phora -in Galilee. .Hi!lerus {}: takes. it to be the same
with Parah, mentioned with Ophrah, in Josh. xviii. 23.
so called from its ornafnent, neatness, beauty, and ele-
gance, as both words signify, to which the prophet al-
ludes.: now every one of the inhabitants of this place
are called upon to prepare to go into captivity to Ba-
bylon; which would certainly be their case, though
they dwelled in fine buildings, neat houses, and streets
well paved. In the margin it is, thou that dwellest
fjairly ø; which some understand of Samaria; others of
udea; and particularly Jerusalem, beautifully situated,
yet should go into captivity: having thy shame naked;
.their city dismantled, their houses plundered, and they
stripped of their garments, and the shame of their na-
kedness discovered; which must be the more distress-
ing to beautiful persons, that have dressed neatly, and
lived in handsome well-built houses, and elegantly fur-
nished, and now all the reverse. The inhabitant of
Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of Beth-ezel ; or
house of Azel, where the posterity of Azel, of the tribe
of Benjamin, dwelt. Hillerus {p} suspects it to be the
same with Moza, Josh. xviii. 26. so called from Moza,
the great-grandfather of Azel, I Chron. viii. 37, 38.
Capellus takes it to be the same with Azel in Zech.
xiv. 5. This place being taken and plundered by the
enemy occasioned great mourning among the inhabit-
ants: and it seems to have been taken first, before
Zaanan; perhaps the same with Zenan, Josh. xv. 37.
and is here read Sennan by Aquila; the inhabitants of
which did not come forth, in which there is an allusion
to its name {q}, either to help them in their distress, or
to condole. them; they being in fear of the enemy
themselves, and in arms in their own defence, expect-
ing it would be their turn next, and .that they should
share the same fate with them. Some think that un-
der the name of. Beth-ezel is meant Beth-el; and of
Zaanan, Zion; and that the sense is, that when Beth-el,
Samaria, and the ten tribes, were in distress, they of
Zion and Judea did not come to give them any relief;
and when they were carried captive did not mourn
with them, were not affected with their case, nor trou-
bled themselves about them. He shall receive of him
his standing: either the enemy, as R. Joseph Kimchi,
shall receive of the inhabitants of Zaanan his standing;
that is, he shall make them dearly pay for stopping
him, for making him stand and stay so long before their
city ere he could take it; for all his loss of time, men,
and money, in- besieging -it; by demolishing their
city, plundering their honses, and carrying them cap-
tive; who remained he put to death by the sword.
Aben Ezra interprets the word receive of doctrine or
learning, as in Prov. iv. 2. and renders it, he shalllearn;
either Beth-ezel, or rather Zaanan, shall learn, by the
case of Beth-ez. el, and other neighbouring places, what
would be his own case, whether he should stand or fall.
Ver. 12. For the inhabitant of Maroth .waited carefully
for good, &c.] . Or, though they waited for good {r} ; ex-
pected to have it, yet the reverse befell .them: or verily
they were grieved for good {s}; for the good things they
had lost, or were likely to lose; and which they had
no more hope of, when they saw Jerusalem in distress.
Grotius thinks, by transposition of letters, Ramoth is
intended by Maroth, or the many Ramahs which were
in Judah and Benjamin; but Hillcrust is of opinion
that Jarmuth is meant, a city of Judah, Josh. xv. 35.
the word Maroth signifies bitterness; see Ruth i. 20.
and, according to others, rough places; and may design
the inhabitants of such places that were in great bitter-
ness and trouble because of the invasion of the enemy,
who before that had promised themselves good things,
and lived in the expectation of them: but evil came
down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem; meaning
the Assyrian army under Sennacherib, which came
into the land of Judea by the order, direction, and pro-
vidence of God, .like an overflowing flood; which
spread itself over the land, and reached to the very
gates of Jerusalem, which was besieged by it, and
threatened with destruction: or because evilcame down,
&c.; that is, because of that, the inhabitants of Maroth
grieved, or were in pain, as a woman in travail.
Vet. 13. O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the cha-
riot to the swift beast, &c.] Horses, camels, drome-
daries.', or mules. Some {u} render the word swift horse
or horses, post-horses; others dromedaries {w}; and
some mules {x} the two-latter seem more especially to
be meant, either dromedaries, as the word is translated
in 1 Kings iv. 28. which is a very swift creature: Isidore
says {y} the dromedary is on.e sort of camels, of a lesser
stature, yet swifter, from whence it has its name, and
is used to go more than a hundred miles a day; this
is thought to be what the Jews {z} call a flying camel;
which the gloss says is a sort of camels that are as
Swift in rUnping as a bird that flies; they are lighter
made th'an a camel, and go at a much greater rate;
whereas a camel goe.s at the rate of ten leagues a day,
the dromedary will perform a journey of forty leagues
in a day; they make use of them in the Indies for
goin'g post, and expresses frequently perform a journey
of eight hundred miles upon them in the space of a
week {a}: this may serve the better to illustrate Jet. ii.
23. and improve the note there: but whether these
were used in chariots I don't find; only Bothart {b} takes
notice of a kind of camel, that has, like the dromedary,
two bunches on its back, which the Arabians call
chet, and put to chariots: or else mules are meant, for
by comparing the above text in 1 Kings iv. 28, with
2 Chron. ix. 24, it looks as if mules were there intended;
and so the word here used is rendered in Esth. viii. 10,,
14. and by their being there said to be used for posts to
ride on expresses, it up. pears to be a swift creature.
AElianus {} makes mention ofmuleS in India of a red co-
lour, very famous for running; and mules were used

{n} Onomast. Sacr. p. 925.
{o} \^rypv tbvy\^ habitans pulchre, Montanus; habitatrix elegantis
loci, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
{p} Ibid. p. 516, 951.
{q} \^Nnau\^ from \^auy\^. Vid. Vulg. Lat. vers.
{r} \^yk\^ quamvis.
{s} \^bwjl hlx yk\^ certe doluit propter bonum, Vatablus; siquidem do-
luit, Pagninus, Montanus; quia doluit propter bonum, Burkius.
{t} Onomast. p. 87. 951.
{u} \^vkrl\^ ad equos velocissimos, Pagninus; equo veloci, Montanus;
angariis sc. equis, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
{w} Dromadibus, Vatablus. So E|ias.
{x} Mulis, so some in Piscator; ad mulum celerem, Burkius.
{y} Origin. l. 12. c. 1. p. 102.
{z} T. Bab. Maccot, fol. 5. 1.
{a} See Harris's Voyages and Travels, vol. I. p. 469.
{b} Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 4. col. 87.
{c} De Animal. ll. 16. c. 9.