5

6

7

For mine anger is turned away from him.
I will be as the dew to Israel:

He shall blossom as the lily:

And he shall strike his roots as Lebanon.
His suckers shall spread,

And his glory shall be as the olive-tree,

And his smell as Lebanon.

They that will sit under his shadow shall return :
They shall revive as corn,

They shall break out as a vine,

The scent of which shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

Heb. memorial.

gratuitously; for mine anger is departed from me." Horsley's ver. Note. "I take conversion as a collective noun, for converts; like captivity, for the captives, and dispersion, for the dispersed. The converted nation God promises to restore to his favour, and to a situation of prosperity and splendour." Horsley.

5. strike] . Bak. See also Ar. Syr. and Cast. lex. Houbigant ingeniously conjectures Dr and he shall extend. The sense is, He shall be as firmly rooted as a mountain. Sub ipsis radici. bus montium consedit. Sal. B. Cat. §. 57.

Mare montis ad ejus

Radices frangit flactes.

Lucretius of Etna, vi. 695.

6. as Lebanon] Though cedars have a fragrant smell, I prefer reading, as frankincense, with Chald.

7. -as corn] Perhaps 17 which, when committed to the ground, seems to die. 6. have ζησονται και μεθυσθήσονίαι σιτω: which may be considered as a double rendering, one translator having read and another 17. This latter reading suggests 1 for ¡27; "they shall be watered as a garden." The exigence of the place seems to require a comparison. One MS. adds win. They shall live on corn and choice wine."

66

-wine of Lebanon] Il seroit difficile de trouver ailleurs du vin plus excellent que celui qu'on nous presenta; ce qui nous fit juger, que la reputation des vins du Liban, dont il est parlé dans un Prophete est très bien fondé. La Roque Itiner. Syr. & Liban. p. 18. Quoted by Manger loc. They shall return. Sitting under his shadow, they shall abound in corn. They shall germinate like the vine, [and] be famous as the wine of Lebanon." Horsley's ver.

8

9

What hath* Ephraim to do any more with idols? I have heard him; and I have seen him as a flourishing fir-tree.

From me is thy fruit found.

Who is wise, that he may understand these things?
And prudent, that he may know them?

For the ways of Jehovah are right,
And the just will walk in them:
But transgressors shall fall in them.

* Ephraim. what hath he to do.

8. What hath Ephraim-] I read ei formihi, with ó Arab. 19. auTW 6. 1. Recte." Secker. Lege. 6. At Jon. et Syrus supplent. "Ephraim dicet: quid mihi &c.,' Bahrdt.

I have heard him] We may better read the Hebrew thus: 171WN VODY. "I have heard him, I have seen him, &c. as ó MS. A. For the punctuation see Syr. Chald." Ephraim! What have I to do any more with idols? I have answered him. And I will make him flourish, like a green fir-tree. From me thy fruit is supplied." Horsley's ver.

9.and the just] "For straight and even are the ways of Jehovah, and in them shall the justified proceed, but revolters shall stumble." Horsley's ver. Note. "py is properly a forensic word, and signifies a person found not guilty, acquitted, and justified upon a trial. Hence in a theological sense, it is a person found innocent in the sight of God. The plural T except where the matter of the discourse is relative to mere secular transactions, signifies the justified,' those that are justified by faith in the Redeemer coming, or to come, and clothed with his righteousness." Horsley.

fall in them] They shall stumble and fall in the midst of that light, those directions or commandments, which ought to have guided them.

The five last lines are spoken in the prophet's own person; and form an apt conclusion to his prophecies.

THE BOOK OF

MICA H.

CHAP. I.

1 THE Word of Jehovah which came to Micah the Morasthite, in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah: which came unto him in a vision concerning Samaria and Jerusalem,

2

Hear, O yet people, all of ‡ you:

Hearken, O land, and all § that are therein.

Hebr. he saw. + peoples.

1.-Micah] Of the kingdom of Judah, as he only makes mention of kings who reigned over that country. I suppose that he prophesied further on, in the reign of Hezekiah, than Hosea did: though c v. 5, was written before the captivity of the ten tribes, which happened in the sixth year of Hezekiah. It is plain, from c. i. 1, 5, 9, 12, 13, that he was sent both to Israel and to Judah. Like Amos and Hosea, he reproves and threatens a corrupt people with great spirit and energy. See c. ii. 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10. iii. 2, 3, 4. vir-10-16. vii. 2, 3, 4. And, like Hosea, he inveighs against the princes and prophets with the highest indignation. See c. iii. 5-7. 9-12. vii. 3. And the reader will observe that these similar topics are treated of by each prophet with remarkable variety and copiousness of expression.

Some of his prophecies are distinct and illustrious ones: as c. ii. 12, 13. iii. 12. iv. 1-4. 10 v. 2, 3, 4. vi. 13. vii. 8, 9, 10. We may justly admire the beauty and elegance of his manner: ii 12, 13. iv. 1, 2, 3, and particularly the two first lines of v. 4. His animation: i. 5, l. 3, 4. ii. 7, 10, l. 1. iv. 9.

His strength of expression: i. 6, 8. ii. 2. l. 3, 4. iii. 2, 3, 12. vii. 1, 2, 4. 1. 1. 19. 1. 2.

His pathos i. 16. ii. 4.

His sublimity: i. 2, 3, 4. iii. 6, 12. iv. 12. l. 3. 13. v. 8. vi. 1, 9-16. vii. 16, 17.

Morasthite] See v. 14, 15. Maresha is placed in Judah. Josh. xv. 44. 2 Chron. xi. 8.

-which came] "Which was delivered to him in a vision." Dr. Wheeler,

2.land] Of the Hebrews.

And let the Lord Jehovah be witness against you;
Even the Lord from his holy temple.

For, behold, Jehovah will go forth from his place;
And he will come down, and will tread on the
high places of the earth.

And the mountains shall be * molten under him;
And the vallies shall cleave asunder;

As wax before the fire,

As waters poured down a † steep place.

For the transgression of Jacob is all this;

And for the sin of the house of Israel.

What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not that of Samaria?

And what are the high places of Judah? are they not those of Jerusalem?

-witness] Let him bear testimony against you, and forewarn you of your danger, by me his prophet. See Ps. 1. 7. -temple] Where he manifests his glory.

3. from his place] He will elsewhere display his glorious majesty, by punishing the guilty.

-high places] See this line Amos iv. 13.

4. be molten] All nature shall confess his presence. See Amos. ix. 5.

As wax] This image often occurs in the classics.

Cera super

5.

Quasi igni

calido tabescens multa liquescat. Lucr. vi. 512. sin] Twenty-three MSS. and three editions read and for the sin as 6. Ar. Chald:

What] See on Jon. i. 8. Noldius also proposes to translate, Where.

-Samaria] See Hos. viii. 5.

-high places] See 2 Kings xvi. 4. The two chief cities are infected with idolatry." Sic Vulg. sed auasha 6. Syr. Ch. Legerunt лNDП: recte." Secker. This is the reading of one MS. and of another in the margin: and, from the turn of the sentence, appears to be the true reading.

"And what is the sin of Judah? is it not that of Jerusalem?"

A a

6

7

8

Therefore will I make Samaria an heap of the field, a § place for the plantings of a vineyard: And I will pour down her stones into the valley, and I will discover her foundations.

And all her graven images shall be beaten to
pieces;

And all her hires of idolatry shall be burned in the fire;
And all her idols will I || destroy.

For from the hire of an harlot hath she gathered
her treasures;

And to the hire of an harlot shall they return.

For this will I wail and howl;

I will go spoiled and naked;

I will make a wailing like the * foxes;

Hebr. for an heap. § for a place. make a desolation: * Or, Jackales. But that there were high places near Jerusalem, see 1 Kings xi. 7

6.

vineyard] Samaria was situated on a hill, the right soil

for a vineyard.

7. —from the hire] Her idols and sacred ornaments sometimes arose from the rewards of harlots, appropriated for that purpose; and they shall return to the spiritual harlot, Nineveh. See Deut. xxiii. 18. Spencer p. 564. Or, She imputed her wealth to her spiritual harlotry; and her conquerors shall distribute it as the reward of harlots in the literal sense.

.

8. I will go] Many MSS. and one edition read -spoiled] Many MSS. and three editions read, which may literally be rendered a spoil. "Barefooted." Dr. Wheeler. -naked] That is, without an upper garment. His dress would be neglected, like that of eastern mourners.

--foxes] The desert is the habitation of n Mal. i. 3. The word may signify "a kind of wild beast like a dog, between a dog and a fox, or a wolf and a fox; which the Arabians call, from the noise which they make, Ebn Awi, [filius Eheu] and our English travellers Jakales; which, abiding in the fields and waste places, make in the night a lamentable howling noise." Pocock in loc. See also Shaw's travels, 4to. 174, 5: and Bochart l. iii. c. xii, who qnotes Busbequius as saying, "Narrant mihi esse ululatum bestiarum quas Turce Ciacles vocant, ut Persa Sciagal;" and an Arabic writer, as comparing " ululatum filii Awi infantis vagitui." I suppose that the word in this sense comes from iterare; and, when it signifies the whale, or