Ephraim feedeth (a) on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he
daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with
the Assyrians, and (b) oil is carried into Egypt.
(a) That is, flatters himself with vain confidence.
(b) Meaning presents to get friendship.... [ Continue Reading ]
The LORD hath also a controversy with (c) Judah, and will punish Jacob
according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.
(c) Which in those points was similar to Ephraim, but not in idolatry.... [ Continue Reading ]
He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he
had (d) power with God:
(d) Seeing that God in this way preferred Jacob their father, Judah's
ingratitude was the more to be abhorred.... [ Continue Reading ]
Yea, he had (e) power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made
supplication unto him: (f) he found him [in] Bethel, and there he
spake with us;
(e) Read (Genesis 32:24).
(f) God found Jacob as he lay sleeping in Bethel (Genesis 28:12), and
spoke with him there in such a way that the fruit... [ Continue Reading ]
[He is] (g) a merchant, the balances of deceit [are] in his hand: he
loveth to oppress.
(g) As for Ephraim, he is more like the wicked Canaanites than godly
Abraham or Jacob.... [ Continue Reading ]
And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance:
[in] all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me (h) that
[were] sin.
(h) Thus way the wicked measure God's favour by outward prosperity,
and like hypocrites cannot endure that any should reprove their
doings.... [ Continue Reading ]
And I [that am] the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make
thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in (i) the days of the solemn feast.
(i) Seeing you will not acknowledge my benefits, I will bring you
again to dwell in tents, as in the feast of the Tabernacles, which you
now condemn.... [ Continue Reading ]
[Is there] (k) iniquity [in] Gilead? surely they are vanity: they
sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars [are] as heaps in the
furrows of the fields.
(k) The people thought that no man dare have spoken against Gilead,
that holy place, and yet the Prophet says that all their religion was
bu... [ Continue Reading ]
(l) And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a
wife, and for a wife he kept [sheep].
(l) If you boast of your riches and nobility, you seem to reproach
your father, who was a poor fugitive and servant.... [ Continue Reading ]
And by a (m) prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a
prophet was he preserved.
(m) Meaning Moses, by which appears that whatever they have, it comes
from God's free goodness.... [ Continue Reading ]