Exposition of the Whole Bible

ders, and fuch like artificers; the fame, of of the fame fort with the craftfmen that made fhrines’ for Diana, Aéis xix. 24, 38. and therefore fuch a work; wrought by fuch hands, could never be a deity, or have any thing divine in it; they muft be as ftupid and fenfeleis as the work itfelt to imagine there fhould: and yet they fay of them; the falfe prophets, or the idolatrous priefts fay of fuch idols: let the men that facrifice, kifs the calves; let thofe that bring their facrifices, or thofe that offer them, pay religious worfhip and adoration to the calves; which they fignified by kiffing the idols they facrificed to, either their, mouths, or their hands; or if out of their reach, they kiffed their own hands in token of honour to them; which rites were commonly ufed among the heathens. So Cicero * {ays at Agrigentum, where was a temple of Hercules, where the people not only ufed to fhew a veneration to his image by prayers and thank{- givings, but they ufed to kifs ic. So Apuleius' fpeaks of a beautiful virgin, the report of whofe beauty brought together a vaft number of citizens and ftrangers; who, amazed at the fight of her, put their right-hand to their mouths, the firft finger refting upon the thumb erect, and gave her reverence with religious adoration, as if fhe had been the goddefs Venus herfelf; and Minutius Fe- -lix * fays of Cecilias, that obferving the image of Serapis (probably much like one of thefe calves) putting his hand to his mouth, according to the juperftitious cuftom of the vulgar, with his lips fmacked a kifs; and fo Pliny obferves, in worfhipping the right-hand is ufed for a kifs, turning about the whole body, which to do to the left was reckoned the more religious; hence it is obferved * of Aimilius, a derider and fcoffer at of things divine, that he would never make fupplication to any god, nor frequent any temple; and if he paffed by any place of worfhip, he reckoned it a crime to put his hand to his lips by way of adoration, or on account of that; and it feems to have obtained as early as the times of ¥ob among idolatrous people, that upon the fight of the fun or moon, they immediately with their mouth kiffed their hands; fee Fob xxxi. 26, 27. hence Lucian ’ {peaking of the Jndians fays, rifing early in the morning, they worfhip the fun, not as we, who think the prayers are finifhed when the hand is kiffed, and Tertullian * addreffing the heathens in his time, thus befpeaks them, moft of you out of an affectation of worfhipping the celeftial bodies at the rifing of the fun, move and quaver your lips; hence kiffing is ufed for the worfhip of the Son of God, Pf. ii. 12. Some read the words, let tho/e that facrifice a man*, kifs the calves, as if it re- {pected -the abominable practice of facrificing men to Moloch, or intimated that men were facrificed to the calves at Bethel, y¥. 3. Therefore they foall be as the morning-cloud, &c.] Which, however promifing it is, foon difappears when the fun is rifen; fignifying, that the idolatrous J/raelites, king, priefts and people, fhould be no more; their kingdom would ceafe, all their riches and wealth would depart from them, and they and their children be carried captive into a ftrange land: and as the early dew it paffeth away 4 as foon as the heat of the fun is felt, when the earth is left dry; fo thefe people, tho’ they feemed to be in great profpetity, and to be very. fruitful in children, and in fubftance, and promifed themfelves much more; yet in a little time their «land would become defolate, and they ftripped of all that was dear and valuable to them. Thefe metaphors are ufed in ch. vi. 4: as the chaff that is drivin with a whirlwind out of the floor; fignifying that thefe idolatrous people were like chaff, light and empty, ufelefs and unprofitable, fit for nothing but burning; and that they would be driven out of their own land thro’ the Afyrian that fhould come like a whirlwind with great force and power, as eafily and as quickly as chaff is drove out of a. threfhing floor of corn with a ftrong blaft of wind; fee P/i. 5. Fer.iv.11, 12,13. Dam. ii. 35: and as the {moke out of the chimney; which rifes up in a pillar, and is foon diffipated by the wind, or diffolved into air; and is no fooner feen, but it difappears; fee P/: Ixviii. 2. All thefe fimilics fhew how eafily, fuddenly and quickly the deftruction of this idolatrous nation would be brought about.

¥. 4. Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, &c.] Which brought thee out from thence, as the Targum, and ever fince from that time to this had fhown a regard unto them, as the Lord their God, both in the wildernefs, as after-mentioned, and in the land of Canaan, where they had been continued, and followed with inftances of goodnefs to that day, and yet had finned in fo grofs a manner; which argued ‘great ingratitude in them, and forgetfulnefs of the Lord, and his mercies: and thou fhalt know no God but me; they ought to have known, acknowledged and worfhipped no other god, as was enjoined them in the law: or, thou knoweft not»; they did not know any other, which they in their own con{ciences were obliged to confefs, if appealed to; however, they fhould know no other; by fad experience they would find, that there was no other that could be of any fervice to them; their images and idols being unable to help them: for there is xo Saviour befides me; that could fave them out of their troubles, and deliver them out of their diftreffes; no other that is, or can be the author, either of temporal, or of fpiritual and eternal falvation. ¥. 5. I did know thee in the wildernefs, &c.] Where there were no food nor drink, where were fcorpions, ferpents, and beafts of prey; there the Lord knew them, owned them, and fhewed a fatherly affection for them, and care of them; and fed them with manna and quails, and guided and dire¢éted them in the way, and protected and preferved them from their enemies, and from all hurt and danger. So the Targum explains it, ‘‘ I fuf- “ ficiently fupplied their neceffities in the wilder- “© nefs:” in the land of great drought; or, of droughts *; the word is only ufed in this place; and is by Aven Ezra interpreted a dry and thirfty land; and fo he fays it fignifies in the Arabic language; and the fame is obferved by the father of Kimchi, and by R. Fonah*; but is by fome ren- _ dered * Oavius, p. 2.

2 DON 7D immolatores hominum, vel immolantes homines, Vatablus; facrificantes hominem, Montanus, Calvin, Schmidt, fo fome in Abendana. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin render it as an imperative, facrifice men; and the Syriac verfion, dered torrid *, or inflamed, as if it had the fignification of an Hebrew word; which ftgnifies a flame: and the Targum takes it to be a-kin to another, which fignifies to defre, rendering it, ‘ in a land << in which thou defireft every thing;” 7. e. wants every thing. The firft feems beft, and is a fit defcription of the wildernefs, which was a place of.

y. 6. According to their pafture, fo were they filled, &c.] When they came into the land of Canaan, which was a land flowing with milk and honey, they were like a flock of fheep brought from fhort commons to a good pafture; and there they filled themfelves to the full, and indulged to luxury and excefs, pampered themfelves, and made provifion for the fAleth to fulfil its lufts, and became carnal and fenfual: they were filled, and their hearts were exalted; they were elated with their plenty, and grew proud and haughty, and attributed their fulnefs not to the goodnefs of God, but to their own excellency and merit; and put their truft and confidence in their affluence, and not in the Lord; and thought themfelves fafe and fecure, and out of all danger, and concluded it would never be otherwife with them: ‘¢herefore have they forgotien me; the author of their beings, the father of their mercies, and God of all their comforts; they forgot to give him praife and glory for their abundance; to place their truft, and have their dependence on him, and to ferve and worfhip him; this was the confequence of their luxury and pride. The Targum is, ‘* therefore they left my wor- ‘* fhip;” they waxed fat, and kicked, and lightly efteemed, and forfook the God and rock of their falvation, Deut. xxxii. 15.

¥. 7. Therefore I will be unto them as a lion, 8cc.

Becaufe of their idolatry, ingratitude, luxury, and efpecially their forgetfulnefs of God, which is laft mentioned, and with which the words are connected. By this and the following metaphors, are fet forth the feverity of God’s judgments upon them for their fins, and their utter deftruction by them. Some obferve the word ‘ here ufed fignifies an old lion, which tho’ flower in the purfuit of its prey, is more cruel when it has got it; fee ch. v. 14. As a@ leopard by the way will I obferve them; which is a quick-fighted, vigilant, crafty, and infidious creature, which lurks in trees, and watches for men and beafts that pafs by the way, and feizes on them.. The lion makes his onfet more openly, this more fecretly; and both exprefs the various ways God would take in his providence to chaftife thefe people for their fins, and that he would watch over them to do them hurt, as he had to do them good, and take the proper opportunity of doing it, and execute his purpofe with great wrath and fury, to their utter ruin; fee Yer. v. 6. and xliv.27. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic verfions render it, as a leopard by the way of Affyria®, or the Affyrians; and fo fome interpreters take the fenfe to be, that God would watch them in their way to Affria for help, and blaft their defigns, difappoint them of their expected affiftance, and furprize them with his judgments; fee ch. v. 13. and vii. 11. and viii. 9. and Yer. ii. 18, 19. and there was a mountain in

Syria, called the mountain of the leopards, where

they ufed to haunt, and from whence they came a came out to take their prey, to which there is a reference in Cant. iv. 8. which was two miles from Tripol (a city of Syria) northward, three from the city Arces fouthward, and one from mount Lebanon”, and fuch is the vigilance and agility of leopards, that they will fometimes, as Pény | fays, mount thick trees, and hide themielves in the branches, and leap at once, and unawares, upon thofe that pafs by, whether men or beafts, as before obferved; wheretore, with great propriety, is this fimile ufed. The Targum is, my word fhall be, &c.

y. 8. I will meet them as a bear bereaved of her whelps, &cc.}] Which is a fierce cruel’ creature at any time, but efpecially when this is its cafe, being very fond of its whelps; and having taken a great deal of pains to. lick them into form, as Kimchi and Ben Melech obferve, it is the more in- + raged at the lofs of them, and therefore falls upon man or beaft ir meets, with the utmoft fury: the phrafe is expreffive of the fierceft rage; fee Prov. xvii. 12: and will rent the caul of their bearts; the pericardium, which is a membrane or {kin that inclofes the heart, and which when pierced is immediate death: perhaps fome refpect is had to the clofing of their hearts to God, the hardnefs of them againft him and his ways, and their inatten- | tion to his word; and now he'll open them, not in a way of grace and mercy, but of wrath and fury; as a bear, when it feizes a man, fticks his claws in his breaft, tears it open, and makes his way at once to the heart, fetches it out, and fucks his blood: and there will I devour them like a lion; either in their cities and houfes, when taken by the enemy; or in the way, in which they would be obferved; or in their captivity: or ‘bere may ‘be put for then, and fo denotes the time when he would be all this to them before-mentioned, and then he would utterly deftroy them: rhe weld Deaft feall tear them; which literally is one of God’s fore judgments, but here figuratively defigns the Ajjrian, and who is meant as the inftrument of God’s vengeance in all the other exprefiions; and is fome-— times compared to a lion, and that as concerned — with J/rael, fee Fer. 1. 17. which is much better, — than by thefe four forts of creatures to underftand’ 's the four monarchies which J/rael fuffered by. The Targum is, ** my word fhall meet them as a bear ‘¢ bereaved, and I will break the wickednefs of “« their hearts, €c.” ae

¥.9. O Irael, thou baft deftroyed thyfelf, 8c.). Tho’ the Lord was a lion, a leopard, and a bear ~ to them, yet their deftruction was not owing to him, but to themfelves; he was not chargeable with it, but they only; the fault and blame was — theirs; their own fins brought it on eat: fy provoked him to fuch richteous wrath and vengeance before exprefled: this is faid to clear the Lord from any imputation of this kind, and to lay it where it fhould be. It may be rendered, 7 tb deftroyed thee *; either the calf, as Kimchi, and the worfhipping of that, their idolatry; or their as others, taking it from the following way of anticipation; or rather it may rei their fins before obferved, their idolatry, renders it, urning in me hath deftroyed thee, even in him who is thy help, that is, by their fins. they had made God their enemy, who is a confuming fire, and whofe burning wrath deftroyed them, in whom otherwife they would have had help. Now tho’ this may primarily regard the deftruction of the: civil ftate and kingdom of J/rael for their fins, yet it may be applied to the {piritual and eternal ftate of men. Man is a loft, ruined, and undone creature; he is depraved and corrupted in his whole nature, foul and’ body; the image of God in him is marred and fpoiled; there is no holinefs in him, nor any righteoufhefs upon him; no will nor power to that which is good; tho’ he has not loft the natural liberty of his will, he has loft the moral liberty of it, and is a flave to his lufts, and a vaflal to fatan; he has no true knowledge of that which is good, no inclination to it, nor ftreneth to perform it. He is dead in fin, and dead in law; he is under the curife of it, and in the open way to everlafting ruin and deftruction; and is in himfelf both helplefs and lifelefs; and he is a felf-deftroyed creature. His deftruction is not owing to fatan only, tho’ he was an in{trument of the ruin of mankind;, nor to the firft parents of human nature only, in whom all men naturally and federally were, in whom they finned, and with whom they fell; but to their own actual fins and tranfereffions. However, their deftruction is not to be charged upon God, or afcribed to any decree of his, which is no caufe of man’s damnation, but fin only; nor to any fentence of condemnation paft by him, or the execution of it, which both belong to him as a righteous judge; but to themfelves and their fins, as is owned both by good men, who under true and faving convictions acknowledge their damnation would be juft, if God fhould execute it on them; and by bad men, even the damned in hell; this will be the never dying worm, the remorfe of a guilty confcience, that they have brought all this ruin on themfelves. But in me is'thine help; not in themfelves, not in any creature, but in the Lord alone; the word of the Lord, as the Targum, the effential word, the Son of God, our Lord Jefus Chritt, on whom his divine Father has laid the help of his people; and who has helped them, and faved them from their fins, the caufe of their deftruction, and from wrath, which they deferved by reafon of them; and has brought them out of a wretched ftate, a pit wherein is no water, into a comfortable, glorious, and happy one, and delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies; and helps them to what they want, to holinefs, righteoufnefs, and ftrength; to all fupplies of grace heré, and glory hereafter. Some render the particle as caulal, for in me, &c™. and fo make it to be a reafon, either proving that God could not be the caufe of their deftruction, becaufe in him was their help, and in him only; or that their deftruc- ~ tion was owing to themfelves; for in or againft me, againft thine help, thou hait tranfgreffed and rebelled; fo Farchi. y¥. 10. I will be thy king, &c.] Governor, prote€tor, and defender; and fo confirming what is before faid, that their help was in him: or as the Targum, Abarbinel, and others *, where is thy king now, that he may ferve thee in all thy cities? whom they had afked, rejeéting the Lord, and in whom they had put their truft and confidence for help 3 and now either having no king, he being taken away from them by death, or by the enemy; or ‘if they had, he being unable to help them in their diftrefs; they are ironically afked, where he was, that he might exert himfelf and fave them, if he could, in all the cities of the land, where the enemy were come, and had befieged and took them: and thy judges, of whom thou faidft, give me a king and princes? that is, where are thy king and his nobles, his courtiers and his counfellors, and all judges, magiftrates, and governors fubordinate to him, let them arife for thy help, if they can, by their policy or power, by their counfel, or by their arms? for judges and princes defign fuch as were of the king’s court and council, or aéted in go-, vernment under his direction and influence; for tho’ thefe are not exprefsly mentioned, when they afked for a king, yet are implied; fince there is no king without a court and nobles to attend him, to adyife with, and to aét under him. This refers © to the ftory in 1 Sam. viii. 6, &c. and feems to be the leading ftep to J/rael’s ruin and deftruction as a ftate.

y. 11. I gave thee a king in mine anger, &c.] Not the king of Afpria, fent to wafte and deftroy them, and carry them captive, as fome, for of him the next claufe cannot be faid; nor Ferodoam, the firft king of the ten tribes, as others, who was not given in anger to J/rael, but to Solomon; rather Saul, as Kimchi and Aben Ezra, the firit king of all J/rae/,; and who was given at the requeft of the people, tho’ in anger and refentment, they rejecting God their king; or it may defign the kingly office and power in general, in a fucceffion of kings from him the firft of them: and took him away in my wrath-; not Feroboam, who does not appear to. be taken away by death in wrath; rather Saw/, who died in battel with the Philiftines, and fell on the mountains of Gilboa: but it may be rendered better, J will take him away °, and refers not to Zedekiah the laft king of Fudab, as fome in Kimchi; but to Hofbea, the latt king of the ten tribes; for it is of them more efpecially the words, both in the text, and context, are fpoken; and fo it refpects the entire removal of kingly power from them, which ceafed in Hofbea; fee ch. iii. 4. and x. 15.

y. 12. The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, bis fin is hid, &c.] Which Kimchi reftrains to the fin of the calves, and worfhipping them; and others to the requeft of a king, the context fpeaks of: but it feems beft to underftand it in a more general fenfe of thefe, with all other fins, which were bound up, and not loofed, or were not remitted and forgiven, they being impenitent, and perfifting in their fins; and which were bound up as in a bag or purfe, in order to be opened and brought forth in proper time in open court, and be took cognizance of in a judiciary way; with which agrees an expreffion in fob xiv. 17. or which were laid up among the treafures of divine omnifcience, in the mind of God, and not forgotten by him, as they might be thought to be, and would in due time be brought to light, and vengeance took on them. So the Targum, * the fins of the houfe of “ Epbraim are treafured up; they are referved to ‘* punifh all their offences;” fee Deut. xxxii. 94.

y. 13. The forrows of a travailing woman Joall come upon bim, &c.] Upon Ephraim, or the ten tribes; that is, afflictions, diftreffes, and calamities, which are often in {cripture compared to the pains and forrows of a woman in child-brith; and may denote the fuddennefs and inevitablenefs of them; fee Jf. xiii. 8. Fer. xxx. 6, 7. So the Targum, “ diftrefs and trouble fhall come upon them, ‘© as pains on a woman with child;” which may refpect the invafion of their land, the fiege of Samaria, and their captivity. He is an unwife fon; taking no warning by his anceftors, by their fins, and what befel them on account of them, but perfifting in his fins, and in impenitence and hardnefs of heart: fo the Targum, “‘ he is not wife to know “© my fear:” for be foould not fray long in the place of the breaking forth of children; that is, in the womb, as Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it; tho’ the Targum and Farchi underftand it of the {tool or feat of women in travail. The fenfe is, either that he is foolifh and unwife, that he does not endeavour to extricate himfelf from thefe troubles; or rather to prevent them by repentance, by leaving his idols, and returning to the Lord; or, that fhould he do fo, he would foon be delivered from all his forrows, and not ftay a moment longer in them, Though the words may be better rendered, for he ftays not, or would not flay the time for the breaking forth of children ®; now this time is the time of the gofpel-difpenfation, the time of the Meffiah’s birth, the fulnefs of time appointed for his coming, and the time of the church’s bringing forth many children in a fpiritual fenfe, fee // liv. 1. Gal. iv. 26, 27. for which Ephraim or the ten tribes fhould have waited, but did not, which was their folly and their ruin; they did not fand, or continue in the belief and expectation of the Meffiah, and in the true worfhip of God, but left that, and ferved idols; and fo continued not to the times of the Meffiah, when the bleffings mentioned in the following verfe would be obtained and enjoyed; fo Schmidt.

¥. 14. I will ranfom them from the power of the grave, &c.] That is, when or at which time before fpoken of, and here underftood, as the above interpreter rightly connects the words, J wll do this and what follows: J wi/] redeem them from death, thefe are the words, not of Febovah the Father, as in ch. i, 7. but of the Son, who redeemed J/rae/ out of Egypt, which was a typical redemption, y. 4. in whom is the help of his people laid and found, ¥. 9. the word of the Lord, as the Targum; who is the true God, the mighty God, and fo equal to this work of redemption; and who is alfo the near kinfman of the redeemed, as one of the words here ufed implies, and fo to him belonged the right of redemption: the perfons redeemed are not J/rae/ after the flefh, but fpiritual Jfrael, whether Jews or Gentiles; a fpecial and peculiar people, chofen of God and precious, out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation; and who, in their nature-ftate, are under fin, in:bondage-to it, and liable to the curfe of the law, the wrath of God, hell and damnation; which are meant by the grave and death, and fo needed a redeemer to ranfom them: for the word for grave fhould be rendered el] 4, as‘it often is; and death intends not a corporal one only, but eternal death, or the fecond death; and both fignify the wrath of

God due to fin, and which God’s eleét are deferving of, and Chrift has bore, and delivered them from; and the curfe of the law, which he has redeemed them from, being made a curfe for them; and eternal death, the equivalent to which he has fuffered, and fo has faved them from it, and all this by redeeming them from their fins, the caufe of it; and which he has done by giving a redemption or ranfom-price,. which is his blood, his life, yea himfelf, and which the firft of the words here ufed imports. It is indeed true, that in confequence of all this, there will be a redemption by him from a corporal death, and from the grave; not as yer, for the ranfomed of the Lord die as others, and are laid in the grave, the houfe appointed for all living; but in the refurrection-morn there will be a redemption, a deliverance of the bodies of the faints from the grave, from mortality and corruption; yea, of them from the moral corruption of fin, and all the defilements of it, as well as from all afflictions and difeafes, and from death irfelf, which fhall have no more dominion over them; to which purpofe the words are applied by the apoftle, 1 Cor. xv. 55. fee the note there; and fo by fome ancient Fews ‘to the Meffiah, and his times. O death, I will be thy plagues, O grave, I will be thy deftruction; that is, the utter deftruction of them, for the plague or peftilence is a wafting deftruction, P/. xci. 6. *tis the fame which in New Teftament-language is the abolifhing of death, 2 Tim. i. 10. which is true of eternal death with refpecét to the redeemed, which Chrift’s death is the death of, he having by his death reconciled them to God, and opened the way to eternal life for them, which he has in his hands to give unto them; and of corporal death and the grave, which Chrift has utterly deftroyed with refpect to himielf, having loofed the bands of death, and fet himfelf free, and on whom that fhall have no more dominion; and with refpect to his people, he has deftroyed him’ that had the power of it, which is the devil; he has put away and abolifhed fin, the caufe of it; he has took away that which is its fting; fo that it may be truly faid, as the apoftle quotes thefe words, _

O death, where is thy fling? he has removed the curfe from it, and made it a bleffing; he has abolifhed it as a penal evil, fo that it is not infli¢ted as a punifhment on his people; and in the laft day will entirely deliver them from the power of that, and of the grave; and then that which has flain’ its millions and millions, a number not to be numbered, will never flay one more: and that grave which devoured as many, will never be opened more, Or one more put into it; and then it may be faid, grave, where is thy victory? thou thale conquer no more, but be at aa end. Repentance foall be hid from mine eyes; that is, the Lord will never repent of his decree of redemption from hell, _ death, and the grave; nor of the work of it by

Chrift; nor of the entire deftruction of thefe things;

which being once done, will never be repented nor recalled, but remain fo forever.

¥. 15. Though be be fruitful among his brethren, &c.] This is not fpoken of Chrift, as fome think, who take the words to be a continuation of the prophecy concerning the Redeemer, who fhould increafe his brethren, and bring many to him; and be as noxious to hell and death, as the eaft wind is to perfons and things, and dry up the foun

P33 “AwWDA “wy! md My-'} nam tempus non fubfiftet in partitudine filioram, Cocceius; quia tempus non fiat in atero pueroram, Schmidt s* quia tem and fprings of hell and death; the fins of men he fhould abolifh, and be victorious over all his enemies, and divide their fpoils: but they are rather the words of Chrift himfelf concerning Ephraim, in connexion with y¥. 13. expreffing his character and ftate, and explaining the forrows and calamities that fhould come upon him for his folly, in not ftaying the time of the breaking forth of children; and to be underftood either of his fpiritual fruitfulnefS in the laft days; when J/rael fhall return to the Lord by repentance, and believe in the true Meffiah, and bring forth the fruit of good wotks, as an evidence of it, along with their brethren, thofe of the tribes of F#dah and Benjamin, and fo all Jjrae/ fhould be faved; which yet fhould not hinder the diftreffés and deftruction that fhould come upon the ten tribes by the Afyrians, as afterwards declared: or rather of his political fruitfulnefs, in allufion to his name; increafing in numbers, abounding in power and authority, in wealth and riches; either before the fin of the calves, as Kimchi, before he fell into idolatry; or afterwards, particularly in the times of Feroboam the Second, who enlarged the border of J/rael, and in aftertimes, when the kings of J/rael entered into alliance with the 4/yrians, and enjoyed peace and profperity, and thought themfelves iecure of the continuance of it. Some render it, becaufe be is fierce’; or like a wild aff colt; not only foolifh and unwife, but fierce and unruly among his brethren, and would not ftay the time of the breaking forth of children: therefore an eajt wind /hall come, which is very vehement, cold, blafting, and exceeding noxious: and pernicious to fruit; meaning Salmanefer king of Ajyria, who came from the eaft; his kingdom, the land of Afyria, lying, as Kimchi obferves, eaftward to the land of J/rael. So the Targum, “ now willl bring againft him a king ** {trong as a burning wind,” {fo the king of Babylon and his army are compared to a ftrong and violent wind, Jer. iv. 11, 12, 13. The wind of the Lord fhall come up from the wilderne/s, the fame is called the wind of the Lord, partly to denote the ftrength and vehemency of it, as mountains of the Lord, and cedars of the Lord, fignify great ‘and mighty ones; and partly to fhow that this enemy would come at the call of the Lord, by his direction and appointment.. So the Targum, “* by «¢ the word of the Lord, thro’ the way of the wil- «* dernefs fhall he come up;” this circumftance, from the wilderne/s, is mentioned, not only becauie winds from thence ufually blow more ftrongly and violently, but becaufe the way from Afyria to the land of J/rae/ lay thro’'a wildernefs. And his pring foall become dry, and his fountain foall be dried up; his land wafted and deftroyed; his fields, vineyards, and olive-yards trodden down and ruined, which yielded a large increafe; trade and commerce ftopped, and fo all the fprings and fountains of wealth and riches dried up; as well as their wives and children deftroyed, as often mentioned, which were the fource and {pring of their continuance as a people in ages to come. He fhall fpoil the trea-

#29 Sure of all pleafant veffels; not Chrift, nor Ephraim? but the Arian, who entering into their cities > would plunder them of all their veffels of defire ‘> or defirable ones; their veflels of gold and filver s all their rich houfhold goods and furniture of value; all their wealth and riches treafured up by them, their gold, filver, precious ftones, rich garments, €c. So the Zargum, ‘ he fhall deftroy ** the houfe of his treafures, and fall lay wafte the ** city of his kingdom; he fhall fpoil the treafu- *¢ ries, all vefiels of defire.”

¥. 16. Samaria foall become defolate, &c.) With this verfe the r4th chapter begins in the Hebrew copies, and in the Targum, and in many verfions; but feems better to conclude the prefent chapter, fince it is in clofe connexion with the preceding: verfe, and explains the figurative expreffions there ufed. Samaria was the head of Ephraim, If? vii. g. or the metropolis of the ten tribes of J/rael; whofe defolation is here prophefied of, and was accomplithed by Salmanejer king of Afyria, fignified by the eaft wind; by whom it was not only befieged and taken, but very probably its houfes were demolifhed, its walls broken down, and razed to the very foundation; fee 2 Kings xvii. 5, 6. and as this was the head-city, it may be put for all the reft, and even for the whole land, which was at the fame time laid wafte. The Zargum is, ‘* Samaria hall “ be guilty;” that is, fhall be found guilty of many fins; her tranfereffion fhall be revealed, as Farchi, become manifeft by the juft punifhment inflicted on her. For jhe hath rebelled againft ber God; and bitterly provoked him to wrath and anger, as the word * fignifies; by relinquifhing him and his worfhip, and by ferving idols, the calves at Dan and Bethel, Baal and other idols; when the Lord was their God; not only by creation, as of all men, but by the choice he made of them, and the covenant he made with them; by a national adoption of them, attended with various bleflings and privileges, and by their profeffion of him; all which were an aggravation of their rebellion, againft him. They fhall fall by the fword; the inhabitants of Samaria, and of the land, particularly the men thereof; and efpecially their armed men, their men of war, that fought for them, and defended them; thefe fhould fall by the fword of the Afprian. Their children fhall be dafhed to pieces; againtt ftones, walls, and pavements, who fhould have perpetuated their name to future ages, and inherited their pofleffions: and their women with child hall be ript up; things which are often done by cruel enemies, when cities are facked and plundered; and which Salmanefer might be provoked-unto, by the perfidy of the king of J/rael, and by the city of Samaria holding out a three years fiege. This, tho’ we have no account of as done at that time, yet no doubt was; even as the fame things are predicted of Ferufalem by the Chaideans, and which were to be done to them, in retaliation for them, tho’ there is no narrative of them; fee P/ cxxxvii. 8,9. I. xiii. 16, 18.

* MIMD’ ille fero modo aget, Cocceius; ferox eft, notat ferum, vel ferocem effe ficut onagrum, Schmidt, Burkius. So R. Jonah

Ccith kor %> b5 omnium vaforum defiderii, Montanus; omnis vafis defiderii, Schmidt.

“sk HIS chapter concludes the book, with gracious promifes to repenting finners, to returning backfliders. It begins with an exhortation to J/rael to return to the Lord, feeing he was their God, and they had fallen by fin from profperity into adverfity, temporal and fpiritual, ¥. 1. and they are dire¢ted what to fay to the Lord upon their return to him, both by way of petition, and of promife and of refolution how to behave for the future, encouraged by his grace and mercy, ¥. 2, 3. and they are told. what the Lord, by way of anfwer, would fay to them, y. 4. and what he would be to them; and what bleffings of grace he would beftow on them; and in what flourifhing and fruitful circumftances they fhould be, ¥. 5, 6, 7, 8. and the chapter ends with a character of fuch that attend to, and underftand thofe things; and with a recommendation of the ways of the Lord, which are differently regarded by men, ¥. 9.

y. 1. O Ifrael, return unto the Lord thy God, &c.] From whom they had revolted and backflidden; whofe worfhip and fervice they had forfaken; and whofe word and ordinances they had flighted and neglected, and had ferved idols, and had given into idolatry, fuperftition, and will-worfhip; and are here exhorted to turn again to the Lord by repentance and reformation, to abandon their idols, and every falfe way, and cleave to the Lord with full purpofe of heart; and the rather, fince he was their God; not only their creator, preferver, and kind benefactor, but their God, by his fpecial choice of them above all people; by his covenant with them; by his redemption of them; and by their profeffion of him; and who was iftill their God, and ready to receive them, upon their return to him: and a thorough return is here meant, a returning evex unto“, or quite up to the Lord thy God; it is not a going to him half-way, but a going quite up to his feat; falling down before him, acknowledging fin and backflidings, and laying hold upon him by faith as their God, Redeemer and Saviour: hence, from the way of {peaking here ufed, the Fews-* have a faying, as Kimchi obferves, “* great is repentance, for it brings a man ‘* to the throne of glory:” the imperative may be here ufed for the future, as fome take it; and then it is a prediction of the converfion of Jrael, thou Joalt return, O Ifrael’; and which was in part fulfilled in the firft times of the gofpel, which met with many of the J/raelites difperfed among the Gentiles, and was the means of their converfion; and will have a greater accomplifhment, when all Tfrael fhall be converted and faved: for thou haft fallen by thine iniquity, or though thou art fallen*; into fin, and by it into ruin temporal and fpiritual; from a ftate of great profperity and happinefs, both in things civil and religious, into great adverfity, and calamities of every fort; yet return, repent, confider from whence thou art fallen, and by what; or thou fhale return, be recovered and reftored, notwithftandine thy fall, and the low

¥. 2. Take with you-words, and turn to thé

Lord, &c.] Not mere words without the heart,”

but fuch as come from it, and exprefs the true fenfe of it; words of confeffion, as the Targum; by which fin is acknowledged, and repentance declared, and forgivenefs afked. Kimchi’s note is a very-good one; ‘ he (2. ¢. God) does not require ‘© of you upon return, neither gold nor filver, nor ‘* burnt-offerings, but good works; therewith con+ “< fefling your fins with your whole hearts, and not “¢ with your lips only:” and which beft agrees with evangelical repentance and gofpel-times, in which ceremonial facrifices are no more; and not any words neither; not tautologies and multiplicity of words, or words of man’s prefcribing, but of the Lord’s direéting to, and dictating; the taught words of the Holy Ghoft, which he fuggefts and helps men to, who otherwife know not how to pray, or what to pray for; and thefe exprefied under a fenfe of fin, and forrow for it, and in the ftrength of faith, and are as follow: /ay unto him, take away all iniquity; which is to be underftood, not of the taking away of the being of fin; which, tho’ very defirable, is not to be expected in this life: nor of the expiation of fin by the fa~ crifice of Chrift, which is done already; he has ~ taken the fins of his people from them to himfelf, and has bore them, and carried them away, and removed them out of the fight of divine juftice, which is fatisfied for them: nor of the taking away of the power and dominion of fin; which is done by the Spirit of God, and the efficacy of his grace, on the hearts of converted perfons: nor of an extinguifhing all fenfe of fin in men; for none have a quicker fenfe of it than pardoned finners, or aré’ more humble on the account of it, or more loath — it; but of the taking of it away from the confcience of a fenfible truly penitent finner or backflider, by a frefh application of pardoning gracé and mercy: fin is a burden, an heavy one, when the guilt of it is charged and lies upon the conicience; pardon of fin applied is a lifting up, as the word here ufed fignifies, a taking off of this burden from it, a caufing it to pafs away; which is done by the frefh fprinkling of the blood of Jefus, which purges the confcience from fin, and clears it from the guilt of it, and fpeaks peace and comfort; and which is the blefling here prayed for, and every backflider, fenfible of his cafe, fees he ftands in need of, and even to have ail taken ° away; for if but one fin remains, and the guilt of it continues, he can have no peace, nor ftand up under it; but when God forgives fin, he forgives all fin. And receive us gracioufly; receive into grace and favour, that is, openly and mati-

‘feftly; the free love and favour of God is always the fame, but the manifeftations of it are different; — fometimes more or lefs, and fometimes fcarce any, if any at all, and is the cafe here; and therefore Leaibnsdeealen’

a petition is made for the reme a renewed difcovery and application of it: or acs cept us in a gtacious manner; acceptance with — eftate in which thou art. The Targum is, “ return God is not on account of the merits of men, but

** to the fear of the Lord.”

his own grace and mercy; not thro” any works of righteoufnefs done by them, which are impure j28. how; by all thefe expreffions is meant, that and imperfe&; but thro’ Chrift the beloved, in whom God is well pleafed with the perfons, and fervices, and facrifices of his people, and receives all for his fake, and which is here afked for; as well as that he would take them into his protection, and open affection. It is in the original text only, receive good *; meaning either their good hearts, made fo by the grace of God; their broken hearts and contrite fpirits, which are Sacrifices not defpifed by him, but acceptable to him thro’ Chriit: or their good words they were bid to take, and did take, and ufe; their good prayers offered up thro’ Chrift, in his name, and in the exercife of faith, which are the Lord’s delight: or their good works, done from a principle of love, in faith, to the glory of God, and with which facrifices he is well pleafed: or rather, as the fame word fignifies, to give as well as receive; fee P/ Ixviii. 18. Eph. iv. 8. Itamay be rendered, give gocd », take good, and’ give it to us, even all good things, temporal and fpiritual, efpecially all fpiritual bleffings in Chrift; all which good things come from God, and.are his gifts, particularly the good Spirit of God,.and his grace, which the Lord gives to them that afk; and all fupplies of grace ‘from Chrift; and more. efpecially, as fome interpreters of note explain it, the righteoufnefs of Chrift imputed and applied; which goes along with pardoning grace, or the taking away of fin, Zech. iii. 4. and. is the good, the better, the beft robe; a gift, the gift of grace; a bleffing received from the Lord, and to be afked for of him: fo will we render the calves of our lips; not calves, bullocks and oxen for facrifice, as under the law; but the facrifices of praife and thankfgiving for pardoning grace, for a juftifying righteoufnefs, and for all good things: thefe are the fruit of the lips, as the apoftle interprets it, Heb. xiii. 15. and which are facrifices more acceptable to God than calves of a year old, or an ox or bullock that has horns and hoofs, P/. lxix. 30, 31. This fhews that the text and context refer to gofpel-times, to the times of the Meffiah, in which the Jews themfelves fay all facrifices will ceafe, but the facrifice of praife. The Targum is, ** turn to the worfhip of the Lord, and fay, let «* it be with thee to forgive fins, and may we be received as good, and the words of our lips be * accepted with thee as bullocks for good pleafure ** upon the altar.”

¥. 3. Afbur fhall not fave us, &c.] This is ftill a continuation of the words repenting and returning J/rael are direted to make ufe of before the Lord, declaring they would not do any more as they had done; go to Afyria, or the kings of A/- fyria, as the Targum, for help, and defire aflittance, and expect deliverance and falvation from thence; fee ch. v. 13. and vii. 11. and viii. we will not ridé upon borfes to feek for help elfewhere; or go to Egypt for them, as they had done; or put their truft in them for fafety, in a time of war; or think to make their efeape by them when in danger; fee P/. xx. 8. Tf, xxxi. 1, 3: neither will we fay any more to the work of our hands, ye are our gods, that is, fay fo to, or concerning their idols, which were made by their hands, or by their orders, as they had formerly done to the golden calf in the wildernefs, and to the calves at Dan and Bethel; fee Exod. xxxii. 4. 1 Kings xii.

they would determine not to put any confidence in any creaturé, or in any creature-performance: that they would not truft in their own merits, but in the mercy of God thro’ Chrift for the pardon of their fins; nor ia any works of righteoufnefs for their juttification before God; and acceptance with him; nor expect falvation in any other way than by the free grace of God, and his abundant mercy in Chrift: for in thee the fatherlefs jfindeth mercy; and in thee only; hereby declaring that the Lord was the only Saviour; that there was falvation in Chrift, and in no other; and that they would have no other Saviour but him; that they would look to the mercy of God proclaimed in him, and communicated from, and thro’ him, the mercy-feat, and to his mercy alone for eternal life; in whom the moft deftitute perfons, as the fatherlefs, who are deftitute of friends, of’ help and affiftance, of counfel and advice, find favour, kindnefs and mercy,even fuch as are moft hopelefs and helplefs; which is a great encouragement to look to the Lord, to truft in him, and hope in his mercy.

¥. 4. I will beal their backflidings, &c:| This and what follows is the Lord’s anfwer to the above prayer; and this claufe particularly is an anfwer to that petition, take away all iniquity, fins are difeafes, natural and hereditary, naufeous and loathfoe, mortal and incurable, but by the grace of God, and blood of Chrift: backflidings are relapfes, which are dangerous ‘things; Chrift is the only phyfician, who heals all the difeafes of fin, and thefe relapfes alfo; he will do it, he has promifed it, and never turns away any that apply to him for it; and which he does by a frefh application of his blood, whereby he takes away fin, heals the confcience wounded with it, and reftores peace and comfort; which is a great encouragement to take words, and return unto him; fee ch. vi. 1. Fer. iil. 22. Df, vii. 17, 18: Iwill love them freely; this is in anfwer to that petition, receive us gracioufly 5 or receive good, or rather give it; not that the love of God or Chrift begins when finners repent and turn to him, or he applies his pardoning grace, fince his love is from everlafting; but that in fo doing he manifefts his love, and will continue in it, nor fhall any thing feparate from it: and this love, as it is freely fet upon the objects of it, without any merits of theirs, or any motives in them, but flows from the free fovereign will and pleafure of God in Chrift; fo it is as freely manifefted, and continues upon the fame bottom, and is difplayed in a moft liberal and profufe donation of bleffings of grace to them: this love is free in its original, and is liberal and bountiful in the effects of it; and makes the objects of it a free,

9:| willing and bountiful people too: for mine anger is turned away from him; from Djfrael, which, under former difpenfations of providence, feemed to be towards him, at leaft when under his frowns, refentment and difpleafure, as is the cafe of that peo~ ple at this day; but when they fhall return to the Lord, and he fhall manifeft and apply his pardoning grace to them, his anger will appear no more, and they fhall be in a very happy and comfortable condition, as J/rael or the church declares, J: xii. 1.

which refers to the fame times as thefe words do; fee Rom. xi. 26, 27. and compare Pf. Ixxxv. 2, 3,

43/2 where a manifeftation of pardoning grace is called the Lord’s turning himfelf from the fiercenefs of his anger; and efpecially this fuits with gofpeltimes, “fatisfaction being made for fin by the facri- ‘fice of Chrilt.

y¥. 5. I will be as the dew unto Dfrael, &c.] To fpiritu: ‘al J/rael, to thofe that return to the Lord, take with them words, and pray unto him, wiable backflidings are healed, and they are freely loved; otherwife it is faid of apoftate J/rae/ or Ephraim, that they were /mitten, and their root dried up, and bore mo fruit, ch. ix..16. ‘Thefe words, and the whole context, refpect future times, as Kimchi obferves; even the converfion of J/rae/ in the latter day, when they hall partake of all the bleffings of grace, fignified by the metaphors ufed in this and the following verfes. ‘Thefe words are a continuation of the anfwer to the petitions put into the mouths of converted ones, promifing them many favours, exprefied in figurative terms; and firft by the dew, which comes from heaven, is a great bleffing of God, and is quickening, very refrething and fruitful to the earth: and the Lord is that unto his people, as the dew is to herbs, plants, and trees of the earth; he is like unto it in his free love and favour, and the difcoveries of it to them; which, like the dew, is of, and from himfelf alone; is an invaluable bleffing; better than life itfelf; and is not only the caufe of quickening dead finners, but of reviving, cheering and refrefhing the drooping {pirits of his people; and is indeficient, never fails, but always continues, Prov, xix. 12. and fo,he is in the bleffings of his grace, and the application of them; which are in heavenly places, in Chrift, and come down from thence, and in great abundance, like the. drops of dew; and fall filently, infenfibly and unawares, particularly regenerating grace; and are very cheering and exhilarating, as forgivenefs of fin, a juttifying righteouinefs, adoption, &c. Deut, xxxiil. 13. and alfo in the gofpel, and.the doftrines of it, which diftil as dew; thefe are of God,.and come down from. heaven; feem little in themfelves, but of great importance to the converfion of finners, and comfort of faints; bring many bleffings in them, and caufe great ‘joy and fruitfulnefs whereever they come with power, Deut. xxxii. 2... The Largum is, ** my word thall be as dew to J/rael;” the eflential word of God, the Meffiah; of whofe incarnation of a Virgin fome interpret this; having, like the dew, no father but God, either in his divine. or human nature; but rather it is to. be underftood of the bleflings of grace he is. to his people as Mediator, being to them wifdom, righteoufnefs, fanctification and redemption, and every other, even their all in all: be fhall grow as the lily; to which the church and people of God are fometimes compared, efpecially for their, beauty and comelinefs in Chrift, Solomon in all his glory not being arrayed like one of thefe; particularly for their unfpotted purity, being clothed with fine linen, clean and white, the white raiment of Chrift’s ri ghteoufnels, and having their garments wafhed and made white in his blood; fee Cant, ii. 1, 2, 16. and here for its: growth. The root of the lily lies buried in the earth a long time, when it feems as if.it was dead; but ona fudden it fprings out of the earth, and runs up to a great height, and. becomes very flourifhing; which | is not Owing to it- felf, it ¢oi/s not, but to the dew of heaven: fo Gods elect in a {tate of nature are dead, but being quickened by the grace of God, fpring up ona {udden, and grow very fat; which is not owing to. themfelves, but to the dews of divine. grace, the bright fhining of the fun of righteoufnefs upon them, ‘and to the influences of the bleffed Spirit 5 and fo they grow up on high, into their head

Chrift Jefus, and rife up in their affections, defires, ”

faith and hope to heavenly things, to the high calling of God in Chrift, and become fruitful, in grace, and in good works. ‘The Targum is, ** they “ fhall fhine as the lily;” fee Matt. vi. 29: aud caft forth bis roots as Lebanon, as the tree, Or trees of Lebanon, as the Targum; and fo Kimchi, who adds, which are large, and their roots many; or as the roots of the trees of Lebanon, fo Farchi; like the cedars there, which, as- the word here ufed fignifies, frack * their roots firm in that mountain, and ftood ftrong and ftable, let what winds and tempefts foever blow: thus; as in the following, what one metaphor is deficient in, another makes up. The lily has but a weak root, and is eafily plucked up; but the cedars in Lebanon had roots firm and ftrong, to which the faints are fometimes compared, as here; fee Pf. xcii. 12. and this denotes their permanency and final perfeverance; who are rooted in the love of God, which is like a root under-ground from all eternity, and fprouts forth in regeneration, and is the fource of: all grace; is itfelf immoveable, and in it the people of God are fecured, and can never be rooted out; and they maf be faid to /’rike their roots in it, as the phraie here; when they exercife a ftrong faith in it, and are firmly perfuaded-of their intereft in it; fee Eph. iii. 17, 18. Rom. vil. 38, 39. they are alfo rooted in Chrift, who is the root of Felfe, of David, and of all the faints; from whom they have their life, their nourifhment and fruitfulnefs, and where they remain unmoved, and {trike their roots in him, by renewed aéts of faith on him, claiming their intereft in him; and are — herein fo ftrongly rooted and grounded, that all the winds and ftorms of fin, fatan and the world, cannot eradicate them; nay, as trees are more firmly rooted by being fhaken, fo are they;, fee Col. ii. 7. If. xxxvii. 31. The Targum is, ‘* they fhall dwell ‘* in the ftrength of their land, as a tree of Leba- ‘* yon, which fends forth its baal if

¥. 6. His branches fhall fpread, &c.) As the well-rooted cedars in Lebanon; fee Numb. xxiv. 6. This refpects the propagation of the church of God, and the intereft of Chrift in the world, as in the firft times of the gofpel, and will be in the latter day; when the gofpel fhall be fpread every where; churches fet up in all places; the Fews converted, and the fulnefs of the Gentiles brought in; aaa thefe like fpreading branches, and fruitful boughs, abounding in grace and good works. The Targum is, ‘* they fhall multiply or inereafe ‘¢ with fons and daughters:” and his beauty feall be as the olive-tree; which lies in its being laden with excellent fruit, and being always green; for which. reafons particular believers, and. the whole church of God, are fometimes compared to it 3 having that fatnefs in them, with which God and men honoured; and that true grace, which a by oil in the veffels of the heart, and is called the unction and anointing of the holy one; and they

Ch. xiv... 9, 8. me. S St 433 perfevering in this grace to the end, which is ever green and durable, immortal, and dies not; fee Pf. lii. 8. Fer. xi. 16: Here again it may be obferved, that the trees of Lebanon, tho’ they had ftrong roots, and fpreading branches, yet-were not fruittal; and the deficiency of that metaphor is fupplied by this of the olive: and bis /mell as Lebawon; as the trees of Lebanon, the cedars, trees of frankincenfe, and other odoriferous trees and plants, which grew upon it; here what is wanting in the olive-tree, whofe fmell is not fo grateful, is made up by this fimile of the trees of Lebanon, and the fmell of them; which may denote the {weet and grateful fmell the Lord {mells in his people, or his gracious acceptance of them in Chrift; whofe garments of righteoufnefs and falvation on them are as the fmell of Lebeno2; and whofe graces in them exceed the fmell of all fpices; and whofe prayers are odours, and their praifes a facrifice of a fweet-fmelling favour to God; fee Cant. iv. 10, it. Rev. v8. and viii. 3, 4. 1 Pet ii. 5. Some render it, as incenfe 4, called Lebonabh in Hebrew, from whence the mountain is thought to have its name, frankincenfe growing upon it. So the Zargum, ** and their fmell as.the fmell of the incenfe “ of fpices.”* archi fays, as the fanctuary, which was made of the cedars of Lebanon.

¥. 7. They that dwell under his foadow, fhall return, 8c. Bither under the fhadow of Lebanon, as Fepbet and Farchi; the fhadow of that mountain, or of the trees that grew upon it 5 or under the thadow of J/rae/, the church, to which young converts have recourfe, and under which they fit with pleafure; or rather under the fhadow of the Lord, J/rel was called to return unto, and now return, ¥. 1, 2. as the J/raelites will in the latter day. So the Targum, ** and they fhall be gathered “* out of the midft of their captivity, they fhall ** dwell under the fhadow of their Meffiah;” thus truly gracious perfons fit under the fhadow of Chrift, who come to themfelves, and return unto the Lord; even under the fhadow of his word and ordinances, where they defire to fit, and do fit with delight and pleafure, as well as in the greateft fafety; and find it a very refrefhing and comfortable fhadow to them; even a fhadow from the heat of avenging juftice, a fiery law, the fiery darts of fatan, and the fury of the world; and like the fhadow of a great rock in a weary land, exceeding pleafing and cheering to weary travellers; fee Cant. ii. 3. If xxv. 4, 5. and xxxii..2: they fhall revive as the corn, which firft dies, and then is quickened; or which, after a cold nipping winter, at fpring revives again: thus do believers under the dews of divine grace, under the fhadow of Chrift, and the influences of his Spirit: or, foall revive with corn *, by means of it; by which may be fignified the corn of heaven, angels food, the hidden manna, the gofpel of Chrift, and Chrift himfelf, the bread of life; by which the {pirits of his people are revived, their fouls upheld in life, and their graces quickened; which they find and eat, and it is the joy and rejoicing of their hearts: end grow as the vine, which, tho’ weak, and needs fupport, and its wood unprofitable; yet grows and

Spreads very much, and brings forth rich fruit in clufters: fo the faints, tho’ they are weak in thenifelves, and need divine fupports, and when they have done all they can are unprofitable fervants; yet thro’.the power of divine grace, which is like: the dew,’ they grow in every grace, and’are filled with the bleflings of it, and bring forth much, fruit to the glory of God: and the cent thereof thall be as the wine of Lebanon; like the wine of thofe vines, which grow on mount Lebanon, and judged to be the beft. On mount Lebanon, about the mid-way between the top and the bottom of it, there is now a convent called Canobine, fituated in a very pleafant. place; and Le Bruyn in his travels relates, that it is preferable to all other places on account of its wines, which are the richeft and fineft in the world; they are very fweet, of a red colour, and fo oily that they ftick to the glafs. At Lebanon was a city called by the Greeks Aimpeloefja2, from the excellency of its wine, as Grotius from Pliny § obferves. Gadriel Sionita * affares us, that even to this day the wines of Libanus are in good reputation. Kimchi relates from Afapb a phyfician, that the wines of Lebanon, Hermon, and Carmel, and of the mountains of J/rael and Ferafalem, and of the maquntains of Samaria, and of the mountains of Caphtor Mizraim, were the bett of wines, and exceeded all others for fcent, tafte, and medicine. Yaphet interprets it, the {fmell of their vine afar off was as the wine of Lebanon; and fo Kimchi, the fmell of the wine of the vine, to which J/rae/ is compared, is like the fmell of the wine of Lebanon. This may denote the favourinefs of truly converted gracious fouls, of their graces, doctrines, life and converfation. Some chufe to render it, their memory * fhall be as the wine of Lebanon; fo the Targum interprets it, of ‘** the memory of their goodnefs;” the faints obtain a good report thro’ faith, and have a good name, better than precious ointment; their memory is bleffed; they are had in everlafting remembrance; the memory of them is not only dear to the people of God in after-ages; but the memory of their perfons, and of their works, is ex= ceeding grateful to God and Chrift.

¥. 8. Ephraim hall fay, what have I to do any more with idols? &c.] This is to be underftood, not of apoftate Ephraim, as.in the times of the prophet, who was fo wedded and glued to the idols, that there was no hope of getting him from them; and therefore is bid to let him alone, ch.iv. 17. but of Ephraim or Irael returning to God at his call, under the influence of his grace in the latter day, yw. 1,2. Idols are the fame with the works of their hands, y¥. 3. and to be interpreted, not of graven or molten images, to the worfhip of which -the fews have not been addicted fince their captivity to this day; fee ch. iii. 4. but of the idols of their hearts, their impiety, their unbelief, their rejetion of the Meffiah, which, at the time of their converfion, they will loath, abhor, and mourn over; likewife the traditions of their elders, they are now zealous and tenacious of, and prefer even to the written word; but will now relinquifh them, and embrace the gofpel of Chrift; a3 well as the idol of their own righteoufnefs they have always endeavoured to eftablith;

but fhall now renounce, and receive Chrift as the Lord their righteoufnefs. The like to this is to be found in common in all truly penitent and converted finners; who, being made fenfible of the exceeding finfulnefs of fin, deteft and abhor it, and declare they will have nothing to do with it; not but that it continues in them, and has to do with them, and they with that; yet not fo as to live and walk in it; to yield their members as inftruments of it; to ferve and obey it as their mafter; to make provifion for it, and to have the courfe of their lives under the direction and power of it; and fo likewife being convinced of the imperfection and infufficiency of their own righteoufnefs to juftify them, they will have nothing to do with that in the bufinefs of juftification before God, and acceptance with him: now thefe are the words of the Lord, affirming what Ephraim fhould fay, as Kimchi rightly obferves; he promifes for him, as he well might, fince it is he that gives repentance to J/rael, and works in his people principles of grace, and enables them both to will and to do, to make fuch holy refolutions, and perform them. Some render the words, O Ephraim, what have I to do', &c. and take them to be words of God concerning himfelf, declaring he would have nothing to do with idols, nor fuffer them in his fervice, nor fhould they; for what concord hath Chrift with Belial, or what agreement hath the temple of God with idols, 2 Cor. vi. 15, 16. but the former fenfe is much beft; rather what Schmidt fuggefts is more agreeable, who, rendring the words in the fame way, makes them to be the words of a believing Gentile returning and dwelling under the fhadow of J/rael; fo he interprets the preceding verfe, and takes this to be the language of fuch an one throughout. The Targum is, ‘* they “© of the houfe of J/rael fhall fay, what is it to us “© to ferve idols any more?” I have heard him; fays the Lord, Ephraim bemoaning himfelf, repenting of his fins, and confefling them; his prayers for pardon and acceptance, and the refolutions made by him in the ftrength of divine grace, ¥. 2, 3, 8. fee Fer. xxxi. 18, 19, 20. and this is what his idols he orice ferved could not do, who had ears, but heard not; but the Lord not anly heard, but anfwered, and granted his requeft.. So the Targum, *¢ IT by my word will receive the prayer of J/rae/, *¢ and will have mercy on him:” and obferved him, looked at him, and on him with an eye of pity and compaffion; with a favourable and propitious look, as the Lord does towards thofe that are poor, and of a contrite fpirit; obferved the ways and fteps he took in returning to him; marked his tears and humiliations, groans and moans, and took notice of his wants in order to fupply them. I am like a green fir-tree; thefe are the words of the Lord continued; tho’ fome take them to be the words of Ephraim; or, as Schmidt, of the Gentile believer, like thofe of David, Pf. lii. 8. but they beft agree with Chrift, who may be compared to fuch a tree, as he is to many others in fcripture; becaufe a choice one, as he is to his Father, and to all believers, chofen and precious, lovely and beloved; a tall tree, fo Chrift is highly exalted as Mediator, higher than the kings of the earth, above the angels in heaven, yea higher than the heavens. The boughs of this tree, as Farchi and Kimchi obferve, bend downward fo low as to be ty 9S at) COM Ephraim, vel O, quid mihi amp laid hold on; Chrift tho’ the high and lofty one dwells with humble fouls, and fuffers himfelf to be laid hold upon by the faith of every one that comes to him. Pliny fays*, that this tree is of a chearful afpect, fmooth and fcarce any knots upon it; and its leaves fo thick that a fhower of rain will not pafs thro’ it: Chrift is moft amiable, and altogether lovely to look at in his perfon and fulnefs; and he looks in a loving fmiling manner upon his people; he is without any knot of fin or corruption in him, as to principle or practice; and isa delightful fhade from the wrath of God, or rage of man, from the heat of a fiery law, and the darts of fatan: and as this tree, as here, is ever green, fo he sis always the fame; he ever lives, and his people in him, and by him; his fulnefs. always continues to fupply them. Once more the fir-tree is the habitation of the ftork, an unclean creature by the law of God; fo Chrift is the dwelling place of finners, he receives them, and converfes with them, Pf civ. 17. The Septuagint verfion renders it, as a thick juniper-tree'; which naturalifts fay! has fuch a virtue im it, as by the fmell to drive away ferpents. So the old ferpent the devil was drove away by Chrift in the wildernefs, in the garden, and on the crofs; and refitting by faith, holding out his blood and righteoufnefs, caufes him to flee from the faints. The Arabic verfion is, as the fruitful cyprefs-thee which ° is of a good fmell, and its wood very durable; and fo may be expreffive of the favour of Chrift, his righteoufnefs and facrifice, the graces of his Spirit, and of his duration. Some take this to be a promife that Ephraim thould be as a green firtree, fo Aben Ezra; with which agrees the Targum, “ 1 by my word will make him as the beau- “© tiful fir-tree;? and to which fometimes the faints are compared; fee J/. xli, 19. and lv. 13+ and Ix..13. and this being a tree that bears no fruit, it follows to make up that defect in the metaphor, from me is thy fruit found, from Chrift are all the fpiritual bleffings of grace, peace, pardon, righteoufnefs, adoption, a right and meetnefs for eternal life, and that itfelf; all the fruits and graces of the Spirit, as faith, hope, love, &c. and all good works, which fpring from union with him, are done in his ftrength, and influenced b his grace and example; fee Phil. i. 11. ~ ¥. 9. Who is wife, and he fhall underfiand thefe things? prudent, and he fhall know them? &c.| Contained in this book, and particularly in this chapter; which exprefies fo much of the goodnefs of God, and grace of Chrift to J/rael; tho’ it may be applied to the whole fcripture, and to all” the myfteries and doctrines of the gofpel, refpecting Chrift and his grace; and be a recommendation of thefe to the confideration of every wife and prudent man; where he will find enough to exercife his wifdom and underftanding; tho’ he need not be difcouraged in his fearch and enquiry into them, It fuggefts as if there were but few fuch wife perfons, and that they are the only wife men that do know and underftand thefe things; and all others are but fools, let them be thought as wife as they will: for the ways of the Lord are right, ftrait, plain, even, according to the rules of juftice and equity; there is no unrighteoufnefs in them; none in the ways in which he himfelf — walks; either in his ways and methods. of gre.

his decrees and purpofes, his counfels and covenant; or in his providential difpenfations; nor’ in thofe he directs others to walk in, the paths of faith and doétrine; or the ways of his commandments: and the juft fhall walk in them; fach as are juftifed by the righteoufnefs of Chrift, and have his grace wrought in them, and live righte= oufly; thefe walk, and continue to walk in the ways of God; which fhews that the dottrine of juitification by Chrifts imputed righteoufnefs is no licentious doctrine: but the tranfgreffors shalt fall therein; the tranfgreffors of the law of God; not being ufed to his ways, as Kimchi’s father obferves, itumble in them and fall; or rarher, 2s Farchi and the Targum, they fall into hell, into ruin and deftruétion, becaufe they “walk not in them; tho’ the fenfe feems to be, that as Chrift himfelf, fo his ways and his word, his doétrines and his ordinances, aré ftumbling-blocks to wicked men, at which they ftumble, and fall, and perifh; fee Luke ii. 34. Rom. ix. 33. 1 Pet. ii. 8.

N fome Hebrew bibles, this prophecy is called I Sepher Foel, the book of Joel; in the Vulgate Latin verfion, the prophecy of Yoel; and in the Syriac verfion, the prophecy of. the prophet Joel; and the Arabic verfion, the prophet oel; and fo the apoftle Peter quotes him, és ii. 16. His name, according to Hillerus*, fignifies the Lord is God; but others derive it from 5s’, which in Hiphil is 5x1, and fignifies he willed, acquiefced, or is well pleafed, fo Abarbinel; and hence Schmidt ‘thinks it anfwers to Defiderius or Erafmus. According to J/dorus », he was born at Bethoron, in the tribe of Reuben, and died, and was buried there; and fo fays Pfeudo-Epiphanjus *. In what, age he lived, is not eafy to. fay. ben Ezra exprefsly affirms, there is no way to know it; and fo R. David Ganz * fays, his time we know not; and likewife Abarbinel. Sorte think he prophefied about the fame time Hofea did, after whomhe is next placed; and fo Mr. Whiffons and Mr. Bedford‘ make him to prophefy the Septuagint verfion, this book is in the fourth order, and not Ho/fea, but Amos and Micah are placed before him; and fo the author of Fuchafin ® puts the prophets in this order, firft Hofea, then Amos, next Ifaiah, then Micah, and after him Feel. Some of the Fewi/h writers, as Farchi, Kimchi, and Abendana relate, make Yoel cotemporary with Ehi- Joab, and fay he prophefied in the days of Feboram the fon of 4bab, when the feven years famine called for came upon the land, 2 Kings viii. 1. Both in Seder Olam Rabba and Zuta*, he is placed in the reign of Manaffeh; and fo in Hilchot Gedolot, as archi obferves. And it feems indeed, as if he prophefied after the ten tribes were carried captive, which was in the fixth year of Hezekiah’s reign; fince no mention is made of J/rae/, but with refpect to future times, only of Judah and Ferufalem. But be it when it will that he prophefied, there is no doubt to be made of the authenticity of this book, which is confirmed by the quotations of two~ much about the fame time with J/aiah | apoftles and Hofea, about 800 years before Chrift; but in out of it, Peter and Paul, Aéfs ii, 16. Rom. x. 13.

HIS chapter ‘defcribes a dreadful calamity upon the people of the ews, by locufts and caterpillers, and a drought. After the title of the book, ¥. 1. old men are called upon to obferve this fore judgment to their children, that it might be tranfmitted to the lateft pofterity, as that-the like to which had not been feen and heard of, y. 2, 3, 4. and drunkards to awake and weep, becaufe the vines were deftroyed, and no wine could be made for them, y. 5, 6, 7.. and not only hufbandmen and vine-dreffers, but the priefts of the Lord are called to mourn, becaufe fuch deftruction was made in the fields and vineyards, that there were no meat nor drink-offering brought into the houfe of the Lord, ¥. 8—13. wherefore a general and folemn faft is required throughout the land, becaufe of the diftrefs of man and beaft, ¥. 14— 18, and the thapter is concluded with the refolution of the prophet to cry unto the Lord, on account ef this calamity, ¥. 19, 20.

¥. 1. The word of the Lord that came to Foel the fon of Pethuel.| Who this Pethuel was is not known; Farchi takes him to be the fame with Samuel the prophet, who had a fon of this name, 1 Sam. viii. 2. and gives this reafon for his being called Pethual, becaufe in his prayer he perfuaded God; but the diftance of time will by no means admit of this, nor the character of Samuel’s fon agree with Joel, and therefore is rightly denied by Aben Ezra, who obferves however, that this man was an ho- nourable man, and therefore his name is mentioned; and gives this as a rule, that whenever any prophet mentions the name of his father, he~ was honourable. Perhaps it is here obferved, to diftinguifh him from another of the fame name; and there was one of this name, Yoel, an high— prieft in the reigns of Uzziah and Fotham, accord-~ ing to Seder Olam Zuta‘ and Abarbinel*; in whofe” time Joel is by fome thought to prophefy.

¥. 2. Hear this, ye old men, &c.] What the prophet was about to relate, concerning the confumption of the fruits of the earth, by various forts of creatures, and by a drought; and thefe are called upon to declare, if ever the like had been known or heard of by them; who by reafon of age had the greateft opportunities of knowledge of this fort, and could remember what they had heard or feen, and would faithfully relate it: this may be underftood of elders in office, as well as in age: and give ear, all ye inbabitants of the land; or earth; not of the whole earth, but of the land of Judea; who were more particularly concerned inthis affair, and therefore are required to liften attentively to it: hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? that is, not the felffame thing, but any thing equal to it, a judgment of the fame kind and nature, and of the fame de-— gree. By this queftion it feems, the like had never been in the memory of any man living; nor in — former times, in the days of their anceftors, as could be averred upon report; or attefted on the:

redit of annals, chronicles, or other methods of conveying the hiftory of ages pait. As for the plague of locufts in Egypt, tho’ they were fuch as never had been, nor would be there any more; yet fuch or greater, and more in number than thofe, might be in Fudea; befides, they continued but a few days at moft, thefe four years fucceffively, as Kimchi obferves; and who thinks that in Egypt there was but one fort of locufts, here four; but the paffage he quotes in P/. Ixxviii. 46. contradié&s him; to which may be added P/. cv. 34. ¥. 3. Tell ye your children of it, &c.| Give them a particular account of it; defcribe the creatures, and their number, as near as you can; fay when they begun, and how long they continued, and what devaftations they made, and what was the caufe and reafon of fuch a judgment, your fins and tranfgreffions.: and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation; or to the generation following '; let it be handed.down from one generation to another, that it may be a cau-

‘ tion to future pofterity how they behave, and left

~ peculiar properties belonging to them; as the firft what they had left; and then what they left, was

’ had left; and this might be continued for years

_yet it is not reafonable, that for inftance, what the

-which was moft grateful to them; and laft of all they bring down the like awful judgments on them. What this referred to, was as follows:

¥. 4. That which the palmer-worm bath left, bath the locuft eaten, &c.] Thefe, with the two following, are four kinds of locufts, as Farchi obferves; tho’ it is difficult to fix the particular fpecies defigned; they feem to have their names from fome of thefe from their fheering or cropping off the fruits and Jeaves of trees; and the fecond from the vaft increafe of them, the multitude they bring forth, and the large numbers they appear in: and that which the locuft hath left, hath the canker-worm eaten; which, in the Hebrew language, is called from its licking up the fruits of the earth, by which it becomes barren; and that which the canker-worm bath left, bath the caterpiller eaten, which has its name from wafting and confuming all that comes in its way: now thefe came not together, but followed one another; not one one year, and another the fecond, and fo on throughout four years, as Kimchi thinks; for though the calamity lafted fome years, as is manifeft from ch. ii. 25, palmer-worm left the firft year, fhould remain in the fields and vineyards, on the fig-trees and vines, till the next year, for the locuft to confume, and fo on: but rather thefe all appeared in fucceffion, in one and the fame year; and fo what the palmer-worm left, having eat up what was moft agreeable to them, the locuft came and devoured deftroyed by ‘the canker-worm, which fed on that came the caterpiller, and confumed all the others fucceflively: when this calamity was, we have no account in facred hiftory; whether it was in the feven years fatnine in the days of Elifba, or the fame with what Amos {peaks of, ch. iv. 6—g. is not eafy to fay: and tho’ it feems to be literally underftood, as the drought after-mentioned, yet might'be typical of the enemies of the Fews fucceeding one another in the deftru¢tion of them. Not of the four monarchies, the Babylonians, Per- Jfians, Greeians, and Romans, as Lyra and Abariinel; fince the Perfiaus particularly never entred into the land of Yudea and wafted it; tho’ this is the all ye ther, either to awake or to howl, being very prone to drowfinefs upon their drinking-bouts, and to fenfe of the ancient ews, as Ferom relates; for he fays, the Aedrews interpret the palmer-worm of the Afprians, Babylonians, and Chaldeans, who coming from one climate of the world, de!troyed both the ten, and the two tribes, that is, all the people of Tfrael: the locuft they interpret of the Medes and Perfians, who having overturned the Chaldean empire, carried the Fews captive: the canker-worm is the Macedontans, and all the fucceffors of Alewander; efpecially king Antiochus, furnamed Epiphanes, who like a canker-worm fat in Fudea, and: devoured all the remains of the former kings, under whom were the wars of the Maccabees: the caterpiller they refer to the Roman empire, the fourth and laft that oppreffed the. ews, and drove them out of their borders, and Babylon, who followed one another, and wafted firft the ten tribes, and then the other two, as Tiglath-Pilefer, Salmanefer, Sennacherib, and Nebuchadnezzar, {o Theodoret; fince this prophecy only relates to the two tribes,

Nor of the feveral kings of Afpria

Rather therefore this may point at the feveral invafions and incurfions of the Chaldean army into Fudea, under Nebuchadnezzar and his generals; firft, when he came up againit Ferujalem, and made Feboiakim tributary to him; a fecond time, when he carried Febciachin and his family into Badylon, with a multitude of the Fews, and their wealth; a third time, when he befieged Ferufalem, and took it; and Zedekiab the king, and carried him captive; and a fourth time, when Nebuzaradan- came and burnt the temple, and the houles of Yeru/alem, and broke down the walls of it, and cleared the land of its inhabitants and mirth and jollity in them;. but now fhould be awake, and fober enough, not as being a virtue in them;. but thro” want of wine; and for the fame reafon fhould howl,.as follows: becaufe of the new wine, for it is cut of from your mouth; the locutts having fpoiled the vines, and eat the grapes, no new wine could be made, and fo none could be brought in cups to their mouths; nor they drink it in bowls, as they had ufed to do; and which being fweet and grateful to their tafte, they were wont to drink in great abundance, till they were inebriated with it; but now there was a {carcity, their lips were dry, but not their eyes. The word, Kimchi fays, fignifies all liquor, which is fqueezed by bruifing or treading. ©

¥. 6. For a nation is come up upon my land, &c.]} A nation of locufts, fo called from. their great numbers, and coming from foreign parts; juit as the ants are called a people, and the conies a’ folk, Prov. xxx. 25, 26. and which were an emblem of the nation of the Chaldeans, which came up from Babylon, and invaded the land of Fudea; called by the Lord my land, becaufe he had chofen it for the habitation of his people; here he himfelf had long dwelt, and had been ferved and worfhipped in it: tho’ Kimchi thinks thefe are the words of! the inhabitants of the land, or of the prophet; but if ic can be thought they are any other than’ the words of God, they rather.feem to be expreffed by the drunkards in particular, howling for want of wine, and obferving the reafon of it: frrong, and. without number this defcription feems better to agree with the the Afprians or Chaldeans, who were a mighty and powerful people, as well as numerous; tho’ locufts, notwithftanding they are weak fingly taken, yet coming in large bodies, carry all before them, and there’s no ftopping them: whofe teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek-teeth of a great lion; or the grinders ™ of fuch a one; being hard, ftrong, and fharp, to bite off the tops, boughs, and branches of trees: Pliny" fays, locufts will gnaw with their teeth the doors of houfes; fo the teeth of locufts are defcribed in Rev. ix. 8. this may denote the ftrength, cruelty, and voracioufnefs of the Chaldean army.

y¥. 7. He hath laid my vine wafte, &c.| That is, the locuft, which fpoiled the vines in ‘fudea, the fingular being put for the plural, by gnawing the branches, biting the tops of them, and devouring the leaves and the fruit; and fo not only left them bare and barren, but deftroyed them: this may emblematically reprefent the Affyrians or Babylonians wafting the land-.of ‘fudea, the vine and vineyard of the Lord of hofts; fee Ji v. 1—5: and barked my fig-tree; gnawed off the bark of them; locufts are not only hurtful to vines, as is hinted by Theocritus °, but to fig-trees alfo: Pliny? {peaks of figtrees in Bwotia gnawn by locufts, which budded again; and mentions it as fomething wonderful and miraculous that they fhould: and yet Sanéfius obferves, that thefe,words cannot be underftood properly of the locufts, fince fig-trees cannot be hurt by the bite or touch of them; which befides their roughnefs have an infipid bitter juice, which preferves them from being gnawn by fuch creatures; and the like is obferved of the cyprefs by Vitruvius 4, but the paffage out of Péiny fhews the contrary. Some interpret it of a froth or feum they left upon the fig-tree when they gnawed it, fuch as ben £zra fays is upon the face of the water; and fomething like this is left by caterpillers on the leaves of trees, which deftroy them. He hath made it clean bare; tripped it of its leaves and fruit, and bark alfo: and caft it away, having got out all the juice they could: the branches thereof are made white; the bark being gnawed off, and all the greennefs and verdure of them dried up; {fo trees fook, when this is their cafe: and thus the ews were ftripped by the Chaldeans of all their wealth and treafure, and were left bare and naked, and as the fcum and offscouring of all things.

¥. 8. Lament like a virgin, &c.] This is not the continuation of the prophet’s fpeech to the drunkards; but, as 4ben Ezra obferves, he either fpeaks to himfelf, or to the land. The Targum fupplies it, O congregation of J/rael; the more religious and godly part of the people are here addreffed; who were concerned for the pure worfhip of God, and were as a chafte virgin efpoufed to Chrift, tho’ not yet come, and for whom they were waiting; thefe are called upon to lament the calamities of the times in doleful ftrains, like a virgin: girded with fackcloth, for the hufband of her youth; either as one that had been betrothed to a young man,:

but not married, he dying after the efpoufals, and before marriage; which mutt be greatly diftrefling to one that paffionately loved him; and therefore inftead of her nuptial robes, prepared to meet him, and be married in, girds herfelf with fackcloth; a coarfe hairy fort of cloth, as was ufual in the eaftern countries, to put on in token of mourning: or as one lately married to a young man fhe dearly loved, and was exceffively fond of, and lived extremely happy with; but being fuddenly fnatched away ‘from her by death, puts on her widow’s weed, and mourns not in fhew only, but in reality; having loft in her youth her young hufband, fhe had the ftrongeft affection for: this is ufed to ex-

‘prefs the great lamentation the people are called unto, in this time of their diftrefs.

¥. g. The meat-offering, and the drink-offering is cut off from the houfe of the Lord, &c.| The meatoffering was made of fine flour, oil, and frankincenfe; and the drink-offering was of wine; and becaufe of the want of corn and wine, thefe were not brought to the temple as ufual; and which was matter of great grief to religious perfons, and efpecially to the priefts, as follows: the priefts, the Lord’s minifiers mourn; partly becaufe they had no work to do, and could not anfwer to their character, the minifters of the Lord, in miniftring about holy things, and bringing the facrifices and offerings of the people to him; and partly becaufe of their want of food, their livelihood greatly depend-. ing on the offerings brought, part of which belonged to them, and on which they and their families lived.

y. 10. The field is wafted, &c.] By the locufts, that eat up all green things, the grafs and herbs, the fruit and leaves of trees; and alfo by the Chaldeans trampling on it with their horfes, and the increafe of which became fodder for them: she land mournetb, being deftitute, nothing growing upon it, and fo looked difmally, and of an horrid alpect; or the inhabitants of it, for want of provifion: for the corn is wafted; by the locufts, and fo by the Afjrian or Chaldean army, before it came to perfection: the new wine is dried up; in the grape, thro’ the drought after-mentioned: or, is afbamed*, not anfwering the expectations of men, who faw it in the clufter, promifing much, but ° failed: the oil languifbeth; or fickens *; the olivetrees withered; the olives fell off, as the Z: orgum, and fo the oil failed: the corn, wine, and oil are particularly mentioned, not only as being the chief fupport of human life, as Kimchi obferves, and fo the lofs of them muft be matter of lamentation to the people in general; but becaufe of thefe the meat and drink-offerings were, and therefore the priefts in particular had reafon to mourn.

y. 11. Be ye afoamed, O ye bufbandmen, 8c.) Tillers of the land, who have took a great deal of pains in cultivating the earth, dunging, plowing, and fowing it; confufion may cover you, becauie of your difappointment, the increafe not anfwering to your expectations and labours: how/, O ye vinedreffers; that worked in the vineyards, fet the vines, watered and pruned them, and when they had done all they could to them, were dried up with the drought, or devoured by the locufts, as they were deftroyed by the Affirians or Chaldeans; and - therefore had reafon to hew] and lament, all their labour being loft: for the wheat, and for the barley, becaufe the barveft of the field is perifbed; this belongs to the hufbandmen, is a reafon for their fhame and blufhing, becaufe the wheat and barley were deftroyed before they were ripe; and fo had neither wheat nor barley-harveft. The words, © by a tranfpofition, would read better, and the fenfe be-clearer, thus, be ye afbamed, O ye hufbandmen, for. the wheat, and for the barley, becaufe the harveft, &c. howl, O ye vine-dreffers; for what fol-

.¥. 12. The vine is dried up, &c:] Withered away, {tripped of its leaves and fruits, and its fap and moifture gone: or, ts afhamed'; to fee itfelf in this condition, and not anfwer the expectation of its proprietor and drefler: and the fig-tree languifoeth, lickens and dies, thro’ the bite of the locufts: the pomegranate-tree; whofe fruit is delicious, and of which wine was made: the palm-tree alfo,; which bears dates: and the apple-tree; that looks fo beautiful, when either in bloom, or laden with fruit, and whofe fruit is very grateful to. the palate; fo that both what were for common ufe and neceffary food, and what were for delight and pleafure, were deftroyed by thefe noifome creatures: even all the trees of the field are withered; for locufts not only devour the leaves and fruits of trees, but hurt the trees themfelves; burn them up by touching them, and caufe them to wither away and die, both by the faliva and dung, which they leave upon them, as Bochart, from various authors, has proved: Jbecaufe joy is withered away from the fons of men; this is not given as a reafon of the above trees dried up and withered, but of the lamentation of the vine-dreffers and hufbandmen: or elfe the particle 3 is merely expletive, or may be rendered, therefore, or truly, or furely *, joy is withered; or afhamed; it blufhes to appear, as it ufed to do at the time of harveft; but now there was no harveft, and fo no joy exprefied, as ufually was at fuch times; fee J/. ix. 3.

¥. 13. Gird yourfelves, and lament, ye priefts, &c.] Prepare and be ready to raife up lamentation and mourning; or gird yourfelves with fackcloth, and mourn in that, as Aven Ezra and Kimchi fupply the words; fee Fer. iv. 8: howl, ye minifters of the altar; who ferved there, by laying on and burning the facrifices, or offering incenfe: come, lie all mght in fackcloth, ye minifters of my God, that is, come into the houfe of the Lord, as Kimchi, into the court of the priefts, and there lie all night, in the fackcloth girded with; putting up prayers to God, with weeping and lamentations, that he would avert the judgments that were come, or were coming upon them: for the meat-offering and the drink- offering are withbolden from the boufe of your God; {ee the note on ¥. 9.

¥. 14. Sanétify ye a faft, &c.] This is fpoken to the priefts, whofe bufinefs it was to appoint a faft, as the Targum renders it; or to fet apart a time for fuch religious fervice, as the word fignifies; and to keep it holy themfelves, and fee that it was fo kept by others: Kimchi interprets it, prepare the people for a faft; give them notice of it, that they may be prepared for it: call a folemn affembly, of all the people of the land after-mentioned: or, proclaim a reftraint™; a time of ceafing, as a faft-day fhould be from all fervile work, that attendance. may be given to the duties of it, prayer and humiliation: gather the elders; meaning not thofe in age, but in office: and all the inhabitants of the land, not the magiftrates only, tho” firft and principally, as examples, who had been deeply con- rana, Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, they are feparated and f{cattered under the earth, fet. 439 cerned in guilt; but the common people alfo, everi all of them: into the boufe of the Lord your God; the temple, the court of the Yraelites, where they were to go and fupplicate the Lord, when fuch a calamity as this of locufts and caterpillers were upon them; and where they might hope the Lord would hear them, and remove his judgments from them, 1 Kings viii. 37: and cry unto the Lord; in prayer, with vehemence and earneftnefs of foul.

¥. 15. Alas for the day, for the day of the Lord is at hand, &c.] A time of feverer and heavier Judgments than thefe of the locufts, caterpillers, ec. which were a prefage and emblem of greater ones, even of the total deftruction of their city, temple, and nation, either by the Chaldeans, or by the Romans, or both: and as a deftruétion from the Almighty fall it come, unawares, fuddenly, and irrefiftibly: there is in the Hebrew text an elegant paronomafia, which may be rendered, as wafting from the wafter, or deftruction from the deftrayer fhall it come*; even from the almighty God, who is able to fave and deftroy, and none can deliver out of his hands; fee J/, xiii. 6. the word fignifies one powerful and victorious, as dben Ezra obferves; and fo it does in the dradic language.

¥. 16. Is not the meat cut off before our eyes? &c.] Such an interrogation moft f{trongly affirms; it was a matter out of all queftion, they could not but fee it with their eyes; it was a plain cafe, and not to be denied, that every eatable thing, or that of which food was wont to be made, was cut of by the locufts, or the drought, or by the Afjrian or Chaldean army: yea, joy and gladnefs from the houfe of our God, the harveft being perifhed, there were no firft-fruits brought to the temple, which ufed to be attended with great joy; and the corn and vines being wafted, no meat-offerings made of fine flour, nor drink-offerings of wine, were offered,’ which ufed to make glad God ard man; nor any other facrifices, on which the priefts and their families lived, and were matter of joy to them; and thefe they ate of in the temple, or in courts adjoining to it. So Philo” the Few fays of the ancient ‘ews, that ‘* having prayed and offered facri- “< fices, and appeafed the deity, they wafhed their ** bodies and fouls; the one in lavers, the other in the ftreams of the laws, and right inftruction; and being chearful, turned themfelves to their food, not going home oftentimes, but remaining in the holy places where they facrificed; and as mindful of the facrifices, and reverencing the place, they kept a feaft truly holy, not finning either in word or deed.” ¥. 17. The feed is rotten under their clods, &c.] Or grains * of wheat or barley, which had been fown, and for want of rain, putrified and wafted away under the clods of earth, thro’ the great drought; fo that what with locufts, which cropped that that did bud forth, and with the drought, by reafon of which much of the feed fown came to nothing, an extreme famine enfued: the Targum is, ‘* cafks of ‘¢ wine rotted under their coverings:” the garners are defolate; the treafuries*, or ftorehoufes, having nothing in them, and there being nothing to put into them; Yarchi makes thefe to be peculiar for wine and oil, both which failed, ¥. 10: the barns are broken down; in which the wheat and barley

440 AR had ufed to be laid up; but this judgment Of the locufts and drought continuing year after year, the walls fell down, and no care was taken to re-.

pair them, there being no ufe for them; thefe were the granaries, and as Farchi, for wheat particularly; for the corn is withered; that which fprung up withered and dried away, thro’ the heat and drought: or was a/bamed®, not anfwering the expectation of the fower.

¥. 18. How do the beafts groan? &c.] For want of fodder, all green grafs and herbs being eat up by the locufts; or devoured, or trampled upon, and deftroyed by the Chaldeans; and alfo for want of water to quench their thirft: she herds of cattel are perplexed, becaufe they bave no pafiure, the larger cattel, as oxen; thefe were in the utmoft perplexity, not knowing where to go for food or drink: yea, the flocks of foeep are made defolate; which have fhepherds to lead and direct them to paftures, and can feed on commons, where the gtafs is fhort, which other cattel cannot; yet even thefe were in great diftrefs, and wafted away, and were confumed for want of nourifhment.

*y. 19. O Lord, to thee will I cry, &c.] Or pray, as the Targum; with great vehemency and earnettnefs, commiferating the cafe of man and beaft: thefe are the words of the prophet, refolving to ufe his intereft at the throne of grace in this time of diftrefs, whatever others did: for the jire hath devoured the paftures of the wildernefs; or, of the plain*, though in the wilderneffes of Fudea, there were paftures for cattel: Kimchi interprets them of the fhepherds tents or coats, as the word “is fometimes ufed; which were wont to be pitched, where there were paftures for their flocks: and fo the Targum renders it, the habitations of the wildernefs; thefe, whether paftures or habitations, or both, were deftroyed by fire; the paftures by the locutfts, as Kimchi; which, as Pliny © fays, by touching burn

| this chapter, a further account is given of the judgment of the locufts and caterpillers, or of thofe who are defigned by them, ¥. 1—11. the people of the Fews are called to repentance, humiliation, and fafting, urged from the grace and goodnefs of God, his jealoufy and pity for his people, and the anfwer of prayer that might be expected from him upon this, even to the removal of the calamity, ¥. 12—20. a prophecy of good things, both temporal and {piritual, in the times of the Meffiah, is delivered out as matter and occafion of great joy, ¥. 21~—27. and another concerning the effufion of the Spirit, which was fulfilled on the day of Pentecoft, ¥. 28, 29. and the chapter is concluded with the judgments and defolations that fhould come upon the land of Fudea after this, for their rejection of,Chrift, tho’ the remnant according to the election of grace fhould be delivered and faved from the general deftructions" ¥. 30, 31, 32.

¥. 1. Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and found an alarm in my holy mountain, &c.| This is fpoken to the priefts, whofe bufinefs it was to blow the trumpets for calling folemn affemblies to meet in Zion, earth; tho’ all thefe phrafes may be exp great afflictions and calamities, which are often the trees, herbs, and- fruits of the earth; fee ch. it 3- or by the Afprians or Chaldecns, who by fire and {word confimed all in their way; ot by a dry burning blafting wind, as Lyra; and fo the Targum interprets it of a ftrong eaft wind like fire? it feems rather to defign extreme heat and exceffive drought, which burn up all the produce of the earth: and the flame hath burnt all the trees of the field; which may be underftood of fafhes of lightning, which are common in times of great heat and drought; fee P/. Ixxxiii. 14. <a

¥. 20. The beafts of the field cry alfo unto thees &c.] As well as the prophet, in their way; which may be mentioned, both as a rebuke to fuch who had no fenfe of the judgments upon them, and called not on the Lord; and to exprefs the greatnefs of the calamity, of which the brute creatures were fenfible, and made piteous moans, as for food, ¢ fo for drink; panting thro’ exceffive heat and vehement thirlt, as the hart after the water-brooks, of which this word is only ufed, P/- xlii. x. bur in vain: for the rivers of water are dried up; not only {prings, and rivulets, and brooks of water, but rivers, places where were large deep waters, as. Aben Ezra explains it; either by the Afjrian army, the like Sennacherib boafts of, J/: xxxvii. 25. and is faid to be done by the army of Xerxes, whereever it came; or rather by the exceflive heat- and fcorching beams of the fun, by which fuch effects are produced: aud the fire bath devoured the paflures of the wildernefs; {ee the note on ¥. 19. and whereas the word rendered pajiures, fignifies both bem and habitations alfo; and being repeated, it may be taken in one of the fenfes in y. 1 g. and in the other here: and fo Kimchi, who interprets it before of tents, here explains it of grafly places in the saldstnah, dried up, as if the fun had confumed the temple built there, called from thence the holy mountain of God. Here the trumpet is ordered to be blown with a broken quivering voice, a ta= rantantara, to give notice of approaching danger by the locufts, or thofe enemies fignified by them, and to prepare for it, and return to God by repentance. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; at the judgments of God coming upon them, and the alarm of them: for the day of the Lerdcometh, for it is nigh at hand; the time fixed by. him to punifh a wicked people, and to pour out his wrath and vengeance on them; the day of his — vifitation, not in love, but in anger) 5

¥. 2. A day of darkne/s, and of gloominefs, a day of clouas, and of thick darknefs, 8c.) Alluding tothe gloomy and thick darknefs caufed by the locufts, which fometimes come in prodigious numbers, like thick clouds, and darken the dir; fo the land of Zgypt was darkened by them, Exod. x. 15. hiftorians and travellers ‘relate, as Bochart‘ has fhewn, that thefe creatures will fly like a cloud, and darken the heavens at noon-day, cover the fun, and hinder the rays-of it from tou g |

. Egypt, and fince in other countries.

Ch. it. Y. 3—5: by 3 O feripture fignified by darknefs, as profperity is by light; fee //. viii. 22. and ix. 1: as the morning Jpread upon the mountains, as the tmotning: light when it firft appears, diffufes itfelf in a moment throughout the earth, and is firft feen on the tops of the mountains *; fo thefe locufts, and this calamity threatened, fhould fuddenly and at once come, and be fpread over the whole land; and which could no more be refifted than the morninglight. The Vulgate Latin verfion renders it in connexion with the next claufe, as the morning Spread upon the mountains, a people much and mighty but the accents will not admit of it; tho’ it may feem a little improper, that the fame thing fhould be as a dark day, and the morning-light; wherefore Cocceius underftands the whole of the day of Chrift, which was light to many nations, and darknefs to the wicked Fews: a great people, and a firong, numerous and mighty, many in number, mighty in ftrength; fo the locufts are reprefented as a nation and people for might and multitude, ch. i. 6. an emblem of the Chaldeans and Babylonians, who were a large and powerful people: there hath not been ever the like, neither shall any more after it, even to the years of many generations; that is, in the land of Fudea, otherwife there might have been the like before in other places, as in Farchi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi account for it, thus; that it was never known before or fince, that four kinds of locufts came together; as for the plague of Egypt there was but one fort of them, they fay; but it is beft to underftand it of the like not having been in the fame country: and fuch a numerous and powerful army as that of the Chaldeans had not been in Fudea, and made fuch havock and defolation as that did; nor would any hereafter for many generations, even until the Romans came and took away their place and nation. y. 3. A fire devoureth before them, and bebind them a flame burneth, &c.] This is not to be underftood of the heat of the fun, or of the great drought that went before and continued after the locufts; but of them themfelves, which were like a confuming fire; wherever they came,they devoured all green grafs, herbs and leaves of trees, as fire does ftubble; they fucked out the juice and moifture of every thing they came’ at, and what they left behind fhriveiled up and withered away, as if it had been fcorched with a flame of fire: and fo the Affyrians and Chaldeans, they were an emblem of, deftroyed all they met with, by fire and fword,; cut up the corn and herbage for forage, and what they could not difpenfe with they fet fire to, and left it burning. Sanéfius thinks this refers -to fire,