Exposition of the Whole Bible

thing is defigned as by the other metaphorsjcthes fwittnefs and fuddennefs of the! Jews. deftru€tiomas wo unto us, for we are fpoiled; their deitruction wasii inevitable, there was no efcapingit; and therefore: their cafe was woful and miferable. d afc so aiorl3 serl3 ¥.14. O Ferufalem, wafh thine heart from mickss edne/s, &e.] Thete are the werds of the prophets: or of God by the prophet, thewing the caufénef: all their ruin and deftruction, che wickedhef$ of} their hearts; and they are exprefied in fuch) form: and language, as to be accommodated to the cafe’ of any unregenerate finner: every man’s heart! is’ wicked, defperately wicked, even wickednefs fit felf; every thing in it is wicked; the thoughts; and the imagination of the thoughts of the. heart, the mind, the underftanding, the will, the con> fcience, and the affections; and every thing that.is wicked is in that: it is the womb in whieh all Gav is conceived; the fhop and forge in which it:is wrought; it is the habitation of every unclean luft; the feeds and principles of all fins are in it; it is the fountain-fpring and fource of all evil; of all evil thoughts, words and actions; all come out of it, and have their rife in it: and this wickednefs is of a defiling nature, and has left a pollution on it; and what comes out of *it defiles thé many that he ftands in need of wafhing; which can’c be done to purpofe by ceremonial ablutions and fab crifices, by moral acts of righteoufnefs, by humiliation and tears, nor. by iubmiffion to» gofpelordinances; nor indeed is this to. be done by man at all, any cther way than by faith dealing: with the blood of Chrift, by which only the Heart is purified: for this is God’s work, as appears from his promifes to cleanfe his people from all: fins, from their prayers to him, to create in them clean hearts, to wafh them thoroughly from theif iniquity, and cleanfe them from their fin; from the fanctifying grace of the Spirit, and the wafhing of regeneration afcribed to him; and from the end and efficacy of the bloodfhed of Chrift, to cleanfe from fin, and purge the confcience from dead works; and the defign of fuch exhortations as thefe, is to convince men of the wickedne‘’s and pollution of their hearts, of the neceffity of: being wafhed from it, and of their own inability to do it of themfelves; and to lead them to the fountain of Chrift’s blood, to wath in for fin and for uncleannefs: that thou mayeft be faved; not only witls a temporal falvation, which may be here primarily meant; but with a {piritaal and eternal cne;: for without purification of the heart, there’s no falvation: this is the meetnefs for the undefiled inheritance; without the wafhing of regeneration, there’s no feeing nor entering into the kingdom of God); and unlefs we are wafhed by Chrift, and: in: his blood, we can have no part nor portion with him. in the heavenly glory; none fhall afcend the holy hill, or dwell in the holy place, but fach who have clean hands, and a pure heart; without this there’s no feeing of God, nor having communion wit him; this is the way in which he favés men, iii. 5: bow long fhall thy vain thoughts lodge thee? or, wilt thou fuffer them to lodge within thee* if the queftion is of right, the anfwer is, they‘oughi not to lodge one-night, one-hour, oné moment’; but ‘if it is of fact, the anfwer iss they will have a place in the heart as long.as:we are in «this ta-— bernacle; but the words are fpoken by way of complaint and reproof: the thoughts of mens hearts 5 a a q faac| ‘dst ABE morari fines; Pag- Clmres iid ” a

ate vain, are taken up about vain and foolifh things; and'thefe not only pafs to and fro, but have a lodging’inthe heart; and particularly vain are the thoughts of thofe who think themfelves pure, and that their hearts are good, and truft in them; or that they can wafh themfelves from their wickednefs “and that an outward reformation of life and manners is fufficient; and who think they can be faved without the wafhing of regeneration, and the blood of Chrift. The Targum is, “ cleanfe thine ‘“-heart from doing evil, O Ferufalem, that ye may *© beefaved how long fhall they endure and be ““‘ftable who do violence, which is in the midft “*: of thee.

W015. For a voice declareth from Dan, &c.] The coming of the enemy, as Kimchi explains it, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the Chaldeans; a meffenger was come from Dan, which was on-the border of the land of J/rae/ to the north, on which fide Babylon lay, and from whence the evil was to come predicted; who declared, the enemy was approaching, juft entering the lands; not that this was now the cafe in fact, but this is reprefented in a prophetic manner, as what would be, in order to aroufe and awaken the Jews to a fenfe of their fin'and danger; fee ch. viii. 10: and publifheth afjiétion from mount Ephraim; which lay on the border of the tribe of Benjamin, and nearer to Ferufalem, and this publication reprefents the enemy as advancing nearer, and being juft at hand. The word for affizéion fignifies iniquity*; and it denotes, that the affliction {poken of, which is the deftruction of the Fews, and their captivity in Babylon, were occafioned by their fins. Some think that Dan and Ephraim are mentioned, becaufe of the calves that were worfhipped: in Dan, and in Bethel which was in the tribe of Ephraim. The Zargum favours this, which paraphrafes the words thus, *© for the voice of the prophets that prophefied -again{t them that go into captivity, becaufe they worfhipped the calf, which is at Dan; and they that bring evil tidings, fhall come upon them, ¢ becaufe they ferved the image which Micah fet ** up in the’mount of the houfe of Ephraim;” and the Vulgate Latin verfion is, ‘* the voice of him “* that declares from Daz, and that makes known ** the idol from mount Ephraim.”

¥.16. Make ye mention to the nations, &c.} This, according to Kimchi, is the fum and fubftance of the voice from Daz. It feems to be a fummons to the nations*to gather together and join the king of Babylon in his enterprize againft Ferufalem; fee 2 Kings xxiv. 2: publifh againft Ferufalem, what follows: that watchers come from a far country; from Babylon, which is faid to be a far country, If. xxxix. 3. thefe are the foldiers of the king of Babylon they are called Notzerim; which word agrees with the latter part of Nebuchadnezzar’s name; to which fome” think there is fome reference,’ fhewing that his army is meant. It fhould bevrendered befegers, as it is by fome *; for thefe were not Nebuchadnezzar’s body-guard, but his ‘whole army, who were come up to befiege Feru- Yalems, and they are compared to watchers and keepvers.of a field in the next verfe, where another word iseufed. The Targum is, ‘* the army of a rapa- “scious people, like the grape gatherers, come © from a far country:” and give out their voice again the cities of Judah; threateh the ruin of them; blow the trumpet, the alarm of war; give the orders to befiege; and, being fute of victory, triumph before the attack is made.

¥.17. ds keepers of a field are they againft ber round about, &c.] As thofe that are fet to watch a field, in which are fruit and corn of any fort, that thieves and robbers, and wild beafts, may not enter to wafte and deftroy, and are placed on all fides for that purpofe; fo the Chaldeans were round about Ferufalem, that none could make their efcape out of it; fee 2 Kings xxv. 4: becaufe fhe bath been rebellious againft me, faith the Lord; it was ‘not without reafon-that the Lord fuffered the Chaldeans to come again{t Feru/falem, befiege, and take it;

the inhabitants of it had rebelled againft him, their king and their God; and therefore he delivers them up into the hands of another lord, and a cruel one;

they had provoked him to anger with their fins, and caufed him to ftir up his wrath againft them in this way: rebellion againft a prince, or againft a parent, is a provoking fin; fee 1 Sam. xv. 23. a tas

¥. 18. Thy way and thy doings have procured thefe things unto thee, &c.] The way in which they walked, which was an evil one; and the actions which they committed; their idolatries, backflidings and rebellions, before fpoken of in this and the preceding chapter, were the caufe of this fiege, and thofe calamities coming upon them; they had none to blame but themfelves; it was their’ own finful ways and works which brought this ruin and deftruction on them: this is thy wickednefs; the fruit of thy wickednefs; or, this thy calamity; that is, is owing to thefe things; fo the word is rendered in Pf cxli. 5: decaufe it is bitter; not fin, as in ch. ii. 1g, but the ptnifhment of it; the calamity before-mentioned; which was hard and heavy, and grievous to be borne, and yet very juft; it was by way of retaliation; they had Jitterly provoked the Lord, as the word may be rendered in the preceding verfe; and now he fends them a bitter calamity, and'a heavy judgnient: becaufe it reacheth unto thine bear?; into the midft of them, and. titterly deftroyed them. The two laft claufes may be rendered, tho’ it is bitter, tho” it reacheth unto thine heart *; tho’ it is fuch a fore diftrefs, and fuch an utter deftruction, yet it was to be afcribed to nothing elfe but their own fins and tranfgreffions.

¥.19. My bowels, my bowels, &c.] Thefe are either the words of the people, unto whofe heart the calamity reached, as in the preceding verfe; or rather of the prophet, who either from a fympathizing heart, expreffes himfelf in this manner 5 or puts on an‘appearance of mourning and diftrefs, ih order to awaken his people to a ferife of their condition. The repetition of the word is after the manner of perfons in pain and uneafinefs, as, my bead, my bead, 2 Kings iv. 19: Iam pained at my very heart; as a woman in labour. In the Hebrew text it is, as the walls of my heart ©; meaning either his bowels, as before; or the precordia, the parts about the heart, which are as walls unto it; his grief had reached thefe walls, and was penetrating thro’ them to his heart, and there was danger of breaking that: my heart makes.a noife in me; palpitates, beats and throbs, being filled with fears debe: pee and > R, Jo © [33 obfeffores, Calvin, Bux- d dread, with forrow and concern, at what was pret on; it reprefents an aking heart, all in diforder and we I cannot hold my peace, or be filent; muft fpeak, and vent grief: decaufe thou baft beard, O my foul, the found of the trumpet, the olarm of war, Kimchi obterves, he does not fay my ears, but my foul; for as yet he had not heard With his ears the found of the trumpet; for the enemy was not yet come, but his foul heard by prophecy: here is a Keri and a Cetib, a reading it is read, NYDur thou haft beard, which is followed yy the Targum: the fenfe is the fame, it is the rophet, by thefe ex- hearing of the foul. The P preffions, reprefents the deftruction as -very near, very certain, and very diftrefling. The trumpet was founded on different accounts, as J/dore ‘ obferves; fometimes to begin a battel; fometimes to purfue thofe that fed; and fometimes for a retreat.

¥. 20. Deftruéiion upon deftrudtion is cried, &c.] Or, breach upon breach *, as foon as one affliction is Over, another comes on; and upon the news of one calamity, tidings are brought of another, as in Fod’s cafe: it fignifies, that diftrefs and troubles would come thick and faft, and that there would be no end of them, until there was an utter deftruction, as this phrafe fignifies, and the following words fhew. Kimchi interprets it of the deftruétion of the ten tribes which came firft, and of the deftruction of Fudab that came now. For the whole land is fpoiled, or wajfied*, that is, the land of Fudea: fuddenly are my tents {poiled, and my curtains in a moment; meaning either the armies of his people, which dwelt in tents, and were deftroyed at once; or the cities, towns, and habitations of his countrymen, which he compares to tents, as being eafily beat down or overthrown; and fo the Targum interprets it of cities;. and the prophet feems to intimate, that this deftruction would reach to 4nathoth, where his tent, cottage, and curtains were. So fudden deftruction fometimes comes, when. men are crying peace, peace, 1 Theff. v. 3.

¥. 21. How long fhall I fee the ftandard, &c.} Enfign or banner difplayed; either by the watchmen placed on high hills or towers, who when they fee the enemy approaching, lift up their enfign or banner, and blow with their trumpets, to give the people warning and notice of it, and to call them to battel; and that they might prepare for the fame, as Kimchi obferves; or, cl{é by the Chaldean army, which came with colours ‘flying, trumpets blowing, and fet in array for battel, which was very terrible, as an army with banners.is,. Cant, vi. 4,10: and hear the found of the trumpet? either of the watchmen giving notice of danger, and fummoning to battel, or of the enemy preparing to fewer, that would have done it;°t rebelling againft him, and in committing fi x idolatries as they had been guilty of.. So a: 2 may be a profeffing people, and yet a foolifh ones there are foolifh profeffors of religion; fuch whe take up a profeffion foolifhly, without an experience of the grace of God; without any true faith in Chrift; without having on the wedding garment of his righteoufnefs, without laying it upon a good foundation; and without confideri and charge of a profeffion, and the difficulties and troubles attending it; and fuch are they foolifhly truft in it, when they have taken and hold it foolifhly, very remifsly, and ia aw vering manner; and who walk not agreeably to it; and at laft foolifhly drop it: shey dave not known me, men may be the people of God by profefiion, and yet not know him; not know him, fo as to glority him; not know him as their God, truly and experimentally; not know him in Chrift, and

}have communion with him thro’ him; net know the Lord Chrift himfelf, the worth, glory, and excellency of him; their need of him; of his blood to cleanfe them from fin; of his righteoufnels to juftify them; of his facrifice to atone for them;

and of his fulnefs to fupply their need; nor know the way of life, peace, and falvation by him, or at moft only notionally, not experimentally; whereas the only true wifdom is to know Chrift, and God in him; this is real and folid knowledge; it is fcience truly fo called; it is delightful and fatisfactory; it is ufeful and profitable, and is what iffues in eternal life; and let men know what they will elfe, if they know not the Lord, they are /o/- tify children; they are children indeed in under- {tanding; and tho’ they may be the children of God by profeflion, they are not the true and ge-

‘nuine children of God, fince they know neither the

Father nor the Son: aud they bave no underfiands ing; though they are not without a natural underftanding, or an underftanding of things natural and civil, yet they have no {piritual underftanding, or an. underftanding of fpiritual things; and at beft

‘only in a f{peculative, and not in an experimental fway and manner: s¢hey are wife to do evils Cannin inventors of evil things, crafty {chemers that way, may be full of all wicked fubtlety, and/expert at over-reaching and defrauding their brethren; when

|profeflors of religion efpecially ought to be wife unto that which is good, and fimpleyconcerning’ evil, Rom. xvi. 19: but to do good they have ia knowledge; to do good, or to do: a good thing’

well, is to do it according to the revealed will OF

God, from a principle of love to him, in the éx+* ercife.of faith upon him, in the name poco mes of Chrift, and with a view to the-gloryof t to do good in this fenfe, and in-fach a way atid manner, ‘carnal men and carnal profeffors have no” knowledge, no practical knowledge;, they hha no inclination to it, but the reverfe; (nord nor-can they perform it; if they hada kne how; to do. it, or a power to perform it, th have been in one age or another, fome, of all Adam’s defcendents that dict

Kemchi 5 or in ‘2 vifionary way; for thefe are not the.words of God continued, as Cocceius, but of the prophet; who, by a prophetic fpirit, defcribes the dreadful deftruction of the YewsS nation, as follows: xd lo, it was without form, and void; as the firt earth or chaos was, before it was brought into form and order; the fame words, Tohbu and Bobu, are ufed here, as in Gen. i. 2. the land of Fudea now was, in the prophet’s view of it, like the frit earth, when darknefs covered it; no grafs {prung out of it, not a tree to be feen in it, and neitaer man or beaft as yet upon it, but all an indigeited mafs, and in the utmoft wild diforder and confufion; and this may denote not only the natural, but the political and ecclefiaftical diforder of the Fewi/b nation and ftate: and the beavens, and they bad no light; that were over the land of Fudea, ‘* their lights did not fhine,” as the Targum paraphrafes it; that is, the fun, moon, and ftars, which were darkened by the fmoke of the burning of Ferufalem; or which withdrew their light, as blufhing at, and being afhamed of, the iniquities of this people, and who.were unworthy of enjoying the light of them; and which this phrafe may denote. ¥. 24. I beheld the mountains, and lo they trembled, &c.] At the prefence of God, at the tokens of his difpleafure, and at his awful vengeance in the deftruction of the ews, as they are fometimes faid to do, Pf, Ixviii. 8. and cxiv. 6, 7. Had. iii. 6,10: and all the bills moved lightly; fo Kimchi’s father fays, the word ufed has the fignification of lightnefs; tho” Farchi, from Menachem, explains it, they were plucked up, and thrown out of their place; and fome render it, were pulled down and deftroyed, fo the Targum. Mountains and hills are moft ftable, and not eafily moved, wherefore this is faid to aggravate the defolation and dettruction. y¥. 25. And I beheld, and lo there was uo man, &c.]. No people dwelling in it, as the Targum, the land was without inhabitants, they were either killed with the fword, or taken and carried captive into Babylon, or fled into Egypt and other countries: ad ail the birds of the heavens were fied at the found of the trumpet, the alarm of war; at the blacine{s of the heavens, filled with fmoke; at the barrennefs of the earth, there being no feed fown; and the earth as at the firft creation, having no herb, nor trees bearing fruit, and fo no food for birds; and:therefore they went elfewhere, both wild and tame. | ' ¥. 26. I beheld, and lo the fruitful place was a wildernefs, &e.| Or, I beheld, and lo Carmel was a wildernefs; which was a.particular part of the land of J/rael, and was very fertile, and abounded in paftures and fruit trees, and yet this, as the reft, became defolate ‘as a wildernefs; fee J xxxii. 15. and xxxv. 2. though it may be put for the whole land, which was very fruitful; and fo the Targum, “ J faw, and lo the land of J/rae, which was “ planted as Carmel,.was turned to be as a wil- “ dernefs:” and all the cities thereof; not of Carmel only, but of the whole land; were broken down at the prefence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger; for tho” this was done by the Chaldeans, yet it was by the will’ and appointment of God, and as a token of his fierce anger againit the people of the Fews, for their fins and tranfgreffions, ‘farchi cites a Midrafh Agadah, or an allegorical expofition of this place, which interprets the mountains, the Fewijh no man, the worthinefs of Mo/es, who was meeker than any man’; and Carme/, Elijab 5. without any manner of foundation..)

¥. 27. For thus bath the Lord faid, 8¢c.| What follows, is an explanation and confirmation of the above vifion the prophet had: the whole land fhall be defolate; as he had feen; it fhould not be manured, plowed and fown, or bring forth fruit; and fhould be without inhabitants, at leaft have v few: yet I will not make a full end; there fhould be fome inhabitants, who with thofe that fhould hereafter return from captivity, would repeople it, rebuild the temple, and reftore it to its priftine form and order, both as to things natural, civil, and ecclefiaftical; but tho’ a full end of them, as a church and people, was not to be made now by the Chaldeans, yet it would be; as it has been done by the Romans, in the times of Ve/pafian and Hadrian.

¥. 28. For this foall the earth mourn, &c.| That is, for the full end that will be made hereafter, tho’ not now; the earth may be faid to mourn, when the inhabitants of it do; or when it is de- {troyed, and is become defolate, as the Targum, Farchi, and Kimchi explain it; when it is uncultivated and uninhabited: and the heavens above be black; with thick clouds, and ftorms, and tempefts; in allufion to mourners, that are clothed with black: thefe figures, of the earth’s mourning, and the heavens being clothed in black, denote the horriblenefs of that difpenfation, when there would be an utter deftruction of the Fewi/h nation, church, and polity, of which Daniel prophefies, Dan. ix. 27: becaufe I have /poken it; im my word, as the Targum, in the feriptures of the Old Teftament, by Mofes and the prophets: J have purpofed it; or I have thought of it, in my counfel, as the Zargum it was a thing deliberately devifed and determined, and therefore can never be fruftrated, or made void: and will uot repent; of what was purpofed and predicted: either will I turn back: from it; revoke or retract it; it fhall furely come to pafs: the ews, upon their return from the Babylonifo captivity, and afterwards, might flatter themfelves that a full end would not be made of them, becaufe it was not then done; and therefore thefe feveral ftrong exprefiions are ufed to confirm it, and affure them of it; for the word of God cannot fail, his counfel fhall ftand; he is not a man, that he fhould lie or repent; he will do all his pleafure.

¥. 29. The whole city foail flee, &c.] Or, every city; for not Ferufalem only is meant, but every city, or the inhabitants of eyery city; and fo the. Targum paraphrafes it, all the inhabitants of the «¢ Jand;” who would be put into a pannic, and flee: for or at the noife of the horfemen and bowmens of which the army of the enemy would greatly confift: it intimates, that the inhabitants of Yudea would not ftand a battel; but at hearing the found of the trampling of the horfes, and the clattering of the bows and arrows, that the men upon them had, they would flee at once: they shall go into the thickets, and climb upon the rocks; that is, either the horfemen and bowmen, who would purfue the inhabitants into thofe places: or rather the inhabitants themfelves, who would fice thither to hide themfelves from their enemies; namely, get into ‘woods and forefts, and among the thick trees, and cover themfelves; and upon the higheft mountains ‘and rocks, and into the holes and caverns of them, fathers; the ills, the mothers, and their merits; and fecure themfelves from the enemy; fee Mart.

xxiv. 16. the word for thickets fignifies clouds’; and Kimchi interprets it of places as high as the clouds, as the tops of fome mountains are, fo that going up to them is like entring into the clouds, and which are fometimes covered with thick trees, and look like clouds; but the Targum explains it of woods or forefts: every city fhall be forfaken; of its inhabitants: and not a man dwell therein; as the prophet had feen in his vifion, ¥. 25. this was to be, when a full end was made, not by the Ba. bylonians, but by the Romans.

y¥. 30. And when thou art fpoiled, what wilt thou do? &c.] Or, O thou fpoiled*; wafted, and undone creature, how wilt thou help thyfelf? by what means doft thou think thou canft be delivered? it fuggefts that her ruin was inevitable; that fhe could not be recovered from it by herfelf, or any other: though thou clotheft thyfelf with crimfon, and fo look like fome rich and noble perfon; hoping thereby to find mercy, and to have quarter given and kindnefs fhown: tho’ thou deckeft thee with ornaments of gold; as a perfon of high and princely dignity: or rather all this is to be underftood of the manner of harlots, who drefs rich and grand, in order to allure men; fince it follows, though thou renteft thy face with painting; Or, thine eyes!; which painting dilates, as 7ezebel did, 2 Kings ix. 30: in vain fhalt thou make

HIS chapter contains a further account of the deftruction of the Fews by the Chaldeans, and the caufes of it, the fins of the people, as want of juftice and truth; being fo corrupt, that a juft and faithful man was not to be found among them; could there, the city would have been pardoned for his fake, y. 1. their fwearing falfely by the name of the Lord, y. 2. their incorrigiblenefs by chaftifements, which was the cafe not only of the lower, but higher rank of people, ¥. 3, 4, 5. wherefore the enemy, who for his cruelty is compared to a lion, a wolf, and a leopard, is threatned to be let in among them, y. 6. then other fins are mentioned as the caufe of it, as idolatry and adultery, ¥. 7, 8, 9. hence the enemy has a commiffion to fcale their walls, take away their battlements, tho’ not to make a full end, the Lord difowning them for his, ¥.10. becaufe of their perfidy againft him, their belying of him, contradi&- ing what he had faid,-and defpifing the word fent by his’ prophets, y. 11, 12, 13. wherefore it is threatened, that his word like fire fhould devour them; and that a diftant, mighty, and ancient nation, of a foreign fpeech, fhould invade them; who like an open fepulchre would devour them, and eat up the increafe of their fields, vineyards, flocks and herds, and impoverifh their cities, yet not make a full end of them, y. 14, Thad Od 75°08. and in juft retaliation fhould they ferve ftrangers in a foreign country, who had ferved ftrange gods in their own, ¥. 19. then a declaration is publithed, and an expoftulation is made with them, who are reprefented as foolith, ignorant, and blind, that they would fear the Lord; which is prefled by arguments taken from the power of God, in re- {training the fea, which had no effeé upon them; and from the goodnefs of God, in giving the for- thyfelf fair; fo as to be loved ‘and’ admired ie from it: thy lovers will defpife thee; as an old harlot is defpifed by her former gallants, notwith=— ftanding all her dreffing and Pennie yea, th love is often turned into hatred and abhorrence, would be the cafe here: they will feek thy life, to take it away; fo far would there be from being any ground of expectation of help, and deliverance from them. EY eRe ¥. 31. For Ihave heard a voice as of a woman in travail, &c.] So the diftrefs of the Fews, at the time of their deftruction, is compared to the forrows of a woman in travail; and a word that fig-. nifies that, is ufed to exprefs it, Matt. xxiv. 8: and the anguifh as of her that bringeth forth her frft child; whofe time is more difficult, her pains fharper, her anguifh greater, and having lefs experience the more impatient: she voice of the daughter of Zion that bewaileth herfelf, her unhappy condition, and miferable circumftances: that {preadeth her bands;- as perfons in diftrefs do, and particularly women in travail: faying, wo is me now, for my foul is wearied becaufe of murderers; thefe abounded under the fecond temple, and was the reafon, the ‘Fews fay ", of the Sanbedrim removing from their ufual place in the temple; and why they left off the beheading of the red heifer *. a, mer and latter rain, and the appointed weeks of the harveft, which their fins turned away and withheld from them, ¥. 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. and. then other fins are mentioned as the caufe of God’s vifiting them in a way of vengeance, as the defrauding of men in trade, and the oppreffion of the fatherlefs and the poor in judgment; and falfe. prophefying, to the advantage of the priefts, and the liking of the people, y. 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31.

y¥. 1. Run ye to and fro through the fireets of Ferufalem, &c.] Thefe are the words of the Lord, not to the prophet only, but to any other, who thought fit to look into the reafons of the Lord’s dealing in a way of judgment with the people of the Fews; thefe he would have go thro’ the whole city of Ferufalem, every ftreet of it, and that backwards and forwards, not once only, but over and over again: and fee now, and know, and feek in the. broad places thereof; where there is commonly the greateft concourfe of people; here he would have. them look out diligently, obferve and take cogni-. zance of the perfons they fhould meet with in fuch places: if ye can find a man; that is, as the Targum adds, whofe works are good, and as it is after-; wards explained; for as yet the city was not defolate, fo as that there was no man dwelling im it, as it was foretold it fhould be, ch. iv. 25, 29. It is reported ° of Diogenes, the Cynic philofopher, that he lighted up a candle in the day-time, and went. thro’ the ftreets with it; and being afked the reafon of it, faid, I feek a man; that is, a man of virtue, honour, and honefty; by which he would be underftood, that fuch were very rare: and fo it follows, if there be any that executeth at, in the public courts of judicature; or in private, be- Mt. > ae Pa - 43 tween

tween man and man: ‘shat feeketh the truth, of doétrine and worfhip, that feeks to fpeak it, and maintain it; who is true to his word, and faithful. to his promifes; but was not one fuch to be found? were there not the prophet Yeremiah, and Baruch, and fome others? the anfwer of Kimchi’s father is, that fuch were not. to be found in the ftreets and broad places, where the direction is to feek, becauie fuch were hidden in their own houfes for fear of wicked men; others think that the meaning is, that there were none to be found to make up the hedge, or ftand in the gap for the Jand, and to intercede for them, as in Ezek. xxii. 30. and others are of opinion, that the Lord {peaks of men in public offices, as judges, priefts, and prophets, who were grown fo corrupt, as that a good man was not to be found among them: but it feems rather to defign the body of the people, and the fenfe to be, that an upright faithful man was rare to be found; and that could there be found but a few of that fort, the Lord would fpare the city for their fake, as in the cafe of Sodom, Gen. xviil. 32. and fo it follows, and I will pardon zz; the city of Ferufalem, and the inhabitants of it; fo the Targum, Septuagint, and Arabic verfions render it, ‘hen.

¥. 2. And though they fay, the Lord liveth, &c.] Tt might be faid, that there were multitudes that made mention of the name of the Lord, that profefled it, and fwore by it; which fometimes is put for the worfhip and fervice of God, Deut. x. 20. and therefore it could not be fo difficult a matter to find a man of integrity and uprightnefs among them; this is anfwered, by allowing there.were perfons that did do fo: but then it muft be obferved, that /urely they fwear falfely; they abufed the name-of God, and were guilty of perjury: or the fenfe is, they were only nominal profeffors, hypocritical worfhippers; in words profefied to know God, but in works denied him; had a form of religion and godlinefs, but without the power

¥. 3. O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? &c.] That is, thou haft no regard to fuch deceitful men, fuch hypocritical worfhippers and formal profeffors, but to true and upright men: God jooks not.at outward appearances, but to the heart; ‘he can fee thro’ all mafks and vizards, there’s no deceiving of him; he defires truth in the inward parts, and his eyes are on that; he has refpect to men that have the truth of grace, the root of the matter in them, oil in their veffels, together with the lamps of an outward profeffion: his eyes are on fuch as have a true inward fenfe of fin, an undiflembled repentance for it, and that make a fincere, hearty, and ingenuous confeffion of it; to this man he looks, that is poor, and of a contrite fpirit; he is nigh to fuch, and dwells with them; when he has no regard to the fad countenances and disfigured faces of pharifees; to the tears of a prophane Efew, or to the external humiliations and confeffions of a wicked Pharaoh: his eyes are upon the internal graces of his own Spirit; to love, that is in deed and in truth; to hope, that is without diffimulation, and to faith unfeigned: and fo the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin,..Syriac, and. Arabic verfiens render it, thine eyes are unto faith; or, refpec? faith ®, the faith of chriftians, as Ferom interprets it. aith is a grace well pleafing to. God, and every thing that is done in faith is fo, and nothing - elfe; it is a grace that gives glory to God, and on which he has putt much honour, in thaking it the receiver of all the bleffings of grace, and conneéting falvation with it; he has fo great a regard for it, that whatever it afks, it has of him. In fhort, the fenfe is, that the eyes of the Lord, of his love, favour, good-will, and delight, are upon fuch whofe hearts are upright towards him, who draw nigh to him in truth, worfhip him in fpirit and in truth, and are hearty to his caufe and interetft, and faithful to his word and ordinances; who are lovers of truth, of Chrift, who is the truth itfelf; and of his gofpel, the word of truth, and the doctrines of it; fee 1 Sam. xvi. 7. 2 Chron. xvi. g. Thou haft ftricken them, but they have not grieved; that is, the Lord had corrected and chaftized them with afflictive providences; he had brought his Judgments upon them, and had fmitten them with the fword, or famine, or peftilence, or fome fuch fore calamity, and yet it had not brought them to a fenfe of their fin, and to a godly forrow for it: thou haft confumed them, but they have refufed to receive correciion; God had by his judgments confumed or fwept away many of them, yet the reft did not take warning thereby, but went on in their fins; or they were brought near to confumption, as Kimch? interprets it; neverthelefs remained obftinate and incorrigible, refufed to receive any correction or inftruction by fuch providences: they have made their faces harder than a rock, becoming more impudent in finning, not blufhing at, or being afhamed for it, and unmoved by judgments and chaftifing providences: shey have refujed to return to the Lord, and to his worfhip, from which they revolted; or by repentance, and unto faith and truth, from which they had fwerved.

y. 4. Then I faid, furely thefe are poor, they are foolifh, &c.| The prophet obferving, that reproofs and corrections in providence had no effect upon the people; he thought within himfelf, that furely the reafon muft be, becaufe thefe people are poor, and in low circumftances in the world, and are fo bufy in their worldly employments to get bread for their families, that they were not at leifure to attend unto divine things; nor of capacity to receive inftruction and correction by providences; therefore it is they were fo foolifh, ftupid, and infatuated: for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God; either the way which God takes in the falvation of the fons of men, and in juftifying of them, which is revealed in his word; or that which he prefcribes them to walk in, in his law, even the way of truth and righteoufnefs, and for failure of which he judges and condemns them; but of thefe things they were ignorant; fee Fobn vii. 48, 49. not that this is obferved in excufe for them, but in order to introduce what follows; and to fhow that this depravity, ftupidity, and ignorance, obtained among all fort of people, high and low, rich and poor.

¥. 5. Iwill get me unto the great men, and {peak unto them, 8cc.] The princes, nobles, and judges, the elders of the people, the fcribes and doctors of the law: for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God; it might be reafonably expected that they had, having had a good education, and being at leifure from worldly bufinefs to attend to the law, and the knowledge of it, and whatfoever God had revealed in his word, both in a way of doctrine and duty: but thefe have altogether broken the yoke, and burft the bonds; the yoke of the law, and the bonds of his precepts, with ad fidem, Junius & Tremellius, Cocceius, and fome in Vatablus.

with which they were bound; thefe they broke off from them, and would not be obliged and reftrained by them, but tranfgreffed and rejected

¥. 6. Wherefore a lion out of the foreft foall flay falem, the inhabitants of it, the common them, &c.] Meaning king Nebuchadnezzar out of Babylon, a place full of people, and fo comparable to a forett, as the king is to.a lion, for his ftrength, fiercenefs and cruelty; and who came from thence, befieged and took Ferufalem; and who not only flew their young men with the fword, but alfo the king’s fons, and the princes and nobles of Fudab, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 17. Fer. lito. fee ch. iv. 7: and a wolf of the evenings foall {poil them, which, having fought for its prey all the day, or not daring to go out for any, is hungry, raging and furious, and tears and deftroys whatever it meets with; fee Zeph. iii. 3. fo the Targum and Kimchi underftand it of fuch a woif; but Farchi and Ben Melech interpret it, 2 wolf of the defert, or deferts 5) as the word 3 will bear to be rendered; one that frequents defert places, and ranges about in the wildernefs; as the king: of Badylon with his army did among the wildernefs of the people of the nations about’

him, and at length fpoiled Fudea, and laid it defolate:, @ leopard foall watch over their cities, the fame enemies, who are compared to watchers, and to keepers of a field, ch. iv. 16,17. Kimchi interprets the lion, of a king, that being the king among beafts; the wolf, of hisarmy; and the leopard, of the princes of the army; and fo the Targum, ‘* wherefore a king with his army fhall come. * up againft them, as a lion out of the foreft; “¢ and the people, who are ftrong as the wolves of the evening, fhall flay them; and the rulers, who are mighty as the leopard, fhall make a prey of them, watching over their cities;” but archi applies them to the feveral monarchies,; by the lion, he underftands the kingdom of Babylon; ‘by the wolf, the kingdom of the Medes; and by the leopard, the kingdom of Greece; and fo Ferom: every one that goes out thence; from any of the cities of Fudea, watched by the enemy: fall be torn in pieces; by thofe beafts of prey. archi adds by the Perfians, the reafon of all which follows, and fhows it to be a righteous judgement of God ‘upon them: ecaufe their tranfereffions are many, their rebellions againft God, their violations of his righteous law were not a few, but many; God had bore long with them, and they had abufed his patience and long-fuffering; and therefore now he determines to punifh them by fuch inftruments: and their back/lidings are increafed,; tho’ he had fo often, aid fo kindly and tenderly invited them to return unto him, ch. iii. 12, 14, 22.

¥. 7. How fhall I pardon thee for this? &c.] Becaufe of their manifold tran{grefiions, and multiplied. backflidings,; or wherefore, or for what, feall I pardon thee *?. as the Targum, can any reafon be given why I fhould? »what goodnefs is there in thée, or done by thee, that I fhould do ‘this unto thee? The particle 8, according to Kimchi, is a word of exclamation; and according to Yarchi, of admiration; and may ‘be rendered, Ob! jor this ‘hall I pardon 2? how can it be? R. Menachem, in Farchi, takes it to be the fame with PN not; and to be rendered, not for this will I pardons and fo is an affirmation, ‘and fixed refolution not “ to pardon, and that for the following reafons » thy children have forfaken me, my worfhip, as the Dars gum interprets it; that is, the children of Yeru= as diftinguifhed from their fathers, the civil and ecclefiaitical rulers; fee Matt. xxiii. 37. the’ not to the exclufion of them; for they were guilty of the fame fin in forfaking the word, worthip and ordinances of God: and fworn by them that are no gods; by the name of idols, as the Largum; ors by thofe things which are not god, as Noldius* ren= ders the words; who rightly obferves, that there were other things befides idols that they fwore by, as the heaven and earth, temple, altar, @c. with which the Arabic verfion agrees; when an oath ought only to be taken in the name of the living God; or, fwore without God; without making mention of the name of the true God: when £ had fed them to the full, with the good things of life; gave them all things richly to-enjoy; the beft provifions, and fulneis of them; fo that they had all that heart could wifh for. There is in the Hebrew text a beautiful paranomafia*, between the word ufed for fwearing in the former claufe, and this for feeding here: they then committed adultery; either idolatry, which is fpiritual adultery; or adultery literally taken; as it feems from the following verfe. This is the confequence of their being full fed; and that is an agoravation of this their fin againft God, and their neighbour; fee Deut, XxXii. 13, 14, 15, 16: and ajjembled them- [elves by troops in the barlots boufes; either in the temples of idols, or in the ftews or brothel-houfes, where harlots proftituted themfelves; their poing thither’in troops, or in great numbers, fhews both how univerfal and how public this fin was, and how impudent and barefaced they were in the commiffion of it.

¥.8. They were as fed borfes in the morning, &c.] Adulterers are compared to horfes, Becaufe they are very falacious and luftful creatures; wherefore the Septuagint renders the word, horfes are become mad after the females; or, as horfes mad after.

| the females are they become; and efpecially to fuch as are well kept and are fat, and who, having much food given them in the night, and bei full in the morning, go forth neighing, as Kimchi obferves; and are the more falacious in the morning, by being fo well fed all night, as thofe perfons were, as is exprefled in the preceding verfe; tho’ fome render the word to:Dw9, tranflated iz the morning, for which fenfe of it fee Hof vi. 4. drawing out"; that is, the genital member, as la- {civious horfes do. The word is difficult of in+ terpretation. The Zargum calls them field or woodhorfes; horfes that run in fields and woods, and are very vicious and wanton: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife; coveted and lufted after her, fignified his luftful defires, and fought an’ tunity to defile her. Neighing is a fign of lu and keeps up the metaphor of the horfe. po ¥.9. Shall I not vifit for thefe things, faith tha Lord? &c.] For fuch adulteries and Is if nefs, and that in a way of punifhment. TI gum adds, ** to bring evil upon them;” th of punifhment for the evil of fin: ond foall not ogi? << my interpret it of | yee Te rg my foul be avenged on fuch a nation as this? which cannot delight in fin, but hates it; and therefore muft punifh for it; vindictive and punitive juttice is effential to God; as fin is contrary to his nature, it is agreeable to it to punifh for it; he cannot but do it; and he does avenge all fin, either on the finner himfelf, or on his furety. +

¥. 10. Go ye up upon ber walls, and deftroy, &c.] Thefe are the words of the prophet, or of the Lord by the prophet, to the Chaldeans, ordering them to afcend the walls of Feru/alem, and break them down, as they did, even all the walls of it round about, Yer. lii. 7.14. there can be nothing done without the Lord’s will; and there is no evil in a city, but what is done, or ordered, or fuffered to be done by him, mos iii. 6: but make not a full end, meaning not of the walls, for a full end was made of them, they were broken down all around, but of the people; there were a remnant to be preferved from the fword, and to be carried captive, and to be returned into their,own land again, after aterm of years: take away ber battlements; which muft mean not the battlements of their houfes, or of the temple; but of their walls, the fortifications that run out like branches without the wall ”. Kimchi interprets them, the teeth of the wall; the Septuagint verfion renders the word, the under-props; and the Syriac and Arabic verfions, the foundations of it. The word properly fignifies the branches of a vine; wherefore Jarchi takes the word for walls, in the preceding claufe, to fignify the rows of a vineyard; and the fews are fometimes compared to a vineyard; and here the Chaldeans are called upon to enter into it, to come upon the rows of the vines in it, and take away its branches: for they are not the Lord’s; either the walls and the battlements are not the Lord’s, he difowns them, and will not guard them, and protect them any more; or rather the people are not the Lord’s, he has written a Lo-ammi upon them; they are not the people of God, nor the branches of Chrift the true vine. The Septuagint, Syriac and Arabic verfions read the words without the negative, /eave her under props, or ber foundations, becaufe they are the Lord's. The Targum is, ‘* go upon her cities, <¢ and deftroy, and make not a full end; deftr ““ her palaces, for the Lord has no pleafure in “* them.”

y. 11. For the houfe of Tjrael, and the houfe of Fudab have dealt very treacheroufly againft me, &c.

This is a reafon why fuch orders are given to the army of the Chaldeans to afcend the walls of fevujalem and deftroy them; namely, the perfidy both of the ten tribes, fignified by the houfe of Tjrael; fo Abarbinel, and of the two tribes of Fudab and Benjamin, fignified by the houfe of Fudah, which was very great, and attended with ageravated circumftancés; inftances of it follow. The Targum is, ‘* they have dealt very falfly with my *¢ word:” faith the Lord, for this was not the charge of the prophet againft them, but of the Lord himfelf. This can only be underftood of fuch of the ten tribes as remained in Yudea, for the body of that people had been carried captive many years ago; whofe fins fudah imitated; and being alfo the pofterity of J/rael, may be fo called.

‘y¥. 12. hey have belied the Lord, and faid it is not he, &c.] Or, denied the Lord*, as fome

; 405 render the words, faying that there was no God; which, tho’ they might not deliver in exprefs words, yet inafmuch as they denied his providence, and difbelieved his word by his prophets, it was tacitly denying that there was a God, or that the Lord was God. The meaning of the phrafe, ot he, may be, he takes no notice of what is done by us; he does not concern himfelf with our affairs; nor has he given any fuch orders to our enemies, as above; nor faid thefe things by the prophets, which are pretended: neither fhall evil come upon us; they fpeak of: neither fhall we fee

Jword nor famine; war and fieges; and famine, the confequence of them. ¥.13. And the prophets fhall become wind, 8&c.] Their prophecies fhall vanifh into air; they hall become of no effe@t; they fhall never be accomplifhed:: and the word is not in them; not the word of the Lord; he never fpoke by them; they fpeak of themfelves; they never were infpired or commiffioned by him to fay what they do: thus fhall it be done unto them; the fame evils they fay fhall befal us, fhall come upon them; they fhail perifh by the fword or famine; we have reafon to be lieve that our predictions are as good as theirs, and will be fulfilled: or, thus let it be done to them¥; as they have prophefied fhall be done to us; and fo are an imprecation. The Targum interprets the whole of the falfe prophets, as if they were the words of the Lord concerning them, which is, ** but the falfe prophets fhall be for nothing, ‘¢ and their falfe prophecy fhall not be confirmed; “* this revenge fhall be taken of them;” and fo Kimchi interprets it of the prophets that prophefied peace to them, and faid that the above-mentioned fhould not come upon them; and archi takes the laft claufe to be the words of the prophet to them that fay the above words; namely, that thus it fhall be done to them, what the Lord has faid. ¥. 14. Wherefore thus faith the Lord God of hofts, becaufe ye [peak this word, &c.] That it is not the Lord; it is not he that fpeaks; it is no prophecy of him, and therefore fhall become wind, and come to nothing: debold, I will make my word in thy mouth fire; it fhall have its effect, and a dreadful one; it fhall not become wind, but be as fire, not to enlighten the underftanding, to purify the confcience, and warm the heart; but to torture, diftrefs and deftroy, as the fire of the word out of the mouths of the two witnefles, Rev. xi. 5: and this people wood, and it fhall devour them, as wood is devoured by fire, fo fhall this people -be deftroyed by fword and famine, as the word of the prophecy has declared they fhould; and which was done by the following means. y.15. Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, &c.) From Babylon, as in ch.iv. 16: O houfe of Ifrael, faith the Lord; tho’ the houfe of Jrael is generally taken for the ten tribes, efpecially when diftinguifhed from the houfe of Fudab; yet here it feems to defign the Fews, the pofterity of Facod, or J/rael in the land of Fudea; for T/rael, or the ten tribes, were carried captive into Afyria before this time: i¢ is @ mighty nation, ftrong and powerful; fo mighty that they would not be able to oppofe them, and ftand before them: #¢ is an ancient nation; the Babylonifp monarchy was the moft ancient 5

™ DVwMNDS propagines; rami libere luxuriantes — item pinnz, vel potius munimenta & propu nacula extra muri ambitum

¥. 18. Neverthele/s, in thofe days, &¢e.] When thefe things fhould be done by the king of Babylon and his army: /aith the Lord, I will not make a full end with you; this was to be done at another time, not now; fee the notes on ch. iv.27. and — v. to. tho’ fome think that this is a threatnine of more and greater calamities; that this would not - be all he would do to them; he had not yet done; he had other evils and calamities to bring upon them, particularly a long captivity. hae

¥.19. And it foall come to pafs, when ye fhall fay, &c.] That is, the people of the Jews, to whom the prophet belonged, after they had been fpoiled by the enemy, and carried captive: wherefore doth the Lord our God all thefe things unto us 2 as if they were innocent and guiltlefs, and had done nothing to provoke the Lord to anger; and it may be obferved, that they profefled to know. the Lord in words, and call him their God, tho’ in works they had denied him; and they own the hand of the Lord in all thofe evils that would now be come upon them; tho’ before’ they had faid they were not fpoken by the Lord, nor would they befal them, ¥.12: thou shalt then anfwer them; that is, the prophet Feremiah, inthe name of the. Lord: like as ye have forfaken me, and ferved firange gods in your land; when they were in their own land, they forfook the worfhip and ordinances of God, and ferved the idols of the Gentiles, as the Targum rightly explains it: /o /hall ye ferve firangers in a land that is not yours; which fome underftand of ftrange gods; but rather it defigns ftrange lords, as the Chaldeans in the land of Babylon, a land not theirs; and {0 it is meafure for meafure, a juft retaliation in righteous judgment upon them.;

y. 20. Declare this in the houfe of Facob, &c.4 That a mighty nation fhould come and deftroy them, and they fhould be fervants in a ftrange land; or rather the words feem to be an order to declare war again{t the Jews, and even in their own land; and don’t feem to be addrefied to the prophet, but to others, feeing the words are in the plural number; fee ch. iv. 5: and publifh it in Fudab,; the houfe of acob and Fudab are the fame, namely the two tribes of Benjamin and Judah for as for the ten tribes, as obferved on ¥. 15. they had been carried captive before this time: /aying 5 as follows, y. 21. Hear now this, O foolifh people, and without underftanding, &c.] Or, beart*; fee the note | on ch. iv. 22: which have eyes and fee not, which have ears and bear not; like the idols they ferved,

Pf. cxv. 4—8. this is an upbraiding of them with their folly and ftupidity, their want of common fenfe, their blindnefs and ignorance, notwithftanding they had the means of light and knowledge, — the law, and the prophets. ea y.22. Fear ye not me, faith the Lord? They did not fear the Lord, and this is a re to them for the'want of it, which is a of their ignorance and folly; for the f Lord is the beginning of wifdom, and where that is, there is true wifdom ‘it is not, there is nothing but igno |pidity: will ye not tremble at my p his wrath and anger, juftly refe to him. The Largum is, “ from cient; it began in the times of Nimrod, Gen. x. 10. and therefore mutt be a nation of great power and experience that had fo long fubfilted, and confe-. quently muft be formidable to others: @ nation whofe language thou knoweft not; which was the Syriac language: this ’tis plain was not known by the common people among the Fews in Hezekiah’s time, tho’ fome of the chief men underftood it; wherefore Radjbakeb, the king of Afyria’s general, would not deliver his railing fpeech in the Syriac language, which only the princes underftood; but in the Hebrew language, the language of the common people, 2 Kings xviii. 26, 28. tho’, after the captivity, this language was underftood by the Fews, and was commonly fpoken by them, as it was in our Lord’s time: weither underflandeft what they fay; fo would be barbarians to each other; nor could they expect any mercy from them, or that quarters would be given them, when their petitions for favour and life could not be underftood.

¥. 16. Their quiver is an open fepulchre, &c.] The Chaldeans ufed bows and arrows in fighting; and the quiver is a cafe for arrows; and the phrafe denotes, that their arrows would do great execution, and be very mortal; fo that a quiver of them would be as devouring as an open grave, into which many dead are caft. The Septuagint and Arabic verfions have not this claufe; and the Syriac verfion renders it, whofe throats are as open fepulchres; fee Rom, iii. 13: they are all mighty men; {trong in body, of bold and courageous {pirits, expert in war, and ever victorious; fo that there was no hope of being delivered out of their hands.

¥. 17. And they fhall eat up thine harveft, &c.] The ftanding corn in the fields,. cut it down, and give it as fodder to their horfes, which is ufually done by armies; or the increafe of the earth, when gathered into the barn, which fo great an army would confume: and thy bread, which includes all kind of provifions > which shy fons and thy daughters foould eat; which is an aggravation of the calamity and mifery, that that fhould become the prey of their enemies, which they with fo much labour and pains had provided for their children, who would now be deprived of it, and fuffer want. The Targum renders it, ‘* fhall kill thy fons and *¢ thy daughters;” that is, with the fword; and fo Kimchi interprets it; and fo other verfions read, they fhall eat up, or devour thy fons and thy daughters *; the {word eat them up, or devoured them; and they who befieged them, were the caufe or occafion of their being eaten literally, even by their own parents; fee Lam. ii. 20. andiv. 10: they fhall eat up thy flocks, and thy herds; their fheep and oxen, as the Zargum interprets it: they /hall eat up thy vines and thy fig-trees; that is, the fruit of them, as the fame paraphrafe explains it: they shall impoverifo thy fenced cities, wherein thou truftedft, with the fword; that is, fuch ftrong and fortified cities as Ferufalem, and others, in which the Fews trufted they fhould be fafe from their enemies; thefe the Chaldeans would enter into, kill with the fword thofe they found in garrifons, demolith the fortifications, take away what wealth and riches were laid up there, and fo impoverifh them, and render them weak and. defencelefs.. The Targum of this claufe is, ‘* fhall deftroy the fortified cities ~** of thy land, in whichthou truftedft, thou fhouldft ** be fate from thofe that kill with the fword.”

_ the word ° fignifies: which have placed the fand for the bound of the fea, by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pa/s it. This is a very wonderful thing in nature, that the earth and fea, being {fpherical,. and making one terraquéeous globe, and the waters of the fea being higher than the earth, fhould be fo bounded and reftrained by the power and providence of God, as not to overflow the earth, and that by means of the fand, which is: penetrable, flexible and moveable; and yet this is fet as a bound, and by the decree of God remains firm and ftable, and that for ever, fo that the fea cannot bear it down, go thro’ it, or over it: and tho’ the waves thereof tofs themfelves, yet can they not prewail; iho’ they roar, yet can they not pafs over it; even when the fea is the moft tumultuous and raging. This is an inftance of the mighty power of God, and carries in it an argument and reafon why he fhould be feared; and yet furch was the ftupidity of this people, that tho’ they faw this with their eyes, the fea and the toffings of it, and the fand fet as a bound to it, and an effeCtual one, and heard the roarings and ragings of the waves of it in vain; yet they feared not the Lord that did all this; and fo fhowed themfelves more ftupid and difobedient than the fea and its waves, which ‘obeyed their maker, tho’ deftitute of fenfe and reafon; fee ‘fob xxvi. 10. and xxxviii. 8—11. Pf. civ. 6, 9. Prov. viii. 29.

¥.23. But this people bath a revolting and a rebellious heart, &c.| They are not fo obedient as the fea and its waves; nor fo firm and ftable as the fand that is fet for the bound of it. This is a reproof and an ageravation of the revoltings and rebellions of this people: they are revolted and gone, they had departed from the ways of the Lord, and were gone back from his worfhip, as the Targum, and were gone into evil ways, and to a falfe worfhip; they not only had revolted, but they went on, they continued therein, and went further and further off from God and his worfhip.

¥.24. Neither fay in their heart, &c.] Tt came not into their mind, they never once thought of | it, namely, of what follows, ket us now fear the Lord our Ged; they were not influenced and engaged to the fear of God, neither by his power in the preceding inftance, nor by his goodnefs in the following one: that giveth rain; in common, all the year round, at proper times, for the ufe of men and beafts. This is a pure gift of God, and an inftance of his goodneis, and is peculiar to him, what none of the gods of the Gentiles could give, Fer. xiv. 22: both the former and the latter in his feafon; there were two particular feafons in the year, in which the land of J/rael had rain; the one was in the month Marchefvan, anfwering to part of Oéfober, and part of November, and this was the former rain, after the feed was fown in the eatth; and the other was in the month of Ni/an, anfwering to part of March, and part of April, juft before the time of harveft, and this was the latter rain: be referveth unto us the appointed wecks of the barveft, which was reckoned by weeks, beeaufe of the feven weeks between the paflover and pentecoft: the barley-harveft began at the former, -and the wheat-harveft at the latter, called the feaft pointed of God, the harveft itfelf, Gev. viii. 22; and the weeks in which it was gathered in, Lev. Xxili. 15, 16. and thefe appointments and promifes the Lord carefully obferved, and faithfully kept.

¥. 25. Your iniquities have turned away thefé things, &c.| Whereas of late years, rain was withheld from them in common, and they had not the former and latter rain in its feafon, nor the appointed weeks of the harveft, and fo their land was barren, and famine enfued. This was to be afcribed, not to the want of goodnefs and faithfulnefs in God, but to their own iniquities; thefe mercies were kept back from them in order to humble them,, and bring them to a fenfe of their fins, and anacknowledgment of them: amd your Sins bave withholden good things from you; as rain from heaven, and fruitful feafons, and had alfo brought many evil things upon them; for more is underftood than is exprefied.

¥.26. For among my people are found wicked men, &c.] Not a few only, but in general they appeared to be fo, upon an enquiry into their character and conduct; for otherwife it would not have been fo difficult to find a good man among them, as is fuggefted ¥.1: they lay wait as he that fetteth {nares, or, they look about *; that is, as Kimchi interprets it, every man-looks in the ways to fee if a man paffed by, that he might rob him of what he had; as a man that lays {nares, or fets a trap to catch birds in: or, every one looks out, when they that lay fnares reft*; and fo they are more diligent and conftant in catching men, than fuch perfons are in catching birds: they fet a trap; or dig a pit, or diich*; for men to fallin; fee Pf vii. 15: they catch men; ‘and rob them of their fubftance; or by their ill examples and counfels draw them into fin, and fo into ruin; or, circumvent them in trade and bufinefs..

y.27. As a cage is full of birds, &c.| Farchi and Kimchi underftand it of a place in which fowls are brought up and fattened, what we call a penn 5 and fo the Targum renders it, an houfe or place of fattening. The word is rendered a dajket in Amos viii. 1, 2..and may here defign one in which birds taken in fnares, or by hawking, were put. The Septuagint verfion, and thofe that follow it; render it, a fware; which agrees with what goes before. It feems to intend a decoy, in which many birds are put to allure others; and what with them, and thofe that are drawn in by them, it becomes very full, and this fenfe of the comparifon is favoured by the reddition or application, which follows: fo are their houfes full of deceit; of mammon, gathered by deceit, as Kimchi interprets it, ungodly mammon; riches got in a fraudulent ways by cozening and cheating, tricking and over-reaching: therefore they are become great; in worldly things, and in the efteem of men, and in their own opinion, tho’ of no account with God: and qwaxen rich; not with the true riches, the riches of grace, the unfearchable riches of Chrift, his durable riches and righteoufnefs; nor indeed with the riches of the world, honeftly and lawfully gotten; but with unrighteous mammon.

y. 28. They are waxen fat, they foine, &c.] Becoming rich they grew fat, and their faces fhone thro’ fatnefs; fo oil, delicious food and good living,: as « © Wty afpi- 4 yp? JWI Ne" contemplatur quil- qee, cum quiefcunt aucupes, De Dieu; fo Ben Melech; & cum refident aucupes, Pifcator, Gataker; fit quiet and unmoved, that they may not fright the birds by any noife, watching and expecting when they would get into the net; fo Guffetius.

ISP todiunt foveas, Tigurine verfion, as it fattens men, it makes their faces to fhine; fee Pf. civ. 15: yea, they overpafs the deeds of the wicked; tho’? they pretended to religion, the fear and worfhip of God, yet they committed crimes more heinous than the moft abandoned and profligate finners: or, they exceed the words of the wicked‘; either they fpeak words more wicked than they; or do fuch aétions as are not to be expreffed by words, and which even a wicked man would hardly chufe to name. The Targum is, “* they tranfgrefs the words of the law;” and the Vulgate Latin verfion comes pretty near it, they have paffid over my words very badly; as if they referred to the words of the law and the prophets: they judge not the caufe, the caufe of the fatherle s;

this fhows that it was not the common people only that were become fo wicked, but the judges and civil magiftrates; and who were fo far from doing juftice between man and man in all civil cafes that came before them, that they would not even exercife right judgment in the cafe of the fatherlefs; who not only require juftice to be done them, but mercy and pity to be fhown them: yet they profper; in the world, and increafe in riches; have health of body, and profperity in their families; nor are they in trouble as other men: this fometimes has been trying to good men to obferve; fee Pf. \xxiii. 3—14. and particularly to the prophet Feremy, ch. xii. 1, 2: Or, that they may pro per ®, as Farchi interprets it; and to the fame fenfe is the Targum, ** if they had judged the judgment of <¢ the fatherlefs they would have profpered;” but the former fenfe is beft; and which Kimchi gives into, and agrees with what goes before concerning the riches and profperous eftate of thofe men: and the right of the needy do they not judge, becaufe they are poor, and can’t fee them, they’ll not undertake their caufe; or if it comes before them, they’ll not do them juftice, being bribed by the rich that oppofe them.

¥.29. Shall I not vifit for thefe things? &c.] See the note on ¥. 9.

xX. 30. A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land.} What may juftly raife admiration in fome, and horror in others, or both in all: it is fo amazing that it can hardly be conceived oie fo fhameful.and filthy as not to be exprefled; what _ it is follows, ¥. 31: Ihe prophets prophefied faly, the people would have peace and profperity, and | not be carried captive into Babylon, as Jeremiah and other true prophets of the Lord had p dicted: and the priefts bear rule by their means; or rather, the princes; for the word fignifies princes as well as priefts, and to the former governme: more properly belongs; and fo archi interprets it, of the judges of the people, and their exactors; thefe governed the people according to the words of the falfe prophets, as the fame writer explains it; they were uzder their influence and direction, they went after them, as the phrafe 4) Sy is fometimes ufed; fee 1 Chron. xxv. 2, 3, 6. 2 Chron. xvii. 14. and xxxi. 15. 2 Sam. xv. 18. or, as Kimchi underftands it, the priefts received gifts by their hands to pervert judgment, and they declined doing ju- {tice, according to their will. ‘The Targum is, ** the ‘* priefts helped upon their hands;” took the falfe prophets as it were, and carried them in their hands, Some render it, the priefis remove, or depart by their means"; thro’ their falfe prophefies they departed from the law, and the worfhip of

God, and his ordinances, from attending to them,.

and performing them in the manner appointed; in the whole it denotes great friendfhip, unity and agreement between the priefts or princes, and the falfe prophets; they agreed together to keep the people in awe and in bondage; and what was of all the moft furprizing, is what follows: amd my people love to have it fo; both that the prophets prophefy fmooth things to them, tho’ falfe; and that the princes fhould govern as they direéted: and what will ye do in the end thereof? that thefe evils will bring unto; namely, the deftruétion of the city and nation. The meaning is, what will become of them at laft? or what would they do, when this wicked government would come to an end, and they fhould be taken and carried captive by the Chaldeans? which would be their cafe; and how would they like that, who love to have things as they were, which would bring on their ruin?

HIS chapter is of the fame argument with the former; and contains two things in it, the deftruction of Ferufalem by the Babylonians, and the caufes of it, which are intermixedly handled in it; a lively defcription is made of the notice of the approach of the enemy by blowing of trumpets and firing of beacons, ¥.1. and of the fiege of the city, by pitching tents around it, cafting up a mount againft it, and fcaling its walls at noon and by night, ¥. 2,3, 4,5, 6. and this deftruction is illuftrated by the fimile of gleaning of grapes, ~y.g. and amplified by the univerfality of it, with “refpect to perfons and things; it reaching to perfons of every age, and in every ftate, as old men, young men and children, hufbands and wives, and to all forts of poffeffions, houfes and fields, y. 11, 12, 21. a defcription is given of the inftruments of it, the Chaldeans, ¥. 22, 23. and it is aggravated by the anxiety, diftrefs and forrow the ¥ews would of it are in general the great aboundings of fin. and wickednefs in the midft of them, illuftrated by a fountain cafting out its waters, ¥. 6, 7. in particular, their neglect and contempt of the word of the Lord, y. 10. the fin of covetoufnefs, which prevailed among all forts of people, high and low, in civil or religious life, ¥. 13. the unfaithful of the prophets to the people, declaring peace, when there was none, y. 14. their impenitence and hardnefs, ¥. 15. their difregard to all inf and warnings, ¥. 16, 17. their rejection of and the precepts of it, ¥. 18, 19. their hy, facrifices, ¥. 20. and the chapter is co an addrefs to the prophet, fetting f racter and office, and the end of it,

¥. 1. O ye children of Benjamin, &c.] The tribe of Benjemin was with the tribe of Fudab, and continued with that in the pure worfhip of God when the ten tribes revolted; and in the land of J/rael, when they were carried captive; and befides Zerufalem, at leat part of it, was in the tribe of Benjamin, and particularly Anathoth, which was Fere- -wmiah’s native place, was in that tribe; and this all together is a reafon why the children of Benjamin are fo diitin&tly addrefled: gather yourfelves to free ont of the miaft of Ferufalem; where fome of this tribe lived, or had betaken themfelves for fafety: or the ews in general may be meant; for as Ephraim is often put for the ten tribes, fo Benjamin tay be put for the two tribes, as Judah frequently is: or the words may be rendered, de ye firong ' out of the midft of Ferufalem, as by the Septuagint, and others; and the fenfe may be, gather together in bodies out of Ferufalem, and form yourielves into companies, and into an army, and be prepared to meet the enemy, and fight him, who is near at hand; quit yourfelves like men, and be ftrong; fhew courage and valour; perhaps this. is fpoken ironically, as Kimchi thinks it is; tho’ he interprets the word, flee ye; that is, if ye can find a place to flee to; and the Targum is, ‘* remove “< out of the midft of Ferufalem;” but it feems rather to be a direction to go forth and meet the enemy, by what follows: and blow the trumpet in Tekoa,; as an alarm of war, to give the people notice of an invafion; that the enemy was at hand, and therefore fhould provide themfelves with armour, and gather together to meet and oppofe him. Tekoa was a city in Fudah, 2 Chron. xi. 5, 6. famous for a wife woman in it, in the times of David, 2 Sam. xiv.2. Ferom fays it was twelve miles from Yeru/alem, and might be feen with the eye; fo that probably it was built on a very high hill, and for that reafon chofen to blow the trumpet on, that it might be heard far and near; and which may be confirmed from its being faid* to be the chief place in the land of J/rael for the beft oil, fince olives grow on hills and mountains. There is in the claufe a beautiful paronomafia', which thofe, who underftand the Hebrew language, will eafily obferve: and fet up a fire in Beth-haccerem. This place, as Ferom fays, lay between Ferufalem and Tekoa; one of this name is mentioned in Ned, in. 14. The Targum renders it, ‘* the houfe of the ** valley of the vineyards;” and in the Mi/nab™ mention is made of the valley of Beth-baccerem, the duft of which was red, and when water was poured upon it became hard; and this valley perhaps took its name from the town, which might be built upon an hill, and was famous for vines, from whence it was fo called; and here might be a very high tower; for, as Kimchi and Ben Melech obferve, it fignifies a high tower, for the keepers of the vines to fit and watch the vines all about; and this was a very proper place to fet up the fign of fire in, to give notice to the country all around; for it was ufual with all nations, Perfians, Grecians and Romans, to fignify in the night by figns of fire, by burning torches, and the like, either the approach of an enemy, or fuccour from friends; the former was done by fhaking and moving their torches, the latter by holding them ftill"; fee Fudg. xx. 38, 40; for evil appeareth out of the north;

Nebuchadnezzar and his army out of Babylon, which lay north of Ferufalem: and great deftruétion; fee ch. i. 14, and iv. 6.

¥.2: I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.] ‘That dwells at home, and lives in pleafure, and delicioufly, in great peace and quietnefs, in entire eafe and fecurity, in no fear of enemies, or apprehenfion of danger; and fo it defcribes the fecure ftate of the Fews. Kimchi and Ben Melech fupply the word woman as we do; but others fupply /awd or pajfture; and think that the ‘Few nation is compared to pleafant and delightful lands and paftures, which are inviting to fhepherds to come and pitch their tents about them; as follows. dered, O beautiful and delicate one, I have cut off,

The words are by fome ren- or deftrayed the daughter of Zion®; in which fenfe the word is ufed in J/. vi. 5. Hof: iv. 5. and to this purpofe is the Targum, ** O beautiful and delicate

“* one, how haft thou corrupted thy ways, there-

** fore the congregation of Zion is confounded?”

but the former fenfes feem to be beft; in which the word ufed is underftood as having the fignification of likening or comparing; for which fee Cant. i. 9.

¥. 3. The fhepberds with their flocks fhall come unto ber, &c.] Kings and their armies, as the Targum paraphrafes it; kings and generals are compared to fhepherds, and their armies to flocks, who are under their command and direction; here they defign Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, with his generals and armies, who fhould come up againt Ferufalem, as to a good pafture: they /hall pitch their tents againft her round about, their military tents, in allufion to paftoral ones, The phrafe is expreffive of the Chaldean army furrounding and befieging Ferufalem: they foall feed every one in his place; where he is ordered and fixed by his head-general: or, every one fhall feed his hand °; the fheep of his hand; fee Pf. xcv. 7. them that are under his hand, as the Vulgate Latin verfion renders it; who are committed to his care and charge. The meaning is, he fhall direct the company or companies of foldiers under him, where to be, and what part to take in the fiege; or, with his hand, as the Septuagint, with the fkilfulnefs of his hands, Pf Ixxviiil. 72. or with might and power; or, at bis hand, as the Arabic verfion; what is at hand, what is neareft to him; or according to his will and pleafure. The Targum is, ‘¢ every one fhall help his neighbour.” ‘The fenfe, according to Kimchi is, one king or general fhall lay fiege againft a city, or againit cities, and fo another, until they have confumed and fubdued the whole Jand.

y.4. Prepare ye war againft ber, &c.] Not only proclaim it, but prepare themfelves for its get every thing ready for the fiege, and begin it. Thefe are either the words of the Lord, calling upon the Chaldeans in his providence to act fuch a part againit Ferujalem, or of the Chaldeans themfelves, ftirring up one another to it; which latter feems to be the fenfe; fince it follows: arife, and let us go up at noon, fcale the walls, and take the city; which, tho’ in the heat of the day, and not fo proper a time, yet fuch was the eagernefs of the army, and their confidence of carrying the place at once; and concluding there was no need of

® Vid. Lydium de re © So Jarchi and Jofeph Kimchi. Vid. Gataker in loc, waiting till the evening, or of taking any fecret meafures for the fiege; they propofe to go up at noon, in the heat of the day, and in the fight of their enemies, and ftorm the city: wo unto us, for the day goes away, for the foadows of the evening dre firetched out; which fome take to be the words of the befiegers, lamenting they had loft time, had not proceeded according to their firft purpofe, had neglected going up at noon-time, and now the evening was coming upon them; or as being angry, and out of humour, that the city was not taken by them fo foon as they expected: though, according to Kimchi, they are the words of the prophet; and he may perfonate the befieged, mourning over their unhappy cafe and circumftances; the day of profperity declining, and nothing but darknefs and diftrefs coming upon them.

y¥.5. Arif, and let us go up by night, &c.] Since they could not take the city at noon, and by day, as they expected, they propofe to attempt it by night; they would lofe no time, but proceed on, day and night, until they had accomplifhed their end: this fhows how much they were refolved upon it, and that nothing could difcourage from.it; and that they were fure of carrying their point: and therefore it follows, and let us deftrey her palaces; the tower and ftrong hold of Zion, the temple of Ferufalem, the king’s palace, the houfes of the high-prieft, judges, counfellors, and other civil magiftrates, as well as the cottages of the meaner fort of people; for the Vulgate Latin verfion renders it, her houfes; which, notwithftanding her {trong walls, were not fecure from the enemy.

y. 6. For thus hath the Lord of hofts faid, &c.] To the Chaldeans; for as it was the Lord that brought them out of their own country, and directed them to Yerufalem, and ordered them to prepare war again{t it; fo they were as an army under his command, and he it was that ordered them to do this, and that, and the other thing: the whole affair was of the Lord, and the ews had more to fear from him, who is the Lord of armies, than from the army of the Chaldeans; for as they could do nothing without his divine permiffion, fo having that, there was a certainty of fucceeding: hew ye down trees, and caft a mount againjt Ferufalem; in the Hebrew text it is, pour out a mount?; the reafon of which is, becaufe there were a ditch or ditches about the city; and into thefe they poured in ftones, and dirt, and trees, and pieces of wood, and fo filled them up, and caft up a mount, on which they could raife their batteries, and demolifh the walls and houfes; hence mention is made of hewing down of trees, in order to caft the mount; for thefé were to be cut down, not fo much to make battering-rams, and other inftruments of war, as to fill up the ditch, and raife the mount, fo that the walls might be more eafily battered and fealed: tho’ fome* interpret it of taking precife, fixed, determined counfel, about the war, and the manner of carrying it: ‘¢his is the city to be vifited; or punifhed; not only that deferves to be fo vifited, but which would certainly be vifited, and that immediately; its punifhment was not far off; vengeance would foon be taken on it, and that for its fins: and fo the Targum, ** this *¢ is the city whofe fins are vifited;* as it follows:

[oe is wholly oppreffion in-the midft of ber; there were jupon the branches: turn back thine hand jamin, who were left in the land, when the ay f Wen NA a MI AG. OCh.Vi. Hoo) ” é 5: — a nothing but oppreffion and oppreffors if her 3” only full of oppreffors, but oppreffion itfelf. is inftanced in for all kind of wickednefs; © meaning is, that fhe was a fink of fin, and vei wickednefs itfelf,. te ae y. 7. As a fountain cafteth out fia Toe In great abundance, and continually: jo fe egfts out her wickedne/s; this metaphor expreffes the multitude of her fins, the frequent and conftant Commiffion of them, and the fource and {pring of them, the corrupt fountain of the heart; fee Matt. xii. 34, 35. and xv. 19: violence and fpotl Tae - her, that is, the cry of thofe that are oppi. and fpoiled is heard, and that by the Lord’ himfelf, whofe ears are open to the cries of the oppreffed, and will avenge them: before me continually is grief and wounds; the poor, who were’ grieved and wounded by their oppreffors; the Lord was an eye and ear witnefs of their grievances, and would redrefs them; nor could their enemies expect to efcape his wrath, fince they were all known to him: or elfe the fenfe is, that becaufe of their violence and fpoil of the poor, it was continually, before the Lord, in his mind and purpofe, and he was juft ready to bring upon them, by way of punifhment for thefe things, what would erieve and wound them; fo Farchz interprets it, which Kimchi mentions; and to it the Targum agrees, ‘* the voice of robbers and plunderers is «¢ heard in her before me continually, therefore «¢ will I bring upon her evil and {miting.”, ¥. 8. And be thou inftruéted, O Ferufalem, &c.] Or correéted *; receive difcipline or inftruétions by ° chaftifements and corrections, return by repentance, that the evils threatned may not come: this fhows the affection of the Lord to his people, notwithftanding all their fins; that their amendment, and not their deftruction, were pleafing to him; that” it was with reluctance he was about to vifit them, © in the manner threatened, and that even now it was not too late, provided they were inftruéted and reformed; but if not, they muft expect what follows: Jet my foul depart from thee; his Shekinah or divine prefence, and all the tokens of his love: favour, and good-will. The Targum interprets it of the word of the Lord, <* left my word caft thee < off;” fee Rom. xi. 1. or, left my foul pluck itfelf from thee; or be plucked ‘, and feparated from thee:

the phrafe denotes an utter feparation, a forcible one, joined with the utmoit abhorrence and deteftation. In Hzek. xxiii. 18. it is rendered, my mind was alienated; it denotes difunion and difaffection. Left I make thee defolate, a land not inba~ bited, the Targum adds, by way of illuftration, “© as the land of Sodom;” fo that not a man fhould ” dwell in it; fee ch. iv. 25, 27, 29. tog ins 2 ¥. 9. Thus faith the Lord of hofts, 8c.) Finding that all his threatnings, admonitions, and expoftu- — lations were in vain, he fays of the Chaldeans, with — refpect to the I/raelites, they fball thoroughly g i t the remnant of Ifrael as a vine; by the remnant Ifrael are meant the two tribes of Fudab and tribes were carried captive; and thefe the C fhould come and carry away alfo, juft as the j come into a vineyard, after the vintage has” | gathered in, and pick off and glean what is left asa grap gatherer into. the bafkets; thefe words, according to”

Kimcki, ave the words of. the Chaldeans to one anther, to turn their hands to the fpoil, and to the prey, again and again, juft as the grape-gatherer does; he gathers a bunch of grapes, and puts it into his bafket, and then turns his hand, time after time, till he has gleaned the whole vine: and, according to Farchi, it feems to be his fenfe, that they are the words of God unto them; and fo Adarbinel, and it is as if he fhould fay, O thou enemy, turn thine hand to the fpoil a fecond time, as a grape-gatherer turns his hand to the bafkets; and who obferves that fo it was, that when Fehoiakim was carried captive and flain, Yeconiah was made King; then, at the end of three months, the enemy returned, and carried him captive; and, at the end of twelve years, returned again, and carried Zedekiah captive; nay, even of the poor of the people, and it may be obferved, that they were carried away at different times; fee Jer. lii. 15, 16, 28, 295.30.

¥. 10. Io whom fhall I’ fpeak, and give warning, that they may hear? &c.] Thefe are the words of the prophet, defpairing of any fuccefs by his miniftry; fuggefting that the people were fo univerfally depraved, that there were none that would hear him; that fpeaking to them was only beating the air, and that all expoftulations, warnings, remonftrances, and teftimonies, would fignify nothing: dchold, their ear ts uncircumcifed, and they cannot bearken; their ears were ftopped with the filth of fin naturally, and they wilfully ftopped their ears like the adder; and fo being unfanctified, they neither could hear, nor defired to hear the word of the Lord, as to underftand it; fee Ais vii. 51: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they reproached it, and_blafphemed it, as a novel and falfe doétrine, and thought it a difhonour to them to receive and profeis it; and juft fo the Fevws vilified the gofpel, in the times of Chrift. and his apoftles; and as many do now, who treat it with contempt, as unworthy of God, as contrary to reafon, ‘as Opening a door to licentioufnefs, and think it a fcandal to.

preach or profefs it: they have no delight in it, they fee no beauty nor glory in it; they tafte nothing of the fweetnefs of it; its doctrines are infipid things to them, they having never felt the power of it in their hearts; whereas fuch who are the true circumcifion, who are circumcifed in heart and ears, who are born again, thefe defire the fincere milk of the word; it is to them more than their neceffary food; and, with this prophet 7eremy, they find it, and eat it, and it is the joy.and rejoicing of their hearts, ch. xv. 16...

y. 11. Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord, &c.] Either of zeal for the Lord, for the glory of his name, and the honour of his word or rather of the prophecy of the Lord, as the Largum interprets it, concerning the wrath of God, that fhould come upon this people for their fins: J am weary with holding it; the prophecy, the. meffage he was fent with to them, to pronounce the judgments of God upon them; which being a difagreeable tafk to him, he refrained from doing it as long as he could; but being highly provoked the fins of the people, and particularly with ir contempt of the word of God, and efpecially he eing obedient to the divine will, he could forbear no longer, making a full declaration of it; fee ch, xx. 9: J will pour it upon the children abroad or, in the fireet*; that are playing there: and upon the affembly of young men together; that are met together for their pleafure and diverfion, and the fenfe is, that the prophet would declare in a prophetic manner, and denounce, according to his office and commiffion, the wrath of God; which fhould come upon perfons of every age, and of every relation in life, as follows: tho’ the words may be rendered, pour it upon the children, &c™. and fo it is a prayer of the prophet’s to the Lord, that he would execute the vengeance on them, which he had threatned them with by him: for even the bu/- band with the wife fhall be taken; and carried captive: the aged with him that is full of days; the old and the decrepit, fuch as are advanced in years, and alfo thofe that are juft upon the brink of the grave, ready to die: the meaning is, that ‘ children fhould not be fpared for their tender age, nor young men for their ftrength, nor hufbands and wives on account of their relation, nor any becaufe of their hoary hairs; feeing the corruption was fo general, and prevailed in perfons of every age, and of every ftation. |

¥. 12. And their houfes fhall be turned unto others, &c.] To ftrangers, to the Chaldeans, they thall be transferred unto them, come into their hands,, and become their property: “with their fields and wives together; not only theit houfes and lands fhall be taken away from them, and put to the ufe of others, but even their wives; than which. nothing could be more diftrefling: for I will ftretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, faith the Lord, the inhabitants of the land of Fudea; and fo the Septuagint render it, upon them that inhabit this land, and fo the Arabic verfion: wherefore, fince the Lord would exert himfelf in this affair, and ftretch out his hand of almighty power, as the Targum paraphrafes it, ‘‘ I will lift up the ** ftroke of my power;” it might be depended upon, that all this deftruction threatened would come on them.

¥. 13. For from the leaft of them, even unto the Sreateft of them, &c.] From the leaft in age, to the oldeft among them; or rather, from perfons of the loweft clafs of life, and in the meaneft circumftances, to thofe that are in the higheft places of truft and honour, and are in the greateft affluence of riches and wealth; fo that as men of every age and ftation had finned, old and young, high and low, rich and poor, it was but juft and right that they fhould all fhare in the common calamity: every one is given to covetoufnefs; which is mentioned particularly, and inftead of other fins, it being the root of evil, and was the prevailing fin among them: from the prophet even unto the prieft, every one dealeth falfely; the falfe prophet, as Kimchi interprets it, and fo the Septuagint and other verfions; and the prieft of Baa/, as the fame interpreter; both aéted deceitfully, the one in prophefying lies ta the people, the other in drawing them off from the pure worfhip of God.. The Targum is, ** from the {cribe to the prieft;” from the loweft order of teachers, to the higheft in ecclefiaftical office. The whole fhows a moit general and dreadful corruption.

¥. 14, They have healed alfo the hurt of the daughter of my people flightly, &c.| That is, the falfe prophets and lying priefts, who pretended to be phyficians, and to heal the fickly and diftempered - ftate

A12 ftate of the le; and they did do it, in their way, but abe th abbughy 4 they did not fearch the wound to the bottom; they drew a fkin over it, and made a fear of it, and called it a cure; they made light of the hurt or wound; they healed it, making nothing of it; or de/pifing it, as the Septuagint; or they healed it with reproach, as the Vulgate Latin verfion; in fuch a manner, as that it was both a reproach to them, and to the people: or as the Targum, “ they healed the breach of «* the congregation of my people with their lying “* words;” which are as follow: /faying, peace, peace, when there is no peace, promifing them all profperity, plenty of good things, and a continuance in their own land; when in a fhort time there would be none of thefe things, but fudden deftruction would come upon them; fee 1 Theff-

Z 15. Were they afbamed when they bad committed abomination? &c.) This feems chiefly, and in the firft place, to refpeét the falfe prophets and wicked priefts; who when they committed idolatry, or any other fin, and led the people into the fame by their doétrine and example, yet when reproved for it, were not afhamed, being given up to.a judicial hardnefs of heart: may, they were not at all afbamed, neither could they blufh; they were men of impudent faces, they had a whore’s forehead; there was not the leaft fign or appearance of fhame in them; when charged with the fouleft crimes, and threatened with the fevereft punifhment, they were not moved by either; they had neither fhame nor fear: therefore they fhall fall among them that fall; meaning, that the prophets and priefts fhould perifh among the common people, and with them, who fhould be flain, and fall by the fword of the Chaldeans; the facrednefs of their office would not exempt them; they fhould fare no better than the _ reft of the people: at the time that I vifit then, they fhall be caft down, faith the Lord; that is, when the city and temple fhould be deftroyed by the Chaldeans, thefe would be caft down from their excellency, the high office in which they were, and fall into ruin, and perifh with the reft.

y. 16. Thus faith the Lord, ftand ye in the ways, and fee, &c.| Thefe are the words of the Lord to the people, whom he would have judge for themfelves, and not be blindly led by the falfe prophets and priefts; directing them to do what men fhould, when they are in a place where two or more ways meet, and know not which way to take; they fhould make a fhort ftop, and look to the waymark or way-poft, which points whither each path leads, and fo accordingly proceed. Now, in religious things, the fcriptures are the way-mark to direét us which way we fhould take: if the enquiry is about the way of falvation, look up to thefe, which are able to make a man wife unto falvation; thefe fhow unto men, that the way of falvation is not works of righteoufnefs done by them, but Chrift only: if the queftion is about any doctrine whatever, fearch the feriptures, examine them, they are profitable for doétrine; they tell us what is truth, and what is error: if the doubt is about the matter or form of worfhip, and the ordinances of it, look into the fcriptures, they are the beft directory to us what we fhould obferve and do: and afk for the old paths, of righteoufnefs and holines, which Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Ifaac, Facob, and others, walked in, and follow them; and the way of falvation by Chrift, which tho’ called a new way, Heb. x. 20. yet is not newly found out, for it was contrived in eternity; nor newly revealed, for it was made known to Adam and Eve immediately after the fall; nor newly made ufe of, for all the Old Teftament-faints were faved by the fame grace of Chrift, and juftified by his righteoufnefs, and their fins pardoned thfo? his and expiated by his facrifice, as New Teftamentfaints; only of late, or in thefe lait days, it has been more clearly made known; otherwife there is but one way of falvation; there never was any other, nor never will be; enquire therefore for this old path, which all true believers have trodden in: where is the good way, and walk therein; Or, the better or beft way *, and more excellent way, which is Chrift, Fobn xiv. 6, 1 Cor. xii. 31. he is the way of accefs to God, arid acceptance with him, and the way of conveyance of all the bleffings of grace; he is the way to the Father, and to eternal happinefs; he is the living way, which always continues, and is ever the.fame; and is a plain, pleafant, and fafe way, and therefore a good one; there is no one better, nor any fo good; and therefore this muft be the right way to walk in, and to which there is great encouragement, as follows: and ye foall find reft for your fouls; there is reit and peace enjoyed in the ways of God, and in the ordinances of the gofpel; wifdom’s ways are ways of peace, which are the leffer paths; and in the doctrines of the gofpel, when the heart is eftablifhed with them, the mind is tranquil and ferene, and at reft, which before was fluctuating and wavering, and toffed to and fro with every wind; but the principal reft is in Chrift himfelf, in whom the true believer, that walks by faith in him, has reft from the guilt and dominion of fin, from the curfe and bondage of the law, and from the wrath of God in his confcience; and enjoys a fpiritual peace, arifing from the blood, facrifice, and righteoufnefs of Chrift, Matt. xi, 28, 29. Rom. v. 1, 11. Heb. xii. 24: but they faid, we will not walk therein; in the old paths, and in the good way; but in their own evil ways, which they chofe and delighted in; and therefore as their deftruction was inevitable, it was juft and righteous. yt y. 17. Alo I fet watchmen over you, &c.] That is, prophets, as Farchi; true prophets, as Kimchi, fuch an one was Ezekiel, ch, iii. 17. The Zargum interprets it teachers; fuch were the apoftles and firft minifters of the gofpel, and all faithful preachers of it, who teach men good doétrine, and watch for their fouls, give them warning of their danger, and exhort them to flee to Chrift for reft and fafety; and thefe are of the Lord’s appointing, conftituting, and fetting in his churches; fee 1 Cor, xii, 28. Saying, bearken to the found of the trumpet; to their voice, lift up like a trampet, J, lviii. 1. to the word preached by them; to the law, which lays before them their fin and danger; and to the gofpel, which is a joyful found, and gives a certain one, and proclaims peace, pardon, and falvation by Chrift: but they faid, we will not hearken; fo the Fews, in the times of Chrift and his apoftles, turned a deaf ear to their miniftry, contradicted and blafphemed the gofpel an al themfelves unworthy of it, and of eternal life ‘ brought to light by it. Perhaps here it may regard the punifhments threatned the Jews by prophets, which they would not believe were ¥ ing upon them, but put away the evil day from them.

yy. 18. Therefore hear ye nations, &c.] Since the »~. Fews refuted to hearken to the word of the Lord, the Gentiles are called upon to hear it, as in és _ Rill. 45, 46. this is a rebuke to the Jews, that the Gentiles would hear, when they would not: and know, O congregation; either of J/rael, as the Targum and Kimchi explain it; or of the nations of the world, the multitude of them; or the church of God in the midft of them: what is among them, -among the Jews; either what evil is among them; what fins and tranfgreffions are committed by them; which were the caufe of the Lord’s threatening them with fore judgments, and bringing them upon them; fo Farchi and Kimchi interpret the words; to which agrees the Zargum, “* and let the con- “ gregation of J/rae/ know their fins;”” or the punifhments the Lord inflicted on them: fo the Vu/- gate Latin verfion, and know, O congregation, what {will do unto them; which fenfe is confirmed by what follows.

could he fmell a fweet favour in them, but loathed and abhorred them; fee J/ intr..

¥. 21. Therefore thus faith the Lord, 8c.] Becaufe of their immorality and hypocrify, their contempt of his word, and confidence in legal rites and ceremonies: Jdebold, I will lay ftumbling-blocks before this people; by which may be meant the Judgments of God upon them, raifing up enemies againft them, and fuffering them to invade theif land;. particularly the Afyrians, as the followin words fhow. Moreover, the prophecies of the falfe prophets, and the doctrines which they were permitted to {pread among the people, were fhares and ftumbling-blocks unto them, they being given up to believe their lies, and to be harderied by them; nay, even true doctrines, the dottrines of juftification and falvation by Chrift, yea, Chrift himéfelf, were a rock of offence, anda ftumbling-ftone to thefe people, J/ viii. 14. Rom. ix. 32, 33. 1 Pet. li. 7,8: and the fathers and the fons together fhall

¥. 19. Hear, O earth, bebold 1 will bring evil) fall upon them; or, by thems the latter following upon this people, &c.]| The people of the Jews, the evil of punifhment, for the evil of fin committed by them; wherefore the earth, and the inhabitants of it, are called upon to bear witnefs to the righteoufnefs of fuch a procedure: even the fruit of their thoughts, which they thought of, contrived, and devifed; which fhows, that they did not do what they did inadvertently, but with thought and defign. Kimchi interprets it of finful deeds and actions, the fruit of thoughts; but his father, of thoughts themfelves. The Talmudifts comment upon it thus, ** a thought which brings “ forth fruit, the holy bleffed God joins it to an *< action; but a thought in which there is no fruit,. * the holy bleffed God does not join to action;” that is, in punifhment; very wrongly. For the fenfe is, that God would bring upon them the calamities and diftreffes their thoughts and the evil counfels of their minds deferved. The Targum renders it, ‘** the retribution or reward of their. * works.” Becaufe they have not bhearkened unto my words; {fpoken to them by the prophets: zor to my law, but rejeéted it; neither hearkened to the law, nor to the prophets, but defpifed both. The TPargum is, ‘* becaufe they obeyed not the words *¢ of my fervants the prophets, and abhorred’ my ** law.” ¥. 20, Zo what purpofe cometh there to me incenfe from Sheba, 8c.| In Perfia or Arabia, from whence incenfe was brought, and perhaps the beft; fee V/. \x. 6. and yet the offering of this was of no efteem with God, when the words of the prophet, and the law of his mouth, were defpifed; fee J/ i. 13: and the fweet cane from a far country? either from the fame place, Sheba, which was a country afar off, Yoel iii. 8. or from India, as Ferom interprets it; this was one of the fpices in the anointing oil, Ewod. xxx. 23. and tho’ this was of divine appointment, and an omiffion of it is complained of, J/. xliii. 24. yet when this was brought with an hypocritical heart, and to atone for negleéts of the moral law, and fins committed againft ‘that, it was rejected by the Lord: your burnt. offerings are not acceptable, nor your facrifices fweet unto me, being offered up with a wicked mind, and without faith in Chrift, and in order to expiate the guilt of black crimes unrepented of, and continued in; they were not grateful to God, nor >) wD 5 9 __¥ T. Bab. Kidduthin, fol. 40. 1. vir, Pagninus; ut vir, Schmidt; quam unus vir, Grotius.