Exposition of the Whole Bible

macher, fet with fparkling precious ftones; fee J

Ixi. 10. thefe things her heart being fet upon, and priding herfelf with, can’t be forgotten.by her, at leaft, not long: yet my people have forgotten me days without number; which fhows great ftupidity and ingratitude; the Lord not being fo much to them, from whom they had received fo many favours, as the ornaments of a maid, and the attire of a bride, are to them.

¥. 33. Why trimmeft thou thy way to feek love? &c.] To feek the love, and gain the affections and efteem of the idolatrous nations, as a lafcivious woman dreffes herfelf out in the beft manner to excite the luft, and move the affections of her lovers; and, as Fezabel, who painted her face, and tired her head, 2 Kings ix. 30. or drefléd it in the beft manner, where the fame word is ufed as here; fo the Targum, ‘* why doft thou make thy ‘* way beautiful, to procure loves (or lovers) to ** be joined to the people;” or, the fenfe is, why art thou fo diligent and induftrious to make thy way, which is exceeding bad, look a good one, by facrifices and ceremonies, oblations and ablutions, in order to feek and obtain my love and favour, which is all in vain? it is not to be gained by fuch methods: therefore haft thou alfo taught the wicked ones thy ways, the wicked idolatrous nations, to whom they joined themfelves; thefe they taught their ways of facrificing, their rites, ceremonies and fuperftitions; or, as ‘farchi interprets it, thou haft taught thyfelf the worft way among them all; that is, thou ‘haft ufed thyfetf to it: there’s a double reading in this claufe. The Ce7zd, or writing is, mmnp> I have taught; as if they were the words of God, faying, wherefore I have taught; or, will teach;, that is, by punifhing thee; that thy ways are evil; or, as Kimchi explains it, -** T have taught thee by thy ways that they are *¢ evil, and evil fhall come unto thee becaufe of ** them.” The Keri, or reading is, nip thou baft taught, which is confirmed by the Targum’, and is tollowed by the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and other verfions. It is by fome rendered, /eeing thou haft taught others thy evil ways ®; not content to fin themfelves, but taught others to do fo, and yet would be thought good.

¥. 34. i/o in thy fkirts is found the blood of the fouls of the poor innocents, &cc.| Either of the innocent infants of poor perfons, who were facrificed to Moloch; or of the poor prophets of. the Lord, whom they flew, becaufe they faithfully reproved them for their fins; and the blood of thofe being found in their {kirts, is expreflive of the publicknefs and notoriety of their fin; and alio of the large quantity of blood fhed, inafmuch as the {kirts of their garments were filled with it, as if they had trod and walked in blood; fee J/- lxiii. 3°: I have not found it by fecret fearch, or, by digging 4, there was no need to dig for it; it. lay above ground; it was upon their fkirts, public enough: or, i# ditches, as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin* verfions; as when murders are priyately and fecretly committed; but thefe were done openly. Some read the words, thou did/t not find them with a digging inftrument*; fo Farchi inter- _ prets the words, ‘* you did not find them with a “ digging inftrument, or in digging, when you him, and ftrengthened and helped him not, 2 Chron. xxviii. 16—21. - ue y¥. 37. Yea, thou fali go forth from him, &c.] From the Egyptian, without any help, and with fhame; or, from this", that-is, from this place,

** flew them;” you did not find theth prepared as thieves to break up your houfes, or digeing down your walls, and breaking thro’ into your houfes, then you would have been juftified by the law in flaying them, Exod. xxii. 2. but this was not the cale: but upon all thefe; wpon all their fkirts, and not in ditches, or under ground: or; for all thefe thou haft fo done; not for their fins, for theft, or any other; but for their faithful reproofs and rebukes; fo ‘Yerchi, for all thefe words with which they reproved thee; or for all thefe, the idols on whofe account, in the worfhip of them, the blood of the innocents was fhed.

¥. 35. Yet thou fayeft, becaufe I am innocent, &c.] Or, that I am innocent; tho’ guilty of fuch flagrant and notorious crimes, acting like the adulterous woman, Prov. xxx. 20. to whom the Fews are all along compared in this chapter; which fhows the hardnefs of their hearts, and their impudence in finning: /urely bis anger fhall turn from me; the anger of God, fince innocent; or, Jet his anger be turned from me, as the Septuagint and Arabic verfions; pleading for the removing of judgments upon the foot of innocency, which is pretended: debold, I will plead with thee; enter into judgment with thee, and examine the cafe clofely and thoroughly: decau/e thou fayeft, I have not finned; it would have been much better to have acknowledged fin, and pleaded for mercy, than to infift upon innocence, when the proof was fo evident; nothing can be got by entring into judgment with God, upon fuch a foundation; and to fin, and deny it, is an aggravation of it: the denial of fin is a double fin, as the wife man fays, whom Kimchi cites..

¥. 36. Why gaddeft thou about fo much to change thy way? &c.| Or, by changing thy way‘; fometimes going one way, and fometimes another; fometimes to Egypt, and then to Ajyria; fecking fometimes to the one for help, and fometimes to the other; at one time ferving the gods of the one, in order to curry favour with them, and then the gods of the other, like a lafcivious woman that gads about from place to place to increafe her lovers, and fatisfy her luft. The Vulgate Latin verfion is, how exceeding vile art thou become changing thy ways; and fo Farchi fays, the word s53n fignifies contempt, or vilenefs; deriving it from 453, or 55, to be vile or contemptible; and to this fenfe are the Septuagint and Arabic verfions; but Kimchi derives it from 538 to go; to which our verfion, and others agree: thou alfo fhalt be afhamed of Egypt, as they were in the times of Feboahax and ‘Jehoiakim, when Pharaoh-Necho king of Egypt took the former, and put him in bands, and carried him into Zgypt; and fet the latter upon the throne, and took tribute of him, for which the land was taxed, 2 Kings xxili. 33,34, 95: as thon waft afoamed of Afyria, in the times of Ahaz, who fent to the king of fpria for help, when Fudab was {mitten by the Edomites, and invaded by the Philiftines; but when he came’to him, he diftreffed

388 FERE from Ferufalem, and from the land of Judea, into captivity; notwithftanding all the promiled and expected help from Egypt, 2 Kings xxiv. 7, 10: and thine hands upon thine bead; plucking and difhevelling the hair, as women in diftreis;. io Tamar, when abufed by her brother, laid her hand on her head, and went out crying, 2 Sam, xiii, 19: for

FN this chapter the fins of the people of J/rael and Fudah are expofed; particularly their idolatry,. fignified by playing the harlot; which 1s aggravated by the number of lovers or idols they had worfhipped; by the many places where they had committed it; by their impudence in doing it; and by the bad conféquence of it, fhowers of rain being withholden from them on that account, y. 1,2, 3. and the grace of God towards them is abundantly declared by frequent calls unto them to repent and turn to him, and this after putting them away, which is not ufual, y.1,8. the Lord expoftulates with them, and puts words into their mouths, what they fhould fay to him, even after they had fpoken and done as evil things as they could, ¥. 4, 5. the fin of Fudabh is particularly aggravated, by having feen what J/rae/, or the ten tribes had done; their impenitence, notwithftanding the divine call; their going into captivity for their fin; and yet all this had no effect on Fudab, to reftrain them from the like fins, and to engage them to repentance; fo that of the two, the men of Fudah were mott to blame, y. 6, 7.8, 9, 10, 11. wherefore the prophet is bid to go towards. the north, where Babylon lay, and J/rael were carried captive, and call upon them to return to the Lord, and proclaim his grace and mercy to them, only infifting upon an acknowledgment of their fins, their idolatry and difobedience, ¥. 12, 13. and next the call to them to return is repeated; to which they are encouraged by obferving the relations they ftood in to him, which continued, by promifing to bring a remnant of them to Zon, and give them paftors approved of by him, and profitable to them, ¥. 14,15. which refpect gofpel-times, and the latter day, when the ceremonial law would be abrogated, y. 16. the Genéiles called, ¥. 17. and an entire agreement between Judah and Srael, x. 18. and yet the Lord exprefies a concern how he fhould reckon them as his children, and treat them as fuch, who had behaved fo ill towards him; but his grace gets over the difficulties; finds out a way, by putting it into their mouths to call him their Father, and not turn away from him, ¥. 19. and this, notwithftanding their great treachery. to him, perverfion of their ways, and forgetfulnefs of the Lord, ¥. 20,21. and they are again exhorted to repent and turn, with a promife of healing their backflidings, which has fuch an effec upon them, as to engage them to come to him, ¥. 22. acknowledging their falvation is only in him, and not in their idols; and that fin was the caufe of ‘all their calamities; and that fhame.and confufion of face belonged unto them on that:account, ¥. 23,24, 24. suis

¥.1. They fay, if a man put away his wife, &c.] Or, /aying”; wherefore fome conneét thofe words with the laft verfe of the preceding chapter, as if

the Lord bath rejetted thy confidences; thof in whom they trufted, as the Egyptians; fo that ee be of no fervice to them; or them, becatife their truft and confidence in men, when it to have been placed above in himfelf: and Jhalt not profper in them; or becanfe of them, “as Kimchi, but fhalt go into captivity,

Hil. é + MA Bae | they were a continuation of what the Lord ‘had | been there faying, that he would reject their confidences; fo Kimchi; but they feem rather *to’ begin a new fection, or a paragraph, with what were commonly faid among men, or in the law, and’as the fenfe of that; that if a man divorced his wife upon any occafion, and fhe go from him, departs from his houfe, and. is feparated from bed and board with him: and become another man’s; be married to another, as fhe might according to the law: fhall be return unto ber again? tale her to be his wife again; her latter hufband not liking her, or being dead: no; he will not; he might not according to the law in Deut. xxiv. 4. and if there was no law refpecting this, it can hardly be thought that he would, it being fo contrary to nature, and to the order of civil fociety: hall not that land be greatly polluted? either Fudea, or any other, where fuch ufages fhould obtain; for this, according to the law, was caufing the land to fin, filling it with it, and making it liable to punifhment for it; this being an abomination before the Lord. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic verfions render it, foall not that woman be defiled? fhe is fo by the latter hufband; and that is ‘a reafon why fhe is not to be received by the former again, Dew. xxiv. 4: but thou baft played the harlot with many lovers; or ferved many idols; ‘the number ef their gods having been, according to the number of their cities, Fer. ii. 28: yet return again to me, faith the Lord, by repentance, and doing their firft*works, worfhipping and ferving him as formerly; fo the Targum, * return now from‘this time to my wor- ‘* fhip, faith the Lord.” ‘The Vulgate Latin vers fion adds, aud I will receive thee?*this-is am in- {lance of great grace in the Lord; and’which is not to be tound among mien) | 44 Ee es ¥.2. Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, &c.] Where idols were fet and wworthippedl ‘either places naturally high, as hills and mountains, which were chofen for this fervice; or high places, “artificially made and thrown up for this purpofe; ‘fee 2 Kings XVii.9, 10, 11. and xxi. 3. and xxiii, 5) and Yer. ii, 20. archi interprets the word To*Dy’ ot ‘rivilets of water, and fo the Targum ae alfo idolatry was committed: and fee whore a bap not been lien with; fee if there'is ahi] or mou tain, or.any high place, where thou ‘haft not com: mitted idolatry; the thing was fo ‘notorious, the faéts and inftances fo many, there ing it; every hill-and mountain wi idolatry; to which agrees the Targu thou haft not joined thyfelf to. in the ways haft thou fet for them 5 fo iwaiting tor them, to‘ join with them’ latries; as harlots ufed to fit b “way meet with their lovers, to be pickec ip by tl or to offer themfélves to them as proftirut xxxvili. 14, 15. which shows that thefe peop licitations of others; but they put themfelves in the way of it, and folicited it, and others to’ join with them in it: as the Arabian in the wilderne/; who dwelt in tents in the wildernefs, and fat by the;

‘not drawn into idolatry by the temptations and v- | expreflive of the wondrous grace and goodriefs: of God towards this people, that had fo highly offended him, yet he expoftulates with them; puts words into their mouths to return unto him with, faying: my father; I have finned againit thee, and way-fide to trade with thofé that paffed by; or am not worthy of the relation, yet receive me as a elfe lay in wait in deferts and bye=places to rob all that paffed by them; and fo the Vulgate Latin verfion renders it, in the ways thou didft fit, expetling them as a thief in the wildernefs, the Arabians being noted for thieves and robbers. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic verfions render it, as @ crow, or raven, of the defert; the fame word fignifying a raven and an Arabian; fee 1 Kings xvii. 4.: and thou hajft polluted the land with thy whoredoms, and with thy wickednefs; the land of Fudea, where idolatry was fo openly and frequently committed, which brought a load of guilt upon it, and expofed it to the wrath ‘and judgments of God; fo the Targum, ‘* thou haft made the land guilty with © thine idols, and with thy wickednefs.”

¥. 3. Therefore the foowers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain, &c.] ‘There were two feafons of the year when rain in common fell upon the land of J/rael, called the former and the latter rain, and both are defigned here. The former by tO9927 /howers, fo called from the multitude of drops in them; thefe fhowers, or the former rain, ufed to fall in the month Marche/van, which anfwers to part of our Offober; it was in Autumn, at the fall of the year, at feeds time, when great quantity of rain ufually fell, to prepare the earth for fowing, and watering the feed fown, whence that month was fometimes called Ba/, as Kimchi obferves, from Mabbul a flood. The latter rain fell in Nifan, which anfwers to our March, it was in the Spring, a little before harveft, which fwelled the grain, made the fkin the thinner, and the flower the finer. This is called yipb: now, becaufe of the idolatry of thefe people, thofe rains were withheld from them, as they were in the times of Abab, 1 Kings xvii. 1. which brought ‘a famine upon them; and was a manifeft token of the divine difpleafure, and what was threatned them in cafe they finned againft the Lord, Devt. xxviii. 23,24: and thou had/t a whore’s forebead; was im~ pudent and unconcerned, repented not of fin, or blufhed for it, tho’ fuch judgments were upon them; hence the Radbins * fay, rains are not withheld but for impudence, according to this {cripture: thou refufedft to be afhamed; to be made afhamed by the admonitions of the prophets, or by the judgments of God; fee ch. v. 3. |

¥.4. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, &c.] Thefe words are either a confirmation and proof of that impudence with which thefe people are charged; for had they not been impudent, or had sot a forehead like a whorifh woman; or were they truly afhamed, they would have cried to the Lord henceforward; called upon him; claimed their relation to him; and owned his favours in time paft: or, if they had not been impudent, they would not have dared from this time to have called God their father and their guide, when they had fo wickedly finned againft him; fo that this is a charge of hypocrify and deceit, calling God their father and guide, when they were at the fame time worfhipping idols: or rather they are returning prodigal: thou art the guide of my youth; or, baft been; 1 acknowledge the favours I have received in time paft, which is an aggravation of my fin; reject me not, but receive me gracioufly into thy favour; fee Hof) xiv. 2. fo the Targum interprets the words as a prayer, “ wilt thou not *< from this time pray before me, /aying; thou art ‘* my Lord, my Redeemer, which. art of old:” or elfe they point to them their duty, what they ought to do from henceforward; that fecing the Lord had withheld from them the former and latter rain for their idolatry, it became them to return to him by repentance; ard to call upon him who had been their father and their guide in time paft, to have mercy on them, and avert. his judgments from them. ip ¥.5. Will be referve his anger for ever? &c.] Thefe words may be confidered as a continuation of the fpeech put into'their mouths ‘to make to the Lord and plead with him, as well as what follows: will he keep it to the end? that is, his anger: no; he will not: this is not:according to the nature of God; he retains not his anger for ever, Mic. vii. 18.-tho’, according to fome verfions, this is ‘to be underftood of the fins of 'thefe people being referved and kept forever, as their impudence and obftinacy; fo the Syriac and Arabic verfions; and to which agrees the Targum, “ is it poffible that ‘< thy fins fhould be kept for thee for’ever, or the ** ftroke (of punifhment) be ftrengthened upon ** thee to the end?” fo Kimchi, ‘* fays the pro- ** phet if thou doft this (call him my father, 7c.) ‘* will God referve thine iniquity for thee for ever, “* or keep thy fin unto the end? he will not do fo; but when thou returneft unto him, he will return unto thee, and do thee good; but thou haft not done fo.” The fenfe is much the fame ‘ behold, thou haft fpoken, and done evil things as thou couldft'; which were enough to caufe the Lord to referve and keep his anger for’ ever. Thete is a double reading here; the Cetid, or writing is, mast I have fpoken; the prophet had fpoken to them to return; or the Lord by the prophet had fpoken to them, and put the above words into their mouths, and told them what they fhould fay when they returned to the Lord; but thou baft done evil things’; notwithftanding fuch declarations of grace, and doft continue to do them; and thou haft prevailed*; as the laft claufeé may be rendered; that I cannot turn away mine anger from thee, but muft referve it, and keep it tor ever. The Keri, or reading is, M927 thou haf, fpoken, thou haft faid thou wilt do evil things, and thou haft done them as thou haft faid, and haft prevailed; thou haft finned with all thy might and main, and haft fpoken and done as evil things as poffibly could be done. Some chufe to render the words thus, if thou hadft fpoken; the words that were put into their mouths before-mentioned; tho? thou haft done evil things, yet thou wouldjt have prevailed*; that is, with God, to have turned away his anger from thee. ¥.

* Si itd loquereris, quanquam

¥. 6. The Lord foid alfo unto me, in the days of Sofiah the king, &c.J] For in, his time Jeremiah began to prophefy, even in the thirteenth year of his reign, ch. i. 2: Daft thou Jeen that which back- Sliding Ifracl hath done 2 the ten tribes; that is, haft thou not heard? or doft thou not know the idolatry of the ten tribes, which was the caufe of their captivity? as Kimchi explains it; for the facts, or the idolatrous aétions of the ten tribes, were not done in Jofiah’s and Feremiab’s time; for they were carried captive in the fixth year of Hezekiah, ninety years or more before Feremiah began to prophefy; and their idolatry was before their captivity, and therefore could not be properly feen by him; only it had been heard of by him, it was known by him, it was notorious enough, being well atteited: jhe ¢s gone upon every high mountain, and under every green tree; that is, fhe did fo, when in her own land, before fhe was carried captive, as Jarchi obferves; for this refpeéts not what fhe did in Fofab’s and Feremiah’s time, or when in captivity, but before, which was the reafon of it: and there hath played the harlot; or committed idolatry, which was ufually done in fuch places; fo the Targum, ‘ and worfhipped ‘* idols of wood.”

y¥. 7. And I faid, after fhe had done thefe things, &c.] All thefe idolatries, in the feveral places mentioned, after fhe had repeated them, over and over; the Lord fent to them by the prophets Hofea, Amos, Micah, and others, who prophefied before the captivity of the ten tribes, and intreated them, faying, urn unto me; to my worthip, as the Targum from their idols, to him the living God; they were not without admonitions, exhortations, and declarations of grace, and fo were without excufe: but fhe returned not; to fear and ferve the Lord, but remained in idolatry, obftinate and inflexible: and her treacherous fiier Judah faw it; her treachery and breach of covenant, as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic verfions add, for explanation-fake; Judah, or the two tribes of Fudab and Benjamin, and who were allied to the ten tribes by birth and by religion, and equally treacherous to God, the hufband of them both, faw all the idolatry of J/rae/, and the aggravations of it, and what followed upon it, namely, their captivity in Babylon, yet did not learn and take warning here-

¥. 8. And I faw, when for all the caufe, whereby backfliding I/rael committed adultery, &c.| Not only Fudab faw, but God, who fees all things, faw the idolatry of the ten tribes which apoftatized from him, and all the fprings, caufes, reafons, and occafions of it, and its confequences; and alfo the treachery, hardnefs, and idolatry of Judah: I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; as men did, when they put away their wives, as they might lawfully do in cafe of adultery; and here being that which anfwered to it, fpiritual adultery or idojatry, the Lord, who was married to this people, put them away from him, and caufed them to be carried captive out of their own land into another, 2 Kings xvii. 6. which is meant by the bill of divorce; fo the Zargum, “‘ I caufed them.to go into “* captivity, as thofe that give a bill of divorce ** (to their wives) and difmifs them: yet ber trea cherous fitter Fudab feared not 5 to.commit idolatry, and offend the Lord, nor ftood in awe of his righ-

teous judgments; had no reverence of God, nor fear of punifhment; fo hardened and daring was, the: but went and played the harlot, committed: idolatry, as the ten tribes did, taking no warning by what befel them. BT a eh rag ¥. 9. And it came to pafs, thro’ the benefs of her whoredom, 8c.) Or the foiftnefs” of it; whén it was once fet on foot, it ran thro’ the, and prefently, one taking it from, and following the example of another; or it became a light thing with her to commit idolatry; it was looked upon as a {mall thing, a trivial offence at moft: fo the argum, ‘* it came to pafs, that her idols were Ii “‘ in her eyes;” not lightly efteemed of, but: it was a light thing to commit idolatry with them interpreting the word as the Ma/fora, which it follows: and to the fame fenfe the Septuagint verfion, her fornication was for nothing; it ftood for nothing, it was not reckoned as a fin: the Arabic verfion is, her fornication was with nothing; with an idol, which is nothing in the world, 1 Cor, viii. 4. fome chufe to render it, decaufe of the voice or fame of ber whoredom*, or idolatry; it founded forth, and the fame, or rather infamy of it, went out thro’ the whole land: wherefore it follows, that fhe defiled the land; polluted it with fin, involved it in guilt, and expoied it to punifhment: avd committed adultery with ftones and with ftocks; that is, with images made of ftone and wood, which they ferved and worfhipped as gods; and is the adultery or idolatry they are charged with, and by which.the land was defiled. The Zargum is, ‘* fhe erred or ‘¢ committed idolatry with the worthippers of “< ftone and wood.” This, by what follows, feems to be underftood not of Fudab, but of Irael.

y. 10. And yet for all this, &c.] Tho’ the two tribes faw the lightnefs and filthinefS of the fin J - rae] was guilty of, and how the land was defiled with it; the ftupidity of it, and the punifhment infli€ted on account of it: ber treacherous fifter Fudab hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, faith the Lord; there was a fhew of reformation in Fo/fiah’s time, but it was but a fhew; there was no true, hearty, cordial repentance for the fin of idolatry, only a feigned one; there was an outward removal of it, and reformation from it, but inwardly the defires of the heart were to it; the good king, with fome few others, were hearty in it, but the greater part played the hypocrite; the following reigns proved the truth of this.

y. 11. And the Lord faid unto me, &c.] To the prophet Yeremiah, as in y. 6. and at or about the fame time: the backfliding Ijrael hath juftified hers felf more than treacherous Fudah, that is, was comparatively more righteous; of the two fhe appear= ed the moft righteous; tho’ neither of them could vindicate their conduct, or juftify themfelves before God; fee Luke xviii. 14. Fudab was moft to blame, becaufe that after J/ael committed idola-~ try, and was carried captive, fhe took no warning by it, but fell into the fame fin; and in Manajfeb’s time committed greater idolatries, and more wickednefs, than ever Yael did; and more than even the morites themfelves, and other heathen — nations had done, 2 Kings xxi. 6—11, and tho” a reformation was made in Fofab’s time, it was only feignedly, it was not cordial and hearty; and tl fore fhe is all along here charged with perfidy and - treachery. a

© Heb. propter vocem {cortationis ejus, vel fam

Schmidt; propter famam {cortationis ejus, Cocceius; pre famofa {cortatione, Junius

Cacn Go and proclaim thefe words towards the ucrih, &c.) With his face thitherwards, towards Babylon, which lay north of Judea, and: was» the metropolis of Aj/yria, where the ten tribes. were carried captive; and tho’ they were difperfed in the cities of Media and Perfia, which lay eaftward, yet Babylon being the head of the empire, refpec is had to that; not that the prophet was to go thi+ ther to them,,or to prophefy in the land of -the north, as the Yargum paraphrafes the words: for the word go, as farchi obferves, is only expreffive of a command on the part of God; and of readinefs, as Kimcbi fays, on the part of the prophet to obey, but not of local motion; he was to read thefe words, as the latter of thefe fuggefts, in ferufalem, before the elders of Fudab, with a refpect to J/rael, as if they were before him; and the defign of this was to fhow, that the Lord was: gracious. and merciful, and ready to receive backfliders; and to ftimulate Judah to repentance, and to turn unto the Lord: and fay, return thou back- Siding Ifrael, faith the Lord; not return from the land of their captivity, tho’ that they fhall return in the laft day, Kimchi thinks is here intimated, and Yarebi fays fome of them did. return, in the eighteenth year of Fofiah; but return from their idols to the living God: and for their encouragement ’tis added, and I we/l not caufe mine anger to fall upon you; or, my face“; by frowning upon them, expreffing difplicency with them, and anger towards them; the meaning is, that he would not continue his refentments, or caute his anger to fall upon them any more, or at leaft not for ever, as Kimchi interprets it; he had caufed his anger to fall upon them, like a mighty ftorm of rain, by carrying them captive; but now he intimates, _fhould they repent and return, he would remove his anger from them, and not caufe it to return any more: for J am merciful, faith the Lord; fo he proclaimed himfelf before Mo/es, Exod. xxxiv. 6. and of this they had had often inftances and proofs: and I will not keep anger for ever; or, thy fins, as the Targum; I will not mark and. obferve them, or referve them for punifhment, but will mercifully forgive them; fee the note on y. 5.

y. 13. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, &c.| Or, kvow* it; unlefs a man knows his fin, and is convicted of it, he'll never repent of it, or turn from it; and when he is made fenfible of it, and forry for it, he ought to acknowledge and confefs it before God, againft whom he has finned; this is what is infifted upon, and all that is infifted upon, and it is the leaft that can be done, and is what every fenfible finner will do, who upon it may expect the difcovery of pardoning grace and mercy, Pf. xxxii. 5. and li, 3, 4. Prov. xxviii. 13. 1 Fobn i. 9: that thou haft tranfgreffed againft the Lord thy God; againft his law, his declared mind and will, and notwithftanding he is the Lord thy God; againft a God of love, grace and mercy, who had loaded them with his benefits, and followed them with his goodnefs; all which aggravates the fin they had been guilty of: and haft feattered thy ways to the ftrangers under every green tree; a phrafe expreffive of whoredom; ’tis an euphemifm, the fame with to°539 piwD, as Farchi obferves,. the opening of the feet, to every one that pafies by, to be lain with, Ezek. xvi. 25. and is to be underftood of the multiplied idolatries of [/rae/; and that as harlots run about here and there, and proftitute themfelves to whomfoever they meet with;

4 995) Sox ~ non faciam cadere facies meas fuper vos, Schmidt.

fo they worfhipped the ftrange gods of thé heathens every where, in all their cities, upon every mountain and’ hill, and under every” green tree; fee ch. ii. 20,28! fo thé Targum, “ and thou hait ** corrupted thy way, thou haft joined thyfelf to ** the people that worfhip-idols under every green ** tree: and ye have not obeyed my voice, faith the Lord; the voice of his commiand in the law; which forbids idolatry; and his:voice by his prophets, which reproved them for it, and exhorted them to repentance 5° but they regarded neither.

¥. ¥4. Turn, O back/liding children, faith the Lord, &c.} All of them were children by national adoption, and fome by fpecial grace; and yet back- Siders, QO monftrous ingratitude! dackfliders, and yet children, ftill the relation continues, O marvellous grace! God’s own children may backflide, land often do; eitheF® in heart, when love waxes cold, faith declines, zeal is wanting, when they get into a carnal fleepy frame of {pirit, and have not that quick fenfe of fin, and of duty, as heretofore: or‘in’ practice, when private prayer is re- {trained; publick worfhip is neglected, get into

‘bad company, and fall into grofs fins;° all which is owing to the prevalence of indwelling fin, the force of fatan’s temptations, and'the enticing nares of the'world; but God will ‘not leave them, he calls unto then again and again to ¢urm unto him by repentance, and to doing their firft works, which calls, at length, thro’ powerful grace, become effectual; fee ¥. 22. and the arguments ufed to engage to it follow, for I am married unto you; in a civil fenfe as a nation, ch. xxxi. 32. and in a fpiritual fenfe to a remnant of them; Chrift is the bridegroom, the church is the bride, which he has fecretly betrothed to himfelf in eternity; openly in time, at the converfion of every one of them; and will more publickly at the laft day, when’ all are gathered in, and prepared for him. This relation, as it is a very near one, {fo it is very aftonifhing, confidering the 'difparity between the two parties, and it always continues; love, the bond of it, never alters; the covenant, in whichthis tranfaction is carried on, is ever furé; and Chrift always behaves agreeably to it; wherefore it is bafe ingratitude to backflide; and reafon there is fufficient, why his backfliding fpoufe fhould return tohim. The Septuagint verfion is, because I will rule over you; agreeable to which is Farchi’s note, ‘* becaufe I am your Lord, and it is not ‘* for my glory (or honour) to leave you in the “¢ hand of enemies.” Kimcbi’s father interprets the word ufed by ‘yup J loath you, or 1 am weary of you; the reverfé of which is the Targum, ‘* for << T am well pleafed with you;” and fo the Syriac verfion, J delight in you; which carries in it a much more engaging argument to return, and agrees with what follows: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, or tribe, of country; for fometimes a whole country is called a far mily, as in Jer. i, 15. Zech. xiv. 17, 18. and here it muft defign more than a city; for otherwife' there are many families in a city; the meaning is, _ according to Kimchi, that tho’ there may be but one Yew in a city of the Gentiles, or two only in a-nation, the Lord would take them from thence; and according’ to others, that’ tho’ one of two, or a few, here and there one of the backflidérs, fhould return to him by. true repentance, he would receive them gracioufly; the fmallnefs of their number would be no objection to him; which is a. * fenfe © *y} feito, V. L. Pagninus, Montanus.

fenfé not to be defpifed: but the phrafe feems to denote the diftinguifhing grace of God to his people; which appears in the choice of them in his Son; the redemption of them by him; and the fanétification of them by his Spirit; and very few are the objeéts of his grace, as it were one of a city, and two of a tribe; however, they fhall none of them be loft, notwithftanding their backflidings, te which they are bent: for it is added, aud I will bring you to Zion; to the church of God here, a gofpel-church-ftate, whither to come is the great privilege of the faints, Hed, xii. 22. and to the Zion above, the heavenly ftate, where all the chofen, and ranfomed, and fanctified ones fhall come, with fongs, and everlafting joy upon their heads, If. xxxv. 10. and all as the fruit of diftinguifhing and efficacious grace.

y. 15. And I will give you paftors according to mine heart, 8c.| Which is to be underftood not of political rulers and governors, but minifters of the word; who are pajftors or shepherds under Chrift the great fhepherd, and are gifts of his to the churches, and according to his heart, or conformable to his mind, as the Arabdic,verfion; whom he calls, qualifies, puts into the miniftry, and fends forth; whom he holds in his right hand, and keeps as the apple of his eye; who do his will, as the Targum, and feed. men according to his heart: and as this prophefy belongs to gofpel-times, as appears both by what goes before, and by what follows, the apoftles of Chrift, and firft minifters of the gofpel, are chiefly defigned; tho’ it might have fome accomplifhment in Nebemiah and Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, at and after the Jews return from Babylon; but a more compleat one in the times mentioned: fo Kimchi fays, thele are they that fhall be with the king Meffiah, according to Mic. v. 5: which fhall feed you with knowledge and underftanding; with things worthy to be known and underftood; with the folid and fubftantial truths of the gofpel, and by faithfully adminiftring the ordinances of it; and in all directing to Chrift the bread. of life: or, /hall rule you not in an arbitrary way, according to their own wills, but according to the laws of Chrift: thefe words, with knowledge and underftanding, may either intend the matter with which thefe paftors fhould feed the church; which is what tends to fpiritual knowledge and underftanding, and an increafe thereof; and which is bleffed of God to fuch a purpofe, tho’ they themfelves cannot give it: or elfe the manner in which they fhould feed or rule; that is, wifely and prudently, as the Arabic verfion renders it: they feed wifely and prudently, when they rightly divide the word of truth, and give to every one their portion of meat in due feafon; and feed them in proportion to their age and capacity, give milk to babes, and meat to itrong men: and they rule with wifdom and prudence, when they govern according to the laws of Chrift, and take care that they are put in execution; and do all things decently and in order; and, as David, feed the flock according to the integrity of their hearts, and guide them by the fkilfulnefs of their hands, Pf. Ixxviii. 72.

¥. 16. And it foall come to pafi, when ye be multiplied and increafed in the land, &c.] That is, when the number of the difciples and followers of Chrift, and true believers in him, fhall be multi-