for "clean hands and a pure heart."-11. If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies, saying, "I will prophecy to thee of wine and strong drink," he becomes the prophet of this people] This verse is a later addition as shown by its prosaic form and by its lack of connection with its immediate context. It seems to have been suggested partly by the contents of v. " and partly by the severe terms of v. 1o. In contrast to the denunciatory Micah with his relentless message, a picture of the popular prophets is presented. To them Micah pays his respects in 35.. This rendering of v. " adopts a use of 10 quite common (v. i.) and treats as a case of hendiadys. An alternative rendering for the phrase is "walking in vanity (or emptiness) and falsehood"; for this use of , cf. Is. 4120 Jb. 77 152 Ec. 1. To "walk in a spirit of falsehood" and preach lies is to deceive people deliberately, and is far worse than to deceive unwittingly. The substance of the false teaching is the promise of material prosperity and blessings of the most sensuous character. This is the only thing that will content the populace; they will not listen to the words of the true prophet whose message, however unpalatable, is born of supreme devotion to their highest good. To change to the perfect tense as some do (v. s.) involves either an awkward asyndeton for the verb or else the separation of the phrase between the two verbs thus, "if a man walk in wind and falsely lie, saying, etc." Thep however is redundant as a modifier of 3 and the phrase is much better הולך taken as a unit and modifying 1. For the meaning 'prepare,' 'work out in advance,' reference is had to such passages as Ps. 714 588 Is. 41'. This thought is certainly present in Ps. 583, if the text is sound; but even there the idea of 'planning' is not in the vb. by itself, but is plainly expressed by the phrase 'in the heart' which is attached. The question at issue is whether 'D may have that sense in itself, without such modifying phrase. It is clearly not required in Is. 414, where the two vbs. 'D and лy are more naturally treated as exact equivalents, being rendered 'who hath wrought and done it.' Nor is there any reason in Ps. 71⁄4 for departing from the usual sense; when the psalmist says that Yahweh 'makes his arrows,' he surely does not imply that Yahweh 'devises' or 'plans' them beforehand. -] In the sense of 'strength,' 'power,' is found only in this idiom. Nor can this meaning be definitely connected with the . But the context of the various occurrences of the phrase seems to demand this sense; in all cases save this one gives it this force; likewise and J. The alternative rendering, "their hand is as a god," is quite unnatural when the phrase is negatived and, as Nö. has indicated, would must be אין and יש after ל while the,היתה להם ידם לאל require the Hebrew a genuine dative. Recently, however, this latter view has been revived in somewhat different form. Brockelmann, ZAW. XXVI ('06), 29 ƒfƒ., calls attention to the belief found among many peoples that the various members of the body are tenanted by spirits which control their activities. But such beliefs among American Indians, West Africans and ancient Persians prove nothing for the Hebrews; nor is the Arabs' belief that hunger is due to a serpent in the stomach any more convincing, even though serpents and spirits are frequently identical. Whitehouse, Isaiah (Cent. Bible), II, 344, explains on this same basis the use 'throughout the Mediterranean littoral' of the facsimile of a hand as a 'prophylactic to the depredator or the evil eye'; but surely it is not necessary to limit ourselves to this theory for an explanation of the magic hand. The objections urged above hold good in part against this newer view, while the conception "god of my hand" remains at present without any real Semitic parallel. In any case, if such a concept ever did exist in early Israel, it had long passed out of the consciousness of the people in Old Testament times.-2. N] A bold figure; nowhere else does na occur.-3. ] On adv. use of the subst., cf. Ges. 118 9.-4. NY] The indefinite is often, as here, equiv. to a passive, like German man, French on.-] According to Kö.", the fem. of (so the Vrss., Ry., et al.) and used alongside of the masc. to express indefiniteness; but in Kö. § 309, cited as expressing the superlative idea; cf. Is. 3'. Others, e. g. Ew., Hi., Che., have taken it as Niph. pf. of 7, meaning 'it is done,' either as the title of the dirge, or as its first word, viz. "it is done," will one say, "we are, etc."; but such a use of N is quite abnormal.—7175 '] The dirge rhythm always consists of a longer line followed by a shorter, usually in the proportion 3:2;, however, exactly reverses that order here. On 1, cf. Ges. §67.—] Acc. to, dat. ethicus, Ges. § 119.-2b] 'w apostate, rebel; here of Assyria, and so inappropriate; in Je. 49, of Ammon, which was, like Israel, a descendant of Abraham and thus could properly be charged with having deserted the faith of the fathers; in Je. 3122, of Israel itself. connects it with the preceding as an infin..—5. San πwn] 'n as an obj. of the forces upon the latter a meaning, such as 'stretch' or 'adjust' (van H.), which it does not elsewhere have, nor can it easily assume.—p] is consistent with late origin of the verse, but does not demand it, for 'p occurs in E (Nu. 224), Ju. 203 215. 8 1 S. 1747—all early. Nor is any specific Messianic idea implied in the use of the term (contra Marti); it is a designation applicable to Israel by foreigners (Nu. 221) or to foreigners by Israelites (1 S. 1747). ''p here is synonymous with "the people of Yahweh," or = "the inheritance of Yahweh."-6. NY (IDIUI ID'UN IN] On orig. force of 17, v. ZAW. III, 119. Or. accounts for change from ↳ to is by making Micah begin to reply with ' in the form of a question, "shall one not preach to such as these?". If be retained, the only treatment of 'N is as a positive prohibition by the rich, "they shall not preach such things." For inf. abs. Qal with Hiph. impf. as in emended text, v. Ges. § 113 W.-D] For other cases of vb. in sg. masc. before a fem. pl. subj., Ges. § 145 0; Kö. § 348 1.-On the intensive pl. rn] Kö. $261 ; the change to sg. (Now.) is unnecessary, nor need "na be made the subj. (Marti).-7. ] As it stands, this can be only a Qal pass. prtc., either with the article, or with a interrog. (Ges. $100 a; Kö. § 353 w) with gerundive sense, "is it to be said?" Cf. Kö. § 236 b. 323 ● B. But v. s..-] This indirect question does not propound two alternatives, but rather two phases of the same thought; Ges. § 150 h; Kö. § 363 0.—Dy ] An adv. use of “one walking as the righteous," i. e. righteously. But the order of words is difficult. Jb. 3126, 7b ap2 m2, is not a parallel case, for there n is the main word to which attached as an attendant circumstance, while here the main word is and comes last. Not only so, but the use of the article with is an additional difficulty. Indeed in Jb. 3128 there is no reason for treating p as other than an ordinary adjective and rendering 'a glorious moon as it passed along' Kö. § 332, cites the analogy of the Hâl clause in Arabic, which permits this order when the governing word is a participle as here. On the use of article with and its absence from 1, cf. Wright, Arab. Gram. п. pp. 116 D. 117 B.—8. bionn] This word is without force in this context; Micah is concerned not with the dead past, but the living present.py] It is not unlikely that this is a dittog. of by in the last clause of v. 7, or has been dislodged from its place after ¬ (v. emended text); so Marti, Now.. Such an arrangement yields a smoother sentence here, but is not indispensable.—dn'`] requires 'ny as subject, but as a transitive form it requires also an object which is not forthcoming. Furthermore, the succeeding vbs. are all in 2d pers. pl..―bir] The collocation of four n's is suspicious, as also the unsuitability of this prep.,= from in front of, to the noun ] This designates the ordinary outer garment, while ], to be read na (n being lost before 'on; so BDB.), applies to the mantle, or cloak, worn as an overcoat. But this seems too detailed and petty in the present context.-] On the gen. relation instead of a prep., cf. Kö. § 336 m; on the pass. prtc. denoting a state or quality, cf. Kö. § 235 d. But the harshness of this dπ. idiom seems to call for correction of the text; v. s.. The most serious objection to the emendation 'ay is that in its ordinary sense of 'captives' or 'captivity' it does ,עם שני סוסיכס,419 .But Am .תפשטון not constitute a suitable object for [טָמְאָה .10 .very close to that called for here שני furnishes a use of Some Heb. mss. followed by Baer read Np, i. e. pf. 3d sg. Qal; but this is difficult after aya, whereas the inf. cstr. of A is a normal construction foll. prep.. But smoother sense results from the noun-form app, uncleanness (HWB."), which it is better to follow than to posit the ȧr. An acc. designating the goal or [הלך רוח .11-.(.BDB) טָמְאָה noun sphere of the action, Kö.30, cf. n 'a, Jb. 293; apwa 'n, Je. 231⁄4; 'n py, Pr. 612. There is no need to change the text (v. s.); the idiomatic use of 'walk' as designating a manner of life is common enough to justify. § 5. The Return of the Exiles (212. 13). A later editor, in a single eight-line str., prevailingly trimeter in movement, offsets the announcement of exile made in § 4 by a promise of Israel's return from exile under the protection and leadership of Yahweh. I WILL surely assemble Jacob, all of him; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like a flock in the fold, The breaker will go forth before them; They will break through the gate and go forth thereat; And their king will pass on before them; Yea, Yahweh at their head. This arrangement involves two modifications of M; (1) the omission of the last two words of v. 12 as a gloss, (2) the omission of 127 from v. 13 as a dittograph of ¬ay in the following line. The str. shows a gradual diminution in the length of its lines, from tetrameter through trimeter to dimeter (in the last line only). Marti obtains a ten-line str. by retaining all of and beginning his eighth line with yw notwithstanding its close relation to the preceding vbs. as object. Siev. secures four of his indispensable 'sevens' by omitting n and the last two words of v. 12 and supposing a loss of one foot after ye. The difficulty of establishing any connection between these verses and 21-11 has long been felt. The history of interpretation records various treatments. Among others, it has been interpreted as a continuation of the threatening language of v. 1o, i. e. “I will gather them to destruction, etc."; so e. g. Ki., Ephraem Syrus, Theodoret, Grotius, Tarnovius, Cal., and in recent times van H.. Again, as the teaching of false prophets, either spoken by Micah himself, viz. 'if I prophesy to this people of wine, etc., and say to them, "I will gather, etc."' (so e. g. AE., Mich., Struensee); or as a marginal note by Micah or an early reader representing the contents of false prophecy (so e. g. Ew.); or as an interruption of Micah's utterance by the false prophets themselves (so e. g. Kl., Ro., Or.). But against all three alternatives lies the fatal objection that these verses presuppose the exile as a matter of fact-whereas the popular prophets never admitted the possibility of exile (cf. 3"). Furthermore, the content of the verses is thoroughly in keeping with the teachings of the true prophets of certain periods (v. i.). Another supposition is that, though belonging to Micah, the verses are out of their original connection; so e. g. Ry., Kö. Einl. 327, Dr.; Stei. who places them after 48; Condamin, RB. 1902, who makes them foll. 47. The evidence, however, seems convincing for the exilic or postexilic origin of 212. 13. The total lack of connection and the presupposition of the exile and the dispersion; the lack of any moral or religious prerequisites on Israel's part to the restoration of Yahweh's favour; the use of 'remnant' to designate returning exiles (cf. Gie., Beiträge z. Jesaia-Kritik, 37 f.); and the parall. in phraseology and conception to such late passages as Ho. 2o Is. 111. 5212 Je. 31o, all combine to mark the passage as late (so Sta. ZAW. I, 162 ƒ.; Kue. Einl. II, 359 f.; Cor. 340; Che. in WRS. Proph., XXIII; We.; Now.; Grimm, Lit. App.; Marti; Siev.). Possibly these verses have displaced a more severe ending for the chapter, with which the ¬D) of 31 originally made good connection (so Kue., Now., Grimm). [יעקב = 12. D] shall be gathered, perhaps a free rendering (Ry.).— this people.—7] Rd., with We., ; so Now., OortEm., Marti, Hal., Siev., Gu.; cf. 6 ovv mâow.—DwN] G adds as obj., tǹv åñoσTρophy avтoû (cf. T's similar addition with raps); hence Taylor would insert a] Rd., with Wetzstein (in De. Jesaia3, 705); so Now., OortEm., Marti, Siev., Gu., HWB.15; cf. I in ovili. Σ Θ ἐν ὀχυρώματι. Ο ἐν θλίψει (so); so Dathe, Taylor, van H.. Hal. . Hpt. 33. Against the reading 2, Hpt. makes the point that we should hardly expect ny here, when the equivalent form occurs in Gn. 251 Nu. 311o Ez. 25a Ps. 6926 1 Ch. 639; but cf. the equivalent forms and .—1277] Rd., with Ro., 277, carrying over to foll. word; so Ry., SS., Elh., Pont, Gu., Now., OortEm., Marti, Siev., Hpt.. their lair. I caularum. 2 TÊS ¿phμov; hence Gr., Hal. 1737. Van H. ~277.—awan] Rd. pan; so We., Gr., Now., OortEm., Marti, Hal., Gu.. 6 they shall escape. is TIT 6 [עלה הפרץ .13- מֵאֵרָס .Van H [מאדם-יִתְמָהוּ וְנָדוּ .concealed. Van H διὰ τῆς διακοπῆς 1797 49.—1370] sg.. A omits with remainder of the verse.-1] Om. as dittog. from foll. line; it is tautologous between 1 and 13, and likewise superfluous in the metre.-y] om.. 12. Jacob, all of him. . . the remnant of Israel] By these two terms the whole of the Hebrew people is embraced, the latter phrase probably referring to the survivors of the northern kingdom. The exile and dispersion are here treated not as possibilities, but |
