ביום ההוא In those days.¹

footnotes: ¹ ביום ההוא Though singular, does not refer to one particular day, but to a whole period.

The Lord shall visit. As mentioned in the preceding verse.

Leviathan. The Theli ; (תלי)² it has the epithet בריח stretching,³ because it stretches from one end to the other. [I think it is a sea monster].⁴

footnotes: ² תלי is the imaginary axis or line through the centre of the earth, and the two points in which the ecliptic and the equator, or the ecliptic and the orbit of the moon meet. The latter is probably meant here. The origin of the word has not yet been fully established. It is generally believed to be the same as in Arabic تالي but the two words, being quite different in meaning, תלי) hanging, تالي following,) are probably not connected with each other. Moreover, if תלי were the same as تالي it would have been written תאלי. It seems more probable and natural to derive תלי from תלה to hang, since it denotes the ends from which the earth is, as it were, suspended. (Comp. תלאי Talm. Bab. Shab. 78; and תולה ארץ על כלימה He hangeth the earth upon nothing (Job 26:7). This axis, being a straight line, is called בריח a bar, which passes in a straight line from one end to the other; but at the same time the attribute עקלתון crooked, is given to it, because the intersections of the ecliptic and the orbit of the moon are not constant, and the three points above-mentioned are therefore not exactly in a straight line. It is likewise connected with the name of תנין dragon; the one end of the line being called the head, the other the tail of the dragon. These names owe their origin probably to the serpentine winding of the orbit of the moon round the ecliptic. R. Jehuda Hallevi compares the axis of the ecliptic with a king, who sitteth on his throne and thence governs the whole country (Cusari 4:25). A similar idea presented itself to the mind of the commentator, who explained נחש בריח by תלי, and signified by this figure the king of Assyria or of Egypt. ³ A. V., Piercing. ⁴ The words in brackets are added, firstly because from the remark of I. E. on Job 26:13, it appears that he explained נחש בריח to be a sea monster; secondly, because it is evident from his remark on נחש עקלתון that a remark to that effect must have preceded.

Even Leviathan, that crooked serpent. This is likewise an animal that lives in the sea; it is like a serpent, for there are also serpent-like animals in the sea.⁵ עקלתון Crooked. It is an adjective.

footnotes: ⁵ The sea-monsters are usually called תנינים; this remark is therefore added, that they are also called נחשים, some of them being serpent-like.

And the dragon that is in the sea. That is, The great dragon in the sea. (Ez. 29:3).

Some are of opinion that the Leviathan, the stretching serpent, and the Leviathan, the crooked serpent, are both land animals, and are used figuratively for the kings of the land;⁶ while the dragon that is in the sea, is used for the king of Egypt (Comp. Ez. 29:3), or as others believe, for the king of Tyre. R. Moses Hakkohen thinks, that this verse refers to the élite of soldiers, princes, and nobles.⁷

footnotes: ⁶ Assyria or Babylon. ⁷ That is, the chiefs of the army of Sennacherib before Jerusalem.

חמר Wine⁸ Comp. חָמֶר wine (Deut. 32:14). A vineyard of wine. A vineyard that yields a large quantity of wine.

footnotes: ⁸ A. V., Red wine. Pure. A vineyard of red wine.

ענו Sing. Comp. ענות Singing (Ex. 32:18).

Unto her. Unto Zion. The imperative sing is addressed to the singers.⁹ The prophet has said already, that Judah is the pleasant plant of the Lord (5:7)

footnotes: ⁹ The subject, Ye singers, is not directly mentioned, but contained implicitly in the verb. Comp. ii. Note 5.

I, the Lord, do keep it, that is to say, the Divine glory remains in Zion.

I will water it every moment. The prophecy will not cease. פן יפקד. R. Jonah, the Grammarian, says, that לא ═ פן, and פן יפקד עליה ;אפקד ═ יפקד means accordingly, I will not punish her (though I shall punish all other nations). Comp. פן תפלס Do not ponder.¹⁰ R. Isaak ben Saul compares יפקד with נפקד there lacketh (Num. 31:49), and joins this with the preceding phrase in this way, I will water it every moment, lest its leaves drop.

footnotes: ¹⁰ More instances of an interchange of this kind are given by R. Jona in his grammar, Sefer Harikma 100:28. A. V., Lest any hurt it. Lest thou shouldst ponder.

עליה Its leaves. Each of its leaves.¹¹ Comp. 1:30.¹² R. Moses Hakkohen explains it thus, I shall guard it day and night, lest the enemy hurt it. I think that this explanation is the right one.

footnotes: ¹¹ A. V., It. Comp. ii. Note 18. ¹² This instance is only quoted to show that עליה means her leaves. R. Isaak ben Saul confounds the Kal יפקד and the Niphal נפקד; it is only the latter which has the meaning to be missing.

Fury is not in me, etc. Some say that this verse is the continuation of the words of the Lord. Fury is not in me, that is, great fury is not in me.

Who would set, etc. Anthropomorphism.¹³ Supply ב before שמיר brier, comp. בששח═ששח in six, (Ex. 20:11). The meaning of the sentence is, Who would set me against the brier and thorn of the vineyard, that is, against the wicked people; and in the day of my war against the vineyard, אפשעה בה *I would go through it;*¹⁴—comp. כפשע but a step (1 Sam. 20:3)—

footnotes: ¹³ In reality God has the power to do whatever He thinks proper to do, and is not in need of the assistance of any being, as the literal meaning of the exclamation, who would set, etc., implies. ¹⁴ A. V., Them.

אציתנה I would burn it;—comp. הציתו they have burnt (2 Sam. 14:35)

Or let him take hold, etc. Or let the Israelites take hold of my strength, then I shall not have war with them—comp. the Lord hath been like an enemy (Lam. 2:5)—

nor with other nations, for the sake of Israel; this double peace is indicated by the repetition of the words he will make peace unto me.

R. Moses Hakkohen explains these two verses in the following way: Fury is not in me, what I am going to say, I shall not say with fury. מי יתנני וגו׳ Who would give me—comp. נתתני thou hast given me (Judges 1:15)—the briers and thorns of the vineyard! I would go through them, etc.; that is, if they do not remove the wicked men of Israel, I will slay them all; or let him take hold of my strength, etc., then Jacob shall take root.—

I think that God is not represented as speaking in these two verses, as is the case in many passages of this book—we need only refer to the preceding chapter, verses 18 and 19¹⁵—but the men of Judah,¹⁶ after having heard God’s promise, I the Lord will keep it, lest he visit it, are introduced, saying, We do not declare with fury, that if the enemy should come to turn the vineyard into a place of briers and thorns, we should kill ourselves. Comp.¹⁷ And Ezekiel shall be, instead of And I shall be (Ez. 25:24), And Samuel, instead of And myself (1 Sam. 12:11); As he hath done, instead of As I have done (Lev. 8:34); במלחמה in war, is to be joined with מי יתנני who would turn me in this way: If one should come to turn me by war into a place of briers and thorns, etc. או יחזק Or if He would strengthen my stronghold, etc., to give me the strengthening promise that He will be in peace with me, and so should the enemy be, then Jacob would take root, etc. I am compelled to explain in this way by the phrase, He will make peace unto me, because it is God alone that maketh peace.¹⁸

footnotes: ¹⁵ The peculiarity hinted at in this remark seems to consist in the introduction of the dialogue form; ver. 3 is assigned to God, ver. 4 and 5 to Israel, ver. 6 again to God; similarly 26:18—19 is assigned to the people, ver. 20 again to the Lord. ¹⁶ The expression איש יהודה the men of Judah, is perhaps used by I. E. instead of Israel, because the second part of this chapter (comp. ver. 7), refers, according to his interpretation, to the kingdom of Israel. ¹⁷ The passages which follow are instances of the use of the third person instead of the first, as is the case here; through it ═ through myself. ¹⁸ I. E. is not the author of the first opinion, which attributes to God the words, He will make peace unto me, since, as he says, he is compelled to assume, that they are to be assigned to the men of Judah. It is often the case in the commentaries of I. E., that an anonymous opinion, which is supposed to be generally adopted, is followed by the commentator’s own explanation, introduced by a phrase like ואני אומר ,ולפי דעתי but I think, but I say. In this verse the first explanation is perhaps to be assigned to those whose opinion is introduced at the beginning of verse 4, with the words, some say.

.¹⁹בהבאים ═ הבאים In future. According to some: the children.²⁰ generations. הדורות הבאים ═ הבאים

footnotes: ¹⁹ Literally: In coming days. בימים הבאים═בהבאים ═ הבאים ²⁰ Literally: The coming sc.

ישרש He shall cause to take root. Comp. ישרשיח ותשרש and didst cause it to take deep root (Psa. 80:10).²¹

footnotes: ²¹ The Hebrew text has ,ותשאר שרשיה and causes its roots to remain; but ותשאר is evidently a mistake; there is no feminine noun in this verse with which the ת could agree; the remark would also be then quite superfluous. ותשאר must therefore be altered into ,ותשרש which is part of a quotation.

תנובה. Fruit.

Hath he smitten him, etc. This prophecy refers to the fall of Samaria, to which alone the expression אשרים groves can be applied.²²

footnotes: ²² It is not clear at all how the mention of the groves can prove that this prophecy refers to Samaria, since this capital was not the only place that contained groves, and whose inhabitants were idolaters.

Those that smote him. The Assyrians.

Of them that are slain by him. Of the Canaanites that were slain when the Israelites conquered their country. God did not smite the Israelites in the same way as he smote the Canaanites.

בסאסאה. In measure. According to most commentators בסאסאה is a reduplication of סאה measure, like ²³²³ירקרק green (Lev. 13:49); מטלטלך Will carry thee away (22:17).

footnotes: ²³ Root: טול :ירק. ²³ Root: טול :ירק.

Thou wilt debate with it, with Samaria; comp. the defenced city (ver. 10)²⁴.

footnotes: ²⁴ The pronoun it is here used, although the noun to which it refers is not mentioned before; what the prophet meant by this pronoun must have been clear to the listener. The whole passage from ver. 7, refers, according to I. E., to Samaria; because of the defenced city of ver. 10; but that city is not proved by I. E. to be Samaria; Kimchi leaves it doubtful, whether it is Samaria or Jerusalem.

בשלחה According to some: with its sword.²⁵ The meaning of the sentence accordingly is: Samaria destroyed itself with its own instruments of war. Comp. השלח the sword (Joel 2:8). More correctly, however, it may be compared with שלחיך thy plants (Song 4:13), especially because of the words: on the day of the east wind.²⁶ Samaria was punished with her own measure, she had quarrelled even with the people of her own villages,—which may be considered as her plants (שלחה)—therefore. הגה the Lord removed²⁷ her; comp. ²⁸הוגה he was removed (2 Sam. 20:13); ה replaces the radical י; as in ידה═הדה he stretched forth (11:8).

footnotes: ²⁵ A. V., When it shooteth forth. ²⁶ The figure the day of the east wind, leads the reader to suppose that there is also a reference to plants, which are damaged by the east wind. ²⁷ A. V., Stayeth.—Being in continual conflict with her neighbours, Samaria was taken away from amongst them. ²⁸ Hophal of יגה.

קדים East wind.

By this, therefore, shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, etc. That is, no evil shall befall him—for the iniquity of Jacob (עון יעקב) is the source of all his evils¹—and the decree shall be rescinded, if they abolish idolatry.

footnotes: ¹ עון iniquity is, therefore, used here for רע evil.

הסר To take away. Infinitive.

The altar of Baal.

גיר Chalk.

מנפצות Beaten in sunder. Comp. תנפצם Thou shalt break them (Ps. 2:9).

לא יקמו Shall not stand. Shall not remain.²⁹

footnotes: ²⁹ The use of קום to rise, in the sense of עמד to stand, is explained here by I. E. See xl. Note 20.

The defenced city. Samaria. בדד Shall be desolate.

סעפיה The branches thereof. Comp. על שתי הסעפים upon the two branches (1 Kings 18:21).¹ The open towns are meant.

footnotes: ¹ A. V. Between two opinions. According to I. E. the halting between two opinions is compared with the restlessness of a bird that flies from one branch to the other; and it seems as if I. E. intended to explain הסעפים על שתי rather than סעפיה; firstly because he passed this word over in silence, 17:6; secondly because he would have quoted סעיפיה (17:6,) as another instance, and not הסעפים which differs from סעיפיה in this verse by the Dagesh in פ. It is, however, possible, that I. E. read סעפּיה.

קצירה The bough³⁰ thereof. Comp. בקצירי In my branch (Job. 29:19).

footnotes: ³⁰ A. V. The boughs.

They shall be broken off. The pronoun they refers to פארות the smaller branches,³¹ while קציר signifies the large branch.

footnotes: ³¹ I. E. supplies the feminine plural פארות the smaller branches, in order to make the subject agree with the predicate תשברנה; he might, however, supply סעיפיה, which is likewise the plural of a feminine noun, and is previously mentioned, while פארות is not hinted at in this chapter, unless we assume the identity of פארות and סעיפים.

מאירות Some explain: Collect;³² comp. אריתי I have gathered (Song 5:1). Even the women that have no strength will break and gather them. Others: Set on fire. The branches will be used as fuel. This is the right explanation. Comp. תאירו ye kindle fire (Mal. 1:10)

footnotes: ³² A. V., Set them on fire.

ביום ההוא In those days.³³

footnotes: ³³ See Note 1.

יחבט Shall beat off. Comp. תחבט thou wilt beat (Deut. 24:10); חובט beating (Judg. 6:11); therefore the expression תלקטו you will be gathered together is also used.

One by one. Only a few will be left out of many.

And it shall come to pass in that day, etc. Then all the children of Ephraim³⁴ that are in exile will hasten to return to Jerusalem, seeing that their own kingdom has ceased to exist.

footnotes: ³⁴ Since Assyria and Egypt are named in this verse, and not Babylon, this prophecy is referred to the exile of the ten tribes, who will be glad to have an opportunity of returning to Jerusalem, and of joining their brethren in the worship of God.