Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_500_p.lzh/5_523.TXT

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der: and for oppression, and for violence, to do it; by
making incursions, and seizing upon the properties of
men, and converting them to his own use; so true it
is, that covetousness, or the love of money, is the root
of all evil, 1 Tim. vi. 10.
Ver. 18. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning
Jehoiakim, &c.] This shews who is before spoken of
and described; Jehoiakim, the then reigning king in
JUdah, whose name was Eliskim, but was changed by
Pharaoh king of Egypt, when he deposed his brother
jehoahaz or Shallurn, and set him on the throne,
2 Kings xxiii. 34: the son of Josiah king ofJudah; and
who seems to have been his eldest son, though his
brother Jehoahaz reigned before him; for he was but
twenty-three years of age when he began his reign,
and he reigned but three months; and Jehoiakim was
twentydive years old when he succeeded him, 2 Kings
xxiii. 31, 36. his relation to Josiah is mentioned, not
so much for his honour, but rather to his disgrace, and
as an aggravation of his wickedness, that having so re-
ligious a parent, and such a religious education, and the
advantage of such an example, and yet did so sadly
degenerate: and it also suggests that this would be no
security to him from the divine vengeance; but rather
provoke it, to deal more severely with him. They
shall not lament for him; that is, his people, his sub-
jects, shall not lament for him when dead, as they did
for his father Josiah; so far fi'om having any real grief or
inward sorrow on account of his death, that they
should not so much as outwardly express any, or use
the common form at meeting together: saying, ah my
brother! or, ah sister ! a woman meeting her brother
would not say to him, O my brother, what bad news
is this ! we have lost our king ! nor he reply to her, O
sister, it is so, the loss is great indeed ! for this is not
to be understood of the funeral lessus at the interment
of a king or queen; lamenting them under these ap-
pe!lations of brother or sister, which is denied of this
prince. Kimchi thinks it has reference to his relations,
as that they should not mourn for him, and say, ah my
brother ! nor for his wife, who died at the same time,
though not mentioned, ah sister! both should die un-
lamented, as by their subjects, so by their nearest
friends and relations. They shall not lament for him,
saying, ah lord ! or, ah his glory .t 0 our liege lord and
sovereign, he is gone ! where are his glory and majesty
now ? where are his crown, his seeptre, his robes, and
other ensigns of royalty ? So the Targum," woe, or
"alas, for the king; alas, for his kingdom ;" a heavy
stroke, a sorrowful melancholy providence this! but
nothing of this kind should be said; as he lived not be-
loved, because of his oppression and violence, so he
died without any lamentation for him.
Vet. 19. He shall be buried with the burial of an ass,
&c.] Have no burial at all, or no other than what any
brute creature has; which, when it dies, is cast into a
ditch, and becomes the food of dogs, and the fowls of
the air. The ass is mentioned, as being a sordid stupid
creature; and such an one was this king. Drawn and
east forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem; as the carcass
of a beast is dragged about by dogs; or as a malefactor,
when executed, is dragged and cast into a ditch: this
perhaps was done by the Chaldeans, who, when he was
slain, dragged him along, and cast him beyond the
gates of Jerusalem. So Josephus {w} says, that when
Nebuchadnezzar entered Jerusalem, he slew the most
robust and beautiful with Jehoiakim their king, and
ordered him to be cast without the walls unburied;
and so, though he is said to sleep with his fathers, yet
not to be buried with them, £ Kings xxiv. 6. Kimchi
says that he died without Jerusalem, as they were car-
rying him into captivity a second time; and the Chal-
deans would not suffer hint to be buried. Jerom re-
ports, from the Hebrew history, that he was killed by
the robbers and thieves of the Chaldeans, Syrians, Am-
monites, and Moabites. Some think, that as he was
bound in chains, in order to be carried to Babylon, that
he was had there, and there died, and after his death
used in this ignominious manner: and the w6rds will
bear to be rendered, cast forth far beyond the gates of
Jerusalem {x}; even as far as Babylon; see 2 Chron.
xxxvi. 6.
Vet. 20. Go up to Lebanon, and cry, &c.] These
words are directed to Jerusalem and its inhabitants,
and to the people of the Jews; not to go up to the
temple, as the Targum interprets it, so called, because
made of the wood of Lebanon, as in Zech. xi. 1. or, as the
Rabbins say, because it made white the sins of Israel;
but the mountain of Lebanon, and from thence call
to their neighbours for llelp in their present distress,
as the Assyrians and Egyptians. And lift up thy voice
in Bashan; another high hill in the land of Israel.
The Targum interprets this also of the gates of the
mountain of the house; so called, as Jarchi thinks,
because made of the oaks of Bashan; or, as Kimchi,
because there were beasts continually there for sa-
crifice, as in Bashan, a pasture for cattle; but the
mountain itself is intended. And cry from the passages;
or from Abarim; a mountain of this name on the bor-
ders of Moab, Numb. xxvii. l2. Now these several
high mountains are named, because from hence they
might look around them, and call to their neighbours,
if any of them could help them: it is ironically spoken,
for it is suggested that none of them could: for all thy
lovers are destroyed; their friends and allies, with wllom
they had not only entered into leagues, but had com-
mitted spiritual fornication with them; that is,
idolatry, as the Egyptians and Assyrians; but these
were now subdued by Nebuchadnezzar, and were at
least so weakened and destroyed by him, that they
could give no assistance to the Jews; see 2 Kings
xxiv. 7.
Ver. ,ol. I spake unto thee in thy prosperity, &c.] Or
prosperities, or tranquillilies {y}; when in their greatest
affluence, in the height of it; this he did, when he
sent to them his servants the prophets, as the Targum,
and by them exhorted, reproved, and advised them:
but thou saidst, I will not hear; this wns the language
of their hearts and actions, though not of their mouths:
this hath been thy manner from thy youth; from the

{w} Antiqu. I.10.c.6. sect. 3.
{x} \^Mlvwry yrevl halhm Klvhw\^ & projiciendo procul ultra
portas Hierosolymae, Schmidt. So Grotius and Gataker.
{y} \^Kytwlvb\^ in tranquillitatibus fuis, Vatablus, Cocceius, Schmidt;
felicitatibus tuis, Pagninus; securitatibus tuis Montanus.