Exposition of the Whole Bible

lufts; being willing, for the fake of gain, to prophefy fmooth things, though falfe, to the people, promifing them peace, when there was none and then, by fruftrating his predictions, and difappointing him of his ends and views. R. Saadiab interprets this, as Kimchi obferves, of God revealing and making it manifeft that he was deceived; but more is meant by it than this, or even a bare permiffion; for tho’? God is not the author of fin, yet he wills it to be done for wife ends and purpofes, and fometimes in a way of judgment, as a punifhment for fin; and which was the cafe here, both with refpect to the prophet that deceived, who as the fruit of his fin, his covetoufnefs was given up in juft judgment to a reprobate mind; and the people that were deceived, who rejecting the true prophets of the Lord, were willing to have fmooth’ things prophefied to them: and I will firetch out my hand upon them, his avenging hand; the ftroke of his power, as the Targum; a heavy one, and that for giving heed to a lying fpirit; for uttering falfhood, and that with a wicked defign, to gain the applaufe of the people, or for filthy lucre-fake: and I will deftroy him from the midft of my people Ifrael, by fome fore judgment or fudden death, and fo be made a public example of.

x. 10. And they fall bear the punifbment. of their iniquity, &c.] Both the falfe prophet,’ and thofe that fought unto him, and were deceived by him;

mind and confcience, yea the whole man, from — which there is no cleanfing, but by the blood of Chrift 5 it is loathfome in itfelf, contrary to the pure and holy nature of God, and abominable to a gracious mind, and therefore to be avoided; and which may be learnt from the punifhment of it on others: but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, faith the Lord God; that is, that they may behave as fuch, and that it may appear that God is their God, and they are his people..

¥.12. The word of the Lord came again unto me, faying,| At the fame timé as before, continuing the prophecy, and a denunciation of judgments; for it does not feem to begin a new prophecy. The Zargum renders it, the word of prophecy from the Lord.

¥. 13. Son of man, when the land finneth againft me by trefpaffing grievoufly, &c.} That is, the inhabitants of the land, when they are in general become finners againft God and his law; and not merely finners, as all men are, but grievous ones, notorious finners, guilty of very grofs enormities, of great prevarication, perfidy, and treachery; for God is a God long-fuffering, and has great patience with a people; and does not ufually come forth in his judgments againft a nation, until fin has univerfally prevailed among them, and they are guilty of grievous abominations, and thofe continued in: but when this is the ‘cafe, them will I and which being laid according to the ftrictnefs of /retch out mine hand upon it; his hand of vindictive divine juftice, is intolerable: fad is the cafe, when a man is obliged to bear his own fins, and the punifhment of them, and has no furety to undertake for him, and be a mediator between God and him, and make atonement for him: she puni/bment of the prophet fhall be even as the punifhinent of him that feeketh unto him; they being both alike culpable, each purfuing the defires of their own evil hearts; the one feeking for fmooth things to be fpoken to him; the other {peaking them, in order to gratify him, and for the fake of gain; the one being a falfe prophet, and the other feeking to, and enquiring of him, tho’ he was fuch, flighting and rejecting the true prophets of the Lord; both being deceived, and both blind, and fo fhould fall into the fame ditch, being under the fame judicial blindnefs and hardnefs of heart. The Targum is, ** according to the fin of him that comes to learn

' €*-and learns not; according to the fin of the falfe ‘* prophet fhall it be.”

y. 11. That the houfe of Ifrael may go no more aftray from me, &c.] Or from his worfhip, as the Targum, from the law of God, and obedience to it: fin is a going aftray from God, a deviation from his commandments; it leads men out of the way of their duty into wrong paths, which iffue in ruin, if grace prevent not; and fometimes the means which God makes ufe of for the reftoring of his own people, and bringing them back to himfelf, are the punifhments which he inflicts upon

“others; and which is his end in fo doing, as it was here; that the falfe prophets, and thofe that followed them, being-made examples of, might be a warning unto others, and caution them againt falling into the fame fins, that fo they might not bear the fame punifhment; or be a means of reclaiming them from their errors, and for the future beware of going aftray again: weither be polluted any more with all their tranfgreffions; for every tranfgreffion, as it is an aberration from the law of God, fo it is of a defiling nature;:it defiles the wrath and juftice, and caufe it to fall heavily, and men to feel it: and will break the faff of the bread thereof, take away bread-corn from the nation, the {upport of human life; which is that unto it, and the ftay of it, as a ftaff is to a decrepit old man, that can’t walk without one; or take away the virtue of it, fo as tho’ it might be had and eat, yet not be nourifhing; fee ch. iv. 16: and will Jend famine upon it; by caufing a drought, reftraining rain, fending mildew, locufts, caterpillers, &c. to eat up the fruits of the earth: and will cut off man and beaft from it; the latter for the fake of the former, and both thro’ want of food. °

¥. 14. Tho’ thefe three men, Noah, Daniel, and Fob were in it, &c.} Inthe finning land, and made interceffion for it, that the famine might be removed, and the inhabitants of it be faved alive, this would not be granted; tho’ they were men that found favour in the fight of God, and were eminent for prayer, and fuccefsful in it, and the means of faving many; as Noah his family, by preparing an ark according to the will of God; and Daniel was an inftrument of faving the lives of his companions, and of the wife men of Chaldea; and Fob, by his prayer for his friends, prevented the wrath of God, that was kindled againft them, coming upon them; and yet, if they had been upon the {pot at this time, their interceffion for this people would have been of no avail; the decree was gone forth, and was not to be called in; it was unalterable, and God was inexorable: nor could it have been depended upon, if this declaration had not been made, that their prayers would have been effeétual, had they been upon the - fpot, and put them up for this nation; fince it might be obferved, that the eld world was not faved from a deluge in Noah’s time, only he and his family; nor were the people of the Fews preferved from captivity in Daniel’s time, nor even he himfelf; nor were ‘fo6’s children faved, though he ~ was greatly concerned for them; it may be obferved from hence, that there was fuch a man as Fob, as well as Noeb and Daniel; and that the latter, tho’ a young man, not above thirty years of age at this time, yet was become very famous, not only for his dignity and grandeur in Badyion; but for his religion and piety; and is placea between thofe two great men, Noah and Fob; and being a perfon now living, precludes any argument being. formed by the papifts, ia favour of the interceffion of departed faints; and which would not be conclufive from fuch a fuppofition as here made, had they been all fuch as had departed this life; fee Fer. xv. 1. the defign of the whole is only to fhow, that the prayers of the beft of men would not have prevailed with the Lord, to avert his judgments from a people that had fo grievoufly finned againft him: they /hould deliver but their own fouls by their righteoufne/s, faith the Lord, as Noab was faved at the time of the flood; Daziel in the captivity 3° and Yob amidft his great afflictions: this is to’ be underftood not of the eternal falvation _of the fouls of thefe men, which is not, nor can it be, by works of righteoufnefs done by the beft of men; by thefe, men cannot be juftified in the fight of God, and fo not faved; but of temporal falvation, of the falvation of their fouls or lives from temporal calamities. Befides, thefe men had knowledge of another and better righteoufnefs than their own, and believed in it, and trufted to it, even the righteoufnefs of faith, the righteoufnets of Chrift received by faith. Noah was both an heir and a preacher of the righteoufnefs which is by faith; and Daniel knew that it was one branch of the Meffiah’s work, to bring in everlafting righte- y. 15. If I caufe noifome beafts to pafs thro’ the land, &c.] Evil and hurtful ones; not fo much thofe that are poifonous, as pernicious; fuch as lions, tigers, foxes, wolves, and bears, that are very ravenous and devouring, and efpecially in a time of famine before threatened; tho’ fometimes God makes ufe of lefler creatures to do damage * to a land, and the fruits of it, as locufts, caterpillers, €%c. but the former feem to be intended here, which fometimes God threatens and fends to a people difobedient and rebellious; fee Lev. xxvi. 22. 2 Kings xvii..25: and they fpoil it, or, make it childlefs *; they or I bereave the inhabitants ot it, of their children; or bereave it of other cattel that are tame, as fheep and oxen, as well as of men and women alfo, and even deftroy the fruits of the earth: /o that it be defolate; having neither men nor cattel, corn or tillage, or any other fruit; all being deftroyed by the evil beafts, who have commiffion to pafs thro’ it, and lay it wafte whereever they come, without controul: that no man may ' pafs thro’ becaufe of the beafts; for fear of them: not only the inhabitants of the land fhould be deftroyed by them, but even travellers, {uch as come from other countries, would not chufe to pafs thro’ it becaufe of the beafts; fo that it would on this account be deftitute both of inhabitants and of travellers; and muft be a moft defolate place, where only wild beafts were to be feen, ranging about at pleafure. ‘es y. 16. Though ¢hefe three men were in it, &c.]

Above-named, Noah, Daniel; and Fob’; as they were not, two of them not being in the land of the living, and the other in Badylon; but if all three had been in a land fo threatened, and ufed all the intereft they had with God by fervent prayer and fupplication, to have called in the wild beafts, and chained them up; and to preferve the people from being deftroyed by them, it would have been all in vain; the Lord was determined upon the deruction of them, and by means of thefe, as one of his fore judgments: as I live, faith the Lord God; or by my lifes for it is an oath with which God fwears by himfelf, who has life in himfelf, and is the author and giver of life to others, and can take it away when, and in what manner, he pleafes; and this oath is ufed, to thew the unalterablenefs of the judgment threatened, it being decreed and {worn to: God’s word or decree, and his oath, are two immutable things, in which he cannot lie, and from which he never departs: they fhall deliver neither fons nor daughters; meaning not grown-up perfons, but little ones, infantfons and daughters; fuch as had not been guilty of the actual fins and tranfereffions their parents were chatged with; even thefe they fhould not deliver by their prayers and fupplications from being deftroyed by noifome beafts, God punifhing the iniquities of the fathers upon the children; and much lefs fhould they deliver thofe that were adult, and had committed the fame idolatries and other fins their parents had; no not even their own fons and daughters; for no exception is made but of themfelves, as follows: they only fhall be delivered; as Noah with his family was in the ark, when amidit wild beafts; and Daniel in the lions den; and Fob, with whom the beafts of the field were at peace, od v. 23.. ¥.17. Or if I bring a fword upon that land, 8«c.] The land which had grievoufly finned; the fame land into which a famine fhould come, and thro’ which evil beafts fhould pafs; to which, if the Lord fhould add, as he would, a third judgment, the fword; fuffer a foreign enemy to come in among them, and deftroy them. So the Targum, ‘* or if. thofe that flay with the fword I ** fhould bring upon that land;” the Chaldean army, as he did; the fword has its commiffion from God; war is not by chance; the invafion of a foreign enemy is from the Lord; and all the mifchiefs and ravages of a tumultuous army are all by divine order: and fay, fword, go thro’ the land; not only enter the borders of it, or proceed far in it, but even go thro’ it; which is terrible indeed! but if the Lord bids it go, it muft go, and does; it is a fervant of his, and punctually obeys his commands; that is, fuch are thofe that ufe it, however profane and wicked they may be in themfelves, as generally armies confiit of diffolute perfons; yet thefe are under a divine direction, and are obedient to the will of God, though they may know it not. So the Targum, “ and J ‘< fay that they that kill with the fword pafs thro’ ‘* the land;” fo that I cut off man and beaft from it; by the fword; the one being deftroyed as an enemy, the other for food. ¥. 18. Though thefe three men wete in it, &c.} Before-mentioned: as J live faith the-Lord God, they hall deliver neither fons nor daughters, believe me no more, or be it fo and fo, if they do; it is in in the form of an oath, and in the fame manner it is exprefled in ¥. 16, 20: but they only flall be delivered themfelves; their own fouls or lives, and by their righteoufnefs, as in ¥. 14.

y19. Or if I fend a peftilence into that land, &c.

Or the plegue, which is the deftruction that waftes at noon-day; this is from the Lord, and a fore judgment it is: and pour out my fury upon i in blood, or, by blood’; by corrupting the blood, which is done when a man is feized with the peftilence. Lhe Yargum renders it, with flaughter, by flaying a great number of perfons by that difeafe, as a token of fury and wrath, becaufe of their tranfgrefiions. It may be rendered, decau/e of blood *; and fo exprefs the caufe and reafon of the judgment, the fhedding of innocent blood: to cut off from it man and beaft,; man by the peltilence, and beaft by fome contagious diftemper or another.

y. 20. Though Noah, Daniel, and Fob were in it, &c.] Who are again mentioned by name, as in y. 14. and are the three men referred to in ¥. 16, 18; as live, faith the Lord God, they fhall deliver neither fon nor daughter; not fo much as an only fon, or an only daughter, no not even a fingle child: the plural number is ufed before, as in y. 16, 18. here the fingular, to fhow how refolutely determined the Lord was upon the deftruction of the land; that even the prayers of the beft of men among them, fhould not prevail with him to fave a fingle perfon, no not a fingle infant: shey fhall but deliver their own fouls by their righteoufne s, as in ¥. 14. fee the note there.

¥. 21. For thus faith the Lord God, how much more, &c.] If the Lord would not be intreated by fuch good men as thofe mentioned, for a land that had finned againit him, to whom he only fends fome one of the above judgments, either famine, or noifome beafts, or the fword, or the peftilence, how much more inexorable and deaf to all intreaties muft he be; or if any one of thofe judgments makes fo great a defolation in the land, then how much greater »muft that deftruction be, when I fend my four fore judgments on Ferufalem; or evil * ones; as they are to men, tho’ righteoufly inflicted by the Lord; when all thefe four are fent together, what a devaftation muft they make? namely, the fword, and the famine, and the noifome beaft, and the peftilence, to cut off from it man and beaft; three of them, it is evident, were fent upon Feru/alem at the time of its fiege by Nebuchadnezzar, the fword, famine, and peftilence; and no doubt the other, even the noifome beafts; and if not literally, yet figuratively, for Nebuchadnezzar himfelf is compared to a lion, Jer. iv. 7. and 1. 17.

¥. 22. Yet behold, therein fall be left a remnant, &c.] That is, in Ferufalem, on which God’s four fore judgments fhould be fent: though in a finful land as before defcribed, where only one judgment was fent, there was no efcape, not fo much as a fon or a daughter were delivered; yet here, where four fore judgments came together, there is a remnant that are faved; and which being wonderful, and beyond all expectation, is introduced with ‘a behold, not only as a note of attention, but of admiration: that fhall be brought forth both fons and daughters; that is, which fhould be brought forth out of Ferufalem when taken, and fhould not be deftroyed either by famine, or by noifome beafts, or by the fword, or by the peftilence; and thefe, many of them, both fons and daughters; fome of each fex, that fhould be the means of propagating a potterity, that fhould return again, and repeople the land, and continue for many ages, as they have done: this is faid with refpect to ¥. 16, 18, 20: behold, they fhall come forth unto you; come out of Ferufalem, and their own land, into Badylon, to the captives already there; with whom Ezekiel now was, and to whom he is {peaking: and ye fhall fee their way, and their doings; their wicked courfe of life and evil actions; which now being convinced of, and humbled for, they fhall ingenuoufly acknowledge and confefs to their brethren in captivity: tho’ fome think this is to be underftood of wicked and reprobate men, that fhould be not at all reformed by the judgments of God, but continue in their wicked courfe; which the godly captives feeing, would conclude from thence their manner of life before, and fo the righteous judgment of God upon them; and their be-, ing a remnant preferved, is thought not to be'in a way of mercy, but judgment; who though they efcaped each of the four fore judgments, yet had a worle inflicted on them, even captivity: and ye feall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Ferufalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it; that is, they fhould be fatisfied with the juftice of God, and be reconciled to the providence of God, in bringing deftruction upon Ferufalem; which perhaps before they murmured at, or had hard thoughts of God concerning it; but now hearing the confeffions of thofe that were brought from thence to them, or feeing their wicked lives and converfations, they would now be fully fatisfied that God was righteous in all that he had done; and that inftead of being rigorous and fevere, he had been kind and merciful.

y. 23. And they fhall comfort you, when ye fee their ways and their doings, &c.] Not that their finful ways and doings would be comfortable to them, but either their acknowledgements of them, and repentance for them; or feeing their diffolute manner of life, it would be a means of compofing their minds, and making them eafy under the pro-. vidence; being now fatisfied that God was juft in bringing upon them all the evils he had, and that they were punifhed according to their deferts, and lefs than their fins deferved: and ye foall know that I have not done without caufe all that I have done in it, faith the Lord God; that there was juft reafon for it; that he was fufficiently provoked to do it; and that it was neceffary it fhould be done, for his own honour, and t good of others. 2

LLE deftruction of Ferufalem is again prophetied of in this. chapter, and is fet forth under the fimile of a vine-tree, which, for its ufelefinefs, is committed to the fire. The fimile is in ¥. 1,2, 3,4, 5. the application of it in ¥. 6, culiar ones, favoured by the air and foil: or will men take a pin of it to hang any veffel thereon? it is not fit to make a peg of to hang a hat on; and much lefs for any thing that requires more ftreneth.

Yi4. Behold, it is caft into the frre for fuel, &c.

That is, a vine-treé when cut down, or a branch when cut off, it is good for nothing elfe;. and that is the ufe it is generally put to; fee Yobn xv. 6. and this, ’tis fuggefted, would be the end of the Fewifh nation; who were become by their fins like a wild vine, and were fit fuel for the fire of divine wrath: the fire devoureth both the ends of it, the branch calt into it, and fo is quickly confumed. Kimchi explains this by If ix. 12. the Syrians before, and the Philiftines behind, and they devour Ifrael with opén mouth; and Abendana of the ten tribes; but it feems only to defign how foon the fire takes it; arid how inevitable the confumption is when it is fired at both ends: and the midjt of it is burnt; preferitly; it being dried, and reduced to a brarid by the heat of the fire at both ends: this Kimchi interprets of the city of Ferufalem, which was in the midft of the land: is it meet for any work? no; for if it was not fit for any work when cut down, or cut off, much lefs when burnt in the fire.

¥.5. Behold, when it was whole it was meet for no work, &c.| Before it was cut into. pieces, and caft into the fire, it was not fit to make fo much as a pin of to hang arly thing on; fo [rae] when all together, before the ten tribes were carried captive; or the Fews before the captivity of Feconiah, were ufelefs and unfruitful, and to every good work reprobate: how much lefs fhall it be meet yet for any work, when the fire bath devoured it, and it is burned? as its wood is good for nothing before it is burned, its afhes are ufelefs after.

yy. 6. Therefore thus faith the Lord God, &c.]} Now follows the application of the fimile: as the vine-tree among the trees of the fore, which I have given to the fire for fuel, to be burnt, as other trees of the foreft are, and along with them: /o will I give the inhabitants of Ferufalem, to be deftroyed along with other nations by the Chaldeans; they being no better, but as bad, if not worfe, like wild vines among foreft-trees; and therefore muft fare no better: this was the decree and determination of the Lord.

y.7. And I will fet my face againft them, &c.} In wrath to deftroy them; fee ch. xiv. 8: and they feall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them, from one calamity to another; thofe that efcaped the famine and peftilence in the city, fell by the fword; and thofe that efcaped famine, {word and peftilence, were carried into captivity, and there pafiled from one hardfhip and affliction to another. The Zargum is, ** I will execute my ** vengeance on them, becaufe of the words of ** the law, which were given out of the midft of & fire; they have tranfgreffed, and people wlio are “© ftrong as fire fhall confume them.” Some, as Abendana obferves, interpret the fire, out of which they went, of Sennacherib, out of whofe hand yt. dud the word of the Lord came unto me, faying.} The deftruction of ‘Feru/alem had been reprefented under various types and fimilies before, as of a fiege, and a fharp razor; and here of a fruitlefs and ufelefs vine, only fit for the fire; which was delivered out by a fpiric of prophecy. The Yargum calls it, the word of prophecy, as ufual.

¥. 2. Sow of man, what is the vine tree, more than any tree? 8c.) Or, the wood of the vine, than any wood >? it is not better than other wood, it is not fo good as any other wood; nay, it is good for nothing. The fruit of the vine-tree is good, but its wood is of no ufe: a vine-tree, if it bears truit, is valuable; but if it does not, it is of no account. The people of the Fews are often compared to a vine, who, while they brought forth good fruit, were in efteem; but when they became like an-empty and fruitlefs vine, were rejected as good for nothing, Pf lxxx. 8. If v. 1, 2. Jer. li. 22. Hof. x. 1. they were originally no better than others; what they had, were owing to the grace and goodnefs of God; and when they degenerated, they were the worft of all people: or than a branch which is among thé trees of the foreft? a vine-tree that bears fruit, is better than a treé of the foreft, or than a branch of one that is unfruitful; but a vine-tree that does not bear fruit, is not fo good; becaufe the wood of the one may be ufeful, when the other is not; tho’ the words may be better rendered, even the branch of a wild vine which is among the trees of the foreft*, and fo it explains what vine-tree is fpoken of; not a fruitful one in the vineyards, but a wild and barren one in the foreft. So Yarchi paraphrafes the words, “* not of the vine in the vineyards which bears “¢ fruit, {peak I unto thee; but of the branch of “¢ the vine which grows in the forefts;” and fo Kimchi, “‘ 1 do not afk thee of the vine-tree which <¢ beareth fruit, for that is valuable; but of the “ branch (of the wild vine) which is among the «¢ trees of the foreft, and is as they that don’t “¢ bear fruit, concerning that I afk thee; for even “* it is not as the trees of the foreft; for the trees *¢ of the foreft, tho’ they don’t bear fruit, they *¢ are fit to do work of them, to make vefiels of *¢ them, and to floor houfes with them; but the ‘© wood of this vine is not fo.”

¥. 3. Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? &c.] The carpenter and joiner, the houfe or fhipbuilder are employed in; asto build houfes of, make beams, rafters, floors, &c. build fhips with, make matts of, ce. or any veffel or utenfil for the ufe of man? it hever is; it is not fit for-any fuch purpofe. Pliny * fpeaks of fome rarities made of the wood of vines, but not things of common ufe; and thefe not of any vines, but of fome pe- the Lord delivered them; and the fire which devoured them, of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and it may be rendered, they have gone out *, &c. and ye foall know that I am the Lord, when I fet my face againft them, he is known by his judgments to be the Lord God omnipotent, holy, juft, and true. ¥.8. And I will make the land defolate, &c.]

N this chapter the Yews/b nation is reprefented under the fimile of a female-infant, whofe birth, breeding, marriage, grandeur and conduct, are defcribed, in order to fhew the wickednefs and ingratitude of this people; who, on account thereof, are threatened with judgments; tho’ mercy is promifed toa remnant that fhould repent. The prophet is directed to make known to Ferufalem her abominable fins, ¥. 1, 2. and, in order to this, is bid to take up the following parable of a femaleinfant; whofe defcent, birth and wretched condition, at the time of it, are pointed at, ¥. 3, 4, 5. which are expreffive of the low and forlorn eftate of the Yews originally; and then follow the benefits and bleffings of God beftowed upon them, both in their infant and adult-ftate; the preferving them alive in Egypt, and their multiplication there, and afterwards, the covenant made with them, when brought out from thence; and the Lord’s efpoufal of them to himfelf, as his own people, having a ftrong affection for them, y. 6, 7, 8. the large provifion of good things he made for them, both in the wildernefs, and efpecially in the land of Canaan; the riches he beftowed upon them, and the flourifhing and profperous kingdom he raifed them to, which made them famous among all the nations round about them, ¥. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13,14. and yet, after all this, fuch was the ingratitude of this people, as to commit {piritual whoredom; that is, idolatry, to a very great degree, ¥. 15. which is aggravated by their converting and applying the good things which the Lord gave them to idolatrous ufes, ¥. 16, 17, 18, 1g. by facrificing their fons and daughters to idols, which were the Lord’s, ¥. 20, 21. by not calling to mind the former wretched eftate out of which they were brought, ¥. 22. by building high places in every ftreet and way, and there committing idolatries, ¥. 23, 24, 25. by the various nations, whofe examples they followed, and with whom they joined, as the Egyptians, Alfyrians and Chaldeans, y¥. 26, 27, 28, 29. and by the great difference between them and all other harlots, whom they exceeded, ¥. 30, 315 325 33, 34. wherefore on account of all this, they are threatened to be dealt with as an adulterefs woman; made a fpectacle of; condemned to die, to be ftripped, ftoned and burned, ¥. 35, 36, 375 385 39, 40, 41, 42, 43. and that the Lord might appear to be juft in executing fuch judgments on thern, they are declared to be as bad as the Hittites and Amorites their parents; and worfe than their fitters Samaria and Sodom; and therefore could expect to fare no better than they; and fhould become a proverb and a bye-word, and ~ bear their fins, fhame and punifhment in the fight of their neighbours, and be defpifed by them,

The land of Fudea uncultivated, men and beatt being cut off; fee ch. xiv. 15, 21: decaufe they have committed a trefpafs, faith the Lord; acted a treacherous and perfidious part; apoftatized from God, having committed idolatry, which was the caufe of their ruin; and therefore it was not without a caufe, that the Lord did what he did in it; fee ch. xiv. 23.

56, 575 58, 59. neverthelefs, the covenant of grace made with his chofen people among them fhould ftand firm; which being manifefted to them, would be a means of bringing them to-a fenfe of fin, fhame for it, and an acknowledgment of the Lord’s grace and goodnefs to them, y. 60, 61, 62, 63.

¥. 1. Again, the word of the Lord came unto me, faying.|. The word of prophecy from the Lord, as the Targum; the following reprefentation was made to him under a fpirit of prophecy. 2. Son of man, caufe Ferufalem to know her abominations.| ‘That is, the inhabitants of Ferufalem, as the Targum; thefe are mentioned. inftead of the whole body of the people, becaufe that Ferufalem was the metropolis of the nation, whofe fins were very many and heinous: called abominations, becaufe abominable to God, and rendered them fo to him; particularly their idolatries are meant; which, tho’ committed by them, and fo muft be known to them, yet were not.owned, confeffed and repented of by them, they not being convinced of the evil of them; in order to which the prophet is bid to fet them before them, and fhew them the evil nature of them; and which he might do by writing to them, for he himfelf was now in Chaldea with the captives there. The Targum is, ‘‘ fon of man, reprove the inhabitants of “< Ferufalem, and fhew them their abominations.” y¥. 3. And fay, thus faith the Lord God unto Ferufalem, &c.| To the inhabitants of Yerujalem, as the Targum: thy birth, and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; here the Fewi/h anceftors for a time dwelt and fojourned, Abraham, aac and Facob; and fo the Targum, Farchi, Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret the firft word, thy habitation or Jojourning ‘: but whereas it follows, and thy nativity, this does not folve the difficulty; which may be faid to be of the land of Canaan, becaufe their anceftors were born here; for tho’ Abraham was a Chaldean, he was called out of Chaldea into the land of Canaan, where J/aac was born; and fo was Yacob the father of the twelve tribes; befides, the J/raelites were the fucceffors of the Canaanites in their land, and fo feemed to defcend from them; and it is not unufual for fuch to be reckoned the children of thofe whom they fucceed; to which may be added, that they were like to the Canaanites in their manners, particularly in their idolatries; and fo their children, as fuch, are faid to be the offspring and defcendents of thofe whofe examples they follow, or whom they imitate; fee the hiftory of Sufannah, ¥. 56: thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite; Abraham and Sarah, who were properly fpeaking, the one the father, the other the mother, of the Yewi/h nation, were Chal. deans; and neither Amorites nor Hittites, yet, becaufe ‘Py"D25 habitationes tue, Pagninus, Calvin; manfiones tuz, Ohel Moed, fol. 30. 1, te caufe they dwelt among them, are fo called; and efpecially fince betore their converfion they were idolaters, as thofe were; befides, the Fews who defcended from ‘¥udah,. and from whom they have their name, very probably fprung from anceftors who might be Amorites and Hittites; fince Fudab married the daughter of a Canaanite, and fuch an one feems to be Jamar, he took for his fon Er, and by whom he himfelf had two fons, Pharez and Zarab, from the former of which the kings of Fudab lineally defcended, Gen, xxxvii. 2, 6, 29, 30. Matt.i. 3. befides, the Fews were the fucceffors of thefe people, and pofieffed their land, and imitated them. in their wicked practices, Aimos ii. 10. and ix. 7. and thefe two, the Amorite and Hittite, of all the feven nations are mentioned, becaufe they were the worft, and the moft wicked, Gen. xv. 16. and xxvii. 46. The Fews * fay, Lerah the father of Abraham, and his anceftors, came from Canaan.

¥. 4. And as for thy nativity in the day thou waft bern, &c.} Which refers either to the time when Abraham was called out of Ur of the Chaldeans, who had before been an idolater; or rather to the time when the children of J/rael were in. Egypt, and there grew and multiplied, and became a numerous body of peéple,; who, upon their coming ‘out of it, were brought into fome form, and_ became a nation or body politic, which may be called the day of their birth, as a people; fee Hof ii. 3: thy navel was not cut; alluding to what is done to a new-born infant, when the midwife immediately takes care to cut the navel-{tring, by which the child adheres to its mother, and takes in its breath and nourifhment in the womb;) but now being of no longer ufe that way, it is cut and tied up, for the fafety both of mother and child, who otherwife would be in great danger; and this denotes the defperate condition the J/raelites were in when in Egypt, where they were greatly opprefied and affiicted, and in very imminent danger of being deftroyed; to which the Targum refers it: neither waft thou wafbed in water to fupple thee; which alfo is done to an infant as foon as born, to cleanfe it from the menftrous blood, to make the flefh fleek, and fmooth, and amiable; which, as Kimchi and Ben Melech obferve, is done in hot water: thou waft not falted at all, which was done, either by fprinkling fale upon it, or ufing falt and water °, as a deterfive of uncleanne{s, to prevent putrefaction, to dry up the humours, and harden the flefh, and confolidate the parts: nor /wadled at ail; to bring the feveral members of the body into form and thape; fee Lwke ii. 7. and thefe things being of neceflity to be done immediately, were, as Kimchi obferves, lawful to be done even on a fabbathday, according to the traditions of the elders '.

¥. 5. None eye pitied thee, to do any of thefe unto thee, to have compaffion upon thee, &c.}] Or, one of thefe*; not fo much as one of them: fad mutt be the cafe of an infant, when it meets with no tender heart or kind hand from midwife, nurfe, or mother, to do thefe things for it: this js expreffive of the helplefs, forlorn and unpitied ftate of the Tjraelites in Egypt, who, when their lives were made bitter with hard bondage, had no mercy fhewn them by Pharaoh and his tafk-mafters, Exod.

i. 14. and v.9, 14,17, So the Targum, ‘ the “* eye of Pharaob did not {pare you to do one good ** thing for you, to give you reit from your bond- ** age, to have mercy on you:” but thou waft caft out in the open field; alluding to infants expofed by their unnatural parents, or unkind nurfes, and left in an open field, or any defert place, to |perifh for want, unlefs fome kind providence appears for them: this open field may defign the land of Egypt, whither Yacob and his pofterity were, being drove out of Canaan by a famine; and where, after the death of Fo/eph, they were expofed to the hardfhips and cruelties of the Egyptians; and who; commanding their male children to be flain, doubtlefs occafioned the expofing of many of them, as well as Mo/es, to which fome reference may be had; and fo the Zargum paraphrafes it, ‘‘ and he «© (Pharaoh) decreed. a tull decree to caft your «< male children into the river, to deftroy you ‘«¢ when you were in Egypt:” to the loathing of thy perfon, in the day that thou waft born; the I/- raelites were loathfome to the Egyptians, as every fhepherd was an abomination to them; and fuch were they, Gen. xlvi. 34. and all this, may be applied to the ftate and condition of men by nature, even of God’s elect, whofe extraction is from fallen man; defcend immediately from unclean parents; are conceived in fin, and fhapen in iniquity; can have no communication of grace from their parents, or others; by whom they cannot be wafhed from their fins, or fanctified, or clothed, or made righteous; but are in an hopelefs and helplefs condition; and are loathfome and abominable to God, and to themfelves too, when they come to fee the {tate they-are in. ¥. 6. And when I paffed by thee, &c.) Alluding to a traveller pafling by where an infant lies expofed, and looks upon it, and takes it up; or it may be to Pharaoh’s daughter walking by the river-fide, when fhe {pied the ark in which Mo/es was, and ordered it to be taken up, and fo faved his life: and faw thee polluted in thine own blood; keeping up the fimile of a new born-infant, that has nothing done to it, but is all over covered with menftruous blood;. denoting the wretched and miferable eftate the ews were in, when in Egypt; when they were not only loathfome and abominable to the Egyptians, and ill ufed and. unpitied by them; but were in danger of being utterly deftroyed, and ready to expire. The word rendered polluted, fignifies trodden under foot '; like mire in the ftreets; and fo denotes both pollution and diftrefs; fo the J/raelites were trodden under. foot by the Egyptians, when they made them to ferve with rigour, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of fervice in the field; and fo the Zargum paraphrafes it, ‘* for it was manifeft before me that ‘© you were afflicted in your bondage” as they then fighed and cried becaufe of their bondage; the Lord looked upon them with an eye of pity and compaffion, and delivered them, Ewxod.i. 14. and ii. 23,245 25. and iii. 7,8: 1 faid unto thee, when thou waft in thy blood, live; yea, I faid unto thee, when thou waft iz thy blood, live; the Lord preferved them, and faved them alive, when they were near to ruin, and delivered them by the hands of Mo/es, which was as life from the dead; and this h Vid. Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. 1. 2. c. 25.