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CHAPTER IX.

1. "The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach."-This prophecy refers to the land of Hadrach and Damascus, for there shall be its resting-place; or, the interpretation is, The prophecy of the Lord shall yet be in the land of Hadrach as in the land of Israel, for it shall be (a part) of the land of Israel, and thus Damascus shall be his resting-place, i. e., the Shechinah (habitation) of his glory and his prophecy. We find in the words of our rabbies, of blessed memory, that "R. Benaiah says, that 77, Hadrach, is the Messiah, who is sharp, T, to the Gentiles, and tender, 77, to Israel. R. Jose, the son of a Damascus woman, said to him, How long wilt thou pervert the Scriptures against us? I call heaven and earth to witness, that I am from Damascus, and there is there a place, of which the name is Hadrach. He said to him, And what do I establish by the words,' Damascus shall be his resting-place?' I establish this, that Jerusalem shall yet extend as far as Damascus, for it is said, ' His resting-place,' and he has no rest but Jerusalem, as he says, 'This is my rest for ever and ever.' (Ps. cxxxii. 14.) He said to him, And what do I establish by the words, And the city shall be built upon her heap?' (Jer. xxx. 18.) He said to him, That she shall not be moved from her place. He said to him, And what do I prove by the words, 'It was made broader, and went round still upward?' (Ezek. xli. 7.) That Jerusalem shall be enlarged and extend on all sides, as this fig-tree, which is narrow underneath, and broad above, and the gates of Jerusalem shall yet extend to Damascus, and so it is said, 'Thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon, that looketh towards Damascus,' and the captivities come

and encamp in the midst of it, as it is said, And Damascus his resting place.'

"For to the Lord the eye of man."-For in those days the eye of all mankind shall be to the Lord, not to idols and images; therefore the land of Hadrach and Damascus, and the other places near the land of Israel, such as Tyre, Sidon, and Hamath, and the cities of the Philistines, shall be included among the cities of Judah, and shall be in the faith of Israel.

"And all the tribes of Israel," and, á fortiori, the tribes of Israel shall have their eye and their heart toward the Lord. Or, the meaning of it may be, The eye of man shall be to the Lord, and to all the tribes of Israel to walk in their ways, as is said above, "We will go with you."

2. "And Hamath also."-He says, "And Hamath also; " for it is a great city, as is said, "Hamath Rabbah," and it is outside the border of the land of Israel, for it is one of the borders of the land of Israel; and he says that, at that time Hamath shall be within her border, and that is what is said, "And Hamath also shall border in her, Tyre and Zidon, though it be very wise." And thus, also, Tyre and Zidon, which are also in her vicinity, shall be in the midst of her border. "Although she be very wise," refers to Tyre, as is mentioned in Ezekiel's chapter about Tyre (xxvii), and the meaning is, " Although she was wise in her own eyes in former days, her wisdom did not profit her. But in the days of Messiah she shall not trust in her wisdom, but shall humble herself before Israel."

3. "And Tyre did build herself a strong hold."For although a strong hold was built for her in ancient days, and she heaped up silver as dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets, all this did not profit her.

* This rabbinical interpretation is to be found with some slight variations in the Yalkut Shimoni, part i. fol. 258, col. 2.

4. "Behold, the Lord will cast her out," i. e., will dispossess her of all her greatness.

"And he will smite her power in the sea," as is explained at large in Ezekiel. And when she shall think of all these things, she shall be humbled in the days of Messiah. For although there were inhabitants in her at that time, they were not the same as the inhabitants in ancient times. The affair of Tyre is known to every one, for it is written in the prophets, and there are also written accounts amongst the Nazarenes who dwell there at this day, and they were there at that time.

5. "Ashkelon shall see." is milra, the accent is on the Resh. He says, when Ashkelon shall see that Tyre is humbled, she will be humbled also. But the true interpretation of the words " Tyre and Zidon," is to connect them with the following verse.

*2." And Tyrus did build herself." It is said Hamath shall border therein, but Tyre and Zidon shall be considered as opposing Israel, because she was very wise in her own eyes, as it is written in the book of Ezekiel, and Zidon was near to her, and followed her, therefore it is joined with Tyre.

"And she did build."-She will think to be delivered by the building which she shall build, and by the silver and gold which she shall amass. But all this will not help her, for behold the Lord will cast her out.

"A strong hold.", a strong tower, and thus in 2 Chron. xiv. 5 (6), 17, " And he built fenced cities; "Jonathan has also interpreted, " And Tyre has built a strong place for herself.”

"Fine gold."- signifies gold, as

"with yellow gold (Psalm lxviii. 14) [13], and so Jonathan has interpreted it.

4. "The Lord will cast her out," This verb

-

* Kimchi here returns to give another interpretation.

אוֹתָם

has the signification of driving out and sending away, as TEP Dis win, "He driveth them out before thee,' and other similar passages; and so Jonathan renders it,

מחקר לה

"And he will smite her power in the sea."--All the wealth and all the money in which she was trusting, the sea shall come and overwhelm it.

"And she shall be burned with fire."-And she, i. e., the city and her buildings, and her fortified towers, in which she was trusting, a fire shall go forth from the midst of her that shall consume them.

5. "Ashkelon shall see."-And when Ashkelon shall see that Tyre is wasted by the hand of God, she shall fear and humble herself before Israel, and so with Gaza and Ekron.

"For he hath made ashamed her expectation." *.

, that is Tyre, to which they were looking, ', and thought to be saved with her on account of her strength.

-The Mem has a segol.

comes from win, to be ashamed.-And the meaning is, They shall be ashamed along with Tyre, to which they were looking, when God, blessed be He, shall cast her out. But Jonathan interprets 7," and shall be ashamed," as referring to Ekron, so that the meaning is, Ekron shall be ashamed of her expectation. His words are, 66 Behold Ekron is ashamed of the house of

his confidence."

"And the king shall perish from Gaza."-Her king who is in her at that time shall perish, and his kingdom also, for it shall be to Israel.

"And Ashkelon shall not be inhabited."-By her men who shall be there at that time, for Israel shall dispose of it.

*The verb i may be taken either transitively or intransitively. But the parallel passage in Isaiah xx. 5, "They shall be ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation," shows that it must be taken intransitively.

-Some

Some say it

"And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod," interpret mamser as the name of a nation. means a bastard, proceeding from the forbidden intercourse of those Israelites who dwelt alone in the cities of the Philistines, and were separate from the congregation. And, behold, our rabbies have said, that Elijah will cleanse these bastards, and cause them to enter into the congregation of the Lord. But it ought to be interpreted as if the, the sign of comparison, had been omitted, and 66 a stranger." As " bastard shall not enter." (Deut. xxiii. 2.) And the two Mems are added, as in the word inape, "the barns are broken down." (Joel i. 17.) And the meaning is, He of the Philistines that dwelleth in Ashdod, shall dwell there as a man that is a stranger and an alien, for they shall be under the power of Israel, and this is what follows, "I will cut off the pride of the Philistines."

זר means the same as ממזר thus

a

7." And I will take away his blood out of his mouth.” -After the manner of.a parable, that is to say, The devouring and consuming of Israel are to be considered as *his blood and abominations," that is, I will destroy the wicked of heart who are amongst them, and "he that remaineth shall be for our God," and as to them that remain of them, whose heart is right with the Lord, I will cause him to remain, and he shall be as a governor in Judah. And there is also an interpretation, As the remainder of the sons of the stranger who join themselves to the Lord, for of them it is said, "Even them will I bring to my holy mountain; and make them joyful in my house of prayer." (Isaiah lvi. 7.) Behold they shall be as a governor and as a great man in Israel.

Hengstenberg gives the true sense of this passage. He says, that "the blood and abominations" here stand for idolatry, as the heathen used to drink the blood of the victims, or to mix it with wine. The meaning then, is, I will turn them from idolatry to worship the true God. (Christologie, part ii. p. 117.) Aben Ezra, in his Commentary, suggests the same interpretation.