he connection of the two verbs
[Hebrew: wvM] and [Hebrew: ntN] is to be accounted for from the
circumstance, that the pronoun suited the first noun only--the ornament
for the head. It is only when [Hebrew: wvM] is understood in the sense,
"to put upon," or, "to put on," that there is a sufficient reason for
adding [Hebrew: ntN]; but that is not the case when it is taken in the
signification "to grant," "to appoint." [Hebrew: par] "crown," and
[Hebrew: apr] "ashes," are connected with one another, because mourners
were accustomed to strew ashes on their heads. The expression "oil of
joy," which is to be explained from the custom of people anointing
themselves with oil in cases of joy, is taken from Ps. xlv. 8. As the
Messiah there appears as the possessor of the oil of joy, so, here, He
appears as the bestower. In chap. lv. 3, there is [Pg 355] likewise an
allusion to Ps. xlv., and along with it, to Ps. xxii. The "spirit of
heaviness" refers to chap. xlii. 3. The fact that, instead of it, they
receive "garments of praise," intimates that they shall be altogether
clothed with praise, songs of praise for the divine goodness which
manifested itself in them; on the garments as symbols of the condition,
compare remarks on Rev. vii. 14. The "righteousness" which is
appropriate to the spiritual terebinths, is the actual justification,
which the Lord grants to His people at the appearance of the Messiah.
There is in it an allusion to the planting of paradise; God now
prepares for himself a new paradisaical plantation, consisting of
living trees.

[Pg 356]

THE PROPHET ZEPHANIAH.

By the inscription, the Prophet's origin is, in a way rather uncommon,
traced back to his fourth ancestor, Hezekiah,--no doubt the king. He
appeared as a prophet under the reign of Josiah--before the time,
however, at which the reforms of that king had attained their
completion, which took place in the 18th year of his reign--and, hence,
prophesied, like his predecessor Habakkuk, in the view of the Chaldean
catastrophe. The prophecy begins with threatening judgment upon the
sinners, and closes with announcing salvation to the believers,--a
circumstance which proves that it forms one whole. The threatening is
distinguished from that of Habakkuk by the circumstance, that it has
more of a general comprehensive character, and does not, as is done in
Habakkuk, view the Chaldean catastrophe as a particular historical
event