Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/3_100_t.lzh/3_138.TXT

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such grievances: and I rebuked the nobles and the
rulers; who were the men that monopolized the corn in
this dear season, and sold it at an extravagant price,
and had got the lands, vineyards, and houses of the poor
mortgaged to them, and to whom they had lent money
on usury: and said unto them, you exact usury every one
ofhis brother; which was contrary to the express law
of God, Exod. xxii. o_5. aml which even.the Indiansh
strictly observed, who neither let out money, nor took
any upon usury: and I set a great assembly against
them; either of the poor that were oppressed, who
brought in their accusations and complaints against
them, or a large body of the people, who were not
guilty, to hear them, that the delinquents might be put
to public shame; or he called a large court of judica-
ture, and set them to examine these allegations, and to
do justice.
Vet. 8. And I said unto them, &c.] The nobles,
and rulers, and other rich persons that.exacted usury
of the poor: we after ottr ability; speaking of himself
in the plural number, which now obtained in the
court of Persia; or of Zerubbabel, Ezra, and others,
who, according as their worldly circumstances, having
been captives, would admit of: have redeemed our bre-
thren the Jews, which were sold unto the Heathen; not
that they had given a ransom for them to Cyrus, or
any other king of Persia, which would. be contrary to
the prophecies concerning their redemption, Isa. xlv.
13. and lii. 3. but such who had sold themselves to
particular persons in Babylon, who, without being re-
deemed, could not take the advantage of the liberty
granted by Cyrus, and his successors; and it may be
there were others also in the like circumstances, in
other neighbouring nations, that had been redeemed
this way. The Jewish canoni now is, he that sells
himself, and his children, to Gentiles, they don't re-
deem; but they redeem the children after their fa-
ther's death; which the commentators {k} explain of
the third time that he sells himself: and willyou even
sell your brethren ? their lands and vineyards mortgaged
to them, and even their persons: or shall they be sold
unto us ? must we be obliged to buy them, and to re-
deem them: then they held their peace, and found no-
thing to answer; being convinced they had done wrong,
by the arguments used, to which they could make no
reply.
Ver. 9. Also I said, it is not good that ye do, &c.]
The meaning is, that it was very bad; it is a meiosis,
by which more is intended than is expressed: ought
~e not to walk in the fear of our God; m reverence of
im and his law, and according to that: because ofthe
reproach of the tteathen our enemies ? whose mouths
will be open to reproach the true religion, and the
good ways of God; and say, these are the men that
pretend to fear God, and serve him, and yet break his
law, and use their brethren ill, see Rom. if.
Vet. 10. I likewise, anti my brethren, and my servants,
might exact of them money and corn, &c.] For our
maintenance, in consideration of the services done by
us, which would appear but reasonable, but this we
decline for the sake of casing our poor brethren: I
pray you let us leave off this usury; and not exact it,
as has been too much and too long used.
Ver. 11. Restore, I pray you, even this day, their
lands, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses,
&c.] Which they had made over to them for corn
they had had, or money they borrowed of them; it is
entreated that an immediate restitution be made, and
the rather, if what Aben Ezra observes is true, that
this was the year of release, when debts were not to
be exacted, but forgiven, Deut. xv. 1, .o., 3. also the
hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine,
and the oil, that ye exact of them; the hundredth part
of the money might be what they took tbr usury, as
the Romans did in after-times, even so much a month;
so that if the loan was 100 pounds, a pound was given
every month for it, and so lc2. pounds in the year; and
the hundredth part of the corn, wine, and oil, might
be the hundredth part of those fruits of the eartho
which the rulers demanded for their salary, see ver. 15.
· Ver. lc2.. Then said they, we will restore them, &c.]
The lands, vineyards, oliveyards, and houses: and
will require nothing of them ; not the hundredth part
of .the fi'uits of the earth by way of salary: so will we
do as thou sayest; they approved of hia proposal, and
readily agreed to it: then I called the priests, and took
an oath of them that they should do according to this
promise; not that the priests were delinquents, they
were not charged with any thing of this kind, nor were
they the men that promised restitution; but the priests
were called to administer the oath to the nobles,
and rulers, and rich men, to oblige them the more to
keep their word; an oath being sacred, priests in an
holy office were made use of to give it, that it
might be the more solemn, and the more strictly
regarded.
Ver. 13. Also I shook my lap, &c.] The fore skirts
of his garment, shaking the dust out of them, as a
symbol of what follows; a like rite was used in the
case of peace and war, the choice of either, by the
Romans, as proposed by their ambassadors to the Car-
thaginians, as having either in their bosom to shake
out {l}: and said, so God shake out every man from his
house, and .from his labour; what he has got by his
labour: that performeth not his promise; confirmed by
an oath:  even thus be he shaken out, and emptied; of
all tl,,at he has in the world, and out of the world too,
as Jarchi adds: and all the congregation said, Amen;
so let it be, even those that had taken pledges and
usury, as well as others: and praised the Lord; that
had given them such a governor to direct, advise, and
exhort them to their duty, and had inclined their
hearts to attend theretmto: and the people did accord-
ing to this promise; they punctually kept it, and the
oath they had sworn.
Vet. 14. Moreover, from the time that l was appointed
to be their govcrner in the land of Judah, &c.] That is,
by the king of Persia, which was not done when he
was first sent into Judea; but very probably when he
had finished the wall in 52 days, he returned to Persia,
and gave the king au account of his success, and how
things stood in those parts, when he judged it neces-


{h} AElian. Var. Hist. l. 4. c. 1.
{i} Misn. Gittin, c. 4. sect. 9.
{k} Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.
{l} Florus, l. 2. c. 6. Liv. l. 21. c. l6.