Vet..22. Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in
the evening, afore he that was escaped came, &c.] 'Fhe
prophet felt a divine impulse on his mind; he was
under the influence of a spirit'of prophecy, and knew
before the messenger came to him what his message
was, and was prepared to receive it, and to prophesy
upon it; for this is to be understood of prophecy, as
the Fargun," prophecy from before the Lord was
"with me in the evening {k} ;" see Isa. viii. l t: and had
opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning;
the hand of the Lord, or the power of the Lord, had
done it, as he promised he would, ch. iii. e7. so that
be spoke fi-eely and boldly, and continued to do so
from the evening, to the time the messenger came to
him in the morning, to all those that were with. him:
and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb:
as he had been for three years past; for though he had
been prophesylug against several nations, yet these
prophecies were not delivered, 'tis very likely, by
word of mouth, but by writing, and sent into those
countries by proper messengers; but now the prophet's
mouth is opened by .the spirit of God, as it was sttid it
should, when this messenger should come to him, ch.
xxiv. '27. and fi'om this time he was not silent, but
prophesied to his people, the Jews, verbally, as he
was bid to do hy the Lord.
Vet, 23. Then the word of the Lord came unto me,
&c.] After the messenger had delivered his message,
and he had received it, and conversed with him about
it: saying: as follows:
Ver. 24. Son of man, they that inhabit those wastes
of the land of Israel, &c.] The places which were laid
waste by Nebuchadnezzar's army, going and return-
ing, in and about Jerusalem, and in several parts of
Judea; these were they that were left in the land after
the destruction, to people and plant it; or who,
having fled to distant parts, were now returned, and
took possesion of it, though it was in a wretched
condition, a mere waste or desert; and .yet they were
lifted up with it, and proud and haughty, as their
language shew. s: for thus .they speak, saying, Abraham
was one, and he inherited the land; he was but one,
and had no child, when the promise of inheriting the
land was made unto him; and he was but a single war-
shipper of God, and yet he had this favour and privi-
lege: but we are .marts; the land is given us jbr inhe-
ritance: so they 'oppose themselves to Abraham, and
argue from the lesser to the greater; that if a single
person'was vouchsafed to inherit it, then much more
many, and those of his seed; and to whom the land
was particularly given for an inheritance, and who
were now iu the possession of it, as Abraham never
was; and, being many, were able to defend their right,
and secure themselves in the enjoyment of it; all which
reasoning shews their pride and vanity, though they
were under such humbling cirumstances; their land
being waste, their n.umbers lessened, and the enemy
had but just quitted it, having made dreadful devasta-
tions iu it; and which had had no influence upon them
to refdrm them, or bring them to repentance, as the
following verses shew.
Ver. 25. 1Vherfore say-unto them, thus saith the 
Lord God, &c.3 Send them this message in writing,
as from the Lord; for the prophet wasnow in Chaldea,
and could not deliver it by word of mouth to those
that inhabited the wastes of Israel; but he could tell
it to the messenger that came to him, who had
escaped from Jerusalem; or send it by him, or some
other: ylc cat with the blood; or rather upon, or by the
blood a; contrary to the law in Lev. xix. '26. which is
a different law from that in Gen. ix. 4, and from that
in Lev. iii. 17, and vii. 26, 27. and refers to an ido-
latrous pfictice. of the Ileathens, which these Jews
imitated; who, having slain and offered their sacrifices
to devils, sat down round about the blood of them,
and ate their foot or .part of their sacrifice by it, as
Kimchi on the text observes. The .account Maimon-
ides{m} gives of the Zabians is this," you must know
"(says he) that the blood is reckoned very unclean
"and impure by the Zabians, yet is eaten by them,
"because they think it is the food of devils; and that
"he that eats it by this means obtains some commu-
"nications with them; so that they converse fatal-
" liarly with hitn, and reveal things future to him,
"which the vulgar commonly attribute to devils:
"notwithstanding there were some among them, with
"whom it seemed very grievous and difficult to eat
"blood (for it is a thing which the nature of man
"abhors); these used to slay some beast, and take its
".blood, and put it in a vessel, or in a hole dug in the
"earth, and eat the slain beast, sitting in a circle
"about the blood; imagining to themselves, in so
"doing, whilst they ate the flesh the devils ate the
"blood, and that this is their food; and by this means.
"friendship, fraternity, and familiarity were contracted
"between them, because they all ats at one table, and
"sat on one seat; besides, they were of opinion that
"the devils appeared to them in-dreams, and told
"them things to come, and were .of much advantage
ú " and accordingly it .follows: and lift up
"to them,
your eyes towards your idols; make your devotion, and
pray unto them, and worship them, and expect help
and assistance from them: and shed blood; innocent
blood, as the Targum; they were guilty of murder
as well as of idolatry, or shedding of blood, in sacrifice
to idols: and shall ye .possess the land ? can such
wretches as you, such gross idolaters and murderers,
ever think that you are the children of Abraham, and
have a right to the inheritance of this land, or shall
long continue in the possession of it, living in. suck
abominable iniquities as these ?
Vet. 26 Ye stand upon your sword, &c.] You trust
in it, and think to support yourselves by it, and se-
cure your possession and right of it by that means
So the Targum, "' you stand in your strength:" ye
work abomination; that which is abominable to God,
and not fit to be named among men; Jarchi interprets
it of sodomy : the word is in,the feminine gender, and
may be rendered, ye women work abomination; refer-
ring to that unnatural lust the apostle speaks of, Rom.
i. 26. so Ben Melech: and ye deJile every one his neigh-
bour's wife; were guilty of adultery; and which was

{k} So R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 54. 2.
{l} \^Mdh le\^ super sanguinem, Munster, Montanus, Cocceius, Starck-
ius; juxta sanguinem; so some in Vatablus.
{m} Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 46. p. 484.