i. 10.--[Hebrew: mnd], the _Partic.
Hoph._ of [Hebrew: nvd], "thrust out," "put to flight" (compare Ps.
xxxvi. 12), cannot be applied to the thorns, but only to the men. _Like
thorns_, _i.e._, so that they become like thorns, of which the land is
cleared. _For not will any one take them into his hands_--_Michaelis_:
_Intractabiles sunt._

Ver. 7. "_And if any one toucheth them, he is filled with iron, and the
staff of a spear; and they shall be utterly burnt with fire where they
dwell._"

The two members of vers. 6 and 7 stand in an inverted relation to each
other. In ver. 6, we have, first, the punishment described, and then
their hostile nature, by which the punishment was called forth. In ver.
7, we have, first, the cause, and then the consequence. The thought in
the first member is: every touch of them bears a hostile character.
_Iron_--instead of weapons fabricated of iron; comp. 1 Sam. xvii. 7;
Job xx. 24, xli. 19 compared with vers. 18, 20; Jer. xv. 12. [Pg 159]
[Hebrew: bwbt], literally, "in the dwelling" (compare Ps. xxiii. 6,
xxvii. 4; Deut. xxx. 20) instead of "where they dwell," shows that in
their own borders they shall be visited and overtaken by retribution.
[Hebrew: bwbt] cannot have the signification, "without delay," ascribed
to it by _Thenius_.

Footnote 1: [Hebrew: tHt], "below," "beneath," "under," is often used
adverbially, _e.g._ Gen. xlix. 25. [Hebrew: el], in the signification
"on high," occurs also in Hosea xi. 7,--less certainly in Hos. vii. 16.
For, according to 2 Chron. xxx. 9, that passage may be explained; "they
return, not _to_," _i.e._, there is the mere commencement of
conversion, but not the attainment of the end. On [Hebrew: hvqM] Deut.
xxviii. 36 is to be compared.

THE SONG OF SOLOMON.

An important link in the chain of the Messianic hopes is formed by the
Song of Solomon. It is intimately associated with Ps. lxxii., which was
written by Solomon, and represents the Messiah as the Prince of Peace,
imperfectly prefigured by Solomon as His type. As in this Psalm, so
also in the Song of Solomon, the coming of the Messiah forms the
subject throughout, and He is introduced there under the name of
Solomon, the Peaceful One. His coming shall be preceded by severe
afflictions, represented under the emblems of the scorching heat of the
sun, of winter, of rain, of dark nights, and of the desert. Connected
with this coming is the reception of the h