they had one, he could be of no service to them; fo
since they had offended God, the King of kings, and
made him their enemy, what could an earthly king, a
weak mortal man, do for them, or against him ? it was
now all over with them, and ttley could have no ex-
pectation of help and deliverance.
Ver. 4. They have spoken words, swearing .falsely in
making a covenant, &c.] Those are other crimes they
'were guilty of, for which the wrath of God could not
be awarded from them by a king, i[' they had one, or
by any other. They had used vain and idle words in
their common talk and conversation; and lying and
deceitful ones to one another in trade and commerce,
in contraets and promises; and so had deceived and
overreached one another: they had belched out many
oaths of vanity {u}: or vain oaths and curses; their
mouths had been full of cursing and bitterness; and
they made covenants with God, and their king, and
with other kings and princes, and with one another,
and had not kept thern; and now for these things God
had a controversy with them: thus judgment springeth
up as hemlock in the furrows of the field; either the
judgment of God, his wrath and vengeance for the
above sins, rose up and spread itself in all their cities,
towns, and villages; or rather the judgment and jus-
tice they pretended to execute, instead of being what
it should have been, useful and beneficial to the peo-
ple, like a wholesome herb, sprung up like hem-
lock, bitter and poisonous, and spread itself in all
parts of the kingdom. Injustice is meant; see Amos
vi.
Ver. 5. The inhabitants of Samaria shall .fear be-
cause of the calves o.f Beth-aven, &c.] Or, the cow-
calves ", as in the original; so called by way of deri-
sion, and to denote their weakness and inability to help
their rotaries; and so Beth-el, where one of these
calves was, is here, as elsewhere, called Beth-area;
that is, the house of iniquity, or of an idol, by way of
contempt; and may take in Dan also, where was the
other calf, since both are mentioned; unless the plural
is put for the singular: n9w the land of Israel being
invaded by the enemy, the inhabitants of Samaria,
which was the metropolis of the nation, the king, no-
bles, and common' people that dwelt there, and were
worshippets of the calves, were in pain lest they should
be taken by the enemy; or because they were, these
places falling into his hands before Samaria was be-
sieged, or at least taken; and these calves being
broken to pieces, which they had worshipped, and
put their trust in, they were afraid the ruin of them-
selves and children would be next, and was not very
far off: for the people thereof shall mourn over it; either
the people of Samaria, the same with the inhabitants
of it; or rather the people of Beth-area, where the
idol was; but now was broke to pieces, or carried
away; though it is generally interpreted of the people
of the calf, the worshippets of it, who would mourn
over it, or for the loss of it, being taken away from
them, and disposed of as in the following verse. The
Jews {x} have a tradition, that, in the twentieth year of
Pekah king of Israel, 'Figlath-Pileser king of Assyria
came and took away the golden calf in Dan; and, 'in
the twelfth year of Ahaz, another king of Assyria
(Salmaneser) came and took away the golden calf at
Beth-el: and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it; the
Chemarim, as in Zeph. i. 4. or black r ones, because
of their meagre and sordid countenances, or black
clothing: the same word the Jews use for Popish
monks: here it designs the priests of Beth-aven, or
the calf, who before this time rejoiced on account of
it, because of the sacrifices and presents of the people
to it, and the good living they got in the service of it;
but now would mourn, as well as the people, and
more, because of being deprived of their livelihood.
Some read the words without the supplement that, the
priests thereof rejoiced on it; which some interpret ac-
cording to a tradition of the Jews mentioned by Jerom,
though by no other, as I can find; that the priests
stole away the golden calves, and put brasen and glided
ones in the room of them; so that when they were
carried away the people mourned, taking them to be
the true golden calves; but the priests made them-
selves merry with their subtle device, and rejoiced that
their fraud was not detected; but rather the word here
used, as Pocock and others have observed, is of that
kind which has contrary senses, and signifies both to
mourn and to rejoice; and here to mourn, as per-
haps also in Job iii. 22. Psal. iS. 11. and so Ben Melech
observes, that there are some of their interpreters who
understand it here in the sense of mourning: for the
glory of it, because it is departed .from it; either be-
cause of the glory of the calf, which was gone from it,
the veneration it was had in, the worship which was
given to it, and the gems and ornaments that were
.about it; or rather the glory of Beth-area, and also of
Samaria, and indeed of all Israel, which was carried
captive from them; that is, the calf, which was their
god, in which they gloried, and put their trust and con-
fidence in.
Vet. 6. It shall also be carried unto Assyria for a
present to King 3areb, &c.] Or, he himse.lf"; not the
people of Samaria, or of Beth-area, or of the calf, but
the calf itself; which, being all of gold, was sent a
present to the king of Assyria, here called Jareb;
either Assyria, or the kingof it; see the note on ch. v.
13. this was done either. by the people of Israel them-
selves, to appease the king of Assyria ;'or rather by the
Assyrian army, who reserved the plunder of this as a
proper present to their king and conqueror, to whom
not only nations, but the gods of nations, were subject:
Ephraim shall receive shame; for worshipping such an
idol,. when they shall see it broke to pieces, and the
gold of'it ,nade a present to the Assyrian king, and
that it could not save them, nor itself: and Israelshall
be ashamed of his own counsel; of giving in to such
idolatry, contrary to the counsel, mind, and will of
God; or of the counsel which they and Jeroboam
took to set up the calves at Dan and Beth-el, and
thereby to keep the people from going up to Jerusa-
lem, 1 Kings xii. 0_8. as well as of their counsel and

{u} \^awv twla\^ "execrationes vanitatis", Schmidt.
{w} \^twlgel\^ "vaccas", Vulg. Lat.; "ad. vitulas", Pagninus, Montanus;
"propter vitulas", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "ob vitulas", Cocceius.
{x} Seder Olam Rabba, c.22. p. 60, 61.
{y} \^wyrmk\^ }' "atrati ejus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
{z} \^wtwa Mg\^ "etiam ipsemet", Pagninus, Montanus; "etiam ipse", Ju-
nius & Tremellius, Piscator; "etiam ille, Cocceius; "etiam ille ipse",
Schmidt.