Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_500_p.lzh/5_526.TXT

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conduct and behaviour could not be hid from the Sight
of the Lord, nor their prophecies from his ears, which
were no other than dreams, and the deceits of their
own hearts; and there was as great a difference be-
tween them and the word of the Lord, as between
chaff and wheat; seeing his word in his hand is of great
virtue and efficacy, whereas there was none in theirs,
ver. 23, e4, 25, c26, S7, 28, 29. wherefore the Lord de-
clares himself to be against these prophets, for stealing
his word from their neighbout; for making use of his
name, when they were not sent by him; and for causing
the people to err by their lies, ver. 30, 31, 32. and both
people, priest, and prophet, are severely threatened
for jeering and scoffing at the word of the Lord,
Calling it the burden of the Lord; which phrase
they are forbid to use in a sneering way; and should
they persist in it, they are told that God would
forsake and forget them, and cast them out, and
everlastingly punish them, yet.
39, 40.
Ve'r. 1. Woe be unto the pastors, &c.] Or, 0 ye
shepherds or governors, as the Targum; the civil
rulers and magistrates, kings and princes of the land
of Israel; since ecclesiastical rulers, the priests and
prophets, are mentioned as distinct from them in ver.
9. whose business it was to rule and guide, protect and
defend, the people: but, instead of that, they were such
that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, saith the
Lord God; set them bad examples, led them into ido-
latry and other sins, which were the cause of their
ruin, and of their being carried captive, and scattered
in other countries; and their sin was the more aggra-
vated, inasmuch as these people were the Lord's pas-
ture sheep, whom he had an interest in, and a regard
unto, and had committed them to the 'care and charge
of these pastors or governors, to be particularly taken
care of.
Ver. 2. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
&c.] The covenant-God of that people, who are
Called his sheep, and the sheep of his pasture; having
made a covenant with their fathers, and provided a
good pasture for them, the land of Israel, where they
enjoyed all blessings, civil and religious, and appointed
persons over them to feed them; but these did not do
their duty, and therefore the Lord was against them,
as follows: against the pastors that f eed roy people ; whose
office it was to feed, rule, and defend them; and
who pretended to do it, but did it not. Ye have
scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have
not visited them; they had been the means of their
being driven out of their dwellings, and out of their
own land, and of their being among the nations of the
world, and took no care for the return of them, any
more than they concerned themselves for their welfare
when over them; or they suffered the enemy, like
beasts of prey, to come in among them, which scat-
tered them, and drove them from their pasture, as
sheep are by bears, dogs, and wolves ;'and took no
care to preserve them from them, or to gather them
together again to their pasture. The people of the
Jews, at the time when Christ came, hereafter prophe-
sled of, were scattered as sheep without a shepherd,
and are called the lost sheep of the house of Israel,
Matt. ix. 36. and x. 6- and xv. 24.. Behold, I will visit
upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord; that
is, punish them for their iniquities; since they visited
not the flock in a way of mercy and kindness, as the
duty of their office required, the Lord would visit
them in a way of justice, and punish them according
to their deserts.
Vet. 3. And I will gather the remnant of my flock.
out of fall countries, &c.] Such of them as did not
perish by the sword, famine, and pestilence, or died
not in captivity, and chose not to remain in the king-
dom where they were; for all did not return upon the
edict of Cyrus: though some think this is to be under-
stood of the gathering of God's elect, the remnant
cording to the election of grace, the children of God
that were scattered abroad, by the sufferings and
death of Christ, the Shiloh, to whom the gathering
of the people should be, hereafter prophesied of:
whither I have driven them; this, which is before
charged upon the pastors, is taken by the Lord to
himself; because this was not only permitted by him,
namely, the dispersion and captivity of the Jews, but
was inflicted by him as a punishment upon them for
their sins, and the sins of their governors; but yet
such was the mercy and goodness of God, as to return
a remnant of them: and I will bring them again to
their.folds; to the city of Jerusalem, and their dwell-
ing-houses there, and in other places; an emblem of
the Lord's bringing his chosen remnant, whether Jews
or Gentiles, into a good fold and good pastures, to a
Gospel church-state, and the ordinances of it, John
x. 16: they shall be fruit. ful and increase; the remnant
of the flock returned to their own land and dwellings,
and there grow numerous, and increase in wealth and.
riches; as Christ's spiritual sheep, gathered into his
fold, become fruitful in grace and good works, and in-
crease with the increase of God.
Ver. 4. And I will set sheplterds over them, which
shall feed them, &c.] Good shepherds, rulers and go-
vernors, that shall rule them with wholesome laws,
and protect and defend them; such as Zerubbabel, Ne-
hemiah, and others, after the captivity: or Christian
kings and princes, when the Gospel came to be pub-
lished and established in many kingdoms and pro-
vinces, and the sheep of Christ were gathered out of
them. Jerom interprets these shepherds of the apostles
of Christ; and it may include other ministersof the Gos-
pel,who feed Christ's sheep with knowledge and under-
standing; seeJer. iii. 15. And they shall fear no more,
nor be dismayed ; not the shepherds, as Jerom understands
it, but the sheep. This looks as if this prophecy had re-
spect to more future times than those immediately fol-
lowing the return from the Babylonish captivity; since
the Jews were made to fear, and were dismayed
by Sanballet and Tobiah, and, in after-times, by
the Greeks and Romans; even to the times of Christ,
and the Gospel dispensation; in which the saints
receive not the spirit of bondage again to fear, but,.
through the blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, of
Christ, have much spiritual peace and. boldness of
faith, and fear no enemy, ,Neither shall they be lack-
ing, saith the Lord; not one of the sheep brought
back, or of the remnant gathered, shall be missing
or lost; this is exactly true of Christ's sheep, John
x. 28.