Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

rhinoceros, a very large quadruped with one | Verbis 7 Jarchi bene notat respici locum great horn on his nose, from which circum- Num. xxvii. 20, ubi Moses jubetur Josuam stance his name is derived. See the notes on honoris, qui ipsi a populo exhiberetur, parNumb. xxiii. 22; xxiv. 8. Reem is in the ticipem facere. 1972 0N7 23721, Et cornua singular number, and because the horns of a orygis sunt cornua ejus, primogeniti bovis unicorn, a one-horned animal, would have tribus Josephicæ, cujus proxime mentio est appeared absurd, our translators, with an facta. Iis petet populos una, cunctos, unfaithfulness, not common to them, put the word in the plural number.

usque ad limites terræ, ante subaud. , cf. Ps. lix. 14. Quænam sint illa duo cornua, mox declarat: i, et illa sunt myriades Ephraim et illa sunt millia Manassis, numerosi exercitus utriusque tribus. Ceterum præponitur et hic Ephraim

To the ends of the earth.] Of the land of Canaan, for Joshua with his armies conquered all this land, and drove the ancient inhabitants out before him. They are the ten thousands of Ephraim, Manassi ut Gen. xlviii. 19, 20. &c.] That is, The horns signify the ten thousands of Ephraim, and the thousands

of Manasseh.

xlviii. 12, that the younger should be greatery 19

Ver. 18, 19.

[ocr errors]

than the elder; so here TESS of thousands per gency in

are given to Ephraim, and only thousands to Manasseh. See the census, Numb. i. 33 -35.

Gel-17 The beauty of a young bull shall be his beauty; and his horns shall be the horns of a rhinoceros! with these he shall push together the hostile peoples to the extremities of the land! such the ten thousands of Ephraim, such the thousands of Manasseh!

Booth.-

17 His glory is like that of the choicest bull;

And his horns like the horns of the rhinoceros!

With them he shall push the people; He shall push them to the extremity of the land!

These are the ten thousands of Ephraim, And these the thousands of Manasseh! Rosen. — 777 inizi iş, Primogenitum boris ejus, quod attinet, gloria est ei.

18 καὶ τῷ Ζαβουλὼν εἶπεν. εὐφράνθητε Ζαβουλὼν ἐν ἐξοδίᾳ σου, καὶ Ἰσσάχαρ ἐν rois σrŋvóμaoi avтoù. 19 ἔθνη ἐξολοθρεύ σova. καὶ ἐπικαλέσεσθε ἐκεῖ, καὶ θίσετε ἐκεῖ θυσίαν δικαιοσύνης, ὅτι πλοῦτος θαλάσσης Onλávet σe, καὶ ἐμπόρια παράλιον κατοιKoÚVtwV.

Au. l'er.-18 And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out; and, Issachar, in thy tents.

19 They shall call the people unto the mountain; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness: for they shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sand.

Pool.-Thou shalt prosper, and have cause of rejoicing. In thy going out; either, 1. To war [so Onkelos], as this phrase is oft used, as Gen. xiv. 17, which was in part verified, Judg. v. 18. Or, 2. To sea, in est nominat. absol., de quo vid. Gesenii way of traffic [so Patrick, Horsley, Rosen., Lehrgeb., p. 723, b. Hoffmannus hæc verba &c.], because their portion lay near the sea. sic reddit: primogenitus, i. e., præstantissi- Or both may be joined; and in both respects mus est bos cjus, quo myriades Ephraimi et his course is opposite to that of Issachar, millia Manassis altero vs. membro memorata who was a lover of peace and pasturage. indicari existimat. Verum ii cornubus, de See Gen. xlix. 11, 15. Issachar is here quibus statim, innuuntur; et nomina 22 joined with Zebulun, both because they

in statu constructo juncta esse docent were brethren by father and mother too, Accentus. Primogenito boris Josephica and because their possessions lay near totribus Hebræi fere Josuam, quo illustri gether. In thy tents, i. e., thou shalt give duce terra Canaan est expugnata Ephraimo, thyself to the management of land and filio Josephi, oriundum, intelligunt; recte, cattle, living quietly in thy own possessions, ut ego quidem arbitror. Boris primogenito, disliking the troubles of war and of meri. e., valido comparatur ob vim et fortitu- chandise. So the phrase is used Gen. xxv. 27; dinem quam in terra expugnanda exseruit. Josh. xxii. 4; Judg. v. 24; vii. 8.

Ged., Booth.—

18 And of Zebulun and Issachar he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy commerce, And, Issachar, in thy tents.

en.

their neighbours, whom they should deavour to bring to the service of the true God; which was especially fulfilled when Christ came (Matt. iv. 15, 16).

Rosen. Lætare, o Sebulon! in egressu Dr. A. Clarke.-They shall call the people tuo, i.e., navigationibus tuis et commerciis unto the mountain.] By their traffic with exercendis. Tenebant enim Sebulonitæ the Gentiles (for so I think ", ammim, oram maritimam, ad commercia cum finiti- should be understood here) they shall be mis Tyriis et Sidonis exercenda commode the instruments in God's hands of convertsitam, vid. ad Gen. xlix. 13. Tu vero, o ing many to the true faith; so that, instead Issachar lætare in tentoriis tuis, domi of sacrificing to idols, they should offer manens, et agris colendis occupatus, cf. ad sacrifices of righteousness. Gen. xlix. 15.

sunt tribus Israeliticæ, ut

Rosen.-Populos ad montem vocabunt, ibi Pool.-19 They; either, 1. Zebulun and mactabunt sacrificia justitiæ, i. e., Sebulonitæ Issachar [so Rosen.]. Or rather, 2. Zebulun et Issacharitæ divites redditi ceteras tribus only [so Bishop Patrick], as the following ad montem, in quo templum exstructum, matter shows; and it was Zebulun that invitabunt, et ibi sacrificia salutaria Deo Moses takes more special notice of, ver. 18, bringing in Issachar only by the by, in conjunction with him, or in opposition to him. And so, having dispatched Issachar in two words, he returns to Zebulun, a more active tribe.

The people.

Pool. The people, i.c., the Gentiles; either those of Galilee [so Bp. Horsley], which was called Galilee of the Gentiles, who were their neighbours; or people of other nations [so Dr. A. Clarke], with whom they had commerce, which they endeavoured to improve in persuading them to the true God, and his worship and service. Unto the mountain, i. e., to the temple, which Moses knew was to be seated upon a mountain. Sacrifices of righteousness, i. e., such as God requires, and righteousness obligeth them to offer. Their trafficking abroad with heathen nations shall not make them forget or neglect their duty at home, nor shall their distance from the place of sacrifice hinder them from coming to it to discharge that duty.

offerent.

vs. 3. h. 1. ex communi Hebræorum sententia Moriam montem, cui templum erat impositum, designat. 7, Sacrificia justa, ut Ps. iv. 6, sunt vel rite et legitime oblata (ut Lev. xix. 36,

8 sunt bilances justæ et pondera justa, vid. et supra xvi. 18), vel, quod malim, pia ac grata erga Deum mente, pro acceptis ab eo beneficiis oblata. Cf. ad Ps. iv, 6. Ged., Booth.

19 They shall invite the people to the holy
mount;

There they shall offer righteous sacri-
fices [Ged., sacrifices of equity];
For they shall suck affluence from the

seas:

And from treasures hidden in the sand. Treasures hid in the sand.

Pool. — i. e., such precious things as either, 1. Are contained in the sand of the sea and rivers, in which sometimes there is mixed a considerable quantity of gold and silver. Or, 2. Such as grow in the sea, or are fetched from the sandy bottom of it, as pearls, coral, ambergris, &c. Or, 3. Such as being cast into the sea by shipwreek are cast upon the shore by the workings of the sea, and thence taken either by merchants, or by the people that live upon the seacoast.

Bp. Patrick.—19 They shall call the people unto the mountain.] Here Moses predicts the house of God should be set upon a mountain; unto which, he saith, Zebulun (for the latter end of the verse shows he speaks particularly of them) should invite the rest of their tribes [so Dr. A. Clarke.—And of treasures hid in Rosen.], by their forwardness and zeal, to the sand.] Jonathan ben Uzziel has progo up to worship God at the three great bably hit upon the true meaning of this festivals. So the Jerusalem Targum para- difficult passage: "From the sand," says phrases, "Behold the people of the house of he, "are produced looking-gløsses and glass Zebulun shall be ready to go to the mount in general; the treasures the method of of the holy house of the Lord." Or, by finding and working this, was revealed to the people, perhaps, he means the Gentiles these tribes." Several ancient writers in

form us that there were havens in the coasts |μένων ἅμα ἀρχηγοῖς λαῶν. δικαιοσύνην κύριος of the Zebulunites in which the vitreous ἐποίησε, καὶ κρίσιν αὐτοῦ μετά Ισραήλ.

Au. V'er.-20 And of Gad he said, Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad: he dwelleth as a lion, and teareth the arm with the crown of the head.

sand, or sand proper for making glass, was
found. See Strabo, lib. xvi.; see also
Pliny, Hist. Nat., 1. xxxvi., c. 26; Tacitus,
Hist., l. v., c. 7. The words of Tacitus are
remarkable: Et Belus amnis Judaico mari
21 And he provided the first part for
illabitur; circa ejus os lectæ arenæ admixto himself, because there, in a portion of the
nitro in vitrum excoquuntur. "The river lawgiver, was he seated [Heb., ceiled]; and
Belus falls into the Jewish sea, about whose he came with the heads of the people, he
mouth those sands, mixed with nitre, are executed the justice of the LORD, and his
collected, out of which glass is formed," or judgements with Israel.
which is melted into glass. Some think
that the celebrated shell-fish called murex,
out of which the precious purple dye was
extracted, is here intended by the treasure either, 1. Enlarge his territories; which
hid in the sand: this also Jonathan intro-
duces in this verse. And others think that
it is a general term for the advantages de-
rived from navigation and commerce.

Pool.-20 By praising God for enlarging Gad, he supposeth the ground of these praises, that God would enlarge Gad, i. e.,

Lion. So Rosen.

Patrick, Ged., Booth.. Lioness. See notes on Gen. xlix. 9.

seems needless, because they had a very large portion now when Moses uttered these words. Or, 2. Bring him out of his straits and troubles, which he was likely to be oft Rosen. E, Nam affluentiam engaged in, because he was encompassed maris sugent, opibus et deliciis externis, quæ with potent enemies. And in this sense the navibus invehentur, affluent. 5, phrase is used Psalm iv. 1: compare Psalm Et abscondita thesaurorum, i.e., thesauros xxxi. 8; exviii. 5. One instance of the absconditos arena. Iis alii intelligunt auri fulfilling hereof we have Judg. xi. argentive fodinas, quæ in tribuum illarum ditione fuerint; ali immensas opes collectas, quas in arena defoderint Sebulonitæ et Issacharita; alii aurum, argentum, gemmas Bp. Patrick.--20 Blessed be he that enab exteris allatas, qua e terra vel arenis largeth Gad.] That is, blessed be God, who extrahi aut colligi solent; quod et mihi hath allotted to him such a large inheritance præplacet. Digna tamen, quæ memoretur, [so Rosen.]; which he afterward also farther Jonathanis est interpretatio, et Dathio pro-enlarged, as we read 1 Chron. v. 18—20. bata: ex arena producent specula et vasa He dwelleth as a lion.] Lives secure and vitrea, quoniam thesauri limitum revelati sunt fearless. This was a very warlike tribe, as ipsis. Nam in finibus Sebulonitarum erant ostia fluvii Beli, qui arenam vitriariam effundit, ex qua primum vitrum est confectum. Vid. Plinius I. N., xxxvi. 26; Strabonis Geogr., 1. xvi., cap. 2, § 25; Tacit. Hist., 1. v., cap. 7; Joseph. De bello Jud., 1. ii., cap. 9.

Ver. 20, 21.

20

we learn from 1 Chron. xii. 8, and therefore
here compared to a lioness (so labi signifies),
which equals a lion, if not exceeds him, in
strength and fierceness; as Bochartus hath
observed out of good authors in his Hiero-
zoicon, par. i., lib. iii., cap. 50.
Onkelos here translates it, "He dwelleth as
a lioness." And the Jerusalem Targum
puts in both after this manner; "he remains
quiet, as a lion and a lioness; neither is

And so

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

קמין בויק .21 .v

as Onkelos truly expounds it. For by arms are meant men of strength and power; and by the crown of the head is properly to be 20 καὶ τῷ Γὰδ εἶπεν. εὐλογημένος ἐμπλατύ- understood the chief commander, ruler, or νων Γάδ, ὡς λέων ανεπαύσατο, συντρίψας king. And therefore the LXX also trans. βραχίονα καὶ ἄρχοντα. 21 καὶ εἶδεν απαρχὴν late crown of the head αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ἐκεῖ ἐμερίσθη γῆ ἀρχόντων συνηγ- prince or supreme governor.

66

by "Αρχοντα,

21 He provided the first part for himself.] He first received his portion in the land which they conquered, as Onkelos expounds it. Which he is said here to provide for himself, because this tribe (with Reuben, and part of Manasseh), desired to be possessed of the country of Sihon, which was accordingly given to them (Numb. xxxii. 1, 2, 33).

Because there, in a portion of the lawgiver.] Which Moses (who was their lawgiver) gave them by God's order; whereas the other nine tribes and a-half had theirs given them by Joshua.

Bp. Horsley.

20 And of Gad he said,

Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad;
He reposeth like a lion [in his laire],
When he has torn the shoulder and the

head.

21 And he provided a prime part for himself;

When the commissioner appointed the

portions, he was housed,

Had

And had lodged the heads of the people. He executed the just decrees of Jehovah, And his judgments, with Israel. Was he seated.] The word in the Hebrew And had lodged the heads of the people; signifies hid, i. c., protected, when, going to viz., in the principal cities of the conquered the war in Canaan, they left their wives, and country. See Numb. xxxii. 34-36. children, and cattle, without any defence lodged, "; from the sense of the noun 87, but God's providence, according to the pro-a chamber. The people. I read with Sam. mise they made to Moses (Numb. xxxii. 16, 7; for the individual people of the tribe 17, &c.). What the Jerusalem Targum, and of Gad is ineant.—Bp. Horsley. Onkelos, and several of the rabbins, even Booth.Abarbinel himself, here say, of Moses being buried in this tribe (which they make the sense of these words), I think is no more to the purpose, than what the Cabalists observe upon this place, that in the blessing of Gad, the whole alphabet is found, because Moses our master (saith Baal-Hatturim) was buried in his territory, who observed the whole law from aleph to tau, i. e., from the beginning to the end (see Theodoric Hackspan, Cab. Judaica, n. 10).

He came.] He speaks of this as a thing already done, because he certainly foresaw they would perform their engagement.

With the heads of the people.] With the chief commanders of the rest of the tribes of Israel. Or, as the word may be translated more literally, "He came, the heads of the people;" i. e., the Gadites marched in the front before the children of Israel. For so was the agreement between Moses and them, as we read in Numb. xxxii. 17, that they should "go ready armed before the children of Israel." Of which engagement Joshua put them in mind when they were entering into Canaan (Josh. i. 14), and they stood to it (ver. 16, 17).

He executed the justice of the Lord.] Upon the seven nations of Canaan, whom God commanded them to extirpate.

His judgments with Israel.] Going in the foremost of the Israelites to battle, till the whole country was subdued to them (Numb. xxxii. 21, 22, 29; Josh. xxii. 2—3, &c.).

20

And of Gad he said,

Blessed be he who enlargeth Gad.
Like a lioness he coucheth,

And teareth both the arm and the head. 21 And he seeth the first parts allotted to himself:

For an assigned portion [so Durell]

there is secured.

Yet he shall go at the head of the people;
He shall execute the justice of Jehovah,

And his judgments in favour of Israel. Geddes.-Of Gad he said: Blessed be he who enlargeth Gad. Like a lioness he coucheth; and maketh a prey of both head and shoulder. 21 Therefore he seeth the first portion allotted to himself; and with joy receiveth, from the Lawgiver, a protected residence. Yet he shall go over at the head of the people, to execute the justice of the LORD, and his decrees in favour of Israel.

21 Therefore he seeth.] It is, in my opinion, impossible to make sense of the text as it stands. Hence the strange diversity among the ancient interpreters. Vulg.: Et vidit principatum suum, quod in parte sua doctor esset repositus: qui fuit cum principibus populi, &c. Onkelos here wildly paraphrases to this purport: "At the beginning he shall receive his portion; because there, in his inheritance, Moses, the great scribe and chief of Israel, was buried; and he went out and went in before the people," &c. Still wilder, but of the same nature, is the Thargum; and not dissimilar are the versions of Syr. and Saadias. Even Gr. Ven.

is tinctured with the same notion, although | cujus tamen quamplurima exempla sunt in he renders more literally: Eide Tapxny lingua Hebræa. Tandem ex usu hujus αυτώ, και γαρ εκεί μερίς τυπτοτου εστεγασ- vocis in ling. Chald. explico, et ad Gadum μενου και έθραυσε κεφαλας λεω, κ.τ.λ. What refero. Sic evito alteram enallagem generis, modern critics have done to heal the sore quæ statuenda est, si cum conwill appear from some of their versions, from Le Clerc downward.

Le Clerc.—“ Vidit sibi primitias, qui illic parte legislatoris cohonestatus est; venit cum capitibus populi," &c.

Houbigant.—“ Providit sibi primitias, ubi partem a legislatore flagitivit, cum populi principibus, &c.

"

Dathe.- -"Primitias terræ promissæ sibi expetiit, ibique in portione statuta cum dignitate vivet: sed antea præcedet populum, &c.

Purrer.- He also looks the first for himself, because he is covered there at the part of the lawgiver, and comes with the heads of the people," &c.

struitur. Quod si quis illis generis enallagis non offenditur, possunt etiam verba illa verti: Ibi portio statuta ei est: s. manet spectabilis. Sic non opus est ellipsi præpositionis 1." The only fault of this exposition, adopted by Rosenmüller, is, that it is too ingenious; and makes postulates which will not be easily granted.

I will now risk my emendation of the text, and my version made in consequence. The emendation is a very small one: it consists, first, in withdrawing a single letter Michaëlis.-"Er sieht schon einen Anfang, from the beginning of one word, and adding denn hier ist ein Erbtheil, rechtmässig, und it to the end of the preceding. Instead of beneidet Voran vor dem Volk wird er ge-, I read ; I suspect, hen," &c. indeed, that the original reading was Hezel.-"Sicht nur einen Anfang für, but as there is no absolute necessity for sich, dort aber noch ein Land eines trügeri- this alteration, I let stand as it is. I am schen Fürsten, kommt unter die Häupter des also inclined to think that a has been Volks," &c. dropt from the beginning of p, but neither is this addition necessary; for p has the same meaning as . See Judg. v. 9, and Isa. xxii. 16. Secondly, the transposition of a single letter being, as before, made, I take to be the verb, which, though not elsewhere used in Hebrew, has in Arabic the same signification with p, only is more emphatical, and here more Bate.-" And he shall provide a chief properly used. Its meaning is to receive part for himself, for there shall be the sway immediately, and without reserve; which of a studded sceptre, and he shall restrain, was exactly the case of the tribe of Gad; the heads of the people," &c. to whose name (lucky) there is most probably an allusion here intended. I might avail myself of the rules of criticism, and say that perhaps was the original readhad been changed into easily made; but I

Durell. For he provided the first part for himself: when there in the decreed portion he was secured, then he went with the heads of the people," &c.

Green.- He hath provided a principal part for himself; for there was he settled in his portion by the lawgiver. But he shall march with the heads of the people," are. ing, and that the

as a noun, as it is in 7; in Jerem. xxii. 14;

It would be tedious to accumulate herea, a change most all the arguments which these authors ad- content myself with as it is, in the duce in support of their respective versions. meaning which I have just now mentioned. I shall content myself with those of Dathe. I next consider as they are, in my opinion, the most plan- 1 Kings vi. 15; vii. sible of all. Here, then, is the essence of Hag. i. 4; and 7 in Jonah is to be conhis note :-“ Liceat mihi meam afferre con- sidered in the same sense; that is, a coverjecturam, et versionem suprapositam expli-ing, a protection, a shelter. These prelimicare. Adverbium loci, ibi, emollit, ut, naries granted, a literal version may be spero, duritiem ellipseos præpositionis ante framed thus: "Ergo, vidit primam, porParticipium activum quod ex tionem sibi datam : cum lætus recipit a meo sensu paullo durius, vel de Mose, vel decernente tegmen: attamen ibit primus de Gado, explicatur, ego passivè lego; et, populi, justitiam Domini faciens et judicia quoniam cum construitur, in foeminino propter Israelem."-Ged. 77777, ne quem offendat enallage generis,

[ocr errors]

Ros n.-20 Benedictus, laudatus sit qui

« AnteriorContinuar »