number of cities. On the words: "Who speak the
language of Canaan," _Gesenius_ remarks: "With the spreading of a
certain religion resting on certain documents of revelation, as _e.g._
the Jewish religion, the knowledge of their language, too, must be
connected." We must not, of course, limit the thought to this, that
Hebrew was learned wherever the religion of Jehovah spread. When
viewed more deeply, the language of Canaan is spoken by all those
who are converted to the true God. Upon the Greek language, _e.g._
the character of the language of Canaan has been impressed in the
New Testament. That language which, from primeval times, has been
developed in the service of the Spirit, imparts its character to the
languages of the world, and changes their character in their deepest
foundation.--"To swear to the Lord" is to do Him homage; Michaelis:
_Juramento se Domino obstringent_; comp. chap. xlv. 23: "Unto me every
knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." In the words: "City of
destruction," [Hebrew: hrs], one shall be called, there is contained an
allusion to [Hebrew: qir hrs], "_city of the Sun_" (Heliopolis) which
was peculiar to one of the chief seats of Egyptian idolatry. It is the
celebrated _On_ or _Bethshemish_ of which Jeremiah prophesies in chap.
xliii. 13: "And he (Nebuchadnezzar) breaketh the pillars in Beth-
shemish, that is in the land of Egypt, and the houses of the gods of
Egypt he burneth with fire." This allusion was perceived as early as by
_Jonathan_, who thus paraphrases: "_Urbs domus solis quae destruetur._"
By this allusion it is intimated that salvation cannot be bestowed upon
the Gentile world in the state in which it is; that punitive justice
must prepare the way for salvation: that everywhere the destructive
activity of God must precede that which builds up; that the way to the
Kingdom of God passes through the fire of tribulation which must
consume every thing that is opposed to God; compare that which Micah,
even in reference to the covenant-people, says regarding the necessity
of taking, before giving can have place, vol. i., p. 517.

[Pg 144]

Ver. 19. "_In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst
of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord._"

That the altar is to be considered as a "monument" only is a
supposition altogether far-fetched, and which can the less find any
support in the isolated case, Josh. xxii., that that account clearly
enough