Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: Ver. 1. _Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh._] _Exordium simplicissimum,_ saith Junius. A very plain preface calling for attention; (1.) From the authority of the speaker; (2.) From the duty of the hearers. _O house of Isr... [ Continue Reading ]
Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. Ver. 2. _Learn not the way of the heathen._] Their sinful customs and irregular religions - mere irreligious. _a_ And be not dismayed at the signs of heaven.] Wh... [ Continue Reading ]
For the customs of the people [are] vain: for [one] cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. Ver. 3. For the customs of the people _a_ are vain.] Their rites confirmed by custom; their imagery, for instance, a very _magnum nihil,_ whether ye look to the... [ Continue Reading ]
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. Ver. 4. _They deck it with silver and with gold._] Gild it over to make it sightly; goodly gods there while. See Isaiah 4:4 . _ That it move not._] _Ut non amittat,_ saith Tremellius: that it lose... [ Continue Reading ]
They [are] upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also [is it] in them to do good. Ver. 5. _They are upright as the palm tree._] Which is straight, tall, smooth, and _in summo profert fructus... [ Continue Reading ]
Forasmuch as [there is] none like unto thee, O LORD; thou [art] great, and thy name [is] great in might. Ver. 6. _Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee._] None of all these _dii minutuli,_ these dunghill deities, are worthy to be named in the same day with thee. _ Thou art great._] God is great... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise [men] of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, [there is] none like unto thee._ Ver. 7. _Who would not fear thee, O King of nations?_] Tremble at thy transcendent greatness, thy matchless m... [ Continue Reading ]
But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock [is] a doctrine of vanities. Ver. 8. _But they are altogether brutish and foolish._] The wise men are, for that, when they knew there was but one only true God - as did Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Seneca, &c. - they "detained the truth in unri... [ Continue Reading ]
Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple [is] their clothing: they [are] all the work of cunning [men]. Ver. 9. _Silver spread into plates._] See Isaiah 40:19 . _ Is brought from Tarshish._] F... [ Continue Reading ]
But the LORD [is] the true God, he [is] the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. Ver. 10. _But the Lord is the true God._] Heb., Jehovah is God in truth, not in conceit only, or counterfeit. _ He is t... [ Continue Reading ]
Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, [even] they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. Ver. 11. _Thus shall ye say unto them._] Confession with the mouth is necessary to salvation. This verse (written therefore in the Syriac tongue... [ Continue Reading ]
_He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion._ Ver. 12. _He hath made the earth by his power._] Here we have the true philosophy and right origin of things: _Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas._ Almight... [ Continue Reading ]
When he uttereth his voice, [there is] a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures. Ver. 13. _When he uttereth his voice._] Again, when he thundereth, Psa 29:3... [ Continue Reading ]
Every man is brutish in [his] knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image [is] falsehood, and [there is] no breath in them. Ver. 14. _Every man is brutish in his knowledge._] Or, Every man is become more brutish than to know. That was therefore a hyperbolical pr... [ Continue Reading ]
They [are] vanity, [and] the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. Ver. 15. _They are vanity._] Vanity, in its largest extent, is properly predicated of them. _ And the work of errors._] Mere mockeries, making men to embrace vanity for verity. _ In the time of their v... [ Continue Reading ]
The portion of Jacob [is] not like them: for he [is] the former of all [things]; and Israel [is] the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts [is] his name. Ver. 16. _The Portion of Jacob is not like them._] God is his people's "portion"; they are his "possession." Oh their dignity and security! T... [ Continue Reading ]
Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress. Ver. 17. _Gather up thy wares out of the land._] Make up thy pack, and prevent a plundering. _Reculas tuas et sarcinas compone._... [ Continue Reading ]
_For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find [it so]._ Ver. 18. _BehoId, I will sling out the inhabitants of this land._] I will easily and speedily sling them, and sling them into Babylon; so God will one da... [ Continue Reading ]
Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this [is] a grief, and I must bear it. Ver. 19. _Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous._] This is the moan that people make when in distress, and they find it so. But what after a while of paining? _ Truly this is my grief, and I... [ Continue Reading ]
My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they [are] not: [there is] none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. Ver. 20. _My tabernacle is spoiled._] I am irreparably ruined; like as when a camp is quite broken up, not any p... [ Continue Reading ]
For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered. Ver. 21. _For the pastors are become brutish._] The corrupt prophets and priests, who seduced the people from the truth, were persons that made no conscience... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, [and] a den of dragons. Ver. 22. _Behold, the noise of the bruit is come._] This doleful peal he oft rung in their ears, but they little regarded it. See Jeremiah 9:11 .... [ Continue Reading ]
O LORD, I know that the way of man [is] not in himself: [it is] not in man that walketh to direct his steps. Ver. 23. _O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself._] He is not master of his own way, but is directed and overruled by the powerful providence; even this cruel Chaldean also, th... [ Continue Reading ]
O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. Ver. 24. _O Lord, correct me; but with judgment,_] _a_ _i.e., _ In mercy and in measure. Correction is not simply to be deprecated; the prophet here cries, Correct me; David saith, It was good for me. Job call... [ Continue Reading ]
_Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate._ Ver. 25. _Pour out, &c._] This is not more _votum,_ than _vaticinium; _ a prayer, than a... [ Continue Reading ]