Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_100_p.lzh/5_164.TXT

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as that was covered with the blood and carcasses of
slain beasts', so this with' the blood and carcasses of men;
and s6 the Targum," and I will distress the city
"where the altar is, and it shall be desolate and
"empty; and it shall. be surrounded before m'e with
"the blood of the slain, as the al'tar is surrounded with
"the blood of the holy sacrifices on a solemn feast-day
"all around ;" so Jarchi and Kimchi.
Ver. & -I will camp against thee round about, &c.]
Or as a ball or globe o; a camp all around; the Lord
is said to do that which the enemy should do, because
it was by his will, and according to his order, and
which. he. would succeed and prosper, and therefore the
proph'ecy of it isthe more terrible; and it might be
concluded tha't'it would certainly be fulfilled, as it was;
see Luke xix. 43. and xxi. 20: and will lay siege against
thee with a mount: raised up for soldiers to get up upon,
and cast their arrows into the city from, and scale the
walls; Kimchi. and Ben Moloch interpretit a wooden
tower. This can't be understood of Sennacherib's
siege, for. he was not suffered to raise a bank against
the city, nor shoot an arrow into it, Isa. xxxvii. 33.
but well agrees with the siege of Jerusalem by the
Romans, as related by Josephus {p}: and f will raise
forts against thee; from whence to batter the city; the
Romans had their battering-rams.
Ver. 4. And thou shalt be brought down, &e.] To the
ground, and laid level with it, even the city of Jerusalem,
suitwas by theRomans; andssit was predicted byChrist
it would, Luke xix. 44. though some understand this of
the humbling of the inhabitants of it, by the appear-
ance of Sennacherib's army before it, and of which
they interpret the following clauses: and shalt speak
out of the ground, and thy speech shall' be low out of the
dust; which some explain ofthe submissive language
of ffezekiah to Sennacher:,b, and of his messengers to
Rabshakeh, 2 Kings xviii. 14, 26. as Aben Ezra and
Kimchi; but it is expressive of the great famine in
Jerusalem, at the time of its siege by the Romans.
when the inhabitants were so reduced by it, as that
they were scarce able to speak as to be heard, and could
not stand upon their legs, but fell to the ground, and
lay in the dust, uttering. from thence their speech,
with a faint and feeble votce: and thy voice shall be as
one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground,
and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust: or peep
and chirp, as little birds, as Jarchi and Kimchi, as
those did that had familiar spirits; and as the Heathen
oracles were delivered, as ff they came out of the
bellies of those that spoke, or out of caves and hollow
places in the earth; and' this was in just retaliation to
these people, who imitated such practices, and made
use' of such spirits; see Isa. viii. 19.
Ver. 5. Moreover, the multitude of thy strangers shall
be like small dust, &c.] Or of those that fan thee{q}, as
the Vulgate Latin Version; and so the Targum," of
"those that scatter thee;" or of thine enemies, as
others; meaning the Romans, who were a strange
people to them, who got the dominion over them,
and scattered them abroad in the world: and the
simile of small dust, (o which they are compared, is
not used to exp,ress the .weakness of them, but the
greatness of their number, which was not tohe counted,
any more than the dust of the earth; see Numb. xxiii.
10: and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as
chaff that pusseth away; designing the s.ame numerous
army of the Romans as before, who were terri.ble to
the Jews: nor does this metaphor signify any imbeci-
lity in them, and much less the ruin of them, but their
' swiftness in executing the judgments of God Upon his
people, who moved as quick as chaff, or any such light
thing, betbre a mighty wind: yea, it shall be at an
instant suddenly; either the numerous army should bn
suddenly before Jerusalem, or the destruction of that
city should be as it were in a moment; and though the
siege of it lasted long, yet the last sack and ruin of it
was suddenly, and in so short a time, that it might be
said to be in an instant, in a moment, as it were. The
Jewish writers interpret this of the sudden destruction
of Sennacherib's army by the angel, e Kings xix. 35.
but the next words show that the destruction of Jeru-
salem is meant.
Ver. 6. Thou shall be visited of theLord of hasts with
thunder, and with earthqualce, and great noise, &c.]
That is, not the multitude of strangers and terrible
ones, unless they could be understood of the wicked
among the Jews; but thou Ariel, or Jerusalem, shalt
be punished by the Lord of hosts; for this visitation
or punishtnent was from him, for their sins and ini
quities; the Romans were only the instruments he
made use of, and the executioners of his vengeance ;-
which was attended with thunder in the heavens, a.
shaking of the earth, and a great noise or voice heard
in the temple, saying, let us depart hence; at which
time comets were seen in the heavens, and chariots
and armed men in the air, and one of the gates of the
temple opened of itself{r}: it is added, with storm and
tempest, and the flame of dcvouring fire; with which
the temple was burnt by the Roman army, when it
came in like a storm and tempest, and carried all be-
fore it.
Ver. 7. And the multitude of att the nations that fight
against Ariel, &c.] TIm Roman army, which 'con-
sisted of men. of atl nations, that fought against Jeru-
salem; the city in which was the altar, as the Targum
paraphrases' it: even all that fight against her, and her
munition, and that distress her; that besieged it, and
endeavoured to demolish its walls, towns, and fortiff-
cations, as they did: shall be as a dream of a night-
vision: meaning either that the Roman empire should
htl, and pats away, and come to nothing,
in the night, as it soon began to decay
after the destruction of Jerusalem, and also the Pagan
religion in it; or that the Roman army would be dis-
appointed at the taking of the city, expecting to flied
much riches, and a great spoil, and should not; and
so be like a man that dreams, and fancies he is in the
possession of what he craves, but, when he awakes,-
finds he has got nothing. This is more largely ex-
emplified in the following verse.

{o} \^rwdk\^ quasi pilâ, Piscator; instar globi, Gataker.
{p} Joseph. de Bello Jud. 1.5. c. 7. sect. 1. & c, 12. sect. 1, 2.
{q} \^Kyrz\^ ventilantium te, Vulg. Lat. dispergentium te, Vatltblus, se
Targum; hostium tuorum, Pagninus, Cocceius.
{r} Joseph. de Bello Jud. 1.6. c. 5. sect. 5.