THE

BOOK OF THE PROPHET MICAH.

[THIS PROPHET WAS CONTEMPORARY WITH ISAIAH, ABOUT 700 B.C.]

CHAPTER I. VERSE 6.

Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof.

AS PLANTINGS OF A VINEYARD] Hebrew, le-mattahāi kahrem, 'the plantations of a vineyard.'

CHAPTER II. VERSE II.

If a man, walking in the spirit and falsehood, do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.

I WILL PROPHESY UNTO THEE OF WINE AND OF STRONG DRINK] Hebrew, attiph lě-kah lay-yayin vě-lash-shakar, 'I will prophesy to thee concerning wine and concerning strong drink'; Lxx., ‘ye have fled, no one pursuing; thy spirit has framed falsehood; it has dropped down (descended) ou thee in regard to wine and strong drink (eis oinon kai methusma)'; V., stillabo tibi in vinum et in ebrietatem, 'I will distil to thee as to wine and drunkenness' a 'lying spirit' that stoops down to the calls of the sensual nature, and is accepted as true by those whose 'god is their belly.'

As the Westminster divines' Annotations' quaintly expresses it, "They love and like those prophets that will speak pleasing things, and sew pillows under their elbows: they would be fostered and bolstered up in their sins; else the prophets are no prophets for them" (1651).

How strange is it that, in the face of such texts as these perpetually recurring in the history of the Jews, men of professed piety and of undoubted intelligence should labour under the extraordinary delusion that wine-and especially Eastern -countries must necessarily be sober countries! So far from this being the fact, this Hebrew text implies that the people were so anxious to indulge their craving for inebriating liquors, that any one (though destitute of the marks of a true Teacher) who should promise them an abundant supply, would be eagerly received by them as a true prophet, however false and sensuous might be his prophecy.

The same spirit is displayed in our own time, when a ready ear is turned to those who defend, no matter how falsely, the drinking customs of society, and eulogize artificial and inflaming liquors as 'the good creatures of God.'

Let believers in the light wine delusion read the following testimony from France:-"The abundance of the harvest in 1858 diminished the poverty, and by consequence the crimes and offences which misery inspires; but the abundance of the vintage, on the contrary, multiplied blows and wounds, the quarrels of cabarets, the rebellions, the outrages and violences towards the police. These facts are again found, in all analogous circumstances."-Revue d'Economie Chrêtienne, Paris, 1862, p. 171-2,

CHAPTER IV. VERSES 3, 4.

3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.

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V. 3. INTO PRUNINGHOOKS] Hebrew, le-mazmāroth, 'into pruning-blades." The reading of the A. V. text is preferable to the marginal 'scythes.' The Lxx. has drepana, sickles'; the V., ligones, 'curved knives.'

V. 4. HIS VINE] Hebrew, gaphno, 'his vine.' [See Note on I Kings iv. 25; Zech. iii. 10.] The T. has 'under the fruit of his vine.'

CHAPTER VI. VERSE 15.

Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine.

AND SWEET WINE, BUT SHALT NOT DRINK WINE] Hebrew, vě-tirosh vě-lo thishteh yayin, and vine-fruit, and thou shalt not drink wine.' To realize the full sense we must take the whole verse :-"Thou shalt tread the olive (zaith) and shalt not anoint thyself with oil (shemen), and (tread) the tirosh (or vine-fruit) and shalt not drink the yayin (or expressed juice)." Here tirosh is as clearly placed in apposition to yayin as zaith (olive) to shemen (oil); and it is strange how the translators of any country could have failed to see that poetical consistency and common sense alike required tirosh to be taken as the solid substance whose pressure yielded yayin. It was to be a punishment to the nation, that though the zaith and tirosh had been plucked, the liquids (oil and wine) flowing from their pressure should either be so deficient in quantity, owing to the withered condition of the fruit, that there should be no sufficient supply; or that what there was should be diverted to the use of the spoiler, and not be used by those who had plucked the fruit. Lxx., 'thou shalt PRESS the olive, but shalt not anoint with oil, and wine (oinon), and ye shall not surely drink (any)—kai ou mee pieete,'—thus omitting one member of the parallelism by using oinon in the double sense of growing wine' and 'expressed wine.' The V. has et mustum et non bibes vinum, 'and

(thou shalt tread) must, new unfermented wine, and shalt not drink wine.' Arabic has 'must.' T., 'and thou shalt tread the grapes, whose wine thou shalt not drink.' Archbishop Newcome inserts words in italics, and paraphrases, ' And the grape of the choice wine'! Henderson has the grape of the new wine,' but has no note on this periphrastic rendering of tirosh, though in a note on Joel i. 5 he had confined it to juice of the grape which, however new, had already obtained an inebriating quality'!

CHAPTER VII. VERSE I.

Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape-gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat : my soul desired the first ripe fruit.

AS THE GRAPE-GLEANINGS OF THE VINTAGE] Hebrew, kě-oleloth bahtzir, the gleanings of the cutting' the time of cutting or vintage.

=

as

THERE IS NO CLUSTER TO EAT] Hebrew, ain eshkol lě-ěkol, ‘no cluster (is there) to eat.'

THE BOOK OF

THE PROPHET

NAHUM.

[NAHUM FLOURISHED ABOUT 714 B.C.]

CHAPTER I. VERSE 10.

For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.

AND WHILE THEY ARE DRUNKEN AS DRUNKARDS] Hebrew, uk-sahvahm sevuim, and as (with) their sověh [rich wine] (they are) soaked.'

The Lxx. gives the whole verse as follows:-'For even to his foundation shall he be laid bare, and shall be devoured as twisted yew, and as stubble fully dry.' The V. has sic convivium eorum pariter potantium, 'so is their feast as (that) of the topers'; the T., even as they have wandered by wine, so their enemies have borne them away and devoured them'; the Syriac,' they are drunken in their own drunkenness.' Henderson reads, "thoroughly soaked with their wine.'

CHAPTER III. VERSE II.

Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.

THOU ALSO SHALT BE DRUNKEN] Gam-at tishkeri, also thou shalt be drunken' (surcharged). LXX., 'and thou shalt be made drunk (methustheesee) and despised.' V., 'and thou shalt be inebriated (inebriaberis) and shalt be despised.' Newcome has 'shalt become a hireling,' altering the pointing from tishkeri to tiskeri.

Diodorus Siculus, who describes the capture of Nineveh by Arbaces the Mede and Belesis the Babylonian, states that, after the besiegers had been conquered in the field, the Assyrians gave themselves up to feasting and drunkenness; when the enemy, being informed of their condition, fell upon them, and, after a great rout, drove into the city those who had escaped slaughter or capture.

THE BOOK OF

THE PROPHET HABAKKUK.

[HABAKKUK'S PROPHECY IS REFERRED TO ABOUT 600 B.C.]

CHAPTER II. VERSE 5.

Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot he satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people.

YEA ALSO, BECAUSE HE TRANSGRESSETH BY WINE] Hebrew, vě-aph ki hayyayin bogad, 'now, in truth, the wine is defrauding ' = is a defrauder, a deceiver. The Lxx. reads, but the arrogant man and the scorner, the boastful man, shall not finish anything'; the V., et quomodo vinum potantem decipit, and in like manner as wine deceives the drinker.' The T. has 'behold, as one wanders by wine'; Henderson's translation, 'moreover, wine is treacherous'-(so Benisch);—and in a note H. remarks, "That the prophet has his eye upon the intemperance to which the Babylonians were greatly addicted there can be no doubt. How strikingly was the deceptive character of wine exemplified in the case of Belshazzar!" Newcome reads, moreover, as a mighty man transgresseth through wine.'

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Wine (that is, the wine that intoxicates) is here distinctly described as a secret spoiler one that secretly plunders; and this characteristic of wine is made the ground of a comparison between it and the 'strong man' (geber) who is 'proud, and does not rest, who enlargeth his desire (or soul) as sheol (the under-world).' The verdict of Solomon, lātz hay-yayin, a mocker is the wine,' and the confirmatory verdict of Habakkuk, hay-yayin bogād, 'the wine is a defrauder,' affix for ever upon the wine that intoxicates, a stigma which no colours of social flattery can conceal, and no force of sophistry expunge.

CHAPTER II. VERSE 15.

Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!