And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; [Is it] not for you to know judgment? Ver. 1. _And I said_] viz. At another time, and in a new discourse; the heads whereof we have here recorded. A stinging sermon it is, preached to the princes and prophets, th... [ Continue Reading ]
Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones; Ver. 2. _Who hate the good, and love the evil_] _q.d._ That you know not judgment, but are men ignorant of the truth which is according to godliness, appeareth by your wicked practice... [ Continue Reading ]
Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron. Ver. 3. _Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skins, &c._] He still proceeds in the allegory, the better to ar... [ Continue Reading ]
Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings. Ver. 4. _Then shall they cry unto the Lord, but he will not hear them_] Then, _sc._ when God shall have changed their cheer, pulled t... [ Continue Reading ]
Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him. Ver. 5. _Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets_] False prophets, who pretended Divine authority, when... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore night [shall be] unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. Ver. 6. _Therefore night shall be unto you_] Ye shall be benighted, your gifts blasted, an... [ Continue Reading ]
Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for [there is] no answer of God. Ver. 7. _Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded_] They shall be hissed and hooted at for impostors and falsaries; shame shall be the promotion o... [ Continue Reading ]
But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin. Ver. 8. _But truly I am full of power_] But doth it become the prophet thus to praise himself? _Laus proprio sordescit in ore:_ and those who vaunt... [ Continue Reading ]
Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. Ver. 9. _Hear this, I pray you, ye heads, &c._] He had had a bout with them before; but because little good was thereby done, he is at them again; according to tha... [ Continue Reading ]
They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. Ver. 10. _They build up Zion with blood_] Heb. bloods, that is, with goods gotten by rapine and robbery, to the utter undoing of many poor oppressed, whose livelihood is their life, Mark 12:44 Luke 8:43. How much better Selimus, the Great... [ Continue Reading ]
The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, [Is] not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us. Ver. 11. _The heads thereof judge for reward_] Being so many locusts, _et latrone... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed [as] a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest. Ver. 12. _Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field_] Even for your sakes, O wicked princes, priests, and prophets; you are the... [ Continue Reading ]