Exposition of the Whole Bible

lt mh ish of inhabitants; but now cut down and deftroyed >, Hep IR X61 Gy FZ) 85-19. sitid ‘-adebioed ¥. 3. There is a voice of the howling of the foep herds, &c,] Which may be underftood eitherph the civil rulers among the Yews, who now lofe. their honour and their riches; and fo the Targum, Jarchi, and Aben Exra, interpret it of kings; or. of the ecclefiaftical rulers, the elders of the peopley, the feribes and pharifees: for their glory is fpoiled; their power and authority; their riches and wealth; their places of honour and profit; their offices, pofts, and employments, whether in civil or religious matters, are taken from them, and they are deprived of them: ¢ voice of the roaring of young lions 5 of, princes, comparable to them for their power, tyranny, and cruelty: the Zargum is, “ their roar- “* ing is as the roaring of young lions;” for the pride of Fordan is fpoiled; a place where lions and their young ones reforted, as Farchi obferves; fee the note on Yer. xlix. 19. Yordan is here put for the whole land of Fudea now wafted, and fo its pride and glory gone; as if the waters of orden ‘were dried up, the pride and glory of that, and ° which it fhowed when its waters {welled and overflowed; hence called by Pliny *, ambitiofus ammis, an haughty and ambitious fwelling river. — ¥. 4. Thus faith the Lord my God, &c.]. The Syriac verfion adds, to me; not the prophet Zecha- © riah, but the Meffiah, who calls the Lord his God, as he was man and Mediator,. Fohn xx. 17. for what. follow are the words of God the Father to — him, calling upon him, and giving him a commiffion to feed the flock of the flaughter; meanin the people of the Fews in general, to whom Chritt was fent as a prophet, to teach and inftruct them by the miniftry of the word; fo feeding is interpreted of prophefying, by the Zargum and Farch: and thefe are called the flock of flaughter, becaufe of the cruel ufage they met with from their fhepherds and owners, mentioned in the next verte; and becaufe they were appointed and given up to - ruin and deftruction of God, on account of their fins and tranfgreffions; tho’ there was a remnant among them, a little flock, afterwards in this chapter called the poor of the flock, who were the fpecial _ care of Chrift, and were fed by him in a fpiritual manner; and may go by this name, becaufe expofed to the cruelties of men, and are accounted as fheep for the flaughter, Rom. viii. 36. thefe, Chrift was called upon by his Father in the council of peace, to take care of, which he did; and }in the everlafting covenant of grace, he agreed.to.

feed them; and in the fulnefs of time he was fent to the loft fheep of the houfe of J/rae/, who were as -fheep without a fhepherd; and he fed them with knowledge and with underftanding,

¥. 5. Whofe poffefjors flay them, and bold them- [elves not guilty, &c.| Not the Romans after Chrift came, into whofe hands they were delivered, and - by whom they were flain in great numbers, not accounting it any fin to put them to death; bur-— the priefts, fcribes, pharifees, and doctors | the ‘Zews, who ruined and deftroyed their foale be feeding them with poifonous doctrines; teaching them the commandments of men, and to obferve — the traditions of the elders; and to feek for life and falvation by the works of the law, which was a miniftration of condemnation and death to them; and yet thought they did God, and the fouls of men good fervice: and they that fell them; as falfe teachers make merchandife of the fouls of men: Sey, blefed be the Lord, for 1 am rich; having devoured widows houfes and fubftances, under a pretence of ‘long prayers; and enriched themfelves thro’ tithes of every thing, and by other methods; as the Scribes and Pharifees did: and their own Soepherds pity them not; thofe who fhould have been concerned for the welfare of their fouls, had no compaffion on them.. 4ben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech interpret this of God the fhepherd of Srael; the verb being finoular, tho’ the noun is plural: fo God is called: makers, creators, Pf. cxlix. 2. Eecl. xii. 1. and this fenfe agrees with the following words.

¥. 6. For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, faith the Lord, &c.| Or fpare them; but caufé his wrath to come upon them to the uttermoft, as it did at the time of Yerufalem’s deftruction by the Romans: but lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand; this feems to refer to the factions and divifions among themfelves during the fiege of Feru/alem, when multitudes fell into fhe hands of the zealots, and heads of parties, and perifhed by them: and into the hand of his king; Vefpafian the Roman emperor; the Fews having declared long before this time, that they had no king but Cefar, Fobn xix. 15. and now into his hands they were delivered up: and they fhall fmite the land; that is, the Romans fhall lay wafte the land of Fudea: and out of their hand I will not deliver them; as formerly out of the hands of their neighbours, the Philiftines, Ammonites, &c. and out of the captivity of Babylon. It denotes that their deftruction would be an utter one; nor have they been delivered yet, tho’ it has been near 1700 years ago.

¥. 7. And I will feed the flock of flaughter, &c.] According to the call and commiffion he had from his divine Father, ¥. 4. he determines to do as it was enjoined him, and as he had undertook: even you, O poor of the flock; befides the people of the “fews in general, to whom Chrift was fent, and he came to feed, there were a fmall remnant according to the election of grace, he had a fpecial regard for; and whom he fed by the word and ordinances with himfelf, the bread of life; and with the difcoveries of his love, and with the covenant of grace, its bleflings and promifes, the fure mercies of David. ‘Thefe are called the pocr of the flock, becaufe they were the poor of this world, as were the difciples and followers of Chrift; the poor have the gofpel preached unto them, Matt. xi. 5. and becaufe they were fpiritually poor, or poor in fpirit, Mott. v. 3. who faw their {piritual poverty, and owned it; who bewailed it, and were humbled under afenfe of it; and fought after the true riches; and acknowledged that all they had were owing to the grace of God: and who, as to the frame ‘of their mind, are the meek and humble ones; or, as to their outward ftate and condition, afflicted ‘ones, as the word ” may be rendered; who were others, Fobn vii. 49. and as to their gifts and graces the meaneft of God's people: and I took unto me two faves, the one I called beauty, and the other I called bands; Farchi, agreeable to the Targum, interprets this of the divifion of the kingdom of J/rael into two patts, in the times of Reboboam and Feroboam, Some think perfons are meant. In the Ta/mud'=, it is explained of the difciples of the wife men in the land of J-zel, who make -each other pleafant by their doétrines; and of the difciples of the wife men in Badylon, that corrupt one another, or object to one another: according to Aben Ezra, Zerubbabel and Nebemiah are intended: others the good king Fofiah, and the bad king Zedekiah: others the prieft, and the king, as Abendana obferves; and Kimchi explains it, of the different manner ih which the Lord led the people, according to their behaviour to him; when they behaved well, they had good kings and governors, which led them in a right way, and they were filled with good things; but when they behaved otherwife, they had evil kings, and evil befel them. The firft of thefe ftaves, fome render clemency *, lenity, kindnefs, gentlenefs; and fuppofe it has refpect to the kind and gentle manner in which God dealt with the Fews before ‘the times of Chrift, both as to civil and religious things; as to civil things, by bringing thém into, and fettling them, in a pleafant land, a land flowing with milk and honey; by giving them wholefome laws, by which they were governed, fuch as no other nation had; and by fetting over them judges, to protect, defend, and deliver them; and kings to rule over them, very wife and good, efpecially fome of them, David, Solomon, &c. and as to religious things, by giving them a revelation of his mind and will, his word, ftatutes, and judgments, he did not give to other nations; and by¥ fending prophets to inftrué&t them in them, and ftir them up to the obfervance of them; and by appointing a place of worfhip, and fettling the form of it; fetting apart men to the office of priefts, and ordering facrifices to be offered, with the whole of temple-fervice; which were the beauty of the Lord, to be beheld in his fanctuary: and then the latter, called bands, which fome render deftroyers ¥, may denote either the deftruction of this people, when they finned againft God, either by the Chaldeans, or by the Romans, when feverity was exercifed on them, and wrath came upon them to the uttermoft, in the ruin of their nation, city, and temple: and others think thefe may refer to the different ufage of the Roman emperors, with refpect to the Fews, who, for the moft part, ufed them kindly, until the times of Nero; but afterwards by him, and other emperors they were treated very roughly, until they were utterly deftroyed by them; but as it plainly appears from the context, that this is fpoken of no other fhepherd but Chrift, and of no other feeding but his, they muft defign the inftruments he makes ufe of, and ftill continues to make ufe of, in feeding his people. Shepherds commonly have but one ftaff, rod, or crook; but Chrift has two: fo the P/a/miff makes mention of a rod and ftaff, when fpeaking of Chrift as a fhepherd, P/- xxiii. 4. and thefe two ftaves, fome interpret of his twofold way of government, lenity to his people, and feverity to his enemies; but rather it denotes, the very great diligence and care Chrift takes of his flock, both in guiding and directing them, and in protecting and defending them; from 2 T, Bab. Sanhedrin, > corSary perditores, Munfter; deftructores, Vatablus;

from their enemies: he fed his people in his own perfon when here on earth, with his ftaff deauty or clemency, he was fent, and came to the loft fheep of the houfe of Jrae/, and had great compaffion on them, as being like fheep without a fhepherd; their prefent fhepherds, or who bore that name, being fuch as are before defcribed: and his tendernefs and gentlenefs towards them appeared in his calling finners to repentance; in his gracious invitations to come unto him, by his kind reception of them; his affable and courteous deportment towards them; the gentle reproofs, and fuitable inftruétions he gave them, and the comfortable truths of the gofpel he delivered to them; and during his perfonal miniftry, he fuffered his difciples to go no where elfe with his gofpel; and at his re- {urrection from the dead, ordered them to begin preaching at Yeru/alem, and to continue preaching to the Fews firft every where, as they did, until they rejeéted the gofpel; and then Chrift broke both his ftaves, or removed the gofpe], and the ordinances of it, which I think are meant by thefe ftaves: for thefe ftaves are not only enfigns of the fhepherd, as inftruments of guiding, directing, and protecting the flock; but emblematical, as their names fhew; and emblems they might be of the ftay and ftaff of food, of the whole ftay of bread, and the whole ftay of water, J/ ili. 1. and we find that Chrift’s rod and ftaff, in a myftical fenfe, are of ufe to feed, refrefh, and comfort, as well as to guide and direct, Pf xxiii. 4. by the ftaff deauty, we are to underftand the gofpel, which was preached to the Fews before the deftruétion of Ferufalem, which is beautiful and pleafant in itfelf, the doétrines of it are fo, fuch as thofe of peace, pardon, righteoufnefs, and falvation by Chrift; and fuch are the promifes of it, being abfolute and unconditional, fure and fuitable to the cafes of God’s people, and likewife its minifters, J - lil.

7. and the ordinances of it comely and lovely; and befides, it fets forth the beauty of Chrift, and reprefents the faints beautifulnefs in him: and it is like the fhepherd’s ftaff, of great ufe in feeding the flock, not only by fupplying with food, being food itfelf, milk for babes, and meat for ftrong men; and by directing to Chrift, his covenant and church, where it is to be had; but by fetting right fuch who are going in wrong paftures; pufhing forward fuch as are backward to duty; fetching back fuch as are driven away, or backfliden, and preferving the whole from wolves and bears: and by the other ftaff dands, the ordinances of the go- {pel are defigned, which are of ufe to keep the faints together, and to direct them to proper food; particularly the ordinance of the Lord’s-fupper, which, as it is a feeding ordinance, and fets forth Chrift, as food for faith, his flefh which is meat indeed, and his blood which is drink indeed; fo it is a knitting and uniting ordinance, and is fitly expreffed by dands; is not only a means of knitting the affections to Chrift, whofe love is fo fully expreffed in it; but of uniting the hearts of believers to one another, who herein become one bread, and one body, and feed together; and have communion with each other, and maintain their church-ftate in a comfortable manner; and keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; and the ordinances of the golpel, tho’ they are fuch bonds as are difagreeable to gracelefs perfons, who are for breaking them afunder; yet they are a yoke

# Apud Quiftorpium in loc, that is'eafy, and a burden light to the people of God, Pf. ii. 3. Matt. xi. 30. It may be obferved, ' that the word for bands is rendered pilots, Ezek. XXvii.8,29. and mafters or governors of fhips, Fonab i. 6. and is fo rendered here +; and as churches may be compared to fhips, Rev. vili. 9. fo may minifters of the word to thofe who have the government and direction of them; and whofe bufinefs lies in the miniftration of the word, and the adminiftration of ordinances, and taking care of the difcipline of the gofpel: this feems to be the evangelic fenfe of thefe words; and they exprefs the manner in which Chrift fed his own dear: ple in Judea, partly by his own miniftry, and partly by the miniftry of his apoftles, whilft he had an intereft there, until the fins of that nation brought utter ruin upon them. It is a moft ridiculous application made of thefe two ftaves by Antoninus archbifhop of Florence 4, that Zechariah being of the Dominican order, took to him in the perfon of God two ftaves, the one he called deauty, — which is the order of the preaching Friars; and the other dauds, which is the order of the Minors: and I fed the flock; with the faid ftaves, as he had determined; which includes the doing of the whole office of a fhepherd; taking an exact account of his fheep, that none be loft; going before them, and fetting them an example in the exercife of grace, and difcharge of duty; leading them to the ftill waters of his Father’s love; to the fountains and fulnefs of his own grace; to the rich provifions of his houfe, and the green paftures of gofpel-ordinances; feeding them himfelf, and with himfelf, the bread of life, the hidden and heavenly manna; appointing fhepherds under him, whom he qualifies to be pattors, gives them to his churches as fuch, and who receive from him the doctrines of the gofpel to feed them with; and protecting them from all their enemies, the roaring and the world’s goats, who thruft with fide and fhoulder, and pufh with their horns of power; as well as by feeking that which is loft; bringing back that which is driven, or drawn away; bind. ing up that which is broken; ftrengthening the weak; healing the fick; and watching over the ~ whole flock night and day, left any hurt them. ¥. 8. Three fhepherds alfo I cut off in one month, gefted in the Zanud +; nor David, Adonijab, and Joab, who died in the fpace of a month; nor the three kings, Feboafh, Feboiakim,-and Zedekiah, who died by the hand of their enemies in a very little time; which is the fenfe of fome, as Abendana obferves; nor the three laft prophets, Haggai, Ze~ chariah, and Malachi, according to Aben Ezra; — nor the three Maccabees, Fudas, Fonathan, and Simon, as Abarbinel; rather the three fects among. — inftead of which laft fome put the Herodians; and ~ others, the Scribes; tho’ fome are of opinion, that the three Sanhedrim or courts of judicature among the Fews are defigned; but it feems beft of all to interpret them of the three orders of magi among them, princes, prophets, and prie the cuéting them off, may denote the ceffation of civil government, the fealing up of vifion and prophecy, and the putting an end to facrifice; which is much better than to interpret them of the three Roman emperors, who fucceeded Nero; that is,

Galba, Otho, and Vitellins, by their own fubjects, and fome days ‘; can’t well be thought to be exprefled by a month; which either fignifies in general a’ {mall {pace of time; or, if a certain month is meant, either it defigns the month Ni/an, in which Chrift fuffered, when of right facrifice fhould have ceafed, as well as then ‘prophecy was fealed up, and there was no more of it among the Yews, nor any civil government in their hands: or elfe the month 4, in which the city of Feru/falem was burnt; and fo an end was put in faé to all the above offices there. It ‘may be, that a month of years is intended, as in Rev. xi. 2. and xiii. 5. and fo Abarbinel here interprets it; tho’ he applies it to the times of the Maccabees; but-it may refpect the thirty years, or thereabout, which were between the death of Chrift, and the deftruction of Ferufalem, within which compafs of time the above events were actually and manifeftly fulfilled: and my foul loathed them; becaufe they did not perform the duties of their office; the civil magiftrate did not govern according to the laws~of God; the prophets did ‘not teach found doétrine; and the priefts did not do their fervice aright, nor teach the people the ufe and end of facrifices, and in them direct to the Meffiah as they fhould have done: wherefore Chritt exprefled his diflike of them by words in his miniftry, particularly in Matt. xxiii. and by deeds, caufing vengeance to come upon them to the entire removal-of them: or, my foul was fhortened, or contraéted in them, or towards them ®, his affections were lefiened towards them; he loathed their ways and works, which were not good; and he rejected and caft them off as his people, and wrote a Loammi on them; took away his gofpel from them, and abolifhed their civil and ‘church-ftate: and their foul alfo abborred me; which is the reafon of the former; and fo the Yargum paraphrafes it, <* and my word caft them away, becaule their foul *¢ abhorred my worfhip;” all ranks and orders of men among the Fews had Chrift in abhorrence; they abhorred his perfon, his name, his miracles, his doétrines, his ordinances, and his people; this they did becaufe of his mean appearance; and becaufe of his inveighing againft their traditions, fuperftitions, and immoralities; and this appeared by their contemptuous rejection of him as the Meffiah; by their crucifixion of him; and by perfecuting his difciples and followers.

y. 9. Then faid I, I will not feed you, &c.] That is, any longer; either perfonally, or by his apoftles; he fed them himfelf, during his public miniftry; and afterwards by his apoftles, whom he ordered to preach the gofpel to the Jews firft, but that being contradicted, blafphemed, and defpifed by them, they were ordered to turn away from them, and go to the Gentiles: this fhows that not the fhepherds only, but the body of the people abhorred Chrift, and his gofpel; and therefore it was taken away from them: ‘hat that dieth, ket it die; literally, by the peftilence, that going by the name of death in fcriprure; and fpiritually, they that are dead in fin, Jet them continue fo; let them die thro” famine of the word they have defpifed; let them die in their fins, and die the fecond death, they juftly deferve: and that that is

20 be cut off, let it be cut off; literally, by the fwords

within the {pace of a year | fpiritually, the meaning is, that whereas fome were and which is a term of time that | in righteous judgment appointed to ruin, vefiels of wrath fitted to deftruction; let them. be left to themfelves, to a judicial blindnefs, and hardnefs of heart, and be cut off as unfruitful branches, and be no more in a church-ftate here, and hereafter caft into everlafting burnings: and let the refi eat every one the flefo of another; thro’ famine; or de- {troy each other in their inteftine divifions, which was the cafe of the Fews, when Ferufalem was befieged; fee Gal. v. 15. Sou 8

¥. 10. And 1 took my flaff, even beauty, and cut it afunder, &c.| | Signifying, that he dropped his paftoral care of them: the -gofpel indeed, which is meant by the ftaff deauty, cannot be made void; it will have its defigned effect; it is the everlafting gofpel, and will endure; its bleffings, promifes, doétrines, ordinances, and minifters fhall continue, till all the ele&t are gathered in, even unto the fecond coming of Chrift: but then it may’ be removed from one place to another; it may be taken from one people, and given to another;. and which is generally owing to contempt of \it, unfruitfulnefs under it, and indifference to it; and this is the cafe here, it defigns the taking away of the gofpel from the Fews, who defpifed it, and the carrying of it into the Gentile world; fee Matt. Xxi. 43. és xili. 46, 47: that [might break my covenant which I had made-with all the people, not the covenant of works, that: was: made with all mankind in Adam; that was broke, not by the Lord, but by man; and was broke before the gofpel was publifhed; nor the covenant of grace, for this. was not made with all the people, nor can it be broken; but the Mo/aic ceconomy, the Sizai-covenant, called the old covenant, which gradually vanifhed: away: it was of right abolifhed at, the death of Chrift; when the gofpel was entirely | removed,: it more appeared to be fo; and this was thoroughly done at the deftruction of the city and temple... The laft claufe may be rendered, which covenant J have made with all the people; the Gentiles, having promifed and given orders to fend the gofpel unto them, which was accordingly done.

y. 11. And it was broken in that day, &c.] In right, the day Chrift died; apparently, when the gofpel, the fubftance of it, was removed; and, in fact, at the time of Feru/falem’s deftruction: and Jo the poor of the flock; fee the note on ¥..7: that waited upon me; as fervants on their mafters; as clients on their patron; as beggars at the door. for alms; as attendants on the worfhip of God, for the manifeftations of himfelf, for the performance of promifes, and for anfwers of prayer: or, obferved me*; what he faid and did, his word, and his ordinances; what he abolifhed, and what he inftituted: knew that it was the word of the Lord; either that Chrift the fhepherd was the effential word of the Lord; or that the prophecies. concerning the deftruction of the Jews, their civil and ecclefiaftical ftate, were the word and decree of God now fulfilled; or that the gofpel taken from them is the word of the Lord, which he is the author of; his grace is the matter and fub- {tance of; and which he fpeaks by his minifters; and may be known by the matter and efficacy of it; by the refrefhment and comfort it gives, by

& I DI WPM) & abbreviata eft anima mea in

LOAN CO™DUTM qui obfervabant me, Burkius, its leading fouls to Chrift; and by the harmony, agreement, and uniformity of its doctrines.

monly underftood of filver fhekels. So the Targum, in Gen. xx, 16. and xlv. 22! renders pieces ¥. of filver, by. thekels of filver; and’Ex/ebius ™ calls ‘thefe here thirty: ftaters, the fame with fhekels 5 which, if common fhekels, reckoned at one fhilling and three-pence,. made but thirty-feven fhillings and fix-pence; and if fhekels of the fancfield the potter had dug up, and had made the moft of it, and fo was good for nothing, but for fuch an ufe, for which it was bought, to bury ftrangers in. It is alfo a difficulty to fix it certainly to whom this money was ordered to be given, and was given. It is here faid to the: potter 5 but ‘archi and Kimchi obferve, that fome of, their interpreters render it, ¢be trea/urer; Nand » being fometimes changed for one another; thus, the Targum paraphrafes it, ‘* under the hand of the ‘* treafurer;? and fo others°; and indeed the money was given to the chief priefts.and elders, fome of whom might be in that office, Mattoacxvii. 3, 6. tho’ there is no need of fuch an alteration of the word, fince the money /udas took for betray- 7 ing Chrift, and caft into the temple.to the priefts, they took up, and gave it to the potter, for the field they bought of him with it; and.in the evangelift, the phrafe by way of explanation is rendered, for she potter’s field; and may be here properly enough tranflated, for the potter’; as the particle Dy is fometimes uled ’, that is, to be given to him for purchafe-money 4:..and* whereas the is faid'to be caft, or, given.to him, én the boufe of the Lord, i. e. in the temple, it appears a fact in the accomplifhment of this. prophecy, that it was caft into the temple, Aéait. xxvii. 5, and was took up by the priefts;, who, in all probabi: lity, tent for the potter thither, and.agreed with him for his field, and paid him \his money there 5 for there is no reafon, to believe,-that he had a | work-houfe for his bufinefs in the temple;- tho? ir may be he had one. near. it; fee Fer. xviii. 1, 2. and worked for the fervice of it, fince-earthen vef> {els were ufed in temple-fervice ". The aceomthey are com-j plifhment of all this is in Matt. xxvii. 7, 8, 9; ro. ae S aang 14. Then, I cut afunder mine other flaff, even bands, &c.] B moval of the form of civil government from the Jews; or the abrogation of. the Mofaic law, and the carnal ordinances of the Fews, in which Fudaizing chriftians joined them, until the deftruc- y. 12. And I faid unto them, &c.| Not to the poor of the flock that waited on him, and knew the word of the-Lord, and valued it; but to the other Fews that defpifed Chrift andhis gofpel: give me my price;: or, give my price!; what I am valued at by you, to Judas the betrayer:' or the price due unto him for feeding the flock, fuch as faith in him, love to him, reverence and worfhip of him. So the Targum paraphrafes it, do my «will. Kimchi fays, the ‘price is repentance, and good works: and if not, forbear; unlefs all is done freely, willingly, and chearfully; fee Ezek. ii. 5, 7. or, if worth nothing, give nothing: fo they weighed for my price thirty pieces of filver, the price a fervant was valued at, Exod. xxi. 32. fee the fulfilment of this prophecy in Matt. xxvi. 15. The Jews own *, that this prophecy belongs to the Meffiah, but wrongly interpret it of thirty precepts given by him’: in juft retaliation and righteous judgment, thirty Fews were fold by the Komans for a penny, ‘by way of contempt of them ‘.

y. 13. And the Lord faid unto me, &c.] The| money prophet Zechariah, in a vifionary way repreienting the Sanbedrim of the Fews, the chief priefts, fcribes, and elders: caft it unto the potter; for the purchafe of his field, in order to make a buryingground of it for ftrangers: a goodly price, that I was valued at of them’ this is. farcaftically faid; meaning that it was a very poor price; and fhowed that they had no notion’ of the worth and value of Chrift, the pearl of great price: axd I took the thirty pieces of filver, and caft them to the potter in the houfe of the Lord; it is a queftion with fome, what thefe pieces of filver were;

tuary,; which at moft were but two fhillings and fix-pence, thirty ‘of thefe would make but three pounds, fifteen. fhillings; and therefore may be ruly’ called; ironically {peaking, 2 goodly price; being no ‘more than the price of ‘a fervant, as before obferved: but Drufius objeéts to this, feeing a potter’s field was bought with this money; and gofpel, which, upon taking that away, ceafed’ that [ met break the brotherbood between Fudab and Ifrael, the gofpel and gofpel-ordinances being removed from the Zews, there was,no more work of converfion among them; their church-ftate. cameto nothing, and gn entire. difagreement be

; 1 Ag etweelk afks,:who can believe, that a field‘near fo popu-. lous a city as Feru/alem, could be bought for thirty fhekels?. and obferves from R. Elias Levita*, that it is a rule with their do€tors, that all filver menfor a filver maneh or pound with the Féws was of them and the Gentiles eniued: and. fo it is when God takes away his. word and ordinances from a people, they are un;churched, and their, brotherhood tis broken, thofe being the bands. which. keep them of Ephraim: the divifion, between, them! was made a goodly price: and-as ‘to the objection about the of an union between them; fome of the:ten tribes!

tion of Yerufalem; or-rather thé ordinances of the.

purchale of a field with fuch‘a fum of money as' thitty thekels amount to, it may be obferved, what Grotius Seems rightly to conjecture, that this was returning with the. Zews, and; cpalefcing-in one! {tate; and moreoyer, at their certain ftated feafts! they came from, different parts of,.the world, aiids

Ch xi asa ZEON ART 4H +33 joined together in religious fervice; fee 4s ii. but upon the diffolution of their civil and church-ftate, this friendly correfpondence was broken\off, and their communion with each other ceafed: and as for the Fews, after the chriftians were called out from among them at Feru/alem,\andi removed to Pella, they fell into intestine! divifians-and quarrels among themfelves, which lafied. during the fiege of that city; and when it was taken and-deftroyed, their -brotherhood and unionvamong, themfelves were. brokemo fucha degree, that they were feattered one «tom another 5and! how. know: not: of what kingdomand tribe they are). whether of Fadab or fvael, ox of what tribe inveither, \\ 40

XN. 1g2svdndsthe Lord -faid> unto me, 8¢0,} “Phe prophet: Zechariah: take dato. thee yet the inftruments of a foal foepherd; the meaning is, that the prophet Should: put’on the ‘habit sof a fhepkerd,: and take a {chp and ftaff in his hands, and reprefent a foolift: fhepherd, ‘hereafter;deferibedsl) (uc: sos

X. 16; For lo, I will raife: upia foepherd iw the land, &é2\o Net inctheland-of Fudéea, butsin’ the Roman empire; and fo not. Hered; nor king Agrippa,.as Kimchi y nor Antiochus Epiphanes, ‘as others’; nor thofe wicked priefts:and princes, who governed after theitimes of Zechariah nor the feribes and | pharifees in »Chrift’s times; tho’ they°‘are ‘often called fools. by’him, and were truly foolith thepherds; nor even Titus Ve/pafian,) who deftroyed the cityeand ‘temple, nor Bar Cozba, who fet up’ for the Meffiah, and was a falfe one; or any other of that forte. Calmet * thinks, this defigns the Romar

‘emperors, fucceffors of Tiberius, under whom Jefus

Chrift was crucified. Caligula fucceeded Tiberius, Claudius Caligula,and Nero fucceeded Claudius: every one knows.(adds he) the chara¢ters of thofe princes, that they were truly foolifh thepherds, mad, wicked, and cruel: but rather it intends {hepherd, or fhepherds, not imsa:civil, but in: an ecclefiaftic fenfe; all’ fuch: after Chrift, who took upon them this office, but did: not perform it aright, as hereticks, falfe teachers, with which the firft ages abounded; and efpecially:it points at the bifhop of Rome, and all under him, when he fell off from the true doctrine dnd difcipline of the gofpel, the man of fin, or antichrift,.as. Ferom rightly. obferves; who, tho’ his coming: is according to. the working of fatan, yet may be faid to be raifed up by the Lord, be- éaufe Ke fuffered him to. rife; and by his fecret providence, and wife ordination in righteous judgment; he came to the height of his power: with him agrees the name.of a fbepberd; he calls himfelf the vicar of Chrift, the chief fhepherd and bifhop of fouls; Peter’s fucceffor, who was: or- univerfal paftor, and'a fingle one, that will not admit of any-affociate. ‘The character of a foolifh one belongs to him, tho” he would be thought to be wife; nor is he wanting in wicked craft and cunning, but ignorant: of the paftoral office, and how to feed the church of God and‘is a wicked, or evil fhepherd, as the word ‘ ufed-is pretty much. § Di@ionary, in the word, Shepherds. t 999 the fame in found with our Englifh word evil; he governing the flock, not with, and according to the word? of God, but according to his own will and laws; for his in/truments are laws of his own making, an exercife of tyrannical power over bingy and princes, ‘tinwritten traditions, pardons, indalgences, &'c. which hall nat vifit thofé that be cut ge | off; not that.cut off themfelves, of are cuit off by the church; but fuch that go aftray, wander from, the fold,‘and are in danger Of being loft; ATTN, that are ‘perifhing, as ‘farchi ‘explains the wor; thefe ‘he looks-hot after, ‘nor’ has he any‘regard their {piritual and eternal welfate,: neither fall feck the young one’s the Lamb, ‘the tender of the flock; he will*not do as the good fhepherd does, carry the lambs ‘in’ ‘his arms, {/ xl. 11. or, thee, which. wanders *; that {trays from the fold, apd out of the paftures, or the right way: wor beal. thot that is’ broken; that is of a brokén and of a contrite fpirit’; or whofe bones are broken, and ceniciences wounded, ‘thro’ falls into fin: nor feed..that ‘that frandeth' fill, that can’t ‘move from its place to get frefh pafture, but is obliged. to ftay where it is, and needs fupply and° fupport there: But be foall cat the flefo of the fat, that is, as the. T< Organ well explains it,‘ fhall fpoil the fubftance of the “© rich;” fee Rev. xviii. 3,7: and hear their claws

| in pieces; take all their power, and privileges from’ them; all which well agrees with the pope of Rome.” Aa re

¥. 17. Wo to the idol-fbepberd, &c.f. Ors, thé foepherd' of nothing“; that is no true fhepherd, that is good for nothing, for an idol is nothing in the world,..1 Cor. viii. 4. and who is an idol himfelf,: fits in the temple of God, and is worfhipped as.if he was God, 2 Theff. ii. 4. Rev: xiii 4, 8, 15. and is an encourager and defender of idolatry: that leaveth the flock; has no regard to. its f piritual concerns does not feed it, but Heece it, and leaves it to the cruelty and avarice of ‘his creatures under him: the fword fhall be upon bis arm, with, which he fhould feed the flock: and upon bis right, eye; with which he fhould watch over it: Ais arm shall be clean dried up; his power fhall, be taken away from him; the antichriftian ftates, which fupported him; -fhall withdraw from him; the ten. kings fhall hate the whore, ftrip her naked, eat her ficth, and ‘burn her with fire, Rev. xyii.. 6+ and his right eye fhall be utterly darkened, not only given up to judicial blindnefs; which has been, always his cafe; but his kiagdor fhall be full of dark~ nefs, Rev. xvi. 10. his hidden. things of darknefs fhall be expofed; all his crafty fchemes will be confounded; and all his wit, cunning, and ‘ ubrlety will ceafé; and every thing defireable to him will be taken away from him. His arm may denote his fécular power, which fhall be taken away from him‘: and his right eye, his knowledge of the criptures, judgment in controverfies, and, infallibility pretended to by him, which will ceafe, even in the opinion of men. Ben Melech.interprets it, the eye of his heart or mind; and fo Aben Ezza.