he words "in
the air" would be without meaning, as well as the words "in the heart
of the sea" mentioned in reference to the ship. But the real point of
view is expressly stated in ver. 18. It is the _incomprehensible_. It
is thus only that ver. 20, for which the other verses prepare the way,
falls in with the tendency of the whole. In the way of the adulteress,
that which is pointed out is not that it cannot be known, but the moral
incomprehensibility that she, practising great wickedness which is
worthy of death, and will unavoidably bring destruction upon her,
behaves as if there were nothing wrong, as if a permitted enjoyment
were the point in question, that she eats the poisoned bread of
unchaste enjoyment as if it were ordinary bread; comp. ix. 17, xx. 17;
Ps. xiv. 4. Four incomprehensible things in the natural territory are
made use of to illustrate an incomprehensible thing in the ethical
territory. The whole purpose is _to point out the mystery of sin_. In
the case of the _eagle_, it is the boldness of his flight in which the
miraculous consists. The speed and boldness of his flight is elsewhere
also very commonly mentioned as the characteristic of the eagle; it is
just that which makes him the king of birds. In the case of the
_serpent_, the wonder is that, although wanting feet, it yet moves over
the smooth rock which is inaccessible to the proud horse; comp. Amos
vi. 12: "Do horses run upon the rock." In the _ship_, it is the
circumstance that she safely passes over the abyss which, as it would
appear, could not fail to swallow her up. _The way of a man with a
maid_ occupies the last place in order to intimate that [Hebrew: drK],
as in the case of the adulteress, denotes the _spiritual_ way. What is
here meant is the relation of the man to the virgin, _generally_, for
if any _particular_ aspect had been regarded, _e. g._, that of
boldness, cunning, or secrecy, it [Pg 47] ought to have been pointed
at. The way of the man with the maid is the secret of which mention is
made as early as in Gen. ii. 24,--the union of the strong with the weak
and tender (comp. the parallel passage, Jer. xxxi. 22), the secret
attraction which connects with one another the hearts, and at last, the
bodies. The end of the way is marriage. It is the _young_ love which
specially bears the character of the mysterious; after the relation has
been established, it attracts less wonder.--[Hebrew: hrh] is the femin.
of the verbal adj. [Hebrew