rom the whole condition of the Alex.
Version, it is very dangerous to trust to such arguments. The very
reasons which _Keil_ brings forward in support of the addition,
are just those which might have induced the LXX. to make it. The
circumstance that they added to Bethlehem the name Ephratah, plainly
indicates the reason which induced them to introduce Bethlehem
specially. Bethlehem is likewise omitted in the catalogue of the towns
of Judah, in Neh. xi. 25 ff., and can therefore have occupied among
them a very low place only, although it is mentioned in Ezra ii. 21,
Neh. vii. 26. In the New Testament, it is called a mere village
([Greek: kome], John vii. 42). _Josephus_, indeed, occasionally
gives it the title of a town (compare Luke ii. 4, 11); but, in
other passages, he designates it by [Greek: chorion], _Ant._ v. 2,
8.--[Hebrew: ceir lhivt] means properly, "little in reference to
being," instead of, "too little to be,"--the wider expression being
used to indicate the relations of the town to the being, where we use
the more limited expression.--Instead of the "thousands of Judah,"
[Hebrew: wri alpiM] ought to have been employed, as it appears, in
order strictly to maintain the personification. The representative of
Bethlehem is too small to be numbered among the heads of Judah. Several
expositors (_J. D. Michaelis_, _Justi_) have thereby been induced to
point [Hebrew: balpi] instead of [Hebrew: balpi]. But this supposed
emendation is set aside by the consideration that [Hebrew: alvP] is
only the special designation of the Edomitish princes, and occurs in a
general sense, only by way of _Catachresis_, in Zechariah, who lived at
a time when the Hebrew language was nearly extinct. The most simple
explanation is, that the prophet views the thousands, or the families
of Judah, no less than the town Bethlehem, as _ideal_ existences; in
which [Pg 484] case, the personification is maintained throughout.
Moreover, there would not be any insurmountable difficulty in the way
of supposing that the prophet had given up the personification; for
these are frequently not strictly adhered to by the prophets, who
constantly pass from the figure to the thing prefigured. This may be at
once seen from the preceding verse, in the first clause of which, Zion
appears personified as a woman, while immediately afterwards there
follows, "against us."--[Hebrew: alP], "thousand," is frequently used
for designating a family, because the number of