The Expositor's Bible: The Book of the Twelve Prophets, Vol. 1 / Commonly Called the Minor

by George Adam Smith

[820] Which is precisely how Herod's Samaria lies at the present day.

[821] So Ewald.

[822] It must be kept in mind that all the verbs in the above passage may as correctly be given in the future tense; in that case the passage will be dated just before the fall of Samaria, in 722-1, instead of just after.

[823] בנות יענה, that is, the ostriches: cf. Arab, wa'ana, "white, barren ground." The Arabs call the ostrich "father of the desert: abu sahârâ."

[824] LXX.

[825] Isa. x. 28 ff.

[826] It is well put by Robertson Smith's Prophets², pp. 289 ff.

[827] iii. 12.

[828] LXX. ἐν Ἀκειμ; Heb. "weep not at all."

[829] לְֽעַפְרָה cannot be the Ophrah, עָפְרָה, of Benjamin. It may be connected with עֹפֶר, a gazelle; and it is to be noted that S. of Beit-Jibrin there is a wady now called El-Ghufr, the corresponding Arabic word. But, as stated in the text above, the name ought to be one of a Philistine town.