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النشر الإلكتروني

For

Land of the Philistines, art dissolved all of thee. there shall come from the North a smoke, and not a straggler shall be among his assembled troops. What 32 then shall one answer to the messengers of the nation? That Jehovah hath founded Zion, and the poor of his 'people shall flee for safety there.'

THE BURDEN OF MOAB, when in the night Ar of 1 Moab was laid waste, and brought to silence; when in the night Kir of Moab was laid waste, and brought to silence.

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He is gone up to the House, even to Dibon, to weep on the High Places. Moab howleth over Nebo, and over Medeba. On all their heads is baldness, and every beard is cut off. In their streets they gird themselves with sackcloth; on the tops of their houses, and in their broad places, every one howleth, going down while weeping. And Heshbon crieth, and Elealeh; their 4 voice is heard even unto Jahaz. Therefore the armed soldiers of Moab make a noise; his life is become grievous to him. My heart crieth out for Moab; its fugitives flee to Zoar, as a heifer of three years old. by the hill road of Luhith with weeping they go up; for in the way of Horonaim they raise up a cry of destruction. For the waters of Nimrim are desolate; for the hay withereth away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing. Therefore the remnant they have 7 gotten, and what they have laid up, they carry away to

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31 Out of the north a smoke.] The armies of Shalmanezer. The Assyrians always entered Canaan by Damascus.

32 Zion, and the poor of his people shall flee for safety there.] The Jews of the open country on the route of Shalmanezer's army fled to Jerusalem for safety, since it was strong in its fortifications.

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xv. Ar of Moab was laid waste.] This may have been when Tiglath-pilezer sent his army along the east of the Jordan, as mentioned in note on ix. 1, to attack the Edomites or Moabites, for they were then one people.

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the Valley of Willows. For the cry is gone round about the boundaries of Moab; the howling thereof to 'Eglaim, and the howling thereof to Beer-elim. For the waters of Dimon [or Dibon in Gad] shall be full of blood. For I will bring yet more upon Dimon, lions upon him of Moab that escapeth, and upon the remnant -of the land.

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1 Send ye the lamb [tribute] of the ruler of the land from Sela [or Petra] in the desert, to the Mountain of 2 the daughter of Zion. For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of the Arnon, [saying,] 36 Give ye counsel, do what is just; make thy shade in 'the midst of the noonday as the night; hide the out4 casts; betray not him that fleeth. Let the outcasts of 'Moab dwell with thee; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler. For the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed 5 out of the land. And in kindness shall the throne be 'established. And one shall sit upon it in truth in the 'tent of David, judging, and seeking justice, and hasten'ing righteousness.'

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We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very

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They carry away to the Valley of Willows.] Perhaps with a hope to escape into Judea.

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9 Lions upon him of Moab.] The Assyrian army. XVI. Send ye the lamb.] On this rout of the Moabites the Jews were again able to claim the tribute of lambs and wool before paid to Israel. See 2 Kings iii. 4, for the tribute which the king of Moab had paid to northern Israel.

From Sela in the desert.] Sela or Petra in Edom was at that time, as often, under the rule of Moab.

4 Let the outcasts of Moab dwell with thee.] The Moabites took to the Jews as their friends, after the cruel oppression of the Assyrian soldiers.

The spoiler ceaseth.] The Assyrian army had retreated, when no further plunder could be obtained; and the Moabites no longer claim independence of Judah.

haughty; even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath; but his vain boasting shall not stand. Therefore shall Moab howl over Moab, every one shall 7 howl. Over the ruins of Kir-hareseth shall ye sigh; surely they are stricken. For the fields of Heshbon 8 languish, and the vine of Sibmah. The lords of the Nations have trampled down its branches. They touch even upon Jazer, they wander through the desert; its shoots spread abroad, they go over the sea. Therefore

I will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah. I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh; because the joyous shout over thy summer fruits and over thy harvest hath ceased. And gladness is 1o taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting. The treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made the joyous shout to cease. Therefore my bowels shall moan like a harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-haresh. And it shall 12 come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary of the High Place [or altar], that it shall come to His Sanctuary to pray, but shall not prevail.

(This is the word that Jehovah hath hitherto spoken concerning Moab. But now Jehovah hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of a hireling, and

"Kir-hareseth.] In verse 11, Kir-haresh, literally, the city of the thicket, so named from having been originally an encampment fortified by thickets, which had afterwards grown into a town. Probably the same town as Kir-moab of chap. xv. 1.

8 They touch even upon Jazer.] Such is the fertility of Moab that the branches of its vines are figuratively said to reach to Jazer in the land of Gad, bordering on the land of the Ammonites.

They go over the sea.] In Jeremiah xlviii. 32, a passage copied from this, the sea is explained as the Sea of Jazer, some small body of water near that town.

13 Hitherto spoken.] Thus verses 13 and 14 are an addition of later date.

1 Within three years.] If we are right in supposing

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the glory of Moab shall be brought to shame, with all that great rabble; and the remnant shall be less than -small, and not strong.)

1 THE BURDEN OF DAMASCUS.

Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and 2it shall be a ruinous heap. The cities of Aroer are for saken; they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, 3 and none shall make them afraid. The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus and the remnant of Syria; they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, Jehovah of hosts hath said it.

XXIII.

1 THE BURDEN OF TYRE.

Howl, ye ships of Tarshish [or Tarsus]; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. From the

that the conquest of Moab described above was by Tiglath-pilezer; this second invasion may be by Shalmanezer. But very possibly the writer of these two verses had some other time in his mind, such as two invasions by Sennacherib at an interval of three years.

XVII. 1 Damascus is taken away from being a city.] It was conquered by Tiglath-pilezer and held by all his successors until the overthrow of Nineveh by Babylon, B.C. 612.

2 The cities of Aroer.] In Josh. xii. 2, Aroer is said to be on the bank of the Arnon; in Josh. xiii. 25, it is opposite to Rabbah of Ammon. Whether we thus have two or only one such city is doubtful.

No. 6. [Chap. xxiii. 1-14.] AGAINST TYRE. 1 The Burden of Tyre.] This relates to the overthrow of Tyre by Shalmanezer in the beginning of Hezekiah's reign.

Howl ye ships of Tarshish.] The Tyrian vessels were very much built at Tarsus in Cilicia, which had many conveniences for the purpose, as Mount Taurus for timber, and its river for docks.

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land of the Chittians [or Cyprians] it was revealed to them. Be silent, ye inhabitants of the isle, thou whom 2 the merchants of Sidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished. And by means of the Great Waters [or Sea] the corn-seed of the Shihor [or Nile], the harvest of the River, is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations.

Be thou ashamed, O Sidon; for the sea hath spoken, even the fortress of the sea [or Tyre], saying, 'I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young men, nor bring up maidens.' When the report reacheth the Egyptians, they will be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.

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2 Ye inhabitants of the isle.] Tyre was built on an island rock, with a large suburb on the main land. It was besieged for five years by Shalmanezer, during which time it lost its possessions on the mainland, and its sway over Sidon, Tarsus, and Cyprus. See Menander in Josephus, Antiq. Ix. xiv. 2.

The merchants of Sidon.] The Tyrians themselves. They were known by the name of Sidonians, from the earlier seat of the nation on that coast.

3 The great waters.] The Mediterranean Sea.

The corn-seed of the Shihor.] The wealth of Tyre arose from its skill and industry in the carrying trade. The wealthy Egypt bred no sailors. Hence the Phoenicians of Tyre and Sidon enjoyed the profit of carrying the corn from the eastern mouths of the Nile, and of bringing back the produce of Syria, Asia Minor, and Cyprus, in exchange. The Shihor is a name for the Nile, or perhaps for one of its branches in the Delta.

The harvest of the river.] This word more particularly for the Nile, as Euphrates. See also verse 10.

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4 Be thou ashamed, O Sidon.] O ye Sidonians of Tyre and its dependencies.

The fortress of the sea.] The city of Tyre.

5 The Egyptians, they will be sorely pained.] At the interruption to their trade with foreign parts.

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