Notes To Chapter IX.
Verse 1. :יהוה עשה חזיזים ומטר גשם
So the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain.
The Hebrew here may be rendered (see Lowth and Parkhurst) lightning instead of bright clouds, and the connexion with rain will then be much more obvious; especially with heavy rain, as the Hebrew word literally signifies, which usually follow lightning. The construction will then be as proposed in the text.
So the Lord causing lightning, shall bring heavy rain, &c.
Verse 3. :על הרעים חרה אפי ועל העתודים אפקוד כי פקד יהוה
Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats, for the Lord, &c.
The apparently indiscriminate use of the past and future tenses, in scriptural and prophetic language, has perplexed the [pg 094] best Hebrew scholars. On the conversive power of the ו, Granville Sharpe's is perhaps the best treatise. In the present case, unless the ו retain that power when disjoined from the verb, there is no reason for rendering the future אפקוד (or דוקפא) as a perfect, or, I punished, instead of I will punish. And, as Mr. Lowth observes, the כי (or יכ) which follows would be more properly rendered But than For, and it will then be—mine anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the goats; But the Lord of Hosts, &c. The shepherds and the goats both signify leaders of the flock.
Verse 4. :ממנו פנה ממנו יתד ממנו קשת מלחמה ממנו יצא כל נוגש יחדו
Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together.
The words corner, nail, and oppressor, must be rather perplexing to the English reader, nor can the Hebrew scholar be certain of the precise meaning of each, though their general import is obvious enough. Thus פנה (or הנפ) corner, signifies in the root to turn, and as the corner stone is a guide to the builder in laying the others, it comes to signify a guide or leader. So יתד (or דתי), a nail, signifies one on whom others depend. And נוגש (or שגונ), an oppressor, like the Greek τυραννος, signifies generally, a prince, as well as a tyrant. Thus these terms are each of them equivalent to a chief or leader.
The verb יצא (or אצי), which follows, may be either past or future, but the latter accords best with the context, as in the proposed translation. Out of him shall come forth the corner-stone, [pg 095] out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every leader together.
Verse 8. אשרקה להם.—I will hiss for them.
The word hiss, does not to the English reader convey the correct meaning here. In many parts of Europe, and, probably, in some of Asia, the common made of call is by a shrill sound, very different from either a hiss or a whistle. In some countries it is effected by pressing the tongue against the teeth with the lips open, and sounding the letters—tsz. In others, it is usual to begin with the lips compressed, and without closing the teeth, thus making the sound of the letters psh—but in both, the sibilant sound predominates, and is heard to a considerable distance, while its peculiarity instantly attracts attention from all that are within hearing; and this is no doubt the sense of the term, as here used. The Hebrew closely resembles, and probably gives the etymology of the English word, shriek. (See Parkhurst.)
Verse 11. :ועבר בים צרה והכה בים גלים
And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves of the sea.
This mode of rendering gives a turn to the sense of the passage, which is wholly uncalled for, if not unwarranted by the original: which would be more literally translated: And affliction shall come over the sea, &c. But the Jew's mode of rendering is equally correct, and better accords with the context, thus: He shall cause trouble to pass in the sea, and shall smite the waves of the sea. The latter expression amplifying and explaining the former.
What is meant by the expressions, the sea, the isles, and the land, is a point of no small importance. In prophetic language, the sea and the isles always signify the western Gentiles, or European nations; while the land signifies Palestine, or the Jewish nation. The Hebrew word ים (or םי) means either the sea or the west. As the sea extends along the whole western coast of Syria, sea and west came to be used synonymously. And as the European nations lay beyond the sea they obtained the name of the isles, or the isles of the Gentiles, as they are called in Gen. x. 5. Mr. Lowth observes, on Isa. xi. 11. “The islands, in the prophetic style, seem particularly to denote the western parts of the world, or the European nations; the west being often called the sea in the Scripture language.”
Thus, “causing affliction, or trouble, to come over the sea,” and “smiting the waves of it,” signify, as the Jew rightly explains, to cause confusion and dismay among the Gentile nations of the west.
Verse 11. :והבישו כל מצולות יאור
And all the deeps of the river shall dry up.
That rivers are meant, in prophetic language, to represent the people residing on their borders, appears in various passages. See Isa, viii. 7. “Now, therefore, behold the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river strong and many, even the king of Assyria and all his glory.” In like manner, the drying up of the Euphrates, is spoken of under the sixth vial in the Revelations, in allusion to the nations bordering upon that river.