Exposition of the Whole Bible

Sire of my wrath, by the fword, famine, peftilence, and captivity: their own way have I recompenced on their heads, faith the Lord brought juft punifhment upon them, fuch as their ways and works deferved; <* the vengeance of their way;” as the Targum,

N this chapter, the idolatries of J/rael and Fu- I dab are reprefented under the metaphor of two harlots, and their lewdnefs... Thefe harlots are defcribed by their defcent; by the place and time in which they committed their whoredoms; by their names, and which are explained, y¥. 1, 25.3, 4. the idolatries of Z/rae/, or the ten tribes, under the name of Abolab, which they committed with the Afprians, and which they continued from the Egyptians, of whom they had learned them, are expofed, ¥. 5, 6, 7, 8. and their punifhment for them is declared, ¥. g, 10. then the idolatries of Fudah, or the two tribes, under the name of Abolibah, are reprefented as greater than thofe of the ten tribes, ¥. 11. which they committed with the Afyrians, y. 12. with the Chaldeans and Babylonians, ¥. 13 —18. in imitation of the Egyptians, reviving former idolatries learnt of them, ¥. 19, 20, 21. wherefore they are threatened, that the Chaldeans, Baby- and fpoil them, and carry them captive, v. 22— 35. and the prophet is» bid to declare the abominable fin of them both, v. 36—44. and to fignify that they fhould be judged after the manner of adultereffes, fhould be ftoned, and difpatched with fwords, their fons and their daughters, and their houfes burnt with fire; by which means, their adulteries or idolatries fhould be made to ceafe, ¥. 45 y¥. 1. The word of the Lord came unto me, &c.| The word of prophecy, as the 7argum,; another prophecy, one upon the fame fuibject, as in ch. xvi. Saying, as follows:

y¥. 2. Son of man, there were two women, &c.] Or two nations and kingdoms, the kingdom of J/- rael or the ten tribes, and the kingdom of Fudab or the two tribes. So the Zargum, ** fon of man, ** prophefy concerning two provinces, which are as “<< two women:” the daughters of one mothers either Sarah the wife of Abraham, from whom they fprung; or becaufe they were originally one kingdom and nation; fo tuey were. when they came out of Egypt, and during the times of the Fudges, and in the reigns of David and Solomon; but became two in the days of Reboboam the fon of Solomon, from whom ten tribes revolted, and fet up a feparate kingdom, with Yereboam at the head of it.

¥. 3. And they committed whoredoms in. Egypt, &c.]. When they were but one body, one nation; and while they fojourned as ftrangers in that land, they learned and practifed the idolatries of it, Fo.

xxiv, 14. and fo the Zargum, ‘* and they erred in <¢ Egypt, after the worthip of their idols they erred, “* and there they corrupted their works;” they committed whoredoms in their youth, as {oon as they were come out of /¢ypt, and were iormed into a political and ecclefiaftical ftate, had the law of God given them, and promiied obedience to him, and:

were efpoufed by him, which times are called the days of their youth and efpoufal, Fer. ii. 2.' Hof. li. 15. and then were they guilty of whoredom, or fpiritual adultery, which is idolatry, in making and worfhipping the golden calf after the manner of Egypt; and in joining themfelves to Baal-peor, the god of the Moadites, Exod. xxxii: 1—4. Numb. XXV. 2, 3: there were their breafts preffed, there they bruifed the teats of their virginity, that is, the Egyptians, who drew them into idolatry, and with whom they committed it; which is exprefled by the actions of adulterous perfons; fuggefting, that before this, they were as chafte and pure virgins to God, adhered to.his worfhip, and ferved him only, and were not defiled with the fuperftition and idolatry of the heathens: or, they made} the teats or paps of their virginity; that is, made them fwell and increafe,, being impregnated by them, and their idolatry completed; or to move and heave, being prefled.

¥. 4. And the names of them were Abolah the elder, &c,| Or, the greater ™; meaning the ten tribes of J/rael, which were more in number than Judah, and greater.in. power and riches; their name Abolab, fignifies her tent or tabernacle, which was entirely their own, and not the Lord’s: their worfhip, and places of worfhip, were of their own appointing, namely, their calves at Dan and Bethel; God had nothing to do with them, there he did not dwell; his tabernacle was not there, that was at Salem, Pf. \xxvi. 1: and Abolibah her ifter;

which name fignifies, ' my tent or tabernacle is in ber; this is the name of Fudab or the two tribes, in which ftood the temple of the Lord, where he was worthipped, and where he dwelt: fome think thefe were proper names of two Egyptian harlots; others think there is allufion to the wife of E/au, Gen. XXxvi. 2: and they were mine; or; 1 had them"; when they were together; they were originally efpoufed unto him; he avouched them to be his people, and they avouched him to be their God; he chofe them for himfelf above all other people, and they profeffed themfelves to be his, and promifed to ferve and worfhip him; and for a while did continue in his fervice and worfhip: and they bare fons and daughters; to the Lord, whom they brought up in the fear of God, and taught them to ferve him: the phrafe is expreffive of their increafe, and of their happinefs and profperity whilft they adhered to the pure worfhip of God: hus were their names; this is the application of them: Samaria is Abolah, or Abolah fignifies Samaria, which was the metropolis of Ephraim, and belonged to the ten tribes, and is put for the whole, Jf vii. 9: and Ferufalem Abolibab, or Aholibah defigns Ferufalem, the head-city of Fudab, and ftands. for the two tribes of Fudab and Ben-

19" Wy fecerunt mammas, Starckins; fecerunt ut earam mammz2 agerent, Guffetius; fefe commovendo feilicet, in contentione libidinis zituantes, & pectoris anheli reciprocationem fequentes, Ib. p. 6525 ibi fubagitarunt ubera earum virginum, y. 6. And Abolab played the barlut when foe was mine, &c.] His married wife, and fo ought to have cleaved to him alone: or, under me°, under his cover, power, and protection, and therefore it hands of Pul, then Tiglath-Pilefer, then Salmanefer, all kings of Affria, by whorh they were {poiled or carried captive; by the two firft in part, by the laft wholly; fee 2 Kings xv. 19, 29, and xvii. 5 was their intereft to ferve him only: or, iaftead of —18.

me®; or as the Syriac verfion, befides me; they worfhipped other gods in the room of the true God, or other gods befides him. The Targum is, “ and Abolab erred from my worfhip;” the ten tribes fell into idolatry, when they were God’s profeffing people: and fhe doted on ber lovers, y. 10. Thefe difcovered her wickednefs, &c.] That is, {tripped them of all their fubftance: shey took her fons and ber daughters; and carried them captive: and flew her with the fword; put an end to the kingdom of J/rae/, or the ten tribes, and which was never recovered to this day: and fhe became whom fhe loved even to madnefs; fhe was mad famous among women, or among the provinces, as with love, to the idols, temples, altars, and idolatrous worfhip of the heathens; particularly doted on the Afyrians her neighbours, who were become fo by the conqueft of Syria; and thefe they treated as their neighbours, and fought to have them to be their allies and confederates; courted their help the Targum; fhe became famous, or rather infamous, among other nations; was talked of for her fins, her whoredoms and idolatries, and the vengeance of God upon her for them; fhe became a bye-word and a proverb among the kingdoms of the world, for her wickednefs and her deftruction:

and affiftance, and gave them much money for for they had executed judgment upon her; that is, that purpofe, as Menabem gave to Pul king of Afpria, a thoufand talents of filver, to confirm the kingdom in his hand, 2 Kings xv. 19.

¥. 6. Which were clothed with blue, &c.] A colour the Afprians were fond of, and clothed their {oldiers in, and was taking to the eye; and is mentioned, becaufe that men, finely clothed and beautifully arrayed, are more engaging to women, who are fond of drefs: captains and rulers; men of power and authority in military and civil affairs, either in the camp, or in the court; officers either in the army, or in the king’s palace; and which was a recommendation of them: deéfrable young men, for their youth, ftrength, beauty, and honourable employments and offices: horfemen riding upon borfes; of which there was a fcarcity in Fudea, wherefore fuch were the more defirable to them, as appearing more grand, and being more ferviceable and helpful to them.

y. 7. Thus foe committed ber whoredoms with them, &c.] Entered into alliance with them, and joined them in their idolatrous worfhip: with all them that were the chofen men of Afpria; before defcribed by their habit, office, and age: and with all on avhom fhe doted; had an infatiable defire and luft after: with all their idols fhe defiled berfelf, worfhipped all thei dols the Afprians did, and which were defiling, as they muft needs be, fince, as the word ufed fignifies, they were dunghil-gods.

y¥. 8. Neither left fhe her idols brought from Egypt, &c.] Tho” the J/raelites took in the gods of the Afyrians into their worfhip, they did not relinquifh the golden calves fet up at Daz and Bethel, in imitation of the Egyptian deities; the idolatrous worfhip of which they learnt in Egypt, and brought from thence: for in ber youth they lay with her; the Egyptians enticed the J/raclites to idolatry when among them, as foon as they began to be a people; fee the note on ¥. 3: and they bruifed the breafts of ber virginity, who before retained the pure worfhip of God, and was like a chafte virgin: and poured their whoredom upon ber, expreffive of the numerous atts of idolatry committed together by them.

¥. 9. Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of ber lovers, &c.| To deftruétion; their perfons, the Affyrians, who were the inftruments in God’s hand, in doing juftice to her, and infliéting his judgments on her, and for that fhe became famous.;

y. 11. And when her fifter Abolibah faw this, &e.] The two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, when they faw the idolatries the ten tribes fell into, and the deftruction which came upon them for the fame; inftead of receiving inftruétion, and taking’

caution by all this, /he was more corrupt in her inordinate love than fhe; in courting the friendfhip, alliance, and help of their heathen neighbours: and in ber whoredoms more than her fifter in ber whoredoms; guilty of more idolatries than the ten tribes, as in the times of Manajeh, fee Fer. ii.

yy. 12. She doted upon the Affyrians ber neighbours, &c.] As in the times of dbaz, who fent to Tiglath-Pilefer king of Affria for help; and from whence he took the pattern of an altar, and had one built like it at erufalem, and offered upon it, 2 Kings xvi. 7—12: captains and rulers clothed moft gorgeoufly; or perfeéily 1, with all kind of precious garments, and of all manner of colours; not with blue only, but purple, fearlet, crimfon, Sc: borfemen riding upon horfes, all of them defirable young men; fee the note on y¥. 6.

y. 13. Then I faw that foe was defiled, &c.)} With idols, and the worfhip of them, ¥. 7: that they took both one way; the fame way of idolatry. worfhipped the fame idols, lived the fame courfe of life, were guilty of the fame fin, both J/raef and Fudah.;

y. 14. And that fhe increafed her whoredoms, &c.] Added to the number of her idols, increafed her idols, and even was guilty of more than her fifter: for when fhe faw men pourtrayed on the wall; of the temple, as idols were, ch. viii. 10. or upon the wall of a private houfe, where they were worshipped as houfhold-gods: the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion;, the images of their heroes, who after death were deified; and thefe, being drawn upon the wall with vermilion; which being mixed with cerufe, made a flefa-colour, were worfhipped; as Bel, Nebo, Merodach, which are names of their idols, J/- xlvi. 1. Jer. 1. 2. or families, riches, and kingdom itfelf: into the hand | thefe were graven on the walls, or etched out upon of the Afyrians on whom fhe doted, firft into the! them with minium or red-lead; or rather were painted', as fome render the word, with minium, was alienated from them; or plucked, or disjoined vermilion, or cinnabar, which are the fame; of from themy; the Chaldeans broke league and cove- which fee the note on Yer. xxii. 14. and it may be obferved, that it was ufual with the heathens to paint the images and ftatues of their gods with thefe. Thus Virgil: reprefents Pan, the god of Arcadia, coloured red with minium or vermilion; and Paufanias * {peaks of the ftatue of Bacchus being befmeared with cinnabar: and Pliny * fays, the face of the image of Fupiter ufed to be anointed with minium or vermilion on feftival days; and obferves, that the nobles of Zthiopia ufed to colour themfelves all over with it, this being the colour of the images of their gods, which they reckoned more auguft, majeftic, and facred. Hence the Romans, in their triumphs, ufed to paint themfelves with vermilion; particularly it is faid of Auguftus Cefar, that he did this to make himfelf the more confpicuous and refpectable, after the example of the Afyrians and Medes”: and the triumphers chofe to be rubbed all over with a red colour, that they might, according to [/dore*, refemble the divine fire.

¥. 15. Girded with girdles upon their loins, &c.] As a token of dignity and authority; fee J/: xi. 5. which was the peculiar cuftom of the Badylonians, as Kimchi, from the Talmudifts, obferves: exceeding in dyed attire upon their beads, having turbants of various colours upon their heads, after the manner of the Perfians: all of them princes to look to; bore the refemblance of kings, princes, and the great men of the earth, and whofe images indeed they were; even of fuch who in their life-time were famous for military exploits, or for fome excellency or another, either real or pretended, and after death reckoned among the gods, and worfhipped: after the mannner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity; either were thefe heroes where born, whofe images were pourtrayed; or where Abraham, the father of the Fewi/h nation, was born, and fo called from thence the land of their nativity; putting them in mind of their original, and of the idolatries of their anceftcrs, which they were now returning to.

y. 16. And as foon as fhe faw them with her eyes, fhe doted upon them, &c.] As luftful women, on the fight of the pictures of men, fall in love with them, and are mad after them; fuch a vehement defire after the idols of the Chaldeans prevailed, upon feeing their images: and fent meffengers unto them in Chaldea; to make alliances with the Chaldeans, and to have their idols, and.worfhip them. ' y. 17. And the Babylonians came to her in the bed of love, &c.] Entered into alliance with the Fews, and worfhipped together in the fame idols-temple. Farchi thinks this refers to the meffengers of the king of Babylon to Hexekiab, who were gladly received by him, and to whom he fhewed all the treafures of his houfe: and they defiled her with their cwboredom, or with their idols, as the Targum; they drew them into their idolatrous practices; which were a defiling them, and by which they were cor- nant with them, hating them as much as before they doted upon them; this was done in the times of Fehoiakim and Zedekiab, who rebelled -againft the king of Babylon, 2 Kings xxiv. 1, 20. a8 it often is the cafe with lewd women, wher they have fatisfied their luft with their gallants, loath and defpife them, and caft them off.

¥. 18. So fhe difcovered her whoredoms, and difcovered her nakedne/s, &c.| The Fews did not ceafe from their idolatries when they broke with the Babylonians; but were rather more frequent and impudent in them, and courted the friendfhip and alliance of other heathen nations, and their worfhip; even as a lewd woman, when fhe has caft off her former lovers, does not leave her lewdnefs, but feeks after others; and by her impudence, in difcovering her whoredoms, and her nakednefs, and by all the figns of a proftitute, draws in others to commit lewdnefs with her: shen my mind was alienated from ber, like as my mind was alienated from ber ffter,; as a virtuous hufband is alienated from an adulterous wife, and can’t admit her to his bed and board, f6 the mind of the Lord was alienated from the Fews, becaufe of their idolatries; nor could he favour them with his prefence, and the bleffings of his providence and goodnefs, as he had formerly done; even as his mind had been alienated, on the fame account, from the ten tribes of J/rael, and which he fhowed, by fuffering them to be carried captive.

¥. 19. Yet fhe multiplied ber whoredoms, &c.] Tho’ the Lord frowned upon the Fews in the times of Feboiakim and Zedekiah, yet ftill they went on, and increafed their alliances and idolatries with the heathen nations: ix calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein fhe had played the harlot in the land of Egypt; they called to mind with pleafure the idolatries of their fathers in Egypt, and committed the fame themfelves; they fent embaffadors to Egypt, in the times of Zedekiah, for help and affiftance, and to enter into alliance with them, when they renewed among them the idolatries of that nation; fee ch. xvii. 15.

¥. 20. For fhe doted upon their paramours, &c.] Or concubines *; the neighbouring nations and allies of the Egyptians, whofe friendfhip the Jews courted, and whofe idols they ferved: the Septuagint and Arabic verfions wrongly read, the Cha/- deans: whofe flefo is as the flefh of affes, and whofe iffue is like the iffue of borfes,; by fleh is meant the membrum virile, which in affes is very large, and therefore dedicated to Priapus by the heathens; and vaft is the profufion of feed in coitus by horfes, to which the flefh and iffte of the Egyptian paramours are compared; who were very libidirious, and therefore defirable to infatiable women; all which ferves to exprefs the eagernefs of the people of the Hews after idolatry.

y. 21. Thus thou calledft to remembrance the lewdnels of thy youth, &c.] By committing the fame; the fame idolatries their fathers committed in Egypt, rupted from the fimplicity of the true worfhip of God: and fhe was polluted with them, and ber mind they now committed, being in alliance with the {ame people: or, thou caufedft to be vifited the lewd-

eus Arcadiz venit, quem vidimus ipfi

be pmwdp concubinas eorum, Vatablus, fo Junius & cinedos, Caftalio; and as Ben Melech obferves, thefe were of of thy youth*; by the Lord, who remembered eg a Pate them for them: in bruifing | ftores; thy teats by the Egyptians, for the paps of thy youth; committing fpiritual fornication, that is, idolatry with them;, fignified by preffing and bruifing the breafts and paps of virgins, by corporal waggons, to carry their provifions and war. and with wheels, that is, either with chi riots and waggons that ran upon w ls ( wheels for them in cafe they fhould ¢ the firft of thefe words here, accordin te fornication Fewifh interpreters, as Done/b in Fare with them. warlike inftruments. in general; and the y¥. 22. Therefore, O. Abolibah, thus faith the Lord God, ‘&c.]. Or ye two tribes of Benjamin and Fudah, hear what the Lord fays unto you: Sebold, I will raife up thy lovers againft thee; the Chaldeans, whom they had formerly loved, and in whofe alliance they were, and whofe idols they worfhipped: from whom thy mind is alienated; having broke covenant with them, and caft off their yoke, and rebelled againft them: and I will bring them againfi thee on every fide, to befiege and encompafs Ferufalem on every fide with their army, as they did, fo that there was no efcaping.; them;

y'.24. And they fhall come againft thee with chariots, waggons, and wheels, &c.| With chariots, in which were their princes and great men, their chief commanders, generals, and captains, and in which they fought, as was ufual in-thofe times; and. with! 2 Sy) MDT HN MPIM & vifitati feelus adolefcentie, word is ufed for chariots: and fo the whole is paraphrafed by the Targum, “ and they fhall come <* againft thee with inftruments of war, wi cha- ** riots and wheels;” all which denotes how well prepared they fhould be, and with what fwiftnefs they would come: and with an affembly of people, which fhall fet againft thee buckler, and foield, and helmet round about; a multitude of people, a vaft army gathered out of all the provinces of Babylon, having bucklers and fhields. about their bodies, and helmets on their heads, to protect and defend — and thefe fhould furround the ‘city of Ferufalem. So the Targum, ‘* an artny of people, “ armed with fhields and helmets, fhall fet them- “ felves againft thee round about:” and I will fet. judgment before them, and they foall judge thee according to their judgments, that is, 1 will deliver you into their hands, and they fhall judge and condemn you; not’according to my laws and yours, but according to their own laws, according to the cuftoms and ufages among them, accord+ ing to the law of nations; they fhall deal with you as rebels and covenant-breakers, fuch Zedekiab was; he broke covenant with the king of Babylon, and rebelled againft him: and this was fulfilled when he fell into his hands, and when he flew his children before his face, and then put out his eyes.

¥. 23. The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, &c.] Both the inhabitants of the city of Babylon, called in the Hebrew text the children of Babylon, and all- the inhabitants of the feveral parts of the country of Chaldéa, of which Babylon was the metropolis: Pekod, and Shoa, and Kea; the Vulgate Laiin verfion, and fo Ferom, take thefe words to be appellatives, and render them, noblemen, tyrants, and princes; as fome mentioned by Yarchi do, governors, princes, and rulers; and Kimchi * thinks, they are the titles of the Babylonian princes fpoken of in Feremiah, as Nebuzaradan, Nebufbafban, Rabfavis, Rab-mag, &c. Fer. xxxix. 3, 13. but with others, they are the proper names of perfons or places: and fo the Targum calls them, Pekodaites, Shoaites, and Koaites, that is,’ the inhabitants of places fo called; and certain it is, that Pekod was a province of Babylon, Fer. 1.21. which, according to Junius, lay between the two rivers Tigris and Lycus, and in which was the famous city of Niniveh; and according ‘to him, Shoa, or the Shoaites, lay between the rivers Lycus and Gorgus, among whom were the Adiabeni, and the town called Siai by Ptolemy, and the Koaites were fituated in the inward part of Afjria by Arbelitis, where formerly was the fortified town of Koah, by hiftorians called Gauga; and by Strabo, Gaugamela. Grotius thinks that Pekod are the Baéfriani; and that Shoa is Siai in Armenia with Ptolemy, and that Koa is Choana of Media, with the fame Piolemy; but be they who they will, they were fuch people as were to come with the Chaldean army againft the Jews: and all the Alyrians with them; which were now one people with the Chaldeans and Babylonians, by whom formerly the ten tribes were carried captive: all of them defirable young men, captains and rulers, great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon borfes; perfons of high rank and dignity, in chief offices at court, or in the camp, all in the bloom and ftrength of youth; men of name and renown, for their honour and valour; and all well mounted, a famous cavalry of them; and who before were lovely on thefe accounts, when they were their gallants and lovers, their confederates and allies, but now formidable and terrible being their enemies; fee ¥. 5, 6, 12.

¥. 25. And I will fet my jealoufy againft thee, and they fhall deal furionfly with thee, Bec.) As a jeas lous hufband, enraged againft his adulterous wife, falls upon her in his fury, and ufes her with great feverity; forthe ‘ews having committed fpiritual fornication, that is, idolatry, and departed from the Lord, he threatens to ftir up the fury of his jealoufy, and punifh them feverely by the Cha/- deans, as follows: they /hall take away thy nofe, and thine ears, and thy remnant hall fall by the fword; as gallants ufe their harlots when they leave them, or jealous hufbands their adulterous wives, disfiguring them, that they may be marked and known what they are, and be defpifed by others; and as has been the cuftom in fome countries, particularly with the Egyptians, to cut off the nofes of adulterous perfons; here it is to be underftood fi-_ guratively: by the no/e, according to Farchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, is meant the king, who is higher than his people, as the nofe is the higheft part in a man’s face; and by the ears the prieft, who caufed a noife to be heard when he entered into the temple with his bells; or rather, becaufe it was the prieft’s office to attend to the word of - God, and teach it the people; in general, thefe denote every thing that was excellent among the Yews, their city, temple, king, kingdom, princes, priefts and prophets, which fhould be demolifhed and removed; and by the remnant is meant the common people, that fhould come into the hands of the Chaldeans, and fall by their fword. So the Zar- _ gum paraphrafes it, ‘‘ thy princes and thy nobles ‘ fhall go into captivity, and thy people hall be “ killed with the fword:” they /hall take thy ad and thy daughters, and thy refidue fhall be devo y vel pueritie tue, Pifeator, Starckius s i. e. vifitari fecifti a deo,

. by the fire; take and carty their fons and daughters captive, and burn with fire the city left by them. Thus the Targum, ‘ they fhall carry thy fons and ‘¢ daughters captive, and the beauty of thy land ‘© fhall be burnt with fire;” that is, the city of Ferufalem, the temple, the king’s palaces, the houfes of the great men, and others in it, which were all burnt with fire, when taken by the Chaldeans, Fer. Lits-1'3.. ¥. 26. They foall alfo firip thee out of thy clothes, &c.] As fuch who are taken captives are ulually ferved: and take away thy fair jewels, their ornaments of every kind: or, the vejels of thy ylory*, Kimchi obferves, this may be meant either of the garments of the priefts, and the veffels of the fanétuary; or of the whole fpoil of the city in general, whether in the temple, or in other houfes. ¥. 27. Thus will I make thy lewdne/s to cease from thee, &c.| That is, their idolatry; for afer this captivity, the ews never were guilty of idolatry any more: and thy whoredom brought from the land of Egypt; the idolatry which they learned there, and brought from thence; fo the Targum, ‘< the ** worfhip of thine idols, which was with thee when ** thou waft in the land of Epypt:” jo that thou Joalt not lift up thine eyes unto them, to the idols of Egypt, to pray unto them, and worfhip them: nor remember Egypt any more, with any delight and pleafure, and {fo as to defire an alliance with them, and help from them, or to join with them in their idolatries: fo the Targum, ‘* and the idols of ** the Egyptians thou fhalt remember no more.” ¥. 28. For thus faith the Lord God, I will deliver thee into the hand of them whom thou hateft, &c.] The Chaldeans and Badylonians, betore loved by her, and doted upon, but now hated and rebelled againit; and to fall into fuch hands muft be a fore judgment; and this the Lord threatens to bring upon the ews for their fins; and he having faid it, it might be depended upon, it would be performed; and for the greater certainty of it, it is repeated in different words: into the hand of them from whom thy mind is altenated, fee the note on ¥. 17.. y. 29. And they fhall deal with thee batefully, &c.] The Chaldeans fhould hate the Fews, as much as before they loved them, when they came into the bed of love to them, ¥. 17. and as much as the Fews hated them; which they fhewed by their fevere and rigorous ufage of them, putting fome to the fword, carrying the reft captive, and employing them in hard fervice and labour; and which is ftill worfe, and an aggravation of all this, and Joall take away all thy labour, whatever they got by labour, that they fhould not enjoy, but fhould be taken away from them: and fhall leave thee naked and bare; {tripped of all the neceffaries and conveniences of life: and the nakedne/s of thy whoredoms feall be difcovered, both thy lewdnefs and thy whoredoms; it fhall then be manifeft to all, that thou haft been guilty of idolatry, and haft departed from the Lord thy God, which has caufed him to bring thefe judgments upon thee for thy fins. The Zargum paraphrafes the latter part of the claufe thus, ‘* the fins of thy wicked counfels, and ‘* thy pride.” It feems to be a heap of words, to exprefs the grofinefs of their idolatries, which now fhould be expofed. i _ ¥. 30. And I will do thefe things unto thee, &c.)

What the Chaldeans did, God is faid to do, becaufe he fufrered them to do thefe things, as a pu+ nifhment for their fins; yea; it was according to his. will, and by his orders: ‘The Sep/uagint and Vulgate Latin versions tender it, they have done thefe things unto thee, that is, the Chaldeans. The Targum is, “* thy fins are the caufe of thefe things ‘unto thee;” that is, their idolatry and other iniquities. Hence the Syriac verfion is very parzicular, ‘* for thy whoredoms thefe things fhall be ** done unto thee;” and the Arabic vertion, ‘ thy ** whoredom hath done (or is the caufe of) thefe ** things unto thee,” as follows: Lecaufe thou bajt gone a whoring after the heathen, and becaufe thou art polluted with their idols; imitated them in their idolatries; worfhipped the fame dunghil-gods as they did, as the word fignifies; with which, it was’ no wonder, they fhould be polluted, aid become abominable unto God. ¥. 31. Thou haft walked in the wey of toy ffer; &c.] Samaria, or the ten tribes of //reei; tollowed them in their idolatrous practices, were gui ty of the fame: therefore will I give ber cp into ibine hand; the cup of her vengeance, as the Targum; inflict the fame punifhment on the two tribes as on the ten, and fuffer them to be carried captive as they had been. ¥. 32. Thus faith the Lord God, thou fhalt drink of thy fifier’s cup deep and large, &c.] That is, partake of the fame punilhment, which was very great, fignified by a deep and large cup, which holds much: thou foalt be laughed io jcorn, and had in derifion,; by the nations round about, who inftead of pitying them under their troubles, will rejoice at them; jult as drunken men are laughed at, when intoxicated, and reeling about: 7 containeth much, the cup of wrath and vengeance; as much as will laft feventy. years drinking. The Targum connects this with the preceding claufe, «¢ and thou fhalt be for derifion and for laughter, ‘“¢ becaufe of the greatnefs of the tribulation that ‘¢ fhall come upon thee.” ¥. 33. Thou fhalt be filled with drunkennefs and forrow, &c.] Sorrow is the effect of drunkennefs; thefe two generally go together; when a man is filled with the one, he is with the other; this expreffes the greatnefs of the forrow and diftre!s of the Fews in captivity: with the cup of aftonifoment and defolation, their punifhment would be io great, and their condition be fo defolate, that it fhould © aftonifh them, and bereave them of their fenfes; and they fhould be like mad men, as their actions in the following verfe fhew: with the cup of thy fitter Samaria, the fame punifhment as inflicted on the ten tribes. ¥: 34. Thou fhalt even drink it, and fuck it out, &c.] The very dregs of it, that which lies at the bottom, which is the moft naufeous, and the moft pernicious; not thro’ love to it, but thro’ force; fhall be obliged to it; fee Pf Ixxv..8: and theu foalt break the foeards thereof, and fuek them, fo that not a drop of the liquor fhould be loft; even what has penetrated into the earthen veficl, which this cup is fuppofed to be; and therefore it fhall be broken to pieces, and thefe pieces fucked, that all may be got out; fuggefting, that there will be no abatement of the punifhment, it fhall be endured to the utmoft: or it may be an allufion to drunkards, who having drunk up their liquor, and become become drunk, break theirsglaffes, pots, and cups, and to which the next claufe agrees: and pluck off thine own breafts; as men in their drunken fits, being like mad men, tear their own flefh; and fo the Targum paraphrafes it, ‘* thou fhalt tear thy “ fleth;” fo the Yews, under punifhment for fin, and preffed with the guilt of it, thro’ indignation at theméfelves, fhould tear their flefh, and. particularly pluck off their breafts:, the allufion is to fornicatien, to which idolatry is compared, in which thofe parts are particularly affected; fee ¥. 21. the Syriac verfion renders this and the former claufe thus, thou fhalt fhave thine hair, and cut off thy breafis; Kimchi thinks, by the dreaffs are meant the oral and written laws, which ceafed in the time of the captivity; but without any foundation: for I have fpoken it, faith the Lord; and therefore it fhall be done. ¥. 35. Therefore thus faith the Lord God, becaufe thou baft forgotten me, &c.} His word, worfhip, and ordinances, and did not attend unto them, but worfhipped {ftrange gods: fo the Targum, “* becaufe thou haft left my worfhip:” and caft me bebind thy back; or as the fame paraphrafe, “«¢ haft caft the fear of me from before thine eyes;” or out of thy fight, his laws and ftatutes; fee Neb. ix. 26. Jf. v. 24. as men caft behind their backs that which they have no value for and loath, and which they don’t care to fee, and chufe to forget: therefore bear thou alfo thy lewdnefs, and thy whoredoms, that is, the guilt of their fins, the punifhment of their idolatries, and fhame and confufion for them. ¥. 36. The Lord faid moreover unto me, fon of man, wilt thou judge Abolah and Abolibab? &c.] Plead the caufe of [/rae/ and Fudabh? fay any thing in their defence, and in excufe of them? or intercede and pray for them, that threatened judgments may not come upon them? no, do nothing of this kind; if thou wilt do any thing, do as follows: yea, declare unto them their abominations; their abominable fins, their murders, adulteries, and idolatries; fet them in a true light before them, in all their aggravated circumftances; that if it can be, they. may be brought toa true fight and fenfe of them, to repent of them, be afhamed of them, loath them, confefs them, and forfake them. \. 37. That they have committed adultery, &c.| Rither literally, adultery with their neighbours wives, which was a prevailing fin with this people; or figuratively, {piritual adultery, that is, idolatry: and blood 1s in their hands; the Targum is, ‘¢ they have fhed the blood of innocents with their - hands;” the blood of prophets and righteous men, fent unto them; and the blood of their infants in facrificing to idols, as after-mentioned: and with their idols have they committed adultery; by worfhipping them, which is fpiritual adultery; and this being fo explicitly mentioned, it feems to be diftinguifhed from corporal adultery in the firft claufe, which may be only there defigned; and fo Kimchi thinks: and have alfo caufed their fons, whom they bare unto me, to pafs for ihem thro’ the fire to devour them; their children,» who were the Lord’s by national adoption, and who. ought to have.been trained up in the worfhip and fervice of God, were in a moft barbarous and unnatural manner caufed to pafs thro’ the fire, for or to the idols, Molech and Baal; and that not merely by way of Juftra- tion and dedication, which was fometimes done by /tibium, and fays it was by fome named platyopb- pafling between two fires, but fo as to be de and deftroyed by the fire. 13 pY ¥. 38. Moreover, this they have done unto me, &c.] The following piece of wickednefs, which was very provoking to the Lord: they have defiled my fanfiuary in the fame day; as they caufed their children to pafs thro’ the fire to their idols, by entering into the fanctuary when they had fo done, and were thus defiled, and by offering facrifices to their idols in it; or under pretence of ferving the Lord, when they had juft been guilty of murder and idolatry: and bave profaned my fabbaths; not only by doing their own worldly and civil bufinefs, but by flaying their infants on thofe days, and facrificing them to idols.: ¥. 39. For when they had flain their children to their idols, &c.| This explains more clearly what is before faid, that by caufing their children to pafs thro’ the fire was a flaying them; and that their paffing thro’ it for them, was for their idols, and unto them; fee y. 37. and now when they had been guilty of fuch fhocking wickednefs, then they came the fame day into my fanéiuary to profane it, - not that they came into the temple on purpofe to profane it; but:coming into it, being themfelves defiled with the murder of their infants, and offering facrifices to idols, or performing an hypo~ critical fervice to the Lord, this was in the event, a profanation of the fanctuary: and lo, thus they have done in the midft of mine boufe, fet up idols there, and worfhipped them; as they did ‘in the temple itfelf, in the times of Abaz and Manaffeh; fee Fer. - Vii. 30. t y. 40. And furthermore, that ye have fent for mer to come from far, &c.] From Egypt, Affria, and Chaldea, to treat with them, and enter into alliances and confederacies with them, and to join them in their idolatrous practices; thefe heathen nations did not fend to the Jews, but the Jews to them; they did not court their friendfhip and al- | liance, but the ‘Yews courted theirs: gato whom a mefjenger was fent; to court their favour, and fo~ licit a. confederacy, and to defire that embaffadors might be fent to refide among them: and lo they came; thefe heathen courts lifeened to'the propofal, and accordingly fent their plenipotentiaries and embafladors to them, who came in théir matters name, and with their credentials; and for the reception of whom, great preparations were miade, as | follows: for whom thou didft wafb thyfelf, paintedt thy eyes, aid decked? thyfelf with ornaments, jaf as harlots do to make themfelves agreeable to theit lovers; who ufe wafhes and paint, ‘as Fezebel did; and drefs themfelves in their beft cloaths;and adorn themfelves in the beft manner they ¢an. Harlots had their particular attire, by which they were known, Prov. vii. 10. and they not only uléd bagnios or baths, but wafhes for’ their face, to make them look beautiful; and particularly painted their eyes, to make them look larger; forlarge eyes in women, in forme nations, were oned very handfome, particularly among the Greeks’ + hence und, in Homer*, is called Bowms; the Oxeyed,.as fome tranflate it; or rather, the large

Funo: and the Grecian women, in ordet to make their eyes large, made ufe of a powder mixed with their wathes, which fhrunk their eye-brows, and caufed their eyes to ftand out, and look and larger sand fuch was the paint which Pliny ® calls allies and, friends, in whofe alliance they thought men it dilated the eyes; and it feems that painting with fomething- of this nature was ufed by the Fewifh women, in imitation of the heathens, for the fame purpofe, efpecially by harlots; hence the phrafe of renting the face, or rather the eyes, with paint, Yer. iv. 30. fo the Moori/h women now, as Dr. Shaw ‘ relates, to add a gracefulnefs to their complexions, tinge their eye-lids with a/-kabol, the powder of Jead-ore; and this is performed by firft dipping into this powder a {mall wooden bodkin, of the thicknefs of a quill, and then drawing it afterwards thro’ the, eye-lids, over the ball of the eye; and which is -properly a renting the eyes indeed, as the prophet calls it, with powder of pouk, or lead-ore: fo for the gratifying thefe ido- Jatrous embafiadors, idols were fet up, altars built, and facrifices. prepared; and, in order to their public entry, and to fhow. how acceptable they were, palaces were fitted up for them, and the ftreets thro’ which they paffed decorated, and all public marks of efteem and affection given them; to this the Targum feems to have refpect, paraphrafing the words thus, ‘‘ and lo, they came to ** the place thou hadft prepared; thou haft adorned « the itreets, and appointed palaces.”

¥. 41. And fateh’ upon a stately bed, 8cc.]. Or honourable *, a bed of ftate; either a throne, a royal feat under a canopy, on which the king of Fudab fat to receive foreign embafladors;. or a ftately bed-at a feaft, made for the entertainment of them; it being ufual in the eaftern nations to fit on beds at eating, to which the next claufe agrees.

her; fee Prov. vii: 16: anda table prepared before it; before the bed, furnifhed with the richeft provifions to treat the embaffadors with; or this may defign an altar built for them to offer on it ‘facrifices to their idols, according to the cuftoms of their countries: whereupon thou haft fet mine incenfe end mineoil; which were the gifts of God. to this people, and which they fhould have ufed in his fervice; but with thefe they treated the minifters of -heathen princes; fcenting the room where they were entertained with ‘incenfe, and anointing their heads and feet with oil, for their pleafare and réfrefhment; or they offered thefe on the altars of the idols to them.

y. 42. And a. voice of a multitude being at eafe | was with her, &c.} With Abolibab, with the two - tribes of Fudah and Benjamin: or, in her, in Ferufalem; or init, or about it*, the bed, or table, or both: thefe wére either the people of the many nations that came in great numbers with the embaffadors, as their retinue, and for the greater {plendor of them; and who came, not to make war, but in a peaceable way, being invited to come; or thefe were a confluence of the Fews/h people, who came from all parts to fee the public | entry of thefe embafiadors; who were quite eafy with it, fince they came as the embaffadors of their themfelves fafe and happy.and therefore. welcomed them with their loud huzzas: and with the men of the common fort were brought Sabeans- from