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It is afterwards added that the king sent men, even Elnathan, the chief of the legation, with others. (175) There is no doubt but that Jehoiakim sent to the king of Egypt and complained that a turbulent man had fled, and that he asked him to deliver him up as a fugitive. So then he was brought back, not through power, but through a nefarious compact, for he was betrayed by the king of Egypt.
It is singular that in one MS. the word מרגלים, searchers, spies, is found instead of מצרים, rendered often Egypt, though it comes from a root which means to bind close, to environ, to beset; and so as a hyphil participle it would be besetters, or catchers — in modern language, bumbailiffs, which is a corruption for bound bailiffs. This meaning would exactly suit the passage, “Then the king Jehoiakim sent men, catchers, with Elnathan the son of Achbor, even these men with him into Egypt.” — Ed
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