Exposition of the Whole Bible

but of all the moft fhocking, and the moft ageravated: or the fenfe is, is ita fmall thing that thou fhouldft play the harlot, or worfhip' idols’? is it not enough for thee to do fo, but thou muft faerifice thy children alfo to them? and which are not only thine, but mine, ‘as follows:

y. 21. That thou haft flain'my children, 8cc.| By creation, as all born into the world are; and by national adoption, as all the ewi/ children*were; and particularly the firft-born were eminently his, and which are here defigned, as archi interprets it; for they were the children that were flain and facrificed to Molech; fee Ezek. xx. 26: and delivered them to caufe them to pafs thro’ the fire for them; for the fake of idols, for the worfhip of them; this they did before they were flain; they firft caufed them to pafs thro’ between two fires, and fo dedicated them to the idol, and then flew them; or flew them by burning them in the fire, or by putting them into the arms of the ido/ made burning hor. y¥. 22. And in all thine abominations, and thy whoredoms, 8&c.] Or idolatries, which were abominable to God, and were many; of which that juft mentioned was not one of the leaft: thou haf not remembred the days of thy youth, the deftitute and forlorn condition then in, and what favours were then beftowed: when thou waft naked and bare, and waft polluted in thy blood; fee the notes on ¥. 6, 4. which is “mentioned to upbraid the Fews with their ingratitude; they forgetting the miferable condition they were in in Egypt, and what great things the Lord had done for them in bringing them out from ‘thence, and the obligations they were laid under to him; and yet after all this, to commit fach abominable iniquities, and in the midft of them all-never once call to mind what they had ‘received ‘from him; whieh might have been a check to their idolatries, but fo it was not.

¥. 23. Aad it came to pafs after all thy wickedhes, &e.} This refers either to what goes before, fo Kimchi; and the fenfe‘is, it fhall be again as it was at firft, after and becaufe of all the above wickednef$ committed, thou fhalt be left naked and bare, and deftitute of all that is good: or rather to what follows in the next claufe; and the meaning is, to all this wickednefs before-mentioned, which was fo great that it might be thought nothing ‘more could be added to it; and yet the following things were, ‘as building an eminent place, and high places; in all ftreets and heads of ways: 0, wo unto thee, faith the Lord of bofts; which is repeated, to fhow the indignation‘ of the Lord againft all this wickednefs; to aroufe their attention to their fin and punifhment, and to fhew the certainty-of it; and it may be, it denotes both their mifery in this world, and in that to come. The Targum of the whole is, “ what thall be in “thine end for all-thy wickednefs? the prophet *< faid untd her, wo unto thee, becaufe thou haft

«© finned; wo unto thee, becaufe thou art not con-

* verted, faith the Lord God.” ‘oye 24. That thou haft alfo built unto thee an eminent place, &c.] Or a brothel“; and fo the Septuagint verfion, a whoring-houfe, not content to commit idolatry privately, they built a public place for jdolatrous worfhip. The Targum renders it, altar. The word has the fignification of a pit or ditch; with which compare Prov. xxii, 14. and xxiii. 27.

And bajt made thee an bigh place in every fireet, of

Ferufalem, and other cities; it was ufual to erect Mies fF) ”

7% high places in ftreets, where altars were Buile, and idols fet up to be worfhipped: it denotes the public manner in which they committed idolatry, and the multitude of their idols; which fhows their impudence and hardnefs of heart.

¥.25.-Thou haft built thybigh place at every head of the way, &c.) Where two. or moré ways, or two or more ftreets met, and fo was mof con{picuous, and was feen from different patts; which fhows the fame as before: and baft made thy beauty to be abborred, by the Lord himfelf, who otherwile greatly defires and delights in the’ beauty of his people, when they worthip him, Pf xlv. 113 and by all good men, and fuch as fear the Lord, who cannot but abhor ftch idolatrous practices, and thofe that are guilty of them; and even by the heathens themfelves, to whoin the Fews became mean’ and defpicable, when they fell into idolatry; and under the difpleafure of God, whom they forfook; as a common ftrumpet becomes, in procefs of time, loathfome to her quondam lovers: and haft opened thy feet to every one that paffed by, an euphemifm, fignifying the expofing to view the privities or fecret parts, in order to allure to impure embraces; and the meaning is, that the Yews were ready to receive any idol, and give into any idolatrous worfhip that offered to them, and even courted and folicited the Genéiles to join with them in all idolatrous practices: and multiplied thy whoredoms; or idolatries; the number of their idols being anfwerable to their cities, and even were as many as ‘the ftreets and heads of ways in them.

¥. 26. Thou haf alfo committed fornication with the Egyptians, 8cc.]* By entering into leagues and alliances with them, and feeking to them for help and affiftance againft their enemies; from whofe bondage they had formerly been delivered, and whofe fociety they were cautioned againft; and yet they forfook the Lord, and joined themfelves to them by folemn covenant; ahd not only fo, but fell into the worfhip of their idols, who were a people of ‘all others the moft fuperftitious, and given to idolatry; and many of their tdolatrous rites and ceremonies were recéived and retained by the ews, as the worfhipping of Tammuz, and other idols: thy neighbours, great of feb, being their neighbours, and full of power and ftrength to affift them, they courted their friendfhip and alliance; and their idolatries being many and monftrous, were the more courted by them: the allufion is to women of fhamelefs impudence and infatiable uit, who covet men, whofe fleth is as the Aicfh of affes, and their iffue as horfes, ch. xxiii. ‘20. flefh heré fignifies the privy parts of men; fo Ben Melech. And haft increafed thy whoredoms to provoke my an-

| ger; multiplied their idolatries, which they learned of the Egyptians, a people much given thereunto; and which were abominable and highly provoking to God, 1 Pet. iv. 3. The Targum is, ** thou hate ‘* increafed thine idols.”

¥.27. Bebold, wherefore I have ftretched out my hand over thee, &c,| His chaftizing and Saar hand, ‘to fhow his refentment at their fins, an bring them to a fenfe of them, and repentance for them: and have diminifhed thine ordinary food 4 their ftated allowances, the common mercies and bleffings of life they had been indulged with, but now were lefiened; and particularly a famine was brought upon them, as well as they were deprived of other favours for their fins; God dealing with them, as hufbands with their wanton wives, who keep them to ftraiter allowance, and clofer confine- ment, in order to check and tame them: and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philiftines,; which perhaps may refer to the times of saz, when the Philiftines invaded the cities of the low country, and of the fouth of ‘fudab, and took many of their cities, and brought Fudab low, 2 Chron, xxviii. 18, 19: which are afbamed of thy lewd way; of their inconftancy in changing their religion, relinquifhing the worfhip of the true God, and embracing that of others, when they abode by their ancient religion and worfhip, Fer. ii. 10, 11. The Zargum is, “* to whom “* if I-had fent my prophets, they would have been ** afhamed;” fee Matt. xi. 21, 23.

¥. 28. Thou haft played the whore alfo with the Affyrians, &c.| By entering into alliances with them, and worfhipping their idols; which was done in the times of Abaz, who fent to Tiglath- Pilefer king of Afyria for help, and to. Damajfcus for the fafhion of the altar there, and built one-according to it, 2 Kings vii. 10,11: becaufe. thou waft unfatiable,; not content with the alliance and idolatries of the Egyptians: yea, thou Laft played the harlot with them; with the Afyrians: and yet couldeft not be fatished, with their idols, and the worfhip of them, but fought out for new gods, and new modes of worfhip; like a lewd woman, who having proftituted herfelf to one, and to another, yet remains infatiable, and feeks out for other lovers.

¥. 29. Thou haft moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan, &c.| Or, with the land of Canaan', with the inhabitants of it, doing the fame evils, committing the fame idolatries, as the old inhabitants of Canaan did, and fo the Targum, «¢ and thou haft multiplied thine idols, that thou ** mighteft be joined to the people of Canaan:” or, to the land of Canaan ™, like to the land. of Canaan; according to the abominations of the.Canaanites, doing as they did. ‘archi takes the word Canaan to fignify a merchant, as it does in Hef. xii. 7. and the land of Canaan to be the fame with. the land of Chaldea, called a land of traffick, and Badylon the city of merchants, Ezek. xvii. 4: fince it follows, unto Chaldea: but the fenfe is, thatthe Fews were not content with the idolatries in the land of Canaan, but fent even to Cha/dea, a remote country, to fetch new idols from thence; fee Ezek. XXili. 14, 15, 16. The Targum is, ‘* to walk in “* the laws of the Chaldeans;” their religious ones, their rites and ceremonies refpecting idolatrous worfhip: and yet thou waft not fatisfed herewith; but ftill wanted other idols and modes. of worfhip; not being content with the gods of the Egyptians, nor of the Afprians, nor of the Canaanites, nor of the Chaldeans.

¥. 30. How weak is thine heart, faith the Lord God, &c.] ‘Thro’ fin; and being deftitute of the grace of God, and fo unable to refift any temptation, or oppofe any corruption or Juft, but carried away with every one that offers; indulging. every Juft, and yet not fatisfied; weak as water,. unftable, fickle, and inconftant, feeking after new gods, and new kinds of worfhip. The Targum is, ‘* how “« ftrong is the, wickednefs of thy heart 2” the ftronger the wickednefs of the heart, the weaker the heart is: feeing thou doft all thefe things; all the idolatries before-mentioned; which was’.an argument not of her ftrength, but weaknefs, and. yet m Ad terram Canaan, fo fome in Vatablus.

of boldnefs, imptdence, and refolution, to have her will: the work of an imperious whorifa woman 2 a whore, as fhe is impudent, is imperious, is one that rules and governs. The Targum is, who rules over herfelf; does what fhe pleafes, will have her will and way, and. can’t bear any contradiction; and who rules over others, fuch as are her gallants, obliging them to do as fhe commands. Farcbi’s note is, ‘* over whom her imagination (or corrup- ** tion) rules.” r

X. 31. In that thou buildeft thine eminent place in the head of every way, &c.] Or brothel-houfe, as before; fee the note on ¥. 24. which fhowed her to be an whore, and an imperious one: aud makeft thine high place in every fireet, fee the note as before: and has not been as an harlot; a common one, or as an harlot ufually is: in that thou seorneft hire; which they do not; for it is for hire they proftitute themfelves; and have their names, both in our language, and in the Lesin tongue, from thence.

¥. 32. But as a wife that committeth adultery, &c.]. Who has a hufband, and is provided tor with all the neceffaries of life, with food and cjoathing; and fo has no need to proftitute herfelf for a livelihood, as common ftrumpets do} but dees it purely for the fatiating of her luft: and fuch were the. people of the ews, they were married’ to the Lord, who took care of them, and provided every thing for them, and acted the part of an hufband to them; fo that it was the weaknefs of their hearts, and the ftrength of their corruptions, which led them to depart from him, and commit idolatry; which in them was adultery, whilft the fin ot. the Gentiles was as fimple fornication: which taketh firangers inftead of ber hufoand; that takes other men into her bed inftead of her hufband, not for the fake of gain, but luft; and this was the cafe of the ‘ews, who were a wicked people, an idolatrous generation, who took ftrange gods to worfhip inftead of the true God, who had been an hufband to them, Yer. Xxxi. 32. te

¥. 33. They give gifts to all whores, &c.| Gifts are ulually given to whores, by thofe who commit whoredom with them; it is for the fake of thefe they proftitute their bodies, nor will they do this without gain; fee Gev. xxxviii. 16, 17:) but thou give thy.gifts to all thy lovers; the Jews gave the Egyptians and Afyrians money, to gain their friendfhip, and procure alliances with them;) fee 2 Kimgs xvi. 8, J/, xxx. 6, 7. and were at great expences with their idols, and in fupport of their idolatrous worfhip: and hire them, that they may come unto thee on every fide for, thy whoredom; they courted the nations all around them for their favour and friendfhip, and bribed them into it, as the word ® fignifies, rihiitteal

¥. 34. And the contrary is in thee from.other women in thy whoredoms, &c.] Of which an inftance is given before, and another is added, with the repetition of the former: whereas none followeth thee — to commit whoredoms, the Fews followed the ex- | amples,.cuftoms, and practices of the Gentiles, in worfhipping of their idols; but the Gentiles did no follow the ‘ews, they kept to their own gods,. ai did not worfhip the God of Jrael; which with re~ { fpeét to their own gods would have been fornicatron: and whereas it is ufual-for men to ow after whorifh women, and folicit them by gifts and

prefents, or promifes, and not for them to follow the men, court and follicit them; on the other hand the Fews, who are compared to a whorifh woman, followed after their lovers, and not their lovers after them: or, after thee there was not, or frail not be fornication °; like to thine; it being fuch as never had been, nor never would be the like again: and in that thou giveft a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary; to all other lewd women, who take, but give no reward.

¥. 35. Wherefore, O harlot, bear the word of the Lord,| The fentence about to be pronounced; adjudging to be flain with the fword, to be ftoned and burned; the crime for which is to be read in the name of Harlot, juftly given to an apoftate people; as it often is to the church of Rome, in the book of the Revelation. The Targum is, *s whofe works are as an harlot’s; O céngrega- «< tion of J/rael, receive the words of the Lord;” which follow:.

y. 36. Thus faith the Lord God, becaufe thy filthinefs was poured out, &c.] Or, thy brafs?. The word is ufed by the Raddins ° for the bottom Of a thing; and is here accordingly, by Kimchi and Ben Melech, interpreted of a woman’s lower part, the fame with her nakednefs next mentioned; and from whence, by reafon of her inordinate luft, and the frequent exercife of it, and that with many different perfons, a gonorrhoea, as Yarchi explains it, or a filthy flux flowed, and was poured out on her lovers; from whence the filthy difeafe, the ues venerea: and thy nakednefs difcovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, which fhe difcovered or expofed to view, herfelf, in order to entice her lovers to lie with her, and for the fake thereof; fee ¥. 25: and with all the idols of thine abominations; or abominable idols, which were fo in themfelves, were abominable to God, and made the worfhippers of them fo likewife; thefe are diftinguifhed from her lovers, the Egyptians and Affyrians, her confederates, and by means of whofe alliance fhe fell into idolatry: and by the blood of thy children, which thou didft give unto them; the idols, to whom they were dedicated and facrificed; and for whofe fake, and for the worfhip of them, they were caufed to pafs through the fire, and were burnt in it; and by fuch fhocking murders, as well as idolatrous practices, the depravity of their nature, the wickednefs of their hearts, their hypocrify, treachery, and infidelity, were difcovered and made known.

¥. 37. Bebold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers with whom thou haft taken pleafure, &c.] Or, with whom thou baft mixed *; in unlawful embraces, joined in finful alliances, or in idolatrous’ practices: and all them that thou haft loved, the Egyptians and Afyrians, whofe friendfhip and idolatrous cuftoms they were fond of: with all them that thou haft hated; as the Philiftines, Moabites, and Ammonites: I will even gather them round about againft thee, as they were in the Chaldean army, which confifted of many nations: and will difcover thy nakednefs unto them, that they may fee all thy naked- be more difagreeable to the fex. The MGle/fian Virgins were reftrained from felf-murder by a law; which ordered that fuch fhould be drawn naked thro’ the market-place. This is to be underftood of the fpoiling of the city and temple.

¥. 38. And I will judge thee as women that break wedlock, &c.] The marriage-covenant, defile the marriage-bed, and were adultereffes, who by the law of Mofes were to be punifhed with death, Lev: xx. 10. Deut. xxii. 22:: and shed blood are judged; who alfo were punifhed with death, according to the original law in Gen. ix. 6. the Fews were not only guilty of fpiritual adultery, that is, idolatry; but alfo of murder, by facrificing their infants to idols; and murder often follows upon adultery, as Kimchi obferves; and thefe people were guilty of fhedding innocent blood on other accounts; but the firft mentioned is chiefly defigned here: and J will give thee blood in fury and jealoufy; by way of retaliation; blood being fhed, blood is given, and that in wrath and vengeance; the allufion is to a jealous and abufed hufband, that avenges himfelf of the perfon that has injured him; fee Rev. xvi. 6.

¥. 39. And I alfo will give thee into their hand, &c.] Into the hand of their lovers and enemies, that fhould be gathered againft them, the Afjrians and Chaldeans, with others that joined them, as int ¥. 37: and they foall throw down thine eminent place, and fhall break down thine high places; the city of Ferufalem, the temple, and altars; and not only thefe, but even the high places and altars, which were fet up for idolatrous ufes; all fhould be deftroyed by the Chaldean army. The Targum is, ‘© and they fhall deftroy thy walls, and thy ‘© high places fhall be deftroyed:” they fhall ftrip thee alfo of thy cloaths; as perfons commonly are, when’ taken captives: and fhall take thy fair jewels; or, the velfals of thy glory*; the veffels of the fanctuary of gold and filver; and their own houfholdfurniture, with all their riches and fubftance: and leave thee naked and bare; as at firft when in Egypt, feet yous y. 40. They foall alfo bring up a company againft thee, &c.] An army, fo the Targum, the Chaldean army: and they foall fone thee with fiones 3 caft out of their engines and flings, by which they battered the walls, as well as killed the inhabitants; and fo the Targum renders it, with fling-ftones; the allufion is to the ftoning of adulterous perfons, Deut, xxii. 24. Fobn viii. 5: and thrujt thee thro’ with their fwords; fich as attempted to efcape out of the city, or fell into thé hands of the enemy when it was taken, were flain with the fword.

¥. 41. They hall burn thine houfes with fire, &c.} As the houfes in Yerufalem were by Nebuchadnezzar’s army, even the temple, the houfe of the Lord, and the king’s houfe, and the houfes of great men, even all the houfes in the city, Fer. lii. 13. and as was commanded to be done to idolatrous cities, Deut. xiii. 16. and this alfo may be faid in allufion to the burning of adulterous perfons, Gen. xxxviii. 24: and execute judgments upon nefs; as a juft retaliation for difcovering it herfelf, as in the preceding verfe; than which nothing can thee in the fight of many women, or provinces, as the Targum; meaning the Pdiliftines, Moabites, ors md J/WAN'_ et poft te non fornicatio fuit, 'Pagninus, Montanus; nec poft te fuit fic fornicatum, fo fome in Vatablus; poft te non erit fornicatio, Calvin.

* AWN > vafa decoris tui, V.L. inftrumenta ornatus tui, Junius &

74 E2Z2eE K 1 © f. Gwe here ufed always fignifies counfel, either good or! ruin; the judgments defign thofe before-mentioned: and I will caufe thee to ceafe from playing the harlot, and thou alfo fhalt give no bire any more, their idols, high places, and altars, being demolifhed, arid they plundered of their fubftance; and after the Babylonifh captivity, the Fews never returned to idolatry any more. | eds 44. y¥.-42. So will I make my fury towards thee to reft, 8cc.] When the Fews fhould ceafe from their evil,.There,is 2 double reading of this claufe; we follow the Keri or marginal reading, but the \Cet1b, or textual writing or reading is, and I bavé — mot dane according to this lewdne/s above all” thine abominations, and {fo exprefles the mercy and long. fuffering of God ». — a Bebald, every one that. uferh proverbs, bee. That affects a proverbial way of {peaking that j witty arid facetious, and has a talent at fatyri idolatries, and no more worfhip the gods of the and {coffing, as fome haye had; fuch were Lucian, nations,. then the fury of the Lord, and the effects and others: hall ufe this proverb again thee, fig- of it, fhould ceafe: God no longer contends with nifying that the fins of the Yews fhould’ be w a people, than while they are finning; when a reformation is brought about, by afflictions or judgments, his end. is anfwered, and he puts a {top to the {pread of his wrath and fury; or it is made to reft, becaufe there is nothing left for it to. work upon, a total gonfumption of people and. {ubftance known and expofed, and they fhould become the fubject of the gibes and jeers of men:, /aying, as is “he mother, fo 1s her daughter, an anciént and com? mon proverb, ufed to exprefs a likenefs and agreement between perfons in their naturé and difpéfition, in their behaviour, conduét, and converfation. So being made by it: or it may be rendered, J will the Targum, ‘ as are the works of the mother, fo make my fury to.reft upon. thee *; and the fenfe be, ‘* thofe of the daughter;”, the mother is the land that his wrath: fhould abide upon them, and not of Canaan, and the daughter the congtegation of remove.until an utter end was made of them; | / rae/, as Kimchi. The Jews were thefucceffors of tho’ the firft fenfe feems beft to agree with what the old Cazaanites, and they imitated theth in their goes before,» and follows, after: and my jealou/y foall depart from thee; as.it does from a man when practices; and becaufe both of their fucceffion and imitation, they are called the daughter of them;

he has utterly. rejected his wife becaufe of whore- ie aie di, jealoufy has fatisfied itfelf, and there is no other actly like her; they that have known the one, way to operate and fhew itfelf in; or when a wo- mutt. know the other. The Targum is, ** whereman returns to her hufband, and gives him fatis- ‘‘ fore art thou becomie the daughter of the land faction, keeps clofe unto him, and lives. chaftely

** of Canaan, to do according to the works of the with him, having relinquifhed her former lewd ‘‘ people:” that loaiheth her bufband, and her chil- ways and practices: and I will be quiet, and will dren. a true character of an adulterefs; and which be no more angry; the effects of his anger ceafe, agrees both with the mother the Cé#aanites, and his judgments averted, and.he at peace with them, and they with him; for he retains not his anger with the daughter the Fews; who both defpifed, rejected, and torfook God their hufband, creator, for ever: tho’ fome underftand this of his being and lawgiver, and facrificed their children to idols; quiet and at eafe, in the deftruction of the Fews;

fee ¥. 20, 21. and Lev. xviii. 21, 24: and thou there. being no more to wreak his yengeance | art the iter of thy fifiers, the true genuine fifter of upon...: them, Samaria and Sodom after-méntioned; being y¥. 43. Becaufe thou haft not remembred the days of thy youth, &c.] The low eftate they were.once in, and the great favours beftowed upon them, which Jaid them under great obligation to ferve not only allied to them in blood, moré neatly to the one, more remotely to the other, but exceedingly alike in manners, religion, and worfhip: which loatheth their hufbands, and their children;

the Lord; and him only; but thefe they forgot, as before: your mother was an Hittite, and your which highly provoked him, and caufed him to do the things he did; fee ¥..22: and has fretted me in all thefe things, irritated, provoked him, moved him to wrath and anger, ftirred up in his breaft a tumult, fpeaking after the manner of men; this they did by their ingratitude, idolatry, and other fins: behold therefore, I alfo. will recompence thy way upon thine head, faith the Lord God, retaliate their evils, punifh them according as their fins deferved, and in a way which they led unto: and thou fhalt not commit this lewdne/s above all thine abominations, or add to all thine abominable idolatries, this fhocking piece of wickednefs, the facrificing of their children to their idols: or rather the words —tay be rendered, for thou haft not taken this thought (or counfel) upon or concerning all thine abominafather an Amaorite; thefe the I/raelites facceeded in their land, and followed their cuftoms; fee the note on ¥. 3. _ The Targum is, “ was not your ‘* mother Sarah among the Hittites, and fhe did ‘‘ not do according to their works; and your fa- ‘‘ ther drabam was among the Amorites, and he ** walked not in their countels.” rad _¥. 46. nd thine elder fifter is Samaria, &c.] The metropolis of the ten tribes; /jfer to the Fews, becaufe of the fame defcent, having one and the fame father; the elder or greater *, becaufe more in number and power; the kingdom of J/- rae confifted of ten tribes, and the kingdom of Judah but of two; and the ten tribes alfo were the firft.in the apoftacy from the true worfhip ‘of God: jhe and her daughters that dwell at thy left tions *; to-repent of them, and turn from them. | hand; as Samaria the fifter was the metropolis of So.the Zargum, ** and thou haft not taken counfel the ten tribes, her daughters are the other cities

«< to thyfelf, to turn from all thine abominations.”

and towns belonging thereunto; and fo the Tar- Or as Yarchi, ‘* thou haft not taken counfel to gum renders it, fhe and her villages; thefe were

‘< put thy heart upon thine abominations to turn fituated to the north of the land «

“* from them,” and he obferves, that the word! was to the fouth, which with the wD. were -; + 8 > iit maa t 2. SOM SPIN et requiefcere faciam iram meam in te, Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, C us. 3 *pnoayn ees) by rT OS Mey ss) et non fecifti cogitationem fuper omnibus: bo Montanus, Calvin; nec tamen fecifti, &c. Vatablus, Grotius.. This is followed by the Sept Luther, Starckius, and others. x =>) major, V.L. Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius, Pi

Ammonites, and Edomites, who would rejoice.in their right. as a man -ftanding with his face to the eaft, has. the north. on his left, and, the fouth on his right-fide:.and thy younger Aer that. dwelleth at thy right-hand, is Sedom and ber daughters; where Lot.the kinfman of Adrabamlived, and from whom fprung the Ammonites and Moadites. Sodom was a leffer kingdom than that of -Fudab, and which lay to: the fouth; that is, to the right of it; even that and, the other cities, which perifhed with. it, called. her daughters, as ddmab, Zeboim, &c.

Me 47+ Yet. baft thou, not, walked after their ways, &c.] But.in ways more evil;, were not content to. keep pace with them, and do as they did; but out-went. them, out-f{tripped them in wickednels: nor done after their abominations; but committed greater abomihations than they did; fins of a more heinous nature, and attended with more aggravated circumitances haying more..power and wealth, more wifdom.and underftanding; the means of grace, the word and ordinances of God: dut as if that were 2 very. Jittle thing; to. commit the: fins that Samaria and Sodom did: or, it was loathing to thee as. a little thing *; they defpifed and loathed their fins as too mean and little, and not fagitious and enormous, or bold and, daring enough to be committed; and looked upon them with contempt, as {neaking finners, that had no foul nor {pirit in them, or tafte for finful pleafures, in comparifon of them: or. the fenfe is, it would have been a little thing, comparatively ipeaking, had they only walked atter the ways and abominations of Samaria and Sedom,:and {topped there; but they had greatdy exceeded them; and fo the Zargum, ‘‘ if thou “<_hadit walked in their ways, and done aecording <* to their abominations, thy fin had been fmall.” Kimchi interprets it, of a {mall time that the Fews continued. in the ways and worfhip of God, after the captivity of the ten tribes, which were carried away in the fixth year of Hezekiah, fo that there were but. three and twenty years left of his reign, when his. fon Manajffeb fucceeded him, and. was more wicked than all before him; and thefe three and twenty years are the little time here fpoken of: and within.a very little time, and thou waft corrupted more than they in all their ways; this explains what is meant by not walking after their ways and_abominations.; they were greater finners than they; more corrupt. in their principles and_ practices; more hardened in them, and.more difficult to be reclaimed. from them;, fee Matt. xi. 23, 24..

¥. 48. Ast live, /gith.the Lord God, &c.] This is an oath, which the Lord God fwore; who, becaufe he could {wear by no greater, he fwore by himéelf, by his life; and this he did to confirm what he had, and was about to fay, that the fins of Fudab were greater than thofe of Samaria and Sodom; which might not be eafily believed, but it was as true as he was the living God: Sodom thy Jifter bath not done, foe nor her daughters, as thou haft done, thou and thy daughters, that is, the inhabitants of Sodom, and of the villages adjacent, as the Targum, had not committed fuch grofs iniquities as the inhabitants of Yeru/alem, and of the towns and villages about it, and of other cities of 7 7) ais

¥.49. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy fifter

_ Sodom, &c.] Namely, the firft after-mentioned, _the fource and fpring of the reft; the caufes and