ner_, [Hebrew: cdq] signifies "rectitude" in
a physical sense, is Ps. xxiii. 3: [Hebrew: megli cdq] which, according
to him, means: "Straight, right ways." But that verse runs thus: "He
restoreth my soul, He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His
name's sake." The path is a spiritual one; it is righteousness itself,
which consists in the actual declaration of being just, and in
justification, which are implied in the gift of salvation. With regard
to [Hebrew: cdqh], _Holzhausen_ (S. 120) maintains that it is used of a
measure which has its due size in Lev. xix. 35, 36. The words are
these: "Ye shall not do _unrighteousness_ in judgment, in measure, in
division. Balances of righteousness, weights of righteousness, ephas of
righteousness, shall ye have: I am the Lord your God who brought you
out of the land of Egypt." Even the contrast--so evident--with the
_unrighteousness_, shows distinctly that balances, measures, and
weights of righteousness are here such as belong to righteousness--are
in harmony with it. Even the root [Hebrew: cdq] never occurs in a
physical sense, but always, only in a moral sense. To this it must be
added, that the explanation, "Teacher of righteousness," [Pg 327] is
recommended by the parallel passage in Hos. x. 12, where, also,
teaching occurs in connection with righteousness: [Hebrew: vivrh cdq
lsM], "And the Lord will come and teach you righteousness." This
parallel passage is also opposed to _Ewald's_ explanation, "for
justification,"--the only explanation among those mentioned to which,
it must be admitted, no philological objection can be raised. But the
thought, "The early rain an actual justification of Israel," would be
rather strange, and so much the more so, because the wrath of God had
not manifested itself in a drought and want of water, but rather in the
sending of the army of locusts.

2. That the giving of the [Hebrew: mvrh], in the first hemistich of the
verse, must denote a divine blessing different from the giving of the
[Hebrew: mvrh] in the second, is evident for this reason:--that,
otherwise, there would arise a somewhat meaningless tautology. They who
assigned to [Hebrew: mvrh] in the first hemistich, the signification of
"rain in general," have felt how very unsuitable is the twofold mention
of the early rain. To this must be added the use of the _Fut._ with
_Vav convers._, [Hebrew: vivrd]. By this form, an action is denoted
which _follows_ from the preceding one