should: wherefore do I see every man with his hands
his loins, as a woman in travail; the usual posture of
women in such a condition, trying hereby to abate
their pain, and ease themselves. This .metaphor is
made use of, both to express the sharpness and short-
ness of this distress; as the pains of a woman in travail
are very sharp, yet short, and, when over, quickly for-
gotten; and so it wilt be at this time; it will be a
sharp trial of the church and people or' God; but it will
last but for a short time; and the joy and happy times
that will follow wili soon cause it to be forgotten : and all
faces are turned into paleness .s at the departure of the
blood, through fear and trembling. The Septuagint
and Vulgate Latin versions render it. the yellow jaundice;
their faces were of the colour of such persons that have
that disease upon them; or, as others, the green sick-
ness. Some render it, the king's evil {q}.
Vet. 7. Alas ! for that day, is great, &c.] For sor-
row and distress: so that none is like it; such were
the times of Jerusal,m's siege and destruction by
the Romans; and which was an emblem of those
times of trouble from antichrist in the latter day;
see Matt. xxiv. œ1, o. c2. Dan. xii. 1, 2: it is even the
time of Jacob's trouble: of the church and people
of God, the true Israel of God; when Popery will be
the prevailing religion in Christendom; when the out-
ward court shall be given to the Gentiles; the witnesses
shall be slain; antichrist will be in statu quo; and the
whore of Rome in all her glory; though it shall not
last long: but he shall be saved out of it; shall come out
of those great tribulations into a very happy and com-
forable estate; the spirit of life shall enter into the
witnesses, and they shall live and ascend to heaven;
the vials of God's wrath will be poured upon the anti-
christian states; the kings of the earth will hate the
whore, and burn her with fire; the Gospel will be
preached everywhere; the Jews will be converted, and
the fulness of the Gentiles be brought in; and an end
be put to all trouble; of which there will be no more,
nor any occasion of it: or, therefore he shall be saved
out of it{r}; as the effect of the divine compassion to him
in such great trouble.
Vet. 8. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the
Lord of hosts, &c.] When the time is come for Jacob
to be saved out of his trouble: that I will break his
~oke from off thy neclc; not the yoke of the king of
abylon, but of antichrist, and of all the antichristian
states, by whom the people of God have been oppressed;
so the Targum, "I will break the yoke of the peoples
"(the antichristian nations) from off your necks."
Jarehi interprets it of the yoke of the nations of the
world from off Israel; and Kimchi of the voke of
Gog and Magog, or of every nation: and will burst thy
bonds; by which they were kept in bondage,. both with
respect to civi{ and religious things; but now he that
led into captivity shall go into captivity himself, Rev.
xiii. 10: and etrangers shall no more serve themselves of
him; this shews that this prophecy cannot be under-
stood of deliverance from the Babylonish captivity;
because, after this, strangers did serve themselves of
the Jews, and they were servants unto them; as to the
Persians, and Grecians, and especially the Romans,
by whom they were entirely subdued and ruined; and
to this day all nations almost serve themselves of
them; but when they shall be called and convert-
ed, as they shall be free from the yoke of sin and Sa-
tan, and from the yoke of the ceremonial law, and
the traditions of their elders, in a religious sense; so
from the yoke of the nations of the world, in a civil
sense.
Ver. 9. But they shah serve the Lord their God, &c.]
And him only, in a spiritual manner, in righteous-
ness and true holiness, with reverence and godly fear;
having respect to all his precepts and ordinances, and
every branch of religious worship; joining themselves
to Gospel churches, and worshipping along with them,
before them, and in the midst of them; see Rev. iii. 9:
and David their king; not literally, who shall be raised
up from the dead, and reign over them, which Kimchi
supposes possible, though he does not assert it; nor his
successors called by his name, as the kings ot' Egypt
were called Pharaohs and Ptolemies, and the Roman
emperors Csesars, of which we have no instance; nor
were there any kings of David's line upon the throne of
Israel after the Babylonish captivity, until the Messiah
came, and who is the Person here meant; and so the
Targum paraphrases it, "and they shall hearken to, or
"obey, Messiah the son of David their king ;" and
Kimchi owns that it may be interpreted of Messiah
the son of David, whose name is called David, as it is
in many prophecies, Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24. and xxxvii.
24, 25. Hos. iii. 5. and this prophecy is understood of
the Messiah by several Jewish writers {s]; and in the
Talmud t it is said, "the holy blessed God will raise up
"unto thee another David; as it is said, and they shall
"serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom
"I will raise up unto them; it is not said, he hath
"raised up, but I will raise up ;" and Christ is called
David, not only because he is his son, but because he
is his antitype. David was a type of Christ in his birth
and parentage; the son of Jesse, born of mean parents,
and at Beth-lehem; in his outward form, ruddy and
beautiful; in his inward character, a man of holiness,
wisdom, and courage; in his offices of shepherd, pro-
phet, and king; in his afflictions and sorrows, and in his
wars and victories. The same Person is here meant as
in the former clause, the Lord their God; since it is
Jehovah that is here speaking; and he does not say
they shall serve me, but the Lord their God; and since
the same service is to be yielded to David as to the
Lord their God; and who is, in his divine nature, the
Lord God, and so the object of all religious worship and
service; and, in his human nature, of the seed of David;
and by office a King, appointed by his Father, and
owned by his people, as King of saints; so the words
may be rendered, they shall serve the Lord their God,
even David their King; see Tit. ii. 1'3. Jud. iv. whom I
will raise up unto them; which is said of him in all his
offices, Jer. xxiii. 5. Dent. xviii. 15. Acts xiii. 23. and
is expressive of _h, is constitution as Mediator; and in-
cludes the Father s pitching upon him, appointing him,
calling him, fitting and qualifying him, and sending

{q} \^Nwqryl\^ in speciem morbi regii, Junius & Tremellius; in morbum
regium, Piscator.
{r} \^evwy hnmmw\^ ideo ex eo servabitur, Schmidt.
{s} R. Albo in Sepher lkkarim, 1. 2. c. 28. Abarbinel in loc. & in
Mashmiah Jeshuab, fol. 35.4.
{t} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 98. 2.