Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_100.lzh/6_114.TXT

Text File | 1994-08-17 | 7KB | 127 lines

surely it must fall within thee; become like water, and
melt as wax, be it ever so hard and adamantine: or
can thine hands be strong in the days that I shall deal
with thee ? surely they must become weak, and drop,
and not be able to hold a weapon for defence: and, if
this would be the case, when God should deal with the
Jews for their sins, by sending the Chaldean army to
besiege their city, and take it; how will it be wi.th
sinners at the day of judgment, and to all eternity, when
the awful sentence shall be pronounced, go ye cursed;
when the wrath of God shall be poured out upon them;
when they shall be cast into hell, where the worm dies
not, and the fire is not quenched ? this wilJ be into-
lerable by the most stout-hearted sinner; no heart will
be strong enough to stand up under it, or hands to keep
it off: I the Lord have spoken it, and will do it; he who
is the mighty God, the eternal and unchangeable Je-
hovah; he has said it, that he will deal with impenitent
sinners in a way of wrath, and he'll be as good as his
word; he will certainly accomplish it; it is in vain for
men to flatter themselves to the contrary; or to put
away the evil day far from them; it shall surely be.
The Targum is, "I have decreed by my word, and
"I will establish it."
Ver. 15. And I will scatter thee among the Heathen,
and disperse thee in the countries, &c.] Not only cause
them to be carried captive to some one place, as Ba-
bylon; but to be scattered and dispersed throughout
the several provinces of it, and in other nations, as
chaff is by the winds; signifying hereby the power by
which it would be done; their weakness, who would
not be able to hinder it; and the uncomfortable con
dition they weuld be in: and will consume thyfilthiness
out of thee; by destroying some filthy persons, and re-
forming others; by bringing them by means of those
afflictions to a sense of their sins, and to forsake them;
and so would be refined as silver from its dross in a
furnace: it may have a particular reference to their
idolatry, that filthy sin, whichthey were cured of, and
purged from, by their captivity, and to which they re-
turned no more.
Vet. 16. And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thy-
self in the sight of the Heathen, &c.] No longer be the
inheritance of God, but their own; and not have God
to be their portion and inheritance, but themselves;
and a poor-portion and inheritance that must be, being
in captivity, poverty, and distress; enjoying neither
their civil nor religious liberties, as heretofore; it
would be now manifest to the Heathens that they were
forsaken of God, and left to themselves. Some render
it, and thou shalt be profaned, or polluted in thyself {e} ;
shalt be known to be so to thyself, as well as appear so
to others. The Targum is, "I will be sanctified in
"thee before the people :" and thou shalt know that I
am the Lord; able to do what I say; faithful to my
word; omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent; and
this thou shalt not only know, but own and acknow-
ledge, when these calamities take place, and have their
effect.
Ver. 17..4nd the word of the Lord came unto me,
&c.] The word of prophecy from the Lord, as the
Targum: saying; as follows:
Vet. 18. Son of man, the house of Israel is to me be-
come dross, &c.] Vile, despicable, useless, and unpro-
fitable; to which the wicked of the earth are com-
pared, Psal. cxix. 119. and here the Lord's professing
people, they differing nothing from them, being sadly
degenerated; formerly they were as silver, and so
they might be reckoned among themselves; but to
God, who. is omniscient, the searcher of the hearts
and reins, who saw all their actions, and knew the
spring of them, in his sight they were as dross: all
they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the
midst of the furnace: or cruciblef ; where they are put
together, in order to be set in the furnace, and melted
down. It is not usual to put so many different me-
tals together for melting, but separately; but here it
seems to intend a mixture of them all together; and
so the Targum and Septuagint render it, "all they as
"brass, &c. are mixed ;" several metals of the baser
sort are here mentioned, by a gradation from the
better to the worse; tin being not so good as brass,
and iron of less value than either, and lead than any
of them. Some think the different characters of the
people are here described; impudent persons by
brass; hypocrites by tin; cruel and savage ones by
iron; and such as were-sottish and stupid by lead;
or, as others, covetous ones: they are even the dross of
silver; once they were like silver, precious and valua-
ble, whilst they retained the true religion, and the
worship of God, and behaved agreeably to their cha-
racter in the performance of all good works, and were
in outward flourishing circumstances; but now de-
generated from the pure worship of God, and sunk
into idolatry and wickedness, and become poor and
miserable.
Ver. 19. Therefore thus saith the Lord God, because
ye are all become dross, &c.] King, princes, nobles, pro-
phets, priests, as well as the common people; the apos-
tacy was general, in city and country; scarce any ex-
ceptions to be made: therefore will I gather you into
the midst of Jerusalem; from the several parts of the
country, thinking they should be safe there, when the
design of God by this providence was the destruction
of them in it.
Ver. 20. As they gather silver, and brass, and iron,
and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, &c.]
As refiners of metal do; though not together, as here,
but each metal apart. Silver is here mentioned, to de-
note that those who were truly good should suffer in
this calamity, and be tried and purified by it: to blow
the fire upon it, and to meltit ; the metal being co-
vered with fuel, this is kindled and blowed upon,
to cause the greater heat, in order to melt it down;
expressive of the wrath of God, as follows: so will t
gather you in mine anger and in my fury; from the
several parts of the land unto the city of Jerusalem:
this they thought was for their good and safety, but it
was in wrath, and in order to ruin :. and 1 will leave
you there, and melt you; that is, I will leave you in

{e} \^Kb tlxnw\^ & prophana effecta in te, Junius & Tremellius, Polanus;
prophana efficieris, Piscator; & polluta eris in te, Grotius; & propha-
nata eris in te, Starckius; & prophanaberis in te, Cocceius.
{f} \^rwk\^ eatinus, Junius & Tremellius, Polanus, Grotius, Cocceius,
Starckius.