WH OS
fhift for herfelf, and to the infults and abufes of others; having been guilty of idolatry, which is fpiritual adultery, as the U/raelites before the cap-' tivity were; and as the Fews in Chrift’s time were’.
guilty of rejecting the word of God, and preferring their own traditions to it: hence it follows, let ber therefore put away her whoredoms out of her fight, or from her face*, and her adulteries from between her breafts; alluding to\the cuftom of harlots, who ufed to paint their faces, and to allure with their looks, words and actions; and to make bare their breafts, or adorn them, or carry in them what were enticing and alluring. Thefe adulteries and whoredoms, which are the fame thing, may fignify the many idolatries of the people of J/-ael before their captivity, and which were the caufe of it; or the fins of the ews before their difperfion; or their evil works, as the Targum, by which they departed from God and the true Meffiah, and went a whoring after other lovers: thus they rejected, tranfgrefied, and made of none effeét the commandments of God by their traditions; paid tithe of mint,,annife and cummin, and neglected the weighty matters of the law; fought not the honour of God, but that which comes from mens; and therefore confefled not the true Meffiah, though under convictions of him, and went about to eftablifh their own righteoufnefs, and fubmitted not to his; thefe were the idols of their hearts, and the whoredoms and adulteries, the Fewi/b converts, that truly believed in Chrift, are ordered to exhort them to put away. The Septuagint and Arabic verfions are, I will take away ber whoredoms, 8c. ¥. 3. Left Lftrip ber naked, and fet ber asin the day that foe was born, &c.| ‘Alluding to the cafe of an infant when born, which comes naked into the world; and referring to the ftate and condition of the J/raelites in Egypt, which was the time of their nativity, as a people and church;. fee Zech. xvi. 4.’and when they were ina ftate of fervitude and bondage, and had no wealth and fubftance, and without poffeffions and lands, and had no country of their own to inhabit; and fignifying that this faould be their cafe again, if° they perfifted in their idolatry, impenitence, and unbelief; as has been the cafe of the ten tribes upon their captivity, when they were ftripped of all their wealth and riches, carried away out of their own land, and fcattered among the nations, and have never returned fince; and as was the cafe of the ews in their laft deftruction, for the rejection of Chrift, they were ftripped of their civil and religious privileges, of their temporal and fpi-”
ritual mercies as a nation and church; what they feared is come upon them, that the Romans would come and take away their place and nation, John xi. 48. and make her as a wildernefs, and fet ber like a dry land, having fome refpeét to her former condition in the wildernefs, where they had no food nor drink, but what they had from God, as Abarbinel thinks; or elfe to the deftruétion and confumption of them in, the wildernefs, their carcafes falling there, who finned againft the Lord, as the Targum and Farchi, and denoting the utter’
deftruétion of their commonwealth and” church, when their land was laid wate, their city deftroyed, their houfe and temple left defolate and bu a and they deprived of all the” neceffaries of life, which was their cafe at their laft defttuétion by the Romans; and to this day they are as th defcribed, ch. iii. 4: and flay her with thirft; after their vainly expected Meffiah, which has brought them to defperation; or with a thirft, not for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord, Amos viii. 11. the gofpel, and the ordinances of it, being taken away from. them, and the clotds ordered to drop down no rain upon them; that is, the minifters of the word not to preach the gofpel to them.; and fo are left deftitute of the means of grace, and of fpiritual life, and of efcaping etetnal death, Mati. xxi. 43. If’ v. 6. The Targum of:the whole is, ‘‘ left I remove my Shekinah from
“ee her, and take away her glory, and fet her for-
“¢ faken, as in the days of old, before fhe came to “© my worfhip; and my fury fhall remain upon «¢ her, as it remained upon the people of that ge- <¢ neration that tranfereffed my law in the wilder- “¢ nefs; and I will fet the land defolate, and kill “© her with thirft.”
¥. 4. And I will not have mercy upon ber children, &c.} The pofterity of the Hews in fucceeding ages, until the time of their converfion comes; they perfitting in the fins of their forefathers, filling up the meafure of their iniquities; remaining in their obftinate rejection of the Meffiah, and in the fame impenitence and unbelief, and having his blood imprecated upon them: for they be the children of whoredoms,; begotten and born in whoredom, fpurious and illegitimate; or that commit whoredoms, imitate their parents; are guilty of the fame vices; a generation of vipers. So the Targum, “ for they *¢ are children that commit idolatry;” retain the traditions of the elders; go about to eftablifh their own righteoufnefs, and reject the Meffiah.
y. 5. For their mother hath played the harlot, &c.] Or committed idolatry; which is the reafon why fhe is to be pleaded with, and why the Lord will not own her as his wife, or be an hufband to her; and why fhe is to be exhorted to put away her whoredoms from her; and was in danger of all the above evils coming upon her, continuing in the fame practice; and why her children were children of whoredoms. Tho’ the connexion may be with the verfe following, for or becaufe their mother hath played the harlot, &c. therefore I will hedge up her way, &c. She that conceived them hath done foamefully, all fin is fhameful and fcandalous, efpecially adultery; it brings a reproach and a blot upon a perfon, that will not be wiped off; and fo idolatry, worfhipping ftocks and ftones inftead of the living God; and particularly the fin of the Fewife church, in rejecting the true Meffiah and his righteoufnefs, and fetting up their own, and tenacioufly adhering to the traditions of the elders; and fo departing from the true God, and his word and worfhip, which is no other than fpiritual adultery or idolatry. The Targum is, ‘‘ becaufe their ** congregation hath erred after the falfe prophets, ‘¢ their teachers are confounded;” and which Farchi interprets of the wife men that teach doétrines, who are afhamed becaufe of the people of the earth; to whom they fay} ye fhall not fteal, and yet they fteal themfelves; fee Rom. ii. 21—24. Or, fhe hath made afhamed‘; her hufband, and her children: or, fhe is confounded *, and a/bamed herfelf, for what fhe has done. For fhe faid, I will go after my lovers; her idols, as the ten tribes did after the calves at Dan and Bethel. So Kimchi’s father ihterprets it of the fun, moon, and ftars they worfhipped; tho’ he himfelf underftands it of the Affyrians and Egyptians they were in alliance with, and trufted in. Some join together the Gentile nations and their gods. Of elfé it may be under- {tood of the Fews feeking to thé Romans, and courting their favour and fiiendfhip; defiring to be governed not by their own kings, but by the Romans *, declaring they had no king but Ce/ar, and rejecting Chrift as fuch, Fobn xix, 12, 16. Aéfs xvii. 7. or rather of tlieir beloved tenets, concerning traditions, the rites and ceremonies of the law, felf-righteoufnefs, fc. the words are expreffive of impudence, obftinacy, and felf-will; re? folving td purfue their own fancies, and have their own wills, be it as it would. That give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink or drinks * 5 wine and other liquors, as Kimchi, thefe take in every thing belonging to food and raiment, and all the neCeffaries, and even delights and pleafures of life: bread and water; all forts of food: wool and flax; all forts of clothing, both woollen and linen, for outward or inward covering: and oi/, and drinks, or liquors; every thing for pleafure and delight; all which fhe afcribed not to God, from whence all good things come; but, which was an aggravation of her fin, to her lovers, her allies, or her idols; as the Fews did their plenty of victuals to the queen of heaven, and their worfhip of her, Jer. xliv. 17, 18. and as in the times of Chrift, they afcribed not only their enjoyment of temporal good things, but their righteoufnefs, life, and falvation, to their obfervance of traditions, rites, and ceremonies, and the externals of religion.
¥. 6. Therefore bebold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, &c.] As fields and vineyards are fenced with thorn-hedges to keep out beafts; or rather ds clofes and fields are fenced to keep cattel in, from going out and ftraying elfewhere; which may be expreflive of afflictions, and particularly wars 4- mong them, that they could not ftir out and go from place to place: and make a wall that fhe hall not find her paths; to go to Dan and Béthel, and worfhip the calves there, as fome; or to go to the Eeyptians and Affyrians for help, as Farchi and Kimchi, tho’ it was by the latter that they were hedged in, and walled and cooped up, when the city of Samaria was befieged three years: rather this refpeéts the ftraits and difficulties the ews have been reduced to by the deftruction of Ferufalem, and the continuance of them ever fince; fo that they are not able to offer their daily facrifice, kill and eat their paffover-lamib, and perform other rites and ceremonies they ufed in their own land; which they would fain perform, tho’ abolifhed by Chrift, but are reftrained by this hedge and wall, the deftruétion of their temple and altar, and not being fuffered to poffefs their land; hence they are {aid to be without a facrifice and an ephod, ch. iii. 4. fee Dan. ix. 27.
¥. 7. And fhe foall follow after her lovers, &c.} Before-mentioned; that is, in her affections and defires, with great eagernefs and earneftnefs, as men purfue what they are bent upon; otherwife. | being hedged in and walled up, fhe could not go after them in a proper fenfe: but fhe fhall not overtake them; they fleeing from her, and fhe pent up:
foe foall feek them, but frall not find them, fhall not be able to enjoy them, or aét according to her wifhes and defires, with refpect to the performance of facrifices, rites, and ceremonies, as before obferved: then foall foe fay; in her heart, finding all endeavours fruitlefs, and that the things fought after were neyer to be had; the hedges and wall, the obftructions in the way were never to be removed, whilft in fuch a purfuit; wherefore after a long time, many hundreds of years, even in the Jatter day,. being convinced of her fin and folly in rejecting Chrift, and purfuing after other objects, fhe will take up the following refolution: J will go and return to my firft hufband;, either the God of J - rael, whom the ten tribes departed from by worfhipping the calves Feroboam fet up; but in the latter day will feek the Lord their God again, who was an hufband to them, and fhall cleave to him again, and all Jrael thall be faved: fo the Targum, «© T will go and return to the fervice of my firft “«¢ mafter, for it was well with me when I ferved << him; henceforth I will not ferve idols:” or Chrift, who was promifed and prophefied of as an hufband to the Fewi/ church, J/ liv. 5. and whom they believed in, and expected as fuch, but when he came rejected him; but now being convinced of their error fhall feek Datid their king, appoint themfelves one head, and embrace Chrift as their hufband, and adhere to him; fee ch. ii. 5: for then was it better with me than now; whilft in the faith, and hope, and expectation of the true Meffiah; having a {piritual apprehenfion of him, true faith in him, and comfort from him, as held forth in the promife; being then poffeffed of the good land, in the enjoyment of the word and ordinances, and of all religious and civil privileges, but now deprived of them. This may be applied to the cafe of true believers in Chrift, having partially departed from him, and being reftored. Chrift is an hufband to them, who has betrothed them to himfelf, and they have given themfelves to him, and have béen loved, nourifhed, cherifhed, and provided for by him, and for a while had much nearnefs, familiarity, and communion with him,; but unbelief prevailing, firft love waxing cold, and being got into a. carnal and fleepy frame, neglect ‘poth private and public worthip, fall into fin, and removed from church-communion, and fo may be faid to have departed from Chrift their hufband; but being recovered by divine grace, and fenfible of their fins, refolve to return to him again by repentance and acknowledgment, by doing their firft works, and by attendance on his word and ordinances; inftigated hereunto very much by remembring how it has been with them when they kept clofe to him, and obferving the difference between thofe times and the prefent; how they jhad then the prefence of God and Chrift, and communion with them, and the fecret difcoveries of the love of God; in what lively exercife the graces of the Spirit were; what delight and profit they had in ordinances, and what peace, joy, and comfort in their fouls; all which now they want; fee 30d xxix. 2) 35 49 5- ¥. 8. For fhe did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, &c.| This is a reafon, not of