Exposition of the Whole Bible

the cattel; and by reducing the podrto éxtremeé poverty, they obliged them to take that of them at their own price. - It may be rendered; the fall of wheat *; that which fell under the fieve; when the wheat was fifted; as Aben Ezra; Kimchi, and. Ben Melech obferve., ¥. 7. The Lord hath fworn by the excellency of Jacob, &c.] Not by the ark, as R: Faphet; nor by the temple, as Kimchi; but by himfelf; which fenfe Kimchi alfo mentions, and ben Ezra; the God of Facob and his glory, the moft excellent of all ‘Facob’s enjoyments, and of whom he had reafon to boaft and glory; fee ch. vi: 8: furely I will never forget any of their works; their wicked works, efpecially thofe now mentioned; God forgets when he forgives them, or fufférs them to go unpunifhed; but tho’ he had done fo long, he would do fo no more; on which they might depend, fince he had not only faid it, but fwore to it:; ¥. 8. Shall not the land tremble for this, 8c.] For this wickednefs committed, in ufing the-poor with fo much inhumanity? may not an earthquake be expected? and which happened two years after Amos began to prophefy, ch. i. 1. or that the earth fhould gape and {wallow up thefe men alive, guilty of fuch enormities? or fhall not the inhabitants of the land tremble at fuch judgments, which ‘the Lord hath fworn he will bring upon it? and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? at the hearing of. them, and efpecially when they fhall come upon them: as the calamity would be general, the mourning fhould be univerfal: and it fhall rife up wholly as a flood; that is, the calamity threatened fhall rife up at once like a flood of waters, like Noabh’s flood, and cover the whole land, and wafh off and utterly deftroy man and beaft: and it fhall be caft out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt; or the river of Egypt, the Nile, which overflows at certain times, and cafts up, its waters and its mud, and drowns all the country; fo that the whole country, during its continuance, looks like a fea: it overflows both its banks, both towards Lydia or Africa, and towards Arabia, and on each fide about two days journey, as Herodotus * relates; and this it does regularly every year, in the fummer folttice, in the higher and middle Egypt, where it feldom rains, and its flood is neceffary; but is not fo large in the lower Egypt, where it more frequently rains, and the country needs it not. Strabo * fays, this flood remains more than forty days, and then it decreafes. by little and little, as it increafed; and within fixty days the fields are feen and dried up; and the fooner that is, the fooner they plow and fow, and have the better harvefts. Herodotus ‘ fays, it continues a hundred days, and is near the fame in returning; and he fays, unlefs it rifes to fixteen, or at leaft fifteen cubits, it will not overflow the country ®*: and according to Pliny", the proper increafe of the waters is fixteen cubits; if only they arife to twelve, it is a famine; if to thirteen, it is hunger; if to fourteen, it brings chearfulnefs; if to fifteen, fecurity; and if to fixteen, delights. But Strabo ' relates, that the fertility by it is different at different times; before the times of Petronius, the greateft fertility was when the Nile arofe to the fourteenth cubit; and when to the eighteenth, it was a famine: but when he was governor of thae country, when it only reached the twelfth tia there there wa8 great fruitfulnefs, and when it came to the eighth (the eighteenth I fuppofe it fhould be) no famine was perceived. An Arabic writer * gives an account of the Ni/ometry, or meafures of the Nile, from the year of Chrift 622 to 1497; and he fays, that when the depth of the channel of the Nile is fourteen fathom, an harveft may be expected, that will amount to one year’s provifion; but if it increafes to fixteen, the corn will be fufficient for two years; lefs than fourteen, a fcarcity; and more than eighteen makes a famine. Upon the whole it feems, that fixteen cubits have been reckoned the ftandard that portends plenty, for many generations, to which no addition has appeared to have been made during the fpace of five hundred years. ‘* This we learn, fays Dr. Shaw ',

‘¢ not only from the fixteen children that attend the ftatue of the Nile, but from Pliny alfo; and likewife from a medal of Hadrian in the great brafs, where we fee the figure of the Nile, with <¢ a boy upon it, pointing to the number 16. Yet in the fourth century, which it will be difficult to account for, fifteen cubits only are recorded by the emperor Julian ™, as the height of the Nile’s inundation; whereas, in the middle of « the fixth century, in the time of Fuffinian, Pro- <¢ copius " informs us, that the rife of the Nile exceeded eighteen cubits; in the feventh century, «¢ after Egypt was fubdued by the Saracens, the amount was fixteen or feventeen cubits; and at prefent, when the river rifes to fixteen cubits, the Egyptians make great rejoicings, and call out, wafaa Allah, that is, God has given them all they wanted.” ‘The river begins to fwell in

May, yet no public notice is taken of it till the 28th or 29th of Yune; by which time it is ufually rifen to the height of fix or eight pikes (or cubits, anx@, a Turkifh meafure of 26 inches); and then public criers proclaim it through the capital, and other cities, and continue in the fame manner till it rifes to fixteen pikes; then they cut down the dam of the great canal. If the water increafes to the height of twenty-three or twenty-four pikes, it is judged moft favourable; but if it exceed that, it does a great deal of mifchief, not only by overflowing houfes, and drowning cattel, but alfo by ingendring a great number of infects, which de- {troy the fruits of the earth °. And a late learned traveller? tells us, that ‘* eighteen pikes is an in- ‘* different Nile (for fo high it is rifen when they declare it but fixteen); twenty is middling; twenty-two is a*good Nile, beyond which it feldom rifes; it is faid, if it rifes above twentyfour pikes, it is looked on as an inundation, <* and is of bad confequence.” And to fuch a flood the allufion is here, Thus the land of J/rae/ fhould be overwhelmed, and plunged into the utmoit diftrefs, and fink into utter ruin, by this judgment coming upon them;,even the Afyrian army like a flood, fpreading themfelves over all the land, and deftroying it. ** king fhall come up againft it with his army, ** large as the waters of a river, and fhall cover it ** wholly, and expel the inhabitants of it, and. ee plunge as the river of Egypt;” fee If: viii. rks

¥. 9. And it foail come to pafs in that day, faith the Lord God, &c.| When this deluge and defo- will caufe the fun to go down at noon, or to befo dark as if it was fet; as at the time of our Lord’s crucifixion, to which many of the ancient fathers refer this prophecy, though it has refpect to other times and things. ‘farchi interprets it of the kingdom of the houfe David. kingdom of J/rae/, their whole policy civil and ecclefiaftic, and the deftruction of it; particularly their king, princes, and nobles, that fhould be in - great adverfity, and that fuddenly and unexpectedly; it being a fine fun-fhine morning with them, and they in great profperity, and yet by noon their fun would be fet, and they in the utmoft darknefs and diftrefs. ud I will darken the earth in a clear day; the land of J/rae/, the people of it, the common people, who fhould have their fhare in this calamity and affliction; and tho’ it had been a clear day with them, and they promifed themfelves much and long felicity, yet on a fudden their light would be turned into darknefs, and their joy into fadnefs and forrow.

y. 10. Aud I will turn your feafts into mourning, and all your fongs into lamentation, &c.| Either their religious feafts, the feafts of pentecoft, tabernacles, and paffover; at which three feafts there were eclipfes of the fun, a few years after this prophecy of Amos, as bifhop Ufber * obferves; the firft was an eclipfe of the fun, about ten digits, in the year of the Fulian period 3923, Fune 24th, at the teaft of Pentecoft; the next was almoft twelve digits, about eleven years after, on November 8th, 3934, at the feaft of the Tabernacles; and the third was more than eleven digits in the following year, 3935, on May sth, at the feaft of the Paffover; which the above prophecy may literally refer to, and which might occafion great forrow and concern, and efpecially at what they might be thought to forebode: but particularly this was fulfilled, when thefe feafts could not be obferved any longer, nor the fongs ufed at them fung any more; or elfe their feafts, and fongs at them, in their own houfes, in which they indulged themfelves in mirth and jollity; but now inftead thereof, there would be mourning and lamentation for the lofs of their friends, and being carried captive into a ftrange land. And J will bring up fackcloth upon all loins, of high and low, rich and poor; even thofe that ufed to be covered with filk and rich - embroideries: fackcloth was a coarfe cloth put on in times of mourning for the dead, or on account of public calamities: and baldne/s upon every bead; the hair being either fhaved off, or pulled off; both which were fometimes done, as a token of mourning: aad I will make it as the mourning of an only fon; as when parents mourn for an only fon, which is generally carried to the greateft height, and continued longeft, as well as is: moft fincere and paffignate; the cafe being exceeding cutting and afflictive, as this is hereby reprefented to be: and the end thereof.as a bitter day; a day of bitter calamity, and of bitter wailing and mourning, in the bitternefs of their fpirits; tho’ the beginning of the day was bright and clear, a fine fun-fhine, yet the end of it dark and bitter, diftreffing and forrowful, it being the end of the people of Jrael, as in ¥. 2.

¥. 11. Behold the days come, faith the Lord God, &c.] Which Kimchi interprets of all the days of — lation of the land fhall be, now fpoken of: shat I the fecond houfe or temple after Malachi, when

® Apud Calmet. Diétionary in the word Nile.

A M prophecy ceafed; but it rather has refpect to the time of Salmanefer’s carrying captive the ten tribes, when they had no more prophets nor prophecy among them, or any to tell how long their captivity fhould laft, or when it would be better times with them, Pf. lxxiv. 9: that I will fend a famine in the land; which, in a literal fenfe, is one of God’s arrows he has in his quiver, and fends out when he pleafes; or one of his fore judgments, which he fometimes orders to come upon a people for their fins: but here is meant, wot a famine of bread, ot thro’ want of that, which is very dreadful; as was the famine of Samaria, when an afs’s head was fold for fourfcore pieces of filver, and a certain meafure of dove’s dung for five pieces of filver, 2 Kings vi. 25. and as were the famines of Jerufalem, when taken both by the Chaldeans and Romans, when delicate women boiled and eat their own children, Lam. iv. 8, 9, 10: nor a thirft for water; which is more diftreffing and tormenting than hunger; and to be flain with thirft, is to be deftroyed in the moft afflictive manner, Hof: ii. 3. Lyfimachus is faid to part with his kingdom for a draught of water; and the torments of hell are fet forth by a violent thirft for it, Luke xvi. 24. but fomething worfe than either of thefe is here threatned: dut of bearing the words of the Lord; the word of prophecy, and the preaching of the word, or explaining the fcriptures. Of this blefling the ten tribes were deprived at their captivity, and have been ever fince; and the ews, upon their rejection of Chrift, have had the kingdom of God, the gofpel of the kingdom, the word and ordinances of God, taken from them, and remain fo to this day; the feven churches of 4fa have had their candleftick removed out of its place, and this famine continues in thofe parts to this time; and by the fymptoms upon us, we may juftly fear it will be our cafe ere long. Zhe words of the Lord are the fcriptures, which come from him, and are concerning him; the doétrines of grace contained in them, the wholefome words of Chrift: hearing them, fignifies the preaching of them, J/ liii. 1. Gal. iii. 2.. by which hearing comes, and is a great blefling, and fhould be attended to, as being the means of converfion, regeneration, the knowledge of Chrift, faith in him, and the joy of it. Now to be deprived of hearing the gofpel is a fpiritual famine, for that is food, bread, meat, milk, honey, yea a feaft; it is food that is favoury, wholefome, nourifhing, fatisfying, ftrengthening, and comforting; and when this is took away a famine enfues; as when a church-ftate is diffolved, minifters are ordered to preach no more in fuch a place, or are fcattered by perfecution, or removed by death, and none raifed up in their ftead; or when error pre-

_vails, to the fupprefling of truth: all which is done, or fuffered to be done, for indifference to the word of God, unfruitfulnefs under it, and contempt of it, and oppofition to it; which is a dreadful cafe, when fuch a famine is; for the glory, riches, and light of a nation are gone; bread for their fouls is no more; and the means of converfon, knowledge, comfort, &c. ceafe; and people in courfe muft die, for lack of thefe things; fee If. iii. 1. Hof. iv. 6.

foall wander from fea to fea,

OS. 493 the dead fea, the lake Ajphaliitis; or from thé Red! jea, which was to the fouth of the land of LTfrael, to the great fea, which is to the weft, as hen Ezra: fo the Targum, ‘* from the fea to the weit;”* that is, to the Mediterranean fea: and from the north, even to the eaft proceeding from the foutli to the weft, they fhall turn from thence to the north, and fo to the eaft, which defcribes the borders of the land of Canaan, Numb. xxxiv. 3—12. and the fenfe is, that hey /hall go to and fro throughout the whole land, and allover it, to feek the word of the Lord; not the written word, but the interpretation of it; doétrine from before the Lord, as the Targum; the preaching of the word, or minifters to inftruct them in it; or the word of prophecy, and prophets to tell them when it would be better times, and how long their prefent diftrefs fhould laft: and shall not find it; there fhould be no miniftry; no preaching, no prophefying; as never fince among the ten tribes, fo it has been the cafe of the Yews, the two tribes, upon the rejection of the Meffiah; the gofpel was taken from them’; no tidings could they hear of the Mefliah, though they ran to and fro to find him, it being told them. lo here, and lo. there; fee Fobu vii. 34, 35, 36. Luke xvii. 22..

¥. 13. Ln that day fhall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirft.| After the word, for want of that corn and wine, which make young men and maids chearful, Zech. ix. 17. but being deftitute of them, fhould be covered with forrow, overwhelmed, with grief, and ready to fink and die away. Thete, according to fome, defign the congregation of J/- rael; who are like to beautiful virgins, as the Targum paraphrafes it; and the principal men of it, the mafters of the affemblies: or, as others, fuch who wete trufling. to their own righteoufnefs, and feeking after that which they could never attaim juftification by, and did not hunger and thirft after the righteoufnefs of Chrift, and fo perifhed.

y. 14. They that fwear by the fin of Samaria, &c.] The calf at Bethel, which was near Samaria, and which the Samaritans worfhipped; and was fet up by their kings, and the worfhip of it encouraged by their example, and which is called the calf of Samaria. Hof. viii. 5, 6. the making of it was the effect of fin, and the occafion of leading into it, and ought to have been had in deteftation and abhorrence, as fin fhould; and yet by this the T/raelites {wore, as they had ufed to do by the living God; fo fetting up this idol on an equality with him: and fay, thy God, O Dan, liveth; the other calf, which was fet up in Dam; and to this they gave the epithet of the living God, which only belonged to the God of Jrael: and the manner of Beerfoeba; or, the way of Beerfoeba*; the long journey or pilgrimage of thofe at Beerfheba,; who chofe to go to Dan, rather than Bethel, to worfhip; imagining they fhewed greater devotion and religion, by going from one extreme part of the land to the other, for the fake of it. Dan was on the northern border of the land of Judea, about four miles from Paneas, as you go to Tyre*; and Beerfoeba was on the fouthern border of the land, twenty miles from Hebron'; and the diftance of thefe two places was about one hundred and fixty miles". And by this religious peregrination men

&c.} From the fea of Yiberias, or Galilee; or from {wore; or rather by the God of Beerfheba, as the

494 | Septuagint tender it; tho* the phrafe may only intend the religion of Beerjheba, the manner of worfhip there, it being a place where idolatry was practifed; fee ch. v. 5. The Targum is, * the ‘ fear (i. e. the deity) which is in Dax liveth, and

“< firm are the laws of Beerfheba.” Even they fhall fall, and never rife up again; that is, thefe idola- CHA

HIS chapter contains the fifth and laft vifion the prophet faw; which reprefents the certain defolation of the land; city, and temple, and the flaughter of all forts of perfons, high and low, none fhould efcape it, y. 1. be they where they would, they fhould be found out, whether in hell or heaven, on the tops of the higheft mountains, or in the bottom of the fea, or in a foreign land, fince the eyes of the Lord were upon them for evil, ¥. 2, 3, 4. nor could they hope to efcape, when they confidered his greatnefs and his power, and what he could do, and had done; and how they had behaved towards him, even though they were the people he had brought out of Egypt, ¥. 5, 6, 7. but tho? the finful kingdom fhould be deftroyed, yet not utterly, a remnant fhould be faved, y. 8, g, 10. and ‘the chapter is concluded with gracious promifes of raifing up the tabernacle of David fallen down, and of the return of the people of J/rael to their own land; and of their fettlement and continuance in it, never more to depart from it, y. II—I5.

y..1. And I faw the Lord ftanding upon the altar, &c.] Either upon the altar of burnt- offerings in the temple of ‘ferufalem, whither he had removed from the cherubim, fignifying his being about to depart, and that he was difpleafed, and would not be appeafed by facrifice: fo the Targum, ** faid “< Amos the prophet, I faw the glory of the Lord “* removing from the cherub, and it dwelt upon ‘* the altar;” and the vifion may refer to the deftruction of the ¥ews, their city and temple, either by the Chaldeans, or by the Romans: or rather, fince the prophecy in general, and this vifion in particular, feems to refpect the ten tribes only; it was upon the altar at Bethel the Lord was feen ftanding, as offended at the facrifices there offered, and to hinder them from facrificing them, as well as to take vengeance on thofe that offered them, 1 Kings xiii. 1, 2: and be faid; the Lord faid, either to the prophet in vilion, or to ohe of the angels, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi; or to the execu- | tioners of his vengeance, the enemies of the people of Jfrael: fmite the lintel of the door, that the pofis may /bake, the upper lintel, on which pomegranates and flowers were carved, and therefore called capbtor, as Kimchi thinks; this was the lintel of the door, either of the temple at Feru/alem, as the Fewih writers generally fuppofe; or rather of the temple at Bethel, fee » Kings xii. 31. Amos vii. 10, 13. which was to be fmitten with fuch force, that the pofts thereof fhould fhake; fignifying the deftruction of the whole building in a fhort time, and that none fhould be able to go in and out thereat: and cut them in the head all of them, and I will flay the laft of them with the fword; which fhows that the lintel and door-pofts are not to be taken literally, but figuratively, and that the fmiting trous perfons, that fweaf by the idols in the above places, fhall fall into calamity, ruin, and deftruction, by and-for their fins, and never recover out of it; which was fulfilled in the captivity of the ten tribes; from whence they have never returned to this day.: Ms > and cutting of them intend the deftruction of men; by the bead, the king, and the princes, and nobles, or the priefts; and by the Jaf of them, the common people, the meaner fort, or thofe that were left of them, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi: he that fleeth of them fhall not flee away, he that attempts to make” his efcape, and fhall flee for his life, fhall not get clear, but either be ftopped, or purfued and taken ¢ and be that efcapeth of them feall not be delivered; he that does get out of the hands of thofe that de-: {troy with the fword, fhall not be delivered from’ death, but fhall die by famine or peftilence. The Targum is, ‘* and he faid, unlefs the people of the *¢ houfe of J/rae/ return to the law, the candle- ‘¢ ftick fhall be extinguifhed, king Fofab fhall be ‘¢ killed, and the houfe deftroyed, and the courts “* diffipated, and the veffels of the houfe of the “© fanctuary fhall go into captivity; and the reft “¢ of them I will flay with the fword, €¢.” refering the whole to the ews, and to the deftruction of the temple at Ferufalem.

¥. 2. Though they dig into hell, thence foall mine hand take them, &c.] That is, they that endeavour to make their efcape from their enemies, though they feck for places of the greateft fecrecy and privacy; not hell the place of the damned; nor the grave the repofitory of the dead; neither of — which they chofe to be in, but rather fought to efcape them; but the deepeft and darkeft caverns, the utmoit receffés of the earth, the very center of it; which could they get into, would not fecure them from the power and providence of God, and from their enemies in purfuit of them, by his per-—

miffion: though they climb up to heaven, thence wilt

I bring them down, the fummit of the higheft _ P

-mountains, and get as near to heaven, and at as great a diftance from men as can be, and yet all in vain. ‘The Targum is, ‘* if they think to be <¢ hid as it were in hell, from thence their enemies «¢ fhall take them by my word and if they afcend ‘¢ the high mountains, to the top of heaven, thence ‘¢ will I bring them;” fee P/al. cxxxix. 8.

¥. 3. And though they bide themfelves in the top of Carmel, &c.] One of the higheft mountains in the land of Jjrael; in the woods upon it, and caves init: J will fearch and take them out from thence; by directing their enemies where to find them: fo the Targum, * if they think to be hid “* in the tops of the towers of caftles, thither will “‘ T command the fearchers, and they fhall fearch

“ them:” and though they be bid from my fight in the, bottom of the fea; get into fhips, going by fea to diftant parts; or make their efcape to ifles upon ~ the fea afar off, where they may think themfe fafe: thence will I command the ferpent, and be Pall bite them; the dragon that is in the fea, J. xxvii.

1. the great whale, in the fea, or the leviathan, fo Aben Ezra, Kimchi and Ben Melech, and is that - kind of whale which is called the Zygena, as Bo- - ghart chart * thinks; and which he, from various writers, defcribes as very monftrous, horrible and terrible, having five rows of teeth, and very numerous; and which not only devours other large fithes, but men fwimming it meets with; and having fuch teeth; with great propriety may be faid to bite. It appears from hence, that there are feaferpents, as well as land ones, to which the allufion is. Erick Pantoppidan, the prefent bifhop of Bergen*, {peaks of a /ee-ormen, or fea-{nake, in the northern feas, which he defcribes as very monftrous and very terrible to fea-faring men, being of feyen or eight folds, each folda fathom diftant nay, of the length of a cable, an hundred fathom, or fix hundred Exgiih feet; yea of one as thick as a pipe of wine, with twenty-five folds. Some fuch terrible creature is here refpected, tho’ figuratively underftood, and defigns fome crafty, powerful and cruel enemy. ‘The Yargum paraphrafes it, tho’ hid ‘* in the ifles of the fea, thither will I ** command the people ftrong like ferpents, and “* they fhall kill them;” fee P/. cxxxix. 9.

¥. 4. And tho’ they go into captivity before their enemies, &cc.| Alluding to the manner in which captives are led, being put before their enemies, and fo carried in triumph; fee Lam. i. 5. tho’ fome think this refers to their going voluntarily into a foreign country, in order to efcape danger, as Fobanan the foh of Kareah with the Fews went into Egypt, Fer. xliii. 6, 7. in whom Kimchi in- {tances: thence will I command the fword, and it feall flay them; or them that kill with the {word, as the Zargum;, fo that tho’ they thought by going into another country, or into an enemy’s country of their own accord, to efcape the fword of the enemy, or to curry favour with them, yet fhould not efcape: aud I will fet mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good, this is the true reafon, why let them be where they will they cannot be fafe, becaufe the eyes of the omnifcient God, which are every where, in heaven, earth, hell and the fea, are fet upon them, for their ruin and deftruction; and there’s no fleeing from his prefence, or getting out of his fight, or efcaping his hand. The Targum is, <* my word fhall be againft them.”

¥. 5. And the Lord Ged of hofts is be that toucheth the land, and it /ball melt, &c.\ Which is another reafon why it is impoffible to efcape the hands of a fin-revenging God, becaufe he is omnipotent as well as omnifcient; he is the Lord of all the armies above and below; and if he but touch the land, any particular country, as the land of J/rael, it fhakes and trembles, and falls into a flow of water, or melts like wax; as when he toucheth the hills and mountains they. {moke, being like fuel to fire; fee Pf. civ. 32. and cxliv. 5: and all that dwell therein. foall mourn, their houfes deftroyed, their fubftance confumed; and all that is near and dear to them {wallowed up: and it fhall rife up wholly j one above another; a word near a-kin to this ig rendered bis chambers, which are the clouds, Pf ClV..3, 13. perhaps the heaven, and the heaven of. heavens, which are three {tories high, may be meant; we read of the third heaven; 2 Cor. xii: 25 and particularly the throne of God is in the higheft heaven; and the aj/cents ¥ to it, as it may be rendered. The Targum is, “* who canfeth to dwell “* in an high fortrefs, the Shekinab of his glory:” and hath founded bis troop in the earth, this Kimchi interprets of the three above elements. So the words are tranflated in the dihops bible in ‘queen Elizabeth’s time, ‘* he buildeth his fpheres in the ‘* heaven, and hath laid the foundation of his globe “* of elements in the earth: ben Exra interprets it of animals; it may take in the whole compafs of created beings on earth; fo Yarchi explains it of the collection of his creatures; tho’ he takes notice of another fenfe given, a collection of the righteous, which are the foundation of the earth, and for whofe fake all things ftand, Abarbinel interprets it of the whole of the tribe of J/rael; and fo the argum parephrafes it of his congregation or church on earth: he beautifies his eleét, which are bis bundle *, as it may be rendered; who are bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord their God, and are clofely knit and united as to God and Chrift, fo to one another; and perhaps is the beft fenfe of the words *: he that calleth for the waters of the fea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth, the Lord is bis name; either to drown it, as at the general deluge; or to water and refrefh it, as he does by exhaling water from the fea, and then letting it down in plentiful fhowers upon the earth; fee the note on ch. v. 8. now all thefe things are obferved to fhew the power of God, and that therefore there can be no hope of efcaping out of his hands.

¥. 7. Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Ifrael, faith the Lord? &c.] And therefore had no reafon to think they fhould - be delivered, becaufe they were the children of Tfrael, of Abrabam, Ifaac and Facob; fince they were no more to God than the children of the Ethiopians, having behaved like them; and were become as black as they thro’ fin, and were idolaters like them; and fo accuftomed to fin, and hardened in it, that they could no more change their courfe and cuftom of finning, than the Erhiopian could change his fkin, Fer. xiii. 23. The Ethiopians are reprefented by Diodorus Siculus » as very religious, that is, very idolatrous; and as the firft that worfhipped the gods, and offered facrifice to them; hence they were very pleafing to them, and in high efteem with them; wherefore Homer ° {peaks of Fupiter, and the other gods going to Ethiopia to an anniverfary feaft, and calls them the blamelefs Ethiopians; and ‘o Lucian “ fpeaks of the gods as gone abroad, perhaps to the other like a flood, and fall be drowned as by the flood of fide of the ocean, to vifit the honeft Ethiopians 5

Egypt; fee the note on ch, viii. 8.

y. 6. Itis be that buildeth bis ftories in the heaven, &c.] The three elements, according to Aben Ezra, fire, air and water; the orbs; as Kimchi, for they are often ufed to vifit them, and, as he wittily obferves, even fometimes without being invited. archi fuggefts the fenfe to be, that they

‘were as creatures upon the fame foot, and of the

@ Schultens in Obferv. ad

Genefin, p. 197, 198. obferves, that X=») 4gad, with the Arabs fignifies primarily to bind, and is by them transferred to a building firmly bound, and compat together; and fo may intend here in Amos the Lord’s building, the church, which he hath founded in the earth; and fo X>s~0 with Golius and Caftellus is a building firmly compafed together. [YIN is ufed for a bunch of hyfiop, Exod. xii. 27. and in the Mifnic language for a handful or bundle of any thing; fee Buxtorf. Lex. Talmud. rad “138. » Bibliothec. 1, 3. p. 143, 144. © Jliad. 1. 1. 423. “In Jupiter Tragedus,, fame deftent with other nations; and paraphrafes it thus, “* from the fons of Noah ye came as the * reft of the nations.” Kimchi takes the meaning to be this, ‘* as the children of the Ethiopians are “* fervants, fo fhould ye be unto me.” The Zargum is very foreign from the fenfe, “* are ye not “< reckoned as beloved children before me, O houfe “of Ifrael;” the firft fenfe is beft: have ‘not I brought up Ifrael out of the land of Egypt? and therefore it was ungrateful in them to behave as they have done; nor can they have any dependence on this, or argue from hence that they fhall be indulged with other favours, or be continued in their land, fince the like has been done for other nations, as follows: and the Philiftines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? that is, have I not brought up the one from the one place, and the other from thé other? the Philiftines and Caphtorim are mentioned together as brethren, Gev. x. £4, and the Avim which dwelt in the land of Paleftine in Hazerim unto Azzab were deftroyed by the Capbiorim, who dwelt in their ftead, Deut. ii. 23. from whom it feems by this the Philifines were delivered, who are called the remnant of the country of Caphtor, Fer. xlvii. 4. Aben Ezra underftands it, as if the J/raelites were not only brought out of Egypt, but alfo from the Pdiliftines, and trom Caphtor: others take thefe two places, Caphtor and Kir, to be the original of the Pdiliftines and Syrians, and not where they had been captives, but now delivered: fo Faphet, ‘* ye are ** the children of one father, God, who brought you out of Egypt, and not as the Pdiliftines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir, who were mixed together;” and R. Fofeph Kimchi, thus, from Caphtor came deftroyers to the Philiftines, who deftroyed them; and from Kir came Tiglath-Pilefer the deftroyer to the Syrians, who carried them captive there.” Of the captivity of the Philiftines, and their deliverance from the Caphtorim, we no where read; the captivity of the Syrians in Kir, Amos prophefied of ch. i. 5. and if he fpeaks here of their deliverance from it, he muft live at leaft to the times of 4haz; for in his times it was they were carried captive thither, 2 Kings xvi. 9. Capbtor fome take to be Cyprus, becaufe it feems to be an ifland, er. xlvii. 4. but by it the Targum, Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac and Arabic verfions underftand Cappadocia; and the Cappadocians wfed to be called by the Greeks and Perfians Syrians, as Herodotus ¢, and others obferve. Bochart * is of opinion, that that part of Cappado- ' cia is intended, which is called Colchis; and the rather, fince he finds a city in that country called Side, which in the Greek tongue fignifies a pomegranate, as Capbtor does in Hebrew; and he fuppofes the richnefs of the country led the Caphtorim thither, who having ftaid a while, returned to Paleftine, and there fettled; which expedition he thinks is wrapped up in the fable of the Greek poets, concerning that of Zyphon out of Egypt to Colchis, and from thence to Paleftine; and indeed the Fewifh. Targumifts ® every where render Capbtorim by Cappadocians, and Caphtor by Cappadocia, or Caphutkia; but then by it they underftand a place in Egypt, even Pelufium, now called Damiata; for the Fewi/h writers fay », Caphutkia is Caphtor,

OS. in the Arabic language Dariicta; fo Benjamin of Tudela fays*, in two days I came to Damiata, this is Caphtor; and no doubt the Capbtorim were in Egypt originally, fince they defcended from Mizraim: but Calmet * will have it, that the ifland of Crete is meant by Caphtor; and obierves, that the Philiftines were at firft called ftrangers in Pale tmne, their proper name being Cherethites, or Cretians, as in Ezek. xxv. 16. Zeph. ii. 5. as the Septuagint render that name of theirs; and that the language, manners, arms, religion, and gods of the Pbhiliftines and Cretians are much the fame; he finds a city in Crete called Aptera, which he thinks has a fenfible relation to Caphter; and that the city of Gaza in Paleftine went by the name of Minoa, becaufe of Minos king of Crete, who coming into that country, called this ancient city by his own name. The Targum and Vulgate Latin verfion render Kir by Cyrene, by which muit be meant, not Cyrene in Africa, but in Media; fo Kir is mentioned along with Elam or Perfia in Jf. xxii. 6. whither the people of Syria were carried captive by Tiglath-

Pilefer,. as predicted in ch. i. 5. and, as the above writer obferves ', not certainly into the country of Cyrene near Egypt, where that prince was pofiefiled of nothing; but to Jderia or Albania, where the river Kir or Cyrus runs, which difcharges itfelf into the Ca/pian fea; and Fofephus ™ fays, they were tranfported into upper Media; and the above author, thinks, that the prophet mos in this pafiage probably intended to comprehend under the word Cyr or Kir the people beyond the Euphrates, and -thofe of Mefcpotamia from whence the Aramans in reality came, who were defcended from Aram the fon of Shem; and he adds, we have no certain knowledge of their coming in particular out of this country, where the river Cyrus flows: and upon the whole it is difficult to determine, whether this is to be underftood of the origin of thefe people, or of their deliverance from captivity; the latter may feem probable, fince it is certain, that the prophet {peaks of the deliverance of J/rael from the captivity of Egypt; and it is as certain, that the Syrians were carried captive to Kir, and no doubt from thence delivered; tho’ we have no account of the Philiftines being captives to Caphior, and of their deliverance from thence; however, doubtlefs thefe were things well known to 4mos, and in his © times, he here fpeaks of. In fome of our Englifh copies it is read Affyrians inftead of Syrians, very wrongly; for dram, and not Afbur, is the word here ufed.

y. 8. Bebold the eyes of the Lord God are upon the finful kingdom, &c.] God ‘is omnifcient, and.

his eyes are every where, and upon all perfons, ° good and bad, and upon all kingdoms, efpecially upon a finful nation; the /inning kingdom, or the kingdom of fin°, as it may be rendered; that is addicted to fin, where it prevails and reigns; every fuch kingdom, particularly the kingdom of Jree/, Ephraim or the ten tribes, given to idolatry, and other fins complained of in this prophecy; and that not for good, but for evil, as in ¥. 4. in order to cut them off from being a people: and I will deftroy it from off the face of the earth; fo that it fhall be no more, at leaft- asa kingdom; as the ten tribes have never been fince their captivity yn. oor - by Salmanefer; tho’ Fapbet intérprets this of all the kingdoms of the earth, being finful, the eyes of God are upon them to deftroy them, excepting the kingdom of J/rael, fo Abarbinel: faving that I will not utterly deftroy the houfe of Jacob, faith the Lord; and fo it is, that tho’ they have been deftroyed as a kingdom, yet not utterly as a people; there were fome of the ten tribes that mixed with the Fews, and others that were fcattered about in the world; and a remnant among them, according to the election of grace, that were met with in the miniftry of the apoftles, and in the latter day all Jfrael fhall be faved; fee Fer. xxx. 11.

¥. 9. For lo I will command, &c.| What follows; which is expreflive of afflictive and trying difpenfations of providence, which are according to the will of God, by his appointment and order, and over-ruled for his glory, and the good of his people: and I will fift the houfe of Ifrael among all nations, as corn is fifted in a fieve; this is to be underftood of fpiritual J/rael, of thofe who are Traelites indeed, who are like to corns of wheat, firft die before they live; die unto fin, and live unto righteoufnefs; grow up gradually, and produce much fruit; or like to wheat for their choicenefs and excellency, being the chofen of God and precious, and the excellent in the earth; and for their whitenefs arid purity, as clothed with Chrift’s righteoufnefs, wafhed in his blood, and fanctified by his Spirit; and for their fubftance and fulnefs, being filled out of Chrift’s fulnefs, and with all the fulnefs of God, with the Spirit and his graces, and with all the fruits of righteoufnefs; and for weight and folidity, not as chaff driven to and fro, but are firm and conftant, fettled and eftablifhed in divine things; and yet have the chaff of fin cleaving to them, and have need of the fiail and fan of affliction; and this is the fieve the Lord takes into his hands, and fifts them with; whereby fometimes they are greatly unfettled, and toffed to and fro, have no reft and eafe, but are greatly diftrefled on all fides, and are thoroughly fearched and tried, and the chaff loofened and feparated from them; and fometimes the Lord fuffers them to be fifted by the temptations of fatan, whereby they are brought into doubts and fears, and are very wavering and uncomfortable, are fadly harraffed and buffetted, and in great danger, were it not for the grace of God, and the interceffion of the Mediator, Luke xxii. 31: yet shall not the leaft grain fall upon the earth; or the leaft ftone ® 5 which is in the fpiritual building, and laid on the rock and foundation Chrift; or the leaft corn of wheat, fo called becaufe of its weight, folidity and fubftance. The meaning is, that the jeaft true J/raelite, or child of God, who is the leaft in the kingdom of heaven, and has the leaft fhare of grace and fpiritual knowledge, that is even lefs than the leaft of all faints, fhall not be loft and perith; tho’ they fall in Adam, yet they are preferved in Chrift, tho’ they fall into aétual fins and tranfgreffions, and fometimes into grofs ones, and from a degree of ftedfaftnefs in the faith, yet not totally and finally, or fo as to perifh for ever; no not an hair of their head fhall fall to the ground, or they be hurt and ruined; fee 1 Sam, xiv. 45. r Kings i. 52. for they are beloved of God with an everlafting love, ordained by him to eternal life, sh into his family, juftified by his grace, and are kept by his power, according to his promife, which never fails; they are Chrift’s property, given him of his Father, to whom he ftands in the relation of head and hufband; are the purchafe of his blood, clofely united to him, and for whom he intercedes, and makes preparations in heaven: The Spirit of God is their fanétifier and fealer; he dwells in them as their earneft of heaven; and the glory of all the divine perfons is concerned in their falvation; hence it is, that not one of them fhall ever perith.

¥. 10. All the finuers of my people foall die by the fword, &c.| By the fword of the Afprians, and of others, into whofe countries they fhall flee for fhelter, ¥. 1, 4. even all fuch who are notorious finners, abandoned to their lufts, obftinate and incorrigible; live in fin, and continue therein; repent not of fin, difbelieve the prophets of the Lord, and defy his threatnings, and put away the evil day far from them: which fay, the evil fhall not overtake, nor prevent us; the evil threatened by the prophet, the fword of the enemy, the defolation of their land, and captivity in a foreign land; thefe evils, if they came at all,which they gave little credit to, yet would not in their days; they would never comé {fo near them, or fo clofe to their heels as to overtake them, and feize them, or to get before them, and ftop them fleeing from them, they promifed themfelves impunity, and were in no pain about the judgments threatened them; fo daring and impudent, fo irreligious and atheiftical were they in their thoughts, words and actions; and therefore fhould all and every one of them be deftroyed.

y. 11. In that day will I ratfe up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, &c.| Not in the day of Trael’s ruin, but in the famous gofpel-day, fo often fpoken of by the prophets; and this prophecy is referred to the times of the Meffliah by the ancient 9 Fews; and one of the names they give him is taken from hence, Bar-Naphli*, the fon of the fallen. R. Nachman faid to R. Ifaac, haft thou heard when Bar-Naphbli comes? to whom he faid, who is Bar-Naphli? he replied, the Meffiah; you may call the Meffiah Bar-Naphli; for is it not written, iz that day will I raife up the tabernacle of David that is fallen down? and they call him fo, not becaufe the fon of Adam; but becaufe he was the fon of David, and was to {pring from his family, when fallen into a low and mean condition; yea they fometimes feem by the tabernacle of David to underftand the dead body of the Meffiah to be raifed, whofe human nature is by the New Teftament-writers called a tabernacle, Hed. viii. 2, and ix. 11. fee John i. 14. for having mentioned * » that paflage in Fer. xxx.9. they fhall ferve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I wilt raife up unto them; add, whom I will raife up out of the duft; as it is faid, I will raife up the ta+ bernacle of David that is fallen down; but elfewhere ‘ it is better interpreted of the Meffiah’s raifing up J/rael his people out of captivity; they fay, ‘* her hufband fhall come and raife her out ‘© of the duft; as it is faid, I will raife up the ta- “< dernacle of David, &c. in the day the king Mef- ‘¢ fiah fhall gather the captivity from the ends of ‘* the world to the ends of it, according to Deut.

“ xxx. 4.” and which they underftand of their prefent captivity and deliverance from it, as in vy. 14. Tobit * feems to have reference to this paffage, when he thus exhorts Zion, ‘ praife the eyerlafting king, that his tabernacle may be «¢ buile again in thee;” and expreffes » his faith in it, that fo it would be, ‘* afterwards they (the «© FYews) fhall return from all places of their cap- “¢ tivity, and build up Feru/alem glorioufly; ‘and ** the houfe of God fhall be built in it, as the

‘¢ prophets have fpoken concerning it, for ever;”

agreeable to which Farchi paraphrafes it, “* in the “¢ day appointed for redemption;” and fo the apoftle Fames quotes it, and applies it to the firft times of the gofpel, As xv. 15, 16,17. The Targum interprets this tabernacle of the ‘kingdom of the houfe of David: this was in a low eftate and condition when #e/us the Meffiah came, he being the carpenter’s fon; but it is to be underftood of the fpiritual kingdom of Chrift, the church; Chrift is meant by David, whofe fon he is, and of whom David was an eminent type, and is often called by his name, Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24. and xXxxvil. 24, 25. Hof. iii. 5. and the church by his tadernacle, which is of his building, where he dwells, and keeps his court; and which in the prefent {tate is moveable from place to place: and this at the time of Chrift’s coming was much fallen, and greatly decayed, thro’ fad corruption in do¢trine by the Pharifees and Sadducees; thro’ neglect of worfhip, and formality in it, and the introduction of things into it God never commanded;. thro’ the wicked lives of profeffors, and the {mall number of truly godly perfons; but God, according to this promife and prophecy, raifed it up again by the miniftry of Yoba the Baptif?, Chrift and his apoftles, and by. the converfion of many of the ews, and by bringing in great numbers of the Gentiles, who coalefced in one church-ftate, which made it flourifhing, grand and magnificent; and thus the prophecy was in part fulfilled, as the apoftle has applied it in the above-mentioned place: but it will have a further and greater accomplifhment ftill in the latter day, both in the {piritual and perfonal reign of Chrift: and tho’ this tabernacle or church of Chrift is fallen to decay again, and is in a very ruinous condition; the do¢trines of the gofpel being greatly departed from; the ordinances of it changed, or not attended to; great declenfions as to the exercife of grace among the people of God; and many breaches and divifions among them; the outward converfation of many profeffors very bad, and few inftances of converfion; yet the Lord will raife it up again, and make it very glorious: he will clofe up the breaches thereof, and will raife up his ruins, the doctrines of the gofpel will be revived and received; the ordinances of it will be adminiftred in their purity, as they were firft delivered; great numbers will be converted, both of Yews and Gentiles; and there will be much holinefs, fpirituality and brotherly love among the faints: and I will build it as in the days of old; religion fhall flourifh as in the days of David and Solomon; the chriftian church and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, &c.) Or that thefe may be poflefled;, that is, by David or Chrift, who fhall have the heathen given him for his inherigance, and the uttermoft parts of « the earth for his poffeffion, P/-1i. 8. when the remnant, according to the election of grace, in thofe nations that have been the greateft enemies to Chrift and his gofpel, fignified by Edom, fhall be converted, and call upon the name of the Lord, and worfhip him, and be called by his name, chriftians, and fo become his inheritance. and poffeffion. ‘The Targum underftands by the heathen or people, all the people of the houfe of Ifrael,; and Kimchi, Aben Ezra and Ben Melech think the words are to be inverted, thus, ‘* that ** all the people on whom my name is called may ** poffefs the remnant of Edom;” and the former fays, that all the Edomites fhall be deftroyed in the days of the Meffiah, but J/rae/ fhall inherit their land; and Aben Ezra fays, that if this prophecy is interpreted of the Meffiah, the matter is clear; as it is in the fenfe we have given, and as the apoftle explains it, 4s xv. 17. fee the note there. Some render the words, that the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, that are (i, e. fhall be) called by my name, may poffefs me the Lord *, The truth and certainty of its performance is exprefied in the following claute, faith the Lord, that doth this; whofe word is true, whofe power is great, 4 whofe grace is efficacious, to accomplifh all that is here promifed and foretold. y. 13. Behold, the days come, faith the Lord, &c.] Or are coming ¥; and which will commence upon the accomplifhment of the above things, when the church of Chrift is’ raifed up and eftablifhed, the ews converted, and the Genizles brought in: that the plowman Jfhall overtake the reaper, or meet the reaper *; or come up to him, or touch him, as it may be rendered; and fo the Zergum; that is, before the reaper has well cut down the corn, or it is {carce gathered in, the plowman fhall be ready to plow up the ground again, that it may be fown, and produce another crop: and the treaders of grapes him that foweth feed, or draweth feed*, out of his bafket, and fcatters it in the land; fignifying that there fhould be fuch an abundance of grapes in the vintage, that they would continue preffing till feed-time; and the whole denotes a great affluence of temporal good things, as an emblem of fpiritual ones; fee Lev. xxvi. 5. where fomething of the like nature is promifed, and exprefied in much the fame manner: and the mountains foall drop fweet wine, or new wine”; inti— mating that there fhall be abundance of vines grow upon the mountains, which will produce lar quantities of wine, fo that they thall feem to dro or flow with it: and all the bills feall melt; wi liquors; either with wine or honey, or rather with milk, being covered with flocks and herds, whic fhall yield abundance of milk; by all which, plenty of fpiritual things, as the word and ordinances, and rich fupplies of grace, as well as of temporal things, is meant; fee Foel iti. 18. ie y¥. 14. And I will bring again the captivity of my.

will be reftored to its priftine glory, as in the times people of Ijrael, &c.] Which is not to of the apoftles.

ftood of the captivity of the Fews in Babylon and ten tribes of J/rael were mixed; for they were not then fo planted in their own land, as no more to be pulled up again, as is here promifed; for they afterwards were difpofiefied of it by the Romans, and carried captive, and difperfed among the nations again; but the captivity both of ‘udab and J/rael is meant, their prefent captivity, which will be brought back, and they will be delivered from it, and return to their own land, and poffels ‘it as long as it is a land; fee Yer. xxx. 3, 10, 18. as well as be freed from the bondage of fin, fatan and the law, under which they have been detained fome hundreds of years; but now fhall be delivered into the glorious liberty of the children of God, of chriftians, with which Chrift has made them free: and they fhall build the wajfte cities, and inhabit them; literally the cities in Fudea wafted by the Turks, and others; and myftically the churches of Chritt, of which faints are fellow-citizens, and will be in a defolate condition before the converfion of the Jews, and the gathering in the fulnefs of the Geztiles; but by thefe means will be rebuilt, and be ina flourifhing condition, and full of inhabitants: and they foall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof: they fhall alfo make gardens, and eat the fruit of them; which, as before, will be literally true; and in a {piritual fenfe may fignify the churches of Chrift compared to vineyards and gardens, which will be planted every where, and be fet with pleafant and fruitful plants, and will turn to the advantage of thofe who have been inftruments in planting them; fee Caz. vi. 2. and vii. 12. and Vill, 11, 12. 1 Cor. ix. 7:

¥. 15. And I will plant them upon their land, &c.] The land of J/rael, as trees are planted; and they fhall take root and flourith, and abound with all good things, temporal and fpiritual: and they fall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, faith the Lord thy Gods by which it appears, that this is a prophecy of things yet to come; fince the ews upon their return to their own land after the Babylonifh captivity were pulled up again, and rooted out of it by the Romans, and remain fo to this day; but when they fhall return again, they’ll never more be removed from it; and of this they may be affured, becaufé it is the land the Lord has given them, and it fhall not be taken away from them any more; and, becaufe he will’ now appear to be the Lord thir God, the Lo-ammi will be taken off from them; they’ll be owned to be the Lord’s people, and he’ll be known by them to be their covenant-God; which will enfure all the above bleffings to them, of whatfoever kind; for this is either faid to the prophet, the Lord thy God; or to I/rael; and either way it ferves to confirm the fame thing.

HE title of this book, in the Hebrew co- k pies, is ufually Sepber Obadiab, the book of Obadiah: the Vulgate Latin verfion calls it, the prophecy of Obadiah; and fo the Arabic verfion: and in the Syriac verfion it is, the prophecy of the prophet Obadiah. His name fignifies, a fervant or worfhipper of the Lord. Who he was, what his parentage, and in what age he lived, are things uncertain. The Seder Olam Zuta * places him in the reign of Febofbaphat; and he is thought by fome to be that Obadiah, that was one of the princes he fent to teach the people, 2 Chron. xvii. 7. The ancient Fewifh Rabbins take him to be the fame with him that lived in the times of Abad, and in his court, who hid the prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them, 1 Kings xviii. 3, 4. to which Aben Ezra objects, becaufe he is nat called a prophet, only one that feared the Lord; whereas to be a prophet, is fomething greater. They alfo fay he was an Edomite by birth, but was profelyted to the Fewi/h religion, and fo a fit perfon to be employed in prophefying againft Edom, and it is a tradition with them, that his widow is the woman whofe cruife of oil Zia multiplied, 2 Kings iv. 1. Some have been of opinion, that he was the captain of the third fifty, whofe life Eijab fpared in the times of baziab; and who upon that left the king’s fervice, and followed the prophet, and became a difciple of his; fo Pfeudo-Epiphanius *, and Tfidorus Hifpalenfis *; who fay, that he was -of Sychem, a city of Samaria, and of the field of Bethachamar, or Bethaccaron. Others would have him to be one of the overfeers of the workmen in the houfe of the Lord, in the times of Fefiab, 2 Chron. xXXiv. F2. to which Mr. Lively“ inclines; though others, going according to the ofder of the books in the canon of fcripture, which is not to be depended on, place him earlier, and make him cotem-

HIS prophecy of Obadiah is the leaft of the minor prophets, confifting but of one chapter; the fubject of it is Edom, whofe deftruétion is foretold, and is to be confidered as a type of the enemies of Chrift and his kingdom, and efpecially of the Roman antichrift. After the preface, the rumour of war, and preparation for it, which would iffue in the ruin of Edom, are obferved, y. 1, 2. becaufe of their pride, confidence, and fecurity, ¥. 3, 4. which fhould be complete and entre, ¥. 5, 6. notwithftanding their allies, who would deceive them; and the wifdom of their wife men, which fhould be deftroyed; and the ftrength of their mighty men, who would be difmayed, ¥. 7, 8, 9. and this fhould come upon them, chiefly becaufe of their ill-ufage of the Fews at the time of Ferufalem’s deftruction, which is enlarged upon, ¥. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. and this would be, when porary with Ho/ea,Foel, and Amos, as Grotius:, Huetius ‘, and Lightfoot *: but he feems rather to be cotemporary with Feremiah and Ezekiel, with whofe prophecies this agrees, as may be obferved by comparing it with Yer. xlix. and Ezek, xxv. and to have lived and prophefied after the deftruétion of Ferufalem by the Chaldeans, in which the Edomites, againft whom he prophefies, had a concern; fee ¥. 11, 12, 13, 4. Pf cxxxvii. 7. though Dr. Lightfoot thinks thefe prophecies refer either to the facking of Ferufalem by Shifhak king of Egypt, 1 Kings xiv. 25. or by the Philifiines and Arabians, 2 Chron, xxi. 16,17. or by Joao king of Jrael, 2 Chron. xxv. 21. fo that upon the whole, it is not certain; and as Aben Ezra and Kimchi own, it is not known, in what age this prophet lived: Bifhop Ujher * places his prophecy in the 12th year of Feconiah’s captivity. However, there is no doubt to be made of the authenticity of the prophecy; as may be concluded, net only from the title of ir, and the folemn manner in which it begins; but from the matter of it, and the accomplifhment of what is contained in it; as well as from the teftimony borne to it in the New Teftament, in which not only the book of the minor prophets, in which. this ftands, is quoted, és vii. 42. but a paflage in it, y. 8. is referred to in 1 Cor. i. 19. as is thought by fome learned men. I have only to obferve, that according to Pfeudo-Epipbanius', he died in Bethachamar, where he is faid to be born, © and was buried in the fepulchre of his anceftors; but, according to Ferem * and Ifdore', his fepul= chre is in Sebafte or Samaria; which remained to the times of Yerom, near thofe of the prophet Eij ba and Fobn the Beptift. Monfieur Thevenot ™ fays, that Fobn Baptift here lies buried, between the prophets Elifba and Abdias. | all the nations round about them would be deftroyed, ¥. 15, 16. and then -deliverance is promifed to the Fews, who fhould not only enjoy their _ own poffeffions, but the land of the Edomites, wafted by them, ¥. 17, 18, 19, 20. and the book is concluded with a glorious prophecy of the kingdom of the Meffiah, y. 21.

¥. 1. The vifion of Obadiah, &c.] Or the prophecy, as the Targum, which was delivered unto him by the Lord in a vifion; it was not what he fanfied or dreamed of, but what he faw, what he had a clear difcovery and revelation of made unto his mind; hence prophets are fometimes called — feers. This was a fingle prophecy; tho’ fome-— times a book, confifting of various prophecies, is called a vifion; as the prophecies of J/aiah, are called the vifion of J/aiab, ch. i. 1. Thus faith the Lord

Lord God, concerning Edom, by the mouth of this prophet, who was divinely infpired by him; for Obadiah faid not what follows of himfelf, but in the name of the Lord; and is a proof of the divine authority of this book; the fubjeét-matter of which is Edom or Idumea, as in the Septuagint verfion; a neighbouring country to the Yews, and very troublefome to them, being their implacable enemies, tho’ their brethren; and were a type of the enemies of the chriftian church, thofe falfe brethren, the antichriftian ftates; and particularly the head of them, the Romi/h antichrift, whofe picture is here drawn, and whofe deftruction is prophefied of, under the name of Edom; for what has been literally fulfilled in Jdumea, will be myttically accomplifhed in antichrift. The ews generally underftand by Edom, Rome, and the chrittians in general; which, if applied only to the antichriftians, is not amifs. We have heard a rumour from the Lord; or areport®; a meflage from him, brought by the Spirit of God, as a Spirit of prophecy; that is, I Obadiah, and Feremiah, and other prophets, as J/aiah and Amos, who have had orders to

‘ prophefy againft Edom; fee Fer. xlix. 14. fo the angels, or gofpel-minifters, will have a rumour or meffage concerning the fall of antichrift, Rev. xiv. 6, 7, 8, 9: and an embaffador is fent among the heathen; either by the Lord, as Yeremiah the prophet, according to fome; or an angel, as others; or an impulfe upon the minds of the Chaldeans, ftirring them up to war againft the Edomites: or elfe by Nebuchadnezzar to the nations in alliance with him, to join him in his expedition againft them; or a herald fent by him to his own people, to fummon them together to this war, and to encourage them init: arife ye, and let us rife up in battel againft her; come up from all parts, join together, and invade the land of Idumea, and give battel to the inhabitants of it, and deftroy them; fo the kings of the earth will ftir up one another to hate the whore of Rome, and make her defolate, Rom. xvii. 16.

y. 2. Bebold, I have made thee {mall among the heathen, &c.] Or a little one, or thing °; their number few, and their country not large, as Aben Ezra, efpecially in comparifon of other nations; and therefore had no reafon to be fo proud, infolent, and fecure, as they are afterwards faid to be: or rather, I will make thee, the paft for the future, after the prophetic manner, as Kimchi; that is, weak and feeble, as the Targum; reduce their numbers, deftroy their towns and cities, and bring them into a low and miferable condition: or the fenfe is, that he would make them look little, mean, and abject in the fight of their enemies; who would conclude upon a view of them, that they fhould have no trouble in fubduing them, and therefore fhould at-

' taék them without fear, and as fure of fuccefs:

thou art greatly defpifed, in the eyes of the nations round about; by their enemies, who looked upon them with contempt, becaufe of the fmalnefs of their number, their defencelefs flate, and want of ftrength to fupport and defend themfelves; fee Fer. xlix. 15. and fo the pope of Rome is little and defpicable in the eyes of the monarchs of the earth; and the antichriftian Edom will be more fo at the time of its general ruin.

¥. 3. The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, &c.] The Edomites were proud of their wealth and tiches, which they had by robberies amafied togé- ther; and of their military fkill and courage, ‘and of their friends and allies; and efpecially of their fortreffes and faftneffes, both natural and artificial; and therefore thought themfelves fecure, and that no enemy could come at them to hurt them, and this. deceived them: thon that dwelleft in the clefts of the rock; their country was called Arabia Peirea, the rocky; and their metropolis, Petra, the rock: Ferom fays, that they that inhabited the fouthern part of the country, dwelt in caves cut out of the rock, to fkreen them from the heat of the fun: or, thou that dwelleft in the circumferences of the rock * 5 round about it, on the top of it, in a tower built there, as Kimchi and Ben Melech: Aben Ezra thinks that caph, the note of fimilitude, is wanting; and that the fenfe is, thou thoughteft that mount Seir could fecure thee, as they that dwell in the clefts of a rock: whofe habitation is high, upon high rocks and mountains, fuch as mount Ser was, where Efau dwelt, and his pofterity after him. The Targum is, ** thou art like to an eagle that dwells in *¢ the clefts of the rock, whofe habitation is in “¢ an high place;” this they were proud of, thinking themfelves fafe, which deceived them; hence it follows: that faith in thine heart, who fhall bring me down to the ground? what enemy ever fo warlike and powerful, will venture to invade my land, or befiege me in my ftrong-hold? or if he fhould, he can never take it, or take me from thence, conquer, and fubdue me. Of the pride,’ confidence, and fecurity of myftical Edom or antichrift, fee Rev. Xviil. 7.

¥. 4. Tho’ thou exalteft thyfelf as the eagle, &c.] That foars aloft, flies on high, even out of fight, higher than any other bird does: or, exalte? thy habitation; and makeft it as high as the eag!e’s nett, fee Fer. xlix. 16: and tho’ thou fet thy neft among the flars; even higher than the eagle’s; an hyperbolical expreffion, fuppofing that which never was or can be done; yet if it was poffible, would not fecure from danger: or fhould their caftles and fortrefles be built upon the top of the higheit mountains, which feem to reach the heavens, and be among the ftars: thence will I bring thee down, faith the Lord; this is faid in anfwer to the queftion put, or bold challenge made, in the preceding verfe; if men canriot do it, God will; and if he employs inftruments to effect it, it fhall be done by them; all feeming difficulties are eafily furmounted by an omnipotent Being; what are the heights of mountains, or the ftrength of fortreffes, to him? thus the whore of Rome fits upon feven mountains, and myftical Badylon reigns over the kings of the earth; yet fhall be thrown down and found no more, for the Lord is ftrong that judgeth her, Rev. xvii. 9, 18. and xviii. 8, 21.

¥. 5. If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, &c.] Whether the one came by day, and the other by night, or both by night, the fame being meant by different words, whofe intent is to plunder and fteal, and carry off what they can; thy condition would not be worfe, nor fo bad as now it is: for how art thou cut off? from being a nation, wholly deftroyed; thy people killed, or carried captive; thy fortrefies demolifhed, towns and cities levelled with the ground, and all thy wealth and fubftance carried off, and nothing left: thefe are either the words of God, or of the prophet, fetting forth

P yo IMD in gyris, five 6 I.

their utter ruin, as if it was already; or of the nations round about, wondring at their fudden deftruction. Some render it, how filent art thou %? that is, under all thefe calamities: or, how art thou afleep? or fiupified? as the Targum and Jarchi; not to be upon thy guard againft the incurfions of the enemy, but carelefs, fecure and ftupid, and now ftripped of every thing: had common thieves and robbers broke in upon thee, would they not kave frolen till they had enough? as much as they came for, or could carry off; they feldom {trip an houfe into which they enter of every thing in it; they come for fome particular things, and meeting with them, they go off, and leave the reft: if the grape-gatherers come to thee, would they not leave fome grapes? that is, if men fhould come into thy vineyards, and gather the grapes, and carry them off by force or ftealth, would they take them all away? doubrlefs they would leave fome behind; fome would be hid under the boughs, and be left unobferved by them: or the allufion is to gatherers of grapes, who gather them for the owners, and at their direction, who were wont to leave fome clufters for the poor to glean after them; but in the cafe of Edom ’tis fuggetted that nothing fhould be left, all fhould be clean carried off; the deftruction would be complete and entire. The Targuin is, “ if fpoilers as grape-gatherers fhould ** come unto thee,” &&e. fee Fer. xlix. g.

y. 6. How are the things of Efau fearched out? &c.] Or how are the E/auites, the pofterity of Efau, fought out? tho’ they dwelt in the clefts of the rocks, and hid themfelves in caves and dens, yet their enemies fearched them, and found them, and plucked them out from thence, fo that none efcaped: how are his hid things fought up? his riches, wealth and treafure, hid in fortrefies, in rocks and caves, where they were thought to be fafe, and judged inacceffible; or that an enemy would not have ventured in fearch of them there; and yet thefe fhould be fought after, and found by the greedy, and diligent, and venturous {oldier, and carried off; which was the cafe of the Edomites by the Chaldeans, and will be of the antichriftian ftates by the kings of the earth, Kev.. Xvi. 16. fee Fer. xlix. 10.

¥. 7. All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border, &c.] Or of thy covenant"; that are in league with thee; thine allies, even all of them, prove treacherous to thee, in whom thou truftedft; when they fent their embaffadors to them, they received them kindly, promifed great things to them, difmiffed them honourably, accompanied them to the borders of their. country, but never ftood to their engagements: or thofe allies came and joined their forces with the Edomites, and went out with them to meet the enemy, as if they would fight with them, and for them; but when they came to the border of the land they left them, and departed into their own country; or went over to the enemy; or thefe confederates were the inftruments of expelling them out of their own land, and fending them to: the border of it, and carrying them captive; or they followed them to the border of the land, when they were carried captive, as if they lamented their cafe, when they were affifting to the enemy, as Kimcbi; fo deceitful were they. The TZ; argum is to the fame purpole, ‘* from the border all thy confederates car-

“* ried thee captive *:” the men that were at peace with thee, have deceived thee, and prevailed againft thee; outwitted them in their treaties of peace, and got the advantage of them; or they proved treacherous to them, and joined the enemy againft them; or they perfuaded them to declare themfelves enemies to the Cha/deans, which proved their ruin; and fo they prevailed againft them:

that eat thy bread; fo. the Targum and Kimebi fapply it; or it may be fupplied from the preceding claufe, the men of thy bread; who received fubfidies from them, were maintained by them, and quartered among them: have laid a wound under thee; inftead ot fupporting them, fecretly did that which was wounding to them. The word fignifies both a wound and a plafter; they pretended to lay a plafter to heal, but made a wound; or ~ made the wound worfe. The Zargum is, “ they “* Jaid a ftumbling-block under thee;” at which they {tumbled and fell: or fnares, as the Vulgate. Latin verfion, whereby they brought them to ruin: there is none underflanding in him; in Efau, or the Edomites; they were fo {tupid, that they could not fee into the defigns of their pretended friends, and prevent the execution of them, and their ill ef- -

¥. 8. Shall I not in that day, faith the Lord, even deftray the wife men out of Edom? &e.]. When they fhall be invaded by the enemy, and trea~ cheroufly dealt with by their allies; fo that there thall be no wife couniellors at court to give advice what proper methods fhould be taken at fuch a feafon; they fhould either be taken: off by death, or their wifdom fhould be turned into folly, and they be rendered incapable of giving right counfel: and underflanding out of the mount of Efau? that is, men of underftanding, as the Targum, fhould be deftroyed out of Edom or Idumea, which was a mountainous country; fuch as were well verfed in politics, or underftood military affairs, and how to conduét at fuch a critical time; to form {chemes, and concert meafures, and wifely put them in execution; and to be deprived of all juch muit be a great lofs at fuch a time, and add to their diftrefs and calamity; fee er. xlixse7.

mayed, &c.| Teman was one part of the counts of Edom, fo called from Teman a fon of Eliphaz, and grandfon of Efau, Gen. xxxvi. 11. and which it feems had been famous for men of might and courage: it abounded with brave officers, and courageous foldiers, who fhould now be quite difpirited, and have no heart to go out againft the enemy; and inftead of defending their country, fhould throw away their arms, and run away ina fright. The Zargum and Vulgate Latin verfion render it, ‘* thy mighty men that inhabit the fouth;” or are on the fouth, the fouthern part of Edom, and fo lay fartheft off from the Chaldeans, who came from the north; yet thefe fhould be at once intimidated upon the rumour of their approac and invalion: that every one of the mount of Bfau may be cut off by laughter; that fo there might be none to refiit and {top the enemy, or defend their country; but that all might fall by the fword of the enemy, and none be left, even every mighty man, as archi interprets it, thro’ the greatnels ¢ the flaughter that fhould be made. to y. 10. For thy violence againft thy brother Facob, &c.] Which is aggravated by being againft Fa- ‘cob, an honeft, plain-hearted man, and whom the Lord loved; his brother, his own brother, a twinbrother, yea his only brother; yet this is to be underftood, not fo much-of the violence of E/au again{t Facod perfonally, tho’ there is an allufion to that; as of the violence of the pofterity of the one againft the pofterity of the other; and not fingly of the violence fhewn at the deftruction of Ferufalem, but in general of the anger they bore, the wrath they fhewed, and the injuries they did to their brethren the ews, on all occafions, whenever they had an opportunity, of which the following is a notorious inftance; and for which more efpecially, as well as for the above things, they are threatened with ruin: /hame fhall cover thee; as a garment; they fhall be filled with blufhing, and covered with confufion, when convicted of their fin, and punifhed for it: and thou shalt be eut off for ever; from being a nation; either by Nebuchadnezzar; or in the times of the Maccabees by Hyrcanus, when they were fubdued by the Fews, and were incorporated among them, and never fince was a feparate people or kingdom.

y. 11. In the day thou ftocdft on the other fide, é&c.] Aloof off, as a fpectator of the ruin of Ferufalem, and-,that with delight and pleafure; when they fhould, as brethren and neighbours, have affifted again{ft the common enemy; but inftead of this they ftood at a -diftance; or they went over to the other fide, and joined the enemy, and ftood in oppofition to their brethren the Fews: iv the day that the firangers carried away captive bis forces, that is, at the time that the Chaldeans took Ferufalem, and carried captive as many of the forces of the Fews as fell into their hands; or when * the ¢ people fpoiled his fubftance,” as the Targum; plundered the city of all its wealth and riches: and foreigners entered into bis gates; the gates of their cities, particularly Ferufalem, even fuch who came from a far country, the Babylonians, who were aliens and ftrangers from the commonwealth of Ifrael, whereas the Edomites were their near neighbours, and allied to them by blood, tho’ not of the fame religion, and by whom they helped againft a foreign enemy, inftead of being uted by them as they were: and cajft lots upon ferufalem, either to know when they fhould make their attack upon it; or elfe having taken it, the generals of the Chaldean army caft lots upon the captives to divide them among them, fo Kimchi; fee Yoel iii. 3. Nab. iii. to. or rather, the foldiers caft lots for the divifion of the plunder of the city, as was ufual at fuch times: even thou waft as one of them, the Edomites joined the Chaldeans, entered into the city. with them, fhewed ‘as much wrath, fpite and malice as they did, and were as bufy in dividing the fpoil. So Aben Ezra interprets thefe and the following verfes of the deftruction of the city and temple of Ferufalem by Nebuchadnezzar, but Kimhi expounds them of the deftruction of them by the Romans, at which he fuppofes many Edomites to be prefent, and rejoiced atit: could this be fupported, the connexion would be more clear and clofe between thefe words and thofe that follow, which refpect the gofpel-difpenfation, beginning at ee) ¥. 17. but the Edomites were not in being then; and that there were many of them in the Roman army, and that Titus himfelf was one, is all fabulous.

¥. 12. But thou foouldft not have looked on the day of thy brother, &c.] The day of his calamity, diftrefs and deftruction, as afterwards explained; that is, with delight and fatisfaction, as pleafed with it, and rejoicing at it; but rather fhould have grieved and mourned, and as fearing their turn would be next: or, do not look*; fo fome read it in the imperative, and in like manner all the following claufes: in the day that he became a ftranger; were carried into a ftrange country, and ‘became ftrangers to their own: or, in the day of bis alienation *; from their country, city, houfes, and the houfe and worfhip of God; and when ftrange, furprizing and unheard-of things were done unto them, and among them: zeither foouldft thou have rejoiced over the children of Fudab in the day of their deftruétion, the deftru€tion of the ‘fews, of the two tribes of Fudah and Benjamin, by the Chaldeans: this explains what is meant by the Edomites looking upon the day of the calamity of the Jews, that it was with pleafure and complacency, having had a good-will to have deitroyed them themfelves, but it was not in the power of their hands; and now being done by a foreign enemy, they could not forbear expreffing their joy on that occafion, which was very cruel and brutal; and this alfo fhews that Obadiah prophefied after the deftruction of Ferufalem by Nebuchadnezzar: neither foouldft thou have {poken proudly in ihe day of diftrefi; or magnified thy mouth”, opened it wide in virulent {coffing, and infulting language; faying with the greateft fervour and vehemence, and as loud as it could be faid, ra/e it, vafe it to the foundation thereof, Pf. cxxxvii. 7.

¥. 13. Thou fhouldft not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity, &c.) Or gates, as the Zargum,; the gates of any of. their cities, and particularly thole of Yeru/alem, into which the Adomites entered along with the Chaldeans, exulting over the Fews, and infulting them, and joining with the enemy in diftrefling and plundering them: yea thou fhouldft not have looked on their affiction in the day of their calamity; which is repeated, as being exceeding cruel and inhuman, and what was highly refented by the Lord; that inftead of looking upon the affliction of his people and their brethren with an eye of pity and compaffion, they looked upon it with the utmoft plea- {ure and delight: wor laid hands on their fubjtance in the day of their calamity; or on their forces *; they laid violent hands on their armed men, and either killed or took them captive; and they laid hands on their goods, their wealth and riches, and made a fpoil of them. The phrafe, in the day of their calamity, is three times ufed in, this verfe, to fhew the greatnefs of it; and as an aggravation of the fin of the Edomites, in behaving and doing as they did at fuch a time.

y. 14. Neither fhouldf thou have flood in the crofs-way, &c.| In a place where two or more roads met, to ftop the Yews that fled, let them take which road they would: or, in the breach’;

that is, of the walls of the city, to cut off thofe of his Pifcator; ne fpeftes, Cocceius. #2) mn) ie | bis that did efcape fuch of the Jews that efcaped the fword of the Chaldeans in the city, and attempted to get away thro’ the breaches of the walls of it, or that took different roads to make their efcape; thefe were intercepted and {topped by the Edomites, who pofted themfelves at thefe breaches, or at places where two or more ways met, and cut them off; fo that thofe that efcaped the fword of the enemy fell by theirs; which was exceeding barbarous and cruel: neither fhouldft thou have delivered up thofe of bis that did remain in the day of their diftrefs; or fout up *, they fhut them up in their houfes, or ftopped up all the avenues and ways by which they might efcape, even fuch as remained of thofe that were killed or carried captive; thefe falling into the hands of the Edomites, fome they cut off, and others they delivered up into the hands of the Chaldeans. Of the joy and rejoicing of the myftical Edomites, the papifts, thofe falfe brethren and antichriftians, at the deftruction of the faithful witneffes and true chriftians, and of their cruelty and inhumanity to them, fee Rev. 21, 75.8, 9, 10.

¥. 15. For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen, &c.] That is, the time was at hand, fixed and determined by the Lord, and he had fpoken of by his prophets, when he would punifh all the heathens round about for their fins; as the Egyptians, Philiftines, Tyrians, Ammonites, Moabites, and others; and fo the Edomites among the reft; for this is mentioned for their fakes, and to fhew that their punifhment was inevitable, and that they could not expect to efcape in the general ruin; fee Fer. xxv. 17—26. This deftruction of Edom here prophefied of, and of all the heathen, was accomplifhed about five years after the deftruction of Ferufalem, fo that it might be truly faid to be near; and fome time within this fpace Obadiah feems to have prophefied; and the day of the Lord is not far off upon the Pagans, Mabometans, and all the antichriftian ftates, when mytftical Edom or Rome will be deftroyed; fee Rev. xvi. 19. and xvii. 14. and xix. 19, 20, 21: as thou baft done, it fhall be done unto thee, thy reward fhall return upon thine own head; this is particularly directed to dom, wpon whom the day of the Lord’s vengeance fhall come; when he punifhed the heathens, then the Edomites fhould be retaliated in their own way; and as they had rejoiced at the deftruction of the ‘ews, and had infulted them in their calamities, and barbaroufly ufed them, they fhould be treated in like manner; fee Ezek. xxxv. 15. and thus will myitical Babylon, or the myftical Edomites be dealt with, even after the fame manner, as they have dealt with the truly godly, the faithful profeffors of Chrift, Rev. xviii. 6.

y¥. 16. For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, fo fhall all the heathen drink continually, &c.

Which is either fpoken to the Edomites; and the fenfe be, according to the Zargum, “‘ as ye have “* rejoiced at the blow (given unto, or at the fub- ** verfion and deftruétion) of the mountain of m holinefs, all people fhall drink the cup of their vengeance;” or punifhment; and to the fame ienfe Farchi and Faphet interpret it; and fo Kimchi, “< as ye have made a feaft, rejoicing at the deftruc- “* tion of my holy mountain, fo thou and all na- ** tions fhall drink of the cup of trembling;” but

Aben Ezra thinks the words are fpoken to the Jraelites, ** as ye have drank the cup, fo fhall all “< nations;” the cup of vengeance began with them, and fo went round the nations, accordin to the prophecy in Fer. xxv. 17, 18, Ge. for it judgment begins at the houfe and people of God, it: may be expected it will reach to others; wherefore Edom had no reafon to rejoice at the deftruction of the Fews, fince they might be affured by that, the fame would be their cafe ere long; and with this difference, that whereas the Jews only drank this cup for a while, during the feventy years captivity, thefe nations, and the Edomites among the reft, fhould be continually drinking it: yea, they fhall drink, and they fhall fwallow down; not only drink of the cup, but drink it up; not only take it into their mouths, but fwallow it down their throats; not only fip at it, but /up it up*, as it may be rendered. ‘The phrafe denotes the fulnefs of their punifhment, and their utter and entire ruin and deftruction, which the next clause confirms: and they fhall be as tho they had not been; as now are the Philiftines, Moabites, Ammonites, and fo the Edomites; their names are not heard of in the world, only as they are read in the bible; and thus it fhall be with myftical Babylon or Edom, it fhall be thrown down, and found no more, Rev. xviil. 21.

¥. 17. But upon mount Zion fhall be deliverance,. &c.] Not only by Cyrus, at the end of the feventy years captivity; and by the Maccabees from the Jdumeans, and other enemies; but by the Meffiah; for not merely temporal deliverance is here intended, unlefs as a fhadow, type and figure; but fpiritual deliverance from the law, fin, fatan, the world, death, hell, and wrath to come, by Chrift; who is the deliverer that fhould both come te Zion, and out of Zion, and who has wrought the above deliverance for Zion, his church and people; and where it is preached and proclaimed, and where thofe who are delivered come and dwell: or, upon mount Zion foall be an efcape, or, they that efcape °; the pollutions of the world, the vengeance of divine juftice, the curfes of the law, and the damnation of hell, by fleeing to Chrift for refuge: and there fhall be holinefs; that is, on mount Zion, on the church, which is the holy hill of God, and where only holy perfons fhould dwell; and for ° whomfoever deliverance is wrought out, fooner or later there will be in them holinefs, both of heart and life; and indeed without this, complete deliverance and falvation, which will be in heaven, will not be enjoyed; hence-thofe that are chofen to this falvation, are chofen thro’ fanctification of. the Spirit; and fuch as are redeemed and delivered by Chrift, are purified to be a peculiar people, zealous of good works; and are in confequence of fuch deliverance and redemption, called with an holy calling, and have principles of holinefs implanted in them, and live holy lives and converfations; and fuch kind of holinefs, as it appeared in Zion, in the churches of Chrift in the firft times of the gofpel, fo it will be more confpicuous among them in the latter day; fee Jf iv. 3. and lii. 1. Zech, xiv. 20, 21. or, there fhall be an holy one, or thing*, the holy Jefus, who is holy in both his natures, in all his offices, works and words; the Lamb that fhould, and has been feen on mount Zion; and ——- the holy Spirit of God, who dwells and abides in his church, and among his people, to anoint and affift the minifters of the word; to accompany the word with power, and make it fuccefsful; and to fanétify and- comfort the Lord’s people in Zion; and there are the holy word of God, the doétrines of grace according to godlinefs preached, and the facred ordinances of baptifm and the Lord’s fupper adminiftred. The Yargum is, ‘‘ and they fhall ** be holy;” the Lord’s people: and fo Kimchi interprets it of J/rae/ being holy to the Lord. And the houfe of Facob fhall poffe/s their poffeffions; that is, either the J/raelites fhall poffefs the poffeffions of the heathens, particularly of the Edomites; fo the Targum, ‘‘ and they of the houfe of acob fhall ** pofiefs the fubftance of the people that poffeffed *¢ them;” fee Amos, ix. 11, 12. which was fulfilled fpiritually in the firft times of the gofpel, when the apoftles, who were of the houfe of Facod, and were I/raelites indeed, preached the gofpel to the Gentiles, and were the means of converting many of them, and of bringing them into the gofpelchurch; which may be called the houfe of Facob, when they and theirs become their poffeffion, and Chrift, the mafter of this houfe,had the heathen given him for his inheritance, and the uttermoft parts of the earth for his poffeflion, P/ ii. 8. or elfe the fenfe is, that the people of God, true chriftians, fhall in gofpel-times poffefs their own poffeffions; God himfelf, who is their portion and inheritance, and fhall enjoy communion with him; Chrift, and aJl that are his, all fpiritual bleffings in him; the Spirit and his graces, as the earneft of a future and eternal inheritance; exceeding great and precious promifes they are heirs of, and a kingdom and glory hereafter; of which the poffeffions in the land of Canaan, reftored to the right owners of them in the year of jubilee, were a type. R. Moj/es fays, this prophecy has refpect to the times of Hezekiah, in which he is followed by Grotius, very wrongly; R. Fefbuah better, to the times of the fecond temple; but Faphet beft of all, to time to come, to the times of the Mefliah, to which it no doubt belongs: here begin the prophecies concerning -Chrift, his church, and kingdom. y¥.18. And the houfe of Facob foall be a fire, and the houfe of Fofeph a flame, &c.| The former may denote the two tribes of Fudah and Benjamin, the latter the ten tribes, which after the feparation in Rehboboam’s time were called Ephraim, and fometimes Jo/eph; tho’ they may here fignify one and the fame, fince all the tribes will be united, and become one people at the time the prophecy refers to: the meaning is, that the people of ‘fudab and J/rael thall have ftrength and power to conquer and deftroy their enemies, with as much eafe as flames of fire confume chaff or ftubble, or any fuch combuftible matter they light upon, as it follows: and the boufe of Efau for ftubble, and they foall kindle in them, and devour them; that is, the J/raelites fhalt fall upon the Edomites, who will be no more able to withftand them, than ftubble can ftand before devouring flames of fire, and fhall utterly wafte and - deftroy them:. and there foall not be any remaining of the houfe of Efau; they fhall all be cut off by, or fwallowed up among the Jews; not fo much as a torch-bearer left, one that carries the lights before an army, as the Septuagint and Arabic ver- fions; which verfions, and the cuftom alluded to, ferve very much to illuftrate the paflage. It was a cuftom with the Greeks, as we are told‘, when armies were about to engage, that before the firft enfigns ftood a prophet or prieft, bearing branches of Jaurels-and garlands, who was called Pyrophorus, or the torch-bearer, becaufe he held a lamp or torch; and it was accounted a moft criminal thing to do him any hurt, feeing he performed the office of an embaffador; for thofe fort of men were priefts of Mars, and facred to him, fo that thofe that were conquerors always {pared them: hence, when a total deftruction of an army, place, or people was hyperbolically expreffed, it ufed to be faid, not fo much as a torch-bearer or fire-carrier efcaped *; hence this phrafe was proverbially ufed of the moft entire defeat of an army, or ruin of a people. So Philo ' the Few, fpeaking of the deftruction of Pharaoh and his hoft at the Red fea, fays, there was not fo much as a torch-bearer left, to declare the calamity to the Egyptians; and thus here, fo general fhould be the deftruction of the Edomites, that not one fhould be left, no not a perfon in fuch a poft and office as defcribed. The Targum of the whole is, ‘* and they of the houfe ** of Facob fhall be ftrong as fire, and they of the ** houfe of Fo/eph ftrong like a flarne, but they ** of the houfe of E/au fhall be weak as ftubble; ‘¢ and they fhall have power over them, and kill ‘* them, and there fhall be none left of the houfe ‘* of Efau.” This was fulfilled literally, either by Judas Maccabeus, when he went againft the children of E/au in Idumea, and {mote them, and took their fpoil, 1 Macca. v. 3. or rather by Hyrcanus, who took the cities of Jdumea, fubdued all the Edomites, but permitted them to live in their own country, provided they would be circumcifed, and conform to the Fewi/b laws; which they did, as Fofephus fays ¢,and coalefced and became one people with them, and were reckoned as Jews, and no more as Edomites. But this prophecy had its ac-: complifhment fpiritually, either in the firft times of the gofpel, when the apoftles, who were Fews and J/raelites, went forth into the Gentile world, and among the enemies of Chrift, preaching the word, which is like fire; and when attended with the Spirit of judgment and of burning, enlightens the confciences of men, melts their hearts, confumes their lufts, and is as a refiner’s fire to them, for their purification; or if not, it irritates, provokes, torments, and diftreffes, as fire does; and is either the favour of life unto life, or the favour of death unto death; fee If iv. 4. Fer. xxiii. 29. Rev. Xi. 5. or rather it will have its full and final accomplifhment in the deftruétion of antichrift, here fignified by E/au and Edom, which will be by burning myftical Badylon, the whore of Rome; the beaft and falfe prophet will be burnt with fire; the day of the Lord will burn like an oven, and all the wicked will be as ftumble, which will be burnt by it, root and branch, fo that none will remain; fee Rev. xvii. 16. and xviii. 8. and xix. 20. Mal. iv. 2. compare with this Zech. xii. 6. Kimchi on Amos, ix. 12. fays, this fhall be in the days of the Meffiah, the Edomites thall be all confumed, and the J/raelites fhall inherit their land; for the Lord hath {poken it, and therefore it fhall moft certainly be accomplifhed; what God has faid fhall be done, he'll he'll not alter the thing that is gone out of his lips; heaven and earth fhall fooner pafs away, than one word of his.

y¥. 19. And they of the fouth foall poffefs the land of Efau, &c.| That is, thofe ‘ews that fhall dwell in the fouthern part of the land of adea, fhall feize upon the country of Jdumea, lying contiguous to them; they fhall enlarge their border, and take that into their poffeflion: and they of the plain, the Philiftines; or of Sepbela they that fhall inhabit the plain, or champain country of Fudea, as the parts of Lydda, Emmaus, and Sharon were; thefe fhall poffefs the country of the Pdilifines, lying near unto them, as Azotus, Gaza, Afbkelon, Gath and Ekron: and they fhall poffe/s the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria, all the countries that the ten tribes inhabited, in the times of their idolatry, before their captivity, which the Fews fhall now be reftored unto: and Benjamin fhall poffefs Gilead, that tribe fhall be fo enlarged as to take in the country of Gilead, which lay beyond Fordan, formerly poffeffled by the half tribe of Manaffeb. Some think this was fulfilled in the times of the Maccabees, when feveral of thefe places were taken by Fudas, 1 Maccab. v. 17, 36, 68. but fince the land of Fudea, and the countries adjacent to it, were never as yet inhabited by the Zews in the form and manner here mentioned; it rather refpects their fettlement in their own land, in the latter day, when their borders will be greatly enlarged; fee Ezek, xiviii. Zech. X. 10. or it may regard the enlargement of the church of Chrift, either in the firft times of the gofpel, when that was fpread in thofe parts, and met with fuccefs; fee A/7s viii. 6, 8. and ix. 31, 35. or rather in the latter day, when Chrift’s kingdom will be from fea to fea, and his dominion from the river to the ends of the earth, Pf. \xxii. 8. and to which alfo the following words belong.

¥. 20. And the captivity of this hoft of the children of Ifrael fhall poffefs that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath, &c.| ‘That is, the hoft or army, the great number of the children of J/rae/, that have been carried captive, upon their return fhall poffefs that part of the land of J/rae/ which was inhabited formerly by the Canaanites, even as far as to Zarephath, {aid to belong to Zidon, 1 Kings xvii. 10. and called Sarepta of Sidon; fee Luke iv. 26. It is mentioned by Pliny » along with Sidon, where glafs was made; and perhaps this place might have its name from the melting of glafs in it, from }¥ which fignifies to melt metals, glafs, &c. it is called by Fo/ephus ', Sarephtha; who fays it was not far from Sidon and Tyre, and lay between them: according to an Arabic geographer *, it was twenty miles from Tyre, and ten from Sidon. Here the prophet Eiijab dwelt for a time; and in the times of Yerom' was fhown a little tower, faid to be his habitation, which travellers vifited. Mr. Maundrel ® {peaks of this place as three hours journey from Sidon, and is now called ‘* Sarphan, fup- “* pofed, he fays, to be the ancient. Sarepbath, or ** Sarepta, fo famous for the refidence and miracles of the prophet Hijab; the place fhewn us for this city, confifted of only a few houfes on the tops of the mountains, within about half a mile of the fea; but it is more probable, the ‘ principal part of the city ftood below, in the

RAL LT Ver. 19-—21. “ fpace between the hills and the fea, tliere being, « ruins full to be feen in that place, of a confi- ‘* derable extent.” It was once a place'very famous for wine; the wine of Savepta is often made mention of by writers"; perhaps vines might grow upon the hills and mountains about it; and this being a city of Phenicia, on the northern border of the Jand of /rael, is very fitly obferved as the limit of the poffeffion of the J/raclites this way.

And the captivity of Ferufalem which is in Sepbarad, foall poffe/s the cities of the fouth, the Fews, who were carried captive into Babylon, to Sepharad, fome place, tho’ unknown, perhaps in the land of Babylon. Calmet ° conjectures it may be Sippara or Sipparat in Mefopotamia, a little above the divifion of the Euphrates; and the Septuagint verfion renders it, Ephratha, which perhaps isa corruption of the Euphrates in the prefent copies: the Vulgate Latin verfion tranflates it, Bo/pborus; and fo Ferom, who fays, that the Heérew that taught him, affured him that Bo/phorus was called Sepharad; whither Adrian is faid to carry the ews captive. Kimchi and Aben Ezra interpret it of the prefent to their land fhall pofiefs the fouthern part of it, which originally belonged to the tribe of Fudab, Foo. xv. 20, 21. If Sepharad, in the Affyrian language, fignifies a border, as Yerom fays it does, it borders on the fouth of ¥udea, that fhall be inhabited by the Fews. Some render the words, the captivity of Ferufalem fhall poffels that which is in Sepharad, and the cities of the fouth, but this is contrary to the accents, unleis the words fall pof- Jefs be repeated, and fo two claufes made, the captivity of Ferufalem thall potiels that which is in’ Sepharad, they hall poffe/s the cities of the fouth. The Targum and Syriac verfion, inftead of Sepharad, have Spain, and fo the ewi/ writers generally interpret it. By the Canaanites they think are meant the Germans, and the country of Germany; by Zavephath, France, and by Sepharad, Spain; fo Aben Ezra, Farchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, fanfying that they who are now captives in thefe countries, fhall one day poffefs them: but the prophecy only refpects their fettlement in their own land, and fome parts adjacent to it; or rather the enlargement of the church of Chrift in the world. “A late learned writer * is of opinion, that fome re-

{pect may be had to this paffage in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, in which the former makes. mention of jive brethren that he had, Luke xvi. 28. and are by the faid writer thus reckoned ¥

1. the houfe of Facob; 2. the houfe of Fofeph, - which are faid to poffefs the fouth, with the moun- ’

tains of Efau, and the plain; 3. Benjamin, which fhall poffefs Gilead; 4. the captives from the 4/- jyrian captivity; 5. the captives from the Feru/alem-captivity, namely, by Titus Vefpafian, who fhall poffefs the cities of the fouth.

y. 21. And faviours fhall come upon mowit Zith, &c.] Which, according to fome, is to be underftood literally, either of Zoredabel and Fofhuab, after the return of the ews from the sing captivity, who were the reftorers of their ci church-ftate; or rather of Judas Maccabeus and his brethren, who faved the people of the fers from

Antiochus and his generals, called /aviours, as the - captivity of theirs by Z7fus, who upon their return denotes, as fome think, that part of Arabia which:

judges of old were, Neb. ix. 27. but it is beft to interpret thefe faviours of the apoftles of Chrift, and minifters of the word; and efpecially of the preachers of the gofpel in the latter days; called faviours, becaufe they publifh falvation, preach the gofpel of it, fhew unto men the way of falvation; and fo they, and the word preached by them, are the means and inftruments of the falvation of men; otherwife Chrift is the only Saviour of God’s appointing and fending, and who came to effect falvation, and is become the author of it, nor is it in any other; fee 1 Zim. iv. 16. Ezek, xxxiii. 9. Rom. i. 16. Jam. i. tg. thefe in great numbers, in the latter day, will appear on mount Zion, or in the church of Chrift, and fhall openly and publickly, as on a mountain, declare the everlafting gofpel; thefe will be with Chrift the Lamb, among the 144,000 upon mount Zion, Rev. xiv. 1, 6. Kimchi and Ben Melech fay, thefe are the king Meffiah and his companions, the feven fhepherds and eight principal men, Mic. v. 5. ben Ezra fays, the words refer to time to come; according to Baalhatturim on Gen. xxxii. 4. they will be fulfilled about the end of the fixth millennium, when they expect the Meffiah; and they are applied to the times of the Meffiah, both by ancient and more modern Fews. In their ancient book of Zohar 4 it is faid, ‘* when “© the Meffiah fhall arife, ‘facob fhall take his por- “¢ tion above and below; and Efau fhall be ut- “¢ terly deftroyed, and fhall have no portion and ‘¢ inheritance in the world, according to ¥. 18. <¢ but Facod fhall inherit two worlds, this world, “¢ and the world to come; and of that time it is <¢ written, and faviours fhall come upon mount Zion, «¢ &c.” Soin the Ferujalem Talmud‘, “ fays R. <¢ Hona, we don’t find that Facob our father went “ to Seir (fee Gen. xxxili. 14.) R. Foden, the fon << of Rabbi, fays, in future times (the world to «¢ come, the days of the Meffiah) is it not faid, ** and faviours fhall come upon mount Zion, to judge “< the mount of Efau??” And to much the fame purpofe it is faid in one of their ancient Midraffes * or expofitions, “‘ we have turned over all the fcrip- *¢ ture, and we don’t find that Facob ftood with “¢ Bfau on Seir; he (God) faid, until now it is << with me to make judges and faviours ftand, to ‘‘ take vengeance on that man, as it is faid, and ‘© faviours foall come up, &c.” And the Cadaliftic writers ' thus paraphrafe the words, ‘‘ and faviours