XXVIII.
fit in the feat of God; ina place as delightful, fafe and happy, as heaven itfelf; where the throne of God is; fo antichrift is faid to fit in the temple of God, in the houfe and church of God; where he affumes a power that don’t belong to him, calling himfelf God’s vicegerent, and Chrift’s vicar; fee 2 Theff. ii. 4. and the Arabic verfion here renders it, in the houfe of God: it follows, im the midff of the feas; furrounded with them as Tyre Was, and lord of them as its king was; fending his fhips into all parts, and to whom all brought their wares; thus the whore of Rome is faid to fit upon many waters, Rev. xvii. 2: yet thou art a man, and not God; a frail, weak, mortal man, and not the mighty God, as his after-deftruction fhews; and as the popes of Rome appear to be, by their dying as other meh; and as antichrift will plainly be feen to be, when he fhall be deftroyed with thé breath of Chrift’s mouth, and the brightnefs of his coming: though thou fet thine heart as the heart of God; as if it was as full of wifdom and knowledge as his; and thinkeft as well of thyfelf, that thou art a fovereign as he, and to be feared, obeyed, and fubmitted to by all. ' ¥. 3. Behold, thou art wifer than Daniel, &c.]} That is, in his own opinion; or it is ironically faid. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic verfions render it by way of interrogation, art thou not wifer than Daniel? who was now at the court of Bady- Jon, and was famous throughout all Cha/dea for his knowledge in politicks, his wifdorn and prudence in government, as well as his fKill in interpreting dreams. The Fews have a faying, that ‘¢ if all the wife men of the nations were in one “¢ fcale, and Daniel in the other, he would weigh “« them all down.” And perhaps the fame of him had reached the king of Zyre, and yet he thought himfelf wifer than he; fee Zech. ix. 2. antichrift thinks himfelf wifer than Daniel, or any of the prophets and apoftles; he is wife above that which is written, and takes upon him the fole interpretation of the fcriptures, and to fix the fenfe of them: there is no fecret, that they can hide from thee; as he fanfied; he had fagacity to penetrate into the councils of neighbouring princes, and difcover all plots and intrigues againft him; he underftood all the arcana and fecrets of government, and could counter-work the defigns of his enemies. Antichrift pretends to know all myfteries, and folve all difficulties, and paf3 an infallible judgment on things; as if he was of the privy-council of heaven, and _s nothing nothing was tranfaéted there but he was acquainted with it, and had full knowledge of the mind of God in all things..
¥. 4. With thy wifdom, and with thy underftanding, thou haft gotten thee riches, &c.} Thro’ ikill in navigation and trade, for which the Tyriazs and their princes were famous, they acquired great wealth; fo antichrift, by carnal policy, and hellifh fubtlety, has amaffed vait treafures together; the fale of pardons and indulgences has brought immenfe riches into the pope’s coffers: and haji gotten gold and filver into thy treafures, in great quantities 5. dee Kev, xvul. 35 £47, y. 5. By thy great wifdom, and by thy traffick, &c.] Or, by thy great wifdom, in thy traffick’; thro’ great fkill in trade and commerce: baft thou increafed thy riches; to a very great degree,.a prodigious bulk; fo antichrift has done, efpecially thro’ trafficking with the fouls of men, which is one part of his merchandife, as it was of Tyre, Rev. xviii. 13.. Ezek. xxvii. 13: and thine heart ts lifted up becaufe of thy riches; which are apt to puff up and make men high-minded, and fwell them with a vain opinion of themfelves, and to make haughty, infolent, and fcornful in their behaviour to others; thus elated with worldly grandeur and riches, the whore of Rome is reprefented as proud, vain, and haughty, Rev. xviii. 7.
Now follows the punifhment threatened, becaufe of all this pride, haughtinefs, and blafphemy: 4ecaufe thou haft fet thine heart as the beart of God, feeking thine own glory; fetting up thyfelf above all others; affuming that to thyfelf which belongs to God; and making thyfelf equal to him, or fhewing thyfelf as if thou waft God; fee the note on ¥. 2.
- ¥.7. Behold, therefore, I will bring flrangers upon thee, &c.|] The Chaldean army, who not only lived at a diftance from Zyre, but were unknown to them, not trading with them; nor are they mentioned among the merchants of Tyre: thefe, in the myftical fenfe, may defign the angels that fhall pour out. the vials on the antichriftian ftates, the kings of Proteffant nations: the terrible of the nations, as the Babylonians were, very formidable to the world, having conquered many countries, and their armies confifting of men of all nations, mighty, courageous, and expert in war; and alike formidable will the Proteffant princes be to the antichriftian powers, when they fhall with their united ftrength attack them: and they fhall draw their [words againft the beauty of thy wifdom,; their beautiful city and fpacious buildings, the palaces of their king and nobles, their walls and towers
-erected with fo much art and fkill; or their forces, the men of war within their city, which made their beauty complete, fo well {killed in military affairs, ch. Xxyil. 10, 11, or their fhips, and the merchandife of them, and the curious things brought in them; even every thing that was rich and valuable, the effect of their art ahd wifdom: all which may be applied to the city of Rome, when it will be taken, ranfacked, and burnt, Rev. xviii. 8— ig: and they foall defile thy brighine/s; profane thy crown, cait down thy throne, deftroy thy kingdom, and all that is- great and glorious in thee;
_thus the whore of Rome fhall be made bare’and de-
‘interpreted of Adam in the Talmud': and
** the brightnefs of thy terror;” which fhall more ftrike the nations, or affeét them. ~ ¥. 8. They fhall bring thee down to the pit, Bec.)
Or, to corruption*, to the grave, the pit of cor- — ruption and deftru@tion; fo antichrift thall go into” perdition, into the bottomlefs pit from whence he came, Rev. xvii. 8: and thou fhalt die the deaths of them that are flain in the midft of the feas; that die in a fea-fight, whofe carcafes are thrown over-" board, and devoured by fithes.
¥. 9. Wilt thou yet fay before him that flayeth thee, [am God? &c.] When thou art in the enemies hands, and juft going to be put to death, wilt thou then confidently affert thy deity, and to his face tell him that thou art God? furely thy courage and thy confidence, thy blafphemy and impiety, will leave thee then; a bitter farcafm this! and fo the pope of Rome, the antichriftian beaft, when taken, and juft going to be caft into the lake of fire along with the falfe prophet, will not have the impudence to ftile himfelf God, or to call himifelf Chrift’s vicar on earth: dut thou fhalt be a man, and no god, in the hand of him that flayeth thee, that is, thou fhalt appear to be a poor, weak, frail, mortal; trembling, dying man, when got into the hand of the enemy, and he is juft going to put an end to thy life; where will be then thy boafted deity?.
¥. 10. Thou fhall die the deaths of the uncircumcifed, &c.] Or the death of the wicked, as the Targum; the firft and fecond death, temporal and eternal: the former dy the hand of flrangers, the Chaldeans, in various fhapes; and the latter will follow upon it: it may denote the various kinds of death which the inhabitants of Rome will die when deftroyed, fome by famine, fome by peftilence, and others by fire; when thefe plagues hall come upon her in one day, Rev. xvili. 8: for I have [poken it, faith the Lord God; and thetefore it fhall furely come to pafs; ftrong is the Lord that will judge, condemn, and deftroy myttical Babylon, or Tyre.
y. 11. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, &c.| “After the prophecy concerning the ruin of the prince of Zyre, the word of the Lord came to the prophet, ordering him to take up a lamentation on the king of Tyre: faying, as follows, y. 12. Take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, &c.] Who is before, called the prince of Tyre, and who he was, fee the note on ¥. 2. the bifhop of Rome was firft only a Nagid, a prince, ruler, governor, and leader in the church; afterwards he became a king, an head, even over other kings, princes, and ftates; perhaps this may alfo point to his twofold power, fecular and ecclefiattical, and fo he is reprefented by two beafts, Rev. xiii. 4, 11. here a lamentation or funeral ditty is ordered to be taken up and faid for him, to denote his certain deftruction and ruin; tho’ forme have thought the fall of the angels, and others, the fall of Adam, is referred to; feveral pall oN
Jay unto him, thus faith the Lord God, thou fealeft: ge um 5 or pattern™, of every thing that is excellent; thou art in all things, confummately fo, as that nothing could be added; that is, in his own efteem and account. Junius thinks it refers to the fealing of goods exported, for which a duty was to be paid, without doing which merchandife was not allowe:
Antichrift would not fuffer any to buy or fell, but fuch as receive his mark or feal on their righthand, or in their forehead, Rev. xiii. 16, 17. Coeceius renders it, the fealer of the meafure"; and takes it to be an-allufion to the cuftom of fealing meafures, ufed in buying and felling; and that it refpects the man of fin, who takes upon him the power of making rules and canons for faith and practice: full of wifdom, and perfeét in beauty; a moft accomplifhed man for parts and perfon in his own conceit: antichrift affumes to himfelf a per- ‘fect knowledge of the fcriptures, and fets up himfelf. as an infallible judge of controverfies; and glories in the fplendor and order of his church, and the government of it. ¥.13. Thou haft been in Eden the garden of God, &c.] Not only in £den, but in the garden which was in Edew, and was of the Lord’s immediate planting; and therefore called the garden of God, as well as becaufe of its excellency, fragrancy and delight; not that the king of Tyre was literally there, or ever dwelt in it; but ‘his fituation in Tyre was as fafe, and as pleafant and delightful as Adam’s was in the garden of Eden, at leaft in his own imagination. So the Zargum, ‘ thou delightedft thy- “¢ felf with plenty of all good things and delec- ** table ones, as if thou dwelledft in the garden * of God;” in the myftical fenfe, this defigns the church of God, which is an Eden, a garden, a paradife; fee Cant. iv. 12, 13. and where antichrift firft appeared, and took his feat, and feated himfelf as if he was God, 2 Theff. ii. 4.: every precious ftone was thy covering; not only the covering of his head, his crown, was decked with jewels and precious ftones of all forts; but his cloaths, the covering of his body, were adorned with them. So the Targum, *‘ all precious ftones were fet in order ** upon thy garments.” Kimchi renders it, thine hedge, or fence °; and takes it to be an hyperbole, as if his houfe, or garden, or vineyard were fenced with precious ftones. This fitly defcribes the whore of Rome arrayed in purple and fcarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious ftones, Rev. xvil. 4. The pope’s triple crown is ftuck with them, and a cro{s of precious ftones is upon his flipper, when he holds out his toe to be kiffed: the fardius, topaz, and the diamond, the deryl, the onyx, and the jafper, the fapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold. Writers differ very much about thefe ftones; and it is difficult to fay what anfwer to the Hebrew words here ufed.. The ftone fardius, or the fardine ftone, is of a blood colour, commonly called a cornelian, and is found in Sardis and Sardinia, from whence fome fay it has its name. The topaz is a hard tranfparent ftone, faid to be of a beautiful yellow or gold colour, by thofe who confound it with the chryfolite; otherwife the true topaz is of a fine green colour, as Pliny ® and [fidore*, the beft is what is found in Ethiopia, fob xxviii. 19. The diamond is a precious ftone, the firft in rank, value, hardnefs and luftre,; the moft perfect colour is the white. The deryl is a ftone of a pale green colour, thought to be the diamond of the ancients: the word is Zar/bi/h, and thought by fome the chryfolite. The onyx refembles a man’s nail, from whence it has its name: the word /hobam here ufed is fuppofed to mean the /ardoxyx, a compound of the /ardian and onyx ftones. The ja/per is a ftone of various colours and fpots, vari¢gated like a panther; hence the Zargum here renders it, pantherin; the moft valuable is the green fpotted with red or purple. lour or fky blue, exceeding hard and tranfparent: The emerald is of an exceeding fine green colour, very bright, and clear, and delightful to the eye; but is rather intended by the next word, as the carbuncle by this, which is a ftone of the ruby kinds and very rare; fee J/ liv. r2. along with them, and laft of all, as being lefs valuable; but chiefly becaufe thefe ftones were fet in gold, as the Targum paraphrafes it; thefe are nine of the {tones which were in the breaft-plate of the Fewifo high-prieft *, whom the king of Tyre might have knowledge of and irnitate, as it is certain the pope of Rome does in fome things: the workmanfbip of thy tabrets, and of thy pipes was prepared in thee, in the day that thou waft created;
The /apphire is a ftone of an azure co- either born into the world; or made a crowned king; againft which time, drums, and pipes, and fuch like inftruments of mufic were prepared in Tyre, and at them made ufe of by way of re-
Joicing: and as this was literally true of the king of Tyre at his coronation, fo of the bifhop of Rome at his creation and inauguration, which is attended with bells ringing, drums beating, trumpets founding; and fo in myftical Babylon is heard, tho’ the time is coming when it will not be heard, the voice of harpers, muficians, pipers and trum-
¥.14. Thou art thé anointed cherub that covéreth, &c.] In allufion to the cherubim over the mercyfeat, which covered it with their wings; and which, as the ark of the teftimony, and all the veffels of the tabernacle were anointed, were fo likewife; in all probability, the king of Tyre is called a cherub, becaufe of his wifdom and power; anointed, becaufe of his royal dignity; and shat covereth, becaufe of his office, which was to protect his people; all which he either was, or ought to be, or was in his own opinion fo: antichrift makes great boafts of his wifdom, power and authority as a teacher, paftor or bifhop, the cherubim being fymbolical of the minifters of the word; and of his being anointed by men, that he may be the cover and fhield of the church; and of his being the Lord’s anointed, and the vicar of Chrift, and head and protector of the church, as he calls himfelf *. The Targum underftands all this of regal power, and renders it, ‘* thou art a king anointed for a *¢ kingdom:” and I have fet thee fo; from whom all kings have their fceptres, crowns and kingdoms; and by whom they reign; and who can put them down, as well as fet them up at his pleafure. It may be rendered, J have given thee‘; or fuffered thee to be fo, as the word give is often ufed; it is by divine permiffion that antichrift has taken fuch power to himfelf, and in judgment to them over whom he rules, who are given up to believe a lie; yea, God put, or as it is in the original text gave, it into the hearts of the kings to agree and give their kingdom to the beaft, Rev. xvii. 17: thou waft upon the holy mountain of God; not on Sinai, nor on Zion; on neither of which > was the king of Tyre; nor was this literally true of him; for to fay, as Kimchi does to illuftrate it, that Hiram king of Tyre affifted Solomon with ae terials to build the temple, is very foreign; but this is true of the antitype of the king of Tyre, antichrift; who has fet his foot on God’s holy mountain the church; here he firft appeared and ftood, as before obferved on the preceding verfe: thou baft walked up and down in the midft of the fiones of fire; which fome underftand of the precious {tones with which the king of Zyre was adorned, which glittered like fire; tho’ rather they defign the people of God, thofe living and lively {tones of which the fpiritual houfe is built; who, for their clear light, and burning zeal and love, may be faid to be as ftones of fire; and among thefe the bifhop of Rome, or the antichriftian king of Tyre firft walked: fo Kimchi interprets them ot the J/raelites, who were a holy people; and Farchi -of the kings of J/rae/, who were as the miniftring angels; the /eraphim perhaps he means, {fo called from their burning and flaming love. The:Zargum is, ‘‘ and over the holy people thou haft ** thought to rule.”
¥.15. Thou watt perfec in thy ways from the day that thou waft created, &c.} From the time that Tyre became a kingdom, or this king was fet over it, every thing was wifely conducted, and all things happily fucceeded; fo when the church of Rome was firft formed in the times of the apoftles, it was laid on a good foundation; it was fet up according to the rule of the word; its bifhop or pattor was one of a found judgment, a good life and converfation, and fo continued in fucceffion for a confiderable time; thefe held the true faith and doctrine of Chrift, and kept it incorrupt, and lived holy lives: till iniquity was found in thee; pride, blafphemy againft God, and contempt of his people, as well as violence and deceit; all this was found in the king of Tyre in later times: fo in the church of Rome, when the man of fin was revealed, there were pride, haughtinefs and ambition found in it; blafphemy again{ft God and Chrift, and the faints; falfe doctrine, falfe worfhip, fuperftition and idolatry.
¥. 16. By the multitude of thy merchandife, &c.| With the feveral nations of the earth, who came to the markets and fairs of Tyre; and to whom fhe fent her goods: ¢hey have filled the midft of thee with violence, or as the Targum, “* thy treafures “* are filled with rapine;” with ill gotten geods, as the pope’s coffers are thro’ his merchandife of the fouls of men, and the great trade that is driven in pardons and indulgences: and thou haft finned; by this unjuft and ungodly way of dealing: sherefore I will caft thee as profane out of the mountain of God; mount Zion, the church of the living God, where he dwells, and is worfhipped, and on which the Lamb ftands with his hundred and forty and four thoufand, having his name and his Father’s on their foreheads, Rev. xiv. 1. thefe will have no communion with the church and pope of Rome; will not receive his mark, nor worfhip his image, trom this mountain, and the inhabitants of it, he diands excluded as a profane perfon, with whom they will have nothing to do; and hence he perfecutes them to the utmoft of his power: aad I will defirey thee, O covering cherub, from the midft of the ftones of fire; from among the people of God, who have the clear light of the gofpel, and a fincere love for Chrift; thefe withdrew themfelves from his jurifdiction and government; and with whom his name, power and authority perith, efpecially when they fhall have got the victory over him, Rev.xv.1. Kimchi paraphrafes it, “* from ‘** the midft of the faints who are the [/raelites, ~ ** comparable to {tones of fire;” and Farchi’s note is, ‘* that thou mayeft not take a portion with the
‘* righteous;” have no part, lot or fellowfhip with - them. ‘The Targum is, ‘‘ I will deftroy thee, O ‘¢ king that art anointed, becaufe thou thoughteft ** to rule over the holy people.”
y¥.17. Thine heart was lifted up, becaufe of thy beauty, &c.| Riches, wealth, power, and authority; fee ¥. 5. as the pope of Rome is, becaufe of his dignity, the pomp and fplendor of the Roman church, and the gaudy appearance it makes: tho haft corrupted thy wifdom by reafon of thy brightnefs; outward luftre and glory, which dazzled his eyes fo that he could not jee things in a true light;. but negleéting the word of God, and fetting up his own infallibility, corrupted his doétrine and worfhip, and became foolifh, ftupid and fottith: I will caft thee to the ground, from the throne and pinnacle of honour, to the loweft ftate and condition: and I will lay thee before kings, proftrate at the feet of them, who heretofore has fet his feet on the necks of them; or he shall fall before them, and be deftroyed by them, when they fhall hate the whore, and make her defolate, and- burn her flefh with fire, Rev. xvii. 16: that they may behold thee; with contempt and difdain, and as an in- {tance and example of divine vengeance.;
¥.18. Thou haft defiled thy fanéiuaries by the multitude of thine imiquities, &c.] Or, thy palaces, as Kimchi; the palace of the king, and the palaces of the nobles, where much iniquity was committed, and which was the caufe of their being defiled or deftroyed by the Chaldeans, or it may defign their facred places, their temples, where their gods were worfhipped, and idolatry committed. This may be applied to the places of religious worfhip among the papifts, their churches; which, in- {tead of being adorned, are defiled with their images and image-worfhip, and other acts of fuperftition and will-worfhip: dy the iniquity of thy traffic, as by bringing in ill-gotten goods into the dacred places of Tyre, as they were accounted; fo, by felling pardons; praying fouls out of purgatory for money; by fimony, or buying and felling ecclefiaftical benefices; and fuch like fpiritual merchandife in Roman churches: therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midft of thee, it fhall devour thee; fin, and the punifhment of it, as Kimchi;
|which, for fin committed in the midft of them, fhould confume as fire; or fome from among themfelves, that fhould ftir up and caufe inteftine diivifions, which fhould iffue in their ruin;.as the ‘unclean fpirit that fhall go out of the mouth of the beaft, dragon and falfe prophet, to gather the antichriftian kings to battel, will end in their ruin, Rev. xvi. 14,16. The Targum is, ** I will.“ bring people who are ftrong as fire, becaufe “< of the fins of thy pride they fhall deftroy thee.” Alexander when he took Tyre, ordered all the inhabitants to be flain, excepting thofe that fled to the temples, and the houfes to be fet on fire "; which literally fulfilled this prophecy; and which may alfo have refpect to the deftruction of Rome by fire, becaufe of the fins committed in it, Rev. xviii. 8 and I will bring thee to afbes upon the earth, in the Sight of all them that behold thee, the kings and merchants of the earth, who fhall ftand and look © on the city as it is burning, and when reduced to afhes; which denotes the utter deftruétion of it, 4 nD lf. €. 4. D> 75. y
Rev. xviii. g, 10, 11, 18. ** will give thee as afhes on the earth,” &c. and fhall be no more accounted of.
¥.19. All they that know thee among the people, Jali be aftonifoed at thee, &c.] At thy fall; that fuch a mighty city, and powerful prince, fhould be deftroyed at once; that from fuch an height of profperity, they fhould be brought to fo low an eftate of adverfity; this will be the aftonifhment of kings, merchants, and others, that knew the riches, power and flourifhing eftate of Rome, as before obferved: thou fhalt be a terror; to the faid perfons, who will be afraid to come nigh for fear.of the fame torments and punifhment, Rev. xviii. 10,15. or, tho’ thou haft been a terror, or terrors; exceeding terrible to others in time paft, yet now, as the Targum, ‘* I will give thee (or make thee) ** as if thou waft not:” and never fhalt thou be any more, as thou haft been, or after thy laft deftruction; fo myftical Zyre or Babylon thall be no more, when once deftroyed, Rev. xviii. 21.
¥.20. Again, the word of the Lord came unto me, &c.| After the prophecy of the deftruction of the prince and king of Tyre, concerning a neighbouring city: /aying, as follows:
¥.21. Son of man, fet thy face againft Zidon, &c.] An ancient city, near to Tyre, and in confederacy with it, greatly given to idolatry and fuperftition; and may defign all the antichriftian ftates in. the communion of the church of Rome: and prophely againft it; the prophet is bid to look towards this place with a ftern countenance, as before againft Tyre; threatning it with ruin, and prophefying of it, in the following manner.
¥.22. And fay, thus faith the Lord God, &c.] The eternal Jehovah, the only true God, the maker of heaven and earth; this is faid by way of preface to the prophecy, and to affure of the fulfilment of it, as well as in oppofition to the gods of the Zidonians: behold, I am againft thee, O Zidon; angry with thee, and will come out againit thee in my wrath, becaufe of thine idolatries and impieties. The Zargum is, ‘* behold, I fend my fury “© upon thee, O Zidon:” I will be glorified in the midjt of thee; not by the converfion of them; nor by acts of religious worfhip truly performed by them; by prayer, confeffion of fin, or thank{- giving; but by his judgments executed in the midit of them; by pouring out the vials of his wrath on them, as it follows: and they fhall know that I am the Lord, when I fhall have executed judgments in her; for the Lord is known by the judgments he executes, to be that pure, holy, juft and fin-avenging God he is, as well as omnifcient and omnipotent; and this even heathens and antichriftian perfons are obliged to acknowledge, Py. ix. 15,16: and fhall be fanétified in her, that is, fhall appear, be declared and owned to be a God, jut and holy, in all his ways and works.
¥.23. And I will fend into her peftilence, and
blood into ber ftreets, &c.] The plague and the |- fword, which are two of God’s fore judgments, and often go together; the peftilence flays them that are within, and the fword thofe the enemy meets with in the ftreets: and the wounded fhall be judged; that is, punifhed; or fhall fall”, die and perith: in the midfi of ber by the fword upon her on every fide; this was literally fulfilled in Zidon, either by Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldean army, which befieged it on every fide; or by Artaxerxes Ochus
Be TSE Sy. 143 the Perfian, who took it; and deftroyed it; and will have its accomplifhment on the antichriftian {tates, eaftern and weftern, when the vials fhall be poured out upon them, Rev. xvi: and they Joall know that I am the Lord God who am able to foretell things to come, and to accomplifh
¥.24. And there foall be no more a pricking brier to the boufe of Irael, &c.| To the church of God, Jews or Gentiles, particularly to the ews, who will now be converted; all the enemies of Chrift and his people will now be deftroyed, who have been very grievous and diftreffing to them by their furious perfecutions; the pope and Turk will be no more, nor any of the antichriftian powers; the beaft and falfe prophet will be taken and caft into the lake of fire; and there will be none to hurt and deftroy in all the holy mountain, Rev. xix. 20. Tf. Xi. 9: nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them that defpifed them, the fame thing in other words as before; wicked men, efpecially ty~ rannical princes, furious perfecutors of the faints, are like thorns and briers, not only unfruitful, ufelefs and unprofitable, but pricking, grieving and hurtful’ to good men, by their perfecutions, revilings and reproaches, and whofe end is to be burned. The Targum of the whole is, *¢ and there *¢ fhall be no more to the houfe of //rae/, a king *¢ that doth evil (or hurt), or a governor that ‘* oppreffes all round about them that fpoil thein:” and they foall know that I am the Lord, the houfe of J/rael, the ews now converted, they fhall know the Lord Chrift, and acknowledge him to be their Lord and king.
¥.25. Thus faith the Lord God, when I fhail have gathered the houfe of Ifrael, &c.] Not at the return of them from captivity in Babylon; for the ten tribes or houfe’of J/rae] did not then return; tho’ there might fome few of thofe tribes, as a pledge of what would be hereafter; but in the latter day, upon the deftruction of antichrift, when all J/rael fhall be faved: and when they will be collected from tke people among whom they are fcattered; in the feveral nations of the world, in 4/a, Africa, and Europe: and foall be fanéttified in them in the fight of the heathen; being believed in by them; prayed unto and worfhipped in a fpiritual manner by them; profeffed and owned to be their Saviour and Redeemer in the face of the whole world, chriftians and even heathens, whom before they rejected: then fhall they dwell in their land that I have given to my fervant Facob, the land of Canaan, given by promife to Alrabam, I/aac and ‘facob; which laft is only here mentioned, becaute it was his pofterity that was to poffefs it; not all Abrahams, only thofe in the line of J/aac; nor all Jfaac’s, only thofe in the line of Facob; but all his; and this they will do, when they are converted in the latter day, and be no more a vagabond people, as they now are.
y¥. 26. And they fhall dwell fafely therein, '&c.] There being none to make them afraid, all their enemies being deftroyed, and they alfo under the protection of chriftian princes: and they fhall build houfes, and plant vineyards, fignifying their continuance in their land, and their enjoyment of the bleffings of it. Cocceius underftands this of churches gathered in the name of Chrift; of which no doubt there will be many in Fudea, as in the firft times of the gofpel, and more abundantly: yea, they sm dwell with confidence, in the utmoft fafety and fecurity, having nothing to fear from any quarter: when I have executed judgment upon all thofe that defpife them, round about them, took vengeance on them, and utterly deftroyed them that defpifed or fpoiled them, even all around them; they’ll all be cut off, fo that there will be none to give them the leaft difturbance: and they fhall know that Iam the Lord their God; not only God, as before, y. 24. but their God, their Lord and their God, their Redeemer and Saviour, whom they formerly denied, perfecuted and pierced.
ae chapter contains a prophecy againft Pharaoh king of Egypt; and of the deftruction of the land of Egypt; and of the reftoration of it after a certain time. The time of prophecy is noted, ¥. 1. the order to prophefy againft Pharaoh, who is defcribed as a large fifh lying in his rivers, and boafting of them, y. 2, 3. his deftruction, and the manner of it, ¥. 4, 5. the reafon of it, his treachery to the Jews, ¥. 6, 7. hence the whole land of Zgypt is threatened with defolation from one end to the other, fo as to be uninhabited by man or beaft for the fpace of forty years, y. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,13, 14. but fhall not arrive to their former glory as a kingdom, nor be any more the confidence of the houfe of J/rae/, ¥. 15, 16. then follows a prophecy feventeen years after this, fhewing the reafon why Egypt was given to the king of Babylon, ¥. 17, 18, 19, 20. and the chapter is clofed with a promife of happinefs to Jrael, AAP y.1. In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, &c.] In the tenth year of Feconiah’s captivity, and Zedekiah’s reign. The Septuagint verfion has it, the twelfth year; and the Arabic verfion, the twelfth month; and the Septuagint verfion again, the firft day of the month; and the Vulgate Latin, the eleventh day of it. This month was the month Tedet, and an{wers to part of December, and part of Fanuary. This prophecy was delivered before that concerning Tyre, tho’ placed after it, becaufe fulfilled after it, which gave Nebuchadnezzar Egypt as a reward for befieging and taking Zyre: the word of the Lord came unto me, faying; as follows:
¥.2. Son of man, fet thy face againft Pharaoh king of Egypt, &c.| Pharaoh was a name common to all the kings of Egypt; the name of this king was Pharaob-hophra, Fer. xliv. 30. and who, by Herodotus *, is called Apries: and prophefy againft him, and againft all Egypt; prophefy of his deftruction, and of the deftruction of the whole land that is under his dominion.
¥. 3. Speak and fay, thus faith the Lord God, &c.] The one, only, living and true God, the almighty, eternal and unchangeable Jehovah, which the gods of Egypt were not: behold, I am againjt thee, Pharach king of Egypt; who, tho’ fo great a king, was nota match for God, yea nothing in his hands; nor could he ftand before him, or contend with him: or, J am above thee’; tho’ the king of Egypt was fo high above others, and thought fo highly of himfelf, as if he was a god; yet the Lord was higher than he: the great dragon that lieth in the midft of his rivers; the chief river of Egypt was the Nile, which opened in feven mouths or gates into the fea, and out of which canals were made to water the whole land; and which abounding with rivers and watry places, hence the king of it is compared to a great fifh, a dragon or whale, or rather a crocodile, which was a fifth very common, and almoft peculiar to Egypt; and with which the defcription here agrees, as Bochart obferves; and who alfo remarks, that Pharaoh im the Arabic language fignifies a crocodile; and to which he may be compared for his cruel, voracious and mifchievous nature; and is here repre~ fented as lying at eafe, and rolling himfelf in the enjoyment of his power, riches and pleafures: which hath faid, my river is mine own, and I have made it for myfelf,; alluding to the river Nile, which his predeceffors had by their wifdom cut out into canals, for the better watering of the land; and. which he might have improved, fo that it ftood in no need of rain, nor of the fupplies of other countries, having a fufficiency from its own product; tho’ he chiefly defigns his kingdom, which was his own, and he had eftablifhed it, and made himfelf great in it; for the laft claufe may be rendered, either, J have made it, as the Syriac verfion, the river Nile, afcribing that to himfelf which belonged to God; or, I have made them, the rivers among whom he lay, as the Septuagiat and Arabic verfions; or, I have made myfelf, as the Vulgate Latin verfion; that is, a great king. So the Targum, “ the kingdom is mine, and I have fubdued it.” Herodotus fays of this king, that he was fo lifted up with pride, and fo fecure of his happy ftate, that he faid there was no God could deprive him of his_ kingdom *. This proud tyrannical monarch was an emblem of that beaft that received his power from the dragon, and who himfelf fpake like one; of the whore of Badylox that fits upon many waters, and boafts of her fovereignty and power, of her wealth and riches, of her eafe, peace, pleafure, profperity and fettled eftate, Rev. xili. 2, 11. and xvii. I. and xvii. 7.
¥.4. But 1 will put books in thy jaws, &c.] The allufion is to fifh-hooks, which are taken by fifhes with the bait into their mouths, and ftick in their jaws, by which they are drawn out of the river and taken. The king of Egypt being before compared to a fifh, thefe hooks defign fome powerful princes and armies, which fhould be the ruin of Pharach, one of them, according to Fumius and Grotius, was Amafis at the head of the Cyreneans: and Greeks; and another was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, fee Fob xli. 1,2. If, xxxvii.29: and I will caufe the fifb of thy rivers to flick unto thy Jcales; the people of his kingdom, efpecially his foldiers, generals, princes and great men, to cleave tohim, _; follow him, and go out with him in his expedition againft Amafis. The Targum is, ‘* 1 will kill the ‘* princes of thy ftrength with thy mighty ones:” and I will bring thee up out of the midft of thy rivers; alluding to the crocodile, to which he is compared, which fometimes comes out of the river, and goes * on dry land. The king of Egypt was brought ous of his kingdom by the following means: Ama/is | with the Cyreweans and Greeks, having feized upon Lybia, and drove the king of it from thence; he applied to Pharaoh for help, who gathered a large army.of Egyptians, and led them out into the fields of Cyrene, where they were defeated by Ama/is, and almoft all perifhed, and the king faved himfelf by flight; upon which the Egyptians mutinied and rebelled againft him, and mafs became their king: and all the fib of thy rivers fhall flick unto thy fcales; the common people of Egypt; for the above numerous army confifted only he gathered from all parts, drained his rivers of them, and almoft exhaufted his country hereby; he had indeed in an army after this battel with Amafis, thirty thoufand auxiliaries, Carians and Tonians; but thefe were not the fith of his rivers. The Zargum is, ** I will make thy kingdom to ** ceafe from thee, and all the princes of thy “* ftrength with thy mighty ones fhall be killed,” with which the hiftory agrees. The allufion to the crocodile is here very juft and pertinent, which isa fith full of fcales. Monfieur Thevenot *, who faw many of them, fays, that ‘ the body of this “¢ fith is large, and all of a bignefs; the back is <* covered with high fcales, like the heads of nails “ in a court-gate, of a greenifh colour, and fo ‘ hard that they are proof againft a halberd; and it has a long tail covered with fcales like the <¢ body;” and another traveller fays », they have fcales on their back mufket proof, and therefore muft be wounded in the belly; but another traveller ‘ fays, this is a vulgar report that a mufketfhot will not pierce the fkins of the crocodiles, for upon trial it is found falfe; yet all writers, ancient and modern, allow it to have very firm fcales on its back, which render it capable of bearing the heavieft ftrokes, and to be in a meafure impenetrable and invincible; fo Herodotus * fays, it has a fkin full of fcales, on the back infrangible; or, as Pliny * expreffes it, invincible againft all blows and ftrokes it may be ftricken with; and fo fays Aviftotle *, with which lian ® agrees, who fays that the crocodile has by nature a back and tail impenetrable; for it is covered with fcales, as if it was armed as one might fay, not unlike to hard fhells.
¥. 5. And I will leave thee thrown into the wildernefs, thee, and all the fifo of thy rivers, &c.] Where fith in common cannot live, but die as foon almoft as out of the water, and on dry land, excepting thofe that are of the amphibious kind. This wildernefs defigns the deferts of Lydia and Cyrene, where the battel was fought between Hopbhra and Amafis; and where the Egyptian army perifhed, only their king, before compared to a crocodile, which lives on land, as well as in water, efcaped. The Targum is, ‘* I will caft thee into a wilder- ‘* nefs, and all the princes of thy ftrength:” shou foalt fall upon the open fields, thou foalt not be brought together, nor gathered; this is to be underftood of his army; for what is proper to an army, is fometimes afcribed to the head or general of it; which fell- by the fword in the fields of Lydia and Cyrene, and was fo difcomfited, that the remains of it could not be brought and gathered together again: or the fenfe is, that thofe that were flain were left in the open fields, and had no burial; they were a 6 Oa ee es 146 not gathered to thé grave, as Kimcbi interprets it; and fo the Targum, ‘* upon the face of the field ** thy carcafe fhall be caft, it fhall not be gathered, ** nor fhall it be buried:” this was only true of the carcafes of the foldiers flain in battel, not of the king who fled, and afterwards in another battel was taken by Ama/fis, and ftrangled in the city of Sais, where he was buriéd among his anceftors, as Herodotus * relates: I have given thee for meat to the beafis of the field, and to the fowls of the heaven; that is, his army; as the armies of the kings, beaft and falfe prophet will be at the battel of A-ma- &eddon, when the two latter will be taken and caft alive into the burning lake, of which this monarch was anemblem, Rev. xix. 17—20,
¥.6. And all the inhabitants of Egypt foall know that I am the Lord, &c.] Who could eject their king from his kingdom, and deliver-him into the hands of his enemy; tho’ he thought no God could, as he boaftingly faid, before obferved: ¢- caufe they have been a flaff of reed to the houfe of Trael, alluding to the country of Egypt, which abounded with reeds that grew upon the banks of the river Nile, and other rivers. This fignifies that either the Egyptians were weak, and could not help the people of J/rael when they applied to them; or rather that they were treacherous and deceitful, and would not affift them, according to agreement; and were even pernicious and hurtful to them, as a broken reed; fee J//. xxxvi.6. The Targum renders it, ‘* the ftaff of a reed broken.”
¥.7. When they took hold of thee by thy hand, &c.] When the J/raelites entered into an alliance and confederacy with the Egyptians, called for their affiftance according to treaty, and put their confidence in them: thou didft break and rent all their Jooulder 5 as a reed which a man puts under his arm-hole, and leans upon, and it breaks under him, the fplinters run into the flefh up to the very fhoulder, and tear the Aefh to pieces; fo thro’ Zedekiah’s trufting to the king of Egypt, he rebelled againft the king of Babylon, which brought on his ruin, and the deftruction of his kingdom: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakeft, and.madeft all their loins to be at a ftand; when they put their confidence in the king of Egypt, and fent to him for fuccour when befieged by the king of Babylon, and he failed them; they were obliged to raife up themfelves, as a man is forced to do when his ftaff breaks under him, whofe loins before were bowed, but now ereéts himfelf, and ftands and walks as well as he can without it; fo the Yews were forced to ftand upon their own legs, and exert all the force they had, and make all the efforts they could againft the king of Badylon, being left in the lurch by the king of Egypt, in which, tho’ they were rightly ferved for their vain confidence and not trufting in the Lord, yet the treachery of the Zgyptians was refented by him, as follows:
Becaufe of the pride of the king of Egypt, afferting the river to be his own, and made by him for himfelf; and becaufe of his perfidy to the houfe of Ifrael: behold, I will bring a fword upon thee; or thofe that kill with the fword, as the Targum, firft an inteftine war, occafioned by the murmurs of the people, on account of the defeat of their army at Cyrene; which iffued in the dethroning and ftrangling of this king, as before obferved, and fetting up another; which inteftine commotions Nebuchadnezzar took the advantage of, and came againft Egypt with a large army: and cut off man and beaft out off thee, for what with the civil wars among themfelves, and what with the devaftions of the king of Babylon’s army, putting men to the fword, and feizing upon the beafts for their food, to fupport fuch an army in a foreign land, it was pretty well {tripped of both.
y. 9. And the land of Egypt fhall be defolate and wafte, &c.] Men few or none being left in it, to till it, nor cattel found upon it: and they shall know that I am the Lord; by thefe judgments executed upon them, now foretold; and which when come to pafs, they will be obliged to acknowledge the omnifcience and omnipotence of Jehovah: Jecaufe thou haft faid, the river is mine, and I have made it; fee the note on ¥. 3. this infolent expreffion was highly refented by the Lord, as appears by the repetition of it. The Targum is here as before, ‘‘ the kingdom is mine, and I have fubdued “it,” but notwithftanding this vaunt, he could not keep it.
y. 10. Bebold therefore, I am againft thee, and againft thy rivers, &c.| Againft the king of Egypt, and againft his fubjects, the many people he ruled over; as the Lord is againft fpiritual Egypt, and the head of it, and the antichriftian ftates, fignified by many waters, rivers, and fountains; fee Rev. xi. 8. and xvii. 1, 15. and xvi. 4: and Iwill make tke land of Egypt utterly wafte and defolate; partly by a civil war, and partly by a foreign enemy; efpecially thofe parts of it which were the feat of war: from the tower of Syene, even unto the border of Ethiopia, or the tower of Seveneh 5 according to Herodotus’, Syene was a city of Thebais, where he was told were two mountains, which gave rife to the Nile. Pliny * fays, it was five thoufand furlongs from Alexandria, and it is by him, as well as Strabo', placed under the tropic of Caycer; who both fay, in the fummer folftice, at noon, no fhadow is caft there; to which the poet Lucan™ refers. It is now called Efuaen; which city, as Mr. Norden” fays, who lately travelled in thofe parts, is fituated on the eaftern fhore of the Nile; and he relates, that there remain {till fome marks of the place, where the ancient city ftood; as to the reft, it is fo covered with earth, that there is nothing but rubbifh, from which, in fome places, one would:judge that there were formerly magnificent buildings here. The utter deftruction of; which, with the reft of Egypt prophefied of, appears to have been fulfilled. This place is famous tor being the place of the banifhment of Fuvenal the poet, where he died, being eighty years of age. The tower of Syene, Ferom fays, remained to his days, and was fubjec&t to the Roman government, where are the cataraéts of the Nile; and to which place from our fea, he fays, the Wile is navigable: but according to Pliny °, Syene itfelf was on the border of Ethiopia; and fo fay Paufanias? and Solinus*: and according to Seneca‘, it was the extreme part of Egypt. So Fofephus* fays, the fouth border of Egypt is Syene, which feparates it fiom
Ethiopia; and that between Pelufium (the entrance of forty years, &c.] Reckoning from its devafta-
* Apud Servium in Virgil. A2neid. 1.6. p. roi. Connection, part 1. book z. p.g3. So the words are rendered of Egypt) and Syene, are two thoufand furlongs. It lay between Egypt and Ethiopia, fo that it might feem doubtful to which it belonged. It feems better therefore to take Migdo/, rendered a tower, for the proper name of a place, as the Septuagint do; and {uch a place there was in Egypt, Fer. xliv. 1. and xlvi. 4. a town on the Red-Sea, Exod. xiv. 2. fo that the one was on the border of Egypt on one fide, and the other on the other: and the words may be rendered ‘, from Migdol to Syene, even to the border of Ethiopia; from one end of it to the other: it denotes the utter defolation of the country, from one end to the other. Unlefs by Cah, rendered Ethiopia, is meant Arabia, as it often is, and is thought by fome to be intended here; which was on the northern border of Egypt, as Syene was; a eity in Thebais, near to Ethiopia, on the fouthern border of it; fo that this defcribes Hgypt from fouth to north; but the former account feems beft.
¥. 11. No foot of man fhall pafs through it, &c.] This muft be underftood not ftri€tly, but with fome limitation; it cannot be thought that Egypé was fo depopulated, as that there fhould not be a fingle paflenger in it; but that there fhould be few inhabitants in it, or that there fhould be fearce any that fhould come into it for traffick; it fhould not be frequented as it had been, at leaft there fhould be very few that travelled in it, in comparifon of what had: xo foot of beaft fhall pafs thro’ it; no droves of fheep and oxen, and fuch like ufeful cattel, only beafts of prey fhould dwell in it: neither fhall it be inhabited forty years; atterwards, y. 17. a prophecy is given out concerning the deftruction of it by Nebuchadnezzar, which was in the twenty-feventh year, that is, of Feconiah’s captivity; now allowing three years for the fulfilment of that prophecy, or forty years, a round number put for forty-three years, they will end about the time that Cyrus conquered Babylon, at which time the feventy years captivity of the Yes ended; and very likely the captivity of the Egyptians alfo. The Yews pretend to give a reafon why Egypt lay wafte juft forty years, becaufe the famine, fignified in Pharach’s dream, was to have lafted, as they make it out, forty-two years; whereas, according to them, it continued only two years; and inftead of the other forty years of famine, Egypt mutt be forty years uninhabited: this is mentioned both by ‘archi and Kimchi.
y. 12. And Iwill make the land of Egypt defolate in the midft of the countries that are defolate, 8&c.
As Fudea and others, made defolate by the king of Babylon: and her cities among the cities that are laid wafie fhall be defolate forty years; fach as Thebes, Sais, Memphis, and others; which fhould fhare the fame fate as’ ferufalem and other principal cities in» other countries, which fell into the hands of Nebuchadnexzar: and I will fcatter the Egyptians a- ° mong the nations, and will difperfe them through the countries; fuch as were not carried captive into Babylow, fled into other countries, as Arabia, Ethiopia, and other places. Bero/us * makes mention of this captivity of the Egyptians under Nebuchadnezzar the fon, which no other writer does.
y. 13. Yet, thus faith the Lord God, at the end is now called by the Arabs A/uan, from the Ethiopic word Wafz, which fignifies to terminate or finifh, this being the border of tion by Nebuchadnezzar, to the taking of Babylon by Cyrus: will I gather the Egyptians, from the people whither they were fcattered, from Babylon and other places; Cyrus very probably being ftirred up by the Lord to proclaim liberty to the Egyptians, as he did to the Yews, to return to their own land; and at the fame time reftored Amafis to the quiet poffeffion of his kingdom, who mutt be ftill alive; fince, according to Diodorus Siculus “, he reigned fifty-five years; tho’, according to Herodotus *, he reigned but forty-four years.,
¥. 14. And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, &c.|] For what is done by men, under the direction and influence of divine providence, is faid to be done by the Lord, as this was, tho’ by the means of Cyrus: and will caufe them to return into the land of Pathros; which was a part of the land of Egypt; perhaps fo called from Pathrujim the fon of Mizraim, from whom £gypt had its name, Gen. x. 14. Bochart takes it to be Thebais, a principal country in Egypt: into the land of their habitation; or nativity, where they were born, and where they before dwelt: and they fhall be there a bafe kingdom, as it is at this day more efpecially, to which it has been gradually reduced, having pafied into various hands, and come under the power and dominion of different ftates: whatever might be the’cafe and circumftances of it under Cyrus, Cambyfes his fon entered into it, made fad devaftion in it, and an entire conqueft of it; and tho’ it revolted under Darius Hy/ta/pes, it was fubdued again, and brought into a worfe ftate than before by Xerxes: it revolted again in the reign of Darius Nothus, and was at latt by Ochus totally fubdued; and from that time the Egyptians never had a king of their own nation to reign over them. Along with the Per/fian empire it came into the hands of Alexander without any oppofition; and after his death fell to the fhare of Péolemy, one of his captains; and tho’ fome of the firft kings of that name were of confiderable note and power, yet gypf made a poor figure under the reigns of feveral of them. When the Roman empire obtained, it became a province of that, and continued fo for fix or feven hundred years; and then it fell into the hands of the Saracens, when it funk into ignorance and fuperftition, the Mahbometan religion being eftablifhed in it, with whom it continued until about the year of Chrift 1250; when the Mamalucks, or Turkifb and Circaffian flaves, rofe up againft their fovereigns, the fultans of Egypt, and ufurped the government, in whofe hands it was until the year 15175 when Selim the ninth emperor of the Zurks, conquered the Mamalucks, and put an end to their government, and annexed it to the Ottcman empire; of which it is a province to this day, being governed by a Turki/h Bajba, with twenty-four Begs or princes under him, who are raifed, from being fervants, to the adminiftration of public affairs; and fo it is become a bafe kingdom indeed, if to be called one ¥.
¥. 15. And it fhall be the bafeft of the kingdoms, &c.}] That belonged to the Perfian monarchy, or to the Macedonian empire, being more kept under than the reft, left it fhould regain its former ftrength and glory; tho’ it became more famous in the times of fome of the Prolemies, yet never recovered its former greatnefs; and is now exceeding bafe indeed, as appears from the preceding note: neither fhall it exalt itfelf any more above the nations 5 fo as to conquet them, and make them tributary to it, as it had done: for I will demolifh them, that they fhall no more rule over the nations; for tho’ they made war upon other nations in the time of the Lagide; yet they did not fubdue them, and annex them to their kingdom, being much weakened both as to men and money..
¥. 16. And it fall be no more the confidence of thé houfe of Ijrael, &c.] It having been treacherous to them, and moreover fubdued by the Cha/deans, the Jews, even after their return from captivity, put no more confidence in them; it being now become, as it is here prophefied it would, the bafeft of the kingdoms, more weak, and in a more abject ftate, than the reft, and fo defpifed by its neighbours, as it was by the Fews: which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they fhail look after them; as they had done in time paft, when they looked after them for help, and expected it from them, and trufted in them, and ferved their idols; which brought to the Lord’s remembrance former iniquities and idolatries, for which he punifhed them; but now they fhould do fo no more: but they foall know that Iam the Lord God; not the Egyptians, but the J/raelites; who being returned from captivity, fhall acknowledge and ferve the only. true God, and no more worfhip the idols of the nations,
¥. 17. And it came to pafs in the feven and twentieth year, &c.] Of Feconiah’s captivity; or of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, as Farchi, Kimchi, and Abendana, from Seder Olam Rabba*, obferve; tho’
dt was in the 35th year of his reign that Tyre was taken by him, and after that Egypt was given him: in the firft month, ix the firft day of the month; the month Nifan, which anfwers to part of March, and part of April. According to Bifhop Ujher *, it was en the 20th of 4pril, on the third day of the week (Tuefday) in the year of the Julian period 4142, and before Chrift 572. Mr. Whif/fon » makes it to be a year fooner. This prophecy is not put in its proper place, as to order of time, fince it was fixteen or feventeen years after the preceding, and the laft of Ezekiel’s prophecies; but is here placed, becaufe it relates to the fame fubject as the former, the deftruétion of Egypt. The word of the Lord came unto me, faying; as follows, ¥. 18. Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, &c.] The fame with Nebuchadnezzar; he goes by both names in {cripture,; nor is the difference very great: caufed bis army to ferve a great Jervice againft Tyrus; in befieging it thirteen years *, before he was able to take it; during which time, his army fuffered much hardfhip, was greatly fatigued and wearied, by the various military works they were engaged in, to carry on the fiege fo long atime: every head was made bald, and every fhoulder was peeled, the heads of the foldiers became bald with wearing their helmets fo long, or carrying bafkets of earth and timber upon them, to make mounts with; and the fkin of their fhoulders was peeled off, either with their armour, or by carrying burdens on them for the above pure pofe; or as Ferom fays, from the Ajjrian annals, to make a caufeway to join the ifland to the continent, that fo they might come at it with their battering-
Y See all this at large, with the battering-rams, and demolifh it: yet hath be no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus; for befieging it; for as the fame Yerom obferves, when the Tyrians found that the city was like to be taken by him, their gold and filver, and whatfoever that was valuable that was with them, they put on fhip-board, and fent it to other iflands; or as others fay, that when Tyre on the continent, which was what Nebuchadnezzar befieged, was about to be taken, the inhabitants tranfplanted their riches to the ifland at fome diftance, where new Tyre was afterwards built; however, what with the confumption of their riches during this thirteen years fiege, and the removing their effects to other places before the taking of the city, there was fcarce any thing left for the plunder of the king of Badylon’s army, fo that he and that had nothing to requite them: for the fervice that he had ferved againft it; it muft have coft him a great deal of money to fupport fuch a numerous army for fo-long a time, as well as the fiege was very toilfome and laborious; and yet when the city was taken, there was nothing found in it to anfwer this expence and labour.
Since this was the cafe, that the king of Babylon had been working for nothing, and had {pent much blood and treafure, as well as time, to little purpofe and advantage to himfelf: behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Baby- Jon; which will make him a fufficient recompence for his lofs of time, men, and money, before Tyre; and tho’ the conqueft of Egypt was made eafy to him, by the inteftine divifions and wars which were among the Egyptians, yet thefe were fuffered and ordered by the providence of God, to bring about this his will, byway of righteous punifhment of the Egyptians, tor their treachery to his people, and other fins: and he fhall take her multitude; of foldiers, and of inhabitants, and carry them captive: and take her fpoil, and take her prey; that which the Egyptians had fpoiled other nations of, and made a prey of, that fhould now become the fpoil and prey of the Chaldeans: and it fhall be the wages for his army; with this the king of Badylon would be able to pay off the arrears of his army, which had lain fo long againft Zyre; or this would be a recompence to them, for all the hardfhips they there fuftained.
¥. 20. I have given him the land of Egypt for bis labour, wherewith he ferved againft it, &c.] That is, againft Tyre; méaning not Nebuchadnezzar merely or only, but his army alfo, who did the main of the fervice and labour, and had the plunder of the country for it; tho’ the kingdom itfelf was given to their king, and annexed to his monarchy: becaufe they wrought for me, faith the Lord God; not intentionally, but eventually; they did not defign to do any fervice for God; they only fought to ferve themfelves with the riches and wealth of thofe they fubdued; and yet whilft they befieged Tyre, and when they took it, and while they were ravaging, plundering, and fubduing Egypt, they were doing the Lord’s will and work, and executing his righteous judgments on thee. enemies of his for their fins; wherefore he rewarded them fufficiently: none ever are employed by him, but he gives them their wages; even tho’ they are wicked and ungodly men, verily they have their reward.
y. 21. In that day will I caufe the horn of the houfe of Ifrael to bud forth, &c.| Not at the time of Eyypt’s deftruction, unlefs it can be thought that this refers to the advancement of Daniel in the court of Babylon; or to the taking of Feboiachin out of prifon, and fetting his throne above the reft of the kings; which events came to pafs a little after this: but rather this refpects the time of Egyp?’s reftoration forty years after, when Cyrus came to the throne, and proclaimed liberty to the ews, to return to their own land, and build their city and temple, under the government of Zorobabel their prince: befides, it may not be limited to either of thefe times, but may regard the famous day, when the kingdom of J/rae/, in a fpiritual fenfe, fhould flourifh under the Meffiah, the horn of falvation, and branch of David, often promifed to bud forth, and was fulfilled in Fe/us, P/- cxxxiil. 17. Fer. xxiii. 5. Luke i. 68, 69. The Targum is, ‘‘ in that day will I bring redemption “¢ to the houfe of J/rael.” And I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midft of them, in prophecy among them, as the Zargum; who after this might deliver other prophecies, tho” we have no account of them; or he fhould have boldnefs and courage, when he and they fhould fee his prophecies fulfilled, by which it would appear that he was a true prophet of the Lord: and they fhall know that I am the Lord; who fent the prophet, and from whom he had thefe prophecies, and by whom they were fulfilled.
faye: chapter is a continuation of the prophecy againft Egypt, both againft the country, and the king of it. It is introduced with expreffions of lamentation, becaufe of the deftruction coming on, y. 1, 2, 3. and not only Egypt, and the cities thereof, fhould be deftroyed, but all her friends, _affociates, and allies; the Ethiopians, Lydians, Lybians, and others, ¥. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9: Nebuchadnezzar and his army were to be the inftruments of her ruin, ¥. 10, 11, 12. particular cities are mentioned by name, which fhould fuffer much, and become defolate, y. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19. and then Pharaoh king of Egypt himfelf is threatened with broken arms, and his people to be fcattered among the nations, ¥. 20, 21, 22, 23. and the king of Badylen is again mentioned, whofe arms fhould be ftrengthened to do all this, ¥. 24, 25, 206.
¥. 1. The word of the Lord came again unto me, &c.] Whether this prophecy was delivered about the time of that in the former part of the preceding chapter, namely, in the tenth year, tenth month, and twelfth day of it; or whether about the time that was, which is recorded in the latter part of the chapter, in the feven and twentieth year of Feboiachin’s captivity, is not eafy to fay; I am inclined to think it was about the time of the latter, fince the time of the fulfilment of it is faid to be near, ¥. 3: faying, as follows,. ¥. 2. Son of man, prophefy and fay, thus faith the Lord God, &c.] Prophefy againft Zgyp?’s king and inhabitants,