And teareth, and none delivereth. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 12. Thine hand shall be lifted up over thine adversaries, And it shall come to pass in that day, saith That I will cut off thine horses from the midst of And I will destroy thy chariots: I will also cut off the cities of thy land, And I will throw down all thy strong holds. I will also cut off thy graven images and thy sta- And thou shalt no longer bow down thyself to the And I will root up thy groves from the midst of thee. And I will execute vengeance, in anger and in fury, MS. 383. Hebr. And soothsayers shall not be unto thee. the sorcerers] 6. read Tw thy sorcerers. So does -from thy border] So is sometimes rendered. See Ezek. xlviii. 1. Chald. has 7, from within thee, and probably read with two MSS. 7, from the midst of thee. Houbigant renders, "Ego auferam amuleta de manibus tuis:" reading TTA, from thine hands, with 6. Ar. Syr. and five MSS. 14. thy groves] The usual scenes of idolatrous practices. -thine enemies] So Chald. agreeably to the Hebrew. 15. -hearkened unto me] See ó. MS. Al, εισήκεσαν με "So MS. Copt." Mr. Woide. And one MS. perhaps reads you. The ancients agree in the rendering proposed. The Babylonians shall rout your armies and take your cities. v. 10, 11. See v. 1. They shall cut off your false prophets, and destroy the objects of your worship: v. 12, 13, 14. The nations hostile to you shall experience my anger, and shall be themselves subdued. v. 14, 15. СНАР. VI. 1 HEAR ye now what Jehovah saith: 2 3 4 5 1. Hear ye, O mountains, the controversy of Jehovah; O my people, what have I done unto thee? What Balak the king of Moab consulted; And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him; before the mountains] apud, coram, ad. Nold. Con tend publicly, in the face of the creation. 2. strong] Many MSS. and four editions read Don'. Houbigant prefers the reading of 6. 'pym: "And ye vallies, the foundations of the earth." Houbigant העמקים . sequitur האזינו Videtur legendum » male." Secker. According to this conjecture, the rendering would be: "And hearken, ye foundations of the earth." 3. -wearied thec] By unnecessary burthens, or undeserved calamity. 4.Miriam] She was a prophetess. Ex. xv. 20. Numb. xii. 2. 5. O my people-] The structure of the words is such in the original, that the English language cannot represent what we may suppose to be the true measure of this passage: but the Vulg. may be thus distributed; Popule meus, memento quæso quid cogitaverit Et quid responderit ei Balaam filius Beor, &c." Balaam was called to curse Israel; but by my impulse he blessed them. -consulted] Purposed. Secker. -answered] Some think what Balaam answered here means 6 7 8 From Shittim even unto Gilgal: That ye may know the righteousness of Jehovah. Wherewith shall I bow myself unto the * High God? Will Jehovah be well pleased with thousands of rams; With ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression; Hebr. righteousnesses. † prevent him. prevent Jehovah. *the God of height. § belly, or, womb. his advice, Numb. xxxi 16, how Balak should seduce Israel in their passage through Shittim to Gilgal. Ch. supplies, Did I not perform great things from Shittim to Gilgal? No one interpretation is probable." Secker. From Shittim] From the encampment at Shittim, Numb. xxv. 1, on the way to that at Gilgal: Josh. iv. 19. Balaam gave different answers in the interval between these places. We may suppose that the encampments of Israel advanced slowly to that part of Jordan which was opposite Gilgal. According to Chald. there seems an omission in the text: "Were not great things done for From Shittim even unto Gilgal?” you See Josh. iii. 1. iv. 20. Thus there will be a reference to the miraculous passage over Jordan. -even unto Gilgal] Many MSS. and two editions ready. .ועדמא .So Syr Dr. -the righteousness] "The great righteousness." Wheeler. We may often observe that the original word includes the notion of mercy. 7. rivers of oil] Or, fatted sheep: if we read with V. ó. Ar. Houbigant. -first-born] The dearest of my offspring. It is well known that the Phenicians, and their descendents the Carthaginians, sacrificed their children to Saturn. And some of the idolatrous Jews and Israelites imitated this horrid practice. 8. He hath shewed] V. Ar. Syr. read 78. I will shew. ó. ed. Ald. have E any, instead of E ayyan, the reading of MS. Vat. and Alex. D d 9 And what doth Jehovah require of thee, The voice of Jehovah crieth unto the city: And there is sound wisdom with them that fear his name: -justice] Right, just dealing. See Pocock. -mercy] Goodness, kindness, beneficence. Ibid. -to be humble-] Submissive to God's laws, resigned to his will, acquiescing in his revelation of himself: ib. Prov. xi. 2. yy is opposed to pride. See Schultens. The Arab. root signified paravit, didicit; and hence, say Schultens and Taylor, a wellformed wellmanaged mind. In Chald. the root denotes abscondere; whence retiredness, modesty, humility. The manner of raising attention in v. 1, 2, by calling on man to urge his plea in the face of all nature, and on the inanimate creation to hear the expostulation of Jehovah with his people, is truly awakening and magnificent. The words of Jehovah follow in v. 3, 4, 5. And God's mercies having been set before his people, one of them is introduced, in a beautiful dramatic form, as asking what his duty is towards so gracious a God: v. 6, 7. The answer follows in the words of the prophet Micah, v. 8, if we read, he hath shewed thee; or, perhaps, in the words of Jehovah, if TN, I will shew thee, should be thought the true reading; though, according to this latter reading, it may well be supposed that the prophet replies in his own person. Bishop Butler thinks that we have here the demand of Balak, and the answer of Balaam. Ser. vii. p. 121. Bishop Lowth adopts this idea, and adds, "Mire congruit cum cæteris Balaam monumentis res, dictio, constructio, forma ipsa et character compositionis." Præl. Hebr. xviii. p. 229. ed. 2. 8vo. And Mr. Peters says, that we have a sort of dialogue between Balak and Balaam represented to us in the prophetical way. The king of Moab speaks, v. 6. Balaam replies by another question, in the two first hemistichs of v. 7. The king of Moab rejoins, in the remaining part of the verse. Balaam replies, v. 8. Sermons, xiv. 8vo. p. 333. 9. them that fear] Four MSS. read, and three in the margin. MS. 2 reads so at present, and MS. 99 has the a rasure. V. ó. Ar. Syr. also read. It must likewise be ob on .והושיע or ותשועה served that V. 6 A. suggest the reading of "And there is safety to them who fear his name." Or, -his name] w ó. A. Syr. 10 11 12 13 14 Hear, O ye tribes, him that testifieth. ARE there yet in the house of the wicked the And the scant measure which is abominable? violence; And her inhabitants have spoken falsehood; Hebr. the ephah of leanness, the balances of wickedness. † weights of deceit. -Oye tribes] Reading from ; and with Syr. with V: which scarcely differs -him that testifieth] my testari is often used in Hiphil both without the formative and with the paragogic. D. Durell translates, "Him that testifieth against her:" sc. the city. See 1 Kings xxi. 10, 13. 10. Are there-] The words of Jehovah follow, to the end of v. 16. One MS. reads w, which is the true reading; and Chald. represents it. Many MSS. and some editions read wn. Thus 2 Sam. xiv. 19, where we have we for the verb substantive w in the text, four or six MSS. read w, and many MSS. w's. 13. begin] Seven MSS. and four editions read as Deut. ii. 31. 1 Sam. xxii. 15. from, in Hiphil to begin. So V. ó. Ar. Syr. We may render I have begun or the verb may be converted into the future by the distant vau: which common Hebraism affected St. Peter's Greek, 2 Pet. iii. 10. if, as in some editions, we read καυσόμενα τηκεται. "I also am wearied in smiting thee, In making [thee] desolate for thy sins." Dr. Wheeler. 14. Thou shalt eat] This threatening occurs Hos. iv. 10. l. 1. And it shall be dark] Read or with 6. Ar. Houbigant. Darkness is often put for calamity. See Job xviii. 6. Isai. lix. 9. Am. v. 20. |