Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_400.lzh/6_462.TXT

Text File | 1994-09-07 | 7KB | 128 lines

dark day, and: the morning light; wherefore Cocceius
understands the whole of the day of Christ, which was
light to many nations, and darkness to the wicked
jews: a great people and a strong; numerous and
mighty, many in number, mighty in strength; so the
locusts are represented as a nation and people for might
and multitude, .ch. i. 6. an emble.m of the Chaldeans
and Babylonians, who were a large and .powerful peo,
pie: there hath not been ever the like, neither shall any
more after it, evento the years of many generations; that
is, in the land of Judea; otherwise there might have
been the like before in other. places, as in Egypt, and
since in other countries. Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Kim-
chi, account tbr it thus;. that it was never known,
before or .since, that four kinds of locusts came to-
gether; as for the plague of Egypt, there was b. ut one
sort of them, they say; but it is best to understand it
of the like not having been in the same country: and
such a numerous and powerful army as that of the
Chaideans had not been in Judea, and made such
havoc and desolation as that did; nor would any here-
after, for many generations, even until the Romans
came and took away their place and nation.
Ver. 3. Afire devoureth before them, and behind them
aflame burneth, &c.] This is not to be understood of
the heat of the sun, or of the great drought that went
before and continued after the locusts; but of them
themselves, which were like a consuming fire; wherever
· they came, they devoured all green grass, herbs, and
leaves of trees, as fire does stubble; they sucked out
the juice and moisture of every thing they came at, and
· what they left behind shrivelled up and withered away,
as if it had been scorched with a flame of fire: and so
the Assyrians and Chaldeans, they were an emblem of,
destroyed all they nlet with, by fire and sword; cut
up the corn and herbage for forage; and what they
could not dispense with they set fire to, and left it
burning. Sanctiu8 thinks this refers to fire, which the
Chaldeans worshippeal as God, aild carried before their
armies as a sacred and mifitary sign; but this seems
not likely: the land is as the garden of Eden before them;
abounding with fields and vineyards, set with fruitful
trees, planted with all manner of pleaant plants, and
-all kind of corn growing upon it, and even resembling
a paradise: and behind them a desolate wilderness; all
green grass eaten up, the corn of the field devoured,
the vines and olives destroyed, the leaves and fruit of
them quite gone, and the trees themselves barked;
so that .there was just the same differenae between this
country before the calamities described came upon it,
and what it was after,. as between the gard.en of Eden,
or a paradise, a.nd the most desolate wilderness; such
ravages were made by the locusts, and by those they
resembled: yea, and nothing shall escape them; no herb:,
plant, or tree, could escape the locusts ;. nor any city,
town, or village, nor scarce any particular person, could
. escape .the Chaldean army; but was either killed with
the sword, or carried captive, or brought into sub-
jection. The Targum interprets it of n deliveranee
to the ungodly.
Vet. 4. The appearance of them is as the appearance
'of horses, &c.] in their running, as Jarchi and Kimchi
interpret it; they came with, as much swiftness and
eagerness, with as much tierceness and courage, as
horses rush into the battle. Bothart {h} has shewn, from
various writers, that the head of a locust is in shape
iike that of a horse; and Theodoret on the text observes,
that whoever thoroughly examines the head of a locust
will easily perceive that it is very like the head of a
horse; see Rev. ix. 7. The Chaldeans are often repre-
sented as strong and mighty, fierce and furious, and
riding on horses exceeding swift, Jer. iv. 13, and v. 15.
Hab. i. 6, 7, 8: and as horsemen, so shall they run; with
great agility and swiftness. The particle as is observed
by some, against those interprcters that apply this
wholly to the enemies of the Jews, and not the locusts;
it seems indeed best to fayour them; but Theodoret
observes, that the as here may be takcn, not as a note
of similitude, but as used for the increase and vehe-
mency of the expression.
Ver. 5. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of tht
mountains shall they leap, &c.] The motion of the
locusts is leaping from place to place; for which the
locusts have legs peculiarly n:ade, their hindermost
being the longest; wherefore Pliny {i} observes, that in-
sects which have their hindermost legs long leap
locusts; to wtiich agrees the Scripture description of
them: which have legs above their feet, to leap withal
upon the earth ; even those of them yc may eat; the locust
after his kind, Lev. xi. ol 22_. which words,
Dr. Shaw {k},observes, may bear this construction: which
have lcnees upon or above their hinder legs, to leap withal
upon the carth; and he observes, that the \^hbrah\^, locust,
has the two hindermost of its legs or feet much stronger,
larger, and longer, tllan any of the foremost; in them
the knee, or the articulation of the leg and thigh, is
distinguished by a remarkable bending or curvature,
whereby it is able, whenever prepared to jump, to
spring and raise itself with great force and activity; and
this filly resembles the jumping of chariots on moun-
tains and hills, which are uneven, and usually have
stones lie scattered about, which, with the chains and
irons abofit chariots, cause a great rattling; and the
noise of locusts is compared to the noise of these, which
is represented as very great; some say it is to be heard
six miles off, as Remigius on the place; and Pliny
says {}, they make such a noise with their wings when
they fly, that the5, are thought to be other winged
fowts; see Rev. ix. 9. Chariots were made useof in
war, and the Chatdeans are said to have chariots which
should come like awhirlwind, Jet. iv. 13: like the noise
of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble; as they are
betbre compared to fire, and a flame of fire that de-
voured all things as easily as the fire devours stubble,
so here to the. crackling noise of it; see. Eccles. vii. 6:
as a strong people set in battle array: that is, as the
noise of a mighty army prepared for battle, just going
to make the onset, when they liftup their voices aloud,
and give a terrible shout; for this clause, as the other
two, refer to the noise made by the locusts in their
march; an emblem of the terribleness of the Chaldeans
in theirs, who were heard before they were scen.

{h} Hierozoic. par. 2.1.4. c. 5. p. 474, 475.
{i} Nat. Hist. 1. 11. c. 48.
{k} Travels, p. 420. Ed. 2.
{l} Nat. Hist. 1. 11. c. 29.