For promotion... — The Authorised Version has here rightly set aside the pointing of the text, which, as the LXX. and Vulg., reads —
“For not from the east, nor from the west,
Nor from the wilderness of mountains,”
a sentence which has no conclusion. The recurrence also of parts of the verb “to lift up” in Psalms 75:4-5; Psalms 75:7, makes in favour of taking harîm as part of the same verb here, instead of as a noun, “mountains.” That the word midbar (wilderness) might be used for “south,” receives support from Acts 8:26.
Ewald thinks the four points of the compass should be completed by inserting a conjunction, and taking the “desert” and “mountains” to represent respectively the south and north. He then supplies the conclusion of the sentence from the following verse: —
“For neither from east nor west,
Neither from desert nor mountains,
Cometh judgment; but God is Judge.”
This agrees with 1 Samuel 2:10; but it is hardly needful to expect such scientific accuracy as to the points of the compass in Hebrew poetry.