A glorious promise B, C. cir. 712. Olymp. XVII. 1. cir. annum Numa Pompilii, R. Roman., 4. B. C. cir. 712. cir. annum A. M. cir. 3292. And he will destroy in this | all faces; and the rebuke of his A. M. cir. 3292. mountain the face of the covering people shall he take away from Olymp. XVII. 1. cast over all people, and the off all the earth: for the LORD Numa Pompilii, vail that is spread over all nations. hath spoken it. 8 He will "swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off Heb. swallow up. 0 Heb. covered.- m2 Cor. iii. 15; Eph. iv. 18. preservers; because they preserve the strength and flavour of the wine. "All recent wines, after the fermentation has ceased, ought to be kept on their lees for a certain time, which greatly contributes to increase their strength and flavour. Whenever this first fermentation has been deficient, they will retain a more rich and sweet taste than is natural to them in a recent true vinous state; and unless farther fermentation is promoted by their lying longer on their own lees, they will never attain their genuine strength and flavour, but run into repeated and ineffectual fermentations, and soon degenerate into a liquor of an acetous kind. All wines of a light and austere kind, by a fermentation too great, or too long continued, certainly degenerate into a weak sort of vinegar; while the stronger not only require, but will safely bear a stronger and often-repeated fermentation; and are more apt to degenerate from a defect than excess of fermentation into a vapid, ropy, and at length into a putrescent state." Sir Edward Barry, Observations on the Wines of the Ancients, p. 9, 10. sour. Thevenot observes particularly of the Shiras wine, that, after it is refined from the lees, it is apt to grow "Il a beaucoup de lie; c'est pourquoi il donne puissemment dans la teste; et pour le rendre plus traitable on le passe par un chausse d'hypocras; après quoi il est fort clair, et moins fumeux. Ils mettent ce vin dans des grandes jarres de terres qui tiennent dix ou douze jusqu'à quatorze carabas: mais quand l'on a entamé une jarre, il faut la vuider au plutost, et mettre le vin qu'on en tire dans des bouteilles ou carabas; car si l'on y manque en le laissant quelque tems après que la jarre est entamée il se gâte et s'aigrit." Voyages, Tom. ii. p. 245.-"It has much sediment, and therefore is intoxicating. In order to make it more mellow, they strain it through a hypocrates' sleeve, after which it is very clear and less heady. They lay up this wine in great earthen jars, which hold from ten to fourteen carabas: but when a jar is unstopped, it is necessary to empty it immediately, and put the wine into bottles, or carabas; for if it be left thus in the jar, it will spoil and become acid.” The caraba, or girba, is a goat's skin drawn off from the animal, having no apertures but those occasioned by the tail, the feet, and the neck, One opening is left, to pour in and draw off the liquor. This skin goes through a sort of tanning process, and is often beautifully ornamented, as is the case with one of these girbas now lying before me. R. Roman., 4. 9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, Hos. xiii. 14; 1 Cor. xv. 54; Rev. xx. 14; xxi. 4.17; xxi. 4.———————P Gen. xlix. 18; Tit. ii. 13. "Moab hath been at ease from his youth, And he hath settled upon his lees; Rev. vii. Nor hath he been drawn off from vessel to vessel, Sir John Chardin's MS. note on this place of Jeremiah is as follows: "On change ainsi le vin de coupe en coupe en Orient; et quand on en entame une, il faut la vuider en petites coupes ou bouteilles, sans quoy il s'aigrit. They change the wine from vessel to vessel in the east; and when they unstop a large one, it is necessary to empty it into small vessels, as otherwise it will grow sour.' 66 Verse 7. The face of the covering cast over all people" The covering that covered the face of all the peoples"] MS. Bodl. reads by al peney chol. The word peney, face, has been removed from its right place into the line above, where it makes no sense; as Houbigant conjectured. "The face of the covering," &c. He will unveil all the Mosaic ritual, and show by his apostles that it referred to, and was accomplished in, the sacrificial offering of Jesus Christ. These forms of Verse 8. He will swallow up death] He, by the grace of God, will taste death for every man. Heb. ii. 9. Probably, swallow up death, and taste death, in both these verses, refer to the same thing: Jesus dying instead of a guilty world. speech may refer to the punishment of certain criminals; they were obliged to drink a cup of poison. That cup which every criminal in the world must have drunk, Jesus Christ drank for them; and thus he swallowed up death; but as he rose again from the dead, complete victory was gained. From these three verses we learn : I. That the Gospel is a plenteous provision: "I will make a feast for all people." II. That it is a source of light and salvation: "1 will destroy the veil. I will abolish death, and bring life and immortality to light." III. That it is a source of comfort and happiness: "I will wipe away all tears from off all faces." As in the Arabic countries a covering was put over the face of him who was condemned to suffer death, it is probable that the words in ver. 7 may refer to this. The whole world was condemned to death, and about This clearly explains the very elegant comparison, to be led out to execution, when the gracious Lord or rather allegory, of Jeremiah, chap. xlviii. 11; where interposed, and, by a glorious sacrifice, procured a the reader will find a remarkable example of the mix-general pardon. ture of the proper with the allegorical, not uncommon Verse 9. It shall be said-" Shall they say"] So with the Hebrew poets:the Septuagint and Vulgate, in the plural number. Glorious effects of B. C. cir. 712. Olymp. XVII. 1. B. C. cir. 712. Olymp. XVII. L A. M. cir. 3292. and he will save us: this is the the midst of them, as he A. M. cir. 3292. LORD; we have waited for him, 4 we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation : cir. annum Numa Pompilii, cir. annum that swimmeth spreadeth forth R. Roman, 4. 12 And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the 10 For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill. 11 And he shall spread forth his hands in dust. : 9 Psa. xx. 5. Or, threshed. ve They read 11 reameru, the Syriac reads Verse 10. Shall the hand of the Lord rest—"The hand of JEHOVAH shall give rest"] Heb. man tenuach, quiescet. Annon in taniach, quietem dabit, shall rest; shall give rest, ut Græci, avaravan Swos, et Copt.?-Mr. WOIDE. That is, "shall give peace and quiet to Sion, by destroying the enemy;" as it follows. 8 Or, threshed in Madmenah. -1 Chap. xxvi. 5. the power of God, that nothing whole shall remain.”Hieron. in loc. See the note on chap. xxviii. 27. For the dunghill—“ Under the wheels of the ear."] For madmenah, the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate read mercabah, which I have followed. See Joshua xv. 31, compared with xix. 5, where there is a mistake very nearly the same. The keri, bemi, is confirmed by twenty-eight MSS., seven ancient, and three editions. Verse 11. As he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim-" As he that sinketh stretcheth out his hands to swim"] There is great obscurity in this place: some understand God as the agent; others, Moab. I have chosen the latter sense, as I cannot conceive that the stretching out of the hands of a swimmer in swimming can be any illustration of the action of God stretching out his hands over Moab to destroy it. I take nnun hashshocheh, altering the point on the As straw is trodden down-" As the straw is threshed"] Hoc juxta ritum loquitur Palæstinæ et multarum Orientis provinciarum, quæ ob pratorum et fœni penuriam paleas preparant esuj animantium. Sunt autem carpenta ferrata rotis per medium in serrarum sin, on the authority of the Septuagint, modum se volventibus, quæ stipulam conterunt; et to be the participle of ne shachah, the same with comminuunt in paleas. Quomodo igitur plaustris fer- shuach, and nn shachach, to bow down, to be deratis palea conteruntur, sic conteretur Moab sub eo; pressed; and that the prophet designed a paronomasia sive sub Dei potentia, sive in semetipso, ut nihil in eo here, a figure which he frequently uses between the integri remaneat, "This is spoken in reference to similar words Пn shachah, and shechoth. As the mode of threshing in Palestine, and various other nnn tachtaiv, in his place, or on the spot, as we say Asiatic provinces. Because of the scarcity of meadow in the preceding verse, gives us an idea of the sudden land and hay, they make chopped straw for the cattle. and complete destruction of Moab; so 1pa bekirbo, They have large wheels studded over with iron teeth in the midst of him, means that this destruction shall or nails, by which, on the out-of-door threshing-floors, be open, and exposed to the view of all the neighthey pound and reduce the straw into chaff. As, bouring nations shall plainly see him struggling against therefore, the straw is reduced to chaff by bringing the it, as a man in the midst of the deep waters exerts all his iron-shod wheel over it; so shall Moab be bruised by efforts by swimming, to save himself from drowning.—L, CHAPTER XXVI, This chapter, like the foregoing, is a song of praise, in which thanksgivings for temporal and spiritual mercies are beautifully mingled, though the latter still predominate. Even the sublime and evangelical doctrine of the resurrection seems here to be hinted at, and made to typify the deliverance of the people of God from a state of the lowest misery; the captivity, the general dispersion, or both. This hymn too, like the preceding, is beautifully diversified by the frequent change of speakers. It opens with a chorus of the Church · celebrating the protection vouchsafed by God to his people; and the happiness of the righteous, whom he guards, contrasted with the misery of the wicked, whom he punishes, 1-7. To this succeeds their own pious resolution of obeying, trusting, and delighting in God, 8. Here the prophet breaks in, in his own person, eagerly catching the last words of the chorus, which were perfectly in unison with the feelings of his own soul, and which he beautifully repeats, as one musical instrument reverberates the sound of another on the same key with it. He makes likewise a suitable response to what had been said on the judgments of God, and observes their different effects on the good and the bad; improving the one, and hardening the other, 9-11. After this, a chorus of Jews express their gratitude to God for past deliverances, make confession of their sins, and supplicate his power, which they had been long expecting, 12–18. mercies of God. To this God makes a gracious reply, promising deliverance that should be as life from the dead, 19. And the prophet, (apparently alluding to the command of Moses to the Israelites, when the destroying angel was to go through the land of Egypt,) concludes with exhorting his people to patience and resignation, till God sends the deliverance he has promised, 20, 21. A. M. cir. 3292, Olymp. XVII. 1. cir. annum IN a that day shall this song be| LORD, have we waited for thee; Numa Pompilii, We have a strong city; salvation R. Roman., 4.. bulwarks. 2 Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. 3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee. 4 Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength. 5 For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth' it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust. 6 The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy. 7 The way of the just is uprightness: thou most upright, dost weigh the path of the just. 8 Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Chap. ii. H. d Heb. truths. 9 m With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. n 10 Let favour be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD. 11 LORD, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them. 12 LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. 13 O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee 8 Chap. lx. 18. Psa. exviii. 19, 20. Chap. Ixiv. 5. Psa. Ixiii. 6; Cant. iii. 1. Eccles. viii. NOTES ON CHAP. XXVI. Salvation for walls and bulwarks] pin chomoth vachel, walls and redoubts, or the walls and the ditch. chel properly signifies the ditch or trench without the wall; see Kimchi. The same rabbin says, This song refers to the time of salvation, i. e., the days of the Messiah. Verse 2. The righteous nation] The converted Gentiles shall have the gates opened—a full entrance into all the glories and privileges of the Gospel; being fellow heirs with the converted Jews. The Jewish peculiarity is destroyed, for the middle wall of partition is broken down. Syriac and Vulgate read un batachnu, “we have trusted." Schroeder, Gram. Heb. p. 360, explains the present reading batuach, impersonally, confi sum est. Verse 4. In the Lord JEHOVAH-" IN JEHOVAH"] In JAH JEHOVAH, Heb.; but see Houbigant, and the note on chap. xii. 2. Everlasting strength] 【phy ny tsur olamım," the rock of ages;" or, according to Rab. Maimon,—the eternal Fountain, Source, or Spring. Does not this refer to the lasting streams from the rock in the desert? And that rock was Christ. ge han hoped in the Lord fro the everlastinge worldis.—Old MS. BIBLE. Verse 8. Have we waited for thee "We have placed our confidence in thy name"] The Septuagint, Syriac, and Chaldee read 1p kavinu, without the pronoun annexed. Verse 9. Have I desired thee] Forty-one MSS. of Dr. Kennicott's and many of De Rossi's, (nine ancient,) and five editions read ' ivvithicha. It is proper to note this; because the second • yod being omitted in the text, the Vulgate and many others have render The truth] The Gospel itself-as the fulfilment of all the ancient types, shadows, and ceremonies; and therefore termed the truth, in opposition to all those shadowy rites and ceremonies. "The law was given by Moses; but grace and TRUTH came by Jesus Christ;" John i. 17, and see the note there. Verse 3. In perfect peace] oh oh shalom, sha-ed it in the third person. lom, "peace, peace," i. e., peace upon peace-all kinds of prosperity-happiness in this world and in the world to come. Because he trusteth_in_thee—“Because they have trusted in thee."] So the Chaldee, in betacho. The When thy judgments, &c.] It would be better to read, When thy judgments were in the earth, the inhabitants of the world have learned (17 lamedu) righteousness. Men seldom seek God in prosperity; they are apt to rest in an earthly portion; but God in cir. annum Numa Pompilii, 15 Thou hast increased the nation, O LORD, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth., 16 LORD, 'in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a "prayer when thy chastening was upon them. 17 Like as a Hos. v, 15.- Heb. secret speech. V woman with child, that draw- xvi. 21. mercy embitters this by adversity; then there is a general cry after himself as our chief, solid, and only permanent good. mercies of God. eth near the time of her delivery, The deliverance of the people of God from a state Verse 16. Lord, in trouble have they visited thee of the lowest depression is explained by images plainly "O JEHOVAH, in affliction we have sought thee"] So taken from the resurrection of the dead. In the same the Septuagint and two MSS. have p pekadnucha, manner the Prophet Ezekiel represents the restoration in the first person plural. And so perhaps it should of the Jewish nation from a state of utter dissolution by bepy tsaknu, in the first person; but how the Sep- the restoring of the dry bones to life, exhibited to him tuagint read this word is not clear; and this last mem-in a vision, chap. xxxvii., which is directly thus applied ber of the verse is extremely obscure. and explained, ver. 11-13. And this deliverance is For lamo, "on them," the Septuagint read expressed with a manifest opposition to what is here lanu, “on us,” in the first person likewise; a frequent mistake; see note on chap. x. 29. said above, ver. 14, of the great lords and tyrants, under whom they had groaned :— "They are dead, they shall not live; They are deceased tyrants, they shall not rise :" that they should be destroyed utterly, and should never be restored to their former power and glory. It appears from hence, that the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead was at that time a popular and common doctrine; for an image which is assumed in order to express or represent any thing in the way of allegory or metaphor, whether poetical or prophetical, must be an image commonly known and understood; otherwise it will not answer the purpose for which it is assumed.-L. Verse 18. We have brought forth wind] The learned Professor Michaelis explains this image in the following manner : "Rariorem morbum describi, empneumatosin, aut ventosam molam, dictum; quo quæ laborant diu et sibi et peritis medicis gravidæ videntur, tandemque post omnes veræ graviditatis molestias et labores ventum ex utero emittunt: quem morbum passim describunt medici." Syntagma Comment., vol. ii., p. 165. "The empneumatosis, or windy inflation of the womb, is a disorder to which females are liable. Some have had this in such wise, for a long time together, that they have appeared to themselves, and even to very skilful medical men, to be pregnant; and after having endured much pain, and even the throes Kimchi refers these words to the days of the Mesof apparent childbearing, they have been eased and re-siah, and says, "Then many of the saints shall rise stored to health by the emission of a great quantity of wind from the uterus. This disorder is well known to medical men." The Syriac translator seems to have understood it in this manner: Enixí sumus, ut illæ quæ ventos pariunt. "We have brought forth as they who bring forth wind." bearets; so a In the earth-"In the land"] MS., the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate. Verse 19. My dead body" My deceased"] All the ancient Versions render it in the plural; they read niblothai, my dead bodies. The Syriac and Chaldee read on niblotheyhem, their dead bodies. No MS. yet found confirms this reading. The dew of herbs-"The dew of the dawn"] 6 from the dead." And quotes Dan. xii. 2. Do not these words, speak of the resurrection of our blessed Lord; and of that resurrection of the bodies of men, which shall be the consequence of his body being raised from the dead? Thy dead men shall live, with my dead body shall they arise.] This seems very express. Verse 20. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers] An exhortation to patience and resignation under oppression, with a confident expectation of deliverance by the power of God manifestly to be exert ed in the destruction of the oppressor. It seems to be an allusion to the command of Moses to the IsraelLu-ites, when the destroying angel was to go through the Destruction of the B. C. cir. 712. cir. annum B. C. cir. 712. his place to punish the inhabit- 4. M. cir. 3292. ants of the earth for their iniquity: Olymp. XVII. 1. the earth also shall disclose her Numa Pompilii, blood, and shall no more cover A. M. cir. 3292. chambers, and shut thy doors a Psa. xxx. 5; chap. liv. 7, 8; 2 Cor. iv. 17. cir. annum R. Roman., 4. b Mic. i. 3; Jude 14.- Heb. bloods. Crimes of cruelty and oppression, which have passed away from the eyes of men, God will bring into judgment, and exact punishment for them. O what a reckoning will the kingdoms of the earth have with God, for the torrents of blood which they have shed for the gratification of the lust of power and ambition! Who Verse 21. The earth also shall disclose her blood] shall live when he doeth this? CHAPTER XXVII. Destruction of the enemies of the Church, 1. God's care of his vineyard, 2-11. scendants of Abraham in the latter days, 12, 13. A. M. cir. 3292.B. C. cir. 712. Olymp. XVII. 1. cir. annum Numa Pompilii, R, Roman., 4. IN N that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the b Prosperity of the de that crooked serpent; and he shall a piercing serpent, even leviathanA vineyard of red wine. Or, crossing like a bar.- b Psa. lxxiv. 13, 14.- Chap. li. 9; The subject of this chapter seems to be the nature, the measure, and the design of God's dealings with his people. 1. His judgments inflicted on their great and powerful enemies, ver. 1. 2. His constant care and protection of his favourite vineyard, in the form of a dialogue, ver. 2. 3. The moderation and lenity with which the severity of his judgments have been tempered, ver. 7. 4. The end and design of them, to recover them from idolatry, ver. 9. And, 5. The recalling of them, on their repentance, from their several dispersions, ver. 12. The first verse seems connected with the two last verses of the preceding chapter.-L. NOTES ON CHAP. XXVII. Verse 1. Leviathan] The animals here mentioned seem to be the crocodile, rigid by the stiffness of the backbone, so that he cannot readily turn himself when he pursues his prey; hence the easiest way of escaping from him is by making frequent and short turnings: the serpent or dragon, flexible and winding, which coils himself up in a circular form: and the sea-monster, or whale. These are used allegorically, without doubt for great potentates, enemies and persecutors of the people of God: but to specify the particular persons or states designed by the prophet under these images, is a matter of great difficulty, and comes not necessarily within the design of these notes. R. D. Kimchi says, leviathan is a parable concerning the kings of the Gentiles: it is the largest fish in the sea, called also a tannin, the dragon, or rather the whale. By these names the Grecian, Turkish, and Roman empires are intended. The dragon of the sea seems to mean some nation having a strong naval force and extensive commerce. See Kimchi on the place. d Chapter v. 1. Verse 2. Sing ye unto her] anu lah. Bishop Lowth translates this, Sing ye a responsive song; and says that ny anah, to answer, signifies occasionally to sing responsively; and that this mode of singing was frequently practised among the ancient Hebrews. See De Pöes. Sac. Heb. Præl. xix., at the beginning. This, indeed, was the ancient method of singing in various nations. The song was divided into distinct portions, and the singers sang alternately. There is a fine specimen of this in the song of Deborah and Barak; and also in the Idyls of Theocritus, and the Eclogues of Virgil. This kind of singing was properly a dialogue in is now termed recitativo. I have seen it often pracverse, sung to a particular tune, or in the mode which tised on funeral occasions among the descendants of the aboriginal Irish. The poems of Ossian are of this kind. The learned Bishop distinguishes the parts of this dialogue thus : |