Exposition of the Whole Bible

have cut him off, &c.] Cut off thé boughs and branches of this cedar, and cut him down to the ground; that is, utterly deftroyed him, his empire and monarchy: thefe /erangers were the Medes, who lived in a country diftant from Afyria; and the terrible of the nations; the cruel and mercilefs Chaldeans, the foldiers of the king of Babylon’s army; fee ch. xxx. 11: and have left him upon the mountains, like a tree cut down there, and its boughs and branches lopped off, which roll down from thence into the vallies, and by the rivers of water; fignifying his depreflion from an high and exalted ftate, to a very low one, as follows: and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and bis boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; fignifying, that many provinces and countries under his dominion were broken off, and by force taken away from him; or they broke off and -revolted of themfelves, and either fet up for themfelves, and recovered their former power and authority; or gave up themfelves to the conqueror. ‘The Targum is, ‘* and in all vallies his army fell, and ** his auxiliaries were {cattered by all the rivers of *“* the land:” and all the people of the earth are gone down from his foadow, and have left him; thofe that joined themfelves to his empire, put themfelves under his protection, or fought his friendthip and alliance, now withdrew themfelves from him, and left him alone to fhift for himfelf; as frightened birds and beatts will do, when a tree is cut down and fallen, in the boughs, or under the fhadow of which they dwelt. The Zargum paraphrafes it, “* from the fhadow of his kingdom.” ¥.13. Upon his ruin fhall all the fowls of the heaven remain, &c.] Or, on his fall*; the fall of this tree: and all the beafts of the field fhall be upon his branches; as when a tree is cut down; and its lopped-off branches and boughs lie here and there, either the birds and beafts that before dwelt in it, or under it, tho’ for a while frightened away, return unto it; or others come: the birds come and fit upon the boughs, and pick up what they can find on them; and the beafts broufe upon the branches: this may fignify, that even thofe people who before put themfelves under the protection of this monarch, or fought alliance with him, now preyed upon his dominions; or the Medes and Ba~- bylonians the conquerors, feized on the provinces of the empire, and plundered them of their riches. The Zargum underftands it literally of the fowls of the heaven, and the beafts of the field, feeding upon the carcafes of the flain,; which is no bad fenfe of the paflage 5 thus, ‘* upon the fall of his ‘¢ flain all the fowls of heaven have dwelt, and ‘< upon the carcafes of his army all the beafts of ‘* the field have refted,”’ ¥. 14. Lo the end that none of ail the trees by the waters exalt themfelves for their height, &c.] The end propofed by the Lord in the deftruction of the king of Affria, and the ufe to be made of it is this; that the kings of the earth take warning hereby, who rule over a multitude of people, comparable to waters, and who abound in riches and wealth; that they are not elated with pride and vanity, becaufe of their exalted eftate, their grandeur and dignity; and do not behave. infolently againft God, on whom they depend; nor haughtily and in an oppreffive manner towards their own ol jects, faper prolapfo ejus, Cocceius; fuper cadivum truncum ejus, Junius & Tremellius.- je€ts, over whom they rule: neither fhoot up their ‘op among the thick boughs; affeét univerfal monarchy, as he did; and fet up themfelves over all kingdoms and ftates, as he had over them, and make all fubject to them: either their trees Stand up in their height, that drink water; that is, kings and potentates, who rule over the people, and are fupplied and {upported by them in their exalted ftations, by the tribute and taxes they pay them, and fo abound in riches and power, fhould not truft in the height of honour and power they are raifed to, and treat contemptuoufly God and man; but confider what they are, that they are but men, and are in flippery places, where there is no ftanding long, and efpecially when death comes, as follows: for they are delivered unto death, in the nether parts of the earth; they are mortal by nature, as other men; they are appointed to die, and will be delivered into the hands of death, when the time is come, who will not fpare them, becaufe of their crowns and fcepters; and when they will be laid in the grave, in the loweft parts of the earth, who ufed to fit upon elevated thrones of ftate: in the midft of the children of men, with thofe that go down to the pit; the grave, where they are upon a level with the pooreft and meaneft of their fubjeéts. The Targum is, ‘* that all the kings of the eaft “¢ might not be lifted up with their ftrength, nor ** exercife tyranny over the kingdoms; nor all ** that hold a kingdom lift up themfelves in their ** own ftrength, for all are delivered unto death, #4. 6 ei¥

¥. 15. Thus faith the Lord God, in the day when he went down to the grave, &c.) The Afprian monarch; when his monarchy was deftroyed, and he ceafed to be king, and was {tripped of all his majefty, power, and authority, and was as one dead, and laid in the grave, and buried: J caufed a mourning; that is, for him, in the waters and among the trees, among the people and the kings of the earth, as follows: I covered the deep for him; with mourning, with.thick darknefs, which fet him up on high, ¥. 4: and 1 refrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were ftayed; which made him great, ¥. 4. fignifying by all this, that the kingdoms of the world, comparable to the fea, of which his monarchy confifted, and all the inhabitants and people of them, comparable to floods and great waters, were affected with the fall of this great monarch, and thrown into confternation by it; not knowing what the event of things would be, ftood ftill, and knew not what courfe to take; all bufinefs was {topped, efpecially all traffick by fea, and all trade and commerce every where, a ftagnation of every thing for a while: and I caufed Lebanon to mourn for him, where he was a cedar, ¥. 3. this may refpeét the whole empire he was head of, particularly the kingdom of Syria, on the borders of which Lebanon was, and was a part of the Afjrian empire, which muft mourn and be concerned at the fall of it: and all the trees of the field fainted for him; all the kings of the earth that were in alliance with him, or fubject to him, trembled for fear that their deftru@tion would be next; or as doubtful and concerned what would be their condition, under the yoke of another.. The Targum is, “ tribulation covered the world, and the ** provinces were forfaken, and many people trem- ** bled, and all the kings of the people {mote the ** fhoulder becaufe of him.”,

¥. 16. I made the nations ta fhake at the found of his fall, 8cc.] As when a large cedar was cut down

| and fell: ini Lebanon, the noite of it was heard at a himfelf to be; yet fhalt thou be brought down with diftance; fo when this mighty monarch, and monarchy fell, the nations of the world, and the kings of them, heard of it far and near, and fhook thro’ fear of what would be the confequence, left = = they fhould fall alfo in like manner: whem I caf. him down to bell, or the grave, with them that de- 7 fcend into the pit; in common with other men that die, and are buried: it may refer to his fubjects and foldiers that perifhed with him, who were flain by the fword, and were buried with him, and he with them; no diftinétion being made between them: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and beft of Lebanen, all that drink water; the greateft kings and potentates of the world, the chief and principal of the Afvrian empire; all that ruled over mul+ titudes of people, and partook of their wealth and ~ riches, and were fupported in grandeur and dignity; who had been in the ftate of the dead before this time, foall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth; when they fee fo mighty a monarch depreffed, and brought as low as they, into the fame ~ {tate of meannefs and contempt; as it is fome kind of folace for perfons in diftrefs, to have partners with them: this is a poetical expreffion, reprefenting the dead as rejoicing to fee others in the fame condition with themfelves. The Targum is, ‘© all the kings of the eaft, the governors, and “¢ thofe that are rich in fubftance, all that hold a “¢ kingdom, are comforted in the lower part of “¢ the earth.”

y. 17. They alfo went down to bell with him, &c.] To the grave with him; many of his nobles, princes, generals, foldiers, and fubjects: unto them that be flain with the fword; to be buried and lie with them who had fallen by the fword, as a juft punifhment for their iniquities: aud they that were his arm, either that leaned on his arm, were dependents upon him; or his minifters, his inftruments, whom he employed under him as his deputies, to govern the feveral provinces that belonged to him; or rather his allies and auxiliaries, who helped and affifted him on occafion: that dwelt under bis foadow in the midft of the heathen; in the midft of the nations fubject to the Afprian empire; fuch who put themfelves under the protection of it, lived comfortably under it, and continued with it to the laft; thefe fhared the fame fate as that did. The Yargum is, ‘* his governors ‘«¢ are broken, whom he ftrengthened in the midft “* of the kingdom.”,:

¥. 18, Fo whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatne/s among the trecs of Eden? &c.) Amongaill the kings: and potentates of the earth; pitch on whom you will, fay which of them all, even the ereateft of them for majefty and glory, for wealth and riches, power and authority, and extent of dominion, you are equal to; name the king of Affyria, if you pleafe, before defcribed, tho’ you are not equal to him; and if you were, this would not fecure you from ruin; fince as great as he was he fell, and fo Will you: thisis faid to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and is an application of the pre- ute ceding parable to him; fuggefting, that let him = be as high as any ever.was, or he could imagine the trees of Eden, unto the nether parts of the earth; the grave, and lie in the fame deprefied and humble ftate, as the greateft monarchs that ever were on earth do: thou fhalt lie in the midf of the un-~ circuimcifed; the wicked, as the Targum; the uncircumeifed in heart, who belong not to God, or his people, and have no communion with either, but are fhut out of the kingdom of heaven, and have their portion with devils and damned fpirits: with them that be flain by the fword,; ina way of judgment for their fins: sis is Pharaoh, and all his multitude, faith the Lord God;, this account reprefents Pharaoh, his grandeur, his pride, and his ruin; this fhews what will be the end of him, and of his numerous fubjects. The Septuagint and Arabic verfions render it, fo will be Pharaoh, &c. in of Saas chapter contains two more prophecies concerning the deftruction of Egypt. The date.of the firft is given, ¥. 1. in which the king of Egypt is compared to a large fith taken in a ‘net, and brought to land, and left on it, to be the prey of the fowls of the air, and beafts of the field, y. 2, 3, 4. and the ruin of that kingdom is further amplified, by the cafting of it on the niountains and vallies; by the land flowing with its blood; by the darknefs of the heavens; by the vexation in the hearts of many people; and by the:amazement of kings and nations, y¥. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. the means and inftruments of all which, will be the king of Baéy/on and his army, ¥. 11, 12. the devaftation made by him, which would be fuch, as would caufe lamentation in other nations, is defcribed, ¥. 13, 14, 15, 16. then follows the other prophecy, whofe date is given, y¥. 17. the prophet is bid to lament the fall of -Egypt, which is reprefented under the funeral of a corpfe, ¥. 18, 19, 20. faluted by thofe gone down to the grave before, or were become defolate; which are mentioned, to affure Egypt of its deftruction, ¥..21. as the Affyrian empire, and all its provinces, ¥. 22, 23. the Perfians and Medes, with all their dominions, ¥. 24, 25. the pofterity of Mebech and Tudal, or the Scythians, thofe warlike people, ¥. 26, 27, 28. the Edomites, the princes of the north, and all the Zidonians, ¥. 29, 30. which would be a comfort, though a poor one, to the king of Egypt and his fubjects, to have fuch company with them, y. 1. And it came to pafs in the twelfth year, &c.] Of Feconiah’s captivity, above a year and a half after the taking of Ferufalem, the Syriac verfion reads in the eleventh year: i the twelfth month, in the firft day of the month, the month Adar, which anfwers to part of our February, and part of March, the Septuagint verfion reads it the tenth month: according to bifhop U/ler ', this was on the 22d of March, on the fourth day of the week (Wednefday), in the year of the Fulan period 4127, and 587 years before Chrift: that the word of the Lord came unto me, faying, as follows, x. 2. Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaob king of Egypt, 8c.) Pbharach Hophra, or Apries; fay a funeral dirge for him, this is ordered, not out of honour and réfpect to him, or in compaffion for his mifery and ruin, but to affure him of it: and fay unto him, thou art like a young lion of the nations; for ftrength and fiercenefs, for cruelty and tyranny, which he exerciféd, like manner will he fall, and all his people with him; for the Lord God has {aid it, and it thall affuredly come to pafs. The Targum is, ** to whom ** art thou like now in glory and greatnefs among “* the kings of the eaft? and thou fhalt be brought *¢ down with the’kings of the eaft into the lowér ** part of the earth; in the midft of finners thou fhalt fleep, with thofe that are flain by the fword;

this is Pharaoh, “and’all his multitude, faith the ‘¢ Lord God.”

not in ohe nation only, but in many; <a lively emblem of the beaft of Rome, fpiritually called Egypt and Sodom, compared to a leopard, bear, and lion, Rev. xi. 8, ‘and xiii. 2: and thou art as a whale in the feas; or rather, like a crocodile «, which was common in the rivers of Egypt, but not the whale; which alfo has not feales, nor does it go upon land, ‘nor is it taken in‘a’net; all which is faid of this creature here, and in ch. xxix. 3, 4. and to the crocodile there is an allufion in'the name of Pharaoh, in the Arabic language, as Noldius from Camius obferves”; fee ch..xxix. 3: and thou caimeft forth with thy rivers, or, by thy rivers *; as the crocodile in the river Wile, by the arms of ‘it, or canals made out of it, fometimmes went out ‘ftom thence to other parts: or, out of thy rivers” 5 upon the land, as the crocodile does; fo the king of Egypt went forth with his armies out of his ‘own land, into other countries to difturb them, as follows: or rather, cameft forth in thy rivers; as the crocodile puts forth its‘head out of the ‘water for refpiration: and thou troubleft the waters with thy feet, and fouleft their rivers, juft as the feet of meh or beafts in fhallow waters, raife up the mud or clay-at the bottom, and fo foul them; this beft agrees with the crocodile, which has feet; Grotiis thinks for this reafon, the fea-horfe is intended; the meaning is, that Pharaoh with his foldiers entered other nations, made war upon them, and difturbed their peace and tranquillity. The Targum is, ** thou ‘haft been ftrong among the people, as ‘* a whale in the feas, thou haft fought with thine ‘¢ army; and thou haft moved the people with *¢ thine auxiliaries, and thou haft wafted their pro- ‘© vinces.””

¥. 3. Thus faith the Lord God, &c.] The Lord. God almighty, who is able to manage this fierce and turbulent creature, this mighty monarch and difturber of the nations: J will therefore préad out my net over thee with a company of ‘many people ¥ meaning the Chaldean army, which the Lord would inftigate, and by his providence bring againft the king of Egypt, and furround him as fifhes in a nét, and take him and his people; fee ch. xii. 13, and xvii. 20: and they fhall bring thee up in my net; out of his rivers, out of his fortreffes, out of his own land, and carry him captive, or deftroy him.

y. 4. Then will I leave thee upon the land, &c.] Like a fifh that is drawn out of the waters with a net or hook; and laid on dry land, and left gafping and expiring, where it can’t long live: / wi// caft thee forth on the open field; the famie in different words, fignifying that his army fhould fall in battel by the fward of the pee or Chaldeans, or both, and be Jeft-on the furface of the earth unburied: and will caufe all the fowls of the heavens to remain upon thee, and I will fill the beafts of the whole earth with thee; which may be underftood either literally of the fowls of the air, that fhould light upon the flain carcafes, and reft on them till they had fatisfied themfelves with their flefh; and of the beafts of the field that fhould gather about them from all parts, and fill themfelves with them, fee Rev. xix. 17, 18. or figuratively of the foldiers of the enemies army, that fhould plunder them, and enrich themfelves with the fpoil.

y. 5. And Iwill lay thy flefh upon the mountains, &c.] The remainder of it, left by the birds and beafts of prey, and who might carry it thither; or it intends fuch of the Zgyptians who fhould flee to the mountains for fafety, but fhould fall by the hands of the enemy there. So the Zargum, ‘‘ and ‘* J will give the flefh of thy flain upon the moun- “¢ tains.” And fill the vallies with thy height; his huge army, and with which he prided and lifted up himfelf, and thought himfelf fafe in; which fhould fall in fuch great numbers, as to cover the plains and vallies where the battel was fought. Farchi obferves, that the word for eight, has with fome the fignification of worms: and fo the Syriac verfion renders it, and the vallies fhall be filled with thy worms; bred in the carcafes of the flain: and fo the Vulgate Latin verfion, with corrupt matter; fuch as iffues out of putrified wounds. ‘The Zargum very rightly paraphrafes it, ‘* the vallies fhall ** be filled with the carcafes of thine army.”

¥. 6. And I will alfo water with thy blood the land wherewith thou fwimmeft, &c.] Where he refided, over which he ruled; alluding to his being compared to a fifh, a whale, or a crocodile; and which land abounded with all good things, and he with them; inftead of being watered with the waters of the Nile, by which it became fruitful, it fhould now be flooded with the blood of his army: even to the mountains; an hyperbolical expreffion, fignifying the vaft quantity of blood that fhould be fhed; fee the like in Rev. xiv. 20: and the rivers foall be full of thems, of the carcafes of his army, and of the blood of them; they fhould lie about every where, on mountains and vallies, on the land and in the rivers; and which fhould now be turned into blood, as the rivers of Egypt of old were; and which figure is ufed to exprefs the deftruétion of the antichriftian ftates; fee Exed. vii. 20. Rev. Xvi. 3, 4.

¥. 7. And when I fhall put thee out, &c.] -Asa candle is put out, or fome great light or blazing torch is extinguifhed; fuch was the king of Egypt in his fplendor and glory; but now fhould be like a lamp put out in obfcure darknefs, and all his brightnefs and glory removed from him, od xviii. 5. and xx. 17. Prov. xiil. 9. and xx. 20: J will cover the heaven, and make the ftars thereof dark; with the {moke that fhould arife at the extinguifhing of this lamp; or they fhould be covered with mourning, or clad in black, at the deftruétion of this monarch, and his monarchy: I will cover the Jun with a cloud, and the moon fhall not give her light; all which figures are fometimes made ufe of to denote the diffolution of kingdoms and {tates: the seaven being an emblem of a kingdom itfelf; the fun of an emperor or king, or kingly power;

the mcon of the queen, or of the priefthood; the flars of nobles, princes, counfellors, and fuch like eminent perfons, ufeful in government; who being deftroyed or removed, the light and glory, the profperity and happinefs of a kingdom, are gone; fee If. xiii. 10. Rev. vi. 12, 13. The Targum is, ‘¢ tribulation fhall cover thee, when I fhall extinguifh the fplendor of the glory of thy kingdom from heaven; and the people of thine army fhall be lefflened, who are many as the {tars; a king with his army fhall cover thee as a cloud, that afcends and covers the fun, and as the moon, whofe light does not fhine in the day.” ¥. 8. All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, &c.}] Or, all the lights of the light *; — the reft of the luminaries of heaven; the other five planets, as Kimchi, befides the fun and moon: ana fet darknefs upon thy land, faith the Lord God; as there muft needs be, the fun, moon, and ftars, and all the lights of heaven, being darkened above: there feems to be an allufion to the thick darknefs that was formerly over the land of Egypt; and this is a figure and reprefentation of that darknefs that fhall be in the kingdom of the beaft, or fpiritual Egypt, yet to come; fee Exod. x. 21. Rev. xvi. 10. The Zargum is, ‘ tribulation as darknefs fhall ** cover thy land.” ¥. 9. 1 will alfo vex the hearts of many people, &c.] With anger and grief, with fear and dread, with confternation and amazement: when I jhall bring thy defiruction among the nations, or, thy breach », the news of it, the tidings of their de+ ftruction; which by one means or another fhould come to their ears, and fill them with concern and great anxiety of mind; fo rich and powerful a kingdom being fubdued, and the king of Babylon made fo great thereby, and fearing they fhould fall a prey unto him alfo. The Targum renders it, ‘* when ‘¢ J fhall bring the broken of thy war” that is, the foldiers that fhould be wounded in battel, their limbs broke, and they taken captive, and brought among the nations, difmal fpectacles to look at; and which- fhould be brought ‘#to countries which thou haft not known; at a diftance from Egypt, and which had no commerce nor communication with them, nor were their friends and allies; yet as their deftruction would reach their ears, fo it would affect their hearts, and fill them with vexation and grief; not fo much on account of Egypt, as the growing power of Nebuchadnezzar, and the danger they were in of falling into his hands. ¥. 10. Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee, &c.] That fo potent a ftate, and fuch a flourifhing kingdom, fhould at once be fo eafily fubdued and conquered: and their kings fhall be horribly afraid for thee; becaufe of her: deftruction, left their turn fhould be next; fo the kings _ of the earth will be afraid, when God’s judgments are executed on myftical Egypt; fee Rev. xviii. g, 10: when I fhall brandifh my fword before them; the fword of the king of Badylom after-mentioned, called the Lord’s, becaufe it was by his appointment and permiffion, and came by the direétion of his providence, and was fucceeded by his power: this glittering fword being brandifhed over Egypr, in the fight of the nations round about, was ter-_ rible to them; dreading that it would not be put up until it was fheathed in them, or they felt the effects of it: or, when I fhall caufe it to fly before. them; -

them; in their fight, and upon the borders of their countries; expreflive of the fwiftnefs of its motion, the fudden deftruction it brought on Egypr, and its nearnefs to them. The Zargum is, *¢ when ‘© | fhall bring upon thee thofe that kill with the “© fword.” And they fhall tremble at every moment; from moment to moment, or continually; they fhall never be free from fear: every man for his own life, in the day of thy fall, not kings for their fubjects, or fubjects for their kings, but every man for himfelf; expecting every moment that the {word which flew and ravaged through Egypt, and now hovered over them, would be inftantly plunged in y¥. 11. For thus faith the Lord God, the fword of the king of Babylon fhall come upon thee.| Upon Pharaoh and his kingdom; having a commiffion and a direction from the Lord, and which would be the inftrument of the deftruction before threatned. The Zargum is, ‘* thofe that flay with the “«< fword of the king of Babylon, fhall come upon “* or againft thee;” his army fword in hand.

yy. 12. By the fwords of the mighty will I cauje thy multitude to fall, &c.| Pharaob’s numerous fubjects; or his army, as the Targum; the vaft number of foldiers in it, whofe carcafes fhould fall in battel by the fword of the Chaldeans, the mighty men of Nebuchadnezzar’s army: the terrible of the nations all of them; which army confifted of men of feveral nations, and thofe the moft terrible, fierce, and cruel, by whofe fwords this flaughter fhould be made: and they fhall fpoil the pomp of Egypt; cut off the king, the princes of the blood, the nobility and gentry, the prime of the nation; plunder the king’s palace of all the wealth and riches in it, the treafury of the kingdom; deftroy the metropolis of it; demolifh its cities and fortified places, and take away all its ftrength and glory: and all the multitude thereof fhall be deftroyed; all the people of the land, high and low, rich and poor; the deftruction fhall be general, all ranks and degrees of men fhal] fhare in it.

¥. 13. I will deftroy alfo all the beafts thereof from befides the great waters, &c.| Which ufed to graze befides the river Ni/e, and the canals of it, in the plains and meadows, vallies and hills, which thefe ran by; meaning both horfes, which Egypt abounded with, and would be good booty for the Chaldeans, and oxen and fheep, which they would kill for prefent ufe, or drive away for future fervice: neither fhall the foot of man trouble them any more, nor the hoofs of beafts trouble them; there fhould fo few remain of men and beafts, that the waters of the rivers would not be difturbed, either by men pafling over them, and doing any bufinefs upon them, or by beafts drinking at them.

y¥. 14. Then will I make their waters deep, &c.] Either the waters of Egypt literally, the waters of the Nile; no canals being cut from it, to carry the water to the feveral parts of the land, the land being depopulated, and no bufinefs. done: or figuratively, other nations compared to waters for their numbers, who before had been difturbed by the Egyptians; but now they being deftroyed, thefe would be at eafe, like troubled waters, which fubfide, and become deep and clear, when there is none to trouble them: and cau/e their rivers to run like oil, faith the Lord God, very flowly, as if they were mourning the unhappy condition of the land; or fmoothly, clearly, undifturbed as before. The Targum is, ‘* there will I caufe the people to reft, thofe countries, and the inhabitants of them, that were in alliance and friendfhip with her; that is, declare by prophecy, that they fhall be caft down and deftroyed, or be brought down from the height of grandeur and profperity in which they now were, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down to the pit; not unto ftately-fepulchres built | on high, fuch as were made for the kings of Egypr; but unto common pits or graves, dug in the lower and I will lead their kings quietly, faiéli the «© Lord God.”

¥. 15. When I fhall make the land of Egypt defolate, &c.] The cities being demolifhed, the inhabitants deftroyed with the {word, or carried captive: and the country fhall be deftitute of that whereof it was full; men and cattel, corn and other fruits of the earth, wealth and riches, pomp arid grandeur: when I shall finite all them that dwell therein; with the fword of the Chaldeans: then Jeall they know that I am the Lord; for God is known in the perfections of his nature, omnipotence, ominifcience, holinefs, juttice, Sc, by the judgments he executes; for this is not to be underftood of a {fpiritual knowledge of him, but of a terrible conviction of the truth of his being and attributes, by the awful difpenfations of his providence.

¥. 46, This is the lamentation, with which they Joall lament her, &c.}. The Egyptians themfelves, or rather they that are after-mentioned. The Zargum is, ‘* the prophet faid, a lamentation is this ‘¢ prophecy, and it fhall be for a lamentation;” he was bid at the beginning of it to take up a lamentation, and now at the end of it he pronounces it to be one, and that it fhould be fung as fuch’: the daughters of the nations fhall lament for her; either literally underftood, it being the bufinefs and cuftom of women to fay or fing the funeral dirge, or the lamentation at the interment of the deceafed; or figuratively, the inhabitants of other nations. So Ben Melech and the Targum, “ the “ villages of the people fhall lament her;”’ that is, the inhabitants of them, who were in alliance with Egypt, and under its protection: they /hall lament for ber, even for Egypt, and for all her multitude + for the defolation of the land, and for the vaft numbers of people that fhould be flain with the {word, or carried captive: faith the Lord God, which is added for the confirmation of it; for what he has fpoken fhall be done.

¥. 17. It came to pafs alfo the twelfth year, &c.] Another prophecy of the like kind was delivered out the fame year as before: i the fifteenth day of the month, of the twelfth month, the month dar, which is not here exprefled, becaufe mentioned before, ¥. 1. it was about a fortnight after the other prophecy. The Septuagint and Arabic verfions read it, *¢ it came to pafs in the twelfth year, “* the firft month, the fifteenth day of the month,” according to which, this prophecy was before the other, which is not to be fuppofed.

¥. 18. Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, &c.] Sing a funeral fong or dirge, or compofe one, to be fung by the mourning women, on account of the vaft numbers of the inhabitants of Egypt that fhall be flain; for. the prophet himfelf would not mourn, but rejoice, on this occafion; but this is faid to fhew the certainty of the deftruction, and the lamentation that would be made on that account: and caft them down, even ber and the daughters of the famous nations, Egypt, and all

© \DD ID cum volare fecero, Munfter, Tigurine verfion. Abendana mentions fuch a fenfe of the word.

arts of the earth, where the meaner and common fort of people were buried; there fhould be no diftinétion between them and others, they fhould have one common burial. The Targum is, “ fon <* of man, prophefy concerning the multitude of «< Egypt, and break her, even her, and the villages of the mighty people; prophefy that they fhall «be delivered unto the loweft earth, with thofe “© that go down to the pit of the houfe of perdi- §¢: tigna.

y¥. 19. Whom doft thou pafs in beauty, &c.] ‘This queftion the prophet is bid to put to Egypt; what nation is there, or has been, that thou excelleft in wifdom, in riches, or in ftrength, in the multitude of fubjeéts, or extent of dominions, that thou thinkeft thyfelf fecure from deftruction? look over other kingdoms and ftates mightier than thou, or at leaft equal to thee, and fee how they are brought to ruin, and expect that this will quickly be thy cafe: go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcifed; go down to the grave, and take thy place, and lie there among the wicked and moft profligate of mankind, and fuch as might be moft de- {pifed by the Egyptians, fince they ufed circumcifion. The Targum is, ‘* go down and fleep with s© finners.”

y. 20. They fhall fall in the midft of them that are flain by the fword, &c.| The Egyptians fhall fall in battel by the fword of the Chaldeans: fhe ts delivered to the fword, Egypt is given to the fword, to perifh by it, for her fins, according to the juft appointment of God: draw her and all her multiiudes, to the place of burial; not in pomp and fplendor, as great perfons are drawn in hearfes; but in great difgrace, as carcafes are dragged unto a common pit or grave, and caft into it: this is faid to the Chaldeans, who had a commiffion from the Lord to flay Egypt, and to bury her, and all her people.

y¥. 21. The ftrong among the mighty fhall {peak to him, &c.] The ftrongeft of them, fuch who have excelled others in ftrength and courage, famous for military exploits, who have been generals of armies, great warriors, and conquerors; and yet with all their might and ftrength could not withftand death, but were fubdued by it, and brought down to the grave; thefe are, by a poetical figure, reprefented as meeting Pharaoh king of Egypt, when he came to his grave, faluting and welcoming him to the ftate of the dead in which they were; taking a fort of comfort in it, and infulting him as being as weak as they; fee I/ xiv. g, 10, 16. which they fhould do out of the midft of hell; or the grave, Hades, the ftate of the dead: with them that help kim; the affociates, allies, and friends of Pharaob, his auxiliaries that fell with him, and were brought to the grave at the fame time with him; thefe fhould be befpoke, faluted, and welcomed in like manner: they are gone down; to the grave; thofe mighty ones that are reprefented as {peaking, and the Egyptians and their helpers who are fpoken to: they he uncircumcifed,; among them that are fo, y. x 9: flain by the fword; of their enemies, who got the victory over them.

¥. 22. Afbur is there, and all ber company, &c.] In the ftate of the dead, or in a moft defolate and ruinous condition; the great Afyrian monarchy, the kings of it, the princes, nobles, generals, foldiers, and the vaft number of fubjects in all the dominions of it; all his army, as the Targum;

at his funeral: Ais graves are about him; either the - graves of Pharaoh and his multitude are round about the graves of the 4//yrian monarch and his fubjects, as Kimchi, or rather the graves’ of his fubjeéts and foldiers are round about him: it feems to reprefent the king of Afyria as having a more ftately monument, and the graves of his people as lefler ones round about him, but all in the fame condition: all of them flain, fallen by the fword; of their enemies, the Medes and the Babylonians, by whom the A/yrian monarchy was deftroyed.

¥. 23. Whofe graves are fet in the fides of the pit, &c.] Or vault, where lay the king of Afpria, and thofe who fell by the fword with him, who are reprefented as lying in graves all around him; the neareft to him thofe who were in the higheft pofts and moft valiant and courageous, and next the common foldiers, as follows: and her company is round about her grave; not Pharaoh’s com round about the grave of the Affrian monarch; but the company of the king of dffria, or his army, as the Yargum, round about his grave, or lying about in the ruins of his kingdom: a// of them Slain, fallen by the fword, which caufed terror in the land of the living; even they who now are in the ftate of the dead, and can no more:difturb and diftrefs any, while they were alive, or in the world, ftruck terror in all neighbouring ftates and kingdoms; threatening deftruction to them, and obliging them to fubmit to their tyranny and exactions. ‘archi interprets this of the land of Drael; and the Yewi/> writers commonly underftand by the Jand of the living the land of Cavaan, wherever they meet with it; becaufe here men worthipped the living God, and lived before him; and the inhabitants of this land were often terrified by the ki of Afyria. So the Targum, “ becaufe they ruled ‘¢ in the land of J/rael.”

¥. 24. There is Elam, and all her multitude round about her grave, &c.] The kingdom of the Medes and Perfians lying in ruin, and the potent kings thereof in the ftate of the dead; with their army, as the Arabic verfion, flain and deftroyed, and placed round about the grave of the king of Perfia; for of him rather it is to be underftood, than of the king of Afjria, or of Egypt, asfome: all of them flain, fallen by the fword, either of the Scythians in the reign of Cyaxares; or of Nebuchadnezzar a few years before this, in the reign of Zedekiab king of Fudah; fee Fer. xlix, 34—39: which are gone down uncircumcifed, into the nether parts of the earth; unholy perfons, profane finners, deftitute of the grace of God; who were gone down into the grave, and even into hell and everlafting deftruction, as their fins deferved: which caufed their terror in the land of the living; made a great noife in the world, and ftruck a pannic in neighbouring nations, invaded and conquered by them; - this they did whilft living, but now being in the ftate of the dead, nothing was to be feared from them: yet have they borne their foame with them that go down to the pit; were obliged to fubmit to death, and a fhameful one, by the hands of their conquerors, and to be laid with ignominy in the grave with others, without any mark of diftinGion; all being upon a level, caft into the fame pit of deftruction, and into the lower parts of it; tho’ their king might have a magnificent fepulchre erected for him, as follows,

¥. 25. They have fet her bed in the midf of the this, with what follows, fhews who the mighty | are, that fhould meet and addrefg the king of Egypt lain, with all her multitude, &c.] The grave is called a bed, J/ lvii. 2. whereon is put the chral cheft or coffin, in which the body is laid, | and refts as on a bed. It may here defign a ftately fepulchre or coffin in it, with a magnificent monument over it for the king of El/am, with his army, and the generals of it flain in battel, placed all around him, in lefs ftately beds, coffins and graves, as explained in the next claufe: her graves are round about him; the king of Perfia and his grave, furrounded with the graves of his foldiers and officers: all of them uncircumcifed, flain by the fword: tho’ their terror was caufed in the land of the living, yet have they borne their fhame with them that go down to the pit; which is repeated for the confirmation of it: he is put in the midft of them that be flain, the king of Elam or Perfia; he is laid among the flain, having fallen with them, and his grave is placed in the midft of them.

¥. 26. There is Mefhech, ‘Tubal, and all her multitude, &c.] The Scythiens, a powerful and warlike people; and all their armies, as the Zargum; with their leaders, generals and commanders, as lying in their graves next to the Afyrians and Elamites, or Perfians: her graves are round about him; not the king of Egypt, nor the king of 4/- fyria, nor the king of Perfa; but the chief commander of the Scy¢bians, called the chief’ prince of Mejbech and Tubal, ch. xxxviil. 2: all of them flain by the fword; of Halyattes king of Lydia, and Cyaxares king of Media, who was affifted by the former in fubduing the Scythians: tho’ they caufed ibeir terror in the land of the living, as they did in Media, and other countries, and efpecially in fome parts of dfa.

¥. 27. And they foall not lie with the mighty, that are fallen of the uncircumcifed, &c.] That is, ‘fhall not lie in fuch ftate, or be buried with fuch pomp and magnificence, and have fuch fepulchral monuments erected to their memory, as other heroes among the heathens have had; fuch as the mighty kings of Afjria and Perfia betore-mentioned: which are gone down to bell, or the grave, with their weapons of war; which were never taken from them, and which they held in their hands to the laft, being never conquered, and died at laft a natural death, and not by the fword; or which were carried in ftate before their hearfe at the time of interment, as is the cuftom to this day fo to do at the funeral of great warriors, generals and officers: and they have laid their fwords under their beads; as a fign and token, as Farchi fays, that the {word did not rule over them, that they did not fall by it; either their ftatues and fepulchral monuments were adorned with thefe, and other inftruments of war, as was the grave of Mifexus by ZEneas *; and as is ftill the cuftom where the heads of fuch mighty ones are laid, to engrave them on them: or literally, their {words and other weapons of war were put in their graves under their heads; as it was ufual in former times, in fome places to put fwords, fhields and other armour in the graves of military men, as were in the grave of The/feus, on the bier of A/exander the Great, and others, as reported by Plutarch, Diodorus Siculus, and Sophocles *: now the Scythians were not buried after this grand and pompous manner: but their iniquities fall be upon their bones; or the punifhment of their fin fhould be, that their bones fhould lie unburied and fcattered about, or be dug up and broke to pieces, and treated with inhumanity and contempt, as a p's ogi» eal ROS Be 16% juft reward for their favagenefS and cruelty: tho they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living; not only the terror of the common people, but even of the moft powerful kings and mighty warriors.

¥.28. Yea, thou foalt be broken in the midft of the uncircumeifed, 8cc.]. Kimchi, and {o others, think this is faid to Pharaoh king of Egypt; but rather it refpects the prince of the Scythians, who fhould fall into the hands of heathens, and be de- {troyed by them: and fhalt lie with them that are Jlain with the fword; be buried with them, or in like manner as they are; and not. ds mighty warriors, who diea natural death in their own country, and ate buried in a ftately and magnificent manner; but like thofe that fall by the fword of the enemy, and are thrown into one common pit.;

¥. 29. There is Edom, her kings, and all ber princes, &c.] In the next place, near the graves of the above-mentioned, and in the fame ruinous and defolate condition lie the famous kingdom of Idumea, and the feveral kings and dukes of it, from the firft fetting of it up, to its laft deftruction prophefied of, ch. xxv. 12, 13, 14. of many of which mention is made, Gen. xxxvi. 15—43: which with their might are laid by them that are flain with the /word; who, notwithftanding their powerful armies, and prowefs and fkill in war, yet are conquered, and deftroyed, and laid in graves in like manner as all others flain by the fword of the enérmy are: they foall lie with the uncircumeifed; for tho’ they themfelves were circumcifed, being the defcendents of Efau the fon of J/aac, the fon of Abrabam, on whote feed circumcifion was enjoined; yet this did not fecure them from a violent death, and an ignominious burial; they being uncircumeifed in heart, wicked and ungodly men, and fo fhould be joined in their death and burial with fuch: and with them that go down to the pit; the common receptacle of the flain.

¥. 30. There be the \princes of the north, &c.} The kings of Babylon, according to Kimchi, which lay north of Fudea; or the princes of Syria, Damafcus and Tyre, efpecially the latter, which commonly goes along with Zidou, being near it, as follows: and all the Zidonians. ‘The Vulgate Latin verfion renders it, and all the hunters; but wrongly; as alfo the Septuagint and Arabic verfions, which read the. princes or foldiers of Affria. ‘The Zidonians or inhabitants of Zidoy are meant, as the Targum: a famous maritime city, as Tyre alfo was, in Phenicia: which are gone down with the flain; into the grave, being conquered and deftroyed by Nebuchadnezzar fee ch. xxviii. 21 —23: with their terror they are afhamed of their might; the. nimber and ftrength of their armies, the valour and courage of their foldiers, and the fortifications of their cities, in which they trufted, and of which they boafted; but yet could not preferve them from ruin: and they lie uncircumcifed with them that be Jlain by the fword; in common with other profane and wicked perfons that have fallen by the {word as they have done: and bear their foame with them that go down to the pit, fee the note on y. 24.

y.31. Pharaoh fall fee them, and fhall be comforted over his multitude, &c.| That is, when Pharaob is brought to the grave, and into the {tate of the dead, he fhall look about him, and fee who lie by him; and he fhall behold the above men-. tioned ke A ER tioned kings of Afjria, Perfia, Idumea, and the princes of Tyre and Zidon, and all their mighty armies, generals and foldiers in the fame condition with himfelf; and this fhall be fome folace to him in his own death, and at the lofs of fo great a kingdom, fuch numerous fubjects, and a vaft army, that others as rich, as powerful as himfelf, lie in the fame low and miferable condition; tho’ fuch comfort as this muft be poor comfort indeed! and yet this is all the comfort wicked men have in hell, that they have company with them there: even Pharaoh and all bis army flain by the fword. Pharaoh-hopbra and his numerous army flain by the fword of the king of Badylon. This explains who is meant by Pharaoh and his multitude: and that this would certainly be his cafe, it is added, faith the Lord God; he hath fpoken it, and it fhall be done; whofe words are continued in the next verte.

¥. 32. For I have caufed my terror in the land of the living, &c.] Or, bis terror‘; there is a r¥*HIS chapter treats of the prophet’s duty, if and the peoples fins; contains a vindication of the juftice of God; a threatning of deftruction to thofe who remained in the land after the taking of the city; and a detection of the hypocrify of plication of this to the prophet, y¥. 7. the fum of whofe bufinefs is to warn the wicked man of his wickednefs; and the confequence of doing, or not doing it, is expreffed, y. 8, 9. an objection of the people, and the prophet’s anfwer to it, ¥.10, 11. who is bid to acquaint them, that a righteous. man trufting to his righteoufnefs, and finning, fhould not live; and that a finner repenting of his fins, fhould not die, ¥. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. the peoples charge of inequality in the ways of God is retorted upon them, and removed from the Lord, and proved againft them, ¥. 17, 18, 19, 20. then. follows a prophecy, delivered out after the news was brought of the taking of the city, threatning with ruin thofe that remained in the land, confident of fafety, and that for their fins, which are particularly enumerated, ¥. 21, 22, 23, 245 255 26, 27, 28,29. and the chapter is clofed with a difcovery of the hypocrify of thofe that attended the prophet’s miniftry, ¥. 30, 31, 32, 33. A

¥.1. Again, the word of the Lord came unto me, &c.] After the delivery of various: prophecies concerning the ruin of other nations, the mmonties, Tyrians and Egyptians, a frefh prophecy comes trem the Lord concerning the. Fews: faying, as follows:

¥.2. Som of man, fpeak to the children of thy people, &c.] The Jews, of whom the prophet was; and defigns thofe who were with him in. the

Lord will not own them for his people, but calls them the prophet’s people, and the. children: of them: and fay unto them, when I bring the fword upon a land, a foreign enemy with an army to in-~ vade it, or any other judgment; for there is no public calamity whatever that comes upon a peo-