Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_100.lzh/6_118.TXT

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them in their idolatrous worship: with all them that
were the chosen .men' of Assyria; before described by
their habit, office, and age: and with all on whom she
doted; had an insatiable desire and lust after: With
all their idols she defiled herself; worshipped ill the
idols the Assyrians did; and which were defiling, as
they must needs be, since, _as the word used signifies,
they were dunghil-gods.
Ver. 8. Neither left she her idols brought from Egypt,
&c.] Tho, ugh the Israelites took in the gods of the
Assyrians into their worship, they did not relinquish
the golden calves set up.at Dan and Beth-el, in imita-
tion of the Egyptian deities; the idolatrous worship of
which they learat in Egypt, and brought from thence:
for in her youth they lay with her; the Egyptians en-
ticed the Israelites to idolatry when among them, as
soon as they began to be a people; see the note on
ver. 3: and they bruised the breasts of her virginity;
who before retained the pure worship of God, and
was like a chaste virgin: and poured their whoredom
upon her; expressive of the numerous acts of idolatry
committed together by them.
Vet. 9. WhereJbre I have delivered her into the hand
of her lovers, &c.] To destruction; their persons,
families, riches, and kingdom itself: into the hand oJ
the Assyrians, on whom she'doted; first into the hands
of Pul, then --.t,
of Assyria, by whom. they were spoiled or carried
captive; by the.two first in part, by the last wholly;
see 2 Kings xv. 19, o-9. and xvii. 5--18.
Vet. 10. These discovered her wickedness, &c.] That
is, stripped them of all their substance: they took her
sons and her daughters; and carried them captive: and
slew her with the sword; put an end to the kingdom of
Israel, or the ten tribes, and which was never recovered
to this day: and she became famous among women; -or
among the provinces, as the Targum; she became
famous, or rather infamous, among other nations ;' was
talked of for her sins, her whoredores and idolatries,
and the vengeance of God upon her for them; she be-
came a by-word and a proverb among the kingdoms
of the world for her wickedness and her destruction:
for they had executed judgment upon her; that is, the
Assyrians, who were the instruments in God's hand
in doing justice to her, and inflicting his judgments on
her, and for that she became famous.
Ver. 11. And when her sister Aholibah saw this, &c.]
The two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, when,they saw
the idolatries the ten tribes fell into, and the destruc-
tion which came upon them for the same; instead of
receiving instruction, and taking caution by all this,
she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she; in
courting the friendship, alliance, and help of their
Heathen neighbouts: and in her whoredoms more than
her sister in her- whoredoms ; guilty of more idolatries
than the ten tribes, as in the times of Mannsash; see
Jar. ii..
Vet. 12. She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours,
&c.] As in the times of Ahaz, whosent to Tiglath-
pileser, king of Assyria, for help; and from whence
he took the pattern of an altar, and I!ad one built like
it at Jerusalem, and offered upon it, o. Kings xvi.
7--12.. captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously; or
perfectly {q}; with all kind of precious garments, and
of all manner of colours; not with blue only, but
purple, scarlet, crimson, &c.: horsemen riding upon
horses, all of them desirable young men; see the note
on ver. 6.
Ver. 13. Then [ saw that she was defiled, &c.] With
idols, and the worship. of them, vet. 7: that they took
both one way; the same way of idolatry; worshipped
the same idols, lived the same course of life, were
guilty of the same sin, both Israel and Judah.
Vet. 14. And that she increased her whoredoms, &c.]
Added to the number of her idols, increased her idols,
and even was guilty of more than her sister: for when
she saw men portrayed on the wall; of the temple, as
idols were, oh. viii. 10. or upon the wall of a private
house, where they were worshippad as household gods:
the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion:
the images ottheir heroes, who after death were deitied;
and these, being drawn upon the wall with vermilion,
which, being mixed with caruse, made a flesh-colour,
were worshippad; as Bel, Nebo, Mcrodach, which are
names of their idols, Isa. xlvi. 1. Jer. 1. 2. or these
were graven on the walls, or etched out upon them
with minium or red lead; or rather were painted{r},
as some render the word, with minium, vermilion, or
cinnabar, which are the same; of which see the note
on Jar. xxii. 14. and it may be observed, that it was
usual with the Heathens to pabst the images and
statues of their gods with these. Thus Virgil{s} repre-
sents Pan, the god of Arcadia, coloured red with
minium or vermilion; and rausanius t speaks of the
statue of Bacchus being besmeared with cinnabar: and
Pliny {u} says the face of the image of Jupiter used to
be anointed with minium or vermilion on festival-days;
and observes, that the nobles of Ethiopia used to co-
lour themselves all over with it; this being the col0ur
of the images oftheir gods, which they reckoned more
august, majestic, and sacred. Hence the Romans,
in their triumphs, used to paint themselyes with ver-
milion; particularly it is said of Augustus Caesar, that
he did this to make himself the more conspicuous and
respectable, after the example of the Assyrians and
Medes[w{: and the triumphers chose to be rubbed all
over with a red colour, that they might, according to
Isidore{x}, resemble the divine fire.
Vet. 15. Girded with girdles upon their loins, &c.] As
a token of dignity and authority; see Isa. xi. 5. which
was the peculiar custom of the Babylonians, as Kim-
chi, from the Talmudists, observes: exceeding in died
attire upon their heads; having turbants of various co-
lours upon their heads, after the manner of the Per-
sians: all of them princes to look to; bore the resem-
blance of kings, princes, and the great men of the

{q} \^lwlkm\^ omni genere pulchrarum vestium, Pagninus; absoluto
vestitu, Montanus; perfectione, sive universitate, sub. vestium, Vata-
blus; perfectissime, Junius & Tremellius, Polanus; perfecto ornatu,
Piscator; vestitos accurate, Cocceius.
{r} \^rvvb Myqqx\^ depictas sinopide, Pagninus, pictas minio, Pis-
cator.
{s} Pan deus Arcadiae venit, quem vidimus ipsi
Sanguineis ebuli baccis, minioque rubentem. Bucolic. Eclog. 10.
{t} Achaica, sive I. 7. p. 452. & Arcadica, sive 1. 8. p. 520.
{u} Nat. Hist. I. 33. c. 7.
{w} Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. 1. 6. c. 6. p. 332.
{x} Originum: I. 18. c. 2.