e full depth of its meaning was no more thought of. This new
city is no more to be called simply the city of the Lord; it is truly
to be built to the Lord, so that it belongs to Him.--In the first two
points of the boundary, the tower of Hananeel and the Corner-gate, the
second main idea of the passage does not yet come out so prominently.
This is to be accounted for simply by the circumstance, that on the
whole North side of the town there was not any unholy places. The
Suffix in [Hebrew: ngdv] refers to the Corner-gate; the measuring line,
[Hebrew: qvh] according to the _Kethibh_, [Hebrew: qv hmdh], which is
the common form, according to the _Keri_, goes yet farther over against
it, &c. By the words "over against," it is intimated that it now goes
beyond the former dimensions of the town. [Hebrew: el] "over" (_Hitzig_
erroneously translates it "towards," or "by the side of it"), shows
that the hill Gareb is included within the circumference of the new
city. From the remarks formerly made, it appears that the hill Gareb,
and Goah, places which are nowhere else mentioned, must have been
situated on the West side; and, moreover, Gareb on the North-west [Pg
451] side[5] and Goah on the South-west side, [Hebrew: grb] has no
other signification than "the leper;" and "the hill of the leper" can
be the hill only, where the lepers had their abode. For, as early as in
the second year after the Exodus from Egypt, these lepers were obliged
to remain without the camp (comp. Numb. v. 3: "Without the camp shall
ye send them, and not shall they defile their camp in the midst whereof
I dwell"); and this law was so strictly enforced, that even Moses'
sister was removed out of the camp. When they had come to Canaan, the
provisions of the law in reference to the camp were transferred to the
towns; comp. farther Lev. xiii. 46: "All the days that he has the
leprosy, he shall be defiled; he shall dwell alone, without the camp
shall his habitation be;" Luke xvii. 12. Even Uzziah could not be
released from it; he lived without the city in Beth Chofshith, 2 Kings
xv. 5, which is commonly translated "house of the sick," instead of
"house of emancipation," viz., place where they lived, whom the Lord
had manumitted, who no more belonged to His servants; compare remarks
on Psa. lxxxviii. 6. Even in the kingdom of Israel they were so strict
in the execution of this Mosaic ordinance (one from among the
numberless proofs which are opposed to the curren