He shows the elders their A. M. 3411. A. M. 3411. Ol. XLVI. 4. Tarquinii Prisci, the abominations of their fa- not hearken unto me: they did 5 And say unto them, Thus 1 9 But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt. 10 Wherefore I caused them to go forth. out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. 7 Then said I unto them, Cást ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and 11 And I gave them my statutes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: showed them my judgments, which if a I am the LORD your God. man do, he shall even live in them. 8 But they rebelled against me, and would fExod. vi. 7; Deut. vii. 6. Or, sware; and so ver. 6, &c.; Exod. vi. 8.- Exod. iii. 8; iv. 31;- Deut. iv. 34. Exod. xx. 2. Exod. iii. 8, 17; Deut. viii. 7, 8, 9; Jer. xxxii. 22. IPsa. xlviii. 2; ver. 15; Dan. viii. 9; xi. 16, 41; Zech. vii. 14. Chap. xviii. 31.- n 2 Chron. xv. 8.- - Lev. xvii. 7; xviii. 3; Deut. xxix. 16, 17, 18; Josh. xxiv. 14. bellion, and idolatry of the Jews, from the earliest times to that day; and vindicates the sentence which God, had pronounced against them, and which he was about to execute more fully in delivering them and the city into the hands of the Chaldeans. Verse 5. I chose Israel] They did not choose me for their God, till I had chosen them to be my people. I lifted up mine hand] I bound myself in a covenant to them to continue to be their God, if they should be faithful, and continue to be my people. Among the Jews the juror lifted up his right hand to heaven; which explains Psa. cxliv. 8: "Their right hand is a right hand of falsehood." This is a form used in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Verse 6. To bring them forth of the land of Egypt When they had been long in a very disgraceful and oppressive bondage. A land that I had espied for them] God represents himself as having gone over different countries in order to find a comfortable residence for these people, whom he considered as his children. Flowing with milk and honey] These were the characteristics of a happy and fruitful country, producing without intense labour all the necessaries and comforts of life. Of the happiest state and happiest place, a fine poet gives the following description : Ver erat æternum, placidique tepentibus auris - OVID'S Metam. lib. i., 107. On flowers`unsown soft Zephyr spreads his wing, And time itself was one eternal spring; 12 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, P Chap. vii. 8; ver. 13, 21. See Exod. xxxii. 12; Num. xiv. 13, &c.; Déut. ix. 28; ver. 14, 22; chap. xxxvi. 21, 22. Exod. xiii. 18.- Deut. iv. 8; Neh. ix. 13, 14; Psa. cxlvii. 19, 20. Heb. made them to know." Lev. xviii. 5; ver. 13, 21; Rom. x. 5; Gal. iii. 12.—v Exod. xx. 8; xxxi. 13, &c.; Xxxv, 2; Deut. v. 12; Neh. ix. 14. Ensuing years the yellow harvest crowned, The bearded blade sprang from the untilled ground, And laden, unrenewed, the fields were found. Floods were with milk, and floods with nectar filled, And honey from the sweating oaks distilled. In the flourishing state of Judea every mountain was cultivated as well as the valleys. Among the very rocks the vines grew luxuriantly. Put Verse 7. Cast ye away-the abominations] away all your idols; those incentives to idolatry that ye have looked on with delight. Verse 8. They did not-cast away] They continued attached to the idolatry of Egypt; so that, had I consulted my justice only, I should have consumed them even in Egypt itself. This is a circumstance that Moses has not mentioned, namely, their provoking God by their idolatry, after he had sent Moses and Aaron to them in Egypt. Verse 9. But I wrought for my name's sake] I bare with them and did not punish them, lest the heathen, who had known my promises made to them, might suppose that I had either broken them through some caprice, or was not able to fulfil them. Verse 10. I caused them to go forth] Though greatly oppressed and degraded, they were not willing to leave their house of bondage. I was obliged to force them away. Verse 11. I gave them my statutes] I showed them what they should do in order to be safe, comfortable, wise, and happy; and what they should avoid in order to be uninjured in body, mind, and possessions. Had they attended to these things, they should have lived by them. They would have been holy, healthy, and happy. Verse 12. I gave them my Sabbaths] The religious 14 But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out. 15 Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands; 16 с Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths for their heart went after their idols. e 17 Nevertheless minc eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness. 18 But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols : w Num. xiv. 22; Psa. lxxviii. 40; xcv. 8, 9, 10.x Ver. 16, 24; Prov. i. 25.- - Exod. xvi. 27. Num. xiv. 29; xxvi. 65; Psa. cvi. 23. Ver. 9, 22.b Num. xiv. 28; Psa. xcv. 11; cvi. 26. c Ver. 6.- d Ver. 13, 24. e Num. xv. 39; Psa. lxxviii. 37; Amos v. 25, 26; Acts vii. 42, 43.- f Psa. lxxviii. 38.- - Deut. v. 32, 33; vi., vii., viii., X., xi, xii. observance of the Sabbath was the first statute or command of God to men. This institution was a sign between God and them, to keep them in remembrance of the creation of the world, of the rest that he designed them in Canaan, and of the eternal inheritance among the saints in light. Of these things the Sabbath was a type and pledge. Verse 13. But the house of Israel rebelled] They acted in the wilderness just as they had done in Egypt; and he spared them there for the same reason. See ver. 9. Verse 15. I lifted up my hand] Their provocations in the wilderness were so great, that I vowed never to bring them into the promised land. I did not consume them, but I disinherited them. See the note on ver. 5. Verse 18. But I said unto their children] These I chose in their fathers' stead; and to them I purposed to give the inheritance which their fathers by disobedience lost. Verse 22. I withdrew mine hand] I had just lifted it up to crush them as in a moment; for they also were idolatrous, and walked in the steps of their fathers. of the Israelites. A. M. 3411. B. C. 593. OL XLVI. 4. Anno Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., 24. 19 I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; 20h And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God. i 21 Notwithstanding the children, rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, 1I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness. 22 m Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth. 23 I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries; 24 Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols. 25. Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live; Verse 25. I gave them also statutes that were not good] What a foolish noise has been made about this verse by critics, believers and infidels! How is it that God can be said "to give a people statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they could not live?” I answer, in their sense of the words, God never gave any such, at any time, to any people. Let any man produce an example of this kind if he can; or show even the fragment of such a law, sanctioned by the Most High! The simple meaning of this place and all such places is, that when they had rebelled against the Lord, despised his statutes, and polluted his Sabbaths-in effect cast him off, and given themselves wholly to their idols, then he abandoned them, and they abandoned themselves to the customs and ordinances of the heathen. That this is the meaning of the words, requires no proof to them who are the least acquainted with the genius and idioms of the Hebrew language, in which God is a thousand times said to do, what in the course of his providence or justice he only permits to be done. Notwithstanding their sins, A. M. 3411. B. C. 593. Anno Ol. XLVI. 4. Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman, 24. S CHAP. XX. b mercy is promised them. A. M. 3411. B. C. 593. OL. XLVI: 4. Anno 26 And I polluted them in pollute yourselves with all your their own gifts, in that they caused idols, even unto this day: and to pass through the fire all that shall I be inquired of by you, Tarquinii Prisci, openeth the womb, that I might O house of Israel? As I live, R. Roman., 24. nake them desolate, to the end that they might saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of Know that I am the LORD. by you. t w 28 For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savour, and poured out there their drink-offerings. 29 Then I said unto them, What is the high place whereunto ye go? And the name thereof is called Bamah unto this day. 30 Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Gon; Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye whoredom after their abominations? 31 For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons.to a pass through the fire, ye 82 Kings xvii. 17; xxi. 6; 2 Chron. xxviii. 3; xxxiii. 6; Jer. xxxii. 35; chap. xvi. 20, 21. Chap. vi. 7. Rom. ii. 24. Heb. trespassed a trespass.- - Isa. lvii. 5, &c.; chap. vi. 13. *Chap. xvi. 19.—y Or, I told them what the high place was, or 32 And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone. 33 As I live, saith the with a mighty hand, and with a stretchedout arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you: Lord GOD, surely 34 And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched-out arm, and with fury poured out. 35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. 36 Like as I pleaded with your fathers in f the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God. 37 And I will cause you to rod, and I will bring you into the covenant : pass under the Bamah.- -z Ver. 26. 2 Kings xvi. 3; xxi. 6; xxiii. 10 Ver. 3.c Chap. xi. 5.- d Jer. xxi. 5. Jer. ii. 9, 35; chap. xvii. 20.-See Num. xiv. 21, 22, 23, 28, 29.-6 Lev. xxvii. 32; Jer. xxxiii. 13.- hOr, a delivering. › your place, restore your captivity; yet not in mercy, but in fury poured out; and reserve you for sorer evils, Verse 26. I polluted them in their own gifts] I permitted them to pollute themselves by the offerings which they made to their idols. Causing their chil-ver. 34. dren to pass through the fire was one of those pollu- Verse 35. I will bring you into the wilderness of the tions; but, did God ever give them a statute or judg-people] I will bring you out of your captivity, and ment of this kind? No. He ever inveighs against such things, and they incur his heaviest displeasure and curse. See on ver. 31. Verse 29. What is the high place] mah habbamah, "what is the high place?" What is it good for Its being a high place shows it to be a place of idolatry. I called it bamah, to mark it with infamy; but ye continue to frequent it, even while it is called bamah, to the present day!, Verse 31. Ye pollute yourselves] This shows the sense in which God says, ver. 26, "I polluted them in their own gifts." They chose to pollute themselves, and I permitted them to do so. See on verses 25, 26. Verse 32. And that which cometh into your mind] Ye wish to be naturalized among idolaters, and make a part of such nations. But this shall not be at all; you shall be preserved as a distinct people. Ye shall not be permitted to mingle yourselves with the people of those countries: even they, idolaters as they are, will despise and reject you. Besides, I will change bring you into your own land, which you will find to be a wilderness, the consequence of your crimes. There will I plead with you] There I will be your king, and rule you with a sovereign rule; and the dispensations of my justice and mercy shall either end you or mend you. Verse 37. I will cause you to pass under the rod This alludes to the custom of tithing the sheep. I take it from the rabbins. The sheep were all penned; and the shepherd stood at the door of the fold, where only one sheep could come out at once. He had in his hand a rod dipped in vermillion; and as they came out, he counted one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine; and as the tenth came out, he marked it with the rod, and said, “This is the tenth ;" and that was set apart for the Lord. I will bring you into the bond of the covenant] You shall be placed under the same obligations as before, and acknowledge yourselves bound; ye shall feel your obligation, and live according to its nature. God's judgments A. M. 3411. OI. XLVI. 4. Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., 24. 38 And I will purge out from mine hand to give it to your among you the rebels, and them fathers. that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: 1and ye shall know that I am the LORD. k A. M. 3411. Tarquinii Prisci, 43 And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed. 39 As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith 44 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, the Lord GOD; m Go ye, serve ye every one when I have wrought with you for my name's his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not sake, not according to your wicked ways, hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye name no more with your gifts, and with your house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD. idols. n Verse 38. I will purge out from among you the rebels] The incorrigibly wicked I will destroy; those who will not receive him whom. I have appointed for this purpose as the Saviour of Israel, And I will gather you who believe out of all the countries where you sojourn, and bring you into your own land; but those of you who will not believe will not receive the Son of David to reign over you, shall never enter into the land of Israel, but die in your dispersions. This is what the contradicting and blaspheming Jews of the present day have to expect. And thus, both of you shall know that he is Jehovah, fulfilling his threatenings against the one, and his promises to the other. Verse 39. Go ye, serve ye every one his idols] Thus, God gave them statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they could not live, by thus permitting them to take their own way, serve their gods, and follow the maxims and rites of that abominable worship. 45 Moreover, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 46 Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field; 47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein. a b · 48 And all flesh shall see that I the LORD have kindled it: it shall not be quenched. 49 Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables? V Eph. v. 2; Phil. iv. 18.- Ver. 38, 44; chap. xxxvi. 23; xxxviii. 23.-——————u Chapter xi. 17; xxxiv. 13; xxxvi. 24. Chap. xvi. 61. w Lev. xxvi. 39; chap. vi. 9; Hos. v. -y Chap. xxxvi. 22. Deut. xii. 2; Luke 15. Ver. 38; chap. xxiv. 24. Chap. vi, 2; xxi. 2.- a Jer. xxi. 14.xxiii. 31.- Chap. xxi. 4. there accept, for they will give me thanks for my unspeakable gift. Verse 42. And ye shall know] Shall acknowledge that I am Jehovah. Verse 43. And there shall ye remember your ways] Ye shall be ashamed of your past conduct, and of your long opposition to the Gospel of your salvation, These promises may, in a certain limited sense, be applied to the restoration from the Babylonish captivity; but they must have their proper fulfilment when the Jews shall accept Jesus as their Saviour, and in consequence be brought back from all their dispersions to their own land. Verse 46. Set thy face toward the south] Towards Judea, which lay south from Babylon, or Mesopotamia, where the prophet then dwelt. The forest of the south field] The city of Jerusalem, as full of inhabitants as the forest is of trees. Verse 47. I will kindle a fire] I will send war, and it shall devour every green tree," the most eminent and substantial of the inhabitants; and every dry tree, the lowest and meanest also. Verse 40. For in mine holy mountain] The days shall come in which all true ISRAELITES shall receive" HIM whom I have sent to be the true sacrifice for the life of the world; and shall bring to Jerusalem-the pure Christian Church, their offerings, which I will The flaming flame shall not be quenched] The fierce ravages of Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans shall not be stopped till the whole land is ruined. All faces from the south to the north shall be burned] From the one end of the land to the other there shall be nothing but fear, dismay, terror, and confusion, occasioned by the wide-wasting violence of the Chaldeans. Judea lay in length from north to south. Verse 48. All flesh] All the people shall see that this war is a judgment of the Lord. against Israel. D'hup hunn ahn Doth he not speak parables ?} * halo memashshel meshalim hu, "Is not he à maker of parables ?" Is it not his custom to deal in enigmas? His figures are not to be understood; we should not trouble ourselves with them. We are not obliged to fathom his meaning; and perhaps after all it does not refer to us, or will not be accomplished in our time, if it even respect the land. Thus they turned aside what might have done them good, and rejected the It shall not be quenched.] Till the whole land shall counsel of God against themselves. be utterly ruined. Verse 49. Ah Lord God!] O my God, consider my situation; who will believe what I shall say? They put the evil day far from them. By dividing the word with our neighbour we often lose the benefit both of threatenings and promises. They voluntarily shut their own eyes; and then God, in judgment, sealed them up in darkness. CHAPTER XXI. The prophet goes on to denounce the fate of Jerusalem and Judea; using signs of vehement grief, to denote the greatness of the calamity, 2-7. He then changes the emblem to that of a sharp and bright sword, still denoting the same sad event, 8-17; and, becoming yet more explicit, he represents the king of Babylon, who was to be employed by God in this work, as setting out to take vengeance on both the Jews and the Ammonites, for joining with Egypt in a confederacy against him. He is described as standing at the parting of the roads leading to the respective capitals of the Jews and Ammonites; and doubting which to attack first, he commits the decision of the matter to his arts of divination, performed by mingling arrows inscribed with the names of the different nations or cities, and then marching against that whose name was written on the arrow first drawn from the quiver. In this case the name Jerusalem comes forward; and therefore he proceeds against it, 18-24. History itself could scarcely be more explicit than this prophecy. The profane prince Zedekiah is then declared to be given up by God, and his kingdom devoted to utter destruction, for that breach of oath of which the prophet foretells he should be guilty, 25-27. The remaining verses form a distinct prophecy relating to the destruction of the Ammonites, which was fulfilled about five years after the destruction of Jerusalem, 28–32. A. M. 3411. B. C. 593. Ol. XLVI. 4. Anno Tarquinii Prisci, AND the word of the LORD 2 Son of man, set thy face R. Roman., 24. toward Jerusalem, and 'drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel, A. M. 3411. Ol. XLVI. 4. Anno 3 And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I am against thee, and will draw Tarquinii Prisci, forth my sword out of his sheath, R. Roman., 24. and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, Chap. xx. 46.- -b Deut. xxxii. 2; Amos vii. 16; | Mic. ii. 6, 11.- Le Job ix. 22. Verse 2. Set thy face toward Jerusalem] This is a continuation of the preceding prophecy; and in this chapter the prophet sets before them, in the plainest language, what the foregoing metaphors meant, so that they could not complain of his parables. Verse 3. Behold, I am against thee] Dismal news! When God is against us, who can be for us? And will draw forth my sword] War. And will cut off from thee] The land of Judea. The righteous and the wicked.] All shall be removed from thee. Some shall be cut off-removed by the sword; shall be slain in battle, or by the pestilence; and some shall be cut off-die by the famine; and some shall be cut off-removed from the land by captivity. Now, among the two latter classes there might be many righteous as well as wicked. And when all the provisions were consumed, so that there was no more bread in the city, during the siege by Nebuchadnezzar, the righteous must have suffered as well as the wicked; for they could not be preserved alive, but by miracle, when there was no bread; nor was their perishing for want any loss to them, because the Lord would take them straight to his glory. And however men in general are unwilling to die, yet there is no instance, nor can there be, of any man's complaint that he got to heaven too soon. Again, if God had permitted none to be carried off captive but the wicked, the case of these would be utterly hopeless, as there would be none to set a good example, to preach repentance, to reprove sin, or to show God's willingness to forgive sinners. But God, in his mercy, permitted many of the righteous to be carried off also, that the wicked might not be totally abandoned, or put beyond the reach of being saved. Hence, both Ezekiel and Daniel, and indeed several others, prophets and righteous men, were thus cut off from the land, and carried into captivity. And how much was God's glory and the good of men promoted by this! What a seed of salvation was sown, even in the heathen countries, by thus cutting off the righteous with the wicked! To this we owe, under God, many of the Psalms, the |