Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_200_p.lzh/5_271.TXT

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such a weight, and no more, and that they might not
be cheated of their silver; or they weighed it to pay
the workman for his workmanship. Money formerly
was not coined and stamped, so not numbered by
pieces, but weighed. And hire a goldsmith, and he
maketh it a god; a finer or founder, with whom they
agree for such a sum of money, and he, of the gold or
silver that is put into his hands, makes a god: he casts
and moulds it into such a form or shape that is agreed
upon, and this is called a god; though nothing but a
ptece of gold or silver fashioned by art and man's
device, and the work of his hands: they fall down, yea,
the!! worship; the god they made; both the artSricer,
and he that employed him, fall down upon their knees,
or their faces, and pay divine worship add adoration to
the idol; though the one knew it was made of his own
gold or silver, and the other knew it to be the work-
manship of his hands. Worshipping is more than fall-
ing down, as Ben Melech observes, and therefore it is
said, yea, they worship.
Ver. 7. They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry
him, &c.] That is, the idol; men carry him upon
their shoulders in procession, and expose him to the
view a, nd veneration of the people, just as the host is
carried in procession by the Papists; or the idol being
made, the workman or his men lift it up, for it cannot
lift up itself, and take it upon their shoulders, and
carry it home to the proprietor: and eet him in his
place; in his house, if an household god: or in the
temple, church, or place of public worship, if designed
for that: or cause him to rest under him {p}, or in his
place; under the roof of his house or temple; a jeer
upon him, as if he. was weary of his long journey,
though carried.. Here again the idols are distinguished
from the true God, and he from them; they are
on men's shoulders, and set in a certain place, but he
carries all his people, and is not limited to, or included
in any place: and he standeth, and from his place he
shall not remove; the idol being set in his place stands
fist, being nailed; he stands upright as a palm-tree,
and can never stir from the place where he is, to help
any of his worshippers, in whatsoever distress they may
be; nor can he get out of the way of any danger to
which he may be exposed; if the temple or house, in
which he is, is on fire, or overflowed with water, or
broke iffto by thieves, he cannot move out of his place,
and escape the danger; a fine deity to be worshipped
indeed ! see ch. xliv. 13. Jet. x. 4, 5. Yea, one shall cry
unto him, yet can he not answer; as Baal's priests and
worshippers cried to him, but no voice was heard, nor
answer returned, 1 Kings xviii. 26, c29. for though they
have ears, they hear not, and mouths, yet they speak
not, Psal. cxv. 5, 6. nor save him out of his trouble;
that is, the idol cannot save the idolatrous worshipper
out of his distress, which has caused him to cry unto
him; see oh. xlv.
Ver. 8. Remember this, &c.] Or these things, as the
Syriac version, concerning the matter of which, and
the manner in which idols are made; their irapotency
to move themselves, and their inability to help their
rotaries, and the difference between them and the true
God: andshew yourselves men; and not brutes, as the
makers and worshippe. rs of images are, or shew them-
selves as if they were; who unman themselves, and act
contrary to the natural reason of mankind: or be ye
strong {q}; so the Targum and Jarchi; fortify yourselves
against all temptations to idolatry, and against all the
arguments and persuasions of idolaters; or burn
or be lie inflamed, so Rabenu Hal and Joseph Kimchi;
that is, blush and be ashamed at such sottishness and
stupidity, as. men when they are ashamed look as if
their faces were inflamed; so the Vulgate Latin ver-
sion renders it, be ye confounded{s}; or the sense is, be
fervent in spirit, be fired {t} with zeal for God and his
glory, and with indignation against such gross idolatry:
bring it again to mind, 0 ye transgressors; of the law
of God, in this instance of idolatry; meaning either the
Babyloninns, or rather the Jews, who had been drawn
in by them to idolatrous practices; calling upon them
to return to their senses; to use and exercise their
reason; to recollect and reconsider things, and observe
and repent of the folly and wickedness they had been
guilty of.
Ver. 9. Remember the former things of old, &c.]
The things that were from the beginning, or the
ancient things done by the Lord, whether as the
effects of power, wisdom, and goodness, or in wrath,
or in mercy; such as the creation of the heavens, and
the earth, and all things in them; the destruction
of the old world, and of Sodore and Gomorrah ; the
bringing of Israel out of Egypt through the Red,sea
and wilderness, to Canaan's land, and all the wondrous
things then done for them; which are so many proofs
of the true deity of the God of Israel, in opposition to
the idols of the Gentiles:for I am God, and there is
none else; as he must needs be what did the above
things: I am God, and there is none like me; for great-
ness or goodness, or that has done the like things; not
one of the gods of the Gentiles.
Ver. 10..Declaring the end from the beginning, &c.]
The end of the Jewish state, both as a church, and a
commonwealth, from the first settlement of it in the
times of Moses, and by him, Deut. xxxii. 29. The
end of the world, and all things in it, as early as the
times of Enoch, the seventh from Adam, Jud. ver.
14, 15. The end and issue of every event, at least of
many very remarkable and momentous ones, before
they came to pass; and particularly things relating to
Christ, the beginning and end; the fulfilling end of the
moral law for righteousness; the scope and design of
the ceremonial law, to which that tended, and in
which it issued; as well as the end of the whole Scrip-
ture, of the prophecies and promises of it: and this
end was declared very early, and spoken of by all the
prophets that were from the beginning of the world;
and which is a full proof of the omniscience of God,
and so of his true deity, Luke i. 70. Gen. iii. 15.
And from the ancient times the things that are not yet
done; that were not at this time done, though they
are since: such as the captivity of the Jews, and their

{p} \^wytxt whxyny\^ & quiescere eum faciunt suo loco, Musculus.
{q} \^wvvath\^ roborat vos, Pagninus, Tigurine version; so Ben
Melech interprets the word.
{r} Ardete, comburite vos, some in Vatablus.
{s} Confundamini, Vulg. Lat. & erubescite, Calvin.
{t} Incendimini sive corripimini zelo, Vitringa.