© Racenatenfis in Capito, fervice, and why they might not go up to the altar by fteps, that their nakednefs might not be difcovered; in short, they took this Peor to be no other than a Priapus; and in this they are_followed by many chriftians, particularly.by Ferom on this place, who obferves, that Baal-peor is the god of the Moabites, whom we may call Priapus, and fo Iiidore * fays, there was an idol in Moab called Baal, on mount Fegor, whom the Latins call Priapus, the god of gardens; but Mr. Selden * rejeéts this notion, and contends that Peor is either. the name of a mountain, of which J/dore juft now mentioned fpeaks; fee Numb. xxiii. 28. where Baal was worfhipped, and fo was called from thence Baal-peor 5 as ‘/upiter Olympius, Capitolinus, &c. is fo called from the mountains of Olympus, Capitolinus, 8cc. where divine honours are paid him; or elfe the name of a man, of fome great perfon in high efteem, who was deified by the Moadites, and worfhipped by them after his death; and fo Baal-peor may be the fame as Jord Peor; and it feems moft likely that Peor is the name of a man, at leaft of an idol, fince we read of Beth-peor, or the temple of Peor, in Deut. xxxiv. 6: and /eparated themfelves unto that foame, they feparated themfelves from God and his worfhip, and joined themfelves to that fhameful idol, and worfhipped it, thought by many, as before obferved, to be the Priapus of the Gentiles, in whofe worfhip the greateft of ob- {cenities were ufed, not fit to be named; fo that this epithet of /bame is with great propriety given it, and aggravates the fin of J/rael, that fuch a people fhould be guilty of fuch filthy practices; tho’ Baal, without tuppofing him to be a Priapus, may be called that shame; for Baal and Bofbeth, which fignifies fhame, are fometimes put for each other; fo Ferub-daal, namely Gideon, is called Ferub-befheth, Fudg. viii. 35..2 Sam. xi, 21. and Efhbaal appears plainly to be the fame fon of Saul, whofe name was J/b-bofheth, 1 Chron. viii. 33. 2 Sam, ii. 10. and Merib-baal is clearly the fame with Mephi-bofbeth, 1 Chron. viii. 34. 2 Sam. ix. 6. yea, it may be obferved, that the prophets of Baal are called in the Septuagint verfion of 1 Kings xviii. 25. weoPulas rng aigewnc, the prophets of that fhame; every idol, and all idolatry being fhameful, and the caufe of fhame, fooner or later, to their worfhippers; efpecially when things. obfcene were done in their religious rites, as were in many of the heathens, in which the ews followed them; fee Jer. ili. 24, 25. and.xi.13: and their abominations were according as they loved; or, as they loved.
them, the daughters of Moab; for it was thro’ their impure love of them, that they were drawn into thefe abominations, or to worfhip idols, which are often called abominations; or, as Jofeph Kimchi reads the words, and gives the fenfe of them, aud they were abominations as I loved them; that is, according to the meafure of the love wherewith I loved them, fo they were abominations in mine eyes; they were as deteftable now, as they were loved before. > hat y. 11. 4s for Ephraim, their glory fall flee away underftand of God their glory, and of his dey ture from them, as in the next verfe; others of — their wealth and riches, and whatever was gloric; o as:
and valuable among them; which fhould fly away from them in a moment, when taken and carried captive; rather their numerous pofterity, in which they were very fruitful, according to their name, and in which they gloried, as children are the glory of their parents, Prov. xvii. 6. which fenfe agrees with what follows, and which explains the manner of their fleeing away, andthe periods of it: from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception; that is, fome of them, as foon as they were born; others whilft in the womb, being abortives; or however, when they fhould, or as foon as they. did, come from thence; and others, as foon as conceived, never come to any thing; or not conceived at all, as Kimcdi interprets it, the women being barren. _ ¥. 412. Tho’ they bring up their children, &c.] Tho’ this be the cafe of fome, as to be conceived, carried in the womb to the full time, and be born, and brought up to a more adult age, and appear very promifing to live, and perpetuate the names of their fathers and their families: yet will I beveave them; their parents of them, by the fword, famine, peftilence, or by carrying them captive into a foreign country: that there fhall sot be a man left; in the whole land of J/rae/, but all fhall be deftroyed, or- carried captive: or, from men!, that is, either from being men, as the Zargum; tho’ they are brought up to fome ripenefs, and a more adult age than others, yet arrive not to fuch a time “and age.as to be called men, as Kimchi obferves.; or from being among men, being either taken away by death, or removed from the {ociety of men. to live among beafts, and to be flaves like them: yea, wo allo to them, when I depart from them;, withdraw my prefence, favour, and protection from,them; or remove my Shekinab from them, as the Targum; and leave them to the fpoil and cruelty of their enemies, which would be a greater calamity and judgment than the former. Lhe Septuagint, and fo Theodotion render it, wo is to them, my fiefo is of them; which fome of the ancients interpret of the incarnation of Chriit, not confidering that the words are {fpoken of Ephraim, or. the ten tribes; whereas, the Meffiah was to ipring, and did, from the family of David, and tribe of Fudab.
¥. 13. Ephraim, as 1 faw Tyrus, 1s planted in a pleafant place, &c.|. That is, either as the city of Tyré, avery famous city in Phemicia, was fituated in a very pleafant place by the fea, and abounded in wealth and riches, and was well fortified, and feemed. fecure from all danger, and from all enemies; fo Ephraim or the ten tribes, the kingdom of J/rael, were in like circumftances, equal to Tyre, as the Targum paraphrafes it, in profperity and plenty; yet, as the prophet in the vifion of prophecy faw that Zyre, notwithftanding all its advantages by power and wealth, by art and nature, would be deftroyed, firft by Nebuchadnezzar, and then by Alexander; fo by the fame prophetic {pirit he faw that Ephraim or the ten tribes, notwithftanding their prefent profperity, and the fafety and fecurity they thought themfelves in, yet fhould be given up to ruin and deftruction by the hand of the Afyrians; or it may be rendered thus, £- phraim as, or when I faw it, unto Tyre“, reaching unto that place, and bordering upon it, as part of the ten tribes did; I faw it, I obferved it; took 4 furvey of it, and I perceived it was planted in a pleafant place; like a tree planted in a fruitful foil; well rooted, and in a flourifhing condition; fo’ were they, abounding with all good things, and having a numerous offspring; from all which they promifed themfelves much happinefs for ages to come: but Ephraim fhall bring forth bis children to the murderer; to facrifice them to Moloch, as fome; fo the Targum, “* they of the houfe of Ephraim ‘* have finned in flaying their children to the fer- ** vice of idols;” with which Yarchi agrees; but rather the fenfe is; with Kimchi, and others, when their enemies fhall come againft them, as the A/jrian army, they fhall go out with their fons td fight with them, and thefe fhall be deftroyed and murdered by them; it will be like leading lambs to the flaughter to be butchered and devoured by
¥..14. Give them, O Lord: what wilt thou give them? 8ec.] The prophet forefeeing the butchery and deftruétion of their children, his heart aked for them; and to fhew his tender affection for this people, was defirous of putting up a fupplication for them; but was at a lofs what to afk, their fins were fo many; and. fo aggravated; and the decree gone forth for their deitruction = or, give them what thou wilt give them'; fo Farchi; Kimchi, and Abarbinel, what thou haft threatened before to give them, y. 11..don’t give them to be butchered and murdered before the eyes of their parents by their enemies; but rather let them die in the womb, or.as foon.as born, fo it follows: give them a mifcarrying womb, and dry breafts, the: latter being a fign of the former, as phyficians obferve; or the words may be rendered disjunctively, give them one, or the other: thatis, to the wives. of thé people of J/rae/, if they conceive, let them mifcarry, prove abortive, rather than bring forth children to be deftroyed in fuch a cruel manner by murderers; or if they bear them to the birth, and bring them forth, let their breafts be dried up, and afford no milk for their nourifhment; and fo die for lack of it, rather than fall into the hands of their mercilefs enemies: thus, of two evils, the ~ prophet choofes and prays for the leaft. «Some interpret this as a prediction of what would be, or an imprecation of it; but it rather feems a pathetic with, flowing from the tender affection of the prophet, judging fuch a cafe to be preferable to the former; fee Luke xxiii. 29. tho’ the other fenfe feems beft to agree with what follows, and which is favoured by the Targum, ** give thou,.O Lord; ‘** the recompence of their works; give them a ‘* mifcarrying womb and dry breafts.”
¥. 15. All their wickednefs is in Gilgal, &c.] A place in the ten tribes, where the covenant of circumcifion was renewed in Fofhua’s time; the firft pafiover was kept in the land of Canaan, and the people of J/rael eat the firft fruits of the land; where the tabernacle was for a while, and facrifices were offered up to the Lord: but now things were otherwife; all manner of iniquity was committed in it, efpecially idolatry; for which it was chofen by idolaters, becaufe it had formerly been famous for religious worfhip: here, tho’ not to the exclufion of other places, as Dan and Bethel, ° was the above fin committed; here it begun and {pread
SPYNI AWN quando vidi ufque ad Tyrum, Schmidt. tarus es, Junius & Tremellius, Vatablus, Grotius; da illis id quod dabis, Schmidt.
rinn mp mond 1M da eis quod da- 5K fpread itfelf, and had the meafure of it filled up, here began the firft departure from the Lord, rejecting him, and afking a king in the days of Samuel, as Kimchi and Abarbinel obferve;:and here were high places and altars erected for idolatry; and this is now the reafon of the above threatnings of God, and the predictions of the prophet. Grotius thinks there is a myftical fenfe in the words, and that they have reference to the fin of the Fews in crucifying Chrift on Golgotha, which, in the Syriac language, is the fame with Gilga/; but both the people {poken of, and the place are different: for there I hated them, or therefore ™, becaufe they finned fo greatly againft him in a place where they had formerly worfhipped him; their facrifices there, inftead of being acceptable, were the more abominable to him, as they were Offered there where his tabernacle once was, and facrifices were offered to him according to his will: for the wickedne s of their doings I will drive thém out of mine houfe; not out of the houfe of my fanétuary, or the temple, as. the Targum; unlefs this is to be underftood of lofing the opportunity of going to the temple at Serujalem, which thole of the ten tribes had whilft they were in their own land, which the few godly perfons among them then took, and made ule of; but now their idolatry increafing in Gilga/, and other places, they fhould be carried captive; and if they would, could not go up to the houfe of the Lord, and worfhip him there: or rather this may defign, either the vifible church of God, out of which they would be now ejected; or their native country, where they had been, as the family and houfehold of God; but now fhould be fo no more, but as afterwards faid, wanderers among the nations, and no more reckoned as belonging to the Lord, and under his paternal care and protection: 1 will love them no more; which is not to be underftood of the fpecial love and favour the Lord bears to his own people in Chrift, which is everlafting and unchangeable; but of his general and providential favour and regard unto thefe people, which he had manifefted in beftowing many great and good things upon them; but now would do fo no more; he would do nothing to them, or for them, that looked like love, or be interpreted of it, but all the reverfe; and by his behaviour to them, fhow that they were the objects of his averfion and hatred; and this was to continue, and has continued, and will continue unto the time of ’ their converfion in the latter day, when a/ Irael foall be faved, Rom. xi. 26: all their princes are revolters; from God and his worfhip, who fhould have fet a good example to the people; and fince thefe were perverfe and rebellious againft God, it is no wonder that the people in general apoftatized. This is to be underftood of their king as fupreme, and all fubordinate rulers; of their judges and magiftrates of every order; of all their governors, both civil and ecclefiaftic; and not at Gi/gal only, but in all the land.. There is an elegant paranoinafia * in the original, the beauty of which cannot be exprefféd in the tranflation.
_ ¥. 16. Ephraim is fmitten, 8c.] The people of the ten tribes, the kingdom of J/rae/, who had been like a tree planted in a pleafant place, ¥. 13.
» ESD tary Sharehem Sorerim.
and were in very flourifhing circumftances in the times of Yerebeam the fecond; but now were like a tree {mitten with thunder and lightning, or hail ftones, and beat to pieces; or with the heat of — the fun, or with blafting winds, or by worms; as in the fucceeding reigns, by the judgments of God upon them; by civil wars, con{piracies, and murders among themfelves; and by the exaétions of Pul and depredations of Tiglath-Pilefer kings of Afria; and quickly would be fmitten again; the prefent being put for the future, becaufe of the certainty of it, as ufual in prophetic writings; of be utterly deftroyed by Salmanefer, and be no more a kingdom: their root is dried up; like the root of a tree that has no fap and moifture in it, and can communicate none to the body and branches of the tree, which in courfe muft die. This may be underftood of their king, princes, nobles and chief men, the fupport and itrength of the nations 3 and of parents and heads of families, cut off by one judgment or another: they jhall bear no fruit as a tree thus fmitten, and its root dried up, can+ not; fo neither this being their cafe, there would be none to beget, nor any to bear children, and bring them forth; called the fruit of the womb, in allufion to the fruit of trees: yea, thd they bring forth, tho’ fome of them fhould be fpared; women with their hufbands, and fhould procreate children: yet will I flay even the beloved fruit of their womb: their children they fhould bring forth, on whom their affections were ftrongly fet; and the rather, as they were but few, and from whom ‘they had raifed expectations of building up their families; even thefe the Lord would flay, or fuffer’ to be flain, either by the fword of the enemy, or by | famine, or by peftilence, or by fome difeafé or another; fo that there fhould be no hope of a future pofterity, at leaft of no great number of them. ¥.17. My God will caft them away, 8c.) With loathfomnefs and contempt, having finned againft him, and done fuch abominable things; caft them out of their own land, as men not fit to'live in it's caft them out of his fight, as not able to tndufe them; caft them away, as unprofitable and good for nothing; reject them from being his people; ho more own them in the relation they had ftood in to him; nor fhew them any more favour, at leaft until the converfion of them in the times of the Meffiah. Thefe are the words of the prophet, who calls the Lord his God, whom he worfhipped, by whom he was fent,-and in whofe name — he prophefied; and this in oppofition to, and di-. {tinction from, J/rael, who worfhipped other gods, and who had caft off the true God, and were now, or would be, caft away by him, and fo no longer their God: becaufe they did not hearken unto him; to his word, as the Targum; to him fpeaking by his prophets, to the inftructions, admonitions, threatnings and predictions delivered to them from him; they did not obey his law, regard his will, or attend his worfhip; which was the caufe of the
‘rejection of them, and a juft one: and they fhall be wanderers among the nations, being difperfed by the Affyrians in the feveral nations of the world, where they were fugitives and vagabonds; as their po-. fterity are to this day. ‘a
Sy Fee ey chapter is of the fame argument with the former, and others before that; fetting forth the fins of the ten tribes, and threatning them with the judgments of God for them; and exhorting them to repentance, and works of righteoulnefs, They are charged with unfruitfulnefs and ingratitude; increafing in idolatry, as they increafed in temporal good things, ¥. 1. with a divided heart, and with irreverence of God, and their king, and with falfe fwearing, covenantbreaking, and injuftice, ¥. 2, 3, 4. and are threatened with a removal of their king, and with the deftruction of their idols, and places of idolatry, which fhould caufe fear in the common people, and mourning among the priefts, y. 1, 5, 6, 7, 8. It is obferved, that their fin had been of long continuance, tho’ the Lord had been kind and good unto them, in chaftizing them in love, giving them good laws, fending his prophets to exhort them to repentance and reformation, but all in vain, ¥.g9, 10, 11, 12, 13. wherefore they are threatened with the {poiling of their fortrefies, the deftruction of the people, and the cutting off of their king, ¥. 14, 15.
¥. 1. DLrael is an empty vine, &c.| The people of J/rael are often compared to a vine, and fuch a one from whence fruit might be expected, being planted in a good foil, and well took care of; fee Pf, texx. 8. df, 25 3 Fere it, 21. butyproved an empty vine, empty of fruit; not of temporal good things, for a multitude of fuch fruit it is afterwards faid to have; but of fpiritual fruit, of the fruit of grace, and of good works, being deftitute of the Spirit of God, and his grace; and having no ‘fpiritual moifture, was incapable of bringing forth good fruit: or, an empiying vine °; that cats its fruit before it.is ripe; thefe people, what fruit they had, they made an ill ufe of it; even of their temporal good things; they emptied themielves of their wealth and riches, by fending prefents, or paying tribute to foreign princes for their alliance, friendfhip and help; or by confuming it on their idols, and in their idolatrous worthip. The Targum renders it, ** a fpoiled vine ®;” poiled by their enemies, who robbed them of their wealth and riches, and trampled them under foot. The Septuagint verfion, and thofe that follow that, underftand it in a fenfe quite the reverfe, rendring it, @ floxrifping vine; putting forth branches, leaves, and fruit; and which the learned Pocock confirms from the ufe of the word in’ the Aradic language: but then it follows, be bringeth forth fruit unto himfelf, all the good works done by them, were not to the praife and glory of God, as fruits of righteoufnefs. are, which come by Jefus Chrift, but were done to be feen of men, and to gain their applaufe and efteem, and fo were for themfelves 5.
and all their temporal good things they abounded with, were not made ufe of in the fervice of God, and for the promoting of his glory, and of true religion among them 5 but either confumed on their own lufts, or in the fervice of idols: or, the fruit ditur cor eorum, Schmidt. chi and Ben Melech.
is like unto bimfelfi, as was the vine, fo was its fruit: the vine was empty, and devoid of goodnefs, and fo the fruit it produced: The Targum is, *¢ the fruit of their works was the caufe of their ** being carried captive:” according to the multitude of his fruit, he hath increafed the altars; as the J/raelites increafed in riches and wealth, their land bringing forth in great abundance, they erected the greater number of altars. to their idols; and multiplied their facrifices to them; this was the ill ufe they made of what fruit they did produce: according to the goodnefs of his land they have made goodly images; of richer metal, and more ornamented, and more of them, according to the plenty of good things, corn, and wine, and oil their land produced: thus abufing the providential goodneis of God to fuch vile purpofes!
¥. 2. Their heart is divided, &c.| Some fay - from Hofbea their king, who would have reformed them from their idolatry, and returned them to the true worfhip of God; but of that there is no proof; better from one another, their affections being alienated from each other, by their difcords and animofities, their confpiracies againft their kings, and the murders of them, and the civil wars among themfelves; they alfo not being of one mind, but difagreeing in their fentiments about their idols; fome being for one, and fome for another: or rather from God himfelf, from the fear of him, from his worfhip and fervice; or, from the law, as the Zargum, or their hearts were divided between God and their idols; as in Abad’s time between God and Baal; they pretended to worfhip God, when they worfhipped the calves, and fo fhared the fervice between them: or it may be rendered, their heart flatters* them; as if they had done that which was right and good, and were euilty of no evil, nor would any punifhment be inflicted on them: now hall they be found faulty, be convicted of their fin and folly, and appear cuilty; when they fhall be punifhed for their idolatry, and their idols not able to fave them, as the deftruction of them next mentioned will fully evince: or, now Jhall they become defolate *, their land fhall be defolate, and they carried captive: be foall break down their altars: he foall fpoil their images; that is, the king of Afyria fhall do all this, or God by him: or, bebead their altars; take off the top of them, as the Zargum, the horns of them, which might be made of gold, or other ornaments which were of value; and therefore became the plunder of the enemy; and who alfo would break in pieces their images, for the fake of the metal, gold or filver, of which they were made; as was ufually done by conquerors, and to fhew their entire power over the conquered, that even their gods could not deliver them out of their hands.
¥. 3. For now they fhall fay, we have no king, &c.] This they would fay, either when they had one; but by their conduct and behaviour faid they had none; becaufe they had no regard unto him, no affection for him, and reverence of him; but
P So Calvin.; told pon adblan- every one did what was right in his own eyes: or during the inter-regnum, between the murder of Pekab, which was in the twentieth year of fothatn, and the fettlement of Ho/bea, which was in the twelfth of Ahaz; fee 2 Kings xv. 30. and xvii. 1. or when the land of J/rae/ was invaded, and their king was fhut up in -prifon, and Samaria befieged, fo that it was as if they had no king, they had none to protect and defend them, to fally out at the head of them againft the enemy, and fight their ‘battels for them; or rather when the city was taken, the altars broke down, their images fpoiled, and they and their king carried captive: becaufe we feared not the Lord; did not ferve and worfhip him, but idols; and this fin, cafting off the fear of the Lord, was the fource and caule of all their troubles and forrows; of the invafion of their land; of the befieging and taking their city, and having no king to rule over them, and protect them: what then fhould a king do to us? if they had one, he could be of no fervice to them; for fince they had offended God, the King of kings, and made him their enemy, what could an earthly king, a weak mortal man do for them, or againit him? it was now all over with them, and they could have no expectation of help and deliverance.
¥. 4. They have fpoken words, fwearing falfly, in making a covenant, &c.| Thefe are other crimes they were guilty of, for which the wrath of God could not be awarded from them by a king, if they had one, or by any other. They had ufed vain and idle words in their common talk and converfation; and lying and deceitful ones to one an: other in trade and commerce, in contra¢ts and promifes; and fo had deceived and ‘over-reached one another: they had belched out many oaths of vanity *; or vain oaths and curfes; their mouths bad been full of curfing and bitternefs; and they made covenants with God, and their king, and with other kings and princes, and with one another, and had not kept them; and now for thefe things God had a controverfy with them: shus judgment fpringeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field, either the judgment of God, his wrath and vengeance for the above fins, rofe up and {pread itfelf in all their cities, towns and villages, or rather the judgment and juftice they pretended to execute, inftead of being what it fhould have been, ufeful and beneficial to the people, like an wholefome herb, fprung up like hemlock, bitter and poifonous, and fpread itfelf in all parts of the kingdom. Injuftice is meant; fee mos vi, 12.
¥. 5. The inhabitants of Samaria fhall fear, becauje of the calves of Beth-aven, &c.] Or, the cow-calves “, as in the original; fo called by way of derifion, and to denote their weaknefs and inability to help their votaries; and fo Bethel, where one of thefe calves was, is here, as elfewhere, called Beth-aven, that is, the houfe of iniquity, or of an idol, by way of contempt; and may take in Daa alfo, where was the other calf, fince both are mentioned; unlefs the plural is put for the fingular: now the land of J/rael being iavaded by the enemy, the inhabitants of Samaria, which was the metropolis of the nation, the king, nobles, and common people that dwelt there, and were worfhippers of the calves, were in pain left
2 AY nye execrationes vanitatis, Schmidt.
they fhould be taken by the enemy; or becaufe they were, thefe places falling into his hands before Samaria was befieged, or at leaft taken; and thefe calves being broken to pieces, which they had worfhipped, and put their truft in, they were afr.
ai the ruin of themielves and’ childien would be oy:
and was not very far off: for the peeple thereof hall mourn over it; either the people of Samaria, the fame with the inhabitants of it; or rather the people of Beth-aven, where the idol was; but now was broke to pieces, or carried away; tho’ it is generally interpreted of the people of the calf, thé.
worfhippers of it, who would mourn over it, or for the lofs of it, being taken away from them, and difpofed of as in the following verfe: The Jews * have a tradition, that in the twentieth year of Pekabh king of Djrael, Tiglath-Pilefer king of Affyria, came and took away the golden caif in Dan; and in the twelfth year of Abaz, another king of Afyria, (Salmanefer) came and took away the golden calf at Bethel: and the priefts thereof that rejoiced on it; the Chemarim, as in Zepb. i. 4. or Zlack ¥ ones, becaufe of their meager and fordid countenances, or black clothing: the fame word the ews ufe for popifh monks: here it defigns the priefts of Beth-aven, or the calf, who before this time rejoiced on account of it, becaufe of the facrifices and prefents of the people to it, and the good living they, got in the fervice of it; but now would mourn, as well as the people, and more, becaufe of being deprived of their livelihood. Some read the words without the fupple- _ ment that, the priefis thereof rejoiced om it; which fome interpret according to a tradition of the Fews mentioned by erom, tho’ by no other, as I can find; that the priefts {tole away the golden calves, and put brazen and gilded ones in the room of them; fo that when they were carried away the people mourned, taking them to be the true golden calves; but the priefts made themfelves merry with their fubtle device, and rejoiced that their fraud was not deteéted; but rather the word here ufed, as Pocock and others have obferved, is of that kind which has contrary fenfes, and fignifies both to mourn, and to rejoice; and here to mourn, as” perhaps alfo in 70d iii. 22. Pf ii. 11. and fo Bew Melech obferves, that there are fome of their interpreters who underftand it here, in the fenfe of mourning: for the glory of it, becaufe it is departed from it; either becaufe of the glory of the calf, which was gone from it, the veneration it was had in, the worfhip which was given to it, and the gems and ornaments that were about it; or rather the glory of Betb-aven, and alfo of Samaria, and indeed of all J/rael, which was carried captive from’ them; that is, the calf, which was their god, in which they gloried, and put their truft and con-” fidence in.
y¥. 6. It foall alfo be carried unto Afyria; for a prefent to king Fareb, &c.] Or, he bimfelf*; not the people ot Samaria, or of Beth-aven, or of the calf, but the calf itfelf; which, being all of gold, was fent a prefent to the king of Afpria, here called” Fareb, either Afhria, or the king of it; fee the note on ch. v. 13. this was done either by the people of J/rael themfelves. to appeafe the king of 4 jria; or, rather by the Afprian eferved the plunder of this as a proper prefent to
‘their king and conquetor, to whom not only nations, bur the gods of nations were fubje&t: Ephraim foall receive foame; for worthipping fuch an idol, when’ they fhall fee it broke to pieces, and the gold of it made a prefent to the A/rian king, and that it could not fave them, nor itfelf: and Tfraelfoall be afhamed of his own counfel, of giving in to fuch idolatry, contrary to the counfel, mind and will of God; or of the counfel which they and Feroboam took to fet up the calves at Dan and Bethel, and thereby to keep the people from going up to Ferufalem, 1 Kings xii. 28. as well as of their counfel and covenant with the king of Egypt againft the king of Afyria, 2 Kings xvii. 4.
¥. 7. As for Samaria, &c.] The metropolis of the ten tribes of J/rael, and here put for the whole kingdom: ber king is cut off; which fome underftand of Pekab, who was killed by Ho/bea; others of feveral of their kings cut off one after. another, very fuddenly and quickly, as the metaphor after -ufed fhews; or rather Ho/bea the laft king is meant, who was cut off by the king of Afjria; the prefent tenfe is ufed: for the future, to denote the certainty of it. ben Ezra thinks the verb cut off is to be repeated, Samaria is cut off, her king is cut off; both king and kingdom deftroyed. So the Targum, “ Samaria is cut off with her “¢ king:” as the foam upon the water as any light thing flowing upon it;-as the bark of a tree, as Kimchi and Abarbinel, or as the {cum upon a boiling pot of water, as Farchi, and the TJ. argum; OF as foam, which is an affemblage of bubbles upon the water; fuch are kings and kingdoms, fwell, look big and high for a while; but are mere bubbles, empty things; and are often fuddenly, quickjy and eafily deftroyed; fo Samaria and her king were by the Afyrian army; the Lord of hofts, the King of kings, being againft them.
‘y. 8. The high places alfo of Aven, &c.] Bethel, which is not only as before called Beth-aven, the houfe of iniquity; but ven, iniquity itfelf; the high. places of it were the temple and altars built there for idolatrous fervice, which were ufually fet on hills and mountains: the fin of Ifrael fhall be deftroyed; that is, which high places are the fin of Jfrael, the occafion of fin unto them; and where they committed fin, the fin of idolatry, in worfhipping the calves; thefe fhould be thrown down, demolifhed, and no longer ufed: the thorn and the thiftle foall come up on their altars, lying in ruins, thefe fhall grow upon them, * the people and priefts being carried captive that ufed to facrifice upon them; but now they fhall lie deferted by them, being deftroyed by the enemy: and they fhall fay to the mountains, cover us; and to the bills, fall on us;-not that the high places and altars fhall fay fo
Og in the day’ of the Yadges, and what followed upori it, Fudg. xix. and xx. fuggefting, that the fins of J/rael were not new ones 3 they were the fame with what were committed formerly, as early as the hiftory referred-to, and had been continued ever fince; the meafure of which were now filling up: or, as Aben Ezra and Abarbinel interpret it, thou haft finned more than the days of Gibeab, were guilty of more idolatry, inhumanity and impurity, than in thofe times; and yet the groffeft of fins, particularly unnatural lufts, were then committed: there they ftood, either the men of Gibech continued in their fins, and did not repent of them $ and ftood in ‘their own defence againft the tribes of Tfrael, and the Benjamites ftood alfo with them, and by them; and ftood two battels, and were conquerors in them; and tho’ beaten in the third, were not wholly deftroyed, as now the J/raelites would be: or the tribes of f/rae/ ftood; and continued in, and connived at, the idolatry of the Levite; or rather, ftood fluggifh and flothful, and were not forward to fight with the Benjamites, who took part with the men of Gibeah;, which were their fins, for which they were worfted in the two firft battels, and in which the prefent J/raelites imitated them: the battel in Gibeah againfi the children of iniquity did not overtake them; the two firft battels againit the men of Gibeah and the Benjamites, who are the children of iniquity, the one the actors, and the other the abettors and patrons of it, did not fucceed againit them, but the I/raelites were overcome; and the third battel in which they got the day, did not overtake them fo as utterly. to cut them off; for fix hundred perfons made their efcape; but in the prefent cafe prophefied of, ’tis fugeefted, that as their fins were as great or greater than theirs, their ruin fhould be entire and complete: or the fenfe is, that they were backward to go to battel; they were not eager upon it; they did not at once efpoufe the caufe of the Levite; they did not ftir in it till he had done that unheardof thing, cutting his concubine into twelve pieces, and fending them to the twelve tribes of J/rael; - and then they were not over-forward, but fought the Lord as if it was a doubtful cafe; which backwardnefs was refented in their ill fuccefs at firtt; and the fame flow difpofition to punifh vice had continued with them ever fince; fo Schmidt.
y. 10. It is in my defire that I foould chaftife them, &c.] Or bind them*, and carry them captive; and by fo doing correct them for their fins they - have fo’ long continued in: this the Lord had in his heart to do, and was determined upon it, and would do it with pleafure, for the glorifying of his juitice, fince they had fo long and fo much abufed his clemency and goodnefs: and the people in a figurative fenfe, according to R. Mofes in Aben foall be gathered againft them, the Affyrians, who,
Ezra; but as Fapbet, they that worfhipped there, the priefts and people of Samaria, Betb-aven, and even of all J/rael, becaufe of their great diftrefs, and as perfons in the utmoft confternation, and in defpair, and confounded, and afhamed, fhall call to the mountains and hills where they have been guilty of idolatry to hide and cover them from the wrath of God; fee Luke xxiii. 30. Rev. vi. 16.
y. 9. O Sfrael, thou haft finned from the days of Gibeah, &c.]} This has no refpect, as the Zargum, and others, to Gibeah of Saul, of which place - he was, and the chufing him to be king; but to the affair of the Levite and his concubine at Gibeab at the command of the Lord would come and invade their land, befiege their city, and take it, and bind them, and carry them captive: when they foall bind themfelves in their two furrows; when, like heifers untamed, and bound in a yoke to plow, don’t make and keep in one furrow, but turn out to the right or left, and make erofs furrows; fo it is intimated, that this was the reafon why the Lord would correct J/rael, and fuffer the nations to gather together againft them, and carry them captive, becaufe they did not plow in one furrow, or keep in the true and pure worfhip of God; but made two furrows, worfhipping partly
God, and partly idols: or, when they, their enetnies, /hall bind them, being gathered againft them, and carry them captive, they fhall make them plow in two furrows, the one up, and the other down; and to this hard fervice they fhall keep them continually. There is a double reading of this claufe, the Cetibs or textual writing or reading is, ¢o their two eyes, or fountains; alluding, as Farchi obferves, to the binding of the yoke on oxen on each fide of their eyes; or to the fountains in the land of I/rael, the abundance of wine, milk and honey;
for the fake of which the people got together, broke in upon them, and bound them, in order to drink of. So Guffetius » renders the words, and they foall bind them to drink of their fountains. ‘The Keri or marginal reading is, their two iniquities; which the Septuagint follows, rendring it, ‘* in “* chaftifing them, or when they are chaftifed for “¢ their two iniquities;” fo the Vulgate Latin, Syriac and Arabic verfions; meaning either their worfhipping the two calves at Dan and Bethel, or their corporal and fpiritual adultery; or their forfaking the true God, and worfhipping idols; fee Fer. ii. 13. Schmidt underftands all this, not as a punifhment threatened, but as an inftance of the love of God to them, in chaftifing them in a loving and fatherly way; which had a good effect upon them, and brought them to repentance; partly in the times of the Fudges, but more efpecially in the days of Samuel, when they behaved well, and particularly in the reigns of David and Solomon, and when the people were gathered, not againft, but ¢o them; either became profelytes to them, or tributaries, or coveted their friendfhip; and when they themfelves lived in great concord, in one kingdom, under one king, like oxen plowing in two contiguous furrows.
y. 11. And Epbraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn, &c.| Like an heifer taught to bear the yoke, and to plow; but learned it not, as the Targum; does not like it; chufes to tread out the corn, where it can feed upon it, its mouth not being then muzzled, according to the law; oxen or heifers were ufed, both in plowing and treading out corn, to which the allufion is. The fenfe is, that £phraim or the ten tribes were taught to bear the yoke of the law, and yield obedience to it, and perform good works but did not like fuch a courfe of life; had no further regard for religion, than as they found their own worldly profit and advantage in it: or the did not care to labour much in it; they liked the fruit and advantage arifing from working, rather than the work itfelf; and thus, like an heifer, doing little, and living well, they grew fat, increafed in power, wealth and riches; and fo became proud and haughty, and kicked againft the houfe of David, and rent themfelves from it; and fet up a kingdom of their own, and lived and reigned according to their own will and pleafure, like an heifer without yoke and muzzle: dat J paffed over upon her fair neck or, the goodne/s of ber neck * which is expreffive’ of the flourithing and opulent ftate and condition of the ten tribes, efpecially in the times of Fereboam the fecond, which made them proud and haughty: but the
Lord was determined to humuble them, and firft in
: SIAWIS AW by fuper bonitatem cervicis.ejus, Montanus 5 fuper prefantiam, Junius & J'remellius, Pifeator.
a more light and gentle manner; or caufed the rod of correction to pafs over them more lightly; or put upon them a more eafy yoke of affliction, by caufing Px/ king of Afjria to come: againft them; and to get rid of whom a prefent was given. him, exacted of the people; and afterwards Tiglath-Pilefer, another king of Afpria, who carried captive part of their land; and this not having its proper effect, the Lord was determined to proceed againft them in a heavier manner: 1 wall make Ephraim to ride, fome, taking the future for the paft, render it, I have made Ephraim to ride*; that is, to rule and govern, having royal dignity and power given them, and that greater than that of Judah; and ride over the tribes of Fudab and Benjamin, who were fometimes very much afflicted by them; and this is thought to be the fenfe of the following phrafes, Fudab fhall plow, and Facob foall break his clods; or, break the clods for him *; for Ephraim whilft he rides, and ufes them very hardly; as in the days of Feafb and Pekab kings of Tfreel, when many of the tribes of Fudabh were flain by them, 2 Kings xiv. 12,13. 2 Chron. xxviii. 6, 8. but rather the meaning is, / will caufe to ride on Ephraim '; that is, the Affyrians fhall ride upon them, get the dominion over them, carry them captive, and ufe them to hard fervice and bondage, as an heifer rid upon by a fevere rider whilft plowing; and the other tribes fhall not efcape, tho’ they fhall not be fo hardly dealt with: Fudah fall plow, and Facob foall break bis clods; thefe fhall be carried captive into Babylon, and employed in hard and fervile work, but more tolerable; as plowing and breaking clods are eafier than to be rid upon; and as they had hope of deliverance at the end of feventy years; whereas no promife of return was made to the ten tribes, which is the fenfe fome give; but Pocock and others think that thefe words regard the tender and gentle methods God took with thefe people to bring them to obedience to his law. Ephraim being teachable like an heifer, he took hold. of her fair neck, and ftroked it to encourage her,’ and accuftom.her to the hand, and to the yoke; and then put the yoke of his law upon them, and trained them up invhis inititutions, and ufed alfo gentle methods to keep them in obedience; and alfo fet Fudab to plow, and Facob to break the clods, prefcribed for them; and employed them in good warks, in the duties of religion, from whence anfwerable fruit might have been expected; faying to them by his prophets, as follows:
¥. 12. Sow to yourfelves in rightggufne/s, 8c.) Not the feed of grace, which bad men have not, and cannot fow it; and which good men need not, it being fown in them already, and remaining; rather the feed of the word, which fhould be laid up in their hearts, dwell richly in them,. and be kept and retained by them; tho’ ’tis beft of all to underftand it of works of righteoufnefs; as fowing to the flefh is doing the works of the flefh, or carnal and finful acts; fo fowing unto righteouf~ ne/s ®, as it may be rendered, is ‘clap tea righteoufnefs; living foberly and righteoufly; de works according to the word of righteoufnefs, ff
}..... good principles, and with good views, with a view to the glory of God: and which will be Jo;
themfelves, turn to their own account 5 fuch works are not profitable to God, as to merit any thing at his hands; yet they are not only profitable to others, but to thofe that do them; for tho’ not for, yet in keeping the commands of God, there is great reward, Pf. xix. 11. Reap in mercy; or according to mercy”; not according to the merit of works, for there’is none in them; but according to the mercy of God, to which all bleflings, temporal, {piritual, and eternal, are owing; and fuch who fow to the Spirit, or fpiritual things, fhall of the Spirit reap life everlafting not as the reward of debt, but of grace; not as of merit, but as owing to the mercy of Chrift, Gal. vi. 9. Fude, ¥. 21: break up your fallow ground, that is, of their hearts; which were like ground unopened, unbroken, not tilled and manured, nor fown with feed, but over-run with weeds and thiftles; and fo were they, hard and impenitent, deftitute of grace, and full of fin and wickednefs, and ftood in need of being renewed in the fpirit of their minds; which this exhortation is defigned to convince them of, and to ftir them up to make ufe of proper methods of obtaining it, thro’ the efficacious grace of God; fee Fer.iv.3: for it is time to feek the Lord; for his grace; as the hufbandman feeks, prays and waits for rain, when he has tilled his ground, and fowed his feed, to water it, and make it fruitful, that he may have a good reaping time, a plentiful harveft; and as there is a time to feek for the one, fo for the other: ‘7/] be come and rain righteoufnels upon you; that is, Chrift, whofe coming is as the rain, ch. vi. 3. Pf Ixxii. 6. and who when he fhould come, whether perfonally by his incarnation, or fpiritually by his gracious’ prefence, would rain a plentiful rain of the doétrines of grace, and the bleffings of it, fuch as peace, pardon, righteoufnefs, and eternal life by him; particularly the juftifying righteoufnefs wrought out by him, which is fully manifefted in the gofpel, the miniftration of that righteoufnefs, and is applied unto, and put upon all them that believe: or s// be come and teach you righteoufne/s '; as Chrift did when come; he taught the word of righteoufnefs in general, and the righteoufnefs of God in particular, and direéted men to feek it; declared he came to fulfil all righteoufnefs, and taught men to believe in him for it, and that he is their righteoufnefs, and the end of the law for it; as well as he taught them to live righteoufly and godly; fee Joel ii, 23. The Targum is, “‘ O houfe of J/rael, do for yourfelves ** good works; walk in the way of truth; eftablifh *¢ for yourfelves the doctrine of the law; behold ‘ at all times the prophets fay to you, return to ¢ the fear of the Lord; now fhall he be revealed, “¢ and bring righteoufnefs to you.” But thefe exhortations were vain and fruitlefs, as appears by what follows:
trived it, and took a great deal of pains to com-' mit it; by plowing fowed it, and which fprung up in a plentiful crop: it may denote their firft fins, from whence all others arofe; as their irreligion and infidelity; their apoftacy from God; their idolatry and contempt of his word and prophets: ye have reaped iniquity; abundance of other fins have fprung up from thence; a large harveft of them have been reaped and got in; or great
Ati numbers of other fins have beén committed; one fin leads on to another, and thefe proceed ad infimitum; wickednefs is of an increafing nature, and grows worfe and worfe, and proceeds to more ungodlinefs: many underftand this of the punifhment or reward of fin: ye have eaten the fruit of lies; as a fweet morfel, tho’ bread of deceit; which could not profit them, nor yield them in the iffue the pleafure it promifed them, and they hoped for from it: becaufe thou didft truft in thy way; in the worthip of their idols, and in their alliances with neigh-
-bouring nations, and promifed themfelves great | profperity and happinefs from hence: and ia the multitude of thy mighty men their valiant {oldiers, their numerous armies, and the generals of them, well fkilled in war, and courageous; and alfo in their auxiliaries, which they had from the Egyptians and others; thefe they put their confidence in, to protect them; and fo in their garrifons and fortrefles, as the following words thew. ¥. 14. Therefore foall a tumult arife among thy people, &c.] Becauie of their wickednefs and vain confidence, the ‘Afyrian army fhould invade them; which would caufe a tumultuous noife to be made throughout the tribes in all cities and towns, a cry, a howling, and lamentation; efpecially among fearful and timorous ones, as women and children; who would be thrown into a pannic, at hearing the news of a foreign powerful enemy entring their country, and laying watte all before them; a voice of clamour, as Farchi obiérves, crying, flee, flee: and all thy fortreffes hall be fpoiled, the ftrongholds, in which they put their confidence for fafety; every one of thefe fhould be taken and demolifhed by the enemy, in all parts of the kingdom; fo that there fhould be none left to flee unto, no place of retreat: as Shalman fpoiled Beth-arbel in the day of battel; that is, Salmanefer king of Affyria, his name being abbreviated, as Bethaven is called Aven: y. 8. who had lately, tho’ there is no account of it elfewhere, fpoiled this place, demolifhed its fortreffes, and deftroyed the inhabitants of it; which is thought to be either the city of Arbvel beyond Jordan, 1 Maccab. ix. 2. which Fofephus * calls a city of Galilee, and fometimes a village; and,which, according to him, ‘was not far from Spphore, and in lower Galilee, near to which thieves and robbers dwelt in caves and dens; difficult to come at; and fo a Fewifo writer! places Arbel between Sipphore and Tiberias; and elfewhere ™ mention is made of the valley of Ardel, near to thofe places: and Ferom” {ays, there was the village rel beyond Fordan, on the borders of Pel/a, a city of.Paleftine; and another of this name in the large plain, nine miles from the town of Legio: and he alfo {peaks of, an Arbela, the border of the tribe of Fudah to the eaft; perhaps the fame with Har-Baaleb, whence Arbela, or the mount of Baalab, Fob. xv. 11. now one or other of thefe places might be laid wafte by this king of Afjria, in the firft year of Hohea, when he came up againft him, and made him tributary: tho’ fome think Adela in Afpria or Armenia is meant, famous for the utter defeat of Dgrius by Alexander, four hundred years after this, when it might have been rebuilt, and become confiderable again: fome of the Fewih writers ° {ay, there was a place near Niniveh fo called; Ben- F jamin jamin of Tudela fays®, from Niniveb to Arbel is one parfa, or four miles: and others * think» Samaria itfelf is meant; but that cannot be, fince the de- {truétion of that city is here prophefied of, which fhould-be as this: fome conjecture it was the temple of a deity called Arbel, as Schmidt: but be it what or where it will; here was a great devaftation and flaughter made; which at this time was well known, and to which the defolation that would be made in the land of J/rae/ is compared... The Vu/- gate Latin verfion is, as Salmana was wafled by the houfe of kim who judged Baal in the day of battel; which the patrons and defenders of interpret of the flaughter of Zalmunna by Ferubbaal, that is, Gideow, but the names of the one and the other are very different; nor does the text {peak of the flaughter of a prince, but of the deftruéction of a city, and not of Shalman, but of Arbel; and refers not to an ancient, but recent hiftory. Mr.
Whifton * places the {poil of Arbela, in the year of the Fulian period 3982, and before Chrift 732. The mother was dafbed in pieces with her children; women big with child, or having their children in their arms, had no mercy fhown them, but were deftroyed together; fo it had been at Arbel, and would be again in J/rael, which was dreadful to think of: according to Kimchi and Ben Melech, Arbel was the name of a great man in thofe days, whofe family, meant by Berh or a houfe, was thus cruelly deftroyed.
y. 15. So foall Bethel do unto you, becaufe of your great wickednefs, &c.] Or, becaufe of the evil of your evil*; their éxtreme wickednefs, and exceed-
HIS chapter gives an account of the free and ancient love of Ged to J/rae/, and of the benefits and bleffings of goodnefs he beftowed upon them; and of their ingratitude in not owning them, nor hearkening to his prophets, but facrificing and burning incenfe to idols, ¥. 1, 2, 3, 4. wherefore they are threatened with difappointment of relief from Egypt, with captivity into 4/- fyria, and with the ravages of the fword in all places, being a people bent to backfliding, and incorrigible, y. 5, 6, 7. and yet notwithftanding all this, the bowels of the Lord yern after them, and promifes of. mercy are made to them; that they fhall not utterly be deftroyed, but a remnant fhall be fpared; which in the latter day fhall be called and follow after the Lord, the king Meffiah, and be returned from their captivity, and be refettled in their own land, and replaced in their-own houfes, ¥. 8,9, 10, 11, the chapter is concluded with an honourable character of Fudab, y¥. 12.
yv. 1. When Ifvrael was a child, then I loved him, &c.] Or, for Ijrael was a child"; a rebellious and difobedient one, therefore his king was cut off in a morning, and he has been, and will be, without a king many days, yet ftill I loved him: or, tho’ Ifrael was @ child“; a weak, helplefs, foolifh and imprudentone, yet J loved him: or, when a child; in the infancy of his civil and church-ftate, when in Egypt, and in the wildernefs, the Lord loved him,