Commentary on the Holy Bible

01. XLViii. 1. cheeks: ' among all her lovers ''^R^'^Rorifanr'' ^ s^^ hath nonc to comfort her: cir. annum 29. j^]] j^gj. friends have dealt treacherousl}" with her, they are become her enemies.

3 s Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and '' because of great servitude: " she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.

4 The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are

virgins are afflicted, and she is 01. XLViii. i.

5 Her adversaries ''are the c"'- annum 29.

' chief, her enemies prosper; for the Lord hath j afflicted her ' for the multitude of her trans-! gressions: her " children are gone into captivity before the enemy.

6 And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become ke harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer.

All these show that it was the ancient opinion that the Book of Lamentations was composed, not over the death of Josiah, but on account of the desolations of Israel and Jerusalem.

The Arabic copies the Scptuagint. The Syriac does not acknowledge it; and the Chaldee has these words only: " Jeremiah the great priest and prophet said."

Verse 1. Hoio doth the city sit solitary] Sitting down, with the elbow on the knee, and the head supported by the hand, without any company, unless an oppressor near, — all these were signs of mourning and distress. The coin struck by ^'espasian on the capture of Jerusalem, on the obverse of which there is a. palmtree, the emblem of Judea, and under it a woman, the emblem of Jerusalem, sitting, leaning as before described, wdth the legend Judea capta, illustrates this expression as well as that in Isa. xlvii. 1. See the note on Isa. iii. 26, where the subject is farther explained.

Become as a toidorv] Having lost her king. Cities are commonly described as the mothers of their inhahilants, the /iings as husbands, and the princes as chtldren. When therefore they are bereaved of these, they are represented as widows, and childless.

The Hindoo widow, as well as the Jewish, is considered the most destitute and wretched of all human beings. She has her hair cut short, throws off all ornaments, eats the coarsest food, fasts often, and is all but an outcast in the family of her late husband.

Is she become tributary.'] Having no longer the political form of a nation; and the remnant that is left naying tribute to a foreign and heathen conqueror.

Verse 2. Amo7ig all her lovers] Her allies; her friends, instead of helping her, have helped her ene mies. Several who sought her friendship when she was in prosperity, in the time of David and Solomon, are now among her enemies.

Verse 3. Between the straits.] She has been brought into such difficulties, that it was impossible for her to escape. Has this any reference to the circumstances in which Zedekiah and the princes of Judah endeavoured to escape from Jerusalem, by the way of the gates betiveen the two icalls? Jer. Iii. 7.

Verse 4. The ways of Zion do mourn] A fine prosopopoeia. The ways in which the people trod coming to tlie sacied solemnities, being now no longer frequented, are represented as shedding tears; and the gates themselves partake of the general distress. AU poets of eminence among the Greeks and Romans have recourse to this image. So Moschus, in his Epitaph on Bion, ver. 1—3: —

Kai voraixoi xkamiTS tov 'ifj.epos-jra Biwva.

" Ye winds, with grief your waving summits bow, Ye Dorian fountains, munnur as ye flow; From weeping urns your copious sorrows shed. And bid the rivers mourn for Bion dead. Ye shady groves, in robes of sable hue. Bewail, ye plants, in pearly drops of dew; Ye drooping flowers, diffuse a languid breath. And die with sorrow, at sweet Bion's death."

Te neraus Anguitia?, vitrea te Fucinus unda Te liquidi flevere lacus.

" For thee, wide echoing, sighed th' Anguitian woods; For thee, in murmurs, wept thy native floods."

Non uUi pastos illis egere diehus

Frigida, Daphni, boves ad flumina: nulla neque

amnem Libavit quadrupes, nee graminis attigit herbam. Dapluii, tuum Poenos etiam ingemuisse leones Interitum, montesque feri, sylvaeque loquuntur. " The swains forgot their sheep, nor near the brink Of running waters brought their herds to drink: The thirsty cattle of themselves abstained From water, and their grassy fare disdained. The death of Daphnis woods and hills deplore; The Libyan lions hear, and hearing roar."

Verse 5. Her adversaries are the chief] They have now supreme dominion over the whole land.

"^B^c'^Tr 588^' ^ Jenisalcm remembered in 01. XLviii. i. the days of her affliction and of

R. Roman.. Iicr nuseries all " her pleasant '•""""""' ^°- things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths.

8 " Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she " is removed: all that lionoiured her despise her, because i they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.

9 Her fihhiness is in her.skirts; she ' remembereth not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: ^ she had no comforter. 0 Lord, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself.

10 The adversary hath spread out his hand upon ' all her " pleasant things: for she iiath seen that 'the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom thou didst command that "' they ehould not enter into thy congregation.

1 1 All her people sigh, ^ they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat -'■ to relieve the soul: see, 0 Lord, and consider; for I am become vile.

12 ^ Is it nothing to you, all ye that ^ pass

Verse 7. Did mock at her Sabbaths.] DilSiyD 7nishballeha. Some conten-t that Sabbaths are not intended here. The Septuaginl has xaroixsiia nvrn;, " her habitation;" the Chaldee, NPl^lD ^>' al tubaha, " her good thing.s;" the Syriac, oi;r>Z ii al toboroh, " her breach." The Vu'gate and Arabic agree with the Hebrew. Some of my oldest MS.S. have the word in the plural number, n'H^S'O mishbalteyha, " her Sabbaths." A multitude of KennicolCs MSS. have the same reading. The Jews were despised bj^ the heathen for keeping the Sabbath. Juvenal mocks them on that account: — cui septima quaeque fuit lux

Ignava et partem vitse non attigit uUam. Sat. v. " To whom every seventh day was a blank, and formed not any part of their life." St. Augustine represents Seneca as doing the same: — Inutiliter id eos facere afBrmans, quod septimani ferme partem aetatis suie perdent vacando, et multa in tempore urgentia non agendo lasdantur. " That they lost the seventh part of their life in keeping their.Sabbaths; and injured themselves by abstaining from the performance of many nece.s.sary things in such times." He did not consider that the Roman calendar and customs gave them many more idle days than God had pre- any sorrow like unto my sorrow, oi. XLViii. i.

which IS done unto me, where- r Roman., with the Lord hath afflicted me ""' """""' "^- in the day of his fierce anger.

13 From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevailelh against them: he hath "= spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: lie hath made me desolate and faint all the day.

14 ^ The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall, the Lord hath delivered me into their hands, from wliom I am not able to rise up.

15 The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in tlie midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men: ' the Lord hath trodden ^ the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a wine-press.

1 6 For these things I weep; s mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because •^ the comforter that should ' relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.

y Or, to malte the sinU to come again. ^ Or, It is nothing.

scribed in Sabbaths to the Jews. The Sabbath is a most wise and beneficent ordinance.

Verse 9. She remembcrcth not her last end] Although evident marks of her pollution appeared about her, and the land was defiled by her sinfulness even to its utmost borders, she had no thought or consideration of what must be the consequence of all this at the last. — Blaijney.

A'erse 11. They have given their pleasant things] Jerusalem is compared to a woman brought into great straits, who parts with her jewels and trinkets in order to purchase by them the necessaries of life.

Averse 13. Is it nothing to you, al! ye that pass by?] The desolations and distress brought upon this city and its inhabitants had scarcely any parallel. Excessive abuse of God's accumulated mercies calls for singular and exemplary punishment.

A'erse 14. The yoke of my transgressions] I am now tied and bound by the chain of my sins; and it is so ivreathr:d, so doubled and twisted round me, that I cannot free myself A fine representation of the miseries of a penitent sold, which feels that nothing but the pitifulness of God's mercy can loose it.

Verse 15. Called an assembly] The Chaldean.army, composed of various nations, which God commissioned to destroy Jerusalem.

A. M. cir. 3416. 17 ii Zion spreadetli forth her oi.XLvm. 1. hands, and ^ there is none to "^RTom™'"' comfort her: the Lord hath com- cii. annum 29. jjianded Concerning Jacob, that his adversaries should he round about him: Jerusalem is as amenstruous woman among them.

18 The Lord is ""righteous; for I have "rebelled against his "commandment: hear, I praj' you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into

19 1 called for my lovers, hut p they deceived me: my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, ■• while they sought their meat to relieve theu- souls.

Verse 17. Zion spreadeth forth her hands] Extending the hands is the form in supplication.

Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman] To whom none dared to approach, either to help or comfort, because of the law, I^ev. xv. 19-27.

Verse 20. Abroad the sivord lereaveth] War is through the country; and at home death; the pestilence and famine rage in the city; calamity in every shape is fallen upon me.

Virgil represents the calamities of Troy under the same image: —

- Nee soli poenas dant sanguine Teucri:

Quondam etiam victis redit in prscordia virtus; Victoresque cadunt Danai. Crudelis ubique Luctus, ubique Pavor, et plunma mortis imago. jEneid. lib. ii. 366.

" Not only Trojans fall; but, in their turn.

The vanquished triumph, and the victors mourn.

Ours take new courage from despair and night;

Confused the fortune is, confused the fight.

All parts resound with tumults, plaints, s.Di fears;

And grisly death in sundry shapes appears."

Drtden. So Milton — ' Despair

Tended the sick, busiest from couch to couch;

And over them triumphant Death his dart

Death is come up into our vrindows:

He hath entered our palaces,

troubled: mine heart is turned r. Roman., within me; for I have grievously "^•»"""°'29- rebelled: ' abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death.

2 1 They have heard that I sigh: ' there is none to comfort me: all mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that thou hast done it: thou wilt bring " the day that thou hast '' called, and they shall be like unto me.

22 ■" Let all their wickedness come before thee; and do unto them, as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions: for my sighs are many, and ^ my heart is faint.

To cut off the infants without. And the young men in our streets.

Mors graditur, vasto pandens cava guttura rictu, Casuroque inhians populo.

" Death stalks along, and opens his hideous throat to gulp down the people."

Verse 21. They have heard that I sigh] My affliction is public enough; but no one comes to comfort me.

They are glad that thou hast done it] On the contrary, they exult in my misery; and they see that thou hast done what they were incapable of performing.

Thou wilt bring the day that thou hast called, and they shall be like unto me.] Babylon.shall be visited in her turn; and thy judgments poured out upon her shall equal her state with my own. See the last six chapters of the preceding prophecy for the accomplishment of this prediction.

A'erse 22. Let all their leichedness come before thee] That is. Thou wilt call their crimes also into remem brance; and thou wilt do unto them by siege, sword, famine, and captivity, what thou hast done to me. Though thy judgments, because of thy long-suffering, are slow; yet, because of thy righteousness, they are sure.

For my sighs are many] My desolations continue; and my heart is faint — my political and physical strength almost totally destroyed.

Imprecations in the sacred writings are generally to be understood as declarative of the evils they indicate; or, that such evils ■will take place. No prophet of God ever wished desolation on tho»« against whom he was directed to prophesy.

exult over her affliction.

B. c. cir. smV JJOW hath the Lord covered oi. XLViii. 1. the daughter of Zion with a

R. Roman., cloud in his anger, '^ and cast cir. annum ^Q-^y^^ fpojjj heaven unto the earth ''the beauty of Israel, and remembered not " his footstool in the day of his anger!

2 The LoHD hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, ^ and hath not pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath " brought them dowi to the ground: f he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof.

3 He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the Horn of Israel: she hath thawn back his right hand from before the enemy, "^ and he burned against Jacob hke a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.

4 ' He hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew "^ all ' that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he ' poured out his fury like fire. I

5 "> The Lord was as an enemy: he hath

Verse 1. How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud] The women in the eastern countries wear veils, and often very costly ones. Here, Zion is represented as being veiled by the hand of God's judgment. And what is the veil? A dark cloud, by which she is entirely obscured.

Instead of 'jnx Adonai, lord, twcnty-four of Dr Kenmcotfs MSS., and some of the most ancient of my own, read niH' Yehovah, Lord, as in ver. 2.

The beauty of Israel] His Temple.

HU footstool] The ark of the covenant, often so caUed. The rendering of mv old M.S. Bible is cu nous:—?Ciib rctorb not of W litil jStcsins.^tole of W feet, m tlie bai of W tooobnc^Sjje. To be wood signifies, in our ancient language, to be mad.

Verse 2. The Lord hath swallowed tip] It is a strange figure when thus applied: but Jehovah is here represented as having swallowed down Jerusalem and aU the cities and fortifications in the land: that IS, he has permitted them to be destroyed. See 1

6 And he hath violently ° taken away his " tabernacle, i as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: ' the Lord hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in. Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.

7 The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath ^ given up mto the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; ' they have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast.

8 The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: " he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from 'destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together.

Strength. It is a metaphor taken from cattle, whose principal strength lies in their horns.

Hath drawn back his right hand] He did not support us when our enemies came against us.

A'^erse 4. He hath bent his bmv — he stood with his right hand] This is the attitude of the archer. He first bends his bow; then sets his arrow upon the string, and, lastly, placing his right hand on the lower end of the arrow, m connexion with the string, takes his aim, and prepares to let fly.

A'erse 6. As if it were of a garden] " As it were the garden of his own hedging." — Blayney.

The Lord hath caused the solemn feasts] Bv delivering us up into the hands of the enemy our religious worship is not only suspended, but all Divine ordinances are destroyed.

Verse 7. They have made a noise in the house of the Lord] Instead of the silver trumpets of the sanctuary, nothing but the sounds of warlike instruments are to be heard.

Verse 8. He hath stretched out a line] The line of devastation; marking what was to be pulled down and demolished.

llie enemies of Jerusalem LAMENTATIONS.

01. XLViii. 1. ground; he hath destroyed and r! Roman., broken her bars: ^ her knig cir. annum 29. gj.,jj j^g^ princes are among the Gentiles: ^the law is no 7nore; her ^ prophets also find no vision from the Lord.

1 0 The elders of the daughter of Zion ^ sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have '' cast up dust upon their heads; they have '' girded themselves with sackcloth: the vu-ginl^ of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

11'' Mine eyes do fail with tears, ' my bowels are troubled, ' my liver is poured upon the earth, for tlie destruction of the daughter of my people; because s the children and the sucklings ^ swoon in the streets of the city.

12 They say.0 their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom.

13 What thing shall I take to witness for thee? ' what thing shall I liken to thee, 0 daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, 0 virgin

exult over her affliction.

Verse 9. Her gates are stmk into the ground] The consequence of their being long thrown down and neglected. From this it appears that the captivity had already lasted a considerable time.

Her king and her princes are among the Gentiles] Zedekiah and many of the princes were then prisoners m Babylon, another proof that the captivity had endured some time; unless all this be spoken prophetically, of what should be done.

Keep silenci'] No words can express their sorrows; small gi-iefs are eloquent, great ones dumb.

Verse 12. When their soul was poured out into their mothers'' hosom.] \^^len, in endeavoirring to draw nourishment from the breasts of their exhausted mothers, they breathed their last in their bosoms! How dreadfully afflicting was this!

Verse 13. What thing shall I take] Or, rather, as Dr. Blayney, " What shall I urge to thee?" How shall I comfort thee I

Thy breach is great like the sea] Thou hast a flood 01 ifflictions, a sea of troubles, an ocean of miseries.

daughter of Zion? for thy breach ^-^ is great like the sea heal thee?

14 Thy ''prophets vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not ' discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment.

15"" All that pass " by ° clap their hands at thee; they hiss ' and v^ag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, sarjing. Is this the city that 7jien call i The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?

16 'All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, ^We have swallowed her up: certainly tliis is the day that we looked for; we have found, ' we have seen it.

17 The Lord hath done that which he had " devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: ' he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused thine enemy to ""rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn of thine adversaries.

18 Their heart cried unto the Lord, O

They did not reprove for sin; they flattered them in their transgressions; and instead of turning away thy captivity, by turning thee from thy sins, they have pretended visions of good in thy favour, and false burdens for thy enemies.

Verse 16. The perfection of beauty] This probably only applied to the temple. Jerusalem never was a fine or splendid city; but the temple was most assuredly the most splendid budding in the world.

Verse 16. This is the day that we looked for] Jerusalem was the envy of the surrounding nations: they longed for its destruction, and rejoiced when it took place.

Verse 17. The Lord hath done that] This and the sixteenth verse should be interchanged, to follow the order of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet; as the sixteenth has 3 phe for its acrostic letter, and the seventeenth has J' ain, which shovdd piecede the other in the order of the alphabet.

Verse 18. O wall of the daughter of Zion] iT3in irs r\2 chomath bath tsiyon, wall of the daughter of Zion. These words are probably those of the passengers, who appear to be affected by the desolations of the land; and they address the people, and urge them to plead with God day and night for their restoration. But what is the meaning of wall of the daughter of

01. XLViii. 1.)• let tears run down like a river

R Roman., day and night: give thyselt no

1 9 Arise, ^ cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watclies " pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, * that faint for hunger ° in the top of every street.

20 Behold, O Lord, and consider to whom thou hast done this. ^ Shall the women eat their fruit, and children " of a span long?

Zion? I answer, I do not know. It is certainly harsh to say, " O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down Uke a river day and night." Zion's ways may lament, and her streets mourn; but how the walls can be said to toeep is not so ea,sy to be understood, because there is no parallel for it. One of my most ancient MSS. omits the tliree words; and in it the text stands thus: " Their heart cried unto the Lord, Let tears run down like a river day and night; give thyself no rest," &c.

Let not the apple of thine eye cease.] ">' j13 bath ayin means either the pupil of the eye, or the tears. Tears are the produce of the eye, and are here elegantly termed the daughter of the eye. Let not thy tears cease. But with what propriety can we say to the apple or pupil of the eye, Do not cease? Tears are most certainly meant.

Verse 19. Arise, cry out in the night] This seems to refer to Jerusalem besieged. Ye who keep the night watches, pour out your hearts before the Lord, instead of calling the time of night, &c.; or, when you call it, send up a fervent prayer to God for the safety and relief of the place.

Verse 90. Consider to whom thou hast done this.] Perhaps the best sense of this difficult verse is this: •' Thou art our Father, we are thy children; wit thou destroy thy own off.ipring? Was it ever heard that a mother devoured her own child, a helpless infant of a span longi" That it was foretold that there should be such distress in the siege, — that mothers should be obliged to eat their own children, is evident enough from Lev. xxvi. 29; Deut. xxviii. 53, 56, 57; but the former view of the subject seems the most natural, and is best supported by the context. The priest and the prophet are slain; the young and old lie on the ground in the streets; the virgins and young men are fallen by the sword. " Thou hast slain them in the phet be slain in the sanctuary oi. XLviii. i.

21 s The young and the old _! lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; •> thou hast killed, and no. pitied.

22 Thou hast called as in a solemn day " my terrors round about, so that in the day of the Lord's anger none escaped nor remained: '' those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.

day of thine anger; Thou hast killed, and not pitied." See chap. iv. 10.

Verse 22. Thou hast called as in a solemn day] It is by thy influence alone that so many enemies are called together at one time; and they have so hemmed us in that none could escape, and none remained unslain or uncaptjvated. Perhaps the figure is the collecting of the people in Jerusalem on one of the solemn annual festivals., God has called terrors together to feast on Jerusalem, similar to the convocation of the people from all parts of the land to one of those annual festivals. The indiscriminate slaughter of young and old, priest and prophet, all ranks and conditions, may be illustrated by the following verses from Ltican, which appear as if a translation of the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first verses of this chapter: —

Nobilitas cum plebe perit; lateque vagatur Ensis, et a mdlo revocatum est pectore ferrum. Stat cruor in Templis; multaque rubentia csede Lubrica saxa madent. NuUi sua profuit aetas. Non senes extremum piguit vergentibus annis Praecipitasse diem; nee primo in limine vita, Infanti miseri nascentia rumpere fata.

" With what a slide devouring slaughter passed. And swept promiscuous orders in her haste; O'er noble and plebeian ranged the sword. Nor pity nor remorse one pause afford! The sliding streets with blood were clotted o'er. And sacred temples stood in pools of gore. The ruthless steel, impatient of delay, Forbade the sire to linger out his day: It struck the bending father to the earth. And cropped the wailing infant at its birth."

oi.XLViii. 1. affliction by the rod of his

TAe prophet, by enumerating his oiun severe trials, 1-20, and showing his trust in God, 21, encourages nis people to the like resignation and trust in the Divine and never-failing mercy, 22-27. He vindicates the goodness of God in all his dispensations, and the unreasonableness of murmuring under them, 28-39. He recommends self-examination and repentance; and then, from their experience °of former deliverance's from God, encourages them to look for pardon for their sins, and retribution to their enemies, 40-66.

With hewn stone, he hath made oi. XLViii. i. my paths crooked. ''TZ!:^f'

10 f He was unto me as a bear "^- '^''""' ^^- lying in wait, a7id as a lion in secret places.

1 1 He hath turned aside my ways, and e pulled me in pieces: he hath made me de solate.

1 2 He hath bent bis bow, and '' set me as a mark for the arrow.

1 3 He hath caused ' the ^ arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.

14 1 was a ' derision to all my people; and " their song all the day.

15" He hath filled me with ° bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood. 16 He hath also broken my teeth Pwith

me into darkness, but not into light.

3 Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.

4 "My flesh and my sldn hath he made old; he hath '' broken my bones.

5 He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travel.

6 <= He hath set me in dark places, as they that he dead of old.

7 "^ He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.

8 Also " when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.

Verse I. / am the man that hath seen affliction] Either the prophet speaks here of himself, or he is personating his miserable countrymen. This and other passages in this poem have been applied to Jesus Christ's passion; but, in my opinion, without any foundation.

Verse 2. He hath — brought me into darkness] In the sacred writings, darkness is often taken for calamity; light, for prosperity.

Verse 5. He hath bmlded against me] Perhaps there Is a reference here to the mounds and ramparts raised by the Chaldeans in order to take the city.

Verse 7. He hath hedged me about] This also may refer to the lines drawn round the city during the siege. But these and similar expressions in the following verses may be merely metaphorical, to point out their straitened, oppressed, and distressed state.

Verse 9. He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone] He has put insuperable obstacles in my way; and confounded all my projects of deliverance, and all my expectations of prosperity.

Verse 19. He hath bent his boiv, and set me as a mark for the arrow.] One might conjecture that the following thought in the Toozek i Teemour was borrowed from this; —

"One addressed the caliph Aaly, and said, 'If the ieavens were a bow, and the earth the cord thereof; if calamities were arrows, man the butt for those arrows; and the holy blessed God the unerrina: marks- 40S man; where could the sons of Adam flee for succour V The caliph replied, ' The children of Adam must flee unto the Lord.' " This was the state of poor Jerusalem. It seemed as a butt for all God's arrows; and each arrow of calamity entered into the soul, for God was the unerring marksman.

Verse 13. The arrows of his quiver] iniJiyN ':3 beney ashpatho, " The sons of his quiver." The issue or effect; the subject, adjunct, or accident, or produce of a tiling, is frequently denominated its son or child. So arrows that issue from a quiver are here termed the sons of the quiver.

Verse 15. He hath filled me with bitterness] □'"inM bimrorim, with bitternesses, bitter upon bitter.

He tialh made me drunken icith ivormwood.] I have drunlc the cup of misery till I ain intoxicated with it. Ahnost in all countries, and in all languages, bitterness is a metaphor to express trouble and affliction. The reason is, there is nothing more disagreeable to the taste than the one; and nothing more distressing to the mind than the other. An Arabic poet, Amralkeis, one of the writers of the Moallakat, terms a man grievously afflicted ii&ia. gj'j a pounder of wormwood.

Verse 16. He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones] What a figure to express disgust, pain, and the consequent incapacity of taking food for the support of life; a man, instead of bread, being obliged to eat small pebbles, till all his teeth are bi-oken to pieces by endeavouring to grind them. One can scarcely

God's fatherly compassion for the distressed penitents.

17 And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat "■ prosperity.

18 ^And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord:

1 9 ' Remembering mine affliction and my misery, " the wormwood ajid the galh

20 My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is " humbled in me.

22 ^It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

23 Thei/ are new '' every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

read this description without feeling the toothache. The next figure is not less expressive.

He hath covered me with ashes.'] 13N3 'Jty'SZin hichphishani beepher, " he hath plunged me into the dust." To be thrown into a mass or bed of perfect dust, where the eyes are blinded by it, the ears stopped, and the mouth and lungs filled at the very first attempt to respire after having been tlirown into it — what a horrible idea of suffocation and drowning '. One can scarcely read this without feeling a suppression of breath, or a stricture upon the lungs! Did ever man paint sorrow like this man 1

Verse 17. Thou ha^t removed my soul] Prosperity is at such an utter distance from me, that it is impossible I should ever reach it; and as to happiness, I have forgotten whether I have ever tasted of it.

Verse 18. And my hope] That first, that last support of the miserable — it is gone! it is perished! The sovereign God alone can revive it.

Verse 20. My soul — is humbled in me.] It is evident that in the preceding verses there is a bitterness of complaint against the bitterness of adversity, that is not becoming to man when under the chastising hand of God; and, while indulging this feeling, all hope fled. Here we find a different feeling; he humbles himself under the mighty hand of God, and then his hope revives, ver. 21.

Verse 22. It is of the Lord's mercies that rve are not consumed] Being thus humbled, and seeing himself and his sinfulness in a proper point of view, he finds that God, instead of dealing with him in judgment, has dealt with him in mercy; and that though the affliction was excessive, yet it was less than his iniquity deserved. If, indeed, any sinner be kept out of hell, it is because God's compassion faileth not.

Verse 23. They are new every morning] Day and night proclaim the mercy and compassion of God. Who could exist throughout the day, if there were not a continual superintending Providence! \Mio could

25 The Lord is good unto ""■ """"^ -^- them that "wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.

26 It is good that a man should both hope '' and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.

27 "It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

28 '^ He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.

29 ' He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.

30 "^He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth iiim: he is filled full with reproach.

31!=' For the Lord will not cast off for ever:

be preserved in the night, if the Watclunan of Israel ever slumbered or slept 1

Verse 26. It is good that a man should both hope] Hope is essentially necessary to faith; he that hopes not, cannot believe; if there be no expectation, there can be no confidence. When a man hopes for salvation, he should not only wait for it, but use every means that may lead to it; for hope cannot live, if there be no exercise. If hope become impatient, faith will be impossible: for who can believe for his salvation when his mind is agitated? He must therefore quietly ivait. He must expect, and yet be dumb, as the words imply; ever feeling his utter unwo-rthiness; and, without murmuring, struggle into life.

Verse 27. That he bear the yolte in his youth.] Early habits, when good, are invaluable. Early discipline is equally so. He who has not got under wholesome restraint in youth will never make a useful man, a good man, nor a happy man.

Verse 28. He sitteth alone] He has learned that necessary lesson of independence, that shows him how he is to serve himself; to give no trouble to others; and keep his troubles, as far as possible, in his own bosom.

If so be there may he hope.] Because there is room for hope.

Verse 30. He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth] He has that love that is not provoked. He is not quarrelsome, nor apt to resent injuries; he suffers long and is kind. Or, it may be rendered, " let him give his cheek."

He is filled full loiih reproach] Though all this take place, yet let his " trust be in God, who will not cast off for ever." God wdl take his part, and bring him safely through all hardships.

01. XLviii. j'. yet will he have compassion ac-

TarquinUPrisci, cordiiig to the multitude of his

33 For ^ he doth not afflict ' will grieve the children of men.

34 To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,

35 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of '' the Most High,

36 To subvert a man in his cause, 'the Lord " approveth not.

37 Who is he " that saith, and it cometh to pasS; ivhen the Lord commanded it not?

38 Out of the mouth of the Most High proceedeth not " evil and good?

39 P Wherefore doth a living man i complain, "■ a man for the punishment of his sins?

ancient MSS. has niD' Yehovah. The above verse is quoted in reference to our Lord's passion, by Matt, sxvi. 62.

Verse 33. For he doth not afflict ivillingly] It is no pleasure to God to afflict men. He takes no delight in our pain and misery: yet, like a tender and intelligent parent, he uses the rod; not to gratify himself, but to profit and save us.

Verse 34. To crush under his feet'] He can neither gain credit nor pleasure in trampling upon those who are already bound, and in suffering; such he knows to be the state of man here below. From which it most assuredly follows, that God never afflicts us but for our good, nor chastises but that we may be partakers of his holiness.

All the prisoners of the earth] By the prisoners of the earth, or land. Dr. Blayney understands those insolvent debtors who were put in prison, and there obliged to w-ork out the debt. Yet this is mercy in comparison with those who put them in prison, and keep them there, when they know that it is impossible, from the state of the laws, to lessen the debt by their confinement.

In verses 34, 35, and 36, certain acts of tyranny, malice, and injustice are specified, which men often indulge themselves in the practice of towards one another, but which the Divine goodness is far from countenancing or approving by any simUar conduct. — Rlayney.

Verse 35. To turn aside the right of a man] To 'nake a man lose his right, because one of the higher orders opposes him. Dr. Blayney thinks that [I'Sj; elyon, instead of being referred to God, should be considered as pointing out one of the chief of the people. I do not see that we gain any thing by this. The evil fact is, turning aside the right of a man; and the aggravation of it is, doing it before the face of the Most ways, and turn again to the oi. XLvm. i.

41 ^Let US lift up our heart "'■ »"""■" 29- with our hands unto God in the heavens.

42 ' We have transgressed and have rebelled • thou hast not pardoned.

43 Thou hast covered with anger, and per secuted us: " thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.

44 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, ' that our prayer should not pass through.

45 Thou hast made us as the " offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.

46 "All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.

47 5" Fear and a snare is come upon us, ^ desolation and destruction.

High; that is, in a court of justice, where God is ever considered to be present.

Verse 36. To subvert a man in his cause] To prevent his having justice done him in a lawsuit, &c., by undue interference, as by suborning false witnesses, or exerting any kind of influence in opposition to truth and right. — Blayney.

The Lord approveth not.] Instead of 'JIN Adonai. seventeen MSS., of Kennicott's, and one ancient of my own, have Din' Yehovah. Approveth not, nsi NT lo raah, doth not see, turns away his face from it, abhors it.

Verse 39. Wherefore doth a living man complain] He who has his life still lent to him has small cause of complaint. How great soever his affliction may be, he is still alive; therefore, he may seek and find mercy unto eternal life. Of this, death would deprive him; therefore let not a living man complain.

Verse 40. Let us search] How are we to get the pardon of our sins? The prophet tells us: 1. Let us examine ourselves. 9. " Let us turn again to the Lord." 3. " Let us lift up our heart;" let us make fervent prayer and supplication for mercy. 4. " Let us lift up our hand;" let us solemnly promise to be his, and bind ourselves in a covenant to be the Lord's only: so much lifting up the hand to God implies. Or, let us put our heart on our hand, and offer it to God; so some have translated this clause. 5. " We have transgressed;" let our confession of sin be fervent and sincere. 6. And to us who profess Christianity it may be added, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as having died for thee; and thou shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Verses 46, 47, 48, beginning with 3 phe, should, as to the order of the alphabet, follow 49, 50, 51, which begin with i" ain, which in its grammatical position precedes the former.

48 " Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my

49 ^ Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, witliout any intermission.

50 Till the Lord "= look down, and behold from heaven.

51 Mine eye affecteth ■'mine heart "because of all the daughters of my city.

52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, ^ without cause.

53 They have cut off my life ^ in the dungeon, and '^ cast a stone upon me.

55 'I called upon thy name, 0 Lord, out of the low dungeon.

56 " Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.

57 Thou "drewest near in the day that I

Verse 5 1. Mine eye affecteth mine heart] What I see I feel. I see nothing but misery; and I feel, in consequence, nothing but pain. There have been various translations of the original: but they all amount to this.

The daughters of my city.] The villages about

Verse 52. Mine enemies chased me] From this to the end of the chapter the prophet speaks of his own personal sufferings, and especially of those which he endured in the dungeon. See Jer. sxxviii. 6, &c.

Verse 56. Hide not thine ear at my breathing] He dared not even to complain, nor to cry, nor to pray aloud: he was obliged to whisper his prayer to God. It was only a breathing.

Verse 57. Fear not.] How powerful is this word when spoken by the Spirit of the Lord to a disconsolate heart. To every mourner we may say, on the authority of God, Fear not! God will plead thy cause, and redeem thy soul.

Verse 60. Thou hast seen — all their imaginations] Every thing is open to the eye of God. Distressed soul 1 though thou knowest not what thy enemies meditate against thee; yet he who loves thee does, and will infallibly defeat all their plots, and save thee.

Verse 65. Give thcni sorrow of heart] They shall have a callous heart, covered with obstinacy, and thy execration. The former is their state, the latter their pleads with God. thou saidst, ■* called upon thee Fear not.

58 O Lord, thou hast ° pleaded the causes of my soul; p thou hast redeemed my life.

59 0 Lord, thou hast seen my wrong: ■i judge thou my cause.

60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their "■ imaginations against me.

61 Thou hast heard their reproach, 0 Lord and all their imaginations against me;

62 The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.

63 Behold their ' sitting down, and their rising up; *• I am their music.

64 " Render unto them a recompense, O Lord, according to the work of their hands.

65 Give them " sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.

66 Persecute and destroy them in anger ^ from under the " heavens of the Lord.

fate. This is the consequence of their hardening their hearts from thy fear. Blayney translates, " Thou wilt give with a hearty concordance thy curse unto them." That is. Thou wilt give it to them freely, and without reserve; intimating that God felt no longer any bowels of compassion for them. Formerly he inflicted punishments with reluctance, while there was any hope of amendment: but, in the instance before us, the case was so hopeless, that God acts according to the simple principle of vindictive justice. The prophet therefore considers them on the utmost verge of final reprobation: another plunge, and they are lost for ever.

A'erse 66. Persecute and destroy them] Thou wilt pursue them with destruction. These are all declara tory, not imprecatory.

From under the heavens of the Lord.] This verse seems to allude to the Chaldaic prediction, in Jer. x. 11. By their conduct they will bring on themselves the curse denounced against their enemies.

The Scptuagint and Vulgate seem to have read " From under heaven, O Jehovah:" and the Syriac reads, " Thy heavens, O Jehovah!" None of these makes any material change in the meaning of the words.

It has already been noticed in the introduction, that this chapter contains a triple acrostic, three lines always beginning with the same letter; so that the Hebrew alphabet is thrice repeated in this chapter, twenty-two multiplied by three being equal to sixty-six.

The apostasy and punishment LAMENTATIONS.

of the priests and people.

The present deplorable state of the nation is now contrasted with its ancient prosperity, 1-12; and the ■unhappy change ascribed, in a great degree, to the profligacy of the priests and prophets, 13—16. The national calamities are tenderly lamented, 17-20. The ruin of the Edomiles also, who had insulted the Jews in their distress, is ironically predicted, 21. See Psa. cxxxvii. 7, and Obadiah 10-12. 3"'Ae chapter closes with a gracious promise of deliverance from the Babylonish captivity, 22.

oi. XLViii. 1. how is the most fine gold

2 The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed ^ as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!

3 Even the ' sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, •^ like the ostriches in the wilderness.

4 ' The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth

Verse 1. How is the gold become dim] The prophet contrasts, in various affecting instances, the wretched circumstances of tlie Jewish nation, with the flourishing state of their affairs in former times. Here they are compared to gold, DHT zahab, native gold from the mine, which, contrary to its nature, is become dim, is tarnished; and even the fine, the sterling gold, DHD kethem, that which was stamped to make it current, is changed or adulterated, so as to be no longer passable. This might be applied to the temple, but particularly to the fallen priests and apostate prophets.

The stones of the sanctuary] W\'r> 'J3N abney Tiodesh, the holi/ stones; the Jewish godly men, who were even then the living stones of which God built his Church.

Comparable to fine gold] Who were of the pure standard of holiness; holy, because God who called them is holy; but now esteemed no better than earthen pitchers — vessels of dishonour in comparison of what they once were.

Verse 3. Even the sea monsters draw out the breast] The tohales give suck to their young ones. The word pjn tannin, signifies all large and cruel creatures, whether aquatic or terrestrial; and need not here be restrained to the/o/-mpr sort. My Old MS. Bible translates curiously: 23ot mio the cruel be^tijj that ben tlepiii %amvih anij tljei n.iitcbcn tljct tcti;sf, gcbc tljet tohclpi^ ^sJouHen,

Like the ostriches vi the wilderness.] For her carelessness about her eggs, and her insttention to her young, the ostrich is proverbial.

roof of his mouth for A.M;cir. 3416.

bread, and no man breaketh it r. Roman.,

5 Tiiey that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet s embrace dunghills.

6 For the ^ punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was ' overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.

7 Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they

Verse 5. Embrace dunghills.] Lie on straiv or rubbish, instead of the costly carpets and sofas on which they formerly stretched themselves.

Verse 6. For the punishment] He thinks the punishment of Jerusalem far greater than that of Sodom. That was destroyed in a moment, while all her inhabitants were in health and strength; Jerusalem fell by the most lingering calamities; her men partly destroyed by the sword, and partly by the famine.

Instead of no hands stayed on her, Blayney translates, " Nor were hands weakened in her." Perhaps the meaning is, " Sodom was destroyed in a moment without any human labour." It was a judgment from God himself: so the sacred text: " The Lord rained down fire and brimstone from the Lord out of heaven." See Gen. xix. 24.

Verse 7. Her Nazarites were purer than snow] Ttj nazir does not always signify a person separated under a religious vow; it sometimes denotes what is chief or eminent. It is applied to Joseph, Gen. xlix. 26. Blayney therefore translates here, her nobles.

" Her nobles were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk; They were ruddier on the bone than rabies; their veining was the sapphires."

On which he remarks: — " In the first line the whiteness of their skin is described; and in the second, tlieir flesh;" and as IIJ gazar signifies to divide and intersect, as the blue veins do on the surface of the body, these are without doubt intended.

Milk will most certainly well apply to the whiteness of the skin; the beautiful ruby to the ruddiness of the flesh; and the sapphire, in its clear transcendent purple, to the veins in a fine complexion. The reverse of this state, as described in the following verse, needs

TTie apostasy and punishment

R. Roman., tlicir poiishing was of sap-

8 Their visage is '' blacker ' than a coal; they are not known in the streets: ■" their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.

9 They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these "pine away, stricken tlurough for want of the fruits of the field.

10 ° The hands of the p pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their "i meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

1 1 The Lord hath accompli.shed his fmy; *■ he hath poured out his fierce anger, and ' hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof.

12 The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.

no explanation. The face was a dismal dark Irmon, thefle.'ih gone, the skin shrivelled, and apparently wrapped round the bones.

Verse 10. The hands of the pitiful wirnien have sodden their own children] See on chap. ii. 20. But here there is a reference to mothers eating their own children; and this was done, not by mothers cruel and brutal, but by nvwm D'lyj nashini rachmaniyoth, the compassionate, the tender-hearted mothers. From these horrible scenes it is well to pass with as hasty a step as possible.

Verse 12. The Icings nf the earth] Jerusalem was so well fortified, both by nature and art, that it appeared as a miracle that it should be taken at all.

Verso 13. For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests] These most wretched beings, under the pretence of zeal for the true religion, persecuted the genuine prophets, priests, and people of God, and caused their blood to be shed in the midst of the city, in the most open and public manner; exactly as the murderous priests, and. blood-thirsty preachers, under the reign of bloody Queen Mary, did in England. However, the profligate priests and idolatrous prophets in Jerusalem, only shed the blood of the saints of God there: but the sanguinary papists, in the above reign, burnt the blood here, for they burnt the people alive; and at the same time, in their worse than Molochean cruelty, consigned, with all the fervour peculiar to their then ruthless Church, the souls of those whom they thus

13 ' For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, " that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,

14 They have wandered as blind men in the streets, ' they have polluted themselves with blood, "^ so ^ that men could not touch their garments.

15 They cried unto them. Depart ye; ^ it is ^ unclean; depart, depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there.

1 6 The » anger of the Lord hath divided them; he will no more regard them: * they respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured not the elders.

17 As for us, " our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in otu: watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us.

18 "^They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our sheets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for " our end is come.

massacred, to the bitter pains of eternal death! O earth, cover not thou their blood!

Verse 14. They have u-andered as blind men in the streets] Rather, " They ran frantic through the streets, they were stained with blood." This was in their pretended zeal for their cause. Bishop Bonner, who was at the head of those sanguinary executions in England, was accustomed to buffet the poor Protestants, when on their examinations they were too powerful for him in argument: —

Verse 15. When they fled away] These priests and prophets were so bad, that the very heathen did not like to permit them to sojourn among them. The prophet now resumes the history of the siege.

Verse 17. We have loatchedfor a nation] Viz., the Egyptians, who were their pretended allies, but were neither able nor willing to help them against the

Verse 18. We cannot go in our streets] Supposed to refer to the darts and other missiles cast from the mounds which they had raised on the outside of the walls, by which those who walked in the streets were grievously annoyed, and could not shield them-

Ol. XLVUI. 1. than the eagles oi the heaven: R. Roman., they pursuecl US upon the mouncir. annum 29. {aj,.,g^ t]igy jaid wait for US in the

20 The? breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, ^ was taken in their pits, of whom we said. Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.

Verse 19. Thet/ pursued us upon the mountains'] They hunted down the poor Jews like wild beasts in every part of the country by their marauding parties, whilst the great army besieged Jerusalem. But this may apply to the pursuit of Zedekiah. See what follows.

Verse 20. The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord] That is, Zedekiah the king, who was as the life of the city, was taken in his ilight by the Chaldeans, and his eyes were put out; so that he was wholly unfit to perform any function of government; tliough they had fondly hoped that if they surrendered and should be led captives, yet they should be permitted to live under their own laws and king in the land of their bondage.

The cup also shall pass through unto thee] Thou who hast triumphed in our disasters shalt shortly have through unto thee: thou shalt be r. Roman., drunken, and shalt make thyself "^ """"'" -''• naked.

22 ' The " pmiislnnent of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: " he will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will ° discover thy sins.

enough of thy o^vn. They had joined themselves to the Chaldeans, (see Psa. cxxxvii. 7,) and therefore they should share in the desolations of Babylon.

Verse 22. The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion] On the contrary; Rejoice, 0 Jerusalem, for thy captivity will soon end; thy sufferings are nearly completed; thou shalt soon return to thy own land: but he will visit thy iniquity, O Edom; he will discover thy sins. When sin is^ardoned, it is said to be covered: here, God says he will not cover the sins of Edom — he will not pardon them; they shall drink the cup of wTath.

The promise in this last verse may refer to Jerusalem under the Gospel. When they receive Christ crucified, they shall be gathered from all nations, become one with the Church among the Gentries, be one flock under one and the same Shepherd, and shall be carried no more into captivity.

This chapter is, as it were, an epiphonema or conclu. groaning wider their calamities, and hum

2 " Our inheritance is turned to

sion to the four preceding, representing the nation as bhj supplicating the Divine favour, 1—22.

3 We are orphans and father- ■^g'^ cir 588*'' less, our mothers are as widows, oi. XLViii. i.

4 We have drunken our water r. Roman., for money; our wood " is sold '''"■''"""" ^^- unto us.

Verse I. Remember, O Lord] In the Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic, this is headed, " The prayer of Jeremiah." In my old MS. Bible: Cfcre bigpimctl) tljc orison of JEctcmnc the ytopljetc.

Though this chapter consists of exactly twenty-two verses, the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, yet the acrostic form is no longer observed. Perhaps any thing so technical was not thought proper when in agony and distress (under a sense of God's displeasure on account of sin) they prostrated themselves before him to ask for mercy. Be tlris as it may, no attempt appears to have been made to throw these verses into the form of the preceding chapters. It is properly a solemn prayer of all the people, stating their past and present sufferings, and praying for God's mercy.

Behold our reproach.] ty^Tihebita. But many MSS. of Kennicott''s, and the oldest of my own, add the n he paragogic, HD'^n hebitah, " Look down earnestly with commiseration;" for paragogic letters always in crease the sense.

Verse 2. Our inheritance is turned to strangers] The greater part of the Jews were either slain or carried away captive; and even those who were left under Gedaliah were not free, for they were vassals to the Chaldeans.

Verse 4. We have drunien our water for money] I suppose the meaning of this is, that every thing was

dr^annum29^ 6 s We have given the hand ^ to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

7 ' Gui fathers have sinned, and ^are not; and we have borne their iniquities.

8 ' Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth dehver us out of their hand.

9 We gat our bread with the peril of our hves because of the sword of the wilderness.

10 Our "" skin was black like an oven because of the " terrible famine.

11° They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.

14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music.

15 The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.

16 'The 'crown is fallen from our head ■ wo unto us, that we have sinned!

17 For this * our heart is faint; " for these things our eyes are dim.

1 8 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the fo.xes walk upon it.

agement in their orni hands, so that roood and water their cattle, or to get the necessaries of life, without were both sold, the people not being permitted to help j being harassed and plundered by maraudincr parties, and themselves. They were now so lowly reduced by ser-! by these \yere often exposed to the peril of their lives, vitude, that they were obliged to pay dearly for those, This was predicted by Moses, Deut. xxviii. 31.

things which formerly were common and of no price. A poor Hindoo in the country never buys fire-wood, but when he comes to the city he is obliged to purchase Ills fuel, and considers it as a matter of great hardship.

A'erse 5. Our necks are under persecution] We feel the yoke of our bondage; we are driven to our work like the bullock, which has a yoke upon his neck.

Verse 6. We have given the hand to the Egyptians] We have sought alliances both with the Egyptians and the Assyrians, and made covenants with them in order to get the necessaries of life. Or, wherever we are now driven, we are obliged to submit to the people of the countries in order to the preservation of our lives.

Verse 7. Our fathers have sinned, and are not] Nations, as such, cannot be punished in the other world; therefore national judgments are to be looked for only in this life. The punishment which the Jewish nation had been meriting for a series of years came now upon them, because they copied and increased the sins of their fathers, and the cup of their iniquity was full. Thus the children might be said to bear the sins of the fathers, that is, in temporal punishment, for in no other way does God visit these upon the children. See Ezek. xviii. 1, &c.

Verse 8. Servants have ruled over us] To be subject to such is the most painful and dishonourable bondage: —

tiuid domini faciant, audent cum talia fures %

Virg. Eel. iii. 16. " Since slaves so insolent are grown. What may not masters do?"

Perhaps he here alludes to the Chaldean soldiers, whose will the wretched Jews were obliged to obev.

V^erse 9 We gat our bread tvith the peril of our

XeTse 10. Our skin was black — because of the terrible famine.] Because of the searching winds that burnt up every green thing, destroying vegetation, and in consequence producing a famine.

Verse 11. They ravished the ivnmen in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.] The evil mentioned here was predicted by Moses, Deut. xxviii. 30, 32, and by Jeremiah, chap. vi. 12.

Verse 12. Princes are hanged up by their hand] It is very probable that this was a species of punishment. They were suspended from hooks in the wall by their hands till they died through torture and exhaustion. The body of Saul was fastened to the wall of Bethshan, probably in the same way; but his head had already been taken off. They were hung in this way that they might be devoured by the fowls of the air. It was a custom with the Persians after they had slain, strangled, or beheaded their enemies, to hang their bodies upon poles, or empale them. In this way they treated Histiitus of Miletum, and Leonidas of Lacedajmon. See Herodot. lib. vi. c. 30, lib. vii. c. 238.

Verse 13. They took the young men to grind] This was the work of female slaves. See the note on Isa. xlvii. 2.

Verse 14. The elders have ceased from the gate] There is now no more justice administered to the people; they are under military law, or disposed of in every sense according to the caprice of their masters.

Verse 16. The crown is fallen from our head] At feasts, marriages, &c., they used to cro\ni themselves with garlands of flowers; all festivity of this kind was now at an end. Or it may refer to their having lost all sovereignty, being made slaves.

Verse 18. The foxes walk upon it.] Foxes are very numerous in Palestine, see on Judges xv. 4. It

20 "^ Wherefore dost thou forget

22 -But thou hast utterly n- '^J^- """""■ ^9. jected us; thou art very wroth against us.

was usual among the Hebrews to consider all desolated land to be the resort of wild beasts; which is, in fact, the case every where when the inhabitants are removed from a country.

Averse 19. Thou, O Lord, remainest for ever] Thou sufFerest no change. Thou didst once love us; O let that love be renewed towards us!

Verse 21. Reneio our days as of old.] Restore us to our former state. Let us regain our country, our temple, and all the Divine offices of our religion; but, more especially, thy favour.

Verse 22. But thou hast utterly rejected iis] It appears as if thou hadst sealed our final reprobation, because thou showest against us exceeding great wrath. But convert us, O Lord, unto thee, and ive shall be converted. We are now greatly humbled, feel our sin^ and see oai folly: once more restore us, and we shall never again forsake thee! He heard the prayer; and at the end of seventy years they were restored to their own land.

This last verse is weU rendered in the first printed edition of our Bil)le, 1535: — ttcnuc DUt Xtniefi afi in Dl&c tpme, foe tljou Ijn^t nalu banis^fjeti u^ longc pnougt), anb bene jforc bi^SpICit^eb at u^.

My Old MS. Bible is not less nervous: — ^etoe ttjau our hai;« ajf fro tlje bcgtmnEing: bot cajStant) atocic thou Ijap't put ii.s' out: tljou torat!)ctii;Bt ugein u^ Ijugclp.

Dr. Blayney translates, " For surely thou hast cast us oflf altogether:" and adds, " 'J hi ought certainly to be rendered as causal; God's having rejected his people, and expressed great indignation against them, being the cause and ground of the preceding application, in which they pray to be restored to his favour, and the enjoyment of their ancient privileges."

Pareau thinks no good sense can be made of this place unless we translate interrogatively, as in Jer. siv. 19, —

" Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? Hath thy soul loathed Sion T' On this ground he translates here,

Wilt thou extend thy wrath against us so as to show us no more mercy ] This agrees well with the state and feelings of the complainants.

In one of my oldest MSS., the twenty-first verse is repeated at the conclusion of the tiuenty-second verse. In another, yet older, there is only the fir.'jt word of it, Ull'tyn hashibenu. Convert us!

Having given in the preceding preface and 7iotes what I judge necessary to explain the principal difficulties in this very fine and affecting poem, very fitly termed The Lamentations, as it justly stands at the head of every composition of the kind, I shaU add but a few words, and these shall be by way of recapitulation chiefly.

The Hebrews were accustomed to make lamentations or mourning songs upon the death of great men, princes, and heroes, who had distinguished themselves in arms; and upon any occasion of public miseries and calamities. Calmet thinks they had collections of these sorts of Lamentations: and refers in proof to 2 Chron. xxxv. 25: " And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah; and aU the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations, to this day; and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are wTitten in the Lamentations."

From this verse it is evident, that Jeremiah had composed a funeral elegy on Josiah: but, from the complexion of this Book, it is most evident that it was not composed on the death of Josiah, but upon the desolations of Jerusalem, &c., as has already been noted. His lamentation for Josiah is therefore lost. It appears also, that on particular occasions, perhaps anniversaries, these lamentations were sung by men and women singers, who performed their several parts; for these were all alternate or responsive songs. And it is very likely, that this book was sung in the same way: the men commencing with N aleph, the tootnen responding with 3 beth, and so on. Several of tills sort of songs are still extant. We have those which David composed on the death of his son Absalom, and on the death of his friend Jonathan. And we have those made by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezeliel, on the desolation of Egypt, Tyre, Sidon, and Babylon. See Isa. xiv. 4, 5; xv.; xvi.; Jer. vii. 29; ix. 10; xlviii. 32; Ezek. six. 1; xxviii. 11; xxxii. 2; Jer. ix. 17. Besides these, we have fragments of others in different places; and references to some, which are now finally lost.

In the two first chapters of this book, the prophet describes, principally, the calamities of the siege of

In the third, he deplores the persecutions which he himself had suffered; though he may in this be personifying the city and state; many of his own sufferings being illustrative of the calamities that fell generally upon the city and people at large.

and desolation of the city and temple; and upon the misfortunes of Zedekiah, of whom he speaks in a most respectful, tender, and affecting manner: —

" The anointed of Jehovah, the breath of our nostrils, was taken in their toils, Under whose shadow we said, We shall live among the nations."

At the end he speaks of the cruelty of the Edomites, who had insulted Jerusalem in her miseries, and contributed to its demolition. These he threatens with the wTath of God.

The fifth chapter is a kind of form of prayer for the Jews, in their dispersions and captivity. In the conclusion of it, he speaks of their fallen royalty; attributes all their calamities to their rebellion and wickedness; and acknowledges that there can be no end to their misery, but in their restoration to the Divine favour.

This last chapter was probably written some considerable time after the rest: for it supposes the temple to be so deserted, that the foxes walked undisturbed among its ruins, and that the people were already in

The poem is a monument of the people's iniquity and rebellion; of the displeasure and judgment of God against them; and of the piety, eloquence, and incomparable ability of the poet.

PZEKIEL the prophet was the son of Buzi.; and was of the sacerdotal race, as himself informs us, chap. i. 3, and was born at a place called Saresa, as the pseudo-Epiphanius tells us in his Lives of the Prophets. He was carried captive by Nebuchadnezzar into Babylon, with Jeconiah king of Judah, and three thousand other captives of the principal inhabitants, and was sent into Mesopotamia, where he received the prophetic gift; wliich is supposed, from an obscure expression in his prophecies, chap. i. 1, to have taken place in the thirtieth year of his age. He had then been in captivity five years; and -continued to prophesy about twenty-two years, from A. M. 3409 to A. M. 3430, which answers to the fourteenth year after the destruction of Jerusalem.

About three months and ten days after this conquest of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar made another descent, and again besieged the city; and Jehoiachin, who succeeded his father Jehoiakim, was obliged to surrender. The victorious Chaldeans carried off all the inhabitants of note into Babylon, leaving none behind but the very poorest of the people. See 2 Kings xxiv. 8—16. These captives were fixed at Tel-abib, and other places on the river Chebar, which flows into the east side of the Euphrates at Carchemish, nearly tico hundred miles northward of Babylon. There, as Archbishop Newco7?ie observes, he was present in body, though, in visionary representation, he was sometimes taken to Jerusalem.

With this same learned writer I am of opinion that, the better to understand the propriety and force of these Divine revelations, the circumstances and dispositions of the Jews in their own country, and in their state of banishment, and the cliief historical events of that period, should be stated and considered. Most writers on this Prophet have adopted this plan; and Archbishop Newcome's abstract of this history is sufficient for every purpose.

" Zedekiah, uncle to the captive king Jehoiachin, Avas advanced by Nebuchadnezzar to the kingdom of Judah; and the tributary king bound himself to subjection by a solemn oath in the name of Jehovah, Ezek. xvii. 18. But notwithstanding the Divine judgments which had overwhelmed Judah during the reigns of his two immediate predecessors, he did evil in the sight of God, 2 Clrron. xxxvi. 12. Jerusalem became so idolatrous, impure, oppressive, and blood-thirsty, that God is represented as smiting his hands together through astonishment at such a scene of iniquity, chap. xxii. 13. The Prophet Jeremiah was insulted, rejected, and persecuted; false prophets abounded, whose language was, ' Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon,' Jer. xxvii. 9. ' I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon,' Jer. xxviii. 2 They even limited the restoration of the sacred vessels, and the return of Jehoiachin and his fellow captives, to so short an interval as two years, Jer. xxviii. 3, 4. Zedekiah, blinded by his vices and these dehisions, flattered by the embassies which he had received from Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon, Jer. xxvii. 3, and probably submitting v/ith his accustomed timidity to the advice of evil counsellors, Jer. xxviii. 25, rebelled against his powerful con qiierors, and sent ambassadors into Egj^pt for assistance, Ezek. xvii. 15. Hence arose a third invasion of the Chaldeans. Pharaoii-hoplira, king of Egypt, did not advance to tlie assistance of Zedekiah till Jerusalem was besieged, Jer. xxxvii. 5. The Babylonians raised the siege with the design of distressing the Egyptians in their march, and of giving battle when advantage offered: but Pharaoh, with perfidy and pusillanimity, returned to his own

country; and left tlie rebellious and perjured king of Judah to the rage of his enemies, Jer xx.xvii. 7. Before the siege was thus interrupted, Zedekiah endeavoured to conciliate the favour of God by complying so far with the Mosaic law as to proclaim the sabbatical year a year of liberty to Hebrew servants, Exod. xxi. 2. But such was his impiety, and so irresolute and fluctuating were his counsels, that, on the departure of the Chaldeans, he revoked his edict, Jer. xxxiv. 1 1; upon whicli God, by the Prophet Jeremiah, proclaimed liberty to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and commissioned these messengers of his wrath to avenge himself on his people, Jer. xxxiv. 17. When the siege was resumed, we have a farther instance of Zedekiah's extreme infatuation; his rejection of Jeremiah's counsel, given him by the authority of God, to preserve himself, his family, and his city, by a siurender to the Chaldeans. Thus, after a siege of eighteen months, Jerusalem was stormed and burnt, Jer. xxxix. 1, 2; Zedekiah was taken in his flight; his sons were slain before his eyes; his eyes were afterwards put out, agreeably to the savage custom of eastern conquerors; and he was carried in chains to Babylon, Jer. xxxix. 5-7.

" The exdes on the river Ciiebar were far from being awakened to a devout acknowledgment of God's justice by the punishment inflicted on them: they continued rebellious and idolatrous, Ezek. ii. 3; xx. 39, they hearkened to false prophets and prophetesses, Ezek. xiii. 2, 17; and they were so ahenated that he refused to be inquired of by them. In vain did Ezekiel endeavour to attract and win them by the charms of his flowing and insinuating elo quence; in vain did he assume a more vehement tone to awe and alann them by heightened scenes of calamity and terror.

" We know few particulars concerning the Jews at Babylon. They enjoyed the instruction and example of the Prophet Daniel, who was carried away captive to that city in the third year of Jehoiakim, eight years before the captivity of Ezekiel, Dan. i. 1. Jeremiah cautioned them not to be deceived by their false prophets and diviners, Jer. xxix. 8, 9, 15, 21; ao-ainst some of whom he denounced fearful judgments. He exhorted them to seek the peace of the nty where they dwelt; to take wives, build houses, and plant gardens, till their restoration after seventy years, Jer. xxix. 5, 6, 7, 10. He also comforted them by a prediction of all the evil which God designed to inflict on Babylon: he assured them that none should remain in that proud city, but that it should be desolate for ever. The messenger, when he had read the book containing these denunciations, was commanded ' to bind a stone to it, and cast it into the Eupkates, and say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil which I will bring on her,' Jer. h. 59-64. It farther appears, by Divine hymns now extant, see Psa. Ixxix., cii., cvi., and cxxxvii., that God vouchsafed to inspire some of these Babylonian captives with his Holy Spirit. Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliali ruler of the people that remained in Judea, 2 Kings xxv. 23; Jer. xl. 5; and the scattered military commanders and their men, together with other Jews who had taken refuge in the neighbouring countries, Jer. xl. ■?, 11, submitted to his government on the departure of the Chaldeans. The Jews employed themselves in gathering the fruits of the earth, Jer. xl. 12, and a calm succeeded the tempest of war: but it was soon inten-upted by the turbulence of this devoted people. Ishmael slew Gedaliah; and compelled the wretched remains of the Jews in Mizpah, the seat of Gedaliah's government, to retire with him towards the country of the Ammonites, Jer. xli. 10; a people hostile to the Chaldeans, Jer. xxvii. 3. Johanan raised a force to revenge this mad and cruel act, Jer. xli. 11-15; piu-sued Ishmael, overtook him, and recovered from him the people whom h§ had forced to follow him: but the assassin himself escaped with eight men to his place of refuge. The succeeding event furnishes another signal instance of human infatuation. Johanan, through fear of the Chaldeans, many of whom Ishmael had massacred, together with Gedaliah, Jer..xli. 3, conceived a design of retreating to Egypt, Jer xli. 17; but before he executed this resolution, he formally consulted the Prophet Jeremiah The prophet answered him in the name of Jehovah, Jer. xlii., that if Johanan and liie peopl abode in Judea, God would ' build them, and not pull them down: would plant them, and not pluck them up;' but if they went to sojourn in Egypt, they should 'die by the swtird, by

famine, and by pestilence;' and should become an ' execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.' Notwithstanding this awful assurance, and the many prophecies of Jeremiah, which the most calamitous events had lately verified, Johanan defied the hving God and his prophet, and madly adhered to his determination. Not long after the destruction of Jerusalem, the siege of Tyre was undertaken by Nebuchadnezzar. It continued for the space of thirteen years; and many think that the conquest of the Sidonians, Philistines, Ammonites, Moabites, and Idumeans, coincided with this period, the Chaldean being able to make powerful detachments from his vast forces. See the prophecies, Jer. xxvii. 2, 3; xlviii., xlix., and Ezek. xxv. After the reduction of that famous cit}', Nebuchadnezzar made his descent on Egypt, which he subdued and ravaged throughout; and at this time Johanan and his Jewish colonists experienced the vengeance of the conqueror, together with the Egyptians. So widely did Nebuchadnezzar spread his victories and devastations, that, according to the learned chronologer Marsham, Lond. edit. 1672, fol. p. 556, s. 18, this might justly be called the era of the subversion of cities.

■ Omnis eo terrore ^gyptus, et Indi,

' Tlie trembling Indians and Egyptians yield: Arabs and soft Sabseans quit the field.' "

I may add that the stroke fell upon no people so heavily as upon the Jews, for no other nation possessed privileges like them, and no other nation had sinned so deeply against God. Their crimes were seen in their punishment.

The principal design of this prophet was to comfort his companions in tribulation during their captivity, and to render it light by the most positive promises of their restoration to their own land, the re-building of tlie temple, and the re-establishment of the Divine worship, all their enemies being finally destroyed.

That Ezekiel is a very obscure writer, all have allowed who have attempted to explain his prophecies. The Jews considered him inexplicable. There is a tradition that the rabbins held a consultation whether they should admit Ezekiel into the sacred canon. And it was likely to be carried in the negative, when Rabbi Ananias rose up and said he would undertake to remove every difficulty from the account of JehovaKs chariot, chap, i., which is confessedly the most difficult part in the whole book. His proposal was received; and to assist him in his work, and that he might complete it to his credit, they furnished him with three hundred barrels of oil to light his lamp during the time he might be employed in the study of this part of his subject! This extravagant grant proved at once the conviction the rabbins had of the difficulty of the work; and it is not even intimated that Rabbi Ananias succeeded in any tolerable degree, if indeed he undertook the task; and they believe that to this hour the chariot mentioned in chap, i., and the account of the temple described at the conclusion of the book, have not been explained.

I believe it may be affirmed with truth that these parts of the prophecy have had as many different explanations as there have been expositors! Yet each has been sanguine in the hope that he had removed all difficulties; while every successor felt that the whole work was yet to be done, and that the Gordian knot was not likely to be untied unless by himself! And it is to be lamented that in these circumstances the work still remains as to its principal difficulties; and I certainly do not attempt to add another to Ezekiel's commentators with the most distant hope of being able to solve those particular difficuUies.

After all, with the exception of the chariot, Gog and Magog, the peculiarities in the description of the temple, and some matters of this kind, the major part of the prophecy is vei-y intelligible, and highly edifying; and does not present more difficulties than have been found in the preceding prophets, and may be found in those which follow. I have in the following notes done what I could, as a help to a better understanding of this part of the sacred writings. The ancient Versions give some help; but it is astonishing how difficidt it is to settle the text by a collation of MSS. This has not yet been properly done; and we cannot know the true meaning till we can ascertain the tnie reading. But after having laboured in this way I must express myself as the learned professor of the oriental tongues at Parma, J. B. De Rossi: Tanta hie in suiExis prajsertini pronominibus codicum inconstantia ac varictas, ul tffiduerit me laboris mei, ac verius ego quod olim de uno Zacharias vcrsu (xi. 5) dolens inqiiiebat Norzius, de toto Ezechiclis libro usurpare possim, angustiatam fuisse animam meam ob varietates multas, et avertisse facicm meam ab eis. " That there is so much inconstancy and variation among the MSS., especially in the suffixed pronotms, that I was weary of my labour; and I could more truly say of the whole book of Ezckiel, than Norzius did relative to one passage in Zechariah, who, bitterly complaining of the many variations he met with, said ' My soul was perplexed with them, and I turned away my face from them.' " As most of our printed editions have been taken from a very inadequate collation of MSS., especially of this prophet, much remains to be done to restore the text to a proper state of purity. When this is done it is presumed that several of the difficulties in this book will be removed. In many instances Abp. Neivcome has been very successful.

On the famous controversy relative to Gog and Magog, I must refer the reader to the notes on chap, xxxviii. and xxxix., where the best accounts I have met with are detailed. There are only two schemes that appear at all probable; that which makes Gog Antiochus Epiphanes, king of AssjTia, and that which makes him Ca?nhi/ses, king of Persia. The former, as beinothe most probable, and the best supported in all its parts by the marks given in the prophecy, I have in a certain measure adopted, for want of one more satisfactory to my own mind.

The character of Ezekiel as a poet has been drawTi at large by some of the most eminent critics of these and other countries. Lowth, Michaelis, and EichJiorn, are the chief. Abp. Newcome has quoted largely from the latter; and from^his work, which is now very scarce and extremely dear, I shall present my readers with the following extracts: —

" The two first visions are so accurately polished, chap, i.-vii., viii.-xi., and demanded so much art to give them their last perfection and proportion, that they cannot possibly be an unpremeditated work. And if, according to the commonly received opinion, they were publicly read by Ezekiel as we read them now, he must have seriously designed them as a picture, and finished them in form. The intention of his visions might make this necessary. He designed no doubt to make deep impressions upon the people whom he was to guide; and by highly laboiu-ing the Divine appearances, to open their ears for his future oracles and representations. The more complete, divine, and majestic the Divine appearances were which he represented, the deeper veneration was impressed upon the mind towards the prophet to whom such high visions were communicated. Most of the parts which compose Ezekiel, as they are generally works of art, are full of artificial and elaborate plans.

" The peculiarities of language in the first chapter are to be found in the middle and end of the book. The same enthusiasm which in the beginning of his prophecies produced the magnificent Divine appearances, must also have built the temple of God at the conclusion. As m the beginning every thing is first proposed in high allegorical images, and afterwards the same ideas are repeated in plain words, thus also in the middle and at the end in every piece, allegorical representation is siiccecded by literal. Throughout the style is rather prose than verse; and rough, hard, and mixed with the Chaldee.

" The division of Ezekiel into two parts has been adopted by several writers. They continue the former part to the thirty-ninth chapter, and consider the last nine chapters from the fortieth as a separate book. This division is possible. From the eleventh chapter a new elevated scene commences. Before there was nothing but oracles, full of misfortunes, punishments, death, and ruin; visions concerning the destruction of the government, and concerning the flight and state of the last king; and pictures of the universal corruption, idolatry, and superstition of Israel. From the fortieth chapter a new temple rises before the eyes of the holy seer; he walks round about it in Palestine; he measures the city and countrj' for their new inhabitants; he orders sacrifices, feasts, and customs. In short, a Magna Charta is planned for priests, kings, and people, in future and better times. Lastly, from iiencc prosaic

expressions predominate; at least the prophet elevates himself by poetical colouring much more rarely than before.

"A generally acknowledged character of Ezekiel is, that he minutely distinguishes every thing in its smallest parts. What the more ancient prophets brought together in one single picture, and to which they only alluded, and what they explained with the utmost brevity, and showed only from one side, that he explains and unfolds formally, and represents from all possible sides.

"Another character, and a principal one, which distinguishes his oracle is, that no other prophet has given so free a course to his imagination. Almost everj^ thing is dressed in symbolical actions, in fables, narrations, allegories, or in the still higher poetry of visions. And as they are very complicate, there resound from all sides complaints of darkness. Whoever can look on these things with the eye of an eagle, and is not disturbed from the principal object by what is not essential; he alone is able to comprehend the sense of the whole composition, and he scarcely conceives how any one can complain of obscurity. Meanwhile, liow dififerent soever the species of composition are which he hazards, they are all worked out in the same general form. What he represents in one image, picture, or vision, in allegory, parable, or narration, is explained in a short speech, which God, who is at his right hand, enables him to pronounce.

"It is evident that he has shown an inexhaustible imagination and power of invention throughout all the pages of his book. He uses all sorts of prophetical poetry to appear always great and magnificent; and it cannot be denied that he has given all kinds, excellent pieces, both in design and execution. Particularly, he is so used to ecstasies and visions, that he adopts the language proper to these, where he has no visions to describe.

" If the dress of vision fitted any prophet, it was certainly Ezekiel: he was even naturally led to it b}' his situation, and by the subjects which he was to represent. He was to describe and foretell to his fellow captives several facts which happened in Palestine, in Jerusalem, and in the king's palace. A narration and description in simple prose could not possibly suit a prophet; he must give his object the requisite prophetic dignity, by a particular dress.

"He therefore brought the scene of events nearer. For this purpose he chose high ecstasies, such as the Greek and Roman poets pretended to in their flights of enthusiasm; the hand of Jehovah came upon him, and carried him to that place where wdiat he intended to propose to his countrymen in their exile might be seen and considered. All ecstasies in my opinion are nothing but dresses, nothing but poetical fictions; and a poet of another age, and of another tone, of an inferior imagination and poetical endowments, would have given the same ideas quite another dress.

" Accustomed to this kind of poetry, he represented the restitution of the Jewish state in a sublime vision. His imagination placed him upon graves, where he stood on the dried bones of the dead. He saw how the graves opened, the bones were clothed with flesh, and the dead came forth by a new creation. Could there be a more lively fiction for this case? Another poet would have represented the restoration of the Jews in simple words; and would only have compared it to a resurrection, or give it some other ornamental delineation. To view this intuitively in an example, compare Ezek. xxxvii. 1—14 and Isa. xxvi. 19.

' Thy dead shall live, their dead bodies shall rise: Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: For thy dew is as the dew of herbs, And the earth shall cast forth the mighty dead.'

"And, however numerous the fictions of Ezekiel are, they all appear in magnificent dress, and each in its pecuhar splendid one. Lustre shines in him on every side; and if the poet has here and there overloaded his subject with ornaments, we shall be unable to refuse our admiration to his genius, notwithstanding these defects.

" The first part of his book may be an instance. The barren genius of Moses was gone when God appeared only in a fiery bush in the wilderness; and as the world improved in

cultivation, a more luxuriant one succeeded in his place, which in process of time demanded wonderful figures and giant forms, that the representation of the Divine appearance might please. Isaiah had already appeared in a higher style than Moses. To him God manifested himself in the pomp of an oriental king; and this piece makes a strong impression by its unitj', and gains on us by its elevated simplicity, majesty, and dignity, Isa. vi. But Ezekiel differs widely. Before him stands the chariot-throne of God, with wonderful forms; lie summons all the pomp which nature and art can furnish; he abundantly employs fiction and composition to give his Divine appearance dignity, elevation, and majesty; and thus to make a suitable expression. The whole creation must lend him its most noble forms. Men, oxen, lions, and eagles support the throne: the Hebrew history must furnish all its most wonderful scenes, to surround the chariot-throne with the greatest pomp imaginable. I admire the master-hand of the artist, who knew how to compose in such a manner. I am astonished at the richness of his imagination, that could give dignity to all the exalted scenes of tlie Hebrew historj', and coidd combine them in one body. But, notwithstanding liiis, the scene in Ezekiel is far from making the same deep and heart-striking impression with liiat of Isaiah. A short view of the whole in Isaiah does wonders; in Ezekiel the prospect is dispersed; and as it is not rounded, it astonishes rather than impresses. In Isaiah liiere is a majestic silence, which is only interrupted by the heavenly cry of the seraphs, Isa. vi. 3; in Ezekiel, the noise of the restless wheels and moving wings confounds us. In Isaiah, the eye is delighted with artless majesty; in Ezekiel, it is consumed by the brightness of the fire which shines round about the chariot-throne.

"The author of the Revelation, whose poetry is in the same style with that of Ezekiel, and full of imagination, has for the most part avoided the rocks upon which his predecessor struck; and, happily for the most part, has cut off the wild shoots of a heated imagination He also has fictions of wonders and giant forms; but he has produced them only so far as to give the reader a full image before his eyes. He does not pursue them minutely, and he does not distract or pain his reader.

" On the contrary, it was a happy invention that his lofty poems are sometimes interrupted by short speeches; they are not only useful for the illustration of his symbols, but also for the repose of the mind. By this change, his readers are agreeably entertained; and their imagination finds resting places, so as to soar more easily after the imagination of the poet.

" Ezekiel is a great poet, full of originality; and, in my opinion, whoever censures him as if he were only an imitator of the old prophets, can never have felt his power. He must not in general be compared with Isaiah and the rest of the old prophets. Those are great, Ezekiel is also great; those in their manner of poetry, Ezekiel in his; which he had invented for himself, if we may form our judgment from the Hebrew monuments still extant." Thus far a judicious critic, who but indirectly admits the prophet's inspiration.

Bp. Lowth, who has done so much to elucidate the Hebrew pioetry, has also given hne critical judgments on the comparative merits of the prophets. Isaiah is his favourite; and him he places always at the head, and with him. all others are compared. Of Ezekiel, his character is very high and accurately drawn; and my readers will naturally expect tliat 1 should produce what he says on this subject, rather than attempt any thing of my own; for this would resemble the attempt to write an Uiad after Homer.

''Ezekiel," says this learned prelate, "is inferior to Jeremiah in elegance, but is equal to Isaiah in sublimity, though in a different species of the suhlime. He is hold, vehement, tragical, and deals very much in amplification. His sentiments are lofty, animated, poignant, and full of indignation. His images are fertile, magnificent, and sometimes rather bordering on indelicacy. His diction is grand, weighty, austere, rough, and sometimes uncultivated. He abounds in repetitions, not for the sake of beauty or grace, but from vehemence and indignation. Whatever his subject be, he keeps it always in his eye, without the least deviation, and is so much taken up with it that he has scarcely any regard to order or connection. In other things he may be perhaps exceeded by the other prophets but in that species for which he was particularly turned, that is, force, impetuosity, weight, and grandeur, no writer ever equalled him. His diction is clear enough; almost all his obscurity arises from his subjects. His visions are particularly obscure; which, however, as in Hosea, Amos, and Zechariah, are delivered in a plain historical narration.

" The greater part of the book, particularly the middle of it, is poetical; whether we regard the matter or the language. But some passages are so rough and unpolished, that we are frequently at a loss to what species of writing we ought to refer them. As to style, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel may be placed with propriety enough in the same rank among the Hebrews, as Homer, Simonides, and Aischylus among the Greeks.^''

Nothing need be added, and indeed nothing can be added, to this character; it is as fairly as it is fully drawn; and every paragraph in the book will show its propriety. But could we satisfactorily fathom the prophet's meaning in those places where he is peculiarly obscure, we should feel the force and propriety of the bishop's character still more, as in those very places the prophet is peculiarly sublime. The prophecy was delivered that it might be understood and be profitable; and no doubt it was fully apprehended by those to whom it was originally given, and for whose sake it was sent from heaven. As to the portions which respect a very remote futurity, they will be understood when the events take place; which will, in such times, be an additional argument in favour of Divine revelation, when it is seen with what precision and accuracy prophets have foreseen and described such very remote and apparently contingent events.

3405. Ezekiel is led captive to Babylon with King Jeconiah. From this year the epoch of these prophecies must be taken.

3409. The first vision by the river Chebar, chap. i. The circumstances vphich followed Ezekiel's vocation to the prophetic office, chap, i., ii. He draws upon a tile or bed of clay the plan of Jerusalem, and the siege that it was about to endure; and he remains lying on this plan, on his left side, three hundred and ninety days, chap. iv. See under A. M. 3420.

3410. He turns on his right side, and lies forty days, which point out the forty years of the sins of Judah.

To this time chap, v., vi., vii. refer. About the month of September, this being the sixth year of the captivity of Jeconiah, he had the visions related chap. viii.. ix., x., xi.

3411. Prophecies and figurative actions by which he points out the flight, capture, and blinding of Zedekiah, chap. xii. and the seven following. Zedekiah rebels against Nebuchadnezzar, chap. xvii. 15, 17. The prophet charges the elders of Judah with hypocrisy, who came to consult him, chap, xs., xxi.

3414. The siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. This was a sabbatic year, Jer. xxiv. 8, &c. The siege did not begin till about the middle of the winter, 2 Kings xxv. 1. The prophet's wife dies on the same day of the siege, and he is forbidden to mourn for her, chap. xxiv. 1, 2.

3415. Predictions against Egypt, chap. xxix. 16. Nebuchadnezzar puts to flight Pharaoh-hophra, and returns

3416. Predictions against Tyre, chap, xxvi.-xxviii., the first day of the first month.

In the seventh day of the same month, God shows the prophet the miseries to be brought on Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, chap. xxx.

In the third month of the same year, the prophet had another vision against Egypt, chap. xxxi.

Jerusalem is taken the ninth of the fourth month. Zedekiah was taken prisoner near Jericho. He IS brought to Riblah, where, after seeing his children slain, his eyes aie put out, he is laden with chains and led to Babylon. Thus were fulfilled and reconciled the seemingly contradictory prophecies concerning him.

3417. Ezekiel being mformed of the taking of Jerusalem the fifth day of the tenth month, he predicts the ruin of the remnant that was left there under Gedaliah, chap. x.xxiv. 21-29. He afterwards foretells the ruin of Egypt, chap, xxxii. 1, 16, 32; and that of the Idumeans, chap,

3419. To the same time we must refer the miseries of the Sidonians, the Amalekites, the Moabites, and the

Idumeans, pointed out by Jeremiah, chap, xxvii., xlviii., xlix; Ezek. xxv. 3430. End of the forty years mentioned chap. iv. 5, 6, and of the three hundred and ninety years from the separation of Israel and Judah. The forty years commence with the renewal of the covenant undei

Josiah. 3430. The vision in which God showed the prophet the rebuilding of the city and the temple, and the restora- ration of the kingdom of Israel, chap. xl. 1 to the end of the book. This vision took place on the tenth of the first month, fourteen years after the taking of Jerusalem.

3432. Taking of the city of Tyre, by Nebuchadnezzar, to whom God promises the spoils of Egypt, as a compensation for the trouble and loss ho sustained before Tyre, chap. xxix. 17—20. Nebuchadnezzar enters Egypt. Amasis had been made king by the Cyrenians, who had rebelled against Pharaoh-hophra. Herodotus, lib. iv. c. 159, and lib. ii. cc. 161, 162.

3433. The king of Babylon overruns and subdues the whole of Egypt; commits the greatest outrages; and carries off captives the inliabitants, the Jews, and others whom he found there. See Jer. xliii., xliv., xlvi; Ezek. xxix., xxx., xxxi. Nebuchadnezzar leaves Amasis king of Lower Egypt; Hophra, or Apries, having escaped to the

Evil-merodach succeeds him; and sets Jeconiah at liberty, and makes him his companion, 2 Kings xv.

Year from the Creation, according to Archbishop Usher, 3409. — Year of the Jewish era of the world, 3166. — Year from the Deluge, 1753. — Second year of t\ve forty-sixth Olympiad. — Year from the building of Rome, according to the Varronian or generally received account, 159. — Year from the building of Rome, according to Cato and the Fasti Consulares, 158. — Year from the building of Rome, according to Polybius the historian, 157. — Year from the building of Rome, according to Fabius Pictor, 153. — Year of the Julian Period, 4119. — Year of the era of Nabonassar, 153. — -Year from the foundation of Solomon's temple, 409. — Year since the destruction of the kingdom of Israel by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, 126. — Second year after the third Sabbatic year after the seventeenth Jewish jubilee, according to Helvicus. Year before the birth of Christ, 591. — Year before the vulgar era of Christ's nativity, 595. — Cycle of the Sun, 3. — Cycle of the Moon, 15. — Twenty-second year of Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of the Romans: this was the eighty-sixth year before the consulship of Lucius Junius Brutus, and Publius Valerius Poplicola. — Thirty-first year of Cyaxares, or Cyaraxes, the fourth king of Media. — Eleventh year of Agasicles, king of Lacedasmon, of the family of the Proclidae. — Thirteenth year of Leon, king of Laceda?mon, of the family of the Eurysthenidae. — Twenty-fifth year of Alyattes IL, king of Lydia, and father of the celebrated Crcesus. — Eighth year of jEropas, the seventh king of Macedon. — Sixth and last year of Psammis, king of Egypt, according to Helvicus, an accurate chranologer. This Egyptian king was the immediate predecessor of the celebrated Apries, called Vaphres by Eusebius, and Pharaoh-hophra by Jeremiah, chap. xliv. 30.. — First year of Baal, king of the TjTrians. Twelfth year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. — Fourth year of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah.

This chapter contains that extraordinary vision of the Divine glory with which the prophet was favoured when he received the commission and instructions respecting the discharge of his office, which are contained in the two following chapters. The time of this Divine manifestation to the prophet, 1—3. The vision of the four living creatures, and of the four wheels, 4-25. Description of the firmament that was spread over them, and of the throne upon which one sat in appearance as a man, 26—28. This vision, proceeding in a lohirlwind from the north, seems to indicate the dreadful judgments that were coming upon the whole land of Judah through the instrumentality of the cruel Chaldeans, loho lay to the north of it. See Jer. i. 14; iv. 6; and vi. 1.