S MAW Sa
éi fures of wifdom and knowledge are, and on whom the fpirit of wifdom and underftanding, and of counfel and might refts: the mighty God; or God, the mighty one*;, as fome read the words with a comma; but if read together; the fenfe is the fame; Chrift is God, truly and properly fo; as appears from his name Febovab, which is peculiar to the mott high; from his nature and perfections, being the fame with his Father’s; from the works per~ formed by him, as thofe of creation, ptovidence, miracles, redemption, refurrection from the dead, &¢e. and from the worfhip given him, which only belongs to God; alfo he is called, our God, your God, their God, my God, by which epithets, thofe that are not truly God, are never called; he is faid to be God, manifeft in the flelh; God over all, bleffed for ever; the great God, the living God, the true God, and eternal life: and he is the mighty one as appears by the works he did,’ previous to his incarnation; as the creation of all things out of nothing; the upholding of all things by the word of his power; the management of all the affairs of providence, there being nothing done but what he was concerned in; as the confufion of languages; the burning of Sodom and Gomorrba;, bringing the children of J/rael out of Egypt; leading and going before them thro’ the red fea and wildernefs; and bearing and carrying them all the days of old: and alfo by the works he did when here on earth; as his miracles, called his mighty works; fuch as healing all manner of difeafes by a word fpeaking, or by touching the perfon, or by the perfon touching him, even his gartnent, or without feeing the perfon at all, and always without the ufe of medicines, difpoffeffing devils out of the bodies of men; power over ‘the elements, as to change water into wine, rebuke the wind and feas, &¥c. raifing the dead, arid even his own body, when dead; and above all, the great work of redemption, by which he appears to be the mighty one indeed; his Father’s call of him to it, fhews it: his undertaking it, confirms it; and his a€tual performance’ of it, puts it out of all doubt; as well as what was then done by him; fuch as bearing all the fins of his people; engaging with all their enemies; conquering them, and delivering them out of their hands: likewife by what he does now, partly in the converfion of hhis peo ple; quickening men dead in trefpaffes and fins; caufing dry bones to live; giving fpiritual fight to fuch as were born blind; plucking out of the hands of fatan, and turning from his power to God; which fhows him to be ftronger than the: ftrong man armed; beginning, carrying on, and finifhing ‘the-work of faith with power on them; as well as at firft, making them willing to fubmit to his ri¢hteoufnefs, and*to be faved by him and partly in his care of them afterwards; he, having the government of them on his thoulders; fupplying all their wants; bearing all their burdens; and fupporting them under all their afflictions, temptations, and defertions; protecting them from all their enemies; ftrengthening them to do his will and‘ work; and keeping them from falling totally and finally, and preferving them fafe to his everlafting kingdom and glory: moreover, by what he will do hereaftér; ‘binding fatan, and confining him for thé {pace of a thoufand years; clearing the world of all’ his, and his peoples enemies;
: sneaks! ithe his” me- | the wand @iator, the wifdont 6£ Géd, “in whom all the trearaifing the dead; and judging the world; and de- er fe Deus, per unionem hypoftaticam, S:a:9r@y
52 IS A itroying wicked men and devils, with an everlafting deftruction. The everlafting father, which does not defign any relation of Chrift in the Godhead; there is but one Father in the Godhead, and that is the firft perfon, indeed Chrift and the Father are one, and the Father is in him, and he is in the Father, and he that has feen the one has feen the other, and yet they are diftinct, Chrift is not the Father; the Son and Spirit may be confidered with the firft perfon as Father, in creation and regeneration, they being jointly concerned therein, but not in the Trinity: it is eafy to make it appear Chrift is not the Father, but is diftin& from him, fince he is faid to be with the Father from eternity, to be the Son of the Father in truth and love, his own Son, his only begotten and beloved Son; Chrift frequently calls the firft perfon his Father, prayed to him as fuch, and is our advocate with him, as well as the way unto him; he is faid to be fent by the Father, to come from him, and to go to him; and many things are faid of Chrift, that can’t be faid of the Father, as his being made flefh, fuffering and dying in the room of his people; and the Father is faid to do many things unto him, as to anoint him, to feal him, to fhew him all he did, to commit all judgment to him, and give him to have life in himfelf as he had: but Chrift is a father with refpeét to chofen men, who were given him_as his children and offspring in covenant; who are adopted into that family that is named of him, and who are regenerated by his {pirit and grace: and to thefe he is an everlafting father; he was fo from everlafting; for regeneration and faith don’t make men children, but make them appear to be fo; God’s eleé& are children previous to the Spirit’s work upon them, and even to the incarnation and death of Chriit; adoption is an act of the will of God in covenant from eternity: and Chrift is a father to thefe unto everlafting; he will never die, and they fhall never be left fatherlefs; he and they will ever continue in this relation; he as fuch fupplies them with everlafting provifions, he clothes them with everlafting raiment, he gives them an everlafting portion, promotes them to everlafting honour, faves them with an everlafting falvation, bearing an everlafting love to them. Some render the words, the Father of eternity*; the author of eternal life, who has procured it for his peole, and gives it to them; or to whom eternity fies; who inhabits it, and is poffefléd of it, is the everlafting I. AM, was before all perfons and things, was fet up in an office-capacity from everlafting, and had a glory with the Father before the world was, in whom eternal election, and with whom the everlafting covenant, were made. The Septuagint verfion is, the Father of the world to come; of the gofpel-difpenfation; fo called Hed. ii. 5. the legal difpenfation, when in being, was the then sie world, at the end of which Chrift came; this. is now at an end, and a new ftate of things has taken place, which with refpect to the Old Teftament-faints was the world to come, and “of this Chrift is the father or author; as the law came by Mo/es, and he was the father of the legal difpenfation, grace and truth are come by Chrift, the father and author of the gofpel-difpenfation; the doctrines of it are from him, and the ordi- nances of it by him; and he is the father of that:
{tate or world to come after the refurrection, the new Yeru/alem-church-ftate, and alfo of the ultimate glory. The prince of peace; Chrift is a prince, often fo called, Ezek, xxxiv. 24. and xXxXvii. 25. Dan. ix. 25. he is fo by birth, being, the King’s Son, the Son of God, and by office, power,..and authority; he is fo a prince, as that he is a one he is exalted to be a prince and a Saviour; and he is a prince fuperior to kings, being the prince of the kings of the earth, Aés v. 31. Rev. i. 5. and he is called the prince of peace, becaufe he is the author of peace; juft as he is faid to be the prince of life, Aéis ili. 15. for the fame reafon: he is the author of peace between Few and Gentile, by abrogating the ceremonial law, the enmity between them, and by fending the gofpel to both, and making it the power of God to falvation to fome of each of them, and by bringing them into. the fame gofpel-church-ftate, and making them partakers of the fame privileges and bleffings, internal and external, Eph. ii. 14—20. and he is the author of peace between God and finners; he has made it by the blood of the crofs, having the cha- {tifement of their peace laid upon him, in confequence of a covenant of peace he made with his Father, who was in him reconciling the world to himfelf: and he is fo called likewife, becaufe he is the giver of peace; of all outward peace and profperity to his churches, as reft from their enemies, concord among themfelves, and additions to them of fuch as fhall be faved; of internal peace thro” - the difcoveries of his love, and the application of his righteoufnefs, blood, and facrifice, in a way of. believing in him, and in a courfe of obedience to him; and likewife of eternal peace and reft in the world to come. Moreover, all that concern him as a king or prince, fhew him to be the prince of peace; his kingdom lies among other things in peace and joy in the Holy Ghoft; the fceptre of his kingdom is the golden fceptre of giace and mercy; his royal proclamation is the gofpel of peace; the fruit of his Spirit is peace; and his fubjects are peaceable ones, both in church and ftate. With this compare Hed. vii. 2. 2 Theff iii. 16. It is obfervable, that at his birth there was a general peace, not only in the Roman empire, Luke ii. 1. but in all the world; and it is remarkable, that whereas at this time the Chinefe empire enjoyed a profound peace, the emperor of it changed his name, and would not be called by his name Ngayus, but Pingus, which fignifies peaceable". ¥. 7. Of the increafe of his government, 8 c.] That is, of the prince of peace, on whofe fhoulders it is; which, from {mall beginnings, will rife to a very great pitch and height of glory; this is fignified by the ftone cut out of the mountain without hands, that fmote the image, became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth, Daz. ii. 34, 35 44, 45. and by the parable of the muftardfeed, the leaft of all feeds, and yet when grown up, becomes a great tree, in which the birds of the air build their nefts, Mart. xiii. 31, 32. Chrift’s kingdom and intereft, his dominion and government, may be {aid to be increafed, when his gofpel is fpread far and near, which is called the gofpel of the kingdom, and the doétrines of it, the myfteries of the kingdom; by ta hivede ari sk a come fubjects of it, and fo his ki m is en]; At firft it was only preached in Judea; and then it~ was carried into the Gentile world, where it met with great fuccefs, and was fpread to the overthrow of paganifm in the Roman empire; a ftop was put to t Talnp re cesw@- merroil@, fo fome soni) 1 FRR to its progrefs, by the appearance and power of antichrift, the man of fin; but at the Reformation it broke out again, and {pread itfelf over many nations; and tho’ of late years there has been a decline, in the latter day the knowledge of it will
» cover the earth, as the waters do the fea, and multitudes fhall be converted by it; which is meant by the increafe of Chrift’s government. In the days of his flefh on earth, few believed in him; after his afcenfion to heaven, there was a large increafe of his followers in Ferufalem, and in the Gentile world; the gofpel being preached there, more were the children of the defolate, than of the married wife; large numbers were converted, and churches raifed and formed every where; and in the latter day the church fhall fill the earth, and the kingdoms of this world will become the church of Chriit all nations will flow unto it; the people of ‘the Fews in a body will be converted, and the fulnefs of the Gentiles will be brought in; the intereft of Chrift, which made fo contemptible a figure at firft, confifting chiefly of the poor of this world, harraffed with perfecution, and difturbed by hereticks, will now make a very creat one; the kings of the earth coming into it, the wealth and riches of the world falling into the hands of the faints, the greatnefs of the kingdom under the whole-heaven being given to them; Chriftianity will be the univerfal religion of men, and which will be attended with the greateft {pirituality, holinefs of life, purity of doctrine, worfhip and difcipline, and freedom from perfecution, as follows. In the word 39009, rendered, of the éncreafe, the letter 13, in the middle of it, is fhut, which in other places is open. The,fews feek for
- myfteries in this. ben Hzra fays, it refpects the miracle of the fun, whofe fhadow returned back in Hezekiah’s time; this is faid to ferve an hypothefis, Kimchi obferves, on the contrary, that in Bzra (it is in Neb. ii. 13.) the fame letter at the end of a word is open, which ufed'to be fhut, where mention is made of the walls of Feru/alem being broken down; and thinks it has this myftery in it, that at the time of the falvation, the walls of Feru/alem, that were broken down during the captivity, fhould be {topped up, and then the government fhould be opened, which was fhut, until the king Meffiah came. If there is any myftery in this, it may denote, that the government of Chrift, which would be for a time ftraitened, and kept in narrow bounds and limits, fhould hereafter be extended throughout the world, to the four corners of it, to be firm and ftable, perfect and compleat; which the figure of this letter, being fhut, and four-fquare, may be an emblem of. See Rev. xxi. 16. And peace there fhall be no end, this refpects both the increafe and perpetuity of the peace of Chrift’s kingdom. The peace of believers under the gofpel-difpenfation, is greater than that of the faints under the legal dif- nfation, whofe facrifices could not remove a con- {cioufnefs of fin and its guilt; and who, thro’ various laws threatening with death, were all their life-time fubject to bondage; but great is the peace of New Teftament-faints, thro’ the blood, righteoufnefs, and facrifice of Chrift, and which may be increafed more and more: and in the latter day there will be more peace among themfelves,; Ephraim fhall not envy Fudab, nor Fudab vex Ephraim; the- fticks of Fofeph and Fudab tha'l be one; nor will there ever be any more difcord between Jew and
Gentile, the lion and the lamb fhall lie down together; there will be no more war among the nations, after the battel of Armageddon; and no more perfecution, after the flaughter of the witnefles; and this abundance of peace, {piritual and tempo:
ral, will be as long as the moon endures, Pf. Ixxii: 7. and all this will iffue in eternal peace in the world to come: upon the throne of David, and upon bis kingdom; that. is, on it the prince of peace fhall fit, who is David’s fon, according to the fiefh, and fo his heir; fee Luke i..32, 33. and which mutt be underftood fpiritually of the church and people of Chrift, who are his throne and kingdom; in whofe hearts he reigns by his grace and fpirit: to order its difpofe, rectify, put into form and order, and adorn and beautify, by enacting laws for them, writing them on their hearts, and putting his Spirit within them, to enable them to keep them; and by fetting perfons over them, under him, as deputies and fub-governors, guides and rulers, to explain his laws, and enforce them; to teach them to obferve all things commanded by him; to whom he gives gifts for ufefulnefs and fervice; and whofe mini- {try he bleffés, for the converfion and gathering in of others, and fo repairs and glorifies the houfe of his kingdom; and alfo by granting his prefence in his word and ordinances: and to eftablifh it with juftice and judgment; by convincing men by his Spirit of righteoufnefs and judgment; by revealing in his gofpel his own righteoufnefs to them; by forming in their hearts the new man, which is created in righteoufnefs and true holinefs; by teaching them to live foberly, righteoufly, and godly; and by protecting them from all their enemies: and fo he eftablifhes particular believers in the faith of himfelf, and with the do¢trine of faith; that they perfevere to the end; and his whole church upon himfelf, the rock of ages, that the gates of hell fhal]l not prevail againft it; <nd in the latter day he will eftablith it upon the top of the mountains; [f. ti. 2: from henceforth, even for ever; Chritt’s throne is for ever and ever, his kingdom is an everlafting one; he’ll have no fucceffor in it, nor any rival that fhall ever difpoffefs him of it,. all other kingdoms will ceafe, but his will remain for ever: tho’ this claufe, according to the accents, is to be connected with what follows”, thus, from henceforth, even for ever, the zeal of the Lord of hofts will perform this; all that is faid in this verfe, and in the context, refpecting the incarnation of Chrift and his kingdoim; the veracity, faithfulnefs, and power of God, are engaged to perform whatever he has purpofed and promifed; and his zeal, which is no other than his fervent, flaming love, will move him to it, and is effectual to accomplifh it; his fervent love for his own glory, which is his ultimate end in all his works of nature, providence, and grace, will engage him to fulfil whatever is foretold concerning the birth of Chrift, and redemption by, him, and his offices and Kingdom;
fince this is greatly concerned in all thefe things, his zeal or fervent love to his Son, fhown in giving all things into his hands, in committing all judg ment to him, that men may honour him as they do the Father, will move him to increafe his government and peace, and make him his firft-born higher than the kings of the earth; and his zeal or fervent love to his people, will put him upon all this, fince it is for their good, as well as for his own glory, and the honour of his Son; what the queen w So Junius and Tremellius, whom Reinbeck commends, De Accent. p. 387, quéen of Sheba faid of Solomon, may be faid of Chrift and'his people, 1 Kings. x. 9..
¥. 8. The Lord fent a word unto Facob, 8c.) The prophet having comforted Judah with the promife of the Meffiah, returns to denounce the judgments of God upon the ten tribes, under the names of Facob and Jrael, which fignify the fame 5 for the word here is not the word of promife, the comfortable word concerning the Meffiah before-mentioned; but a word of threatening, ruin, and deftruction, to the kingdom of Jjrael, after enlarged upon, which the Lord fent unto them by his prophets before-hand, to warn them of it, and bring them to repentance; by which they would know, when it came to pafs; that their deftruction was of the Lord, and not a matter of chance: the Septuagint verfion is, the Lord fent death upon Jacob; and {o the Arabic verfion following it; the fame word, differently pointed, being ufed for the peftilence, but is not the fenfe here; the Targum, Syriac, and Vulgate Latin verfions, render it, a word, as we do: and it hath lighted upon Ifrael, or hath fallen*; as an arrow fhot out of a bow, as fome think; or as feed caft upon the earth; or rather like a thunder-bolt: it: denotes the fure and full accomplifhment of the word of God upon the perfons to whom it was fent; for as his word of promife, fo of threatening, does not return to him void and empty, J. lv. 10, 11.. The Targum is, ‘* the Lord fent a word *< into the houfe of Facob, and it was heard in “° Yfrael.”
¥. 9. And all the people fhall know, &c.] The word of the.Lord, and that it is his; and by fad experience fhall- feel the weight of it: or, the people foall know the whole of it’; fhall find that the whole of it will be accomplifhed, every punctilio in it; whatever is faid is done, every thing predicted by it, the fubftance of it, and every circumftance relating to it: or they fhall be punifhed, they fhall bear, know, and, feel the punifhment of their fins; in which fenfe the word know, in the Arabic language, is frequently ufed, of which Schultens * has given many. inftances: even Ephraim, and the inhabitants of Sameria; the ten tribes are meant by Ephraim; and the inhabitants of Samaria are particularly mentioned, becaufe Samaria was the metropolis of Ephraim, ch. vii. 9. and becaufe it was to fuffer, and did fuffer much in the threatened calamity, being befieged three years, then taken, and its inhabitants carried captive; and fo experimentally knew the word of the Lord, and the truth of it, 2 Kings xvii: 5, 6: that fay in the pride and froutnefs of beart; being proud and haughty, ftout-.
hearted, and far from righteoufnefs, and the fear of God; hardening themfelves againft him, de- {piling his word, and defying, as it were, his power and providence; faying, as follows,
¥. 10. Lhe bricks are fallen down, &c.| Honfes made of bricks, which were without the cities befieged, and deftroyed by the Afprians; of which the haughty. U/raelites made no account, looking upon fuch a defolation as little or no lofs at all: dat wewill build with hewn fone, fo that the houfes will be better and ftronger, more beautiful, and more durable: the fycomores are cut down, which grew in the fields, and out-parts of the cities, and were but a mean fort of wood, and which the Allyrians cat down to ferve feveral purpofes in their fiege; of this fort of trees, fee, the note on Luke XIX. 4: but we-will change them into cedars; that is, will plant cedars in»the: room! of them: thees* tall and large, very delightful:to look at,, of great’ worth and ufefulnefs, and very durable; tho’ this’ may regard not fo much the planting of them as’ the ufe of them in building, and the fenfe be agreeable to the former claufe; that as, inftead of brick): they would build houfes with hewn dtone; fo, ine» ftead of fycomore-wood, which was not fo fubftan=; tial and durable, and fit for building, they-would> make ufe of cedar, which was both beautiful andy lafting; fo the Septuagint, ‘* the bricks are fallen,’ ** Jet us hew ftones, and cut down fycomores,and.
fo the Arabic verfion; fo that upon the whole;; 1 flattered themfelves they fhould be gainers, and not? lofers, by the Afrian invafion; thus. deriding itys and defpifing the prophecy concerning it, Farcbi. interprets the bricks and fycomores, of the kings’ that went before, as Fehoabax, the fon of Fehu, ine whofe days they were leflened, and were like ao building of brick, broken and falling; but-their, prefent king Pekah, the fon of Remaliah, was ftrong, like a building of hewn ftene, and fo cedars were® better for building than fycomores; and to this. fenfe agrees the Targum, ‘* the heads (or princes): “* are carried captive, but we will appoint better im = ** their room; goods are fpoiled, but what are: ‘“* more beautiful than them we will purchafe.”..o.
¥. 11. Therefore the Lord fhall fet up the adver=—
Saries of Rezin againft him, &c,\ Set them up-oms:
high, as the word * fignifies; exalt them above him, and make them fuperior to him, aad con-.: querors of him, meaning the Afyrians; who being fent for by Abab, went up againft Damafcus, took it, and carried the people captive, and flew. Rezin the king of Syria, the head of which was Damajfcus, 2 Kings xvi. 7, 8, 9. this is mentioned, ~ becaufe the J/rae/tes put great truft and confidence in this prince, with whom they were in alliance;.. and this is faid to abate their pride, arrogance and. haughtinefs, before exprefled: and join bis enemies together, or mix thems the Affrian army, confift- ~ ing of a mixture of various nations; or fir them ~ up, as the Targum, inftigate them, againft /him.; Some underftand the whole of J/rae/, againft whom. the adverfaries of Rezin, namely, the Afprians, » would come, as they did, and invade their land, and carry them captive; with whom were various other people, as follows, had ¥. 12. The Syrians before, and the Philiftines behind, &c.] Rezin, king of Syria, the confederate. - of the J/rae/lites, being flain, his people joined the Arians againtt I/rael; and they, with others men-. tioned, betet them on all fides, before and behind, ~ eaft and weft; and fo the Targum, Septuagint, and > other verfions render it, the Syrians on the eaft, or. from the rifing of the fun; and the Philifineson. the weit, or from the fetting of the fun; for, as. Kimchi obferves, Syria lay eaft of the land of Jrael, ~ and Palejfine on the welt>: and they fhail devour» Tirael with open mouth; greedily and. pref bei, >t make as it were but one morfel of him: for "7 wy this bis anger is not turned away, but bis band is.
Stretched out fill; that is, the anger of God, that.
was not turned away; he had not yet ftirred up all his wrath, he had not done with them, he had ftil]
other judgments to bring upon them; and his ~~ hand continued to be ftretched out to inflict them, feeing they were not brought to repentance by what
‘ssall this they-do not return from their fins, that ‘she: may turn away his anger from them, but *¢: ftill retain: their fins; and yet his ftroke wiil be **:to ‘take vengeance on them.”
“13. For the people turneth not to him that finiteth them, 8¢c.| Who was the Lord of hofts, as it is explained in the next claufe; it was he that had fmote the people with the rod of correction and chaftifement, by various afflictions and diftreffes, which he had brought upon them, in order to bring'them to a fenfe of their fin and duty, to reclaimeand recover them from their backflidings, but they had not fuch an effect upon them; they returned not to him by repentance and reformation, from ‘whom: they had turned themfelves by their evil ways 5 nor to his worfhip, as the Targum interprets it, to. his word and ordinances; for afflictions, unlefs fanctified, are of no ufe to reftore backiliders. This is to be underftood of the people. of Yrael, the ten tribes, whom the prophet calls: the»people, not. my people, nor the people of the Lord, becaufe unworthy of that character. The Septuagint render the words, the people returned not until: they were fmitten, and {fo the Syriac verfion; intimating, as if they did return when fimitten; but the following words, and the whole context fhew the contrary: neither do they feck the Lord of Hos, by prayer and fupplication, for pardoning grace and mercy, thro’ Chrift the mediator; nor im his word and) ordinances, for his prefence and communion with him, or inftruétion or doétrine from him, as the Targum; to be taught true doctrine, and. their duty to God and man: this is one part of the character of an unregenerate man, Rom. iii, 114
_ Senge Therefore the Lord will cut off from Ifrael head and tail, &c.) ‘The former of thefe is afterwards interpreted of ihe antient and honourable, men inhigh places, civil magiftrates, judges, governors, and elders of the people, the king as fupreme, and all fubordinate officers; and fo the Zargum, ‘* the *¢ Lord will deftroy from J/rael the prince and the ‘« ruler;”” and the latter is interpreted of the falle prophet. The people of J/rael are compared to a beaft with a tail, being fo fadly degenerated and corrupted; as the Romi/b antichrift, in both his.
capacities, civil and ecclefiaftical, is compared to a beaft'; the one being the head, and the other the tail, Rev. xiii. 1, 2, 11. and Rome pagan to a dragon with a tail, Rev. xii. 3, 4. and the Saracens and Turks to locufts with tails like the tails of {corpions, Rev. ix. 10, 19: branch and rufh in one day. The Septuagint render it, great and finall, and fo the Arabic verfion; the firft word intending the great ren. of the nation, in flourifhing circumftances, like branches of trees; the latter the common people, like reeds and rufhes, weak and feeble; fo Kimchi explains them, ‘“‘ the ftrong and the «+ weak;” tho’ the Targum interprets both of the governor and lord’; and fo Farchi fays they fignify kings and governors 5 but Aven Ezra renders the word, root and branch; and fo they may denote the utter deftruction of the people of J/rae, fathers
¥. 15. The antient and honourable, be is the bead, &c.] The elder in office, not in age; and who, on.account of his office, dignity, and riches, is honoured by men, is of a venerable countenance himfelf, afid is reverenced when feen and looked which is not convenient, Eph. v: 4: for ail this bis upon by others, and received by perfons with pleafure and chearfulnefs; asthe phrafe ufed'fignifies. The Septuagint and Arabic verfions render it, who admire, or have mens per fons in admiration, which is the character Fude gives of falfe teachers, Ful. ¥. 16. who are next defcribed: and the prophet that teatheth lies, he is the tail, fo called from their low extract, being. often of a mean original and defcent; or rather from the meéannefS of theif fpirits, their flattery of princes and great men, to whom they tell lies, and prophefy fmooth and falfe things, for the fake of a’ little fordid gain, in allufion to dogs that wag their tails at their mafters; or from the poifon of their doétrines, forne creatures having poifon in their tails, and do much mifchief with them. See Rev. ix. 1g.
¥. 16, For ibe leaders of this people caufe them to err, 8cc.] Or, who blefs this people, as the Septuagint and Arabic verfions; and fo the 7; argu, ** who praife this people;” that call them bleffed, pronounce them happy, fee Mé/. iii. 15. and promife them happinefs, both in this world, and that to come, tho’ guilty of notorious fins, and live a Vicious courfe of life; and fo harden them in their iniquities, and caufe them to wander more ‘and more from the way of truth and righteoufhefs; and lead them into, and leave them in, fatal miftakes about their ftate and condition. Thefe feem to defign the ecclefiaftical leaders of the people, the blind leaders of the blind, fee chap. iii. 127 and Matt. Xv. 14: and they that are led of them are defiroyed or, they that are bleffed of them are fwallowed up <; and {fo irrecoverably loft; the deceivers and the deceived perifh together; as it is finful in teachers and leaders of the people to teach them falfe things, and lead them out of the way, it is criminal in the people to be led and taught by them, who ought to take care what they hear and réceive; and therefore both are righteoufly punifhed; for the words are a reafon why the Lord would cut off both the one and the other.
¥.17. Therefore the Lord foall have no joy in.their young men, &c.| Take no delight and. pleafure in them; but on the contrary, deteft and abhor them, and fo deftroy them, being depraved and corrupted by the bad inftructions and examples of their parents: neither fhall have mercy on ibeir fatherle[s and widows; who are objects of pity and compaffion; yet thefe being wicked, as well as the fathers of the one, and the hufbands of the other, fhall be no more {pared than they have been; fo that this exprefles both the general corruption and deftruction of this people: for every one is an hypocrite, and an evil doer, an hypocrite, as Aben Ezra on the place obferves, is one that is outwardly good, and inwardly wicked; which was the general character of the people of J/rael in J/eiab’s time, as it was of the Fews in the times of Chrift, fee Matt. xxiii. 25—28. they pretended to do good, but were doers of evil, workers of iniquity, continually committing fin; and yet would be thouglit to be very upright and fincere, both in their religion towards God, and in their dealings with men; but deceitful in both:. and every mouth fpeaketh folly, or falfhood; a lie, as the Targum, as all lies are foolifh; as alfo all vain words, all impious ones; or the favour of irreligion or fuperftition, and indeed every idle word, and all unfavoury and corrupt fpeech, and there is particularly foolifh talkingy emyyban SAWIND qui ex hoc populo beati dicuntur, abforbebuntar, Vatablus, anger is not turned away, but bis hand is ftretched out fill; which is repeated from y. 12. See the note there.
y¥.18. For wickedne/s burneth as the fire, &c.] That is, the punifhment of their fins, as the Targum interprets it; the wrath of God for fin, which is poured out like fire, and confumes as that does; unlefs wicked men are meant, who are confumed with the fire of divine vengeance; the fenfe is the fame: it fhall devour the briers and thorns, finners and ungodly, fo the Targum paraphrafes it; and Aben Ezra obferves, they are the wicked; who are compared to briers and thorns, for their unfruitfulnefs in themfelves, hurtfulnefs to others, and for their weaknefs to ftand againft the fury of incenfed deity, fee 2 Sam. xxiii. 6. If. xxvii. 4: and foall kindle in the thickets of the foreft. Kimchi thinks there is a gradation in thefe words, that as fire firit begins to burn the thorns and fmaller wood, and then the greater; fo wickednefs confumes firft the little ones, who are the thorns, and after that it kindles in the thickets of the foreft, who are the great ones; fo the common-wealth of /-ael is compared to a foreft; and the thorns, briers, and thickets may denote the common people and their governors, who al] being guilty of wickednefs, fhould not efcape the vengeance of God: and they hall mount up like the lifting up of fmoke; or lift up themfelves, or be lifted up; fo ben Ezra and Kimchi interpret the word; but Farchi thinks it has the fignification of 9) to be perplexed, and gives the fenfe of it thus; they are perplexed, and fhut up with the ftrength of fmoke that burns: others take it to be a word of the fame meaning with p3Nx; and render it, they /hall pulverize, or xo into duft in the lifting up of Jmoke*; and denotes the diffolution of the common-wealth; but perhaps it may be better rendered, tho? they fall walk proudly (or behave haughtily) their pride fhall be as /moke, which foon vanifhes away; fince the word which is only here ufed, in the Syriac language fignifies to walk proudly, as a cock with two crefts °.
¥. 19. Thro the wrath of the Lord of Hofts is the land darkned, &c.] Brought into great diftrefs and affliction; fore judgments and calamities being upon it; for not darknefs in a natural, but in a figurative fenfe, is intended, fee chap. viii. 22. and ix. 1. the allufion is, to the afcending of the fmoke before-mentioned, thro’ fire being kindled in the thickets of the foreft, which filled the air with darknefs; as fmoke arifing in great quantity does. This fenfe of the word, which is only to be met with in this place, is given by Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, from the ufe of it in the Arabic language, in which it fignifies darknefs; but the Septuagint and Arabic verfions render it, the whole - land is burned, and which is confirmed by the Targum, which fo interprets it; and this fenfe well agrees with the context: and the people foall be as the fuel of the fire; this explains who are meant b' the briers and thorns, and thickets of the foreft, the inhabitants of the land of J/rael, who, as they are the fuel of fire, were the objects of divine wrath and fury: »o man fhall fpare’ his brother 3 which may be afcribed either to the darknefs and confufion in which they fhould be, and fo not be able to difcern a friend from a foe, as perfons furrounded with fmoke; or to their malignant fpirit, cruelty and inhumanity, not only doing ill to their enemies, but to their own friends and relations, to - their own flefh and blood. —
¥.20. And be fhail {natch on the right-hand, and be hungry, 8cc.] Either with his hand, and rob and plunder all within his reach; or with his teeth, as Cannibals, or beafts of prey, catch at, tear, and rend in pieces, whatever comes in their way; and yet hungry after more, and unfatisfied, as follows: and be fhall eat on the left-hand, and they foall not be fatisfied, ravage and fpoil on every fide, and yet not content. The Targum is, * he fhall fpoil on ‘* the fouth, and be hungry; and he fhall 7 ** on the north, and not be fatisfied:” they foall eat every man the flefb of bis own arm; de their near relations; who are their own flefh and blood, or take away their fubftance from them; fo the Targum, ** they fhall fpoil every man the fubftance ‘* of his neighbour;” which will give fome light to Rev. xvii. 16.
¥. 21. Manafeh, Ephraim: and Ephraim, Manafjeh, &c.| That is, Manaffeh fhall eat or devour Ephraim, and Ephraim fhall eat or devour Manaffeb; as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic ver= fions render it; which is to be underftood of their quarrels, contentions, and wars among themfelves, whereby they bit, devoured, and confumed each other, tho’ they were brethren; which explains and confirms what is before faid, of no man {paring his brother, and every one eating the flefh of his own arm. The Zargum paraphrafes the words thus, “* they of the houfe of Manaffeb, with thofe of the ‘** houfe of Ephraim, and they of the houfe of Ephraim, with thofe of the houfe of Manaffeb, — fhall be joined together as one, to come againft “ them of the houfe of Fudab;” and fo Farchi interprets them, ‘‘ Manaffeb thall be joined with “ Ephraim, and Ephraim thall be joined with Ma- “¢ naffeh, and they together fhall be joined againft << Judah;” fo it follows, and they together thall be againft Fudah; as the ten tribes did fometimes make war againft the two tribes of Fudab and Benjamin, fee 2 Chron. xxviii. 6, 7, 8: for all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is fretched out ftill; more and forer judgments were to come upon this people for their fins. See the note on y. 12.
MINI IDANM) & epulverabitur ere€tione fumi, Cocceius; adeo ut in minutiffimum pulverem abeant elato fume, vel
© Et fuperbient, (faftuofe fe gerent) at fuperbia (vel quorum
By SHIS chapter contains denuntiations of punifhment, firft on the governors. of the veral places thro? which he fhould pafs with terror to the inhabitants, until he fhould come to Yeru-.
‘Fewifo wation, and then upon the A/yrians; a wo falem, againft which he fhould thake his hand, is denounced on the makers and impofers of bad laws, whereby the poor and the needy, the widows ‘and the fatherlefs, were deprived of their right, ¥v 1,2. which wo or punifhment, is explained to ‘Be a’ defolation of their country by the Afjrians, that fhould come afar off, and which they could ‘fiot -efcape; under whom they fhould bow. and all; and yet there fhould not be an end of their punithment, ¥. 3, 4. next follows a prophecy of ‘the deftruétion of the Affrians themfelves, for the “comfort of God’s people; in which is obferved, that-the Ajjyrian monarch was an inftrument in the *Hand:of the Lord to chaftize his people, and there- *f6re is called'the rod and ftaff of his wrath and “indignation, ¥. 5. the people are defcribed againft whom he was fent, and the end for which is mentioned, ¥. 6. tho’ this was not his intention; nor did he'defign to {top here, but to deftroy-and cut _ off many other natians, y. 7. which he hoped to do from’ thé: magnificence of his princes, who were as' kings, and from the conquefts he had made of "kingdoms, and’ their chief cities, ¥. 8, 9, 10, 11. wherefore, when the Lord had done what he defiened to do by him among his people the Fews, “he’was determined to punifh him, becaufe of the ~pride-of his heart, and the haughtinefs of his looks, arid his boafting of his ftrength and wifdom, and “Of his robberies and plunders, ‘without oppofition; which boafting was as foolifh, as if an ax, a faw, ‘tod,’ and’a’ ftaff, fhould boaft, magnify, move, “and lift up themfelves againft the perfon that made ufof them, ¥. 12, 13, 14, 15. which punifhment “is faid' to come from the Lord, and is’ exprefied by: leannefs, and by a‘confuming and devouring fire; for which reafon his army is compared to thorns and bfiers, to a foreft, and a fruitful field, “which fhould be deftroyed “at once, fo’ that, what 6f the trees remained, fhould be fo few as to be ‘numbered by a child, ¥. 16, 17, 18, 19: and for the further confolation of the people of God, it is -obferved, that in the times following the deftruction of the Afyrian monarchy, a remnant of the people “of ifrael fhould be converted, and no more lean upon’ an arm of flefh, but upon the Lord Chrift, the holy one of J/rael, even a remnant only; for tho” that people were -very numerous, yet a remnant, according to the election of grace, fhould be faved, when it was the determinate counfel of God, and according to his righteous judgment, to deftroy the far greater part of them, for their perverfenefs.and obftinacy, ¥. 20,21, 22, 23. wherefore the people of God. “are® exhorted. not to be!
“afraid of the Afyrian, tho’ chaftifed by him; fince "Gn a Little time the anger of the Lord would ceafe “in his deftruction, which fhould be after the man- “ner of the Eeyptians at the red-fea, and as: the flaughter of Midian at the rock of Ored'; whereby they would be free from his burden and yoke, becaufe‘of the anointed king’ that fhould reign, or the king Meffiah, y. 24, 25; 26, 27. and then fol-
‘lows a defcription of the expedition of the king of
Afyria into Fudea, by making mention’ of the fe- Fi & So Caftel. col. 1828, 1829.
¥. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32. and then, under the fimilies of lopping a bough, and cutting down the thickets of a foreit, and the trees: of Lebanon, is prediéted the deftruction of his army and ‘its generals by an angel, ¥. 33, 34.
¥.1. Wo unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, &c.] Or, O ye that decree, &c. 7 being a fign of the vocative cafe, and an interjection of calling, as Aben Ezra obferves 5 tho’ the Zargum, and other verfions underftand it, of a threatening denounced; and is to be underftood as lying againft law-givers and judges, political rulers and governors of the people, that made unrighteous laws; laws which were not agreeable. to the law of God,nor right reafon; and were injurious to the perfons and properties of ‘men;. and which were calculated for the oppreffion of good men, efpecially the poor, and for the protection of wicked men, who made no confcience of fpoiling them: and that write grievoufnefs which they have prefcribed; laws grievous and intolerable, being. made by them, they wrote them, ‘or ordered them to be written, to be eneroffed and promulgated, publifhed ‘them, and obliged the people'to be fubject to them.. This fome underftand of the fcribes of judges, who fat in court; and wrote out the decrees*and fentences made by them; but it rather intends. thefame perfons as-before, and not ecclefiaftical,.but! political governors are meant,‘ and fuch as lived before the Babylonijo captivity 5 orcotherwife the whole is applicable*to the Scribes and Pharifees, to the Mi ni¢ doétors, the authors of the oral law,:the fathers of tradition, whofe decifions and ‘decrees’ were un=" righteous and injurious,.and contrary to the com-! mands of God; heavy burdens, and» grievous to! be borne, and very oppreflive ofthe.poor, the fatherlefs, arid the widow; for which they are re-. proved by Chrift, Matt. xv. 3, 6, 9. and xxiii. 4, 14, 23,25... Farchi fays it is an’ Arabic ® word,: which fignifies Scribes. 19 y. 2. To turn afide the needy from judgment, &cc.] Such laws being: made, as difcouraged them from any application for juftice; and when they did, were harrafled with fuch long, vexatious and expenfive fuits, as obliged them to defift, and the caufe being “generally given againft them,.and for the rich: aad to take away the right from the poor of my people; for not to do juftice to the poor, is the famé as to. rob and'plunder them, and take away by force, what of right belongs to them; ‘wheréfore it follows: that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherlefs; who have none to proteét'and defend them; and whofe * protectors judges ought to be, in imitation of God, whom iheaves reprefént,..who is the judge of the widows and the» fatherlefs;.and. therefore this is obferved ‘asian aggravation of their fin, which was very greatiindeed: itis very wicked inmanjudge to pervert ‘the! judgment of ‘the:poor and needy, the widow atid the tatherlefs,;contrary to laws'that are made by God and. men;' but to make:and 'prefcribe
USS and 4atS> Scriba, Golius, ‘col. 1999. fo the word-ww-nted in the Chaldee and Syriac Janguages. Sea wicked and unrighteous laws, that wickednefs may be framed, and mifchief committed by a law, that the poor and the needy, the widows and fatherlefs, may be injured under colour and pretence of law and juftice, is the heighth of injuftice. See P/. ceding chapter, and this fhould begin with the next verfe. “ _ ¥. 5. O Affrian, the rod of mine anger, 8c.) Either.as calling him to come againft the land of Ural to fpoil it, fo Kimchi; or as grieving’ that he’
XCiV. 20, 21. was obliged to make ufe of him in fuch a manner
¥. 3. Aud what will ye do in the day of viftation, &c.] Not in a way of grace and mercy, but of ruin. wrath and anger, as the following claufe explains it, when God fhould come and punifh them for their fins; and fo the Targum, ‘* what will ye do “¢ in the day that your fins fhall be vifited upon! “< you;” it defigns the Badylonifh captivity, as the next words fhow; the fame phrafe is ufed of the deftruction of the Fews by the Romans, Luke xix. 44: and in the defolation which fhall come from far; from Afpria, which was diftant from the land of Yudea: the word * for defolation, fignifies a ftorm, tumult, noife, and confufion;
verfes feem more properly to belong to the preagain{ft his people; or as threatening him with So the Targum, Septuagint, and all the Oriexta/ verfions render it, wo to the Affyrian; wherefore this, and what follows, ferve to comfort the people of God; that tho’ they fhould be carried captive by the Arians, yet they thould be utterly deftroyed, and a remnant of the Yews fhould be: faved. The Afjrian monarch is called the rod of God’s anger, becaufe he was made ufe of by him as an inftrument to chaftize and correct J/rael for their fins: and the flaff in their hand is mine indignation, that is, the ftaff which was in the hand of referring to what) the king of Afjria, and his army, with which they. fmote the people of J/rae/, was no other than the wrath and indignation of God againft that people, and the execution of it, which he committed to them as inftruments. Kimchi interprets their hand, of the land of J/rae/, into which this ftaff wag fent, the Afyrian, to fmite and chaftize them. The Zargum is, ‘* wo to the Afyrian, the government of ‘* my fury; and an angel fent from before me, “ againft them for a cure.” 3 would be made by the A/ffrian army, when it came upon them: 40 whom will ye flee for help? Rezin king of Syria, their confederate, being deftroyed; and Syria, with whom they were in alliance, now become their enemy, fee chap.ix.11,12: and where will ye leave your. glory? either their high titles, and enfigns of honour, as princes, judges, and civil! magiftrates, which they fhould be ftripped of; or rather their mammon, as Aven Ezra interprets it, their unrighteous mammon, which they got by perverting the judgment of the poor and needy,| &c. the widow and the fatherlefs; of which they gloried; and which now would be taken away from them, when they fhould go into captivity.
y. 6. I will fend him againft an hypocritical nation, The people of J/rael, who might well be called fo, fince every one of them was an hypocrite, chap. ix. 17. pretending to love; fear, and ferve the Lord, when it was only outwardly, and by profeffion, and not in deed, and in truth; their - \ character contains the reafon of the Lord’s calling, and fending the Afjrien to correct and chaftize them: and againft the people of my wrath; who provoked him to wrath, were deferving of it, and upon whom he was about to bring it; it was their hypocrify that ftirred up his wrath againft, them 5 nothing is more hateful to God than that: w¢// £ give hima charge, to take the /poil, and-to take. the prey; that is, the A/yriaw monarch, to make a fpoil, es| and a prey of the people of the Fews, not by anylegal commiffion, or exprefs command, but by the. fecret power of his providence, guiding and di-. recting him into the land of Fudea, to ravage and, fpoil it: and to tread them down like the mire of the, /rreets; which denotes the great fubjection of the’ * inhabitants of it to him; the very low.and mean* eftate into which they fhould be brought; the great contempt they fhould be had in; the little account that fhould be had of them; and their inability to, help and recover themfelves. iio 958 ere
¥.4. Without me they frall bow down under the prifouers, and they foall fall under the flain, &c. That is either, being forfaken by me, and deftitute of my help, they fhall bow down; or, decaufe they are without me, are not my people, and do not hearken to me, therefore they fhall bow down, fo David Kimchi; or were it not for me, they would, as others; or that they might not bow down and fall; and fo the words may be connected with the preceding verfe.: others render the word, tranflated without me, befides;, and the fenfe is either, as A4o Kimchi, befides their bowing in their own land, when fubdued by the Gentiles, a greater affliction fhall befal them, captivity; when they fhould be either carried captive, or flain; or befides him that fhall bow down under the prifoners, they fhall fall under the flain; befides thofe that are taken, others fhall be killed; or none fhall efcape, dut, or except, him that bows, and hides himfelf under the prifoners, or in the place of the -flain, that he might not be thought to be alive: or the fenfe is, the defolation fhall be fo general, that none fhall efcape, either they fhall be taken prifoners, or they fhall be flain; agreeable to which, No/dius' renders the words, without me, every one fhall bow down among the prifoners, or fhall fall among the flain; which gives the beft fenfe of them; that being left of God for their fins, they would either be bound and carried captive, or elfe flain with the fword, and one or the other would be the lot of every one of them: for all this his anger is net turned away, Lut his band is firetched out fill, the final and utter deftruction of the nation of the Fews, being then not yet come, when carried: captive to Babylon, there remained a greater calamity for them, to come by the hands of the Romans.
y. 7. Howbeit be meaneth nat fo, neither doth his eart think fo, &c.] His purpofes, intentions, and, thoughts, were not as the Lord’s; he did not ima= gine that he was only-the rod of his; anger, andthe ftaff of his indignation, a minifter of his wrath, and the executioner of his: vengeance; he th e he was his own lord-and mafter, and. aéted by his — own power, and according to, his, own will, a was not under the direction and. reftraints; of another; his intention was not,to chaftize and correch ~ the people of the Fews, but utterly to deftroythem,, —_ and not them. only,’ but many other nations; as, — follows: dut it is in his heart-to defray, and cut off — nations, not a few; not the, nation of the Jews: Thefe firft four jonly, but) many: others, and fo eftablith an uni- > verfal monarchy; and what fluthed him with hope and expectation of fuccefs, were the magnificence of iis princes, and the conquefts he had already made, y. 8. For he faith, are not my princes altogether kings? | Meaning either the kings which he had conquered, which were become his princes ‘and fubjects; or rather, fuch were the greatnefs: and glory of his nobles, that they were equal in their riches and dominions to kings, and fo were able to furnifh him with men and money, for fuch an expedition he had in his heart to undertake,~ even to conquer and fubdue all the nations of the earth: and this he faid either to his people, boafting of his grandeur; or in his heart, as Kimchi obferves, to encourage himfelt; or rather more openly before others, in order to difcourage and inject terror into the nations he meant to deitroy, and particularly the inhabitants ot eru/alem.
¥. g. Is not Calno as Carchemifh? &c.) Farchi’s note is, ‘* as the children of Carchemifh are princes *¢ and rulers, fo are the children of Caluo;’’ as if this was giving an inftance of the grandeur of his fubjeéts; but much better is the Targum, <“* as ** Carchemifh is fabdued before me, fhall not Calno “ be fo?” as I or my anceftors have conquered the one, it is as eafy for me to conquer the other; or as fure as the one is fubjeét to me, fo fure fhall the other be; for Carchemijh was a city belonging to the Afyrians, fituated upon the river Euphrates, 2 Chron. xxxv. 20. Fer. xlvi. 2. called by Anmianus *, Circufium; the Syriac verfions calls it Bar- Chemofe; and Calno is the fame with Calueb in the land of Shinar,. a city built by Nimrod, Gen. x. to. Amos vi. 2. in the Septuagint verfion it is called Chalane, and ’tis added, ** where the tower was built;” from whence the country, called by Pliny! Chalonitis, had its name, the chief city of which was Crefipbon, thought to be the fame with Ca/ned, Zs not Hamath as Arphad? Hamath and Arphad were both cities conquered by the Afyrians; fee 2 Kings xviii. 34. and are both mentioned along with Damafeus, Fer. xliv. 23. Is not Samaria as Damafeus? Damafcus was the metropolis of Syria, and was taken by the /ffprians; and Samaria was the ‘metropolis of Ephraim, or the ten tribes; fee ch. vii. 8, 9. and was as eafy to be taken as Damafcus was. The Targum is, ‘* as Arpbad is de- * Jivered into my hands, fhall not Hamath be fo? “© As I have done to Damajcus, fo will I do to ** Samaria.”
y. 10. As my band hath found the kingdoms of the idols, &c.] Which worfhip idols, as the Targum paraphrafes it. He fpeaks of them as being very eafily taken by him; he had no. trouble in fubduing them; no fooner did he come up to them, and looked on them, and faw where they were, but they fell into his‘ hands, they gave up themfelves to him at once, and he took pofieffion of them. And whofe graven images did excel them of Ferufalem, and of Samaria; being made of better metal} or more richly ornamented, or worfhipped in ‘a more pompous manner; or were more than they of 7e- | rufalem and Samaria, exceeded them in number;
or were fironger and mightier than they, as Kimchi fupplies it, and yet could not protect them; or were from Ferufalem, and from Samaria, the wicked
;, bi fays, fapplied all the nations: ee an Pr | fettlements; and fo the Targum, “* and I have re-.“* moved the people from! province to province,”
with images, they all {prung from them; and if the idols which came from hence, could not fecure the nations of the earth from falling into the hands