CHAPTER XII. VERSE 25. They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man. AND HE MAKETH THEM TO STAGGER LIKE A DRUNKEN MAN] Hebrew, vayyathūm kish-shikkor, ‘and causes them to stray like one drunk.' The Lxx. has planeetheieesan de hōsper ho methuōn, and they wander as one drunk.' Some MSS. have planōmenous, 'wandering.' The V. reads, et errare eos faciet quasi ebrios, and he shall make them to wander as if drunk.' So the Syriac. The idea is of going astray rather than of staggering-the mental confusion which misleads, rather than the physical unsteadiness produced by indulgence in strong liquor. For the latter condition the Hebrew is rahäl. CHAPTER XV. VERSE 33. He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive. HE SHALL SHAKE OFF HIS UNRIPE GRAPE AS THE VINE] Hebrew, yakhmos kag-gephen bisro, 'he shall shake off as the vine his sour bunch (of grapes)'—from būser or boser, a collective noun used to describe 'sour grapes.' Lxx., truge theiee de hōs omphax pro hūras, 'he shall be gathered as an unripe grape before (its) hour.' V., lædetur quasi vinea in primo flore botrus ejus, he shall be broken (or blasted) as a vine in the first flower of its grape-cluster.' CHAPTER XXII. VERSE 7. Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast with-holden bread from the hungry. To withhold water from the thirsty (Hebrew, ah-iph = languishing), was and is regarded in the East as an act of monstrous inhumanity. It is one of the thirty-two 'charities' of the Hindoos to have water ready for the weary traveler to drink. Persons in England who give to the thirsty or weary workman beer, or other intoxicating liquor, are unconsciously doing evil instead of good: first, by presenting that which increases thirst; and secondly, by creating a desire for stimulants which leads to a waste of wages and to much domestic suffering. If other drinks besides water are offered, let them be free from the power of injuring the recipient, either in body or mind. CHAPTER XXIV. VERSE 6. They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked. AND THEY GATHER THE VINTAGE OF THE WICKED] Hebrew, vè-kerem rahshah yelaqqashu, 'and the vineyard of the wicked one they glean' [or gather the late fruits of ]. The margin of the A. V. has 'the wicked gather the vintage.' The Lxx. has adunatoi ampelūnas asebōn amisthi kai asiti eirgasanto, 'the feeble cultivate unpaid and unfed, the vineyards of the unjust.' The V. reads, et vineam ejus quem vi oppresserint, vindemiant, ‘and they gather the vintage of his vineyard whom by force they have oppressed.' CHAPTER XXIV. VERSE II. Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst. AND TREAD THEIR WINEPRESSES, AND SUFFER THIRST] Hebrew, yikahvim dahrkuvay-yitzmahu, and tread their wine-presses and thirst.' The Lxx. has nothing resembling this verse. The V. rendering is inter acervos eorum meridiati sunt, qui cakatis torcularibus sitiunt, among their heaps those who thirst take a noonday rest, the wine-presses having been trodden.'* CHAPTER XXIV. VERSE 18. He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards. HE BEHOLDETH NOT THE WAY OF THE VINEYARDS] Hebrew, lo yiphneh derek kerahmim, he turns not to [= looks not towards] the way of the vineyards.' The Lxx. strangely gives the whole verse thus:-"Swift is (their path) upon the face of water; accursed shall be their portion upon earth, and their fruits upon the land (shall be) withered in their arm, for they have robbed orphans." ↑ The V. translates the last clause nec ambulet per viam vinearum, 'nor shall he walk along the path of the vineyards'; the T., 'and he shall not look to the footpath of the vineyards.' The Syriac and Arabic connect the last two clauses in this form,-accursed will be their portion in the earth in the way of the vineyards.' Assuming the integrity of the Hebrew text, the meaning will be, either that the rapacious will shun the publicity of the vineyard path, or (more likely) disdain the honest labor of those who go to and from the vineyard as the sphere of their daily toil. CHAPTER XXXII. VERSE 19. Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles. The Hebrew reads, hinna vitni kè-yayin lo yip-pahthäakh ; ke-ovoth khadahshim yibbahqāa, ‘behold, my belly like wine has no vent; like new bottles it is rent.' •Prof. Renan translates, "Ils expriment l'huile dans les celliers de leur spoliateur, † Prof. Renan translates, "Ils sont comme un corps leger sur la surface de l'eau, Ils ne prennent jamais le chemin des vignes ;" adding this note,-"That is to say, it always brings unhappiness to the life of populations that are passing from the condition of Bedouin plunder to the state of agricultural and sedentary tribes." The Lxx. has hee de gasteer mou hōsper askos gleukous zeōn [Codex A, gemōn] dedemenos; hee hōsper phuseeteer chalkeōs errheegūs [Codex A, chalkeōs dedemenos kai katerrheegas], “but my belly (is) glowing [Codex A, loaded] as a fastened-up skin-bottle of sweet wine; as the bellows of the brazier when it has burst [Codex A, as the bellows of the brazier when it has been fastened up has burst]." Symmachus's version of the last clause is preserved—hōs oinos neos adiapneustos, ‘as new wine without ventilation.' The V. gives en venter meus quasi mustum absque spiraculo quod lagunculas novas disrumpit, ‘behold, my belly is as new wine without a vent, which bursts asunder new vessels.' The T. has behold, my belly is as new wine [khamar khadath] which has not a vent, and it is burst [as] new vessels.' The Hebrew yayin, here used for grape-juice while passing into fermentation, is explained by the Lxx. as gleukos, by Symmachus as oinos neos, by the Targum as khamar khadath, and by the V. as mustum. The passage illustrates the explosive power of this juice when set fermenting.* This potency is due to the carbonic acid gas generated by the act of fermentation, which will burst the strongest vessels (whether skin, or wood iron-bound) in which it happens to be foolishly confined. The analogy drawn is between agitation of mind and the fermentation of yayin; unless 'a vent' is allowed, the safety of the body in the one case and of the bottle in the other is endangered. He was bursting to speak,' is a phrase not uncommon to our vernacular. This text is often most erroneously compared with Matt. ix. 17. Elihu refers to wine that had been put, after it had been partially fermented, into new bottles made air-tight, through carelessness or from ignorance of the state of the wine; whereas Christ refers contrastively to wine put into new bottles before fermentation, in order to prevent the wine from fermenting and the bottle from being burst. The traditional interpretation makes the Saviour contradict Elihu by affirming that wine could ferment in new bottles, closed up, without endangering the bottles! [See Note on Matt. ix. 17.] There is no commendation expressed, but the contrary. It is an abnormal-state compared with an abnormal-process. THE BOOK OF PSALMS. PSALM IV. VERSE 7. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. The Hebrew stands, nahthatah simkhah_bě-libi maäth dègahnam vě-tirosham · rahbu, “thou has put gladness (or cheer) in my heart from [or, more than when] their corn and their vine-fruit abounded." The L.xx. has edōkas euphrosuneen eis teen kardian; apo karpou sitou kai oinou kai elaiou autōn epleethuntheesan, "thou hast put gladness into the heart; by the fruit of their corn and wine and oil they have been satisfied." So Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion. The V., which in the Book of Psalms follows the old Italic version, reads, dedisti lætitiam in corde meo; a fructu frumenti, vini, et olei sui multiplicati sunt, “thou has given glad. ness into my heart; by the fruit of their corn, wine, and oil they have been multiplied." The Lxx. and V. agree in adding 'oil' to the list of earthly blessings which cheer the heart of man, and in separating the verse into two distinct clauses. Origen puts a circle round oil' in his Hexapla to indicate that it was not extant in the Hebrew MSS. of his day. The compound particle maäth (min, 'from,' and ath, with') is somewhat ambiguous, but the fact that all the Greek versions and the Vulgate have 'by the fruit of,' makes it likely that their MSS. may have read ma-abbai ("UND) instead of ma-ath (ND). The words as written in the Hebrew characters bear, as will be seen, a close resemblance. In the Song of Solomon, vi. 11, N is translated in the A. V. 'the fruit of,' though Gesenius suggests 'greenness of.' It is, however, conjectured (Migne's Cursus Patrologia) that apo kairou, 'from the time of,' became changed by the transcribers in mistake into apo karpou, 'from the fruit of.' St Jerome has 'in the time their corn and their wine were multiplied.' St Augustine has à tempore, 'from the time.' The sense afforded by the A. V. is in harmony with the spirit of the context, which seeks to enforce the supreme excellency of the Divine favor. The increase of corn and vinefruit is a subject of lawful congratulation with all men; but while the ungodly derive their chief enjoyment from these fruits of the earth, mellowed and multiplied by the light of the sun, a richer treasure of felicity is the portion of the man, however poor, whose heart is the recipient of the light of God's countenance. PSALM X. VERSES 9, 10. 9 He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net. 10 He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones. Language could scarcely be conceived more graphically descriptive of the course pursued by those who carry on the traffic in intoxicating liquors, regardless of the miseries produced. They may be acquitted of any malicious intention to murder and rob; but the knowledge of what is produced by their daily business, and the artifices (including venal testimonies and advertisements) employed to extend it by drawing the poor and thoughtless into its meshes, must leave them without excuse, according to any standard of moral responsibility that can be applied to human conduct. Very grievous is it that a sense of this responsibility should be deadened through the license granted by the law to deal in the strong ones'; and the Christian patriot is bound to free himself from all complicity with such legislation, by means of earnest protests against it, and by no less earnest efforts to confer power upon the people to protect themselves against this system of wholesale destruction. All men who take upon themselves the Christian name should see that their daily practice and business will not bring them under Job's description-'Those that rebel against the light' (xxiv. 13). PSALM XVI. VERSE 4. Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. THEIR DRINK OFFERINGS OF BLOOD WILL I NOT OFFER] Hebrew, bal assik niskāihem mid-dahm, 'I will not pour out their libations (outpourings) from blood.' The Lxx. has mee sunagōga tas sunagōgas autōn ex haimatōn, ‘I will by no means assemble their assemblies of blood (lit. bloods).' The V. gives precisely the same sense, non congregabo conventicula eorum de sanguinibus. The Syriac is identical with the A. V. The T. represents God as the speaker-'I will not receive with satisfaction their libations, nor their offering of blood.' One of the forms of that cruelty which filled the dark places of the earth' consisted in pouring out the blood of human victims to the gods who were adored; and such libations were sometimes converted into vows in times of personal or public exigency. Similar customs characterize modern paganism. Dupuis men. tions, in his Journey in Ashantee,' that he saw the king gather the blood of a human victim into a vessel, drink one half, and offer the other to his idol. PSALM XVI. VERSE 5. The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. AND OF MY CUP] Hebrew, vě-kosi, 'and my cup.' [See Note on Gen. xl. 11.] |