the Angel of the great council, the essential Word of
God, whose spirit is here spoken of.
Vet..14. With whom took-he counsel, and who 'in-
structed him, &c.3 This is the same as before, only
repeated in other words, the more strongly to deny
that any. mere creature counselled, taught, and in-
structedthe spirit of Christ, in the ordering and ma-
naging the works of creation: and taught him in the
path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed
to him the way of understanding? or gave him that
judgment, knowledge, and understanding in framing
the world, and all things in it, in that beautiful and re-
gular manner that it is; which shows it to be a work
of wisdom, more thin human or angelical, and to be
purely divine; no one, angel or man, could have
struck out such a path ofjudgment, such away of un-
derstanding, or shewed such exquisite skill and know-
le. dge,  as -appear in the works of creation; see PsaL
civ. 24.
Ver. 15. Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket,
&c.] Not only the Chaldeans and Babylonfans, and
other nations most known, and most troublesome to
the Jews, but all the nations-of the world; these, in
comparison of God, of his infinite and immense Being,
are but as a drop of water that hangs upon the bucket,
or falls from it, when water is drawn by it, or is left in
it, when poured out of it; which is nothing in com-
parison of the well out of which the water is drawn, or
even of the water in the bucket drawn out of it: and
are accounted as the small dust of the balance; that is,
they are accounted nothing of with God, comparatively
speaking, any more than the small dust which hangs
upon the balance, and gives it no weight, nor turn one
way or another, and so is of no consideration. The
Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions,
render it, as the turn of the scale; and so the Targum;
but the-other version more strongly expresses the
sense: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing;
by which are meant not merely islands, properly so
called, which are encompassed by the sea, but all such
countries which the Jews used to go to by sea, tbr all
such they called isles; these the Lord can take up, or
cast away {u}, as some render the word; toss them about,
overturn and destroy, as a man may take up the most
minute thing and cast it'from him. The Targum
renders it, "as chaff which flies away ;" or, as others
translate it, "as the ashes of a coal which fly away."
The word may signify any light thing, as chaff, straw,
stubble, feathers, down of thistles, which are easily
 carried away with the least force; and so Vitringa
renders the words, behold, the isles are as some little
thing which flies away.
Ver. 16. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, &c.]
The trees of it, as the Targum; these are not sufficient
to burn a sacr;fice with, suitable to the dignity and
majesty of God, and as his justice can require tbr of-
fences committed: nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a
burnt-offering, though it was a mountain and tbrest
which abounded with trees, and especially cedars, and
there was a great quantity of cattle in it,. yet neither
were sufficient to furnish out a proper burnt-offering to
the Lord; he only himself could provide a Lamb suffi-
cient for a burnt-offering, and he has done it, the only-
begotten Son of God; he has offered himself an effer-
ing and a sacrifice to God, of a sweet-smelling savour,
by which he has put away sin, and made full atore-
meat fbr it, Jarchi thinks this is said to aggravate the
sins of men, of the wicked, which were so great, that
Lebanon with all its wood and cattle could not furnish
'out a sacrifice sufficient to expiate them.
Vet. 17. All nations before him are as nothing, &c.]
As if they were nonentities, and were not real beings
m comparison of him, who is the. Being of beipgs, the
author of all beings which exist in all nations; who are
all in his sight, and are not only as grasshoppers, as is
after mentioned, but even as nothing: a?.,d they are
counted to him as less than nothing, and vaniiy ; if there
is or could be such a thing less than nothing, that they
are; and so they are accounted of by.him; they are
like the chaos ant of 'which the earth was. formed,
when it was tabu and bohu. the first of which words is
used here; this serves to humble the pride of men,
and to lessen the glory of the nations, and the inha-
bitants of them.
Vet. 18. To whom then will ye liken God? &c.]
There is nothing in the whole creation that can bear
any resemblance to him, or he to them; since all na-
tion,s are as a drop of the bucket, as the small dust of
the balance, as nothing, yea, less than nothing, and
vanity: or what likeness will ye compare unto him
order, ordain, and appoint for him ? in what rank can
be be placed ? to what class of  beings can he' be
likened ? what similitude can be given of him? what
is there that is fit to be named with him, or compared
to him ? this, with what follows, is mentioned as an
antidote to prevent the Jews fi',lling into idolatry in Ba-
bylon, where they would be exposed unto it; or rather
to prevent Christians in Gospel times from going into
the idolatry of the Papists; see Acts xvii. 28, 29.). and
Rev. ix. 20, el.
Ver. 19. The workman melteth a graven image, &C.]
Or, the founder; he melts some sort of metal, as iron,
brass, copper, or lead, which he casts into a mould for
an image, and afterwards graves, or gets it grayed: and
the goldsmith spreadorb it over with gold; or, the ftnor ;
he stretches out plates of gold, and covers it with them,
so that it looks as if it was made of massy gold, and de-
ceives the eyes of men; such stupidity and vanity are
there in mortals to believe that there can be deity in
such a piece of workmanship ! and castorb silver chains
to put about the graven image, either for ornament, or
rather to fasten it to some wall or pillar, that it may
st. and upright, and may not be taken down and stole
away, or blown down with the wind, or fall of itself
and be broken; thus ridiculing the weakness of these
idols, and the folly of the makers and warshippers of
them. The Targum is, "the silversmith joins silver
"chains to it."
Ver. 20. He that is so impoverished that he hath no
oblation, &c.3 Who is so poor that he can't bring an,..
offering to his God, yet he will have one; and though.
he can't purchase a golden or silver one, or one that

{u} \^lwjy\^ projiciet~ Pagninus, Tigurine version; so R. Jonah in Ben
Melech.
{w} \^wl wkret twmd hmw\^ & quid similitudinis ponetis ei, Pagninus;
ordinabitis, Montanus; disponetis, Vatablus.