Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

C. i. 1st.

[ocr errors]

The Sept. and Ar. read nya, in the fourth Month, which seems necessary.

2nd. Sixteen MSS. read , and thus it is written everywhere else.

8th.

More than forty MSS. read, with the Keri and Chald. ", which is necessary.

9th.

Fourteen MSS. have nba in the masculine, which accords better with the preceding pronouns; and it may be observed, once for all, that the final feminine has been written, by mistake, for the final masculine throughout this chapter, as several MSS. evince, together with the context.

10th. As it is evident, from-v. 6th, that each of the four beasts "and

; פניהם פנים פני אדם had four faces, I think we should read

the likeness of their faces, eastward, was the face of a man;" for, 15, which denotes the east, might easily be dropped from its similitude, or, rather, sameness, to the words foregoing and following it; and then, of course, the faces of the lion were towards the south, the faces of the ox towards the north, and the faces of the eagle towards the west: for, as I apprehend, the faces of each creature looked in the same direction; i. e. the four faces of the man to the east, and so on. Which direction they never altered, for they went straight forward; so that this seems to have been their position; (the letters, on the sides of the squares, denoting the aspect of each creature; H, man; L, lion; B, ox; and A, eagle.) See Junius, in Poole's Synopsis.

[blocks in formation]

And, as the word signifying the west is not mentioned, and the word O, in the beginning of the next verse, is entirely omitted by the Sept. and the sense is as complete without it, might not this be written by mistake for 18, as opposed to ', see c. ii. 10; or some such word, which seems wanting at the end of v. 10? And these four beasts were probably intended to represent the people of Israel, according to

[blocks in formation]

the form of their encampment in four square divisions, when they went, under the command of JEHOVAH, to take possession of the Holy Land. And the reason why each creature had four faces, resembling the man, the lion, the ox, and the eagle, was, because these were the standards of the four principal tribes, which were at the head of each division; the lion representing the tribe of Judah; the ox the tribe of Ephraim; the man the tribe of Reuben; and the eagle the tribe of Dan. And that the order in which they stood is changed by the prophet, the lion appearing then in the cast, and now the man, is probable for this reason, that then they were going to victory, and now to punishment.

12th.

27th.

--

For v. 12, 16, 17, 18, see note on v. 9.

I very strongly suspect that ' is a corruption of some other word; most probably man. See Ps. cv. 32.

C. iii. 6th. Should we not read before the first ↳, by which repetition the expostulation of the prophet would be much heightened:

86

" if I had sent thee to a people," &c. " if I had sent thee to them," &c.

9th. - Twenty-two MSS. read, which is preferable.

12th. The Sept. Chald. and Ar. read the word before 7172, which is requisite.

18th. Masclef.

Three MSS. given, which is the truest reading. See

24th.

c. ii. 2.

25th.

Thirty MSS. have Ty, which is more regular. See

It strikes me, that, instead of Don, by transposing most of the letters, we should read 7, "and thou shalt not go out of thy house." See the former verse.

C. iv. 5th.

For the chronological difference between the present text and the Sept. see Gen. Dissert. of the Collat. of MSS. sect. 80, iii.

6th. One MS. and the Sept. Syr. and Ar. omit the second

-

, which appears to be altogether redundant.

9th. Seven MSS. have 'on.

C. v. 1st.

Three MSS. read nam, "and thou shalt cause it," &c. So, also, the Sept. Syr. and Chald..

6th. The Sept. and Ar. probably read ", but might not the text be originally 8, and the sense of the words be this: " and she shall speak of my judgements for her wickedness in the nations, and my statutes in the lands that surround her, because they have refused my judgements, and my statutes they have not walked in them?" The judgements and statutes first mentioned being to be understood of the punishments inflicted on the Jews for their violation of the Divine laws; in which sense they seem to be taken, c. xx. 25. See Glassius, in Poole's Synopsis, and v. 8 of this chapter.

7th. As the learned collator of the MSS. has observed, the omission of the negative adverb &, in the third place, is justified by twenty-six MSS. and the parallel place in c. xi. 12.

[blocks in formation]

C. vi. 8th. One MS. omits n, which is not necessary to com

plete the sense.

10th. There is no occasion for supposing any ellipsis in this verse. "And they shall know that I, Jehovah, have not spoken to them in vain to do unto them this evil." See the Sept. and other versions. One MS. has for hs.

--

C. vii. 5th. The Chald. reads, "malum post malum;" but it appears very probable, that, instead of nn, we should read nn, "the evil cometh, behold the evil cometh;" which emphatical repetition, as the learned Bishop Lowth observes, (see Proel. sac.) is very usual in this prophet. See, also, the following verse, where we should read, with two MSS. PP instead of p, "the end cometh, the end cometh, behold the end cometh to thee;" and it is observable, that, though the Sept. preserves the present reading, it adds also the supposed

one.

,ולא הר

bì, may

7th. — Though the sense put upon these words, be admitted, yet it does not seem very pertinent; and I am apt to think

and no one » הרום or ולא היד הרים that the original text might be

lifted up a hand, or there was not a hand lifted up." Mich. v. 9. 1 Kings, xi. 27. Heb. xii. 12.

10th. Thirty-four MSS. read, as in v. 7.

See v. 17, and

13th. Two MSS. have instead of in, which seems to be justified by the preceding and following verses. "For wrath is upon all," &c.

« PreviousContinue »