Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_200_p.lzh/5_276.TXT

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high opinion of her own wisdom and knowledge in
· political affairs, or in magic arts, deceived her, and
turned her from right to wrong ways, which issued
in her ruin. This rightly describes the Jesuits, and
other emissaries of the church of Rome, who trust in
t..heir wickedness, their craft and cunning, which none
can penetrate into; but there is an all-seeing eye upon
them, which discovers their intrigues, blasts their de-
signs, and brings them into confusion: and thou hast
said in th4ne heart, I am, and none else besides me; none
so wise and knowing as myself. This is what the
oracle said of the Chaldeansn, "the Chaldeans and
"the Hebrews are the only wise." This is repeat-
ed, to observe the haughty and insolent boasts of
themselves.
Ver. 11. Therefore shall evil come upon thee, &c.']
The evil of punishment, a great calamity; so Nebu-
chadnezzar foretold, as Abydenus relates o, that
\~sumforh\~, a calamity, should come upon the BabylonSans;
a day of evil, because of the above sins Babylon was
guilty of: thou shall not knozo from whence it riseth ;
from what quarter it will come, little dreaming of
Cyrus, with whom the Chaldeans had had no quarrel.
So mystical Babylon will not know from whence her
ruin will come; little thinking that the kings of the
earth, who have committed fornication with her, and
have given their kingdoms to her, will hate her, and
burn her flesh with fire: or, thou shall not knot,, the
morning of it P: that is, on what day, or at what time,
it will be. Babylon was taken when it was not
thought of, as appears from the book of Daniel, and
profane history. Aristotle {q} reports, that it was said,
that the third day after Babylon was taken, one part
of the city did not know that it was taken. Or the
sense is, this day of evil and calamity should be such
a dark and gloomy day, there should be no light in it,
it should be as the night, and therefore its morning or
light should not be known, so Aben Ezra: and mis-
chief shall fall upon thee; contrived for others; the
pit dug for others she should fall into herself: though
the phrase seems to denote the mischief coming from
above, by the hand of heaven, and suddenly and irre-
sistibly; which should fall with weight and vengeance
upon her, to the crushing and utter destruction of her:
thou shalt not be able to put it off; or, to expiate it {r};
and atone for it, either by prayers and entreaties, which
God will not regard, ver. 3. or by gifts, or by ransom-
price, by gold and silver, which the Medes and Per-
sians were no lovers of, ch. xiii. 17: and desolation
shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not
know; that is, before-hand; neither the persons from
whom nor the time when it shall come; notwith-
standing their astrologers, diviners, and monthly prog-
nosticators, pretended to tell what would come to pass
every day.; but not being able by their art to give the
least hint of Babylon's destruction, as to either time or
means, the Chaldeans were in great security, quite
ignorant of their ruin at hand, and which therefore
came suddenly and unawares upon them; as will the
destruction of mystical Babylon.
Vet. l2. Stand now with thine enchantments, and
with the multitude of thy sorceries, &c.] An, ironical
expression, deriding those evil arts, bidding defiance
to them, calling upon the masters of them to do
their utmost by them: wherein thou hast laboured
from thy youth; from the infancy of their state; as
soon as their monarchy was rounded, or they be-
came a people, they were given to these practices,
and wcr, famous for them; and in which, no doubt,
many among them were brought up from their youth;
and to gain the knowledge of which they were at
great labour and expense; and yet. it.was .all in vain,
and to no purpose: if so be .thou shall be able to profit,
if so be thou mayest prevail; if skill in these things can
be of any advantage to keep off the impe.nding cala-
mity, and fortify against the powerful enemy that will
quickly surprise thee; try if by thine art thou canst
foresee the danger, and prevent it.
Ver. 13. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy
counsels, &c.] Taken of astrologers, diyiners, and
soothsayers; who were never able to. give any satis-
factory answers to questions put to them, or to give
good advice in cases of emergency; as appears from
Nebuchadnezzar's consultation with them about his
dream; and Belshazzar's about the hand-writing upon
the wall, which was the very night that the city was
taken, Dan. iS. 2, 10. and v. 7, 8, 30: let now the astro-
logers; or, viewers of the heavens'; not that look upon
them, and consider them as the work of God's hands,
in order to glorify him; but that examine the face of
the skies, and the position of the heavenly bodies,
their conjunctions with, and aspects on each other, in
Order to f6retcl what shall be below: or, the dividers
of the heavens t, as it may be rendered, from the use of
the word in the Arabic language; who divide the
heavens into so many parts, or houses; who, as Kim-
chi {u}, from the same use of the word, fix and determine
things according to the stars; and who next are called
the star-gazers; that look at them, and, according to
their position, conjunction, aspect, and influence,
judge what will come to pass among men. So Cicero
observes {w}, that the Chaldeans, by long observation of
the stars, were thought to have formed a science,
whereby they could foretel what should happen to
every one, and what fate he was born to: the monthly
prognosticators; or that make known months, or for the
months{x}; what shall be in every month; what weather
it will be, and what things shall happen; such as our
Mmanaek-makers. Let these now all meet together,
and stand up and save thee from those things that shall

{n} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evang. I. 9. c. 10. p. 413.
{o} Ib. c. 41. p. 456.
{p} \^hrxv yert al\^ non scis auroram ejus, Montanus, Vatablus, Coc-
ceius; cujus non cognoscis auroram, Vitringa. That is, as Ben Melech
explains it, thou shalt not know the time of its coming; for it shall
come suddenly, as a thing comes in a morning, which a man is not
aware of till he sees it.
{q} Politie. 1.3. c. 3.
{r} \^hrpk ylkwt al\^ non potens placare eam, Montanus; expiare, Ti-
gurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Vitringa.
{s} \^Mymv yrbwh\^ speculantes coelos, Pagninns, Montanus, Tigurine
version; contemplatores coelorum, Vitringa.
{t} resecuit, amputavit, Golius, Castel.
{u} Sepher Shorash. rad.
{w} De Divinatione, I. 1. c. 1.
{x} \^Myvdxl Myeydwm\^ cognoscere faciunt menses, Pagninnus; faci-
entes, Montanus; qui notas faciunt in menses, Junius & Tremellius,
Piscator; i.e. praedictiones suas notificantes in menses, Cocceius; in-
dicantes novilunia, Vitringa.