he
seemed about to inflict on a guilty people.'. Thus he shewed me: and behold, the LORD stood
upon a wall made by a plumb-line, with a plumb-line in
his hand.
8. And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest
thou? And I said, A plumb-line.  Then said the LORD,
Behold, I will set a plumb-line in the midst of my people
Israel: I will not again pass by them any more: -
9. And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate,
and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste: and I
will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.
The third vision will be better understood if we consider that
the prophets speak of a measuring line as marking off for destroying as well as for creating; for casting down, no less than for building up. (See 2 Kings 21: 13, and Isa. 34: 11, and Lam. 2: 8.) So
here, this plumb-line evinces the moral obliquity of the people and
their consequent fitness for destruction. God will not any more
pass by them, but will take them in hand for scourging and for ruin.




144                  AMOS.-CHIAP. VII.
--— The "high places of Isaac" were those elevated sites so constantly chosen for idol temples and idol worship. The " sanctuaries
of Israel" were their idol temples and shrines. These were doomed
to utter destruction, and at least by implication the whole land as
well. The "house of Jeroboam" the Lord would cut off by the
sword. He did so; Shallumn (2 Kings 15: 10) conspired against
Zachariah, son and successor of Jeroboam, and thus ended the
royal line of his house. —It should be noted that in this third
vision nothing is said of the prophet's interceding by prayer for the
removal or even the mitigation of this judgment. He saw that it was
most righteously deserved, and fully fixed in the counsels of Jehovah,
and therefore' he forebore to press any plea for its reversal. Essentially the same answer must be given to the question-Why did he
pray "forgive" in reference to the first threatened judgment, and
only "desist " upon the second? " The secret of the Lord is with
them that fear him." The conditions of acceptable prayer being
fully met on our part, the Lord, on his part, will lead our minds in
prayer, aiding us thus to ask for those things, and only those, which
he is pleased to grant.
10. Then Amaziah the priest of Beth-el sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos has conspired against
thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not
able to bear all his words.
11. For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the
sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out
of their own land.
12. Also, Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go
flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat
bread, and prophesy there:
13. But prophesy not again any more at Beth-el: for
it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court.
This historical sketch (vs. 10-17) presents no difficulties that require exposition. Amaziah, " the priest of Bethel," was probably
the high priest before the golden calf located there, for there must
have been other priests as well. The history of Elijah (1 Kings 18)
gives us some facts respecting the number of idol priests. —The
charge of treason against the king and the state was often brought
against the Lord's faithful prophets, and constituted one of their
serious embarrassments and trials. It seems that Jeroboam did not
think best to interfere with the Lord's prophet. Amaziah therefore resorted to a private effort (vs. 12, 13) to get Amos out of the
kingdom. Judah, said he, is a better place for you; the prophets
of the Lord get a good living there; there you can be quiet and
fulfil your prophetic function, if so you choose: but be off and away
from Bethel, for these idol temples are the king's sanctuary-the
place where he worships, and the house of his kingdom (so the




AMOS. —CHAP. VII.                 145
Hebrew reads), and it implies that, in their notion, these heathen
gods were the patrons of the kingdom, and their favor vital to its
permanence and prosperity. hence they would very naturally
arraign the Lord's true prophets for high treason, whenever they
dared.
14. Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I
was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I
was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit:
15. And the LORD took me as I followed the flock,
and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.
Amos first gives his own personal defence. With beautiful simplicity he replies: " I was no prophet; I did not come up unto this
profession because my father was a prophet before me; but I was
earning my bread by honest labor when the Lord took me from
following the flock, and said-' Go, prophesy unto- my people Israel'-not Judah, as you propose, but Israel.  How could I do
otherwise than obey this divine mandate? "
16. Now, therefore, hear thou the word of the LORD:
Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not
thy word against the house of Isaac.
17. Therefore thus saith the LORD; Thy wife shall
be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters
shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by
line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel
shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.
The rest of his reply comes directly from the Lord himself.
Thou hast forbidden me to prophesy against Israel; for this impiety
the Lord reveals to thee thy doom-thy wife a harlot in the city;
thy sons and daughters falling by the sword; thy landed estates
divided by line to others; thou thyself shall die in a foreign and
so in a polluted land, and the nation shall be carried away into captivity-a fearful warning against interfering with the divine mission of God's faithful prophets!   The Hebrews regarded all other
lands compared with their own as polluted. lience they naturally
desired to make their graves in the holy land.   This captivity
was to Assyria, effected by Tiglath-Pileser B. c. 722, or sixty-two
years after the death of this Jeroboam.




146                 AMOS.-CHAP. VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
Tnis chapter opens with the last vision in this series of four
(vs. 1, 2), which is followed by further details of the great and
damning sins of the people, and of the terrible judgments then impending.
1. Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and
behold a basket of summer fruit.
2. And he said, Amos, what seest thou?  And I
said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LoRD
unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I
will not again pass by them any more.
Summer fruit ripens quick and soon decays. The people had
ripened for ruin, and their ruin was near at hand. The latter of
these two ideas seems rather more prominent than the former;
perhaps both are implied.  The special idea is that the end is
come to the nation of Israel. God can pass by them, sparing them
and deferring his judgments, no longer.
3. And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in
that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead
bodies in every place; they shall cast them  forth with
silence.
Since the time of David, songs had formed a part of the temple
worship. In the dark and sad day just at hand, those songs should
become howlings-the wails of agony. The original is concise:;" The songs of the temple shall wail in that day."   The last half
of the verse Dr. Henderson translates with graphic power:
"The carcasses are many!
Throw them out anywhere!
Hush!"
This is a close translation of the Hebrew, except that the verb
throw is not imperative, but indicative-" men do throw them out
anywhere."  The last word "hush" should be compared with
Amos 6: 10, where the word is the same, and the sentiment also,
doubtless, the same. Some suppose this injunction to silence looks
toward their danger from the invading foe, it being such that they
could not bury their beloved and honored dead with safety, save in
secrecy and silence. Perhaps so; but the passage (6: 10) favors
another view, viz., that an appalling sense of the presence and wrath
of God awed every heart into silence.
4. Hear this, O ye that swallow  up the needy, even
to make the poor of the land to fail,




AMOS. —   AP. VIII.                147
5. Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we
may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth
wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great,
and falsifying the balances by deceit?
6. That we may buy the poor for silver, and the
needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell tile refuse of the
wheat?
The guilty people are once more exhorted to hear the threatened judgments of the Almighty, and the recital of those judgments
is prefaced by a further description of their oppressions of the poor.
In this passage, as in 2: 6-8, these oppressions stand as the crowning, damning sin-that which filled to the brim the cup of their
iniquity. — " Swallow up the needy," exhibits the same verb that
is rendered (chap. 2: 7) " that pant after the dust of the earth on
the head of the poor." It might more precisely be rendered here" that pant after the poor," even to make the needy of the land cease
altogether, i. e., to annihilate them so that none should remain.
So eager are they to drive hard bargains, and wrest from the poor
the last pittance of their earnings, they cannot wait for the new
moon and for the Sabbath to pass over-so would they hurry off
their religious duties to get back again to their extortion and fraud.
Their religion stood in the way of their sin in no other respect than
that it demanded a few hours' suspension of trade and business. It
utterly failed of its proper influence, viz., to make their heart
thoroughly benevolent, and, consequently, their business-life just.
-It would seem that these tradesmen bought by the shekel
and sold by the ephah.  So they perverted their measures and
weights to subserve the ends of fraud. They made false balances
for deceit.   Yet further, they drive their fraudulent trade to get
money in order to buy the poor for slaves, cheapening even their
price, so that they could get a poor man or a poor boy for a pair of
sandals, which are of much less value than American shoes.
And one thing more, they sell as merchantable the refuse of the
wheat-the light, half-filled grains.-   What a depth of corruption
in morals do such sketches of the ways of business and trade reveal! The reader will be careful to note how sharply the Lord
rebukes and exposes such outrages on human rights and on commercial justice, and how fearfully he punishes the guilty.
7. The LoRD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob,
Surely I will never forget any of their works.
Here begins the message which (in v. 4.) the people were exhorted to hear. It opens with a most solemn asseveration, the oath
of the Almighty. " The excellency of Jacob " cannot well mean
here any quality or thing that Jacob possessed-not his moral
qualities, not his goodly land-but it must refer to and describe
Jehovah himself. Iie was "' the excellency of Jacob " in the sense




148                 A3IOS.-CIIAP. VIII.
of being his most glorious " portion," his richest treasure; that in
which Jacob should more exult and rejoice than in all things else.
— Comparing this passage with Amos 6: 8, where the Lord says,
"I abhor'the excellency of Jacob," the difference is that there
the phrase refers to the glorious land and country of Jacob which
the people did account their chief glory, as they should not; here,
to their covenant-keeping God whom they ought to have accounted their chief glory, but did not. The object in using this
one phrase in these two different senses may have been to make this
contrast palpable.   It is by no means uncommon for Jehovah to
swear by himself. Paul (Heb. 6: 13) intimates the reason to be
that he can swear by none greater-by nothing else so solemn.
— As to the form of this oath, it is very common in Hebrew,
but not often retained in our English translation:  "IF I thall ever
forget any of their works "-where the full force would be expressed by filling out the sentence-then I am not God. A very strong
emphasis on the word if suffices, however, to express the sense. God
will not lose from his memory one of the least of all their doings.
All shall come up again for judgment.
8. Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one
mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly
as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by
the flood of Egypt.
The tone of awful earnestness, manifest in this oath of Jehovah,
should lead us to expect appalling judgments, in hearing which, all
ears should tingle. The prophet compares the convulsions that
shall shake the land to an earthquake, and represents this earthquake as heaving up the land, even as the Nile liftS! up its waters
in its annual inundations. The verse might be paraphrased thus:
"For this, shall not the land tremble as in an earthquake, and
every dweller therein mourn, when the whole land rises up as the
Nile, and rolls to and fro, and then subsides like the river of Egypt
after its mighty inundations? " — Of the two words rendered
"cast out," and "drowned," the first must mean, driven and
tossed, as impelled by mighty forces; and the second, subsiding
again, when the moving force is spent. The ultimate thought is,
that convulsions shake and rock the kingdom of Israel, and finally
sweep it away into the gulf of ruin.
9. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the
Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon,
and I will darken the earth in the clear day:
This is the usual figure for great calamity. The last clause
reads literally —"I will darken the light to the earth in the daytime."  The actual thing indicated by these figures should not be
looked for in the natural but in the political and moral world.
(See Joel 3: 15 and 2: 31.)




AMOS.-CIIAP. VIII.                 149
10. And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and
all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up
sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head;
and I will make it as the mourning of an only 8on, and
the end thereof as a bitter day.
These are the tokens of grief common among the people of the
East in all ages.
11. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GoD, that
I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread,
nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the
LORD:
12. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from
the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to
seek the word of the LouD, and shall not find it.
13. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men
faint for thirst.
In their deep calamity, their ideas and feelings in regard to
messages from the Lord by his servants, will utterly change. Whereas
they had made light of these messages when they had them-even
scorning the word of God and misusing his prophets-now, the
Lord having withdrawn and trouble having come on, they are in
the horrors of a great famine of the words of the Lord. They long
for some word from him, and wander over the whole land in vain
to find a prophet. Like Saul after the Lord had forsaken him,
they say-" I am sore distressed; God is departed from me, and
answereth me no more, neither by prophet nor by dreams"
(1 Sam. 28: 15).-This was one of the prophet's last appeals to
the people to give heed to the words of the Lord while they had
them.
14. They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say,
Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beer-sheba
liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.
The "sin of Samaria" is here idol gods. One of Jeroboam's
calves was put up in Dan, the extreme northern limit of the kingdom.   The " mnanner of Beersheba " means first the ways of idol
worship practised there, and next, the idol gods themselves, which
is the sense here.-The form of the oath might be better expressed-" As thy God, O Dan, liveth;" or, "By the life of thy
god, O Dan;" and so of the god Beersheba.,-All who have had
such reverence for these infamous gods as to swear by them shall
fall, never to rise again.




150                   AMOS.-CHAP. IX.
CHAPTER IX.
Tiis chapter opens with the fifth and last special vision shown
the prophet: affirms the complete destruction of the guilty, apostate people of Israel; denies in vivid forms all possibility of their
escape (vs. 1-7, 10), yet promises the rescue of a small remnant (vs.
8, 9); predicts the raising up of the fallen tent of David, and the
saving of the true Israel for an era of extraordinary and long-continued prosperity.
1. I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he
said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may
shake: and cut them  in the head all of them; and I
will slay the last of them with the sword: he thatfleeth
of them  shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of
them shall not be delivered.
In the outset, a question arises respecting the altar referred to
here, the decision of which affects the interpretation of the chapter
fundamentally.   Some, with Dr. Henderson, take it to be the
idol altar at Bethel, and adduce the following reasons for this view:
(1.) The reference (8: 14), immediately preceding, to the utter and
final fall of the worshippers of those idols, showing that this subject was in mind; (2.) That Amos (3: 14) affirms this very thingi' In the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon
him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel, and the horns of
the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground;" (3.) The fitness of this fact in itself, and in all its relations; (4.) That
TIosea, under the  same  circumstances, distinctly predicts that
God will break down those altars and spoil their images (Hos. 10:
2, 5, 8).    Others, including Dr. Hengstenberg, Rosenmuller, and
Calvin, take it to mean the altar of burnt-offering at Jerusalem. I
adopt this opinion decidedly, for the following reasons: (1.) This,
and this only, is the altar-the one to be thought of when we have
nothing else to determine the sense except this emphatic definite
article. (2.) The idol altar was not, to the same extent, the prominent thing at Bethel. The calf, the god himself, was much more
prominent. (3.) The scope of this chapter, and more especially
from v. 8 to the close, contemplates Judah and Jerusalem, as well
as Samaria, Bethel, and the northern kingdom; e. g., v. 7, " brought
up Israel out of the land of Egypt;'" v. 8, "the house of Jacob,"
and v. 9, " the house of Israel," who are spoken of as " my people,"
v. 10; "the tent of David," v. 11; "my people of Israel," v. 14.
(4.) The allusions, v. 11, and especially the use of the plural number, are thought to refer to both kingdoms: "In that day will I
raise up the tent of David that is fallen (looking, perhaps, in part to
the crushing down of the temple, as in this v. 1), and will wall up




AMOS. —CHAP. IX.                   151
their (not its) breaches " —the breaches of both kingdoms, and " I
will raise up his ruins," those of David, and " I will build it "-the
tent —" as in days of old."' - The two points of argument last
made (Nos. 3 and 4) offset the consideration that most of the book
of Amos relates to the northern kingdom. That is freely admitted,
yet when the Lord reaches, in this last chapter, the revelations of
mercy, the phraseology embraces the southern as well as the northern kingdom; or rather that temporary distinction is lost sight of,
and we have the earlier Israel of the times of the Exodus and of
David. In this point of view we go back also to the great altar at
Jerusalem. (5.) But more than all is the argument from the scope
and course of thought. To see this in its full force, we must look
first at the fact that the people of the northern kingdom, though
fearfully apostate from God into idol-worship, yet kept up some of
the forms of the Mosaic system, and manifestly depended upon
God's protection and favor on this account. See the evidence, chap.
4:4, 5: "Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes after
three years, your thank-offerings and your free-offerings "-where
the sense is, Bring them if you will, and rely on them for salvation
if you will; they can avail you nothing. Also 5: 14, 18-26:
" Seek good and not evil; so the Lord shall be with you as ye have
said; " i. e., they had said the Lord would be with them, because of
their religious worship. The prophet replies, " God will be with
you then, and only then, when you seek good and do right."  V.
18 shows that they did not fear but even dared the coming of the
day of the Lord-manifestly through their vain confidence in his
favor. Hence he solemnly affirms, " I hate, I despise your feastdays; I will not accept your burnt-offerings," &c. The whole connection here shows that the Lord would fain annul their vain reliance on the mere forms of ceremonial worship for the salvation of
their country.
With this fact in mind, let us come to our verse (9: 1). I paraphrase it thus: "' I saw the Lord standing beside the great altar of
burnt-offering in Jerusalem, and he said,'Smite the capitals of the
columns, and make the very thresholds tremble, and dash them in
pieces upon the heads of all the people within, and the remnant of
them I will slay with the sword; whoever flees shall not escape,
and he that gets away shall not be finally delivered.' I"- n this
vision the people are supposed to be assembled in the temple for
safety against the judgments of God, but he comes down with his
destroying angel and orders the whole temple to be crushed down
from pinnacle to basement, that it may fall crashing upon the heads
of the assembled throng. Then, whom the falling temple does not
crush, the sword shall slay, and none shall escape.-The context
in the next three verses confirms this view of the general course
of thought in this passage, as we shall see.
This vision of the temple crushed down upon the heads of those
who had fled to it for refuge against the judgments of God, is altogether in harmony witll Amos 6: 8:-" The Lord hath sworn by




152                  AMOS.-CHIAP. IX.
himself, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces."
See Notes on the passage. The whole heart of the Holy One
revolts at the idea that his temple should be made a hiding-place
and sanctuary of refuge for hypocrites so foul, apostates so guilty
and so Heaven-provoking; and as he abhors their goodly land
because of the sins of the people, and will not spare it for its
natural beauty, so neither will he spare its goodly temple.
2. Though they.dig into hell, thence shall mine hand
take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will
I bring them down:
3. And though they hide themselves in the top of
Carmel, I will search and take them  out thence; and
though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the
sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall
bite them:
4. And though they go into captivity before their
enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall
slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil,
and not for good.
The aim throughout these verses is to deny all possibility of
escape.   It is not essential to the fitness or the force of these
supposed cases that they should be actually possible. The affirmation is that if they were so, and if men should hide there, it should
avail them nothing. There is no escape from the Almighty by any
expedient, possible or even supposable. " The top of Carmel " is
suggested as a place to hide one's self, both because of its numerous
caves and thick undergrowths, and because, lying adjacent to the
Mediterranean, it naturally stood in contrast with the bottom of the
sea.-" Going into captivity" presupposes that their lives are at
first spared; but even the rights of prisoners of war should not save
them from death.
5. And the Lord GoD of hosts is he that toucheth the
land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall
mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a flood; and
be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.
6. It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven,
and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth
for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the
face of the earth: the LoRD is his name.
These bold descriptions of Jehovah's power over the material
world are adduced here in the same line of thought with the preceding-to show how hopelessly futile must be every attempt of
guilty men to evade his scourge or escape his retributions. The




AMOS. —CHAP. IX.                  153
manner of the original is graphic: "And the Lord Jehovah of
Hosts-he is touching the earth, and then it melts, and all the
dwellers in it mourn; its whole surface is lifted up like the rising
Nile, and then subsides as the river of Egypt (the effects of an
earthquake, as in Amos 8: 8). I-Ie builds his chambers in the
heavens; he has founded his arched vault upon the earth (i. e. the
blue concave firmament). He calls for the waters of the sea, and
then pours them out upon the face of the earth-Jehovah, his
name."    What our translators meant by "troop" is not clear.
The original word refers to the apparently arched concave above us,
which the Hebrews thought and spoke of as solid, " the firmament,"
and its pillars or lower edges as resting upon the earth.'7. Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me,
O  children  of Israel?  saith  the LORD.  Have I not
brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the
Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from IKir?
This verse aims to confront and demolish another delusive
reliance of the apostate people, viz., that, being the seed of Abrahanm
and children of the covenant, brought by a series of miracles
into the land of promise, they were invincible against any heathen
power, since their God would surely protect them.   The Lord
replies to their thought-" What are ye to me more than the
Cushites and Ethiopians? I did indeed bring you up out of Egypt;
so I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor (Crete), and the
Syrians from Elir "-the region of the river Cyrus. Does such a
removal insure the perpetual prosperity of any people? Can it
save you from being removed again, far beyond Damascus? (See
Amos 5:27.)- The Ethiopians, or Cushites, originally holding
central Arabia, were removed to the interior of Africa.
8. Behold the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the
sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face
face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy
the house of Jacob, saith the LorD.
The phrase " sinful kingdom" leads the mind to the kingdom
of the ten tribes, lihat being at this period far more corrupt than
Judah. The sentence "I will destroy it from  the face of the
earth," had special reference to the ten tribes. The exceptLrag
clause, " saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,"
raises the question whether the saved were of the ten tribes, or of
Judah only. On this point, the statements in this verse are not
altogether explicit: v. 9 favors the hope that some from the ten
tribes were plucked from  utter ruin; v. 10 shows that all the
sinners-all who were past repentance and reform-would be cut
off by the sword.
9. For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house
7*




154                   AMOS. —CHIAP. IX.
Of Israel among all nations, like as coern is sifted ii- a
sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.
It would seem that " the house of Israel," as used in this verse,
must be a different class from  " the sinfilul kingdom," named in v.
8, and from  " the sinners of mny people," spoken of in v. 10. The
latter, he says, " shall be destroyed" (v.8); *" shall die by the sword "
(v. 10); but the former, though sifted fine and far among the
nations, shall none of them be lost. They are the precious grain,
and God's eye is on them to save them and to use them for his own
purpose, as his eye is also on the sinful kingdom to destroy it from
the face of the earth. The L house of Israel," therefore, must include here only the real people of God, " faithful found amnong the
faithless;" the same whom, considered as captives, he will restore,
as said below. —The word rendered " the least grain " is thought
by Hengstenberg to mean a bundle, or any thing bound up. This
is the almost universal sense of the word. Its meaning here
would be essentially as in 1 Sam. 25: 29: "' 3Men rise up to persecute and to seek thy soul; but the soul of my Lord is bound
in the bundle of the living by the Lord thy God." So in our
passage with this sense of the word, the house of Israel are bound
up in the bundle of life by the Lord himself, and cannot be lost in
the sifting process of discipline by dispersion among the nations.
— If we might give the word the sense-a small grain-the
ultimate meaning would be much the same.
10. All the sinners of my people shall die by the
sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake or prevent'IS.
The sense here must be —" All the sinners out of or among my
people "-the sinners being one class and God's people another.
The sinners shall die-the judgment of God being the fearfully
sifting process.- The description given of them evinces their vain
self-confidence.  The evils threatened by the prophets of the Lord,
they are sure, will neither overtake them from behind, nor come in
ahead of them from before. "Prevent " has usually in our Bible
that ancient, now obsolete sense, of getting in advance, coming in
ahead to intercept and confront an adversary. -Vain self-confidence never saves; it only hastens and aggravates destruction.
11. In  that day will I raise up the tabernacle of
David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof;
and I will raise up lhis ruins, and I will build it as in
the days of old:
The point of time indicated by " in that day," is not definite. It
looks into that future period when discipline shall have wrought its
desired result and the fulness of the Lord's time of mercy shall
have come.-The "tent" or booth "of David "-not his royal
palace,  which would indicate prosperity and strength —but his




AMOS. —CHAP. IX.                  155
reduced and humble dwelling, a booth of tree-boughs, and even this
fallen down, God will now raise up. The reigning family of David
had been sadly broken down by the revolt under Jeroboam; far
more so still by their apostasy into idol-worship, oppression, and
other immoralities, for all which God had doomed the sinners
of his people to be utterly cut off; but the day will come for rearing up again this royal line and its kingdom. He will wall up the
breaches of the "double house," the two kingdoms (for so the
plural pronoun, rendered "thereof," should naturally mean):'"I
will raise up David's ruins and build his tent as in days of old."
These promises suggest the original covenant with David's line (2
Sam. 7: 16). " And thy house and thy kingdom shall be established
forever before thee; thy throne shall be established forever." King
Messiah is to come in this royal line, and, according to the strain of
this prophecy, events ripen for his coming. Only in him can this
prophecy find an adequate fulfilment.
12. That they may possess the remnant of Edom,
and of all the heathen which are called by my name,
saith the LoRD that doeth this.
The " remnant of Edom " reminds us that in chap. 1: 11, 12, we
saw Edom doomed to sore judgments, almost exterminating, because of his relentless hostility to his brother Jacob's race. Now
the revived and rebuilt house of David shall possess what is left of
Edom. There may also be a tacit allusion to the fact that the
literal David himself subdued the Edomites and made them tributary,
and that they took advantage of the breaches in David's tents-in
other words, the weakness induced by the revolt and by the great
sins of the covenant people-to throw off this yoke. David's line,
having returned to God and to consequent prosperity and power,
shall again possess what remains of Edom. And not of Edom
alone, but of all the heathen over whom God's name is called, for
so saith the Lord who bringeth to pass these promised events.The calling of God's name over a person or people is not an empty
ceremony, but a most significant fact. It implies their consecration
to his love and service.  Thus it was said concerning Israel-Deut.
28: 9, 10: "The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself," &c., "and all people of the earth shall see that thou art
called by the name of the Lord," literally rendered, " that the name
of the Lord hath been called over or upon thee," and consequently
that thou art the people of God, and the object of his protecting
care and love. To the same purport is Dan. 9: 18, 19, " O Lord,
behold the city over which thy name is called "-" for thy city and
thy people are called by thy name."  In this most interesting
sense God's name has been called over the gentile nations. This is
the great fact affirmed in this passage.  May it not be that Isaiah,
in nearly the same words, means the same thing (54: 5)? " The
God of the whole earth shall he be called," i. e., "his name shall be
called over or upon it all."    Another mode of expressing essen



156                   AMOS. —CHAP. IX.
tially the same thing is this —"They "-the royal seed of David
— " shall possess" (inherit) "the remnant of Edom and of all
the heathen."  Precisely this Isaiah affirms-" Thy seed shall inherit
the Gentiles" (54: 3). —Yet further, let us not lose sight of the
idea that this calling of the name of God over these heathen
nations, and this inheriting or possession of the Gentiles by the
royal seed of David, must all be understood, not in the worldly but
in the gospel sense. Israel takes possession of the gentile nations,
only in the name of her King Messiah; only by preaching to them
his gospel, revealing to them his love, and taking their hearts captive
for him by the power of his cross. We must think of no other
conquest, no other form of possession, but this. -Finally, let us
revert to the quotation of these verses (11, 12) by the Apostle
James (Acts 15: 14-17) in his speech before the great council at Jerusalem. He began with saying, " Simon Peter has been relating
to you how God has visited the Gentiles to convert some of them
to himself; and to this agree the words of the prophet Amos;"
and then he quotes substantially from the Septuagint version these
two verses. iis quotations differ from the Hebrew chiefly in reading "the residue of men," instead of "the remnant of Edom."
The Hebrew reader will readily see the resemblance between
"Edom" and "Adam "-which was specially close when the
Hebrew was written without the vowels. Yet James gives the
general sense with entire accuracy, viz., that God had of set purpose called the Gentiles within the pale of his church, to inherit
in it among his people.
13. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the
ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader
of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains
shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.
14. And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and
inhabit themn; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink
the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat
the fruit of them.
15. And I will plant them upon their land, and they
shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I
have given them, saith the LORD thy God.
Here let us first note the sense of particular words and phrases.
-" Days come," looks forward to the remote and indefinite future. The manner of calling attention to the matters revealed in
these last three verses, " Behold," coupled with the change from
" in that day" (v. 11), to " days come " (v. 13), imply that these latter events lie onward in the future, beyond those recorded (vs. 11,
12).   " The ploughman overtaking the reaper," &c., implies great
prosperity and abundance. The reaper will have so much to do,




AMOS. —Cn.  IX.                    157
and the ploughman withal is so eager to get in readiness a large
field, that he treads on the heels of the reaper. The mountains
terraced and cultivated in grapes to their summits shall seem to distil new wine. It flows down their declivities as if the mountains
themselves were becoming liquid. To "bring again their captivity " always implies good and not evil-promised blessings and not
threatened calamities. It is also used in a broader and more general sense than that of bringing captives home to their own land.
How this came to pass may be seen in the history of the Hebrews
as related to Canaan. In all those ages of promise, prior to their
possession of Canaan under Joshua, " to inherit the land," to possess the land of promise, was the consummation of hope, the thing
of most earnest desire. " The meek shall inherit the land," shows
the significance of this phraseology.  In later times, after captivity in foreign lands had been their sad experience, the phrases
" bring again their captivity," and " plant them again in their own
land," superseded the former phrase in a like sense of general prosperity. Cases that both illustrate and prove this figurative use of
the phrase " to bring or turn again the captivity," may be seen
(Job 42: 10), " And the Lord turned the captivity of Job," but Job
had been in no captivity in the literal sense. The Lord changed
his state by a change analogous to that from bondage to freedom.
Also Ezek. 16: 53, 55, " When I shall bring again the captivity of
Sodom and her daughters," &c., but the trouble with Sodom was
not a real captivity. This term is used here figuratively for another
calamity worse than that. The precise sense of the phrase is given
in a clause explanatory (v. 55), " When thy sister Sodonl and her
daughters shall return to their former estate." These cases will
suffice to establish the usage which I have assumed. —Let us beware lest we stop in the letter and miss the spirit of thisoprophecy.
So doing, we shall find in it only a Mohammedan paradise, and God
surely intended something far richer and better than that. We
shall greatly err if in reading this passage we think only of great
harvests, hills running down with wine, and the people of Israel
restored again and forevermore to Palestine. The construction we
are compelled to put on the two verses next preceding forbids this.
The sense given to those verses by the Apostle James, viz., the calling of the Gentiles into the gospel faith, forbids it. It would be a
sad falling off if, borne along by the whole current of thought in
this ninth chapter, and especially in verses 11, 12, we should begin
to rejoice in the glory of gospel salvation, spreading widely over
all the Gentile world, and then, in these last three verses, should
reach the climax by dropping down to Judaism, and find none but
sensual ideas, luxurious harvests, plenty of good wine, and the land
of Palestine held forever by the Jews. The current strain of all
the gospel prophecies forbids this construction.  Amos himself
would rebuke us! HI-e would say, How could you forget that, being myself a husbandlnan from my youth, I ought to be allowed to
draw my figures and illustrations from things with which I had




158                  AMOS.-CHAP. IX.
been all my life familiar? Had you not noticed this same thing
throughout my book? And could you not learn to distinguish between the drapery and the person clothed in it —between the costume and the inward reality.?  -Yes, thou lovely, venerable prophet
of the Lord, we will not torture thy figures of speech into sensualities that never came into thy mind! WAe will try to see in this
rich imagery of nature the glorious and munificent things of gospel
times. We will not impute to thee the inconsistency of denouncing the woes of God on men " at ease in Zion," because they
" drink wine in bowls" (6: 6), and then representing the saints of
God as finding their highest spiritual life and glory in vineyards,
grapes, and wine!
I cannot close this book of Amos without a passing tribute to
his clear, forcible, and earnest style; to the richness of his figures,
drawn chiefly from the familiar but often sublimely grand fields of
nature, and from the scenes of husbandry; to the sublime and solemn grandeur with which he recites the significant names of Jehovah, God of hosts; and not least, to his warm sympathy with
the wronged and outraged poor, and to his intense abhorrence of
the luxury, pride, ostentation, and especially the oppression which
manifestly was the crowning and damning sin of the leading men
in the kingdom of Israel. We shall need to go far to find keener
invectives against these Heaven-provoking sins, or a more earnest
wielding of Jehovah's thunders against the oppression of the poor,
the perversions of justice, and the enslaving of men.- Well, indeed, had it been, if during the past hundred years, our American
churches had drank deeply of the spirit of Amos, the herdmanprophet, and had given heed to the burning words against oppression which God spake through his lips! Then had our American
Christianity never stricken hands with the oppressor! American
systematized oppression would have been throttled in its cradle,
and the woes of the great war of rebellion under which the nation
has bled and groaned need never have been! —It may be noted
that Amos, like Hosea and Joel, closes with an outlook from the
lofty heights of the mount of Vision into that goodly land of Promise, yet mostly future, when " the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord," when his kingdom and people shall possess the
world, and all its tribes and kingdoms shall become the kingdom of
our Lord and of his Christ that he may reign forever and ever.




0 BADIAH.
INTRODUCTION.
OF the author of this shortest book in the Bible, we have the
briefest possible account. His name was Obadiah-there the record ends. The book contains historical (not prophetic) allusions to
the capture and destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans and the
consequent captivity, and therefore must have been written subsequent to that event, yet how long after cannot be certainly determined by any evidence external or internal. The tone of the passage (vs. 11-14) implies that those events connected with the fall
of Jerusalem were then recent.-The name, Obadiah, meaning
" servant of the Lord," occurs frequently in the Hebrew genealogies, and several times in Bible history. The author of this book
was not the Obadiah who stood up so nobly for the Lord under
that wicked Ahab (1 Kings 18: 3, 4, 7, 16), nor that other Obadiah
who was employed by Jehoshaphat to teach religious duty (2 Chron.
17: 7).  WVe must be content to know but little of his personal
history.
His subject is one-a prophecy concerning Edom. The posterity of Esau, otherwise called Edom, founded this kingdom at a very
early period. They manifestly had their land under cultivation
before the Hebrews entered Canaan. They appear repeatedly in
the scenes of Jewish history during the reign of David, and more
especially after the revolt. The early antipathy which brought
Esau out with four hundred armed men to intercept Jacob on his
return from Padanaram to Canaan, though sometimes kept down
under the pressure of conscious inability to do his brother harm,




160                 OBADIAH.-CIIAP. I.
yet seems never to have been fully suppressed. As said by Amos
(1: 11),: he cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually,
and he nursed his wrath forever." This enduring hatred seized its
opportunity when Jerusalem fell before the Chaldean power, and
broke forth, not only in most unfraternal words, but in most cruel
deeds. This was the special occasion of the prophecy here recorded.
Other prophets have predicted the fall of Edom, some of earlier date, e. g., Isaiah and Joel, and some contemporary, or of later
date, e. g., Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Malachi, and the writer of Psalm
137. (See Isaiah 21: 11; and 34: and Joel 3: 19, and Jeremiah 49:
7-22 (closely parallel), and Ezek. 25: 12-14, and Mal. 1: 3, 4.)
CHAPTER I.
1. THE vision of Obadiah.  Thus saith the Lord GOD
concerning Edom; We have heard a rumor from  the
LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen,
Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.
The Lord commissions his servant Obadiah to proclaim, We
have heard from the Lord a message, i. e., a thing to be announced
(not a " rumor" in the sense of an uncertain, flying report), to the
effect that his providential agencies have summoned the heathen
forth, calling on them to arise and come up for battle against Edom.
2. Behold, I have made thee small among the
heathen: thou art greatly despised.
3. The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou
that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation
is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me
down to the ground?
4. Though thou exalt thysqef as the eagle, and
though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I
bring thee down, saith the LORD.
The great men of Edom had been proud (we may suppose) of
the high antiquity of their nation; of their great wealth, their
country having been for ages the thoroughfare of commerce between Egypt and North Africa on their southwest, and the rich
countries of Mesopotamia and India on the east and northeast; of
their eminent progress in the arts, of which the ruins yet remaining are ample proof; and of their early knowledge of letters, of
which the Book of Job (native to this country) is good testimony.
Sir Isaac Newton came to the conclusion that Edom was the nur



OBADIAH.-CmHAP. I.                 1.61
sery of the arts and sciences for all the world, and that even the
Egyptians received from them their earliest knowledge of astronomy and of its use in'navigation. Men of the world think and
speak of pride on such grounds as honest and honorable; but, however this may be, it surely cannot atone for moral obliquities, for
national animosity, jealousy, revenge, and perpetual hatred. And
when, as in this case, national pride deceives a people so greatly as
to make them think they have nothing to fear from the just judgments of God, the mistake is fearful. This was the sin and ruin
of ancient Edom.
The phrase "' Thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose
habitation is high," has in modern times received a very striking
confirmation from the personal visits and examination made by a
large number of travellers-Burckhardt among the earliest; Dr.
Edward Robinson among the most accurate and reliable. They and
others have found on the site of ancient Petra a vast amount of
ruins of the homes of both the living and the dead, especially along
the face of an immense gorge or chasm, where the perpendicular
rock, several hundred feet in height, was improved for temples,
sepulchres, and private residences, chiselled from the rock itself.
The massive grandeur of these ruins aids us to appreciate the description, " Thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high." It also accounts for the pride and vain confidence
felt by the men of Edom in the military strength of their fastnesses, and evinces the pertinence of the divine word, "Though
thou lift thyself high as the eagle, and set thy nest among the stars,
thence will I bring thee down." How vain it must ever be for
even the loftiest and mightiest of men to defy the Almighty, or
count themselves above the reach of his retributions!
5. If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night (how
art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they
had enough? if the grape-gatherers came to thee, would
they not leave some grapes?
6. How  are the thlngs of Esau searched out! how
are his hidden things sought up!
These supposed cases-the thieves, the night-robbers, and the
grape-gatherers-all have the same object, viz., to show that the
spoiling of Esau would be unsparing. The interjected exclamation
-" How art thou cut off! "-implies that the desolation of Esau
would be more dire than that wrought by thieves and night-robbers. The latter, compelled by fear to make short work, are wont to
seize what comes first to hand till they have enough for present want,
or, as the case may be, all they can carry away; and so may leave
some valuables behind. Grape-gatherers leave gleanings. But Esau's
wealth will be carefully searched out. Those who shall come to
spoil him will find all his hidden stores.-  The exclamation in v.
6 corresponds in form of statement precisely to that thrown into




162                 OBADIAH.-CIAP.  I.
the middle of v. 5-" tHow art thou cut off!"  The prophet's eye
and heart were full of the sad fate of so much wealth, beauty, and
glory, doomed to utter desolation.
7. All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee
even to the border: the men that were at peace with
thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee;
they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee:
there is none understanding in him.
When the Lord's time comes to cast a mighty nation down, he
causes all their friends to turn against them. So this verse affirms
of the kingdom of Edom. First, all his allies (" men of thy confederacy"), bound by treaty to stand or fall with him, cast him out
of their country, chasing him even to their border, as one turns a
villain out of his doors. Next, those who were on terms of peace
and friendship turn to deceive him, and prevail against him; and
last, even his dependents, who ate at his table, put a snare under
his feet to entrap him.  Snare (not "wound ") is the sense of the
original word used here.   Finally, this utter failure of all his reliances suggests the remark, " There is no understanding in him."
He should not have trusted such helpers, and rejected the Almighty
God!
8. Shall I not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out
of the mount of Esau?
The closing thought of the verse preceding suggests these questions. Edom was celebrated for her wise men, and was proud of
them. Would not the Lord in that day destroy those great men,
and cause wisdom to cease from the mount of Esau?
9. And thy mighty men, 0 Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau
may be cut off by slaughter.
Her warriors also should be smitten with panic, in order that
the slaughter of the people might be complete.-" Teman " was
the name of a city and region in the eastern part of Idumea. Perhaps it was celebrated for its courage and prowess in war.
10. For thy violence against thy brother Jacob,
shame shall come over thee, and thou shalt be cut off
for ever.
The discourse turns here from the destruction of Edom to those
sins which were its special cause. These sins were their violence
and outrages against the posterity of Jacob, their brother. For this
they should be ashamed and confounded; and for this the nation
should ultimately be cut off forever.  These two inflictions would




OBADIAH.                      163
be distinct, and might be somewhat widely separated in time. The
form of the prophetic statement admits this distinction; the facts
of history fulfilled it. The shameful defeat came from the hand of
Nebuchadnezzar; the final overthrow was postponed into the early
ages of the Christian era.
11. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side,
in the day that the strangers carried away captive his
forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast
lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.
12. But thou shouldest not have looked on the day
of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger;
neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children
of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.
13. Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate
of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou
shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day
of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance
in the day of their calamity;
14. Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither
shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did
remain in the day of distress.
These specifications of what Esau had done in the line of violence and wrong toward his brother Jacob are put in the form of
pointed rebuke, after the fact.   In the day when the Chaldeans
took his (Jacob's) armed men captive, entered his gates, and cast
lots upon whatever was fair and precious in the holy city, thou
wast hostile and violent as they. -" Thou stoodest on the other
side" means more than simply standing aloof and distant; it implies the attitude of an adversary. The original words have this
sense (2 Sam. 18: 13): "Thou wouldest have set thyself against
them."  -"Thou wast as one of them" might possibly, if taken
by itself, mean only that the men of Edom sympathized fully with
the Chaldeans and against the Jews; but it more naturally implies
that they participated heartily in the assault and pillage of the
hated city. V. 14 certainly means all this. " Thou shouldest
not have looked on (exultingly) in the day when he was treated as
an alien." V. 12 shows that they were present in the sack and
ruin of the city, seizing the opportunity to rush within those gates
and lay hands on her spoil.-  The middle clause of this verse (12)
is made specially emphatic-" Thou shouldest not," of all the nations, " thou shouldest not have been looking on, to gloat thine
envious and cruel eye with the sight of their calamities," V. 14 rep



164                      OBADIAH.
resents that they most cruelly stood in the road-crossings to waylay
the fleeing Jews, to cut off their escape, and to deliver them up as
captives to their cruel captors. They should have done none of
these things. God-the righteous God of nations-is now holding
them to a strict and stern responsibility for those cruel violations
of fraternal sympathy which should have bound them to'the posterity of their father's brother.- The writer of Ps. 137 felt the
spirit of this just retribution-" Remember, O Lord, the children
of Edom in the day of avenging Jerusalem, who said: Rase it,
rase it, even to the foundation thereof" (v. 7).
15. For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy
reward shall return upon thine own head.
" The day of the Lord " is his time for retribution, declared here
to be "near upon all the heathen."  It came soon by the hand of
Nebuchadnezzar. "As thou" (Edom) "hast done to Jerusalem, so
shall it be done unto thee; thy reward" (the sort of treatment
thou hast shown to others) "shall come back upon thine own
head."
16. For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so
shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall
drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be
as though they had not been.
These allusions to drinking are explained by the usage of the
prophets. When they bore predictions of dire calamity, they were
said to carry a cup filled with a mixture which represented the
wrath and vengeance of the Almighty. The ground passage is
Ps. 75: 7, 8: "But God is the judge; he putteth down one, and
setteth up another; for in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and
the wine is red; it is fuill of mixture: but the dregs thereof-all the
wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them." To
Jerusalem Isaiah said (51: 17): " Stand up, thou who hast drunk at
the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury." In Jer. 25: 15-33, this
figure is carried out fully: " Take the wine-cup of this fury at mine
hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it."
So also Jer. 49: 12, in a passage very closelyparallel to this of Obadiah.
~-With this view of the sense of this figure, it seems necessary to
refer the first clause —"ye who have drunk on my holy mountain "-to the Jews themselves. They had taken their turn in drinking from this cup of retributive justice; now all the heathen-Edom
among them-must follow.- These guilty heathen nations must
drink copiously, for the word rendered " swallow down " is strongshall guzzle down, as men who love it, and suck out the very dregs
with keenest relish. And this shall be the end of them-their cup
of national annihilation.
17. But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and




OBADIAH.                       165i
there thall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall
possess their possessions.
Over against the final fate of those oppressive and wicked nations, Mount Zion stands in the strongest contrast. Turning now to
promises for the people of God, the prophet portrays the victory given
to Zion's side. Mount Zion shall be delivered, and, best of all,
"shall become holy."  This will secure her forever against such
fearful calamities, for these come only as needful discipline to cleanse
her from her sins. That " the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions " will either mean that they repossess their former land, or
that they gain possession of the country of the heathen-one or the
other, according as the pronoun " their " is reflexive, meaning their
own, or refers to heathen nations. The former is most probable.
The latter fact is taught specially in vs. 19, 20.
18. And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the
house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubblle, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them;
and there shall not be any remaining of the house of
Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.
Fire is one of the oriental images for war and its devastations.
Thus, Num. 21: 28: "For a fire is gone out of Heshbon, a flame
firom the city of Sihon; it hath consumed Ar of Moab," &c. Isaiah
(10: 17), setting forth how God's consuming wrath fell on the
Assyrian host, says, "The light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his
Holy One for a flame, and it shall burn and devour his thorns and
briers in one day." So here, the house of Jacob shall be a fire,
&c., and Esau stubble. This must imply that Jacob should be the
executioner of the Lord's vengeance upon Esau. A signal fulfilment of this prophecy took place under John Hyrcanus, B. c. 125.
19. And they of the south shall possess the mount of
Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they
shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall1possess Gilead.
The people of the southern part of Palestine should possess the
mount of Esau, that being contiguous to their homes. They of the
plain country, the southwest portion of Palestine, should have the
country of the Philistines, adjacent to them, &c.
20. And the captivity of this host of the children of
Israel shlall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto
Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in
Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south.
"The captives of this host" are the captives returning from
Babylon. They shall possess the country long held by the Canaan



166                      OBADIAH.
ites, even to Zarephath, a city near Zidon (see 1 Kings 17: 9), and
called " Sarepta," Luke 4: 26. —-The geography of'" Sepharad " is
not fully settled. It was a place whither some captives from Jerusalem were sent by the Cllaldeans. Recent critics locate it in
Western Asia, near the Bosphorus.
21. And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to
judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the
LORD'S.
" Saviours " must be used here in the sense in which God raised
up saviours to deliver the people in the days of the Judges that
succeeded Joshua. The passage teaches that the princes reigning on
Mount Zion shall rule over Mount Esau: " the elder shall serve the
younger," or rather, in the much broader sense, the people who
stand qwith God shall bear sway over all the realms and peoples of
the earth. The wicked shall no more bear rule: "the kingdom
is the Lord's and he is Governor among the nations." This is the
great truth in which the whole Book of Obadiah culminates- a glorious truth indeed I




J5 0 NAH.
INTRODUCTION.
Tins book, more thln any other in the Bible, has been assailed
with ridicule by infidels, and tortured from its simplicity by neological critics. Whereas its air is that of a simple narrative of facts,
immense efforts have been made to show that its statements are
not fact, but fiction. Some of these critics would make it a vision;
some an allegory; some a parable; others a tale of ancient tradition, believed by people of weak minds, perhaps, but by such only,
and never reliable.   It would scarcely pay to follow out these
critical fancies in detail. Let it suffice that the narrative bears not
the least trace of being a vision, or an allegory, or a parable, or a
tale of old-time tradition. From beginning to end it is simple,
straightforward, nobly honest and selftcondemning, especially considered as written by Jonah of himself; in short, in every respect
bearing the best internal evidence of truth.   Then further, the
book has worthy moral objects; e. g., to set forth the peril of fleeing from the path of duty, however rough or even dangerous that
path may be; also, the ways of God's discipline to bring his wandering servants back, and the tenderness of his pity and forgiving
love toward them  despite of their sins; and yet further, the principles on which God deals with nations, even the heathen, whether
in judgment when they sin, or in sparing mercy when they repent.
Such objects as these are great and good enough to entitle the book
of Jonah to a place in the sacred canon; or we might go farther
back and say, sufficiently important to justify God in making those
arrangements of his providence which constitute his part in these




168                   JONAH. —CIAP. I.
scenes of Jonah's history.-But more than all, Jonah is distinctly
recognized, in both the Old Testament and the New, as an historical
and not a fictitious person. In Old Testament history, 2 Kings 14:
25 distinctly refers to this Jonah, the son of Amittai, in these
words: "' He (Jeroboam II.) restored the coast of Israel from the
entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the
word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of
his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, who was of Gath-Hepher."
This city was assigned to the tribe of Zebulon (Josh. 19: 13), so
that Jonah's residence was within the kingdom of the ten tribes.
He is thus located, precisely as to place, and proximately as to time,
not later than the early part of the reign of Jeroboam  II. (reigned
B. c. 825-784).   In the New Testament, the proof to the point
that Jonah was a real and not a fictitious character, is complete.
(See Matt. 12: 39-41, and 16: 4.) The Lord Jesus most distinctly refers to Jonah as the subject of a sign-i. e., of a miracle-as having
been three days and three nights in the whale's belly, and as having preached to the people of Nineveh, under which preaching they
repented; and finally, he definitely compares himself with Jonah:
"Behold, a greater than Jonah is here."-  Now, if, despite of
these testimonies to the contrary, men insist that Jonah is to be accounted a fictitious character, they may say the same with equal
reason of the queen of Sheba and of the wise Solomon. Will it
be claimed that the Lord Jesus did not know whether the history
of Jonah were truth or fiction? or that, knowing it to be fiction, he
did not care how strongly his allusions to it implied its truth and
misled the people? Neither of these positions will ever be taken
by those who intelligently accept and honor Jesus Christ as a
teacher sent from God, and the very impersonation of truth.
Yet further, the apocryphal Book of Tobit (14: 4, 8) recognizes
Jonah as an historical and not a fictitious character, a fact which at
least testifies to current Jewish opinion at its date. Josephus is yet
another witness to the same point (Ant. 9: 10, 12).
The case of Jonah suggests that the Hebrew prophets, though
brought into very near relations to God, were yet only human-men
of like passions with the race at large, and subject to the temptations incident to human frailties.  His course in fleeing to Tarshish
and his spirit while at Nineveh, are at once surprising and painful.
In view of the fact that he was one of the earliest of the Hebrew
prophets whose writings have come down to us, it is at least supposable that the Lord intended this example to be a lesson of spe



JONAH.-CHAP. I.                    169
cial admonition to all subsequent prophets. Let us hope that it
was blessed to them as a warning against being unfaithful to their
mission, and against assuming to dictate or question the policy of
the ~Most High God.
CHAPTER I.
JoNAH is commissioned to go to Nineveh and forewarn them of
their destruction (vs. 1, 2). He attempts to flee away to Spain instead (v. 3); a tempest from the Lord arrests the ship (vs. 4-11);
he is thrown overboard and caught up by a great fish (vs. 11-17).
1. Now the word of the LoiD  came unto Jonah the
son of Amittai, saying,
2. Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry
against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
Nineveh, on-the eastern bank of the Tigris, opposite the site of
the modern Mosul, for many ages past in ruins, has been discovered
and its ruins somewhat thoroughly explored in the present century.
It was the capital of ancient Assyria, one of the oldest cities since
the flood (Gen. 10: 11, 12), long celebrated for its size, wealth, and
magnificence. At this time its wickedness had come up before God,
and he mercifully sent to them a prophet from Israel to forewarn
them of impending ruin and exhort them to repent.-The Hebrew
prophets were somewhat frequently commissioned to utter predictions of judgment on Gentile nations, but seem to have been very
rarely sent in person to bear these predictions to those nations. In
Jer. 27 maybe seen a proximate case. The prophet was directed to
send his prophetic message by the hand of foreign ambassadors
present at the Jewish capital.
3. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the
presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he
found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare
thereof, and went down into it, to go with them  unto
Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
It is now quite settled among critics that "Tarshish" was the
city Tartessus, in Spain, with which the Phcenicians kept up an
active trade by sea. Jonah thought to escape the responsibility of
his unwelcome commission to Nineveh by taking ship at once to
Tarshish. The narrative is particular to state repeatedly that thits
was "fleeing from the presence of the Lord" —as if there would
be no God in Tarshish to make him trouble! or at least, as if God
could not object to his laying down his prophetic office, and going
abroad to foreign lands.-  We naturally ask-What could have
8




1'7O                JONAII.-CIIAP. I.
been his motive and what his temptation to a course so wicked and
so foolish? Fear for his personal safety is the cause we most naturally
think of, yet of this it might well be asked-Did not he know that
if the Lord sent him into danger, he could protect him through it?
and that it is always safe for a child of God to go where he knows
his Father sends him?   Another motive, even less worthy than
this of fear, is indicated by his own strange expostulation with God
(4: 1, 2), because He retracted his threat to destroy Nineveh and
turned from punishment to pardon. This change on the part of
God "displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry!"
(Alas for poor human nature!)  "And he prayed unto the Lord
and said-I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was
yet in my country? Therefore I fled before to Tarshish; for I knew
that thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and of great
kindness, and repentest thee of the evil."    Ab, indeed! then
Jonah did not like to go to Nineveh, through fear that they would
repent, and then the Lord would forgive them and not destroy the
city, as he was about to proclaim.  And was he concerned lest his
reputation should suffer, and he be thought a false prophet? Alas,
again we must say, for the follies and sins of man!   In some
points of view it seems wonderful that God should employ such
a man at all as a prophet-only that in the sins of Jonah -many a
man might see his own, if he would.   The Lord has great moral
lessons to teach us from these sins of Jonall. Let none of us be
too blind to see them, nor too much in love with sin to accept the
rebuke they read to us, and repent.
4. But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea,
and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the
ship was like to be broken.
The verb rendered "sent out" is strikingly expressive. He
hurled down upon the sea a great wind. The same word is used
in the next verse for casting out the wares from the ship. So
easily does God cast forth his tempest blasts and lash the sea into
fury.
5. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every
man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in
the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah
was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay,
and was fast asleep.
Those heathen men-for such they doubtless were-had each
his god.  In his danger each of those men prayed to the god lie
was wont to worship. Who does not pray in the hour of peril?
Certainly the heathen are usually no exception. Probably there are
no people on earth further removed from confidence in some superhuman power able to befriend and save, than the irreligious and
profane class in Christian lands.




JONAI. —IIAP. I.                  171
Some have thought that the statement respecting Jonah as fast
asleep under such circumstances, is violently improbable. —But
who knows how far he had walked during the previous day to reach
Joppa, or how much he may have suffered in his mind throughout
his journey, and for days previous? The ways of sin are not wont
to be ways of pleasantness, nor her paths those of peace.
6. So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto
him, What meanest thou, 0 sleeper? arise, call upon thy
God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish
not.
This rousing call must have stung the sleeper, especially when,
having fully awakened, he saw that God had met him in his guilty
way, and had brought such peril upon others for his sake.   It is
noticeable that the word God in the last clause has the article: "It
may be that the great and the true God will think upon us," &c.
Had he not some just conception of the one only true God?
7. And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and
let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this
evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon
Jonah.
The "lot" was practically an appeal to God to decide a pending question by his providence. In this case the Lord took the
disposal of the lot, according to Prov. 16: 33: " The lot is cast into
the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." It put
the finger of God upon Jonah.
8. Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee,
for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine
occupationS and whence comest thou? what is thy
country? and of what people art thou?
9. And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I
fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the
sea and the dry land.
10. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said'
unto him, Why hast thou  done this    For the men
knew that he fled from the presence of the LoRD, because he had told them.
The alarm felt by those sailors was greatly increased when
Jonah told them that the God whom he feared and worshipped
was that great God of heaven who made the sea and the dry
land. They could not help rebuking him. How couldest thou
offend such a God? See what comes of it! Didst thou think to
escape the wrath and the reach of so great a God?




172                 JONAH.-CHAP. I.
11. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto
thee, that the sea may be calm  unto us? for the sea
wrought and was tempestuous.
They see plainly that they must do something with Jonah. He
is the Achan in their camp. So they frankly ask him what they
shall do with him.   The last clause manifestly means that the sea
was becoming more and more tempestuous.
12. And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast
me forth into the sea; so shall the sea.be calm  unto
you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is
upon you.
Here is one redeeming quality in the character of Jonah. It is
pleasant to see a man, when found in sin. so frank, so honest, so
consciously sensible of his fault, and so ready to suffer the whole
fruit of his own misdoings, and relieve his companions.
13. Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to
the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and
was tempestuous against them.
The spirit which Jonah manifested awakened the sympathy of
the captain and crew in his behalf, and again they dug into the sea
with their oars (so the Hebrew means), to bring their ship to land;
but all in vain. The sea only became the more furious.
14. Wherefore they cried unto the LonD, and said,
We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not
perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent
blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee.
It was a solemn thing to take this human life; and like men
who appreciate this, they once more implore the mercy of God,
and beseech him to note the necessity that lies upon them, which
they refer distinctly to his manifest hand in providence, so that they
may not be held guilty of innocent blood.
15. So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into
the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.
16. Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and
offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows.
17. Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish
three days and three nights.
The original word rendered "prepared" means appointed,
assigned, i. e., to this service. This fish was providentially ready.
-The fact here stated is the great stone of stumbling and rock of
offence to that class of critics who deny the existence of miracles.




JONAI. —CHAP. II.                 173
We need have no special sympathy with their perplexities or their
stumbling; for there can be no good reason for rejecting miracles.
Besides, in this case, our divine Lord distinctly recognizes the presence of miracles by saying that Jonah was " a sign," i. e., a man in
whom miracles were manifested.   It is not necessarily a miracle
that a great fish should swallow a man. There are several varieties
that are capable of swallowing a man whole, for they have done it.
But that a man should live three days and three nights, or, indeed,
one hour, in the belly of a fish, must be a miracle.
CHIIAPTER II.
IN this short chapter, Jonah has put on record the prayers he
poured out unto God from his heart of anguish while imprisoned
three days in the stomach of a sea-monster.
1. Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out
of the fish's belly,
2. And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto
the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried
I, and thou heardest my voice.
The phrase-" out of the belly of hell "-should not carry our
minds to the place of final torment for the wicked, but to the pit
or grave, where the bodies of men are laid at death. He felt like
one buried alive-his consciousness still active and keen as ever,
but himself shut up in darkness; imprisoned, apparently past hope
of ever seeing the, light of this fair world again, save as he knew
and felt that his God might mercifully restore him.   The Hebrew
word used here (Sheol) often has this sense-the grave.
3. For thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst
of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy
billows and thy waves passed over me.
Many of the expressions in this prayer of Jonah occur in the
Psalms, with only slight variations, if any. The reader may find it
interesting to compare v. 2 with Ps. 120: 1; v. 3 with 42:7;
v. 4 with 31:22; v. 5 with 69:1; v. 7with 142:3; v. 8 with
31: 6; and v. 9 with 3: 8. This comparison goes far to establish
two interesting facts: (1.) That these psalms were extant in Jonah's
time; (2.) That he had read them often, had become familiar
with their phraseology, especially that which was used in prayer,
and was therefore accustomed to use their language in his own devotions. HIe did as Christians now do who are familiar with the
devotional portions of God's word-use those forms of expression in
their daily and hourly intercessions before God.




174                 JONAII. —CHAP. II.
4. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will
look again toward thy holy temple.
It cannot surprise us that Jonah both said and felt, " I am cast
out of thy sight." When his fellow-passengers on shipboard took
him up and cast him overboard, it must have seemed to him that
God was casting him forth out of his sight forever.  But Jonah
had once known the loving-kindness of his God. Hence, the thought
of possible mercy came now to his relief, and he said, " Yet I will
look once more toward thy holy-temple." Did he not appreciate in
that hour how much the mercy of God is worth to a soul consciously lost?
5. The waters compassed.me about, even to the soul:
the depth closed me round about, the weeds were
wrapped about my head.
He seemed to himself to lie on the bottom of the sea-its weeds
wrapped as his winding-sheet about him.
6. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the
earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast
thou brought up my life from  corruption, O  LORD my
God.
The word "' bars," in the clause " the earth with her bars was
about me forever," Gesenius supposes to refer to the bars of Sheolthe under world —as closed now upon him forever. But the prominent position of the word " earth " in the sentence favors another
construction, viz., that the earth, in the sense of land as opposed to
sea, had cast him out, and closed its bars upon him, so that he could
not hope ever to see its light and beauty again. If he had meant
the bars of Sheol, he might readily have said so in unambiguous
terms.   Yet, notwithstanding he was so imprisoned in the depths
of the sea, he lifts up his grateful eye and his voice of acknowiedgment to God above-" Thou hast brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord my God.
7. When my soul fainted within me I remembered
the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine
holy temple.
8. They that observe lying vanities, forsake their
own mercy.
" They that observe lying vanities " are the worshippers of idol
gods which are always false and vain. They do indeed "forsake "
in the sense of rejecting and losing their own mercies.  They
miserably forego the blessedness that is in store for them in the
true God, if only they will seek it there. So of all sinners who
seek their good elsewhere than in the living God. They "forsake
their own mercies."




JONAH.-CHAP. III.                 175
9. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of
thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed.   Salvation zs of the LonD.
Precisely what his vows were in his trouble he has not said.
Doubtless he promised the Lord never again to try to flee from his
presence to avoid an unwelcome duty.- le closes with this most
expressive, glorious testimony: " Salvation is of the Lord."  He
and he only can save in times of trouble.
10. And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
With infinite ease the Lord spake-only spake to the fish-and
it vomited Jonah forth upon the dry land, doubtless on the shore
of his native country, Palestine. It would seem that the ship had
not gone far from its starting-point, Joppa, when the storm headed
and beat it back.
CHAPTER III.
COWMaNDED a second time, Jonah goes to Nineveh, and proclaims its approaching ruin.  The people and their king humble
themselves and repent before God; he turns from his purpose and
spares the city.
i. And the word of the LonRD came unto Jonah the
second time, saying,
2. Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and
preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
Jonah was not only to go as commanded, but he is specially
charged to preach to that great and proud city what God should
bid him preach-a charge very probably significant of some apprehension lest Jonah might trip at this point, and certainly full of
suggestions to all who are ever called of God to preach in his name.
What have they to do to preach out of their own heart, to subserve some supposed interest of their own, other than that for
which God sends them? They might as well flee to Tarshish, to
escape the duty of preaching the ruin of the wicked, as to withhold
God's threatenings, or preach something else and other than what
God bids them, when they reach the Nineveh whither he sends
them.
3. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD.  Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.
Now Jonah obeys. He is a wiser and a better man for the discipline God has given him. " Before I was afflicted, I went astray;




16                  JONAII. —CHAP. III.
but now have I kept thy word." —-The phrase "an exceeding
great city," stands in the Hebrew, "a city great to God," i. e., great
before him-great as to him, in his estimation. The Hebrews were
accustomed to express their highest ideas of the superlative degree
by using the name of God, e. g., "mountains of God," &c. The
sense of this passage may be somewhat more specific, representing
the city as great in its relations to God, and not merely as very
great apart from those relations.   In estimating an oriental day's
journey, we must think of a caravan, heavy laden, many on foot,
in a hot climate. Twenty miles would be the maximum. Th.
statement " a city of three days' journey " should probably be applied to its circumference, and not to its diameter; because sixty
miles in diameter would make the city incredibly large; because
one of the most reliable ancient historians, Diodorus Siculus (II., 3)
represents it as sixty miles in circuit; and because Jonah's beginning to enter it one day's journey (v. 4) may have been on a tortuous course, and not on a right line through its centre.
4. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's
journey, aild he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and
Nineveh shall be overthrown.
Jonah seems to have begun his preaching as he entered the city,
and to have made his proclamation in the streets and public places,
wherever he found people to hear him.
5. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from  the greatest
of them even to the least of them.
The first step toward their repentance and salvation lay in their
believing God. They accepted the message of this solitary stranger as one sent them by the Most High God.-To those who
have noted the strange incredulity of millions under the light of
the gospel, this fact appears surprising. We must suppose that
Jonah spake as one who felt the solemnity of his mission and carried the air of a deeply honest man, and we must also suppose that
he had their conscience on his side, and that the power of God was
in and with his words.
6. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he
arose from  his throne, and he laid his robe from  him,
and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
It does not appear that the king heard from Jonah's own lips;
but the' word came to him through his servants. They testified to
the deep, pervading conviction of the people, and the king at once
believed God as his people had done.   The name of this king is
not given or known. This record of him may well rebuke many an
ungodly monarch who plants his foot upon the very idea of " a higher
law of God," and scornfully repels all authority higher than the
mandates of his own will.




JONAHI.-CHAP. III.                177
7. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published
through Nineveh by decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock,
taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
8. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth,
and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every
one from his evil way, and from  the violence that is in
their hands.
It is specially noticeable that this proclamation calls not only for
humiliation, fasting, and all the customary oriental tokens of sorrow
and penitence, and for prayer also —crying mightily to God-but also
specially enjoins on all men to "turn every one from his evil way
and from the violence that is in their hands." So manifest is it that
the law ofjustice and right is everywhere in the human mind, and
that no heathen can be so blind as not to see it. This -also is a
stinging rebuke to men, who, under far clearer light- than theirs,
yet labor to extinguish this light, or, in the more fit and expressive
words of revelation, "put darkness for light and light for darkness."
9. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and
turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
The form of this question suggests that the king of Nineveh
did not know that God would always forgive a penitent people.
He had heard less of God than we have. But he could say, "Who
can tell (literally, " who knows ") whether he will turn and repent,
that we perish not? " On this assumed possibility he bases his call
to humiliation, fasting, prayer, and reform.
10. And God saw their works, that they turned
from their evil way; and God repented of the evil that
he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it
not.
" God saw," not their professions, nor merely their prayers, but
"their works, that they turned from their evil way."  Of course,
when they changed their moral attitude before him, he changed his
plan; turned from' his purpose, and spared the city. So he always
deals with the nations of the earth. Works meet for repentance
will infallibly secure the reversal of threatened and impending doom.
God's immutability is that of principle-not of plan and action. He
immutably hates and punishes sin: hence, when a sinner becomes a
penitent, God turns from threatened vengeance to free pardon.
8*




178                  JONAH.-CHIIAP. IV.
CHAPTER IV.
THIS chapter is a mournful record of the moral frailties of a
good man, and a glorious testimony to the pity, forbearance, and
love of the blessed God. Jonah is greatly displeased because the
Lord reversed the predicted fall of Nineveh: he waits outside the
city to see what the Lord would do to it; he put up a rude tent for
shelter from the heat; and the Lord brought up a gourd over him
for his further relief; but a worm destroys the gourd. Jonah is
again fretful, impatient, and angry, and the Lord very gently
rebukes him, and gives reasons for sparing Nineveh.
1. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was
very angry.
Some critics give the word rendered in this passage " displeased,"
the sense of grieved. It would be a great relief to my feelings of
sorrow and shame, if the *ords and the circumstances would bear
this construction. But as an interpreter of God's word, I must
honor the truth rather than humor the feelings of the heart. So
this passage must stand, " displeased," " angry exceedingly."
2. And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray
thee, 0 LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet
in my country?  Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish:
for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful,
slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee
of the evil.
In the clause, " Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish," the sense
is not that I fled at aformer time, but that I fled before I came into
such an emergency as this; I anticipated precisely such a result as
this, and I fled beforehand, to avoid it. I did not, wish to declare
to them from the mouth of the Lord that the city should fall within
forty days, and then have my words prove false. —— To this construction, the reasons he assigns correspond: "For I knew that
thou art a gracious God, and wouldest probably repent so as not to
inflict this evil." - The last clause which groups his testimony to
God's mercy is in the very words of Joel (2: 13), and almost identical with Ex. 34: 6, 7. Probably both passages were familiar to
his mind. This boldness before God, while so grievously in the
wrong withal, is appalling. It is awful that a sinner, plucked himself as a brand from the burning, and living on mere mercy alone,
should object to God's showing the same mercy to his fellow-sinners. Why did he not rather rejoice and shout for joy when he
saw the king and people of Nineveh on their faces before God-his
warnings pressing them effectually to repentance, and the clouds
of gathering vengeance swept away by the hand of love?




JONAH. —CHAP. IV.                 179
3. Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my
life from me; for it is better for me to die than to
live.
And now he is so much vexed and so angry, that he prays God
to take his life! How could he think himself prepared to die in
such a temper?
4. Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?
Some interpreters render this verse-" Then said the Lord, Art
thou much vexed? "   There are two fatal objections to this rendering: (1.) The question so put is needless, since Jonah had
shown his extreme anger but too plainly; and (2.) The original
words cannot, legitimately, bear this construction. They meanDoes thine anger burn justly, rightly? Hast thou any good reason
for such anger? Is it doing well, that thou shouldest let such passions rise?-A very gentle rebuke indeed, for sins so great and so
provoking to God!
5. So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east
side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat
under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.
" Till he might see what would become of the city "-as if this
question were still in suspense. Can it be supposed that he thought
-Possibly the Lord will hear my prayer and my expostulation, and
will turn again to execute his first sentence of destruction?
6. And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it
to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over
his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was
exceeding glad of the gourd.
Still the Lord is mindful of the little comforts of his servant
Jonah, and brings up over him very suddenly the shade of a rapidly
growing plant, to "relieve his sufferings "-for so, more accurately,
I render the words translated " to deliver him from his grief." This
" gourd " is supposed to be the shrub known by the name of " Palma
Christi."
7. But God prepared a worm  when the morning
rosb the next day, and it smote the gourd that it
withered.
8. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that
God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat
upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in
himself to die, and said, it is better for me to die than
to live.




180                 JONAH.-CHIAP. IV.
This east wind, which the text reads "vehement," the margin,
nearer the truth, has "silent."  It was not a violent but a sultry
wind, such as comes up from the desert on the southeast, like the
breath of a great furnace. Jonah sinks under this great heat, and
again wishes that he may die!
9. And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be
angry for the gourd?  And he said, I do well to be
angry, even unto death.
The same question, in the same words as in v. 6, and with the
same meaning, only that this respects his recent anger because of
the withered gourd. Strange to say, Jonah justifies himself, and by
implication, complains of God for suffering the worm to kill his
goulrd!
10. Then said the LorD, Thou hast had pity on the
gourd, for the which thou hast not labored, neither
madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished
in a night:
11. And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city,
wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that
cannot discern between their right hand and their left
hand, and also much cattle?
The verb which expresses Jonah's feeling for the gourd is the
same which expresses the Lord's feeling for iNinevah, yet our translators render the former " hast had pity," and the latter " Should
I not spare? " This is unfortunate. Pity for the gourd was not
precisely the feeling of Jonah; he rather pitied himself.  Thle
gourd was not a sentient being-was not a sufferer. Yet Jonah
deplored the loss of the gourd, and in this point of view the antithesis bears. The scope of the antithesis is essentially this: —Thou,
Jonah, wast pained at the ruin of that gourd, though it had cost
thee nothing, and thou hadst done nothing to interest thy heart in
its welfare, and it is a short-lived thing at best: should not I, much
more, deprecate the ruin of that great city, Nineveh, in which are
more than one hundred and twenty thousand human beings (so the
Hebrew specially denotes) who have not yet reached the period of
moral accountability, and also many cattle who never reach it? These
are all sentient beings; their happiness is a positive good to them,
and therefore to me. They have not sinned against me; shall I not,
therefore, spare the city if I can do so safely and wisely; spare it
especially for the sake of the unsinning beings who are in it and
who must be involved in its doom if it falls?-Thus it is vegetable life on the one hand against animal life on the other; a shrub
against a babe or a lamb. For the shrub Jonah had done nothing
to enlist his sympathies, but God implies that he has been watching over these infants and the lambs too, with a Father's tender
care, and thas good reaso., thereftlre, to ble ylCCT  interesited in their!&''.lxtliloi'tt~~~. 




JONAH.-CHAP. IV.                    181
The passage makes useful and rich revelations in respect to the
feelings of the great God as to those fearful judgments which fall
on the wicked, but which, as the world is, must involve some innocent beings-a part of them innocent as having not yet reached sufficient intelligence to make them morally accountable, and others
as not having by nature any moral attributes. In the light of this
passage it becomes altogether plain that God always takes into account the case of these sinless sufferers, and regards their presence
as itself a plea for sparing the guilty. Of course he will give this
plea all the consideration which the nature of the case will allow.
He will punish, in forms that necessarily involve the unsinning in
the general ruin, only when the ends of a moral system imperatively demand it. Who can estimate the amount of sparing mercy
which the guilty of our world owe, in this life, to God's pity for
infants and for the sentient but unsinning animal races?




IMIC AH.
INTRODUCTION.
MIcAi, a name abbreviated from  Micaiah, which signifies —
Who is like God? was of Moresheth-gath, a city near Eleutheropolis, and not far from the country of the Philistines. His introductory verse states that he prophesied in the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz,
and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. As the two former reigned each
sixteen years and the latter twenty-nine, the entire duration of his
ministry possible within this statement is sixty-one years. He was
contemporary with Isaiah, who dates one vision "' in the year that
king Uzziah, the father of Jotham," " died" (6: 1), and who was
certainly in active service as a prophet under Hezekiah. Interesting collateral evidence that Micah prophesied in the reign of Hezekiah is found in Jer. 26: 17-19. While some of the priests, princes,
and false prophets demanded that Jeremiah should die for the alleged crime of speaking against the royal city, certain of the elders
rose up to defend him with this plea: "Micah, the Miorasthite,
prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to
all the people of Judah (very publicly), saying:'Thus saith the
Lord of hosts, Zion shall be ploughed like a field, and Jerusalem
shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high
places of the forest.' Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put
him at all to death? " &c. See the original passage (Micah 3: 12).
This Micah was not that noble Micaiah, son of Imlah, whom
Ahab did not love because he told him too much unwelcome truth.
(See 1 Kings 22). Ahab died one hundred and thirty-eight years
before Jotham came to the throne.-  Micah, the author, also spake
bold and fearless words for God and righteousness. He spake con



MICAH. —CHAP. I.                  183
cerning both Samaria and Jerusalem, mostly the latter, exposing
and rebuking their sins. He predicted the destruction of both
cities. He expatiated on the final glory of Zion, the real kingdom
of the Messiah, in words of great beauty and power.
It is important to a full understanding of the work of these
prophets that we think of their relations to the throne, stemming
the tide of wickedness under such reigns as that of Ahaz; powerfully aiding the work of reform under such good kings as Hezekiah.
Contemporary with these two kings were Micah, Hosea, Isaiah, and
Nahum.
CHAPTER I.
TEx sin and doom of Samaria, embracing of course the kingdom
of which it was the capital, constitute the leading themes in this
chapter. Vs. 10-16 describe the effects of the Assyrian invasion
as it swept along over a line of cities that lay in his path.
1. The word of the LORD that came to Micah the
IMlorasthite in the days of Jothamn, Ahaz, and lHezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria
and Jerusalem.
2. Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all
that therein is: and let the Lord GOD be witness against
you, the Lord from his holy temple.
3. For behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his
place, and will come down, and tread upon the high
places of the earth.
4. And the mountains shall be molten under him,
and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and
as the waters that are poured down a steep place.
The prophet summons all the nations of the earth to hear.
Practically, they are supposed to be convened for a great judgment
scene, and the Almighty God comes down from his throne in
heaven to appear as a witness against them for their sins. His
coming down is portrayed with wonderful grandeur. " See! the
Lord comes out of his place: he comes down: he treads on the
high places of the earth," as if his glorious footsteps rested only
on the mountain tops; and "' the mountains are molten " under the
touch of his feet; new valleys are cleft; the solid hills melt as wax
before the fire, and flow as water leaping down a precipice. Such
convulsions of nature betoken the majesty of nature's God!




184                  MICAH. —CHAP. 1.
5. For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for
the sins of the house of Israel.  What is the transgression of Jacob? i? it not Samaria?  and what are the
high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem? 
Why is all this? " For the transgression of Jacob, and the sins
of the house of Israel." God comes down to take account of the
great sins of his covenant people, and to bring on them retribution
therefor. This great judgment to which all the nations are convened is, for the present, that of the covenant people only; but the
Gentile nations may well ask-" If judgment begin at the house of
God, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of
God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? "-Indeed, this judgment of Judah
and Israel is of most vital concern to all the nations of the earth,
since in it and from it they may learn the ways of God's reign over
all nations, and the doom which awaits them unless they repent.
-" What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? " That
is, is it not found in Samaria, concentrated, embodied, developed
there, viz., in her idolatry, her violence, injustice, pride, and general
corruption of morals? So also Jerusalem had taken the lead in the
idolatries and corruptions of Judah.-The phrase "house of
Israel," in the second clause of this verse, refers specially to Judah,
as is shown by the last clauses of the verse.-From  this point
forward through the chapter, the doom of Samaria and her kingdom is the main subject.
6. Therefore, I will make Samaria as an heap of the
field, and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour
down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof.
This is a picture of utter desolation. "Heaps of the field,"
said of a city, shows a surprising contrast to what it was.  Once
full of noble buildings, now only piles of ruins, heaps of stones. and
furrows cast up by the plough. So Samaria returns back to the
status of a plantation with its ploughed fields and vineyards. Its
stones are tumbled down the hill on which the city stood to fill the
valley below, and the very foundations on which it stood are laid
bare. Modern travellers testify to the precisely literal fulfilment of
these words, saying that the valley adjacent to the hill of Samaria
is full of the stones which once had a place in her houses and idol
temples. So the words of the Lord never fail.
7. And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten
to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with
the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for
she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall
return to the hire of an  alolrt.




MICAH. —CIAP. I.                   185
As is usual and altogether right, God's judgments follow and
point out the great sins they come to punish. Hence, the altar and
all that pertains to idolatry come up in remembrance before God in
the day of his visitation, as appears in this verse.-  The original
word rendered " the hires " thereof, carries the mind to the income
derived to the city from its idol altars, temples, and worship. The
word refers primarily to harlot-hire-the wages of prostitutionand is applied to the money profits of idolatry, under that current,
prophetic usage which speaks of idolatry as itself harlotry. The
last clause of thexverse says that, as Samaria had accumulated her
wealth and splendor by this sort of harlot-hire, idolatry, and its
wages, her people shall return to harlot-hire in the literal senseto that lowest of all pursuits for a living-the life of a common
prostitute. If not to this precisely and literally, yet to a sort of
life analogous to this and fitly represented by it.-  How inexpressibly appalling is such a doom!
8. Therefore, I will wail and howl; I will go stripped
and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and
mourning as the owls.
It cannot appear strange that the prophet should pause over
such a doom and say-" Therefore," for this "I will wail and
howl."-" Dragons," in the sense of sea-monsters, are not the
animals here intended, but probably jackals or wolves. Either of
these, in oriental countries, make night hideous with their howling.
The best modern critics concur in rendering the last word not
"owl," but ostrich. The latter were distinguished for their plaintive cry far out on the desert.
9. For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto
Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to
Jerusalem.
The blow that fell on Samaria and the ten-tribe kingdom was
fatal. It swept the nation into a hopeless captivity, and laid the
whole land utterly desolate. It also alarmed Judah. Under Sennacherib and Rabshakeh, this same Assyrian power even came
within sightof Jerusalem, and might be said to have reached her
gates.
10. Declare ye it not at Gath, weep ye not at all: in
the house of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust.
The remaining part of this chapter is a graphic painting of the
first results of the Assyrian invasion, as they were felt in one city
after another along the line of his march. In most of the cases
the things said of each city are a play upon the significant name of
that city-a method of writing well adapted to impress the idea
upon the memory. Sometimes there is simply a resemblance in
sound between the prominent word spoken of a city and the namo




186                   MICAH.-CHAP. I.
of that city. Both of these cases fall under the figure of speech
technically called a paronomasia.  The latter form  of it-resemblance in sounds-is of course untranslatable. The other form-a
play upon the significance of the name of a city —is as if one
should exclaim: What! is there quarrelling in Concord; war in
Salem  [Peace]; family feuds in Philadelphia [Brotherly Love];
slavery in Freetown? *
"Tell it not in Gath," comes from David's lament over Saul and
Jonathan. The idea is-Let not the enemies of Zion hear of her
sad fall.   Modern critics read the next clause, " weep not in
Ako," with which the Hebrew word for "weep" (baka) gives us
a case of paranomasia, better seen when the Hebrew preposition
(b) is put before ako, as in the original, making it bako.  This
city fell within the sweep of this march of the desolating army.
So did Aphrah, which means dust.  "In the'dust' city, roll
thyself in the' dust.'"  Weeping is too feeble an expression for a
ruin so terrible. To roll thyself in the dust is befitting, and therefore enjoined.
11. Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir, having
thy shame naked: the inhabitant of Zaanan came not
forth in the mourning of Beth-ezel; he shall receive of
you his standing.
12. For the inhabitants of Miaroth waited carefully
for good: but evil came down from the LouD unto the
gate of Jerusalem.
13. 0  thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot
to the swift beast: she is the beginning of the sin to the
daughter of Zion: for the transgressions of Israel were
found in thee.
14. Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moresheth~ath: the houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of
Ysrael.
15. Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant
of Mareshah: he shall come unto Adullam  the glory of
Israel.
I translate these verses rather freely, in order to give as fully as
possible the same play upon the words-by paranomasia-that I
* Isaiah, contemporary with Micah, is equally remarkable for his free
use of paronomasia. A beautiful example is in Isa. 5: 7-" He looked for
judgment, but behold bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold an outcry."
That is, he looked for;gtJ;- and lo, li'n; for,n,: and lo,.....
The Hebrew reader will notice that the prominent antithetic words are as
like as possible in sound, but as unlike as possible in sense. Herein lie
the beauty and force of this figure of sl?eech. It is as if an English writer
should say —He looked for the law of right, but lo, the law of might; he
looked for good, but behold, blood.




MICA[.-CHIAP. I.                   187
find in the original, and also to give the ultimate sense. To aid the
reader yet more, I put the correlated words in italics. "Pass ye
on, ye dwellers in Saphir (the beautiful city), in utter nakedness "
(as those who flee, stripped by the ravages of war); *" the dwellers
in Zaanan" (the city of flocks), "do not flock out to the mourning
of Beth-ezel:" "from  you " (i. e., of Beth-ezel, city of firm  root),
" will he, the conqueror take his camping-ground;" i. e., he will
make his camp-his place of halting and stay there (hence their
mourning —to which the people of Zaanan do not flock out to sympathize with them, though neighbors-having sorrow and fear
enough at home).-" For the dwellers in Maroth " (the city of
bitterness) " are in anguish for some good" (all good being lost to
them); " but evil comes down from the Lord, even to the gates of
Jerusalem." How, then, can one of the lesser feeble cities, like
Maroth, hope for any good? It is only natural that a "  Maroth,"
city of bitterness, should be in bitter grief and destruction.This " evil came to the gate of Jerusalem "-no farther. The Assyrian
invader never sacked Jerusalem. The blow that smote the kingdom of the ten tribes fatally, may have alarmed Jerusalem; it left
her untouched.  The invasion of Sennacherib a few years later
proved the ruin of himself, not of Jerusalem. -"' Bind the chariot
to the fleet steed " (for rapid flight)-" thou dweller of Lachish " (the
smitten city), "the first cause of sin was she" (Lachish), "to the
daughter of Zion, for in thee were found the sins of Israel."  Lacllhish lay on the southern border of the ten tribes, and being not far
from Jerusalem, became the channel through which the temptations
to idolatry passed over from Israel, after the revolt, into Jerusalem.
Hence this special judgment on Lachish.-  In the first clause
_Micah has a paranomasia which is untranslatable between "Lachish" and "Rekesh," the word for fleet steed.
" Therefore shalt thou " (Israel) " give divorce papers to Moresheth-gath; "-though her name signifies city of possession, thou
must forego all possession of her and let her go before the destroyer.'-" The houses of Achzib " (city of lies) shall be for a lie to the
kings of Israel"-no dependence in their need.   " Yet will I
bring an heir" (one who shall possess) "to thee, O dweller of
Mareshah "-which name seems here to mean city of possession.
This heir is the conqueror.  -" He," this conqueror, shall come
even to Adullam, which means justice of the people —and this significance, if realized, would be " the glory of Israel."
This passage (vs. 10-15) is admitted to be extremely difficult.
No doubt it was intelligible in the age of Micah, though somewhat
enigmatical. But such nice, delicate allusions to cities and their
significant names must inevitably become obscure by the lapse of
ages, and the oblivion of those associations of thought with cities
and their names which are in their nature incidental and temporary.
16. Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate.




188                 MICAIIH.-CHAP. II.
children; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they
are gone into captivity from thee.
The eagle is referred to as an illustration of baldness. Tearing
out the hair, or even cutting it off, were usual signs of extreme
grief. Hence the prophet exhorts Israel, considered as the mother
of her people, to go into mourning for her children, because they are
gone away into captivity, to return no more.   Except in the use
of the paranomasia, the passage (Isa. 10: 28-32) is strikingly analogous to this (Mic. 1: 10-16). There Isaiah sketches the advance of
Sennacherib's host toward Jerusalem, by noting its effects of panic,
mourning, or flight, on various cities as he approached.  Here
Micah describes a similar march of an Assyrian army to destroy
the northern kingdom, and to alarm the southern.
CHAPTER  II.
Tins chapter presents the sins of the people (vs. 1, 2); God's
threatenings (v. 3); lamentations over her doom (vs. 4, 5); the gainsaying of a wicked people against God and his prophets (v. 6); the
prophet's indignant reply (v. 7); a further description of their sins
(vs. 8, 9); the sort of prophets the people choose (v. 11); and promises of good (vs. 12, 13).
1. Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil
upon their beds! When the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.
This woe fitly comes down, not on those who sin inadvertently,
or only under the impulse of sudden temptation, but on those who
coolly and with the clear-headed thought of the night-watches,
frame plans of mischief and work out schemes for wrong, to be
executed in the morning; and who are wicked enough for all the
mischief their hands have the power to do.
2. And they covet fields, and take them by violence;
and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man
and his house, even a man and his heritage.'" Oppressing a man and his house," means robbing not him
alone, but his family as well. They take away property in which
his wife and children have their living. This is the same class of
sins which Amos and Isaiah rebuke so sharply.
3. Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, against
this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not
remove your necks; neither shall ye go haughtily: for
this time is evil.
The idea of retaliation and of just retribution stands out clearly




MICAIH.-CHAP. II.                 189
in the very form of the prophet's expressions: They devise iniquity;
God devises calamity to punish it. They devise it vpon their beds;
God devises it upon this whole family-the prophet choosing a
word for family which has the leading radicals of the word for bed.
God's calamities shall be on them as a yoke which they cannot
throw off, and under which they can no longer walk proudly, carrying their heads high-for the prophet's words have this sense.
4. In that day shall one take up a parablp against
Tyou, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say,
VWe be-utterly spoiled: he hath changed the portion of
my people: how hath he removed it from me! turning
away he hath divided our fields.
The best lexicographers would read the second clause-not,
"lament with a doleful lamentation," but thus —-" And wail in a
dirge of wailing, It is done!" i. e., all is over! " and say, we are
utterly spoiled!'   1" Changing the portion of my people " mneans
here changing the title to their landed estates, and hence implies
that they lose possession of their country. —The last clause better
-"He hath apportioned our fields to one who takes them all away
from us " —i. e., God has given them all to the conqueror of our
country.
5. Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a
cord by lot in the congregation of the LORD.
Consequently there shall be none to set off their land to them by
lot in the public congregation. " Cord " is used here for a measuring line for land. The soil has passed into the; hands of a foreign
power. This is one of their bitter plaints.
6. Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy:
they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take
shame.
7. 0 thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the
Spirit of the LORD straitened? are these his doings? do
not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?
At this point, the ungodly people interpose to gainsay the
prophet, forbidding him to prophesy, and suggesting the sort of
prophet they would have. The passage is quite obscure, the transitions being abrupt, and the point where the objector's language
closes-and the prophet's reply begins, being a matter of some doubt.
Thus, among the ablest critics now before me, Rosemnuller assigns
to the objector less than half of v. 6; Henderson precisely v. 6,
and no more; Hengstenberg apparently, vs. 6 and 7. I find the best
point of transition from the objector to the prophet at the close of
v. 6, and translate thus: "' Prophesy not; let those prophesy who
will not prophesy as to such things; reproaches will never cease."




190                  MICAE. —CHAP. I.
This is their demand and this their complaint. They say-We can't
hear any more such prophesying; let us have another sort of men
who will not say such hard things; —there is no end to your faulfinding.-Then the prophet resumes in v. 7, "Shall this be said
in the house of Jacob? "  " Is the Spirit of the Lord to be straitened? "-i. e., to be dictated to by mortal man? "Are these his
doings? " i. e., is it his fault that he must predict calamity? Is it
not rather your sins that bring down the wrath and curse of God?
" Do not wn words always bless him who walketh uprightly? "This is the beginning of the prophet's reply.   I dissent from the
English version —" O thou that art named the house of Jacob:" (1.)
Because this verb without any preposition following, seems not to
be used in the sense to name; (2.) And mainly, because, beyond all
question, this first clause is interrogative and not vocative. There
are four distinct questions asked in this verse, each indicated by its
interrogative particle. There is, therefore, as much reason for
making this first clause a question as either of the three that follows.
Beyond a doubt, each of the four is an interrogative clause. The
first expresses the surprise and horror felt by the prophet that men
should arise in the house of Jacob to say such things in the way of
dictation to the Almighty! —The construction of v. 6 is exceedingly obscure. The sense I have given is a choice among difficulties.
8. Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy:
ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that
pass by securely as men averse from war.
9. The women of my people have ye cast out friom
their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken
away my glory for ever.
These verses are interposed here to show that the objectors who
cavil against the prophets of the Lord do not themselves " walk uprightly." Then v. 10 warns them out of the land; and v. 11 returns
to tell them what sort of a prophet they choose, and shall have.The words " Even of late " do not necessarily imply that the event
is very recent.-The horrible thing is that " my people," God's
own people, " should have risen up," i. e., in their filll strength,
"to become an enemy" to every man's rights and interests-a
public enemy to all. For instance, " they strip off both the outer
robe and the inner from men passing along securely" with no
thought of danger, "returning from war." Their worn and weary
soldiers, returning from hard service for their country, they fall
upon, and rob and strip even to the skin; for the common oriental
dress included only these two garments, the outer robe and the
inner.-" The wives among my people ye expel from their
pleasant houses, and from their children ye take away my ornaments " (the good clothing I have given them), and never return it
-" take it away for ever."  These are named as instances and
illustrations of their rapacity and wickedness, to show what is




MICAH. —CHAP. II.                 191
meant by their "rising up as an enemy." Bad as any foreign
enemy were they even toward the soldiers of their country returning from war, and toward wives and children who, being dependent and defenceless, are specially under God's protection.
10. Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest:
because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a
sore destruction.
"Up, and away "-be out of this land; "for this is not your
rest." God gave Canaan as a land of rest to his people, but never
to such apostates as you! They had so polluted the land by their
sins that it should itself destroy them. The very land is thought of
as instinct with life, and fired with holy indignation to devour these
guilty inhabitants!
11. If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do
lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of
strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this
people.
Having shown (vs. 8, 9) that these cavillers against the Lord's
prophets do not " walk uprightly, " and having (v. 10) warned them
out of the land as their fit doom, he comes now to describe the sort
of prophet they would like and shall have.-  " If a man walking
in wind and falsehood will lie for them, and will prophesy to them
(not of, but) for wine and strong drink "-taking his pay in those
articles as meeting his chief want-" he shall be the prophet of this
people." The middle clause is in the first person, as in our English
Bible, giving us the very words of his proposal-" I will prophesy for you if you will give me all the wine and strong drink I
want." Fit showing of the depth of degradation into which wicked
men would sink the prophetic office, if they could!   The first
point in this description is richly graphic: —" If a man walking in
wind and lies will lie for them all they wish," &c. Men who are
windy, gassy, full of talk but void of sense and thought, and utterly
reckless of truth-such are commonly in every age the high priests
of error and falsehood, the champions of religious delusion.   For
this use of the word "wind " to denote what is empty, light as air
and worthless, see Isa. 41: 29, "Their molten images are wind
and confusion;" and Job 16: 3, "Is there any end to words of
wind  "
12. I will surely assemble, 0 Jacob, all of thee; I
will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them
together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst
of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of
the multitude of men.
13. The breaker is come up before them: they have




192                  MICAI.-CIHAP. II.
broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are
gone out by it; and their king shall pass before them,
and the LoRD on the head of them.
This sudden transition to the richest promises of restoration and
salvation is indeed remarkable. It would seem that the divine
Spirit, fired with indignation in view of such depths of moral pollution and guilt, rallies himself to the defence of his own cause of
truth:  "I will surely save my people, and restore my crumbling kingdom."  Glorious turn of thought this-rebounding from
the greatness of man's sin to the richness of God's mercy!
The promise is that God will surely gather together all of Jacob,
and all who survive of Israel; will become their shepherd; and
that there shall be "a hum" (so the Hebrew) as of bees in swarm
-a loud noise by reason of the great number of men. They are
thought of as having been imprisoned within high walls; hence
"the breaker" who makes great breaches in this wall goes out
before them. They break through; they pass out through the
gate; they go forth by it; and their king marches before them, and
Jehovah at their head.   This deliverance is wholly of the Lord.
His providential agencies are omnipresent, and his Spirit inspires
the movement.-  The allusion in this passage to the Exodus firom
Egypt should be noticed. Here, as there, the people are first
gathered together; the Lord takes charge of them as his flock; then
he sends Moses to break down the prison walls. The Exodus, or
going forth, is made prominent here by repeated reiterations, as it
was there in the historic facts; and, finally, Jehovah puts himself
here at the head of his ransomed people, as then and there in the
pillar of fire and of cloud.
As to the ultimate significance of these verses, it will be noted
that they speak both of Jacob and Israel; but these terms are not
distinctive as between the two rival kingdoms. Neither of them is
the usual name to designate the kingdom of Judah. It would seem
to be no part of the prophet's intention to regard the distinction of
kingdoms which was made by the revolt. The names Jacob and
Israel have rather the general sense-the covenant people of God.
So also, as to time and circumstances of fulfilment, the passage is
altogether general and indefinite. Beyond a doubt it must imply
that God will at some future day gather his scattered people of
Israel, and put himself at their head as their Deliverer and King.
IIe will make his earthly kingdom great and glorious. As to the
question whether Gentiles form a part of it, or whether Jews
alone are thought of, no more should be sought in any given passage than it contains. Not every passage can say every thing.
This prophecy does not name the Gentiles, nor does it exclude them.
One instalment-a small one-of this broadly comprehensive
promise was paid in the restoration from Babylon. Vastly more
remains unpaid yet.




MICAH.-CIIAP. III.                193
CHAPTER III.
TEE prophet returns to speak against the sins of the people,
dwelling specially in this chapter on the sins of the princes and judges
(vs. 1-4, 9-11); giving the sin and doom of the false prophets
(vs. 5-7); and closing with predictions of the desolation of the holy
city and of the temple mountain (v. 12).
1. And I said, HIear, I pray you, 0 heads of Jacob,
and ye princes of the house of Israel: Is it not for you
to know judgment?
" And then I said," &c., connecting this in thought with what
he had said before. In the previous chapter he had sharply rebuked and terribly doomed those who devise iniquity on their beds
(2: 1-5); now he asks, Why are not such sins forestalled by the
faithful administation of justice and law? Does it not behoove
princes and judges-men at the head of their " thousands "-(see
Ex. 18: 21) "to know judgment?" He implies by this more
than merely knowing the theory of law and justice. Ought they
not to know it in practice, and to see it administered all the more
faithfully and earnestly by how much the greater the reigning
corruption?
2. Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck
off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their
bones;
3. Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their
skin from off them; and they break their bones, and choQp
them  in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the
caldron.
So far arQ they from knowing judgment in the practical sense
that they even hate good and love evil, and they show this by
their deeds.- This description of rapacity and robbery is fearfully
strong. They not only fleece but flay their victims; not only flay
but tear off the flesh and eat it; then go on to the bones; chop
them fine for the pot, as if they would boil and eat up the last thing
in the poor body of their victims. So with insatiable extortion,
they strip men of their last right, of their last acre, and of their last
farthing.
4. Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will
not hear theml: he will even hide his face from them at that
time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.
Yet these men, of such outrageous extortion, set themselves to
pray to God; but of course he will not hear. " The prayer of the
wicked is abomination to the Lord."  "If I regard iniquity in my
9




194                  MICAII. —CIIAP. III.
heart even, the Lord will not hear me; " how much more when such
iniquities are found in men's hand! " IHe will hide his face from
them at that time according as they haye made their doings vile,"
i. e., inasmuch as they have done so wickedly, and according to the
wickedness of those doings, God will hide his face from them.
5. Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that
make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry,
Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they
even prepare war against him.
Turning from civil to religious leaders, vs. 5-7 speak of the
corrupt prophets of that age.-The clause, " that bite with their
teeth," &c., may be construed in either of two ways: (1.) As indicating extortion, following out the idea in vs. 3: "Who eat the flesh
of my people; " or (2.) As indicating gross and supreme sensuality;
who live only to eat, and prophesy only for the sake of good eating.
In the former construction, the remainder of the verse might be put
thus: "Who bite savagely with their teeth, yet cry' all's well;'
and if one resist their extortion, they even declare war on him."
But the latter construction is preferable: "Who are mere sensualists, and for good feeding will prophesy peace to the most
wicked of men; but if one refuse to fill their mouths well, they are
up in arms against him."-  Such shamefully low impulses and
low sensual natures, ought to be anywhere else rather than in the
sacred office! Alas for the people when those who minister to
them in holy things make a god of their belly, and live only for
good eating!
6. Therefore, nightshall be unto you, that ye shall
not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that
ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the
prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.
7. Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners
confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for
there is no answer of God.
This is the doom of these false, ungodly prophets: "There shall
be night to you so that there can be no vision; it shall be too dark
for you to divine; the sun shall go down upon the prophets," &c.
-" They shall cover their lips "-as those who have nothing to
say, and with the further idea of intense shamne and sorrow, inasmuch
as the beard —always prominent in oriental life-was to the male
sex the seat of beauty and honor. The leper (Lev. 13: 45) was to
put a cover on his upper lip. Ezekiel (24: 17, 22) was forbidden to
cover his lips in mourfiing for his deceased wife.  The cause of
this intense shame and confusion is that they not only get no answer from God, but that he frustrates their predictions, confounds
their machinations, and exposes the groundlessness of their claims




MCAII.-..CIT......               195.  
to be prophets of the Lord. The darkness God brings over them is
that of calamity and judgment where they were predicting only
good.
8. But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the
LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto
Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.
With a strong and full consciousness of honesty, and of being filled
with the Spirit of God, Micah puts himself in contrast with those
false prophets. His soul is deeply stirred within him by his abhorrence
of their spirit and life, so that his holy indignation overleaps the restraints of false modesty, and he speaks out fearlessly what so fills his
indignant soul that he cannot but say it. He must and will rebuke
the sins of the people and of their leaders even; for no regard to
rank and station shall soften the just severity of his reproofs.
9. Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of
Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor
judgment, and pervert all equity.
10. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem
with iniquity.
11. The heads thereofjudge for reward, and the priests
thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for
money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is
not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.
Once more, as in v. 1, he inveighs against the horrible corruption
of the princes and judges of the land. With Judah specially in his
eye, he charges them with abhorring not sin and wrong, as they
should, but judgment and justice as men never should; and with
distorting and perverting equity. " They build up Zion with blood "
by devoting the fruits of their robbery and murder to splendid
buildings and gorgeous display. They judge for bribes in open
contempt of the law given through Moses (see Ex. 23: 8, and Deut.
16: 19); and yet they lean upon the Lord and vainly think that,
being called the people of God and keeping up the forms of his
worship, they are safe against calamity. Jeremiah rebukes the same
wretched folly (7: 4): "Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The
temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord,
are these." So in later times, the self-righteous, extortious Pharisees
said, "We have Abraham to our father; " —  Lord, Lord, have we
not prophesied in thy name I " &c.
12. Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed
as a field, and Jerusalem  shall become heaps, and the
mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.
Retribution for such sins must come. "Zion" —the hill of
David in the south part of the city-" the mountain of the house "




196                 MICAHI. —CHAP. IV.
(temple) i. e., Mlount Mloriah, the temple-mountain on the north, and
Jerusalem in general —shall become desolate: Zion to be ploughed
as a field; Jerusalem to be heaps of desolate ruins; and the templemountain " as the high places of a forest," thickly covered with an
undergrowth of shrubs. This has special reference to the destruction of the city by the Chaldeans when, for seventy years, even
Jerusalem lay in utter desolation.
CHAPTER IV.
THE first eight verses are a graphic prediction of God's restoring
mercy to his real Zion; vs. 9, 10 resume the subject of the captivity
to Babylon; vs. 11-13 note the events of a later period-the Syrian
invasion, and the heroic deeds of the Maccabees.
1. But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the
mountain of the house of the LOuD shall be established
in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted
above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
2. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and
let us go up to the mountain of the LonD, and to the
house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his
ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall
go forth of Zion, and the word of the LoRD- from Jerusalem.
3. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their
swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
These words occur substantially in Isa. 2: 2-4, but appear to be
original with Micah. At least it must be admitted that here they
fit nicely to the previous context (3: 12), and also to the following
context. In Isaiah, the passage has no such close connection with
the preceding context. -In this passage, the relation of thought
to what precedes is the first thing to be noted. Zion is seen in
ruins; the temple-mountain dishonored and waste-all for the
sins of the covenant people. Must it hence be inferred that the
kingdom of God among men is crushed down, never to rise? By
no means. In the last days this kingdom shall rise in far greater
glory than ever before. The temple-mountain-called here "the
mountain of the house qf the Lord," though in 3: 12 it is only " the
mountain of the house "-shall be lifted high and firmly set on the
tops of the other mountains, and high above all the hills in glory




MICAH. —CIAP. IV.                   191
and esteem. Such I understand to be the sense of this striking
poetic conception-the temple-mountain (Moriah) lifted up and set
on the top of all other mountains. In honor it shall surpass and
overtop them all. In Ps. 68: 16, the Psalmist, supposing the other
mountains to envy Mount Moriah this distinction, says-" The hill
of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill," &c. " Why do ye
look invidiously, ye high hills? This is the hill which God hath
desired to dwell in." Zech. 14:10 carries the figure one step
further. All the rest of the world becomes a plain; its mountains
subside altogether, and then the temple-mountain stands out solitary and alone, the one great and only mountain of the world! The
sense here is the same as in Micah-this mountain, the one place of
surpassing honor, dignity, and glory.   Next, "peoples, even all
the nations of men, shall flow unto it." That they shallflow thither
implies, not that they are dragged or driven into this worship, but
that they come spontaneously, as water moves with the utmost
ease under the power of gravitation. Many nations shall come of
their free accord. They shall exhort one another to go up to the
house of the God of Jacob, to learn of the true God and of all
moral duty there. God's will, as revealed in Zion, they recognize
to be the fountain of all law, and they joyfully place themselves
under his supreme dominion. Then his peaceful reign over the
nations of men begins; they need sword and spear no longer; the
culture of the soil supersedes the arts of war, and nation no more
lifts up sword against its brother nation. For the law of God is
the law ot'supreme, impartial love, administered under the sway of
the Prince of Peace: how then can the result be other than universal
tranquillity? Obeyed, it must supplant war forever. Men can no
longer "hurt or destroy in all God's holy mountain, for the earth
shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the
sea."  Glorious scene! Blissful consummation! And this is no
visionary dream. It shall yet be. The days of battles and carnage,
the days of fell animosity, satanic ambition, demoniac hate, must
cease, and give place to days of blessed peace and good-will among
men. Let the love of the Great Father have the praise for all this!
- Micah sees it in the distant future. Briefly and in general, he
locates it "in the last days." They are future yet; but they will
surely come and (may we not hope and pray?) will not long
tarry!
4. But they shall sit every man under his vine and
under his fig-tree; and none shall make them  afraid:
for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
Over against the scenes of war lie the pursuits of peace and
the quiet enjoyment of God's good gifts of nature and providence, and
of the fruits of human labor. Each man sits under his own vine
and fig-tree; —none shall make them afraid. These are the usual
oriental symbols of a state of paradise on earth.




198                  IMJICAH. —CHAP. IV.
5 For all people will walk every one in the name
of his god, and we will walk in the rname of the LoruD
our God for ever and ever.
This verse shows how the people in that good day are to feel
and act. These are their supposed words. They recognize the
common law of human life, that men follow the God they acknowledge and trust, and then they avow their own full purpose
to walk in the name of their God for ever and ever. They are altogether satisfied with his worship and service. In the love of his
name and in the full strength of their convictions they pledge
themselves to his ways and worship for all time.
6. In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her
that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out,
and her that I have afflicted;
7. And I will make her that halted a remnant, and
her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LoRD
shall reign over them  in Mount Zion from  henceforth,
even for ever.
At that time the Lord will gather to himself the halting, i. e.,
the lame, the smitten, scathed, and long-rejected remnant of his
people, and will make them  a strong nation, reigning over them
himself in Mount Zion forever.  As vs. 1-4 by their very
terms expressly include the Gentiles, so these verses have
special reference to the long-dispersed Jews. When the fulness of
the Gentiles shall have come in, then shall all Israel be saved; her
partial blindness shall pass away, and. the Lord's great plan of redeeming, saving mercy shall grasp the world, and bring the nations
of every race and clime beneath Immanuel's sceptre. (See Rom.
11: 15, 23-27).
8. And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold
of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even
the first dominion; the kingdom  shall come to  the
daughter of Jerusalem.
In this passage God is thought of as the shepherd, and his people as his flock. Hence the "tower of the flock" is Jerusalem.
Towers were built in or near the sheepfold for defence. —The
original dominion, as under David, shall return again. That prosperous era of the Hebrew people in which they subdued all their
enemies round about, and greatly improved the modes of public
worship, is a common illustration of Mlessiah's reign. The kingdorn of Immanuel shall have this Mount Zion for its centre and
capital forever. But let us give this scripture its gospel sense.
Let us not fall into the error of the Pharisees, as seen in the New
Testament, who could find in the Scriptures nothing but a'"king



MICAHI.-CIIAP. IV.                  199
dom of this world" for the outward Israel and her earthly
king. We need to distinguish the clothing of ideas fiom the ideas
themselves. That the great truths of gospel times and of Christ's
millennial reign, should be clothed in Jewish imagery and costume,
ought not to surprise or stumble us. The human mind being what
it is, this mode of writing for Jezs and among Jezos is unavoidable,
is natural, is indeed the only language that could have been at
that titme understood.
9. Now why dost thou cry out aloud? i s there no
king in thee?  is thy counsellora  perished?  for pangs
have taken thee as a woman in travail.
10. Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou
go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the
feld, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt
thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem  thee
from the hand of thine enemies.
Witl v. 9 commences a remarkably regular series of prophecies,
forecasting great events that were specially to affect the welfare of
the Jews down to the coming of Christ, and of the church of God
thenceforward. It is very noticeable that the beginning of each is
indicated in our English Bible by the word " nozo," which has its
corresponding Hebrew word. It stands at the head of vs. 9, 11, and
5: 1.  Consequently, the distinct predictions are (1.) vs. 9, 10;
(2.) vs. 11-13; (3.) chapter 5: 1, and onward substantially through
the chapter. No. 1 speaks of the captivity to Babylon and the restoration from it. No. 2, of the gathering of the great Syrian armies,
together with those of some other adjacent powers, against the
Jews in the times of the Maccabees, with their heroic defence and
final victory. No. 3, of the siege and fall of Jerusalem, when the
sceptre finally departed from Judah; of the Messiah's birth at Bethlehem, and then of his peaceful, triumphant reign, its policy and
results. —  With this summary of the points before us to the end
of chapter 5, we may the better understand each separate prophecy.
In the first prediction of this series (vs. 9, 10) the people are
seen in extreme agony: the prophet hears their sharp outcry of
anguish, and asks the cause of it. "And where are thy reliances
for help? Hast thou no king? no counsellor?" The trouble is, that
the city is falling before the fierce Chaldean, and their honored temple and loved homes are in ruins. How much they rested on their
king is indicated (Lam. 4: 20), where they say of him: " The breath
of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of
whom  we had said, Under his shadow we shall live among the
heathen."  Zedekiah was both weak and wicked, yet he was the
Lord's anointed king, and the people, long accustomed to reverence royalty, and to expect good from the Lord through his




200                 MICAH. —CHAP. IV.
anointed ones, bemoaned his fall into the enemy's power. The
prophet foresaw these events with entire historic accuracy.-  A
woman in her travail pains is the next figure, used here to represent only the painful side of the case-not the joy over a happy
birth. In the clause, "there shalt thou be delivered," the original
forbids us to think of any reference to the bright side of this figure.
It means merely that they should be brought out of this captivity
at some future time.   The " dwelling in the field " lies intermediate between their expulsion from Jerusalem and their residence
in or near Babylon, and seems to allude to their exposure in the
open country during their long and weary journey to Babylon.The twice repeated "there "-"-'there shalt thou be delivered,"
"there shall the Lord redeem thee," &c., was equivalent to saying,
Do not dread this going to Babylon, as if it must be the tomb of
all your hopes, for there your God will meet you for your deliverance. So in fact it came to pass. Precisely there God raised up
Cyrus; precisely at Babylon he gave him those victories which
paved the way for the restoration of his people. So true is it that
the people of God never need fear to pass under any cloud which
the Lord their God may bring up over them. What seems to them
their ruin, God can make their salvation.
11. Now also many nations are gathered against
thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look
upon Zion.
12. But they know not the thoughts of the LORD:
neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather
them as the sheaves into the floor.
13. Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will
make thy horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass:
and thou shall beat in pieces many people: and I will
consecrate their gain unto the LORD, and their substance
unto the LornD of the whole earth.
Here the course of thought makes another stage onward, and
reaches the second distinct prophecy in this series. Many nations
gather together against Zion in bitter malignity and haughty scorn,
and with set purpose to defile her sanctuary. Manifestly a real
hatred of their religion gives the impulse to this onslaught upon Zion.
"Let her be defiled," say they, "and let us have the joy of looking on to see her anguish." —lNo language could more accurately
describe the spirit of Antiochus Epiphanes and of his allies, in their
fell, demoniac attempts to uproot and overwhelm the holy city, its
temple, and all the true worshippers of Jehovah. The reader will
find a most thrilling history of these events in the first and second
books of Maccabees. It specially appears there that the wrath of
these enemies of God was aimed at the temple, its worship, and all
worshippers of the true God, since, when at one time the temple fell




MIICAH.-CHAP. V.                   201
into their hands, they polluted it in every way they could devise, even
offering swine's flesh on the sacred altar. Hence " the cleansing of
the sanctuary " finds a prominent place in Daniel's prophecy of these
events, and in Jewish history.  -" But," says our prophet, "they
do not understand God's thoughts and counsels." No, indeed; for
God thought, first, to discipline, prove, and purify his people; next,
to scourge and terribly punish his enemies; the latter only being
made prominent here in the prophecy. He gathered them as
sheaves into the floor, preparatory to bringing the threshing
power of his people down upon them. Then the prophet calls on
the " daughter of Zion to arise and thresh." The mixing of metaphors here need not surprise us, for we have strength, even if we
have not the most finished concinnity and fitness in the points of the
illustration. That a virgin should thresh with the feet of cattle, and
that with threshing should be blended the use of horns of iron, is
all strong and full of meaning, however it may lack the nicer beauties.
It should be said, however, that in the phrase " daughter of Zion,"
the idea of a female is lost in the general conception of the military
force of the city. There was a terrible significance in these figures
when the things they denoted became actual history, when God fired
the souls of the heroic, lion-hearted Maccabees, and made " one of
them chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight," grinding to powder one after another the huge armies sent upon them by
the enraged Syrian king.-  Remarkably, the Lord promised to turn
the spoils of these wars to account toward the wealth of his own
kingdom. Perhaps this is an historic allusion to David, who turned
the spoils of his many victories to account for building and adorning
the first temple.
So it is evermore the Lord's purpose to make the wicked lay up
treasures for the just, and coin money, to be consecrated under his
providence, though against their intent, unto the Lord of the whole
earth.
CHAPTER V.
As already indicated, this chapter records the third in the connected series of consecutive prophecies. It begins with the siege of
Jerusalem and the dishonor done to her Judge; advances to tile
birth of the Messiah, and then to the character and results of his
glorious reign on earth.
1. Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of
troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite
the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.
The descriptive points in this verse are few; the thronging of
her own troops within the city, the siege, the extreme insult offered
to the Judge of Israel. The Lord summons the armed hosts of
Jerusalem together for battle, and probably of Judah as well;
9*




202                   MICAI. —CIIAP. V.
some hostile power besieges the city and inflicts utter disgrace on
the head man of the nation, at that time embodying and representing the government, and called " the Judge of Israel," with allusion
to the Judges who fell between Joshua and Saul, and were inferior
to their kings-showing that already royalty had greatly declined.
After this decline came ruin, for, to smite the chieftain of the nation
with a rod upon the cheek must imply extreme indignity and
utter impotence-not only that all influence and authority had gone
from this particular Judge, but, since he is a representative man,
that the sceptre had passed away from Judah herself.
In what special event was this prophecy fulfilled?    Some
(with Hengstenberg) have said, in the fall of Jerusalem, before
the arms of Titus, A. D. 70.   The objections to this view are:
(1.) It involves a serious anachronism, since, as this verse immediately precedes the account of the birth of King Mlessiah, so its
events should precede that event. But the fall of the city, instead
of coming before his birth, was seventy years after.
(2.) On this theory the last and main point of the description
does not appositely fit the historic facts. In the prophecy, the
main thing is the utter dishonor done to the supreme authority;
but in the final destruction of the city by the Romans, the terrible
thing was the slaughter of more than a million of her people, the
horrors of famine and pestilence, and appalling judgments on the
whole nation. It was not the loss of their sceptre, for this had
practically gone long before.
(3.) There are clear indications throughout this chapter that the
prophet had his eye on that striking prophecy (Gen. 49: 10): " The
sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a Lawgiver from between
his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the
people be." Note the coming forth of the Ruler of Israel (v. 2);
the gathering of the people to him (v. 3); even of all nations to the
ends of the earth (v. 4); that he shall be " the Peace "-the real
Shiloh —the Prince of Peace (v. 5), &c., &c.
These considerations go far to show that the passage does not
look specifically to the fall of Jerusalem before the Ronman arms
under Titus, A. D. 70.
Ar,ther interpretation is already indicated by the leading points
mad, in this description, viz., the siege and fall of Jerusalem, B. C.
34, when King Antigonus, the last monarch of the Asmonean
dynasty (Jewish), fell before Herod the Great, who was aided by
eleven Roman legions. Herod was an Idumean. In him the Jews
came under a foreign dynasty, and never again had a king of their
own race, save King Messiah. This siege was an obstinate contest
of one year's duration. History * notes especially that "King Antigonus surrendered himself in a most cowardly manner, and was accordingly treated with the greatest indignity. Hie threw himself at
* See Jahn's " Hebrew Commonvweithb," p. 375, and Taylor's " Manual
of History," p. 176.




MICAH. —CHAP. V.                   203
the feet of the Roman general, who repelled him with contempt,
and scornfully called him Antigona, as if he were unworthy the
name of a man. The deposed king was loaded with chains, carried
to Antioch, and there beheaded like a common malefactor."
Thus signally was the Judge of Israel " smitten with a rod upon
the cheek: " thus did the " sceptre depart from Judah." The order
of time is complete, for it was during the reign of this very Herod
who thus supplanted Antigonus that the Prince of Peace was born
and the Shiloh of ancient prophecy came; and thenceforward the
true Israel never lacked a glorious King.
2. But thou Beth-lehein Ephratah, though thou be
little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee
shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel;
whose goings forth have been from of old, fromn everlasting.
"The Judge of Israel " —all his dignity and power gone-has
passed away, and with him that earthly kingdom and dispensation
which so long embosomed or imprisoned the germ of the true kingdom of God. Now a new " Ruler in Israel" appears who is truly
King and Lord of all.-  The first point presented is his birthplace. On the side of his human nature, he comes forth from Bethlehem Ephratah-that little city, too small to have a place among
the thousands of Judah-for this is precisely the sense of the
Hebrew; not that Bethlehem was a small one among the thousands,
yet being one of them, but too small to be one of them.  The expression refers to a classification of the people of each tribe into
thousands which commenced during their sojourn in the wilderness,
each thousand having its head officer, who combined both civil and
judicial authority. The rise of this system may be seen Ex. 18:
21, 25. Saul recognizes its existence long after the settlement of
Canaan, when he said of David (1 Sam. 23: 23), "If he be in the
land, I will search him out throughout all the thousands of Judah."
In the transition from nomadic life in the wilderness to fixed residence in Canaan, this system of division into thousands, with each
its head-man, "captain," or "judge," took this modification. Those
cities that numbered one thousand people rose to the rank of being
among the thousands, and had one such officer.  The smaller
villages must needs unite two or more together to constitute a
family of a thousand. Bethlehem had less than a thousand people,
and was therefore among the smaller cities-only a village in Judah. It lay six miles southwest of Jerusalem, in a fertile region, as
its name, "house of bread," denotes. Ephratah also means " fruitful."  It was the birthplace of David, and partly for this reason,
we may suppose, was the birthplace of his greater Son.  Royalty
in the house of David had fallen low at the period contemplated in
this prophecy.  Indeed, there are indications here that it was seen
by Micah to be practically extinct, so that David is thought of as
having returned back from the place of his throne on MZount Zion,




204                  MICAH.-CIIAP. V.
to the place of his humble birth and shepherd life, Bethlehem.
Its being a small city was really no disqualification for a birthplace
of King Messiah, since David himself was born here and not in any
of the greater cities of the land, and also because it was no part of
God's plan, in determining the birthplace of his incarnate Son, to
make him famous by its greatness or renown.   The appended
name "Ephratalh" carries us back to Gen. 35: 16-19, where this
place was distinguished by yet another birth.   Though thou art
so small, O Bethlehem, "yet out of thee shall he come forth who
is to be for me ruler in Israel."  For me, rather than "unto me"
-the idea being, not that the Messiah comes from Bethlehem unto
God, but that lie is to be ruler for God, acting under God and in
his behalf in the great mediatorial scheme.  The word "ruler"
means chief ruler, king.-   On the last clause of the verse, opinions
differ. There can be no doubt that the noun rendered "goings
forth" is correlated with the verb just before it, rendered "shall
come forth," i. e., from Bethlehem-the noun being from the same
root. In one point of view, he shall go forth out of Bethlehem;
but in another, his goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.  The last point in this correlation, the precise sense in
which his goings forth have been from of old, is that on which
critics have differed.  Some say that, as in his human nature
he came out of Bethllehem, so in his divine nature he came forth
from eternity. Others, urging that eternity is no place, and therefore cannot be antithetic to Bethlehem which is a place, find a reference to his repeated manifestations through his divine nature and
before his proper incarnation, e. g., to the patriarchs, to Moses,
Joshua, Samuel, and others.   I adopt the latter view, as constituting the most natural antithesis, as avoiding the rather harsh conception of coming out of eternity, as involving a reference to a series of facts of the highest moment in identifying this glorious
Ruler of Israel, and finally as well accounting for the use of the
plural, " his goings forth," which implies that there had been many.
But the construction first stated above, provides for only one coming forth, viz., from eternity.-The prophet, then, means to say
that this was not his first manifestation among men.  During all
the earlier ages, he had often come forth and made his presence
manifest. In the wilderness he was the angel of Jehovah's presence (Ex. 23: 20-23, and 33: 14); to Joshua (5: 13-15) he appeared
as captain of the Lord's host, and to Manoah (Judg. 13: 17, 18) as
one whose name is " Wonderful." So the Hebrew, which occurs
again in Isa. 9: 6. And these are only a few out of many.-  It
was manifestly pertinent that Micah, in predicting his human birth
in Bethlehem, should indicate the fact of his preexistence and of
his frequent previous manifestations to his people in the earlier ages.
--— It only remains to note that the Jews of the Saviour's time so
far understood this prophecy as to apply it to the Messiah, and to
learn from it that he should be born in Bethlehem. Matthew infornis us (2: 4-6) that Herod gathered the chief priests and scribtes




MICAIH.-CHTIP. V.                 205
together and demanded of them where Christ slould be born.
They at once answered, "In Bethlehem of Judea," and appealed
to this prophecy for the proof.
3. Therefore will he give them  up until the time
that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the
remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children
of Israel.
He (Jehovah) gives up them (his covenant people), in the sense of
leaving them to be scourged for their sins and purified under this discipline, until this great Ruler, the Messiah, should be born. The verb
rendered " give up," has this sense in 1 Kings 14: 16, and 2 Chron.
30: 7, "Be not as your fathers who transgressed against the God
of your fathers; therefore he gave them up to desolation."  -" She
that travaileth " must refer to the thought in the previous verse,
the human birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem. Micah may have
had before his mind what Isaiah wrote (7: 14), " Behold, a virgin
shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."
-The giving up to temporary calamities is referred to in verse 1.
The divine policy seems to have been to let his apostate Israel sink
very low as to its outward estate, and then by this means bring out
the more prominently before all the world the Great Deliverer." The remnant of his brethren" should naturally be those of the
Jewish communion who were scattered abroad. They were to return to the main body.
4. And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the
LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God;
and they shall abide: for now shall he,be great unto the
ends of the earth.
The Hebrew verb " feed " belongs to shepherd life, and includes
both feeding and ruling, supplying the want of food and the want
of protection and government as well. The attitude of a shepherd
is a standing one, hence " he shall stand and feed."  He shall fulfil
this office, not in any merely human might and majesty, but in the
strength and majesty of the very God.   " And they," his people, his flock, "shall abide," in the sense of permanence and security, not driven about and away into captivity, as they then would
have been so recently. May there not be a quiet antithesis between
the shepherd standing over them, and themselves sitting securely
and at ease under his guardian eye and. overshadowing presence?
-One reason why they sit so securely is that their king is " great
unto the very ends of the earth." The range of his power sweeps
far beyond Judea. It fills the wide world, and leaves no place for
nations and armies hostile to the people of the ]Messiah.
5. And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread




206                  MICAH.-CIIAP. V.
in our palaces, then shall we raise ag ainst him  seven
shepherds, and eight principal men.
"This man," the Messiah, "shall be peace," the fountain and
author of peace, and of peace in a sense involving not only the
absence of war but the presence of all the best earthly good and
even heavenly good besides.  Yet the special sense is that of
peace as opposed to war. The course of thought throughout this
passage contemplates the people as in a militant state, often assailed
by outward, active enemies. Under such circumstances, "peace "
is a word fraught with intense and precious significance.- The
brevity of this expression, "this man shall be peace," favors the
opinion that Micah had before his mind, and assumed that his readers would have before theirs, those other prophecies which he had
almost quoted: "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a
lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh (Prince of Peace) shall
come; him shall the people obey " (Gen. 49: 10); and that of Isaiah
(9: 6): " For unto us a child is born; unto us a son is given; and
the government shall be upon his shoulders; and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting
Father, The Prince of Peace."  As if he would say, You will understand my brief allusion to this man as " peace;;" you will remember those prophecies so very similar to what I have been saying.
-The Assyrian foe is named because he was then far more formidable than any other. This does not imply that precisely this
enemy would be on hand in the days of the Messiah's advent or
thenceforward. He expects that help from God against foreign enemies will come in the way of supplying competent leaders. That
these military leaders are called "shepherds," may have a tacit
reference to Moses, the shepherd leader, and to David, the shepherd king. It may also imply that if the people are taught and fed
in the ways of God, they will be invincible against outward enemies. " "Principal men" is in Hebrew, anointed men, set apart,
anointed and qualified of God. " Seven " and " eight " are definite
numbers used as indefinite, in the sense of an adequate number for
leaders against the foe. See notes on Amos 1: 3.
6. And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the
sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof:
thus shall he deliver us from  the Assyrian, when he
cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our
borders.
The verb rendered " waste " is the same rendered " feed" in v.
4, and is- probably a play on the possible senses of that word.
While King Messiah shall feed his own people like a shepherd, they,
made brave in war by his might within them, shall feed down the
land of Assyria by the sword-of course in the sense of consumning and laying desolate. —-Thlc Assyrian stands here to represent




wICAII.-CHAP.  V.                  207
the enemies of God's people, and is selected because when Micah
wrote, he was the enemy chiefly to be feared.  With this view I
see no necessity of looking after a literal fulfilment on that Assyria.
Any powerful foe is Assyria.
7. And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst
of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers
upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth
for the sons of men.
8. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the
Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among
the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks
of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down,
and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.
9. Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.
" The remnant of Jacob " comprises those who survive the wars
and desolations sent of God to scourge and purify his people. It is
of course implied that these have been purified by the afflictions
which they have survived, and are now prepared for effective usefulness in the service of their King Messiah. First, they shall "be
among Gentile nations like the dew and like showers from the
Lord " —figures suggestive of munificent blessings-blessings that
come before men ask for them, "on the just and on the unjust;"
anticipating the wants of vegetation.   The next figure also locates them among Gentile nations, where they are as a lion among
beasts, or a young lion among the flock-everywhere a power to
be respected and even feared. The idea of destructiveness is (we
may hope) less prominent than that of efficiency, or at least we are
to think of destructiveness only as relating to the real and incorrigible enemies of God, and even then of their agency as incidental
and passive rather than direct and active. "Vengeance belongeth
unto God," and when his providence employs his people in the
destruction of guilty nations, it is commonly not by any direct
agency, but rather by indirect.
10. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the
LORD, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of
thee, and I will destroy thy chariots:
11. And I will cut off the cities of thy land,'and
throw down all thy strong holds:
These statements show that God's people are not thought of
here as*fighting with carnal weapons, for if they were, then horses
and chariots would come into use. " Cities " must be here thought
of in the military sense, parallel to " strongholds." The idea is
that the Lord will be himself their Refuge and Strength, and will




208                  MICAH. —CHAP. V.
take away their confidence in human sources of help. The Psalmist gives the spirit of this passage, saying-" Some trust in chariots
and some in horses; but we, in the name of the Lord our God"
(Ps. 20: 7).
12. And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand;
and thou shalt have no more sooth-sayers:
13. Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy
standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou
shalt no more worship the work of thy hands.
14. And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst
of thee: so will I destroy thy cities.
Witchcraft and soothsaying are twin sisters to idol gods; all
unite in a common sympathy with Satan and his kingdom against
God and his truth and worship. What he here promises is therefore a blessing to his church and kingdom. Indeed, we might say,
He can give no greater blessing to his. people than to take away
their sins, by mild measures and influences, if he can; by stern and
painful agencies, if he must. The destruction of " cities " here also,
as in v. 11, must contemplate them, not as mere residences of a
dense population, but rather as the corrupt centres and fountains
of idolatry and vile superstition.
15. And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury
upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.
The church being purified, it remains to execute vengeance on
the heathen who are still incorrigible. Then and so will the world
be redeemed from its sins, and the reign of Messiah be omnipotent
in all the earth. What we should expect from the nature of the
case is rendered certain by the sure word of prophecy, viz., that
this subjugation of the world to King Messiah will be effected by a
twofold agency: (1.) The power of truth and of the Spirit of God to
whatever extent they may become effectual. (2.) Desolating and
exterminating judgments on all who are incorrigible under the best
appliances for their salvation that God can wisely employ.
Thus closes this most instructive Messianic chapter. Some have
said that the portion of this chapter which promises prosperity
closes with v. 8, the remaining part denoting adversity. Such interpreters seem to forget that God can give his people no richer
blessing than to cut off and remove their sins. Aye, let his name
be praised for this, even though it be by stern excision, the cutting
off of right hands, or the plucking out of right eyes!




MICAH.-CHAP. VI.                 209
CHAPTER VI.
A GRAND public hearing of the case made by Jehovah against
his covenant people is called for (v. 1); the mountains are summoned to be present (vs. 1 and 2); the Lord presents his complaint
and appeals to his past mercies (vs. 3-5); the people ask what they
shall do to please God (vs. 6, 7); the prophet replies (v. 8), and
continues still to expose their sins, and to speak of the judgments
inflicted therefor.
1. Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend
thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy
voice.
2. IIear ye, 0 mountains, the LORD'S controversy,
and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD
hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead
with Israel.
The first verse is the Lord's word to his prophet. " Contend"
is used here in the sense of a legal contending-a pleading before a
court. This complaint made by Jehovah against his people, the
prophet is to bring before the "mountains and the strong foundations of the earth," as if inanimate nature could not fail of having
moral sense enough to appreciate the merits of so very plain a case.
The scene is sublimely grand-this holding court before the mountains and the strong pillars of the earth, giving them to understand
that the Lord has a controversy with his people, and summoning
them to hear and pass upon the case.
3. 0 my people, what have I done unto thee? and
wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.
The case now opens. The Lord says, "O my people, what
have I done that could in any possible degree justify thee in such
apostasy against thy God? " If they have ought to reply, the court
is open; " testify," saith the Lord, " against me."
4. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt,
and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I
sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
5. O my people, remember now what Balak king of
~Moab consulted, and what Balaam  the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may
know the righteousness of the LORD.
Miriam became prominent in the song of triumph on the hither
side of the Red Sea, Ex. 15. The striking narrative respecting
Balak and Balaam may be seen, Num. chap. 22-24. Balak thought




210 pMICA. —CHAP. VI.
to prevail against this new and formidable people by means of
divination and the cursing power of one widely known and honored
as a master in the mysteries of magic; but the Lord headed Balaam, and would not let him go to sell his conscience and his soul
Ibr the wages of unrighteousness, and malke capital for Balak against
the Lord's people. The Lord's control over BIalaam evinced his
power on the hearts of even wilcked men, for Balaam still continued
to be a bad man, and met his death at last among God's enemies
(Num. 31: 8). -" Shittim." was a valley in AMoab. Gilgal was the
place, close on the west side of the Jordan, where the Hebrew people pitched their first camp in Canaan, and raised their monument
of stones.-   " From Shittim unto Gilgal " cannot be directly connected with Balaam's answer to Balak, as if this answer was kept
up throughout this entire journey. We must supply the ellipsis:
"'Remember all that occurred from Shittim till ye were across the
Jordan in Gilgal."-" That ye may know the righteousness of the
Lord" cannot here refer to justice, but must rather mean the favors
and mercies of the Lord. The word " righteousness" has this sense
in quite a number of passages. One clear case occurs 1 Sam. 12: 7,
where Samuel says, " Let me reason with you of all the righteous
acts of the Lord (righteousnesses), which he did to you and to your
fathers;" whereupon lie proceeds to recite a long catalogue of divine benefits, mercies-not by any means acts of mere justice.
6. Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and
bow myself before the high  God? shall I come before
him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old?
7. Will the LoRD be pleased with thousands of rams,
or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my
first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body
for the sin of my soul?
These are questions put by the people to the prophet. They
respond to his rebukes and expostulations with the inquiry, What
will meet the demands of the Lord our God? What does he require us to do? - Two things are worthy of note in the general
cast of these inquiries: (1.) That they are deeply shaded with the
current thought of the heathen nations round about them, rather
than by the tone of the Institutes of Moses; and (2.) That they
seem to imply that the Deity demands offerings of the most costly
sort, and penance the most severe-overlooking all the weightier
matters of the law-justice and love.
8. He hath shewed thee, O  man, what is good; and
what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly,
and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
This is the prophet's brief but exceedingly comprehensive reply.
" Do justice " first of all, everywhere, and always; then, yet further, toward your fellow-men " show mercy;" do acts of kindness




MICAH. —CHAP. VI.                 211
and favor where no merit creates a claim of justice; and finally, as
toivard God, walk with him humbly, in constant communion and
fellowship. Rlecognize his surrounding, all-pervading presence, and
adjust thy spirit and thy life to a due sense of that presence. In
the last clause the Hebrew is specially expressive: "Bow low to
walk woith God," as if only so could sinning mortals hope to come
near to the Holy One.  Thus, in fewest, briefest words, does the
prophet reply, giving us precisely the great duties which man owes
both to his fellow-man and to his God.
9. The LoRD's voice crieth unto the city, and the man
of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and
who hath appointed it.
Again the prophet returns to expose and reprove the sins of the
people, and to announce the judgments that the Lord must needs
send.-The " city " to which the Lord's voice crieth is Jerusalem,
prominent for her responsibilities, prominent in her sins. It was
therefore every way fitting that the Lord should cry unto her.In the next clause the Hebrew margin presents a slightly different
reading, which would give thllis sense: " Those who fear thy name
will have wisdom." But this reading has no claims for precedence
before the one in our Hebrew text and in our English text-" The
wise will regard thy name "-whatever fools may do or may not.
The prophet assumes that the unwise will not regard the name of
Jehovah.-  The exhortation is, " Hear ye the rod' "-the lessons
taught by the Lord's rod of discipline-and so learn to know him
who has appointed it, and who directs its mission in a sinning
world.
10. Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the
house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is
abominable?
As if surprised as well as grieved, the Lord asks, Are there yet
in wicked men's houses the treasures they have gotten by wickedness and the scant measure, or " ephah? "  This form of question
strongly implies that there are.- The Hebrew people seem to
have been strangely addicted to falsifying by unjust weights and
measures, although their statute law most expressly forbade it. See
Lev. 19:35, 36, and Deut. 25: 13-16. Other passages note the
prevalence of this sin, and strongly condemn it: Prov. 11: 1 and
20: 10; Hos. 12: 7; and Amos 8: 5.
11. Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances,
and with the bag of deceitful weights?
The use of the first person creates the only difficulty of exposition. The verb properly means " Shall I be pure? "-not, Shall If
count others as pure? Read thus, we must suppose the prophet to
put the question as of himself, that the people may in like manner




212                 MICAH. —CHAP. VII.
each ask it of himself, " Shall I be pure with" (i. e., while using)
" wicked balances and a bag of deceitful weights? " literally, stones
to deceive with.
12. For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and
the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their
tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
"For the rich men thereof," i. e., of the city of Jerusalem, referred to v. 9.
13. Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting
thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins.
14. Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy
casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou
shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which
thou deliverest will I give up to the sword.
15. Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou
shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee
with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine.
Here are the judgments to be sent on the people for these sins.
In the clause " I will make thy wound incurable," the words imply
that this wound comes of the Lord's smiting.-. 14 I translate
closely, thus: " Thou shalt eat and not be satisfied, for thy hunger
shall still be within thee; thou shalt remove away (i. e., thy goods
for safety), but thou shalt not save them; and whatever thou shalt
save I will give up to the sword."
16. For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the
works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the
reproach of my people.
Omri, the father, and Ahab, the son, were leaders in the idolatry
of Israel. Their example and influence were intensely pernicious
over Judah.1-" The reproach of my people " is not reproach cast
by my people, but such reproach as is due to my people, considering that they were mine by covenant, under the highest obligations,
but violated all.
CHAPTER VII.
THE course of thought in this chapter embraces the prophet's
distress (v. 1); its causes in the extreme wickedness of the people
(vs. 2-4); so great that no confidence can be reposed in man, not
even in best friends (vs. 5, 6); but should be in God (v. 7). Trusting




MICAHT. —CHAP. VII.                213
in her God, Zion exults over her enemies (vs. 8, 9), who are covered
with shame (v. 10); enlargement for Zion (vs. 11, 12), albeit judgments have come and must come for her sins; the prophet's prayer
(v. 14); and the Lord's answer (vs. 15-17); the prophet testifies in
sublime strains to God's pardoning mercy, and the people respond
(vs. 18-20).
1. Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered
the summer fruits, as the grape-gleanings of the vintage:
there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the first ripe
fruit.
The prophet gives expression to his sadness, grief, and disappointment, by comparing his case to that of a man longing for the
first ripe fruits, but who finds the summer fruits all gathered, the
grapes all gleaned, and not a cluster left for his hunger. The state
of things among the people which causes him such grief and disappointment, he proceeds to describe.
2. The good man is perished out of the earth: and
there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait
for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.
3. That they may do evil with both hands earnestly,
the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward;
and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire:
so they wrap it up.
4. The best of them is as a brier: the most upright
is sharper than a thorn-hedge: the day of thy watchmen
and thy visitation  cometh; now  shall be their perplexity.
The received translation gives the sense, in the main, well. The
verb rendered " wrap it up " implies not merely covering over, but
tying up-interlacing, and making all secure by artful planning.The watchmen " (v. 4) are prophets, and " the day of thy watchmen " is the day thy prophets have foretold as one of destruction,
and of God's visitation in judgment. Now shall the wicked who
fall under these judgments be perplexed and confounded in their
plans of wickedness, so that they shall not ltnow what they
can do.
5. Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in
a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth
in thy bosom.
6. For the son dishonoreth the father, the daughter
riseth up against her mother, the daughter —in-law against
her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his
own house.




214                 MICAII. —CHAP. VII.
This entire description, beginning with v. 2, reveals a state of
appalling corruption of morals, and gives the soundings of the great
depths of humnan depravity as seen where the light of God's word
is withdrawn, and idol worship with its surroundings comes into its
place. As Christianity sanctifies and makes benign all the sweet
relationships of home and family, so does human depravity, finding
free scope, and ever-quickening impulse under the reign of idolatry,
desecrate and render fiendish those same precious relationships. It
is terrible that homes of love should become "habitations of
cruelty; " but human depravity, unrestrained, has precisely this tendency, and sometimes reaches this result.'T. Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait
for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.
No conclusion from such premises as these could be more fitting
than this. When all our dearest earthly friends fail, let it be our
joy that God is true and faithful-a doubly precious friend.
8. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I
fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall
be a light unto me.
The special thing to be noticed in the Hebrew of this verse is
that the verb rendered "rejoice," and the noun, "mine enemy,"
are both feminine, showing that the prophet addresses some city or
political power, present to his thought; and consequently does not
speak in his own person exclusively, but in behalf of his people; the sense being this: Speaking for Judah and Jerusalem, I
say to Edom or to Babylon —" Rejoice not over me, thou insulting
and exulting enemy; though I fall in war, and my sons and daughters go into captivity, I shall arise through the strength of my Redeemer God; though I sit in the darkness of a fallen kingdom, my
people in a strange land, yet the Lord shall be a light unto me."
-It should be carefully noticed that the prophet's mind is projected forward from the awful sins of the land to the consequent
curse-the captivity in Babylon, and to the deliverance ultimately
wrought there for the covenant people when they became humbled,
reformed, and penitent. It is with those scenes in view that he
addresses Edom and Babylon so triumphantly in these verses.
9. I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I
have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and
execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the
light, and I shall behold his righteousness.
10. Then she thct is mine enemy shall see it, and
shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is
the LORD thy God? mine eyes shall behold her: now
shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.




MICAH. —CHAP. VII.                   215
In these verses also, Micah speaks in behalf of the covenant
people. V. 9 gives utterance to the feelings appropriate under such
sore chastisements from the Lord-a moral lesson for all in affliction,
be the form of it what it may. — "Righteousness," in such a connection, does not mean simple justice, but beneficence, goodness,
God's interposition in redeeming and saving mercy. This specific
sense is in some passages entirely essential; I, therefore, confirm
it: (1.) By the fact that in many passages "righteousness" is
parallel- to " salvation," and therefore synonymous with it, e. g.,
Isa. 51: 5, 6, 8: " My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone
forth," &c. —" but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished "-" but my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation from generation to generation; (2.) In other
passages, the strain of the context and the nature of the ease demand this sense, e. g., Isa. 54: 17; which means-God will save
his Zion from all her foes, " and their righteousness " (i. e., this salvation) " is of me, saith the Lord." Also Ps. 51: 14: " Deliver me
from blood-guiltiness, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue
shall sing aloud of thy righteousness." —See notes on Micah 6: 5.
In v. 10, the English translators have given the gender of the
party spoken of-manifestly the same that is addressed in v. 8.
The sense is —The great enemy of Zion (probably Edom or Babylon) shall see the salvation wrought of God for us. She who had
said tauntingly, "Where is the Lord thy God?" shall now be
overwhelmed with shame, and be herself trodden under foot as
mire in the streets. Whereas she looked exultingly on me in my
fall, now mine eye shall behold her under God's righteous retributions.
11. I~z the day that thy walls are to be built, in. that
day shall the decree be far removed.
12. In that day also he shall come even to thee from
Assyria, and,from the fortified cities, and from  the fortress even to the river, and from  sea to sea, and fromn
mountain to nmountain.
These verses obviously speak of blessings upon Zion in the day
when the Lord, having turned again her captivity, shall rebuild
her walls, bring home her captives from afar, and with them  also
" the forces of the Gentiles." —Critics have differed greatly as to
the precise sense of the words rendered " shall the decree be far
removed."  What our translators meant by 1" the decree," or by its
being " far removed," is by no means clear. It is plain to one who
reads the original, that Micalh chooses his words, the verb *
and the noun,t for the sake in part of a paranomasia, the two last
radicals of the verb and the two which compose the noun being
the same, and therefore the sounds of each are similar. For the
*                                       tr r-.




216                 MICAH.-CHAP. VII.
sake of this result, he may, perhaps, have used one or both of these
words in a somewhat unusual sense. This may occasion some of
the difficulties found by critics in the interpretation of the
passage.
The following construction is suggested as fully in harmony
both with the context and with the original and normal use of both
these words: "In the day for rebuilding thy walls, in that day
shall limit befar away " —i. e., the city bounds shall be far off; the
city indefinitely extended. -This use of the noun is amply justified by Job 14: 5, " Thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot
pass" (here, of time); and Job 26: 10, "He hath compassed the
waters with bounds" (here limits in space, as in our passage),
and 28: 26, "He made a decree (bound) for the rain" (determining its locality, and, perhaps, quantity). Isa. 5: 14, "IHell hath
opened her mouth without measure; " literally, "and there is no
limit."
The primary sense of the verb is —to be far off, far removed.
Parallel in general meaning is Zech. 2: 1-4, where the first
thought is-Go, measure the length and breadth of the city walls,
as if to rebuild on the old foundations; but this direction is withdrawn, and God promises-Jerusalem shall be inhabited without
walls for the multitude, &c.-So here the purpose of God is to enlarge her borders so that she may receive great accessions, as the
next verse proceeds to say.   The verb used here occurs Isa. 33:
17: "Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty; with joy shall
they behold the land greatly extended," enlarged-their king in his
glory, with a subject territory greatly increased on every side.
In sentiment Isa. 54: 2, 3, is parallel: "Enlarge the place of thy
tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations;
spare not; lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes, for thou
shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left, and thy seed
shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited." Remembering that Micah was contemporary with Isaiah,
and that there are abundant proofs of their acquaintance with each
other's writings, we shall readily account for their saying the' same
things, in much the same language, as to the day when the fallen
walls of Zion shall be rebuilt. Taught by one and the same Spirit,
and writing of the same things in the same age, why should not
their views and their language be essentially the same? —— Gesenius gives these words here this sense-" The set time is greatly
extended." But it does not clearly appear from the context what
this "set time" is, nor is any good reason apparent for restricting
the enlargement to the one element of time. I prefer the broader
sense as given above, which may indeed comprise enlargement in
territory, in capacity for receiving great accessions to the church,
and in the period of this prosperity-enlargement in the most general sense. Hence, the broad, indefinite form of the statement.
-- In v. 12, the first verb is impersonal, and therefore means,
not that " he," some one man, shall come from Assyria, but that




MICnA.-CEC  A. VIT.                217
men, peoples, it may be in vast numbers, shall come. The word
rendered "fortified," * I prefer to render Egypt, thus-" In that
day shall men come to thee from Assyria and from the cities of
Egypt; and from Egypt even to the great river (Euphrates); from
sea to sea and from mountain to mountain;" i, e., from all the
intervening regions, which indeed comprise all that vast country
lying contiguous to Palestine, and stretching out to the remotest
bounds of Egypt on the southwest, and to Assyria on the north and
east. From these remote lands shall the exiles return, and, as above
intimated, perhaps Gentiles as well, for the promise may look far
on beyond the restoration from Babylon, although its primary
reference is probably to that event.
13. N otwithistanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their
doings.
The sense is-Notwithstanding these glorious promises of future
enlargement, every way adapted to inspire high and brilliant anticipations, yet bear in mind " that for the great sins of the people,
an age of judgment and desolation will surely intervene. Before
those better days shall come, the land will lie a long time desolate
as the fruit of the people's sins." A caution against abusing these
promises.
14. Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine
heritage, which dwell solitarily in  the wood, in the
midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead,
as in the days of old.
The word rendered "feed" is pastoral-the usual term to describe the service of the shepherd. It, therefore, combines the two
ideas —feeding, and ruling, or guiding. Hence to the Hebrews
there would be no incongruity in supposing this feeding to be done
with the "rod "-which is here the shepherd's crook; not a rod
for scourging. The sense of the verse is-Take charge of thy people as a shepherd of his flock; they are thine heritage, now solitary
in the forest; let them feed in the rich pastures of Bashan and
Gilead, as of old. This is the prayer of the prophet. He expects
the people to join in it.
15. According to the days of thy coming out of the
land of Egypt will I show unto him marvellous things.
This verse may fitly be considered as the answer of the Lord to
the prayer in the verse preceding. It pledges miraculous interposition and effective help, as in the Exodus from Egypt-the standing historic case to signify a glorious salvation.
*
10




218                 MICAH. —CItAP. VII.
16. The nations shall see and be confounded at all
their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth,
their ears shall be deaf.
17. They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall
move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they
shall be afraid of the Lo-RD our God, and shall fear because of thee.
Here are the effects on the Gentile nations of God's marvellous
deliverances to be wrought for his people. They shall see and shall
be ashamed of their own insignificant prowess. They may be supposed to say —"We have no power to cope with that; all our
strength vanishes away before such marvellous works." They shall
be dumb and deaf, as men astonished and stupefied with amazement.
They shall lick the dust, humbling themselves low before the glorious majesty of Jehovah. They shall crawl out of their holes in the
ground —a strong figure, to denote the change that has come over
their glory and greatness.  The last clause should read thus:
" They shall approach with humble fear and reverence unto the
Lord our God "-this shade of meaning being required by the preposition rendered "unto."  See notes on Hos. 3: 5.  Thus those
thrilling impressions of awe and fear are to avail for the conversion
of the Gentile nations.
18. Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant
of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he,delighteth in mercy.
That sins so great should be so entirely forgiven, so fully passed over,
to be noticed and known no more —and that God should so fully turn
from his righteous anger, and give scope only to his great mercyis most wonderful! As the prophet thinks of these qualities of the
divine mercy in the case of his forgiving his covenant people and
restoring them again to favors so great, his heart is overwhelmed
within him. And why not? What can be more wonderful?This language is full of beauty and of strength as well. ".Who is a
God like Thee, taking away sin " (to be seen and noted no more),
" passing over the transgressions of the remnant of his chosen" (as
a travellerpasses by what he does not wish to notice); "and he does
not make his wrath strong forever " (implying that he does the very
opposite-makes it subside and give place to loving-kindness.) And all
this " because he delighteth in mercy "), finding his real bliss, even the
highest joy of his heart in forgiving the chief of sinners.) Is not all
this most precious and most wonderful? Who, having once seen;
his own guilt in all its appalling blackness and vileness, and then
felt the sweet sense of pardon, as if God himself were whispering
peace and love to his heart, will not appreciate this inimitable description of the pardoning love of the Lord?




MICAI. —CAP. VII.                  219
19. IIe will turn  again, he will have compassion
upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt
cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
This verse may, without violence, be construed as a sort of refruin  or response, taken up by the people themselves, who enter
into the spirit of the prophet's words, and respond in terms scarcely
less pertinent and affecting.  Or it may very fitly be considered as
the prophet's own application of the previous verse to the case of
God's covenant people. Either way the general sentiment is the
same. God will turn from scourging to blessing, when his smitten
people turn from their sins to righteousness. " He will have compassion upon us."  Al, yes, indeed he will! Such a God, so full
of loving pity, how can it be otherwise? -~" He will subdue our
iniquities," the original word for "subdue" implying that he will
tread them down under his feet-as an apostle said, "He will
tread Satan under your feet shortly."  Sin, personified, commanding its forces of temptation, is thought of as a powerful foe of man,
as his arch enemy, perpetually ensnaring, assailing, crushing down
and piercing through with bitter pangs; but God subdues this enemy; he withstands his efforts; sets himself to counteract his temptations, and becomes himself a strong tower of refuge, whither his
people may fly and into which they may run and be safe! O how
inexpressibly precious!   " Thou wilt cast all their sins into the
depths of the sea," and they go down like a millstone, to rise no
more! The idea is, that they come up no more to remembrance-.
as the Lord has said, " Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more! " (Heb. 8: 12). Considering that the Infinite Mind
of the Universe never has lost from its thought and knowledge one
fact, however minute, and never can, this statement seems most
wonderful of all. God would have us feel that he does not remember against us the sin which we have fully repented of and heartily
forsaken, and which therefore he has altogether forgiven and put
away. He would almost lead us to think that he can forget them
and has forgotten them, so that they shall come before his mind
even in memory no more!   O how divinely kind and gracious is
this! How like a tender Father! That he should labor to dispel
from our mind those painful feelings of shame and grief over our
sins, and should seem to say, " Come near to me and be my freehearted, loving child, as welcome to my smiles and confidence and
favor as if you had never sinned against me! "-   Let this infinite
Friend, so kind and so gracious, be loved, trusted, and adored by
us all, for ever and ever!
20. Thou wilt perform  the truth to Jacob, adt tlhe
mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our
fathers from the days of old.
hIere the book closes, affirming that such a God will surely per




220                 MICAIt.-CIIAP. VII.
form all the good things, the truth and the mercy promised to the
fathers long years ago. No doubt he will! Zachailas, filled with
the Holy Ghost, caught the spirit as well as the leading words of
this passage: " To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and
to remember his holy covenant," &c. (Luke 1: 72).




NA HUM.
INI TRODUCTION.
TnEr introduction to this short book gives us only the general
subject-a prediction of sore calamity on Nineveh; the name of
the author and the place of his residence, or perhaps nativity. The
latter point, being of small importance, I dispose of it briefly.Two places bear the name of Elkosh, and claim the honor of this
prophet's birth; —one, beyond the Tigris; the other, in Galileethe latter with the greater plausibility. Some think that Capernatrn —village of Naum-bears the name of this prophet.
The date of the book is a greater question. It can, however, be
answered only proximately. Trhe location of the book in the series
of minor prophets probably had some reference to its date; but the
internal evidence in the line of historic allusion is our main reliance.
This goes to place him a little after Micah.-   tis great theme
being the fall of Nineveh, there can be no reasonable doubt that he
wrote soon after the famous invasion of Judah by Sennacherib and
the utter overthrow of his army. That this event had thrilled the
nation may be seen in numerous passages of Isaiah, e. g., 10 24-34,
and 14: 24-27, and 17: 12-14, and 33; and 36-39 chap. It could
not be otherwise. Ience, naturally and properly, the Lord by his
prophets sought to turn these signal events to the best moral
account. Isaiah, though alluding to these transactions so often, had
yet mostly passed over the retribution which the Lord would one
day bring on Nineveh. This was left for Nahum. It was important,
for the best moral impression on the people, that this should be
revealed, and indeed that it should be written and.,made public
soon after the invasion by Sennacherib and the defeat of his army




222                   NAHIUM. —CIAP. I.
-at least, before the first impressions made by those events ha]
passed away.    Now, this great invasion was in the fourteenth
year of I-ezekiah (2 Kings 18: 13), whose reign of twenty-nine
years fell a. c. 728-699-consequently, about n. c. 714, and Nahum
would be located in time during the latter part of HEezekiah's reign.
-This book furnishes one other historic point-a reference
(3: 8-10) to the fall of "'No-Amon," otherwise called Thebes
and Diospolis, the famous capital of Upper Egypt. The manner
of the prophet's allusion to this event implies that it was then past,
yet probably recent and fresh in the minds of his first readers. But
no extant history chronicles precisely the date of her fall. What
Isaiah says (20:1-6) of Sargon, king of Assyria, and of his general
Tartan, almost without doubt'refers to this event, the more surely
so, because both Isaiah and Nahum  represent the Ethiopians as
being the allies of the Egyptians, and involved in the ruin of their
great city. The location of this narrative in the book of Isaiah
favors its date somewhat earlier than the march of Sennacherib
upon Jerusalem. Sargon is known to have reigned next before
Sennacherib..  These facts and suppositions go to confirm  the
views above presented respecting the date of this book, as falling in
the latter part of the reign of Hezekiah, i. e., n. c. 710-700. -The
fall of'Nineveh, which Nahum so vividly describes, chapters 2 and
3, took place from  seventy-five to eighty years after the date
assumed for this prophecy. It fell before the allied forces of the
Medes under Cyaxares and the Chaldeans under Nabopolassar, the
precise date being assigned by the most reliable historians to B. c.
625
All the critics accord to Nafhutn.l a style of lofty sublimity and a
power of graphic painting rarely surpassed. He wrote as one
whose very soul was permeated and thrilled by the great events
of his time, and who saw God's hand in them-a present and glorious power for salvation to his people, and for vengeance on their
foes. To see the beauty and feel the force of his book, we shall
need to imbue our hearts deeply with the true spirit and significance of those momentous facts of history.




NAHUM.-CIIAP. I.                  223
CHAPTER I.
AFTER the briefest possible introduction, the prophet breaks
into the midst of his theme, his starting-point being most fitly those
great qualities of the divine character which both the recent events
of history and the burden of his prophecy conspire to illustrateespecially his retributive vengeance upon his enemies, coupled with
his merciful protection and deliverance of his people. Hence we
have mainly God's judgments on his foes (vs. 2-6); God a refuge for
his people (v. 7); the overthrow of Sennacherib's army before
Jerusalem (vs. 8-14); and the ensuing peace and joy (v. 15).
1. The burden of Nineveh.  The book of the vision
of Nahum the Elkoshite.
A "burden" in prophecy, here as elsewhere, is a message of
calamity, predicting judgment and desolation.
2. God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD
revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance
on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath, for his enemies.
It should be borne in mind that these attributes of Jehovah are
suggested by his retributive justice on Assyria, first, in destroying
lier great army when it came proudly and defiantly to lay waste
the holy city; and next, in the future desolations of Nineveh, their
great and proud capital. These historic facts may serve as illustrations of the sense in which Jehovah is "jealous," "revengeth," and
"taketh vengeance."  -The word "farious" in the English
version should not be taken in the bad sense which has in modern
times become predominant-as when spoken of wild beasts enraged,
or men half frantic. The original is innocent of this special significance, and simply implies that the Lord is moved with indignation
against his proud, determined enemies.
3. The LORD's slow to anger, and great in power,
and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his
way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds
are the dust of his feet.
The first clause continues the glowing description of Jehovah's
attributes, most of the expressions being taken from the classic
passage (Ex. 34:' 6, 7) where the Lord proclaimed his name to Moses
as one slow to anger, yet who will not at all acquit the guilty.The last clause opens one of the grandest portrayings of the
majesty of Jehovah ever drawn by human pen: "Jehovah-his
way is in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the
dust about his feet." Across the deserts of the East a moving caravan is seen farthest by the dust they raise. So the clouds are the




224                 NAHUM. —CHAP. I.
dust rising beneath his feet and marking the pathway of his
glorious presence.
4. He rebnketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and
drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel,
and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.
With an eye perhaps on the Red sea and the Jordan, the prophet
proceeds: "He rebuketh the sea and so dries it up," i. e., by his
mere word of rebuke. Also, through his power of withholding
rain, all vegetation, even in the most fertile regions, withers.
5. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt,
and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world,
and all that dwell therein.
In the phrase "the earth is burnt at his presence," the original
verb gives no sanction to the sense to burn, but must mean is lifted
up, with reference to the upheaval of its crust by volcanic agents.
The whole verse refers to this class of agencies.   " The mountains tremble before him," or "because of him " (not properly "at
him "), "the hills melt," liquid lava gushing forth from their bowels
and pouring down their sides-and the solid crust of the earth's
surface is upheaved with its cities and all their vast population.
6. Who can stand before his indignation? and who
can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is
poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by
him.
With the terrible agencies of the volcano and the earthquake
still in mind, the prophet fitly asks-" Who can stand before Jehovah's indignation? " " Who can rise up against his burning
wrath?"  "Rise up," and not " abide," is the sense of the Hebrew.
His fury is poured forth like rivers of lava from the craters of Vesuvius. How, then, can the wicked endure before him when once he
ariseth in his wrath?
7. The LORD js good, a strong hold in the day of
trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.
By a sudden, yet most expressive transition, this same God is a
glorious refuge for his people. He is none the less good because he
feels such indignation against incorrigible sin. IIe will defend his
trustful children none the less because his wrath is so terrible
against his and their foes. Indeed, his wrath against their foes is the
pledge and guaranty of his love for them, and of his purpose to defend them forever.   This side of his character had its present illustration in the deliverance wrought for Judah when just about to
fall before the armed hordes of Assyria. In the phrase'" he knoweth
them that trust in him," " knoweth " takes the strong sense of a peculiar and most tender regard.




NAlUI. —CHAP. I.                    225
8. But with an overrunning flood he will make an
utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue
his enemies.
From this point onward through the chapter, Sennacherib's army
is before the mind, and the prophet alludes to their mischievous
plottings against the people of God, and to his consequent retribution upon them in their complete destruction. A question of
some importance arises here, upon which interpreters differ, viz.,
Whether the prophet's allusions to the invasion of Judah by Sennacherib (vs. 8-15) are prophecy or history, Was this passage written before or after the invasion? -My mind inclines strongly to
the latter view, on the following grounds: (1.) The tenses of the
verbs used at least admit this construction. Owing to a striking
peculiarity in the use of the Hebrew tenses in prophecy, or rather,
perhaps, to the mental stand-point of tile prophet when visions of
the future are brought before him, it becomes very difficult to determine, from the tenses alone, what is prophecy and what is
history. In this passage it would be hard to show absolutely from
the tenses alone, that either theory is impossible. There is plainly
nothing in the tenses to forbid the construction of what relates to
Sennacherib's invasion as recently past.- Thus the verbs in v. 8
are future, but they refer to the future fall of Nineveh-about B. c.
625. (V. 9), thus (literally): "What will ye devise against Jehovah? "
The sense is —How can ye devise any thing to purpose against such
an one as Jehovah? —which has augmented force, considered as
spoken after the fall of Sennacherib's host. The reasons given
are, " He makes " (not " will make ") " ruin complete."  " Affliction
shall not rise again "-firom you, or from any whom the Lord has
once undertaken to destroy. These reasons are all fully in point,
considered as said after the invasion and its defeat.-  In v.. 10 the
sense is-" Though compacted like tangled thorns and soaked with
strong drink, they were devoured " (the Hebrew is in the past tense)
"like dry stubble."  In v. 11 read "From thee came out" (past
tense) "one who plotted mischief"-alluding to the past purpose
and deed of Sennacherib. The twelfth verse has past tenses throughout; not " shall they be cut down," but they were cut. -" Though
I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more," is literal, and
properly assume that the invasion is past. -The thirteenth vcetse
means that now and henceforth, I will break off his voke from
upon thee. Thou shalt have nothing to fear more from the Assyrian
power. —In v. 14, the infamy and disgraceful death of Sennacherib assume that the invasion is past. -In v. 15, the messengers
with tidings of their fall-the call to Judah to resume her solemn
feasts for her Belial shall never come near even to alarm her again
-all is specially pertinent and life-like on the assumption that the
deed is done.-  There can, therefore, be no objection to its construction as history on the score of the Hebrew tenses, nor in the
strain of the passage. —(2.) The passage (1: 2-7) is especially per



226                  NAIIUM.-C-HAP. I.
tinent andi forcible on the supposition that the fall of Sennacherib's
host is in the recent past, and fresh before all minds. —-(3.) There
is great pertinence in going forward from these events of recent history to predict the final ruin of Assyria, in righteous retribution for
her bold and impious defiance of the Most High God. —(4.) The
history of the event as given (isa. 37) goes far to show that no
prophecy of Nahum, predicting the fall of this Assyrian host, was
extant before that fall.  The king and even the pious portion of the
people were in deep agitation, not to say consternation; they come
to Isaiah for some light from the Lord, and he gives it. Then their
fears are allayed and their faith confirmed. —The whole tenor of
these transactions implies that nothing is known of any prediction
from Nahum of the failure of this invasion and the consequent ruin
of its author. —(5.) The Book of Nahum must be taken as one
whole, written at one time. But it is scarcely supposable that the
whole, including the prediction of the final fall of Nineveh, dates
before this great invasion of Judah. - These considerations seem
decisive.
Thlere is a sudden transition from v. 7, where God is a refuge
to his people, to v. 8, where he is a sweeping flood, overwhelming
N.ineveh and obliterating even its ancient foundations.  The ideas,
however, are kindred, for God is such a refuge to his people because he is such a power of destruction upon her enemies.-The
figure —" with a flood sweeping over the land " —is probably borrowed from Isaiah 8: 7, 8, where it describes the desolating march
of the vast Assyrian army over the land of Judah.  By a fit and
most palpable retribution, armies, equally vast and desolating, shall
yet come down on Nineveh, and shall make an utter end of even
the site where she stood so long in her glory. The darkness of oblivion shall chase down these enemies of God, and they shall sink
fiom the knowledge of coming generations.
9. What do ye imagine against the LorD? he will
nmake an utter end: ailiction shall not rise up the second
time.
The prophet puts this bold question to the proud Assyrian
invader: " What would ye plot against Jehovah?"  "He will
make an utter end" of his foes and of you. "Trouble to many
people shall not arise from you a second time." Once smitten, you
will never return to harass them again.
10. For while they be folden together as thorns, and
while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.
For though your armies move in phalanx, closely interlaced as
thorns in their wild growth, and though they reel under their
intoxication, they shall be devoured as stubble burns when perfectly
dry. -That they are said to be drunken as with wine, and hence




NAHaU M. —CHAP.    1.              225
to reel in their intoxication, may allude to a striking fact in God's
agency over nations doomed to judgment, and also to a very striking figure to represent this fact-the fact being that God gives such
nations over to infatuation; and the figure to express it being this
(as appears in Jer. 25: 15-29). God sends round to the nations the
wine-cup of his fury, and they drink till. they are "moved" and
"mad."  Hence they are easily destroyed. They more than half
destroy themselves.  The slaveholding power of this American
nation is a case quite in point, evincing this same mad infatuation
which is both a natural and a governmental forerunner of destruction. The wine-cup of Jehovah's fury has been to their lips!
11. There is one come out of thee, that imagineth
evil against the LORD, a wicked counsellor.
Sennacherib or Rabshakeh. He comes forth out of Assyria, or
perhaps, specially from Nineveh, devising evil against Jehovah as
the king of his covenant people.
12. Thus saith the LORD; Though they be quiet, and
likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when
he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee, I
will afflict thee no more.
The Lord sees this heathen king deliberately plotting the
destruction of Judah, and therefore declares his purpose to destroy
him and his army.   The first prominent word, rendered "quiet,"
more properly means complete, furnished with every appliance for
success in their proposed object. Though they are fully equipped,
and withal so very many, yet shall they be cut down (as the figure
in v. 10 had expressed it) when he, the destroying angel, shall pass
through their camp.   Isaiah records this event in these brief
words: "Then the angel of the Lord went forth and smote in the
camp of the Assyrians an hundred and fourscore and five thousand,
and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all
dead corpses " (Isa. 37: 36). —Byron has put this scene in his
best style:
"Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen;
Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown,'That host on the morrow lay withered and strewn.
For the angel of death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed on the face of the foe as he passed,
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and forever were still."
The last clause-" though I have afflicted thee," &c., refers to
Judah, now relieved from danger, and no more to be afflicted by
this long dangerous enemy.
13. For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and
will burst thy bonds in sunder.




228                  NAHUM. —CIAP. I.
This verse expands the thought just before expressed.
14. And the LonD hath given a 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 vile.
The person spoken of must be the Assyrian king. No scion of
his family should again take root; no child come to the honor of
his father's throne. This would seem to be the most natural sense
of these words.   But according to the dim light of the history of
those times, its precise fulfilment is not readily made out. The
king should be Sennacherib who headed the famous invasion of
Judah and Jerusalem.  All the latter part of this verse 14 finds an
accurate fulfilment in him. He made his grave in the house of his
gods-a vile, " light ", man, of no particular account. " Light " is
the sense of the Hebrew word. But Isaiah records (37: 38), " and
Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his stead." History assigns to this
Esarhaddon a reign of thirty-five years. How, then, could it be
said, no son of Sennacherib should come to the throne?   To
avoid this difficulty, Dr. Henderson holds that the threatening was
not to take effect at his death, but only at the final destruction of
Nineveh-which he locates B. c. 625-almost a century in the
future. Then, his dynasty should become extinct.  He says, "It
does not mean that none of his sons should succeed him in the
government." But this is just what it seems to say, if we give the
language a sense which affirms the extinction of his dynasty. If
the words affirm extinction at all, they affirm it to take effect at
once.   Others, with better success, give the words this turnthat his name, in the sense of fame, reputation, should be diffused
abroad-sown broadcast, no more. He should die in dishonor as a
vile man, and his name go down to posterity only in disgrace. In
this sense of the prophecy, its fulfilment presents no difficulty.
15. Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that
bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah,
keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked
shall no more pass through thee: he is utterly cut off.
War telegrams were borne in those days by swift runners (see 2
Sam. 18: 19 ff.). When they brought tidings of victory and peace,
their approach might well be hailed with joy. So now of these messengers with tidings of the utter ruin that befell Assyria's proud hosts
in that one fatal night. The prophet's graphic touch of this scene is
masterly.'He gives no long and tedious details: his mind flashes
over and past them all, to light on one or two most significant and
expressive results. " Go, Judah, now, and keep thy solemn feasts:
perform thy vows made in the hour of thy peril: this Belial shall
pass through thy land no more: he is utterly cut off! "




NAHUM. —CTP. IT.                  229
As to keeping those solemn feasts, Judah could, for no enemy
remained in her land to prevent: she should, for never before were
there such themes for praise, such reasons for coming to the house
of God with her thank-offerings to pay her solemn vows.
CHAPTER II.
THIS chapter brings us at once to the prophet's great theme-the
burden of Nineveh. The mad and proud invasion of Judah by
Sennacherib must first be noticed, that being the antecedent
occasion of this final overthrow-the great sin of which this fall
was the signal retribution. That consequently is spoken of in the
first chapter..This chapter and the third give us the assault on ancient Nineveh, and her final fall.
1. He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy
face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins
strong, fortify thy power mightily.
Instead of finding in this first verse a summons to Hezekiah to
prepare his capital for defence against Sennacherib (as some have
done), I prefer to apply it (as manifestly vs. 3-13 must be applied) to the Assyrian king Chynilidan, in whose reign the combined
forces of the Medes and Chaldeans came up against great Nineveh,
and laid it in ruins. With this construction, v. 2 is interposed as a
reason for God's overthrowing Nineveh-good, although the event
occurred more than half a century before. Then v. 3 resumes
and carries forward the thought of v. 1. -Moreover, Sennacherib
has been effectually disposed of in chapter 1, tumbled into his
dishonored grave, and his name given over to contempt and oblivion.
It is not meet to raise him from his grave, to appear again on the
face of this chapter. —Nineveh and her kings are addressed.
Nineveh had been in her day a conquering power, dashing nations
and their strong cities to atoms. Now, another great "' hammer of
the nations" is raised up of God, and appears at her gates, and the
prophet tauntingly admonishes her to look well to her fortifications;
to set watchmen along the ways leading to the city; to gird her
loins for strife, and fortify to the utmost.
2. For the LoRD hath turned away the excellency of
Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers
have emptied them out, and marred their vine-branches.
Why? "Because the Lord hath" (not turned away, but) "restored the glory of Jacob as the glory of Israel, although the'emptiers' (her foreign enemies) had (almost) emptied the land of
her population, and marred their vine-branches." This language
implies that Judah had suffered sorely from her enemies, both in




'23 0                NAHUM.-CHAP. II.
the waste of precious life, and in the damage done her vines, and of
course other vegetable growths as well. The same facts are indicated by Isaiah of this very time: "And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward," &c.
"From  out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant," &c., showing
that many must have perished (see isa. 37: 31, 32). V. 30 shows
that cultivation had been entirely neglected during two full years.
The -word rendered "excellency" is sometimes (e. g., Amos
6: 8 and Ps. 47: 4) applied to the land of Palestine, as being the
" glory of all lands."  So here, with the accessory idea of the land
in its state of prosperity and glory. Jacob and Israel are here, not
each the name of a distinct people, but both the name of one. With
tacit allusion to the change of Jacob's name to Israel (Gen.
32: 27, 28), the Lord is said to restore the glory of Jacob as being
the people who have a princely power with God, and are recognized
by him as his covenant people. Jacob and Israel are never the distinctive names of the two kingdoms. Here God blesses Jacob, as
if in remembrance of what his other name, Israel, implies.
3. The shield of his mighty men is made red, the
valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots shall be with
flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the firtrees shall be terribly shaken.
4. The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall
justle one against another in  the broad ways: they
shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnlngs.
This description, given by the prophet, of the approaching hosts
of Media and Chaldea, is, like all his descriptive paragraphs, full of
fire, painting to the eye most vividly.   " The shields of his mighty
men are reddened; his heroes are in scarlet; his chariots flash with
the brightness of their iron scythes, as in the day of their preparation (i. e., when new); the spears of cypress also wave on high. The
chariots dash madly in the streets; they run to and fro in the
open grounds; they look like lamps of fire; they dart like the
lightning."
5. He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble
in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof,
and the defence shall be prepared.
Here the king of Nineveh is seen starting up as from a reverie
or a sleep, to begin to appreciate his danger. He sees the fearful
onslaught, of converging hosts upon his capital. Now, " he thinks
of his generals," and summons them to their work; they start off in
haste, or in panic, and " stumble in their goings; " they mak e haste
to the city wall," where their soldiers and military defences were
located for the protection of the city, "and the breastworks are
made firm." Breastworks is rlathlr the modern phrase. This was a




NAIHUM.-CHAP. II.                    231
mantlet, apparently of interwoven boughs, to protect their heads as
well as breasts from the missiles of ancient warfare.  According
to Diodorus Siculus, Nineveh had fifteen hundred towers, distvibuted around on her city walls. These mantlets may have been
located in the intervening spaces.
6. The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the
palace shall be dissolved.
7. And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall
be brought lip, and her maids shall lead her as with the
voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts.
" The gates of her water-courses are burst open, and the palace
is swept away." Nineveh stood upon the Tigris, on low ground.
These " rivers " were her artificial canals for letting in their supply
of water for irrigation and for other uses. Now, burst open by the
besiegers, the palace, and consequently much of the city, was
inundated.- The word rendered "i uzzab" has been variously
interpreted, as the margin indicates. All modern critics agree in
making the word a verb, and not, as in the English version, a proper
noun.   The reader may choose among the following constructions, the first of which disregards the usual division of verses:
(1.) (v. 6). "The palace is dissolved, though firmly established."
(v. 7). " She is made bare; she is carried up," &c.
(2.) (v. 7). " It is settled! (i. e., decreed and done!) she is led off
into captivity," &c.
(3.) (v. 6). " And the palace is dissolved. (v. 7.) " Though it (the
palace) was firmly founded, yet is she (the city) led into captivity;
she is borne away (as a captive queen); her maids are leading her
as with the voice of doves, smiting (drumming) upon their breasts.;"
This choice between various constructions involves no doctrinal truth of special importance. The last interpretation, requiring no change in the Hebrew accents, and otherwise meeting both
the exigencies of the context and the established usage of the individual words, has slightly my preference.
8. But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet
they shall flee away.  Stand, stand, s8all they cry, but
none shall look back.
"' Though Nineveh has been since her early days as a reservoir
of waters "-a point for the confluence of people from every clime
and kingdom, "'yet now are they fleeing."  "Stand! stand! but
there is no turning them back." This translation imitates the
terseness and gives the sense of the original.    All great comnmercial centres, like the London and New York of our times, will
have a population gathered from the whole civilized world. The
exigencies of business and trade produce this result.   Our passage touches graphically the effect of a panic on such a population.
The mlasses have but one impulse-to ruon. The authorities, who




232                 NAIUM. —CIIAP. II
would fain save the city, shout, " Stand! stand! " but the call is
powerless; it turns no one back.
9. Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of
gold; for there is none end of the store and glory out of
all the pleasant furniture.
The prophet turns for a word to the conquerors, who are
thought of now as within the city. "Seize the silver; seize the
gold; there is no end to her stores" (i. e., of carefully prepared and
curiously wrought furniture, equipage, &c.)-a huge mass of all
beautiful things."  There is no other word but "things" so nearly
equivalent to the Hebrew in comprehensiveness. —The great
wealth'of Nineveh now lies at the mercy of her conquerors.
10. She is empty and void, and waste: and the
heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much
pain is in all loins, and the faces of them  all gather
blackness.
The first three adjectives aim to intensify the idea of utter emptiness, as if Nineveh had been a huge and full bottle, now inverted,
and the contents gurgle and gush out to the last drop.-" Hearts
melt; there is shaking of knees and keen pangs in all loins; all faces
lose their cheerful glow"-contract and seem to draw in their
brightness. This seems to be the exact sense of the Hebrew.
11. Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion, even the old
lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them
afraid?
12. The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps,
and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with
prey, and his dens with ravin.
13. Behold, I am against thee, saith the LouD of hosts,
and I will burn her chariots 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.
Nineveh is here thought of as an old lion's den. This figure is
the more pertinent because the ancient Assyrians (like the modern
British) chose the lion for their national symbol. This figure consequently is prominent in the ruins of ancient Nineveh (see Layard's
" Nineveh," pp. 32, 47, 85, 88, &c.) Hence the prophet exultingly
asks, Where is the old den now?   In the last verse the figure is
half dropped and half retained. " Burning her chariots in the
smoke," drops the figure; " the sword devouring her young lions.




NAHUM. —CHAP. III.                  233
and cutting off his prey from the earth," mostly retains it.-" The
voice of her messengers " is that of her ambassadors, who represenlted her power in distant countries, with perhaps a tacit allusion
to the taunting speech of her Rabshakeh to the Jewish people on
the walls of Jerusalem, -s in Isa. 36: 4-20. Such a vgice as this
shall be heard no more.   The immediate cause of her ruin is
presented forcibly: " Behold, I am against thee, saith Jehovah of
hosts." Not the proudest or the mightest of cities can stand
when the great Jehovah is against her.
CHAPTER III.
THE same subject-the fall of Nineveh —is resumed and concluded.
1. Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and
robbery; the prey departeth not;
First come the moral causes of this fearful desolation. It is a
city of blood; "'all full of lies " —no truth between man and man;
and thence come, by natural result, violence and robbery. The
seizing of prey, by the strong from the weaker, never ceases. The
original words suggest that men, created rational and moral, have
become fierce and savage as beasts of prey.
2. The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling
of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the
jumping chariots.
3. The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword
and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of
slain, and a great number of carcasses; and there is none
end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:
These verses resume the account of the siege and assault, continued from 2: 3-5, 9, 10: "The crack of the whip; the noise of
rattling wheels, prancing horses, bounding chariots.  There are
horsemen mounting; flashing swords, the lightnings of the spear;
heaps of slain, masses of the dead, and no end to the corpses; men
stumble over their dead bodies." Think of it, and note how it looks
-this onslaught of warriors through the crowded streets of helpless Nineveh, leaving traces of their work in the heaps of her mangled dead!   One of the marvels is, that the pen of prophecy
should paint such a life-scene with no less vividness and force than
the ablest historic pen. Surely we must see in this the impress of
God's own finger!
4. Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of
the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that




234                 NAHUM.-CHAP. III.
selleth nations through  her whoredoms, and families
through her witchcrafts.
Again the prophet recurs to the moral causes of this appalling
slaughter. There had been sin no less appalling! - If these terms
that usually denote lewdness, referred to Israel and Judah, it would be
legitimate to give them the sense of idolatry-this usage being well
established with reference to the covenant people. In this passage
the same usage may be inferred from the connection of whoredom
with witchcraft. Hence, under this figure of a lewd harlot, the
prophet really means idolatry and its monstrous brood of superstitions, witchcrafts, and doubtless licentiousness as well. Through
the influence wielded by her world-wide commerce, Nineveh had
corrupted all the nations round about. It was, therefore, only a
fit retribution that her fall should be a public disgrace before
them all.
5. 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  kingdoms
thy shame.
6. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and
make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock.
This is her doom of shame. The figure of a harlot is kept up
throughout these two verses.-  " Discover "-not in the modern
sense, to find by search, but in the ancient one, to expose to public
view, and here to public scorn. God will expose her nakedness
before all the nations; and then, to make her shame the greater,
will cast abominable filth upon her naked person.
7. And it shall come to pass, that all they that look
upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid
waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comiorters for thee?
None can bear the horrid sight. Her old associates flee away,
and no one cares to pause, to bewail her doom.
8. Art thou better than populous No, that was situate
among the rivers, that had the waters round about it,
whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the
sea?
9. Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was
infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.
When Nahum wrote, Nineveh was still in her glory. Her people felt as secure from this or any other destruction as the people
of London, Paris, or New York, to-day. It was to meet such a feeling of security that the prophet calls their attention to Nio, the great




NAHIUM.-CIIHAP. III.               235
city known as Thebes and Diospolis, the capital of Upper Egyptwhich, from a state of unrivalled splendor, wealth, and greatness,
had been suddenly laid in ruins.-" Art thou better," i. e., stronger
and more safe, " than No-Amon? "  The word rendered " populous "
should be taken as part of the proper name of the city.  " NoAmon," called only "1Vo," Ezek. 30: 14-16, and Jer. 40: 25,
but more often in Egyptian history, "Thebes," stood on both sides
of the Nile-a most magnificent city, the ruins of whose temples
and tombs are at this day one of the wonders of the world. This
city is supposed to have fallen under the assault of Sargon, king of
Assyria, of whom Isaiah 20 speaks. —See introduction to Nahum.
-  Thebes had powerful allies. Being the centre of trade, business, and religion for all Upper Egypt, and probably for Ethiopia
also, she had their aid, and the prophet says this was without limit.
Lubim was the Hebrew form of the name Libyans, and Put is supposed to have been part of their extensive country-the whole
lying on the west of Egypt.
10. Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also wore dashed in pieces at
the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her
honorable mren, and all her great men were bound in
chains.
" Yet she became an exile," &c. The verse sketches the usual
fate of a conquered people in that almost savage state of the world.
— If such had become the doom of Thebes, ought not Nineveh
also to fear?
11. Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid,
thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.
Nineveh also as well as Thebes should " be drunken "-should
take the wine-cup of Jehovah's wrath and drink her death-doom.
See notes on Nahum, 1: 10.   " Thou shalt be hid," means shall
be lost to public view-obliterated and forgotten; dropped from the
knowledge of the human race. —-How wonderfully has this been
true of old Nineveh for twenty-five centuries! Until the present
generation, ages have passed over her ruins, and no living man knew
the site where once she sat so proudly and sinned so fearfully  The
Arab rode his steed high above her fallen towers and crumbled walls,
all unconscious how much human greatness lay dead and forgotten
beneath his feet! —" Shall seek strength."  The Hebrew properly
means a stronghold-a place of safety against the enemy. To this
they should be subjected, despite of their lofty walls and almost
countless towers. So understood, the course of thought is continued
into the next verse.
12. All thy strong holds shall be like fig-trees with
the first ripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall
into the mouth of the eater.




236                 NAHUM.-CHAP. III.
13. Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are
women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open
unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.
By a most significant figure, the prophet shows that her military
strength was of small account-rather a temptation to an assault
than a defence against it. Nineveh had become too rich, and too
luxurious and effeminate, to stand against the plundering robberhordes of younger and more vigorous races. Her warriors had become as women.-The "bars" which the fire shall devour, are
those of her gates.
14. Draw the waters for the siege, fortify thy strong
holds: go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong
the brick-kiln.
Tauntingly the prophet commends to her a little more labor on
her fortifications-advice the more in point, because Nincveh had
already expended an untold amount of wealth and labor upon this
very thing, and also because she was so sure her walls were impregnable, and because they were, after all, of so very small account as
against her enemies. The irony was put on for an edge, to make the
truth cut.
15. There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall
cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the canker-worm:
make thyself many as the canker-worm, make thyself
many as the locusts.
Even there in thy brick-kilns and mortar-beds, the fire of Jehovah's retribution will find thee out and devour thee. It shall eat
thee, as the canker worm (a species of locust) eats the herbage of
the land. —-Then the locust having been suggested to his mind as
a figure of devastation, he seizes it as a figure for a multitude, and
says —' Make thyself a countless host like the locusts, yet shall the
fire and sword of the Almighty consume thee."
16. Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the
stars of heaven: the canker-worm spoileth, and flieth
away.
She had enjoyed an immense commerce with India on the east,
and with all western Asia and northeastern Africa on the west.
The wealth of those valleys of the Euphrates and the Tigris was also
immense; but the prophet quietly suggests that the locust pillages
and then flies away. So would her great wealth vanish before the
hosts of her foes.
17. Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains
as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in
the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away,
and their place is not known where they are.




NAEIUM. —CHAP. III.                237
"Thy crowned" are her princes, of whom Sennacherib said,
"Are not my princes altogether kings? "-  The original rendered
" captains" is an Assyrian word, meaning satraps, governors. They
will disappear as the grasshoppers, who lie close under the wall
during the cool of the day, but when the sun rises flee away, and
their very place is unknown. So these high officers on whom he
had so much relied, would fail him and disappoint his expectations.
Nahum 2: 5 represents the king, when first aroused to his danger,
as thinking of these officers-to how little purpose may be seen
here.
18. Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria:
thy nobles shall dwell it, the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth thenm.
" Thy shepherds " must mean, in this connection, his viceroysofficers in charge of his provinces. They are in a deep sleep, inactive, overcome with sloth-as a real shepherd might be. " Thy
nobles have sat down "-as if in utter unconcern for the peril of
Nineveh. Thus, nobles and people alike fail him ill the hour of
his extremity.
19. There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is
grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the
hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually a
The nearly obsolete word " bruit " means report concerning thee
-the news of thy fall. The world was ready to rejoice over her
righteous doom; for where could a tribe be found that had not felt
the galling of her yoke-the infliction of some wrong from her
overbearing power? —— o the prophet leaves proud Nineveh to
her righteous yet fearful doom!  Considering this prophecy as
written and sent forth to the world almost a century before the
final catastrophe, it was a standing admonition to the king and
people of Nineveh to prepare tc meet God in the judgments of his
wrath. Considered in its relations to God's people in the reign of
Hezekiah, it was admirably adapted to secure a right moral irnpression from the overthrow of Sennacherib's army, and to make the
people feel that, with God on their side, they need not fear the
mightiest or proudest of their foes.




HABALKUX.
INTRODUCTION.
THE introduction to this short book gives nothing but the writer's name. He leaves the reader to ascertain from the book itself
the time when, the place where, and the theme of which he wrote.
These points may-be ascertained with a good degree of definiteness
and certainty in the first chapter, especially vs. 5-11. These verses
show that thle Chaldean power is now for the first time coming up
to view as a desolating scourge on Judah. They were to do a work
which men would not readily believe (v. 5), indicating that they
had scarcely been known as a dangerous power before.  The
minute description of their character and ways (vs. 6-11) bears
toward the same result, showing that previously they had been but
little known.- lence this must have been their first invasion.
It was very near at hand when lHabakkuk wrote. The invasion
occurred in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, whose reign of eleven
years was B. c. 611-600. It has been usual to date this invasion
B. C. 606. Habakkuk's writing must be located somewhat (perhaps
a few years) earlier. The desolation and famine which he contemplates (3: 17) and which his exalted faith enabled him to triumph
over, came with this sweep of a conquering, cruel enemy, probably
not long after the publication of this wonderful book.-Habakkuk was contemporary with Jeremiah, who began to prophesy in
the thirteenth year of Josiah, and continued down to the destruction of the city and the last deportation of captives in the eleventh
year of Zedekiah, a range of some forty years. Near the middle
of this period fell the first invasion by the Chaldeans in the fourth




IIABAKKUK.-CEIAP. I.                239
year of Jehoiakim. From Jeremiah, therefore, we may learn much
respecting the general and moral condition of the people when
Habakkuk wrote.   One leading course of thought runs through
the entire book: the sins of the covenant people; God's raising up
the Chaldeans to scourge them therefor; the prophet's expostulation with the Lord against permitting a people so cruel and wicked
as they to afflict and destroy Judah; the Lord's answer touching
the Chaldeans; closing with the prophet's prayer that God would
reenact the glorious scenes of deliverance that appear on so many
pages of the nation's early history; and God's virtual reply, by causing his glory to pass before the prophet's eye, thus impressing his
soul with a sense of his power to save, and of his faithfulness and
love as well. In view of these manifestations, the prophet exults
in Jehovah alone, satisfied that under the wing and in the love of
such a God he has nothing to fear, but every reason for joyful trust
and triumph.   In point of style, Habakkuk stands unrivalled.
Who can name the writer that excels him in the best qualities of a
poetic imagination, and especially in his grand and sublime conceptions of Jehovah?
CHAPTER I.
THE prophet, distressed by the appalling prevalence of wickedness among his people, cries to God for help (vs. 2-4); the Lord
replies that he is raising up the Chaldeans to scourge them, and
describes that people (vs. 5-11), against which the prophet expostulates with God (vs. 12-17).
1. The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
"Burden" is here, as usual, a prophetic message of such sort
as bears heavily on the prophet's heart.
2. 0 LoRD, Ihow long shall I cry, and thou wilt not
hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt
not save!
3. Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me
to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before
me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.
4. Therefore, the law is slacked, and judgment doth
never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the
righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.
A preliminary question arises here as to the general scope of




240                HABAKKUK.-CHAP. I.
these verses. Some suppose they describe the effects of the Chaldean invasion-the demoralization and oppression which they produced; others, tiat they present the state of morals and of the
public life of the Jewish nation shortly before that invasion. I
hold the latter view decidedly, for the following reasons: (1.) Because the prophets were accustomed to record the sins for which
God judges and punishes his people, before they record the punishment itself. This is their established usage, and is, moreover, demanded by moral considerations, it being necessary for the best
moral results that not only the punished but the world should know
why God punishes.   (2.) In v. 5 the prophet manifestly introduces the Chaldean power for the first time to the reader's notice.
It was obviously unthought of before. That this must be true will
be readily seen by supposing the other theory (the first above
named) to be true. On this supposition the prophet (vs. 2-4) would
be made to say-O Lord, how long shall I cry out to thee of the
mischiefs wrought by those Chaldean savages, and thou wilt not
hear? See how they have broken down the public morals, and
made justice between man and man a mockery! -To which (by
the supposition) the Lord replies: "Let all the heathen take notice
of it and marvel exceedingly, for I am about to do a strange and
almost incredible thing." And what is it? " I am raising up the
Chaldeans  "- " Ah, Lord God," the prophet might reply, " we
have had them upon us a long time! They are the very mischief
that I complain of," &c.   Such a construction of the passage is
utterly inadmissible.-(3.) The description (vs. 2-4) corresponds to
the moral and social state of Judah under the reign of Jehoiakiin,
and also of Zedekiah. See Jer. 22, and 2 Chron. 36. The public
morals were utterly prostrate,] and wickedness in all forms was
rampant. (4.) On the other hand, the state of the country does
not correspond with the results of the Chaldean invasion. The latter are indicated in 3: 17.   Hence in vs. 2-4 I understand the
prophet to speak of the state of society in Judah before the Chaldeans were thought of.-V. 2 seems to imply that the prophet
had been for some time in his prophetic work, laboring among a
degenerate people, battling against sin, and almost impatient that
the Lord did not interpose to convert, or chastise, or exterminate.
Jer. 22 shows that the people were then horribly corrupt, and that
their king Jehoiakim was the weakest, meanest, and wickedest
king that had ever disgraced their throne. —V. 3 is literally rendered thus: " Why dost thou cause me to behold iniquity, and why
dost thou look (unconcerned) upon human misery? Destruction
and violence are before me; there is strife, and men excite contention."  The second clause does not well admit the sense-Why dost
thou make me behold? The implied expostulation with God is
stronger-Why dost thou thyself look on this woe with no effort
to relieve or prevent? The sense of v. 4 is not obscure: " Therefore," under the influence of almost universal violence and strife,
law becomes frigid, cold as if near death; right judgment is never




HABAKKUK.-CHAP. I.                  241
issued by the courts of law; the wicked circumvent the righteous,
and always secure unjust decisions.
5. Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and
wonder marvellously: for Iwill work a work in your
days, which ye will not believe though it be told you.
Here the Chaldeans are brought first to our notice. Indeed, it
would seem that they were brought by this prophecy to the notice
of the Jews as a dangerous power, they having previously neglected
to observe the sudden rise and rapid growth of this new power
among the nations. The Lord says, " Look abroad, consider attentively, and you will have occasion to wonder exceedingly," the last
imperative in a series of two or more being usually in sense a future. God will do a work which will seem incredible, even though
sustained by good testimony.
6. For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and
hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of
the land, to possess the dwelling-places that are not
theirs.
This is the work, the raising up of a new first-class power, the
Chaldeans. By taking notice of recent events, the Jews might see
the rise of this power. The Chaldean king Nabopolassar, aided by
the Medes, had overthrown Nineveh (B. c. 625), as Nahum had
foretold. The Egyptians, alarmed at their growth, came against
them, but were badly beaten at Carchemish, on the Euphrates.
Thenceforward no nation was able to stay their progress. The
Jews, moreover, were probably the less alarmed at this because.
they were in sympathy with the Chaldean, while he was devastating Nineveh, and were certainly in league with him when Josiah
felt bound in honor to march out against Necho, king of Egypt, as
a common enemy to himself and to his ally, the Chaldean. But
relations of friendship with such a power are evanescent. The
Jews soon had reason to fear this new enemy.- The Lord describes them, " bitter and rapid," " who march upon broad regions,"
vast countries of the earth, i. e., who fear nothing, and strike for
vast conquests.
7. They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment
and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.
8. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards,
and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their
horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen
shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.
Sad proof that they were " terrible and dreadful" appears in
the history (2 Chron. 36: 17): "He brought upon them the king
11




242                HABAKKUK. —CIIAP. I.
of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the
house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man
or maiden, old man or him that stooped for age."- " Their judgment and their dignity proceeding from  themselves," seems to
mean that they are an independent, self-made people. Literally, it
reads-" Their decision" (plans) "' and their lofty bearing are selforiginated."   In the clause, " their horsemen spread themselves,"
the verb rendered " spread " means they " leap fiercely and proudly," their horses being probably like the Arabian stock of more
modern times. The flight of the eagle when roused by hunger is
a vivid figure for the most rapid motion then known.
9. They shall come all for violence: their faces shall
sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.
In the clause,'" their faces shall sup up as the east wind," the
obscurity of this translation suggests a doubt of its correctness.
The various marginal readings confirm the opinion that our translators were much perplexed with the passage. Later commentators
also doubt and differ. It is difficult. The principal word * is little
known in our extant Hebrew. Henderson renders-" The aspect
of their faces is like the east wind."  Gesenius-" The gathering
of their faces is forward."  The latter I approve, with only a slight
modification, so as to signify not the act of gathering, but their
faces already gathered, i. e., " the set or phalanx of their faces is
forward; " all as one in solid phalanx and complete array, they set
their faces forward, turning never to the right hand nor to the left,
and turning back for none. This construction answers to the individual words, and to the demands of the context. Such an army
will, of course, gather up captives as the sand.
10. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes
shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every stronghold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.
More than fearless of kings and of strongholds, they scoff at the
one and deride the other. It is only their sport to strike terror
through them all. —The last clause alludes to the usual method in
that age of capturing walled towns-heaping up huge embankments of earth that even overtopped the enemy's walls, whence
they hurled their missiles into the city.
11. Then  shall his mind  change, and he shall
pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his
god.
The sentiment of this verse is, that constant success has made
the Chaldean another man. The moderation and modesty of his
X *  _ 




HIABAKKUK. —CIIAP. I.               243
early years have given place to unbounded aspirations. He assumes
that the gods are on his side, and ascribes his victories to their
favor and  help.-The first verb, rendered in our version
"change," means more definitely "to pass over "-to pass beyond
former bounds. The next verb, which the English version renders
"shall pass over," usually means to go beyond due bounds, in the
sense to transgress.-The verse therefore means to say that success has excited his ambition, and also given stimulus to his trust
in his idol gods; and for both reasons will bring down on him the
wrath of the Almighty.
Vs. 9-11 may be translated thus: "They shall all come for
violence; the serried host of their faces is forward, and so they
shall gather captives as the sand. They shall scoff at kings; princes
shall be their derision; they laugh at all strongholds, and forthwith cast up embankments, and so shall take them. Then his spirit
is changed; he transgresses and sins, ascribing this power of his
to his god."
12. Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God,
mine Holy One? we shall not die.  O LORD, thou hast
ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou
hast established them for correction.
Here the prophet interposes. The remainder of this chapter
must be expounded as his expostulation or debate with God, the
spirit of which is: " O Lord, spare thy heritage, and give it not over
to utter devastation. Thy people doubtless need correction, and thou
hast ordained the Chaldean power for this purpose; but do not let
them ruin our nation utterly and forever. They are more wicked
than we, and they hold human life cruelly cheap, as the fishermen
do the lives of the little fishes brought up by their huge drag-nets."
-It will be noted that the prophet seizes the best point for introducing his plea-just where the Chaldean's sins of ambition and
trust in idols are brought before the mind.-The phrase "we
shall not die," might be more fitly rendered, "Let us not die," i. e.,
"let not thy chosen people be utterly destroyed." He sees that
they need discipline, and recognizes God's purpose to use the Chaldean power for this end.
13. 7h'ou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and
canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon
them that deal treacherously, and boldest thy tongue
when the wicked devoureth the man. that is more righteous than he?
14. And miakest men as the fishes of the sea, as the
creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
The verb rendered "look," occurring here twice-" look on iniquity," and "look on them that deal treacherously"-is the same with




244               IIABAKKUK. —CHAP. II.
the second verb in v. 3, there rendered (improperly) " cause me to
behold."  The sense here, as there, I take to be, " Thou canst not
look calmly and unconcerned upon iniquity, or rather, upon misery
-the woe that sin begets; it is not in thy nature. Wherefore,
then, dost thou look- quietly on the perfidious-those faithless
Chaldeans-and wherefore art thou silent," &c. One point in the
prophet's plea is, that the Chaldeans are greater sinners than the
Jews; therefore the Lord should not allow the greater sinners to
devour the less.
The connection with the previous verse is close. That wicked
Chaldean not only devours his more righteous brother nation, but
eats up men as if they were little fishes before him, or the tiny
insects which have no protector.
15. They take up all of them with the angle, they
catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag:
therefore they rejoice and are glad.
16. Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn
incense unto their drag; because by them their portion
is fat, and their meat plenteous.
The figure of speech which compares the seizing and consuming
of nations of men to the taking of fishes in a net, runs through this
verse. "Drag" is really a drag-net, drawn along the bottom to
scoop up small and great together. -Their idolatrous hearts and
habits must not be omitted in this argument with Jehovah.
"These impious Chaldeans have no regard for thee, O Lord. They
ascribe all their success to their nets, and worship them as their
gods, honoring their own martial prowess, and not the ever-living
God."
17. Shall they therefore empty their net, and not
spare continually to slay the nations?
Will God allow them to go on, emptying and then filling their
nets, and having no compassion in their souls toward sparing the
nations from perpetual slaughter? Such is the prophet's plea in behalf of his people.
CHAPTER II.
IN this chapter the prophet is seen on his watch-tower, waiting
for an answer from the Lord to his expostulations (v. 1.) The
remainder of the chapter contains this answer in its various parts,
directing the prophet first to write out the vision plainly(v. 2);
assuring him it was soon to be fulfilled (v. 3); indicating how the
proud and unbelieving would abuse it, but the believing be blessed




HABIAKKUK. —CIAP. II.               245
thereby (v. 4); and then (vs. 5-20) depicting the sins of the Chaldeans, and showing that both general justice and the special agencies
of God's providence would surely overtake them with fearful
retribution.
1. I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the
tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me,
and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
Considered as a seer, the prophet must needs look two ways:
first, to God, for his message; and then down into the future, and
abroad into the realms of divine providence, to see those coming
events which no human Vision, unaided, could reach. This verse
strikingly presents the prophet looking the first way-toward God.
He says: "I will take my stand on my watch-tower, and place
myself on the fortress, and will watch to see what God will say to
me, and what I shall bring back (from Him)" concerning my expostulation. " The message I shall bring back from God, and what
God will say to me," are essentially parallel clauses with the same
idea. The word here rendered " shall answer," * much more
naturally means to bring back, i. e., from God, than to answer
to God.   In the first chapter, some of the prophet's expostulations
amounted very nearly to rebuke and chiding; and this idea is
frequently embraced in the noun here used, t rendered in our English version, "'when I am reproved," but better, "concerning my
expostulation," i. e., with God. The preposition before the noun
fits this construction, having the sense, concerning, in reference to.
The prophet having said what is recorded (chap. 1: 12-17), should
of course watch to see how the Lord received it, and what he would
say in reply. He acted for the people of Judah, representing their
case before God, and could not but feel deeply solicitous to get the
answer both for himself and for them.
2. And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the
vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run
that readeth it.
Here the answer begins. "Write the vision "-all I reveal" engrave it on tablets, so that the reader of it may run," i. e, with
it, reading from it as he runs. " He that readeth in it," is possibly
here a public reader for an assembly; but in this case, since he is
expected to run, he is more probably a public crier for the streets
and public grounds. Some interpret thus: That he may run his
eye over it easily and rapidly, as sermon-readers over their manuscripts. But though the word for reader may mean either a reader
before an audience, or a herald in public grounds, yet no Hebrew
usage sustains the sense of fluent reading for the verb to run.
X eat               t~>.tl




246                HABAKRUK. —CHAP. II.
3. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at
the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait
for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
There seems to be no absolute demand for restricting the vision
here spoken of to any particular part of what God revealed to Habakkuk. Of the whole, the main events yet future were: (1.) The Chaldean invasion of Judah (recorded 1: 5-11); and (2.) The ultimate
destruction of the Chaldean power, and of Babylon, in righteous retribution for their sins (2: 5-21). —— Yet, inasmuch as the latter was
then about to be announced to the prophet (the former having been
so already), and especially, inasmuch as this latter was the hopeful
part to the Jewish mind, toward which they might look with com
fort, as being a proof of God's mercy toward themselves and of
his regard for intrinsic justice and righteousness, we may well
assume that in this verse the latter is specially in mind. Both parts
were fixed in the divine counsels, each had its definite time to
wait, yet neither would tarry long. The former came probably
within a few months; the latter at the end of about seventy years,
Cyrus being the instrument of Jehovah's vengeance in its execution. —In the second clause, the word rendered "shall speak," is
supposed by Gesenius to mean here "shall hasten." This word,
however, meaning primarily to breathe out, to breathe hard, to
throw out the breath, has much more often the secondary sense to
speak than to hasten. The former is also more naturally correlated
with " shall not lie."  Sense-At the end it shall testify for itself
without mistake as to its fulfilment. Ye shall know the fulfilment
when it comes. —In the last two clauses the English version
seems first to imply that it will "tarry," and then to affirm that it
will not "tarry."  The Hebrew has no such apparent contradiction,
for it uses two different verbs, and does not, as the English does,
repeat the same. " Though it linger, yet wait for it, for it will
surely come; it will not be behind the time," i. e., will not be too late,
so as to come in afterwards.  This is the exact sense of the second
verb.
4. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright
in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
In these times that try men's souls, involving the invasion by
the terrible Chaldeans, just coming upon the people as announced
above (1: 5-10), and the retribution to come at some future day
on them-a thing of faith, forming the chief burden of chapter
2-some would be intensely agitated, having practically no faith
in God's promises, or in his threatened retributive judgments on
the wicked Chaldean. Others would repose calmly upon God
through their faith. These two classes are before us in this verse.
I paraphrase it thus: "Behold the proud, disquieted man. His
soul within him is not placid; but as for the righteous man, he
shall live by his faith."-The verb "live" must be taken in its




IABAIKUK. —CHAP. I1.                247
very common moral sense of true blessings-the calm repose of a
true faith in God.   The Hebrew accents connect very closely the
words rendered " the just " and " by his faith," showing that the
earlier Jews read the clause, " He who is all right in respect to his
faith shall live."  This construction also makes a natural antithesis
between the proud man of the first clause and the sincerely believing man of the second. The former is never placid; the latter
enjoys in the rest of faith that trtie life which is real blessedness.
-The construction given first above disregards the authority of the
accents. —— Some take the proud, disquieted man of this verse to be
the Chaldean. I prefer to find in him the unbelieving Jew, and
assume that the discourse turns to the Chaldean in v. 5.
5. Yea, also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is
a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth
his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth
unto him all people:
At this point the strain of discourse turns to the Chaldean power,
considered as a unit, and continues to speak of him through the
chapter. -Starting with the thought in the first clause of v. 4the case of the proud, unbelieving, and therefore disquieted Jewthe prophet proceeds to say: "How much more of this one (the
Chaldean) because he errs the more by reason of wine, is a proud
man, and never rests quietly at home; who enlarges his desire as
Sheol (i. e., the grave) does its mouth, and he is like Death and is
never satisfied; and consequently he gathers unto him all the nations and annexes to himself all the peoples." This represents the
ambition of a young conquering power, grasping the dominion of
the world, and, like Alexander, pained to tears when he finds no
other world to conquer. Such is the Chaldean.-The reader will
note, here and onward through the chapter, how the Lord does in
fact answer the expostulations of his prophet, recorded 1: 12-17.
The prophet had virtually said:,"O Lord, thou art ever righteous
and just; thou canst not look quietly on wrong and its resulting
miseries; how, then, canst thou see the Chaldean exterminate another nation more righteous than he? HIow canst thou let him go
on unpunished, sweeping the nations into his drag-net, and slaughtering myriads of men to satiate his mad ambition? " — The Lord
replies: Be at rest; the Chaldean is indeed guilty, he shall have his
just doom not far hence. There shall never be just occasion to say
or to think that I can look down upon wrong-doing and its consequent misery with indifference, or that justice has forsaken my
throne.  This is what the prophet brings back from God concerning his expostulation (2: 1).
6. Shall not all these take up a parable against him,
and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to




248               HABAKKUK. —CHAP. II.
him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and
to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!
The great sin of the Chaldean having been indicated, retribution
comes next. The moral sense of mankind is against him, condemning his grasping, cruel ambition, and demanding vengeance. Of
course, it is implied that the voice of universal humanity is also
the voice of God.- The special mode of giving utterance to this
voice of mankind is that of pronouncing a wooe on the Chaldean,
superadding to the solemnity of the woe the keen retort which carries with it the idea of deserved and righteous retribution-the sort
of taunt expressed when men say, "You have only your deserts."
A similar taunt, done in the loftiest strain of irony, may be seen in
Isa. 14, over the foreseen fall of this same Babylon.-" Shall not
all these nations whom he has warred against, subdued, or imperilled, take up this taunting strain against him and say: Woe to him
who grasps and accumulates what is not his own! How long must
this be? "-implying that in the Chaldean's purpose there would be
no end to it, but in the retributions of justice it could not last long.
-   "Woe to him that ladeth himself" (not with " thick clay," but)
"with goods taken in pledge "-such as the Hebrew law forbade
men to keep over night if taken from the poor —the sense being,
with sins against mankind which demand and shall have their just
retribution. The Chaldean was loading himself quite too heavily
with sins that would bring upon him the vengeance of justice.This taunting strain is methodically arranged-its successive stanzas beginning with " Woe " — as the reader may see (vs. 6, 9, 12, 15,
19).
7. Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite
thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be
for booties unto them?
Those who ultimately came down on Babylon to " bite" and to
"vex" her-God's instruments for vengeance upon her, viz., the
Medo-Persian power-did start up suddenly, and spring upon her
in an unexpected hour, and she became their spoil.
8. Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the
remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men's
blood, andfor the violence of the land, of the city, and
of all that dwell therein.
"Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remaining
nations" (not utterly crushed) "shall make common cause, and
shall spoil thee,-because of the blood of men " (shed in wanton
profusion), and for the violence wrought in the earth, in the city,
and upon all that dwell therein."
9. Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to
his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may
be delivered from the power of evil!




HABAKKUK.-  -CHAP. II.              249
The Chaldeans employed the wealth and the muscle of the nations they subdued, in buildin building their immense walls, towers, and
castles —hoping thereby to make their city impregnable, and thus
deliver themselves from the fear of future harm from foreign enemies. They did indeed set their nest on high, as the eagle in the
lofty crags of the rock.
10. Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul!
Thy counsels in this thing have brought shame (implying not
only dishonor but ruin) to thy house, destroying so many nations to
enrich thyself. So doing, thou hast sinned against thine own life.
-Other instances of the phrase-" to sin against one's own sou
or life "-may be seen, Prov. 8: 36 and 20: 2.
11. For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the
beam out of the timber shall answer it.
The sense of wrong and the demand for retribution, so universal
in all human hearts, is, by a bold but most beautiful conception,
thought of here as pervading the very stones and timbers of the
house built by injustice. Jesus Christ once said-" If these should
hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." So the
stone in this wall cries out against the wrong done —against the
bloody fingers laid upon it —and the cross-beam among the timbers
responds to reecho the complaint.
12. Woe to him  that buildeth a town with blood,
and establisheth a city by iniquity!
13. Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the
people shall labor in the very fire, and the pe.ople shall
weary themselves for very vanity?
This woe looks to the city of Babylon. She obtained her
laborers for her immense walls by taking them captive in war, and
then coercing them into slaves under her military power. So they
wrought with their bloody fingers. Babylon laid up her walls in
blood and planted their foundations in wrong: so the woes of God
and of universal justice abode upon her! —" Behold," calls special
attention to the fact that it came from the Lord of hosts that this
great work was done, not " in the fire," but "for the fire," to be
consumed ere long, both utterly and forever. So also in the parallel
clause —"for mere vanity "-for no enduring benefit. The original
is expressive-"forfire in plenty," for abundance of fire-that it
may become the sport of whirlwinds of flame. Surely this is of the
Lord: let all men see his hand and his righteous retribution in all
this! Essentially the same language is used by Jeremiah
(51: 58): "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with
fire, and the people shall labor in vain and the folk for the
11*




250               HABAKKUK.-CIIAP. II.
fire; and they shall be weary;" but though laboring to weariness,
yet all in vain.
14. For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge
of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
The general scope of the context must determine the specific
sense of this passage. This shows that the prophet thinks of God
as glorifying himself by the retributions of justice on nations guilty
of great oppression and wrong. Hence our verse assumes it to be
a great principle in the government of God over nations as such
that he will not only glorify himself by the retributions of justice
upon them, but will fill the whole earth with the knowledge of this
glory, even as the waters cover the bed of the sea. He will
manifest himself so abundantly as the avenger of the oppressed and
as one who takes vengeance on oppressors, that no man in all the
earth can fail to know it-none be too blind to see it.  The same
sentiment is in Num. 14: 21-referring there, however, to retribution on the unbelieving Hebrews who gave credit to the unbelieving
spies more than to the God of all the promises: "But as truly as I
live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord"which was revealed then in forty years of wandering in the desert,
through privations and plagues which swept to their early graves
the last man of that unbelieving host.-The very analogous
promise (Isa. 11: 9) looks towards the visitations of mercy and the
triumphs of love:-" They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy
mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the
Lord as the waters cover the sea;" and this knowledge shall mould
human hearts into the spirit of heavenly love and blessed peace.
-So it is clearly in God's plan to manifest his glory in both ways
— in the retributions of justice, and in the visitations of mercy.
15. Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink,
that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken
also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!
16. Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou
also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the
LORD's right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory.
Translated thus: "Woe to him who causeth his neighbor to
drink" (i. e., whatever can intoxicate) —" who pourest out thy hot
wine that inflames, and even makest him drunken-that thou
mayest look (exultingly) on their nakedness!" " Thou shalt
have thy fill of shame instead of glory; drink thou too and expose
thine own nakedness. The cup of the Lord's right hand shall come
round to thee, and shame shall come over all thy glory. The
rendering "shameful spewing," though pertinent sense, is not
well sustained by the original text.-  The "cup of the Lord's




HABAKKUK.-CCHAP. II.                251
right hand" carries the mind to the fuller statement by Jeremiah
(25: 15:) " Take the wine-cup of this fury at my hand, and cause
all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it. And they shall
drink and be moved and be mad, because of the sword that I shall
send among them."  See Notes on Nahum 1: 10. —The Babylonians were notorious for their excesses in wine and strong drink,
for which God remembered them in the day of his visitation.
Much in point here are the facts of her history when on the very
night of her final fall, Belshazzar and his lords drank wine from the
sacred vessels of Jehovah's temple, and in the height of their
drunken revelry the thunder-bolts of ruin fell! (Dan. 5: 1-4, 30,
and Jer. 51: 39).
17. For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee,
and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, because
of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the
city, and of all that dwell therein.. "The violence of Lebanon" is not that done by Lebanon
(this would be entirely aside from the course of thought); but done
to Lebanon. "Lebanon" here is probably Jerusalem  and her
temple-so named partly because the cedars of Lebanon were in'her temple-partly in reference to the lofty grandeur of that
mountain which fitly symbolized the glory of the holy city. —— The
violence done by Babylon to Jerusalem shall return in retribution
to overwhelm herself:  So also shall an onslaught like that on a
herd of wild beasts which terrifies them, fall on thee-implying
that they would be in like manner frightened and panic-smitten.
— In this translation, I supply the needed verb from the next
preceding clause. Two things cover Babylon, in the sense of overwhelming her in the day of her ruin, viz., the violence she has
brought on Lebanon (Jerusalem), and an onslaught like that on
wild beasts, who furnish a striking example of a panic-smitten
host.-The last clause has occurred verbatim (v. 8).
18. What profiteth the graven image that the maker
thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher
of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to
make dumb idols?
Exegetically, the only question in this verse turns on the precise
relation between the first clause and those that follow, indicated in
our English Bible by " that the maker," &c. Some take the connecting particle * as a relative, thus: " What's the use of the graven
image which its maker graveth? " I prefer to make this particle
indicate a reason why idol images are profitless, viz., because they
are made by human fingers, thus-" What can be the use of a
graven image, for its human maker hath wrought it," &c. "1 What
b* kn




252               IABAKKUK.-CHIAP. III.
is the use of a molten image and a teacher of lies (an idol priest),
for the maker of it trusts in his own work, in a thing himself has
made? "
19. Woe unto him  that saith to the wood, Awake;
to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is
laid over with gold and silver, and there is no-breath at
all in the midst of it.
All this is plain, and sets forth vividly the intense folly of idolmaking, idol-worship, and of all trust in idols.
20. But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the
earth keep silence before him.
All unlike the whole idol system are the power, the majesty, and
the all-pervading reign of the dread Jehovah! That he should be
thought of by a Jew as in his holy temple at Jerusalem, was both
natural and truthful; for his manifested presence was there in the
Holy of Holies, reposing above the mercy-seat and beneath the
wings of the cherubim. All the idol temples were godless. Not so
the temple of the Lord of hosts in Mount Zion! —-His rule is both
supreme and universal. Let all the earth stand in awe before him
-all the more so, as they note how the proud and conquering
nations of the earth, like old Babylon, meet their righteous doom
from the retributive justice of his throne!
CHAPTER III.
Tins chapter, said in the preface to be a " prayer," is not exclusively or even chiefly prayer in its strict sense; though it begins
with prayer and closes with most wonderful utterances of simple
faith and exulting joy in God. —The chapter is chiefly song, embodying as the immediate answer to his prayer what is technically
called a " theophany " —i. e., a manifestation of God to his prophet
-to his mental, not bodily eye, we must suppose; bringing up before him in vivid review the glorious things God had wrought for
his people in ancient days. The special aim was to reveal God as
seen in his glorious power, and in his loving faithfulness to his
chosen people, so that the prophet should see that Jehovah is verily
great and glorious, and especially worthy to be trusted as the enduring protector of his own people. It was under the influence of this
sublimely grand manifestation of Jehovah, that the prophet makes
at the close such an utterance of his simple faith and of his unbounded joy and triumph in the God of his salvation.
The publication of this song, in connection with the revelation of
such calamities, was designed to inspire the same faith and joy in
the believing portion of the people as it had done in the prophet's own




HABAKKUK. —CHAP. III.                253
soul, despite of the fall of their beloved city and land before the
terrible Chaldean power.
1. A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.
" Upon Shigionoth," refers to the music in which this song was
to be sung-no doubt lofty, bold, triumphal, in keeping with the
strain of the sentiment.
2. 0 LORD, I have heard thy speech and was afraid:
O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in
the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember
mercy.
" 0 Lord, I have heard thy message " —verbal prediction, i. e.,
concerning the invasion by the Chaldeans (as recorded chap. 1: 5-11),
"and I was afraid."  " O Lord, re-enact thy work " (of deliverance
for thy people) "in the midst of these years; even now make
khown "-i. e., thyself and thy power to save; in this manifestation of thy wrath against us for our sins, " remember mercy."
The word rendered "revive," means literally to make alive. In
this connection it must be in the sense of reproducing, performing
once more those great works of salvation for Israel with which
their early history is filled.   The language of this prayer, "O
Lord revive thy work," may be used fitly by all Christians in the
way of accommodation, as a prayer for a revival of true religion in
the hearts of men. Yet this passage must be interpreted according
to the nature of the subject as shown in the context; and this requires us here to apply the words to God's work of saving his people
from being utterly ruined by the Chaldean invasion, then close at
hand.
3. God came from Teman, and the Holy One from
mount Paran.  Selah.  His glory covered the heavens,
and the earth was full of his praise.
The theophany proper commences here.  Bearing in mind
that the prophet had besought God to reproduce those glorious
works of saving power wrought of old for his people, we shall readily see the fitness of this peculiar manifestation. The Lord seems,
practically, to reply to his servant-Thou hast prayed me to do
again what I did in ancient days for my people. Rather let it suffice
thee that I mnake all my glory pass before thee in displays of my poweri
and faithful love to my people. Thou shalt see the uplifted glorious
arm of Jehovah, as in former times, made bare for his people, and
thou shalt know that I am still and evermore the God of thy salvation.-It is plain that God forbore to do precisely the thing for
which Habakkuk prayed-i. e., come down to save Judea and Jerusalem just as he had long before saved his people out of Egypt, and
made them victorious in Canaan;-but he does a second thing, not




254               IIABAKKUK. —CHAP. III.
less effective for the repose and even joy of the prophet's heart:
he makes such revelations of himself by the aid of those historic
scenes as avail to inspire unbounded faith and even triumphant joy
in the God of his salvation. —Probably we can get no better conception of this theophany, as it appeared to Habakkuk, than to
conceive of it as a panorama, passing before the prophet's mental
eye-the divine Spirit causing him in the light of those ancient
historic scenes to behold a present Sod, marching before the hosts
of his chosen, or standing on the confines of Canaan, or lifting up
his voice in awful thunder, shaking the mountains and filling rivers
and seas with consternation. The prophet's mental state was such,
we may suppose, as Elisha prayed for in behalf of his servant"Lord, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the
eyes of the young man, and he saw; and behold, the mountain was
full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha" (2 Kings 6:
17). So the eyes of Habakkuk were opened and he saw God;-the
groundwork of this manifestation of God being his former deeds of
power in delivering his people from their enemies, and planting
them in their promised land. These scenes are made to pass before
him in a sort of panoramic vision, while God opened his eyes to see
things in their true relations to the ever-present agency of Him
who worketh all in all, and worketh none the less really because
for the most part invisibly to mortal eyes,
Similar conceptions and representations of God are not uncommon in Hebrew poetry. Thus (Deut. 33: 2, 26, 27) Moses, in his
last words of blessing upon the tribes, said: " The Lord came from
Sinai, and rose up (like the rising of a sun) from Seir unto them;
he shone forth from Mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands
of saints-from his right hanid went a fiery law for them."Also, " There is none like unto the God of Jesurun, who rideth
upon the heavens in thy help and in his excellency on the sky."This is as if his very eye saw without a veil the unclouded majesty
of the Infinite One! Such was his poetic conception of the scenes
of Sinai; or, as we might say-This was Sinai seen in panoramic
vision.   Of the same character is a passage in the Song of Deborah-(Judg. 5: 4, 5), "Lard, when thou wentest out of Seir. when
thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and
the heavens dropped; the clouds also dropped water. The rnountains quaked (so the Heb.) before the Lord, even that Sinai before
the Lord God of Israel." Of the same sort is Ps. 68: 7, 8, 33: "O
God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst
march through the wilderness, the earth shook, the heavens also
dropped at the presence of God, the God of Israel."-" Sing praises
to him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens that were of old;
lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice." —Very
similar in the line of poetic conception are many expressions in
Ps. 77: 10-20 and 114: 1-8, and Isa. 63: 11-14., e. g., " The waters
saw thee, Q God; the waters saw thee, they were afraid; the depths
also were troubled."  "The sea saw it and fled; Jordan was driven




IIABAKKUK. —CHAP. III.                 255
back. What ailed thee, 0 thou sea, that thou fieddest? " &c. As
if the great deep were waked into intelligence and consciousness by
those august and thrilling manifestations of the majesty of her King I
-   Such conceptions of dead nature quickened to life, thought, and
feeling before a present God, give wonderful power to these panoramic scenes, of which the one intent is to set the all-working and
energizing God before the mind. -Some Christians in later ages
have testified to manifestations of God to their souls, under which
their sense of his attributes and works has been not less impressive
than supernatural presentations of divine power to the senses would
be. Not without reason, they ascribe these manifestations of God
to the divine Spirits agency. In this manifestation to Habakkuk,
the hand of the same Divine Teacher must be assumed.   It is
remarkable how much these conceptions of God working upon
Nature, and of Nature responding to the agencies of God, blend
themselves with the genuine spirit of poetry, exemplifying the fact
that genuine poetry, so far from being necessarily unreal and untruthful, may be the veriest reality and the purest truth. Most
certain it is that the poetic conceptions of God and of Nature in
this theophany in nowise over-paint the actual verities of things.
Before I proceed to commnent on particular terms or clauses, a
few words are due in respect to the use of the tenses in this theophany.- If the views advanced above are just, it is obvious that the
tenses throughout should be present. A panorama made up of a series of historic paintings must naturally represent each scene as
present.  The events which constitute the groundwork, and to
which the paintings perpetually refer, may have transpired long
ago. Others like them may occur again; but the painting has for
its object to give the observer a view of them as then passing.So here, all is made present by the impressions wrought upon the
prophet's mind by the teaching Spirit.*   These preliminary remarks will sufficiently prepare the way for the study of the passage.   " God comes up from Teman," the South, this being both
the etymological significance of the name, and the geographical position of the place. Mount Paran is well known as often associated
with Sinai. God comes up from those regions as one who had revealed himself there in forms of surpassing majesty and glory in the
giving of the law.- It will be recollected that Moses (in Deut.
33) and the author of Ps. 68 both speak of God as coming up firom
Mount Sinai, the land of the south.-The best critics mostly agree
that "'; Selah" is a musical term, meaning pause, and perhaps a direc* The Hebrew student will readily notice that in this passage (vs. 3-15)
both of the two normal Hebrew tenses are used, the perfect and the imperfect (often called the future), some of the verbs being in one tense and
some in the other. The explanation of this remarkable fact seems to be
that these two tenses meet at a common centre in the present, and in a
case of this sort, may be used almost indiscriminately for the present, yet
not altogether so, since still the perfect will imply that the event qwas as
well as is; and the imperfect not only that it is, but will be yet again.




256               IHABAKKUK. —CHAP. III.
tion to the singers to rest while the instruments filled out an interlude. In some cases (not in all) the thought just expressed renders
a pause for reflection appropriate.   His visible glory seems to
illumine the whole concave heavens above. The earth is full of
manifestations of God that are proper themes of praise. The sense
is not that he sees the world full of men actually praising God, but
rather that the very earth itself seems vocal with praises. Mountains, rivers, and the pestilence, all seem to be doing God's work
so perfectly, though unconsciously, as to fill all the earth with
voices of praise.
4. And iis brightness was as the light; he had horns
coming out of his hand; and there was the hiding of his
power.
The word rendered "light,"* modern critics suppose here to
mean the sun. Also that "horns coming out of his hand" are
rays of light streaming forth and bearing to the eye the appearance
of horns. The Arabic (a cognate language) shows that this usage of
" horn " is oriental. It is also Hebraistic, as appears in the use of
the same word as a verb (Ex. 34: 29, 30, 35), where three times
over it is said that the skin of Moses' face was horny, i. e., emitted
horn-like rays of light; in the English version, "shone."-  The
whole verse may be freely translated-" His brightness was as the
sun in his strength; rays of light streamed from his hand; there
lay concealed his unknown power."
5. Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals
went forth at his feet.
Jehovah is still coming up from the land of the south, the region of Sinai and the wilderness, marching at the head of the thousands of Israel, to give them possession of Canaan. This is the conception of God throughout this theophany (vs. 3-15).- Before
him moves onward the pestilence, and fevers seem to go forth from
his presence on their mission of death. The word rendered " burning coals" has but two well-established senses: (1) lightnings;
(2) fevers-both having the common idea.of intense heat. The
general sense is that God sent "the hornet " (see Ex. 23: 28; Deut.
7: 20, and Josh. 24: 12), i. e., plagues, judgments, and, no doubt,
the pestilence, to cut off the strong and warlike Canaanites, and
make them a more easy conquest to the then unwarlike children of
Israel. It is very obvious, from a comparison of the Canaanites
as seen by the spies, with the Canaanites as found by Joshua, that
by some means a great change had come over them. Their military prowess was far less formidable.
6. He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld,
and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting
* -.




IT AIAKKJUK.-CHAP. III.                257
mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow:
his ways are everlasting.
The sense is, I see him stand (as in the days of Joshua he stood)
on the confines of Canaan, a mighty conqueror and the rightful
Lord of all; "he measures off the land" for his people with the
sweep of his eye, according to the purposes of his wisdom. "He
loo0ks," and the terror of that look " drives asunder the nations "
of Canaan, and dispossesses them of their land, that his people may
take possession. In the presence of such majesty "the everlasting
mountains are scattered;" " the enduring hills bow low" as in awe
before him; "his ways are of old," i. e., they were manifested in
those ancient days.
7. I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: and the
curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.
The best authorities agree in finding one branch of the Cushites
in eastern Arabia, and the Midianites in western.   That their
" tents are in affliction " means that the people themselves, dwelling
in tents, are troubled by the glorious things Jehovah is achieving
for his people. The " curtains of Midian" are their tent-curtains,
trembling in sympathy with the trembling hearts of their occupants.
The two clauses are essentially parallel, and show that the fear
and the dread of Israel, while Jehovah is so manifestly marching at
their head, fell on even remote nations, so that they stand appalled
by what they hear and see of his power. The policy of the Gibeonites (Josh. 9) is in proof of this. (See vs. 24, 25).
8. Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? was
thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against
the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses, and thy
chariots of salvation?
This verse contemplates the passage of the Red Sea and of the
Jordan. A bold imagination in the strains of lofty song does not
stop to narrate the facts and detail the circumstances. On the
contrary, assuming these, and speaking of events as they appear to
the eye, the prophet exclaims: "What aileth thee, O thou Jordan?" Is it because the Lord is angry against the rivers? is it
that his wrath is on the sea that he drives their waters back, and
seems to rebuke them for obtruding themselves in the pathway he
has marked out for the hosts of his chosen? -" Rivers," twice in
the plural, contemplate the Red Sea as one, the Jordan another.
Though it was more properly an arm of the sea, yet its tides are
said to rise seven feet, and consequently must make an active current. But a strong imagination is not wont to be precise as to
number. Indeed, the startling fact is the main thing, and not the
number of rivers in question. The last clause shows that the Red
Sea is in his mind.  1-" That thy chariots are salvation" is the
precise rendering, the full construction being that thy chariots are




258               HABAKKUK.-CHAP. HI.
chariots of salvation, i. e., that riding in royal state as a conquering
hero on thy horses and chariots of war thou dost save thy people
from the grasp of Pharaoh, and bring them forth in triumph.
9. Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the
oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst
cleave the earth with rivers.
This verse should close with " Selab."  The first clause presents
no difficulty. The second has perplexed commentators, and scattered their opinions more than almost any other passage in the
Bible. Dr. Henderson remarks that one hundred different expositions of it have been given.-" Thy bow is made quite naked"
conceives of Jehovah as still a warrior chieftain at the head of his
martial hosts, coming down in battle upon the nations of Canaan.
To "make the bow naked" is to draw it out from its sheath or
case, which was a protection necessary to preserve the string from
dampness, and keep it in order for service. Drawn out and made
quite naked, it was ready for use.-The next clause, interpreted
so variously, has in Hebrew three words,* all of them words of
very frequent occurrence, especially the first two, and of well-established meaning. The first word may be a noun in the sense of
oaths, possibly sevens, or a participle, meaning sworn. The second is a noun, meaning originally a rod, something stretched out;
then a shoot or twig; but in use most often, the tribes of Israel.
The third means a word, a word of command or of threatening; in
rare instances, a watchword or a song. -Here follow some inteipretations by the ablest commentators. —— r. Henderson" Sevens of spears was the word!" i. e., let there be a full complement of spears for the war. This is the divine mafidate.   Gesenius —" Sworn are the rods of his word," i. e., the promised chastisements; he has sworn the overthrow of his enemies. But Gesenius
favors a slight change in the first letter of the first word, by which it
would come from a different root, meaning to be sated, to be full,
and then would render-" Sated are the spears, i. e., with blood!
A song! "-  After a somewhat extended examination, I prefer the
rendering of our received translation, on the following grounds:
(1.) It gives each word its most common meaning. The usage
of the words rendered " oaths " and " tribes " is very strong. It is
not easy for one who has examined it to see how a Hebrew reader
could understand these words to mean any thing else in this connection.
(2.) This sense is in harmony with truth, and the truth is one
which the Lord has often taken special pains to reassert and impress, viz., that the conquest of Canaan for the tribes of Israel was
in fulfilment of his oft-sworn promise to their fathers. (See Deut.
7-: 7, 8, 12; Ps. 105: 8-11; Jer. 11: 4, 5). —The great theme of




HABAKKUIK.-CHAP. III.                259
this theophany is this very conquest.  Hence the fitness of this
reference to the oath of Jehovah to give Canaan to the tribes.
(3.) In this construction the oldest authorities all agree, e. g.,
the Chaldee Paraphrast: " Thou didst marvellously reveal thyself in
thy great power on account of thy covenant which thy word had
made with the tribes for the ages to come." —Also Jerome:
" Ascending thy chariot and seizing thy bow, thou wilt give salvation to thy people, and wilt fulfil for all time the oaths which thou
hast sworn to our fathers and the tribes."
(4.) No other interpretation is so well supported, or is obnoxious to so few objections. —" Selah" calls for a pause, appropiate here for reflection.   " Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers " looks toward those fearful convulsions occasioned by earthquakes, which often open new fountains and plough out new watercourses.
10. The mountains saw  thee, and they trembled:
the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered
his voice, and lifted up his hands on high.
A strong imagination gives to inanimate objects life, thought,
and emotion. So here-The "'mountains see" Jehovah as he
stands forth at the head of his hosts in Canaan, "and they tremble.'? The verb here used means to move in a circle, to dance;
then to be in pain, to writhe; also to shake, as here, with the accessory idea of being in anguish. —T —he great floods of water swept
past and along, with reference perhaps to the Jordan, long dammed
up while the people were passing through its bed, and then rushing
with augmented volume and force; or possibly to great storms of
hail and rain which the Lord sent down in some of the great battles
fought with the Canaanites.  In the phrase "the deep uttered
his voice," lies one of the grandest conceptions found in any language. The conscious spirit of the Great Deep, affrighted before
the majesty of Nature's King and Lord, throws up his hands and
utters screams of awe and terror! How can he endure such a
Presence? How can he be placid when the great and dreadful
God comes so near!
11. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation;
at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining
of thy glittering spear.
Not only are the mountains and the great deep agitated at the
presence of Jehovah: "The sun and the moon stand back toward
their dwelling-places "-literally, stand toward, in the sense in
which it is said of a ship at sea, she stands toward a given point.
They made for the dwelling-places where they were thought to
repose when withdrawn from human view. Ah! they, too, cannot
bear the dread presence of Jehovah in his majesty!-They retire
to their hiding-places " at the light of thine arrows which flew —at




260               IHIABAKKUK.-CHAP. III.
the brightness of the lightning of thy spear." So conscious are they
of their inferiority, so ashamed to put their feeble light in contrast
with the blaze of Jehovah's splendor, they shrink away to their recesses. —Orientals are accustomed to speak of the heavenly bodies
as having their homes, mansions, abodes. —— The word " they"
before " went " refers, not to the sun or moon, nor to the Hebrew
soldiers, but to God's arrows, the lightnings. These are said not
merely to go, but to fly-a very intensive form of the verb go.
12. Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.
Putting the emphatic words first in order, the Hebrew would
run —
"In wrath thou didst march through the land;
In fury thou didst thresh the nations "sweeping away the guilty and doomed nations of Canaan from before thy people.
13. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people,
even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst
the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering
the foundation unto the neck. Selah.
The first clause is plain; the last is specially difficult.-"'Thy
anointed" must, by the demands of the parallelism, be the same
with "thy people."' The sentiment is simply that God marched
thmus through the land to save his people, considered as his chosen
and anointed, to give them victory over their enemies and possession
of Canaan. —-Upon the last clause few words must suffice, presenting only the construction which I on the whole prefer. -By
"house" (i. e. of the wicked) may be meant the family, the class
of people; or the structure,. the building, conceived of as embodying their interests and strength. I prefer the latter.-  By
"head " may be meant the head-men, the princes of the family or
clique of the wicked; or the highest part of the structure. I adopt
the latter, and therefore translate: "Thou dashest to pieces the
head" (and dost strike it off) " from the house of the wicked, laying
bare the foundation even to the neck"-i-. e. as deep as water
would be that came up to the neck-of course, utterly destroying
the entire structure which represents the strength and cause of the
wicked. A similar case Of smiting the head and dashing the whole
structure to atoms appears Amos 9: 1. This may have been in the
prophet's mind.   The phrase " even to the neck " was proverbial,
at first to indicate a depth of water nearly sufficient to drown a
man. See Isa. 8: 8 and 30: 28. Probably it came thence to be used
for about the same depth, five feet, more or less, in other relations.
* I render "toward their habitation," on the strength of what grammarians call " e local" which is appended to the word for habitation, giv.
ing the sense, " toward their habitation."




HABAKKUK. —CIIAP. III.                261
This would be deep enough to tear up the foundations of a building,
and effect its utter ruin. If we adhere to the Hebrew text, and
suppose aiy connection of thought between these two clauses now
under consideration, this must be the construction. If it were ever
allowable to admit that a slight error of one letter has crept into the
text, for which the manuscripts give no authority, I should favor
such a solution here, and then read rocks in place of neck.* But I
hold it to be the work of a commentator to interpret his text rather
than to amend it, and therefore abstain on principle from tampering
with such conjectures. To decide between conflicting testimonies
of manuscripts and other authorities is another matter, sometimes
quite inevitable, and quite allowable.
14. Thou didst strike through with his staves the
head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to
scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor
secretly.
"Thobu didst strike through (pierce) with his own spears the
head of his princes."  The word "head" is the same as in the
first clause of v. 13, but means here a man's head, and not either
the head-men (princes), or the head (summit) of a building. The
passage may allude to the case of Jael smiting a nail through the
head of Sisera.  In general, it means that God turned  their
own weapons upon themselves, panic-smiting their hosts and
setting them to slaughter one another. See Judges 7: 20-22,
and 1 Sam. 14:15, 16-Gideon and his three hundred against
the countless Midianites; Jonathan and his armor-bearer against
the Philistines. -" They, the Canaanites, came forth like a whirlwind to scatter me"-where'"me," through the prophet's sympathy with the people of God, represents that whole people.The Canaanites rejoiced in their work of destruction, as wicked
men rejoice when they can dev-our the poor defenceless ones
secretly, without exposure and consequent punishment. David,. in
several passages, refers to this joy of the wicked in maltreating the
defenceless, without exposing themselves to retribution. See Ps.
10:8-11.
15. Thou didst walk through the sea with thine
horses, through the heap of great waters.
The word rendered " heap " means here the foaming-in this
case, the foaming of the mighty waters. " Thou, Jehovah, didst
march through the sea with thy horses-' &c., with a tacit reference
to the passage of the Red Sea for the figure, but probably, as to the
thing intended, referring to Jehovah's marching with his victorious
hosts among the mad and raging nations of Canaan. This was the
last scene in this august panorama. Thus closes this magnificent
*'.2 instead of'l1




262               HtABAKKUK. —ClHAP. III.
portrayal of Jehovah's great achievements for his ancient people.
Never were nobler conceptions wrought up with bolder and yet so
chaste imagination, or in loftier strains of triumphal song.
16. When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips
quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones,
and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day
of trouble: when he cometh  up unto the people, he
will invade them with his troops.
Here the prophet falls back to the point from which he started
(v. 2)-to the fear which agitated him so deeply when he first
heard from the Lord that the fierce and terrible Chaldeans were
surely coming to overwhelm the nation, to lay the land desolate,
and the loved and holy city with its sacred temple in ruins.With all the oriental nations, the belly is the seat of the emotions,
especially of grief. Thus Habbakuk: "My bowels were strangely
agitated; my lips quivered at the voice," i. e., that uttered those
words about the Chaldeans; "rottenness entered into my bones"
and all my strength perished-the bones being the pillars and framework of the animal system; "I trembled," not precisely "in myself," but under me, my knees shaking and refusing their office-so
strong was my agony of desire " that I might have rest in the day
of trouble, in the coming up of the people who shall invade us."
The last clause must be connected with the preceding more closely
than in our English Bible. I have given a very literal and (as I
suppose) an accurate translation.   The period around which his
anxieties clustered was the hour of the anticipated invasion by
the Chaldeans. His prayer and his solicitude looked toward rest
for his spirit in that day of trouble when this fierce and savage
people should come up against Jerusalem.   The word rendered
"invade," means to press upon and besiege with troops.
17. Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither
shall fruit be in the vines; the labor 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:
18. Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the
God of my salvation.
19. The Lord GoD is my strength, and he will make
my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk
upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my
stringed instruments.
The prophet's prayer was most abundantly answered. The
Lord gave him  "peace like a river;" —nay, more than merely
peace-joy and exultation in the Lord his God, and in him alone




HABAKKUK. —CHAP. III.                  263
and only. The sentiment of the seventeenth verse is that though
every thing else should fail, the fig-tree, the vine, the olive, the
fields, the flocks and the herds, yet the everlasting God would
still live and never could fail or be cut off, or be any the less a
faithful and glorious God for all the storms of earth, or for the invasion and desolating sweep of the most savage robber hosts. The
last verse heightens the showing of his joy. Elastic and buoyant,
his feet like the feet of the hind who bounds over the cliffs and
never makes a mis-step on the crags of the mountain —so he moves
along the high. places of the earth, all undisturbed by the storms
and troubles that harass the dwellers in the vales below.   It
seems plain that the prophet was brought to this sublime height
and placid rest of faith by means of those vivid, soul-thrilling
views of God presented in this chapter, in which God is seen in
his great works of mercy and of power in behalf of his people.
Herein lie the special instruction and the great value of this
wonderful chapter. In point of literary merit, its beauty and sublimity are of the highest order, and challenge our intense admiration; but far above and better than all those beauties is the sublime moral lesson it teaches, viz., that if any " good man would fix
his hand upon the skies and bid earth roll, nor feel her idle whirl,"
the rational mode of reaching this sublime repose of faith is to
study the great works of God's power and mercy as found in the
historic pages of his word, and as first revealed from heaven in the
ways of his providence and miracle-working power toward his
people in the days of old. This study of God, deep, appreciative,
prayerful, with the aid of his teaching Spirit, must be the one great
condition on our part-a trustful, believing study, with a loving
and appropriating faith. Such a study of God, with such help
from his Spirit, give their utmost vividness and power to those
great truths respecting God which we need to see and feel as
realities. Oh, it is beyond measure blessed to have the soul thus
filled with the practical impression of those truths! Then what
was only as a dream before, becomes reality, clearly seen and deeply
felt, and then it becomes natural and easy to adjust one's heart and
life to the demands of those truths. They call for implicit faith in
God; impressed by such views of God, and drawn by his Spirit,
we seem spontaneously to yield it. So Habakkuk found his heart
full of the simplest, sweetest trust in God, and in God alone —in
God, though every thing else should fail.
It should have been more distinctly noted that the fig-tree and
the vine stand here to represent, not themselves alone, but every
other earthly good. They stand for home and dear ones, for
country and sanctuary, for safety of person and for dear life.
Although all these should fail, yet, said the prophet, will I rejoice
in the Lord; I will joy in the God of my- salvation. In the same
spirit, a psalmist said: "My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is
the strength of my heart, and my portion forever" (Ps. 73: 26).
-The reader will scarcely need to be reminded that any and




264               HABAKKUKIJ.-CHAP. III.
every one who cometh to the knowledge of this sublime example
of faith may reach it for himself personally by the same steps.
There is no exclusiveness in this gift of faith; it cometh alike to the
simple-hearted child and to the wisest philosopher-to each and to
all who heartily receive God as their supreme portion, and fully open
their souls to his teaching, moulding Spirit.-And who will not
prize this simple yet mighty faith? To whom would it not be a
blessing high above all other blessings possible? It is like possessing and inheriting the Infinite God! This prophet foresaw that
soon he should own no vine or fig-tree, no herd or flock; but he
was more than satisfied, for he had (it might almost be said, he
owned)-he had, as his own to trust in and enjoy, the Infinite and
ever-blessed God!   When flesh and heart shall fail us, and all of
earth shall be fading fast away from our mortal vision, there will be
at least one hour in which it will be more to us than all the universe
besides to have this God as our own I




ZEPHANIAH.
INTRODUCTION.
OF this prophet, his own introduction gives us the names of his
immediate ancestors through four generations, of whom, however,
nothing is known to us certainly except their names. It gives also
the much more important statement that this,word of the Lord
came to him in the days of Josiah, king of Judah. Josiah's reign
of thirty-one years fell, B. c. 642-611. A careful comparison of this
Book of Zephaniah, with the history of Josiah's reign, as found, 2
Kings chapters 22 and 23, and yet more fully 2 Chron., chapters 34
and 35, will throw yet more light upon the precise date of his
writings, and upon the much more important point of its definite
aim and purpose.   Let it be borne in mind that after the great
reformation wrought by Hezekiah with the aid of Isaiah and other
prophets during his reign of twenty-nine years, a fearful relapse
followed during Manasseh's long reign of fifty-five years; that the
brief history sets forth in very strong terms the horrible influence
of this wicked king who " made Jerusalem and Judah do worse
than the heathen" (2 Chron. 33: 9); that his repentance occurring
late in life, while it may have saved his own soul in answer to a godly
father's prayers, yet seems scarcely to have at all arrested the strong
currents of national wickedness; that his son Amon, reigning two
years most wickedly, and then losing his life by conspiracy among
his, own servants, must have left the nation yet waxing worse and
worse; and then that Josiah, coming to the throne at the tender
age of eight years, began to seek after the God of his fathers at the
age of sixteen, commenced a vigorous reform yet four years later,
12




266                ZEPIIANIAH. —CIAP. I.
i. e., at the age of twenty, which was the twelfth year of his reign,
and had gone over the work with commendable thoroughness at the
end of six years' labor, i. e., in the eighteenth year of his reign.
That was the era of a remarkable passover, kept with great solemnity and with hopeful results. But the roots of wickedness had gone
deep into the national life. Hence this reform, as to the mass of
the nation, could not have penetrated much beneath the surface.
-This reign of the good Josiah was the Lord's last call of the
nation to repentance.  Toward this result, Zephaniah and Jeremiah lent their aid-the latter beginning to prophesy in the thirteenth year of Josiah, and the former probably about the same time.
Zephaniah (1: 4) predicts-" I will cut off the remnant of Baal from
this place," &c., and the history states (2 Chron. 34: 3, 4) that
Josiah began this very work in his twelfth year, and closed it in his
eighteenth. It may also be. noted that Zephaniah (2: 13-15) predicts the fall of Nineveh, which occurred B. c. 625-i. e., in the
seventeenth year of Josiah.   It was to aid King Josiah inhis great
work of reforming the nation and of saving it from ruin under
the long-accumulating wrath of God, that Zephaniah was commissioned to reiterate the solemn declarations of Jehovah —" I will
utterly consume this whole land "-especially every vestige of its
idolatry, and not sparing its fearfully corrupt and wicked people.
This is the one great thought throughout the first chapter. The
next chapter heightens the force of this dread decree by assuring
the people that the adjacent nations sunk low in general corruption
and idol worship, were also doomed to fearful devastations-the
Philistines, Moab, Ammon, Ethiopia, and Assyria, with her proud
capital, Nineveh. In this general s-weep of desolating judgments,
Judah could by no means hope to escape, save by earnest and thorough repentance before God.- Chapter 3 sets forth yet more
fully the extreme corruption of her prophets, priests, and princes,
but closes with merciful promises of salvation in a future day'for
the remnant of his people.
CIHAPTER  I.
FoR the general scope of this chapter, the reader is referred to
2 Kings 23: 26, 27. Closely following a very full account of the
great reformation effected by Josiah, the historian says: " Notwithstanding, the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath




ZEPHANIAI.-CIIHAP. I.               267
wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the
provocations that IManasseh had provoked him withal. And the
Lord said, "I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have
removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have
chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there."
1. The word of the LORD which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of
Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the
son of Amon, king of Judah.
2. I will utterly consume all tdhings from  off the
land, saith the LORD.
3. I will consume man and beast; I will consume
the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and
the stumbling-blocks with the wicked; and I will cut
off man from off the land, saith the LORD.
See the general introduction. The stumbling-blocks are here,
the idol-gods whichhad proved such a stumbling-block of ruin to the
people. This shows that the reformation under Josiah entirely
failed to save the land from its sins, and hence, from its deserved
and fearful doom.
4. I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah
and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will
cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the
name of the Chemarims with the priests;
God would utterly finish the destruction of Baal, including the
idols, their priests, and their worshippers, and would exterminate
the very "name of the Chemarims."  This word-meaning priest,
as one who goes about in black or mourning, an ascetic-came from
Syria, and was always applied by the Jews to the priests of idols.The history (2 Kings 23: 5) states that Josiah put down the Chemarims, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the
high places," &c.; but ultimately, the Lord, by the long captivity in
Babylon, made much more thorough work in rooting them out
from among his people and burying their very name in oblivion.
— The last words of the verse, " with the priests," refers to Jewish priests-probably such as professed to serve the true God, but
had apostatized into idol-worship.
5. And them that worship the host of heaven upon
the house-tops; and them that worship and that swear
by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham;
6. And them that are turned back from the LoRD;
and those that have not sought the LORD, nor inquired
for him.




268                ZEPIIANIAHI. —CAP. I.
"The host of heaven " were the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon,
stars, and planets. This form of idolatry, Sabianism (from Saba *)
(used for the host of heaven), was very ancient, and widely extended
throughout the East. The worship was offered on the house-tops,
possibly for secrecy, but more probably for the sake of a better view of
the objects of their worship.   The next class of worshippers," worship, swearing by the Lord and swearing by their king "-a term
here supposed to refer to Moloch. That is, they mix together the
ostensible worship of Jehovah with the real worship of Moloch,
whom they practically recognized as their king. —To swear by
Jehovah is to recognize his supreme divinity, at least professedly.
They rendered the same recognition to Moloch also. Of course
such men render no true worship to Jehovah, and he dooms them
to fall with the guiltiest idolaters.   V. 6 describes them in more
general terms-all who have turned back, having once professed to
serve him, and those who have not sought him-in every age a great
and fearfully guilty class.'7. Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD:
for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath
prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.
"Hold thy peace before the face of the Lord God" enjoins
silence in the spirit of profound reverence and solemn awe. See a
similar sentiment, Amos 6: 10.  The reason assigned is, " because
the day of the Lord is near," a day of judgment on the people.
" The Lord hath prepared a sacrifice "-here in the sense of a great
slaughter, as in Isa. 34: 6: " The Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah,
and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea." The original word
rendered " bid," t means to sanctify, but here in the sense in which
war was declared with religious solemnities, and the warriors practically sworn in and consecrated to their work.  The Lord's
" guests "-his called ones, as the original word means-are here, not
men invited to dine at a festival, but those whom he had called in
his providence to be the executioners of his vengeance on the
wicked in this great slaughter-in the case, the (Chaldeans.
8. And it shall come to pass in the day of the LoRD's
sacrifice, that I will ptunish the, princes, and the king's
children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.
Royalty in Judah had been deep in guilt and should be first in
punishment. —In the phrase, " strange apparel," strange does not
mean uncouth or surprising, but foreign.  Indeed, the words
" strange " and " stranger " in our Bible always means foreign, pertaining to Gentiles and not to Jews. The idea here is that the
adoption and use of the foreign costume in dress indicated apostasy
T T                t.'..




ZEPHANIAH.-CHAP. I.                  269
from God and a love for the institutions and customs of the heathen.
H-ence it marked men out for special plagues from the Lord.
9. In the same day also will I punish all those that
leap on the threshold, which fill their masters' houses
with violence and deceit.
The phrase, "those that leap on the threshold," is explained
variously by commentators. Some suppose an allusion to the worshippers of Dagon (1 Sam. 5: 4, 5), who, because their helpless idol
fell before the ark of God, and broke his neck over the threshold,
took care forever after not to step on the threshold but over it. I
see no analogy between this case and that. Here are persons who
leap, not over, but upon the threshold. The parallel clause-" who
fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit "-i. e., with
goods, property, obtained by violence and deceit, shows that robbers
are thought of. Hence the probable sense of leaping upon the
threshold is, invading the sanctity of other men's houses; violently
leaping upon and over their thresholds, to enter their houses for
robbery and spoil.
10. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the
LORD, that there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish
gate, and an howling from the second, and a great crashing from the hills.
The city is here thought of as attacked by Nebuchadnezzar.
The panic and the outcries of terror mark the progress of the conqueror through the city. First, "the noise of a cry from the fish
gate."  To this gate we find allusions in 2 Chron. 33: 14, and Neh.
3: 3, and 12: 39. Doubtless it was the gate through which fish
were brought into the city for market, and probably its direction
was toward the lake of Tiberias and the Jordan, where fishing was
certainly common in the New Testament age. At this point the
Chaldean army would most naturally strike the city. —" A howling or wailing from the second " —not the second gate, but the second
city, i. e., a later addition to the city (see Neh. 11: 9), very probably the one built by Manasseh, as recorded, 2 Chron. 33: 14: " He
built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon,
in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate, and compassed
about Ophel (a hill so called), and raised it up a very great height,"
&c. The location of this new or second city shows that the Chaldean army would strike it next in order after entering at the fish
gate.   "A great crashing from the hills" refers to hills within
the city; Zion, Moriah, Ophel, &c. The echoes of crash after crash
of ruin from these hills would be, to Jewish ears, terrific.
11. Howl, ye inhabitants of Ilaktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are
cut off.




270                ZEPHIANIAH. —CHAP. I.
" Makteshll " means the mortar, the article being prefixed, which
shows that it is not a proper name generally known. It is plausibly
supposed to refer to some valley, mortar-shaped, and probably the
Tyropoeon, a valley within the city, occupied largely by merchants.
-The reason for their wailing is that "all the merchants are cut off"
-" all who are heavy laden with silver," for this is the sense of the
Hebrew word. Those who were not only rich, but rich in silver,
would suffer most severely in the sack of the city.- It is tacitly implied that these merchants are men of not the best repute; "people
of Canaan" is their designation here. Hos. 12:'7, 8, shows that
the merchants of that day were not held in the highest esteem by
the Lord. Their fraudulent habits are repeatedly rebuked by the
prophets.
12. And it shall come to pass at that time, that I
will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men
that are settled on their lees: that say in their hearts,
The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.
" Searching Jerusalem with candles " is an expressive figure, to
show that none could secrete themselves in recesses so dark as to
escape the vigilance and vengeance of Jehovah.-" Settled on their
lees," alludes to wine standing long on its sediment, and not
racked off into another vessel. The primary sense of the verb is to
settle down in the oriental manner of sitting upon one's ankles,
with the feet bent under the person (see Jer. 48: 11). It describes those who have repelled all fear of retribution from God for
their sins, and have gone on quietly in their great iniquities, as if
there were no God above; who say in their hearts, " The Lord will
do neither good nor evil, will neither reward the righteous nor punish
the wicked." This is the cherished feeling of myriads of heathen
minds; witness the Budhists of the East, who think of God only as
reposing in eternal sleep in some indefinitely remote region of the
universe, never concerning himself with the moral conduct of his
creatures.
13. Therefore, their goods shall become a booty, and
their houses a desolation: they shall also build houses,
but not inhabit them>; and they shall plant vineyards,
but not drink the wine thereof.
The allusion to their "goods" shows that the prophet still has
in view the wealthy classes who have grown rich through fraud
or violence.
14. The 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 shall cry there bitterly.
15. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and




ZEPIIANIAH. —CHAP. II.              271
distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of
darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick
darkness,
16. A day of the trumpet and alarm against the
fenced cities, and against the high towers.
This great, and awful day of the Lord, so graphically described,
is the period of the Chaldean invasion. The " mighty man who
shall cry there bitterly," is the warrior to whom the city intrusts
its defence, but who will find himself utterly inadequate to the task.
He can only wail in the anguish of his soul over his complete overthrow.
17. And I will bring distress upon men, that they
shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned
against the LoRD: and their blood shall be poured out
as dust, and their flesh as the dung.
18. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able
to deliver them in the day of the LoR-D's wrath; but the
whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy:
for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them
that dwell in the land.
Under the great and universal distress, men shall act as if bewildered, groping about as blind men, equally void of wisdom and
of power for the emergency.- The conclusion of this fearful denunciation of doom is, that God will make a sweeping destruction,
even a hastened one, of all the inhabitants of the land. So it came
to pass.
CHAPTER II.
THE scope of this chapter was spoken of in the general introduction to this book. It aims to enforce repentance: (1.) By the shortness of time yet remaining before otherwise the shafts of vengeance
must fall. (2.) By the fact that desolating judgments were coming
upon other nations contiguous. This fact should assure them that
the Lord was about to take in hand the work of retribution upon
guilty nations on a broad scale; that he had his agencies in readiness; and that Judah and Jerusalem could by no means hope to
escape.
1. Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together,
O nation not desired;
The connection shows that this verse, and the two that follow
it, were addressed to Judah, exhorting her to immediate repentance
and righteousness as her last hope. With this view of the course




272                ZEPHANIA. —CHAP. II.
of thought, I find no appropriate sense in the rendering of the first
verb, "gather yourselves together." The question must be met,
For what purpose? What would be the use of merely " gathering
together? "  Better than this rendering is that of Gesenius: "Collect your thoughts; consider your ways;" examine yourselves and
think of your sins.   Still better is Henderson's derivation of the
verb firom another though a cognate root,* in the sense to bend, to
bow low before God, in repentance and profound humiliation for your
sins.   "0  nation  not desired," Gesenius renders, "nations
never pale with shame," and the sense of conscious guilt. But the
sense of longing after and greatly desiring is much better sustained
by usage. I therefore adopt this rendering, according to our English Bible, only giving its strongest negative power to "not," so
that it shall imply that so far from loving and longing for this
nation in its present moral state, God altogether loathed them.
He could have no other feeling toward them but that of loathing
while they were so intensely corrupt. Hence the urgency of the
call to humiliation and to a new heart and life.
2. Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass
as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LorD come
upon you, before the day of the LORD'S anger come upon
you.
The decree, i. e., the purpose of God to destroy, is thought of
here as pregnant with a sure execution, and soon to " bring forth."
Before this execution of the Lord's wrath, so near at hand, there
was a short moment for repentance. The prophet exhorts the people to seize and improve it. —In the clause "' before the day pass
as the chaff," Henderson explains "day," not as the period of
judgment, but as the short space for repentance lying yet before it.
But the uniform usage of the word " day," fourteen times repeated
in a connection like this, within the first chapter, and again in this
verse, in every instance in the sense of the period of the judgment,
seems to forbid his construction. I prefer to explain it: " Before that
day of judgment shall sweep along as the chaff flies"-swiftly and
waiting for none.
3. Seekye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which
have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek
meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the
LORD's anger.
Here is the point of the exhortation, the duty to which
they are exhorted. All the meek, the humble ones of the land,
the only hopeful class-all those who have obeyed the Lord's
revealed'will (" judgments " here in the sense of revealed statutes),
are implored to seek the Lord, and also to seek righteousness
* Ap instead of t.ir,




ZEPIIANIAH. —CHAP. II.              273
and a deeper humiliation (" meekness"), in the hope that so
they may be hidden from danger in the day of the Lord's anger.
It could not be regarded as certain that they would be exempt from
all harm, even though penitent, for sometimes the righteous must
suffer (in this world, not the next) with the wicked. Hence the
qualified form of the statement, " it may be, that ye shall be hid."
4. For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon-day, and
Ekron shall be rooted up.
With this prediction of desolation on the cities of the Philistines,
compare Amos 1: 6-8. —— The Hebrew verbs which express the
doom of Gaza and Ekron form a paranomasia with those names. If
the word gazee meant forsaken, we might imitate the Hebrew by
saying Gaza shall be gazeed.-  These paranomasias are not merely
beauties of style; they are utilities as well, for the doom of a city
so expressed could not be forgotten. It would be riveted in the
mind with the name itself.
5. Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the
nation of the Cherethites! the word of the LORD iS
against you; O  Canaan; the land of the Philistines, I
will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.
6. And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages
for shepherds, and folds for flocks.
This "sea coast " is the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, and
the western border of Canaan, along which the Philistines (Cherethites)-to some extent a maritime people-were located. All that
region would fall before the Chaldean power. It did.-  The sea
coast shall be not " dwellings and cottages," but "pastures with
shepherds' cisterns, and folds for flocks."
7. And the coast shall be for the remnant of the
house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon: in the
houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening:
for the LoRD their God shall visit them, and turn away
their captivity.
This looks forward to the better days, when the Lord should restore his captive people, and they, returning, should find their old
enemies, the Philistines, no longer there, but should themselves
enjoy quietly the country of the sea coast.
8. I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the re
vilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have
reproached my people, and magnified them'selves against
their border.
12*




2T74              ZEPHANIXH.-CHAP. II.
God had heard what Moab and Ammon had said in contempt
of Israel and of Israel's God, and would now remember it and visit
them with retribution.-" Magnified themselves against their
border," has the sense of carrying themselves proudly and in an
overbearing way along and over their border-with reference,
doubtless, to hostile encroachments upon Jewish territory.
9. Therefore, 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, even the breeding of
nettles and salt-pits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of
my people shall possess them.
This is the doom of Moab and Ammon. How fearfully it has
been put in execution! For the past twenty-four centuries, the
world has scarcely known where those nations once stood! -In
the phrase "the breeding of nettles," the Hebrew gives the sense,
the possession of nettles-a place which nettles shall occupy as all
their own.
10. This shall they have for their pride, because they
have reproached and magnified themselves against the
people of the LoRD of hosts.
So God will avenge himself on those who reproach him through
their reproach of his people.
11. The LORD 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
heathen.
The course of thought here should be noted. God becomes
terrible to idolatrous nations when he famishes, i. e., wastes away
and destroys their gods; for when a nation's gods are gone. what
have they more?   On the other hand, and as a result of. destroying both the idol gods of those nations and their incorrigible worshippers as well, men everywhere, over all the isles of the Gentiles,
shall worship the true God. " The isles of the nations" embrace
all remote countries lying beyond the sea.
12. Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my
sword.
These Ethiopians are those, of Africa-probably including the
Egyptians. They were destined to fall before the same all-devouring Chaldean sword.
13. And he will stretch out his hand against the
north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a
desolation, and dry like a wilderness.




ZEPHIANIAI.-CHAP. III.               275
See Nineveh, doomed in like manner (Nahum, chap. 2 and 3).
14. And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all
the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the
bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice
shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the
thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work.
The word rendered "cormorant" means "the vomiter," and is
supposed to designate the pelican. The " bittern " is the porcupine
or hedge-hog, so called from his rolling himself up.-  These shall
" lie among the capitals "-the tops of the columns-which of
course are now fallen to the ground. The columns are those of
her ruined temples and palaces.
15. This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly,
that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside
me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts
td lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss,
and wag his hand.
Thus great Nineveh, once proud and joyous, is doomed to lie an
utter waste, the scorn of passers-by.  She was doubtless standing
in her strength and glory when this servant and seer of the Lord
uttered and penned these terrible words. The nations of the earth
have had ample occasion to verify their truth during more than two
thousand years.
CHAPTER III.
Tmis chapter opens with further statements of the guilt and
doom of Jerusalem (vs. 1-4); of God's justice in her punishment
(v. 5); of his judgments on other nations (vs. 6-8); then turning
to words of mercy, the Lord promises to convert the nations (vs.
9-10), and to restore and bless most abundantly the remnant of
his people (vs. 11-20).
1. Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!
2. She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near
to her God.
The entire strain of remark shows that this passage speaks of
Jerusalem; e. g., that she had heard the voice of God; had been
instructed and corrected, yet in vain; and that Jehovah is spoken
of as "her God." — Tle word rendered "filthy," means rebellious: she had polluted herself by her sins, especially by idolatry,
and had outraged justice by her oppressions of her own poor and




2'7t             ZEPHIANIAH. —CHAP. III.
defenceless people. Hence the wrath of God upon her.- -Sho
had also been taught her duty by the servants of the Lord, especially in later times by his prophets; yet she would neither obey
God nor trust him.
3. Her princes within her are roaring lions; her
judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones
till the morrow.
Her princes and judges had been fearfully corrupt. Those who
should have withstood the influx of vice had been themselves examples and ministers of all wickedness.' —-— " Roaring lions," in the
sense of being mighty in sin, bold and rampant in their iniquity.
"Evening wolves," who in oriental countries -go about in the
darkness, making night hideous with their howl and perilous by
their ferocity, stand here to represent those judges who make an
utter wreck of justice and peace, prostrating beneath their feet the
very interests they are sworn to sustain. —  These (human) wolves
are voracious; "they do not gnaw the bones in the morning; " so
the Hebrew reads, and implies, not that they leave all, but that they
leave nothing till the morrow. Their voracity saves not even the
bones till morning.
4. Her prophets are light and treacherous persons:
her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done
violence to the law.
" Her prophets are light," in the sense of vain-glorious, proud,
and boastful-bearing on their hearts no sense of their responsibility. The priests seem for the most part to have gone down in
degeneracy and sin with the people by at least an equal pace. The
Lord had some prophets that were thoroughly faithful and bold in
rebuking sin; yet the history shows that under the wicked kings,
false prophets were never wanting who claimed to speak for God,
but who really prostituted the whole influence of the prophetic
name, and of God's name too, so far as they could, to the cause of
vice and idolatry.
5. The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not
do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment
to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no
shame.
Note the designed antithesis between the flagrantly unjust
judges, false prophets, and degenerate priests on the one hand; and
on the other, the just Lord, never doing iniquity, bringing forth his
just decisions every morning without fail.-  Courts were held in
the morning hour.-Those unjust, wicked men are shameless-lost
to all compunction of conscience for wrong-doing. This fact shows
that the moral tone of public sentiment wIas deIplorably low.




ZEPIIANIAH.-CHIAP. III.              277
6. I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by-:
their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that
there is none inhabitant.
This is thought, with good reason, to have special reference to the
calamities brought by a great Scythian invasion upon most of the
nations of Western Asia during the reign of Josiah.  From these
evils, Judah, under his wise and righteous reign, was exempt.
In seasons of great public danger, travel must cease, and none would
pass along the highways. (See Judg. 5: 6.)'7. I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive
instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off,
howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and
corrupted all their doings.
At this time the Lord said: "M y people " will appreciate this
merciful protection afforded to them: they " will fear me and receive instruction."  In case they did so, "their dwelling" (in the
sense of place of rest and safety) " should not be cut off; according
as I have visited all others with judgments." The English, " howsoever I punished them," fails to give the true sense, which is this:
that if his kind protection of them against the Scythians had moved
them to gratitude, obedience and trust, he would not now punish
them as he had done other nations. I prefer to adhere to the usual
sense of the verb here used, viz., to visit with judgment, rather than
to give it (witheDr. Henderson) the new and doubtful sense of appointing for punishment. -" But they rose early and corrupted all
their doings "-as men who work with their might and with earnest
heart, are up betimes in the morning. It is noticeable that God represents his own earnestness in efforts to save them by the same impressive figure (2 Chron. 36: 15): " The Lord God of their fathers
sent to them by his messengers, rising up early in the morning and
sending, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling-place."  The contrast gives a sad impression of their horrible
depravity, but a rich and exalted one of his unutterably tender compassion and loving-kindness!  They, up early in the morning,
working with might and main, to do a long and hard day's work in
sin; God, up betimes to press his agencies mightily to save them!
8. Therefore, wait ye upon me, saith the LoRDn, until
the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination 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.
" Therefore " (in view of all these things) "wait ye for me" (i. e.,




278              ZEPHANIAtH. —CHAP. III.
to fulfil my threatenings) "until the day of my rising up for the
prey, to spoil the nations, for this is my purpose."    Great and
widely extended judgments are in the plan of God, to fall on all
the guilty nations of the earth. Let his people expect them in
their time.
9. For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the
LORD, to serve him with one consent.
Here is a reason for awaiting those judgments, because then,- in
close connection, the Lord will convert the remnant of the nations
to himself. His great judgments will prepare the way for mercies
no less great. —" I will turn to the nations (Gentiles) a pure language"-freed from the very names of idols (see Hos. 2: 17), and
from all those terms that are suggestive of the pollutions and corruptions of human depravity. God will give them a new vocabulary; the language of Zion will be all new when all men shall call
upon the name of the Lord. —" To serve him with one shoulder,"
is the striking expression of the Hebrew-as we might say, moving
on in military phalanx, shoulder to shoulder, for soldiers dress to
a line by the shoulder. Or the phrase may allude to two or more
men bearing the same burden on their shoulders, in which case
they must move accurately together. So in Zion should order and
harmony be perfect, resting on the basis of having one heart and
one soul.
10. From  beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring
mine offering.
This must be the African Ethiopia, south of Egypt, embosoming
the head-waters of the Nile. Thence should suppliants from the
Lord's scattered people come with their offerings to Jerusalem.
The reader will readily recall the case of an "eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of Ethiopia, who came to Jerusalem
to worship" (Acts 8: 27 if.), and who went home with more of the
gospel than he had ever known before. The case proves that there
were some dispersed people there, probably Jews, who remembered
Zion, and that a purer knowledge of God went among them after
the Christian era. It would seem that there have been nominal
Christians in Abyssinia ever since. They were found there by
Bruce in his travels, early in the present century.
11. 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 them that
rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty
because of my holy mountain.
This cannot mean that they shall have no sense of shame for the




ZEPHANIAH.-CI-IAP. II.               279
sins of which they are or have been guilty. The Scriptures and
Christian experience combine to teach that pardoned sinners have
the very keenest sense of sorrow and shame for their sins. (See
Ezek. 16: 61-63 and 36: 31.)-The meaning here is therefore only
this: that they shall not be confounded before the nations by God's
judgments upon them for their sins. They will not sin as they had
done; and moreover, God will forgive and forbear to punish. That
their sin itself should mostly cease-at least, their specially provoking, heaven-defying sins-is expressly said: " For then I will take
away out of thee thy proud, exulting ones, and man shall no more
be haughty in my holy mountain."  The Hebrew has it " in," not
"because of."
12. I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted
and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the
LORD.
The few spared and surviving, after the many had fallen under
sore judgments, are blessed by-what they have suffered, and by what
they have seen others suffer; and these return to the Lord their
God. Of this promise there have been many fulfilments.
13. The remnant of Israel 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.
This applies readily to the remnant restored from Babylon, and
affirms their general purity of character, greatly reformed as compared with the morals of the nation before the captivity. It may
apply also to subsequent periods.
14. Sing, O  daughter of Zion; shout, O  Israel; be
glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.
This call to great joy indicates that precious blessings are to be
revealed.
15. The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he
hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the
LoRD, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil
any more.
" Hath taken away thy judgments," not in the sense of removing from them the administration of justice or the jurisdiction of
his law, but of terminating his inflictions of calamity and his retributions for their sin. The days of her sore scourging had passed."He hath cleared away thine enemies from before thee "-perhaps
with historical allusion to their early days in Canaan, when the
Lord did not fully clear away the Canaanites and Philistines. Now




280               ZEPHANIA. —CHAP. III.
he will, and they shall repose in quiet-less tempted to sin, and less
annoyed with thorns in their side-enemies within their own borders. -Their king, Messiah, the real Jehovah, being in the midst
of them as Immanuel (God with us), verily, "they shall see evil
no more," as compared with former evils.
16. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear
thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.
"Let not thy hands be slack " is said in the sense of not waxing
feeble through despondency and unbelief.
17. The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty;
he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will
rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
Her Lord is not in the midst of her-his Zion-as a terror or a
scourge, but as a mighty one for help, rejoicing in her purity and
blessedness.-The phrase "he will rest in his love " seems to
mean in the original, "will be silent in his love," in the sense of
freely forgiving her sin, and henceforth forbearing to speak of it in
words of threatening, and to act against it in retributive judgments.
His love is silent from upbraiding and chastising, in contrast with
the continual strain of rebuke which had been the common manifestation of his presence in their former apostasy. Now, they being
no longer apostate, but walking humbly and softly before God, he
takes the purest delight in abiding among them, and silently enjoys
their worship and their -responsive love. It is indeed a precious
thought, but is most fully authorized, that God rejoices in the sincere love and worship of his people. It is a source of ineffable delight to his benevolent heart. This doctrine is reiterated with great
force in this passage.
18. I will gather themr that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom  the reproach
of it was a burden.
"Those who are grieved" (because of their exclusion) "from
thy solemn festivals, I will gather home (they were of thee), who
have borne reproach for her:" (Zion's) "sake; " or the last clause
might be read, "to whom reproach for her sake was a burden."
The sentiment is that God will gather home to Zion those dispersed
ones who had been sad because of their long exclusion from her
solemn feasts, and who had borne reproach for their God.
19. Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict
thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her
that was driven out; and I will get them  praise and
fame in every land where they have been put to shame.
20. At that time will I bring you again, even in the
time that I gather youa: f'or 1 will make you a name and




ZEPHANIAH.-CIIAP. III.               281
a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn
back your captivity before your eyes, saith the LORD.
The original, rendered " I will undo," means I will deal withtake them in hand for justice and judgment. This would doubtless
involve their undoing. Sentiment-God will reverse the state of
her long-depressed and scattered people. The feeble shall be saved
with strength; the exiled brought home in triumph; the long-dishonored and disowned shall have praise and fame in the very place
where they had been put to shame. The public sentiment of the
world is changed, and the real friends of God are now held, not in
contempt, but in honor.   It can scarcely be supposed that the
restoration from Babylon exhausted the significance of these promises. Then the restored people were few and feeble. Though honored and favored by Cyrus, yet they were by no means greatly
honored by their nearest neighbors, the Samaritans, nor by other
contiguous nations. Something more and better than that must lie
yet treasured up for Zion in these promises. Yet further, the clear
indications in this chapter (vs. 9, 10) of the conversion of the Gentiles also, must carry the great body of these predictions over into
the gospel era, and some portion of them down into those times
described by Paul (Rom. 11), when, almost simultaneously, the Jews
will be grafted back into their former stock, and the Gentile world
be converted to the same ever-blessed God. -O come, that glorious day I




HAGGAI.
I N T RODUCTI-ON
BOTr the date and the occasion of this book are given very distinctly. Its date is subsequent to the restoration from captivity in
Babylon by sixteen years. Its occasion was the fact that the Jews
were sinfully neglecting to complete the building of their temple.
Consequently the Lord sent Haggai to rebuke them for this sin, and
to exhort them to resume the work and complete it. -It should be
borne in mind that Cyrus, on his accession to the Medo-Persian
throne, two years after it had absorbed the Chaldean empire and
made Babylon its capital, issued an edict, strongly inviting the
Jews to return to their own land, and rebuild both their holy city
and their temple. Fifty thousand responded to this call, and under
Zerubbabel as governor, and Joshua as high priest, returned to the
land of their fathers, and commenced rebuilding the city, and in
process of time the temple also. The Book of Ezra gives the Jewish
history of these- events. It there appears that in the second year
of Cyrus (B. c. 535), and in the second month, they began to rebuild the temple; that soon the Samaritans began to oppose and
retard their work, and kept up this opposition during the remaining
five years of the reign of Cyrus (Ez. 4: 5), and yet more vigorously and successfully, under his vile son and successor Cambyses
(called, Ez. 4: 6, " Ahasuerus "), who reigned seven years and five
months. At length, from his successor, Smerdis (called, Ez. 4: 7,
8, 11, 23, Artaxerxes), they obtained an order that the work should
absolutely cease. This Smerdis reigned but seven months. A
better king succeeded, in the person of Darius iystaspes. As Smerdis
was at best only an usurper, and as the decree of Cyrus was there



HAGGAI.-CHAP. I.                  283
fore still the law of the realm, there was no legal obstacle in the
way of resuming this work the first moment after the pressure of
violent prevention was removed. When, throughout the first year
of Darius, it was seen that the people did not resume this work, but
occupied themselves in fitting up and even embellishing their own
houses, the Lord sent his prophet Haggai, and two months later
Zechariah, to rebuke them for this neglect, and to encourage them
to resume and complete the building of the temple. The work was
completed in the sixth year of Darius (Ezra 6: 15).  These are
briefly the historic facts which, being intimately connected with the
subject matter of this book, are essential to its intelligent exposition.
CHAPTER  I.
THE Lord rebukes the neglect of the people to build his house;
calls their attention to their lean and meagre harvests, and to his
blighting curses upon their land and labor because of this neglect;
and when the people shall have returned to this duty, pledges them
his favoring presence.
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
son of Josedech, the high priest, saying,
2. Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This
people say, The time is not come, the time that the
LORD'S house should be built.
The people excused their delay in finishing the temple, on the
alleged ground that the time for it had not yet come.   It has
been supposed that they bolstered up this lame apology by their
own construction of Jeremiah's prophecy (25: 12), which had named
seventy years as the duration of the captivity. As the temple was
not destroyed until eighteen years after the first captives were taken
away, and as only about fifteen years had passed, up to the first
year of Darius, since the first captives returned, they perhaps persuaded themselves to think that the temple must lie desolate yet
some three years longer, to complete its full period of seventy years.
-IMen sometimes put constructions upon Scripture which God
has neither put nor authorized, the ultimate cause being that they
are but too well pleased to have it so. This may have been a case
of the same sort.




284                 HAGGAT. —CIAP. I.
3. Then came the word of the LORD by HIaggai the
prophet, saying,
4. lis it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled
houses, and this house lie waste;
In the question, " Is it time for you," &c., the Lord uses the
word " time " because the people had used it, saying, "The time has
not come to build the Lord's house."  Thus ye say, "The time has
not come to build my house;" has the time come for you to build
yours, and finish them off with comfort and even elegance, while
you let my house lie waste? Is this a proper expression of gratitude
to Jehovah for condescending to dwell in the midst of you, and for
redeeming you from your long captivity? The word "' you " in the
Hebrew is made specially emphatic. It is for you, for such as you,
for you, in view of all your circumstances, &c. This emphasis is
indicated by repeating the pronoun you. -" Ceiled houses," from
the Hebrew word meaning covered, refers to the inside covering of
the walls with more or less of ornament —in modern phrase, called
"finishing " —for both comfort and beauty.
5. Now, therefore, thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
6. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat,
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
with holes.
The expressive form of the original is, "Set your heart on your
ways," i. e., look on your ways, not only thoughtfully but solemnly,
appreciating and realizing the significance of your course toward
God, and of God's toward you. Since they had dishonored God by
neglecting his temple, he had scourged them by suspending his
usual gifts of timely rain and sun. He appeals to them to note the
facts of their own case, how they had prospered in nothing, and had
toiled to small purpose.
7. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
8. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build
the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be
glorified, saith the LORD.
This second exhortation to consider their ways may have a look
forward, as the first (v. 5) looked back, as if the Lord would say:
" Take note of what shall be hereafter, as well as of what has been
heretofore. Go to the mountain; get wood; finish my house;
then see what a change shall come over your labor, and the fruits
thereof."
9. Ye looked for much, and, lo it came to little; and




IIAGGAI.-CHIIAP. I.               285
when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why?
saith the LoRD of hosts.  Because of mine house that is
waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.
10. Therefore, the heaven over you is stayed from
dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.
11. And I called for a drought upon the land, and
upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the
new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the
ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle,
and upon all the labor of the hands.
The phrase "blow upon it," some interpreters render (as the
margin has it) blow it away.  The preposition rendered upon,
strongly favors our received translation. The sense will then beEven after you had gathered your harvests home, I blighted them as
by the breath of my mouth.   The word " run," " ye run every
man to his own house," indicates that their hearts were not in God's
house, nor toward it, but toward their own. —— It was specially
characteristic of the entire age before the coming of Christ that God's
moral government over men in this world was made manifest by
present retribution. It was never intended that those present retributions should be perfect, or should supersede the necessity of a future state in which all deficiencies would be made up; but it was
the design of God to make his government palpable, so that all men
should have tangible, visible evidence of its reality. Obviously there
was indefinitely more need of present retribution then than now.
It was a sort of compensation to offset their inferior light respecting
God, duty, and salvation.   The genius of that whole dispensation
in regard to the point now in hand-present retribution for right
and wrong doing, visited on the people in blessings or in curses-is
set forth strongly in the latter chapters of Deuteronomy, especially
chapter 28. These verses of Haggai presuppose this type of God's
moral government over men in this world.
12. Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua
the son of Josedech, 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 Hhggai the LORD'S messenger in the
LORD's message unto the people, saying, I am with you,
saith the LORnD.
14. And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel
the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of
Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the




286                  IAGGAI. —CHAP. II.
spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came
and did work in the house of the LORD of hosts, their
God,
15. In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month,
in the second year of Darius the king.
It is pleasant to note that these messages from the Lord produced the desired result. The Lord stirred up the spirit of both
rulers and people, and they took hold earnestly of the neglected
work of rebuilding the temple. Twenty-four days sufficed to arouse
them and to make the necessary preparations.-The masses of the
people were far more obedient to the voice of God than before the
captivity-furnishing yet another case of blessings coming through
sore chastisement. " Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now
have I kept thy word."
CHAPTER II.
THE distinct portions of this chapter are strongly marked: (1.)
The portion (vs. 1-9) which speaks to those hearts that were sad
and depressed by the greatly inferior glory of this temple compared
with that built by'Solomon. (2.) Vs. 10-19, designed to show that
their late neglect to build the house of God had vitiated all their
labors, and brought a blight from the Lord upon all their fruits;
and (3.) Vs. 20-23, encouraging their rulers, and confirming the
great promise made (vs. 6-9).
1. In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth
day of the month, came the word of the LORD by the
prophet HIaggai, saying,
The reader will note that this date is one month, less three
days, after they began upon the work of rebuilding. (See 1: 15.)
With what had been done in the former effort, commenced some
fourteen years before, the work of this month sufficed to show that
this temple must be greatly inferior in splendor and in all its appointments, to that which had stood from the time of Solomon
down to the captivity.
2. Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel,
governor of Judih, and to Joshua the son of Josedech
the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying,
3. Who is left among you that saw this house in her
first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your
eyes in comparison of it as nothing?
A few patriarchs of venerable age remained to remember the
glory of that first temple which had now lain desolate about sixty



EAGGAI. —CHAP. II.                287
eight years. The Lord calls their attention to the contrast between
that and this. " How do' ye see this now? Is not this in your
eyes, compared with that, as nothing? " —— Ezra. 3: 12, 13, gives us
a touching allusion to this scene, blending the joy of the young
people with the grief of their fathers-the shoutings of the one class
and the sad wailings of the other —each swelling up, and perhaps
each exciting the other, until the noise was heard afar, and men
could not distinguish the shouts of joy from the outcries of griefa scene not soon forgotten by either the joyous or the sad ones of
that day.-  The Lord calls attention to the wide contrast between
this latter house and the former because he had something to say
about it, as we shall see.
4. Yet now be strong, O Zerubabbel, saitl the LoRD;
and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech the high
priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith
the LORD, and work: for I am with you, saith the LORD
of hosts:
The first thing he would say is, Be strong of heart, and never
yield to depression; "be strong and work," for I am with you,
and my presence ought to outweigh greater and more discouraging
contrasts than this which saddens your hearts to-day. Shall it not
be enough for you that I am with you?
5. According to the word that I covenanted with
you when ye came out of Egypt, so my Spirit remaineth among you; fear ye not.
The proper construction of the term "word," in the phrase
rendered "according to the word that I covenanted," &c., presents difficulties. There seems to be no authority in the original
for the words " according to," or for the idea that the continued
presence of the Spirit is in accordance with that original covenant
made when the nation came forth from Egypt. This may or not be
true: it is not expressed clearly and beyond a doubt here. —
On the contrary, this passage, almost beyond a doubt, affirms (1.)
That the covenant made at Sinai is still in force, no less since the
captivity than before; and (2.) That God's Spirit also still abides
with the people; so that for both reasons the people ought not to
fear, but be strong and of good courage. With such a covenant of
promise, and such a present, indwelling Spirit, why should they
bewail the lack of those external splendors which pertained to the
temple of Solomon?
6. For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is
a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the
earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
Exegetically, the chief difficulty in this verse turns on the word
rendered "once." The choice seems to me to lie between these




288                 HAGGAI.-CHAP. II.
two constructions: (1.) "Yet once more, and that very soon, I
will shake," &c.; or (2). " It is yet but one short period, and I will
shake," &c. In the latter case, the word one (this is the usual sense
of the Hebrew) is only equivalent to the article. Of this usage
there are some examples. The choice between these two constructions is a matter of no great importance as to the ultimate sense.
The first construction may be thought to imply once more, and
once only.
The "shaking of the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry
land," must be taken in the figurative and not the literal sense, to
indicate, not an earthquake, reaching far out through boundless
space, but convulsions among the great nationalities of the worldAssyrian, Chaldean, Medo-Persian, and Grecian —to pave the way
for the coming of Messiah's kingdom. They dash one against another, each in succession overwhelming its immediate predecessor,
but each revolution ripening the world for the coming of Messiah.
In a similar strain Ezekiel says (21: 27): 1" I will overturn, overturn,
overturn, and it shall be no more, until lie come whose right it is,
and I will give it him."   In this view of the sense, the next verse
will be explanatory-" Yea, I will shake all nations," &c.'7. And I will shake all nations, and the desire of
all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with
glory, saith the LoRD of hosts.
8. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith
the LORD of hosts.
The test word in verse-7 is " desire." Is this a synonym for the
Messiah? Is it only another name for the same exalted man,
thought and spoken of here as one "desired by all nations "? So
the current sentiment of the Church and so its sacred songs have
for the most part assumed. This has been a pleasant and cherished
interpretation. I must confess that I have felt its strong attractions. But I have been compelled by the force of grammatical and
exegetical reasons to modify somewhat this interpretation, yet not
so as ultimately to lessen but rather to augment the richness of its
spiritual significance.   The usual construction, which interprets
the word "desire" as meaning precisely the Messiah, must be rejected:
(1.) First and mainly, because the verb is plural-" they come,
even the desire of all the nations."  The word "desire'  must
therefore be a noun of multitude, i. e., a noun embracing in its
meaning not one object alone, but many. There seems to be no
way to get over this difficulty so long as we make " desire " synonymous with Messiah.
(2.) The scope of thought is not congenial to its strict application to the Messiah, especially as seen in the declaration, "The
silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts."
Silver and gold were eminently absent, not present, in the personal




IIAGGAT. —CIAP. II.                 289
life of the man of Nazareth. Yet in this prophecy silver and gold
must stand in a close relation to the sense of the clause " the Desire of all nations shall come." —A better construction is possible,
and indeed unobjectionable.  Let it be borne in mind that this
entire passage grows out of the contrast between the meagreness
of the new temple and the wealth and splendor of the old, and out
of the consequent discouragement and depression of the Lord's people. He calls their special attention to this wide contrast (v. 3).
He proceeds to intimate (vs. 4, 5) that the absence of gold and
silver, and of material splendor in this new temple, may be abundantly compensated by his spiritual blessings; by the fact that " I
am with you," and the further fact that the covenant and the Spirit
are still remaining. He advances yet in the same line of thoughtI am about to convulse the nations-to revolutionize the state of
the world, and thus, as the ultimate outcome, the desirable things
of all nations-their wealth, beauty, and glory —shall come to Zion;
and "I will fill this temple with glory, saith the Lord of hosts."
The silver and the gold of all the world are mine, saith the Lord
of hosts, and by the might of my power over the hearts of men
and over all human society, it shall be consecrated to Immanuel's
kingdom.   Special stress must be accorded to this frequent repetition of the phrase, "saith the Lord of hosts," closing each of
three successive verses, 7, 8, 9.-Let it also be borne in mind that,
according to this construction, the Lord speaks precisely to that
which constituted the chief solicitude of the pious Jews. They
were saying in their heart: How much we do miss the riches-the
silver, the gold, the cedars, the tapestry-of that ancient temple!
When and how can we ever rear a temple worthy of the God of
our fathers? We are very poor; shall we ever be rich enough to
build and adorn a temple worthy of our God? -To this the Lord
very kindly and pertinently replies: Give yourselves no solicitudes
in that line. I am the Lord God of hosts; I rule this wide world,
and I can command all its silver and gold when I will for my kingdom. And I shall do it! - In support of this construction may
be urged (1.) It gives the ordinary and established sense to the
word rendered " desire."  This word is used mainly for those things
which worldly men desire. (2.) It meets the exigencies of the
plural verb, since it embraces in its idea many things, not one only.
(3.) It is, as we have seen, fully in keeping with the previous context-the train of thought which occasioned this prophecy, and
which introduced this passage. (4.) It is equally in harmony with
the subsequent context-filling this house with glory, and God's
claiming the silver and the gold of the world as his own. (5.) It is
also entirely in harmony with other and more ancient prophecies,
e. g., Isa. 60. To set this in its full light would demand the whole
ehapter, in which we read: "The abundance of the sea shall be
converted unto thee "'-" all they from Sheba shall come, bringing
gold and incense"-'" the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of
Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold
13




290                 ITAGGAI.-C-IIAP. II.
with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God "-" the glory of
Lebanon shall come unto thee to beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I will make the place of my feet glorious," &c., &c.The same strain runs through the seventy-second Psalm: "The
kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings
of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts."-Let it be said very distinctly that in this construction of the passage, I do not exclude
but include the Messiah. One advantage of this construction is
that under it we get, not the Messiah alone, but much more besides. It is only under his reign and after the power of his cross
over human hearts has been gloriously developed among the great
and distant nations of the earth, that all the silver and gold of
the world shall be brought and laid at his feet for use in the purposes of his spiritual kingdom. Even yet, how little of the real
wealth of nominally Christian nations-nay, more, how little of the
wealth of the visible Church is truly consecrated to the Saviour of
men! It shall yet be far otherwise than this! Prophecy cannot
receive its entire fulfilment until the wealth of the world shall press
forward voluntarily (so to speak) to lay itself at Immanuel's feet,
to be used so that he may soonest and best see of the travail of his
soul, and may have most of that "'joy set before llim," in the conversion of myriads to his love and service.-It may be asked: Do
you expect, in the good time yet coming, to see a temple built with
cedars from Lebanon, and beautified with the silver and the gold of
all the earth?   I answer, Nothing can be further from  my
thought than the going back of Christianity to real Judaism. The
New Testament "temple of God" is the loving and pure heart
wherein God dwells (2 Cor. 6: 16). In this temple, by another
figure, Christians are themselves "living  stones" (1 Pet. 2:5),
and in this temple "the sacrifices of God are a broken heart and
a contrite spirit."   Of course, Jewish prophets mnust think and
write in Jewish symbols and terms. Good Christian sense must
find the spiritual meaning of those terms and symbols-the New
Testament and its teaching Spirit furnishing the key.
9. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than
of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place
will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.
To the first clause, two different interpretations have been given 
(1.) That the " latter house " is that of Zerubbabel, the former that
of Solomon; and the thing affirmed, that the glory of this built
under Zerubbabel, shall be greater than the glory of that built by
Solomon; (2.) That the temple of Solomon is out of mind, and that
the antithesis really lies between the former and the latter glory of
this same temple then in building-its " former glory " being what
it had under Zerubbabel, and onward down through what remained
of the age before Christ; and the latter, that which it shall attain
when the desirable things of all nations shall come into it; when
the wealth and beauty of the world shall be consecrated to Imman



HAGGAI. —CHAP. IT.                291
uel, and the Prince of Peace shall reign in his own spiritual temple, filling it with the glory of his own presence.   The latter is
doubtless the true construction: (1.) Because it is precisely what
the words in their order mean, and must mean. They stand thus:
" Great shall be the glory of this house-the latter more than the
former, saith Jehovah of hosts." (2.) Because this construction
alone answers to the drift of the context, the very thing that the
Lord is saying in this passage being this-The meagre glory of
this temple, as ye now see it, shall give place to a glory vastly
greater when the wealth and beauty of all the nations shall be
brought into it. That is, the era of spiritual power, beauty, and
glory, shall immensely surpass all the external splendors of Judaism;
the spirit shall eclipse the letter; the inward be more and better
than the outward; the homage of countless warm and living hearts
shall more adorn and glorify God's temple than all the gold of
Ophir, the smoke of incense and the blood of thousands of bullocks
and of rams.   " In this place will I give peace "-can have but
one interpretation;-not tranquillity as opposed to the disturbances
of war; not peace of mind as opposed to agitation and distress: but
including all these and much more, the abstract word peace, used
for the concrete, it means the great Peacemaker, the great author
and Prince of Peace, the world's pacificator as toward its abused,
offended Maker; —the Shiloh of earlier prophecy, repeatedly foretold
under precisely this appellation. (See Micah 5: 5 and Isa. 9: 6, 7.)
-This naturally completes the evidence in proof that this entiro
passage refers to the then future times of the Messiah.
10. In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month,
in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD
by Haggai the prophet, saying,
11. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Ask now the
priests concerning the law, saying,
12. If 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 meat, shall it be holy? And the priests
answered and said, No.
13. 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 Ilaggai, 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 Nwhich they
offer here is unclean.
The priests being the authorized expounders of the ceremonial
law, the Lord directs the people to propound to them two questions: (1.) In case a priest, bearing holy flesh in his garment, brings




292                 HAGGAI.-CHAP. II.
it in contact with any thing else, does it impart its own sacredness
to whatsoever it touches? —To this, they answer, No. Ceremonial holiness is not imparted by the touch.   (2.) Over against this
is the second question: Does a man, who has been made unclean
by contact with a dead body, impart his own uncleanness by the
touch? They answer, Yes. Ceremonial uncleanness is imparted
by the touch. - This doctrine of the ceremonial law, the Lord applies to the people. They had sinned in neglecting to build the
Lord's temple. By reason of this sin, their moral state became
analogous to that of the man ceremonially unclean. This sin imparted its moral character to all they did. The Lord could not take
pleasure in the labors of their hands; it all became unclean.-On
the other hand, if they should do any good thing, it could not carry
its good quality over to any thing else they might do. Under the
law of God, works of supererogation are unknown.
15. And now, I pray you, consider from  this day
and upwards, from before a stone was laid upon a stone
in the temple of the LORD:
16. Since those days were, when one came to an heap
of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came
to the press-fat for to draw  out fifty vessels out of the
press, there were but twenty.
17. I smote you with blasting and with mildew and
with hail in all the labors of your hands; yet ye turned
not to me, saith the LORD.
The Lord would have them review the period from that day
backward to the point where the building of the temple commenced,
and so from that day onward to the present, and observe how fearfully their harvests had been blighted. " I smote you with blasting
and blight, yet ye moved not toward me " —literally, "there was
nothing of you to me."  Up to this point his chastisements had
proved altogether unavailing.
18. Consider now  from  this day and upward, from
the four and twentieth day of the nijth month, even
from the day that the foundation of the LonrD's temple
was laid, consider it.
19. Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine,
and the fig-tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive-tree,
hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.
Here is another call to examine the course of the Lord's providence toward them throughout the interval from the day when
they commenced laying the foundations of the Lord's house to that
hour.  Is the seed yet in the barn? No. Planting-time is past,
and you have planted; but have you any harvests of any sort? Not




HAGGAI. —CHAP. II.                293
any.-But now that ye have resumed this labor upon the temple,
from this day I will bless you. Note and sec.
20. And again the word of the LonRD came unto
Hagai in the four and twentieth day of the month,
saying,
21. Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying,
I will shake the heavens and the earth;
22. And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms,
and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the
iheathen; 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.
This message, sent especially to Zerubbabel, bears the same date
with that immediately preceding, and seems intended to supplement and reaffirm the prophecy recorded (vs. 6-9). It is quite plain
here that the " shaking of the heavens and the earth" is the same
thing as " overthrowing the throne of the kingdoms," and has no
application other than this. God will cast down vast armies, overthrowing chariots and their riders, horses and horsemen, and turning a man against his brother, so that God's enemies should give
their strength to mutual slaughter. Thus those vast, ungodly kingdoms of the earth are doomed to fall.
23. In that day saith the 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.
But throughout this slaughter of his foes, God will protect his
friends. He indicates this by saying that their governor shall be as
his signet-ring upon his finger. This implies care, love, and protection. No doubt the Lord intended this promise should be good to
the successors of Zerubbabel;-good for his people so long as they
put their trust in him, whoever their Zerubbabel may be.




ZE CH0AIRIAI.
INTR ODUCTION.
THE usual preliminary questions of personal history-date, occasion, and special object-are readily settled in the case of the prophet Zechariah. He began to prophesy in the eighth month of the
second year of Darius Hystaspes, -n. c. 520, contemporary with Haggai, when Zerubbabel was governor of Judah, and Joshua was high
priest. At this period, the great matters of interest in the visible
kingdom of God were the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the resettlement
of the returned and still-returning captives from Chaldea, and yet
more especially, the rebuilding of the temple, and the culture of the
faith and religious life of the people composing the new community.
In many respects it was a time of laying again the foundations of religion and morals, and of planting anew those institutions which
were to be the fountains of their future religious life, and hence of
their abiding prosperity. Consequently, there was abundant work
for the prophets of the Lord. —It is pleasant to note that their
work was more hopeful and less discouraging than that of their
predecessors for many generations. The people were more impressible; the word of the Lord was effective; the spirit of obedience,
and not of rebellion, was in the main predominant. Hence, most
of the messages sent from the Lord by Zechariah were of cheerful
tone, breathing far more of promise than of threatening.
The reader will notice in this prophet (relatively to the whole
amount of his writings) more predictions of the Messiah than in any
other.   The people were at first a small and feeble band, estimated
in comparison with other tribes and sovereignties about them. They
could scarcely have stood their ground against these hostile powers,




ZECHARIAH. —CHAP. I.                 295
save under the protection of the Persian throne. In this throne,
God had remarkably provided for their security. Hence, they had
great reason to feel that in this respect their salvation and national
life were from the Lord. In the same line of thought, the Lord
often revealed to them  that Greater Patron and more glorious
Refuge, ere long to appear in the person of Immanuel, the real
King of Zion.
The first six chapters are distinguished from the rest of the book,
and indeed from most of the other prophetical writings of the
Old Testament, by the blending of symbol and vision. The things
presented to the prophet in vision were highly symbolic. Most of
these symbols were so far explained to the prophet as to give us an
adequate clue to their significance. —Some critics have assumed
that the diversity in the point of symbolic vision, between the first
six chapters and the remaining eight, is sufficient proof that the latter portion was not written by the same Zechariah. The only valid
ground for this assumption must be another further back, viz.
that, if God reveals any truth to a given prophet by symbolic
visions, he must pursue this precise method and no other without
variation throughout that prophet's life. But what authority can
be found for such an assumption? Does it obtain in the case of the
prophet Amos, or Daniel, or Ezekiel, or Jeremiah? I look upon
this assumption as one of the follies, not to say absurdities, of hypercriticism. —The book throughout is richly instructive, fraught
with spiritual life and power, and consolatory to the feeble but
trusting children of God.
CHAPTER I.
Tins chapter contains three distinct portions: vs. 1-6 derive
admonition for the people from the case of their fathers whom the
Lord sent into captivity for their sins; vs. 8-17 is the first symbolic
vision, viz., of horses and their riders, and vs. 17-21 the second, of
four horns, and of smiths to break those horns in pieces and destroy
their power for harm.
1. In  the  eighth  month, in  the second  year of
Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the
son of Barachiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,
Zechariah is said (Ezra 5: 1) to be the son of Iddo the prophet.
We must suppose that " son " is used there in its less rigid sense,
for grandson. Iddo is perhaps made prominent there as his ancestor, because he was a prophet.




296                ZECIARIAHI.-CHIAP. I.
2. The LoRD hath been sore displeased with  your
fathers.
The statements of the history respecting this sore displeasure
of God against their fathers are abundant and very strong.. (See
2 Chron. 36: 11-16, and 2 Chron. 33, and 2 Kings 21: 2-16.)
3. Therefore, say thou unto them, Thus saith the
LoRD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts,
and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.
In view of God's wrath against their fathers and its results in
the desolation of their city and land, the Lord commissions Zechariah to say to the people then present: "Turn unto me in
penitence, and I will turn unto you in forgiving love and mercy."
This is the standing law of God's moral kingdom in this world of
probation.-The reader will notice the frequent yet not "vain
repetition" of the divine title, "the Lord of hosts," the Great
Ruler of the celestial armies, the King of the universe.
4. Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former
prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of
hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, andfrorn your
evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me,
saith the LORD.
5. Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets,
do they live for ever?
6. But, my words and my statutes which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take
hold of your fathers? And they returned 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.
With great pertinence and force the Lord exhorts them not to
be as their fathers, stiff-necked, obdurate, reckless of the warnings
and entreaties sent them of God by.the former prophets. W-here
are those fathers now? Gone from the world where they became
so fearfully hardened in their sins,; gone from the land they polluted by their abominations and. cursed. by their persistence in
rebellion; gone to their righteous but most fearful doom! It were
well for the children to think often of those fathers and ask, Where
are they?-  The prophets, too, having seriedE their generation
amid sore trials and heart-griefs unutterable, had- gone to their
blissful reward. Let the people consider!.Did not the words
which God sent by those former prophets " take hold of your fathers 2"
Did they slip off as things of loose grasp, and prove void of result? Did not those awful threatenings hold on, and have not
you yourselves seen and felt the terrible judgments which thosoe



ZECHARIAI. —CHAP. I.           297
words portended?  They themselves were forced to admit this.
They returned and said, i. e., they took a new and better view of
the case under the pressure of appalling facts, and then they saidAll that God thought and threatened to do unto us as a nation, he
has done I Let their children take warning!
7. Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh
month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of
Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the
son of Barachiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,
8. I saw by 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 were there red horses,
speckled, and white.
9. Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And
the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew
thee what these be.
10. And the man 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.
11. And they answered the 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.
12. Then the angel of the LoRD answered and said,
O LORD of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on
Jerusalem 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 witth good words and comfortable words.
14. So the angel that communed with me said unto
me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I
am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great
jealousy.
15. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen
that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and
they helped forward the affliction.
16. Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to
Jerusalem with mercies: mine house shall be built in it,
saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched
forth upon Jerusalem.
13^




298                ZECIIARIAH. —CHAP. I.
17. Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LoRD of hostes
AMy cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad;
and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose
Jerusalem.
These verses comprise one entire and distinct vision, the first in
a series, and of symbolic character. The symbols represent the
executive forces by which the Lord administers his providential
government over the nations. The special aim here is-(1.) To
assure the HIebrew people that God had more judgments to send on
the nations that had oppressed them; and (2.) That he would greatly
augment the growth and prosperity of Zion. So much for the
general scope of the passage. - As to the particulars, let us note
that this is a night-vision, presented to the mind's eye of the
prophet by special divine agencies. -That men riding on horses
are used to represent the executive forces of God's reign over the
nations is due (we may suppose) to the use of post-horses as vehicles
of the royal mandates, as the nerves of communication (so to speak)
from the working brain on the throne to the remotest organs of his
will in all his distant provinces. They seem to be thought of here
rather as explorers to observe and report, than as executioners.
-The reader will better understand this representation if he will
be at the pains to classify the personages of the scene-what are
sometimes called " the dramatis personae " —thus: (1.) The man
riding upon a red horse (v. 8), who stood (on horseback) among the
myvrtle-trees in the shaded vale, at the head of others, also on horses
of various colors; the same who (v. 10) explained and said, " These
are they whom the Lord hath sent," &c., to whom the other horsemen report (v. 11); and to whom prayer is offered as " the Lord of
hosts " (v. 12); and who answers so kindly (v. 13). This can be no
other than the uncreated angel-the very Son of God, so often if
not always the God revealed and made manifest in all the ages
before his incarnation. (2.) Next are his attendants, on horses,
representing angels proper; those "'ministers of his who do his
pleasure," and whom he continually employs in the administration
of his providential government on earth. They appear (v. 8) where
it must be assumed that the horses have riders upon them; also
(v. 11), they report what they have seen in their mission to and fro
through the earth. (3.) The revealing angel, specially attendant
upon the prophet as his interpreter, usually called "the angel
that talked with me," e. g., v. 9, 13, and also in v. 14, where our
translators have given the same Hebrew word another rendering,
"' that communed with me."  It is the same angel who offers the
prayer (v. 12), since the answer (v. 13) is given to him. That lie
offers this prayer is due to his strong sympathy with the prophet,
to whom he was a sort of guardian angel.   This grouping of the
characters of this scene will help the reader to understand its significance. The horses and their riders are seen among the myrtletrees in a shladly vale —both the mlyrtles and the vile indicating the




ZECHARIAHI.-CHAP..                 299
low and humble condition of God's people and kingdom, especially
at that time, yet showing us plainly that however low and humble
in human estimation, God woas in the midst of themn, and did not
disdain to reveal precisely there his glorious Son, and under him
the angels clothed in might as the executive servants of his reign
among the nations.- No other speciality of meaning can be safely
assigned to the color of these horses, except that red commonly
indicates war-scenes of blood, and that the variety may suggest
that God's agency embraces all varieties of manifestation-curses
and blessings, war and peace.-  The prophet asks his attendant
angel what those horses and their riders mean. He promises to
show him, but the statement is given by the personage first seen and
standing in the foreground of the picture —the Great Uncreated
Angel of Jehovah —'" These are they whom  the Lord sends to
traverse the whole earth." Then they themselves come forward
and make their report in the hearing of the prophet:'" We have
traversed the earth, and lo, all the nations are still and at rest."
Even those great powers which had so cruelly oppressed the Jews
were not receiving their deserved retribution. This is the main
point of their report. —Upon this, the revealing angel, warming
in sympathy with the prophet and his people, cries —" How long,
O Lord, ere thou wilt have mercy on Jerusalem and on Judah, upon
which thou hast manifested thine indignation now seventy years? "
- To this the Lord answers with words of comfort and cheer.
He has purposed to scourge and soon to destroy that fierce
Chaldean power, and he will surely lift up Jerusalem.- V. 15
may be paraphrased thus: "I am  very sore displeased with
Chaldea and Edom: I was comparatively a little displeased with
my people, Judah and Jerusalem, and therefore I suffered those
powers to come down on the holy city and land; but they augmented that infliction; they gave vent to their cruel and vindictive
spirit, and have quite overdone the work which I commissioned
them  to do. For this, they are to have a fearful doom." —In
v. 16, the Lord promises to return in mercy and to help onward the
rebuilding of the city; and in v. 17, that the population should
overpass the city walls and fill the adjacent country. —" Will yet
choose Jerusalem " —means, will yet manifest his loving choice of
her by appropriate mercies.
18. Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold
four horns.
19. And I said unto the angel that talked with me,
What be these? And he answered me, These are the
horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.
20. And the LoRD shewed me four carpenters.
21. Then said I, What come these to do? And he
spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered
Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: bnt these




300               ZECHARIAI. —CEHAP. II.
are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gen
tiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah
to scatter it.
This second vision is closely connected in significance with the
first, looking especially to the destruction of those heathen-powers
which "had scattered Judah and Jerusalem."  The "horn" is a
natural emblem of power. The number, four, does not count so
many hostile nations, but rather means all, in every quarter of the
earth, toward every cardinal point of the compass, who have been
pushing and scattering the saints of God. —The word rendered
"' carpenters," should be " smiths," workers in iron or other metals, and therefore armed with suitable instruments for breaking
horns.  The word "'fray," mostly obsolete as a verb, means to
frighten. The next verb, rendered " cast out," has a stronger sense
— cast down to the ground, so as altogether to paralyze their power
for harm.-  This prediction was fulfilled shortly after. Chaldea
revolted against its late Medo-Persian conquerors during the reign
of this same Darius. He consequently attacked and subdued them,
and then greatly marred the military strength and glory of Babylon. Thenceforward Chaldea was no more felt or feared as a power
among the nations.
CHAPTER II.
Tms chapter introduces one vision and has but a single theme.
The vision presents a man going forth to measure Jerusalem; but
he is soon stopped, and it is announced that Jerusalem shall be so
prosperous and populous that her people shall overpass her former
limits and fill the adjacent country with unwalled villages (vs. 1-4).
God will dwell in the. midst of her, revealing his glory there; her
captive children are exhorted to flee out of Babylon and hasten
home. In the greatness of her future prosperity, many other
nations shall join themselves unto the Lord (vs. 5-13).
1. I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and
behold a man with a measuring line in his hand.
2. Then said I, Whither goest thou? And he said
unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the
breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof.
3. And behold, the angel that talked with me went
forth, and another angel went out to meet him,
4. And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man,
saying, Jerusalem'shall be inhabited as towns without
walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein:
In this vision a man is seen with a measuring line, going forth




ZECIIARIAH. —CIAP. II.              301
to measure Jerusalem-probably its dimensions before its recent
destruction-as if preparing to rebuild it on the same foundations.
— The angel that talked with the prophet went forth (i. e., from
the prophet) and another angel came forth (it may be supposed)
from  the Lord, to meet him and to say tp him: Hasten to
that youhg man who has the measuring line, and tell him there
is no occasion to measure the old limits of the city; the new one
shall spread out beyond her former walls, and her people shall live
in the surrounding country without walls, because of the multitude
of men and of cattle. —In this passage, the point most in dispute
among critics is the question-Who is this " young man "'? (v. 4).
Some say he is the prophet Zechariah; others, that he is the " man
with a measuring line " of v. 1-an appropriate work for an active
young man. I incline to the latter view, especially because v. 4
implies that the measurement of the city is arrested for reasons
there given. The whole scene was designed to impress vividly
upon the prophet and his people the great promise of God respecting the growth, prosperity, and glory of the new city, and ultimately of that spiritual Zion of which this was the outward
symbol.
5. For I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of
fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of
her.
The connection of thought here is admirable: Think no more
of walls to be rebuilt for the new city, nor of costly outlays to
beautify and adorn it; " for I, saith the Lord, will be myself her
wall," even "a wall of fire round about her;" and I will be her
adornment also-even "a glory in the midst of her."  This magnificent promise we cannot suppose to have been exhausted in the
days of Zechariah, nor in the entire period before the incarnation
of the Son of God; but preeminently then when He, the great Incarnation of God, became manifest in human flesh in the midst of
his Zion. Yet its fulfilment began in those days of Zion's reformation and rebuilding. Our divine Lord reasserted essentially the
same thing and made it a promise of perpetual love to his Church,
when he said, "Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the
world."
6. Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the
north, saith the LORD: for I have spread you abroad as
the four winds of the heaven, saith the LORD.
7. Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the
daughter of Babylon.
This call summons all Jews still remaining in Chaldea to return,
especially to escape from the judgments God was soon to bring on
Babylon. Babylon is "the land of the north."  (See Jer. 6: 1-22,
and 16: 15.) - This call to escape contemplates (probably) that




302               ZECHARiAII.-CiIAP. IT.
impending devastation of Babylon referred to in the notes-on Zech.
1: 21.   The Lord had scattered them abrod as if the winds from
every quarter of the heavens had been combined for this work.
This is the most natural sense of the words "' as the four winds of
heaven "-i. e., would do it. So, in Isa. 64: 6, and Job 30: 15. A
different phrase is used to express the sense —into or toward the
four quarters of the heavens; as in Jer. 49: 32-36.
8. For thus saith the LorD of hosts: After the glory
hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for
he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
Here two points may need each a word of explanation, viz., the
sense of the phrase " after the glory," and the identification of the
persons "he " and "me," in the clause "he hath sent me," &c."After the glory" is an elliptical, shortened phrase, looking to v.
5, and meaning that after having become the glory of Zion by revealing himself as her king, her refuge, and protector, it followed
naturally that he should be sent to scourge the nations that had
spoiled Jerusalem, i. e., the Chaldeans, and perhaps the Edomites
also.- As to the persons "he" and "me," in the phrase "he
hath sent me," &e., the language implies that the speaker who calls
himself the "Lord of hosts," has been sent by some one referred
to as "' he;  "  he hath sent me," &c. The one thus " sent " can be
no other than the leading personage in the vision (1: 8-13), there
seen on a red horse (v. 8); to whom the other horsemen report (v.
11); to whom the angel interpreter offers prayer (v. 12); and
moreover the same personage who in 2: 5 says, "I will be a glory
in the midst of her," i. e., the Son of God. —The antecedent of
" he " is implied in thought, rather than expressed in word; yet can
be no other than the infinite Father-often represented in the Scriptures as sending the Son-here on a mission of providential judgments on the guilty nations that had desolated Jerusalem. —— The
reason assigned is beautifully significant of the tenderness of even
the Father's love toward his people. We often see manifestations
of tenderness in Jesus Christ while wearing our nature in its human weaknesses; but here Jesus says of his Father-" He that
toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye."  "Toucheth "-in
the sense of doing harm. The apple is the pupil of the eye, which
the Hebrews call the littlk man of the eye, or as here, the little boy
of the eye, both terms coming probably from the fact that, looking
into the eye, you see a miniature picture of yourself. —Can we
realize the precious truth taught here-that God feels every injury
done to his people, as we feel a wound in the apple of our eye?
Then let us forever dismiss and discard the cruel assumption that
the Infinite God has little or no sympathy with our spiritual life,
with the real welfare of his people, the interests of his truth, and
the cause of human salvation!
9. For, behold, T wfill shale my hand upon them,




ZECHARIAH. —CHAP. II.                303
and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall
know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me.
Immanuel, as the God of universal providence, sent to the nations that had wasted Zion, here declares what he will do, and calls
special attention to it: " I will shake or wave my hand over them "
-so much only being necessary to indicate to the executioners of
his will what they were to do; and "they shall become a spoil to
those who have heretofore been their servants;" i. e., the nations
some time in servitude under Chaldea now rise up, overcome, and
spoil her. —-Ye shall know by your experience of divine blessings
that my commission is truly divine.   It is remarkable that the
phrase "the Lord of hosts " is used interchangeably of the Father
and the Son: of the Father here; of the Son in v. 8, and elsewhere
in this and the previous chapter. No other explanation of this is
needed save the fact that this name is equally applicable to either,
and that the Scriptures in some cases represent the Father and in
some cases the Son, as admlinistering the government of this world.
10. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for lo, I
come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the
LORD.
Closely parallel with this is Zech. 9: 9: There-" Rejoice grently, 0 daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold,
thy king cometh unto thee," &c. here, as the reader will see, " Sing
and rejoice," for lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee,
saith the Lord, i. e., Jehovah. This close similarity strengthens
the evidence that the speaker here is the promised Messiah, and
that this promised coming can be exhausted in nothing less than his
appearance in human flesh, and indeed in nothing less than his
abiding presence (spiritually) with his people "to the end of the
world."  This abiding presence, in somewhatlower forms, he manifested from the time of Zechariah onward to his incarnation.All this is indeed occasion for exultant joy.
11. And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in
that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in
the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LorPD of
hosts hath sent me unto thee.
Christ's coming to dwell incarnate and subsequently by his
Spirit, the Comforter, would result in the calling of the Gentiles
into his Church, and ultimately in the gathering of many nations,
and in their becoming joined in the relationships of love and trust to
their redeeming Saviour and king. —— lere recurs again that expressive phrase —" Thou shalt know " (in thine own blest experience) that I am sent of the Eternal Father, that the work is not
mine alone, but his as well-evermore sustained by the common
sympathy and the cooperative agency of each and of both.




304               ZECIARIAtI. —CHAP. III.
12. And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in
the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem  again.
"Inherit," in the sense of having them as indeed his own
peculiar people, with their most hearty concurrence and true
devotion to his service. This verse manifestly had its special fulfilment in the nearer future-already apparent in the time of this
prophet.
13. Be silent, O all flesh, before the LoRD: for he is
raised up out of his holy habitation.
So glorious are these promises, so magnificent and momentous
these achievements, that the prophet gives utterance to his sense of
the impressive presence of Jehovah, who works them all, by saying
— " Be silent, O all flesh, before " such a God, so present in this
guilty world, " for he hath roused himself up from his holy habitation," and is about to gird himself for solemn and mighty issues!
CHAPTER III.
THIS chapter records another distinct and entire vision, in which
Joshua, the high priest, is the prominent personage. lie appears,
not in his own person, but as representing the priesthood, and particularly in their depressed condition at that time. The vision aims
to show that God does not reject but forgives and restores the
priesthood, and indeed will at length make it perpetual in the person of his Messiah.
1. And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LOR.D, and Satan standing at
his right hand to resist him.
The tense of the Hebrew verb connects this verb closely with
the preceding: " And then he caused me to see Joshua the high
priest standing," engaged in his official ministrations before the
uncreated angel Immanuel; and Satan, the well-known adversary
of-God's people, standing at his right hand to act the Satan against
him-literally to " Satan " him- the Hebrew for Satan meaning to
persecute, oppose, resist. Bearing in mind, that the high priest was
by virtue of his office a representative man, officiating for the people before the Lord, and remembering the low estate of their entire
religious system at this time, it need not surprise us that the people
should be sinfully despondent and weak of faith. Probably this
was the great sin which is here represented by the filthy garments
of the priest. It is fully in character for Satan to take advantage of
their unbelief, and thrust forward his plea against their being forgiven or in any wise accepted before God. He dreaded the present
and prospective revival in their religious state, and roused himself




ZECHARIAH.-CHAP. III.                305
(as is his wont) to head it off at the outset. Is not he a very
devil?
2. And the LoRD said unto Satan, The LoRD rebuke
thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of
the fire?
He who in v. 1 is called "the angel of the Lord," is here " the
Lord," " Jehovah." So also in the phrase " The Lord rebuke thee,"
" Jehovah " is the word for " Lord," showing that this term is applied interchangeably to both the Father and the Son.   The
clause, " The Lord rebuke thee," is repeated, both for the greater
emphasis, and in-order to connect with it the consolatory wordshe, the same that has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes thee. The term
" choose " here, as in 1: 17 and 2: 12, implies God's special love for
Jerusaldm as representing his own people. —" Is not this a brand
plucked out of the fire? I" implies that after the fires of utter destruction were already kindled upon her, the Lord plucked her out and
extinguished the fires. Having done so much to save her and at
such personal risk, would the Lord give her up to Satan now?This language ig used by Amos (4: 10), and may be borrowed from
him.-Commenting on these verses, Dr. Henderson raises the
question as to the ground of Satan's opposition, and remarks that
the passage does not inform us; but that he finds a clue to it in
Jude 9, in which passage he adopts the construction which resolves
" the body of Moses " into the Jewish church, and assumes a reference there to this passage in Zechariah. But in that dispute it was
Michael the archangel who contended with the devil; in this, it is
the Lord Jehovah, not to say also that Jude's language, " the body
of Moses," should by no means be made to mean any thing else but
his physical, veritable body, without good reason.  The literal
sense, if admissible, as it is here, has the prior claim.
3. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments,
and stood before the angel.
4. And he answered and spake unto those that stood
before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from
him.  And unto him  he said, Behold, I have caused
thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee
with change of raiment.
The Mosaic law prescribed the priest's garments very minutely, and made great account of them as indicative of the moral
purity requisite in those who came before God. Here the filthy,
garments represent the sins of the people, probably (as suggested'
above) their unbelief and despondency at that time, and their long
and guilty wanderings from God into idolatry in past time, from,
which they were only now returning. -He stood before the




306               ZECIIARIAI-I.-CHAP. III.
divine angel who, in v. 4, pardons sin. This divine personage says
to his attendant angels: "Take those filthy garments away;" and
to Joshua, " See, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and
I will clothe thee with festive garments," such as the priests should
wear on holy days. This removing of his sin is a representative
thing, its import being, not that the Lord forgives his personal sin,
but rather the sins of the people, and practically rcinangurates the
long disused functions of the priesthood. As if he would say to all
the people: " Return to the modes of worship enjoined upon your
fathers in the wilderness; your own covenant-keeping God will
hear your prayers and accept your offerings through the High
Priest of his own appointment. The great sins of your nation before and during the captivity are forgiven, and again the way is
open to you for acceptable worship before him and for confidence
in his love." —-V. 4 commences: "He 1" (the angel Jehovah)
"answered."  But the narrative has nothing that called,. for an
answer. Frequently, in both the Old Testament and the New, the
word "answer " refers to something thought but not expressed; in
the present case, to the silent prayer of Joshua standing before the
Lord as a sinner, that God would forgive him. To this unuttered
prayer the answer comes.
5. 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 angel of the LORD
stood by.
The original word, rendered "I said," Dr. Henderson thinks
should have its vowels changed so as to read, "And he "(the Lord)
" said." He pleads for this change on the ground that it would be
impertinent for the prophet to speak here. I do not see force enough
in this objection to justify a change of the text. The prophet's request I attribute to his deep sympathy with the transaction —a sympathy upon which his Lord would not frown, and which in his eye
would readily atone for any seeming impertinence. —The prophet
saying in his heart as he saw the filthy garments taken away, "That
is good," begged that his head-dress might be changed as well. His
request was at once complied with. —In the last clause, some suppose that the angel of the' Lord stood by, as supervising the transaction till all was complete, thus expressing his deep personal interest;
while others render it simply stood, as if he rose up preparatory to
the solemn asseveration recorded in the next verse. I prefer the
former construction, with our English version.
6. And the angel of the Loan protested unto Joshua,
saying,
7. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If thou wilt walk
in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou
shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts,




ZECHARIJA.-CHIAP  III.                 307
and I will give thee places to walk among these that
stand by.
The word rendered " protest" means to affirm with special solemnity, to asseverate. —In the word " charge," the margin is
more true to the original, "ordinance."  Our translators seem to
have misapprehended the word rendered " places to walk." *  It
is a participle, with the sense of guides, attendants, who shall aid you
to walk-cause you to walk safely. They are to come from among
"these that stand by "-his own attendant, ministering angels. It is
a plain promise of the aid of ministering angels. The essential meaning of the verse is clear: " If thou art both obedient and faithful,
thou shalt be established in the priesthood, thy services shall be accepted before me, and thou shalt have ministering angels to lead
and aid thee in thy work."
8. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou and thy
fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at:
for behold, I will bring forth my servant The BRANCH.
This call of Joshua's special attention implies that statements are
to be made of things highly important. The word rendered " thy
fellows," means thy associates in the priesthood, the subordinate
priests who served under the general direction of the high priest.
— In the rendering "they are men wondered at," few readers
would be likely to see the true idea, which is-they are men of
typical character, men who are significant signs or representatives
of the great intercession, performed for God's people by Jesus Christ,
their Great High Priest. The most literal rendering is "men of
wonder." See the same use of the word, Isa. 8: 18 and 20: 3 Ezek.
12:6, 11, and 24: 24, 27. In this line of thought the prophet gives a
striking prediction of the Messiah. The course of thought is: " Hear
and give special heed, O Joshua, thou high priest, and thy attendant
priests also, for ye are all typical men; for lo, I shall soon cause to
appear among men my servant the Branch! " —The original
for "bring forth" does not refer specifically to his human birth
of a virgin, but to his being caused to come down to our world, and
so to appear among men.  The word "branch" should not carry
our thought to a branch in the sense of limb, as one among many
on the same tree, but to the one shoot which springs up from the
root, and which, though small at first, becomes a tree of wonderful
qualities. The word seems to be chosen because it well expresses
the humble origin of the Messiah, and the small beginnings of his
work, and also his descent from the stock of David as to his human
nature. It occurs as a name for the Messiah in Isa. 4: 2; Jer. 23: 5
and 33: 15; and Zech. 6: 12. "' My servant" is also a well-known
designation of the Messiah, occurring Isa. 42:1, and 49: 3, 5, 6, and
52: 13, and 53: 11. The earliest Jewish expositors known to us in-,t. *'.




308               ZECIIARIAII.-CHAP. IIT.
terpret this passage of the Messiah. The Chaldean ParaphrasE
(older than the Christian era) reads it: " Behold, I bring my servant
the Messiah, who will be revealed."
9. For behold the stone that I have laid before
Joshua; upon one stone shall be 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.
This verse brings forward another great truth, manifestly regarded as one of high importance, since special attention is called
to it. The first and main inquiry is, What is this "stone"@?Note what is said of it. It is laid before the high priest Joshua,
manifestly to be under his care; the seven eyes of God-his perfect
eye-are upon it; it is not a stone to be built on, but to be engraved-wrought with the chisel into forms of beauty; and finally,
the real thing signified by it must have some natural connection
with the great work of Christ's atonement, in which, by one offering, "in one day," he bore away the sins of men. All these conditions cannot be fulfilled in the foundation stone of the temple,
although not improbably the stones of the temple suggested this
figure of a stone. They are, however, all fulfilled in the living
Church of God, and in nothing else. God's Church was then, laid
before Joshua," in the sense of being put under his charge; then,
as ever, the perfect eye of God was upon it; its engraving into
forms of spiritual beauty is eminently God's work by the chisel of
his providence, and by the agency of his Spirit; and finally, the
sins of this Church Christ took away by that one offering of himself on Calvary. —— By a figure somewhat analogous to this, Christians are said to be "the temple of the living God" (2 Cor. 6: 16),
and' his building" (1 Cor. 3: 9), and "living stones, built up a
spiritual house" (1 Peter 2: 5). —The passage Zech. 4: 10 definitely alludes to this verse, and asserts that " they are the eyes of
the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth." The
usage of accounting seven as the perfect number seems to have been
oriental, and not merely Jewish-pervading the literature of the
East, and not restricted to Palestine.-These truths were well
adapted to inspire the people with fresh confidence in God as their
present Friend and Guardian, interested evermore in the spiritual
culture of his people, and purposing to use the priesthood again, as
in early days, as his instrument in the spiritual training of his people; and at the same time signifying that a more perfect atonement
would be made-finished and complete-"in one day," and not
needing, therefore, perpetual sacrifices, year by year, which never
could do their work perfectly. (See ieb. 7: 27, 9:9, 25, 26, and
10: 1-4.)
10. In that day, saith the LoRD of hosts, shall ye call




ZECIIARIAH. —CHAP. IV.               309
every man his neighbor under the vine and under the
fig-tree.
In that filture day, when the Messiah shall be revealed, "the
iniquity of his people be taken away in one day," and their spiritual discipline be made effective to their sanctification, there
will be superabounding joy and blessedness, beautifully represented
here by the common Jewish conception of reposing in peace and in
love under the vine and the fig-tree. -The last words of the verse
— " under the vine and under the fig-tree "-are given here as the
very language of the call. Every man shall cry to his neighbor,
" Ho! under the vine and under the fig-tree; " come and let us
have peace and rest, enjoying the gifts of our bountiful God!
CHAPTER IV.
Tins chapter is another complete vision, having one set of symbols, illustrating one leading truth, viz., that the only perpetual
fountain of power for spiritual life and labor is in God, and reaches
man through his Spirit.
1. And the angel that talked with me came again,
and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep,
This verse has special interest, because of the analogy it gives
us to illustrate the mental, state of the prophet while enjoying prophetic visions.. His angel interpreter came and "zwaked him,"
arousing his mind into a new state of activity, corresponding to the
ordinary change from sleeping to waking. Of course, it is only by
experience that any one can know every thing pertaining to this
prophetic state. Its powers must be quite analogous to those of a
new sense, and we do not need to be told that each of our five
senses must give its own sensations and impressions. No one of
them can perform this service for another; the eye cannot give us
sounds, nor the ear colors. We must have the prophetic sense before we can hope to have the prophetic sensations or impressions, or
to know them perfectly.
2. And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said,
I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold,
with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps
thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are
upon the top thereof:
3. And two olive-trees by it, one upon the right side
of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.
In this vision the symbols and their meaning are plain. Christians are. the lights of the world. Churches are candlesticks, and




310               ZECHARIAH. —CIHAP. IV.
their members luminous bodies, candles or lamps, revealing lighllt
concerning God in this otherwise very dark world.-  Here, heii,
are one golden candlestick; a bowl or reservoir on the top of it, to
contain oil; two olive-trees, one on each side, for supplying the oil;
and pipes or tubes (v. 2 seems to say seven in number, and v. 12
two), to carry the oil from the tree to the reservoir. This is essentially the apparatus for supplying light. That the candlestick is
all of gold indicates its excellence-the value, in God's sight, of the
Church, and of living, shining Christians.
4. So I answered and spake to the angel that talked
with me, saying, What are these, my lord? 
5. Then the angel that talked with me answered and
said unto me, KInowest thou not what these be? And
I said, No, my lord.
6. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying,
This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying,
Not by miight, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the
oLRn of hosts.
These symbols, interpreted into literal language, amount to this
word which the Lord sends to Zerubbabel, then the governor of
Judah, and in charge of the great work then present and pressingthe rebuilding of the temple: "Not by might, nor by power, but
by my Spirit, saith the Lord." The work upon which you labor
seems to you very difficult-often, perhaps, too great for your resources; but know that success is not by any human power alone,
but by the Spirit of God. This Spirit supplies the oil that feeds the
lamps. Christian souls and religious institutions correspond to the
lamps and to the machinery which supplies them; but the living
fountain of oil is of the Lord alone by his Spirit. This is the precious doctrine of the New Testament as well as of the Old. Paul
loved to say, man may labor, " God alone giveth the increase." (See
1 Cor. 3: 5-9.)'7. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt beeomze a plain: and he shall bring
forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, cryiny, Grace,
grace, unto it.
Obstacles, high and strong as great mountains, may seem to
block the prosecution of this work; but say in the hearing of your
governor, "Who art thou, great mountain," that thou shouldst
think to withlstand this work of God? " Before Zerubbabel become
thou a plain! "-a summons to the great mountain of difficulty and
opposition to lie low before the Lord's servant, and cease to retard
his efforts.  The " headstone " seems most naturally to mean the
crowning topstone, put on at the completion of the temple. This
would be put on with loud ascriptions of praise to divine grace for




ZECHARIAH.-CHAP. IV.                 311
the effective power which had carried the work through to its final
consummation.
8. Moreover the -word of the LORD camne unto me,
saying,
9. The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation
of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou
shalt know that the LonD of hosts hath sent me unto you.
This message translates into literal language the symbols of the
vision (vs. 2, 3, 11-14), and the strong poetic imagery of v. 7.
Through mercy and help from God, ZQrubbabel shall finish the
building of the temple, and the people shall know, when they experience this fulfilment, that the Lord has truly sent his prophet to
them.
10. For who hath despised the day of small things?
for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the
hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes
of the Lorn, which run to and fro through the whole
earth.
Here is an additional word to those who have been greatly discouraged in the rebuilding of the temple and painfully impressed
by its insignificance, compared with the greatness and splendor of
the former one. I translate-" For who have despised the day of
small things? Let them rejoice when they see the plumb-lead in
the hands of Zerubbabel; those seven-the eyes of the Lord are
they, ranging through all the earth." -The words " those seven "
are somewliat abrupt, but manifestly refer to the passage (3: 9),
"Upon one stone are seven eyes;" and they are immediately explained to be the eyes of the Lord, which never fail to see any of
the least possible things in all the earth. They traverse the universe, and take cognizance of every thing. Let the disheartened
dismiss their despondency when they see the plumb-line in the
hands of Zerubbabel for laying out this temple work, and especially
when they consider that the perfect eye of the All-seeing One is
upon him, and that his universal, almighty agency guarantees the
execution of this work.   Dr. Henderson, by severely inverting
the order of the words, translates thus: "Who hath despised the
day of small things? For those seven eyes of Jehovah, which run
to and fro through the whole earth, rejoiced when they saw the
plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel."  He would make this the
sense: Let no man think lightly of that over which God rejoices.
B —  ut I very much prefer the construction given first in order
above, not only because it follows the order of the words without
any violent inversion, but because it avoids the harshness of saying
that " the eyes of God rejoiced; " and, yet further, because the eyes
of God are introduced here, not as themselves rejoicing, but as a reason why his people should rejoice, and why they should trust impli(eit



312               ZECHARIAH. —CIIAP. V.
ly in his promise to carry the work through. This most vital idea is
missed and lost in Dr. Henderson's translation.
11. Then answered I, and said unto him, What are
these two olive-trees upon the right sicde of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?
12. And I answered again, and said unto him, What
be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?
13. And he answered me and said, Knowest thou
not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
14. Then said he, These are the two anointed ones,
that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.
The prophet still seeks a fuller explanation of the two olivetrees and of the olive clusters in the symbolic vision, and at last
obtains it. They represent the two anointed ones (Heb. " sons of
oil "), by which I understand the two anointed orders-the civil
rulers and the priests. Both of these classes were inaugurated into
their work by being anointed with oil-the significance being the
same in each case, yiz., that God imparts the graces of his Spirit to
qualify them for the functions of their office.   I prefer to apply
the phrase, "the two anointed ones," to the two orders, kings and
priests, rather than to the two individuals then filling those offices, Zerubbabel and Joshua, because this provision for oil through these
conducting tubes was not transient, limited to the lifetime of these
two men, but permanent-to continue so long as God should give
them kings and priests; and especially because permanence was a
cardinal idea in the symbol. Its special intent was to show that the
God of Israel still honored his own institutions as of old, and would
do so onward into the distant future. -These anointed kings and
priests stand before rather than " by " the Lord of the whole earth
-standing being the appropriate attitude for servants in the presence of their masters, preeminently so for the servants of the Most:igh God.
CHAPTER V.
THIs chapter comprises two visions-a flying roll, and a woman
sitting in an ephah-both denoting the judgments of God on his
chosen people, considered as having filled up the measure of their
iniquities.
1. Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and
looked, and behold a flying roll.
2. And he said unto me, What seest thou?  And I




ZECHARIAI. —CHAP. V.                 313
answered, I see a flying roll; the length  thereof is
twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.
This roll is to be thought of as being the ancient form of book or
volume, made of parchment or prepared skins; but immensely
large, the dimensions being those of the porch in front of Solomon's
temple. (See 1 Kings 6: 3.) This correspondence cannot be supposed to be accidental. Hence we must conclude it was intended to
intimate that this "fiery law " and its judgments come forth from
their God, who dwelt in the temple.   That it was seen " flying,"
showed that it hastened to its work. Ezekiel's roll (2: 8-10) probably suggested this symbol.
3. Then  said he unto me, This is the curse that
goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every
one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side, according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as
on that side, according to it.
This further explanation shows that this flying roll symbolizes the
curse of the Almighty going forth over the earth for execution upon
the guilty. The roll, like Ezekiel's, was written on both sides, and
it would seem that the first table of the law was written on one
side-the second on the other. The case of the false swearer represents all sins against the precepts of the first table; the case of the
thief, all sins against the second. According to the high behest of
this law of God, now going forth to punish violations against itself,
the thief is cut off according to the law written on one side; the
swearer, according to the law written on the other.
4. I will bring it forth, said 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 remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume
it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.
The Lord brings forth this flying roll, and causes it to enter the
house of every sinner against the law of God. It abides there, and
utterly consumes every vestige of his habitation-a terribly vivid
representation of God's judgments upon all unpardoned sin! To
think of the law itself as written out, and its written record then
armed with power to search out every sinner, enter into his house and
there consume every thing-all his ill-gotten wealth, the last crumb
of his accumulated comforts, and finally himself-this surely nmust
imply a ruin for the guilty from which there can be no escape, and
in which there can be no alleviation.
5. Then the angel that talked with me went forth,
and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what
is this that goeth forth.
14




314               ZECIIARIAI. —CHAP. V.
6. And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an
ephah that goeth forth.  He said moreover, This is their
resemblance through all the earth.
7. And behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead:
and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the
ephah.
8. And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it
into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of
lead upon the mouth thereof.
A new scene opens. The first apparent object is an ephah, the
largest Hebrew dry measure, corresponding to the common cornbasket of our country, containing by one computation one and
one-ninth bushels, and by another one and one-half. This is seen
"going forth," as if this also, like the flying roll, was hastening
to execute its mission. We shall probably best reach the sense
of this symbol if we remember that the Scripture speaks of sinners as " filling up the measure" of their iniquities (Matt. 23: 32,
and 1 Thess. 2: 16). Here is the largest-sized measure. A woman sits in it, who is explained to represent or symbolize " oicke(lness "-the sins, or, yet more precisely, the sinners of the covenant
people. The female person is a common symbol in the Scriptures
for a city with its masses of people, e. g., Babylon (Jer. 50 and 51;
Rev. 16:19 and 18: 2-11), Jerusalem (Lam. 1: 1 if). This woman,
therefore, represents strictly the Jewish people apostate from God,
having filled the measure of their iniquities, and now about to receive due retribution.  She is first seen (v. 7) sitting in the midst
of this large measure. Then he throws her down (" he " is God's
minister of vengeance) into the midst or bottom of the vessel, and
casts a weight of lead upon the mouth of the vessel, manifestly to
hold her down and prevent her escape.   The word rendered
"talent," i. e., of lead, means a large round lump, probably large
enough for its purpose, i. e., to fill the mouth of the vessel.-The
clause "This is their resemblance through all the earth," is interpreted variously. The original word is the common one for eye.
Some manuscripts, however, and other authorities, make a slight
change in the word itself, by which it would mean sin. Not improbably this change began with the attempt of some critic to make a difficult text more easy.-The reading eye some explain to mean their
intent, the thing they have their eye upon, viz., to sin on without
restraint, and fill up the measure of their iniquities. Others render,
as our received version does, "their resemblance " or appearance,
what they look like everywhere. In this sense of the word the
clause would mean that all over the land the moral condition of the
people who have filled up the measure of their sins is well represented by a large vessel, and a woman, personifying the whole sinning people, thrown down and confined in it, and awaiting her




ZECIIARIAII.-CIIAP. V.               315
doom. The ultimate meaning of the vision is much the same,
whichever of these two senses shall be given to the word in question. The latter certainly gives a good sense; the former is not bad
9. Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in
their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork:
and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and
the heaven.
10. Then said I to the angel that talked with me,
Whither do these bear the ephah?
11. And he said unto me, To build it an house in the
land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there
upon her own base.
Two women (are they not angelic forms?)-two, because so large
a burden required one on each side —come forth, the wind in their
wings to indicate the most rapid motion; and they bear the ephah
containing this woman far away into the land of Shinar (Babylon),
to fix for it there a permanent abode.   The main question here is,
whether this' is retrospective, looking back to the recent captivity
in Babylon; or prospective, predicting some future judgment on
the covenant people. —The latter view I accept: (1.) Because the
other visions throughout this series are prophetic, not historic.(2.) Because the late captivity in Babylon was transient; this is at
least very long. —(3.) Because that always contemplated a restoration: this gives no hint of any restoration, but the contrary.(4.) Because in v. 4 the "curse that goeth forth" inflicts judgments more severe and exterminating than those in the captivity to
Babylon, This vision of the ephah should correspond to that of the
roll.   There is no particular difficulty in applying this entire
chapter to the judgments that fell on the Jewish nation for their
rejection of their Messiah, according to their own imprecation" His blood be on us and on our children! "  The first instalment
of this doom came from the Romnan arms; the rest in the almost
universal persecution, dispersion, and reproach under which they
have suffered for ages. In this view of its prophetic significance,
"' Shinar" is used by way of historic allusion-a second Shinaranother captivity like that of Babylon, only more terrible, more
protracted, and (so far as appears here) not alleviated by the promise of restoration. " Shinar " was the country in which Babylon
lay (Gen. 11: 2, 9). Both these visions were intended as solemn
warnings to the people, at that time and onward, against violating
the law of God, and filling up ag'ain the measure of their national
sins. Such warnings were in their nature wholesome, and through
the divine mercy might long postpone that depth of depravity
which should be ultimately reached, and then be so terribly
punished.




316               ZECIARIAH.-CHAP. VI.
CHAPTER VI.
THIS chapter is in two quite distinct parts; the first a vision,
and the second a symbolic transaction. The vision (vs. 1-8) presents four chariots, and shows their mission. The syrbolic transaction (vs. 9-15) is the making of crowns and setting them on the
head of Joshua the high priest, who becomes the type of the
Messiah.
1. And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked,
and behold, there came four chariots out from between
two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of
brass.
2. In the first chariot were red horses; and in the
second chariot black horses;
3. And in the third chariot white horses; and in the
fourth chariot grizzled and bay horses.
4. Then I answered and said unto the angel that
talked with me, What are these, my lord?
5. And the angel answered and said unto me, These
are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from
standing before the Lord of all the earth.
6. The black horses which are therein go forth into
the north country; and the white go forth after them;
and the grizzled go forth toward the south country.
7. And the bay went forth, and sought to go that
they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he
said, Get ye hence, walk to and fro through the earth.
So they walked to and fro through the earth.
8. Then cried he upon me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, these that go toward the north country have
quieted my spirit in the north country.
As the fifth chapter predicted judgments on tile covenant people for their sins, this last vision (6: 1-8) predicts corresponding
judgments on the enemies of God's people.
The leading objects of vision here are four chariots drawn by
diverse-colored horses, red, black, white, and gray. They " come
forth from between two mountains of brass," to denote the amazing strength of that power of which they were the representative
agents, and, as some suppose, with a tacit reference to the geographical position of Jerusalem, it being but natural that these chariots,
symbolizing God's providential agencies among the nations of the
earth, should seem to proceed from him in his own place of abode




ZECIIARIAH. —CHAP. -VI.               317
at Jerusalem. Like the horses seen in the first vision (1: 8-13),
these chariots must be understood to represent, in pertinent symbols, those varied agencies of God's providential rule over nations,
by which he puts down one and sets up another, and in general
administers the retributions of an actual government. The principal shade of difference between the horses and their riders of the
first vision, and the chariots with their horses in this last, is that
the horses with their riders serve rather as scouts; the'chariots as
executioners: the riders on horses explore the state of the nations;
the chariots put in execution the mandates of Jehovah; or (nearer
to the expressive language of the text) they convey the very animus
of Jehovah-his spirit of indignation and retributive justice —and
cause it to fall on those guilty nations. As was remarked in the
notes on chapter 1, the use of post-horses in those vast oriental
kingdoms (Esth. 3: 13 and 8: 10) suggested their use in that vision, so here we may find a good reason for this symbolic use of the
chariot in the prominent place held by chariots of war in the armies of that day.   The explanation of the chariots (v. 5), " These
are the four spirits or winds of the heavens," should not suggest
to us the literal zwinds, nor any literal sense of the word spirit, but, as
already hinted, those invisible agencies of the divine hand in providence which act upon the nations of the earth, in judgments especially, but. in blessings also, as the case may be, constituting the
working forces of an actual administration of the government of
God over nations as such in the present world.   These chariots
"go forth from  standing before the Lord of all the earth," the
usual attitude of servants awaiting their orders, and going forth,
when bidden, to their execution.   It will be noted that two of
these chariots, that with black and that with white horses, go forth
toward the north country, Babylon, where the enemies specially
contemplated here were located. One chariot (v. 7) seems to have
had a very general commission 1" to traverse the whole earth," implying that these agencies of God's reign over the nations are not
restricted to any special district or to any one human kingdom, but
embrace them  all.- In v. 8 we read-" Behold, these that go
toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country," which translation can be understood rightly in no other sense
than that of quieting the spirit -of God by executing his righteous
indignation and giving scope to the retributions of justice. A less
ambiguous rendering would be-" have brought my anger down
upon the north country."  This is doubtless the sense of the passage. The judgments of God fell on Babylon for her too cruel oppression of -the covenant people. Darius, heading the Persian armies, was the first executioner of this wrath; the time, not long
after this prophecy was revealed. —The various color of the horses
may have been slightly significant, yet some interpreters incline to
make too much of it. It is manifestly one of the very subordinate
and less important things in the vision. Plainly the revealing angel, or it may perhaps be said, the recording mind, made little ac



318               ZECIIARIAEI. —CIAP. VI.
count of this feature, else we should find more accuracy in the
references to the different chariots. Thus we have at first four, designated by their horses, but the last span has a twofold description;
they are gray, and also active, fleet, this being the only sense of the
Hebrew word rendered " bay" (vs. 3, 7). When they are named
again, the red-colored disappear, and the chariot commissioned to
traverse the whole earth is indicated (very appropriately) as that
drawn by the active, fleet span. (The span that had the wide world
for their range should be preeminentlyfleet.) Thus the red are
dropped from view, and what was the fourth in the first description now becomes two. The twofold description given of its horses
is divided, and we leave two spans and two chariots out of the one.
-— This criticism may be thought of small importance. It is
chiefly valuable as showing that the color of the horses and the distinction of chariots is really in the eye of the revealing Spirit a
small and not important matter. The vital points are more cared
for, and are put with more accuracy. —Some critics suppose that
the two mountains are the kingdoms of Media and Persia. This
view is wide of their real significance. The material-" brass" or
copper-denotes the strength, not of any heathen nation whose
power God might use by overruling it, but of God himself, in reference specially to the deep, immovable foundations of his throne.
The location should be the supposed and indeed actual dwellingplace of God, i. e., among his people, in his temple at Jerusalem.
As the chariots represent his providential agencies, going forth on
their mission, so their head-quarters and starting-point, should be
the place of his abode. —— That they come forth from between
two mountains is due simply to the necessities of chariot-driving
in a mountainous country. They cannot run on the tops or sides
of rugged mountains, but only in the valley, which will be between
two mountains.
9. And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
10. Take of them  of the captivity, even of Heldai,
of Tobijah, of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon,
and come thou the same day, and go into the house of
Josiah the son of Zephaniah;
11. Then take silver and gold, and make crowns,
and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest;
12. And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the
LoRD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is
The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place,
and he shall build the temple of the LORD:
13. Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and
he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his




ZECHARIAII.-CHAP. VI.                319
throne: and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and
the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
14. And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to HIen the son of Zephaniah,
for a memorial in the temple of the LORD.
15. And they that are far off shall come and build
in the temple of the LoRD; and ye shall know that the
LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you.  And tlhis shall
come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the
LORD your God.
The series of visions is now closed, and we have here an actual
transaction of a symbolical character. That this is not a vision, but
is a real transaction, appears on the face of the record. It does
not open with " I saw by night" (as 1: 8); nor " I lifted up mine
eyes and saw'? (as 1: 18); nor "I lifted up mine eyes again" (as
22:1); nor "he showed me" (as 3:1l); nor as 4: 1 and 4: 5; nor
as 6: 1-all which statements testify that the scenes that follow respectively were witnessed in prophetic vision. On the contrary, this
is simply " The word of the Lord came unto me," as in 1: 1, and 7: 1,
and 8: 1, &c., where verbal communications are made. —Moreover, here is not a presentation of things to be seen by the prophet,
but a command respecting things to be done. And finally, these
crowns; after being made and solemnly placed on the head of the
high priest, were to be " laid up for a memorial in the temple of
the Lord," all indicating an actuality, things done in real life. —
The leading points are the preparation of crowns; the solemn coronation of the high priest; the accompanying announcement and
explanations, showing that the purport of the transaction was to
make Joshua a special type of the Messiah, and to reveal vastly
important truths respecting his person and relations to men; and
finally, to indicate that Gentile nations were to participate in the
services and the glories of his coming kingdom. —This seems to
have been a double crown, the word for crown being plural, the
verb (v. 14) being in the singular; and manifestly but one head, that
of Joshua, is crowned in the transaction. —-To obtain the silver
and the gold for its construction, the prophet is directed to go to
certain men here named, who are recently from Babylon, captive
Jews, who remained behind when the first company of their brethren left, and who seem to have come to Jerusalem now with a contribution from their brethren still behind, to aid in building the
temple. Josiah, son of Zephaniah, may have been the treasurer
of this fund; hence the direction to go with the other three without
delay to his house to draw the money. The original brings in the
phrase, "who are come from Babylon," at the end of the verse,
showing that Josiah, as well as the other three, was in the delegation from the captive Jews there. —Having made the crowns, he
sets them upon the head of Joshua the high priest, and then sol



320               ZECHARIAHI. —CHIAP. VI.
emnly announces from the Lord, "Behold the man-Branch is his
name; he shall branch" (shoot) "up from underneath himself"
(from his own humble root), "and he shall build the temple.of the
Lord."    As already indicated, the sense of the word rendered
" Branch" is shoot, the single stock that springs from the root and
becomes the one trunk of the tree. In the original the verb rendered " shall grow," is the same-shall shoot up. —The specially
emphatic declaration here is that this man-the Branch-" shall
build the temple of the Lord."  Hence this is solemnly repeated
(v. 13): " Even he " (he alone, and he in distinction from all others)
"shall build the temple of the Lord."  This cannot refer to the
temple then being built by Zerubbabel, for of this the Lord had
explicitly declared (4: 9), " The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the
foundations of this house, and his hands shall also finish it."  We
must therefore look to another temple, which can be none other
than that so often referred to in the New Testament, built by Jesus,
the Messiah, of which it is said, "ye " (Christians) " are the temple
of the living God" (2 Cor. 6: 16). "For the temple of God is
holy, which temple ye are" (1 Cor. 3: 16, 17). " Ye also, as living
stones, are built up a spiritual house," &c. (1 Peter 2: 5). — The
comprehensive idea embraces the spiritual kingdom of the Messiah,
of which the Jewish temple was an apposite symbol. In that ancient temple Jehovah dwelt, revealing his presence. So in this,
the presence of the Holy Ghost reclaims men's hearts to God, and
makes them pure before him.   Yet further: " He shall bear the
glory," i. e., preeminent glory, becoming the "head of all things
to his church," "King of kings" " moreover, and " Lord of lords."
" He shall sit and rule upon his throne," truly a king, not in Zion
alone, but over all the earth, or rather all the earth shall ultimately
become his Zion, since his kingdom shall in the latter days embosom
and absorb into itself all other kingdoms and all other love, obedience, and homage, so that it can be said truly, " The kingdoms of
this world have become the.kingdoms of our Lord and of his
Christ, and he (alone) shall reign for ever and ever."-  He shall
also " be a priest upon his throne," uniting these two functions in
his own person, and never ceasing to mediate for his people, and be
their great atoning sacrifice because of his exaltation to so great
power and glory on his throne. —The phrase "the counsel of
peace shall be between them both," does not refer to some second
person other than the Messiah, cooperating with him; nor does it
mean merely that Messiah as king and Messiah as priest shall be
harmonious and not conflicting, but rather that both as King and
as Priest, Messiah shall consult for and shall secure the peace, the
highest spiritual good of his people. The full energy of both relations shall be made subservient to the spiritual life and consequent
peace and blessedness of his children. — After these crowns had
served their temporary purpose in this typical inauguration of
Joshua the high priest, they were to be laid up in the temple of the
Lord, as a memorial for those four delegates who came up from




ZECHARIAIH. —CHAP. VII.               321
afar with those offerings of silver and gold for the temple. They
are now representative men, to indicate that people from afar, even
the Gentile nations, "shall come and build in the temple of the
Lord," i. e., shall come into the Christian Church, bringing into it
their wealth, their personal service, and the full homage of their
willing hearts. —-That they should come and build in the temple,
is Jewish costume, like that of Isaiah (ch. 60), to show that in the latter day, Gentile nations from all the ends of the earth shall swell
the hosts of the people of God and contribute their wealth and
their hearts to the greatness and. glory of his kingdom on earth.
— As usual with Zechariah, the final seal is put upon this glorious
prophecy: " Ye shall know by your own precious experience that
the Lord hath sent me to you to say these things."' They cannot
fail. —— The names of those four representative men are given differently, yet too much should not be made of this. Heldai, the
first one named (v. 10), becomes in v. 14 HIelem, a word of nearly
the same significance; while Josiah, son of Zephaniah (v. 16), becomes in v. 14 Hen, the son of Zephaniah, which is also of kindred
meaning. There are no certain data upon which to account for
these changes of names. These two men may have had each two
names, or there may be a play upon their first name by giving
another of similar significance; or the intent of it may have been
to call attention to the meaning of their names. The case is
scarcely of sufficient importance to justify or call for much speculation.-The last clause has the appearance of being broken off
abruptly, leaving the corresponding part to be supplied. " And it
shall come to pass if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord
your God".... (supply) all these promised blessings shall come
to you most abundantly. You shall have them on condition of
obeying the Lord diligently, but on no other.   So all the great
blessings of the gospel are, as to each of us, suspended on this condition of honest diligence and faithful obedience to the Lord our
God. Perhaps it was with the intention of making this condition
the more impressive, that the sentence breaks off thus abruptly,
leaving the reader to inquire the more carefully into the force of
this great condition, and the wealth of blessings suspended upon it.
CHAPTER VII.
Tis chapter and the next were both occasioned by one special
circumstance. For seventy years the people had been observing
certain days of fasting, in remembrance of prominent events connected with the fall of their beloved city and temple. Now, they
had returned from their captivity; the city was rebuilt; the work
on the temple was far advanced toward completion. It was now
the fourth year of Darius, and the temple was finished in his sixth
year. The community was decidedly prosperous; hence the ques14*




322               ZECIIARIAIH.-CHAP. VII.
tion arose-Shall we continue to observe those days of fasting
Would it not be more appropriate to observe days of praise and
thanksgiving? -- The Lord sends his answer by his prophet Zechariah. It is twofold.   (1.) It rebukes the hypocrisy and selfishness manifested by some of the people in those very fasts which
should have been seasons of special humiliation and honest confession of sin before the Lord; admonishes them that God's eye is on
their moral conduct as well as on their hearts, and exhorts them to
justice and righteousness, especially by the sad case of their fathers,
whom the Lord had scourged so severely by a long and terrible
captivity. This part of the reply fills out the seventh chapter (vs.
4-14). —(2.) The second part fills the eighth chapter, and is rich in
promised blessings to the obedient, closing with a direct answer to
their inquiry.
1. And it came to pass in the fourth year of king
Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah
in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;
2. When they had sent unto the house of God, Sherezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to pray before
the LORD,
3. And to speak unto the priests which were in 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 many years?
The date is given precisely, this being a matter of historic importance. From the arrival of the first caravan of returning Jews
in the first year of Cyrus (B. c. 536) to the second year of Darius
(about B. c. 520), the people had been harassed by their Samaritan
enemies; the work on the temple for a time dragged heavily, and
was finally quite suspended.  At length, under special messages
from God by Haggai and Zechariah, it was resumed in the second
year of Darius. With this resumption commenced an era of great
prosperity. Their foreign enemies ceased to annoy them; the
smiles of God rested on all their labors. After two years of such
prosperity, the question naturally arose, whether they should continue to observe certain days of fasting, as they had done then some
seventy years. The most prominent of these days are specially referred to here; that in the fifth month (v. 3), and that also in the
seventh month (v. 5). Chap. 8: 19 refers to two others, viz., one in
the fourth month and another in the tenth. The history indicates
the special reason of fasting on these days. In the fifth month the
temple was burnt (Jer. 52: 12). In the seventh, Gedaliah was slain,
and the small remnant that remained with him were scattered and
destroyed (Jer. 41: 1 ff). In the fourth month the city was taken
(Jer. 52: 6, 7). In the tenth it was invested by the armed hosts of
Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 52: 4). —V. 2 should be translated —" When




ZECIARIAtI. —CHAP. VII.             323
Bethel " (the household of God, in the sense of the congregation of
the Lord) " sent Sherezer," &c., i. e., the people in the capacity of a
worshipping congregation, sent this commission to their priests and
prophets with this inquiry.   V. 3. "Separating myself," i. e.,
from my accustomed secular labors-making it a holy and solemn
day.
4. Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me,
saying,
5. Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the
priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth
and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at
all fast unto me, even to me?
6. And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did
not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?
This rebuke manifestly applied to some of those who united in
this inquiry. The Lord asks-Did your fasting have any regard to
me? Did you think of your sins against me? Did you humble yourselves before me? So, when ye ate and when ye drank, was it not
ye that ate, and ye that drank? This is the literal rendering, and
implies that they thought of nothing but their own sensual gratification, ate and drank merely to enjoy themselves, and as if there
were no God to thank, no great Giver to recognize as the fountain
of all blessings.
7. Shoulcl ye not hear the words which the LORD hath
cried by the fbrmer prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round
about her, when men inhabited the south and the
plain?
The original omits the verb before " words " in the beginning of
the verse, apparently assuming that the sense would be clear without it. In supplying it, the choice lies between our English text
and the marginal reading, the former giving the sense most in harmony with the strain of the passage. — The verse suggests the
substance of the next special message (vs. 8-14), the admonitions
sent from God by the prophets to their fathers, their rejection of
them, and the consequences.
8. And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah,
saying,
9. Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute
true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every
man to his brother:
10. And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless,




324              ZECHIARIAH. —CHAP. VIII.
the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine
evil against his brother in your heart.
11. But they refused to hearken, and pulled away
the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should
not hear.
12. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant
stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which
the LORD of hosts hath sent in his Spirit by the former
prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD
of hosts.
13. Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and
they would not hear; so they cried, and I. would not
hear, saith the LORD of hosts:
14. But I scattered them with a whirlwind among
all the nations whom  they knew  not.  Thus the land
was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor
returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.
Here the Lord gives to his servant Zechariah a summary of the
message he sent by many of his prophets shortly before the captivity. V. 9 should therefore read-" Thus the Lord did speak,"
i. e., to your fathers, by Jeremiah and Zephaniah in the days of Josiah; and somewhat earlier by Hosea, Amos, Isaiah, and Micah.
-In v. 11, "pulled away the shoulder," is in Hebrew, "They
gave a refractory shoulder," i. e., they made their shoulder refractory-with allusion to the bullock who refuses to be broken into
patient labor.-V. 12 most fully recognizes the inspiration of the
prophets. The Lord sent His words to the people by his Spirit, by
the hand, i. e., the ministration of the former prophets.-By his
Spirit, rather than "in," is the sense of the original, the preposition
being the same as that before the "hand of the prophets."   V.
13, " Hence it is come to pass "-referring still to the history of what
occurred shortly before the captivity.   V. 14 fully confirms this
general course of interpretation, as referring to the ways of God
toward the people, and of the people toward God, in the age
next preceding the time of Zechariah. That history was exceedingly full of most pertinent and valuable instruction.
CHAPTER VIII.
As already remarked in the introduction to chap. 7, this continues and concludes the subject opened in that chapter. It gives
the brighter side —the message of the Lord to the truly humbled,
penitent, and believing portion of the people. Hence it abounds in
cheering promises.




ZECHARIAH.-CIIAP. VIII.               325
1. Again the word of the LoRD of hosts came to me,
saying,
2. Thus saith the LoRD of hosts; I was jealous for
Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with
great fury.
"Jealous for Zion."  The same sentiment is even yet more expanded (chap. 1: 14-16). This revived jealousy for Zion implies
that the Lord's love for her was enkindled afresh; his pity, too, became active; his apprehensions also for the honor of his name
before the nations; and not least, his indignation toward the people
that had so cruelly oppressed Zion. All these feelings conspired
toward his purpose to return in mercy to Zion, as the next verse
states.
3. Thus saith the LORD; I am. returned unto Zion,
and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called, a city of truth; and the mountain of
the LORD of hosts, the holy mountain.
These are the blessings. It is noticeable that moral purity
stands specially prominent. " Jerusalem shall be called" (because
she shall really be) "the city of truth," distinguished above all
other cities for substantial integrity of character; and the templemountain where the Lord dwells -shall be "the holy mountain "holy, by reason of the regeneration and sanctification of those who
worship the Lord there.-Such should be the results of the Lord's
returning to Zion, to dwell there by his spiritual presence.  These
are the legitimate criteria of his real presence by his Spirit anywhere.
4. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; There shall yet old
men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem,
and every man with his staff in his hand for very age.
5. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys
and girls playing in the streets thereof.
A beautiful scene of peace and prosperity, indicated by the
groups of the aged, still living as witnesses to the long-continued
exemption from desolating wars, and the yet more numerous throng.
of little boys and girls playing and happy in the streets. Evermore,
through all the ages before Christ, such external prosperity is accounted as evidence of God's favor and approval.  "Length of
days is in her right hand; in her left, riches and honor." The genius of God's providential government in that age involved a high
degree of present retribution.
6. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If it be marvellous
in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days,




326              ZECHARIAH.-CIIHAP. VIII.
should it also be marvellous in mine eyes'? saith the
LoRD of hosts.
Though it should seem marvellous and almost incredible in your
eyes, that I should bestow so great blessings, yet must it be marvellous in mine? Is any thing too hard for the Lord? Is any measure
of blessings so great as to be marvellous in view of the great depths
of divine love?
7. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will save
my people from the east country, and from the west
country;
8. And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in
the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people,
and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.
This is a promise to save his people wherever they were, and
to gather them in from their dispersions-two quarters of the
heavens, the land toward the sun-rising and the land toward the
sun-setting being named-a part for the whole. — Its fulfilment in
the literal sense took place while yet that economy continued, which
required the residence of the Jews in their own land.
9. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Let your hands be
strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the
mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the
foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid,
that the temple might be built.
10. For before these days there was no hire for man,
nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to
him that went out or came in because of the affliction:
for I set all men every one against his neighbor.
11. But now  I will not be unto the residue of this
people as in the former days, saith the LORD of hosts.
12. For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall
give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase,
and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause
the remnant of this people to possess all these things.
These words exhort the people to courage, fearlessness, and
vigor, in the prosecution of the temple-building, and in whatever
labor the Lord might impose. While the temple lay neglected all
things went awry; enemies pressed them from abroad; dissension,
stagnation, and starvation distressed them at home. -When the
Lord says, "I set all men each one against his neighbor," he refers
to what he let men do, in the sense of not preventing it-as a judgment on them for their siils.




ZECHARIAII.-CHAP. VIII.              327
13. And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse
among the heathen, O  house of Judah and house of
Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing:
fear not, but let your hands be strong.
The expression, "ye were a curse among the heathen," &c.,
might in itself mean either that they brought curses upon the
heathen, or that they were themselves cursed among the heathen.
The latter I take to be the sense here.-So of blessings: the sense
is, ye shall be blessed.
14. For thus saith the LoRD of hosts; As I thought
to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath,
saith the LORD of hosts, and I repented not:
15. So again have I thought in these days to do -well
unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear ye not.
The antithesis here is this: As I thought to punish your fathers
for their great provocations, and did not swerve from my thought,
but carried it into execution; so have I now thought to bless Jerusalem, and I shall not fail to do it! Fear not!
16. These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye
every man the truth to his neighbor; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates:
17. And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts
against his neighbor; and love no false oath: for all
these are things that I hate, saith the LORD.
The usual and always pertinent exhortations to practise rigliteousness and truth. The last clause of v. 16 enjoins upon them
to administer law in the courts according to justice and truth. This
would promote real peace and prosperity. Such decisions are decisions of peace.
18. And the word of the LORD of hosts came unto
me, saying,
19. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The fast of the
fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of
the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the
house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts;
therefore love the truth and peace.
Here we find the explicit answer to the question sent up from
the people by the hand of Sherezer and Regem-melech. Those
fasts shall be changed to seasons of joy and gladness, and to cheerful feasts-only the Lord still enforces that which is evermore essential to their abiding prosperity-" Love the truth and peace."




328              ZECHARIAH.-CHAP. VIII.
20. Thus saith the LoRD of hosts: It shall yet come
to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants
of many cities:
21. And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD,
and to seek the LORD Of hosts: I will go also.
22. Yea, many people. and strong nations shall come
to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD.
23. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it
shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of
all languages of the nations, even shall 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.
The renewed vitality of the religious life in these times of Zechariah, suggested the yet far more glorious revival and consequent
extension of pure religion in the latter days.  The transition from
the gloom and grief of the captivity to the peace and joy indicated
thus far throughout this chapter, becomes suggestive and significant
of another advance-perhaps I might say a similar transition from
the narrow limitations of the kingdom of God then, to that wondrous expansion when "many people and strong nations shall come
to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before the
Lord."  6Such seems to be the mental law of association under
which these predictions of the Messiah's enlarged and glorious kingdom are brought to mind.  I can find no adequate fulfilment of
these promises short of the millennial days. Nothing at all equivalent has yet transpired. Let us look a moment at their significance.
-In v. 21, "Let us go speedily," is the usual intensive repetition
of the infinitive with the finite verb, and might as well be rendered
"Let us go with all our heart "-earnestly. This would imply
going speedily; but it would also mean much more than that. The
last clause also is strong: " I, too, will surely go;" or "Let me go
too."-"   Ten men " is a definite number for an indefinite, as many
as could well get hold of one man's skirt-and obviously means
that many men shall follow one Jew as their guide; as many as
one man can teach. This throng of pupils represents far more than.
a single nation. Indeed, each of the ten representative men stands
for one nation, since they are each of different language, and taken
together represent': all languages of the nations "-indicating that
people of every tongue and clime shall come to Zion for the law
and the light of God.   That they are said to come to Jerusalem is
due to the necessary modes of Jewish thought. That was the only
way in which the Jews before Christ could conceive of real conversions-the only language descriptive of conversion which they
could understand. They had not yet reached the idea that God can




ZECIARIAEI.-CHAP. IX.                329
be worshipped acceptably and spiritually, just as well anywhere
else as in Jerusalem. Hence those glorious conversions of Gentile
nations, which are to take place far down in the ages of the gospel
dispensation, if foretold at all by Jewish prophets and for Jewish
readers, must be presented in thoroughly Jewish language and in
harmony with Jewish conceptions. So we ought to expect to find it
throughout the Old Testament prophets; so we do find it. On this
principle, the " Jew " is any one withwhom God is. Under the gospel
system "he is not a Jew who is one outwardly" (Rom. 2: 28, 29).
- This passage, therefore, is a prediction that "the inhabitants of
many cities "-" yea, many people and strong nations "-yea, nations so diverse thatthey speak all the languages of the earthshall come to those who have the gospel and beg to be led to the
Lamb of God. They shall come with great earnestness and zeal,
manifesting the utmost readiness to go themselves, and exhorting
others likewise-the people of one city pressing the people of another city to join the great company of those who shall go to pray
before the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts.   Such is the import of this wonderful prophecy. We can scarcely wish it were
greater and better in the breadth and richness of its promises. Who
can find it in his heart to wish it were less?
CHAPTER IX.
Vs. 1-8 sketch the sweep of the conquering hosts of Alexander the Great in western Asia, and along the eastern coast of the
Mediterranean, and refer to the special protection afforded by the
Lord to his people in the midst of that scene of danger; then the
prophet (vs. 9, 10) passes over to the greater protection and salvation wrought out by King Messiah for his people; and then (vs. 1017) on the same analogy predicts the protection of the Jews against
the Greco-Syrian power in the age of the Maccabees.
1. The burden of the word of the LORD in the land
of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be the rest thereof:
when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall
be toward the LORD.
"Burden," as usual, is a prediction of calamity, here destined to
fall, not on God's people, but on their enemies.-   "Hadrach"
has given critics ample occasion for research, ingenuity, and diversity of opinion. It would seem, from the connection, to be a country; yet geographically this name for a country is unknown. The
vtgue reports of some obscure city bearing this name, are, in the
first place, very unreliable at the best; and then the position which
this name occupies in the first eight verses among Damascus, Tyre,
Zidon, &c., and at the head of theim all, quite forbids that it should
be an insignificant, almost unknown city.   The best solution yet




330               ZECHARIARIH. —CHAP. IX.
suggested is that of Hengstenberg, who thinks it is purposely enig
matical, and refers to Persia; and that etymologically, it is made
up from two Hebrew verbs,* the former meaning to be strong, and
the latter to be oweak, giving the significance-Tkhe strong-wea7k;thus intimating that she is at one time strong; at another, weak;strong under a Cyrus; weak under her last Darius. - The reason
for an enigmatical name lay in the delicate relations which the Jews
of his time sustained to the Persian throne. The Books of Ezra and
Nehemiah make the delicacy of those relations very palpable. See
especially Ezra, chap. 4-6. It could not be wise for a Hebrew
prophet to utter such predictions against Persia as might be caught
up and construed into proof of unfriendliness toward that power.
-Enigmatical names are not entirely without precedent among
the Hebrew prophets. Jeremiah has Sheshach for Babylon (25: 26
and 51: 41). —— It is remarkable that though IHadrach (Persia) is
named as the first to feel the sweep of this conquering devastator,
Alexander, and though precisely this is the order of the historic
facts, yet the prophet passes her with only her enigmatical name.
A burden of the word of the Lord is upon her land; that is all he
thinks proper to say. Damascus is the place upon which this burden rests down. The predicted ruin should smite and crush her.
To tLe last clause, interpreters have given two different constructions: one thus —', Because thie Lord's eye is upon mnen, even
upon all the tribes of Israel; " the other thus: " Because the eyes
of men, even of all the tribes of Israel, are toward and unto the
Lord."  The latter is much better sustained by the grammatical
relations of the words, and has also this in its favor, that it practically involves the former. When the eyes of men, even of all God's
people, are toward him for help, then his eye is surely upon them
in love, care, and succor. It was in answer to the humble uplifted
eye and prayer of God's people that this conquering sweep of Alexander crushed down so many of those ancient powers hostile to
the covenant people, but spared them.
2. And Hamath  also shall border thereby; Tyrus
and Zidon, though it be very wise.
Hamath, a country lying north of Palestine, bordered on Damascus, and therefore fell within the range of this great conqueror, and
came down beneath the force of his arms. So did Tyre, with Zidon,
because she had taken great pride in her wisdom, and had so utterly renounced all reliance on the true God. —In this passage Tyre
leads the thought, as also in the historic facts she had quite eclipsed
Zidon. Hence, the verb rendered " be very wise," is in the singular, and refers primarily to Tyre. The word rendered "' though"
should be read "because," this being its usual and best established
meaning. The full thought is brought out by Ezekiel in 28: 2, 3,
6, 17T: " Say to the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord God, Be* -i T




ZECHARIAH.-CIIAP. IX.                 331
cause thine heart is lifted up and thou hast said-I am God; I sit in
the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man and
not God, though thou set thy heart as the heart of God; therefore,
because thou hast set thy heart as the heart of God, behold therefore
I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations, &c., &e.
3. And Tyrus did build herself a strong hold, and
heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire
of the streets.
4. Behold, the Lord will cast her out, and he will
smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured
with fire.
Further and special notice is taken of Tyre. After having been
once fearfully desolated by Nebuchadnezzar, she had fortified herself on an island with immense strength, and, by means of her extensive commerce, had amassed great wealth. But the Lord would
dispossess her of all this wealth. So the original signifies, and not
merely " cast her out."  He would also smite her bulwarks, built
up and standing in the sea, and she should be at length devoured
utterly by fire. —After a siege of seven months, Alexander took
the city, B. c. 332, and every feature of this prophecy was fulfilled.
5. Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also shall
see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from
Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.
From Phoenicia the conqueror swept on to Philistia.  The
prophet's course of thought is the same. The fall of Tyre sent a
panic through those cities of far inferior strength. How could they
stand before a power with which Tyre, in all her glory and prowess,
could not cope? See the same thoughts in Isa. 23.  Tyre held
Alexander's army at bay seven months; the cities of Philistia
scarcely retarded the conquering march of his army at all.   The
verse may be read thus: "Ashkelon shall see and be afraid; Gaza,
too, and she shall be in great anguish; and Ekron, because she shall
be ashamed of her trust (i. e., in Tyre); kings perish from Gaza, and
Ashkelon shall no longer fill her throne "-literally, "shall not
sit on a throne." Both shall cease to be nationalities ruled by
kings.
6. And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will
cut off the pride of the Philistines.
i. And I will take away his blood out of his mouth,
and his abominations from between his teeth; but he
that remaineth, even he shall be for our God, and he
shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.




332               ZECIIARIAII.-CHAP. IX.
The first clause I prefer to read —  A foreigner shall rule in
Ashdod." The sense, however, may be only that foreigners shall
dwell there. The verbs will bear either interpretation. Probably
the meaning is, that the civil power has passed forever from the
hands of the original Philistines to foreigners. Of course, the population would be in good part changed as well.-  The pride of
Philistia would be effectually humbled.  And furthermore, the
Lord would thoroughly cure them of their idolatry. The prophet,
in representing this fact, thinks of them as eating things offered to
idols, or as feasting in honor of their idols, and then the Lord
plucks out the flesh from between their teeth and cleanses out the
blood from their mouth. Then the remnant are converted-" shall
be for our God "-are honored as a captain of a thousand in Judah;
and they of Ekron shall come to be as near to God as the Jebusites
-the primitive inhabitants of Jerusalem-after that city became the
holy and the chosen one of God. (See Josh. 15: 63, and Judg. 19:
10, 11, and 2 Sam. 24: 16.) — This prophecy had its special fulfilment when the gospel was preached with great success by the
apostles in those cities. It has its general fulfilment under the
broad doctrine that all the great revolutions which the Lord brings
about by war shall culminate at last in the wider range and sweep
of his converting grace. Hence so many prophecies terminate like
this. (See Isa. 19: 18-25 and 23: 15-18, and Jer. 12: 15, 16.)
8. And I will encamp about mine house because of
the army, because of him that passeth by, and because
of him that returneth: and no oppressor shall pass
through them any more: for now have I seen with mine
eyes.
The strain of the chapter thus far is that the Lord will let the
great conqueror, Alexander, overwhelm the nations that had so often
oppressed Israel. Here, on the other hand, he protects his own
chosen people: " I will encamp about them and myself be a wall of
fire around them for their sure defence." The special reason now
thought of is the danger from the army of Alexander, " going and
returning," moving to and fro, to Egypt and back, through or very
near Judea. " No oppressor," in the precise sense of exactor of
service or tribute, " shall pass over them any more," because henceforth the eye of God's love and care is upon them, in the same
sense, a watchful eye, as in Zech. 3: 9 and 4: 10.  The fulfilment of this promise began with the nearer future, and was specially
developed'in the time of Alexander, when it was indeed striking
and almost miraculous. If we may credit Josephus, Alexander sent
to the Jews his usual demand for tribute as a token of submission,
and was answered that they were in allegiance to the Persian throne.
Offended by this reply, he soon after came in person; met Jaddua,
the high priest, in his robes of office, attended by other priests; was
solemnly impressed by their appearance; treated them with extra



ZECHARIAH.-CHAP. IX.                   333
ordinary deference, and ever after accounted the Jews his special
fiiends. In explanation of this extraordinary conduct, he referred
to a dream in which a personage attired like this high priest, met
him while yet at home and pondering the question of invading
Persia, encouraged him to go forward, assuring him of victory and
success. Consequently, he recognized this high priest as the minister of the invisible gods, and all the more so when the Jews showed
him the prophecies of Daniel respecting himself. —— Of the general
fact of Alexander's special favor to the Jews, there can be no doubt.
This favor fulfilled the prophecy before us (v. 8). God's hand was
in the agencies that secured it. Whether those agencies are given
with general accuracy by Josephus, has been questioned; but. for
aught that appears, with more reason for affirming than for denying.
In its general significance, this promise is good for the true church
of God in every age of time.
9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, 0.
daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto
thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding
upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
This striking case of protection against one of the world's
greatest and most formidable conquerors-protection which specially shielded Jerusalem when all the adjacent cities and kingdoms
were overrun and fearfully desolated-suggested the greater and
more glorious protection achieved for the people of God through
their incarnate Messiah, at once their great High Priest and their
supreme King. Over this Deliverer, let Zion rejoice exceedingly!
This summons to exultant joy indicates that Messianic blessings are
before the prophet's eye.-His character as King is specially prominent here because suggested by the. protection he gives his people
against their enemies.
"Behold," see! "Thy King shall come to thee," for thy help
and refuge.  "He is just," the first quality of a good king; and
"is saved," i. e., protected of God. This word, rendered "having
salvation," * is the passive participle of the common verb, to save,
from which our word Jesus is derived. It must, therefore, legitimately be taken in the sense-protected, carried safely through all
danger-in this case, with reference to the sustaining hand of the
Father, upholding his beloved Son through all the temptations and
conflicts incident to his incarnation, sufferings, and death. — Moreover, he is an afflicted one, sorely bruised and suffering, for this is
the usual sense of the word rendered'"lowly." —The last clause
of the verse demands special attention:-" Riding upon an ass, and
upon a colt, the foal of an ass."    The primary sense of these
words is plain enough. It is also clear that the first and proper
meaning of the words is precisely what they seem to say, viz., that
*...




334               ZECHARIAH.-CIIAP. IX.
he should ride upon an ass, and even upon one yet young. The fact
that the Lord Jesus fulfilled this prediction to the very letter; that
he seemed to take special pains to fulfil it; and more than all, that.
this riding was not for the common purpose of a more comfortable
conveyance fiom place to place, but was in manner and form the
solemn and joyous procession of his inauguration and coronation
as King in his own Jerusalem;-coupled also with the fact that
each one of the four evangelists has given with more or less fulness his own account of the transaction *all combine to show
that it must have had some ulterior and extraordinary significance.
It cannot by any means be supposed that the transaction has no
speciality of meaning. What, then, is this special meaning-the
significance of both the prophecy and the fulfilling act? — Very
much has been said to show that the ass is everywhere despised,
and that riding on an ass indicates whatever is low and scarcely
above contempt. That the Lord Jesus rode on an ass has been supposed to denote the position he held among the men of his generation, as one "despised and rejected." This idea has been fostered
by the fact that in some Christian countries Jews have been forbidden to ride on horses, or on any other animal but the ass,
for the purpose of branding them with national odium. It is well
understood among critics that Jewish commentators since the
Christian era have been sorely perplexed with this prediction of
their Messiah in whom they have expected a conquering hero, and
therefore could find no place in their preconceived notions of his
character for such a feature and fact as this, especially inasmuch
as modern ideas have led them to interpret the fact as a thing of
dishonor. —To relieve their King Messiah from this odium, they
have taxed their ingenuity upon tradition and fable, e. g., asserting
that this ass was the identical one created within the six days of
Gen. 1, the original ass (!), and the same on which Abraham rode
to Mount Moriah to offer his Isaac there, and which Moses rode
when he came from Midian into Egypt as their deliverer-thus
asserting for him at least the honors of a renowned antiquity!
But these Jewish commentators, and some not Jewish, have
made themselves gratuitous labor in explaining away the supposed
disgrace of riding on an ass. It were better first to consider that
the notions of modern Europe and America concerning the ass are
no rule for the people of Western Asia; and further, that the notions of Arab tribes and Mohammedans who glory in the horse are
not to be the standard by which to determine Hebrew ideas. Manifestly the sole question here is, not what Western nations think of
the ass, nor what Arabs think of him, nor indeed what is thought
of him by any people in any age or country who are accustomed to
use his rival, the horse; but what were the current usages and
hence the current ideas of the Jews, the people among whom Zech* The reader will find the history of the fulfilment in Matt. 21: 1-16,
Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19: 29-40, and John 12: 12-18.




ZECHARIAEI. —CHAP. IX.                335
ariah lived and wrote? That this is the very point to be ascertained
seems too plain to need proof, and yet it has been strangely overlooked.   It cannot be deemed necessary to prove that Jewish
ideas were substantially the same from Abraham to the Christian
era-certainly among all who, like Zechariah, held in high esteem
the patriarchs of the nation and their ancient Scriptures.-  Let it
then be considered that during the entire life of the Jewish nation,
the horse had never any footing in Palestine, and therefore had no
opportunity to disparage his lowlier rival. It was the divine policy
to keep him out, as being uncongenial to the Hebrew state, too
aristocratic, and withal dangerous as a temptation into the ways of
the idolatrous and corrupt nations in their vicinity; and more than
all, too much associated with war. These considerations all conspired
to retain the ass in service and to secure for him a fairly respectable
standing.-But let us look at the historic facts. Abraham, the
honored father of the nation, rode an ass. The sons of Jacob,
heads of the tribes of Israel, rode every man his ass. Balaam, a
great man in his country, rode on an ass. The daughter of Caleb,
and Abigail too, among the worthy women of.Jewish history, rode
each on her ass. All the sons of David rode on mules-an animnal
of the same general character; Absalom also, when at the head
of his army. In the transfer of the kingdom from David to Solomon, great account is made of his riding on David's mule in the
royal procession on coronation day.   It is therefore simply impossible that any odium could have been attached to riding on an
ass at the time Zechariah wrote, or at the time when Christ'fulfilled his prediction.-But there is one idea, already hinted at
though not fully developed, which deserves a far more prominent
position than it has had.  The ass was not adapted to war; the horse
was. For the most part the ass appears in Jewish history either
used by men in peaceful life, or by women who should never be in
any other. On the contrary, the horse of scripture history is a
war-horse, with either his dragoon or his chariot. The Egyptians
on one side; the Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Persians on the other;
made great account of horses for war. Hence, when the horse in
Jewish history sets foot on Palestine, he is there for war, for
aggression.   Nor let us fail to notice in our context that while
King Messiah is to ride on an ass, the Lord says: "I will cut off
the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; "and he
shall speak peace to the heathen." Jerusalem especially, the holy
city where Jehovah dwelt, rust have no horses. Their very names
and their presence are too much associated wzith war. — -Zech.
12:4 shows how the horse is commonly thought of as related to
the Hebrew state. In the millennial age, horses for once (for the
first time?) shall be really consecrated to God (14: 20), a most remarkable fact, and indicating a stupendous change! The ass then
is here an emblem of peace-of peaceful pursuits, of a peaceful
king, and of his peaceful reign, showing that Messiah's kingdom
should not be of this world, and should not make its conquests




336               ZECHARIAH.-CHAP. IX.
with carnal weapons. This significant act, riding on an ass, is a
symbol of Christ's peaceful reign, inaugurating him for the sort of
work which the next verse describes.
10. And I will cut off the chariot from  Ephraim,
and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle-bow shall
be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen:
and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from
the river even to the ends of the earth.
This verse is closely connected with verse 9-a part of the same
grand prophecy of the Messiah and of his reign on earth-set here
in a fine antithesis with the conquering, world-wide kingdom of
Alexander.  -The chariot and the horse must be discarded and
abolished as war-institutions, and therefore wholly out of place under this peaceful reign. They can bear no part in the great conquests which Zion's King is to make. He has no fighting to do
with carnal weapons. On the contrary, he   speaks " peace to the
nations. The gospel of his word carries with it peace and love to
the very hearts of men. — The reader will notice how fully this
view of Messiah's reign harmonizes with that given by Micah 4: 14; Isa. 11 and Ps. 72, &c., &c.  Though the kingdom  of Messiah relies on peaceful agencies alone for its diffusion, yet it shall be
extended far away to the ends of the world. " His dominion shall
be from sea to sea "-from land's end in one direction to land's end
in another-" from the great river" (Euphrates) " to the ends of the.
earth." The prophet is not aiming to fix certain geographical
boundaries to this kingdom, as if implying that it lies within these
and in no case beyond them, but rather means that it is coextensive with the known world, sweeping away to the very ends of the
earth. -That this passage (vs. 9, 10) is a prophecy of Jesus Christ,
admits of no rational doubt. (1.) The course of thought which
suggests and introduces it, the transition from the protection afforded against Alexander to the greater and better protection afforded by Zion's King against Satan, the world's worst conqueror
and tyrant, goes far to prove it Messianic.- (2.) The call for extraordinary joy in this glorious King belongs to the prophecies of
the Messiah, and to nothing of less magnitude and value.   (3.)
The points made can apply to none but the Messiah. —(4.) They
all apply to him easily, accurately, and fully. —(5.) The one most
extraordinary point —his riding on an ass-was not only fulfilled in
him butbby him, with more appearance of special aim to fulfil this
prophecy than is apparent elsewhere in regard to any other. Yet,
in view of the exposition above given of the significance of this act,
we must suppose that he did it because of its significance rather
than merely for the sake of fulfilling this prophecy. He did fulfil
it, however, none the less. —(6.) The testimony of the disciples in
their comments on the historic fact is in point. Matthew (21: 4)
remarks: "All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was




ZECIIARIAH.-CIIAP. IX.               337
spoken by the prophet," and then cites this passage; while John
(12: 16) remarks that his " disciples did not understand these things
at the first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered
that these things were written of him, and that they had done
these things unto him." When the Spirit had fully come to teach
them all things, and to bring all things Christ had said and done
to their remembrance, then the significance of this transaction became wonderfully clear to their minds.   All these points of evidence combined make the proof signally complete-indeed, overwhelming.
11. As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I
have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is
no water.
12. Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of
hope: even to-day do I declare that I will render double
unto thee;
13. When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow
with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against
thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a
mighty man.
The ninth and tenth verses may be regarded as a digression
from the regular course of thought, and embraced in a parenthesis.
In v. 11 the prophet returns to speak of events that follow shortly
aftersthose predicted (vs. 1-8). The conflict (v. 13) between the
sons of Zion and the sons of Greece finds its fulfilment in the furious wars waged during twenty-four years between the Jews and
the Syrian Greeks, commencing in the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes.  His people are here called Greeks because his kingdom
was one of the four into which the great Grecian empire of Alexander was divided, and also because their language and customs
were Grecian.-" As for thee also (O daughter of Zion, as in v. 9),
because thou art in a covenant with thy God which is sealed with
blood, I will send forth thy prisoners out of the pit in which is no
water." The covenant of the Lord with the Jewish nation was
sealed with sprinkled blood.  See Ex. 24: 8.-" And Moses took
the-blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said: Behold the
blood of the covenant which the Lord had made with you concerning all these words."   A "pit without water " is one from which
the water has by some means gone, leaving mud on the bottom,
exceedingly offensive and often miasmatic.  See the experiences
of Joseph and of Jeremiah, Gen. 37: 24 and Jer. 38: 6. The Lord's
people are thought of as having been imprisoned in such a pit; but
the Lord sends them forth. The past tense, rendered " have sent,"
is doubtless used because the event is so fixed in the counsels of
God as to be accounted done. Hence this tense (the perfect) is
used by the prophets even for events yet as to actual occurrence in
15




338               ZECHARIAH. —CHAP. IX.
the future. This was to occur after Zechariah's day. —" Return
ye to the strong hold "-a high and therefore strong, inaccessible
position, and here in contrast with the " deep pit " where they had
lain imprisoned. Being the people of Jehovah and in covenant
with him, they were evermore "prisoners of hope " —prisoners
having just ground of hope in his protecting, delivering grace.To "render double" is to give them blessings twice as great as
their afflictions had been. See the same expression, Isa. 40: 2 and
61: 7. It is altogether the way of the Lord to send grief and
affliction only in single measure, but joy and blessing in doubleweighing out the retributions of justice carefully and the inflictions
of his rod very tenderly; but pouring forth the bounties of his
mercy as if he could not think of measuring them by any rule less
than the impulses of infinite love! —In v. 13 —" Because I have
trodden Judah for my bow, and filled my bow with Ephraim as
mine arrow "-means that the Lord is to use the military strength
of Judah and Ephraim in protecting his land against the Syrian
armies.-  The strong bows of the warrior were bent by using the
foot as well as the hand. Hence the phrase "to tread the bow,"
for bending it to fit its string for use.  Applying the arrow
" filled the bow"-this being a necessary complement, without
which it was of no account. —" Raised up" should rather be
" roused up "-exciting and inspiring to deeds of heroic valor-all
which had its precise fulfilment in those inspirations of heroism
with which the Lord anointed the souls of the Maccabees against
their Syrian foes.
14. And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his
arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord GOD
shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds
of the south.
The agencies of God's providence in this war shall be as palpable as if Jehovah himself were visible above them as they fought
their battles. His own arrows shall go forth like the lightnings;
he shall blow the trumpet-blasts of the battle, and shall march
upon his foes as in the whirlwinds of the south-those most fearful tornadoes that carry death in their wings. These whirwinds
of the south are referred to by Job (37: 9), and by Isaiah (21  1).
This grouping of the boldest and most terrible elements of nature
represents God's agencies in those wars.
15. The LORD of hosts shall defend them; and they
shall devour and subdue with sling-stones; and they
shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and
they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of
the altar.
" The'Lord of hosts" (" God of the celestial armies " is the right




ZECnHARIAI.-CHIAP. IX.                 339
name to use here) "shall defend them" (literally, shall throw his
shield over them), " and they shall devour " (literally " eat " as it
were the flesh of their enemies), " and shall tread down slingstones "-implying that their enemies are now as powerless as a
small sling-stone when lying on the ground, which is dangerous
only when hurled and flying from its sling. The sense is not"subdue with sling-stones," i. e., of their own; but tread under
foot their enemy as they would tread upon sling-stones.  -" They
shall drink," i. e., the blood of their enemies, as men drink wine,
and shall shout as men under its stimulus, and be filled with it as
the bowls of the altar, and as its corners upon which the blood was
daily sprinkled.-These allusions to the bowls and the corners of
the altar may refer tacitly to the covenant sealed with blood, under
which help came from God for victory.
The reader will be careful to notice the contrast between these
verses (13-15) and the Messianic passage (vs. 9, 10) on the point of
war with deadly weapons. Under Messiah's peaceful reign there
shall be no chariots or horses of war; the battle-bow shall be cut
off and unknown: but here, in the age before Messiah came, Judah is the Lord's bow, Ephraim his arrow; the Lord fights at their
head, and they too fight with determined and almost furious bravery.   The Lord had his own reasons for making the age before
Messiah came so militant. Let us not question their wisdom or
their love. But manifestly it is his purpose in this chapter to put
the future kingdom of the Messiah in the strongest possible contrast with those militant features of the earlier age, and to assure
us that in the good time coming men shall truly "learn war no
more." The gospel, having once developed its whole genius and
power, shall prove itself thoroughly and only " peace on earth and
good will to men."
16. And the LoRD their God shall save them in that
day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the
stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land.
" The Lord their God shall save them as the flock of his people"
-as if he were indeed their own shepherd. "Because diademstones," the jewels of a crown, "' are they," borne on the head of
a conquering king, and waving high over his land.-A beautiful
contrast should be noted here between their Syrian foes-slingstones under foot-and themselves crown-stones, precious gems,
set in a crown, and borne aloft over the land on the head of
conquerors.
17. For how great is his goodness, and how great is
his beauty! corn shall make the young men ehlleerfl,
and new wine the maids.
There is good reason for this exclamation of surprise and joy in
view of the goodness of God to his people, and the beauty of his




340                ZECHARIAH.-CHAP. X.
providential dispensations as seen in the time of those Syrian wars.
-In  the last clause, " cheerful " is not precisely the idea, but
rather fruitful, proliyfc, which, according to well-known Jewish
ideas, was one of the most conclusive and joyous proofs. of great
prosperity. Early marriages, healthful parents, "sons as plants
grown up in their youth; " daughters as corner-stones, polished after
the similitude of a palace: "' happy is that people that is in such a
case" (Ps. 144: 12-15). "Happy is the man that hath his quiver
full of them " (Ps. 127: 5).   These are the peaceful and prosperous times that succeed those wars.
CHAPTER X.
Tins chapter is a continuation from the close of chapter 9, and
hence has for its ground idea the wars of the Maccabees against the
Syrian power. V. 1 stands immediately connected with 9: 17, indicating the external prosperity that succeeded those wars; v. 2
falls back to note the apostasies which brought on this Syrian
scourge; v. 3 the zeal and jealousy of the Lord kindled against the
corrupt Jewish leaders, and the remedy for their mischiefs; in v. 4
men rise up, capable of filling positions of responsible trust; in v. 5
they fight valiantly, because the Lord is with them, and confounds
their foes. In vs. 6-12, on the basis of this great deliverance
wrought for his people, the prophet predicts that in times more
remote the Lord will work similar but yet more glorious achievements for his Zion.
I. Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter
rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give
them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.
Under the ancient dispensation the Lord gave timely rains and
abundant harvests to his people when they were obedient and
trustful, and sought him in prayer. He took care to have them
understand this from the outset. See Deut. 11: 13, 14: —" And it
shall come to pass that if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your
God, and to serve him with all your heart, and with all your soul,
that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first
rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn and
thy wine and thy oil."  Hlnce the prophet says here: "Ask of
the Lord rain "-it comes for the asking, for the Lord your God hears
the prayer of his obedient people. Rain "in the time of the latter
rain" was especially useful to perfect the maturing crops."So the Lord shall give "-not "'bright clouds," but "'lightnings," always portending rain.   The Hebrew words translated
"' showers of rain" imply abundance-" the rain of great rain "-so




ZECHARIAH. —CIIAP. X.               341
that not in detached districts alone, but over the whole land, " every
one shall have grass in the field."
2. Forthe idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners
have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock,
they were troubled because there was no shepherd.
The reason is given here why the Lord comes to the rescue;
"for the people have been sorely deceived by diviners and by the
priests of idol gods, and have been seduced away from me," alluding to the antecedent apostasy which was the occasion and procuring cause of that fearful Syrian scourge. Historical evidence to
this apostasy exists in 1 Mac. 1 11-15. - The "idols," is in Hebrew "the teraphim," household gods which appear not unfrequently in Jewish history, e. g., with Rachel (Gen. 31: 19, 34); with
Michal, Saul's daughter (1 Sam. 19: 13, 16); with Micah in Judges
17:5, &c., &c.   All the light that came from these gods and
diviners was only darkness; their guidance only misled the people;
the hopes they inspired were worse than vain; consequently the
whole people were led off in a wrong and ruinous way, going en
masse, as a flock of sheep follow the lead given them. They were
in great affliction (the sense of the word rendered " were troubled "),
because there was no competent and real shepherd.
3. Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds,
and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts hath
visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them
as his goodly horse in the battle.
"' My wrath" (saith the Lord) " is kindled against those shepherds " who so mislead the people. " I will punish the he-goats,"
so called because the he-goat leads,he flock. —--   For the Lord
hath visited his flock," implying that he is the real shepherd of the
house of Judah, and hath made them victorious in the conflict
against their enemies, crowning them with honor before the nation,
as he indicates by comparing them to his own horse, one specially
honored by his own use in the day of battle. —In the middle of
the verse is a play upon the two meanings of the usual Hebrew
word for oisit,* which, with a preposition following, equivalent to
upon, means to inflict judgment; but standing alone means to look
after in a good sense. God will look after those enemies in the
sense of visiting upon, them his plagues; but will look after his people in the sense of looking into their case with kindness, and redressing their wrongs with his glorious right arm.
4. Out of him came forth the -corner, out of him the
T




312                ZECHARIAH. —CIHAP. X.
nail, out of him the battle-bow, out of him every oppress.
or tooetlier.
When the Lord visits Judah in mercy, he gives her the very
blessings she needs-good leaders in place of the bad who had been
so sore a curse upon her. Hence out of Judah now come forth the
" corner-stone " men, good for bearing the weightiest responsibilities:
the " nail " men, to hold things in their right place, or to bear great
burdens. " The battle-bow " are the men skilful in the line of war,
but the word rendered " oppressor " does not in this passage imply any injustice, but only an active, vigorous, and capable ruler.
- The'nail, in oriental use, was rather a spike or tent-pin,
sometimes so large that all the kitchen utensils were hung upon it.
(See Isa. 22: 23, 25 and Ezra 9: 8.)
5. And they shall be as mighty men, which tread
down tkeir 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 confounded.
This graphic and vigorous description of the Lord's valiant warriors corresponds admirably with the historic character of the Maccabean brothers, who girded themselves for heroic fight in the name
of the Lord God of their fathers. They felt that the Lord was with
them. The " riders on horses" were their Syrian invaders. The
history makes frequent mention of large bodies of horsemen in their
armies, e. g., 1 Mac. 3: 39: " Seven thousand horsemen," and 4: 1,
I" one thousand of the best horsemen," &c. They were confounded
to meet such power among those despised Jews.
6. And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I
will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them
again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and
they shall be as thoughI had not cast them  off: for I
am the LoRD their God, and will hear them.
The general conception in this verse is that of reproducing the
best days of Israel, e. g., under David and Solomon. Consequently
"Joseph," the ten tribes, must be saved; the people all made ready
to'" dwell " in a settled and secure way in their own land, the Lord
showing his mercy upon them even as though he had not ever cast
them  off for their sins. —-But this conception carries us onward
into the Messianic age, and could have its fulfilment in nothing
short or less. The recall of the ten tribes, in any age subsequent
to Zechariah, must, of necessity, be regarded as Messianic, and to
be fulfilled only in the New Testament sense.   With these principles of interpretation before the mind, this entire passage (vs.
6-12) becomes not only clear and free from its otherwise insurmountable difficulties, but rich in gospel significance and in the
fulness of glorious promise for Zion in her latter days.




ZECHARIAIH.-CIIAP. X.               343
7. And they'of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man,
and their hearts shall rejoice as through wvine: yea,
the children shall see it, and be glad; their hearts shall
rejoice in the LORD.
8. I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have
redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have
increased.
9. And I will sow them among the people: and they
shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live
with their children, and turn again.
"Ephraim " contemplates in its literal sense the ten tribes; but
in its real prophetic outlook, the ingathering of the nations to Jesus
Christ in the gospel age. A Jew in the time of Zechariah could
conceive of no state of things more desirable than the reproducing
of the good times of David and Solomon. Hence language and
figures are drawn from that state to represent the best condition
possible for God's earthly kingdom-the sublimely glorious conquests ofpeace and victories of love in the latter days.-In v. 8
Ephraim comes back with heart full of joy; the Lord lifts up his
shrill cry for them, as the keeper of bees whistles for them, and they
come to his call. They multiply as of old (Ephraim took his name
from the idea of being prolific in population).   In v. 9 God will'
scatter them abroad among the nations, and there, under the moral
influence of this affliction, they shall remember the Lord their God
and repent of their great sins.- So the Lord said by Hosea
(2: 4), "I will allure her into *the wilderness and speak to her
heart." — " They shall live with their children "-live in the high
spiritual sense, with allusion perhaps to Ezek. 37: 9: " Come from
the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they
may live." — "With their children," implies that these blessings
go down to future generations-not to themselves alone, but to
their children after them as well.
10. 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.
These words must be understood as historic allusion, and not as
specific and literal prediction. The sense is not-I will gather my
captives out of Egypt and out of Assyria, but-I will do a similar
thing to the great achievement of bringing my people out of Egypt
under Moses. I will redeem them from a second Egypt, and save
them from a second Assyrian Sennacherib. That only Egypt and
Assyvria, and not Chaldea, are referred to, is explained by the fact
that the kingdom of the ten tribes had disappeared before the Chaldean came into notice; hence, Ephraim never knew Chaldea as an




344               ZECHARIAH.-CHAP. X.
enemy.- Note also that the prophet does not say they shall re.
turn to Judah and Jerusalem; but, to show the enlargement of
the Lord's kingdom, he names " Gilead," the extensive region on the
east of Jordan. and "Lebanon," on the north, which lay outside
the usual boundaries of the tribes of Israel; and, indeed, he says,
" place large enough shall not be found for them."-   But this has
never been fulfilled in the lineal descendants of Abraham, nor can
it ever be. Their numbers, all told to-day, would not meet the demands of this prophecy, interpreted however moderately. We must,
therefore, find Israel and Ephraim in that new era of Messiah's kingdom in which there is no distinction of Jew and Greek, but all are
one in Christ Jesus.-Yet another reason for omitting to name
Judah and Jerusalem is, that the prophet has in mind the ten tribes
specially, and not Judah. The demand for restoring mercy lay
chiefly in their direction, as seen in the age of Zechariah. Further,
the Jews were never carried captive literally into Egypt. If any
Jews fled thither for refuge in those seasons when their homes were
broken up, they went and were received as friends. But v. 11 conceives of their rescue from Egypt as being from the hand of enemies,
a fact which shows that Egypt comes in here only by way of historic
allusion.   Arguing against the doctrine of a literal restoration of
the Jews to Palestine, Dr. Hengstenberg pertinently says: "If it
cannot be denied that the lands out of which the Israelites were
brought back, are to be understood only as types, what objection
can be urged if the land to which they shall be restored is in like
manner to be regarded as a type? " (Christology, ii., 143.)
11. And he shall pass through the sea with affliction,
and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps
of the rivers shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria
shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall
depart away.
This verse begins with a change of person from the first,  I," as
in vs. 6-10, to the third, "he."  But "he?" must be understood of
the same Lord God. The " sea " can be no other than the Red
Sea, named by way of historic allusion. The Lord passes through
it at the head of his people to achieve a like deliverance to that of
the Exodus from Egypt. —Not "' with affliction," for there is no
word corresponding to " with," and nothing out of which to make
this sense; but the sea which is itself their affliction-which stands
in their way, and is the occasion of their trouble-in apposition
with the word " sea." Whatever their affliction may be, analogous to
the Red Sea of the olden time, the Lord will march through it at the
head of his people.  "' And he will smite the waves " in that sea
which represents their affliction, as he is wont to smite his. enemies.
- " And all the depths of the Nile shall be dried up "-with historic reference to the Jordan, which, however, being a comparatively
small stream, is not itself named here, but the usual word for the




ZECHARIAH. —CHAP. XI.                 345
Nile is taken instead. That is, the idea of drying up comes from the
Jordan; the mnagnitude of the stream from  the Nile.   Isaiah
(11: 15, 16) has a very similar allusion to the passage of the Red Sea.
--' The pride of Assyria " and "the sceptre of Egypt " are also
historic allusions to those hostile powers from whom Israel had suffered so much. The sense is-God will humble all the foes of Zion,
and will effectually break in pieces their power to harm.
12. And I will strengthen them  in the LORD; and
they shall walk  up  and down in  his name, saith the
LORD.
Finally, they shall be made gloriously strong in the Word, and
through his strength alone. So shall they walk up and d6wh, traverse the land at their will, or in their duty, without fear. No harm
can befall them, since they walk with God.   Many parallel passages might be cited from Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and Micah, serving to confirm the general interpretation here given, and to show
that the prophets harmonize remarkably in these views of the
general course of event. in the great future of Zion; and also to
show that they give the same sense to individual and special phrases.
It has not seemed necessary to collate and compare these texts,
except in passages of special difficulty. —-The reader will find in
Isaiah 11: 11-16 a passage remarkably similar to this in all important respects. It is beyond all question Messianic; so must this be
also.
CHAPTER XI.
IF the Book of Zechariah be divided into two portions, the first
six chapters being the first division, and the'emainining eight the
second, then this eleventh will be a digression from the current
strain of promised blessings in the second portion, very analogous
to the fifth chapter in the first part. As the fifth was interposed
for the purpose of moral warning to the careless, apprising them
that the judgments of God awaited the guilty, so here this eleventh
chapter is interposed for the same purpose. There can be no doubt
that it predicts judgments on the covenant people at some period
of their history then future.-The manner of presenting this truth
is very peculiar, essentially that of symbolic vision-a case quite
unique in the respect that, in vision only, and not in actuality, and
as personating, not himself, but others, the prophet is required to
perform the functions of a shepherd to the Lord's people, considered as his flock. On this theory of interpreting the chapter the
best modern commentators are united. Despite of the unique peculiarities of the case, it is generally agreed that the chapter predicts the overthrow of the Jewish state, and the ruin of their city
and temple, effected by the Romans, about A. n. 70, in consequence
15*




346                ZECHARIAH. —CHAP. XI.
of their national corruption, and of their blind and mad rejection
of their AMessiah. The prophet, acting the part of a good shepherd
(vs. 4-14), personates the Messiah himself. Acting the part of the
foolish shepherd (vs. 15-17), he personates the Scribes and Pharisees
of the Saviour's day. -The first three verses, wrought up in high
poetic imagery, predict the fall of the nation before the Roman
arms; while the remaining part of the chapter gives the antecedent
moral causes of that fall. Whereas those morally blinded and hardened Jews had said in the madness of their wrath against the spotless Redeemer, "His blood be on us and on our children," on them
and on their children his blood did come, and their blood flowed
like rivers of water!  The Saviour himself-had said, "Behold your
house is left unto you desolate." Here is an earlier prediction of
those fearful retributions. History endorses its accuracy to the very
letter. -The comprehensive thought of this chapter is, therefore,
Judaism, utterly corrupt and apostate, repelling the merciful efforts of her Redeemer to reclaim and save her, and thus bringing
on herself dire destruction. —— The divisions of the chapter are already indicated incidentally: vs. 1-3, a comprehensive prediction
of ruin upon their city and nation; vs. 4-14, the causes of this ruin
shown to lie in the utter corruption of those orders (the priests,
scribes, and doctors of the law) who should have been, under God,
their good shepherds, and their consequent rejection of their true
Shepherd, Jesus, the Messiah. Lastly, vs. 15-17 give the course
and doom of those corrupt teachers, specially personated by the
prophet, acting the part of a foolish shepherd.
1. Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.
Lebanon and her lofty cedars represent Jerusalem; her doors,
the gates of the city. Hence this is a summons to Jerusalem to prepare for approaching ruin. The ground of this poetical conception
of Lebanon for Jerusalem may be a tacit analogy between themLebanon one of the grandest objects in the realm  of nature, Jerusalem in the realm of art; Lebanon among the works of God, Jerusalem among the works of man-with, perhaps, a side-look to the
fact that the temple was largely built with cedars from Lebanon.
2. Howl, fir-tree, for the cedar is fallen; because the
mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the
forest of the vintage is come down.
The sentiment is-This destruction shall be complete. The loftiest and  strongest fall; how, then, can the feebler hope to
stand?-The same strain of poetic conception is carried through
the verse, the grandest trees of the forest representing Jerusalem
and other strongholds of the nation. "Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen 1" (i. e., what were most lofty are now destroyed);
" wail, ye oaks of Bashan, for the forest of the inaccessible moun



ZECIIARIAH. —CHAP. XI.                347
tain-heights is laid low." "If these things be done in the green
tree, what shall be done in the dry? "
3. There is 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.
Here the figures turn from inanimate nature to animate. The
ornament and glory of the shepherds are their rich pastures-now
laid waste. Compare Jer. 25: 36: " A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock; for the Lord hath
spoiled their pasture." —" The pride of Jordan," in which the
young lion made his lair, were the dense thickets along his banks.
This phrase was already in use by Jeremiah, whom Zechariah follows remarkably in his terms and phrases. See Jer. 12: 5, where
the " swelling of Jordan " is the same original phrase here rendered
"pride of Jordan."  So also, Jer. 49: 19, and 50: 44-in all cases
said of the thick undergrowths along the Jordan, where the lions
had their homes.   The sentiment is here the same as above-All
classes of people are in distress, for their choicest treasures are
wasted; what they most love and value is in ruins. A poetic
imagination seizes on the ruin of individual classes, and by a few
striking details gives a vivid conception of the universal desolation.
4. Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of
the slaughter;
As already stated, vs. 4-14 are a sort of parable-a dramatic
scene, in which the prophet personates the Messiah, and represents
in himself what the Messiah was to do for the Jewish nation, considered as the people of God. The figure throughout is that of a
shepherd and his flock-a figure often applied to the spiritual relations of the Lord to his people. Those who act under and for him,
ministering to the religious life of his people, are also called shepherds, pastors of his people. This figure had become very common
in the age of Zechariah, and of the prophets during the captivity.
The reader will see, in Ezek. 34 and Jer. 23, how familiar those
prophets were with this conception, and how much use they made
of it to set forth the relations sustained by the Lord toward his people. It also served with them, as with Zechariah, to represent how
fearfully the priests and prophets of that age had degenerated, and
were scattering and wasting the sheep of the Lord's pasture." The flock of the slaughter" means the flock doomed to slaughter
for their sins-the Jewish people, now ripe for the fearful retributive
judgments of the Almighty.
5. Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves
not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the
LORD; for I am  rich: and their own shepherds pity
them not.




348               ZECQIIARIAH. —CIIAP,  i.
The persons of the drama in this versa are (1.) The flock, who
are the Jews during the period A. D. 80-70, conceived of as the flock
of the Lord's pastures; (2.) Their buyers (" possessors ") and their
sellers, the Romans; and (3.) Their own shepherds, the priests,
Scribes, and Pharisees, who should have taught them the knowledge
of God, but who had no care or pity for their deplorable moral
condition.   Their buyers who buy them for slaughter kill them
and are not punished as guilty, because it is of the Lord to scourge
the nation for its great sins. The verb here used * has only these
two well-established senses: (1.) To sin; (2.) To suffer punishment
for sin. See notes on Hos. 5: 15. It occurs Jer. 2: 3 and 50: 7,
both of which passages strikingly illustrate the sense of the clause
before us. The former, referring to the time when Israel was holiness to the Lord, says-" All that devour him' offend,' i. e., sin
against God, and shall suffer punishment; " evil shall come upon
them, saith the Lord." The latter, referring to a time when the
Lord would scourge his people, reads —" All that found them have
devoured them; their adversaries said, We offend not, because they
have sinned against the Lord."  It is remarkable that foreign
enemies whom the Lord made use of to scourge his people, seem to
have in some sort understood why the Lord gave them this license.
The king of Assyria (Isa. 36: 10) said: " Am I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said unto
me, Go up against this land to destroy it."   That " theywho sell
them bless the Lord for their gains," corresponds to the clause,
" they are not punished " (" offend not "). They think they are doing
God service, and thank him for the personal selfish good they get
as if all were morally right.
6. For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the
land, saith the LORD: but lo, I will deliver the men
every one into his neighbor'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.
The reason for the ruin that comes thus terribly on the covenant
people is that God has given them over to destruction for their incorrigible sins.-The repetition of the verb rendered "pity " is
a play upon the word, thus: As their shepherds have lost all pity
for the moral condition of their flock, so will I abjure all pity for
them, flock and shepherd both; and will give them over to remediless ruin.-This doom, thus made prophetically specific, is shown
by the history to be drawn with entire accuracy. The facts were,
that the people had no head; that intestine discord and civil war
were scarcely less destructive than the Roman sword. Every one
was delivered into the hand of his neighbor and into the hand of
the Roman king. The slaughter was terrific, scarcely equalled by
* 5_




ZECHARIAH.-CIIAP. XI.                349
any other scene recorded in authentic history. Josephus is the chief
original authority. His statements are full and reliable. According
to his account, the loss of life on the Jewish side, during that horrible siege and capture, could not have been less than eleven hundred
thousand!
7. And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you,
O 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 flock.
Not "s I will feed," for this fails to give the tense of the original; but, " so then I fed. the flock doomed to slaughter because of
the poor of the flock " —i. e., out of my pity for the poor ones of
the flock-a pertinent and beautiful statement of the labor and love
of their own Messiah, who was so often "moved with compassion
when he saw the people as sheep having no shepherd." For the
proud and self-righteous and for those who were rich toward this
world but not rich toward God, he manifested no specially tender
pity; but for the masses who had no shepherd, and especially for
the poor, his heart was'tenderly touched. In the line of.pure benevolence he rose indefinitely high above all other religious teachers
of every age in this —" he preached the go8pel to the poor."
These "staves" were the usual well-known shepherd's crook,
the only special instrument used by the shepherd; useful to him
both in the management of the flock, and in repelling its enemies.
They represent here those providential agencies by which the Lord
aided the pastoral work of the Messiah over his people, as appears from
their significant names. The one he called Grace (not so properly
" Beauty "), but grace in the sense of that divine favor which restrained hostile heathen nations from assaulting the people of the
Lord while they faithfully served him. -The other, "Bands," was
a crook of cords, significant of those providential. agencies which
held the people together' in peace. With these aids he acted the
part of a shepherd to the flock.
8. Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and
my soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me.
The prophet, personating the Messiah, is supposed to have subordinate shepherds under him.  These three shepherds cannot
mean three individuals. The general strain of the subject forbids
this. Besides, Zechariah is wont to present individuals as representatives of orders or classes of men.. See chap. 3, throughout, where
Joshua represents the order of priests; and 4: 14, where the two
anointed ones'must mean thetwo orders, the regal and the priestly,
which were inducted into office by the ceremony of anointing.Here we must suppose that the prophet takes the number three
from precisely those three established orders upon whom the pastoral. responsibility of caring under God for the covenant people de,
Sylved-priests, prophets, and civil magistrates. (See Jer. 2: 8, 26




350               ZECItARIAII.-CIIAP. XI.
and 18: 18.) Those who represented these classes during our Lord's
public ministry must be specially intended here, probably the
priests; the scribes in the place of the ancient prophets; and the
civil magistrates. The Lord Jesus rejected them from their places
of trust, not instantaneously, but very summarily, as " one month "
shows. It was the labor of his public life. The history of our
Lord's pjublic ministry, in its relation to the scribes, doctors of the
law, and Pharisees, shows that he and they had not the least common sympathy. He loathed them, as the Hebrew word implies;
he lost all confidence in their moral integrity and even honesty;
and on the other hand, their soul rebelled against him because of
the purity of his character, and the fidelity and pungency of his
rebukes of their sin.
9. Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth,
let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off;
and let the rest eat, every one the flesh of another.
The Messiah abandons the flock, the Jewish people, to the
sweep of terrible judgments. "' I will be your shepherd no longer."
A threefold judgment shall be your extermination;-pestilence; the
sword from without; the sword from within; —the two last looking toward (1.) the Roman arms; (2.) those horrible conflicts of
hostile parties which made the very strength of the nation its essential weakness and ruin. —-Let the pestilence sweep away whom
it will; let the Roman sword drink the blood of the victims so
doomed by the will of the Most High; let every man's teeth be
sharpened to devour his neighbor's flesh! — The reality set forth
in this prophetic language was fearfully terrific! They had said"' His blood be on us and on our children! " The Lord responded,
"  So let it be! "Here is the prediction. History verifies it to the letter!
10. And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it
asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had
made with all the peoples
The first crook, now broken, represented the sundering of the
covenant which God is supposed to have made with foreign nations
(the sense of " all the people "), to restrain them from harming his
chosen. This covenant lay in the divine mind-his purpose to
restrain heathen nations from making war on his people. See the
same sense in Hos. 2: 18: "In that day I will make a covenant for
them with the beasts of the field," &c. Compare Job. 5: 23 and
Ezek. 34: 25.
11. And it was broken in that day: and so the poor
of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the
word of the LORD.
The staff once broken, the Roman arms came down upon the
land. "' Then the poor of the flock "-Christ's disciples-having




ZECHARIAH. —CHAP. XI.                351
been apprised by him (Matt. 24: 15-21), knew that the hour of judgment for the land had come, and fled for safety to the mountains of
Pella, on the east of Jordan. History records the remarkable fact
that not one Christian Jew fell in that awful carnage. All who had
faith in their divine Lord gave heed to his warnings. The Lord by
his special providence gave them  ample time to make good their
escape before the city was invested by the Roman legions. They
fled to Pella in the mountains east of the Jordan, and were all
safe.
12. And I said unt6 them, If ye think good, give me
my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my
price thirty pieces of silver.
13. And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And
I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the
potter in the house of the LORD.
The great shepherd, about to close his services, proposes in the
business settlement that they,'the Jews, should give him the wages
due. It is not implied by the original words that he fixed the price
himself. " Give me my price," should rather'read, " Give me my
hire or reward." He manifestly left it with them to fix the price.
He only said, Give me what wages you please, and let me go.They weighed out thirty pieces of silver, the very price for which
Judas betrayed him, and the usual price for a slave. (See Ex. 21: 32.)
Maimonides, one of the most reliable ancient Jewish authors, speaks
of this as the price of a slave's services, but contemptible for a free
man's. The meagreness of it indicates how low they estimated his
services. Precisely this is the intended showing of the transaction.
-. "A goodly price," &c., is ironical, and shows how keenly the
insult was felt. It has, moreover, a prophetic outlook toward the
very deed of Judas. —The Lord said, " Cast it to the potter." He
did so. This, too, was one of the points of remarkable coincidence
between this symbolic prophecy and one of the prominent scenes
in the betrayal of his Lord by Judas. —  It should be noted that
Matthew, having stated that Judas, filled with remorse, returned
the price of blood (27: 3-10), says that the chief priests " bought
therewith the potter's field to bury strangers in," which thenceforth
bore the name of " the field of blood," and that " then was fulfilled
that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they
took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued,
whom they of the children of Israel did value; and gave theni for
the potter's field as the Lord appointed me."'These words are not
found in the Book of Jeremiah, but the general sense and nearly the
same words occur in this passage of Zechariah. How came it to pass
that Matthew named Jeremiah instead of Zechariah?-  It should be
considered that Zechariah's words, "the potter," &c., connect his
prophecy closely with Jeremiah, chaps. 18 and 19. "The potter"




352               ZECHARIAH. —CHAP. XI.
of Jeremiah worked down in the, valley of the son of Hilnnom, as
the expressions " go down "' and " went down " (Jer. 18: 2, 3) render probable, and as the passage (19: 2) proves, for here the " east
gate" is (in Heb.) "the entrance to the potter's gate."  There
Jeremiah was to denounce upon the people most solemn threatenings from the Lord, and then break a potter's vessel before them.
The place, already made abominable; the breaking of the vessel, significant of a doom for which there can be no remedy; and the fearful solemnity of the message-all conspired to make the associations
connected with this potter's house specially solemn and portentous.
These things need to be understood in order to get the full sense of
this passage in Zechariah. It may be supposed that Matthew had
before his mind the full account of Jeremiah as well as the more
brief one of Zechariah, and quoting from memory, assigned to the
former what is found as to its precise words most nearly in the
latter.  It is by no means necessary.to the reliability of the Scriptures that we prove them perfectly accurate in all the minutest
literary points. Let it suffice that every thing vital is right and
true, and that every doctrine of any importance is revealed without
the least admixture of error.
14. Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands
that I might break the brotherhood between Judah
and Israel.
The phrase " the brotherhood between Judah and Israel " is an
historic allusion to the case of the two nations after the revolt under
Jeroboam. Under their mutual relations, brotherhood was peace;
brotherhood broken was civil war. Hence the breaking of this second staff or crook symbolized the withdrawal of those providential
agencies which had kept the people together in friendly relations
with each other. Those agencies being withdrawn, intestine discord
at once broke out, hostile parties arose, and civil war became their
most fearful curse. The history of the period, commencing shortly
before the invasion by the Romans, and continuing till the city lay
in ruins, is a mournful confirmation of this symbolic prophecy.
15. And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet
the instruments of a foolish shepherd.
16. For lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land,
which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall
seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor
feed that that standeth still  but he shall eat the flesh of
the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.
17. Wo to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock!
the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right
eye: his arm  shall be clean dried up, and his right eye
shall be utterly darkllened.




ZECIARIATH.-CIIAP. XI.                353
This passage seems to prove conclusively that the person who
is commanded here (v. 15) to " take the instruments of a foolish
shepherd," and who was ordered (vs. 4-14) to " feed the flock of
slaughter," can be no other than the prophet himself; yet not
acting in his own person, or rather not prefiguring aught concerning himself; but in vs. 4-14 personating the Messiah during his
public ministry; and here (vs. 15-17) personating those priests,
scribes, and civil magistrates whom the good.shepherd cut off " in
one month " (v. 8). The object here is to give a more full view of
the character, life, and doom of those faithless shepherds.   The
passage is very brief; hence we are not told precisely what the
" instruments of a foolish shepherd " are. They were not the two
crooks, Grace and Bands, as in the former case; the savage scalpel
and butcher-knife would be more appropriate.   " Lo, I will raise
up a shepherd in the land," &c., reminds us that God is said to do
what he providentially permits to be done. As a judgment on those
utterly corrupt Jews, the Lord gave them shepherds of like moral
corruption. — That the prophet should say " a shepherd," as if but
one, when the sense is a whole class, an entire body of professedly
religious teachers, is in accordance with his usage, as we have seen
in the notes on v. 8.   The things which this bad shepherd will
not do come first in order; "' he will not visit the perishing; will
not seek after the outcasts; will not heal the bruised; will not
nourish the halting," who can scarcely walk, i. e., he neglects precisely the very things which a good shepherd should by all means
do.-On the other hand, with supreme selfishness, he gets all the
good he can for himself. He eats the flesh of the fat ones, and
even tears in pieces their hoofs, so eager is he to get the.last thing
of any value from the carcass.   In the clause " Woe to the idol
shepherd," the Hebrew word rendered "idol" admits this sense,
but does not require it, and therefore should not have it here,
there being no allusion in the case to idolatry, and the more general
sense of useless, worthless, faithless, being in point, and fully justified by usage.-The judgments on this worthless and wicked
shepherd fall on those bodily organs most useful to the shepherdthe arm and the eye. The sense is, that God will utterly paralyze
his power for such services, and will moreover send his judgments
so in the line of his sins, that they will be a perpetual index and
remembrancer of that for which he suffers. As the shepherd would
not use his arm and his eye in the care of his flock, the Lord
withers them utterly and forever. "To him that knoweth to do
good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin " (Jam. 4: 17). Wasted talents,
powers for good unused, bring down from God the most terrible
retribution.




354               ZECHAIRIAH.-CCHAP. XII.
CHAPTER XII.
THis chapter manifestly opens a new snbject. The fist leading
inquiry should respect its general scope and spirit, and the period
of time to which it relates.- In chapter 11, the Jews of our
Saviour's time reject him, their offered Messiah, and bring upon
their city and nation an avalanche of ruin. Now the question may
be supposed to arise, Is the kingdom of the Messiah therefore
utterly broken down?-  To this inquiry, chapters 12 and 13 reply
-By no means. The Lord has yet a " Judah,?' and a "a Jerusalem,"
and a "House of David:" he will redeem them from their external
enemies (see 12: 2-9); and what is yet more to the purpose, he will
pour upon them a spirit of grace, supplication, and penitence, which
shall make them in a far higher and nobler sense his people, and
shall insure their glorious prosperity as his people and kingdom.
— The exposition of this portion of Zechariah involves the investigation and proof of several points:
I. The scenes here predicted lie onward in the Christian age subsequent to those predicted in chapter 11.
(1.) Because, in the absence of proof to the contrary, it should
be assumed that our author advances in time. He has been thus
advancing in his course of thought throughout chaps. 9, 10, and
11. Why not also yet further in chapter 12? —(2.) Because there is
manifestly a close analogy between the order of subjects in the first
six chapters (made up of a series of visions) on the one hand, and
chaps. 7-14 (not such visions) on the other. As chaps. 1-4 promise
good to Zion, so do chaps. 7-10. As chap. 5, on the other hand, predicts the sin and doom of the guilty, so does chap. 11; and then
as chap. 6: 1-8 returns again to God's loving care and protection of
his people, and specifically as manifested against hostile nations, so
does this chap. 12, and also chap. 14. As the last part of chap. 6'
is eminently Messianic, predicting also the ultimate reception of the
nations into his kingdom, so we find the same idea in these chapters
12-14, and especially in chap. 14. —(3.) Because manifestly we
are ia this chapter borne on beyond the date of chap. 9, for there
the Lord was protecting his people against Alexander and his
Syrian successors; here against "all nations" (vs. 2, 3; 9); and,
moreover, here we have passed the crucifixion of Christ (which is
essentially involved in chap. 11), for the people bewail their guilt in
that act (see v. 10).   The location of these events in time must
therefore be onward, after the advent of Mlessiah. So much may
be considered as fixed. But other questions remain.
II. It is a question of no trifling importance whether the terms
"Israel," " Judah," " Jerusalem," " the house of David," are to be
taken here literally or figuratively. Is "Judah " in these chapters
(12-14) the very Judah of Zechariah's time; are her people the lineal
descendants of Abraham; and does the lineal Jew here, as then and
there, represent and embody the earthly kingdom of God? Is




ZECHIARIAH. —CHAP. XII.                355
Jerusalem still, as of old, her capital, and the centre and throne of
Messiah's kingdom? Do the Gentile hosts besiege her literally,
as the Chaldeans had done so recently when Zechariah was writing?    I cannot think so, for these reasons: (1.) With the events
predicted (chap. 11), the literal Judah and Jerusalem  ceased to be
the recognized visible Church and kingdom of God on earth. It is
the precise purpose of chap. 11 to affirm this fact. Consequently,
ever since the apostolic age, Church history has taken on a new type.
No Church historian thinks of looking for the Christian Church in
the Jewish line.-(2.) Whatever Old Testament prophecy is
clearly shown to refer to the New Testament age must, by all
legitimate rules of interpretation, be construed in accordance with
New Testament light, with gospel ideas, with the new principles of
Messiah's kingdom, then first fully brought out. Hence the Judah
and Jerusalem of gospel prophecy, standing as types and symbols
of Messiah's kingdom, must be construed, not literally, but figuratively-just as " the temple" is no longer, as of old, the one place
of God's dwelling, and of all acceptable worship, but the Christian
"temple " is the living pious heart.   (3.) That the Jews shall return again-not to their own land merely, but to Judaism restored
after the order of Moses; that Jerusalem shall again become the
living centre of all visible worship, and of all the true religion of the
world-this worship conforming itself, as of old, to the Mosaic
ritual; and that, as such, Judah shall be invaded and Jerusalem
besieged by all the Gentile nations of the earth, according to the
literal construction of chapters 12 and 14, are not things even supposable. If the New Testament is held to be of any account, Judaism, after the order of Moses, is dead, and those ideas must hence
be rejected. For, practically, that state of things must ignore all the
Christianity of the Gentile world-all the actual Christianity of the
whole world as it now is, and as it has been since the death of
Christ. Can any sane man believe that all the Gentile Christian
churches are at some future period to be annihilated; the religious
world be put back to its condition and relations as in the age of Zechariah; bloody sacrifices and passovers and feasts of tabernacles be
restored, and Judah and Jerusalem stand as the sole representatives
of the Church of God upon the earth? Or can it be believed that
all the great nations of the present or of any future age shall gather
in one vast crusade against the converted Christian Jews in their
own land to besiege Jerusalem, and to exterminate all true religion
from the face of the earth?   The literal construction of chapters
12-14 would hold us to such results: therefore the literal construction must be promptly rejected.-  (4.) Nor let it be thought that
we do violence to the laws of language when we reject the literal
and adopt the figurative sense under such circumstances as these.
Let the reader ask himself —How should a Jewish prophet, writing
in the midst of Judaism, with no other history of the Church before
him, and no other conception of the Church in his mind but that of
Judaism, with no other first readers but Jews, write of the future




356               ZECHARIAH. — CIAP. XII.
Church and kingdom of God in the gospel age?  Shall we demand
that he write of the Christian Church and of millennial times in New
Testament words and phrases, and with' fully-developed New Testament ideas? Let us remember that the time had not come for
such ideas. Let us recall the striking fact that more than three
years' personal communion with  Jesus himself, and no small
amount of his personal labor, quite failed to convert his disciples from
Jewish to Christian ideas; that only the shock given to the old
system by his death, aided by the subsequent teaching of the Holy
Ghost, availed, and then rather slowly, to effect this great change.
How absurd, then, to expect that the Hebrew prophets'and their
first readers could readily reach those new ideas and take in the
sense of Christian as contrasted with Jewish phraseology!Plainly, those Jewish prophets and their first readers must think of
Christianity only as of Judaism extended and purified; must conceive of a world converted only as a world coming up to Jerusalem
to worship; and must conceive of irreligion, infidelity, every form
of hostility to Christ, as the gathering of nations for war against
Jerusalem and Judah, to crush them from the face of the earth.
Hence when we speak of Jewish costume and drapery as clothing
gospel ideas in these sublimely grand and glorious prophecies, we
are not parting company with common sense. We are simply interpreting in harmony with the stern necessities of their, condition.
Jewish minds, with no other than Jewish training, must think so
and speak so, by the inevitable laws of human thought.
III. Consequently, it is no longer a question whether, in
these remaining prophecies of Zechariah (chap. 12-14), we are
to find blessings for the Gentile world; even the extension of
the gospel to all the nations of the earth. If these prophecies
relate to times subsequent to the death of Christ, they must
predict the prosperity of the Christian Church, the conversion
of the world to Immanuel.-It might- be a much more difficult question (were it needful to be settled) whether the lineal
Jew is here, and if so, where and by what marks we shall identify
him. If he were named here alongside of his brother Gentile, as
Paul names them in Rom. 11, it would be easy to make this discrimination. But it is at least supposable that in the greater part
of these three chapters there is no intention to discriminate between
Jew and Gentile. If-so, how can it be expected that a discreet interpreter should make any distinction? Interpreters should not be
asked to make prophecy, nor to put into it what was not there before; but only to unfold the sense already there.   It may be well
to remember also that the change wrought in the transition from
Judaism to Christianity, fitly described as a " breaking down of the
middle wall of partition between us " (Eph. 2: 14), aimed not to
thrust the Jew out, but to let the Gentile in; to abolish henceforth
all distinction as to Christian rights and privileges, and make both
one henceforth in Christ Jesus. Why, then, may not Old Testament prophecy assume precisely this state of the future kingdom




ZECHARIAI. —CHAP. XII.               357
of the Messiah?  The thoughtful reader can scarcely fail to appleciate the importance of these points, and if so, will not account
this discussion unreasonably full or protracted.
Chapter 12 is naturally in two parts, of which the first (vs. 1-9)
represents Judah as invaded and Jerusalem  as besieged by the
combined powers of all nations; but the Lord delivers them. The
second part (vs. 10-14) represents the house of David and the people of Jerusalem as deeply penitent for their sins, especially the sin
of crucifying their Messiah. —— In my comments on this chapter, I
propose first to explain the words and phrases so far as may seem
necessary, and then to speak of its general scope and fulfilment as
prophecy.
1. The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel,
saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and
layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the
spirit of man within him.
This prophecy is a " burden upon Israel " only to a limited extent, for the assault of all-nations upon her and the siege of Jerusalem were transient, ending soon in complete victory on Zion's side.
-.That help comes from the Lord alone, who is mighty to save,
is indicated by the allusion to his great and glorious works of creation.
2. Behold, I will make Jerusalem  a cup of trembling
unto all the people round about, when they shall be in
the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
The phrase rendered "cup of trembling" is read by some,
"threshold of shaking "-one upon which a violent assault should
be made, but which should react in ruin upon the assailants. There
seems, however, to be no good reason for rejecting the usual sense
of the words "a cup of reeling, intoxication "-with reference to
that very common conception of the wine-cup of the wrath of the
Lord which maddens and infatuates nations doomed to ruin. (See
Jer. 25: 15-31, and notes on Nahum 1: 10).-All the nations are
thought of as gathered against Judah and Jerusalem. In the last
clause the sense is, that what the Lord had said of Jerusalem should
be true of Judah also in the siege of her capital.
3. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves
with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of
the earth be gathered together against it.
The reference to a burdensome stone alludes to a custom
among the Jewish young men of trying their strength at lifting
a very heavy stone as high as possible, in which some were wont
to get wounds and bruises. Such a stone, fully equal to one's utmost strength, and often beyond it, should Jerusalem be to the na



358              ZECCHARIAH. —CIAP. XII.
tions. The stone itself is not haimed by the lifting, but the lifters
thereof were sure to be lacerated.
4. In that day, saith the LORD, I will smilte every
horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness:
and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah,
and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
Remarkably, the Lord accounts horses to be a power hostile to
Christ's kingdom. This appears throughout Zechariah, and aids
us to the true conception of Messiah's riding on an ass (9: 9). The
warring enemies of God's people come on horses, this animal being
associated with human pride and rebellion against God.-  This
astonishment and madness are among the effects of the cup of intoxication, given to God's enemies to drink. -Note the beautiful
antithesis. God smites with blindness the warring powers of his
foes, but opens his own eyes wide on his people to see their wants
and to provide therefor.
5. And the governors of Judah shall say in their
heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength
in the LORD of hosts their God.
6. In that day will I make the governors of Judah
like a hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch
of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people
round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even
in Jerusalem.
7. The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first,
that the glory of the house of David and the glory of
the inhabitants of Jerusalem  do not magnify themselves
against Judah.
Without saying it openly, yet in their secret thought, the governors of Judah are relying for their own- protection under God on
the military strength of Jerusalem and the valor of her defenders.
But the Lord will make Judah safe and mighty against her foreign
foes, as a hearth of fire to its fuel, which itself burns not, but only
facilitates the burning of the wood, or as a torch of fire to a sheaf,
which consumes it with no danger to itself. So shall they devour
the gathered nations who assail them.   And " Jerusalem, too, shall
still sit on her throne in her own place," on her own foundations.
The Lord saves Judah first, that he may forestall the pride of selfreliance on the strength and glory of the city. So vital to true religion is it to crucify all human glorying, to cherish the spirit of
absolute dependence on the Lord alone, and to give him for evermore all the glory as the source of all spiritual life and of all power
for good to Zion.




ZECHARIAHI.-CHAP. XII.                359
8. 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 before them.
The Lord defends Jerusalem, yet not without their own concurrent agency. The doctrine that God saves his people must not be
abused to human inaction. He saves rather by augmenting and
reanimating their strength than by superseding their agency. So
here, the feeble shall be as David, who is the type of a most athletic warrior; and the men of David's cast and power shall be now
as God, even as the angel of Jehovah-the uncreated one who had
so often appeared in forms of majesty and power. This is a strong
figure, and must represent a vast augmentation of spiritual force in
the people of God.
9. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will
seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
Now the Lord sets himselfearnestly to destroy all the nations
that array themselves in hostile mood against his people and their
sacred city.
10. And I will pour upon the house of David, and
upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace
and of supplications: and they shall look  upon  me
whom 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 first-born.
These terms are strongly in contrast with those in v. 9. Goa
will seek to pour out vengeance and ruin on those hostile nations;
but grace, mercy, and blessings on Jerusalem.   To " pour out " is
to bestow in large and abundant measure. It is the usual phrase
for the effusions of the Holy Spirit, as in Joel 2: 28-" I will pour out
my Spirit upon all flesh."   In this passage, " the Spirit " is the
Holy Spirit of God, and not a quality or grace in man. It is thought
of, however, as producing piety and prayer in the hearts of men,
and hence is called "the Spirit of grace and of supplications "meaning that Divine Spirit, whose special work it is to beget as to
one's self a tender prayerful frame of mind, and as to others a loving compassion for the souls of men, and earnest prayer for their
salvation. " Grace" in man stands for that which is specially
pleasing to God, and which secures his favor. In the case of sinners, the first buddings of grace are penitence and prayer, a broken
and contrite spirit, which inspires prayer both for our own pardon
and for mercy on other sinners also. The close connection between
the gift of this Spirit, begetting such grace and supplications, and
the "looking upon him whom they have pierced," shuts us up to




360              ZECHARIAH. —CHAP. XII.
this sense of the passage-its leading thought being the conversion
of sinners.-  To " look on me whom they have pierced " can mean
nothing else than thinking of their guilt in crucifying the Lord of
glory. They now look upon the crucified One with bitter penitence and grief for the sin of piercing his heart, and with imploring
cries for pardon through his own blood. This sin of piercing the Lord
belongs not alone to that Roman soldier who drove the nails into
his hands and his feet, nor to him alone whose spear opened his
side, but obviously to all who participated then and there in his
death, and indeed to that indefinitely greater mass who in all ages
have had the same wicked heart as they had, and have abused, insulted, scorned, and rejected Jesus Christ in a spirit like theirs.
All such have crucified the Son of God afresh, reenacting the very
scenes of Calvary, and its very sins too!   But when, touched by
the Spirit of God, they look on the crucified One as pierced by their
own hands, and when they think of their own sins as the nails and
the spear that gave him his bitterest pangs, and then take also into
view the wonderful truth that, despite of such abuse from myself,
that murdered Saviour loves me in his pity still, and offers me pardon as it were through the blood my own guilty hands have shed,
O then the deep fountains of my grief burst open, and for once, if
never before, it is a luxury to weep. Thousands have felt this bitterness of grief for their sins against the crucified One, made doubly
keen by the sense of his enduring and forgiving love, despite of
guilt so black and ingratitude so vile! —Such I take to be the
thought of this passage.   This mourning for sin is as when one
mourns over an only son, lost in death; its bitterness is as that
over a first-born. Ask the real parent's heart for'the depth of anguish in such mourning!
11. In that day there shall be a great mourning in
Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the
valley of Megiddon.
12. And the land shall mourn, every family apart;
the family of the house of David apart, and their wives
apart; the family of'the house. of Nathan apart, and
their wives apart;
13. The family of the house of Levi apart, and their
wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives
apart;
14. All the families that remain, every family apart,
and their wives apart.
This mourning for sin against the slain Messiah is not restricted
to a few, but is widely extended; it is " a great mourning in Jerusalem," like that over the death of the good King Josiah, who fell
in battle against Necho, king of Egypt, in the valley of Megiddon,
the long-famed battle-ground of Esdraelon. See the history in 2




ZECHARIAII. —CIAP. XII.               361
Chron. 35: 23-25 and 2 Kings 23: 29, 30. — Note here that this
mourning for sin is not merely a public thing: public mournings are
sometimes a pageant only, with more of display than of heartfelt grief.
This is so much a personal matter, lying between each individual
soul and his Saviour, that each one is drawn to weep and mourn
apart and alone.  Every instinct leads the mourner to seek
solitude, and to pour out his whole heart there, under no other
eye than God's! Who has not felt this imllpulse toward silent, secret mourning, under such mingled shame and grief, coupled with
the conviction that your whole concern is now with that crucified
One whose heart you have pierced, and whose possible mercy is
now your only hope?-The mode of presenting this thought is
by Jewish terms and historic allusions. The house of David and
the house of Nathan, one of his sons, in the royal line; then the
house of Levi and the house of Shimei. one of his sons, representing the priesthood; —these stand for the whole people, and show
that they all mourn apart, and their wives apart. — The first verse
of the next chapter belongs with this, showing that such penitence
and prayer bring pardon full and free. " In that day a fountain is
opened for sin and for uncleanness " " to the house of David and to
the inhabitants of Jerusalem "-the same on whom (12:10) the
spirit of grace and of supplication is poured out. In that blood
which their own guilty hands have shed, is pardon found for all the
truly penitent.
That this chapter must relate to events subsequent to the death
of Christ-that it concerns the Christian Church and the gospel
age, and therefore must be interpreted according to New Testament
ideas-has been already said, and I trust adequately shown. It
still remains to inquire whether its fulfilment can be located yet
more definitely, and if so, where; and whether now past or yet
future.   It may be proper for me to say that during several years
past, and until this present reinvestigation, I have been inclined to
locate the fulfilment of this portion of Zechariah, chapters 12-14,
yet in the future-near or in the millennial age. I must now modify
this opinion so far at least as to suggest the strong probability that
this chap. 12, looks primarily to a series of events that occurred
within the first three centuries of the Christian era. My reasons
for this view fall under two different heads: (1). The consecutive order of Zechariah's prophecies throughout chapters 9-11,
which, unless some reason appear to the contrary, should continue
also through chap. 12. Thus in chap. 9: 1-8, we have the conquering sweep of Alexander's armies, over Persia, Syria, Tyre, and
Philistia, while God protected Judah-all in the fourth century
before Christ; then, in 9: 11-17 and 10: 1-5, the wars of the
Syrians in the age of the Maccabees, in the second century before
Christ; then in chap. 11, the very events of Christ's personal
ministry, his being rejected by the Jews, and their consequent
destruction by the Romans-all in the period A. D. 1-70. This
regular order of time suggests with very considerable force whether
16




362               ZECHARIAI.-CIAP. XII.
chap. 12 does not continue on with no great chasm into the Christian age.-  (2.) But a second reason, certainly worthy of consideration, is that, adopting the principles of interpretation already presented, we find great events to which these prophetic descriptions
very accurately correspond. Thus in 12:1-9, the leading idea is
that of persecution, a fierce and blomdy onslaught upon the Church
of God. A Jewish prophet could not depict an era of persecution
in any other form so definite and decisive as this. Judah invaded,
Jerusalem besieged and assailed by heathen nations; this in the
Christian age can be nothing else but violent persecution. —And
who does not know that the history of the Church during the first
three centuries is largely the history of persecutions? The Church
is bitterly and cruelly assailed; but she is like "the bush that
burned with fire, yet was not consumed," or in this prophet's own
figures, not less pertinent, she is a cup of reeling to all that besiege
her; a burdensome stone they cannot lift, however much they
essay it, and can by no means harm, but are only themselves
harmed thereby; or yet more fitly, she is a hearth of fire, and her
enemies the burning fuel; or a torch, and they the sheaf that
readily takes fire and is consumed.   So the Church stood the shock
of persecution unshaken; bore its fires unscathed; became only the
more pure, grew only with the more rapid growth; while on her
enemies the wrath of the Lord came down to their uttermost destruction. MIust we not account this series of historic events as fully
answering to the drift of these prophetic representations-?  Taking
this natural harmony between the historic facts and the prophetic
portrayals, in connection with the probable continued consecution
of the prophetic steps along the track of time, is there not at least a
very high degree of probability that this is the true interpretation
of Zech. 12: 1-9?
We come next to the closing portion 12: 10-14 and 13  1. Here
it should be borne in mind that chap. 11 has virtually assumed the
rejection of Messiah by his covenant people and his consequent
crucifixion. It is hence but fit that the Lord, through his prophet,
should meet the natural inquiry- What was the result of his violent
death? Did it utterly crush the young germ of the shoot and
scion of David? Did it wither the hopes-of the world, and the
raised expectations of the hierarchies of heaven? Did it ring the
death-knell of Zion's promised future glory?   Not at all; nothing of the sort. Indeed, that very death on the cross unsealed
the fountains of spiritual power; brought down the glorious effusions of the Spirit of God; made the hearts of even his murderers
like water in the tenderness of their contrition and the outflow of
their sorrows, and drew the hearts of millions, with a power of attraction never known on earth before, into loving gratitude and allconsuming zeal and labor for the risen Redeemer of men. -Is not
such the plain teaching of this most wonderful passage?   We
scarcely need, therefore, to ask more particularly when. it was fulfilled. Its fulfilment began, we may say, on the day of Pentecost




ZECIIARIAI.-CHAP. XII.                 363
when God first " poured out the Spirit of grace and of supplications," and when three thousand men "were pricked in their
heart" in view of this very fact that they had taken Him  of
Nazareth, and by wicked hands had crucified and slain him. Its
fulfilment continued on through that glorious age of gospel triumphs.  It continues still wherever the sense of Christ crucified
goes deep to the heart, and, under the Spirit's light, men feel that
they have themselves been his betrayers and murderers.   The
fountain opened for the penitent people of the house of David is
only the great fact of the gospel age, the way of pardon revealed
and brought out fully to glorious light through the atonement of
the crucified Son of God.   It need not be assumed that these
prophecies are exhausted in those events to which they primarily
refer. Their truths are for all time, and their fulfilment in this
sense cannot be exhausted until the gospel shall cease to be " the
power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." So long,
the agencies of outward violent persecution shall never crush the
true Church, but only serve to purify her the more; so long, a
Saviour crucified shall be the power of God, through the Holy
Ghost, unto penitence, and prayer, and pardon, and anew and holy
life unto God and the Lamb.
If any objection cane be plausibly urged against the explanation
above given of this chapter 12, as already fulfitled prophecy, it will
be on the ground that vs. 10-14 are thus put, in time, before vs.
1-9; whereas, according to their order of sequence, they should come
after. —-My answer is twofold: (1.) Claiming a large abatement
fiom the facts as stated in the objection. (2.) Accounting for the
relative location of the two passages on other grounds than the
order of time.   (1.) The objection assumes that as to time, the
passage (vs. 10-14) looks to the death of Christ and to the immediate
effects of that death upon its authors.   I answer: Such limitation as to its egfects is by no means necessary or natural. And the
m.oral efects of that death, not the death itself as an historic event,
are here the subject of remark. These moral effects are thought
of as characterizing the gospel dispensation-specially prominent
indeed in its opening era, but characteristic of it throughout. V. 10
is not connected with what precedes it as an event that' closely
follows in time. The Hebrew language would naturally indicate
such a connection by the future with vav conversive. But here the
connective particle might as well be rendered " but," indicating an
event of an opposite antithetic character. - And the thought that
follows is obviously antithetic to what precedes. This relation of
the two thoughts determined the location of the latter passage. I
will seek to pour out judgments unto their destruction on the nations that come against Jerusalem; but the grace of my Spirit unto
salvation on Jerusalem  herself. This is manifestly the law  of
thought that suggested the passage, v. 10-14. That is, vs. 1-9 give
the judgmnents of God against the sworn, violent enemies of his
Church; vs. 10-14 thle blessings that come through the death of
Christ, and the mission of his Spirit upon the Church and people.




364              ZECHIARIAH. —CHAP. XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE first verse, as already intimated, belongs very properly to the
previous chapter, since it stands in the closest relations of thought
with the penitence of the people for their sins against the Lord
Jesus. —The next point made is the purifying of the people from
their sins, as shown by specifying two most besetting sins of the
ancient Hebrews, idolatry and false prophesying, both of which are
thoroughly removed from the land (vs. 2-6). Then, by association
of ideas, the crucified Messiah is brought to view (v. 7); finally, the
ungodly portion are cut off, only one-third part remaining, but
these are purified by stern discipline, and come to know Jehovah as
their God (vs. 8, 9).
i. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to
the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
for sin and for uncleanness.
2. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the
LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols
out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered:
and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit
to pass out of the land.
The manner of Zechariah is to affirm a general truth by affirming certain individual facts which are left to imply it. So here, to
show that the land is purified from its great sins, he makes no general statements, but simply individualizes two of the prominent and
most dangerous sins of the covenant people-idolatry and false
prophecy-and represents them to be effectually exterminated.
" Cutting off the very names of idols, so that they should be no
more remembered," implies that idolatry is thoroughly expelled
from the land. (See Hos. 2: 17 and 14: 8 and Mic. 5: 12-14.)The "prophets" named here in connection with idols befbre and'' the unclean spirit'" after, must be false prophets, called prophets
only because they falsely and foully assumed this name. The Lord
will drive them out of the land, forcibly expel them. —— The reference to an "unclean spirit " recognizes Satanic agency.
3. And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet
prophesy, that his father and his mother that begat him
shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his
mother that begat him thall thrust him through when he
prophesieth.
A supposed case is made: If any one shall yet attempt to proph



ZECHARIAII.-CHAP. XIII.               365
esy falsely, his own father and mother shall be so zealous for God and
for truth that they shall solemnly declare unto him, " Thou shalt
not live;" and, moreover, they shall not merely threaten; they
shall even thrust him through in his very act of prophesying.
To make the case stand out the more strongly, stress is laid upon
the parental relation: his father that begat and his mother that bare
him will not shrink from taking his life. This would be according
to the Mosaic law.  See the passages, very strong and explicit:
Deut. 13: 6-10 and 18: 20.
4. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the
prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when
he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive:
Public sentiment gives no countenance to the abominable sin of
pretending to be the Lord's prophet. Hence, all men of this class
should be ashamed of their former pretended visions.  The " rough
garment" was one used by mourners, and worn by false prophets
to make the people think they were bearing the sins of the nation
sorrowfully on their hearts-somewhat in imitation of the true
prophets of the Lord.
5. But he shall say, I am  no prophet, I am an husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my
youth.
6. And one shall say unto him, What are these
wounds in thy hands.  Then he shall answer, Those
with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
" But one shall say " (a supposed case), "I am an husbandman,
for a man sold me from my youth," i. e., as a servant. This is the
precise sense of the original, which says nothing specially about
" keeping cattle."  He means to show that his position in life has
been such as should remove all suspicion of his playing the false
prophet. He has been held as a servant all his days.-But there
are palpable marks on his person that convict him of lying even
now; hence, one replies to him-What mean those gashes on your
hands? He can only confess the truth: "They were inflicted by
my associates according to the custom of idol worshippers, in their
temples."   The word rendered "friends" means properly lovers;
but is used in the bad sense, and here of his fellow idolaters involved
like himself in this harlotry to which the word " lovers " refers.
Jewish as well as profane history shows clearly that cutting the
flesh was common in idol worship. (See 1 Kings 18; Jer. 16: 6 and
41: 5; Deut. 14: 1.) The common idea of penance may be supposed
to lie at the bottom of such practices; a consciousness of guilt;
the demands of remorse; coupled with the notion that the gods will
exact some suffering for such sins, and hence each man had best inflict it upon himself, rather than leave it for the gods to inflict.




366               ZECIIARIAI. —CIAP. XIIT.
7. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against
the mlan that as 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.
This verse refers to the death of Christ by violent hands, and its
results as to the flock of which he was the shepherd. An active
imagination gives life and will to the sword, considered as the instrument in a violent death, and the Lord of hosts commands"Awake" (as if it had been asleep, at rest), " awake against my
shepherd" (the 1Messiah), described here as being "the man that is
my nearest friend "-for such is the sense of the word rendered
" my fellow." This word occurs elsewhere only in the Pentateuch,
and there in such passages as Lev. 6: 2, and 19: 11, 15, 17, and 25:
15, &c.,' Ye shall not lie nor deceive each man his near friend,"
&c. "If a man lie unto his neighbor in that which was delivered
him to keep, or hath deceived his neighbor," &c.'This usage shows
that the word is used for the nearest human relationship, not involving consanguinity. It, therefore, well expresses the relation
between the Father and the Son, when he is thought of as incarnate
-in his human nature. This human nature of Jesus stood in this
close relation to the Father. —The bold metaphor, "Awake, O
sword," &c., has its analogy in Jer. 47: 6, 7: " O thou sword of the
Lord, how long ere thou wilt be quiet? Put up thyself into thy
scabbard; rest and be still." "How can it be quiet, seeing the
Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon and against the sea
shore? There hath he appointed it."-~This sword of the Lord is
the Lord's executioner. So in our passage the Lord of hosts commands the sword to its work, remarkably recognizing the divine
agency in the atoning death of the Lamb of God. Our Saviour
intimated the same agency when he said to Pilate (John 19: 11),
"Thou couldest have no power against me except it were given
thee from above." —— The Lord Jehovah had most important ends
to accomplish in his kingdom by this violent death of " the Lamb
of God who was to take away the sin of the world," and therefore
suffered him to fall into the hands of wicked men, and suffered those
wicked hands to take his life. What God suffers to be done, he is
sometimes said to do. —— he consequences to the flock are depicted: "Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered "-the
natural result when their protector and guide falls. So in chap.
11: 6, 9-14, where the good shepherd is practically rejected by his
flock, and where a tacit allusion to his dishonored death is implied
(vs. 12, 13), the consequences are the utter ruin of the corrupt and
guilty portion of the covenant people. Those Jews who murdered
the Son of God and repented not of their deeds, brought down on
their city and their entire nationality a fearful doom. —But the
Lord turns. back his hand to spare and save his little ones. (The
same use of this verb, "turn back," may be seen Isa. 1: 25.) The
same hand that was stretched out to destroy the guilty, reversing




ZECHARIAH.-CCHAP. XIII.               367
its action, turned itself back to protect and bless " the poor of the
flock that waited on me," as they are described, chap. 11: 11. A
few of the Jewish people received Jesus as their Messiah, became
his disciples while he lived or converts to his faith after his death,
and these beecame objects of his special care and love.   It remains
to consider the connection of this verse with the one immediately
preceding. I think this connection falls under the law of association of ideas. The close analogy between the false prophet, whose
hands had been gashed and pierced " in the house of his friends,"
and the Messiah, whose hands were pierced in a death by crucifixion
among those who ought to have been his friends, suggested the
latter case, and led the prophet to speak of it here. This accounts
for its coming in here out qfplace in the sense of being both aside
from the general course of thought in this chapter, and out of its
chronological order-his violent death having been assumed in chap.
1, and certainly thought of as already past in 12: 10 and 13: 1.
This renewed allusion to it is therefore due to the power of this law
of suggestion.  In this explanation, it is assumed that in speaking
to men, the Spirit of inspiration not only uses human language, but
follows human laws of thought in determining the succession of
ideas. We may be quite unable to make up a full and perfect answer to the question, What i8 inspiration? but it stands out undeniably on the face of these inspired writings that inspiration does
not supersede nor override the laws of mental association by which
one thought suggests another analogous one.
8. And it shall come to pass, that in all the land,
saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and
die; but the third shall be left therein.
9. 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 GodL
The primary sense of these verses is clear. Over all the land,
two parts out of three are cut off and die; the third part remaining, is purified through the fires of earthly discipline. These become far more fully than before the people of the living God.
But while the rendering of these words is plain, and their current
usage well established, the question of their application and fulfilment as prophecy is by no means so obvious. —It has been common for interpreters to assume the closest possible connection between these verses and v. 7, and hence to apply them to the case
of the lineal Jews immediately subsequent to the crucifixion of
Christ, when, as they would say, the greater part-two-thirds-of
the people were cut off violently by the Roman arms; the remaining third purified and brought into the Christian Church.-This




368               ZECIIARIAII.-CCHAP. XIII.
maypossibly be the correct view; but there are serious objections
to it: (1.) The facts of history do not verify it; the proportion cut
off being much more than two parts out of three, and the saved
being less than one in three.   (2.) The saved are here thought
of as being the entire visible Church of God. But in fact, the
Church in the apostolic age was far more of Gentiles than of Jews.
(3.) This construction is out of the chronological order which runs
not only through chapters 9-11, but also through chapters 12 and
13, up to the digression which takes us back for a moment to the crucifixion in 13: 7.-  Chapter 12: 1-9 gives us the Christian Church
passing through its first three centures, a period of persecution.
Chapter 12: 10 to 13: 1 gives the effect of Messiah's death as through
the Holy Ghost a power unto penitence, prayer, and pardon. Chap.
13:2-6, the great advance made in the Christian Church in real
piety, presented by means of Jewish historic allusions, but manifestly meaning that the people of God are, through divine mercy,
redeemed from reigning sin, and brought into a far higher state of
Christian life than the covenant people had reached during the ages
before Christ. -Thus far, then, the reader will notice a somewhat
regular chronological order, a progress onward in time in the course
of thought. It is reversing this course to go back in this passage
(13: 8, 9) to the date of chap. 11. It quite breaks out of the line
of historic events in which we weremoving in the passage 13: 2-6.
- I therefore suggest another construction, viz.: that vs. 8, 9 lie
in the same line of thought with vs. 2-6, and looking to a somewhat
later period in the Christian age, give us the corruptions of Christianity, and indicate that God will sever those corrupt portions, prior to
the millennial age. —It is obvious that chap. 14 gives us first the
opening scenes and then the full consummation of millennial purity
and glory. If we give due heed to the chronological succession of
prophetic events in this prophet through chapters 9 to 13: 6, and allow
for continued progress on the same grade of advance, we shall find
ourselves drawing nigh the millennial age in the closing verses of
chap. 13. —It has been already suggested that the main reason
for applying vs. 8 and 9 to the lineal Jews at the point where they
took sides for Christ or against him in the latter half of the first century, is the assumption that they stand closely connected with v.'7.
This class of interpreters would paraphrase thus: "Smite the
shepherd, then shall the ancient covenant people be scattered and
broken up; two parts -of them shall reject Jesus Christ and perish
miserably under the Roman arms; the remaining third part shall become the beloved and sanctified people of God."- But instead of
this, the connection may be quite different, thus: The manifestation
of Jesus Christ in the flesh served to reveal the utter rottenness of
the visible Jewish church. When the shepherd was smitten, the
mass of that church went to ruin; only a few of the little ones
were saved. So, in the advanced ages of the Christian Church, corruption became again fearfully prevalent, and another great sifting
process became indispensable before the era of the final conquest




ZECHIARIAH.-CIIAP. XIII.              369
and triumph of Christ's kingdom could open. That is, as v. 7 came
in under the influence of association of ideas, so it goes out and v. 8
comes in, under the same general law of analogy-v. 7 standing alone
as a diversion from the current strain of chronological thought. The
analogy between the corrupt Judaism of the Saviour's day on the
one hand, and the corrupt Christianity of the mediaeval Christian
age, onward indeed to the present day, is the law of connection between v. 7 and v. 8.   In support of this view, let it be noted that
the prophet does not put the eighth verse in close connection as to
time with verse 7. He does not say, " in that day, two parts
therein shall be cut off," &c. Let the reader notice how constantly
he has used this phrase wherever he meant this thing, as e. g., in 12:
3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, and 13: 1, 2, 4-nine times within this and the
previous chapters. Hence its omission here should at least suggest
a grave doubt whether he could have located these events (vs. 8
and 9) " in the same day " with those of v. 7. If he did, why did
he not say so? —Yet further, our translators manifestly leaned
strongly toward the application of these verses to the Jews exclusively, and therefore rendered "in all the land;" but Zechariah
wrote it, " in all the earth." * This Hebrew phrase is used more
than fifty times (I count fifty-nine) in the sense of all the earth. I
find but three cases of its use for Judea only, and in these the connection furnishes the limitation.  This same phrase is used by our
prophet in 14- 9: " And the Lord shall be king over all the earth;
in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one."- This
usage ought (it would seem) to be accounted decisive proof that
Zechariah in vs. 8, 9 speaks of Christianity as a whole all over the
world, and not of Judaism in Palestine only.
Such, in brief, are the reasons which compel me to differ widely
from the current interpretation of these verses. I am constrained
to apply them to the gigantic corruptions of the nominally Christian
Church, especially the Roman and the Greek, and not altogether
excepting some of those that have been once ostensibly reformed.
Let it be asked, What does the "' American and Foreign Christian
Union" find to do? Or let us ask, How large a portion of nominal
Christendom to-day comes up to the standard of these words:
" 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 "? Who can
doubt that the fires of discipline and of judgment must pass over
the nominally Christian world, sifting out the precious from  ile
vile, and consuming whatever proves to be only dross? -How
large a part of this work shall be wrought by the moral and spiritual
agencies of truth, purifying and converting; and how much by the
stern agencies of consuming fire, time only can fully show. This
language looks toward the latter. Let the people of God press
their gospel work to the utmost while they may!
16'




370               ZECHARIAH. —CHAP. XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
TuE principles of interpretation which should rule in this chapter have been fully discussed and brought out in my remarks introductory to chapter 12. The events which it portrays are all yet in
the future. Consequently there is no occasion to try to locate them
in history, or to define their precise historic character. Their general significance and results may be inferred with reasonable certainty. -The entire costume is Jewish, as we ought to expect.
Jerusalem  is invested by the combined forces of all nations; the
city taken and sacked; half its people go into captivity (vs. 1, 2).
The Lord comes forth to fight against those nations (v. 3); he stands
on the mount of Olives and cleaves it in twain for his people to pass
through (v. 4); they flee, but ultimately the Lord and his holy ones
appear for their salvation (v. 5); a most peculiar twilight period follows, breaking forth near evening into the effulgence of full day
(vs. 6. 7); living waters flow from Jerusalem perpetually (v. 8); Jehovah alone is King over all the earth (v. 9); the whole world becomes
a plain, and the temple-mountain stands alone the only mountain
(v. 10); the plague that comes on those who fought against Jerusalem (v. 12)-panic and mutual slaughter consume them (v. 13); Judah
aids Jerusalem in this great conflict against their common foes (v.
14); God's judgments reach all the domestic animals used by their
enemies, as well as their owners (v. 15); all the surviving people
of the world shall go up to Jerusalem to worship (v. 16); the plague
on those who will not go up (v. 17), and especially on Egypt (vs. 18,
19); holiness to the Lord in all inanimate things, universal and
final (vs. 20, 21).
1. Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil
shall be divided in the midst of thee.
"Behold," calls special attention to what follows, as of the
deepest interest and greatest importance.-Remarkably, the usual
form, "day of the Lord," is materially changed here. It is-" a
day comes for the Lord "-one day prehminentlyfor him, in which
he will fully vindicate his name as the God of Zion, his power as
one mighty to save, and his faithfulness as one who, having long
ago promised, comes forth now in the fulness of time to perform.
The other form —simply day of the Lord *-occurs in Joel 1: 15
and 2: 1, 11,31, and 3: 14; Amos 5:18,20; Zeph. 1:14, and
elsewhere; but this is unique and peculiar,t occurring, however,
substantially in Jer. 51: 6, "Flee out of the midst of Babylon; be
not cut off in her iniquity; for it is a time of vengeance for the
Lord."  Also in Isa. 2: 12.-  " Thy spoil shall be divided in the
midst of thee," is of course said of Jerusalem, and implies that she
~my~v  ~ ~   ~.   H       om E i




ZECHARIAHI. —CHAP. XIV.               371
is in the power of her enemies; " for no man can enter into a strong
man's house and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong
man; then shall he spoil his goods."- Sad eclipse must this be
for the Church of God, represented as analogous to that of the Jews
when the proud Chaldean spoiled her city and temple.
2. For I will 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.
This verse gives somewhat the details of the case, to show how
it comes to pass that the spoil of the city is divided among its captors within her very walls. The Lord, by his providential agencies,
brings all the nations up against Jerusalem to battle. In this one
prominent feature, this prophecy harmonizes with Ezek. 38 and 39,
and with Rev. 20: 8, 9.-  The city is taken; the horrible scenes
usually consequent on such a capture ensue.  Finally, half the
people go into captivity; the other half remain in the city. —We
do not hear from these captives again. They meet the doom of the
wicked, and doubtless represent the corrupt and not truly pious
portion of the people.-This cleansing of the nominal Church by
which one-half is sloughed off, taken in connection with the similar operation predicted (chap. 13: 8, 9), which cut off two parts out
of three, gives us a strong view of the fearful corruption of the
Church, and of the amount of winnowing and separation requisite
before her great victories over the wide world can be achieved.
Like the host of Gideon, her host is to be reduced to the faithful
few.
3. Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against
those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
"Then shall the Lord go forth "-this Hebrew verb being the
common one for " going out " to war and battle, e. g., Hab. 3; 13,
and Isa. 26: 21, which latter passage, like the one before us, assumes that the Lord has been at rest, waiting for the fit hour, and now
comes forth for special displays of his power against his foes."As when he fought in the day of battle," suggests the inquiry,
What special day, if any, is referred to. The original repeats the
word "day" thus: "as in the day of his fighting in the day of
battle."  Very probably the prophet alludes to the overthrow of
Pharaoh's host in the Red Sea. That conflict stood preeminent
above.all others yet, and should the more surely be assumed as present in thought here because the parting asunder of the Mount of
Olives, as in the next verse, is a tacit allusion to that parting of the
Red Sea for a similar purpose, viz., the escape of his people from
their p lrsuing foes.




372              ZECIARIAII. —CHAP. XIV.
4. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the
mount of 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, and there shall be
a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
The commander of a vast army takes some elevated position
which overlooks the battle-field. So Jehovah takes his stand on
the Mount of Olives, which overlooked the city on the east, affording the best commanding view of the city. To give the greater
vividness to the scene as a reality, it is said "his feet shall stand
there."-The mountain cleaves asunder in the middle, half removing northward and half southward, leaving a wide valley. There
can be no doubt of a tacit historical allusion here to the very similar cleaving of the Red Sea for his people to escape from Pharaoh's
pursuing host.  That was done literally; this, being an historical
allusion, means only that a deliverance is now effected like that,
equally glorious to the power that saved his people, equally effective
for their salvation. The analogy will be yet more complete if we
may suppose, with lHengstenberg, that the mountain is cleft by an
earthquake, which, while it opened the mountain for their easy
escape, swallowed up their enemies. As the text does not affirm
this, however, it must stand as mere conjecture.   This earthquake
alarmed the retreating host and hastened their flight-of which fear
and flight the next verse speaks.
5. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains;
for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal:
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 shall come, and all the saints with thee.
"And ye flee along the valley of my mountains "-called here
the Lord's, because he had cleft and prepared them for his people
to pass along the valley between them-"for this valley of the
mountains shall reach to Azal "-a city lying east of the Mount of
Olives, its name signifying that it is a suitable place for halting in
safety.-  This earthquake in the days of Uzziah is not noticed in
the historical books, but is probably alluded to by Amos (1: 1).
That, like this, was a time of panic and of earnest flight from the
city to the mountains for safety. —— " Now there comes the Lord my
God, and all the saints with thee."  With this the scene changes;
Immanuel appears in preeminent splendor, and all the holy in Ilis
train. The nearest parallel to this scene as respects his retinue is
Deut. 33: 2, where Moses said: " The Lord came from Sinai; he
shined forth from Mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of
saints," &c. The prophet speaks of this scene as it appeared to




ZECIIARIAH.-CIIAP. XIV.               373
him in prophetic vision. The scene was peculiarly and preeminently
impressive. He had a vivid sense of Immanuel, " the captain of the
Lord's host," as his own God, and the God of his own people, and
therefore says, "There comes the Lord my God!"
The next striking feature he puts in the form of an address to
Immanuel: "All the holy ones are with thee." —The great aim
of this revelation is to impress the prophet, and through his words
all the people of God in every age, with this great truth, that Jesus
Immanuel is the Almighty Saviour of his people, and that he employs angelic spiritual beings as his agents in the ministrations of
his mediatorial reign, both in the care of his people and in his judgments on the wicked. Hence these agents sometimes appear in the
visions of prophecy. Isaiah "saw the Lord sitting upon a throne,
high and lifted up, and above him were the seraphim." The same
thing was symbolized when (2 Kings 6: 17) Elisha prayed in behalf
of his young servant: "Lord, I pray'thee open his eyes, that he
may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he
saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of
fire round about Elisha."- This was only bringing before the
prophet's mental eye the actual verities of things-those agencies,
full of power, though usually invisible to mortals, by which Jesus
Christ administers the providential government of this world. In
this view of the passage, the saints (literally the holy ones) are
especially the angels, who are all ministering spirits sent of God,
either to minister blessings to the heirs of salvation, or judgments
on the heirs of perdition.-  Some interpreters suppose they find
in this passage the visible personal advent of Christ with his risen
saints-the pious dead-to reign in this world, in what must be essentially a "kingdom of this world." I find in it no such thing.
There is nothing in the language of this verse that demands such a
construction, and nothing in the subsequent scenes of the chapter
at all suggestive of an order of things so vlery peculiar, and so entirely unlike what prophecy currently sets forth as the era of the
triumphs of gospel truth and love upon earth.
6. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the
light shall not be clear, nor dark:
I7. But it shall be one day which shall be known to
the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass,
that at evening time it shall be light.
The sixth verse requires a more careful and accurate translation, thus: "And it shall be on that day, there shall be no light;
the sources of splendor" (the luminaries of heaven) "shall be
shut up, and it shall be one day" (unique and unlike all other days),
"known to the Lord " (only); "not day and not night: but it shall
come to pass that at evening time it shall be light."-  There seems
to be a gradation here through three distinct stages: first, utter
darkness; then, a dim twilight, like that of an eclipse; then, at the




374               ZECIIARIAII. —CHAP. XIV.
close of the day, when you might expect darkness soon to cover the
earth, lo, the effulgence of full and glorious day!- This must be
taken as an epitome of the state of the Church, as seen by the
prophet somewhere in the then distant future. IIow long this period,
here called "a day," shall be, we have no means of knowing, nor
can we know yet the peculiar circumstances which constitute the
darkness of its morning, the dim twilight of its mid-day, and the
glorious effulgence of its close; which, indeed, instead of being its
elose, seems rather to be the opening of a long and ineffably glorious day!   It must suffice us that we may learn from such prophecies that the Lord knoweth his thoughts of mercy toward our sinful world, and that he has great and glorious blessings yet to bring
forth from the infinite stores of his love!-The prophet proceeds
to give us yet further illustrations of the better day that shall follow
this darkness and dimness.
8. And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall
go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former
sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer
and in winter shall it be.
As we have seen in the notes on Joel 3: 18 ("a fountain shall
come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of
Shittim "), water is a natural symbol of God's spiritual blessings,
especially those in which the agencies of the Holy Spirit are prominent. Indeed, water is the special symbol of this divine Spirit, as
may be seen in the explanatory clauses of Ezek. 36: 25, 27, and of
Isaiah 44: 3. The latter reads, "I will pour water on him that is
thirsty "-shown to mean, "I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed,
and my blessing upon thy offspring." Ezekiel has it, " Then will I
sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean," &c.-shown
to mean, "I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk
in my statutes," &c. Moreover, the very terms which express the
manner of giving the Spirit indicate this: " I will pour my Spirit
upon you," &c. -Strikingly parallel to this passage of Zechariah
is Ezek. 47: 1-12. There the water flows from under the sanctuary,
here from Jerusalem; there in one widening, deepening stream,
till it becomes a mighty river, and sweeping through the desert
eastward, pours itself into the Dead Sea and heals its waters; here
one-half flows into the front sea, which is, of course, the Dead Sea,
and the other half into the Mediterranean on the west. That of
Ezekiel carries on its bosom health, abundance, undying verdure,
and is of course to be considered perennial; this flows during the
arid summer as well as the rainy winter, which amounts to saying
that it flows all the year, and year after year, never failing.   Now,
as Palestine would be rendered almost an earthly Paradise by such
living streams as Zechariah and Ezekiel have described, if they were
to be miraculously created by the finger of Cod, and become literal
verities, so we must taol;  thies:,.arn   as prs redictions of blessings of




ZECHARIAH. —CHAP. XIV.                375
the richest, most abundant, and most enduring kind possible for God
to bestow on human souls.   That Zechariah's stream of water
flows from Jerusalem and Ezekiel's " from under the sanctuary" indicate plainly that the Spirit of God will yet continue, as ever, to make
the institutions of the gospel-the service and worship of the sanctuary-the vehicles and the channels through which he will pour
abroad the fulness of his blessings upon men.
9. And the LORD shall be king over all the earth:
in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
The precious fact predicted here is that the Lord Jehovah reigns
supreme over all the earth, and is recognized everywhere as the only
true God. The sense is not precisely this-that now and henceforth there shall really be but one God, as if to imply that in former times there had been more true Gods than one; but this-that
now he is known, acknowledged, honored, obeyed, as the one only
God. The very names of other gods are forgotten. No other name
than his is recognized as a name for God. Now, therefore, " the
kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord,
and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever." Now, at length, the
long-offered prayer, the burden of pious hearts age after age, is fulfilled: " Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in
heaven."  That good promise by the mouth and pen of David (Ps.
22: 27, 28), has now come to pass: " All the ends of the earth shall
remember, and turn unto the Lord, all the kindreds of the nations
shall worship before thee; for the kingdom is the Lord's, and he is
Governor among the nations."
10. All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba
to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted
up, and inhabited in her place, from  Benjamin's gate
unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate,
and frnom  the tower of Hananeel unto the king's winepresses.
"' All the land" should read, as it clearly means, all the earth,
being precisely the same words rendered " all the earth " in the previous verse: " The Lord shall be king over all the earth." " Turned "
means changed, in its physical conformation, from a mountainous to
a plain, level country. The sense is not that all the land from Geba
to Rimmon-so much, and no more-shall become a plain, but
this: that all the earth shall become a plain similar to that fiom
Geba to Rimmon. The Hebrew reads, "All the earth shall be
changed and become like to the plain from Geba to Rimmon," &c.,
not a plain. " South of Jerusalem" is added to Rilnmon to distinguish it from another, known as "' the rock Rimmon." (See Judges
20: 45, 47, and 21:13.) Geba was on the northern border of Judah (2 Kings 23: 8), and Rimmon on the southern (1 Chron. 4: 32).
---- It shall be lifted up " means that Jerusalem shall rise in lofty,




376              ZECHARIAH.-CHAP. XIV.
towering grandeur, the only mountain in all the world, and, of
course, the chief wonder and admiration of the world, the Chimborazo of the globe, all else being a plain. It shall be crowned on its
summit with the glorious temple of the living God. This carries
forward the figure used Micah 4: 1 and Isaiah 2: 2, at least one important step further. Micah and Isaiah speak of the temple-mountain as " established" (firmly set) " on the top of the mountains,
and exalted above the hills." Zechariah sees all other mountains
and hills sinking down to a plain, and the temple-mountain, or
rather Jerusalem herself as a whole, is lifted up and becomes the
only mountain of the world. So magnificent, honorable, and glorious is to be the future kingdom of Messiah-the state of Christian
faith and life in this world redeemed from its sins and pollutions! -The last clause of the verse states that Jerusalem shall
again sit in her queenly majesty, the metropolitan city of this glorious kingdom. " In her place " means upon her former foundations,
which is also expressed by the more particular specification of the
gates and well-known points of the old city.
11. And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no
more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely
inhabited.
As Jerusalem had been repeatedly visited with the fearfully
blighting curse of Jehovah for her great sins-once inflicted by the
cruel Chaldeans, and again to be, as already predicted, by the stern
RIomans-it was specially pertinent for the prophet to say that there
should be no more such visitations of ruin. Her sins having been
washied away and herself taken under the special protection of her
Redeemer, there would be no more occasion for such "utter destruction." Henceforth she should be "inhabited safely."
12. And this shall be the plague wherewith the LoRD
will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand
upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in
their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their
mouth.
The prophet left the enemies of Zion at the third verse, to-follow the fortunes of Zion herself, and to show us, through vs. 4-11,
how signally the Lord appeared for her help, and how gloriously
he turned her darkness into day, and then poured out for her living
waters and rebuilt her capital in greater and more enduring splendor than ever. Now he returns to inform us of the doom of those
old enemies who marshalled their hosts against Zion, as appears vs.
1-3. They are smitten with a living death. Their flesh, touched
with some consuming leprosy, perishes while yet they stand upon
their feet. Their eyes consume away in their sockets; their tongue
in their mouths. The eye and the tongue are specified as being the




ZECHARIAH.-CIIAP. XIV.                377
most valued organs-those of sight and of speech; and probably,
too, as having been specially used in their war upon Zion. With
their tongue they had spoken proudly, blasphemously, profanely.
The type of their spirit had been, "Let her be defiled; let our eye
look upon Zion" (Mic. 4:11). "Where is the Lord thy God?
Mine eye shall behold her" (Mic. 7: 10). The Lord is wont to
make his retributive judgments indicate the sin for which they are
sent.-This plague wherewith the Lord shall smite the open enemies and actual assailants of his Zion is intended to be terrible.
What could be more so than such a wasting and consuming away,
if slowly, yet surely, through the horrors of a living death, till the
dread reality shall have fully come?
13. 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 neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his
neighbor.
The word "tumult " does not naturally convey the full sense of
the original, which rather meazas a panic-the blended terror and
confusion which an awful sense of the fact that Almighty God is
against them would naturally produce. Analogous cases appear in
the pages of Jewish history, as in Judges I7: 22, where " Gideon's
three hundred men blew with the trumpet, and the Lord set every
man's sword against his fellow throughout all the host;" or the
case of Jonathan and his armor-bearer (1 Sam. 14: 15, 16), "and
there was trembling in the host, in the field, and among all the
people " —" the earth quaked, so it was a very great trembling;
and behold, the multitude melted away, and they went on beating
down one another." Also 2 Chron. 20: 23-" They lay hold every
one on the hand of his neighbor," not to help, but to disarm and
smite him.-  This verse and the preceding should be located in
the events of this chapter, immediately after the first three verses.
We are not to suppose that this plague of v. 12, and this panic with
mutual slaughter of v. 13, come in only long after the scenes of the
first three verses, and after Jerusalem has become peaceful and
glorious. They rather go back to give us in detail the manner in
which the Lord disposed of those enemies that fought against Jerusalem, took and divided her spoil, and made captives of half her
people. All suddenly, the plagues of Jehovah smite them; their
flesh consumes away; this awful form of death serves to panicsmite their hosts, and they fall upon each other in the dread work
of mutual slaughter! " So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord;
but let them that love thee be as the sun when he goeth forth in
his might! " (Judges 5: 31).
14. And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and
the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gath



378              ZECIIARIAH. —CHAP. XIV.
ered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great
abundance.
Judah fights in Jerusalem, not as the margin has it, against
her. The meaning is that, with a mutually good understanding, the
people of the country rush to the help of the city, and fight heroically within the city for her defence. The spoil from the enemy
is immense.   The ultimate truth taught here is that real union
shall be the strength and glory of the millennial Church.
15. And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the
mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts
that shall be in these tents, as this plague.
The same plague that came from the Lord upon incorrigibly
wicked men falls also on all their cattle, horses, mules, camels, and
asses. They are supposed to be polluted by the horrible corruption
of their owners. Moreover, the Lord would make his judgments so
terrible as to inspire awe of his majesty and justice. The cattle of
a city given to idolatry were to be destroyed. So were the animals in some of those most wicked cities doomed of God to destruction.   The word " tents " should have been " camps," which
is the sense of the original-thus removing the incongruity of having these animals in their tents.
16. And it shall. come to pass, that every one that is
left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem,
shall even go up from year to year to worship the King,
the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
The slaughter of the wicked nations, implied in v. 3, and terribly
indicated in vs. 12, 13, leaves some yet living; how many relatively
to the whole number, or to the number slain, we are not told. But
we are told that those who remain shall be converted to God. They
now come up to Jerusalem, no longer to fight against her, but to
worship the living God in her temple, and to join heart and hand with
the Lord's people. They are changed men-changed from sinners
to saints.   The Jewish idea of a convert made to the true God
in distant Gentile lands must naturally imply that he will come up
year by year to Jerusalem to worship God at their great festivals.
This idea they could not fail to carry over to the reign of their expected Messiah. Prophecy makes him a second David, the great
successor on David's throne, to reign over all the nations from that
great central metropolis of his kingdom.  It remains for.us to
translate this Old Testament phraseology into that of the New Testament, and to modify those ideas which were the natural, not to say
necessary, outgrowth of the ancient dispensation, and make them correspond to the new type of things established by our Lord and his
apostles. So modified, we no longer think of converts in the ends
of the earth making their annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem to keep




ZECHARIAH.-CHAP. XIV.                 379
her holy feasts and to worship Jehovah there.  We understand
that every living Christian heart is God's temple, and that every sincere worshipper is accepted in the New Mediator of the better covenant.  This passage, then, interpreted in harmony with New Testament doctrines and ideas, predicts the conversion of most if not
all the ungodly.who survive the fearful judgments already referred
to. —— That out of the three great annual festivals, the feast of tabernacles should be selected, is due to its special adaptation to the
times. It was the national thanksgiving for God's favors in the
fruits of the year, and was also a grateful memorial of their change
fromi a wilderness life, forty years in tents, to a settled rest in Canaan. Now after Zion has been redeemed from her sins, made
victorious over her foes, has received all that survive of them to
her bosom as friends, and they are made welcome to her munificent
blessings from her King, why should they not bring up their annual offerings of thanksgiving and praise? Isaiah (66: 23) names
the "new moons and the Sabbaths" as the periods at which all
flesh should come up to worship before the Lord-showing, when
compared with this statement by Zechariah, that a literal coming
is not thought of by the Spirit of inspiration.  The essential
idea is expressed as well by one form of statement as by the
other. This idea is, that all' the people of the earth will worship
the true God in the modes of his own appointment, as Christ taught
the woman of Samaria (John 4: 20-24), and as the converted Jews
were taught (Heb., chapters 7-10).
17. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of
all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship
the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them  shall be
no rain.
This curse is entirely in accordance with the principles of the
ancient Theocracy which promised rain to the people if obedient,
but threatened to withhold it if they turned aside to idols. (See
Deut. 11: 13-17.)   The ancient economy provided for retribution
in the present world sufficiently full and sure to make the sense of
it effective in those early ages, and to minister to an intelligent faith
in God's actual government of the world. - The previous verse
speaks of "nations;" this, particularly, of "families." because it
was by families that the Hebrew people came up to Jerusalem on
their great annual festivals.
18. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come
not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up
to keep the feast of tabernacles.
It is not entirely clear why the family of Egypt is specified here.
We naturally think the reason to be that no rain ever falls in portions of that country, and therefore, since this plague would not




380               ZECHARIAH. —CHAP. XIV.
touch them, another of special sort would be provided. But the
Hebrew clause, which reads in our version, " that have no rain," is
elliptical, and therefore quite indefinite, since it may be supplied
either thus: Upon whom rain does not (usually) fall; or thus:
Upon them shall be no rain.   The general sense, however, is
plain, viz., that Egypt shall be no exception to the general law. If
they go not up, the same plagues shall fall on them for this neglect
as on other nations. The fact is, that the failure of rain around
the head-waters of the Nile is as fatal to Egypt as the failure of rain
in other countries.-  Let it be noted that these threatened plagues
(vs. 17, 18) do not of necessity imply that any families will refuse
to go up to worship the Lord of hosts. They may only show that
men are still moral agents, acted upon by fear and hope, and made
responsible for their free moral acts. The assurance (v. 16) that:" every one that is left of all the nations shall go up," needs no
abatement because of this threatened plague on whomsoever shall
not go. Yet it must be admitted that this language may purposely
imply that there will be even in that glorious day some still persistent enemies of God upon whom his judgments shall actually
fall.
19. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the
punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the
feast of tabernacles.
Sin is the more usual sense of the word here rendered "punishment," but the course of thought seems to demand the sense of
punishment.  "This" (i. e., the withholding of rain) shall be the
punishment of all who do not come up to this feast. -Hengstenberg, giving the word the sense of sin, makes the passage mean that
the chief sin, the test sin, the one specially noticed and punished, is
this of not going up, &c. But to make out this sense, the passage
should read-" This not going up to the feast of tabernacles, shall
be the test sin of all the nations "-a very different statement from
this which the verse does make.
20. In that day shall there be upon the bells of the
horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the
pots in the LoRD's house shall be like the bowls before
the altar.
21. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall
be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that
sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite
in the house of the LORD of hosts.
That holiness to the Lord shall be not only very pure, but widely
extended, is taught here by three distinct statements: (1.) Things
that have no special sanctity, e. g,, bells on horses, shall be conse



ZECHARIAII.-CHAP. XIV.                381
crated as altogether holy.-(2.) The less sacred things about the
temple shall become as holy as those most sacred were wont to be,
e. g., common pots for cooking food shall become no less sacred than
the bowls which received the blood of animals slain in sacrifice; the
latter being of old accounted most holy, the former least so.(3.) The Canaanites shall be no more in the Lord's temple.   Canaanite was the common Hebrew word for trafficker, merchant-a
business in bad repute among the Hebrews because so much associated with fraud and deceit. See Hos. 12: 7, 8.-There is special
force in the allusion to the bells upon the horses because the Hebrew law and Hebrew sentiment had a prejudice against horses, as
associated with pride and vain show; with reliance also on some
other power than God, and with war. This prejudice was all the
stronger because their most powerful enemies came upon them with
a strong force of cavalry and chariots; while, on the other hand,
their own kings were forbidden to multiply horses. (See Deut.
17: 16.) The pious Psalmist said, " Some trust in chariots and some
in horsemen; we, in the name of the Lord our God." The pious in
Hos. 14: 3, say, " We will not ride upon horses." But now, in the
purity of the millennial age, even the bells, mere ornaments on the
horses, shall bear the same inscription as the ancient breast-plate
worn by the high priest-" HZoliness to the Lord."  How exceedingly expressive of the absolute and universal consecration of all
things to the service and worship of the one all-glorious God!So also is the last clause rich in its special significance. When we
consider how much the love of "filthy lucre" has polluted the
sanctuary, both under the Mosaic and throughout the Christian age,
it is a relief to feel that in the good time coming, " there shall be no
more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts."  No more
shall men carry the spirit of gain into the gospel ministry. No
more shall dishonesty and overreaching for pelf pollute the Church
of God.
Reviewing briefly the course of thought in this entire chapter, I
call renewed attention to the following points: (1.) The whole
chapter must be taken as figurative, and not literal. The literal
sense, implying the actual cleaving of the Mount of Olives, and the
escape of half the population of the city through its cleft bowels;
two literal rivers flowing from Jerusalem, one east and the other
west; all the mountains in the world levelled down to plains, save
the one on which Jerusalem and its temple shall stand; all the nations coming up to Jerusalem yearly to. the feast of tabernacles;
Judaism with its bloody sacrifices enjoined on all the Gentile world,
despite of the whole New Testament to the contrary: such things,
supposed to take place literally, are simply incredible and absurd.
Some of them, if they were to take place literally, would inevitably
defeat their own ends. All would defeat and crush out New Testament Christianity. There can be no sufficient reasons for giving
this chapter a literal construction.-(2.) I have studiously abstained from the attempt to determine and define the fulfilment of




382              ZECHARIAHI. —CIAP. XIV.
any minute feature in this grouping of Hebrew figures, because I
have no faith in such attempts.  When these things shall be fulfilled; in what precise form the wicked shall assail the Church of
God; how many of them  shall be cut off by the plagues of the
Lord, and how many shall remain to be converted-these points,
and such as these, I think it wise to make no attempt to determine.
Ungodliness has its group of specific forms to-day; who can tell
whether they will change essentially before this general onslaught
upon Zion? The world has long since passed the besieging of the literal Jerusalem, as being herself the Lord's Zion; probably has passed
the era of religious wars, avowedly to destroy Christianity. But
stern conflicts with Satan and his human aids await the kingdom of
Christ ere its great and final victory. —(3.) In the exposition of this
chapter the first main inquiry should be-How would the Jews of
Zechariah's time understand it? What would be the general impression made upon them by this grouping of Jewish images and ideas?
Would not they hail this chapter as God's word of promise, that
the worship of their own Jehovah would one day become universal;
that their old enemies would first be greatly reduced in numbers by
fearful plagues, and the remnant be converted to the living God,
and that then the worship of God would become pure and substantially universal? They could make of it nothing less than this. No
other language could express these points more surely or more
forcibly than this. —— (4.) Then this is the general sense of the
chapter. For it was written to be read and to be understood
by the Jews of his time. The writer of it was himself a Jew, writing for first readerl who were Jews, and therefore he used and
could use only Jewish terms and figures.   The general sense of
these figures we get fiom that ancient economy. It only remains
(as already said) that we translate Jewish into Christian terms,
Jewish symbols into Christian thought and meaning, and we have
the truth which the Lord hath taught us with so much clearness,
beauty, and force in this chapter.   Let the name of the Lord be
praised for such and so much light upon the otherwise unknown
future of his earthly Zion! We will bless his name, not only that
lhe has formed such purposes of loving-kindness-not only that he
has determined to bring all the nations of men to live joyfully beneath Messiah's sceptre, but that he has revealed to us this purpose,
and delineated in such forms of beauty and joy the glorious future
which awaits Messiah's kingdom among men.




MALACHI.
INT R 0 DUCTION.
OF this prophet we have no personal history. The book gives
us only his name, and over even this there hangs a doubt in some
minds whether it be a proper name, or whether it designates some
unknown person as " my messenger," the original being the same
as is translated thus (chap. 3: 1): " Behold, I send my messenger,"
&c. I take it, however, to be a proper name, because every other
prophetical book gives the real name of its author; because a name
and a personal character were essential as credentials; and because
the other view (" my messenger ") gives us no light whatever as to
the author, in the very place where we have a right to expect it.
By the universal consent of biblical critics, he was the latest known
prophet. The internal evidence leaves scarcely a doubt that he
was contemporary with Nehemiah's last visit to Judea, aiding him
in his work of correcting the abuses which had gained a footing
among the people. A careful comparison of the Book of Malachi
with Nehemiah 13: 7-31 exhibits the same flagrant sins as prevailing in each, e. g., intermarriages with foreigners, even in the case
of tile priests (Neh. 13:28-30 with Mal. 2: 7-16); neglect of
tithes (Neh. 13: 10-1.3 with Mlal. 3: 7-10); violation of the Sabbath and of religious worship generally (Neh. 13: 15-22 with
IMal. 1: 13 and 2: 8). IHence it appears highly probable that Malachi cooperated with Nehemiah in his last reformation, as Isaiah did
with Hezekiah, and Jeremiah with Josiah. The civil ruler would
greatly need the aid of some earnest and pure-minded prophet in
such a work. The Lord took care to provide it. —The precise




384                  MALACHI. —CHAP. I.
date of this last visit of Nehemiah is a question of some historic
interest, inasmuch as it is the date of the latest inspired Old Testament history and prophecy. The following brief synopsis of historic dates is supposed to be proximately correct. It may aid the
reader to locate these events in time, and fix their connections with
profane history. (1.) The first captives returned under Zerubbabel, in
the first year of Cyrus, B. a. 536. (2.) Fifty-eight years after, Ezra
went up to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Xerxes (called Artaxerxes, Ezra 7:1, 7), B. c. 478. (3.) Nehemiah's first visit was yet
thirty-four years later, viz., in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, B. ac. 444. (4.) After twelve years' stay in Judea, Nehemiah returned to Babylon in the thirty-second year of this same
king, B. c. 432. (5.) The date of his second visit to Judea is probably twenty-four years subsequent, i. e., in B. c. 408, although it may
have been less. Some critics fix it B. ac. 423, after an interval of
only nine years instead of twenty-four.  The interval must have
been long enough for the introduction of grievous abuses, for
intermarriages with foreigners, and births from those marriages,
and children old enough to speak " according to the language of
each people." The data do not suffice for a more precise determination of the time. This, however, is near enough for all practical
purposes. Not far from four hundred years before Christ, this last
in the long series of inspired prophets united his efforts with those
of Nehemiah to call back the apostate people to their forsaken
God, to rebuke them for their great sins, and to animate the believing portion by some very distinct and precious promises of the conversion of the Gentiles; of the coming of the glorious Lord, "the
Messenger of the covenant," to his earthly temple; and also of the
coming of John Baptist, here designated as " my messenger who
shall prepare the way before me," and as " Elijah the prophet."
CHAPTER I.
To show the people their great guilt, the Lord testifies to his
special love for their nation, particularly as compared with the posterity of Esau (vs. 2-5); rebukes the priests for their contempt of
his worship (vs. 6-10); assures them that he will find countless sincere worshippers among the heathen (v. 11); exposes and denounces
their heinous sins (vs. 12-14).
1. The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by
Malachi.




MALACHI.-CHxAP. I.                 385
This prophecy, as a whole, comprises so much rebuke for sin
and threatening of judgment, that it may fitly be called a " burden "
in the usual sense-sins and judgments, which it is a heart-burden
to think of and to reveal.
2. I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say,
Wherein hast thou loved us?   Was not Esau Jacob's
brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,
3. And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his
heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
A view of the love sinned against deepens the sense of guilt.
As one who appreciates this law of our moral nature, the Lord begins his endeavors to convict the Jews of sin by setting before
them the special love he had borne for their nation ever since Jacob was chosen to be the heir of his promises and Esau was rejected.   This hating of Esau was rather a not-loving, and looks
especially to the fact that God rejected him from being the heir of
the promises made to Abraham and Isaac. The history shows that
Esau did not value the inheritance of those promises. The writer
of the Epistle to the Hebrews calls him  "that profane person," as
if to intimate that his rejection was not an arbitrary act of God in
the sense of being irrespective of Esau's ill desert.  As to the
words " I hated Esau," let it be carefully noted that God's hatred
is never malign and never causeless. —— The "laying of his mountains and heritage waste" was done soon after the fall of Jerusalem before the Chaldean arms, and by the same power.
4. Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but
we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith
the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw
down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever.
5. And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The
LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel.
Edom resolutely determined to rebuild; the Lord as resolutely
to cast down. The Lord, and not Edom, triumphed in this conflict.
~-Men in general, the voice of the nations, " shall call them the
border of wickedness," i. e., the wicked country, the people against
whom Jehovah's wrath burns forever. Their sins had been so base
and so notorious that all mankind would appreciate the reasons of
God's wrath against them.   Ye shall say, " Let the Lord be magnified by all the people of Israel;" let his praise come forth from
that whole country. It behooved all the Jews to extol the justice
of God in sending such retribution upon Edom.
6. A son honoreth his father, and a servant his mas17




386                 MALACIII. —CHAP. I.
ter: if then I be a father, where is mine honor? and if
I be a master, where is my fear?  saith the LORD of hosts
unto you, O priests, that despise my name.  And ye
say, Wherein have we despised thy name?
This reasoning from the honor due and usually accorded to a
father, is full of force as applied to the great God. How much
more a Father is he than any of these " fathers of our flesh," and
how much greater! Most forcibly, therefore, does he demand from
us, " Where is my honor? "  "Where is my fear? "-This appeal was made with special pertinence to the priests, to whom God
had given high responsibilities and ample means of knowing his
name and his love.   " Yet ye say, Wherein have we despised
thy name? " This is the first case out of many in which the priests
retort the charge made against them, daring the prophet or the
Lord to the proof! It is the rankest pride and self-justification.
It may well amaze us that a priesthood so enlightened should become so fearfully corrupt, go rotten morally, so blind to their own
past and present sins!
7. Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye
say, Wherein have we polluted thee?  In that ye say,
The table of the LORD is contemptible.
8. And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not
evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil?
offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with
thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts.
The ceremonial law specified, with almost extreme precision,
what offerings should be made and how prepared, laying the greatest stress on their being the very best of their kind. The significance of this is obvious. No greater insult could be offered to God
than to turn him off with the refuse of their flocks and herds, and
with polluted bread for his altar! Yet this the priests of that day
had done, and moreover seemed still to have no sense of their horrible sin! Forcibly does the Lord say, " Offer such presents to
your governor; will he feel himself honored? " Alas! many a human heart ought to be smitten with a sense of its sins against the
glorious Jehovah, in having constantly withheld from him the best
of its love, homage, and service, and in doling out only the meanest,
cheapest offerings, in a way which signifies that the heart does not
intend to give the least thing in real love to the good and glorious
God I
9. And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will
be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will
he regard your persons? saith the LORD of hosts.
The clause, " this hath been by your means," seems to refer to




MALACHI. —CIEAP. 1.                387
the deplorably low state of piety and of divine worship, and to
charge the cause of it to the priests, and on this ground implore
them to repent and conciliate the favor of God.
10. Who is there even among you that would shut
the doorsfor noug/ht? neither do ye kindle fire on mine
altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the
LORD of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your
l:and.
The service they did render was done in supreme selfishness, for
they would not even close the doors of the temple or kindle the
fire upon the altar, without special pay for it. So utterly mercenary and heartless had they become in all their religious duties!
KNo wonder the Lord declares to them, "I have no pleasure in
you! " The pure, loving heart is above all things else first and
highest in his esteem; it might almost be said to be all he cares
for; without it, all else goes for nothing.
11. For from the rising of the sun even unto the
going down of the same, my name shall be great among
the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered
unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall
be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts.
The logical connection, indicated by the word "for," should be
distinctly noted. The Lord would say to those corrupt priests —
You have no heart in my worship; you make it contemptible be
fore the people; your whole heart is meanly selfish; T cannot accept such worship, and I have no occasion to do so.  You greatly
mistake if you suppose that I am in such need that I shall thankfully accept at your hand such miserably poor service. I have
other and far purer service coming in from the Gentile nations, upon
whom you are looking down with haughty scorn, "for from the rising
of the sun even to the going down of the same, my name shall be
great among the Gentiles" (not cast out as vile, after the manner
of your devotions). "In every place" (not in Jerusalem alone)
" incense shall be offered to my name and a pure" (not a polluted)
offering; " for my name" (which you have despised, v. 6) " shall be
great among the heathen, saith the Lord of Hosts."- Sublimely
glorious promise! Its outlook into the Christian age is truly wonderful. That great change wrought out under the apostles, by
which the pure worship of God passed from Jewish to Gentile
hands and hearts, is here most clearly indicated.   Let it be noted
also that more is here than the world has yet seen. The sweep of
the gospel has never yet ranged from the rising to the setting sun.
"Incense and a pure offering " have not yet been offered "' in every
place."  The glorious name of Jehovah has not yet become " great
among all the heathen."    But all these things shall yet be! Let




388                MALACHI. —CHAP. II.
all hearts hail the coming day! And let all hands hasten it onward I
12. But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The
table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even
his meat, is contemptible.
13. Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and
ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye
brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick;
thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your
hand? saith the LORD.
14. But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his
flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the LORD
a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the LORD
of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.
The prophet returns again to the sins of the priests, exposing
and rebuking them with deserved severity. Who can wonder that
the curse of Jehovah falls on such priests and on all such worshippers
at his altar? How can he regard it as better than intended insult?
— Verily God is too great, and too holy to be so contemned!
Woe to the man who offers such abuse to the Great King whose
"name is dreadful among the heathen! "
CHAPTER II.
Tni corrupt priests are specially exhorted, rebuked, and threatened (vs. 1-9); the sin of practically divorcing their Jewish wives
and marrying heathen women is condemned (vs. 10-16); and finally
the priests are rebuked for denying the justice of God in his providential government (v. 17).
1. And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for
you.
2. If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to
heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of
hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will
curse your blessings; yea, I have cursed them already,
because ye do not lay it to heart.
The priests had been deeply guilty in the great apostasy of that
age. They had not only failed altogether to teach the people
faithfully and truly for God, but they had fearfully seduced them
into sin by their pernicious example. Hence the prophet gives
them to understand very explicitly that this message of command




MALACHI.-CHAP. II.                 389
and rebuke is for them.-  The threatening is not merely "I will
send a curse "-some unknown, indefinite curse-but the curse (so
the originalhas it), referring doubtless to Deut. 27: 14-26, " And the
Levites shall say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice, Cursed
be he," &c., " and all the people shall say, Amen! " To this fearful
catalogue of twelve curses the prophet must have referred.   To
" curse your blessings " is to change them to curses.-  The clause
rendered "yea, I have cursed them  already," &c., should read,
"yea, I will curse each one of them." The tense is the same
as in the preceding clause. There is no authority for the sense' already."
3. Behold I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung
upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts;
and one shall take you away with it.
"I will rebuke your seed sown," implies that he will forbid its
coming to maturity.-  The spreading of dung upon their faces
must imply a doom both publicly disgraceful and intrinsically
loathsome. Themselves shall be thrown out and borne away with
the offal of their sacrifices, in one promiscuous mass.
4. And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with
Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
I take this verse to mean-Ye shall know in your own experience that I make this last effort to save you, in order that my
covenant may still be as of old with Levi, and that the priesthood
may still abide in honor and usefulness with my blessing upon it;
but that this effort shall be the last!
5. My covenant was with him of life and peace; and
I gave them  to him for the fear wherewith he feared
me, and was afraid before my name.
This seems to refer to some events in the early history of Israel,
in which the tribe of Levi manifested a special regard for the name
and honor of God, and for this reason was honored with the covenant of the perpetual priesthood. The reference may be either to
Ex. 32: 26-29, or to Num. 25: 7-13, or to both. In the former case
the whole tribe of Levi came forth promptly to the call of Moses,
" Who is on the Lord's side? " and girding on each man his sword,
they slew the worshippers of the golden calf wherever they were,
sparing not even a brother, companion, or neighbor. To this case
Moses reverts (Deut. 33: 9, 10) in his last blessing upon the tribes:
" Who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him,
neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor know his own children; for they have observed thy words, and kept thy covenant.
They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law; they shall
put incense before thee," &c.- The other case, that of Phineas




390                MALACHI. —CIAP. II.
(Num. 25), did not pertain so directly to the whole tribe of Levi,
and yet has in its favor the fact that for his zeal the Lord said of
him: " Behold I give unto him my covenant of peace, and he shall
have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting
priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel." The latter also has closer relations
with the priesthood, while the former concerned the whole tribe of
Levi. Very probably there may be a tacit reference to both cases.
6. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me
in peace and equity, and did turn many away from
iniquity.
7. For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and
they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the
messenger of the LORD of hosts.
In the outset the tribe of Levi and the family of Aaron were
selected because of their fidelity to God and to his truth. In the
early times of the nation they were in the main true to their responsibilities, and taught the people the knowledge of the Lord faithfully and successfully. -The passage shows that the priests were
by profession the public teachers of religion, and performed that
service until they became too corrupt. Then prophets were raised
up to supply in some measure their lack of service.
8. But ye are departed out of the way; ye have
caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted
the covenant of-Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
9. Therefore have I also made you contemptible
and base before all the people, according as ye have not
kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.
The original puts the antithesis forcibly between " ye " (v. 8), and
"I " (v. 9), ye departed out of the way; " therefore I have made you
contemptible and base before all the people." Note here the thing
signified by the bold figures in v. 3. The Lord will surely take away
all honor from the priest who dishonors God and disgraces himself.
"They that despise me shall be lightly esteemed."
10. Have we not all one father? hath not one God
created us? why do we deal treacherously every man
against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our
fathers?
11. Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in  Israel and in Jerusalem; for
Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he
loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.




MALACHI. —CHAP. II.                391
12. The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this,
the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of
Jacob, and him  that offereth an offering unto the LORD
of hosts.
13. And this have ye done again, covering the altar
of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying
out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any
more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand.
14. Yet ye say, Wherefor e? Because the LORD hath
been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth,
against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she
thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
15. And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the Spirit. And wherefore one? That he might
seek a godly seed.  Therefore take heed to your spirit,
and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his
youth.
16. For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith, that he
hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his
garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to
your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.
This passage is best understood when considered as one distinct
and entire subject. It refers to the sin of practically or actually
putting away their Hebrew wives, and taking wives from the idolatrous heathen. Even the priests had done this; and, indeed, they
seem to have been foremost. (See Neh. 13: 23-29.)- With a masterly hand the prophet calls their attention first in order to the
very highest moral considerations-to their obligations to God, their
common Father, which bind them to deal faithfully and forbid
them to deal treacherously against their fellow-beings, children of
the same common Father. In the clause " every man against his
brother," &c.; the thing in mind is the obligation that binds a man
to fidelity with his wife. " Brother " is used in the general sense
of fellow-creature-one who is a child of the same Creator.' The covenant of our fathers" is the covenant of marriage, ordained of God, and given first to the common father of our race. In
the clause (v. 11) "Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord
which he loved," I take the sense to be, that the people of Judah
had abused and dishonored the sacredness which the Lord had attached to his own people in forbidding intermarriages with the
heathen, and requiring them to marry within the pale of the covenant people. The Lord had felt a special interest in this law. It
recognized a certain holiness in his own people which he had
valued as a distinction vital to the preservation of morals and piety




392                 MALACHI. —CHAP. II.
among them. The priests and people had profaned this sacredness
by marrying the daughters of strange gods-heathen idolatrous
women. In v. 12 it is said, " The Lord will cut off the man that
doeth this," be lie who he may. This is the ultimate sense of the
original rendered, "the master and the scholar." Its proximate
sense, however, is not "master and scholar," but "the waker and
the answerer," with reference to the night-watch of the priests or
Levites in the temple where the party retiring from their watch
aroused their successors, who answered to their call. The two
parties taken together might include all. The description should
apply to the priests; this does; and, moreover, follows strictly the
sense of the original.
In v. 13, "done this again," means ye have a second time relapsed into this great sin; the first time being that great apostasy
from which they were reclaimed under Ezra. (See Ezra 9.) This
reform seemed for the time to be thorough, but subsequently the
people and priests apostatized again.   They " covered the altar
of God with tears," inasmuch as the Hebrew wives, supplanted in
the affections of their husbands by heathen wives, fled to the altar to
lay their case before the God of their fathers there, and to pour out
their sorrows into his ear, and their tears upon his altar. Such
scenes as these touched the heart of God, and he could no longer
accept the offerings brought to this same altar by these adulterous and apostate priests.- The self-justifying priests still say,
"Wherefore?"  Why should God repel and disown us? Is it for
these trivial matters pertaining to our wives?   The prophet answers: Because the Lord became a witness between thee and the
wife of thy youth on the day of thine espousals; and he cannot but
mark, and marking, abhor thy treachery in the breach of that
covenant. —Pursuing this point yet further, the prophet inquires,
Did not the Lord create one woman, and one only, to be the wife
of the first man? Yet he had the residue of the creative Spirit, and
might easily have made for Adam another wife, or even a score of
wives, if he had thought it best. Wherefore did he limit Adam to
one wife? The reason was, he sought a godly seed. His heart was
on securing such family influences as would avail to " train up a
child in the way he should go," and he knew full well that polygamy-the presence of two or more wives in the same householdmust utterly forbid such moral training. No godly seed can be expected in that family where polygamy is forever begetting discord,
jealousy, and every thing immoral, selfish, and ungodly. ——' For the
Lord saith he hateth divorce," which implies that virtually, if not
directly, this taking of foreign wives resulted in putting away their
Hebrew wives. Very probably the results might vary somewhat;
for some Hebrew wives might consent for a time, longer or shorter,
to be crushed down and trodden under foot; while others would
not brook such treatment an hour. In the end, the usual result
would be the expulsion of the Hebrew wife from the household.
-In the next clause, the word " garment " is thought to mean




MALACHI.-CHAP. II.                 393
swife. Arabic usage favors this sense. The meaning of the whole
passage would then be, "For the Lord, the God of Israel, hateth
divorce, in which one heaps violence upon his wife-covers and
buries her as it were with accumulated wrongs and violent assaults "
-a sad, dark picture of the domestic scenes attendant upon that
monster sin of divorcing the wife of one's youth, to wed one's self
to a foreign idolatress. -The prophet closes with repeating the
exhortation to take heed to their spirits that they no more deal
treacherously with the wife of their first sacred covenant.
1I. Ye have wearied the LonD with your words. Yet
ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say,
Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the
LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where zs the God
of judgment?
The essence of this crime, which had wearied the Lord of
hosts, was a denial of his justice in the administration of his moral
government. They said, "Every one that doeth evil is good in the
sight of the Lord," who manifests as much delight in them as in
well-doers. They also said, with the same implication, "Where is
the God of just judgment? "-implying, We know not where he is.
Hence it must be inferred that the horrible sins of the priests in contemning the worship of God, offering polluted offerings, and putting
away their Hebrew wives to marry heathen idolaters, had at bottom a deep apostasy in principle and theory from the living God.
They had ceased to vindicate the ways of God to man; had ceased
to think and speak well of his government; had ceased to regard
him as holy, just, and good.- But it need not be supposed that
they had forsaken his worship and gone thus into sin because they
had first reached the conclusion intelligently that he was unworthy
of their regard. By no means. The reverse order is almost if not
quite universal. Sins of the heart and of the life, long cherished,
create a demand in the mind, and especially before the conscience,
for false notions of God to serve as a quietus to the conscience.
Men first have evil deeds; then necessarily love darkness more than
light for their convenience and comfort in their evil ways; and then
their love of darkness leads them on to any conceivable absurdities
of error. —The developments of this Book of Malachi reveal an
appalling depth of depravity among the priests and Levites —lie
very men who should have been true to God and inflexible against
all the seductions of popular sins.




394                MALACHI.-CHAP. IlI.
CHAPTER III.
TIE coming of John Baptist and of Jesus the Messiah is foretold with some of the results (vs. 1-5); then exhortations to repentance and rebukes for sin, especially the sin of robbing the Lord
of his tithes and offerings (vs. 6-12). The spirit of the wicked is
contrasted with the spirit of the righteous (vs. 13-18).
1. Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall
prepare the way before me: and the LORD, whom  ye
seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the
messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold,
he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
The most ample proof is found in the New Testament that "'my
messenger" is John Baptist.  Our Lord bore witness to John
(Luke 7: 27): "This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send
my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare the way before
thee." His father, Zacharias, when filled with the Holy Ghost,
said —" Thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest, for
thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways," &c.
(Luke 1: 76.) - Consequently, "the Lord whom ye seek," "the
messenger of the covenant," can be no other than Jesus the Messiah. It was of the wisdom and mercy of God that he should be so
definitely pointed out both in this and kindred prophecies, and by a
messenger so fitted every way for his commission as John. Such
indications must have been eminently welcome and satisfactory to
all honest minds.-This feature in the description of Messiah,
"whom ye seek," was pertinent in the latest prophecy of him, and
pertinent at the time of his coming, inasmuch as high expectations
concerning him were now raised, and a lively interest in his coming
was awakened. The testimony concerning Simeon and Anna, as
given by Luke, is in point to illustrate the "seeking " of the pious
portion of the people. Plainly their hearts were keenly alive with
interest and hope.   That he should be spoken of as c" coming to
his temple," may be due in part to the fact that the temple was his
by long residence-his visible glory having dwelt there for ages,
reposing upon the -mercy-seat and beneath the cherubim; partly
also to the indications of prophecy, as in Zech. 6: 12, 13 —" he shall
build the temple of the Lord." —But why is he called " the messenger of the covenant"? "Messenger " means angel. It is the
word usually translated angel. Jesus is the angel of the covenant
in the twofold sense: (1.) Of being the same personage so often
called in the Old Testament an " angel," e. g., Ex. 23: 20-23, which
if the reader will examine, he will see refers to the uncreated angel
who pardons sin, in whom is the name of Jehovah, and who is a
perpetual Presence with his Church under bloth the old dispensation
17*




MXALACUI. —CIAP. III.               395
and the new; called " the angel of the covenant" also, because so
long promised by covenant with the patriarchs and saints of old:
and (2.) Of being especially "' the Mediator of the new covenant"
(Heb. 9: 15); and of "the better covenant, established upon better
promises" (Heb. 8: 6-13).   " Behold " indicates an announcement worthy of particular attention, the more so because repeated
-" Behold, he shall surely come, saith the Lord of hosts."- Can
we trace any connection of thought between this promise as it
stands here, and the preceding context? —If any, it is this: The
priesthood is becoming hopelessly corrupt, the people going astray as
sheep having no shepherd; the kingdom of God will never rise and
become far extended by such agencies alone; the name of God is
everywhere dishonored. This course of things will not answer the
ends of divine mercy; something more and other than this must be
done; I will send my servant John, and close after him, the Lord
of all!' He will bear up the otherwise sinking cause of God and
of righteousness. -The reader will notice the person who speaks
in this verse. He is "Jehovah of hosts."  Yet he says: "I will
send one who shall prepare the way before me." The testimony
of inspiration thus makes the promised Messiah no other than
" Jehovah of hosts."  This name is given him by divine authority.
2. But who may abide the day of his coming?  and
who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a
refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap:
"Who shall be able to bear the day of his coming " —the
searching ordeal of such moral scrutiny? Not those corrupt
priests, so recently before the prophet's mind. Ah! full soon will
he scourge them out of his temple, and hurl them down from the
high position which they so shamefully desecrate! —" Who shall
stand when he appeareth? "  Some few-those who "looked for
redemption in Jerusalem "-will hail his coming as "the horn of
salvation for us in the house of his servant David;" but the
sensual, the worldly, the formal,-however carefully they may have
covered up their iniquity with the cloak of sanctimonious profession, will be put through such processes of refining and proving
as shall surely reveal their dross —" for he is like a refiner's fire, and
like fuller's soap."-physical agents which well illustrate the work
of the coming Messiah in purifying his Church. The state of the
Church and its leading men at that time strongly suggested the
need of this purifying work to be done by " the Messenger of the
covenant."
8. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of
silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge
them  as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the
LORI) an offering in righteousness.




396                MALACHII. —CIAP. III.
" Sitting " is the posture of the refiner of silver, chosen as being
more convenient for the long, patient, careful watching of the process which is essential to success. Silver is too precious to be
wasted by having too much heat; and its purity is too valuable a
quality to be missed by having too little.-That " he shall purify
the sons of Levi " was suggested by the deeply-felt want of this at
that time, and is always vital because of the essential importance
of having those who minister in sacred things spotless examples of
the godliness which they should commend to others. How can the
Lord send blessings to men through instrumentalities that are corrupt and rotten? Having wisely determined to work through
human agents, and having designated them, what if they prove
faithless, and only hinder and block the progress of the work they
should set forward? Hence the first labor of the Messiah when he
appears among his people will be " to purify the sons of Levi, that
they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness."
4. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as
in former years.
This done, the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to the Lord as in the better, purer days of the Hebrew people,
when "Israel was holiness to the Lord." (See Jer. 2: 3.) The verse
has a refreshing look toward that one perfect offering of Jesus,
our Great High Priest, in which God was well pleased, and on
the ground of which he will joyfully accept the humble offerings of
his people.
5. And I will come near to you to judgment: and I
will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against
the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against
those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow,
and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger
from  his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of
hosts.
" But," over against this, "to you" and to all such as you
(referring to the priests and Levites of that day) " will I come near
in judgment, and I will be a swift witness," &c. —swift, as affording no more time for such wickedness, and as cutting short their
most abused probation. These words refer to the horribly wicked
religious leaders of those days.
6. For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye
sons of Jacob are not consumed.
The connection of thought here turns on the special significance
of the name Jehovah-the ever faithful and unchanging One-the
God of the promises, who hath said and will surely fulfil. If he




MALACHIII.-CIIAP. 111.             397
had not made such promises of enduring protection and mercy to
the ancient covenant people, he would even now cut them off at
once. This only is the reason why they are not consumed. It is
only because he is Jehovah that his faithfulness spares " the sons
of Jacob." There is a power in that name, " sons of Jacob," that
avails to save them yet, on the score of those never-failing promises.
See notes on Hos. 12: 4-6.
7. Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone
away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them.
Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the
LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
8. Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me.
But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes
and offerings.
9. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed
me, even this whole nation.
This apostasy had already been of long standing. —-The spirit
of divine command and promise is tersely and beautifully expressed
here-" Return unto me, and I will return unto you."  So also is
the spirit of man's depravity truthfully expressed in the quick response-Are we not all right now? " Wherein shall we return? ".... Alas for the blindness of sin! Alas for the hardness it brings
on human hearts! It is only when conviction of the truth as it is,
fastens on the mind through the Spirit of God, that sinners think to
any purpose of returning to God. -Strange that a man should
rob God! " Yet ye have robbed me," in withholding the stipulated
tithes-the tenth part of their annual income. For this withholding, the Lord was visiting the land with the curse of barrenness
and famine.
10. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,
that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me
now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, 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.
This striking passage has the richer interest to Christians because, under the principles of the ancient economy, viz., temporal
blessings to the faithfully obedient, it presents to us the great law
of his spiritual administration as well, showing that there can really
be no limit (short of our utmost capacity) to the spiritual blessings
God will give those who, really hungering for righteousness, " open
wide their mouth that God may fill it," and hence who honestly use
all appropriate means for this result.-  God is forever the same,
and certainly is no less bountiful of blessings under the Christian
than under the Jewish economy.  -" Prove me;" put my words




398                MALACHI. —CI AP. III.
to the test; try it and see. If you have doubts, tli.re is a reCaly
way to solve them; do all I say, and bide the issue. —" Pour out,'"
as the margin indicates, is the verb that means to empe]ty out, -s, if
God meant to say he would empty forth his vast reservoirs of blessings.-In the last clause, our translators found it necessary to ita!icise too many words-a common indication that they did not clearly
see the primary sense of the passage. The word they rendered
"that" never has this meaning, but means until.  The other
Hebrew words are "' not " and " enough "-" until not enough," i. e.,
until my stores shall fail me-a result you never need think of as
possible. Since this can never be, the Lord would have his people
understand that nothing can limit his blessings short of their capacity to receive. The Hebrew of this clause is the same as in Ps. 72:
7 —" Abundance of peace until" (there is) "no moon; " translated,
"so long as the moon endureth.
11. And I will rebuke the 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.
12. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye
shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.
These verses still expand the promise commenced in v. 10. If
you will truly bring in all the tithes and meet all your obligations
to God, then I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes-the locust,
put here for all forms of destructive agents. All the nations shall
witness to your prosperity.
13. Your words have been stout against me, saith
the LORD.  Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much
against thee?
14. Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what
profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we
have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
15. And now we call the proud happy; yea, they
that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt
God are even delivered.
Once more recurring to those wicked men who have constantly
gainsayed the prophet and his Lord, he charges themn-" Your
words have been hard, strong against me, saith the Lord." They
retort by virtually denying the charge. Then the Lord makes his
charge more specific. When I promised, "Bring in all the tithes,"
so shall your cup be filled with good, ye replied, " It is vain to serve
God; what profit have we found in keeping his ordinances, and walking'mournfully before the T.!or, a those who sorrow for their




MALACHI. —CIAP. III.                399
sins? Thou, Lord, hast said the nations shfall call the righteous
blessed; on the contrary,'we call the proud blessed; yea, they that
work wickedness are built up in enduring prosperity. They that
"prove God" in this way, daring him to do his worst if he
will, not those that prove him by bringing in all the tithes,
are delivered from evil, and even from the danger of it. —-The
antithesis between what God had said before (vs. 10-12), and
what these wicked gainsayers reply (vs. 14,15), is much more apparent in the original, especially of v. 15 than in the received translation. First, the pronoun " we," being expressed in full, is slightly
emphatic: you say one thing; twe, on our part, not admitting what
you say, are stoutly maintaining the opposite. Then the verb, " call
you blessed " (in v. 12), and the corresponding verb, " call the proud
happy" (v. 15), are precisely the same; as if they would say-You
claim that the nations shall call God's obedient people blessed; we,
for our part, call the proud blessed. So the word rendered
"prove" (v. 10) is the same as is here (v. 15) rendered "tempt."
You have said, Let-my people prove me. We have to say in reply,
that the wicked have proved thee by scoffing at thy words; and
yet so far from being punished, they are even delivered from all fear
and danger. Their eyes stand out with fatness; they have more
than heart could wish. —-What a portrayal this of most shocking
hardihood in sin!
16. Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to
ahother: and the LORD hearkened and heard it; and a
book of remembrance was written before him for them
that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
17. And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts,
in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare
them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
18. Then shall ye return and discern between the
righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth
God and him that serveth him not.
Here we turn to the other class, in every respect the moral
opposites of the ungodly and the proud. —" Then," i. e., in the
very face of such bold, defiant blasphemy against God and righteousness; " then they that feared the Lord "-all unlike the proud
who had no fear of God before their eyes-" held free communion
one with another." They did not suppress their thoughts because
the defiant godless blasphemers were so outspoken, but none the
less for that, they talked freely one with another. —There was
One who listened, all unawares to them; " the Lord hearkened and
heard; " and what is more, he made a record for the perpetual remembrance of a thing that touched his heart so tenderly. There
he entered the names of those who, at such a time, in the face of
such blasphemy, yet feared the Lord, and had thoughts of affection




400                MALACHI. —CHAP. IV.
and esteem for his name.'" These shall be mine, saith the Lord of
hosts, in that day when I make up my treasures;" I will hold them
among my choicest, best jewels; and until that future, final gathering of them into my heavenly cabinet, I will manifest my compassion and loving-kindness toward them, as a man does toward his
own son that serveth him. Such is the sense of the word rendered
" spare." The Lord implies that he has indeed real service for his
people-some of it, perhaps, hard and earnest work; but his great
and tender love for them will insure the kindest treatment possible,
even as a kind father may set his son to earnest service, but will
lovingly watch over him to spare him from excessive toil and expos.
ure. No good father makes his son a galley-slave. The kind Lord
drops many a loving tear over the hardships to which his needful
service may subject his people in these years of their toil and of
reproach for his na-me. Let it be enough for us that he feels
toward us such pity and such tender love!  -"Then shall ye
return," look again, and then ye shall see a broad distinction, nay
more, a real contrast, between the destiny of the righteous and the
destiny of the wicked. The proud and defiant ones have been saying, "Where is the God of judgment? "  "'Every one that doeth
evil is good in the sight of the Lord;" "it is vain to serve God;"
" the proud are blessed; " " they that tempt God with most daring
provocation are delivered; "-but the reckoning day will shortly
come! Let the righteous return after a little space, and they will
see a broad line of diverse destiny ranging "between him that
serveth God and him that serveth him not."-  The beginning oT
the next chapter is closely connected with this, for there this line
of difference becomes a wide and striking contrast.
CHAPTER IV,
WITH no break in the continuous thought, this chapter proceeds
to contrast the destiny of the wicked and of the righteous (vs. 1-3);
gives a general injunction to observe the law of Moses (v. 4); and a
promise of John Baptist under the name of Elijah, with brief hints
of the work.he should do (vs. 5, 6).
1. For behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an
oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly,
shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn
themn up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them
neither root nor branch.
"For" indicates a close connection with chapter 3.  "Beholds?' calls solemn attention. "The day," in its usual prophetic
sense, is a period which is peculiar, " sui generis " —here a time of
fearful judgments on the wicked.   The wicked are said in the




MALACHI.-CHAP. IV.                 401
Old Testament, as well as the New, to be destroyed by fire. Thus
Psalm 11: 6, "' Upon the wicked he shall rain forked lightnings, fire,
and brimstone, and an horrible tempest."  The prime exemplar is
the ruin on Sodom, Gen. 19: 24, "Then the Lord rained upon
Sodom brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven." See also
Ezek. 38: 22. -The great question here respects the time, and
hence the sort of judgment referred to. In my view, the primary
reference must be to judgments on the wicked in time, providential
inflictions, like that on Jerusalem by the Romans, like the still
earlier judgments that fell on the ungodly portion of the Jews in
the fearful Syrian wars during the second century before Christ;
indeed, embracing all those forms of special infliction which belong
to God's providential government over nations and individuals too
in the present world. All these are to be taken as prophecies and
pledges of that far more terrific vengeance which shall come down
on all the finally wicked in the world to come. I would not apply
this passage to either this world or the next, to the entire exclusion
of the other, but assume that it refers primarily to judgments in this
world; then as a type, a harbinger, prophecy, and pledge, it embraces also those heavier, sorer judgments which execute full and
unmitigated justice on the ungodly in the world to come.-The
context shows that the primary reference here is to judgments in
time; for the righteous are thought of as walking over the ground
where the ashes of the perished wicked lie strewn.
2. But unto you that fear my name, shall the Sun
of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and
ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
3. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they
shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day
that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.
This is the joyous, far different lot of the righteous. The fearers of God's name are in strong contrast of character as well as
destiny with the proud blasphemers.- The rising sun is a glowing
and glorious image of hope and joy. "Righteousness" has here
the not uncommon sense of deliverance, salvation, blessedness, with
no implication of its being strictly deserved on the score of simple
justice, and by no means excluding mercy. The reference is mainly
to the Messiah as the great fountain of light, peace, and joy, to the
saints of God. His wings are the beams of his light.-" Ye shall
go forth and leap as well-fed calves of the stall." Leaping rather
than growing is the sense of the Hebrew, indicative of exultant
joy.   How solemn and impressive the scene, to walk over the
ashes of the wicked and say-Here the wrath of God smote them,
and here their ruins lie, an awful monument to the madness of sin
and to the justice of Jehovah's most fearful retributions! Such
views of their horrid blasphemous wickedness as are given above
(3: 13-15), ought to reconcile every sane mind to the severity of




402                MALACHI. —CIAP. IV.
these judgments, and even ought to inspire in all hearts the song of
Moses and of the Lamb-" Great and marvellous are thy works,
Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy wzays, thou king of
saints."
4. Remember ye the law of MIoses my servant, which
I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, witl the
statutes and judgments.
Specially pertinent, in view of the shocking abuses and corruptions of the ceremonial law, is this last injunction to observe those
statutes and judgments until the better system shall supersede them.
5. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before
the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
6. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the
children, and the heart of the children to their fathers,
lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
The remarkable thing in this passage is that, without any special explanation, the great forerunner of the Messiah is here called
" Elijah the prophet."  The New Testament has solved this enigma
to us; but how could the Jews of Malachi's time have understood
it? —-Still the general sense might perhaps have been clear to
them, viz., one who should be a second Elijah, who should come
with a spirit and power like his, sternly rebuking sin, and earnestly
cualling all men to repentance. This would be the more apparent
by how much the more they regarded Elijah as a representative
man, embodying in himself precisely those qualities which fitted
him for the prophetic work. The shocking corruption of the priests
in the time of Malachi would suggest strongly that the covenant
people would need another Elijah, filled with his spirit and power,
to do the work which the priesthood were only undoing and counteracting. —Our Lord, in Mark 9: 11-13, gave a very specific explanation. "' They asked him-' Why say the scribes that Elias must
first come? "' He answered —" Elias verily cometh first and restoreth all things; but I say unto you that Elias is indeed come, and
they have done unto him whatsoever they listed." Or as narrated
by Matthew (11: 14), " If ye will receive it, this is Elias who was
to come." —-The phrase rendered-" the great and dreadful day
of the Lord," is in the original verbatim from Joel 2: 31, " before
the coming of the day of the Lord, the great, and the terrible."
Standing here it must refer to the " day that shall burn as an oven "
(v. 1), while not unnaturally the language may be borrowed from Joel.
— To warn in mercy before he smites in judgment, is evermore
the order of God's throne. Hence the second Elijah should come
before the Jewish people and polity should be smitten down by the
terrible Roman arms. They were fearfully corrupt already. It
was foreseen that they would become yet more so before and dur



MALACHI.-CICHAP. IV.                 403
ing the Messiah's incarnation.  Hence the last warnings sent
them through John Baptist, in the form of a call to repent, and
to welcome their Great Deliverer, soon to appear, came in the
hour of their greatest moral extremity.   But what is the pertinence of describing the moral work wrought by John Baptist, as
" turning the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts
of the children to the fathers"?   Perhaps few of us appreciate
the loving heart and the social influence of this John. It may have
come to us with the notions of our childhood to think of the man
of camel's-hair cloak and leathern girdle, making his meals of locusts, and ranging the wilderness of Judea to preach repentance, as
only a stern reprover-a battle-axe upon men's sins, and scarcely
less savage toward the endearing relationships of society. — If we
added the latter inference, we made a great mistake. It never was
any part of true religion, never was the function of any true reformer, to ride roughshod over the tenderness of the parental and
filial relations. No, it is idolatry that first debases and then crucifies parental affection, and makes the mother that bare him heartless and cruel enough to cast her boy into the burning arms of Moloch. Avarice and lust are doing the same thing in tens of thousands of families in Christian lands to-day. So always and everywhere sin quickens selfishness; and selfishness, grown rampant and
rabid, severs parent from  child, and child from parent. On the
other hand, what do we always see in all genuine revivals of religion? What so universally as a revival of deep, all-absorbing love
for others, especially within the circle of the domestic relations?
How often do we see the hearts of parents borne down with almost
crushing solicitude in the tenderness of their love for the'souls of
their children! What but this turning of the hearts of parents to
their children begets such agonizing prayer of Christian parents for
ungodly children, and of converted children for yet unconverted
parents? -  ence it was the Spirit of the Lord that moved this
prophet to touch by one master-stroke the central influence of John
Baptist's preaching. When the men whom he called so mightily to repentance, had bowed their hearts to this high behest, their
next thought was that of renewed care and love for their children.
If we had been present in that revival, we should have found it by
no means unlike all the true revivals of our day in this one most
precious feature. —Such a revival of the home and household affections is eminently pleasing to God. In such a soil religion
thrives. Where the hearts of fathers turn with loving, tender interest toward their children, and the hearts of children in like
manner to their fathers, the Saviour finds a congenial home and
takes up his abode.   It seems to be implied that if John's preaching had altogether failed of this result, the gospel of salvation from
the lips of Jesus might have fallen powerless upon the world, and
left to Judea and to the nations of the earth only the remediless
" curse."    How forcibly, then, comes the appeal to us to cherish
the tenderness of mutual love and earnest care for others' souls,




404                MALACHI.-CHIAP. IV.
especially within the dear circle of family relationships, lest the
gospel should fail to bless us, and lest we doom ourselves and those
we ought to love, to a moral ruin for which God has no remedy!
-Thus close the admonitions of the last prophet of the Old Testament age, and with them the volume of Scripture as it stood till
in the fulness of time the Messiah came.




DISSERTATION I.
ON THE -CRITERIA FOlR DISTINGUISHING, IN THE PROPHETIC LIFE,
B3ETWEEN THINGS BEEN AND DONE IN VISION ONLY, AND THINGS
DONE IN FACT.
THE importance of this point seems to justify a more extended
examination than could properly be introduced in the notes.
It is clear beyond a doubt that some of the prophets had visions,
somewhat analogous to dreams, yet not altogether dreams, in which
objects were presented to their mind's eye only; or as the case may
be, they were transported, not in body, but in thought, to distant
points, and made to see or do things that had no actuality in the
external world. It is equally clear that these prophets all lived an
actual life in this external world, and that, in the ministry of their
prophetic office, they were required of God to go and to do in the
external world things of a symbolic nature, belonging properly to
their prophetic work.-Now our first question is, Are there any
criteria by which these two very different things can be distinguished from each other?
Our second question is, If so, are they in the records themselves,
in the very forms of the statement, or are they mainly or only in
our own ideas of the fitness or unfitness of the things to be done in
actual life?
The only decisive, and satisfactory answer to these questions
must be obtained by a careful examination of the cases which belong
to one class or the other as they stand in the record. If there are
laws of prophetic usage, so well established as to afford us the criteria we seek, they must be sought and found by a thorough induction from particular cases; not otherwise. We are shut up to an
examination of the record. Does the record give us the distinctive
criteria, or does it commit the decision to the taste and judgment
of each reader? The subject will be exhausted only when all the
cases that belong to either class have been carefully and candidly
examined.- Ezekiel abounds in these cases. We will begin with
him. —Note a case of mere vision (37: 1-14), the well-known
" valley of dry bones." The very introduction shows this to be a
vision only. "The hand of the Lord was upon me," indicating




406                   DISSERTATION I.
some special extraordinary power, "and carried me out in the
Spirit of the Lord," not in actuality, but in that peculiar, prophetic
state often described as "in the Spirit; " and "set me down in
the midst of the valley, which was full of bones, and caused me to
pass by them  round about," &c. Here the form of the statement
seems designed to shut off the thought of an actual scene. But vs.
15-22 in the same chapter present an actual scene. " Take thee
one stick, and write on  it'For Judah,' and take  another
stick, and write on it,'For Ephraim,' &c.; join them one to another into one stick, and they shall become orie in thy hand."
That this is actual, and not in vision only, appears from the fact
that the form of statement gives no intimation of a vision, but has
throughout the air of reality. Thus, "When the children of thy
people shall ask, Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by
these? " it is plainly implied that they saw the sticks joined, and
did not merely hear the prophet report the case as presented to
himself alone, and in vision only. Still further, the Lord said:
"The sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before
their eyes," i. e., as an illustration of great truths to be prophetically announced. —— It should be constantly borne in mind that
the people are in the external world only-never in the state of
prophetic vision. What they see and hear, therefore, must be in
the external world-in the world of sense, and not in the prophetic
world of the "Spirit."  Hence this union of the two sticks must
have been real, and not visional only. —Yet further, comparing
the two portions of the 37th chapter above named-the former a
vision, viz., of the dry bones, and the latter an actuality-the union
of two sticks in one in the prophet's hand-we may note another
distinctive criterion. The former consists mainly of things seen by
the prophet; the latter of things done. So we might expect that
in visions the prophet will be mainly an observer, but in things
made actual for symbolic purposes, mainly a doer. —— Ezek. 40-48
is declared to be a vision. " The hand of God was upon me, and
brought me thither," i. e., to the city of Jerusalem: " in the visions
of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me on a very
high mountain," &c., where he saw the frame of a city, and a man
in appearance as brass, &c., with a measuring line in his hand;
and he was told to note with special care all he should see and
hear, that he might declare it to the house of Israel. —The whole
account shows beyond a doubt that this is a vision only. The
record is throughout one of things seen by the prophet, not of
things done. The "hand of the Lord," which is "upon him," and by
which he is"' brought" from one point of the scene to another, is
continually referred to, e. g., 40: 2, 3, 17, 24, 35, 48, and 41:1, and
42: 1, and 43: 1, &c., &c. E —— qually clear to the same conclusion
is the passage Ezek, chapter 8-11, inclusive. Both the introduction
and the close of this passage are decisive. The prophet is sitting in
his house; the elders of Judah are sitting before him; " the hand of
the Lord falls there upon him; " he sees a strangely glorious form




DISSERTATION I.                    407
" of the likeness of fire from the loins downward, and of brightness
like amber from the loins upward." This personage, says Ezekiel, "put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of mine
hair, and the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and the
heavens, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem."
There he saw scenes significant and most impressive. At the close
he records: "Afterward the Spirit took me up and brought me in
a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea to them of the captivity.
So the vision that I had seen went up from me."  "Then I spake to
them of the captivity, all the things that the Lord had shown me."
— The reader will take note that these chapters are throughout a
narration of things seen by the prophet-not of things done. Indeed,
very special care is taken to make it clear that these things are
seen and transacted in vision only. The language used is strongly
distinctive. " The Spirit lifted me up," " brought me in the visions
of God to Jerusalem."  "Afterward the Spirit took me up and
brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea." " So the
vision that I had seen went up from me," as if it had been a great
slheet of panoramic representation.-This extreme care to define
the precise character of the transaction should be especially noticed,
since it manifestly justifies the inference that God would have us
distinguish between this class of casesand those of a symbolic character, where external acts are really done. It also shows that he intends to furnish the criteria for this discrimination himself, so as to
leave us no responsibility, and no exercise of judgment, save that of
interpreting his very plain words.-Over against these visions
there lies a class of symbolic transactions, done in real life, in the
external world, before the open eyes of the people-their symbolic
character having for its aim a deeper impression on the popular
mind. In this class stands Ezek. 12: 1-16. It opens not by saying,
" The hand of the Lord was upon me; " "the Spirit took me up;' "
"I was brought in vision by the Spirit," &c.; but thus, "Son of
man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, who have
eyes to see, and see not," &c., implying the occasion for new and
peculiar means of impressing truth on their dull minds and hard
hearts. " Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight " (not by night, and in dreams
only); "it may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious
house."-The whole plan of operation is then detailed, and he is
especially charged again (v. 6) to " do it in their sight," and finally
the reason is given: " For I have set thee for a sign (a thing both
visible and significant) to the house of Israel."  The prophet
proceeds to say (v. 7), "I did so as I was commanded," i. e., this
was an actual transaction.  Furthermore, the end sought was
in part at least gained; the people inquired, and the Lord improved their awakened curiosity.  " Son of man, hath not the
house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto thee, What doest
thou?  Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord God: This
burden (i. e., of predicted calamity) concerneth the prince in Jeru



408                   DISSERTATION I.
salem, and all the house of Israel that are among them. Say, I am
your sign; in like manner as I have done, so shall it be done unto
them; they shall remove and go into captivity." Here we see at
every point most decisive indications that this is a symbolic transaction, actually wrought before the eyes of the people. The prophet
is here a doer, not a seer; the people see,.and therefore the things
done must have been in the world of sense before them.   Of the
same sort is the transaction recorded Ezek. 4. Here we miss the
statements: "The hand of the Lord was upon me;" "' the Spirit
took me up or brought me;" "I was in vision," &c., &c.; but on
the other hand, we find the other class of statements: "' Son of man
do " certain things; " this shall be a sign to the house of Israel." In
this case the things to do are: " Take thee a tile and lay it before
thee, and portray upon it the city-even Jerusalem —and lay siege
against it. Set the camp against it, and battering-rams-all the
enginery of assault in ancient warfare. Nor may he omit the
means of protection to the assailing party: "Take thee an iron
pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city,"
and so make the siege complete. And then the Lord said: "This
shall be a sign to the house of Israel "-the usual formula
to show that this is a symbolic and real transaction.  In this
case also we have a long series of details respecting the prophet's
lying first on the left side and then on the right side. and the
significance of each; the duration of each and its significance;
then, moreover, his food and drink the while are fully defined. The
circumstance of his cooking his own food shows that his lying on
one side was not absolutely continuous during the whole twentyfour hours of every day. It was sufficient that it should be so continuous, and withal so public, as to avail for a sign to Israel. The
decisive proof of an actual transaction in this case lies partly in
the absence of any hint that this is seen in vision only, and partly in the fact that throughout it is represented as a veritable transaction; but especially in the declaration, "This shall be a sign to the
house of Israel." For if the whole thing were seen by the prophet in
vision only, and not done at all, how could it be seen by the people and
be a "sign unto them?"  For it cannot be even supposed that they
were in a state of prophetic vision, and so were able to see things
presented in vision only. Note here also that the prophet is a doer,
not a seer.   Ezek. 1 is a vision throughout, for so the record states:
-v. 1, " The heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God; " and
v. 3, " The hand of the Lord was there upon him;" " And I looked
and beheld," &c. Ezek. 2 is also a vision. " The Spirit entered into
me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, and then I
heard him that spake unto me "-the prophetic state, that of
one into whom the Spirit had entered, being a prerequisite to his
hearing the words spoken to him in the vision.-  The " roll " of
which we read, 2:8-10, and 3: 1-10, should be accounted a thing
of vision, this being indicated by the words (2: 9), " When I looked,
behold an hand was sent unto me, and lo, a roll of a book was




DISSERTATION I.                    409
therein." In Ezek. 3: 11-27 some of the transactions seem to
have been of the external world, and some only seen or done in
vision. Of the former sort are his " going to them of the captivity,"
(vs. 11-15), and " his going forth into the plain " (vs. 22, 23). Of
the latter, "the Spirit took me up " (v. 12), "lifted me up and took
me away" (v. 14), &c. In the former case, if they of the captivity
are spoken of as actual and not visional, then his going to them
must have been in the external world, and not in the world of
thought only. -Ezek. 5: 1-4, the prophet polling his hair and
dividing it into three parts, one part to be burned with fire in the
midst of the city, another to be smitten about with a knife, and
the last third scattered to the wind; and the application of this to
Jerusalem (vs. 5-17) we must obviously interpret as a real transaction, although the forms of statement which specially indicate a
symbolic proceeding. are not here. On the other hand, the yet more
uniformly present indications of a vision are wholly wanting; and
moreover, the thing itself is so obviously done to be seen by the people, and would have so little force as a thing presented to the
prophet only, and in vision, that all'doubt is substantially precluded. —In Ezek. 21: 6, 7, we must recognize an actual scene, the
tokens of bitter grief, groans, and sighs, must have been heard and
seen by the people. This was the intent of the command: " Sigh,
therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and
with bitterness, sigh before their eyes. V. 7 shows that they saw,
and therefore inquired the cause: " It shall be when they say unto
thee, wherefore sighest thou?" that thou shalt answer, "For the
tidings, because it cometh," &c. This awakened curiosity and attention, the Lord used of set purpose to get into their dull and unbelieving minds the great idea of coming calamity.  In Ezek. 24,
we have first a supposed case, for it is definitely named a "parable,"
and is to be spoken to the people, and not done, in fact, before them.
" Utter a parable to the rebellious house, and say unto them, Thus
saith the Lord God; Set on a pot, set it on, pour water into it;
gather the pieces, i. e., of a slain animal, and let them seethe the
bones therein." And this was to represent the bloody city, Jerusalem, in which flesh, bones, and blood promiscuously, were seething
together. This parable forms the text for the discourse, vs. 6-14.
Strictly, this case is neither a symbol nor a vision. It is only and
precisely what the Lord called it, a " parable," and shows that the
Lord is specially careful to define sharply the particular manner of
his revelations to men by his prophets, so that there shall be the
least possible occasion for misapprehension on this point.   Over
against this parable, vs. 15-18 describe a real transaction.  The
prophet is apprised that the Lord will " take away the desire of his
eyes with a stroke," and is forbidden to mourn or weep therefor.
" So," he adds, "I spake unto the people in the morning, and in the
evening my wife died, and I did as I was commanded." This was
visible to the people, and therefore an actual death, and a real case
of a bereaved husband, refraining from the usual tokens of grief.
18




410                   DISSERTATION I
The people ask-" Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us
that thou doest so? "showing that they understand this to be a symbol, and therefore significant as to themselves. Further, the narrative repeatedly declares: " Ezekiel is unto you a sign "(v. 24), " and
thou shalt be a sign unto them " (v. 27). Thus by the words and
forms of statement the line is drawn, and in the main clearly, between things actually done for symbolic or other purposes, and
things only seen by the prophet himself in vision. This examination has aimed to touch all the cases of either sort that occur in
Ezekiel. An induction of cases that is exhaustive, bringing under
consideration) and properly classifying all the passages that relate
to the question in hand, must bring out the laws of prophetic usage
in this matter. Indeed, this method must furnish the only legitimate
and ultimate data for obtaining these laws of prophetic usage. In
this matter the Book of Ezekiel is classic ground, furnishing us
more data than all the other Old Testament prophets combined.
Hence the great length of this examination of Ezekiel.
In Zech. 1: 7 to 6: 8 are eight distinct visions, and in 6: 9-15 is
one symbolic transaction in actual life. The broad line of distinction between these two classes in the very forms of statement is
worthy of special attention. The visions open thus: "I saw by
night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse," &c. (1: 8); *" Then
I lifted up mine eyes and saw, and behold four horses," &c. (1: 18).
" I lifted up mine eyes again and looked, and behold a man with a
measuring line," &c. (2: 1); " And he showed me (i. e., caused me
to see) Joshua, the high priest, standing before the angel of the
Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him," &c. (3: 1);
" And the angel that talked with me came again and. waked me, as
a man that is wakened out of his sleep, and said unto Ahe," &c. (4: 1).
This passage is specially valuable as showing that the state of receptivity for prophetic visions was peculiar, sui generis. Further, "I
turned and lifted up mine eyes and looked, and behold a flying
roll," &c. (5: 1). " The angel that talked with me said, Lift up
now thine eyes and see what is this that goeth forth," &c. (5: 5).
" And I turned and lifted up mine eyes and looked, and behold four
chariots," &c. (6: 1). The uniformity and precision of these statements is certainly complete, leaving nothing more for us even to
desire.-  From this series of prophetic visions let us pass on to
the closing portion of this same sixth chapter. The record here is
very definite, yet entirely different from what we have seen in the
eight visions that immediately precede. Not a word is said about
" lifting up his eyes," nor about " being made to see," nor does he
say at the commencement, " behold," nor is he " wakened out of his
sleep," nor is it "seen by night." But squarely over against these
characteristics,'the word of the Lord comes to him," just as it
does in the passages 1: 1-6, and 7: 1, if., and 8: 1, &c., &c. Then
the Lord commands him not to see something, but to do something;
in this case, "Take from the captive delegation, late from Babylon,
silver and gold and make crowns, and set them  on the head of




DISSERTATION I.                    411
Joshua the high priest," &ec., to make him a symbolic type of the
Messiah, as both priest and king. And yet further, to show that
this was to be actually done, it was ordered that after the coronation
is over and has served its present purpose, the crowns shall be deposited in the temple for a memorial to this delegation from the far
Eastern land, to show that nations from far were yet to come and
build in the temple of the Lord. Thus every special feature in each
class, the visions on the one hand and the symbolic actualities of
the prophetic life on the other, is distinctly drawn —so distinctly as
to leave no apology for misapprehension or mistake.
Danlel, throughout, has visions, and not symbolic acts of his
own. His visions embrace more or less objects having a symbolic
nature. This, however, does not touch the point of discrimination
now before us. We inquire simply after the line between things
only seen by the prophet, and things actually done by him. Daniel,
in chap. 2 interprets Nebuchadnezzar's dream. In chap. 7 he is
careful to say, "Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon
his bed." In chap. 8, " a vision appeared unto me." In chap 9:
21-27, the man Gabriel came; and in chaps. 10-12 the future is revealed to him by an angel. Thus everywhere the forms of statement are full and definite to the point before us.
In Jeremiah, the great body of communications read simply,
" Thus saith the Lord," and the narrative presents neither visions
nor symbolic acts. But chap. 24 records a vision, introduced thus:
" The Lord showed me," i. e., two baskets of figs; and in chaps. 18
and 19 we must recognize symbolic transactions in real life. Here,
too, the proof of this lies in the form of the statemenf-" Arise
and go down to the potter's house, and there will I cause thee to
hear my words." Here is something to be done before the revelation'proper from the Lord even begins. More still to our argument
is the implication (v. 6) that the house of Israel are witnesses of
what was done by the potter.  " O house of Israel, cannot I do
with you as this potter?"  This, of course, locates the scene in
the external world. So in chap. 19, something is to be actually done
in the outer world: "Go and get thee a potter's earthen bottle,
and take of the ancients of the people, &c., and go forth unto the
valley of the son of Hinnom and proclaim there the words that I
shall tell thee. "-A  part of this message stands (vs. 3-9), and
then in v. 10 the Lord said, " Then shalt thou break the bottle in
the sight of the men that go with thee and say, Thus saith the
Lord, Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh
a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again."
Here we have the usual criteria of actuality. Things are to be
said and done by the prophet-not merely seen in vision; and they
are to be said and done before the eyes of the people. There can
be no doubt that this is a symbolic transaction.  It stands, therefore, as further proof of a constant divine care and purpose to distinguish between visions and things of actual life, done for the
greater effect through the power of symbol. —— In chap. 13, the




412                  DISSERTATION I.
girdle which the prophet is to "go to the Euphrates and hide
there in a hole of the rock," must be, according to our laws of construction, actual, and not merely visional, although it were a long
way to the Euphrates for a place to hide it and let it rot. That very
mission to the Euphrates had its object and its special significance.
The people were soon to go there, and their nationality should there
decay, not to say be marred and rot, like the prophet's girdle. —  The
language is decisive-" Go, get-thee a linen girdle;" " take the girdle
and arise, go to Euphrates," &c.  There is nothing said of "the
hand of the Lord upon him," or of being " in the Spirit," or " being
in vision," or of being "brought by the Spirit " to Euphrates, &c.
Hence we must interpret it of a real transaction.   In Jer. 27
and 28, the bonds and yokes to be made by the Lord's command for
the neck of the prophet, and to be sent to various kings whom the
Lord had made subject to Nebuchadnezzar, must be construed as
actual, and not visional only. The command was-" Make thee
bonds and yokes," &c., " put thenl upon thy neck, and send them to
the king of Edom," &c., by messengers, and "' command them to say
unto their masters," &c., —the yoke being symbolic of the main
idea of the message. The false prophet Hananiah, who confronted
and gainsayed Jeremiah, gave a counter-message, professedly from
the mouth of the Lord, and then to symbolize this, took the yoke
from off Jeremiah's neck and broke it. For this daring and impious lie, the Lord doomed him to die within the year. He died in
the seventh month. These transactions must, beyond a doubt, be
interpreted as real, and not of vision only.
Isaiah had a vision (chap. 6) indicated by-" I saw the Lord, sitting upon a throne," &c.; but Isa. 7: 3, must be actual: " go forth to
mneet Ahaz."   In Isa. 20 the Lord commands Isaiah to "loose
his sackcloth from his loins and put off his shoes, and he did so,
walking naked " (i. e., with no outer garment) "' and barefoot." The
Lord plainly shows this to be a real transaction when he says"Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three
years for a sign and a wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia, so shall
the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, naked and
barefoot." The fact that this was to be a "' sign "-a thing attracting wonder-proves it an actuality. Besides, it might be askedWhat could be the use of this thing, if done in vision only? The
record, however, and not any judgment of our own as to the fitness
or propriety of the things for either vision or external symbol, must
be our main authority. Everywhere we see that the Lord intended to
make the record itself decisive to the point of this discrimination.
Amos had visions (7: 1, 7, 8, and 8: 1, 2, and 9:1, ff.), always
indicated by the usual statements-" The Lord showed me," "I saw
the Lord," &c.
The Book of Jonah must be construed as actual life, and not
merely prophetic vision. If it be asked, Why? the answer is furnished by this full induction of all the cases of either sort found in
the other Old Testament prophets, and may be stated briefly, thus:




DISSERTATION I.                   413
(1.) There is not the least indication of a vision in the entire book.
(2.) The forms of statement are throughout those of a real transaction-things done and suffered by the prophet, and not things seen.
(3.) The moral aim and instruction of the whole book demand its
interpretation as a scene of actual, real life.   Mythical interpreters do indeed avoid some of those things which they are fain to
call unnatural and impossible, by explaining this book throughout as
a myth, or a thing of vision only. There is no difficulty in supposing a man to dream of being swallowed by a great fish. No;
but there ought to be great difficulty in overriding the plain, obvious sense of the Book of God. A solemn responsibility rests on
every man to study the laws of prophetic interpretation with both
care and candor, and with whatever good sense the Lord may give.
-.Following these laws of prophetic usage, we must make the locusts in Joel (chap. 1 and 2) literal and real, not ideal and things of
vision only. For Joel does not say, "I lifted up mine eyes and
saw "-does not say, " The Lord showed me," or that "' the hand of
the Lord was there upon me." He simply narrates events as
matters of fact. The locusts come up in successive swarms, and
utterly desolate the land; the people are famished, and turn to fasting and prayer for the divine mercy. This belongs to real life. He
further describes them in chap. 2-" They look like horses; " " they
run like horsemen " (v. 4); and, again, " they run like mighty men "
(v. 7)-which certainly is not saying that they are mighty men, and
that the real thing was never a locust-host, but only a raid of armed
men. —— Over against this, Amos saw locusts in vision, for he says
so: this is the proof. He says: " Thus hath the Lord caused me to
see, and behold, he formed locusts " (7: 1).   Hence Dr. Hengstenberg, though an excellent, acute, and almost faultless commentator, is manifestly wrong in assuming that the locusts of Joel were
never actual, but only ideal-only seen in vision.
We have now gone through the cases (all, as I suppose) that
occur in the various Old Testament prophets, bearing on the point
before us, designedly omitting none; and we find a clear line of distinction drawn between the things seen and shown in vision only,
and those which were done in the outward life for symbolic or
other purposes. These distinctions lie not mainly-indeed, scarcely
at all-in the nature of the things as convenient to be done, or as
impossible, but in the very form of the statements. In other
words, the Lord has been specially careful to leave us in no doubt
as to what was actually done by his prophets on the one hand, and
what was only seen by them in vision on the other.
Let us now come to the case of Hosea (chapters 1 and 3). Was
his " taking a lewd wife "-lewd either before and after marriage,
or after only-a real transaction; or was it only a thing seen in
vision? Were those three children, and their significant names,
things of vision only, or actualities of real life?   The laws of
interpretation are already educed from the usage of all the other
prophets, with whom such cases occur throughout the Old Testa



41.4                   DISSERTATION I.
ment. It only remains to apply them here.   (1.) There is not the
least intimation that these things are in vision only. He does not
say-" The Lord showed me," does not say "I saw," does not hint
that 1" the hand of the Lord is upon him," and that he is " in vision"
or "in the Spirit," so that he might see such things done in the
prophetic ecstasy.  This essential evidence of a mere vision is altogether wanting.- (2.) On the other hand, the language of command is explicit: " Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms," &c.
The entire narrative lacks not one of the features of an actual
transaction. The children are born in the usual succession of time
(see vs. 3, 8), and each has its significant name. So also chap. 3 is
the natural description of real life. Let it also be carefully noted
that in all this the prophet is a doer, not a seer only. —(3.) The
reason why God requires this of his prophet is specially given, viz.,
because " the land has committed great whoredom in departing from
the Lord." There was therefore a fitness in having this fact symbolized in the prophet's family state, and also in having other important facts symbolized in the significant names of his children.
And it may have been a further reason that the Lord would have
his prophet sympathize with himself, and appreciate more keenly
the feelings'of the divine mind under such abuse.
This naturally completes the argument, so far as concerns the
principles and laws of prophetic interpretation. That usage which
rightly gives law to language is all on one side, and if the authority
of this law be admitted at all, can leave no doubt as to the right interpretation in this particular case. -It need only be added that
if this law of language-prophetic usage-be discarded in this case,
it may be in any and every other, and we are all afloat, with no
principles of interpretation to guide us.   It amounts to little to
say in abatement or exception to this, that we can fall back upon
our own sense of the fitness or unfitness of the things to be done in
fact, using our discretion and interpreting that as done in vision only
which seems to us unfit to be done in fact. For the vital question
is-Does God leave us to this exercise of our own discrimination,
giving us no other data for determining the sense of his words?
Does prophetic usage show numerous cases, or indeed any one clear
case, in which there is only this discretion to guide us?'The examination here presented should suffice (it would seem) to prove the negative.  The question might be pressed-Would it be safe to leave
with men the discretion and responsibility of deciding this question
by their own sense of fitness? The care God has taken not to leave
the question to this umpire should suffice to show that he, at least,
has not thought it wise to do so.   Yet, though this may seem
clear, yet some excellent men and able interpreters hold the opinion
that Hosea took this wife Gomer no otherwise than in vision, and
had these children born to him only in the sense of dreaming itseeing them so born in prophetic vision. Their main reliance in
support of this view is in the idea that marrying a "wife of whoredoms" and having "children of whoredoms" in real life, must be




DISSERTATION II.                   415
immoral, and therefore that God could not command Hosea to do
it. —-I reply, (1.) The force of this objection is mainly obviated by
the supposition (entirely admissible in view of the language and
history) that Gomer, though of previously lewd habits, had become
professedly penitent and reformed, and was accepted by the prophet
on these professions of penitence and -promises of conjugal fidelity.
The marriage covenant would of course in her case involve these
promises.  Like Israel, in relation to her covenant God, she too
may have lapsed again, and so have symbolized the more forcibly
the course of that guilty nation toward God. —(2.) It need not
be claimed that Hosea, or any other man, would choose to marry a
woman of previously bad life, even upon any professions of amendment, however fair. The special command of the Lord in this case
assumes that the thing required was a hardship-a thing that no
good man would be likely to do, save under a positive command
from God and for a very special purpose.' —(3.) In this view of it
the transaction cannot be regarded as immoral in the prophet.
Hence the moral objection against it as a reality, loses its force.
The application of these principles of interpretation to that system which converts the simple narratives of Scripture into myths,
will be readily seen. It must suffice here only to suggest it.
DISSERTATION II.
ON  TWO  MILLENNIAL THIEORIES.
TnE theories here discussed are:
I. That the Old Testament prophecies of the millennium treat
of the heavenly as well as of the millennial state; that in giving a
general view of the kingdom of the Messiah, they describe first in
the order of time, the New Testament age and its peculiarities as
contrasted with the Jewish; but that then, in addition to this, they
pass over by analogy, or by a natural continuation of the same
theme, to give also the eternal blessedness of the saints in heaven
after the resurrection and general judgment.
II. The second theory denies all reference of these prophecies
to the New Testament age, and locates their fulfilment exclusively,
as to time, after the resurrection and the judgment day; as to
space, upon this earth, purified by the fires of the last day, and made
the eternal abode of the righteous. This theory excludes all promise
of the conversion of the world to Christ.-The principal passages
here referred to as millennial are-in the minor prophets-Joel 3:
17-21; Amos 9: 11-15; Mic. 4: 1-8; Zeph. 3: 9-20; Zech. 14:
6-9, 16, 20, 21.   In other prophets, Isa. 4: 2-6, and 9: 1-7, and
11, and 35, and 54, and 60, and 66: 18-24; Jer. 31: 31-40; and
Ezek. 36: 25-28, and 37: 21-28, and 47: 1-12.
Taking up first in order the theory first named above, let us note




416                   DISSERTATION II.
the main arguments adduced in support of it, viz.:   1. These
prophecies describe a state too holy to be realized in such a world
as this, under its present physical laws.   2. The state described
is too long to be exhausted in this world, inasmuch as it is repeatedly said to continue forever.-3. The Old Testament reveals no
heaven, unless it be in these prophecies. The results of Messiah's
work for our race are exceedingly incomplete without a somewhat
full revelation of its great consummation in an eternal heaven for
the saints. Hence we have a right to expect a revelation of heaven
in these prophecies.- -Replying to these arguments in their order,
I admit, as to the first, that the language implies a high standard of
holiness, very much in advance of the average under the Jewish
dispensation, with which it would of necessity be tacitly compared.
— Thus (Joel 3: 17)-" Jerusalem shall be holy; and there shall
no stranger pass through her any more." —— Zeph. 3: 9-"For
then will I turn to the pbople a pure language, that they may all
call upon the name of the Lord to serve him with one consent."
- Zech. 14: 20, 21-" In that day shall there be upon the bells
of the horses holiness unto the Lord, &c.; and in that day there
shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts."
- See also Isa. 4: 3, 4, and 11: 9, and 35: 8, and 54: 13, and 60:
18-21; and Jer. 31: 31-34; and Ezek. 37: 23.
But this feature of these prophecies does not necessarily carry
their fulfilment over to the heavenly state, because -— (1.) The
gospel system provides for a high degree of holiness in the present
life, especially through Christ's intercessions for his people, his
manifested presence with them, and the indwelling of his Spirit
with power in their hearts. Hence Christ himself says: "I pray
that thou wouldest keep them from the evil " (John 17: 15). " My
grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12: 9). Paul testifies: " I can do all things through
Christ who strengtheneth me (Phil. 4: 13). -(2.) Those prophecies
which give us the largest promises of spiritual life and power indicate
their own fulfilment in the present world and in the New Testament
age. Some of them are cited by inspired apostles with this understanding, e. g. (Joel 2: 28-32), the great promise of the effusion of
the Spirit which Peter affirmed began to be fulfilled at the opening
of the gospel age (Acts 2: 16, if.; also Gen. 22: 18), " In thy seed (Jesus Christ) shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." This Peter applies (Acts 3: 25, 26): " Unto you first, God having raised up
his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you in turning away every one of
you from your iniquities." This, then, is a case showing how all the
nations are to be blessed in Christ.-So the great promise of the
new covenant, which stands at the head of the predictions of emlinent holiness (Jer. 31: 31-34) is cited (Heb. 8: 8-13) as being the
very genius and soul of the gospel dispensation. —-That extraordinary promise of moral cleansing by the Spirit (Ezek. 36: 25-28),
"I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from
all your filthiness will I cleanse you; I will put my Spirit within




DISSERTATION II.                   417
you and cause you to walk in my statutes," &c., proceeds to say:
" And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers "-as
much as to say-These promises belong to earth and not to heaven;
to this world in its present state, and not to the next, after these
heavens and this earth shall have passed away. —(3.) While th(
New Testament descriptions of the heavenly state affirm an abso
lute perfection, and make it sure by the beatific presence of the
Saviour, the prophecies in question fall manifestly short of this,
especially so if we may even proximately estimate the holiness they
promise by the experience of any period of the gospel age which
has thus far transpired.-  Thus the New Testament witnesses of
the heavenly state: "We know that when he (Christ) shall appear,
we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is " (1 John 2: 2).
-" Neither can they die any more, for they are equal to the
angels, and are the children of God, being children of the resurrection" (Luke 20: 36). —The Old Testament prophecies fall somewhat short of this.
2. I pass to the second argument, viz., that these prophecies
apply not to the earthly state, but to the heavenly, because they
represent it as being eternal. —To this I answer: (1.) It may be
admitted that possibly a few of these passages conceive of the Messiah's reign as holding over beyond this world to the heavenly-an
absolutely eternal reign-yet without giving any special account of
that heavenly state.-  Supposing this to be true, all the specific
features of this millennial state, except its absolute eternity, belong
to this world and to time; so that this admission abstracts nothing
from the glories of the millennial state. —And yet it would be
somewhat difficult to find the passages that clearly hold over to the
future world. If you say they are Dan. 2: 44, and 7: 14, 18, 27,
the negative side of the description, " shall not be left to other people, but shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms ""which shall not pass away" (supplanted by some conquering
power); and the fact that the saints shall take the kingdom  and
possess it forever; " also, that it is the kingdom and dominion
under the whole heaven, not in heaven, go far to show that the
thought here is specially of this world, and not of the eternal one.
— Again, Micah'says: " The Loid shall reign over them in Mount
Zion from henceforth even forever;" but the reigning in Mount
Zion, and the previous " assembling of her that halteth and her
that was cast far off," hold the mind to this earthly state as the
thing specially in view.- (2.) Many of these descriptions forbid
us to think of an absolute eternity. Thus (Joel 3: 20), " But Judah
shall dwell forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation"
-where the last clause, being parallel, is explanatory, and assumes
a succession of generations not to be thought of in the heavenly
state.   So the parallel clause in Isa. 60: 15-" I will make thee
an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations."- Note also the
indications of time in the " new heavens and new earth " of Isa.
65: 22, where you might expect an absolutely eternal state -" For
18]




418                   DISSERTATION II.
as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect
shall long enjoy the work of their hands." —The passage (Ezek. 37:
21-28) expresses the duration of its events by "forever" (v. 25),
and by "for evermore " (vs. 26, 28), but it also locates the Lord's
people "in the land upon the mountains of Israel;" affirms that
" the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel," assuming that some heathen still live on the earth and are cognizant
of her condition; and also declares-" I will set my sanctuary in
the midst of them for evermore "-" yea, I will be their God and
they shall be my people " —a passage which Paul (2 Cor. 6: 16)
manifestly assumes to have its fulfilment in the Christian age of
the world. —Thus it might be shown that many of these prophecies which affirm eternal duration most strongly embrace points
which locate their fulfilment on earth, in time, and not in heaven
during the eternal state.-(3.) None of these prophecies give us
any marks by which we can distinguish between what belongs to
this world and what to the next, the heavenly. The New Testament descriptions of heaven never fail to furnish these nmarks of
discrimination, as is apparent in Matt. 25: 34; Luke 16: 22, 25, 26;
and even in Rev. 21 and 22, which chapters follow the final judgment: the first heaven and the first earth have passed away; the
holy city is the New Jerusalem, built in heaven, and has no temple
in it; the wicked are all in the lake that burneth with fire; the
righteous enjoy the beatific presence of God and the Lamb. —
Criteria of this sort are wholly wanting in the millennial prophecies of the Old Testament. —(4.) Unlike the New Testament
descriptions of heaven, these prophecies give us no intimation that
their scenes transpire after death, the resurrection, and the general
judgment. —(5.) The prophetic state which is said to continue
"forever," is in many cases described with Jewish costume; in
other words, the Jews dwell in their own land, with their temple
and ritual institutions complete; the Gentiles come up to Jerusalem to build and beautify that temple, and to worship thereinall legitimate as descriptions of the millennial state on earth, but
scarcely admissible as descriptions of the real heaven beyond death
and the judgment. —(6.) The New Testament does not locate heaven
upon this earth, but elsewhere. Always it is a place to which residents of earth are said to "go:" and to "; depart; " of which Christ
said, " I go to prepare a place for you." But of this more fully hereafter. —(7.) The only uniform and reliable principle by which the
terms "everlasting, " forever," &c., can be explained, is that
which makes them relative., as long as the nature of the subject
which they qualify will admit. Thus " eternal punishment," under
the government of God must be as long as God's government exists; *" everlasting mountains " will stand while the world stands;
"an ordinance forever" will remain only so long as the system to
which it pertains. It is only on this principle that the Jewish festivals (Lev. 23: 14, 21, 31, 41) are everlasting, or the Aaronic priesthood (Ex. 40: 15 and Num. 25: 13), fcr they ccecl ed with the passing




DISSERTATION II.                    419
away of the system of which they formed a part. —On this prin.
ciple the millennial "forever " would be indefinitely long, yet would,
or at least might close, in that special form, with the end of this
world.
3. To the argument that the Old Testament reveals nothing of
the heavenly state except in these prophecies; that the results of
Messiah's reign are altogether incomplete without a somewhat full
revelation of its heavenly state; and that therefore we have a right
to expect something definite of heaven in these Old Testament
prophecies-I answer; —— (1.) The first statement is not strictly
correct. The real heaven stands forth revealed in such passages as
the following: " Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for
evermore " (Ps. 16: 11).    L As for me, I shall behold thy face in
righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness " (Ps. 17: 15).-"' Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and
afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee,
and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. My flesh
and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of my heart, and my
portion forever" (Ps. 73: 24-26). -" Many of them that sleep in
the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some
to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall
shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many
to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever."   (2.) Of the
other points, I remark, (a.) that the revelations of the Old Testament must be admitted to be incomplete compared with those of
the New, especially in respect to the future world; the resurrection, the final judgment, and the ultimate destiny of the righteous
and of the wicked.  -(b.) It is rather the genius of the Old Testament to reveal the great fact of a present Moral government over
nations, and also largely over individuals as well-administered in
this world by present rewards and penalties; and then to leave the
future destiny of men to be inferred from this great fact of present
retribution. —(c.) Remarkably, the future'existence of the soul,
the future blessedness of the righteous, and misery of the wicked,
are rather assumed than affirmed, e. g., the existence of the soul
after death, in Exodus 3: 6: " I am the God of thy fathers, the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."  Our
divine Lord teaches us how to bring out from this passage the
underlying assumption of the soul's continued existence (Matt. 22:
32): " God is not the God of the dead but of the living "-where
1" dead " must be takenin the Sadducean sense-non-existent. Jehovah
could not be the God of nonentities; hence Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob are shown to be still living.-So the resurrection is assumed
to be known in those striking passages where it is used as a figure
to represent analogous changes in the state of the nations, viz., Isa.
26: 14, 19: " They " (God's enemies) are dead, they shall not live;
they are deceased, they shall not rise."  " Thy dead men shall live,
together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye




420                   DISSERTATION HI.
that dwell in dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the
earth shall cast out the dead."    Or the well-known passage, Ezek.
37: 1-14, the vision of the valley of dry bones, raised from the
dead, and figuratively representing how God revives the hope and
the national spirit of his captive people. —— Dan. 12: 2, recently
cited, comes nearer to a formal affirmation of the resurrection than
any thing else in the Old Testament, and yet it was not the design
of that passage to affirm the universal resurrection. The Old
Testament nowhere teaches this doctrine in a didactic, elementary
way, as our Saviour does (John 5: 28, 29). It is quietly assumed.
— So the future blessedness of the righteous is assumed-inferrible from his blessedness here in time —and on the same principle, the final woe of the wicked.-(d.) It should not be forgotten
that according to the New Testament, Jesus Christ "brought life
and immortality to light through the gospel."  This cannot mean
less than that life and immortality were not. really brought to light
until Christ came. Those great truths had lain in comparative
obscurity, with only dim and flickering rays falling around.(e.) It is not altogether safe or wise for us to assume that certain
things ought to appear in the Old Testament. The Lord has his
own views and plans as to the order and method of his revelations
to man.
Second Theory. —This theory denies all reference of these prophecies to the New Testamient age, and locates their filfilment as to
time, after the resurrection and judgment day;-as to space, upon
this earth purified by the fires of the last day, and made the eternal
abode of the righteous. It excludes all promise of the conversion
of the world to Christ.
Of this I have to say-1. If it be true, it is doubtless susceptible
of very clear and strong proof. The points it assumes to be true are
entirely tangible. If taught in the Scriptures at all, they would be
likely to appear in tangible forms.   2. A theory which robs the
Church of God of so many of her glorious hopes for the future
prosperity of Zion, and for the Saviour's joy in the travail of his
soul;-which smites down so many of her best impulses and motives
to missionary zeal and self-sacrifice, ought to be well grounded, or
else not be believed at all. A theory which so eclipses the
glories of heaven as well as the best hopes for our present earth,
can have but small hold, it would seem, on our Christian sympathies. Yet, if it be true, let us bear it in submission, though in
sorrow; but if it be not true, let us hurl it from us as the robber
of our best heritage..  3. This theory cannot be true and must be
false, because the conversion of the world to Christ is taught and
implied in the word of Godmost abundantly.-(1.) It is the plain
significance of those prophecies which are clothed most fully in
Jewish costume and figures, representing Israel and Judah in the
gospel age as dwelling in their own land with their temple standing
and ritual service entire; and Gentiles coming up from all the ends
of the earth to worship the one Lord there.-See notes on Hos.




DISSERTATION IT.                   421
1: 10, 11, and on Zech. 12: 1-9. —(2.) In another class of prophecies which have far less of Jewish costume, the same great truth
is undeniably taught;-e. g., Ps. 2: 8 —" I will give thee (the Messiah)
the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the
earth for thy possession."  Ps. 22: 27, 28: " All the ends of the
earth shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds
of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the
Lord's, and he is Governor among the nations."  Ps. 72:8, 17:
"He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river
to the ends of the earth.".... " And men shall be blessed in him;
all nations shall call him blessed."  -Mal. 1: 11: "For from the
rising of the sun even to the going down of the same my name shall
be great among the Gentiles, and in every place, incense shall be
offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name shall be
great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts."  See also Gen.
22: 18, and 49: 10. —(3.) Such passages as Isa. 52: 13-15, and
53: 10-12, show that the Messiah shall be gloriously successful
Irelatively to Satan and sin in the very work of saving men-shall
be exalted high in triumph because of his great humiliation and
sufferings, and in view of the fruits thereof; " shall sprinkle many
nations;" " shall see of the travail of his soul till he is satisfied;"
shall have the great for his portion, and a large share of the spoil
after the battle with sin and Satan is fought through.-Gen. 3:
15 runs in the same strain, confirming the glorious truth that the
masses,of the human family are to be ultimately for Christ and not
for Satan. Of course, no such result can be without an indefinitely
long millennial state upon this earth.-(4.) The New Testament
confirms this view by teaching the same thing. See Rom. 11: 15,
25, 26: " For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the
world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
For I'would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this
mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles
be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written,
There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away
ungodliness from Jacob." And Rev. 11: 15: " And the seventh
angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying,
The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord,
and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." These
predictions are exceedingly definite and explicit.  It need not
surprise us that their number is no greater. The New Testament
writers believed in Old Testament prophecy, and held its testimony
to this point to be abundantly adequate. —— (5.) Yet further, the
New Testament most fully endorses the application of these prophecies to the gospel age, and especially to the conversion of the
Gentiles, and to the ultimate union of Jews and Gentiles in the same
earthly Church and kingdom of God. It is not easy to conceive
how they could more strongly endorse both this interpretation of




422                  DISSERTATION IT.
these prophecies and its reliability, than by quoting them as proof
of these very points.
Here let us note how Paul (Acts 13: 47) quotes Isa. 49: 6: " We
turn to the Gentiles; for so hath the Lord commanded us: I have
set thee (the Messiah) to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou
shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth."
The chapter here quoted from is one of the most decisive and
rich prophecies of the world's conversion. Note also how James
(Acts 15: 15-18) cites Amos 9: 11, 12: " Simon (Peter) hath declared how God at first did visit the Gentiles, &c., and to this agree
the words of the prophet, as it is written: After this I will return,
and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down;
and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up, that the
residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon
whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these
things. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of
the world; " as if he would intimate that God had planned the conversion of the Gentiles from the very creation of man..-In the
same way Paul (Rom. 11: 26, 27) quotes Isa. 59: 20, and in Rom.
15: 18-12 quotes several prophecies, and among them Isa. 11-one
of the first-class prophecies of the conversion of the world. —-Thus
do the apostles, after being fully taught by the Spirit, see in these
prophecies that God had purposed and foretold the conversion of
the Gentiles to Christ, and the ultimate union of both Jews and
Gentiles in the Christian Church. They make the same use of
these prophecies that we ought to make now, as the ground of faith
and the fountain of impulse to self-denying labor for the gathering
of all nations into the Messiah's kingdom. It never entered their
mind that these prophecies teach nothing about the conversion of
men, but only promise a sort of heavenly paradise on this earth
after probation shall have closed. They never cite these prophecies
as teaching and proving this modern doctrine. They do continually
cite them to prove that, through the effusions of the Spirit and the
preaching of the gospel, Gentiles and Jews shall be converted to
Christ. That they expected the fulfilment of these prophecies in
the present world by means of these gospel agencies, the divine and
the human, is beyond all doubt. Hence, if their testimony be admitted, it decides the question.
4. If it be fully admitted that these prophecies pledge the conversion of the world to Christ, the further question respecting the locality
of the future heavenly state loses most of its importance. Not all of
it, however, for the natural tendency of the notion that the future
heaven is to be on this earth, is material as opposed to spiritual-not
to say even sensual and carnal-exceedingly unlike the tendency and
influence of those New Testament descriptions which make heaven
consist essentially in being "forever with the Lord," and in so
" beholding his glory " that we become thereby forever " like him."
See 1 John 3: 2, and Thess. 4: 17. —It may not be superfluous,
therefore, to say, that thl  e vi4 -ce in the Scriptures to prove that




DISSERTATION II.                   423
this earth is to be the future heaven of the saints is exceedingly
meagre. — The heaven of the Scriptures is already in existence,
long before this earth is purified. AMyriads have already gone before
to that other better world. Everywhere in the Scriptures it is a
place to which one goes from this world. As said by our Lord:
"In my father's house are many mansions; I go to prepare a place
for you." (Did he mean by these words that he was then going to
burn this world up, and purify it for a heaven?) He adds: " I will
come again, and (not dwell with you on this earth, but) receive you
to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also " (John 14: 2, 3.)
Paul " desired to depart, and to be with Christ." At the very
time when the theory in question would plant the saints in this
glorified earth, Paul assigns them a very different location: " Them
also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him, i. e., up to heaven;
and those who are then alive (not having tasted death) shall be
caught up together with "-the previously dead now raised-" in
the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air," and " they inherit the kingdom prepared for them (not at the end of the world, but) from the
foundation of the world." -But it is claimed that Isaiah, Peter, and
John teach this doctrine under the phrase, " The new heavens and
the new earth " (Isa. 65: 17, 1.8; 2 Pet. 3: 13, and Rev. 21 and 22.)
-— In few words as possible, I reply: (a.) The important declarations in Isaiah are: " Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind.... But
be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create, for, behold, I
create Jerusalem  a rejoicing, and her people a joy," &c.   This is
obviously a great moral change, and not a physical one, as when
Paul says, "If any man be in Christ, there is a new creation."
(This is the original.) Isaiah himself explains it to mean " I create
Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy," i. e., a cause or ground
of joy to all who love God and holiness. The context still further
proves that the prophet speaks of the millennial state in this world
of probation as produced under the gospel, and not of the state of
retribution subsequent to the resurrection and final judgment. —
(b.) Peter, having described the burning of the earth and the works
that are therein, adds,' Nevertheless we, according to his promise,
look for a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." But this falls far short of affirming that the saints shall
dwell forever in this new earth. It just as much affirms that they
shall dwell forever in these new heavens. It does not specially
affirm either. Hence this text will scarcely suffice for a cornerstone of any entire system of doctrine respecting the future location
of the saints. There are too many doubtful points in its interpretation. It is doubtful what Peter refers to by " ihis promise." tIe
may refer to some unwritten promise from the Saviour's own lips;
or to Isa. 65: 17; or possibly to Rev. 21. —(c.) John, in Rev. 21
and 22, most distinctly locates the saints before and around the
throne of God and of the Lamb; represents them as dwelling in a
great and glorious city-the new  Jerusalem (which manifestly




424                   DISSERTATION II.
must be taken as Jewish costume)-but is very far indeed from
affirming that the location of this heavenly state is on this earth.
Indeed, he does not tell us where this holy city is located. It was
no part of his design to give its celestial geography.
If these brief suggestions shall conduce to save the millennial
prophecies from the perverting influence of unfounded theories, and
leave them to stand forth before the Church in their full strength
and glory, my main purpose will be accomplished.




CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES.
I. KINGS OF JUDAH.                    II. KINGS OF ISRAEL.
Began to reign  Reigned                Began to reign Reigned
B. c.    years.                       B. c.    years.
Rehoboam.............   975    17    Jeroboam I............ 975      22
Abijam................   958    3    Nadab............ 954          2
Asa.................    955    41    Baasha.................  952  22
Jehoshaphat,..........   914   25    Elah............. 930     1
Jehoram...............   891    7    Omri.................   929      11
Ahaziah...............   884    +    Ahab.................  918       21
Athaliah...............   884   7    Ahaziah........... 897          1
Joash.................   877   39    Jehoram.....     896       12
Amaziah................   838  27    Jehu.............   884   28
Uzziah................ 811      52    Jehoahaz........... 856     16
Jotham................  759    16    Joash.................  840      15
Ahaz............. 743     15    Jeroboam II..          825       41
Hezekiah..............   728    29    Interregnum...         784       11
Manasseh.............. 699     55    Zachariah............. 778 
Amon................. 644       2    Shallum............... 3 7
Josiah................. 642     31    Menahem..............  773     12
Jehoahaz..............   611    ~    Pekahiah..............   761      2
Jehoiakim............. 611      11    Pekah................. 759      19
Jehoiachin..       600      -      Interregnum......     740    9
Zedekiah..............   600   12    Hoshea............   731         9
End of the kingdom... 588              End of the kingdom... 722
III. HEBREW PROPHETS.    IV. GREAT EVENTS,
B. C.                                  3B. C
Joel (supposed)..........     830-825    Revolt of the ten tribes......... 975
Jonah...              823  Shishak, king of Egypt, at JeruAmos.. 8...........        825-759       salem......................  970
Hosea..     between 825 and 699    Omri builds Samaria........... 929
Isaiah...            759-699    Famine under Ahab 3 y'rs.  913-919
Micah...................... 758-699    Homer...                      907
Nahum.....................    700    Carthage built.885
Jeremiah..          629-580    First Olympiad.................   776
Zephaniah.624    Rome founded................. 753
Habakkuk..          610-588    End of kingdom of ten tribes...  722
Daniel.                     603-533    Nineveh destroyed.............   625
Ezekiel..                  595-573    First captives to Babylon.....  606
Obadiah.                    588-580    Jerusalem destroyed............ 588
Haggai.....................   520    Confucius....................   551
Zechariah                      520    Restoration from Babylon...... 536
Ezra..                      457-432    Rome a republic................   525
Nehemiah in Judah 444432 & 408-400    Temple finished...         515
Malachi (supposed).......... 408-400    Pythagoras.......           497
Esther.                         478
N. B.-In a few of these cases no cer- Themistocles.             514478
tain data exist. The figures should be Herodotus...               484-444
regarded as only the nearest approxi- Socrat.........469-399
mation to truth possible under the circumstances.








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