Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_400.lzh/6_441.TXT

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here he 'meets with his people, and manifests himsell'
unto them, There is in the words a tacit reflection
on Israel, or the ten tribes, that bore the name of
Jacob; the patri0rch tbund Gotl in Beth-el, Christ
the Angel of the Lord; but now, instead of hhn, there
was a calf set up in this place, Israel worshipped;
and therefore it was called Beth-avert, the house of
an idol, or iniquity, instead of Beth-el, the house of
God. And there he spake with us; not with Esau and
his angel, concerning Isaac's t:dessing of Jacob, as
Jarchi; nor with. Jacob and his angel, as the father of
Kimchi; nor with the prophet, and with Amos, to
reprove Israel there for the worship of the calves, as
Kimchi himself; but with all the Israelites, of whom
the.prophet was one; who were then in the loins of
Jacob, when he conversed with God, and God with
him, atBeth.-el: or, as Saadiah interprets it, .for us
for our sakes, on otlr account; or concerning us; con-
cerning the multiplicat. ion of Jacob's posterity, and the
giving the land of Canaan to them, as the Lord did at
both times he appeared to Jacob in Beth-el; see Gen.
xxviii. 14, 15. 'and xxxv. 11, lc2-, and it is in the house
of God, where Christ is as a son, that he speaks with
and to his people, even in his word and ordinances there.
Vet. 5. Even the Lord God o.f hosts, &c.] The God
Jacob had power over, the Angel he prevailed with, to
whom he made supplication with weeping, and who
spake with him and his in Beth-el, is he whose name
is Jehovah; who is the true anti living God, the Lord
of hosts anti armies both in heaven and in earth; of all
the angels in heaven, and the legions of them ;' and of
the .church militant, and all the saints, who are the
good soldiers of Christ, his spiritual militia; and he is
the Captain of the Lord's host, and of their salvation,
and to whom all the numerotous hosts of creatures, be
they what they will, are subject: this is observed, to
set off the greatness of the person Jacob wrestled with,
and Iris wondrous grace, in condescending .to be over-
powered by him: the I, ord is his memorial : or his
name, Jehovah, which belongs to this angel, the Son
of God, as to his divine Father; and which is ex-
pressive of his divine existence, of his eternity and im-
mutability; this is his memorial, or the remembrancer of
hitn; which puts his people in all ages in remembrance
of him, what he is, what an infinite, almighty, and
all-sufficient Being he is; and he is always to be be-
lieved in, and trusted to, and to be served, adored,
and worshipped. The Targum adds, to every gene-
ration and generation.
Ver. 6. Therefore turn thou to thy God, &c.] Judah,
with whom the Lord had a'controversy, is here ad-
dressed and exhorted to return to the Lord, from
whom they had backslidden; and this is urged, from
the consideration. of their being the descendants of so
great a man as Jacob; whose example they should
follow, anti make supplication to the Lord as he did;
and from this instance of their progenitor might encou-
rage themselves, that God, who was his God, and
their God, would be gracious anti merciful to them,
and that they should prevail with him likewise, and ob-
tain the blessing" 'and especially sincc he is the ever-
lasting and unchangeable Jehovah. Turning to the
Lord, as it supposes a going astray from him, so it
signifies a turning from idols, and all vain confidences;
and is done by renewed acts of faith and trust in the
Lord, and repentance towards him; and cannot be per-
formed aright without grace and strength from him, of
which Ephraim was sensible, Jer. xxxi. 18. as well as
the encouragement to it is from a view of God as a
covenant-God, and as gracious and merciful, So Aben
Ezra interprets it of divine help, of turning by thy
God, that is, by the ht,lp and assistance of thy God;
and, indeed, conversion to God, whether at first, or
after, is through b is: powerful and efficacious grace. Kim-
chi explains it, thou shall rest in thy God {w}; when want
tbilows is performed, comparing it with Isa. xxx. 15.
The Targum is," and thou shall be strong iu the wet-
" ship of thy God." Keep mercy and judgment; or,
observe x them. to do them; to shew mercy to persons
in misery, to the poor and indigent, which is what the
Lord desires and delights in, more than in ceremonial
sacrifices; and is a principal part of the tnorai law, as
judgment is another; the exercise of justice, both public
and private; passing a righteous sentence in courts of
judicature, and doing that which is right between man
and man; owing no man any thing, but giving to all
their due; doing no injury to any man's person, pro-
perry, or character; which are fruits meet tbr true re-
pentance; and when they spring from faith and love,
and are done with a view to the glory of God, and good
of men, are acceptable to the Lord; these are the
weightier matters of the law, Matt. xxiii. 23. And
wait on thy God continually ; both in private prayer, and
for an answer to it, and in public worship and or,
dinances,. in hope of meeting with him, and enjoying
his presence; tbr this takes iu the whole of religious
worship, private and public, and all religious exercises,
as invocation of God, trust in him, and expectatiou of
seed things from him; and may have a respect to the
Messiah, and salvation hy him, and a waiting for him
and that; as Jacob did, and his posterity should, and
many of them were in this posture,. betbre and at his
coming; see Gen. xlix. 18. Isa. xxv. 9). Luke ii. 25,
38. Agreeable to this the Targum is, "and wait for
"the redemption or salvation of thy God continually."
Vet. 7. He is a merchant, &c.] Here is a change of
person from thou to he, from Judah to Ephraim, who
is said to be a merchant; and if that was all, there is
nothing worthy of dispraise in it; but .he was a cheating
metchant, a fraudulent dealer, as appears by what fol-
lows: or he is Canaan, or a Canaanite Y; more like a
descendant of Canaan, by his manners, than a de-
scendant of Jacob. But the Canaanites dealin much
in merchandise, their name became a common name
for a merchant, as a Chaldean for an astrologer; and as
the children of Israel possessed their land, so they fol-
lowed the same business and employment of life; which,
had they performed honestly, would not have been to
their discredit; but they were too much like the Ca-
naanites, of whom Philostratus {} says, they were co-

{w} \^bwvt Kyhwlab\^ "in Deo tuo conquiesce", Drusius.
{x} \^rmv\^ "observa", Junius & Tremellius Piscator.
{y} \^Nenk\^ \~canaan\~, Sept.; Chanaan, V. L. Tigurine version;
"Chananaeum refers", Munster.
{z} Apud Grotius in loc.