Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_100.lzh/6_115.TXT

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the city of Jerusalem, to the sword, famine, and pesti-
lence, to be destroyed by them; or with fire at the
burning of the city: or, I will rest {g}; as the refiner
does; having put his metal into the furnace, and
blown the fire, sits still till all is melted.
Ver. 21. Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you
in the fire of my wrath, &c.] Not only gather them
in .wrath, as before; but blow upon them in wrath,
which is often compared to fire iri Scripture; and be-
sides, the city and temple of Jerusalem were to be
burnt, and were burnt with material fire, in conse-
quence of God's displeasure against his people: and
ye shall be melted in the midst thereof ; of the city of
Jerusalem; be destroyed by one judgment or another
in it; or perish in the conflagration of it.
Ver. 22. As silver is melted in the furnace, so shall
ye be melted in the midst thereof, &c.] This is repeated
for,the greater confirmation of it; and the people
might assure themselves that it would verily be, as
was threatened: and ye shall know that I the Lord
have poured out my fury upon you; feel it upon them;
be sensible of it, and acknowledge it; and that it is
the Lord's doings, and righteously done; these are
they who are meant by the silver, who, though
east into the furnace, were not destroyed, only
purified, and made the better and brighter for their
afflictions.
Vet. 0_3. And the word of the Lord came unto me,
&c.] The word of prophecy from the Lord, as the
Targum: saying; as follows:
Vet. 24. Son of man, say unto her, thou land, &c.]
Thou land of Israel, as the Targum: thou art. not
cleansed; from filthiness, by the fire of divine judg-
ments; or reformed from sins, by the instructions,
cautions, and exhortations of the prophets; none of
these things had any effect upon her to make her wiser
and better. So the Targum, "a land not cleansed it
"is, and good works are not done in it, to protect it
"in the day of cursing:" nor rained upon in the day
of indignati,m; no cooling shower to quench the fire
of divine wrath; nothing to avert or stop the judg-
ments of God; no refreshment and comfort from the
doctrines of the prophets, which fell like rain: it is a
judgment upon a people to have no rain, either in a
temporal or spiritual sense; see Zech..xiv. 17, 18.
I ....Talmud {jh} ,---
 n the a,mud , this text is brought to prove that
the flood did not come upon the land of Israel.
Vet. 25 There is a conspircacy of her prophets in
the midst thereof, &c.] Not of the prophets of the
Lord, but of her prophets; such as were agreeable to
her, the false prophets. The Targum renders it," a eom-
"pany of scribes ;" the interpreters of the law; these
entered intoa confederacy together against the true pro-
phets, and agreed to prophesy the same things, to fiat-
ter the people with peace and prosperity, when sudden
destruction was at hand: like a roaring lion racerring
the prey; that roars when hungry, and while it is tear-
ing the prey in pieces; so these false prophets thun-
dered out their menaces against the true prophets, and
those that adhered to them; elamouring against them
as enemies to the state; and threatening them with
accusations to it; and carrying on a judicial process
against them: they have devoured souls; persecuted
men to death, that would not give credit to their pro-
phecies; and destroyed the souls of those that did,
with their thlse doctrines and prophecies: they have
taken the treasure and previous things; of those they
destroyed; or of others, for prophesylug smooth
things to them; filthy lucre being the principal thing
they had in view: they have made her many widows in
the midst thereof; by persecuting their husbands to
death for not believing their prophecies; or by per-
suading to hold out the siege, under a notion ofdelio
verance; whereby the lives of many were lost by the
sword, thmine, and pestilence, to whose death they
might be said to be accessary.
Ver. 26. Her priests have violated my law, &c.] Or,
 forced it {l}; they gave a wrong explanation of it, made
it speak what it should not; they wrested the sense
and meaning of it, and did and taught things contrary
to it; they broke it themselves, who should have in-
structed others in it, and exhorted them to have
kept it, and encouraged them by their own exam-
ple: and have profaned my holy things; sacrifices and
oblations, which were only to be offered and eaten
by holy persons; they made them common to others
who should not have partook of them: they have put
no difference between the holy and the profane; between
holy persons and things, and profane persons arid
things; they made no difference in their practice be-
tween the one and the other; but promiscuously con-
versed with holy and profane persons, and used holy
and profane things, without distinguishing one from
the other: neither have they shewed the difference be-
tween the unclean and the clean: they did not shew to
the people, as was the duty of their office, what was
clean or unclean for sacrifice; what was clean and
allowed to be eaten, and what was unclean and forbid
to be eaten; nor who were clean and who were un-
clean persons for conversation; who were to be kept
company with, and who not: and have hid their eyes
fi'om my sabbaths; were not careful to observe them
themselves, and connived at them that broke them;
they might have seen men carrying burdens, and doing
other servile works on such days, but they turned
their eyes another way, and would not look at them;
and when,they did see them were silent, and would
not reprove them: and I am profaned among them;
for the law of God being profaned, his institutions
profaned, and his sabbaths profaned, he himself was
profaned; inasmuch as he was not sanctified by them,
through the just observation of those .things. The
Targum is, "my will is profaned among them."
Ver. 27. Her princes in the midst thereof are like
wolves ravening the prey, &c.] The king and his no-
bles, those of the first rank and quality, who ought to
have protected the persons and property of the mennet
sort; these were like wolves themselves, subtle,- vora-
cious, and cruel, preying upon harmless persons, 'as
those creatures do upon the sheep and lambs: to shed
blood; innocent blood, as the Targum: and to destroy
souls; take away lives, under a pretence of treasonable

{g} \^ytxnhw\^ & requiescam, Mercerus; & requiescere faciam, Pagninus,
Montanus, Vatablus.
{h} T. Bab. Zebachim, fol. 113.1.
{i} \^ytrwt womx\^ vim faciunt legi meae, Junius & Tremellius, Polanus;
vim fecerunt, Cocceius, Starckius.