like them: yea, woe also to them, when I depart from
the'm; withdraw my presence, favour, and protection
from them; or remove my Shechinah from then}, as
the Targum; and leave them to the spoil and cruelty
oftheir enemies, which would be a greater calamity
andjudgment than the former. The Septuagint, and
so Theodotion, render it, woe is to them, myJtesh is of
them; which some of the ancients interpret of the in-
carnation of Christ, not considering that the words are
spoken of Ephraim, or the ten tribes; whereas the
Messiah was to spring, and did, from the family of
David, and tribe of Judah.
Ver. 13. Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a
pleasant place, &c.] That is, either as the city of
Tyre, a very fainous city in Phoenicia, was situated in
a very pleasant place by the sea, and abounded in
wealth and riches, and was well fortitled, and seemed
secure from all danger, and from all enemies; so
Ephraim or the ten tribes, the kingdom of Israel.
were in like circumstances, equal to Tyre, as the
Targum paraphrases it, in prosperity and plenty ;. yet
as the prophet in the vision of prophecy saw that
Tyre, notwithstanding all its advantages by power
and wealth, by art and nature, would be destroyed,
fiat by Nebuchadnezzar, and then by Alexander; so
by the same prophetic spirit he saw that Ephraim or
the ten tribes, notwithstanding their present pro-
sperity, and the safety and security they thought them-
selves in, yet should be given up to ruin and destruc-
tion by the hand of the Assyrians; or it may be ren-
dered thus, Ephraim as, or when I saw it, unto Tyre {k};
reaching unto that place, and bordering upon it, as
part of the ten tribes did; I saw it, I observed it, took
a survey of it, and I perceived it was planted in a plea-
sant place; like a tree planted in a fruitful soil, well
rooted, and in a flourishing condition; so were they,
aboundlag with all good things, and having a nume-
rous offspring; from all which they promised them-
selves much happiness for ages to come: but Ephraim
shall bring forth his' children to the murderer; to sacri-
fice them to Moloch, as some; so the Targum, "'they
"of the house of Ephraim have sinned in slaying their
"children to the service of idols ;" with which Jarchi
agrees; but rather the sense is, with Kimchi, and others,
when their enemies shall come against them, as the
Assyrian army, .they shall go out with their sons to
fight with them, and these shall be destroyed and
murdered by them; it will be like leading lambs to the
slaughter to be butchered and devoured by them.
Ver. 14. Give them, 0 Lord: what wilt thou give
them ? &c.] The prophet foreseeing the butchery and
destruction of their children, his heart ached for
them; and, to shew his tender affection for this peo-
ple, was desirous of putting up a supplication for
them; but was at a loss what to ask, their sins were
so many, and so aggravated, and the decree gone
forth for their destruction: or, give them what thou
wilt give them {}; so Jarchi, Kimchi, and' Abarbinel,
what thou hast threatened before to give them, ver.
11. don't give them to be butchered and murdered
before the eyes of their parents by their enemies; but
rather let them die in the womb, or as soon as born; so
it follows: give them a miscarrying womb and dry
breasts; the latter being a sign of the former, as phy..
sicinns observe; or the words may be rendered dis-
junctively, give them one, or the other; that is, to
the wives of the people of Israel, if they conceive, let
J them miscarry, prove abortive, rather than bring forth
children to be destroyed in such a cruel manner by
murderers; or if they bear them to the birth. and
bring them fortIs, let their breasts be dried up, and
afibrd no milk for their nourishment; and so die for
lack of it, rather than fall into the hands of their
merciless enemies: thus, of two evils, the prophet
chooses and prays for the least. Some interpret this
as a prediction of what would be, or an imprecation of
it; but it rather seems a pathetic wish, flowing from
the tender affection of the prophet, judging such a case
to be preferable to the former; see Luke xxiii. 29-
though the other sense seems best to agree with what
follows, and which is favoured by the Targum, "give
"thou, O Lord, the recompense of their works; give
"them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts."
Ver. 15. AH their wiclcedness is in Gilgal, &c.] A
p!a. ce in the ten tribes, where the covenant of circum-
cision.was renewed in Joshua's time; the first passover
was kept in the land of Canaan, and the people of
Israel ate the first-fruits of the land; where the taber-
nacle was for a while, and sacrifices were offered up
to the Lord: but now things were otherwise; all
manner of iniquity was committed in it, especially
idolatry; for which it was chosen by idolaters, be-
cause it had formerly been famous for religious wor-
ship: here, though not to the exclusion of other
places, as Dan and Beth-el, was the above sin com-
mitted; here it begun and spread itself, and had the
measure of it filled up; here began the first departure
from the Lord, rejecting him, and asking a king in the
days of Samuel, as Kimchi and Abarbinel observe;
and here were high places and altars erected for ido-
latry; and this is now the reason of the above threat-
erarigs or' God, and the predictions of the prophet.
Grotius thinks there is a mystical sense in the words,
and that they have reference to the sin of the Jews
in crucifying Christ on Golgotha; which, in the Sy-
riac language, is the same with Gilgal; but both the
people spoken of, arid the place, are different: Jbr
there I hated them; or therefore {m}, because they sinned
so greatly against him in a place' where they had for-
merly worshipped him; their sacrifices there, instead
of being acceptable, were the more abominable to him,
as they were offered there where his tabernacle once
was, and sacrifices were offered to him according to
his will: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive
them out of mine house; not out of the house of my
sanctuary, or the temple, as the Targum.; unless this
is to be understood of losing the opportunity of going
to the temple at Jerusalem, which those of the ten
tribes had whilst they were in their own land, which
the few godly persons among them then took, and
made use of; but now their idolatry increasing in
Gilgal, and other places, they should be carried cap-

{k} \^rwul ytyar rvak\^ "quando vidi usque ad Tyrum", Schmidt.
{l} \^Ntt hm Mhl Nt\^ "da eis quod daturus es", Junius & Tremellius,
Vatablus, Grotius; "da illis id quod dabis", Schmidt.
{m} \^yk\^ ideo, Rivet.