Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/4_200.lzh/4_280.TXT

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or to repair and maintain the banks of the rivers, or to
do some servile work or another; see Ezek. i. 1. and
where they would sometimes sit down pensive, as
mourners used to do, and lament their case, Job ii. 8,
13. Or this phrase may express their residence here,
and the continuance and length of their captivity,
which was seventy years: yea, Babylon itself may be
meant by the waters of it ;just as Thebes, in Pindar {w}
is called the Dircaean waters, near to which it was.
Yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion; they imitated
the flowing stream by which they sat, and swelled it
with their tears; they wept for their sins, which
brought them thither; and it increased their sorrow,
when they called to mind what privileges they had
enjoyed in Zion, -the city of their solemnities; where
they had often seen the tribes of Israel bowing before
and worhipping the God of Israel; the daily sacrifices
and others offered up; the solemn feasts kept; the
'songs of Zion, sung by the Levites in delightful har-
mony; and, above all, the beauty of the Lord their
God, his power and glory, whilst they were inquiring
in his sanctuary: and also when they reflected upon the
sad condition and melancholy circumstances in which
Zion now was; the city, temple, and altar, lying in heaps
of rubbish; no worship and service performed; no sa-
crifices offered, nor songs sung; nor any that came to
her solemn feasts; see Lain. i. 2, 4, 7, 16. Psal. xlii. 3, 4.
Vet. 2. tVe hanged our harps upon the willows in the
midst thereof.] These were musical instruments, used
in the temple-service by the Levites, who seem to be
the' persons here speaking; who took care of them°
 and preserved them from the plunder of the enemy;
and carried them with them to Babylon, in hope of re-
turning .with them to use them as before, or to solace
themselves and others in captivity; though now they
had no heart to make .use of them, their sorrow was
so great, and therefore hung them upon the willows
as useless things: these willows grew upon the banks
of the rivers where they were, as such trees usually do;
hence called willows of the brook{x}, and willows by
water-courses, Lev. xxiii. 40. Isa. xliv. 4. and particu-
larly upon the banks of the river Euphrates, which ran
through the midst of Babylon, with which the phrase
here agrees; and therefore Babylon itself is thought
to be called the brook, or valley, of the willows, Isa. xv. 7-
And, according to Ovid {y}, not only reeds and poplars,
but willows, grew on the banks of the Euphrates.
Now the state of these people was an emblem of the
case of the backsliding children of God; who, through
the prevalence of corruption, the force of temptation,
and the snares of the world, are brought into a kind of
captivity to the law of sin and death, though not will-
ingly; nor is it pleasing to thetn when sensible of it,
gore. vii. 9.3, o.4. who, though they are called out of
the world, and are not of it; yet sometimes are so
overcome with it, and immersed in the things of it,
that they are as it were in Babylon. An emblem of
this world, of the confusion in it, as its name signifies;
of the fading glories of it, and the wickedness and
idolatry it abounds with: and here they sit by the
rivers of carnal pleasures in it for a while, till brought
to themselves; and then they weep over their sins, and
lament them; especially when they remember what
opportunities they have formerly had in Zion, and
what a low condition she is now in through the con-
ductof themselves and others: these make use of their
harps when Zion is in good and prosperous circum-
stances, Rev. xiv. 1--3. and xv. 1--3. but when there
are corruptions in doctrine, neglect or abuse of ordi-.
.nances, animosities and divisions prevail, declensions
in the life and power of religion, and the lives of pro-
fessors disagreeable; then they hang their harps on
willows, and drop their notes.
Ver. 3. For there they that carried us away captive
required of us a song, &c.] Or, words of a song {z}. To
repeat the words of one of the songs of Zion, as it is
afterwards expressed: this the Babyloninns did, as the
Targum; who were they that carried the J. ews into
captivity; and this is given as a reason why they hung
their harps on willows, and were so sorrowful, because
such a request as this was made.. And they that wasted
us required of us m. irth: the Chaldeans, who plundered
them of their subitance, and reduced their city and
temple to heaps of rubbish, as the word {a} used signi-
ties; or who heaped reproaches upon them, as Jarchi:
these insisted not only on having the words of a song
repeated to them, but that they should be set to some
tune. and sung in a manner expressing mirth, or
would provoke unto it: or our lamentations, accord-
ing to Kimchi; that is, the authors of them {b}, so bar-
barous were they. Saying, sing us one of the songs of
Zion; which used to be sung in Zion in the temple,
called the songs of the temple, Amos viii. 3. this de-
mand they made either out of curoisity, that they
might know something of the temple-songs and music
they had heard of; or rather as jeering at and insult-
ing the poor Jews in their miserable and melancholy
circumstances; as if they had said, now sing your
songs if you can: or in order to make themselves 8port
and diversion with them, as the Philistines with Sam-
son. The spiritual songs of Zion are the songs of
electing, redeeming, calling, pardoning, and justifying
grace; which natural men neither understand, nor can
learn, but scoff' at and despise.
Ver. 4. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange
land?] This is the answer returned by the Jews to
the above request or demand; it may be, particularly,
by the Levites, whose business it was to sing these
songs: so the Targum, "immediately the Levites
"said, how shall we sing the hymns of the Lord in a
"strange land ?" This they said, not merely on account
of their unsuitable circumstances, being in distress
and affliction, and so not disposed for such work; nor
as if unlawful to them, being forbidden: for, though
sacrifices were not to be offered but at Jerusalem,
yet songs of praise might be sung elsewhere, on proper
occasions, as David did, Psal. xviii. 49. and lvii. 4, 8.
and ixiii. 1--3. but as wondering at their insolence,

{w} Pythia, Ode 9. d. v. 6.
{x} Amnicolae salices, Ovid. Metamorph. l. 10. Fab. 2. v. 96. Flumi-
nibus salices, Virgil. Georgic. l. 2. v. 110.
{y} Venit ad Euphratem ----- Populus & cannae riparum summa
tegebant, spemque dabant salices ---- Ovid. Fasti, l. 2.
{z} \^ryv yrbd\^ verba cantici, Pagninus, Montanus, Musculus, Pis-
cator, Gejerus, Michaelis; verba earminis, Cocceius.
{a}  \^wnyllwt\^ qui veluti in acervos nos redegerunt, Tigurine version,
Grotius.
{b} Vid. Stockium, p. 447.