uct._ and
connected with the following words. We must translate: "And the whole
valley, (viz. the valley of) the carcasses and ashes." The place is,
hence, first designated as "the valley," without any further
qualification, and receives this qualification only afterwards. But it
is just the valley of Hinnom which, in Jer. ii. 23, is [Pg 457]
designated as the valley [Greek: kat' exochen], and the gate leading to
it, as the gate of the valley, in Neh. ii. 13, 15; comp. remarks on
Zech. xi. 13.--In reference to [Hebrew: dwN], _Gousset_ Lex. p. 368,
remarks: "The words [Hebrew: dwN], and [Hebrew: dwN] are used only of
the ashes of the sacrificial animals, and their removal." This
observation is confirmed by every careful examination of the passages
in question. Never are [Hebrew: dwN] and [Hebrew: dwN] used otherwise
than of the ashes of sacrificial animals; comp. Lev. i. 16; vi. 3, 4; 1
Kings xiii. 5; Numb. iv. 13; Exod. xxvii. 3. The derivation of the
signification "ashes," from the fundamental signification "fat," as
advanced by _Winer_ and others (_cinis_ = _pinguefactio agrorum_), is
therefore wrong. On the contrary, even the burnt fat was still
considered as fat; the ashes of the fat are the [Hebrew: warit], the
residuum of the fat. By this determination of the word, the explanation
is very much facilitated. In Lev. vi. 3, 11, it is said: "And he (the
priest, after having offered up the burnt-offering) shall put off his
garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without
the camp into a clean place." According to this regulation, the ashes
of the sacrificial animals were considered as relatively unclean. The
priest had to put off his holy garments, and to put on common garments,
and to carry the ashes without the camp,--afterwards without the Holy
City. Hence, in contrast to the sacrifices themselves, the ashes were
considered as the impure residuum which is found in everything which
men do in relation to God, as the image of sinful contamination
attaching to all, even the best works, and to the holiest elevation of
the heart. If, then, the place where the ashes are deposited is to be
included within the boundaries of the Holy City; is, in holiness, to be
equal to the place where the sacrifices themselves are offered,--what
else can be signified thereby, than that the unholy is to be
overpowered by the holy, the earthly by the divine, by means of a more
glorious communication of the Holy Spirit? It