y _Dissertation on Balaam_, p. 593
ff.)[3] It was the less possible to ascribe to the Assyrians an
independent position here, as Joel has to do mainly with Judah, upon
which no judgment of real importance was inflicted by the Assyrians.

Footnote 1: The well ascertained _usus loquendi_ must be here the less
given up, as, in the preceding context, to which this verse carries us
back, we are, it is true, told that the Lord will return and bestow
mercy; but the bringing back of the people is as little spoken of as
the carrying of them away, inasmuch as the express mention of which did
not suit the image of the devastation by locusts.

Footnote 2: [Hebrew: Hlq] means, not "to divide among themselves," but
"to effect a new division," "to apportion the land anew," as, _e.g._,
Asshur distributed the territory of the ten tribes among the Aramean
Colonists, [Hebrew: Hlq] is used of the distribution of the land by
Joshua, in Josh. xiii. 7, xix. 51. In Mic. ii. 4, when the captivity
was impending, the people, in anticipation of it, utter their
lamentation in the words, "He distributes our fields;" compare Ps. lx.
8.

Footnote 3: In the volume containing the "_Dissertations on the
Genuineness of Daniel_, etc.," published by T. and T. Clark.

[Pg 325]

ON CHAPTER II. 23.

"_And, ye sons of Zion, exult and rejoice in Jehovah your God; for He
giveth you the Teacher of righteousness, and then He poureth down upon
you rain, the former rain and the latter rain, for the first time._"

The words, "In Jehovah your God," are an addition peculiar to the sons
of Zion. In reference to the _earth_, which the locusts had devastated,
it was in ver. 21 said only, "Fear not, exult and rejoice." In
reference to the beasts, _i.e._, to the heathen world, which was kept
in subjection by the conquerors of the world, but which is delivered by
the great deeds of the Lord, it is in ver. 22 said only: "Fear not."
They are only the sons of Zion who know and love the Author of
Salvation, and who receive from Him special gifts, besides the general
ones.

There is considerable difference in the interpretations of this verse.
The words, [Hebrew: at-hmvrh lcdqh], are, by the greater number of
interpreters, translated, "The Teacher of righteousness." Thus,
_Jonathan_, the _Vulgate_, _Jarchi_, _Abarbanel_, _Grotius_, and almost
all the interpreters of the early Lutheran Church translate them.
Others take [Hebrew: mvrh] in the