Who is this that cometh. Some refer this to Messiah, others to the angel Michael;¹ but more correctly it may be referred to God.² This prophecy contains the decree made against Edom, that is, against the empire of Rome and Constantinople, who are called Edomites, because they adopted the Edomite religion—that is, the Christian religion—which was first established among the Edomites.¹

footnotes: ¹ Comp. And there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael, your prince Dan. 10:21. ² The words השםִ הנכבד the honoured name of the Hebrew text are used instead of יי the Lord, by I. E., in order not to connect the description with dyed garments, etc., directly with God. Comp. I. E. on 42:8. ¹ The words This prophecy, etc., till among the Edomites, are omitted in some editions; they were either struck out by the censors, or left out by the printers from fear of the censorship.

חמוץ Stained. Comp. חומץ vinegar (Num. 6:3).³

footnotes: ³ The two words seem, according to I. E., to be derived from חמץ to be red. See Gesenius Lex. Hebr. Chald.

זה הדור בלבושו He that was so glorious⁴ in his apparel, how has he stained himself!

footnotes: ⁴ A. V., This that is glorious.

צעה Who bindeth⁵ others; comp. צועים וצעוהו oppressors, that will oppress him⁶ (Jer. 48:12). The correctness of this explanation⁷ is confirmed by the words which follow: in the greatness of his strength. R. Moses Hakkohen says, that צועה is here as in 51:14, an adjective, not a transitive verb.—

footnotes: ⁵ A. V., Travelling. ⁶ Wanderers, that shall cause him to wander. ⁷ That צעה is the participle of a transitive verb, in opposition to the opinion of R. Moses Hakkohen, who says, that צעה is a common noun (שם התואר See c. iii., Note 5). There is no grammatical difficulty in rendering בחו צעה ברב who bindeth people in the greatness of his strength; but the verb would be missing, if צעה were a noun.

The answer to the question Who is this, etc., is I that speak in righteousness, etc. רב Mighty. Comp. רב officer (Est. 1:8).

From Bozrah. Bozrah is the name of a place. It is as if He came from there, from the people of Bozrah, from Edom, and all those that follow the same religion, wherever they are.

ללבושך Thine apparel.⁸ The preposition ל is pleonastic as in 1) לאבשלום Chr. 3:2). Like him that treadeth in the winefat. Blood is in colour similar to wine.

footnotes: ⁸ A. V., In thine apparel. Comp. c. xxxii., Note 1.

I have trodden, etc. This prophecy refers to the destruction of Edom, and the overthrow of the dominion of his religion.

I alone have thus decreed against Edom.

ואדרכם And I trod them.⁹⁹¹⁰sup9 The form of the verb seems to indicate the future, but in fact the imperfect is meant.

footnotes: ⁹ A. V., For I will tread them. And shall be sprinkled. And I will stain. ⁹ A. V., For I will tread them. And shall be sprinkled. And I will stain. ¹⁰ See I. E. on 1:21, Note 43.

וְיֵז And sprinkled. It is similar in form to וַיֵט and he stretched forth (Ex. 9:23).

נצחם Their blood. The blood is called נֶצַח lit. time, because t¹¹hrough the blood man lives his time; it is of the same root as נצח for ever (34:10).

footnotes: ¹¹ The phrase לנצח נצחים (34:10) is explained by I. E., להם זמנים אין קץ periods of time without end. Others compare נצחם their blood with נצח strength (1 Sam. 15:29), the purity and proper circulation of the blood being the essential condition of the health and strength of man; others, again, derive it from a root נזה═נצח to sprinkle. (Ges. Lex. Hebr. Chald.)

אגאלתי I stained. The א is here substituted for ה, the characteristic of the Hiphil, or the word is a compound of the past and future; I prefer the latter explanation. As to its meaning I stained, comp. יגאלהו shall stain it (Job 3:5)

For the day of vengeance, etc. For I will wreak vengeance against my enemies, and I will redeem my friends. גאולי My redeemed. It is participle passive plural with the suffix, first person, referring to God.

And I looked, etc. This is a figurative expression; for in fact God does not need that.

ואשתומם And I wondered. Compare my explanation of וישתומם (59:16)

Nations. Other nations beside Edom.

ואוריד לארץ נצחם And I will pour out their blood¹¹ to the earth.

footnotes: ¹¹ The phrase לנצח נצחים (34:10) is explained by I. E., להם זמנים אין קץ periods of time without end. Others compare נצחם their blood with נצח strength (1 Sam. 15:29), the purity and proper circulation of the blood being the essential condition of the health and strength of man; others, again, derive it from a root נזה═נצח to sprinkle. (Ges. Lex. Hebr. Chald.)

I will mention, etc. The wise of Israel will then acknowledge the great number of benefits bestowed upon them by God at the departure from Egypt, during the exile, and in their deliverance and restoration to their own country.

The praises of the Lord. The mention of the kindness of the Lord, is His praise.

ורב טוב *And great in goodness.*¹² This is an attribute of the Lord.¹³

footnotes: ¹² A. V., And the great goodness. ¹³ By this remark I. E. reminds us not to confound the attribute of God רַב מוב Great in goodness, with רב מוּב the abundance of goodness ═ the great goodness. רַב is an adjective, רֹב an abstract noun.

For he said. This is an anthropomorphism.¹⁴ He thought they would become faithful children, and therefore he helped them.

footnotes: ¹⁴ In reality, such a miscalculation cannot be attributed to the Omniscient; but the prophet means to say that God favoured the Israelites to such a degree that they ought to have been faithful servants of the Lord at all times.

לא The true meaning of the word is to Him;¹⁵ and לא צר (lit., Unto Him was trouble), he was afflicted, has the same meaning as And His soul was grieved (Jud. 10:16). It is a figurative expression. He was, as it were, in distress, therefore He hastened to deliver them.

footnotes: ¹⁵ I. E. usually follows the Keri, that is, the reading recommended by the Massorah; לו to him is here the Keri, לׂא not, the Ketib.

And the angel of His presence. Comp. And sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt (Num. 20:16); this does by no means refer to Moses.¹

footnotes: ¹ Although I. E. admits that the word מלאך angel or messenger is sometimes used of prophets (Comp. I. E. on 42:19), he refers it in this case to the angel in the usual sense of the word. Comp. I. E. on Num. 20:16.

וינטלם And he bare them. Comp. ונטל and the weight (Prov. 27:3). It refers to the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. And he carried them in their land. כל ימי עולם All the days of the long period of their stay in their own land.¹⁶

footnotes: ¹⁶ עולם is, according to I. E., a long period, but its nature and limits must be gathered from the context; ימות עולם (Deut. 32:7) refers to the past; עד עולם (Ps. 90:2) for ever to the future; עד עולם (1 Sam. 1:22), the whole lifetime, etc., here I. E. infers from the preceding, And he carried them in their land, that it refers to the period during which they had possession of their land.

ועצבו And vexed. Comp. אל תעצבו be not grieved (Gen. 45:5). And vexed His holy spirit. This is a figurative expression. Some understand by the holy spirit the angel of the Lord.¹⁷ He fought against them till they left His land.

footnotes: ¹⁷ In order to remove the anthropomorphism. Comp. Targ. Jonathan וארגיזו על מימר נביאי קודשיה they acted provokingly against the words of His holy prophets.

Then he remembered the days of old, the days that have passed.

משה עמו *The days of Moses and his people.*¹⁸ As to the asyndeton משה עמוּ comp. שמש ירח the sun and moon (Hab. 3:11). The word משה, however, may also be taken as a participle, meaning he who brought out, who delivered Israel; but the first explanation is preferable.¹⁹

footnotes: ¹⁸ A. V., Moses and His people. ¹⁹ In his excursus on Ex. 3:15, he says that the tetragrammaton is generally used as a proper noun, but sometimes as a common noun, and thus find it analogous to the proper noun משה, which is once used as a common noun, namely, in this passage משה עמו. The words but the first explanation is preferable are, perhaps, spurious.

Where is he that, etc. Where is he, that brought them up, out of the Red Sea?

את רעה צאנו With the shepherd of his flock. With Moses who was the shepherd of Israel.²⁰

footnotes: ²⁰ The words of the Hebrew text are על משקל משה, which seem to have been written by mistake instead of עם with, the explanation of אֵת. Firstly, it is not correct to say that רֹעֵה is formed after משֶֹה; secondly, if the discrepancy with regard to the vowels be not taken into account, it is unnecessary to make any remarks concerning the formation of the regular construct state רֹעֵה from רֹעֶה. The words על משקל are probably the product of some ingenious copyist, who took עם for the initials of על משקל.

That put within him, that put within Moses, the angel of the Lord, or, that put in the midst of Israel.

His glorious arm: His angel, that went before the camp of Israel (Ex. 14:19)

The deep. The sea.

In the wilderness, which is upon dry land.²¹

footnotes: ²¹ I. E. divides the verse into two sentences, He led them through the deep, and He led them, (to be supplied) in the wilderness, or, in the plain, while, according to others, the verse contains only one sentence, He led them through the deep, as a horse (is safely led) in the wilderness.

As a beast goeth down, etc. After their departure from the sea, God led them through the wilderness as gently as a beast goes down into the valley; thus the spirit of the Lord תניחנו led them that is, Israel;

תניחם═תניחנו. The suffix (ו) of the third person singular may however more accurately be referred to Moses, because of the words which follow, So didst Thou lead Thy people; the prophet speaking both of Moses and the Israelites.

Look down, etc. The prophet repeats here the prayer of the intelligent portion of those referred to in ver. 10.²²

footnotes: ²² And He fought against them, that is, He punished them with exile; the better part of the nation then prayed to the Almighty for relief and deliverance.

מזבול From the habitation. Comp. יזבלני will dwell with me (Gen. 30:21). It is a repetition of the preceding idea in other words.

התאפקו They are restrained at present. Comp. להתאפק to refrain himself (Gen. 45:1)

Thou art our father, and we are Thy children; Thou art a father that is always existing.

Though Abraham be ignorant of us, etc. Abraham is mentioned, as having been the first with whom God made a covenant to be a God unto him and his children; Jacob is also mentioned as the last of the patriarchs, and the founder of our nation exclusively.

יכירָנו Acknowledge us. Comp. יבדילני instead of יבדילֵני hath separated me (56:3)

למה תתענו Why dost thou make us to err.²³ Because God is the highest, first cause of everything, therefore He is mentioned as the cause of this erring. Others take it in a sense similar to that of the Rabbinical phrase לעשות תשובה אין מספיקין בידו he is not permitted to repent (Mishnah Aboth, 5:18).¹ Some are of opinion that this is only the imagination of man;²⁴ others, again, say that this refers to those duties only which we cannot perform during our exile.² the commandments introduced by a formula like When ye be come into the land; the commandments concerning the temple and the service therein.

footnotes: ²³ A. V., Why hast Thou made us to err? It is considered a blasphemy to say of God, that He causes men to sin; the object of the various explanations mentioned by I. E. is, to free the expression from this charge. ¹ This is said of him, who misleads others to sin; he is not permitted to repent, he cannot completely remedy the evil which he has produced. It is easy to mislead, but not so easy to make people, when once misled, understand their error, and return to the right way. The question, Why doest Thou make us to err? is to be explained in a similar way, namely, Why do we find it so difficult to repent, to undo our acts of wickedness? Why doest Thou not make the way of our return unto Thee smooth and easy? ²⁴ People that feel some strong inclination to sin, are easily misled to imagine that God Himself prevents them from improving, and that it is no more in their power to master themselves. According to this explanation, the question Why dost Thou cause us to err? is to be taken literally, and to be considered as the expression of a false opinion widely spread among the people. ² As e.g.,

תקשיח Thou removest.²⁵ Comp. הקשיח He hath removed¹ (Job 39:16).

footnotes: ²⁵ A. V., Thou hast hardened. ¹ A. V., She is hardened. The same translation is to be given according to I. E. on Job.

Thy servants, the patriarchs. The tribes of thine inheritance. The twelve tribes of Israel.²⁶

footnotes: ²⁶ The Hebrew text has השופטים the judges; but there is no reason why the tribes of thine inheritance should be referred to the judges. If the words thy servants refer, as I. E. explains, to the Patriarchs, the expression the tribes of thine inheritance, for whose sake God is implored to return, refers to the twelve sons of Jacob, the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel. השופטים is a corruption of השבטים the tribes, an expression often used in Rabbinical Literature, to signify the twelve sons of Jacob.

למצער A little while.

למצער ידשו עם קדשך The people of thy holiness have possessed the holy land but for a little while, and now the enemies have trodden down, etc. Some explain the verse thus: The people of Thy holiness has been dispossessed (by the enemy) for a small thing, or for a short time,²⁷ and this latter explanation is right.

footnotes: ²⁷ מצער means small or little, and admits of the rendering a little while as well as a little thing.

היינו מעולם וגו' We are like men, over whom Thou hast never ruled.

לוא קרעת שמים Some refer this phrase to the revelation on Mount Sinai, and render it As if Thou hadst not rent the heavens;¹ but it is more correct to take לוּ═לוּא in its usual meaning if; (comp. Ps. 84:13), and to explain the sentence thus: If Thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down, that is, if Thou wouldst send forth Thy decrees, then, the mountains, that is, the kings² who sit in safety, would flow down at Thy presence. נָזֹלּוּ Would flow down. The Dagesh in the ל is caused by the pause;³

footnotes: ¹ To give us Thy commandments. לוּא is, according to this explanation, the same as לא not. Comp. Targum Jonathan: לא להון ארבנת שמיא not for them (for the heathen people) hast thou descended from heaven. ² Kingdoms (מלכות) or nations (גוים) would better correspond with the phrase מפניך גוים ירגזו thus the nations would tremble at Thy presence (64:1), which seems to be the explanation of מפניך הרים נזלו. ³ This Dagesh is called by the Grammarians: euphonic (לתפארת הקריאה); comp. חָדְלֽוּ ═ חָדֵלּֽוּ (Jud. 5:7).

נָזֹלּוּ is in form similar to יָכֹלוּ they could (Ex. 8:14).⁴

footnotes: ⁴ The comparison of נָזֹלּוּ with יָבֹלוּ is only made with regard to the Holem in the second syllable, but not concerning the Dagesh in the third radical, since יָבֹלוּ has no Dagesh.