Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_400.lzh/6_455.TXT

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as the wine of Lebanon; and so Kimchi, the smell of
the wine of the vine, to which Israel is compared, is
like the smell of the wine of Lebanon. This may de-
note the savouriness of truly converted gracious souls.
of their graces, doctrines, life, and conversation. Some
choose to render it, their memory h shall .be as the wine
of Lebanon; so the Targum interprets it of" the
"mory of their goodness ;" the saints obtain a good
report through faith, and have a good name, bet,er
than precious ointment; their memory is blessed; the3,
are had in everlasting remembrance; the memory of
them is not only dear to the people of God in after-
ages; but the memory of their persons, and of their
works, is exceeding grateful to God and Christ.
Ver. 8..Ephraim shall say, what have I to do any
more with idols ? &c.] This is to be understood, not
of apostate Ephraim, as in the times of the prophet,
who was so wedded and glued to the idols, that there
was no hope of getting him from them; and therefore
is bid 'to let him alone, ch. iv. 17. but of Ephraim
Israel returning to God at his call, under the influence
of his grace, in the latter day, yet. 1, e. Idols are the
same with the works of their hands, ver. 3. and to be
interpreted, not of graven or molten images, to the
worship. of which the Jews have not been addicted
since their captivity to this day; see ch. iii. 4. but or'
the idols of their hearts, their impiety, their unbelief,
their rejection of the Messiah, which, at the time of
their conversion, they will loath, abhor, and mourn
over; likewise the traditions of their elders, they arc
now zealous and tenacious of, and prefer even to the
written word; but will now relinquish them, and em-
brace the Gospel of Christ; as well as the idol of their
own righteousness they have always endeavoured to
establish; but shall now renounce, and receive Christ
as the Lord their righteousness. The like to this is to
be found in common in all truly penitent and converted
sinners; who, being made sensible of the exceeding
sinfulness of sin, detest and abhor it, and declare they
will have nothing to do with it; not but that it conti-
nues in them, and has to do with them, and they with
that; yet not so as to live and walk in it; to yielct
their members as instruments of it; to serve and obey
it as their master; to make provision for it, and to
have the course of their lives under the direction and
power of it; and so likewise, being convinced of the
imperfection and insulticiency of their own righteous-
hess to justify them, they will have nothing to do with
that in the business ofj ustiticatioa beibre God, and ac-
ceptance with him: now these are the words of the
Lord, affirming what Ephraim sh,,uld say, as Kimchi
rightly observes; he promises for him, as he well
might, since it is he that gives repentance to Israel,
and works in his people principles of grace, and enables
them both to will and to do, to make such holy reso-
lutions, · and perform them. Some render the words,
0 Ephraim, what have I to do {}? &c. and take them to
be words of God concerning himself, declaring he
would have nothing to do with idols, nor suffer them
in his' service, nor should they; for what concord hath
 Christ with Belial? or what agreement hath the temple of
God with idols? 2 Cur. vi. 15, 16, but the former sense
!s much best; rather what Schmidt suggests is more
agreeable, who, rendering the words in the same way,
,nakes them to be the words of a believing Gentile re-
turning and dwelling under the shadow of Israel; so
he interpret s the preceding verse, and takes this to be the
language of such an one throughout.. The Targum is,
"they of the house of Israel shall say, what is it to us
"to serve idols any more ?" I have heard him; says the
Lord; Ephraim bemoaning himself, repenting of his sins,
and confessing them; his prayers for pardon and accept-
ance, and the resolutions made by him in the strength
of divine grace, ver.
and this. is what his idols he once served could not do,
who had ears, but heard not; but the Lord not only
heard, but answered, and granted his request. So the
Targum," I by my Word will receive the prayer of
" Israel, and wi11 have mercy on him :" and observed
him; Iooked at him, and on him; with an eye of' pity
and compassion; with a favourable and propitious
..... ,, as the Lord does towards those that are poor, and
of a contrite spirit; observed the ways and steps he
took in returning to him; marked his tears and humi-
liations, groans and moans, and took notice of his
wants in order to supply them. I am like a green fir-
tree: these are the words of the Lord continued;
though some take them to be the words of Ephraim; or,
as Schmid t, of the Gentile believer, like those of David,
Psal. lii. 8. but they best agree with Christ, who may
be compared to such a tree, as he is to many others in
Scripture; because a choice one, as he is to his father,
and to all believers, chosen and precious, lovely and be-
loved; a tall tree, so Christ is highly exalted as Media-
tor, higher than the kings of the earth, above the angels
in heaven, yea, higher than the heavens. The boughs
of this tree, as Jarchi and Kimchi observe, bend down-
ward so low as to be laid hoid on; Christ, though the
high and lofty One, dwells with humble souls, and
suffers himself to be laid hold upon by the faith of
every one that comes to him. Pliny says {k}, that this
tree is of a cheerful aspect, smooth, and scarce any
knots upon it; and its leaves so thick that a shower of
rain will not pass through it: Christ is most amiable,
and altogether lovely to look at in his person and ful-
ness; and he looks in a loving smiling manner upon
his people; he is without any knot of sin or corruption
in him, as to principle or practice; and is a delightful
shade from the wrath of God, 9r rage of man, fi'otn
the heat of a fiery law, and the darts of Saian: and as
this tree, as here, is ever green, so he is always the
same; he ever lives, and his people in him, ahd by
him; his fulness always continues to supply them.
Once more, the fir-tree is the habitation of the stork, an
unclean creature by the law of God; so Christ is the
dwelling-place of sinners, he receives them, and con-
verses with them, Psal. civ. 17. The Septuagint ver-
sion renders it, as a thick juniper-tree: which natural-
ists say {} has such a virtue in it, as by the smell to
drive away serpents. So the old serpent the devil was

{h} \^wrkz\^ "memoria ejus", Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Tarnovius,
Cocceius, Castalio, Schmidt, Barkius.
{i} \^dwe yl hm Myrpa\^ "Ephraim, vel O, quid mihi amplius, &c."
Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Tigurine version, Castalio, Cocceius
Schmidt, Burkius.
{k} Nat. Hist. I. 16. c. 10.
{l} Varinus apud Rivet. in loc.