is full of people who lie in wait for murder;" Or it ie even possible that the wayfarers ond Kimchi likewise has, "Gilead ie a city referred to may have been persons going of c-ril-doers, who are crafty to murder men." from Se.maria., the northern capit11l, to the llu« (21 it is rather the Qal Pual participle idolatrous worship at Bethel. In either feminine from ::ljl~, to eeize the heol of o.ny c8l!e, on the way to their destin11.tion or on one, hold, tread in the footeteps, follow, go the return journey they were set upon and after; which is the right meaning, viz. robbed, or, in the event of resisto.nco, they "t.nu,ked," &e given above. We retain the were murdered. For they commit lewdne11; Authorized Version of the first c-lo.use of rather, yea, they have committed enormity. ver. 9, slightly modified, viz. (1) As troops The zimmah, or info.my, here mentioned is ofrobben wait for a ma.n, so ia the company referred (1) by some to unnatural wicked- of priest& ; '?11'.1 equivalent to i1;)1'.1, wait, being ness (comp. Lev. xviii. 17; xix. 29); it is an onomalous form of the infinitive Piel for rather (2) e. designntion of wiolrndness and ;-,\:;,}; thus Kimchi says, "The yod stands in abominntions iu ~euera.l ; thus Kimohi ex- the plaoe of he, and the form is the in- plains it of "evil and abominable work finitive." Both Aben Ezra a.nd Kimchi of every kind." He further remarks: translate the first clause as above; the "The prophet says, Not this alone have former has, " The sense is, All robber-troops they done ; but nll their works are zimmah. we.it for a me.n who is to pe.ss along the And perhaps zimmah may be explained of way, that they may plunder him, so is (or thought, ae if he said, As they have thought so does) the compitny of the priests;" the in their bee.rt so they have acted." On this latter e:i::plains, •· As troops of robbers we.it verse generally it may be briefly remarked for a man passing along the wny to plunder (1) that "by consent" of the Authorized him, so is the company of priests. He Version would require il"iN to be joined with means to say, as the priests of the high " shoulder ; " (2) the <'.onnection of the first places who combine to plunder those who and second cla,uses in the Authorized Ver- p11.ss along the way." There is (2) another sion is much the same with that of Ewald: translation, which, connecting ish ta.ken "And as troops lie in we.it the company of c-ollectively with g•dhudhim, and mo.king it priests murder along the way to Sichem." the subjective genitive of the infinitive ::i, (3) His explanation is that the priests mur- is, " Like the lurking of the men of the dered those that fled by the way before they gange is the company of the priests." Thi$ reached the refuge, perhaps at the command :first clause is (3) quite misread and mis- of some lee.ding persons ill disposed towards rendered by the LXX. : Kai 11 lux6s uou them. i,,,ipus .,,. ..pa-rov· l,cpv1/1<w 1,piis 0~011, "And thy Ver. 10.-I have seen an horrible thing in strength is that of a robber : the priests the house of Israel : there is the whoredom have hid the way." Instead of •:,r,~ they of Ephraim, Israel is defiled. The house of Israel comprises ~I) the ten tribes of the read i':1::, and for iJri they read 1:i.n - or lN::in. northern kingdom, according to some ; it In the second cla.llSe we prefer decidedly the seems more correct (2) to understand it of tro.nslation which is intime.ted in the ma.rgin the whole nation, including both the north- of the Authorized Version; thus: Along the ern and southern kingdoms, in which case tnay they murder er,en f.-0 Shechem. The word the remainder of the verse relates to the derekh is an e.d verbie.l accuso.ti ve of place; northern kingdom of the ten tribes, and the and Sichem, the present Nablus, wae situated succeeding verse to the southern kingdom on Mount Ephraim between Ebe.] and of the two tribes. Further, Israel is not Gerizim. It was a Levitical city and a synonymous with the parallel Ephro.im, as city of refuge; it thus lay on the west e.s Keil thinks; the latter is the principal tribe Gilead on the east of Jordan, and both which led the way in Israel's apostasy. 'fhe cities, thus pe,haps nearly parallel in ple.ce "horrible thing" comprehends every sort of on opposite sides of the river, were equal in crime and abomination; while the "whore- crime and info.my. The prophet does not dom," literal or spiritual, is specified as e.n tell us who the wayfarers were, or whither example thereof. (For the exple.ne.tion of they were bound; he only intimates that "there," see on ver. 7.) they fell victims to certain miscreant prieats Ver. 11.-Also, 0 Judah, he hath set an loca 1.cd in these quarters. As this city lay ha.rvest for thee. 'fhe subject of Bhath is the on the main route from the north to Jern- indeterminate third person, like the French se.lern, pilgrims to the e.nnue.l feasts passed on, and onr "they" or "one." 'fhe third nlong this way. The priests of the calf- person singular masculine, the third person worsl,ip, being in general persons taken plural, the second person singular masculine, from the dregs of the people, waylaid those and the passive voice are all used in this pilgrims, whether for plunder, or through way. So here it is: " One bath appointed hOlltility to the purer worship Htill main- (set) a harvest for thee," or "a h~rvest is t,uint:d in the holy oity, or from sheer cruelty. appointed for thee.'' The harvest 11 either Oil, Vl, 1-11,] THE BOOK OF HOSEA. 171
recompense or :retribution, Bnd thus it is the ehubh ,h,bh11th, recovery and mstriratinn oither good or evil, for ae B man sows he of them to their true <lestiny. But this ne- roaps. '.l'he context shows that the reaping cessitates a previous purification by punish- horo is punishment. Jndah had sinned like ment; with this Judah, as well 11e IBTl!.Pl, IsrBol ; and, in the c11se of both, a seed-time shall be visited. It is as though God said, of sin produced II harvest of suffering and "Let not Judah claim superiority over sorrow. When I returned (better, return,or, Israel, nor expect to escape Divine judg- reslme) the oaptivity of my people. The ment more than Israel. Each reaps what 1·eetoralion here mentioned is thought (1) by he sows. When Israel has received the some to be the bringing bBCk of the captives; deserved chastisement, Judah's tum shall but (2) Keil o.nd others, with good reason, then come alsb." The" turning of captivity'' understand it to be turning of the captivity, is a formula denoting the restoration of the and that figuro.tively, that is to e11y, the lost fortune or well-being of a, people or restoration of his people's well-being. The person; thus Job xiii. 10, "And the Lord sli.bhuth is the misery of the Hebrew people ; turned the captivity of Job."