[200]. To have added ‘but perfidious,’ would have made the line too long.
[201]. This seems a combination of two distinct proverbs. The one says that a friend can give more sympathy than a relative; the other, that a neighbour, being on the spot, can give more help than a relative at a distance.
[202]. A humorous picture! Such ostentatious and inopportune salutations are execrable flattery.
[203]. On the conjectural reading, ‘the man of Massa’ (‘Massa,’ instead of ‘the prophecy’), see [Chap. VI.]
[204]. This was the view of St. Jerome, derived of course from his Jewish teacher.
[205]. Pointing lāīthī.
[206]. Reading with Bickell v’lō ūkāl. Another correction of the text is, v’ēkel ‘and have pined away.’
[207]. Q’dōshīm, a word formed on the analogy of elōhīm; comp. ix. 10, Hos. xii. 1.
[208]. It may be objected that ‘hath gone up and come down’ does not suit this explanation, and that, to refer to God, it should run ‘hath come down and gone up.’ But we have ‘angels of Elohim ascending and descending’ in Gen. xxviii. 12; usage, in Hebrew as in English, forbids the phrase ‘to go down and up.’
[209]. ‘More probably;’ because the name of the speaker in viii. 24 has been told.