doing works according to the word of righteousness,
from good principles, and with good views, with a
view to the glory of God: and which witl be sowing
to themselves, turn to their own account; for though
such works are not profitable to God, as to merit any
thing at his hands; yet they are not only profitab!e to
others, but to those that do them; for though not for,
yet in keeping the commands of God there is great re-
ward, Psal. xix. 11. Reap in mercy; or according to
mercy {h} not according to the merit of works, for there
is none in them; but according to the mercy of God,
to which all blessings, temporal, spiritual, and eternaL,
are owing; and such who sow to the spirit, or spiritual
things, shall of the spirit reap life everlasting; not as
the reward of debt, but of grace; not as of merit, but
as owing to the mercy of Christ, Gal. vi. 9. Jude,
yet. 21: break up your.fallow ground; that is, of their
hearts; which were like ground unopened, unbroken,
not titled and manured, nor sown with seed, but over-
run with weeds and thistles; and so were they, hard
and impenitent, destitute of grace, and full of sin and
wickedness, and stood in need of being renewed in the
spirit of their minds; which this exhortation is de-
signed to convince them of, and to stir them up to
make use of proper methods of obtaining it, through
the efficacious grace of God; see Jet. iv. 5: for it is
time to seek the Lord: for his grace; as the husbandman
seeks, prays, and waits for rain, when he Ins tilled his
ground, and sowed his seed, to water it, and make it
fruitful, that he may have a good reaping-time, a
plentiful harvest; and as there is a time to seek
for the one, so for the other: till he come and rain
righteousness upon you; that is, Christ, whose coming
is as the rain, ch. vi. 3. Psal. lxxii. 6. and who, when
he should come, whether personally by his incarnation,
or spiritually by his gracious presence, would rain a
plentiful rain of the doctrines of grace, and the blessings
of it, such as peace. pardon, righteousness, and eternal
life by him; particularly the justifying righteousness
wrought out by him, which is fully manifested in the
Gospel, the ministration of that righteousness, and is
applied unto, and put upon, all them that believe: or
till he come and teach .you righteousnessi; as Christ did
when come; he taught the word of righteousness in
general, and the righteousness of God in particular,
and directed men to seek it; declared he came to fulfil
all righteousness, and taught men to believe in him
for it, and that he is their righteousness, and the end
of the law for it; as well as he taught them to live
.righteously and godly; see Joel if. 23. The Targum
is, "O house of Israel, do tbr yourselves good works;
"walk in the way of truth; establish for yourselves
"the doctrine of the law; behold, at all times the
"prophets say to you, return to the fear of the Lord;
"now shall he be revealed, and bring righteousness to
" you." But these exhortations were vain and fruit-
less, as appears by what follows:.
Vet. 13. Ye have ploughed wickedness, &c.] Con-
trived it, and t6ok a great deal of pains to commit it;
by ploughing sowed it, and which sprung up in a
plentiful crop: it-may denote their first sins, from
whence all others arose; as their irreligion and in-
fidelity; their apostacy from God; their idolatry and
contempt of his word and prophets: ye have reaped
iniquity; abundance of other sins have sprung up from
thence; a large harvest of them have been reaped and
got in; or great numbors of other sins have been com-
itted; one sin leads on to another, and these proceed
ad infinitum; wickedness is of au increasing nature.
and grows worse and worse, and proceeds to more un-
godliness: many understand this of the punishment or
reward of sin: ye have eaten the fruit of lies; as a sweet
morsel. though bread of deceit; which could not profit
them, nor yield them in the issue the pleasure it pro-
mised them, and they hoped'for from it: because thou
didst trust in thy way; in the worship of their-idols.
and in their alliances with neighbouring nations, and
promised themselves great prosperity and happiness
from hence: and in the multitude oJ' thy mighty men;
their valiant soldiers, their numerous armies, and the
generals of them, well skilled in war, and courageous;
and also in their auxiliaries, which they had from the
Egyptians and others; these they put their confidences
in, to protect them; and so in their garrisons and for-
tresses, as the following words sbew:
Ver. 14, Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy
people, &c.] Because of their wickedness and vain
confidence, the Assyrian army should invade them;
which would cause a tumultuous noise to be made
throughout the tribes in all cities and towns, a cry, a
howling, and lamentation; especially among fearful
and timorous ones. as women and children; who
would be thrown into a panic at hearing the news
of a powerful foreign enemy entering their country'.
and laying waste all before them; a voice of clamour.
as Jarchi observes, crying, flee, flee: and all thyfor-
tresses shall be spoiled; the strong holds, in which they
put their confidence for safety; every one of these
should be taken and demolished by the enemy, in all
parts of the kingdom; so that there should be none left
to flee unto. no place of retreat: as Shalman spoiled
Beth-arbel in the day of battle; that is, Salmaneser
king ofA ssy ria, h is name being abbreviated, as Beth-area
is called Area, ver. 8. who had lately, though there ia
no account of it elsewhere, spoiled this place, demo-
lished its fortresses, and destroyed the inhabitants of
it; which is thought to be either the city of Arbd
beyond Jordan, I Maccab. ix. 2. which Josephus {k} calls
a city of Galilee, and sometimes a village; and which.
according to him, was not far from Sipphore, and in
lower Galilee. near to which thieves and robbers dwelt
in caves and dens, difficult to come at; and so a Jewish
writer {l} places Arbel between Sipphore and Tiberias;
and elsewhere {m} mention is made of the valley of Arbe].
near to those places: and Jerom {n} says, there was tho
village Arbel beyond Jordan, on the borders of Pella.
a city of Palestine; and another of this name in the
large plain, nine miles from the town of Legio: and

{h} \^dox ypl\^ "ad os miserecordiae", Montanus; "secundum misericordiam",
Pagninus; "secundum pietatem", Cocceius, Schmidt.
{i} \^Mkl qdu hrwyw\^ "et doceat justitiam vos", Pagninus, Montanus,
Drusius, Cocceius, Schmidt.
{k} Antiqu. I. 12. c. 11 sect. 1. & I. 14. c. 15. sect. 4. In Vita sua, 
sect. 60. p. 922, 934.
{l} Juchasin, fol. 65.1.
{m} T. Hieros. Beracot, fol. 2, 3. & Taaniot, fol. 69. 2. Shirhashirim
Rabba, fol. 34.3.
{n} De locis Heb. fol. 87. L.