in _Arabia Deserta_. We need to think only of that
branch of the Midianites who had gone over to _Arabia Deserta_, whilst
their chief settlement continued in _Arabia Petraea_. But the following
arguments may be adduced _against_ the distinction. 1. Bozrah is
constantly and simply spoken of, without any further distinctive
designation. 2. The Edomitic Bozrah must have been a great and powerful
city, which agrees well with the "mighty ruins" in _Hauran_, but not
with the much more insignificant ruins near _Busseireh_ in _Dshebal_.
3. It is improbable that so important a city as that of Bozrah in
Auranitis should never have been mentioned in Scripture.--But not
satisfied with a double Bozrah, even a third, in Moab, has been assumed
on the ground of Jer. xlviii. 24. But it is certainly strange that
Bozrah, in that passage, is mentioned as the last of all the Moabitish
towns, and that, immediately after its mention, there follow the words,
"Upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near." It may be that
Bozrah was conquered by the Edomites and Moabites in common, or that,
in later times, the latter obtained a kind of possession of the town in
common with the former.

[Pg 440]

CHAP. III.-V.

The discourse opens with new reproofs and threatenings. It is _first_,
in vers. 1-4, directed against the rapacious great, who in ver. 2 are
described as murderers of men (compare Sirach xxxi. 21: "He who taketh
from his neighbour his livelihood, _killeth_ him"), and in ver. 3, as
eaters of men, because they turn to their own advantage the necessaries
of life of which they have robbed the poor. The discourse _then_ passes
over to the false prophets, vers. 5-7. Their character is described as
hypocritical, weak, and selfish, and is incidentally contrasted with
the character of the true prophet, as represented by himself, whose
strength is always renewed by the Spirit of the Lord, and who, in this
strength, serves only truth and righteousness, and holds up their
sins to the people deluded by the false prophets, ver. 8. This the
prophet continues to do in vers. 9-12. The three orders of divinely
called rulers, upon whom the life or death of the Congregation was
depending,--the princes, the priests, and the prophets (compare remarks
on Zech. x. 1),--have become so degenerate, that they are not at all
concerned for the glory of God, but only for their own interest. And
while they have thus inwardly ap