their sway, but to ignominy." But
every one must at once see how far-fetched this explanation is. In
all history we do not find any instance in which a devastation by
locusts--which affects the produce of one year only, and even this
never completely and throughout the whole country--has reduced a people
to the necessity of placing themselves under the dominion of foreign
nations. Modern interpreters--and especially _Credner_--take refuge in
another explanation: "Give not up Thine heritage to the mockery of
heathens over them." They assert that the signification "to mock" is
required by the parallelism. But we cannot see how, and why. The
ignominy of Israel consisted just in this, that they, the heritage of
the Lord, were brought under the dominion of the Gentiles, It is Just
by the parallelism that the signification "to rule" is required. For it
is the heritage [Pg 317] of the Lord, and the dominion of the Gentiles,
which form a striking contrast, and not their mockery. The very same
contrast is implied in ver. 18, in the words: "Then the Lord was
jealous for His land." In these, the prophet reports the manner in
which the Lord put away that glaring contradiction. They are not
natural locusts, but only the heathen enemies, who can be the objects
of the jealousy of the Lord; _His_ land. _His_ people, He cannot give
up as a prey to heathen nations. But _further_--and this alone is
sufficient to settle the question--the explanation is altogether
unphilological. The verb [Hebrew: mwl] never has the signification "to
mock;" the phrase [Hebrew: mwl mwl], "to form a proverb," is altogether
peculiar to Ezekiel, in whose prophecies it several times occurs. In
the other books, nothing occurs which would be, even in the smallest
degree, to the purpose, except that in the ancient language of the
Pentateuch [Hebrew: mwliM] occurs once, in Num. xxi. 27, in the
signification "poets." The verb [Hebrew: mwl] with [Hebrew: b] means
always, and without exception, "to rule over"--properly, "to rule by
entering into any one." Thus it occurs especially in that passage which
the prophet had in view, Deut. xv. 5, 6: "If thou wait hearken unto the
voice of Jehovah thy God ... thou shalt rule over many nations, and
they shall not rule over thee," [Hebrew: vmwlt bgviM rbiM vbK la
imwlv]. Compare also the verysimilar passages, Ps. cvi. 41: "And He
gave them into the hand of the heathen, and they that hated them ruled
over them," [Hebrew: vimwlv b