Exposition of the Whole Bible

the fouls of poor finnet’s, by converfing with thent,

Matt. ix. 13. and at another time to juftify the difciples in an act of mercy to their bodies whén hungry, by plucking ears of corn on the fabbathday, Matt. xti. 7. mercy may here refpect both acts of mercy fhewn by the Lord, and aéts of mercy done' by men; both which the Lord wills, defires, and delights in: he takes pleafure in fhewing mercy himfelf, as appears by his free and open’ declarations of it; by the throne of grace and mercy he has fet up; by the encouragement he gives to-fouls to hope in his mercy; by the objects of it, the chief of finners; by the various ways he has taken to difplay it, in election, in the covenant of grace, in the miffion of Chrift, in the pardon of fin by him, and in regeneration; and by his oppofing it to every thing elfe, in the affair of falvation. And he likewife has a very great regard to mefcy as exercifed by mens as this is one of the weightier matters of the law, and may be put for the whole of it, or however the fecond table of it, which is love to our neighbours, and takes in all kind offices done to them; and efpecially defigns acts of liberality to neceffitous perfons; which are facrifices God is well pleafed with, even more than with the <ceremonious ones; thefe being fuch in’ which men refemble him the merciful God, who is kind to the unthankful, and to the eyil. “And the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings; which were reckoned the greateft and moft excellent facrifices, the whole being the Lord’s; but knowledge of God is preferred to them; by which is meant, not the knowledge of God by the light of nature, which men might have, and not glorify him; nor by the law of Mo/es, as a lawgiver, judge, and confuming fire; but a knowledge of him in Chriit, as the God and Father of Chrift, as the God of all grace, gracious and merciful in him; as a covenant-God and Father in him, which is thro’ the gofpel by the Spirit, and is eternal life, Fobn’xvii. 3. this includes in it faith and hope in God, love to him, fear of him and his goodnefs, and the whole worfhip of him both internal and external. ‘Thefe words feem defigned to expofe and remove the falfe ground of truft and confidence in facrifices, the people of J/rael were prone unto; as we find they were in the times of J/aiab, who was cotemporary with Hofea; fee If. i. 12—15. The Targum interprets them of thofe that exercife mercy, and do the law of the Lord.

y. 7. But they like men have tranfgreffed the covenant, &c.] The falfe prophets, as ven Ezra, whom he threatened to cut off and flay, ¥. 5. or rather Ephraim and Judah, whofe goodnefs was fo fickle and unftable; and who inftead of doing acts of mercy, and feeking after the true knowledge of God. and his worfhip, which are preferable to all facrifices, they tranfereffed the law of God, which they promifed at mount Sinai to obey; the precepts of the moral law, even of both tables, which concern both God and man; and alfo the ceremonial law, by appointing pricfts to facrifice, who were not of the tribe of Levi, as did Ephraim or the ten tribes under Fercboam; and by offering facrifices to their calves, and by not obferving the folemn feafts; and the precepts relating to both thefe laws, conftitute the covenant made with the children of J/rael at Sinai, Exod. xxiv. 3—8. which they tranfgreffed, either ke Adam y the firft man, as Farchi; who tranfgrefied the covenant of works

39° in paradife God made with him, and all mankind. in him: or like the men of old, the former genetations, as the Targum; meaning ether the old inhabitants of the land, the Cazaanites; or the men of the old world at the time of the Sood, who were a very wicked and abandoned generation of ‘men; or like men in common, depraved and degenerated, fickle and inconftant, vain and deceitful, and not at all-to be depended upon; efpecially like the lower fort of men, the common people, who have no regard to their word, covenant, and agreement; or particularly like fuch men that are given to perjury, and make no confcience of oaths and covenants ever fo folemnly made: or as others read the words, but they have tran/greffed the covenant like man’s *; making no more account of it, than if it was a man’s covenant. There have they dealt treacheroufly againft me; in the covenant they entered into, by breaking it, not performing their promifes; and even in the very facrifices they offered, and were fo fond of, and put their confidence in; either by offering fuch facrifices as were not legal, or by offering them to idols, under a pretence of offering them to God, which was dealing treacheroufly againft him; and in all other acts of religion, in which they would be thought to have regard to the covenant of God, his laws and precepts, and to be very ferious and devout, yet acted the hypocritical part, were falfe and deceitful, and devoid of all fincerity: or there, in the promifed land, where the Lord had fo largely beftowed his favours on them; fo Farchi, Kimchi, and Abarbinel, agreeable to the Targum, which paraphrafes it thus, ‘* and in the good Jand which ‘* T gave unto them to do my will, they have dealt “¢ falfly with my word.” ¥. 8. Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, &c.] The chief city in the land of Gilead, which Jay beyond Yordan, inhabited by Gad and Reuben, and the half tribe of Manaffeb, and fo belonged to the ten tribes, whofe fins are here particularly obferved. It had its name from the country, or the country from that, or both from the mountain of the fame name. It is thought to be Ramotb- Gilead, a city of refuge, and put for all the cities of refuge in thofe parts, which were inhabited by priefts and Levites; and who ought to have had knowledge of the laws, and inftructed the people in them, and obferved them themfelves, and fet a good example to others; but inftead of this, the whole courfe of their lives was vicious; they made a trade of finning, did nothing elfe but work iniquity; and this was general among them, the city or cities of them confifted of none elfe; and all manner of iniquity was committed by them, particularly idolatry: for fo the words may be rendred, a city of them that ferve an idol*; not only at Dan and Bethel, but in the cities of the priefts, idols were fet up and worfhipped; this fhows the ftate to be very corrupt: and is polluted with blood; with the blood of murderers harboured there, who ought not to have been admitted; or with the blood of fuch who were delivered up to the avenger of blood, that-ought to have been fheltered, and both for the fake of money; or with the blood of children, facrificed to Moloch: the word ufed has the fignificafet an harveft for thee; appointed a time of joy and tion of fupplanting, lying in wait, and fo is un-

derftood of a private, fecret thedding of blood, in a deceitful and infidjous way: hence fome render it, cunning for blood”, to agree, calling it a city ‘* of them that fecretly ‘* or deceitfully fhed innocent blood.” It has alfo the fignification of the heel of a man’s foot, and is by fome rendered, trodden by bloed*; that is, by bloody men: or footed or heeled by blood*, that is, fuch an abundance of it was fhed, that a man could not fet his foot or his heel any where but in blood.

y¥. 9. And as troops of robbers wait for a man, &c.] AS a gang of highwaymen or footpads lie in wait in a ditch, or under a hedge, or in a cave of a rock or mountain, for a man they know will come by that way, who is full of money, in order to rob him; or as Saadiah interprets it, as fifhermen ftand upon the banks of a river, and caft in their hooks to draw out the fifh; and to the fame purpofe is Farchi’s note from R. Meir: fo the company of priefts murder in the way by confent; not only encourage murderers, and commit murders within the city, but go out in a body together upon the highway, and there commit murders and robberies, and divide the fpoil among them; all which they did unanimoufly, and were well agreed, being brethren in iniquity, as well as in office: or, iz the way of Shechem *, as good people pafied by Gilead to Shechem, and fo to Ferufalem, to worfhip there at the folemn feafts, they lay in wait for them, and murdered them; becaufe they did not give into the idolatrous worfhip of the calyes at Dan and Bethel: or, in the manner of Shechem*; that is, they murdered men in a deceitful treacherous manner, as the Shechemites were murdered by Simeon and Levi: Fofeph Kimchi interprets this of the princes and great men, fo the word Cobanim is fometimes ufed; but the context feems to carry it to the priefts: for they commit leudnefs; or enormity 5 the moit enormous crimes, and that purpofely, with deliberation devifing and contriving them.

¥. 10. I bave feen an horrible thing in the houfe of Ijrael, &c.] Idolatry, the calves fet up at Dan and Bethel, which God faw with abhorrence and deteftation; or the prophet faw it, and it made his hair ftand upright as it were, as the word * fignifies, that fuch wickednefs fhould be committed by a profefling people: there is the whoredom of Ephraim; in the houfe of J/rael is the whoredom ot Feroleam, who was of the tribe of Ephraim, and caufed J/rael to fin, to go a whoring after idols; or the whoredom of the tribe of Ephraim, which belonged to the houfe of J/rael, and even of all the ten tribes; both corporal and fpiritual whoredom, or idolatry, are here meant: J/rae/ is defiled; with whoredom of both kinds; it had fpread itfelf all over the ten tribes; they were all infected with it, and polluted by it; fee ch. v. 3. “fh

¥. 11. Alfo, O Fudab, he hath fet an harveft for thee, &c.} That is, God hath fet and appointed a time of wrath and vengeance for thee, which is fometimes fignified by an harveft, Rev. xiv. 15. becaufe thou haft been guilty of idolatry alfo, as well as Ephraim or the ten tribes: or rather it may be rendered, but, O Fudah*, he, that is, God hath to which the Targum feems _ qua via ad Shechemum frum occidunt, Junius & Tremellius; qua dacit ad Sichemum, Piftator, °

Ch. viieyir,:3: HOS or return the captivity of my people’; the people of Fudab from the Beabylonifh captivity; fo that here is a prophecy both of their captivity, and of their return from it: and it may be applied unto their return from their fpiritual captivity; to

E oA. 391 fin, fata, and the law, through the gofpel we Chrift and his apoftles, firft publifhed in ‘fudea, by means of which there was a large harveft of fouls gathered in; and was an occalion of great Joy:.

HIS chapter either begins a new fermon;;

difcourfe, or prophecy, or it is a continuation of the former; at lea{t it feems to be of the fame argument with the latter part of it, only it is directed to J/rae/ alone; and confifts of complaints againit them, becaufe of their manifold fins, and of denunciations of punifhment for them. They are charged with ingratitude to God, finning in a daring manner againft mercy, and with falfhood, thefts, and robberies, y. 1. with want of confideration of the omnifcience of God, and his notice of their fins, which furrounded them, ¥. 2. with flattery to their king and princes, ¥. 3. with adultery, which luft raged in them like an heated oven, y. 4. with drunkennefs, ageravated by drawing their king into it, ¥. 5. with raging lufts, which devoured their judges, made their kings to fall, and brought on fuch a general corruption, that there were none that called upon the Lord, y. 6, 7. with mixing themfelves with the nations of the earth, and fo learning their ways, and bringing their fuperftition and idolatry into the worfhip of God, fo that they were nothing in religion, like an half-baked cake, y. 8. with ftupidity and infenfibility of their declining ftate, ¥. 9. with pride, impenitence, and ftubbornnefs, y. 10. with folly, in feeking to Egypt and Afyria for help, and not to the Lord; for which they would be taken as birds in a net, and forely chaftifed, y. 11, 12. with ingratitude, hypocrify, and deceitfulnefs; for all which they are threatened with deftruction, v. re, ' 14, 15,526.

y¥. 1. When I would have healed Ifrael, &c.| Or rather, when I healed Ifracl *, for this is not to be underftood of a velleity, with, or defire of healing and faving them, as Yarchi, nor of a bare attempt to do it by the admonitions of the prophets, and by corrections in providence, but of actual healing them; and by which is meant, not healing them in a fpiritual and religious jenfe, as in ch. vi. 1. but in a political fenfe, of the reftoring of their civil ftate to a more flourifhing condition; which was done in the times of ‘fercboam the fon of Foafh, as Kimchi rightly obferves; who reftored the coaft of Jjrael, from the entring of Hamath, unto the fea. of the plain, 2 Kings xiv. 25, 26: then the iniquity of Ephraim was difcovered, and the wickedne/s of Samaria, fome refer this to the times of Feroboam the Firft, and that the fenfe is, that the Lord having cured J/rae/ of the idolatry introduced by Solomon, quickly a new fcene of idolatry broke out in Ephraim or the ten tribes, of which Samaria was

- the metropolis; for Feroboam foon fet up the calves at Dan and Bethel to be worfhipped; but it does not appear that J/rae/ was corrupted with the idolatry of Solomon, and needed a cure then; nor was Samaria built in Yeroboam’s time: others apply it to the times of ¥ebz, who, tho” he flew the worthippers of Baa/, and broke his images, and deftroyed him out of J/rae/, yet retained the worfhip of the calves at Dan and Bethel, 2 Kings x. 25— 30. fo tho’ they were healed of one fort of idolatry, another prevailed. It is right in both thefe fenfes, that the iniquity of Ephraim, and wickednefs or wickedneffes of Samaria, are taken for the idolatrous worfhip of the golden calves; but then it refpects the times of Feroboam the Second, the fon of Foa/b, in whofe days J/rael was profperous; and yet thefe fuperftitious and idolatrous practices of worfhip were Hagrant and notorious, were countenanced by the king and his courtiers that dwelt at Samaria, as is clear from Amos vii. 10—13: which was an inftance of great ingratitude to the Lord. For they commit falfbood,; among themfelves, lying to one another, and deceiving each other; or to God, deal falfly wich him, are guilty of falfe worfhip, worfhipping idols, which are vanities and lies: and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers {poileth without, which may be interpreted either of their fins, their fins in general, both private and public; and their fins of theft and robbery in particular; both fuch as were committed in houfes by the thief privately entring there, and by a gang of robbers in the ftreets, or on the highway: fo the Zargum, ‘in the night they thieve in ** houfes, and in the day they rob on the plain,” or fields: or elfe of punifhment for their fins; and then the words may be rendered ', therefore the thief entereth in, and the troop or army {preads without; this thief was Shallum, who came in to kill and to fteal; he flew Zachariah the fon of Feroboam, after he had reigned fix months, and ufurped the kingdom, and fo put an end to the family of Febu, according as the Lord had threatened, 2 Kings viii. 12. the troop or army is the Affyrian army under Pul, who came againft Menahem king of I/rael, of whom he exacted a tribute, and departed, 2 Kings XV. 19, 20. fo Cocceius.

y. 2. And they confider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedne/s, 8&c.]_ That is, the people of the ten tribes, and the inhabitants of Samaria, whofe iniquity and wickednefs are faid to be difcovered, and to be very notorious: and yet they faid not to their hearts ™, as in the original text; they did not think within themfelves; they did not commune with their own hearts; they did not put themfelves in mind, or put this to their confciences, that the Lord faw all their wicked actions, their idolatry, falfhood, thefts and robberies, and whatfoever they were guilty of; that the Lord took notice of them, and put them down in the book of his remembrance, in order to call them to an account, and punifh them for them: sow their own doings have befet them about, or, that now their own doings, &c". they don’t confider in their hearts, mn ran55 MN" by & non dicebant ad cor fuum, Coccgius 3 & non dicunt cordi fuo, Schmidt.

2 sorpooyey IAD WW quod circumdent ipfos opera corum, Schmidt, that their fins.are all around them, on every fide, committed by them openly, and in abundance, and are notorious to all their neighbours, and much more to’ the omnifcient’God: and that they are before my face; fo the Targum, ** which are re- «¢ vealed before me;’? were manifeft in his fight, before whom all things are; but this they did not confider, and therefore went on ‘in that bold and daring manner they did. Some undesftand thefe claufes of the punifhment of their fins, which fhould furround them on every fide, that they fhould not be able to efcape, like perfons clofely befieged in a city, that they cannot get out; alluding to the future fiege of Samaria, when it would be a plain cafe, tho’ they did not now think of it, that all their fins were before the Lord, and were obferved by him.

y¥. 3. They make the king glad with their wickednefs, &c.) “Not any particular king; not eroboem the firft, as Kimchi; nor Febu, as Grotius; if any particular king, rather Feroboam the fecond; but their kings in general, as the Septuagint render it, in fucceffion one after another; who were highly delighted and pleafed with the priefts in offering facrifice to the calves, and with the people in attending to that idolatrous worfhip, by which they hoped to fecure the kingdom of J/rael to themfelves, and prevent the people going to Ferufalem to worfhip: it made them glad to the heart to hear them fay, that God was as well pleafed with facrifices offered at Dan and Bethel, as at Ferufalem: and the princes with their lies, with their idols and idolatrous practices, which are va- _ nity and a lie; tho’ fome interpret this of their flatteries, either of them, or their favourites; and of their calumnies and detractions of fuch they had a diflike of.

¥. 4. They are all adulterers, &c.| King, princes, priefts and people, both in a fpiritual and corporal fenfe,; they were all idolaters, given to idolatry, eager of it, and conftant in it, as the following metaphors fhew; and they were addicted to corporal adultery; this was a prevailing vice among all ranks and degrees of men. So the Targum, “¢ they all defire to lie with their neighbours wives;” fee Fer. v. 7, 8. and ix. 2: as an oven heated by the baker; which, if underftood of -fpiritual adultery or idolatry, denotes their eagernefs after it, and fervour in it, excited by their king, or by the devil and his inftruments, the priefts and falfe prophets; and if of bodily uncleannefs, it is expreffive of the heat of that luft, which is fometimes fignified by burning, and is ftirred up by the devil and the corrupt hearts of men to fuch a degree, as to be raifed to a flame, and be like a raging fire, or a heated oven, fee Rom. i. 27. 1 Cor. vii. 9: who ceafeth from raifing; that is, the baker having heated his oven, ceafeth from raifing up the women to bring their bread to the bakehoufe; or he ceafeth from waking, or from watching his oven; he lays himfelf down to fleep, and continues in it: after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened; having kneaded the dough, and put in the leaven, he lets it alone to work till the whole’ mafs is leavened, taking his reft in the mean while: as the former claufe expreffes the vehement defire of the people after adultery, fpiritual or corporal, this-may fignify their continuance in it; or rather the wilful negligence of the king, priefts and prophets, who, inftead of awaking them out of their flzep ona bed of adultery, let them alone in it, until they were all infected with it. — ¥. 5. In the day of our king, &c.] Either his birth-day, or his coronation-day, when he was inaugurated into his, kingly office, as the Targum, Farchi, and Kimchi; or the day on which Fereboam {et up the calves, which might be kept as an anniverfary: or, it is the day of our king *; and may be the words of the priefts and falfe prophets, exciting the people to adultery; and may fhew by what means they drew them into it, faying this is the king’s birth-day, or coronation-day, or a holyday of his appointing, let us meet together, and drink his health; and fo by indulging to intemperance, thro’ the heat of wine, led them on to adultery, corporal or fpiritual, or both: s/he princes have made him fick with bottles of wine; that is, the courtiers who attended at court on fuch a day to compliment the king upon the occafion, and to drink his health, drank to him in bumpers, perhaps a bottle of wine at once; which he pledging them in the fame manner, made him fick or drunk: to make any man drunk is criminal, and efpecially a king; as, it was. alfo a weaknefs and fin ‘in him to drink to excefs, which is not for kings, of all men, to do: or it may be rendered, the princes became fick thro’ the heat of wine, fo Jarchi; they were made fick by others, or they made them{elves fo by drinking too much wine, which inflamed their bodies, gorged their ftomachs, made their heads dizzy, and them’ fo weak, as the word 4 alfo fignifies, that they could not ftand upon their legs; which are commonly the effects of exceffive drinking, efpecially in thofe who are not ufed to it, as the king and the princes might not_ be, only on fuch occafions: be firetched out bis hand with fcarners; meaning the king, who, in his cups, forgetting. his royal dignity, ufed too much familiarity with perfons of low life, and of an ill behaviour, irreligious ones; who, efpecially when drunk, made a jeft of all religion; feoffed at good men, and every thing that was ferious; and even fet their mouths againit the heavens; denied there was a God, or {poke very indecently and irreverently of him; thefe the king made his potcompanions, took the cup, and drank to them in turn, and fhook them by the hand; or admitted them to kifs his hand, and were all together,. hail fellows well met. ‘Yo/eph Kimchi thinks thefe are the fame with the princes, called fo before they’ were drunk, but afterwards corners. | y. 6. For they have made ready their beart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait, &c.| The prince, people, and {corners before-mentioned, being heated with wine, and their luft enraged, they were ready, for any wickednefs; for the commiffion of adultery, lying in wait for their neighbours wives to debauch them; or for rebellion and treafon againfttheir king, and even the murder of him, made drunk bythem, whom they now defpifed, and waited for an opportunity to difpatch him: their baker

Sleepeth all the night: in the morning it burneth as a

flaming frre, as a baker having put wood into his. oven, and kindled it, leaves it, and flee night, and in the morning it is all burning, in a flame, and his oven is thoroughly heatatle jl fit for his purpofe; fo theeevil concupifcence in thefe mens hearts made hot like an oven, refts all

PE Pvt Go) We? ssn xgrotarunt principes a calore vini, Liveleus; morbo afficiunt fe calore ex vino, Tarsovius.

‘night, devifing mifchief on their beds, either againit the chaltity of their neighbours wives,. or againit the lives of others, they bear an ill-will to, particularly againft their judges and their kings, as the next verfe feems to intimate; and in the morning this luft of uncleannefs or revenge is all in a flame, and ready to execute the wicked defigns contrived; fee Mic. ii. 1. Some, by their baker, underftand fatan; others, their king afleep and fecure; others Sha/lum, the head of the con{piracy againtt Zachariah. j

¥. 7. They are all hot as an oven, &c.| Eager upon their idolatry, or burning in their, unclean defires after other mens wives; or rather raging and furious, hot with anger and wrath againft their rulers and governors, breathing out flanghter and death unto them: and have devoured their judges; that ftood in the way of their lufts, reproved them for them, and reftrained them from them; or were on the fide of the king they confpired againft, and were determined to depofe and flay: all their kings are fallen; either into fin, the fin of idolatry particularly, as all from Feroboam the firft did, down to Hofbea the laft; or they fell into calamities, or by the fword of one another, as did moft of them; fo Zachariah by Shallum, Shailum by Menahem, Pekabiah by Pekah, and Pekab by Hofhea; fee 2 Kings xv. So the Targum, “ all their kings are ** flain.:” theres none among them that calleth unto me; either among the kings, when their lives were in danger from confpirators; or none among the people, when their land was in diftrefs, either by civil wars among themfelves, or by a foreign enemy; fuch was their ftupidity, and to fuch a height was irreligion come to among them!

y. 8. Ephraim, be hath mixed bimfelf among the people, 8cc.] Either locally, by dwelling among them, as fome of them at leaft might do among the Syrians; or carnally, by inter-marrying with them, contrary to the command of God; or civilly, by entring into alliances and confederacies with them, as Pekab the fon of Remaliah king of Trael did with Rezin king of Syria, If. vii. 2, 5. or by feeking to them for help, calling to Egypt, and going to Afjria, asin ¥. 11. fo Aben Ezra, or morally, by learning their manners, and conforming to their cuftoms, efpecially in religious things: tho’ fome underftand this as a punifhment threatened them for their above fins, that they fhould bé carried captive into foreign lands, and fo be mixed among the people, and which is Yarchi’s fenfe; but it is rather to be confidered as their evil in joining with other nations in their fuperftition, idolatry, and other impieties; and it is highly offenfive to God, when his profeffing ‘people mix themfelves with the world, keep company with the men of it, fafhion themfelves according to them, do as they do, and wilfully go into their converfation, and repeat it, and continue therein, and refolve to do fo: for fo it may be rendered, he will mix himfelf", it denotes a voluntary act, repeated and perfifted imwith obftinacy. Ephraim | is a cake not turned; like a cake that is laid on coals, if it is not turned, the nether part will be burnt, and the upper part unbaked, and fo be - good for nothing; not fit to be eaten, being nothing indeed, neither bread nor dough; and fo may t snanm MYM mifcebit fefe, Zanchius.

fignify, that Ephraim having introduced much of the fuperftition and idolatry of the Gentiles into religious worfhip, was nothing in religion, neither fifth nor flefh, as is proverbially faid of perfons and things of which nothing can be made; they worfhipped the calves at Dan and Bethel, and yet fwore by the name of the Lord; they halted between two opinions, and were of neither; they were like the hotch-potch inhabitants of Semeria in after-times, that came in their room, that feared the Lord, and ferved their own gods: and fuch profefiors of religion there are, who are nothing in religion; nothing in principle, they have no fcheme of principles; they are neither one thing nor an= other; they are nothing in experience, if they have a form of godlinefs, they deny the power of its they are nothing in practice, all they do is to be feen of men; they ate neither hot nor cold, efpecially not throughout, or on both fides, like a cake unturned; but are lukewarm and indifferent, and therefore very difagreeable to the Lord. Some take this to be expreflive of punifhment, and not of fault either of ‘their partial captivity by Tig atb-

Pilefer, when only.a part of them was carried captive; orof the fwift and total deftruction of them by their enemies, who would be like hungry and half-ftarved perfons, who, meeting with a cake on the coals half baked, fnatch it up, and eat it, not ftaying for the turning and baking it on the other fide; and thus it fhould be with them. So the Targum, ‘* the houfe of Lphraim is like toa cake ‘¢ baked on coals, which before it is turned is *¢ eaten.”

y. 9. Strangers have devoured his firength, &c.] Or his fubftance, as the Targum; his wealth and riches, fortrefies and ftrong holds: thefe ftrangers were either the Syriaus, who, in the times of ehoahaz deftroyed Ephraim or the J/raelites, and fo weakened them, as to make them like the duft by threfhing, 2 Kiwgs xiii. 7. or the Afyrians, firft under Pul king of Afpria, who came out again Menahem king of I/rael, and exacted a tribute of a thoufand talents of filver, and fo drained them of their treafure, which was their ftrength, 2 Kings xv. 19,20. and then under Tiglath-Pilefer, another king of Afyria, who came and took away from them many of their fortified places, and carried the inhabitants captive, ¥. 29: and he knoweth it not; is not fenfible how much he is weakened by fuch exactions and depredations; or does not take notice of the hand of God in all this; does not confider from whence it comes,.what is the caufe of it, and for what ends: yea, gray hairs are bere and there upon him, yet be kuoweth not; or, old age bas Jprinkled itfelf upon ims, or, gray hairs are fprinkled on him; gray hairs, when thick, are a fign that old age is come; and when fprinkled here and there, are fymptoms of its coming on, and of a perfon’s. being on the decline of lite; and here it fignifies the weak and declining ftate of J/rael, thro’ the exactions and depredations of their neighbours, and that their utter ruin was near; and yet they did not know nor confider their latter end, nor repent of their fins, and acknowledge them, and return unto the Lord, and implore his mercy: fo carnal profeflors, who mix with the men of the world, that are flrangers to God and. godlinefs, and and every thing that is divine and good, are devoured by them; they lofe their time and fubftance, and their precious fouls, and are not aware of it. The fymptoms of the declining ftate of the church of God are at this time upon us, and yet not taken notice of; fuch as great departures from the faith; a number of falfe teachers rifen up; great fallings off of profeffors, and of fuch who have made a great figure in the church; a {mall number of faithful men; great coldnefs and lukewarmnefs to fpiritual things; little faith on the earth; great neglect of gofpel-worfhip and ordinances; much fleepinefs and drowfinels; great immorality and profanenefs: as alfo the fymptoms of the declining ftate of the world, and of its drawing to its period; as wars, and rumours of wars, famine, peftilence, and earthquakes in divers places; volcanos, burning mountains, eruptions of fubterraneous fire, which portend the general conflagration; and yet thefe things are little attended to.

y. 10. And the pride of Ijrael teftifieth to his face, &c.] See the note on ch. v. 5. notwithftanding their weak and declining ftate, they were proud and haughty; entertained a high conceit of themfelves, and of their good and fafe condition; and behaved infolently towards God, and were not humbled before him for their fins. Their pride was notorious, which they themfelves could not deny; they were felf-convicted, and felf-condemned: and they do not return to the Lord their God; by acknowledgment of their fins, repentance for them, and reformation from them; and by attendance on his worfhip, from which they had revolted; fo the Targum, ‘* they return not to the “¢ worfhip of the Lord their God:” nor feek him for all this; tho’ they are in this wafting, declining condition, and juft upon the brink of ruin, yet they feek not the face and favour of the Lord; they don’t afk help of him, or implore his mercy; and tho’ they have been fo long in thefe circumftances, and have been gradually confuming for many years, yet in all this time they have made no application to the Lord, that he would be favourable, and raife their finking ftate, and reftore them to their former glory.

y. 11. Ephraim alfo is like a filly dove, without heart, &c.| Or underftanding; which comes and picks up the corns of grain, which lie fcattered about, and does not know that the net is fpread for it, and when its young are taken away, it is unconcerned, and continues its neft in the fame place ftill, and when frightened, repairs not to its dovehoufe, where it would be fafe, but flies about here and there, and fo becomes a prey to others. Thus Ephraim going to Egypt and Affyria for help, were eninared by them, not having fenfe enough to perceive that this would be their ruin; and tho’

they had heretofore fuffered by them, yet ftill they continued to make their addreffes to them; and inftead of keeping clofe to the Lord, and to his worfhip, and the place of it, and afking counfel and help of him, they ran about and fought for it here and there: they call to Egypt, that is, for help; as Hofhea king of J/rael, when he fent meffengers to So or Sabacon king of Egypt, for protection and affiftance, 2 Kings xvii. 4. Such a foolifh part, like the filly doves, did they act; fince the Egyptians had been their implacable enemies, and their fathers had been in cruel bondage under them: shey go to Afria; fend gifts and prefents, and pay tribute to the kings thereof, to make them eafy; as Menabem did to Pul, and,

Some underftand this laft claufe, not of their fin. in going to the Arian for help; but of their punifhment in going or being carried captive thither; and fo the Zargum ieems to interpret it, “« they go captive, or are carried captive into A/- “* fyria.”

v.12. When they foall go; &c.} ‘That is, to Egypt or Affyria: I will fpread my net upon. them 5 bring them into great ftraits and difficulties; perhaps the Affyrian army is meant, which was. the Lord’s net, guided, and directed, and fpread by his providence,.and according to his will, to take this filly dove in; and which inclofed them on all fides, that they could not efcape; fee Ezek. xii. 13. Hofbea the king of J/rae/ was taken by the Affyrian, ‘and bound and fhut up in prifon 5 Samaria the capital city was befieged three years, and then taken, 2 Kings xvii. 4, 5, 6: Iwill bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; tho’ they fly on high, foar aloft, and behave proudly, and fanfy themfelves out of ‘all danger; yet, as the flying fowl, the eagle, and other birds, may be brought down to the earth by an arrow from the bow, or by fome decoy; fo fhould they be brought down from their fanfied fafe and exalted ftate, and be taken in the net, and. become a prey to their ene mies: I will chaftife them as their congregation hath heard; what was written in the law, and in the prophets, were read and explained in the congregations of J/rae/ on their ftated days they met together on for religious worfhip; in which it was threatened, that if they did not obferve the laws and ftatutes of the Lord their God, but neglected and broke them, they fhould be feverly chaftized and corrected with his fore judgments, famine, pe- {tilence, the fword of the enemy, and captivity: | and now the Lord would fulfil his word, agreeable to what had often been heard by them, but not regarded; fee Lev. xxvi. and Deut. xxviii.

¥. 13. Wo unto them, for they have fled from me, &c.] From the Lord, from his worfhip, and the place of it; from obedience to him, and the fervice of him; as birds fly from their nefts, and’ leave their young, and wander about; fo they had deferted the temple at Yerufalem, and forfaken the fervice of the fanctuary, and fet up calves at Daw and Bethel, and worfhipped them; and inftead of fleeing to God for fuccour in time of diftrefs, fled further off fill, even, out of their own land to Egypt or Afyria: the confequence of which was, nothing but ruin, and fo lamentation and woes: deftruétion unto them, becaufe they have tranfereffed againft me; again{t the laws which God gave them; fetting up idols, and worthipping them, and fo broke the firft table of the law; committing murder, adultery, thefts and robberies, with which they are charged in the preceding part of this chapter; and fo tranfgreffed the fecond table of the law; and by all brought deftruction upon themfelves, which was near at hand, and would certainly come, as here threatened; tho’ they promifed themfelves peace, and expected affiftance from neighbouring nations, but in vain, having made the Lord their enemy, by breaking his laws: tho’ I have redeemed them, out of Egypt formerly, and out of the hands of the Moabites, Ammonites, Philiftines, and others, ~ in the times of the judges; and more lately in the times of Yoafh and Feroboam the fecond, who recovered many cities out of the hands of the Syrians. ben Ezra, Farchi, and Kimchi, interpret this of the good difpofition of God towards them, having it in his heart to redeem them now from their prefent afflictions and diftreffes, but that they were fo impious and wicked, and fo unfaithful to him: yet they have fpoken lies againft me; againft his being and providence, being. atheiftically inclined; or pretending repentance for their fins, when they were hypocrites, and returned to their former courfes; or fetting up idols in oppofition to him, which were vanity to him; attributing all their good things to them, and charging him with all their evils. 4bendana reads the words interrogatively, /hould I redeem them, when they have fpoken lies againft me‘? no, I will not.

¥. 14. And they have not cried unto me with their heart, &c.} In their diftrefs indeed they cried unto the Lord, and faid they repented of their fins, and promifed reformation, and made a fhow of worfhipping God; as invocation is fometimes put for the whole worfhip of God; but then this was not heartily, but hypocritically; their hearts and their mouths did not go together, and therefore was not reckoned prayer; nothing but howling, as follows: when they howled upon their beds; lying fick or wounded there; or as fome in their idol-temples, thofe beds of adultery, where they pretended to worfhip God by them, and to pray to him thro’ them; but fuch idolatrous prayers were no better than the howlings of dogs to him; even tho’ they expreffed outwardly their cries with great vehemency, as the word ufed denotes, having one letter more in it than common: they affemble themfelves for corn and wine, either at their banquets to feaft upon them, as dben Ezra; or to the markets to buy them, as Kimchi fuggefts; or rather to their idol-temples to deprecate a famine, and to pray for rain and fruitful feafons; or if they gather together to pray to the Lord, it is only for carnal and worldly things; they only feek themfelves, and their own intereft, and not the glory of God; and afk for thefe things to confume them on their luft. The Septuagint verfion is, for corn and wine they were cut, or cut themfelves, as Baal’s priefts did, when they cried to him, 1 Kings xviii. 28. and Theodoret here obferves, that they performed the heathen rites, and in idoltemples made incifions on their bodies: and they rebel againft me, not only flee from him, tranf grefs his laws, but caft off all allegiance to him, and take up arms, and commit hoftilities againft him. The Targum joins this with the preceding claufe, “* becaufe of the multitude of corn and wine which “¢ they have gathered, they have rebelled againft ‘© mv word;” and to the fame fenfe Yarchi; thus, Fefourun waxed fat and kicked.

¥. 15. Though I have bound, and ftrengthened their arms, &c.| As a furgeon fets a broken arm, and fwathes and binds it, and fo_reftores it to its former ftrength, or at leaft to a good degree of ftrength again, fo the Lord dealt with J/rae; their arms were broken, and their ftrength weakened, and they greatly diftreffed and reduced by the Syvians in the times of Feboabaz; but they were brought into a better ftate and condition in the times of Foafh and Feroboam the fecond; the former retook feveral cities out of the hands of the Syrians, and the latter reftored the border of I rael, and greatly enlarged it, and as all this was done thro’ the bleffing of divine providence, the Lord ftruction came upon them.

“t EDTIDN SOND & ego redimerem eos? fo fome in Rivet.

lis faid to do it himfelf, Some tender it, tho? I have chaftized, I have ftrengthened their arms*; tho’ he correéted them for their fins in the times of Fehoahdz, and fuffered their arms to be broken by their enemies, for their inftruction, and in order to bring them to repentance for their fins; yet he ftrengthened them again in the following reigns: yet do they imagine mifchief again? me fo ungrateful were they, they contrived to do hurt to his prophets that were fent to them in his name, to warn them of their fins and danger, and exhort them to repent, and forfake their idolatrous worfhip, and other fins; and they fought by all means to difhonour the name of the Lord, by imputing all their fuccefs in the reigns of Foa/h and Ferodoam to their idols, and not unto him; and fo hardened themfelves againft him, and in their evil ways.

¥. 16. They return, but not to the Moft High; &c.] To Egypt, and not to Ferufalem, and the temple there, and the worfhip of it; to their idols, and not to him whofe name alone is Fehbovab, and is the Moft High in all the earth, the God of gods, and Lord of lords, and King of kings;. tho’ they made fome feint as if they would return, and did begin, and take fome fteps towards repentance and reformation; but then they prefently fell back again, as in Fehu’s time, and did not go on to make a thorough reformation; nor returned to God alone, and to his pure worfhip, they pretended to, and ought to have done: or, #ot on high, upwards, above”; their affeétions and defires are not after things above; they don’t look upwards to God in heaven for help and affiftance, but to men and things on earth, on which all their affection and dependence are placed: they are like a deceitful bow; which mifles the mark it is directed to; which being defigned to fend its arrow one way, caufes it to go the reverfe; or its arrow returns upon the archer, or drops at his feet; fo thefe people deviated from the law of God, acted contrary to their profeffion and promifes, and relapfed into their former idolatries and impieties, and funk into earth and earthly things; fee Pf. Ixxviii. 57: their princes fall fall by the fword; either of their confpirators, as Zachariah, Shallum, Pekahiab, and Pekah; or by the fword of the Arians, as Hofbea and the princes with him by Salmenefer: for the rage of their tongue; their blafphemy againft God, his being and providences; his worfhip, and the place of it; his priefts and people that ferved him, and particularly the prophets he fent unto them to reprove them. This fhall be their derifion in the land of Egypt, whither they fent, and called for help; but now, when their princes are flain, and they carried captive into a foreign land, even thofe friends and allies of theirs fhall laugh and mock at them. The Targum is, ‘‘ thefe were their “© works while they were in the land of Egyp/’;” or rather the words may be rendered, ¢his is their derifion, as of old in the land of Egypt *, that is, the calves they now worfhipped, and to which they afcribed all their good things, were made in imitation of the gods of Egypt, their Apis and Serapis, which were in the form of an ox, and which their fathers derided there; and thefe were juftly to be derided now, and they to be derided for their worfhip of them, and afcribing all their good things to them; and which would be done when their de-

* 3D YAWa ro Wt hee, few que eft fabfannatio, fcus ph dC As |B, ed | ta of Salmanefer king of Affria, compated to this — creature for his fwiftnefs in coming, his & ' fiercenefs and cruelty; this creature being fwiit in fhould come fwiftly againft them, becaufe of their tranfgreffion of the covenant and law of God, y¥. 1. their hypocrify is expofed, y. 2. they are charged with the rejection of that which is good, and therefore fhould be purfued by the enemy, y. 3. with fetting up kings and princes, without confulting the Lord, ¥. 4. and with making of idols, particularly the golden calves, which would be of no ufe to them, difappoint them, and at laft be broke to pieces, ¥. 4, 5, 6. their feeking to their neighbours for help, and entring into alliances with them, ate reprefented as vain and fruitlefs, and iffuing in their ruin and deftruction, y. their fins of multiplying altars, contrary to the law of God, and in contempt of it, and offering facrifices not acceptable to the Lord, are and they are threatened with a vifitation from him, y. 11, 12, 13. arfd the chapter is concluded with fome notice both of J/rael and Fudab, the one building temples, and the other multiplying fenced cities, which fhould be devoured by fire, y.14. flight, and a bird of prey. So’ the Larguia interprets it of a king and his army, “< behold, as am “* eagle flicth, fo fhall a king with his army come ‘* up and encamp againft the houfe of the fane- “ tuary of the Lord.” Some reference feems to be had to Deut. xxviii. 49: decau/e they have tramfgreffed my covenant, and trefpajfed ogcinft my low, the law that was given to SI/rael by Mofes at the. appointment of God, to which they affented, ‘and promifed to obferve; and fo it had the ‘form of a covenant to them: the bounds of this law and covenant they tranfgrefied, and dealt perfidioufly 7, 8, 9, 10. with, and prevaricated in, and wilfully broke all its commands, by their idolatry, murder, adultery, theft, and other fins. e obferved; ¥. 2. Lrael foall cry unto me, my God, we know ¢dee.]_ In their diftrefs they fhall cry to the Lord to help them, and have mercy on them, as they ufed to do when in trouble, // xxvi. 16. when the eagle is come upon them, and juft ready to devour them; when Samaria is befieged with the

Afyrian army, their king taken prifoner, and they juit ready to fall into the hands of the enemy, then they fhall cry to God, tho’ in an hypoeritical manner; own him to be the true God, and claim their intereft in him, and pretend knowledge of him, and acquaintance with him; tho’ they have not ferved and worfhipped him, but idols, and that for hundreds of years; like others who profefs to know God, but in works deny him, Z@#. 1. 16. J/rael is the laft word in the verfe, and eceafions different verfions: they /ball cry unto me; thefe tranfgrefiors of the covenant and the law, thefe hypocrites fhall pray to God in trouble, faying, my God, we Ifrael, or Ufraclites, know thee; or, we know thee who are J/rae/*; and to this fenfe is the Targum, “ in every time that diftrefs comes upon ‘‘ them, they pray before.me, and fay, now we “< know that we have no God befides thee, redeem - “us, for we are thy people Jad,” why may they not be rendered thus, they /ball cry unto me; my God, we know thee, I/racl thall fay. Caftalie renders them to this fenfe, my God, fay they; but we know thee, Ifrael,; we the three perfons im the Trinity, Father, Son and Spirit, we know thy hypocrify and wickednefs, that it is only outwardly” and hypocritically, and not fincerely that thou eric unto, and calleft upon God. me ¥. 3. Irael hath coft off the thing that is good, &c.] Or rejected him that is good”; that is, % as Kimchi obferves; for there is none good

T HIS chapter treats of the fins and punifhment of J/rael for them, as the preceding; it is threatened and proclaimed that an enemy

¥. 1. Set the trumpet to thy mouth, &c.) Or, the trumpet to the roof of thy mouth*; a concile expreffion denoting hafte, and the vehemence of the paffions in fpeaking; they are either the words of the Lord to the prophet, as the Targum, ‘* O “<¢ prophet, cry with thy throat as with a trumpet, “* faying;” fo Yarchi and Aben Ezra take them to be the words of the Lord to the prophet, and the fenfe agrees with J/ lviii. 1. The prophet is here confidered as a watchman, and is called upon to. blow his trumpet; either to call the people together, as an eagle to the houfe of the Lord», as the next claufe may be connected with this; that is, | to come as fwiftly to the houfe of the Lord, and hear what he had to fay to them, and to fupplicate the Lord for mercy in a time of diftrefs: or to give the people notice of the approach of the enemy, and tell them that he fhall come flying as an eagle over“ or againft the houfe of the Lord: or they are the words of the Lord, or of the prophet to the enemy, to blow his trumpet, and found the alarm of war, and call his army together, and bid them fly like an eagle, with that fwiftnefs and! fiercenefs as that creature does to its prey, againft the houfe of the Lord; meaning not the temple. at Ferufalem, but the nation of Jrael, formerly called the houfe and family of God, and ftill pretended to be fo. There may be fome allufion to Bethel, which fignifies the houfe of God, where they practifed their idolatry. ‘This is to be underftood, not of Nebuchadnezzar, fometimes compared to an eagle, Ezek. xvii. 3.

him, M/a?t. xix. 17. he is the fummum bons chiefeft good to men, and is efientially, origin for not the deftruétion, and infinitely good in himfelf, and the fount of the city and temple of Ferufalem is here meant nor of the Romans, as Lyra feems to underftand it, the eagle being the enfign of the Romans; but which fhows their hypocrify; and therefore ’tis no wonder, that their prayers were rejected by him: or they rejected the good word of God, the’ law, or doctrine contained in it, and the good worthip, fervice, and fear of God, and indeed every thing that was good, juft, and right. Cocceius renders it, the good one, or he that is God, the good God, hath caft off Ifrael. This reading of the words Dru- Jfius alfo mentions, and feems to like beft, and as agreeing with what follows; fo Rivet; but the pofition of the words in the Hebrew text, and the accents, do not favour it. The enemy focll purfue him, who is before compared to an eagle, which flies {wiftly, and purfues its prey with eagernefs and fiercenefs: Salmanefer is meant, who fhould invade the land, come up to Samaria, befiege and take it, nothing fhould ftop him; nor fhould J/rael efcape from him, fince they had caft off the Lord, and every thing that was good. The Targum is, “ the « houfe of J/rael have erred from my worfhip, * for the fake of which I brought good things *¢ upon them; hence forward the enemy fhall pur- “* fue them.”

y. 4. They have fet up kings, but not by me, &c.] Not by his authority, order, and command; not by afking advice of him, or his leave, but of themfelves, and of their own accord: this refers to the cafe of Feroboam their firft king, after their feparation from the houfe of David, and from the tribes of Fudah and Benjamin; for though his becoming king of J/rael was according to the fecret will of God, and by his over-ruling providence; yet it was done without his exprefs orders, and without afking counfel of him, or‘his confent, and of their own heads; and many of his fucceffors were confpirators, and fet up themfelves with the confent of the people, to the dethroning of others, and upon the flaughter of them, as Shallum, Menahem, Pekab, and Hofhea: the people of J/rael had no right to chufe a king for themfelves; the right was alone in the Lord; it was he that chofe, appointed, and conftituted their kings, Deut. xvii. 15. thus Saul, David, and Solomon were chofe and appointed by him, 1 Sam. x. 24. 2 Sam. v. 2. 1 Chron. xxviii. 5. it was not the perfon of Fereboam chofen, God difliked; but their taking it upon them to chufe and fet him up without his leave. They have made princes, and I knew it not, that is, they fet up fubordinate governors, judges, civil magiitrates, elders of the people, over them, without his approbation, and fuch as were very difagreeable to him; otherwife he knew what was done by them, as being the omnifcient God, but he did not approve of what they did. Some obferve, that y in the word ufed is put for p, and fhould be rendered, they have removed, fo Farchi and Faphet, that is, they have fet up kings, and they have removed them; they have took it upon them to make and depofe kings at pleafure; without feeking the Lord about it, when this is his prerogative, who is King of kings, and Lord of lords, Dan. ii. 21. which fenfe makes a ftrong and beautiful antithefis. Of their filuer, and their gold, have they made their idols; fome of their idols were made of filver, others of gold; particularly the calves at Dam and Bethel, which are called the golden calves, becaufe made of gold; as was the calf in the wildernefs,

Zanchius; ufquedum non poterunt ferre innocentiam, Parews.

1 Kings xii. 28. fee Jf. xlvi. 6, and ch, ii. 8: that they may be cut off; which denotes not the end, intention, and defign of making thefe idols of filver and gold, but the event thereof 3 namely, either the deftru¢tion of thé idols themfelves, which for the fake of the filver and gold they were made of, were cut in pieces by a foreign enemy; or the gold and filver were cut off from the people, theit riches and wealth were wafted by fuch means; ‘or rather the people were cut off, every one of them, becaufe of their worfhip of them, or this would be the cafe.

y. 5. Thy calf, O Samaria, bath caft thee off; &c.] Or is the caufe of thy being caft off by the Lord, and of being caft out of thine own land; and carried captive into another; the paft tenfe is ufed for the future, as is common in prophetic writings, to denote the certainty. of the thing: or thy calf bath left thee+; in the lurch; it cannot help thee; it is gone off and forfaken thee; it has removed itfeif from thee, according to the fenfe of the word in Lam. iil. 17. as Kimchi and Ben Melech obferve; or is removed far from thee, being carried captive itfelf into Affria; for when the king of Afyria took Samaria, he feized on the golden calf for the fake of the gold, and took it away; fee ch. x. 5, 6. and Jf, x. 11. or be bath removed thy caif®; that is, the enemy, taking it away when he took the city; or God has rejected it with the utmoft contempt and abhorrence: the calf is here, and in the following verfe, called the calf of Samaria, becaufe this was the metropolis of the ten tribes, in which the calf was worfhipped, and becauie it was worfhipped by the Samaritans; and it may be, when Samaria became the chief city, the calf at Bethel might be removed thither, or another fet up in that city: mine anger is kindled againft them; the calves at Dan and Bethel, the fingular before being put for the plural; or againft the calf of Samaria, and Samaria itfelf; or the inhabitants of it, becaufe of the worfhip of the calf, which was highly provoking to God, it-being a robbing him of his glory, and giving it to graven images: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency? ot purity <; of worfhip,- life, and converfation: the words may be rendered thus, how Jong‘? for there is a large ftop there; and this may be a queftion of the prophet’s, afking how long the wrath of God would burn againft the people, what would be the duration of it, and when it would end? to which an anfwer is returned, as the words may be tranflated, they cannot bear purity *; of doétrine, of worthip, of heart, and life; when they can, mine anger will ceafe burning: or as the Targum, ‘‘ as long as ‘* they cannot purify themfelves,” or be purified; fo long as they continue in their fins, in their fuperftition and idolatry, and other impieties; and are not purged from them.

y¥. 6. For from Ifrael was it alfo, &c:] That is;. the calf was from J/rae]; it was an invention of theirs, as fome fay; they did not borrow it from their neighbours, as they did other idols, but it was their own contrivance: but this does not feem to be fact; for the calf; the making of it indeed, was of themfelves, but the worfhip of it they borrowed from the Egyptians; with this difference, the _ Egyptians worfhipped a living cow or ox, thefe the golden golden image-of a calf: but rather the fenfe is, that this calf was made by the advice of [/rael, by the advice of Fercboam their king, and of their princes, they affenting to it, fo dben Ezra; or the gold and-filver of which it was made, was exacted on them, and collected from them, as the Zargum and Farchi,; or workmen were employed by them to make it; and fo it was of them alo, as any other work that was done by their advice and direction, and at their expence; and therefore could never have any divinity in it, any more than other things they did; tho’ this is commonly interpreted as having refpect to the making of the golden calf by Aaron, that this alfo was of J/rael as well as that: the workman made it, therefore it is not God; a ftrong and invincible reafon this; for fince the calf was the work of an artificer, of the goldfmith or founder, it could not be God; there could not be deity in it; for a creature cannot make a God, or give that which itfelf has not; if the workman was not God, but a creature, if deity was not in him, he could never give it to a golden image, a lifelefs ftatue fafhioned by him: this, one would think, fhould have been a clear, plain, ftriking, and convincing argument to them, that their calf was, as the Targum has it, ‘* a deity *¢ in which there was no profit:” but the calf of Samaria foall be broken to pieces; or for ‘ the calf of Samaria, &c. being another reafon to prove it could not be God; if the former would not convince them, this furely would, when they fhould fee it broke to pieces by the enemy, from whom it could not fave itfelf; and therefore could not be a god that could be of any fervice to them, or fave them. The Vulgate Latin verfion renders it, for the calf of Samaria foall become fpiders webs; and Ferom fays, he learnt it of a Yew, that the word fo fignifies; but his Few impofed upon him: it does not appear to be any where fo ufed, either in the bible, or in any other writings. Kimchi interprets it fhivers, fragments, broken pieces of any thing. archi fays it fignifies, in the Syriac language, beams, planks, and boards, pieces of them; fo the Targuim and Ben Melech from the Rabbins; or rather the dutt which falls from them in fawing, faw-duft; to duft as fmall as that fhould this calf be reduced, as the golden calf was ground to powder by Mo/es, to which, ’tis thought, there is an allufion.

y. 7. For they have fown the wind, and they foall reap the whirlwind, &c.| The fenfe is, the J/raelites took a great deal of pains in the idolatrous worfhip of the calves, and made a great ftir, buftle, and noife.in it, like the wind; were very vainglorious and oftentatious, made a great fhow of religion and devotion, and promiied themfelves great things from it, peace and plenty, wealth and riches, all profperity and happinefs, enjoyed by heathen nations; but this was all loft labour, it was labouring for the wind, or fowing that; they got nothing by it, or what was worfe than nothing; it proved not only ufelefs, but hurtful to them; for for their idolatry, and continuance in it, the whirlwind of God’s wrath would be raifed up againft them, and the Afprian army, like a vehement ftorm of wind, would rufh in upon them, and deftroy them; fo they that fow to the flefh, fhall of the flefh reap corruption. Ga/. vi. 8: it hath no ftalk, what they fowed did not rife up above ground; or if it did, it did not {pring up when they foould go up, &c.

in a blade or ftalk, which was promifing of fruit; no real good, profit and advantage {prung from their idolatrous practices: the bud fhall yield na meal yea, tho’ it rife up into a ftalk, and this ftalk produced ears of corn, yet thofe fo thin, that no meal or flour could be got out of them, and fo of no worth and ule: and if fo be it yield, any meal or flour: the firangers fhall fwallow it up; the [raelites fhould not be the better for it; it fhould all come into the hands of foreigners, the Affyrian army. The meaning is, that it they did profper and increafe in riches, yet they fhould not long enjoy them themfelves, but be pillaged and fpoiled of them; as they were by the exactions of Pul, and by the depredations of Sa/manefer, kings of Afyria. So the Targum, ‘ if they got fubftance, ‘* the nations fhall fpoil them of it.” ~ x. 8. Irael is fwallowed up, &c.] Not only their, fubftance, but their perfons alfo, the whole nation of them, their whole eftate civil and ecclefiattic: it denotes the utter deftruction of them by the 4- Jrians, fo that nothing of them and theirs remain - ed; juft as any one is fwallowed up and devoured by a bealt of prey; the prefent is put for the future, becaufe of the certainty of it: now fhall they be among the Gentiles as a veffel wherein is no pleafure; when Salmanefer took Samaria, and with it

{wallowed up the whole kingdom of J/rael, he car- © ried captive the inhabitants of it, and placed them among the nations, in Ha/ath, Habor, by the river Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 2 Kings xvii. 6. where they lived poor, mean, and abjeét, and were treated with the utmoft neglect and contempt’; no more regarded than a broken ufelefs veffel, or than a vefiel of difhonour, that is made and ufed for the eafe of nature, for which no more regard is had than for that fervice: thus idolaters, who difhonour God by their idolatries fhall, fooner or later, be brought to difgrace and difhonour themfelves.. ¥. 9. For they are gone up to Afjyria, &c.] Or, tho’ they foould go up to Afria®; to the king of Affyria, to gain his friendfhip, and enter into alliance with him; as when Pu/ king of Afpria came again{t them, Menahem king of J/rael went forth to meet him, and gave him a thoufand talents of filver to be his confederate, and ftrengthen his kingdom, 2 Kings xv. 19. yet-this hindered not, but that J/rael was at length {wallowed up by that people, and fcattered by them among the nations; for this is not to be underftood of their going captive into the land of Afjria, as the Targum interprets it: @ wild afs alone by himfelf,; which may. be ap-.

plied either to the king of Affria, and be confidered as a defcription of him, to whom J/rae/ went for help and friendfhip; who tho’ he took their prefent, and made them fair promifes, yet was perfidious, unfociable, and inhuman, ftudied only his own advantage, and not their good: or to the J/- raelites that went to him, who were as fottifh and ftupid as the afs, and as head-ftrong and unruly as that, and like it luftful, and impetuous in their luits; running to and fro for the fatisfying of them, — and taking no advice, nor fuffering themfelves to be controuled, and being alone, became an eafj prey to the Afjrian lion: or yet they fhould be as a wild afs alone by itfelf®; notwithftanding all the —— methods they took to obtain the friendfhip and alliance of the king of Afpria, yet they thould be carried captive by him, and dwell in the captivity guando> a 95 TA ASD crunt onager, qui folitarius fibi ef, Schmidt, lta an like a wild afs in the wildernefS; and fo it is to be underftood here agreeable to Fob xxiv. 5. Fer. ii. 24. otherwife, as Bochart' has proved from various writers, thefe creatures go in flocks: Ephraim hath hired lovers; by giving prefents to the kings _ of Affyria and Egypt to be their allies and confederates, patrons and defenders, 2 Kings xv. 19. and xvii. 3, 4. who are reprefented as their gallants, with whom Ephraim or the ten tribes committed adultery, departing from God their hufband, and liege Lord and King, and from his true worfhip; fee Ezek. xvi. 26, 28, 33. and xxiii. 4, 5. R. Elias Levita * obferves, that fome interpret the words, Ephraim made a covenant with lovers.

y. 10. Yea, though they have hired among the nations, &c.|] That is, lovers as before; got into confederacies and alliances with the nations about them, thinking thereby to. ftrengthen their hands, and fecure themfelves and their kingdom; particular regard may be had to the Egyptians, as diftiné from the Afyrians, whom they privately engaged on their fide to fhake off the Affyrian yoke, or their obligation to fend yearly prefents to the A/yrian king: ow will I gather them, either the Affyrians againft them, to invade their land, befiege their city, and take and carry them captive; or the J/- raelites in a body into the city of Samaria, and there be cooped up, and taken and deftroyed, or carried captive; for this is not to be interpreted of the collection of them out of their captivity, as the Targum and Farchi, but of the gathering of them together for their deftruction: and they fall forrow a little for the burden of the king of princes; the tax or tribute impofed upon them by the king of

Affyria, whofe princes were altogether kings, J/ x. 8. and who ufed to be called king of kings, being at the head of a monarchy, which had many kings fubject to it; as the kings of Babylon were afterwards called, Ezek. xxvi. 7. this may refer to the yearly prefent or tribute, which Hofbea king of

Ifrael was obliged to give to the king of Afpria, which he was very uneafy at, and did not pay it, which drew upon him the refentment of the Afyrian king; and that forrow and uneafinefs which that tribute gave the king of J/rae/ and his people, were but little and fmall in comparifon of what they after found; it was the beginning of forrows to them: and fo fome render the words, they began'; that is, to forrow and complain a@ /ittle; or this may refer to their burdens and oppreffions when in captivity, which were laid upon them by the king of Alfyria, and the princes, the rulers, and governors of the feveral places where the //raelites were carried captive: even the few that /hall remain™, as fome render it; and not die by famine, peftilence, and fword. Kimchi and Ben Melech think there is a deficiency of the copulative and, between king and princes; which is fupplied by the Targum, and by the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic verfions, which read, the king and princes. y. 11. Becaufe Ephraim bath made many altars to fin, &c.} Not with an intention to commit fin, but to offer facrifice for fin, and make atonement for ic, as they thought; but thefe altars being erected for the fake of idols, and facrifices offered on them to them, they finned in fo doing, and were the caufe of fin in others, who were drawn or drawn into it, by Feroboam their king. Thefe altars were thofe fet up at Dan and Bethel, and in all high places, and tops of mountains, where they facrificed to idols; and which was contrary to the exprefs Command of God, who réquiréd facrifice only at one place, and on one altar, Deut. xii. 5, 6. typical of the oné altar Chrift, and his ‘alone facrifice, who is the only Mediator between God and man; and they are guilty of the fame crime as Epbraim here, who make ufe of more, or neglect him. Altars fhall be unto him for fin; either thefe fame altars, and the facrifices offered on them, fhall be reckoned and imputed to him as fins, and fhall be the caufe of his condemnation and punifhment: or, let the altars be unto him for fin, fo fome"; fince he will have them, let him have them, and go on in finning, till he has filled up the meafure of his fins, and brought on him jutt condemnation; or elfe other altars are meant, even in the land of Afjria, where, fince they were fo fond of multiplying altars, they fhould have altars enow to fin at, whereby their fins would be increafed, and their punifhment for them aggravated. The Targum is, “ feeing the houfe of “* Ephraim hath multiplied altars to fin, the altars “* of their idols fhall be to them for a ftumbling- *¢ block,” or ruin; fo fin is taken in a different fenfe, both for guilt, and the punifhment of it.

¥. 12. [have written to him the great things of my law, &c.] Which was given by Mo/es to I/raet at the’ appointment of God, in which were many commands, holy, juft, and true; 4 multiplicity of them, as the Targum, relating to the honour of God, and the good of men; many excellent and ufeful ones of a moral nature, and others of a ce+ remonial kind; and particularly concerning facrifices, fhewing what they fhould be, the nature and ufe of them, and where and on what altar they fhould be offered; and which pointed at the great facrifice of the Meffiah, who is both altar, facrifice, and prieft: and thefe things were frequently inculcated by the prophets, who from time to time were fent unto them; fo that the Lord was continually writing thefe things to them by them, as Farchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech interpret it; hence they could not plead ignorance, and excufe themfelves on that account. The law fometimes not only defigns the law of the decalogue, and the ceremonial law, refpecting facrifices, &c. but all the books of Mo/es, in which are written many great and excellent things concerning Chrift, his perfon, offices, and grace; yea, all the books of the prophets, the whole of fcripture, which is by infpiration of God, and is the writing and word of God, and not men, and of which holy men of God were the amanuenfes; and in which many valuable and precious things are recorded, even all the works of God, of creation, providence, and grace; yea, the various thoughts, counfels, aad purpofes of his heart, relating to the falvation of men, are tranfcribed here; and the manifold grace of God, or the feveral doétrines of grace, are contained herein, efpecially in the do¢trinal and evangelical part of it, which is fometimes called the law of the Lord, even of Chrift, and the law or doétrine of faith; fee Pf. cxix. 18. Jf ii. 3. and xliti. 4. Rom. iii. 27. here are delivered and held forth the great into it by their example; as they were made to fin,! doctrines of a Trinity of Perfons in the Godhead, of A yon incipient, Calvin; ceperunt enim ™ oy yom et remane-

® S3DAD Pina 19 177 funto ergo illi altaria ad peccandum:

of the everlafting love of God to his people; and | of their choice in Chrift before the world began; of the covenant of grace; of the-incarnation of Chrift; of redemption by him; of peace, pardon, righteoufnefs, and atonement thro’ him; of eternal. falvation by him; thefe things are written, and to be read and referred unto, and obferved: as the rule of faith and praétice,-2nd not unwritten traditions, pretended revelations, reveries, and dreams of men; and written they were, not for the ufe of the J/raelites only under, the former difpenfation, but for the learning and inftruction of us Gendéiles alfo, Rom. iii. 2. and ix. 4: and-xv..4:. but they were counted as a ftrange thing; the laws re pecting facrifices more efpecially, and the place where they were to be offered, which are the things mentioned in the context, had been fo long difregarded and difufed by Epbraim or the ten tribes, that when they were put in mind of them by the prophets, they looked upon them as things they had no concern with; as laws that belonged to another people, and not to them: and fo the great things of divine revelation, the great doctrines of the gofpel, are treated by many as things they have nothing to do with, not at all interefting to them; yea, as naufeous and defpicable things, deferving their fcorn and contempt, very ungrateful and difagreeable, and in this fenfe ftrange as 7ob’s breath was to his wife, ch. xix. 17. and alfo as foreign to reafon and good fenfe, and what can’t be reconciled thereunto: fo the Athenians charged the doctrines of the apoftle Paul as ftrange, irrational and unaccountable, és xvii. 20.

¥. 13. They facrifice flefo for the facrifices of mine offerings, and cat it, &c.| Or, as to the facrifices of mine offerings or gifts, they facrifice flefh, and eat it °; thefe facrifices, which according to the law fhould be given to God when they offered them, they did not give them to him, they took them to themfelves, and eat them; they were carnal offerings, and offered with a carnal mind, without faith and piety, without any regard to the glory of God, but merely for the fake of eating: the Targum interprets it of facrifices got by rapine, which God hates, Jf Ixi. 8: but the Lord accepteth them not; neither the facrifices, nor the facrificers, but defpifed and abhorred them; no facrifice was acceptable to God, but what was offered according to law, and where he direéted, and in the faith of

HIS chapter is an addrefs to Jrael or the ten tribes, and contains either a new fermon, or is a very confiderable part of the former upon the fame fubject, the fins and punifhment of that people. It begins with an inftruction to them, not to rejoice in their profperity as others did; fince it would foon be at an end, becaufe of their idolatry, which was every whefe committed, and for which they expected a reward of temporal good things, y. 1. but on the contrary they are threatned with famine, with want both of corn and wine, ¥. 2. and with an ejection out of their land into foreign countries;.where they fhould be obliged to eat things unclean by their law, y. 3. and where their facrifices and folemnities fhould be no

Chrift, and thro’ him: now will he remember their iniquities, and vifit their fins; he will not pardor them, but punifh for them; {6 far were their fa- _ crifices, from making atonement for them, as they expected, they added to ‘the meafure of their iniquities: they /hall return into Egypt; either flee thither for refuge, as many of them it, feems di when the king of Afpria entered their land, and befieged Samaria; where they lived miferably, as in exile, and were there buried, and never returned to their own land any more; fee,ch. ix. 3, 6. and ©

Deut. xxviii. 68. or they fhould be carried captive into Afyria, where they fhould be in a like flate of bondage as their fathers were in Egypt. Sor render it, they return into Egypt?; and confider it not as their punifhment, but as their.fin; that when the Lord was about to vifit them for their tranfgreffions, they being made tributary to the Afprians, inftead of returning to the Lord, and humbling themfelves before him, they fent to the king of ‘Hgypt for help, 2 Kings xvilv 4. ¥.14. For Iirael bath forgotten bis maker, &c.] ‘The creator and preferver of every one of them, and who had raifed them up to a ftate and kingdom, and had made them great and rich, and populous, and beftowed many favours and bleffings on them; and yet they forgot him, to give him glory, and to ferve and worfhip him: and buildeth temples, to idols, as the Targum adds; to the calves at Dan and Bethel, at which places, as there were altars fet up, and priefts appointed, fo temples and houfes of high places built to worfhip in; fee 1 Kings xii. 31, 32. Amos vil. 10,13: and Fudab bath multiplied fenced cities; to protect them from their enemies, which was nat unlawful; but that they fhould put their truft and confidence in them, and not in the Lord their God, which was their fin; when they faw the ten tribes carried captive by the Afyrians, they betook themfelves to fuch methods for their fecurity, but were not careful to avoid thofe fins which brought ruin upon I/rael but I will fend a fire upon bis cities, and it fhall devour the palaces thereof; that is, an enemy, that fhould fet fire to their cities, particularly Feru a- lew their chief city, and burn the temple of the Lord, the palaces of their king and nobles, and all the fine houfes of the great men; which was done many years after this prophecy, by Nebuchad- cafes fhould fall and be buried, whilit their own country arid houfes lay wafte and defolate, ¥. 6. for whatfoever their foolifh and mad prophets faid to the contrary, who pretended to be with God, and know his will, and were a fnare to. them that gave heed unto them, and brought hatred on them, the time of their punifhment would certainly comey. y. 7, 8. and their iniquities would be remem and vifited; feeing their corruptions were like thofe that appeared in Gideah, in the da generate offspring, ¥. 10. wherefore for thefe, an other offences mentioned, they are threatened v old, ¥. 9. they acting the fame ungrateful pare — their fathers had done, of whom they were a de- e > - a = ims 1.. IN MWA IMA SAMAM IAT quod attinet ad facrificia donariorum meorum, facrificant ili quidem carnem, ce t medunt, Pifcator, De Dieu; quantum ad facrificia, &c. Schmidt. So Reinbeck. De accent. Hebr. p. 445. ~ ay OR P JAK ES PM illi in ZAgypeum redeunt, Cocceius; revertuntury Schmidt. So Tarnovius. oa: a; eh being bereaved of their children, and drove out of (ciency of corn on the Aldor, not of wine in the their land, to wander among the nations, y. 11 17.

—y¥. 1. Rejoice not, O Tfrael, for joy, as other peodle, &c.] But rather mourn and lament, fince fuch a load of guilt lay upon them, and they had {fo highly provoked the Lord to anger by their fins, and punifhment would -quickly be infliéted on them; and tho’ they might be now in profperity, thro’ Feroboam’s fuccefs againft their enemies, who by his victories had enlarged their border; yet they fhould not rejoice at it, as other people ufed to do on fuch occafions, by illumination of houfes, making fires in the ftreets, feafting, and the like, fince this profperity would be but fhort-lived: or if it was on account of the league made by Menahem with the king of fpria, this would not laft long; or on account of a good harveft, they need not fo much rejoice as they that rejoice in harveft, fince there would quickly be a famine among them: or rather it may refpect rejoicing at their idols, and in-their idolatrous worfhip, as other people, which is forbidden; fuch as inftituting plays to the honour of them, making feafts before them, and dancing about them; whatever others might do, who knew not-the true God, had not his law before them, nor his prophets fent to them to make known his will, who had been brought up in idolatry, adhered to their gods, and never forfook them; it ill became J/rae/ to do the like. So the words may be rendered, rejoice not, O [/rael, at-an idol *, or idols, as other people; idolatrous ones; for the word fignifies fimilitude' or likenefs, which an idol is: for thou haft gone a whoring from thy God; playing the harlot with many lovers; committing adultery with ftocks and ftones; worfhiping idols, and fo departing from God, the true God, they had profefied to be their God, their God in covenant; who ftood in the relation of an hufband to them, but they proved treacherous to him, and were guilty of fpiritual adultery, which is idolatry; and therefore had no caufe to rejoice as other nations that never left their gods, but to take fhame to themfelves, and mourn over their fad departure; fee ch. i. 3: thou haft loved a reward upon every corn-floor; alluding to the hire of an harlot, proftituting herfelf for it on a corn-floor, or any where elf, and that for a meafure of corn, or for bread: it may point either at their giving the tithes of their corn-floors to their idols, inftead of giving them to the Lord; or to their afcribing their plenty of corn, and all good things, to their worfhip of them, which they called their rewards, or hires their lovers gave them,: Hof ii. 5, 12. or to their erecting of altars on their corn-floors; as David erected one to the true God on the threfhing-floor of Araunah, 2 Sam. xxiv. 24, 25. and which they might do, either by way of thankfgiving for a good harveft, which they imputed to them; or in order to obtain one, but in vain, as follows.

The Targum is, “ for you have erred from the «* worfhip of your Gods; you have loved to ferve *¢ idols on all corn-floors.”

¥. 2. Ihe floor and the wine-prefs fhall not feed them, &c.| Though their expectations from their worfhip of idols were large, they fhould find themfelves miftaken; for there would not be a fuffi- prefs; to fupply them with what was neceffary for their fuftenance; either through a blaft upon their fields and vineyards, or through the invafion of an enemy, treading them down, and fpoiling and foraging them: or elfe fuppofing a fuficient quan+ tity of corn and wine got in; yet thofe bleffings fhould be either turned into curfes, or carried off by the enemy, that they fhould do them no good; or if they enjoyed them, yet they fhould receivé no nourifhment from them; but fhould become lean, and look like ftarved and famifhing Cfeatures: in the midft of plenty; by all which it would appear, that their idols could neither give them a fufficiency of provifions, nor make thofe nourifhing to them they had: amd the new wine fhall fail in her; in the congregation or land of J/rael: or, Joall lie to her*; fhall not anfwer their expectations, but difappoint and deceive them; whereas they expected great plenty from the promifing profpeét of the vines, thefe by one means or anozher fhould be deftroyed, fo that they would yield but little, and baulk them; fee Had. iii. 17. Hage. i. 6, 10, 11. and ii. 16.

¥. 3. They fhall not dwell in the Lord’s land; &c.] The land of J/rael or Canaan; which, tho’ all the earth is the Lord’s, was peculiarly his; which he had chofe for himfelf,; and for his people; where he had his temple, and caufed his Shekinab or divine majefty to dwell in a very fpecial manner, and where his worfhip and fervice were performed. So the Targum calls it the land of the Shekinah or majefty of the Lord. Sometimes it ig called ImmanueP?s land, where the Mefliah Immanuel, God with us, was to be born, and dwell, and where he did. Kimchi wrongly interprets this of Ferufalem only; and others of Fudea; but it defigns the whole land of promife, which God gave by promife to the fathers of this people, and put them in the poffeffion of, the tenure of which they held by their obedience; but they not living according to his will, and in obedience to his laws, who was Lord of the land, fole proprietor and governor of it, he turned them out of it, and would not fuffer them to continue any longer in it; and which was a great punifhment indeed, to be driven out of fuch a land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and where they had been favoured with privileges and bleffings of every kind. But Ephraim fall return to Egypt; or the ten tribes; that is, fome of them, who fhould flee thither for refuge and fuftenance; when the Afyrian fhould invade their land, and befiege Samaria, they fhould go thither again, where their anceftors had formerly been in a ftate of bondage: this is prophefied of them, Deut. xxviii. 68 > and they fhail eat unclean things in Afyria, that is, Ephraim or the ten tribes, the far greater part of them, fhould be taken captive, and carried into Ajyria, and there eat food which by their law was unclean, as things facrificed to idols, fwines flefh, and many others; or food that was not fit for’ men to eat, which nature abhorred; fuch bread as Ezekiel was bid to make and eat, ch. iv. g, 12, 13. This may be underftood even of them that went to Egypt for help againft the Afyrians, or for fhelter from them, or for food to eat in the time of famine; who fhould be brought back again, and carried into r by fignifies a likenefs of age, ftature, and complexion in Dan. i, to. an idol is the fimilitude or likenefs of any thing in heaven or in earth, Exod. xx. 4, 4, Pagninus, Montanus, Zanchius; mentietur ifti, Junius & Tremellius, Pifcator, biveleus, Schmidt.

Afpria, and there live a miferable and an uncomfortable life; who had been ufed to enjoy corn and wine, and plenty of all good things, to which thefe unclean things may be oppofed. ° y. 4. They foall not offer wine-offerings to the Lord, &c.] This is either a threatening of the celfation of facrifices, being carried into Afpria, a ftrange land, where it was not lawful to offer facrifice, there being no temple nor altar to offer in or at; and fo as they would not offer to the Lord when they fhould, now they fhall not if they would: or this refpects not the future time of their exile, but their prefent time now, as Kimchi obferves; and fo is a reproof of their prefent facrifices, which are forbidden to be obferved; becaufe they were offered not in faith, nor in fincerity, but hypocritically, and before their calves: befides, the future tenfe is fometimes put for the prefent; and this way goes Schmidt. Neither foall their facrifices be pleafing unto bim; unto the Lord, if they were offered; and is a reafon why they fhould not, becaufe unacceptable to him, and that for the reafons before-nientioned: their facrifices fhall be unto them as the bread of mourners, all that eat thereof foall be polluted; as all that eat of the bread of fuch who were mourning for their dead, that partook of their funeral feafts, or eat bread with them at any time during their mourning, were defiled thereby according to the Levitical law, and were unqualified for fervice, Lev. xxi. 1. Deut. xxvi. 14. fo the facrifices of thefe people being offered up with a wicked mind, inftead of atoning for their fins, more and more defiled them; and inftead of being acceptable to God, were abominable to him: for their bread for their foul foall not come into the houfe of the Lord; in the captivity there was no houte of the Lord for them to bring it into; and when in their own land, they did not bring their offerings to the houfe of the Lord at Ferujalem, as they fhould have done, but offered them before their calves at Dan and Bethel; and which is the thing complained of, that the bread for their fouls, that is, the offerings accompanied with the minchab or bread-offering, for the expiation of the fins of their fouls, were not brought into the houfe of the Lord (the future for the prefent); or elfe this being the cafe, their facrifices were reckoned by the Lord as no other than common bread, which they eat for the-fuftenance of their lives.

¥. 5. Whet will ye doin the folemn day, and in the day of the feaft of the Lord?| Since their facrifices now were fo difagreeable and difpieafing to the Lord, and fo unavailable to themfelves; what would they do when in captivity, in the solemn day, the feventh day of the week, appointed by the Lord for reft and religious worfhip; and in the firft day of the month, which alfo was to be folemnly obferved, by offering facrifice, €#c. and on feaft-days of the Lord’s inftituting, as the feafts of the paffover, pentecoft, and tabernacles? feeing thofe that carried and held them captive, would not-allow them time for fuch folemnities; nor would they be furnifhed with proper facrifices; nor could they be accommodated with a proper place to offer them at; nor be able, in a ftrange land, and under hardfhips and miferies, to exprefs that joy that is. fuitable to fuch occafions: thus fhould they learn by fad experience, the want of thofe means and opportunities of ferving the Lord, which in their own land they rejected and defpifed. ‘archi and Kimchi interpret this of the deftruction of J/rael, and of punifhment infliéted on them at the time appointed by the Lord; and which would be a folemn time, a.feaft with the Lord, to which he fhould invite their enemies, and they fhould {pill their blood as __ the blood of facrifices; and when he would dif-— play the glory of his juftice, truth, and faithful-— nefs, before all the world. And it is afked, what will you do then? whither will you flee for help? or what facrifice can you offer up to the Lord to atone for fin, or appeafe his wrath? will you be able to rejoice then? no, your joy will be turned into mourning; fee // x. g. and xxxiv. 6. = y. 6. For lo, they are gone, becaufe of deftrudiion,

&c.] That is, many of the people of J/rael were gone out of their own land to others, particularly to Egypt, becaufe of the deftruction that was coming upon them, and to avoid it; becaufe of the Ajprian army which invaded their land, and be-

| fieged Samaria, and threatened them with engire deftruction; and upon which a famine enfued, and which is thought by Kimchi to be here particularly meant. Egypt fall gather them up; being dead; for they fhall dic there, perhaps by the peitilence, and never return to their own country, as they flattered themfelves; and they fhall make prepa~ rations for their funeral: Memphis hall bury ibems or they fhall be buried there; which was a principal city in Lgypt, here called Moph; in Jf. xix. 13. Neph. It was the metropolis of upper Beypt, and the feat of the Heypiax kings. In it, as Piu= tarch fays ', was the tepulchre of Ofris; ant-fome fay its name fo fignifies. Near-to it were the famous pyramids, as Strado “ fays, fuppofed to be built for the fepulture of them. Heredotus * places thefe pyramids at Memphis, and fays there were three of them; the largeit had feveral fubterraneous chambers in it; the next in bignefs had none; the fmalleft was covered with Ethiopic marblet Strabo, in the place referred to, fpeaks of many pyramids near it, of which three were very remarkable, and expretsly fays they were the buryil places of the kings. Diodorus * agrees with th as to the number of them, but places them an hundred and twenty furlongs from Mempbis. Pliny» places them between Memphis and the Delta, fix miles from Memphis; pretty near to which is Strabo’s account, who in the above place fays, they ftood forty furlongs, or five miles from the city. Near it was the lake of Charon or Acherufia, over which he ferried dead bodies from Memphis to the pyramids, or to the plains of the mummies, the. Ehjian fields. Now fince’ this was fo famous for the burying places of kings, there may bean allu-— fion to it in this expreffion. Here alfo were buried their deities, the <pis or ox when it died. The pleafant places for their filver, nettles foall them; fuch beautiful edifices as were made forthe repofitories or treafure-houfes for their filver; were built or, purchafed at great expence of filver; or were decorated with it; now fhould Jie in ruins, and be like a wafte, defert, and defolate place, all overrun with nettles, and uninhabited: driars — thall be in their tabernacles; their dwelling-houfes, which being demolifhed, briars fhall grow upor the ground where they ftood, and over-fpread another token of defolation. The Targum in: prets it of living creatures, beafts of prey, that fhould dwell there, wild cats particularly, 9 y. 4%. The days of vifitation are come, the days of vecompence are come, &c.] In which the Lord would punith the people of J/rael for their fins, and reward them in a righteous manner, according as their evil works deferved; which time being fixed and appointed by him, are called days; and thefe, becaufe near at hand, are faid to be come; and this is repeated for the certainty of it: J/rae/ fhall know it; by fad experience, that thefe days are come; and fhall acknowledge the truth of the divine predigtions, and the righteoufnefs of God in his judgments. Schultens *, from the ufe of the phrafe in the Arabic language, interprets it of J/rael’s fuffering punifhment; with which agrees the Septuagint verfion, Z/rael fhail be affiéied, or it fhall go ill with him; and to the fame purpofe the 4rabic verfion: the prophet is a fool; fo I/rael faid, before thofe days came, of a true prophet of the Lord, that he was a fool for prophefying of evil things, but.now they fhall find it otherwife. So the Targum, ** they of the houfe of J/rae/ fhall know that “«¢ they who had prophefied to them were true pro- «© phets;” but rather this is to be underftood of falfe prophets, who, when the day of God’s vifitation fhall come on J/rael in a way of wrath and vengeance, will appear both to themfelves and others to be fools, for prophefying good things to them, when evil was at hand: the /piritual man is mad; he that was truly fo, and prophefied under the infpiration of the Spirit of God, was accounted a madman for fpeaking againft the idolatry of the times, and foretelling the judgments of God that would come upon the nation for it; but now it would be manifeft, that not he, but fuch who pretended to be fpiritual men, and to be directed and diétated by the Spirit of God, when they promifed the people peace, tho’ they walked after the imagination of their hearts, were the real madmen; who purfued the frenfies and fanfies of their own minds to the deception of themfelves and the people, and called thefe the revelations of God, and pretended they came from the Spirit of God: for the multitude of thine iniquities, and the great hatred; that is, either thofe evil days came upon them for their manifold fins and tranfgreffions, which were hateful to God, and the caufe of his hatred of them; or they were fuffered to give heed to thofe foolith and mad prophets, becaufe of their many fins, efpecially idolatry; and becaufe of their great hatred of God, and of his’ true prophets, and of his laws and ordinances, of his word, will and worfhip, and of one another; God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to a judicial blindnefs and hardnefs of heart, to believe a lie, and whatfoever thofe falfe prophets declared unto them, becaufe they did not like to retain him in their knowledge,:

to walk according to his law, and to believe his prophets. The Targum is, ** but the falfe pro- ‘« phets befotted them, fo as to increafe thy tranf <¢ ereffion, and ftrengthen thine iniquities.”

y¥. 8. The watchman of Ephraim was with my God, &c.] Formerly the watchmen of Ephraim, or the prophets of J/racl, were with the true God, whom the prophet calls his God; as Elijab and -Elifoa, who had communion and intimacy with him; had revelations and inftructions from him; and were under the direction and infpiration of his Spirit, and’ prophefied in his name things according to his will, and for the good of his people: or, the watchman of Ephraim fhould be with my God; on his fide, and promote his worfhip and

PIOUS fervice, his honour and intereft; and give the people warning from him, having heard the word at his mouth; but now they were not with him, nor for him, nor did as they fhould: or one that bore this character of a watchman in the ten tribes, pretended to be fuch a one, and would be thought to be with God, and to have his mind and will, and to be fincere for his glory: but she prophet is a Jnare of a fowler in all his ways; the falfe prophet, the fame with the watchman, inflead of guiding and directing Ephraim in the right way in which he fhould go, lays fnares for him in all the ways he takes, to lead him wrong, and draw him into fin, particularly into idolatry, both by his doctrine and example: and hatred in the houje of his God and fo became deteftable and execrable in the houfe of his own god, the calf at Bethel, in the temple there; prophefying fuch things as in the event proved falfe, and drawing into fuch practices as brought on ruin and defolation. The Targum interprets it, of laying fnares for their pro= phets, their true prophets; and Kimchi and archi, of laying Zechariah the prophet in the temple.,

¥. 9. They have deeply corrupted themi{elves, as in the days of Gibeab, &c.] Wot the falfe pro phets and watchmen only; but rather Zpbraim, or the ten tribes, thro’ their means became extremely. corrupt in principle and practice; they had moft fadly degenerated, and were deeply funk and immerfed in all manner of wickednei/s, and rooted in it, and continued obftinate and incorrigible, fo that there was no hope of reformation among them; they had got to as great a pitch of wickednefs, and were guilty of the like uncleannefs, lewdnefs, barbarity and cruelty, as were acted by the men of Gibeab, with refpect to the Levite and his concubine, Fudg.' xix. for Gibech of Benjamin is here meant, where the people afked a king, and rebelled againft the words of the prophet, as fome in Farchi interpret it: therefore he will remember their iniquity, be will vifit their fins, that is, God, my God, as the prophet calls him in the preceding verfe, will not forgive and forget their fins; pardon being often exprefféd by a nonremembrance of fins; but will make enquiry after them, and vifit ‘them in a way of wrath and vengeance, and punifh for them as they deferve; they being obftinate and impenitent, and _perfifting in their fins, like the men of Gideah and Benjamin. ¥. 10. I found Ifrael like grapes in the wildernels, &c.] Not Facob or Lrael perfonally, with the few fouls that went down with him into Egygr; for thefe died in Egypt, and never returned from thence, or came into the wildernefs to be found; nor J/rael in a fpiritual fenfe, the objects of electing, redeeming and calling grace; tho” it may be accommodated to them, who in their nature- {tate are as in a wildernefs, in a forlorn, hopelefs, helplefs and uncomfortable condition; in which the -Lord finds them, feeking them by his Son in redemption, and by his Spirit in effectual vocation; when they are like grapes, not in themfelves, being deftitute of all good, and having -nothing but fin and wickednefs in them; for whatever good thing is in them at converfion, it is not found, but put there; but the fimile may ferve to exprefs the great and unmerited love of God to his people, who are as agreeable’ to him, as grapes in the wildernefs to a thirfty traveller; and in whom he takes great delight and complacency, notwith- | {tanding ftanding all their finfulnefs and unworthinefs; and beftows abundance of grace upon them, and makes them like clufters of grapes indeed,; and fuch were many of the Yewi/d tathers, and who are here intended, even the people of J/rael brought out of Egypt into the wildernefs of Arabia, thro’ which they travelled to Canaan: here the Lord found them, took notice and care of them, provided for them, and protected them, and gave them many tokens of his love and affection; fee Deut. xxxul. 10. and they were as acceptable to him, and he took as much delight and pleafure in them, as one travelling thro’ the deferts of Arabia, or any other defert, would rejoice at. finding a vine laden with clufters of grapes. The defign of this metaphor is not to compare J/rael with grapes, becaufe of any goodnefs in them, and as a reafon of the Lord’s delight in them; for neither for quantity nor quality were they like them, being few, and very obftinate and rebellious; but to fet forth the great love of God to them, and his delight and complacency in them; which arofe and {fprung, not from any excellency in them, but from his own fovereign good will and pleafure; fee Deut. vii. 6, 7, 8. and ix. 5,6. and x. 15: I faw_ your Sathers as the firft ripe in the fig-tree at her firft time, the Lord looked upon their anceftors, when they were fettled as a people, in their civil and churchftate, upon their being brought out of Egypt, with as much pleafure as a man beholds the firft ripe fig his fig-tree produces after planting it, or the firft it produces in the feafon, the fig-tree bearing twice in a year; but the firft is commonly moft defired, as being moft rare and valuable; and fuch were the J/raelites to the Lord at firft, Mic. vii. 1. Fer. ii. 2. This is obferved to aggravate their ingratitude to the Lord, which foon difcovered itfelf,; and to fuggeft that their pofterity were like them, who, tho’ they had received many favours from the Lord, as tokens of his affection to them, and delight in them; yet behaved ina moft fhocking and fhameful manner to him: but ¢hey went to Baal-peor; or, went into Baal-peor *; committed whoredom with that idol even in the wildernefs » where the Lord found them, and fhewed fo much ‘regard to them; this refers to the hiftory in Numd. xxv. Baal-peor is by fome interpreted, the lord, or god of opening; and was fo called, either from his opening his mouth in prophecy, as dinfworth > thinks, as Nebo a god of Babylon had his name from prophefying; or from his open mouth, with which this idol was figured, as a Fewi/h writer ‘ obferves; whofe worfhippers took him to be infpired, and opened their mouths to receive the divine afflatus from him: others interpret it, the lord, or god of nakednefs; becaufe his worfhippers expofed to him their pofteriors in a fhameful manner, and even thofe parts which ought to be covered; and this is the fenfe of moft of the Fewi h writers. So in the Yerufalem Talmud *, the worfhip of Peor is reprefented in like manner, and as moft filthy and obfcene, as it is by Farchi*, who feems to have taken his account from thence; and even Maimonides § fays, it was a known thing, that the worfhip of Peor was by uncovering of the nakednefs; and this he makes to be the reafon why God commanded the priefts to make themfelves breeches to cover their nakednefs in the time of