Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them. Ver. 1. _Now in the twenty and fourth day_] A day after the feast of tabernacles, they keep a solemn fast: _ Usque adeo nihil est, ex omni parte, beatum._... [ Continue Reading ]
And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. Ver. 2. _And the seed of Israel_] Called Israelites (not Abrahamites) from their wrestling with God by prayer and tears, and prevailing. Called also Jews from Jud... [ Continue Reading ]
And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God [one] fourth part of the day; and [another] fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God. Ver. 3. _And they stood up in their place_] The people stood, for reverence' sake, to the word read. See... [ Continue Reading ]
Then stood up upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, [and] Chenani, and cried with a loud voice unto the LORD their God. Ver. 4. _Then stood up_] Each of these eight in his turn, or each in his own proper place; the people being, for more conv... [ Continue Reading ]
Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, [and] Pethahiah, said, Stand up [and] bless the LORD your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. Ver. 5. _Then the Levites, Jeshua, &c., said, St... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou, [even] thou, [art] LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all [things] that [are] therein, the seas, and all that [is] therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee. Ver. 6. _Thou, even thou, art Lord alon... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou [art] the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham; Ver. 7. _Thou art the Lord the God_] Heb. That Lord, with an emphasis, with an accent; and besides thee there is none other. See Nehemiah 9:6. This is proved... [ Continue Reading ]
And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give [it, I say], to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou [art] righteous: Ver. 8. _... [ Continue Reading ]
And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea; Ver. 9. _And didst see the affliction_] The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, as well as his ears open to their prayers; he knoweth their soul in adversity, _et de remedio prospicit,_ he is solicitou... [ Continue Reading ]
And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst thou get thee a name, as [it is] this day. Ver. 10. _And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh_] That sturdy rebel, whom neither... [ Continue Reading ]
And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters. Ver. 11. _And thou didst divide the sea before them_] That which threatened to swallow them preserved the... [ Continue Reading ]
Moreover thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go. Ver. 12. _Moreover thou leddest them by day, &c._] This pillar of a cloud was miraculously moved with such variation as God thought fit, for the guid... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: Ver. 13. _Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai_] A place of many bushes and briers. The law there delivered, pricketh and pierceth the conscie... [ Continue Reading ]
And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant: Ver. 14. _And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath_] Not then first known to the Church; but of old observed, even from the beginning, Genesis 2:3, about 2514 years b... [ Continue Reading ]
And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them. Ver. 15. _And gavest them bread from heaven_] _Pluviam escatilem, et petrum a... [ Continue Reading ]
But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments, Ver. 16. _But they and our fathers_] God's mercies have been hitherto mentioned, that their sins might thereby be aggravated; for good turns aggravate unkindness; and men's sins are much increas... [ Continue Reading ]
And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou [art] a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them... [ Continue Reading ]
Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This [is] thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations; Ver. 18. _Yea, when they had made them a golden calf_] An ounce whereof the Jews say is still to this day in all the punishments that befall them; though so... [ Continue Reading ]
Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go. Ver. 19. _Yet thou in thy manifold mercies_] Nothing e... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. Ver. 20. _Thou gavest also thy good spirit_] viz. To their governors and teachers, Numbers 11:16,17; Numbers 11:25,26. Yea, to every good soul, that they might... [ Continue Reading ]
Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, [so that] they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not. Ver. 21. _Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them_] Sustain them? this is a mere Meiosis, since never was prince so served in his greatest pomp as the... [ Continue Reading ]
Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them into corners: so they possessed the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan. Ver. 22. _Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations_] God gave them all; for he is the true proprieta... [ Continue Reading ]
Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess [it]. Ver. 23. _Their children also multipliedst thou_] Judaea was not above two hundred miles long and fifty mil... [ Continue Reading ]
So the children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they would. Ver. 24. _So the children went in_] After that they... [ Continue Reading ]
And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness. Ver. 25. _And they took strong cities_] With... [ Continue Reading ]
Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations. Ver. 26. _Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled_] See how full in the mouth th... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest [them] from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies. Ver. 27. _... [ Continue Reading ]
But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest [them] from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies;... [ Continue Reading ]
And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear. Ver.... [ Continue Reading ]
Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands. Ver. 30. _Yet many years didst thou forbear them_] Heb. Protract over them; or, draw out thy lovingki... [ Continue Reading ]
Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou [art] a gracious and merciful God. Ver. 31. Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake] Man's perverseness cannot interrupt the course of God's goodness. In the midst of judgment he remembereth me... [ Continue Reading ]
Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the ti... [ Continue Reading ]
Howbeit thou [art] just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly: Ver. 33. _Howbeit thou art just_] So Mauricius, the emperor, justified God, when he saw his wife and children butchered before his eyes by the traitor Phocas, and knew that himself should be... [ Continue Reading ]
Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them. Ver. 34. _Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, &c._] But as there hath been a general defection, so a wel... [ Continue Reading ]
For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land which thou gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works. Ver. 35. _For they have not served thee in their kingdom_] As David did, who held it his highest... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold, we [are] servants this day, and [for] the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we [are] servants in it: Ver. 36. _Behold, we are servants this day_] This is twice here bewailed, as a singular unhappiness. They that live under the Turk... [ Continue Reading ]
And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins: also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we [are] in great distress. Ver. 37. _And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings_] As this land once did unto the king... [ Continue Reading ]
And because of all this we make a sure [covenant], and write [it]; and our princes, Levites, [and] priests, seal [unto it]. Ver. 38. _And because of all this_] Our sin and misery. _ We make a sure covenant_] See Ezra 10:3 . _ And write it_] Littera scripta manet, A written letter abides. _ And o... [ Continue Reading ]