and all other sins; till they ingenuously confess them-
selves to be guilty, or know and acknowledge they
have sinned, as the Targum; and then humbly seek
the face and favour of God, the remission of their sins
from him, and acceptance with him: in their affliclion
they will seek me early: in the morning, betShies,
early, and earnestly; which affliction may be under-
stood both of the Assyrian and Babylonish captivity;
or rather of their present affliction toward the close of
it, when they shall be sensible of their sins, and con-
fess them, and look to him whom they have pierced,
and mourn, and seek for pardon, righteousness, and
salvation, trom him; and so all Israel shall be saved, of
whose conversion this is a prophecy.

CHAP. VI.

THIS chapter gives an account of some who were
truly penitent, and stirred up one another to return to
the Lord, encouraged by his power, grace, and good-
ness, ver. I, 2`, 3. and of others, who had only a form
of religion, were very unstable in it; regarded more
the ceremonial law, and the external sacrifices of it,
than the moral law; either that part of it which re-
spects the love of the neighbout, or that which con-
cerns the knowledge of God; and dealt treacherously
with the Lord, transgressing the covenant, ver. 4, 5,
6, 7- particularly the city or' Gilead is represented as
full of the workers of iniqnity, anti is charged with
bloodshed, ver. 8. yea, even the priests were guilty of
murder and lewdness, ver. 9. and Israel, or the ten
tribes in general, are accused of whoredom, both cor-
poreal and spiritual, with which they were defiled, vet.
10. nor was Judah clear of these crimes, and therefore
a reckoning day is set tbr them, vet. 11.
Vet. 1. Come, and let us return unto the Lord, &c.]
The Septuagint and Arabic versions connect these
words w:,th the last clause of the preceding chapter,
adding the word, saying; and so the Targum and Sy-
riac version, they shall say; and very rightly as to the
sense; for they are the words of those persons under
the afflicting hand of God; and, being brought thereby
to a .sense of theh' sins, acknowledge them, and seek
to the Lord for pardon, and encourage one another so
to do; as Israel and Judah will in the latter day, when
the veil shall be taken off' their minds, the hardness
of their heart removed, and they shall be converted,
and turn to the Lord, and seek him together, weeping
as they go; having both faith in Christ, and repentance
towards God, by which they will return unto him; see
e Cor. iii. 16. Jet. !. 4, 5. so all sinners sensible of their
departure from God by sin, and of the evil and danger
of it, repent of it, and loath it, confess and acknow-
ledge it, depart from it, and forsake it; and return to
the Lord, having some view and apprehension of him
as a God, gracious and merciful in Christ; imploring
the forgiveness of their sins, with some degree of faith
and confidence in him; and not having only love to
their own souls, arid the welfare of them, but also to
the souls of others, exhort and encourage them to join
with them in the same acts of faith, repentance, and
obedience. The 'Fargum is, "let us return to the
"worship of the Lord ;" from which they have sadly
departed. The arguments or reasons follow, for he
hath torn, and he will heal us: Ire hath smitten, and he
will bind us up; the same hand tint has torn will
heal and that has smitten will bind up, and none else
can; and therefore there is a necessity of returning
to him for healing and a cure, Deut. xxxii. 39. and
his tearing is in order to heal, and his smiting in
order to bind up; and, as sure as he has done the
one, he'll do the other, and therefore there is great
encouragement to apply to him; all which the JeWs
will be sensible or' in the last day; and then the
Lord, who is now tearing them in his wrath, and
smiting them in his sore displeasure, both in their
civil and church state, dispersing them among the
nations, and has been so doing for many hundred years,
will bind up the breach of his people, and heal the stroke
of their wound, Isa. xxx. o.6. and so the Lord deals
with all Iris people, who are truly and really converted
by him; he rends their heart, tears the caul or' it;
pricks and cuts them to the heart; smites them with
the hammer of his word; wounds their consciences
with a sense of sin; lets in the law into them, which
works wrath, whereby they become broken and con-
trite; and all this in order to their turning to him that
smites them, and be healed, and in love to their souls,
though for the present grievous to bear: and then the
great Physician heals them by his stripes and wounds;
by the application of his blood; by means of his word,
the Gospel of peace and pardon; by a look to him,
and a touch of him by faith; by discoveries of his love,
and particularly his pardoning grace and mercy, whiclt
as oil and wine he pours into the wounds made by sin,
and binds them up; and which he heals universally,
both with respect to persons and diseases, for whiclt
he is applied unto, and infallibly, thoroughly, and per-
fectly, and all freely.
Ver. o.. After two days will Ire revive us: in the third
da.tt he will raise us up, &c.] The Jews, in their pre-
sent state, are as dead men, both in a civil and spiritual
sense, and their conversion and restoration will be as
life from the dead; they are like persons buried, and,
when they are restored, they'll be raised out of their
graves, both of sin and misery; see Rom. xi. 15.
Ezek. xxxvii. 11, 1ø-, 13, 14. the time of which is here
fixed, after two days, and on the third; which Jarchi
interprets of the two temples that have been destroyed,
and of the third temple to be bu,ilt, which the Jews
expect, but in vain, and when they hope for good
times: Kimchi explains it of their three captivities, in
Egypt, Babylon, and the present one, and so Ben
Melech, from which they hope to be raised, and live
comfortably; which sense is much better than the
former: and with it may be compared Vitringa's
notion of the text, that the first day was betwecrt

{s} Comment. in Isa. viii 20.