CTE Pe AH,
HIS chapter contains complaints and charges both againft J/rael and Fudab, and threatens them with punifhment in cafe they repent not, which they are exhorted to; and firft Ephraim is charged with idolatry, vain confidence in, and alliances with foreign nations, ¥. r. and then the Lord declares he has 4 controverfy with Fudab, and will punifh the inhabitants of it for their fins, ¥. 2. which are ageravated by their being the defcendents of fo great a man as Facob, who got the advantage of his elder brother, had much power with God, and received favours from him, and they alfo, y¥. 3, 4, 5. and therefore are exhorted to turn to God, wait on him, and do that which is right and good, y. 6. Ephraim is again in his turn charged with fraudulent dealing in trade, and with oppreffion, and the love of it; and yet pretended he got riches by his own labour, without wronging any, ¥. 7, &. neverthelefs, the Lord promifes them publick ordinances of worfhip, and joy in them, and the miniftry of his prophets, ¥. 9, 10. tho’ for the’ prefent they were guilty of grofs idolatry, ¥. 11. which is aggravated, by the raifing of Facod their progenitor from a low eftate, and the wonderful prefervation of him, and the bringing of them out of Egypt, ¥. 12, 13. and the chapter is clofed with obferving Ephraim’s bitter provocation of God, for which his reproach fhould retarn unto him, and his blood be left upon him, y¥. 14.
y¥.1. Ephraim feedeth on wind,.&c.] Which will be no more profitable. and beneficial to him, than wind is to a man that opens his mouth, and fills him- elf with it: the phrafe is exprefiive of labour in vain, and of a man’s getting nothing by all the pains he takes; the fame with fowing the wind,. and reaping the whirlwind, ch. viii. 7. and fo the Targum has it here, ** the houfe of J/rael-are like “¢ to one that fows the wind, and reaps the whirl-
‘< wind all the day;” and this refers either to the worfhip of idols, and the calves in particular, and the vain hope of good things promifed to themfelves from thence; or to their vain confidence in the alliances and confederacies they entered into with neighbouring nations; from which they ex-. pected much, but found little: and followed after’ the eaft wind; a wind ftrong and vehement, burn= — ing and blafting, very noxious and hurtful; fo that inftead of receiving any profit and advantage, - either by their idolatry, or their covenants wah other nations, they were only in thefe things purfuing what would be greatly to their detriment: or they would be no more able to attain by fuch methods what they fought for, than they would be able to overtake the eaft wind, which is a very fwift and fleeting’one; fo that this claufe expofes their folly, in expecting good things from their idols, or help from their neighbours.. He dazly increafeth lies and defolation; whilft they multiplied idols, which are lies fallacious and deceitful, and idolatrous rites and aéts of worfhip, they do but increafe their defolation and ruin, which fuch things are the caufe of, and will certainly bring them unto; or not content with the daily increafe of their idolatries among themfélves, they continually perfecute, fpoil, and plunder thofe who do not give into their falfe worfhip: fo the Targum, <* lies “« and fpoil they multiply;” idolaters are generally perfecutors: and they do make a covenant with the Affrians; and gave tribute and prefents to their kings, as Menahem did to Pul, and Hofhea to Salmanefer, not to hurt them, and to help and affitt them againft their enemies, and to ftrengthen their kingdom; fee 2 Kings xv. 19, 20. and xvil. 3, 4: and oil is carried into Egypt; one while they fent prefents to the Afprians, to obtain their favour and friendfhip; and at another time to the Egyptians; nay, they fent to So king of Egypt, at the fame time they were tributary to Afyria, and confpiring againft him, brought on their ruin; and oi] was a principal part ofthe prefent fent; for this was carried not by way of traffick, but as a prefent: fo the Targum, ‘© and they carried gifts to Ezypt;” fee If lvii. g- The land of Jraef being a land of oil-olive, was famous for the beft oil, of which there was a fcarcity in Egypt, and therefore a welcome prefent there, as balfam alfo was; fee Gen. XxxVii. 25, and xliii. tr. Ezek. xxvii. 17:
¥. 2. The Lord hath alfo a controverfy with Fudab, &c.| The two tribes of Fudah and Benjamin, - as well as the ten tribes; for tho’ they had ruled with God, and had been faithful with the faints in the firft times of the apoftacy of J/rael, yet afterwards they fadly degenerated, and fell into idolatry likewife, particularly in the time of saz, in which Hofea prophefied; and therefore the Lord had fomewhat againft them; nor would he {pare them, but reprove thern by the prophets, and rebuke them in his providences; bring them to his bar, and lay before them their evils, and threaten them with punifhment in cafe of impenitence, as follows: and will punifh Facob according to his ways; all the pofterity of Jacob, whether Ephraim or Fudab; thofe of the ten tribes, or of the two, who all defcended from Jacob: or will wiftt according to bis ways*; if right and agreeable to the mind and word of God, in a way of grace and mercy; but if wrong, crooked, and perverfe, then in a way of punifhment; for vifiting is ufed both ways: according to bis doings will he recompenfe bim, as they were good or bad; if good, will reward them with a reward of grace; if bad, with vengeance. The Targum paraphrafes it, ‘* according to his right *¢ works.” Ar
¥. 3. He took bis brother by the heel in the womb, &c.] That is, Facob took his brother E/au by the heel, as he came forth from his mother’s womb; the hiftory of it is in Gen. xxv. 25, 26. It is here -obferved, upon mentioning the name of ¥acod in the former verfe, meaning the pofterity of the patriarch; but here he himfelf is intended, and occafionally taken notice of, to fiew how very different his pofterity were from him, and how fadly degenerated; as well as to upbraid them with in-
: yOWID- APY ad vifitandum juxta vias ejus, Pagninus, Montanus;
gratitude, whofe anceftors, and they alfo, had re: ceived fuch and fo many favours from the Lord ‘ Jacob the patriarch was an hero from. the womb; but they tranfgreffors from it; this action of his obferved, was a prefage and pledge of his having the fuperiority of his brother, and of his getting the birthright and bleffing from him, So the Targum, ** prophet, fay unto them, was it not faid “* of Facob before he was born, that he would be ‘* greater than his brother?” fee Rom. ix. 11, 12. In this action there was fomething divine, miraculous, and preter-natural; it was not the effort of nature merely, but contrary to it, or at leaft above it; and not done by chance, but ordered by the providence of God, as a prediction and teftification of his future greatnefs, and even of his pofterity’s, in times yet to come, as Kimchi obferves, who refers to Ofad. ¥. 18. And by his firength he had power with God, the Targum is, with the angel, as in the following verfe; he is called a man in the hiftory of this event in Ge. xxxii. 44. not that he was a mere man, fince he is here exprefsly called God, and afterwards the Lord God of hofts; and there it is evident from the context, he was a divine perfon, and no other than the Son of God; who tho’ not as yet incarnate, appeared in an human form, as a prefage of his future incarnation; though this was not a mere apparition, fpectre, or fantalin, as Fofephus * calls it; for it was not in a dréam, or in a vifionary way, that this wreftling and ftriving was between this divine perfon in this form and ‘facob, but in reality; it was a real fub- {tance which the Son of God formed, animated, actuated, and affumed for that time and purpofe, and then Jaid it afide; which touched Facod, and he totiched ‘that, laid hold on it, and held it faft, and ftrove with it, and had power over it, and over God in it; even over him that is God over all, the true God and etérnal life, the Lord Jefus Chrift; not a created God, or God by office, but by nature; as the perfections that are in hini, and the works and worfhip afcribed to him, declare: now Jacob had power over hiin dy bis ftrength; not by his natural ftrength,; either of his body, which could not have been equal to the ftrength of this human body affumed for the time, as it was ufed and managed by a divine perfon, unlefs he had been extraordinarily affifted and ftrengthened; or of his mind and foul, not by any {piritual ftrength he had of himfelf,; but by what he had from this divine perfon, with whom he wreftled; who put ftrength into him, and fupported and increafed the power and ftrength of faith in prayer; fo that he prevailed over him, and got the bleffing, for which reafon his nate was called J/rael; Gen. Xxxil. 28.; 3 ¥. 4. Yea, he bad power over the angel, and prevailed, &c.| This is repeated in different words; not only for the confirmation of it, it being a very extraordinary thing, and difficult of belief; but to dire&t to the hiftory here referred to, where the perfon Facob: prevailed over is called a man, and here the angel; ‘and fo Yofephus “ calls him a divine perfon; not a created angel, not Michael, as the Rabbins fay, unlefs the Meffiah is meant by him; nor Facod’s guardian angel, as Kimchi, every man being thought by fome to have one; and much lefs Ejau’s evil angel, that was againft F2- cob, as Farchi and Abarbinel, for of him he would never have fought nor expected a bleffing; bur aft vifitabit fecundum vids ejus, Pifcator. i.
an incréated angel, the Son of God, the fame that went before the J/reelites in the wildernefs, and that redeemed Yacod from all evil, Gen. xlviii. 16. Exod. xxiii. 20—23. called an angel, being fo not by nature, for he is fuperior to angels in both his natures divine and human; but by office, being fent to reveal the will of God, and to do the work of God in the redemption and falvation of men; the fame that is called the angel of the great council in the Greek verfion of J/. ix. 6. and the angel of God’s prefence, Jf Ixiii, 9. and the angel or ‘ meffenger of the covenant, Mel. iii. 1. the phrafes ufed denote, as before, the power and prevalence Yacob had with this divine perfon in prayer; whereby he obtained the blefling of him, even deliverance’ from his brother E/au, as well as others refpecting him and his pofterity. He wept, and made fupplication unto him; not the angel, intreating 7acob to let him go, as archi and Kimchi, and fo fome chriftian interpreters; who think that an angel in human form may be faid to weep, as well as to eat and drink; and the rather, fince this angel was not the conqueror, but the conquered; and fince Chrift, in the days of his flefh, both prayed and wept, and fhed tears; but the cafe here is different; and tho’ he was prevailed over, it was thro’ his own condefcenfion and goodnefs: but rather Facod is meant, as Abarbinel and others; who wept not on account of the angel’s touching his thigh, and the pain that might put him to; for he was of a more heroic fpirit than to weep for that, who had endured fo much hardfhip in Laban’s fervice, in heat and cold; and befides, notwithftanding this, he kept wreftling with him, and afterwards walked, though haltingly: but he wept either becaufe he could not get out the name of the perfon he wreftled with; or rather the tears he fhed were for the bleffing he fought of him; for it is joined with his making fupplication, and is expreflive of the humble, yet ardent, affectionate, fervent, and importunate requeft he made to obtain it; and here we have another proof of the deity of Chrift, in that fupplication was made to him, and he is here reprefented as the object of that. part of religious worfhip, prayer, as he often is in the New Teftament. This circumftance is not exprefled in Gen. xxxii. though it may be gathered from what is there faid,; however, the prophet had it by divine infpiration; and the truth of it is not to be doubted of, being not at all inconfiftent with, but quite agreeable to that hiftory. He found him at Bethel, either the angel found Facod in Bethel, as he did more than once, both before and after this time, Gen. xxviii. 12—19. and xxxv. 6, 7, 9. it is good to be in Bethel, in the houfe of God; happy are thofe that dwell there, and are found there living and dying, doing the will and work of Ged there: or rather Yacob found God or the angel in Bethel; God is to be found in his own houfe, there he comes and blefles with his gracious prefence; here Chrift the angel of his prefence is; here he meets with his people, and manifefts himfelf unto them. There is in the words a tacit reflection on J/rael, or the ten tribes, that bore the name of ‘facob; the patriarch found God in Betbel, Chrift the angel of the Lord; but now inftead of him, there was a calf fet up in this place, Jrael worfhipped; and therefore was it called Bethaven, the houfe of an idol or iniquity, inftead of Bethel, the houfe of God. And there he fpake with us not with E/au and his angel, concerning J/aac’s bleffing of Facob, as Farchi, not with Faced and his angels as the father of Kimchi; nor with the prophet, and with.4mos, to reprove J/rael there for the worfhip ot the calves, as Kimchi himfelf; but with all the Tfraelites, of whom the prophet was one; who were then in the loins of ‘facob, when he converted with God, and God with him at Bethel: or as Seadiab interprets it, for us; for our fakes, on our aecount: or concerning us concerning the multiplication of Facol’s pofterity, and the giving the land of Canaan to them, as the Lord did at both times he appeared to Yacod in Bethel; fee Gen. xxviii: 14, Is. and xxxv. 11, 12. and it is in the houfe of God where Chrift is as a Son, that he fpeaks with and to his people, even in his word and ordinances there..
¥. 5. Even the Lord God of bofts, &c.] The God
Jacob had power over, the angel he prevailed with, to whom he made fupplication with weeping, and who fpake with him and his in Bethel, is he whofe name is Jehovah; who is the true and living God, the Lord of hofts and armies both in heaven and in earth; of all the angels in heaven, and the legions of them; and of the church militant, and all the faints, who are the good foldiers of Chrift, his {piritual militia; and he is the captain of the Lord’s hoft, and of their falvation, and to whom all the numerous hofts of creatures, be they what they will, are. fubject: this is obferved, to fet off the greatnefs of the perfon Facob wreftled with, and his wondrous grace, in condefcending to be over-powered by him: the Lord is bis memorial; or his name, Fehovah, which belongs to this angel, the Son of God, as to his divine Father; and which is expreflive of his divine exiftence, of his eternity and immutability; this is his memorial, or the remembrancer of him; which puts his people in all ages in remembrance of him, what he is, what an infinite, almighty, and all-fufficient being he is; and he is always to be believed in, and trufted to, and to be ferved, adored, and worfhipped. The Yargum adds, to every generation and generation.
¥. 6. Therefore turn thou to thy God, &c.| Fudab, with whom the Lord had a controverfy, is here addreffed and exhorted to return to the Lord, from whom they had backflidden; and this is urged, from the confideration of their being the defcendents of fo great a man as Facob; whofe example they fhould follow, and make fupplication to the Lord as he did; and from this inftance of their progenitor might encourage themfelves, that God, who was his God, and their God, would be gracious and merciful to them, and that they fhould prevail with him likewife, and obtain the bleffing, and efpecially fince he is the everlafting and unchangeable Jehovah. Turning to the Lord, as it. fuppofes a going aftray from him, fo it fignifies a turning from idols, and all vain confidences; and is done by renewed acts of faith and truft in the Lord, and repentance towards him; and cannot be performed aright, without grace and ftrength from him,’ of which Ephraim was fenfible, Fer. xxxi. 18. as well as: the encouragement to it is from a view of God as a covenant-God, and as gracious and merciful, So Aben Ezra interprets it of divine help, of turning by thy God, that is, by the help and affiftance of thy God; and indeed, converfion to God, whether at farft, or after, is — thro’ his powerful and efficacious grace. Kimchi explains it, thou fbalt reft in thy Ged *; when what follows follows is performed, ‘compating it with 77 xxx. | 15. The Targum is, ** and thou fhalt be ftrong *¢ in the worfhip of thy God.” Keep mercy and judgment, or obferve * them, to do them; to fhew mercy to perfons in mifery, to the poor and indigent, which is what the Lord defires and delights in, more than in ceremonial facrifices; and is a principal part of the moral law, as judgment is another; the exercife of juftice both public and private; pafling a righteous fentence in courts of judicature, and doing that which is right between man and man; owing no man any thing, but giving to all their due; doing no injury to any man’s perfon, property, or character; which are fruits meet for true repentance; and when they {pring from faith and love, and are done with a ‘view to the glory of God, and good of men, ‘are acceptable ‘to the Lord; thefe are the weightier matters of the law, Matt. xxiii. 23. And wait on thy Ged continually; both in private prayer, and for an anfwer of it, and in public worfhip and ordinances, in hope of meeting with him, and enjoying his prefence; for this takes in the whole of religious worfhip private and public, and all religious exercifes, as invocation of God, truft in him, and expectation of good things from him; and may have a refpect to the Meffiah, and falvation by him, and a waiting for him and that; as Facob did, and his pofterity fhould, and many of them were in this pofture, before and at his coming; fee Gen. xlix. 18. If xxv. 9. Luke ii. 25, 38. Agreeable to this the Zargum is, “* and wait for the *¢ redemption or falvation of thy God continually”
y. 7. He is a merchant, &c.] Here isa change of perfon from thou to be, from Fudah to Ephraim, who is faid to be a merchant; and if that was all, there is nothing worthy of difpraife in it; but he was a cheating merchant, a fraudulent dealer, as appears by what follows: or he is Canaan, or a Canaanite’; more like a defcendent of Canaan by his manners, than a defcendent of Yacob. But the Canaanites dealing much in merchandife, their name became a common name for a merchant, as a Chaldean for an aftrologer; and as the children of Jrael poffefied their land, fo they followed the fame bufinefs and employment of life; which had they performed honeitly, would not have been to their difcredit, but they were too much like the Canaanites, of whom Pbiloftratus* fays, they were covetous and fraudulent; and this was Ephraim’s character. The Targum is, ** be you not as mer- «6 chants.” The balances of deceit are in his hand, he ufed falfe weights and meafures; made the ephah fmall, and the fhekel great, and falfified the balances by deceit; had wicked balances, and deceitful weights, and the fcant meafure, which is abominable, Amos viii. 5. Mic. vi. 10, 11. they pretended to weigh every thing exactly they bought or fold; but cheated either by flight of hand, holding the balances as they fhould not; or had one pair of fcales and weights to buy with, and another to fell by, contrary to the law of God, Lev. xix. 35, 36. He loveth to opprefs, inftead of keeping and doing mercy and juftice, they opprefied the poor, ground their faces, defrauded them of their due, and by fecret and private methods cheated them in their dealings with them, and brought them to poverty and diftrefs; and this
42t tliey took delight and pleafure in; which fhewed 4 want of a principle of honefty in them, and that _ they were habituated to fuch a courfe of life, and were hardened in it, and had no remorfe of confcience for it, but rather gloried in it.
¥. 8, And Ephraim faid, yet I am become rich; &c.] Notwithftanding they took fuch unjuft methods, as to ufe deceitful balances, they profpered in the world, got abundance of riches; and therefore concluded from thence, that their manner of dealing was not criminal, at leaft not fo bad as the prophets reprefented to them; and fo promifed - themfelves impunity, and that what they were threatened with would not come upon them; and as long as they got riches, they cared not in what manner; and inafmuch as they profpered and fucceeded in their courfe of trading, they were encouraged to go on, and not fear any evil coming upon them for it. According to dben Ezra and Kimchi, the fenfe is, that they became rich of themifelves, by their own induftry and labour, and did not acknowledge that their.riches, and power to get them, were of God. They gloried in them as their own attainments; and which they had little reafon to do, fince they were treafures of wickednefs, and mammon of unrighteoufnefs, which in a day of wrath would be of no fervice to them. I have found me out fubftance, they found ways and means of acquiring great riches, and large eftates, by their own wifdom and cunning, and all for themfelves, for their own ufe, to be enjoyed by them for years to come; and they were reckoned by them folid and fubftantial things, when a mere fhadow, emptinefs, and vanity; and were not to be employed for their own ufe and advantage only, but fhould have been for the good of others; nor were they to be attributed to their own fagacity, prudence, and management, but to the providence of God, admitting they had been got in ever fo honourable and juft a manner. In all my labours they fhall find none iniquity in me, that were fin; here again Ephraim, or the people of J/- rael, vainly afcribe all their wealth and riches to their own labour, diligence, and induftry, and take no notice of God and his providence, or of his bleffing upon them; and pretend to be very upright and honeft in their dealings, and that what they got were very honeftly got, and would bear the ftricteft fcrutiny; and that if their courfe of trade was ever fo narrowly looked into, there would be nothing found that was very bad or criminal, that they could be juftly reproached for; only fome little trifling things, that would not bear the name of fin, or deferve any correction or punifhment; fo pure were they in their own eyes, fo blinded and hardened in fin, and fearlefs of the divine difpleafure; like the adulterous woman, wiped their mouths when they had eaten the fweet morfels of fin, and faid they had done no wickednefs, Prov, xxx. 20. or which was involuntary, and not done knowingly, as Kimchi and Abendana: or rather, as Ben Melech renders it, 0 iniquity and fin; and fo others: or beft of all, uo iniquity or fin, as Noldius*; no iniquity, or any kind of fin at all. Thus, as Ephraim was charged before with idolatry and lies in religion, fo here with fraudulent dealings, and getting riches in an illicit way-in civil things; and of whofe repentance and reformation there was ‘no hope.
¥. 9. And I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, &c.] Epbraim being fo very corrupt in things, both religious and civil, and fo very impenitent and impudent, is let alone to fuffer the juft punifhment of his fins; but Fudah being called to repentance, and brought unto it, gracious promifes are here made unto him, to be fulfilled in the times of the Meffiah, either at the firft or latter part of them; efpecially the laft is to be underftood, when indeed all J/rael fhall return to the Lord, afid be faved; and then it will appear, that the Lord who was their God, as was evident from his bringing them out of Egyptian bondage, and continued to be fo from that time to the Badylonifo captivity, and even to the times of the Meffiah, will now be their God moft clearly and manifeftly, having redeemed them from worfe than Egyptian bondage,; from the bondage of fin, fatan, the law, the world and death; even the Lord Jefus Chrift, the true Meffiah, they will now seek and embrace, who is God over all, and equal to fuch a work of redemption and falvation; Jmmanuel, God with us, God in our nature, our Lord and our God, the God of the Yéews now converted, as will be acknowledged, as well as of the Gentiles: and he.will yet make thee to dwell in tabernatles, as in the days of the folemn feaft; alluding to the feaft of tabernacles, kept in commemoration of the //raelites dwelling in tents in the wildernefs, Lev. xxiii. 42, 43. typical of Chrift’s incarnation, exprefied by his tabernacling among men in human nature, Yobn i. 14. and which featt, tho’ abolifhed by Chrift with the reft, yet it is faid will be kept by*converted ‘Yews and Gen/zles in the latter day; which can be underftood no otherwile than of their embracing and profeffing the incarnate Saviour, partaking of the bleffings of grace that come by him, and attending on thofe ordinances of public worfhip inftituted by him; fee Zech, xiv. 16-—19. and which booths, tents or tabernacles the J/raelites dwelt in at that feaft, were alfo typical of the churches of Chrift under the gofpel-difpenfation, and which are here meant, and in which it is here promifed the converted Fews Shall dwell, as they had been ufed to do in their booths at the folemn feaft of tabernacles. Thefe chriftian churches refembling them in the matter of them; believers in Chrift, the materials of fuch churches, being often compared to goodly trees, to willows of the brook, to palm-trees, olivetrees, and myrtle-trees, with others, the branches of which were ufed at the above feaft, to make their tabernacles with; fee Lev. xxiii. 40. Neb, viii. 15. and in the ufe of them, which was to dwell in duririg the time of the faid feaft, as the churches of Chrift are the tabernacles of the Moft High, the dwelling places of Father, Son, and Spirit; and the habitation of the faints, where they dwell and enjoy great plenty and profperity, tranquillity and fecurity; and ‘here it particularly denotes that joy, peace and fafety the converted ‘ews fhal partake of in the churches of Chrift in the iatter day; of which the feaft of tabernacles was but a fhadow, and which was attended with much rejoicing, plenty of provifions, and great fafety.
¥. 10. I have clfo fpoken to the prophets, &c.] dr, I will fpeak”, for this refpects not the Lord’s
{peaking by the prophets of the Old Teftament; who fpake as they were moved by the Holy Ghoit; tho’ all they faid were for the ufe of, and profitable unto, chriftian churches; but his {peaking by the © apoftles, prophets and teachers under the gofpeldifpenfation; by whom the doétrines of grace have been more clearly difpenfed, and which are no other than the voice of Chrift {peaking in them;_ and which it is both a privilege to hear, and a duty to attend unto; fee Eph. iv. 11: and 1 have multiplied vifions; or, will multiply vifions“; more than under the former difpenfation,. as was foretold by Joel ii, 28. fee As ii. 16, 17. witnels the vifions of the apoftles Peter, Paul, Jobn, and others: or this may refpect the more clear fight and know- - ledge of gofpel-truths in the times of the Meffiah, then under the Mo/aic ceconomy; fee 2 Cor. ilis 13—18: and ufed fimilitudes by the minifiry of the prophets; or, will ufe fimilitudes*, for this is to be underftood, not of the types and figures ufed by the Lord under the legal difpenfation to reprefent {piritual things, as the brazen ferpent, pafloverlamb, manna, and the facrifices of the law; nor of the fimilitudes ufed by the prophet Ho/ea, taking ~ a wife and children of whoredoms, to fet forth the - cafe and condition of J/rael, and of the comparifons he makes of God, to a lion, leopard, bear, sc. or by any other of the former prophets; but of parables and fimilitudes ufed in gofpel-times; not only fuch as Chrift ufed himfelf, who feldom {poke without a parable; fee Maét.xiii.11. but which he ufed by the miniftry of his apoftles and prophets, and which are to be met with in their difcourfes and writings; fee 1 Cor. iii. 6—12. and efpecially fuch feem to be meant that refpeét the converfion of the ‘Zews, and the glory of the church in the latter day, Rom. xi. 16—26. Rev. xxi, 12 ae 7 y. 11. Is there iniquity in Gilead? 82c.] Idolatry there? ftrange that there fhould be, feeing it was a city of the priefts, a city of refuge; or there is none there, fay the priefts, who pretended they did not worfhip idols, but the true Jehovah in them: or, 75 there not iniquity or idolatry im Gilead «2 verily there is, let them pretend to what they will: or, zs there only dwiquity in it §2 that the men of it fhould be carried captive, as they were by Yiglath-Pilefer, before the reft of the tribes: {ce 2 Kings xv, 29. no, there is iniquity and ido- Jatry committed in other places, as well as there, who muft expect to -fhare> the fame fate in latry as Bethel, where one of the calves was fet up: furely they are vanity; the inhabitants of Gilead, as well as of Bethel, worfhipping idols, which are moft vain things, vanity itelf, and deceive thofe that ferve them, and truft in them: they facrifice bullocks in Gilgal; to idols, as the Targum adds; and fo Yerchi and Kimchi; according to Aben Ezra, they facrificed them to Baal; this p eed that Gilead was not the only place of idolatry, which was on the other fide Fordaa, but Gilgal which was on this fide Fordan was alfo polluted with it. The Vulgate Latin verfion is, ** in Gilgal they were fa~
** crificing to buillocks;” to the calves there; the -— fame as were at Dan and Bethel, fo in the Septua- om «; ‘ font SN vides pale gint verfion of 1 Kings xii, 29. it was formerly read; and fo Cyril ® quotes it, he (Fercboam) fet the one (calf) in Gilgal, and the other in Dan; hence the fable that Epiphanius ‘ makes mention of, that when Eli/ba was born, the golden’ ox or heifer at
-Gilgal bellowed very loudly, and fo loud as to be heard at Yerufalem. The Targum makes mention of an idol-temple here; and as it was near to Bethel, as appears from 1 Sam. x. 3, 8. and from Fofephus *; and fo ‘Ferom fays', hard by Bethel, fome fufpect another Gi/gal, hence it might be put for it; however, it was a place of like idolatrous worfhip; it is mentioned as fuch along with Bethaven or Bethel, in ch. iv. 15. fee alfo ch. ix. 15: yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields; not only in the city of Gilga/, and in the temple there, as the Zargum,; but even without the city, in the fields they fet up altars, which looked like heaps of ftones; or they had a multitude of altars that ftood as thick as they. So the Targum, ‘* they have multiplied their altars, ‘* like heaps upon the borders of the fields;”° and the Fewi/ commentators in general underfland this as expreffive of the number of their altars, and of the increafe of idolatrous worfhip; but fome interpret it of the deftruction of their altars, which fhould become heaps of ftones and rubbifh, like fuch as are in fields. Thefe words refpect Ephraim or the ten tribes, in which thefe places were, whofe idolatry is again taken notice of, after gracious promiles were made to Fudab. Some begin here a new fermon or difcourfe delivered to J/rael.
¥. 12. And Facob fled into the country of Syria, &c.| Or, field of Syria™, the fame with Padan- Aram; for Padan in the Arabic Janguage, as Bochart has fhewn, fignifies a field; and Aram is Syria, and is the word here ufed. This is to be underftood of Yacob’s fleeing thither for fear of his brother E/aw, the hiftory of which is had in Gen. xxviii. and xxix. tho’ fome interpret this of his fleeing from Laban out of the field of Syria unto Gilead, Gen. xxxi. 21, 23. and fo make it to be introduced as an aggravation of the fin of the inhabitants of Gilead, that that place, which had been a refuge and fanétuary to their anceftor in his diftrefs, fhould be defiled with idolatry; but the words will not bear fuch a conftruétion, and the following feem to militate againft it: and J/- rael ferved for a wife, and for a wife he kept theep; and fo the laft claufe is fupplied by the Targum, Farcbi and Kimchi: this was after his flight into Syria, and before he fled from Laban, whom he ferved feven years for Rachel, and then ferved him by keeping his fheep feven years more for the fame: tho’ it may be underftood of his two wives, thus; he ferved feven years for a wife, for Rachel intentionally, but eventually it was for Leah, and then he kept fheep feven years more for his other wife Rachel; the hiftory of this is in Gen, xxix. This is mentioned to fhew the meannefs of Facod the anceftor of the J/raelites, from whom they had their original and name; he was a fugitive in the land of Syria; there he was a Syrian ready to perith, a very poor man, obliged to ferve and keep fheep for a wife, having no dowry to give; and this is obferved here to bring down the pride of Jrael, who boafted of their defcent, which is weak and al aha. & 423 foolith for any to do; and to thew the goodnefs of God to Facob, and to them, in raifing him and them from fo low an eftate and condition to fuch eminency and greatnefs as they were; and to upbraid their ingratitude to the God of their fathers; and of their mercies; whom they had revolted from, and turned to idols.
¥. 13. And by a prophet the Lord broiight Hrael out of Egypt, 8cc.] Or, by the prophet; the famous and moft excellent prophet Mo/es; who, by way of eminency, is fo called; him the Lord fent, and employed, and made ufe of him as an inftrument to bring his people out of their bondage in
Egypt; in which he was 4 type of Chrift the great prophet of the church, raifed up like unto him, and the redeemer of his people from fin, fatan and the world, law, hell and death, and all enemies: and by a prophet he was preferved; by the fame prophet Mo/es was I/rael preferved at. the Red-fea, and in the wildernefs; where they were kept as a flock of fheep from their powerful enemies; and brought to the borders of Canaan’s land. Some underftand this laft claufe of Fo/bua, by whom the Ifraelites were fafely conduéted thro’ Yordan into the land of Canaan, and fettled there; and particularly were brought by him to Gilga/, where the covenant of circumcifion was renewed, and the firft paffover in the land kept, but now a place of idolatry, as before-mentioned; and which fin was aggrayated by this circumftance: but the defign of this obfervation feems to be to put the J/raelites in remembrance of their low eftate in Egypt, and of the goodnefs of God to them in delivering them from thence, which they had fadly requited by their degeneracy and apoftacy from him; and to hint unto them how much, they ought to have valued the prophets of the Lord, tho’ they had defpifed them, fince they had received fuch benefits and bleffings by the means of a prophet. v.14. Ephraim provoked him to anger moft bitterly, &c.] The Vulgate Latin verfion fupplies it, me; that is, God, as Kimchi; or his Lord, as it may be fupplied from the laft claufe of the verfe; the fenfe is the fame either way: it was God that Ephraim or the ten tribes provoked to ftir up his wrath and vengeance againft them; notwithftanding all the favours that they and their anceftors had received from him, they'provoked him ina moft bitter manner, to bitter anger, vehement wrath and fury: or, with bitterneffes"; with their fins, which are in their own nature bitter, difpleafing to God; and in their effects bring bitternefs and death on thofe that commit them; meaning particularly their idolatry, and all belonging to it; their idols, high places, altars, &c. The word here ufed is rendered, high beapso, Fer. xxxi. 21. and is here by Kimchi interpreted of altars, with which, and their facrifices on them, they provoked the Lord to anger: therefore fhall he leave his blood upon him, the blood of innocent perfons, prophets, and other good men fhed by him; the fin. of it fhall be charged upon him, and he fhall bear the punithment of it. So the Targum, ‘‘ the fault of inno- “* cent blood which he fhed fhall return upon him:” or, bis own blood fhail be poured out upon him?; in juft retaliation for the blood of others fhed by him, and for all the blood fhed by him in idolatrous fa-
® And is fo underftood by R. Sol. Urbin.
P it? yoy WOT), cas To cine ale ems ardor exxvdncilasr, Sept. fo Syr. & Ar. ideo fan-
424: crifices, and other bloody fins; or his own blood being fhed by the enemy fhall remain upon him unrevenged; God will not punifh thofe that fhed it: and bis reproach fhall bis Lord return unto him, that is, as he has reproached the prophets of the Lord for reproving him for his idolatry, and reproached the Lord himfelf, by revolting from him, and neglecting his worfhip, and preferring the worfhip of idols to him; fo as a juft recompence, he fhall be delivered up into the hands of the enemy, and become a reproach, a taunt, and a proverb in a HIS chapter begins with obferving the different ftate and condition of Ephraim before and after his idolatry, ¥. 1. his increafe in it, ¥. 2. and therefore his profperity was very fhort-lived, which is fignified by various metaphors, ¥. 3. and his fins are aggravated by the former goodnefs of God unto him; his great ingratitude unto God, and forgetfulnefs of him, ¥. 4, 5, 6. hence he is threatened with his wrath and vengeance in a very fevere manner, ¥. 7, 8. for which he had none to blame but. himfelf; yea, fuch was the grace and goodnefs of God to him; that tho’ he had. deftroyed himfelf, yet there were help and falvation for him in him, ¥. 9. tho’ not in his king he had defired, and was given, and was took away in wrath, y¥. 10, 11. but his fin being bound up and hid, and he foolifh and unwife, fharp corrections would be given him, y. 12, 13. and yet a gracious promife is made of redemption from death and the grave by the Meffiah, ¥. 14. but notwithftanding this, and all his prefent profperity, he would be blafted in his wealth and riches; and Samaria the metropolis of his country would be defolate; and the inhabitants of it be ufed in the moit cruel manner, becaufe of their rebellion againft God, y¥. 15, 16.
¥. 1. When Epbraim fpake trembling, he exalted bimfelf in Ifrael, &c.| Or, with trembling, as Farchi; fo Feroboam, who was of the tribe of Ephraim fpake before Solomon, a great king, as he obferves. R. Mo/es the prieft interprets it of Feroboam;- but it may be underftood of the tribe in general, and efpecially of the heads of it, at any time before it fell into idolatry; when they fpake with fubmiffion and humility, they were attended to by the other tribes in all confultations and debates, and great deference was paid unto them; and they were had in great efteem, and highly honoured, agreeable to that common faying of our Lord, he that humbleth himfelf foall be exalted, Luke xiv. 12. or, when he fpake, there was trembhing 9; either among the neighbouring nations, when he threatened them with war; ‘or among the other tribes of J/rael, when he fpake in counfel, and with authority, they rofe up and heard him with great reverence and refpect; fee ‘fod xxix. 8, 9,10. So the Targum, “ when any one of the ** houfe of Ephraim fpake, trembling laid hold on ** the people; they became princes in J/rael.” Some refer this to the times of Yo/hua, who was of that tribe, and whom the J/rcelites feared as they had feared Mofes, Fofb. iv. 14. others to the times of Gideon and Fephitha, with whom the tribe of E-
) the work of the craft/men, of filver{mi all places into which he fhall be brought.. God is called Ais Lord, the’ he had rebelled againft him, and fhook off his yoke, and would not obey him; yet whether he will or no, he is his Lord, and will fhew himfelf to be fo, by his fovereignty and authority over him, and by the judgments exercifed on him. Some underftand this of.the.Afprian ~ king, become his lord, by taking and carrying; him captive, the inftrument in God’s. hand, of bringing him to reproach; but the former fenfe feems beft. ee?
phraim expoftulated, Judg. viii. 1. and xii.1. but others interpret it of ereboam’s idolatry, of his fetting up the worfhip of the calves, which he did upon his exalting himfelf, and fetting himfelf up as king of the ten tribes;. and in fome agreement with this, Schmidt underftands by. trembling, a terrible and horrible. thing, idolatry, which he commanded and appointed; and which he dare or carried, as the word ‘is interpreted by him, and may be; that is, his fin, and the punifhment of it, which Ferodcam. and his pofterity did bear; and fo it agrees with what follows: dat, or,.and. when he offended in Baal, he. died; or when, he finned, and became guilty of more idolatry ftill by worfhipping Baal, as well as the calves, which was done in the times of Abad, 1 Kings xvi. 31. when Ephraim or the kingdom of J/rael fell into di- {treffes and calamities, funk in their grandeur and authority, declined in their wealth and riches, and were infulted. by their enemies, particularly by. Benhadad king of Syria, who fent, to Abad, and challenged his filver and gold, his wives and chil-.
dren, as his own, 1 Kings xx..3, 4. and fo*they gradually decreafed in credit and reputation, im power and authority, in wealth and fubftance, and at laft were delivered to the {word of the enemy; and to captivity, which was their civil death., y¥.2. And now they fin more and more, &c.} Since the times of ‘Jeroboam, and alfo of Ahab, adding other deities to the calves, and to Baal, as follows; increafing the number of their idols, and their idolatrous facrifices, rites. and.ceremonies: this they did in the times of the prophet, who prophefied after the times of 4bab, as it is common with evil men and feducers to_wax worfe and worfe, and to proceed to more ungodlinefs, and from evil — to evil; fuch is the way of idolaters, they ftop not, but run into greater abfurdities and grofier idolatries: and have made them molten images of their filver; which is to be underftoed, not of the calves, or of Baal, made of gold, which they pur- — chafed with their filver; but of other images they had in their houfes, or carried about with them, made of their filver, of their plate, which they melted and caft images of it, of whatfoever fhape: or form they pleafed: and idols according to their own underftanding; which were entirely of man’s\ device, and had nothing divine in them, citer 98 to matter or form, but wholly the invention of the human brain: or, according to their own as the Targum, and fo other Fewwi/h inte after the form of a man, and yet were and ftupid as to account them gods: 4