Nazarites.' The T. of Jonathan reads, 'ye have driven the teachers into error by your wine.' It has been inferred by able expositors, from this passage, that the 'sons raised up for prophets' were also the 'young men' raised up for Nazarites, although the Nazarites may have included others who were not trained to the prophetical office; so that the description (as given by Isaiah and Jeremiah) of intemperance among priests and prophets, marked the violation of special obligations to abstinence, as well as a violation of general moral principle. Be this as it may, we learn from these verses the importance attached by God to the Nazarite class, and also that their pre-eminent characteristic was abstinence from wine. Jehovah claims to have raised up a succession of prophets and Nazarites, and the attempt to subvert the fidelity of the Nazarites is coupled as a sin with the impious effort to silence the teachers of the nation and the organs of the Almighty. That there was a connection between the love of drink, and the rejection of the true prophets who would not countenance the causes of the national declension, Micah (ii. 11) makes as plain as does Amos the contrary and better association, between abstinence and a pious fidelity to the will of God in his 'holy ones'; and we may be assured that whatever advantages sprang from this abstinence among the Jews, may be enjoyed in a yet higher measure in our day; while those who pride themselves in leading others to abandon so safe and beneficent a rule, may take what comfort they can extract from the spirit of the text before us. CHAPTER IV. VERSE I. Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink. Cruelty and sensuality are well matched. Inflamed passions crave for inflaming drink, and this again 'sets on fire the whole course of nature,' and disposes to deeds of violence and shame. Nor must it be forgotten that men and women naturally mild and kind commit the most ferocious (otherwise unaccountable) acts when under the influence of alcoholic drink, which exerts all the foreign tyranny of diabolical possession. CHAPTER IV. VERSE 5. And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD. WITH LEAVEN] Hebrew, makhahmātz, 'with leavened matter.' The V. has de fermentato; but the LXX. reads, exo nomon, 'without law.' God reproves the conduct of the idolaters by ironically urging them to do that which they had already done, contrary to the solemn injunctions of His law. CHAPTER IV. VERSE 9. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. AND YOUR VINEYARDS] Hebrew, vě-karmāikem, 'and your vineyards.' CHAPTER V. VERSE II. Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them. 6 PLEASANT VINEYARDS] Hebrew, karmāi khěměd, 'vineyards of delight'; Lxx., ampelōnas epithumeetous, desirable vineyards'; V., vineas amantissimas, ✓ most beloved vineyards.' BUT YE SHALL NOT DRINK WINE OF THEM] Hebrew, vě-lo thishtu ethyāynahm, and ye shall not drink their wine.' So the V. The LXX., ou mee pieete ton oinon ex autōn, and ye shall not drink wine from them.' The inference would naturally be, that the wine was really contained in the vineyards; not needing the process of fermentation to produce it, but only pressure to educe it. CHAPTER V. VERSE 17. And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD. AND IN ALL VINEYARDS] Hebrew, uv-kahl-kerahmim. So the V.; but the Lxx. has 'in all ways.' CHAPTER VI. VERSE 6. That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. THAT DRINK WINE IN BOWLS] Hebrew, hashothim bě-mizrĕqãi yayin, ‘that drink in bowls of wine.' The mizraq properly denoted a vessel out of which anything was scattered or sprinkled (from zahraq, 'to scatter'), and thence was applied to any large cup, bowl, or goblet. The Lxx., oi peinontes ton diulismenon oinon, those who drink strained (= refined) wine.' This rendering points to some MS. reading of mezuqahq, 'strained' or 'refined,' instead of the reading of the present Hebrew text. V., bibentes vinum in phialis, 'those drinking wine in vials.' The T. has in silver vials.' The Arabic has clear wine,' and the Syriac 'clearest wine.' To drink large quantities of wine was customary among eminent topers. In the Deipnosophista of Athenæus various particulars are given of great drinkers. To swallow gallons of liquor at one sitting was a feat held in great esteem, without reference to the intoxicating quality of what was consumed. CHAPTER IX. VERSE 13. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And the treader of grapes] Hebrew, vě-dorūk anahvim, ‘and the treader of grape-clusters.' So the V.; but the LXX. has 'and the grape shall ripen in the time of sowing.' THE MOUNTAINS SHALL DROP SWEET WINE] The marginal reading of A. V. is 'new wine,' but the phrase is the same as in Joel iii. 18, ahsis, the juice of the newly trodden grapes. LXX., 'the mountains shall drop sweetness' (glukasmon); the V., 'the mountains shall distil sweetness' (dulcedinem). The promise is one of continual fertility and abundance, one agricultural operation following rapidly upon another, all carried on without exhausting the soil, and all resulting in the enrichment of the people. Christian commentators. give to the prophecy a spiritual application. CHAPTER IX. VERSE 14. And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. AND THEY SHALL PLANT VINEYARDS, AND DRINK THE WINE THEREOF] Hebrew, vě-nahtu kěrahmim vě-shahthu eth-yaynahm, and they plant vineyards and drink their wine'; Lxx., oinon; V., vinum. The threatening pronounced (v. 11) is to be cancelled on the repentance of the people. Compare with this the language of the Erythræan Sibylline Oracle, as quoted by Lactantius, Div. Inst., b. vii. c. 24 :— Kai tote dee charmeen megaleen theos andrasi dōsei, Kai sitou, hoper esti brotois kalliston apantōn. And truly then great joy shall God to men impart, For from earth, trees, and earth's dumb offspring-countless sight!— Shall fruit, best fit for man, luxuriantly start; Wine, luscious honey, too, and milk of purest white, And corn, and all that gives to mortals most delight. If oinos here does not directly signify vintage-fruit-fruit on the vine,-it must be accepted as the liquid fruit of the vine in its fresh and sweetest state. Honey has been happily called 'the fruit of bees.' THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET OBADIAH. [THIS PROPHET IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN A CONTEMPORARY OF JEREMIAH AND EZEKIEL; AND TO HAVE DELIVERED HIS PROPHECY AFTER THE DESTRUCTION OF Jerusalem, oveR WHICH THE EDOMITES WERE REJOICING, ABOUT 580 B.C.] VERSES 15, 16. 15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. 16 For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. V. 16. AND THEY SHALL SWALLOW DOWN] Hebrew, vě-lahu, 'and they shall suck up.' The margin of A. V. has 'sup up.' The Hebrew term is one expressive of greediness. Lxx., 'all the nations (ethnee) shall drink wine (oinon).' So the Arabic. Here the generic term is applied to a bad wine, as the context makes evident. The LXX. translators must have read khamer (foaming juices instead of tahmed, 'continually.' The initial and final letters of the two words (t, kh, and d, r), are easily mistaken by a copyist. The word wine gives the best It is the 'cup of astonishment' (not of blessing) that shall be given to the Edomites, and they shall drink it till it destroys them from the earth. sense. THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JONAH. [HE LIVED ABOUT 860 B.C.] CHAPTER III. VERSES 6, 7. 6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water. The king's prohibition against the use of water by man, beast, herd, and flock, was, in such a climate, the strongest proof of sincere self-denial which the king and the nobles of Nineveh could exhibit. Is not this example a standing rebuke to many Christian communities, who, for the sake of a great and needed reformation of manners, morals, and religion, cannot deny themselves the use of an artificial and noxious beverage? |