Bes CoB Bao 1k
NM. 5. And the pride of Ifrael doth: teftify to his Jace, 8cc.]. Or does or fhall anfwer to bis face 5 contradicts him, convicts him, and fills him with fhame; the pride of his heart, and of his counte4
‘nance, and which appears in all his actions, and which is open and manifeft to all, fhall ftare him in the face, and confound him; even all the finful actions done by himin.a proud and haughty mans ner, in contempt of God, and of his laws, fhall fly in his face, and fill him with dread and horror: The Largumis, “the glory of J/rael thall be hum- “* bled, and:they feeing 7:” inftead of greatnefs, glory and honour, they formerly had, they hall be in a.mean;, low condition, even in their own land, before they»go into captivity 5. and which their eyes fhall behold; as Kimchi explains the paraphrafe; and to, this fenfe archi and Aben Ezra incline; and fo read the Septuagint; Syriac and Arabic ver+ fions. Some underftand this of God himfelf, who formerly, -at leaft,. was the pride, glory and excellency of J/rael; of whom they were proud, and boafted, and gloried in; even he fhall be a fwift witnefs againft them: aud therefore fhall Ijrael and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; that is, the ten tribes fhall falls by, and for their iniquities, fuch as before mentioned, into ruin and mifery; it has re- {pect to their final deftruétion and captivity by the Affyrians; they firft fell into fin, and then by it into ruin; fee chap. xiv. 1. Judah allo fhali fall with them; the two tribes of Fudah and Benjamin; as they fell into idolatry, and were guilty of the fame crimes, fo fhould be involved in the fame or like punifhment,,tho’ not at the fame: time; for the Babylonifo captivity, in which fadab was carried captive,. was many years. after J/rael was. carried captive by the Afyrians.: unlefs this is to be under* ftood of the low, afflicted and diftreffed condition of Fudah, in the times of dhaz, by Tiglath Pilefers king) of Afyria, who had a little before carried captive part of J/rae/, and by others; and in which times Judah fell into idolatrous-practices, and fell by them; -fee 2.Kings xv..29, and xvi. 7, 8...2.Chron. XXVliiv 5; 6, 16—20. ¥. 6. They foall go with their flocks, and with their herds, 4a jeek the Lord, &c.|. Not only the two tribes-or Fudab and Benjamin, to whom Kimchi, Aben Ezra,.and Abarbinel reftrain the words; but the ten tribes of J/rael alfo, who, when in dittrefs, and féeing ruin coming upon them, fhould feel the Lord; feek help from him againft their.ene+ mies,,and, the pardon of their fins; feek his face and favour, and to appeafe his wrath, by bring: ing a; multitude of facrifices out of their flocks and herds; fuch a number of them, as if they brought all their flocks and herds with them; but not with trte repentance for their fins, nor with faith in the great facrifice,,which legal facrifices; rightly performed, prefiguted. K#mcbi refers. this to the-times of Fofab; but,:as it refpects U/rael, as. well as Fudab, it deems to defign fome. time a little before the ruin of them both: dat they jail not Jind: him; Shall not find grace and mercy with him; he will not be favourable to them, will not afford them any help, butogive them. up to utter ruin and deftruction; as, he did Zac! at the Ajjyrian captivity, and Fudah at the Babylonifh captivity: he hath withdrawn himfelf from them; the glory of the Lord departed from them; his Shekinah refpondebity Montanus, Zanchius,.Tarnovios, Rivet; Schmide 3 kinah or divine majefty, as the Targum, removed from them, becaufe of their idolatry, and other fins; they fought him not where and while he was to be found; and thereforewhen they fought him, found him not, becaufe he had withdrawn his prefence from among them, being provoked by their iniquities.
y. 7. They have dealt treacheroufly againft the Lord, &c.] Which was the reafon of his departure from them; as a woman deals treacheroufly with her hufband when fhe is unfaithful to him, and commits adultery; fo [/rael and Fudab dealt treacheroufly with the Lord, who ftood in the relation of an hufband to them in covenarit, by committing idolatry: for they bave begotten ftrange cbildren, either of ftrange women, the daughters of idolatrous heathens they married, fo the Targum, Yarchi and Kimchi; or ‘rather their natural children, tho’ born of J/raclhitifh or Fewifh parents, both fuch; yet being educated by them in an idolatrous way, and brought up in the commiffion of the evils their parents were guilty of, are faid to be ftrange children to the Lord, alienated from him and his worfhip, and as fuch to be begotten: now feall a month devour them with their portions; the ews underftand this literally of the month 4, the time of Ferufalem’s deftruction, fo Farchi and R. Fefouab in Aben Exra and Ben Melech; or the month Zammuz, in which the city was broke up, and the month 4, in which it was deftroyed, as Kimchi, or rather, whichis alfo a fenfe he mentions, it fignifies a fhort time, a very little while ere the deftruction fhould come; and compares it with Zech. xi. 8. tho’, according to the Targum, it is to be underftood of every month; and fo denotes the continual defolation that fhould be made, until they were utterly deftroyed; but others feem better to interpret it, of their new moon, or firtt day of the month, which they obferved in a religious way, by offering facrifice, Gc. and on which they depended; but this fhould be fo far from being of any fervice to them, that it fhould turn againft them; and becaufe of the idolatry committed in them, the Lord would hate them, and deftroy them on account of them; even their farms, and fields, and vineyards, which were their portions and inheritances; fee J/ i. 13, 14. unlefs it is rather to be underftood of the parts of the beafts flain in facrifice on thofe days to appeafe the Lord; which would be fo'far from doing it, that they would provoke him yet more to wrath, and flay them.
¥. 8. Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramab, &c.| As an alarm of war, to give notice that the enemy is at hand, juft ready to invade the kingdoms of J/rael and Fudab, and bring deftru&ion upon them; according to the Targum, the words are direCted to the prophets, “¢ Oye prophets, lift up your voice like a trumpet;” to declare to the people of Fudab their fins and tranfgreflions, and the punifhment that would be inflicted on them for them; or it may be, this is a call of the people to fafting, mourning and Iamentation, as in Yoel ii. 1, 15. Gibeab is the fame which is called Gibeah of Saul, 1 Sam. xi. 4. it being, the birth place of that prince; and which Fofephus * calls Gabath-Saoule, and interprets it the hill of Saul, and fays it was diftant from Ferufalem about thirty furlongs; tho’ elfewhere « he reprefents it as but twenty furlongs; perhaps in the latter place there is a corruption in the number; for, according to Yerom, it was near Ramah; which was feven miles from Ferufalem; he fays, it is called alfo Gibeah of Benjamin, 1 Sam. xiii. 2. becaufe it was in that tribe, as was alfo Ramab;
which, according to Eufebius ', was fix miles from
Ferufalem, thefe were near to each other; fee Fudg. xix. 13. fo that the calamity threatened is what re- {pects the two tribes: cry aloud at Bethaven; the fame with Bethel, or a place near unto it, in the tribe of Benjamin, or on the borders of Ephraim; fee ch. iv. 15. According to the above writer *, it lay about twelve miles from Ferufalem, in the way to Sichem; and being upon the borders both of Benjamin and Ephraim, it fometimes belonged to Jrael, and fometimes to Fudabh; fee 2 Chron. Xili. 19. and feeing, as Ferom obferves, that Benjamin was at the back of it, for where the tribe of Benjamin ended, not far in the tribe of Ephraim, according to him, was this city built, it therefore very beautifully follows, after thee, O Benjamin; that is, either the enemy is after thee, O Benjamin, is yuft at hand, ready to fall upon thee, and de- rather, after the trumpet is blown in Gibeab and Ramab, cities which belonged to Benjamin, let it be blown, either in Bethaven, on the borders of °
Benjamin and Ephraim; or let it be blown in’ the tribe of Fudab, fo that all the twelve tribes may have notice, and prepare for what is coming upon them.:
¥. 9. Ephraim foall be defolate in the day of rebuke, &c.| The country of the ten tribes fhall be laid defolate, the inhabitants of them deftroyed either by the fword, or famine, or peftilence, and the reft carried captive, as they were by Sa/manefer; and this was the day of the Lord’s rebuke and: chaftifement of them: or of the reward of their fins, as the Zargum, when the Lord punifhed them for them; and this is what the trumpet was to be blown for, in order to give notice of, or to call for mourning on account of it: among tbe — tribes of Ifrael bave I made known that which foail Juvely be, this defolation was foretold by the prophets, and publifhed in all the tribes of Jacl, as what fhould certainly come to pafs; and therefore they could not plead ignorance of it, or fay they had no notice given them, or they would have repented of their fins. The Targum is, “ in the ‘¢ tribes of J/rael I have made known the law;” fo Farchi; which they tranfereffed, and therefore were made defolate; or the word of truth, as Kimchi, the true’ and faithful Word, that if they walked in his ways, hearkened unto him, it would be well with them, but ifnot, he would deftroy their land, and carry them captive. i y. 10. The princes of Fudab were like them that remove the bound, &c.} Or landmark, which to do was contrary to the law, Dewt. xix. 14. and has always been reckoned an. hainous fin among all nations, and is only done by fuch who have no regard to right and wrong, and by them fec 5 and fuch were the kings, princes and nobles of Fudab, they fecretly committed the groffeft iniquities, yea were abandoned to their vile lufts, and could be contented within any bounds. The Caph here ufed, is, according to Kimchi and Ben Melech, not a note of fimilitude, but of certainty; and th the fenfe is, that the princes of Fudab did remove the bound; either in a literal fenfe, by force and VIG.
violence feized On the poffeffions and inheritances of their neighbours which lay next to theirs; or, in a figurative fenfe, they broke thro’ all bounds and limits, and tranfgrefied the laws of God and men, being not to be reftrained by either: serefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water 3 in great abundance, and with fuch force and vehemence, as not to be ftopped, but utterly de- {troy; like a flood of water, which overfiows the banks, or breaks them down, and carries all before it; or like the flood of water that came upon the earth, and carried off the world of the ungodly; in like manner fhould the wrath of God be poured down from heaven upon thefe princes without meafure, exceeding all bounds, in jult retaliation for their removing the bounds of their neighbours, ‘or tranfgrefling the laws of God: this was fulfilled: either in the times of Ahaz, when Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah king of Jjrael, as well as Tiglath-Pilefer king of Affyria, greatly afflicted Fudab, 2 Chron. xxviii. or at the time of the Badylonifh captivity.
y. 11. Ephraim is opprefed, and broken in judgment, &c.| Here the prophet again returns to the ten tribes, who were opprefied and broken, either by their own judgments, as the Targum; by the tyranny of their kings, and the injuftice of their judges, who lopked only for the mammon of unrighteoufnefs; or by the judgment of their enemies, the Affyrians, the taxes they laid upon them, the devaftations they made among them, and by whom, at laft, they were carried captive; or by the judgments of God upon them; for all the enemy did was by his permiffion, and according to his will: decaufe he willingly walked after the commandment, not after the commandment of God, but after the commandment of men, as Aden Ezra; or after the commandment of the prophets of Baal, as Farchi; or after the commandment of ‘feroboam the fon of Nebat, as Kimchi, by worfhipping the calves at Dan and Bethel he fet up there.
y. 12. Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, &c.] Which eats garments, penetrates into them, feeds on them privately, fecretly, without any noife, and gradually and flowly confumes them; but at laft utterly, that they are of no ufe and profit: this may fignify the various things which befel the ten tribes in the reigns of Zachariah, Shallum, Menachem, Pekabiah, and Pekab, which fecretly and gradually weakened them; and the utter confumption of them in the times of Hojbea by Salmanefer: and to the houfe of fudab as rotienne/s; as rottennefs in the bones, Prov. xii..4. which can never be got out or cured; or as a worm that eats into wood, as Yarchi interprets it; and gets into the very heart of a tree, and eats it out: thus the Lord threatens the houfe of Judah, or the two tribes, with a gradual, yet thorough ruin and deftruction,, y¥. 13. When Ephraim faw bis fickne/s, and Fudab few bis wound, &c.} That their civil ftate were in a fickly condition, very languid, weak, feeble and tottering, juft upon the brink of ruin 5 fee If. i. 6: then went Ephraim to the Afyrian, and ent. to king Fareb; that is, the ten tribes, or the king of them, went and met the 4fjrian king;
and Fulah the two tribes, or the king of them} fent embaffadors to king Yared; which fenfe the order of the words, in connexion with the preceding claufe; feems to require: by the Afyrian and king ‘fareb, we are to underftand one and the fame, as appears from the following words, yet could be not beal, 8c. whereas, if they were different, it would have been exprefled, yet could they not heal, &c. and the king of Ajria is meant; who alfo is called king Fareb; or rather king of Fareb"; fee. ch. x. 6. for this does not feém to be the name of the king of Afpria himfelf; tho’ it may be, that Pul, or Tiglath-Pilefer, ot Salmanefer, might have more names than one, whoever is meant; but rather it is the name of fome place in Affria, as Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, from which the country may be here denominated; tho’ the Targum takes it to be, not the proper name of a man or place, but an appellative, paraphrafing it, ‘* and fent to the king that fhall come to avenge ** them;” and fo other interpreters ° underftand it, rendring it, either the king that fhould defend, as Tremellius, or the king the adverfary, or litigator, as Cocceius, Hillerus®, and Guffetius%; a court-adverfary, that litigates a point, contends with one, and is an advocate for another; or, as Hiller elfewhere + renders it, the king that lies in wait: this was fulfilled with refpect to Ephraim, when Menachem king of Jjrael, or the ten tribes, often meant by Ephraim, went and met Pul king of Afyria, and gave him a thoufand talents to depart out of his land; perceiving his own weaknefs to withftand him, and in order to ftrengthen and confirm the kingdom in his hand, 2 Kings xv. 19; or when Ho/bea king of J/rael gave prefents to Saimanefer king of Affyria, and became a fervant to him, till he could get ftronger, and fhake off his yoke, 2 Kings xvii. 3. and with refpect to Fudab it had its accomplifhment, when dbaz king of Judah fent meflengers to Tiglath-Pilefer king of Afyria to come and help him againft the kings of Syria and Irael, finding he was not ftrong enough to oppofe them himfelf, 2 Kings xvi. 7. now all this was highly provoking to the Lord, that when both J/rael and fudabh found themfelves in a weak condition, and unable to refift their enemies, inftead of feeking to him for help, they applied to a foreign prince, and which proved unfuccefsful to them: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound; but, on the contrary, afflicted them, hurt and deftroyed them; there being a Mejofs in the words, which expreffes lefs than is defigned; for tho’ with refpect to Ephraim or Irael, Pul king of Afyria defifted from doing any damage to J/rae/, yet a fucceffor of his, Tiglath-Pilefer, came and took feveral places of J/rae/, and carried the inhabitants captive; and at laft came Salmanefer, and took Samaria the metropolis of the land, and carried all the ten tribes captive, 2 Kings xv. 29. and xvii. 4, 5, 6. and fo with refpect to Fudab, Tiglath-Pilefer, whom Abaz fent unto for help, not only did not help and ftrengthen him, but afflicted him, 2 Chron. xxviii. 20. thus when fenfible finners fee their fpiritual maladies, and feel the fmatt of their wounds, and make a wrong application for relief, to their tears, repentance and humiliation, and to works of righteoufnefs, or to any any thing of perfon fhort of Chrift the great phyfician, they meet with no fuccefs, find no relief until better directed.
¥. 14. For Iwill be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the houfe of Fudab, &c.| Being provoked by their above conduct and behaviour in feeking. to others, ‘and not to him for help, he threatens to punifh them in a more public and feveré manner; not be to them only as a moth and rottennefs, but as a lion, and as a young lion, creatures ftrong and fierce, that deftroy and devour all that come into their hands,.and from whom there is no deliverance: thus the Lord was both to Ijrael and Fudah, by means of the Affyrians and Babylonians; the former are compared. to a lion; that devoured J/rae/; and the latter to a young lion, that broke the bones of fudah; fee Fer. 1. 17. and laft of all by means of the Romanus, efpecially to Fudah: I, even I will tear and go away, as a lion tears its prey in pieces it feizes upon, and goes away, and leaves it torn, having fatisfied itfelf, and is in no fear of being purfued, or any vengeance taken on him for what he has done; fo the Lord would deftroy J/rael and Fudab, and leave them in their ruinous ftate, none being able to rife up and avenge their caufe. The J is doubled to exprefs the certainty of it: I will take away, and none fhall refcue him; as the lion, having glutted itfelf with its prey, takes the reft away, and carries it to its den, where none dare come and take it from him; fo the Lord fignifies, that thofe of Jfrael and Fudah that perifhed not by the fword of the enemy, or by famine or peftilence, fhould be carried captive, and none fhould be able to re-
HIS chapter gives an account of fome who were truly penitent, and ftirred up one another to return to the Lord, encouraged by his power, grace and goodnefs, y. 1, 2, 3. and of others, who had only a form of religion, were very unftable in it; regarded more the ceremonial law, and the external facrifices of it, than the moral law;' either that part of it which refpects the love of the neighbour, or that which concerns the knowledge of God; and dealt treacheroufly with the Lord, tranfgreffing the covenant, ¥. 4, 5, 6,7. particularly the city of Gilead is reprefented as full of the workers of iniquity, and is charged with bloodfhed, y. 8. yea even the priefts were guilty of murder and lewdnefs, ¥. 9. and J/rael or the ten tribes in general are accufed of whoredom, both corporal and fpiritual, with which they were defiled, ¥. 10. nor was Fudab clear of thefe crimes, and therefore a reckoning-day is fet for them, Yer
The Septuagint and Arabic verfions conneé thefe words with the laft claufe of the preceding chapter, adding the word, faving; and fo the Targum and Syriac verfions, they /hall fay, and very rightly as to the fenfe; for they are the words of thofe perfons under the afflicting hand of God,‘and being brought thereby to a fenfe of their fins, acknowledge them, and feek to the Lord for pardon, and encourage one another fo to do; as J/rael and Fudab will in the latter-day, when the veil fhall be taken off their minds, the hardnefs of their heart
HOO: 37m Chivicy. 145 1g turn them till he pleafes: undet the’ wrath and dif= pleafure of God, and under this tearing, rending and afflictive difpenfation they now are, and will continue till the time of their converfion. re
¥. 15. I will go and return to my place, &c.] Leave the countries of J/rael and of Judah, where he had ufed to grant his gracious and {piritual prefence unto his people, and watched over them, and” cared for them, and beftowed many favours on: them, and go up to heaven the place of his more glorious prefence, as the Targum, Farchi, and Kimchi interpret it; and there, as it were, fhut himfelf up, particularly with refpect to thefe people, as if he had no more thought of them, or concern for them: this is to be underftood in a fenfe.becoming and agreeable to the omniprefence of God: till they acknowledge their offence, and feek my faces till the Jraelites acknowledge their idolatry, and the Yews their difbelief and rejection of the Meffiah, and all other fins; till they ingenuoufly confefs themfelves to be guilty, or know and acknowledge they have finned, as the Yargum,; and then humbly feek the face and favour of God, the remiffion of their fins from him, and acceptance with him: ia their affiittion they will feek me early 5 in the morning, betimes, early, and earneftly; which affliction may be underftood both of the Affyrian and Babylonifh captivity; or rather of their prefent affliction toward the clofe of it, when they fhall ‘be fenfible of their fins, and confefs them, ~ and look to him whom they have pierced, and mourn, and feek for pardon, righteoufnefs and fal. vation from him; and {fo all J/rae/ fhall be faved, - of whofe converfion this is a prophecy.
removed, and they fhall be converted, and turn to the Lord, and feek him together, weeping as they go; having both faith in Chrift, and repentance towards God, by which they will return unto him; fee 2 Cor, iti..16. Fer. 1.45.5. fo all finners fenfible of their departure from God by fin, and of the evil and danger of it, repent of it, and loath it, confefs and acknowledge it, depart from it, and forfake it; and return to the Lord, having fome view and apprehenfion of him as a God, gracious and merciful in Chrift; imploring the forgivenefs of their fins, with fome degree of faith and confidence in him; and_not having only love to their own fouls, and the welfare of them, but — alfo to the fouls of others, exhort and encourage’ them to join with them in the fame acts of faith, repentance and obedience. The Targum is, “ let ‘* us return to the worfhip of the Lord;” from which they have fadly departed.. The arguments or reafons follow, for he hath torn, and he w beal us, he bath fimitten, and he will bind us the fame hand that’ has torn will heak Sone | has fmitten will bind up, and hong elfe can; anc therefore there is a neceffity of returning to him for healing and a cure, Deut. XXxRil. 39. and his tearing is in order to heal, and his {miting in order — to bind up; and as fure as he has Hiei or he’ll do the other, and therefore there is fq couragement to apply to him; all which tl 1S will be fenfible of in the laft day; and: then th Lord, who is now tearing them in his wrath, anc fmiting them in his fore difpleafure, both in civil and church-ftate, difperfing them amor
Ch. vi. ¥. 23°33 nations, and has been fo doing, for many hundred years, will bind up the breach of his people, and heal the fireke of their wound, If. xxx. 26. and fo the Lord deals with all his people, who are truly and really converted by him; he rends their heart, tears the caul of it; pricks and cuts them to the heart; {mites them with the hammer of his word; wounds their confciences with a fenfe of fin; lets in the law into them, which works wrath, whereby they become broken and contrite; and all this in order to their turning to him that {mites them, and be healed, and in love to their fouls, tho’ for the prefent grievous to bear: and then the great phyfician ‘heals them by his ftripes and wounds; by the application of his blood; by means of his word, the gofpel of peace and pardon; by a look to him, and a touch of him by faith; by difcoveries of his love, and particularly his pardoning grace and mercy, which as oil and wine he pours into the wounds made by fin, and binds them up; and which he heals univerfally, both with refpect to perfons and difeafes, for, which he is applied unto, and infallibly, thoroughly, and perfectly, and all treely.
¥. 2. After two days will he revive us, in the third day he will raife us up, &c.] The Fews, in their prefent ftate, are as dead men, both in a civil and {piritual fenfe, and their converfion and re- {toration will -be as life from the dead; they are like perfons buried, and when they are reftored, they'll be raifed out of their graves, both of fin and mifery; fee Rom. xi. 15. Ezek. xxxvii. 11, 12, 13, 14. the time of which is here fixed, after two days, and on the third; which Yarchi interprets of the two temples that have been deftroyed, and of the third temple to be built, which the Fews expect, but in vain, and when they hope for good times: Kimchi explains it of their three captivities, in, Egypt, Babylon, and the, prefent one, and fo Ben Melech, from which they, hope to be raifed, and live comfortably; which fenfe is much better than the former: and with it may be, compared Vitringa’s * notion of the text, that the firft day was between J/rae/’s coming out of Egypt and the Badylonifh captivity; the fecond day between that and the times of Aztiochus, which was the third night; then the third day followed, which is the times of the Meffiah: but the Targum comes nearer the truth, which paraphrafes the words thus, «* he will quicken us in the days of confolation *< which are to come, and in the day of the refur- “< rection of the dead he will raife us up;” where by days of confolation are meant the days of the Meffiah, with which the ews generally connect the refurreétion of the dead; and if we underftand them of the laft days of the Meffiah, it is not much amifs; for the words refpect the quickening and raifing up of the Yews in the latter day, the titnes of Chrift’s fpiritual coming and reign: and thefe two and three days may be expreffive of a Jong and fhort time,.as interpreters. differently explain them 5 of a long time, as the third day is a long time for a man to lie dead, when there can be little or no hope of his reviving, Luke xxiv. 31. or of a fhort time, for which two or three days is a common phrafe; and both true in this cafe: it js a long time J/rael and ‘Fudab have been in captivity, and there. may feem little hope of their re-
Lord, with whom a thoufand years are as one day, which they attain to a greater degree of it:
and one day as a thoufand years: and this I také to be the fenfe of the words, that after the fecond millennium, or the Lord’s two days, and at the beginning of the third, will be the time of their converfion and reftoration, reckoning from the laft deftruction of them by the Romans; for not till then were I/rael and ‘Judah wholly in a ftate of death: many of Jrael were mixed among thofe of » Judah before the Babylonifh captivity, and many returned with them from it; but when deftroyed by the Romans, there was an end of their civil and church-ftate; which will both be revived on a bet= ter foundation at this period of time: but if this conjecture is not agreeable, for I only propofe it as fuch; the fenfe may be taken thus, that in a fhort time after the repentance of J/rae/, and their converfion to the Lord, they will be brought into a very comfortable and happy ftate and condition, both with refpeét to things temporal and fpiritual. And we fhall live in his fight; comfortably, in a civil fenfe, in their own land, and in the poffeflion of all their privileges and liberties; and in a piritual fenfe, by faith on Jefus Chrift, whom they fhall now embrace, and in the enjoyment of the gofpel and gofpel-ordinances; and the prophet reprefents the penitents and faithful among them as believing and hoping for thefe things. ‘This may be applied to the cafe of fenfible finners, who as they are in their natural ftate dead in fin, and dead in law, fo they fee themfelves to be fuch when awakened; and yet entertain a fecret hope, that fooner or later they fhall be revived and refrefhed, and raifed up to a more comfortable ftate, and live in the prefence of God, and the enjoyment of his favour. ‘The ancient fathers generally underftood thefe words of Chrift, who was buried on the fixth day, lay in the grave the whole feventh day, and after thefe two days, on the third, rofe again from the dead; and to this paffage the apoftle is thought to have refpeét, 1 Cor. xv. 3. and alfo of the refurrection of his people in and with him, and by virtue of his: and true it is, that Chrift rofe from the dead on the third day, and afl his redeemed ones were quickened and raifed up together with him as their head and reprefentative, Eps. ii. 5, 6. and it is in virtue of his being quickened, that they are regenerated and quickened, and made alive, in a fpiritual fenfe; he is the author of their {piritual life, and their life itfelf; fee.1 Pet. i. 3. and not only in virtue of his refurrection, is their {piritual refurrection from the death of fin to a life of grace, but even their corporal refurrection at the laft day; and as in confequence of their fpiritual refurrection, they live in the fight of God a life of grace and holinefs by faith in Chrift, and in a comfortable view and enjoyment of the divine favour; fo they fhall live eternally in the prefence of God, where are fulnefs of joy, and pleafures for evermore: but the firft fenfe is beft, and moft agreeable to the context and {cope of it.
¥. 3. Then fhall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord, &c.) The word #f is not in the original text, and the paffage is not conditional, but abfolute; for as perfons, when converted, know Chrift, and not before, when he is revealed to them, and in them, as the only Saviour and Redeemer, fo they continue and increafe in the knowledge of
; him; they earneftly defire to know more of him, ftoration; but it will be a fhort timé with the and eagerly purfue thofé means afd mettiods by the words aré, and we fball know, we fball follow on to know the Lord*; that grace, which has given the firft meafure of fpiritual and experimental knowledge of him, will influence and engage them to feek after more. The Fews, when they are quickened, and turn to the Lord, will know him, own and acknowledge him, as the Meffiah, the only Redeemer and Saviour; and will be fo delighted with the knowledge of him, that they will be defirous of, and feek after, a larger meafure of it; and indeed they fhall all know him, from the leaft to the-greateft, when-the covenant of grace fhall be renewed with them, manifefted and applied to them. The words may be confidered as a continuation of their exhortation to one another from y. 1. thus, and let us acknowledge, let us follow on to know him”; \et us own him as the true Meffiah, whom we and our fathers have rejeéted and let us make ufe of all means to gain more knowledge of him: or Jet us follow after him, to ferve and obey him, which is the practical knowledge of him; let us imitate him, and follow him the Lamb of God, embrace his gofpel, and fubmit to his ordinances. So Kimchi interprets it, to, know him; that is, to ferve him; firft know him, then ferve him. His going forth is prepared as the morning; that is, the Lord’s going forth, who is known, and followed after to be more known; and is to be underftood, not of his going forth in the council and covenant of grace from everlafting; nor of his incarnation in time, or of his refurre€tion from the dead; but of his fpiritual coming in the latter day, with the brightnefs of which he will deftroy antichrift; or of his going forth in the mini- {tration of the gofpel to the converfion of Yews and Gentiles, the light of which difpenfation will be very great; it will be like a morning after a long night of darknefs with the Fewi/b and Pagan nations; and be as grateful and delightful, beautiful and chearful, as the morning-light; and moveas fwiftly and irrefiftibly as that, and be alike growing and increafing: and fo the words are a reafon of the increafing knowledge of the Lord’s people in thofe times, becaufe he fhall go forth in the miniftration of the word like the morning-light, which increafes more and more till noon; and of the evidence and clearnefs of it, it being like 2 morning without clouds; with which agrees the note of Fo/eph Kimchi, ** we fhall know him, and it will be as clear ** to us as the light of the morning without ‘* clouds:” and alfo of the firmnefs and certainty of it; for both the increafing knowledge of the faints, and the going forth of Chrift in a fpiritual manner, is firm and fure (which may be the fenfe of the word”) as the morning; for as fure as the night cometh, fo alfo the morning. Aud he fhall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth, in the land of J/rael they had ufually two rains in a year; the one in autumn, or quickly after the feed was fown; the other in the {pring, when the corn was ripe, and harveft near, and which was very reviving and refrefhing to the earth, and the fruits of it; and fuch will be‘ the coming of Chrift unto his people, in the miniftration of the gofpel in the Jatter day, which will drop as the rain, and diftil as the dew, as the fmall rain on the tender herb, and as fhowers upon the grafs; and in the difcoveries of his favour and love to them, and in the diftribution of the bleflings of his grace among them. Much the like phrafes are ufed of the {piritual coming of Chrift in the latter day, Pf. Ixxii. 6. The Targum is, * and “© we fhall learn, and we fhall follow on, to know ‘ the fear of the Lord, as the morning-light, which’ *¢ darts in its going out; and bleffings will come
‘ to us as a prevailing rain, and as the latter rain a4 which waters the earth.” y. 4. O Ephraim, what fhall I do unto thee? O Fudah, what fhall I do unto thee? &c.] Or, for thee*? The Lord having obferved the effeét and confequence of his going and returning to his place, of his leaving his people for a long time under ‘afflictions and in diftrefs; namely, their thorough. converfion to him in the latter day, and the bleffings attending it; returns to the then prefent times again, and to the ftate and condition in which Ephraim and Fudah, the ten and two tribes, were, and fpeaks as one at a lofs, and under difficulties, to know what to do with them and for them; how as it were to give them up to ruin and deftruction; and yet having tried all ways with them, and in vain, afks what further was to be done, or could.be done, to bring them to a fenfe of their. fins, to reform them, and caufe them to return to him. For your goodnefs is as a morning-cloud, and as-the early dew it goeth way; meaning not the goodnefs of God beftowed upon them, and the mercy he fhowed to them;, but the goodnefs that appeared in them, and all the good things done by them, their repentance, reformation, holinefs, and righteoufnefs; thefe, which were only in thew, did not laft long, came to nothing, and difappeared; like a light cloud in the morning, which vanifhes away when the fun rifes; or like the dew that falls in the night, which is quickly dried up and gone, after the fun has been up a fmall time. Thus it was with Ephraim, or the ten tribes, in the time © of Jehu; there was a fhew of zeal for religion, and a reformation from idolatry, but it did not go on, nor laft long; and with the two tribes of Fudab and Benjamin in the times of Hezekiah and Yofab, who did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord; but then the Zews, in the times of their fucceffors, returned to their former evil ways. And fo the beft works, holinefs and righteoufnefs of men, can no more ftand before the juftice of God, and the ftri€& examination of it, than a thin: light morning-cloud, or the fmall drops of dew before the light, force, and heat of the fun; nor do formal and carnal profefiors continue in thefe things; they may run well for a while, and then drop their profeffion and religion, and turn from the holy commandment. And this being the cafe, what can they expect from the Lord? a
¥. 5. Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets, Ihave flain them by the words of my mouth, &c.] Sharply reproved them for their fins by the prophets, who were as lapidaries that cut ftone, or as hewers of timber that cut off the knotty parts; fo thefe by preaching the terrors of the law, which is a killing letter, and by delivering out the threatnings of the Lord, and denouncing his judgments upon them for their fins, cut them to the heart. and killed them; for their foretelling and prophefying of their being flain, ruined, and deftroyed, was a flaying of them; fee Fer. i. 10. The Ta gum is, ** becaufe I admonithed them by the mef- «« fage of my prophets, and they returned not, I ** will bring upon them thofe that flay, becaufe © they have tranfgrefied the word of my will.” But the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic verfions, and fo Aben Lzra and Fofeph Kimchi, underftand thefe words, not of hewing, and cutting, and flaying of the people by the prophets, but of the cutting and flaying the prophets themfelves, and read the words, therefore have I cut off the prophets, and flain them, &c. either the falfe prophets, -fome of them that caufed the people to err, that they might not repent, as 4sen Ezra; as the prophets of Baal in the times of Hijab, and the fcribes and pharifees in Chrift’s time, who were in the way of the peoples repentance, reformation, and reception of Chrift; thefe he cut off, and their doctrine, and condemned by his own and the doétrine of his apoftles, the words of the Lord’s mouth; fee Zech. xi. 8. and this he did for the good of his people, in anfwer to the queftion put by himfelf in the preceding verfe, fo Schmidt interprets it: or elfe _the true prophets of God, who were expofed to death, to be cut off and flain, for the. meflages they were fent with: or thofe meffages were fuch as were killing to them, to carry them, and deliver them; and they were fo conftantly employed, early and late, in fuch fervice, that for the work of the Lord they’were often nigh unto death: but our verfion, and the fenfe agreeable to it, feem beft. 4nd thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth, that is, their judgments, the people’s, a fudden change of perion: meaning either the ftatutes and judgments prefcribed them by the Lord, and to be obferved by them; which were clear and plain as the light at noon-day, and therefore could not plead any excufe of ignorance of them, that they did not obferve them: or the judgments of God upon them for their fins; which were open and manifeft to all, and increafing like the light, more and more, and no more to be refifted than that; and the righteoufnefs of God in them was very confpicuous, his judgments were manifeft, and the juftice of them. Some underftand this of the judements or righteoufnefles of the faints both imputed and inherent, Rom. v.16, Luke i. 6. which appear light and clear, the darknefs of pharifaifm being removed by Chrift. The Targum is, “* my judg- “¢ ment goes forth as the light.” y. 6. Bor Idefired mercy, and not facrifice, &c.] That is, the one rather than the other, as the next claufe explains it. Sacrifices were of early ufe, even before the law of Mo/es; they were of divine appointment, and were approved and accepted of by the Lord; they were types of Chrift, and led to him, and were continued unto his death; but in comparifon of moral duties, which refpect love to God, and to our neighbour, the Lord did not will them, defire them, and delight in them; or he had more regard for the former than the latter; fee 1 Sam. xv. 22. Mark xii. 33, 34. nor did he will or accept at all of the facrifices offered to the calves at Dan and Bethel; nor others, when they were not fuch as the law required, or were not offered up in the faith of Chrift, attended with repentance for fin, and in fincerity, and were brought as real expiatory facrifices for fin, and efpecially as now abrogated by the facrifice of Chrift. And as thefe words are twice quoted by our Lord, at one time to juftify his mercy, pity, and compaifion, to