6 7 8 There is strength to the inhabitants of Jerusalem In that day will I make the leaders of Judah And as a lamp of fire in a sheaf: And they shall devour, on the right hand and on the left, All the people round about. And Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in her own place in peace. Jehovah will also save the tents of Judah, as in old time: That the glory of the house of David should not magnify itself, Neither the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, In that day Jehovah will defend 5. to the inhabitants] For, «The inhabitants of Jerusalem are a strength unto me," Houbigant proposes to read w; and one MS. reads w, and perhaps another. "Recte videtur Ch. legisse . Vid. v. 2: et xiv. 14." Secker. Syr. reads very well, is, have prevailed unto us, a nobis. 66 6. -an hearth] The word may be rendered a pot, The Arabs make a fire in a great stone pitcher, and, when it is heated, spread paste upon it, which is baked in an instant." Harmer i. 233. -be inhabited] The true reading is -in peace] Houbigant ingeniously conjectures that we should readibus, for bun. 6. MS. A. Pachom. Arab. and one MS. omit ; without which word the sense is complete. 7. —as in old time] Four MSS. the Jerusalem Talmud, and V. ó. Ar. Syr. have the particle of similitude 2, before .בראשנה See the same alteration Joel ii. 23. or -of the inhabitants] Six MSS. read aw or 'w', with the versions and Chald. In v. 8, 4 MSS. the versions and Chald. read the same participle plurally; and in v. 10 we find the plural reading of this word in fifteen MSS. two ed. the versions and Chald. agreeably to c. xiii. 1. 8. defend] The verb is here used with Ty pro, circa, super; as ja, a shield, is used Ps. iii. 3. -9 10 The inhabitants of Jerusalem: And he that is feeble among them shall be, And the house of David shall be as God, And I will pour upon the house of David, A spirit of favour and of supplications: And they shall look on him whom they pierced; -he that is feeble] "And he that is fallen to decay among them.’ The word wan properly signifies one overthrown and ruined in his fortune. The intent here is to mark the progressive improvement in the condition of the people; when the man who had gone to decay should revive and flourish like David, who himself from a state of exile and distress was advanced to the kingdom; and the house of David would rise to the rank of Gods, or, as the term 'n seems explained, of Guardian Angels marching before the people, see Gen. iii. 5. Ps. viii. 6. & lxxxii. 6." Blaney. 10. And I will pour-] God's signal interposition in behalf of Judah and Jerusalem, after their future restoration, having been foretold, the prophet proceeds to foretel their conversion to Christianity. -of favour] Which shall conciliate favour. See Tayl. conc. .חנן .VOC ,אלי -on him] Thirty-six MSS. and two ed. read : three other MSS. read so originally; six perhaps read so; six read so now; and eleven have in the margin, as Keri. And yet N, on me, may be traced in the ancient versions and Chald. was also noted as a various lection by R. Saadias, who lived about the year 900. See Kenn. diss. gen. §. 43. "Citant Talmud et R. Saadiah Haggaon. Poc. Append. in Mal." Secker. Dr. Owen shews that Ignatius, Justin Martyr, Irenæus, `Tertullian, and Barnabas favour the reading of . Inquiry-Sept. version. Sect. iv. The present reading of 6. in the English polyglot is, και επιβλέψονται προς με, ανθ ων καταχρησανίο. The last word arises from transposing into ; as Dr. Owen observes, and Kenn. diss. gen. §. 70. But Ignatius and Justin Martyr read, αιμονίας εις ον εξεκέντησαν. See Owen and Kennicott ubi supr. And And they shall mourn for him, as with the mourning for an only son; And the bitterness for him shall be as the bitterness In that day the mourning shall be great in As the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of it is very observable that in the Aldine edition of the Septuagint we read, και επιβλέψονται προς με, εις ον εξεκέντησαν, ανθ ων κατωρχησαν. Here two renderings are inserted; and so xv is made of equal authority with the other. The very valuable Pachomian MS. of 6. reads εις ον εξεκέντησαν, instead of ανθ ων κατωρχησανίο. "Potest x notare eo quod, ut vertunt ó Ch. vel quem. Vid. Nold. Et sic post Dativum adhibetur Jer. xxxviii. 9. Quin et л Dativi vicem explet. Vid. Nold." Secker. See this text John xix. 37: Apoc. i. 7. and p7, to pierce, c. xiii. 3. is an object looked on with dependence on it and confidence in it. Is. xx. 5, 6. and here ix. 5. Vitr. ' often denotes such looking: as Numb. xxi. 9. Ps. xxxiv. 6. &c. p is used eleven times besides: almost always of mortal wounds, particularly here xiii. 3. and never of one clearly not so." Secker. "should be considered as the preposition, and of the same use and signification as , and not as a compound of and the affixed pronoun. By admitting this correction in the points, the quotation of the evangelist will be the exact sense of the Hebrew." Blaney. -the bitterness] Altering the points in twice, will remove all grammatical difficulty from this passage. 11. Hadadrimmon] Jerom says that this was a place near Jezreel, called in his time Maximaniopolis. De Lisle places it near Megiddo, where Josiah was slain; over whom great lamentation was made. 2 Chron. xxxv. 22-25. "Pro 777 habet Syr. 2, i. e. Josiæ: 2 Kings xxi. 24: quem et nominat Ch. sed post Achabium ab Hadadrimmone occisum." Secker. -Megiddo] Eight MSS. and Syr. read thus for Megiddon. This mourning of the Jews will take place on the reappear ance of their Messiah from heaven, Apoc. i. 7. xx. 4; when the restored descendants of those Jews who slew him shall be touched with the deepest compunction for the guilt of their forefathers. 12 13 14 And the land shall mourn, every * family apart: The family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; The family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart, The family [of the house] of † Simeon apart, and their wives apart: All the families which remain, Every family apart, and their wives apart. Hebr. families families. ↑ Simei. 12. Nathan] A son of David. Luke iii. 31. "If Nathan be a descendant of David, his house is part of David's. If families literally be meant; why these? And if a time yet to come, who shall know these? If it relate to a thing near the prophet's time, there might be known families of the name of Nathan and Shimei, as well as David and Levi, who had joined in some, bad and fatal action and if the family of the patriarch Levi be too large, some other of the name may be meant." Secker. It is possible that, at the final restoration of the Jews, the genealogies of some tribes may be preserved; and that the family of David may be traced up to more than one of its colateral branches; each of which, on account of its distinguished eminence, is to mourn apart. Observe that, after the mention of four particulars, there is a general clause v. 14. to complete the induction. Or, as facts of this nature are very important in the estimation of the Jews, they may be supernaturally ascertained, See Rev. vii. 4-8. tion. —their wives apart] On account of the season of humilia1 Cor. vii. 5. 13. [of the house] of Simeon] Three MSS. and Syr. Chald. supply na: which I suppose to be the true reading. For Simei o. Ar. Syr. have Simeon. In the margin of the English version we have, "Or, of Simeon, as ó." Our translators therefore thought that the Hebrew text might sometimes be corrected by the Greek version. "As David, Nathan, Simeon, and Levi are all reckoned among the progenitors of Christ (Luke iii. 29.) may not their families be mentioned by Name, as more particularly concerned in the guilt to be lamented? John vii. 5." Blaney. 1. 2 IN that day shall a fountain be opened To the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, For sin, and for defilement. And it shall come to pass in that day, Saith Jehovah God of hosts, That I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land; חטאת 1. a fountain opened] "The blood of Christ, which cleanseth from all sin, (1 John i. 7.) is manifestly here intended, the Jews being upon their repentance and conversion to be admitted to all the privileges of the Christian covenant. and are legal terms; the former denotes sin generally, or any transgression of the law which required atonement; the latter is used for that uncleanness which secluded man from all intercourse with God and holy things. Whatever efficacy legal sacrifices had in purifying the people, the same is ascribed to the blood of Christ in the gospel dispensation." Blaney, Scaturiet, erumpet. Schult. animadv. phil. 549. "An allu sion to the one great spring at Jerusalem, which served the uses of King and people. See Vitr. on Isai. vii. 3." Secker. "Both here and xii, 10. only the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem are named, and the latter are distinguished from Judah, xii. 2, 5; and both from Judah xii. 7; and the mourning is confined to Jerusalem, xii. 11. Can it therefore relate to a time yet future, when for so long no Jews had been inhabitants of Jerusalem? And if the descendants of those, who were so, be meant, where is the authority for such meaning? how shall they be known? and what so particular cause of mourning they have, above others, for what was done long ago?" ?" Secker. We may suppose a future national mourning at Jerusalem; as general as the solemn rejoicings, at the festivals appointed by the law, in the times of its former prosperity. See on c. xii. 11. -defilement] Here is an allusion to the water of separation or of purification for sin. Numb. xix. 9. Means of purification from moral pollution shall be afforded to the Jews by the terms of the Christian covenant. 2. idols] This prediction, that idols and false prophets |