which expresses their blasphemy, impiety, and un-
belief; and shews that they did not believe, but de-
rided any counsel or decree of God, respecting spi-
ritual and eternal salvation by the Messiah, especially
by Jesus of Nazareth: or the conversion of the Gen-
tiles, or the spread of the Gospel, and the enlargement
of the kingdom and interest of Christ in the world, are
meant, Kimchi, on the text, owns that these words
belong to the Jews in the present day, and makes this
confession, \*"it appears that our prophets said the
"truth for now we believe not."\*
\*Ver. 20. \\Woe unto them that call evil good, and good
evil\\, &c.] That call evil actions good, and good actions
evil; that excuse the one, and reproach the other;
or that call evil men good, and good men evil;
to which the Targuru agrees. Some understand this
of false prophets rejecting the true worship of God,
and recommending false worship; others of wicked
judges, pronouncing the causes of bad men good, and
of good men evil; others of sensualists, that speak in
praise of drunkenness, gluttony, and all carnal plea-
sures, and fleshly lusts, and treat with contempt
fear, worship, and service of God. It may very well
be applied to the Scribes and Pharisees in Christ's
time, who preferred the evil traditions of their elders,
both to the law of God, that is holy, just, and good,
and to the Gospel, the good word of God, preached
by John the Baptist, Christ and his apostles, and to
the ordinances of the Gospel dispensation: 
\*\\that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put\\
\\bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter\\; for calling good
evil, and evil good, is all one as putting these things
one for another; there being as great a difference be-
tween good and evil, as between light and darkness,
sweet and bitter; and it suggests, as if the perversion
of these things was not merely through ignorance and
mistake, but purposely and wilfuily against light and
knowledge; so the Jews acted when they preferred the
darkness of their rites and ceremonies, and human tra-
ditions, before the light of the glorious Gospel of
Christ; which shewed they loved darkness rather than
light, \\#Joh 3:19\\ and chose that which would be
bitter to them in the end, than the sweet doctrines of
the grace of God; the bitter root of error, rather than
the words of Christ's mouth, which are sweeter than
the honey, or the honeycomb. The Targum is, \*"woe
"to them that say to the wicked who prosper in this
"world, ye are good; and say to the meek, ye are
"wicked: when light cometh to the righteous, shall
"it not be dark with the wicked? and sweet shall be
"the words of the law to them that do them; but bit-
"terness (some read %rebellion%) shall come to the
"wicked; and they shall know, that in the end sin is
"bitter to them that commit it."\* Abarbinel inter-
prets this of the ten tribes preferring the worship at
Dan and Beth-el, before that at Jerusalem.
\*Ver. 21. \\Woe unto [therm that are] wise in their own
eyes\\, &c.] And yet betray such stupidity and sottish-
ness, as to call things by their wrong names; and make
such a perverse judgment of them, as before described.
This is a true description of the Scribes and Pha-
risees in Christ's time; who said, %dost thou teach us? are
we blind also?% \\#Joh 9:34-40\\ \*\\and prudent in their own
sight\\; being wise above what was written; leaving the
word of God, and following the traditions of the elders.
\*Ver. 22. \\Woe unto [them that are] mighty to drink wine\\,
&c.] That can bear a great deal, and not be overcome
and intoxicated with it; that try their strength this
way with others, and get the mastery and glory in it:
not mighty to fight their enemies, as Kimchi observes,
and defend their country, but to drink wine; by
which their strength was weakened: wherefore some
think soldiers are particularly designed, given to drink-
ing, who are derided and mocked, as being valiant in
the warfare of Bacchus, and not of Mars: \*\\and men of
strength, to mingle strong drink\\; in the cup, and then
drink it: or %men of war%; the same with %mighty% before.
The Targum interprets it, %men of riches%: who can
afford to drink wine and strong drink; which carries
the sense not to the strength of their bodies, but of
their purses: the former sense seems best. The
Scribes and Pharisees loved the cup and the platter, and
to be at feasts, and to have the uppermost seats there,
\\#Mt 23:6,25\\ and that those that sat in Moses's chair
are intended appears from the following words.
\*Ver. 23. \\Which justify the wicked for reward\\, &c.]
This is either spoken of judges, and civil magistrates,
who gave the cause in favour of the wicked, that bribed
them, contrary to law, \\#De 16:19\\ or rather of the
Scribes and Pharisees, who pronounced the wicked
righteous men, provided they kept the traditions of
the elders, and paid tithes of all they possessed, and
gave them money for their long prayers, \\#Mt 23:14,23\\:
\*\\and take away the righteousness of the righte-
ous from him\\; by condemning them as unrighteous
persons: so the Jews did Christ and his apostles; they
pronounced them wicked, and condemned them to
death; and as much as in them lay took away their
righteousness from them, by taking away their cha-
racter from them as righteous persons among men;
though their righteousness itself could not be taken
away, it being an everlasting one.
\*Ver. 24. \\Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble\\,
&c.] Or %tongue of fire% {h}; meaning the flame, the same
as in the next clause; because it is in the form of a
tongue; see \\#Ac 2:3\\: \*\\and the flame consumeth the
chaff\\; which is done easily, speedily, and entirely;
the metaphors denote that their destruction would
be easy, swift, sudden, irresistible, and irrecoverable.
Reference may be had to the burning of Jerusalem,
literally understood: \*\\[so] their root shall be rottenness\\;
and so utterly perish; meaning their fathers, as Aben
Ezra and Abarbinel think; or their chief and principal
men, before mentioned; or their riches and substance,
and whatever they gloried of, or trusted in; see \\#Mt 3:10\\:
\*\\and their blossom shall go up as dust\\; before
the wind; either their children, or whatever was ex-
cellent or valuable with them; so Jarchi interprets it
of their grandeur, pomp, and glory; it seems to ex-
press an utter destruction of them, root and branch,
as in \\#Mal 4:1\\: \*\\because they have cast away the law of
the Lord\\; or doctrine of the Lord; that is, the Gospel;
which the Jews blasphemed, contradicted, and put
away from them, and judged themselves unworthy of

{h} \^va Nwvl\^ %lingua ignis%, Vatablus.