Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_000_p.lzh/5_064.TXT

Text File | 1995-02-02 | 7KB | 125 lines

his people; this is his work, and not theirs; and when
he begins, he goes on, and finishes it; and when he
has done, punishes the instruments he uses; after he
has scourged his chiidren, he takes the rod, and breaks
it to pieces. \*\\I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of
the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks\\;
that is, he would punish him for his wicked actions,
which were the fruit of the haughtiness of his heart,
and the pride of his eyes; or for that pride which filled
his heart, and shewed itself in his lofty looks. Kimchi
joins this to the preceding clause, and makes the sense to
be, that God would punish the Assyrian for his pride,
in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem; for there his army
died, or near it, being smitten by the angel. The
Targum is, \*"and it shall be, when the Lord hath
"finished to do all that he hath said in Mount Zion,
"and in Jerusalem."\*  KILL
\*Ver. 13. \\For he saith, by the strength of my hand I
have done [it]\\, &c.] Meaning either that by the power
of his army, which was under his command, or by his
own personal valour, he had subdued kings, taken
their kingdoms and chief cities, and ascribes nothing
to the power aud providence of God; and if such arro-
gance and haughtiness, in things of a civil nature, is
an instance of vanity, and is resented by the Lord,
then much more such conduct in things of a religious
nature, when men ascribe regeneration, conversion, and
salvation, to the power of their free will, and to the works
of their hands, and not to the power and grace of God:
\*\\and by my wisdom, for I am prudent\\; attributing his con-
quests partly to his power, and partly to his skill and pru-
dence in marshalling his army, making use of stratagems
to decoy the enemy, and get an advantage of him;
whereas strength and power, and so wisdom and pru-
dence, are from the Lord; as he gives safety, victory,
and salvation to kings, so he teaches their hands to
war, and their fingers to fight; which they ought to
acknowledge, and will, unless vain and proud: \*\\and I
have removed the bounds of the people\\; by subduing
kingdoms, and adding them to his own, so that they
were no more distinct governments; and by trans-
planting the intiabitants of them to other places, and
making new colonies and settlements; and so the
Targum, \*"and I have removed the people from pro-
"vince to province:"\* taking that to himself which be-
longs to God, who has determined the times before
appointed, and the bounds of men's habitations: \*\\and
have robbed their treasures\\: laid up in palaces, temples,
sepulchres, and private houses, for time to come, which
are usually plundered when cities and towns are taken;
the Targum renders it, \*"their laudable cities:"\* KILL \*\\and I
have put down the inabitants like a valiant [man]\\; from
their greatness, from their seats of honour and dig-
nity; or I have put down many inhabitants, as Jarchi,
and reduced great numbers to a low and mean estate.
The Targum is, \*"I have brought down with strength
"they that dwell in fortified places;"\* and so Aben
Ezra and Kimchi explain it, they that dwell in a strong
place or palace.
\*Ver. 14. \\And my hand hath found as a nest the riches
of the people\\, &c.] With that ease as a man finds a
nest of birds, and takes them: \*\\and as one gathereth
eggs [that are] left\\; by the bird, who not sitting upon
them, there is none to protect them; whereas, when
they are sat upon by the bird, she will flutter with
her wings, and strike with her bill, and preserve them
as well as she can: \*\\have I gathered all the earth\\; the
kingdoms and inhabitants of it, there being none to
resist, or that dared to do it, as follows: \*\\and there was
none that moved the wing\\; as a bird will do, when its
young or eggs are taking away from it: \*\\or opened the
mouth, or peeped\\; chattered, clucked, or expressed any
grief, uneasiness, or resentment; the Targum is, \*"that
"opened his mouth, and spoke a word."\*  KILL
\*Ver. 15. \\Shall the axe boast itself against him that
heweth therewith\\? &c.] Hitherto are the words of the
Assyrian monarch; and here begin the words of the
prophet, rebuking him for his pride, and deriding his
vain boasting, in attributing that to himself, to his
wisdom and power, who was but an instrument, which
belonged to God, the sole Governor and wise orderer
of all things; which was all one as if an axe should
ascribe the cutting down of trees to itself, and insist
on it that the man that cut with it had no share in the
action, nor was it to be ascribed to him; than which
nothing is more absurd. The sense is, that the king
of Assyria, in taking cities, and conquering kingdoms,
and adding them to his own, was only an instrument
in the hand of God, like an axe in the hand of one that
hews down trees; and therefore it was vain and ridi-
culous to take that to himself which belonged to the
Lord, on whom he depended as an instrument, as to
motion, operation, and effect; from whom he had all
power to act, all fitness for it, and efficacy in it, as
the axe has from the person that makes and uses it, or
any other instrument, as follows: \*\\[or] shall the saw
magnify itself against him that shaketh it\\? or draws it
to and fro; which is the sense of the Targum, Sep-
tuagint, and Vulgate Latin versions, and others; and
which further exposes the vanity and arrogance of the
Assyrian monarch, who had no more concern in the
spoiling of nations, and destruction of kingdoms, than
the saw has in cutting of timber that is hewn; which
has its form, its sharp teeth, not of itself, but from
the maker; and when thus made, and fit for use, can't
draw itself to and fro, and cut trees in pieces, which
are felled by the axe, but must be moved by another;
and to insult the mover of it, as if it was not his act,
but its own, is not more absurd than what this haughty
prince was guilty of, in boasting of his power, wis-
dom, and prudence, in the above mentioned things:
\*\\as if the rod should shake [itself] against them that lift it
up\\ {m}; for such was the king of Assyria, he was no
other than the rod of the Lord's anger, \\#Isa 10:5\\ and
which he lifted up, and with it chastised his people;
wherefore for him to behave haughtily against the Lord,
and arrogate that to himself which was the Lord's
doing, was as if a rod should shake itself against him
that lifts it up; or, %as if a rod should shake those that
lift it up%: as if there were more power in the rod than

{m} Ben Melech observes, that this is to be understood of the blessed
    God; and the word being in the plural number, 'tis the same way,
    of speaking as in Josh. xxiv. 19. %the Holy Gods is he%.