Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: Ver. 1. _Now will I sing._] Now, or, Now I pray, as stirring up his hearers to attention; for here beginneth his third sermon. He had endeavoured, but with little go... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes._ Ver. 2. And he fenced _a_ it.] _Maceria munivit... [ Continue Reading ]
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. Ver. 3. _And now, O ye inhabitants of Jerusalem._] Here we have God's plea before his sentence, and therein his appeal to them, and his indictment against them. First he appealeth to the Jews thems... [ Continue Reading ]
What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? Ver. 4. _What could have been done to my vineyard?_] See the like angry expostulations, Jer 2:5 Micah 6:3; when God hath done all that... [ Continue Reading ]
_And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; [and] break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:_ Ver. 5. _And now go to, I will tell you, &c._] God loveth to foresignify, to warn ere he woundeth, and to fo... [ Continue Reading ]
And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. Ver. 6. _And I will lay it waste._] Heb., Wasteness; I will utterly root it up and ruin it. _Lege et lute; _ by law and dirt, wrath... [ Continue Reading ]
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts [is] the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry. Ver. 7. _For the vineyard, &c._] _Exponit breviter mentem huius cantici._ Here we have the parable expound... [ Continue Reading ]
Woe unto them that join house to house, [that] lay field to field, till [there be] no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth! Ver. 8. _Woe unto them that join house to house._] The prophet goeth on in the exposition of his parable, showing us some more of those wild or stink... [ Continue Reading ]
In mine ears [said] the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, [even] great and fair, without inhabitant. Ver. 9. _In mine ears, said the Lord of hosts._] Or, In the ears of the Lord of hosts - _q.d., _ God well heareth and knoweth all your cunning contrivances, your coloured and... [ Continue Reading ]
Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah. Ver. 10. _Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath,_] viz., Of wine; a poor proportion - not a gallon of wine for an acre of ground planted with vines. _ And the seed of an homer shall yield an e... [ Continue Reading ]
Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, [that] they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, [till] wine inflame them! Ver. 11. _Woe unto them that rise up early._] Heb., The early risers, but for an ill purpose. _O intolerandum flagitium,_ saith one, _a_ _homines inertiae, somn... [ Continue Reading ]
And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands. Ver. 12. _And the harp and the viol._] To make themselves the more mad upon pleasure, they had their music of all sorts, that there... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because [they have] no knowledge: and their honourable men [are] famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst._ Ver. 13. _Therefore my people are gone into captivity,_] _i.e,_ They are sure to go. _so _ Amo 6:7 _ Because they have no knowledge._]... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it. Ver. 14. _Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, &c._] To swallow up those insatiable _helluones_ and _lurcones,_ drunkards... [ Continue Reading ]
And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled: Ver. 15. _And the mean man shall be brought down, &c._] Here the prophet, before he comes to the third denunciation (for this part of the chapter, like Ezekiel's roll, is full of... [ Continue Reading ]
But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness. Ver. 16. _But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted._] See Isaiah 2:11 . _ And God, that is holy, shall be sanctified._] He shall be religiously acknowledged, approved of, and worshipped as... [ Continue Reading ]
Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat. Ver. 17. _Then shall the lambs feed after their manner,_] _i.e., _ Freely and quietly. By lambs here understand the godly poor - those lambs with golden fleeces - who shall be graciously provided... [ Continue Reading ]
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: Ver. 18. _Woe unto them that draw iniquity._] That draw sin to them, as a beast draweth a cart after it. Here the prophet reproveth and threateneth such, saith an interpreter, _a_ as sin without any strong t... [ Continue Reading ]
_That say, Let him make speed, [and] hasten his work, that we may see [it]: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know [it]!_ Ver. 19. _That say, Let him make speed._] That jeer when they should fear, jest at God's judgments, and mock at his menaces, as if th... [ Continue Reading ]
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Ver. 20. _Woe unto them that call evil good, &c._] That can make _candida de nigris, et de candentibus atra,_ and go about to invert the nature of... [ Continue Reading ]
Woe unto [them that are] wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Ver. 21. _Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes._] Wiser than David - as the proud prince of Tyre thought himself Eze 28:3 - or than any prophet of them all. This self-conceitedness is πασης της προκοπης εγκοπη... [ Continue Reading ]
Woe unto [them that are] mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: Ver. 22. _Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine._] _Iterate taxat hoc vitium, eo quod invaluerat._ The prophet inveigheth against this vice a second time, because it was grown so common. Drunkards also... [ Continue Reading ]
_Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!_ Ver. 23. _Which justify the wicked for reward,_] _q.d., _ Woe to such also, for even they both are abomination to the Lord Pro 17:15 Isa 1:23 _See Trapp on "_ Pro 17:15 _"_... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, [so] their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Ver. 24. _Therefore as the fire d... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases [were] torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out s... [ Continue Reading ]
And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly: Ver. 26. _And he will lift up an ensign._] That is, by his secret providence he shall bring on the enemy's army. The Roman forces are called God... [ Continue Reading ]
None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken: Ver. 27. _None shall be weary nor stumble._] Though they come speedily, yet they shall none of them tire or turn out of the way, but... [ Continue Reading ]
Whose arrows [are] sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind: Ver. 28. _Whose arrows are sharp._] Or, Sharpened, _sc., _ to wound the deeper. Their horses' hoofs.] Judea was a stony country; but hard to hard will not easily b... [ Continue Reading ]
Their roaring [shall be] like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry [it] away safe, and none shall deliver [it]. Ver. 29. _Their roaring shall be like a lion._] At whose terrible roar the beasts of the field are said to stand as am... [ Continue Reading ]
And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if [one] look unto the land, behold darkness [and] sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof. Ver. 30. _Like the roaring of the sea._] The noise whereof is so hideous, that the shrieking of the devil is set... [ Continue Reading ]