&c.] The prophet turned himself from looking upou
the candlestick and olive-branches, having had a full
and clear understanding of them, and .looked another
way, and saw another vision: and behold afiying roll,
a volume or book flying in the air; it being usual for
books, which were written on parchment, to be rolled
up in the form of a cylinder; whence thefy were called
rolls or volumes.
Vet. 2. And he said unto me, &c.] That is, the
angel: what seest thou ? and I. answered, I see a flying
roll, the length whereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth
thereof ten cubits; so that it was a very large one, a
volume of a very uncommon size, especially it may so
seetn to us; but in other nations they have very long
rolls or volumes, even longer than this: the Russians
write their acts, protests, and other court-matters, on
long rolls of paper, some twenty ells, some thirty, and
some sixty, and more {x}: and this being the length and
breadth of the porch before the temple, 1 Kings vi. &
hence the Jewish writers conclude that this flying roll
came from thence: it may design either the roll or
book in which the sins of men are written; which is
very large, and will quickly be brought into judgment.,
when it will be opened, and men will be judged ac-
cording to it; which shews the notice God takes of
the sins of men; the exact knowledge he has of them;
his strict remembrance of them; and the certain ac-
count men must give of them another day: or, the
book of God's judgments upon sinners, such as was
Ezekiel's roll, Ezek. ii. 10, 11. which are many and
great; are rolled up, and not at present to be searched
into; but are flying, coming on, and will be speedily
executed: or rather the book of the law, called a roll
or volume, Psal. xl. 7. Luke iv. 17, 20. and which will
be a swift witness against the breakers of it, as more
frilly appears from the explanation of it in the next
verse. It is a mere fancy and conceit of some that
the Talmud is meant by this roll, the body of the
Jewish traditions. which make void the commands of
God, take away the blessing, and leave a curse in the
land, as they did in the land of Judea.
Ver. 3. Then said he unto me, this is the curse, &c.]
So the law of Moses is called, because it has curses
written in it, Dent. xXvii. 15--26. and xxviii. 15--26.
and xxix. 19, 20. and xxx. 19. which curse is not
causeless, but is according to law and justice; it is
from the Lord, and is no other than the wrath of the
Almighty; and, wherever it lights, it will remain and
continue for ever. Vitringa, on Isa. xxiv. 6. says, this
is the curse which Isaiah there prophesies of, which'
had its accomplishment in the times of Antiochus;
but there the prophet is speaking, not of the land of
Judea, but of the antichristian states. That goeth
.forth over. the face of the whole earth: over the whole
land of Judea, and the inhabitants of it, for their breach
of the law, contempt of the Gospel, and the rejection
of the Messiah; and which had its accomplishment
when wrath canle upon them to the uttermost, in the
destruction of their nation, city, and temple; and is
the curse God threatened to smite their !and with,
Mal. iv. 6. and this curse also reaches to the wllole
world, and the inhabitants of it, who lie in wickedness;
and to all sorts of sinners, particularly those next men-
tioned :for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this
side, according to it; as it is written and .declared on one
side of the roll: and every one that sweareth shall be cut
off as on that side accordt'ng to it; as is written and
declared on the other side of the roll; which two sins
of theft and false swearing, the one being against the
second, and the other the first table of the law, shew
that the curse of the law reaches to all sorts of sins and
sinners; to all who do not keep it in every respect:
and, indeed, to all but those who are redeemed from
it by the blood of Christ ;and that it is-proportioned
according to a man's sins: and those two are particu-
larly mentioned, because they are sins which prevailed
among the Jews at the time Christ was on earth.
Theft did, both in a literal and figurative sense, Matt.
xxiii. 14. Rein. ii. 21. Luke xi. 52. John x. 8, 10.
and so did vain swearing, Matt. v. 33--36. and xxiii.
16--22.
Ver. 4. I will bring it forth, saith'tbe Lord of hosts,
&c.] The roll was come forth, and was 'flying abroad;
but the curse and wrath of God. signified by it, is what-
God would bring forth out of his treasures, according
to his purposes and declarations, and execute upon
sinners; which .shews the certainty of it, and that.
there is no escaping it: and it shall enter into the house
of the ,thief, and into the house of him that swea.reth
falsely by my name ; a,d it shall remai.n in the midst of
his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof,
and the stones thereof; when wrath is gone forth from
the Lord, there's no stopping it; and where it takes
place it will remain, there's no getting rid of it; it
makes an utter desolation of goods and estates, and
entirely destroys both body and soul in hell: there
seems to be an allusion to the plague of the leprosy,
Lev. xiv. 45. So the son of Sirach says, "a man that
"swears much shall be full of iniquity, and the plague
"shall not depart from his house :" and again," ira man.
"swears in vain, he shall not be innocent or justified,
"for his house shall be full of calamities {y}." So the
ora,cle in Herodotus {z}, which Cretins has observed,
makes an utter destruction of a man's house and family,
to be the punishment of the sin of perjury. Moreover,
by the house of the thief and sweater may be meant
the temple, as in the times of Christ, which was be-
come a den of thieves and perjurers, and for their sins,.
became desolate, Matt. xxi. 13. and xxiii.
Ver. 5. Then the angel that talked with me went forth,
&c.] From the place where he was, and had been
interpreting the vision of the flying roll, unto another
more convenient for-shewing and explaining the fol-
lowlug one; and, as it should seem, took the prophet
along with him: and said unto me, lift up now thine
eyes, and see what it is that goeth forth ; either .out of
the temple or out of heaven, into some open ,place,
where it might be seen.
Ver. 6. And I said, what is it ? &c.] After he had
lifted up his eyes and seen it, he desires to kno.w both
what it was, and what was the meaning of it :. and
said, this is an ephah that goeth .forth; which was a
measure much in use with the Jews, Exod. xvi. 36.
Lev. xix. 36. Ruth ii. 17. it is the same with the bath.,

{x} Eskuche apud Burkium in loc.
{y} Ecclesiasticus xxiii. 11.
{z} Erato, sive l. 6. c. 86.