Exposition of the Whole Bible

intreated for them:,and all this preparation; wasj to make cakes for the queen of. heaven; the ‘moony as Abarbinel; which rules by night, as the fun is ~ the king that rules by day; and which pee worfhipped by the heathens, whom the; tated. Some render it, to the work, or works rip of heaven; that is, to the whole h Aims ven, fun, moon and ftars, which were w in the cities of Fudeh, and in the places) 3 | about erufalem, 2 Kings xxiii. 5. “Thei Dang renders it, ‘* to the ftar of heaven;”” and, fanebi interprets it, of fome great ftar in the hea called the queen of heaven; and thinks that th cakes had the imprefs of a ftar upon them;; fee Amos v.26. where mention is made of, Chinn, your image, the fiar of your God. The word chiun is a-kin to the word here tranflated cakes, and thought to be explained by a ftar; fee alfo dfs vii. 43. but it feems rather to be the moon, which. is. exprefsly called by Apuleius * the queen of heayen; and often by others, Ce/efis; and Urenia, by the Africans, as Tertullian * and Herodian* affirm; as alfo, Beltis, by Abydenus*, and Baaltis, by Pbhilo- Byblius, or Sanchoniatho *; which have the fignification of queen; and thefe cakes sale have. the form of the moon upon them, and be made; offered in imitation of the fhew-bread: aud te pour out drink-offerings unto other gods, not different from the queen of heaven, and the hofts thereof; for to her and them drink-offerings were poured out, er. xliv. 18, 19. but other gods befides the one, only, living and true God: that they may provoke me to anger; not that this was their intention, but fo at bis area; Do they provoke me to anger, faith. the Loa:? &e. ] No: he can’t be provoked to, anger as men are; anger does not fall upon him as.it does on men; there is no fuch affection 1 in God. as there is in men; his Spirit can’t be irritated. and provoked in the manner that the fpirits of men may be; and tho’ fin, and particularly idolatry,’ is difagreeable to him, contrary to his nature, and. repugnant to his will; yet the damage arifing from it, is more to men themfelves than to him; and tho’ he fometimes does things which are lid to what are done by men when they are angry, yet in reality there is no fuch perturbation in God as there is in men: do they ot provoke themfelves to the confujion of their own faces? the greateft hurt that is done is done to themfelves; they are the fufferers - in the end; they bring ruin and deftruction upon themfelves;. and therefore have great reafon to be angry with themfelves, fince what they do iffues in their own fhame and confufion. The Targum. is, «¢ do they think that they provoke me, faith the “< Lord? is it not for evil to themfelves. that they ‘** may be confounded in their works?” ¥.20. Therefore thus faith the Lord God, Since thefe are their thoughts, and this _ of their doings: debold, my anger and my fi be poured out upon this place;; like fire, to and deftroy it; meaning Ferufalem, w burned with fire;; as an emblem of Ge and an inftance of his vengeance upon which came down in great See 1 ‘ or tempeft: upon man, and upon bea ‘upon be for clio of man, they being: his, peo af ab. 4 o tre

for his‘ufe, otherwife they are innocent, and do not deferve the wrath of God, nor are they fenfiblé of it: and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of your ground; which fhould be blighted by nipping winds, or cut down and trampled upon by the Chaldean army: and it fall burn, and fball not be quenched that is, the wrath of God fhall burn like fire, and fhall not, ceafe until it has executed the whole will of God in the punifhment of his people. | yv. 21. Thus faith the Lord God of hofts, the God of Jfracl, &c.] The Lord of armies above and below, and the covenant-God of the people of J/rael; who: were bound to ferve him, not only by the laws of creation, and the bounties of providence, but were under obligation fo to do by the diftinguifhing bleflings of his goodnefs beftowed upon them; wherefore their idolatry, and other fins committed againft him, were the more heinous and ageravated: put your burnt-offerings unto your Jacrifices, and eat fieo; that is, add one offering to another; offer every kind of facrifice, and when you have done, eat the flefh of them yourfelves, for that is all the advantage that comes by them; they are not acceptable to me, as archi obferves, therefore why fhould you lofe them: burnt-otterings were wholly confumed, and nothing was left of them to eat; but of other facrifices there were, particularly the peace-offerings; which the Fewwzsh comunentators think are here meant by facrifices; and therefore the people are bid to join them together, that they might have flefh to eat; which was all the profit arifing to them by legal facrifices. The words feem to be farcaftically fpoken; fhewing the unacceptablenefs of legal facrifices to God, when fin was indulged, and the unprofitablenels of them to men.

y¥.22. For I fpake not unio your fathers, &c.] Meaning not dbrabam, Iaac and Jacob, but Mo/es, Aaron, and others, who were living at the time of the bringing of the children of J/rael out of Egypt, as appears by what follows: nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings, or facrifices, thefe are not in the decalogue or ten commands; thefé are no part of that law or covenant, but are an appendage or addition to it; and tho’ they are of early inftitution and ufe, yet they. never were appointed for the fake of themfelves, but for another end; they were types of Chrift, and were defigned to lead the faith of the people of God to him; they never were intended as proper expia- tions of fin, and much lefs to cover and encourage immorality; whenever therefore they were offered up in an hypocritical manner, and without faith in Chrift, and in order to atone for finful aétions, without any regard to the facrifice of Chrift; they were an abomination to the Lord. Thefe were not the only things the Lord commanded the children of J/rae/, nor the chief and principal ones; and in comparifon of others of more confequence and moment, were as none at all, and which are next mentioned.

y¥.23. But this thing commanded I them, faying, &c.] This was the fum and fubftance of what was then commanded, even obedience to the moral law; this was the main and principal thing enjoined, and to which the promife was annexed: obey my voice; the word of the Lord, his commands, the precepts of the decalogue; obedience to which was preferable to the facrifices of the ceremonial law; fee 1 Sam. Xv. 22. wherefore it follows: and I will be your God, and ye fball be my people, the meaning is, that whilft they were obedient to him, he would proteét them from their enemies, and continue them in their privileges and bleffings, which he had beftowed upon them as his peculiar people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, not only in fome of them, but in all of them; not merely in the obfervance of legal facrifices, but chiefly in the performance of moral actions; even in all the duties of religion, in whatfoever is required in the law, refpecting God or man: that it may be well unto you, that they might continue in the land which was given them for an inheritance, and enjoy ail the bleffings promifed to their obedience,

¥.24. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, &c.] Neither to the law that was given them, nor to the promifes that were made unto them: this was the cafe of the Fewi/h fathers, and alfo of their pofterity, to whom belonged the law, and the promifes, and the fervice of God: but walked in the counfels, and in the imagination of their evil heart; what their evil heart imagined, advifed and directed to, that they attended to, walked in, and purtued after. The heart of man is evil; it is defperately wicked, even wickednefs itfelf; and fo is every thought, and every imagination of the thoughts of it, and all its counfels, machinations and contrivances; and therefore the confequence of walking in thefe, or fteering the courfe of life according to them, muft be bad: and went backward, and not forward, they went backwards from the ways of God, and walked not in them. The Targum is, ** they turned the back in my wor- ** fhip, and did not put my fear before their face;”? or elfe this may defign, not their fin, but their punifhment, as Kimchi interprets it; they did not profper, but fuffered adverfity; a curfe, and not a blefling, attended the works of their hands,

Ve25. Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt, unto this day, &c.| That is, in all generations; ever fince their firft coming out of Egypt, they had been difobedient to the commands of God, and had walked after their own hearts lufts, and had gone backward, and not forward; for this is not to be connected with what follows: I have even fent unto you all my fervants the prophets, daily rifing up early, and fending them; which fhould be rendered, altho’ I have /ent*; which is an aggravation of their fin, that they fhould continue in their difobedience, tho’ the Lord fent to them to exhort and warn them, not one, or two of his fervants the prophets, but all of them, and that daily; who rofe betimes in the morning, which denotes their care and diligence to do their meflage; and which, becaufe they were fent of the Lord, and did his work as he directed them, it is attributed to himfelf; and of thefe there was a conftant fucceffion, from the time of their coming out of Egypt, unto that day; which fhows the goodnefs of God to that people, and their floths tulnefs, hardnefs and obftinacy.,

¥. 26. Yet they hearkened not unto me, &c.] Speaking by the prophets: zor inclined their ear; to what was faid to them; would not liften to it, and much lefs obey what was commanded them: but hardened their neck, and fo became ftiff-necked, and would not fubmit to bear the yoke of the law: they did worfe than their fathers; every generation grew more and more wicked, and went on to be.

fo until the meafure of their iniquity was filled. up; hence it follows, _ } ss bald unto them, 8cc.| Before-mentioned in the chapter exhortations to duty, dehortations from fin, promifes and threatenings: Aut they will not hearken to thée; fo as to reform from their evil ways, and do the will of God; they will neither be allured by promifes, nor awed by menaces: thou foalt aljo call unto them, with a loud voice, fhewing great vehemency and earneftnefs, being concerned for their good, and knowing the danger they were in: but they will not anfwer thee, this the Lord knew, being God omnifcient; and therefore, when it came to pafs, it would be a confirmation to the prophet of his miffion; and being told of it before-hand, was prepared to meet with, and expect fuch ia reception from them; fo that he would not be difcouraged at it; and at the fame time it would confirm the chara¢ter given of this people before. ¥.28. But thou foalt fay unto them, &c.| Having found by experience, after long {peaking and calling to them, that they are a difobedient and incorrigible people: this is 2 nation that ebeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God; who, tho’ the Lord is their God, and has chofen and avouched them to be his fpecial people, whom he has diflinguifhed by fpecial favours, yet what he fays by his prophets they pay no regard unto, and are no better than the Genéi/es, which know not God: nor receiveth corretiion, or impruciion’, {0 as to be reclaimed, and made the better; neither by the word, nor by the rod; neither had any effeét upon them: truth is perifbed, and is cut off from their mouth,; neither faith nor faithfulnefs is in them; nothing but lying, hypocrify and infincerity. - ¥.29. Cut off thine bair, O Jerufalem, and caf it away, &c.] © This fupplement is made, becaufe the word is feminine; and therefore can’t be directed to the prophet, but to Feru/alem, and its inhabitants; fhaving the head is a fign of mourning, fob i. 20. and this is enjoined, to fhew that there would foon be a reafon for it; wherefore it follows: and take up a lamentation on high places 5 that it might be heard afar off; or becaufe of the idolatry frequently committed in high places. The Targum is, ‘* pluck off the hair for thy great ones “* that are carried captive, and take up a lamen- “* tation for the princes:” for the Lord hath rejected and forfaken the generation of bis wrath; a generation of men, deferving of the wrath of God, and appointed to it, on whom he determined to pour it out; of which his rejection and forfaking of them was a token: this was remarkably true of that generation in which Chrift and ‘his apoftles lived, who difbelieved the Meffiah, and had no faith in him, and fpoke lying and blafphemous words concerning him; and therefore were rejected and forfaken by the Lord; and wrath came upon them to the uttermoft. _ ¥. 30. Lor the children of Judah have done evil in my fight, faith the Lord, &c.| Meaning not a fingle aétion only, but a feries, a courfe of evil actions; and thofe openly, in a daring. manner, not only before men, but in the fight of God, and in contempt of him, like the men of Sodom, Gen. Xi. 13: they have fet their cbominations in the houfe which is called by my name, to defile it; that is, fet their idols in the temple; here Manaffeh fet up a graven image of the grove, 2 Kings xxi. 7. which’

¥.27. Therefore thou foalt fpeak all thefe words inftance of Abraham offering up Ifaac, will ficed, was not by divine command. beth little longer and they would be come; for it was

Joail no more be called Tophet; no more be ui foal bury in Tophet, till there be no was done, as if it was done on purpofe to d file it, i > ae Sb ae

‘y. 31. And they have peire: ey of Tophet, &c.] Where was the idol Mok which place had its name, as archi thit beating of drums, that the parents of th that were burnt might not hear the cry which is in the valley of the fon of Hinnom ley near Yerufalem, and Jay to the th of it, Fof. xv. 8. and xviii. 16: to burn their fons and. their daughters in the fire; which was done, 2 chi fays, by putting them into the arms of the brazen image Moloch, heated hot. The acc he gives of Topbet, is this, ‘* Topbhet is Moloch, ‘© which was made of brafs; and they heated him ‘* from his lower parts; and his hands being ftretched out, and made hot, they put the child between his hands, and it was burnt; when it vehemently cried out; but the priefts beat a *¢ drum, that the father might not hear the voice ‘* of his fon, and his bowels might not be m oved | but in this he is miftaken; for Topbet was not t name of an idol, but of a place, as is clear from this and the following verfe. There is fome agreement between this account of Farchi, and” which Diodorus Siculus + gives of Saturn, to wl children were facrificed by the Carthaginians; ° had, he fays, a brazen image of Saturn, whicl {tretched out his hands, inclining to the earth; fo that a child put upon them, rolled down, and fell. into a chafm full of fire: which I commanded them.

\not; not in my law, as the Targum, nor by any of the prophets, as ‘Yarchi paraphrafes it; he com~ manded them, as Kimchi obferves, to burn their’ beafts, but not their fons and daughters. The

I not ju ftify it. The cafe of Yephtba’s daughter, if facriing of feed to Moloch, and letting any pafs thro’ the fire to him, is exprefsly forbidden, Lev. xviii. 21- and xx. 23: neither came it into my heart; it was not fo much as thought of by him, ftill lefs defired, and much lefs commanded by him, ‘gan note is, ‘* tho’ Ifpake to 4brabem to flay his fon, “ it did not enter into my heart that he fhould “¢ flay him, but to make known his righteouf- “iacts.%;

y¥. 32. Therefore bebold, the days come, faith the Lord, &c.] And they were coming on apace; 2 but a few years after this, ere Ferufalem was befieged and taken by the army of the Chaldeans, and the flaughter made after-mentioned: that # fuch barbarous and idolatrous worfhip; more have its name from fuch a fhocking” {tance: nor the valley of the fon of Hinnom had been from the times of ‘ofhua: but of laughter, or, of the flain, as the Ta tuagint, Syriac and Arabic verfions; b multitude of men that fhould be kill brought there to be buried; as folloy be no more room to bury there; was 70 place * elfewhere; the numbe e flan | ing fo many: this was in righteous ment, that where they had facrificed heir children. Te they fhould be flain, at leaft b

“yh. 33. Aud. the carcafes ¢ ya meat for the fowls of the beaven - the Ba / oat tess oie oa. > ow ee Zz Bibliothec. Par, 2. lib. 20. p- 756. 2 of the earth, &c.] That is, thofe which remain unburied, for which there will be found no place to bury them in; all places, particularly Tophet, being.o full of dead bodies; not to have a burial, which is here threatened, was accounted a great judgment: and none fhall fray them away; or trighien them away; that is, drive away the fowls and the beafts from the carcafes. The fenfe is, eitiicr, that there fhould be fuch a vaft confumption of men, that there would be none left to do this, aod fo the fowls and beafts might prey upon the caicafes without any difturbance; or elfe, that thofe thar were left would be fo devoid of humanity, as not to do this office for the dead. ¥.34. Then will I caufe to ceafe from ihe cities of Fudab, and from the fireets of Ferufalem, 8c.] Signifying that the devaftation fhould not only be in and about Jeru/jalem, but fhould reach all over the land of Judea: fince in all cities, towns and villages would ceafe the voice’ of mirth, and the voice of gladnefs; upon any account whatever; and inftead of that, mourning, weeping and lamentation: the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride; no marrying, and giving in marriage, and fo no expreffions of joy on fuch occafions; and confequently no likelihood,.at prefent, of repeopling the city of Ferufalem, and the other cities ot Fudah: for the land fhall be defolate; without people to dwell in it, and till it. The Septuagint, Syriac and 4rabic verfions read, the whole land.

| ba this chapter the prophet goes on to denounce grievous calamities upon the people of the.

Fews; fuch as would make death more eligible than life; and that becaufe of their idolatry, y. 1, 2, 3. and alfo becaufe of their heinous backflidings in other refpects, and continuance in them, y. 4, 5. likewife their impenitence and ftupidity, v. 6, 7. their vain conceit of themfelves, and their own wifdom,; their falfe interpretation of {cripture, and their rejeCtion of the word of God, y. 8, 9. their covetoufnefs, for which ’tis faid their wives and fields fhould be given to others, ¥. 10, their flattery of the people, and their impudence, on account of which, ruin and confumption, and a blaft on their vines and fig-trees are threatened, y. 11, 12, 13. their confternation is defcribed, by their fleeing to their defenced cities; by their fad difappointment in the expectation of peace and profperity; and the near approach of their enemies; devouring their land, and all in it; who are compared to ferpents and cockatrices that cannot be charmed, ¥. 14, 15, 16, 17. and the chapter is clofed with the prophet’s expreffions of forrow and concern for his people, becaufe of their diftrefs, their idolatry had brought upon them; and becaufe of their hopelefs, and feemingly irrecoverable ftate and condition, ¥. 18, 19, 20, 21. 22.

¥.1. At that time, faith the Lord, they fhall

bring out the bones of the kings of Fudah, &c. That

is, either the Chaldeans, or the Romans would do this; for this refers to the deftruction of Feru alem, either by the former, or the latter; and it is certain, that Ferufalem was ploughed up by the Romans, whereby the prophecy in Mic, iii. 12. was accomplifhed; when it is highly probable the graves were dug up, and the bones of the dead brought out, and {icattered abroad by way of revenge; or it may be, that graves were opened, efpecially the graves of kings and great men, for the fake of fifding treafure in them: it follows, and the bones of his princes; of the princes of Fudab: and the bones of the priefts; that facrificed to idols: and the bones of the prophets, the falfe prophets; tho’ this might be the cafe of the priefts and prophets of the Lord; whofe bones, in ‘this general devaftation, might be expofed as well as others; which of all might be thought to be the moft facred: and the bones of the inhabitants of Ferufalem out of their graves; high and low, rich and poor, male and female; their graves, in common, were without the city. Vou. EL N®. 14.

¥.2. And they fhall fpread them before the fun and the moon, and all the boft of heaven, &c.| The ftars. This fhows, not only that they fhould be publickly expofed; but, as it refers to their idolatrous worfhip of the fun, moon and ftars, that thefe deities will not be able to help them; as they could not prevent their dead bodies being dug up, fo neither could they order, or caufe them to be gathered together, and buried again; whom they have loved; whereas they ought to have loved the Lord their God, and him only: it means an idolatrous love of, and affection for them; and not the love of them, as creatures for ufe and delight; otherwife the light of the fun, moon and ftars, is {weet, and their influence great; and a pleafant thing it is to behold them, and efpecially the former of them, the fountain of light and heat: and whom they have ferved; more, and befides the creator of them; whom they fhould have ferved, the Lord of hofts, and him only: and after whom they have walked, not in a natural and literal fenfe, but in a religious one, as is after explained: and whom they have fought; for advice and counfel, and by making their prayers and fupplications to them: and whom they have worfhipped; by bowing the knee, or kiifing the hand; by offering facrifices, and burning incenfe, and putting up petitions to them; by trufting in them, and expecting good things from them; fee 2 Kings xxi. 3, 4, 5. and Xxill. 5. Fer. vii. 18. Ezek. viii. 16: they fhall not be gathered, nor be buried; meaning, not the men that fhould die in thofe times, but the bones that fhould be brought out of the graves; thefe having been {cattered about, fhould not be collected together again, and replaced in their fepulchres: they

Joall be for dung upon the face of the earth; that is, they fhould lie and rot upon the face of the earth, and crumble into duft, and become dung for it,;

fee P/. Ixxxiil. 10. ¥. 3. And death fhall be chofen rather than life, &c.] By them that fhould be alive in thofe times, who would be carried captive into other lands, and be ufed very hardly, and fuffer greatly, by the nations among whom they fhould dwell; fee Rev. ix. 6. The Septuagint verfion, and thofe that follow it, make this to be a reafon of the former, reading the words thus, decaufe they have chofen death rather than life; fee Deut. xxx. 19. but the other fenfe is beft, which is confirmed by what follows: dy all-the refidue of them that remain of this evil family, the nation of the Fews, become very corrupt and degenerate; fo the people of J/rael are é, 5? called called the whole family of [rael, Amos iii, 1. now it is foretold, that thofe which remained of that contrary to all this. dl mole: eh ‘aright, nor act aright, nor fpeak aright. “No wan people, who died not by famine, or were not flain by the fword, yet fhould be in fuch a miferable condition, as that death would be more eligible to them than life: even which remain in all the places, whither I have driven them, faith the Lord of hofts; for tho’ they were carried captive by men, yet the thing was of the Lord, and a juft punifhment upon them for their fins. ¥. 4. Moreover, thou fhalt fay unto them, &c.] The Jews, in Feremiah’s time, in order to leave them inexcufable, tho’ the Lord had before affured that they would not hearken to him, ch. vii. 27: thus faith the Lord, fhall they fall, and not rife? men, when they fall, endeavour to get up again, and generally they do: /hall be turn away, and not yeturn 2 when a man turns out of the right way into a wrong one, as foon as he is fenfible of his miftake, he returns back; this is ufually done among men. This is generally the cafe in a natural fenfe, and might be expected in a moral fenfe,; that whereas thefe people had fallen into fin, they would rife again by repentance; and having turned from the good ways of God, would foon return again to them. ¥. 5. Why then is this people of Ferufalem flidden back by a perpetual backfliding? &c.| Thefe people fall into fin, and rife not again by repentance; they turn out of the good ways of God and religion, and return not again; they backflide and revolt from the Lord, and they continue in their revolt and rebellion; their backfliding is an everlafting one; there is no hope of their repentance and recovery: it is a vehement and paffionate expoftulation about the people of the ‘ews, founded upon the former general obfervation, fhewing them to be the worft of all people: it is a common faying, it is a long lane that has no turning; but thefe people having departed from the Lord, return no more. A very learned man renders the words, why does Ferufalem turn away this people with an obftinate averfion®? that is, the rulers and governors of Ferufalem, as in Matt. xxiii. 37. or rather thus, why does a ftubborn averfion turn away this people, O Ferufalem? and fo they are an addrefs to the magiftrates and inhabitants of Feru/alem. They hold faft deceit; practife it, and continue in the practice of it, both with God and man: they refufe to return, to the Lord, to his worfhip, and to the right ways of holinefs and truth, from whence they had erred; fee ch. v. 3. ¥. 6. I bearkened and beard, &c.| Thefe are either the words of the prophet, as Kimchi and Abarbinel think; who liftened and attended to, and made his obfervations upon the words and aétions, conduét and behaviour, of this people, of which he gives an account: or of the Lord himfelf, as the Targum, who hearkened to the language of their hearts and actions, and heard the words of their mouth; all that they fpake againft him, againft his prophets, and thofe that feared his name; all their lying words, their falfe fwearing; all their oaths and curfes, and every idle expreffion that dropped from them; all which he takes notice of, and men are accountable to him for them: but they fpake not aright-, what is fo in the fight of God and good men; what is agreeable to right reafon, and the word of God; they fpake whar was >

Wicked men neither’ think repented him of bis wickednefs; of his heart, of his lips, and of his life; no man can repent of himfelf; no man truly does, without the pracé of God: Saying, what have I done? which queftion an impenitent man does not put; but whet it is made, the true anfwer to be returned to it is; that which is contrary to the nature of God; whith is a breach of his law; which a man has reafon to be afhamed of; at which he may be aftonifhed, it being 16 exceeding finful that which caft the angels out of heaven, Adam out of paradife, and wicked men down to hell; which is defervine of the wrath of God, and eternal death; for which a man ‘can never make atonement himfelf; and by which he is undone to all intents and purpofes, without an intereft in Chrift, and falvation by him. very one turneth to bis courfe,; which is nota good, but a bad one; fin is a way, a road, a path, in which men walk; a courfe, a feries of finning, a proerefs and perfifting in it; fuch as the cbirie GE this world, and this courfe is evil. Eph. ii. 2: as the horfe. rufoeth into the battel, which denotes their fwiftnefs to commit fin, the pleafure they take in it, and their inattention to danger, and death ‘by it; fee Fob xxxix. 21—25. or overflows ©; the impetuofity of the horfé is exprefied by the overflowing of a river. walled y. 7. Yea, the ftork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times, &c.] Of going and returning; for this is a bird of paflage, as P/iny * and other naturalifts obferve; which goes away as winter approaches, and returns when that is over. The temperature of the air, as to heat and cold, and the natural propenfity of fuch birds of paffage to breed their young, are thought to be the incentives to change their habitation; and a wonderful thing it is in nature, that they fhould know the proper time of their paflage, what places to go to, and how to fteer their courfe thither; and as the above naturalift obferves, they go and come in the night: and the turtle, and the crane, and the fwallow, obferve the time of their coming; for thefe alfo are birds of paflage; the turtle is abfent in the winter, and its coming is a fign of fpring, Can?. ii. 11, 12. the crane, according to lianus*, goes away with the ftork, and returns when winter is over; and the fame is obfervable of the fwallow, hence the common faying, one fwallow does not make fpring; fo Horace ‘ ufes birundine prima, for the beginning of fpring. Where thefe birds retire to is not known; fome think the fwallows flie into Egypt and Ezhiopia,; but Olaus Magnus * fays, they lurk in holes, and even under water, where they hang together, and are fometimes drawn out in clufters, and being brought to the fire and thawed, will revive and fly about. But my people know not the judgment of the Lords ae not the unfearchable judgments of God, or thole providential difpenfations of God which are a’ great deep, and are not clearly difcerned and known by the beft of men; but either his own judgments, which are inflicted upon wicked men an: ments for fin, which yet are not taken notice of, and duly attended to, as they fhould be; or rather the law of God, and his revealed word, which is

_the rule of judgment and juftice, and a declaration of righteouineis, fhewing what is juft and good, and ought to be done, which they were willingly ignorant of; or elfe the: final and future judgment of God after death, to which all men muft come, and, into which every thought, word, and work will. be brought, and which day wicked men put far irom them; fee J/: is3.;

yi. 8. How do ye fay, we are wife, &c.] Which they. were continually boafting of, tho’ they were ignorant of the judgment of the Lord, and-were more ftupid than the ftork, turtle, crane, and fwallow: and the law of the Lord is with us? this was the foundation of their boaft, becaufe the law was given..to them, and not to the nations of. the world, which knew not God, and therefore they mutt be a wife and underftanding people; and this law continued with them, they had it in their fynagogues, and in their houfes, and read it, and heard, or at leaft they might and ought to have cheard and read it, and in this they trufted; of this character and ca{ft were the Fews in the times of Chrift and his apoftles, Rom. ii. 17—20. to which agrees the Targum, “* how fay ye, we are wife, and “© in the law of the Lord we truft?” Lo, certainly in vain made heit; either the law, which was made or given in vain by the Lord to this people, fince they made no better ufe of it, and valued them- {elves upon having it, without acting according to it; or the pen of the fcribe, which was made by him in vain to write it, as follows: the pen of the feribes is in vain, in vain, and to no purpofe, were the fcribes employed in writing out copies of the law, when either it was not heard or read, or however the things it enjoined were not put in practice; or the pen of the fcribes was in vain, when employed in writing out falfe copies of the law, or ‘falfe glofies and interpretations of it, fuch as were made by the Scribes and Pharifees in Chrift’s time, and the fathers before them, by whofe traditions the word of God was made of none effect: and fo the Targum, ‘‘ therefore lo, in vain the fcribe hath << made the lying pen to falfify;” that is, the fcriptures. The words may be rendred, ‘‘ verily, ** behold with a lie he wrought; the pen is the lie <* of the fcribes *.”

¥. 9. The wife men are afbamed, &c.| Of the wifdom of which they boafted, when it would appear to be folly, and unprofitable to them: they are difmayed and taken; afirighted at the calamities coming upon them, and taken as in a fnare, as the wife fometimes are in their own craftinefs, fod v.13. Lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord; fent by the prophets, which urged obedience to the Jaw, and is the beft explanation of it; but this they defpifed, and refufed it: and what wifdom is in them? to contemn that, which, if attended to, would have been profitable to them, and the means of making them wife unto falvation; let them therefore boaft of their wifdom ever fo much, it is certain there can be none in perfons of fuch a fpirit and conduct.

y. 10. Therefore will I give their wives unto others, &c.| To ftrangers, to the Gentiles; than which nothing could be more difagreeable to them, ora forer punifhment, of a temporal one: and ¢heir fields to them that shall inberit them; or, to the

| 42,3 heirs of them. For every one from the leaf even to the greateft is given to covetoufuefs, from the prophet even to the prieft, every one dealeth falfely, co~ vetoufnefS and falfe dealing, which prevailed in all ranks and orders of men among them, were the caufe of their ruin: covetoufnels is the root of all evil; and to deal falfely, or make a lie, as the words may be rendered, is diabolical and abominable, in the fight of God, and. efpecially in men of fuch. characters, who were to preach truth to others;; fee,the note on ch..vi. 13.

¥. 11,12. For they have healed the burt of the daughter of my people, &c.].. See the notes on ch. Vi. 145-15. =

¥. 13. I will furely confume them, foith the Lord, &c.] Or, gathering I will.gather them* 5 into fome one place, the city of. ferufalem, and there deftroy them. The word is, 95 yyw, expreffive of confumption and deftruction, as farchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech obferve; and fo the Yargum, ** dettroy- ** ing I will deftroy them, faith the Lord.” There fhall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig-tree, and the leaf foall fade; fome underftand this by way of complaint, that there were no fruit on the vine and fig-tree, nor even leaves; which they allegorically interpret of the fruit of good works being wanting in them, which was the caufe of their ruin. Others think thefe are metaphors which defcribe the manner of their deftruction; and fo the Targum, ‘* and they fhall fail, as the grapes fail ** from the vine, and as the falling fruit from the ‘¢ fig-tree, and as the leaf from the tree.” Tho? it rather intends the fterility of the land, and in general the famine that fhould attend the fiege of Ferufalem. Grapes and figs are mentioned only, as Kimchi obferves, becaufe they were the chief fruits, and they are put for the whole. ud the things that I have given them fhall pafs away from them; whatever they had in their barns and cel-. lars, or were juft becoming ripe in their fields, vineyards, and gardens, fhould either be blafted, or rather be taken away and devoured by their enemies, fo that they themfelves fhould not enjoy them. The Zargum interprets it of the law tran{- grefled by them, as the caufe of their ruin, and paraphrafes it thus, ‘* becaufe I have given them “* my law from Sinai, and they have tranfgrefled *¢ it;” and fo archi, ** this fhall be unto them, *¢ becaufe I have given them ftatutes, and they © «¢ have tranfgrefied them.” -

¥. 14. Why do we fit fill? &c.] In the country, where were barrennefs and want of provifions; in the villages and unwalled towns, where they were expofed to the fpoils and ravages of the enemy. ards of the prophet, in the language of the J/- raelites, as Kimchi obferves. Affemble yourfelves, this is the gathering together, in order to be confumed, before threatned, which they themfelves were made to do: and let us enter into the defenced cities; fach as Ferufalem, where they thought they fhould be fafe from their enemies: and let us be filent there; either promifing themfelves reft, quietnefs, and fecurity; or fuggefting that it would be right in them to fay nothing by way of complaint; having no reafon to murmur at their afflictions, fince they were no other than what their own fins heirs}; other and new ones; and who fhould poffefs them as if they were the true and rightful had brought upon them: for the Lord our God bath put us to filence; ftopped their mouths py my spy PIM YON utique ecce, mendacio operatus eft; ftylus mendacium fecribarum eit,

Thefe words, with what follow, are the _