Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_500_p.lzh/5_544.TXT

Text File | 1994-08-11 | 7KB | 128 lines

gate the point with them, and try it openly; that it
may be seen wPio is in the right, and who in the
wrong: he will plead with all flesh ; or enter intoj udg-
meat with them, as Kimchi; or reprove them in judg-
ment, as Jarchi; he will be too many for them; he
will carry his case, overcome them in judgment, and
reprove arid condemn them. Or the words may be
rendered, he will be judged by all flesh {*}; he will sub-
mit it to the judgment of the whole world, if it is not
a righteous thing in him to do what he is about to do,
and will do; he will make it clear and manifest that
he does nothing unjustly, but all according to the
strict rules of justice and equity: he willgive them that
are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord; to be destroyed
by it, and none but them; and seeing they are such
that deserve it, he is not to be charged With unrighte-
ousness in so doing.
Vet. 3o.. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, behold, evil
shall go forth from nation to nation, &c.] Begin in
one nation, and then go on to another; first in Judca,
and then in Egypt; and so on, like a catching dis-
temper, or like tire that first consumes one house, and
then another; and thus shall the cup go round from
nation to nation, before prophealed of: thus, beginning
at Judea, one nation after another was destroyed by
the king of Babylon; then he and his monarchy were de-
stroyed by the Medea and Persians; and then they by the
251 acedonians; and then the Greeks by the Romans.
And a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts
of the earth; or from the sides of it t; that is, from the
ends of it; as the Targum, which paraphrases it, "and
"many people shall come openly from the ends of the
"earth;" this was first verified in the Chaldean army
under Nebuchadnezzar, compared to a whirlwind, ch.
iv. 13. and then in the Medea and Persians under Cyrus;
and after that in the Greeks under Alexander ;the great
and last of all in the Romans under Titus Vespasian.
Vet. 33. And the slain of the Lord, &c.] Slain by
his permission, yea, by his orders, according to his will,
in his wrath and sore displeasure, and to glorify his
vindictive justice: shall be at that day from one end of
the earth even unto the other end of the earth; not that
this should be at one and the same time; for there
never was such a time, that there was such a general
slaughter in the world, that the slain should reach
from one end to the other; but that within the dispen-
sation, in which the cup should go round to all nations,
meant by that day, the slain of the Lord would be in
all parts of the world ;' or that, according to his will,
there would be a great slaughter everywhere, as the
cup went round, or the sword was sent, first ravaging
one country, and then another. They shall not be la-
mented; having no pity from their enemies; and as for
their friends, they'll share the same rite with them;
so that there will be none to mourn over them: neither
gathered; taken up from the field of battle where they
fall; but, where they should fall, there they should lie;
none gathering up their bodies or bones, in order for
interment: nor buried; in the sepulchres of their fa-
thers, nor indeed in any place, or iu any manner; as
not in any grand and magnificent manner, so not so
much as in a common way. They shall be dung' upon the
ground; spread upon it, and lie above it, as dung, to
manure the earth.
Vet. 34. Howl, ye shepherds, and cry, &c.] The
Targum is, "howl, ye--kings, and cry;" and the
rulers and governors of the nations before threatened
with destruction are meant; who are here called upon
to lamentation and mourning for the ruin and loss of their
kingdoms; though Calvin thinks that this is an apos-
trophe to the Jewish nation, and the rulers of it. It
is no uncommon thing in Scripture to call kings and
civil magistrates shepherds; see Jer. xxiii. 1, 2. Zech.
x. 3. and xi. 3. And wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye
principal of the ffock ; or roll yourselves in dust, as a
token of mourning; as being in the utmost distress,
and incapable of helping themselves, and redressing
the grievances of their people; and therefore lie down
and tumble about as in the greatest anxiety and trouble.
'the Targum is, "cover your heads with ashes, ye
"mighty of the people;" meaning those who were
in the highest posts of honour and profit; the chief as
to authority and power, riches and wealth. For-the
days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are ac-
complished; the time is come when they who were
the fat of the flock, and were nourished up for slaugh-
ter, should be slain. The allusion to shepherds and
sheep is still kept up; and such who should escape
that, should be scattered up and down the world, as a
flock of sheep is by the wolf, or any other beast of
prey, when some are seized and devoured, and others
dispersed; and this was not the case of the Jews only,
but of other nations in their turn. And ye shall fall
like a pleasant vessel; a vessel of worth and value, and
so desirable; as vessels of glass, of gems, or of earth,
as of Venice glass, of alabaster, of China; which
when they fall and are broken, become useless, and
are irreparable; signifying hereby, that their desirable-
hess and excellency would not secure them from de-
struction, and that their ruin would be irretrievable.
Ver. 35. And the shepherds shall have no way toffee,
&c.] Or, and flight shall perish from the shepherds {u} ;
though they may attempt it, they shall not be able to
accomplish it; neither the dignity of their persons, the
greatness of their power, or the abundance of their
riches, would make a way for them; their enemies
being so numerous, powerful, and watchful: nor the
principal of the flock to escape; this was particularly
verified in Zedekiah and his princes, ch. xxxix. 4, 5,
6. The Targum is, "and the house of fugitives shall
"perish from the kings, and deliverance from the
"mighty of the people."
Vet. 36. And a voice of the cry of the shepherds, &c.]
Or of the kings, as the 'Fargum: and an howling of the
principal of the flock, shall be heard; of the mighty of
the people, as the same; what is before called for is
here represented as in fact, because of the certainty of
it: for the Lord hath spoiled their pastures: their king-
doms, provinces, cities, and towns; or their people, as
the Targum, among whom they lived, and by whom

{s} \^rvb lkl awh jpvn\^ judicium subibit ipse cum omni carne,
Tigurine version.
{t} \^Ura ytkrym\^ a lateribus tenrae, Schmidt; a finibus terrae,
Vatablus.
{u} \^Myerh Nm ownm dbaw\^ et peribit fuga a pastoribus, Vulg. Lat.;
effugiumperibit, Schmidt; perfugium, Cocceius.