_Wo to them that are at ease in Zion_ Who _are secure_, as the margin reads, continuing in their sins, fearless of God's judgments, and resolved to indulge themselves in that voluptuousness and ease which their riches give them an opportunity of enjoying, notwithstanding the evident tokens of God's... [ Continue Reading ]
_Pass ye unto Calneh_ To check their pride and carnal security, the prophet bids them consider the state of those cities in the neighbourhood of Canaan that had been as illustrious in their time as ever Zion and Samaria were, and yet had been destroyed. _Calneh_, called _Calno_, (Isaiah 10:9,) was a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye that put far away the evil day_ Ye who persuade yourselves that God's judgments will not overtake you so soon as the predictions of the prophet import. _And cause the seat of violence to come near_ Who take every opportunity of perverting justice by pronouncing unrighteous decrees, and of turnin... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore now shall they go captive with the first_, &c. As they were reckoned the first among the people, and claimed the preference in every thing, so now shall they be the first that shall be carried into captivity. _And the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed_ They who in... [ Continue Reading ]
_If there remain ten men in one house_, &c. Those that escape the hands of the enemy shall die by the pestilence. _And a man's uncle_ (or kinsman) _shall take him up_ Some friend or relation, whose duty it is to perform the last offices for the deceased, shall _take him up_ directly _and burn him:_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Shall horses run upon the rock?_ “Is it possible that horses should run upon the steep and craggy cliffs? So impossible is it that ye Israelites should continue to prosper, while ye remain thus sinful.” Bishop Hall. Or, “as horses and oxen are useless in such places, so are ye evidently useless to... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye which rejoice in a thing of naught_ Ye who place confidence in your strength, which will avail you nothing when God withdraws his blessing from you; _which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our strength?_ Have we not, by our strength, been victors over our neighbours? This boast seems chiefl... [ Continue Reading ]