ephahs, and a lethech was the half of
an homer. We have thus fifteen pieces of silver, and also fifteen
ephahs; and the supposition is very probable that, at that time, an
ephah of barley cost a shekel,--the more so, as according to 2 Kings
vii. 1, 16, 18, in the time of a declining famine, and only relative
cheapness, two-thirds of an ephah of barley cost a shekel. We are
unable [Pg 196] to say with certainty, why one-half was paid in money,
and the other half in natural productions; but a reason certainly
exists, as no other feature is without significance. Perhaps it was
determined by custom, that the sum by which servants were purchased was
paid after this manner. The lowness of their condition was thereby
indicated; for barley, _vile hordeum_, was, in all antiquity, very
little esteemed. Upon this estimate of it was based its use at the
jealousy offering (Num. v. 11 seqq.; compare _Baehr's Symb._ ii. S.
445), and the symbolical use of the barley-bread in Judg. vii. 13. The
statement of the sum leads us, involuntarily, to think of slaves or
servants. It is the same sum which was commonly given for a
man-servant, or a maid-servant, as is expressly mentioned in Exod. xxi.
32; compare the remarks on Zech. xi. 12. And this opinion is confirmed
by the use of [Hebrew: vakrh]. The ears of a servant who was bound to
his master to _perpetual_ obedience, were bored; compare Exod. xxxi. 5,
6; Deut. xv. 17, where it is added: "And also unto thy maid-servant
thou shalt do likewise." In conformity with the custom of omitting the
special members of the body, in expressions frequently occurring, it is
said simply "to bore." The meaning then is: I made her my slave. It was
not a free woman, then, whom the prophet desired in marriage, but a
servant, whom he was obliged, previous to marriage, to redeem from
servitude; who was therefore under a double obligation to him, and over
whom he had a double claim. The reference to the thing to be typified
is quite apparent. It was not a free, independent people whom the Lord
chose, but a people whom He was obliged first to redeem from vile
servitude, before He entered into a nearer relation to them. This
redemption appears, throughout, as a ransoming from the house of
bondage,--and the wonderful dealings of the Lord, as the price which He
paid. Compare, _e.g._, Deut. vii. 8: "But because the Lord loved you,
and because He kept His oath which He had sworn to your fathers, He has
brought you out