That ye may know the righteousness of the LORD. Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the righteousness] Rather, the righteous acts; lit. 'the righteousnesses' (so Judg. v. 11, 1 Sam. xii. 7). 6-8. The people, feeling its need of atonement, anxiously (note the repeated questions) inquires of the prophet how it is to propitiate Jehovah. Bishop Butler, in his Sermon on the Character of Balaam, adopts the view that vv. 6, 7 represent the question of Balak, and v. 8 the answer of Balaam. This was probably suggested by 2 Kings iii. 27, where it is recorded that the king of Moab offered up his eldest son as a burnt-offering. But the inference is hasty; human sacrifices were one of the abominations of Israel (see below), which most excited the reprobation of the prophets. Bishop Butler, too, had probably not realized the amount of personification which exists in the prophetic writings. It is the people personified which speaks in these two verses (6 and 7). 6. Wherewith] i.e. with what present? bow myself] With the obeisance of a subject before his king, or of a poor man before a rich. with calves of a year old] These were considered the choicest (Lev. ix. 3). 7. with thousands of rams] With hecatombs, a Greek would have said. The calves are estimated by quality; the rams, by quantity. rivers of oil] Or, ‘torrents of oil;' like 'brooks [torrents] of honey,' Job xx. 17. my firstborn for my transgression] This is the climax of Israel's offers; he will not withhold his most precious possession. The valley of Hinnom was for centuries defiled by sacrifices of children to the 'devouring' Fire-god, Moloch; a custom derived from 'the nations whom Jehovah cast out from before the children of Israel' (2 Kings xvi. 3). The narrative of the substitution of the ram for Isaac (Gen. xxii. 13), and the law of the redemption of the firstborn of man (Exod. xiii. 13), show that, although perhaps permitted for the hardness of men's hearts' in earlier times, such human sacrifices were no longer admitted by the prophetic and legal interpreters of the Divine will to Israel. Comp. Lev. xviii. 21, xx. 2, 2 Kings xvi. 3, xxiii. 10, Isai. lvii. 5, Jer. vii. 31, Ezek. xvi. 20, xx. 26 8. The prophet denies that any external forms will make up for the want of spiritual qualities. The sacrifice of the heart is what God 2 6 8 9 ΙΟ He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; And what doth the LORD require of thee, 9-16. Jehovah's indignant Denunciation. The LORD's voice crieth unto the city, And the man of wisdom shall see thy name: Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, demands; but "man convinced of sin is ready to sacrifice what is dearest to him rather than give up his own will and give himself to God" (W. Robertson Smith). The passage reminds us of Isai. i. 10-15, Hos. vi. 6. Evidently Hezekiah's reformation had been purely external (comp. Isai. xxix. 13). He hath shewed thee] viz. Moses in the Law, especially in Deuter onomy. what doth the Lord require of thee...] Comp. Deut. x. 12, 'And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul?' to do justly...] The opposite of Israel's present characteristics (comp. V. 10, ii. 1, 2, iii. 2, 3, 9, 10). to walk humbly with thy God] Humility is the primary religious virtue in the Old Testament (comp. Isai. ii. 12). 9-16. JEHOVAH'S INDIGNANT DENUNCIATION. 9. The Lord's voice] Because before this it was the prophet who spoke. unto the city] i.e. Jerusalem. the man of wisdom shall see thy name] A very dubious translation. Others render, 'wisdom is it to fear thy name,' which is supported to some extent by the ancient versions ('fear' for 'see' has this important sanction); this requires no alteration of the text (i.e., the consonants), but merely of one of the vowel-points. Caspari's version of the received reading, 'Thy name hath wisdom for its object,' is unnatural. hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it] i.e. hear ye the prophecy of punishment, and hear him who hath ordained the judgment. It is the Assyrian invasion which is referred to; comp. Isai. x. 5, 24. 10. The denunciation is couched in the form of questions, to prick the conscience of the guilty ones. Are there yet the treasures...] i.e. Does the oppressor go on heaping up unjustly acquired spoil? And the scant measure that is abominable? And thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; the scant measure] A particular measure is referred to, viz. the ephah (about three pecks, dry measure). The sin specified reminds us forcibly of Deuteronomy, where it is forbidden to have in one's house 'divers ephahs, a great and a small,' and 'a perfect and right ephah' is prescribed (Deut. xxiv. 14, 15). Amos, too, Micah's senior, speaks of those who longed for the expiration of the sabbath, 'that they might set forth wheat, making the ephah small' (Amos viii. 5). 11. Shall I count them pure...] This rendering is barely defensible, even if we alter the vowel-points. It was dictated by the very natural feeling that the speaker ought to be the same person as in v. 10. Keil thinks that the reading of the Hebrew text may be justified, if we suppose the speaker to be the prophet speaking as the representative of the human conscience. The text-reading is, Can I be pure, &c., which, according to this commentator, means 'Can a man be pure?? It is simpler, however, and in accordance with what we know of the confusions of Hebrew pronunciation, to follow the Septuagint, the Peshito, and the Targum, and restore the third person instead of the first; unless, looking at v. 12, we prefer to read the verb in the second person, Canst thou (O Jerusalem) be pure.' For the prophet continues, ‘The rich men thereof' (i.e. of Jerusalem). 13. will I make thee sick] Deadly sick is the meaning; comp. Nah. iii. 19, where the term is explained in the parallel clause to mean 'incurable.' 14, 15. Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied] The description in these two verses again reminds us of Deuteronomy, and of that portion of Leviticus which most recalls Deuteronomy (see Deut. xxviii. 39, and Lev. xxvi. 25, 26). thy casting down] The meaning of the Hebrew is very uncertain. Thy emptiness is the rendering which has the best support of recent authorities; if we adopt it, we must substitute 'remain' for 'be'-it is emptiness of the stomach which is meant. But the rendering is precarious, and the text, as so often, is probably corrupt. We might restore, 'thy leanness shall be in the midst of thee' (i.e. of the people). thou shalt take hold] Rather, thou shalt remove (thy goods). The prospect held out is that the enemy will fall so suddenly upon the Jews, 11 12 13 14 15 16 And that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword. Thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint And sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine For the statutes of Omri are kept, And all the works of the house of Ahab, And ye That I should make thee a desolation, And the inhabitants thereof a hissing: Therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people. that they will not be able to remove their property or family to a place of security; or if they should, by a rare good fortune, succeed in saving a little, it should soon become the prey of the foe (comp. Isai. xxiii. 12, Jer. xliv. 12). 15. tread the olives] It is now the custom only to press the olives; in olden times, they must have been trodden as well (like grapes). Ancient oil-presses are still found in Palestine. The olives were ground to a pulp sometimes by treading, sometimes by a stone-wheel. (Thomson, The Land and the Book, p. 207.) 16. the statutes of Omri] Statutes' is here used in a religious sense=ceremonies or rules of worship (as Jer. x. 3, Lev. xx. 7, 2 Kings xvii. 34). Omri is said to have done worse than all [the kings] that were before him.' Little more is recorded of him in 1 Kings, but the Assyrians always associated his name with that of his kingdom: the northern realm has for its Assyrian name Bit Khumri 'place of Omri.' 'The statutes of Omri' and 'the works of the house of Ahab' (Omri's son) are of course the worship of Baal (comp. 1 Kings xvi. 31, 32). 'The separation of the kingdoms had not broken the subtle links that connected Judah with the greater Israel of the north' (Prof. Robertson Smith, The Old Testament in the Jewish Church, p. 345). Hence the low religious state of the kingdom of Israel reacted most injuriously on the kingdom of Judah. in their counsels] i.e. in those of Omri and Ahab. It is singular that these two should be the only kings of N. Israel mentioned in the prophetical books. the reproach of my people] i.e. the reproach which attaches to the people of Jehovah when it is cast out of 'Jehovah's land' (Hos. ix. 3). Most probably, however, we should read, 'the reproach of the peoples' (comp. Ezek. xxxiv. 29, xxxvi. 6). The final m may have dropped out, or the sign of abbreviation may have been overlooked. This latter part of the verse assumes a different form in the versions. Upon what text they are based is uncertain; but they all agree in rendering "fearers of (his) name" (the pronoun is omitted in Targ.), and (except Targ.) 'tribe' for 'rod.' Hence Ewald renders, 'Hear, O tribe, and thou who summonest it.' The Septuagint also changes the Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the 7 summer fruits, As the grapegleanings of the vintage: There is no cluster to eat : My soul desired the firstripe fruit. The good man is perished out of the earth: They all lie in wait for blood; They hunt every man his brother with a net. That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, 'yet' of v. 10 into 'city,' and connects it with v. 9. Following up these traces of what he conceives to be the original reading, Roorda restores, 'And they that fear his name have heard wisdom. He hath declared who is he that stirreth up his rod.' CHAP. VII. 'The Vv. 1-6. These verses should be read in connexion with Chap. vi. 1. Woe is me...] The speaker in vv. 1-4, or at any rate in v. 1, is not the prophet, but the true Israel, i.e. Israel within Israel, personified. He is like a garden at the time of the fruit-harvest, which has many delightful fruits, but of course no early figs; or, like a vineyard, after the grape-gathering. This the prophet expresses by saying that Israel is become 'like the gatherings of the fruit-harvest, like the gleanings of the vintage,' which in point of fact amount to nothing at all. my soul desired...] Rather, 'no early fig which my soul desireth.' 2. The good man] More fully rendered, 'The pious man,' he who makes love his rule of action-love to God and love to man. idea of khāsīdh is not passive [he who experiences grace or love], for God Himself is called khāsīdh, Ps. cxlv. 17, but he who exercises khesedh (Prov. xi. 17), i.e. makes men, according to God's will, and God Himself (comp. Jon. ii. 8, Prov. cxliv. 2) 'the object of his loving endeavours' (Delitzsch on Ps. xvi. 10). Observe, 'The pious man,' not 'pious men' is the phrase employed, 'indicating the fewness and isolation of these Abdiels.' There is a striking parallel to the first half of this verse in Isai. lvii. 1, ‘The righteous perisheth, and no man taketh it to heart, and men of piety are gathered,' &c. Both passages must have been written in time of persecution. they all lie in wait for blood] Not merely persecution, but anarchy seems to have been the order of the day: at least the rich and powerful were under no legal restraint; they did that which was right in their own eyes. Similar circumstances are described in many of the Psalms (see e.g. Ps. x. 8, 9). every man his brother] Although, as children of Abraham, they ought to love each other; comp. Lev. xix. 18. 3. That they may do evil...] This verse and the first half of the following verse are extremely obscure, and it is most improbable that 2 3 |