Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_000_p.lzh/5_030.TXT

Text File | 1995-01-11 | 7KB | 129 lines

&c.] Or rather, as Kimchi explains it, %shall go into
captivity%; the past for the future; for this cannot be
understood even of the captivity of the ten tribes, for
they were not carried captive until the sixth year of
Hezekiah's reign, \\#2Ki 17:6 18:1\\ whereas
this prophecy was delivered out many years before,
even in the time of Uzziah, as is manifest from the
following chapter, \\#Isa 6:1\\ and much less it cannot de-
sign the captivity of Judah, but respects the captivity
by the Romans, in future time. \*\\Because [they have] no
knowledge\\; of the work of the Lord, and the operations
of his hands; the Septuagint and Arabic versions ren-
der it, %because they knew not the Lord%, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Lord of glory, the true Messiah; they
knew not his person, office, grace, and Gospel; they
did not own and acknowledge him, but despised and
rejected him; their ignorance was affected and volun-
tary; they had the means of knowledge, but did not
make use of them; they would not know him, they
would not attend to the strong and clear evidence of
his being the Messiah, which prophecies, miracles,
and his doctrines, gave of him; the things belonging to
their peace they knew not, these were righteously hid
from them, and hence destruction came upon them,
\\#Lu 19:42-44\\ the words may be rendered in
connexion ??? with the former, %therefore my people shall go
into captivity without knowledge% {b}, unawares, unthought
of, and unexpected; and the Jews, to the last; did not
think their city would be taken, but that in some way
of other salvation and deliverance would be wrought
for them: \*\\and their honourable men [are] famished, and
their multitude dried up with thirst\\; or %shall be%; this is
expressive of a famine of bread and water, which all,
both high and low, prince and people, should be
affected with; see \\#Isa 3:1\\ and was true not only
when Jerusalem was besieged by the Chaldeans,
\\#Jer 52:6 La 4:4,5,8-10 5:10\\ but when it
was besieged by the Romans, in which the rich suf-
fered as well as the poor; and was so great, that even
women ate their own children, as Josephus {c} relates:
this is threatened as a punishment of their rioting and
drunkenness, \\#Isa 5:11,12\\.
\*Ver. 14. \\Therefore hell hath enlarged herself\\, &c.]
That is, the grave, to receive the dead which die with
famine and thirst; signifying that the number of the
dead would be so great, that the common burying
places would not be sufficient to hold them; but addi-
tions must be made to them; or some vast prodigious
pit must be dug, capable of receiving them; like
Topher, deep and large: or %hath enlarged her soul% {d};
her desire after the dead, see \\#Hab 2:5\\ being insati-
able, and one of those things which are never satisfied,
or have enough, \\#Pr 30:15,16\\ wherefore it fol-
lows: \*\\and opened her mouth without measure\\; im-
mensely wide; there being no boundary to its desires,
nor any end of its cravings, or of filling it. And so
the Targum renders it, %without end%. Moreover, by %hell%
may be meant the miserable estate and condition of
the Jews upon the destruction of Jerusalem, when
they were in the utmost distress and misery, see
\\#Lu 16:23\\
\\see Gill on "Lu 16:23"\\. \*\\And their glory\\; their
glorious ones, their nobles, as the Septuagint, Syriac,
and Arabic versions; and the Targum, their princes,
rulers, civil and ecclesiastical; which were the glory
of the nation: \*\\and their multitude\\; meaning the com-
mon people; or rather their great and honourable
ones, as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions
render the word; and in which sense it may be used
in the preceding verse \\#Isa 5:13\\; since not of the poor, but of
the rich, the context speaks; even of such who in-
dulged themselves in luxury and pleasure: \*\\and their
pomp\\; the Septuagint version, %their rich ones%; such
who live in pomp and splendour: but the word {e} sig-
nifies noise and tumult; and so the Targum renders
it; and it designs noisy and tumultuous ones, who
sing and roar, halloo and make a noise at feasts; and
who may be called \^Nwav ynb\^, %sons of tumult%, or %tumul-
tuous ones%; \\Jer 48:45 Isa 24:6-9\\ where-
fore it follows: \*\\and he that rejoiceth\\, that is, at their
feasts, \*\\shall descend into it\\; into hell, or the grave: or,
%he that rejoiceth in it%, that is, in the land or city; so
the Targum, \*"he that is strong among them;"\* so
Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it.
\*Ver. 15. \\And the mean man shall be brought down\\,
&c.] To hell, or the grave, as well as the rich and
noble: \*\\and the mighty man shall be humbled\\; laid low
in the dust, and be equal to the poor; for, in the grave,
princes and peasants are alike; or they shall be all
alike, in the same low and miserable condition: \*\\and the
eyes of the lofty shall be humbled\\; when famine and
distress, ruin and misery, come upon them, then shall
the pride of those be abased, as it was; who boasted
of their riches and honour, of their descent and pa-
rentage, as the children of Abraham, and as being free
men, and never in bondage; of their righteousness
and good works; not submitting to the righteousness
of Christ; but despising it, and looking with disdain
upon, and treating with contempt, such as they
thought less holy than themselves. The Scribes and
Pharisees, the members of the sanhedrim, and rulers
of the people, together with the whole body of the
nation, are meant; who were all of the same cast and
complexion, being conceited of themselves, and proud
boasters.
\*Ver. 16. \\But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in
judgment\\, &c.] By the %Lord of hosts% is meant Christ,
the Lord of the armies, and of the inhabitants of the
earth, of angels, and of men; who, though in our na-
ture, in his state of humiliation, was brought very
low, yet is now highly exalted; and which exaltation
of his is seen and known, as it is here foretold it
should be, by his judgments inflicted on the Jewish
nation, for their contempt and rejection of him; see
\\#Ps 9:16\\ so Kimchi interprets judgment of the
judgment which the Lord would inflict on the ungodly
of Israel: thus Christ's exaltation is seen in their hu-
miliation, and his kingdom and power in their de-
struction: \*\\and God that is holy\\; Christ is truly and
properly God, God over all, blessed for ever; and he
is holy, both as God and man; as God he is essentially

{b} \^ted ylbm yme hlg Nkl\^ %idcirco exsulat populus meus absque
    scientia%, Cocceius; so Montanus.
{c} De Bello Jud. l. 5. c. 10. sect. 2. 3. & 12. 3. & 6. 3, sect. 3.
{d} \^hvpn hbyxrh\^ %dilatavit suam animam%, V. L. Munster,
    Montanus, Cocceius.
{e} \^hnwavw\^ %& strepitus ejus%, Montanus, Forerius.