Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_400.lzh/6_490.TXT

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about; and through his obedience, sufferings, and
death, through his sacrifice and satisfaction, the agree-
ment is made on the part of God, his justice is satis-
fied; but still it is necessary man should be agreed too;
this is brought out by the Spirit of God, who shews the
sinner the enmity of his mind, the sin and danger of it,
slays this enmity, and puts in new principles of light,
life, and love; when the soul is reconciled to God's
way of salvation, and loves the Lord, and delights in
him; and both being thus agreed, the one by the s.a-
tisfaction of Christ, and the other by the Spirit of
Christ, see Rom. v. 10, they walk comfortably to-
gether: the saint .walks with God, not only as in his
sight and presence, but by faith, and in his fear, in the
ways and ordinances of the Lord; and particularly is
frequent in prayer and meditation, in which much of
his walk with God lies: and God walks with him; he
grants Iris gracious presence; manifests his love and
favour to him; talks with him by the way; discloses
the secrets of his heart; and indulges him with near-
hess and communion with him; but all is rounded ou
mutual agreement. And so it must be between men
and men, that walk in a religious way; regenerate and
unregenerate persons cannot walk together, there being
no concord, 2 Cot. vi. 14, 15. nor can all sorts of
professors; they must agree in the way Christ, and in
the fundamental principles of religion; and in worship,
and the manner of it ;. and in all the ordinances of the
Gospel, and the manner of administering them.
Vet. 4. Will a lion roar in the forest when he hath no
prey ? &c.] He will not, unless he has it in his sight,
or in his paws; he roars when he first sees it, whereby
he terrifies the creature, that it cannot move till he
comes up to it; and when he has got it in his paws, he
roars over it, to invite others to partake with him.
Now prophecy from the Lord is compared to the
roaring of a lion, oh. i. 2. and this is never in a way of
judgment without a cause; the sin of men, or of a na-
tion, which makes them a prey to the wrath and fury
of God. Will a young lion cry, or give forth his voice
out of his den, if he have taken nothing ? that is, if the
old lion has taken nothing, and brought nothing unto
him; which signifies the same as before; unless by the
young lion is meant the prophets of the Lord, who
never prophesy but when they have a commission from
him, and a people are pointed out to them as the just
prey of his wrath and vengeance. All. the images here
used are very natural; the lion is for the most part in
woods and forests, hence called the lion out of the forest,
Jer. v. 6. as he is by Theocritus d; where his voice is
heard, but not unless he is in sight of his prey, or has
got it, even though ever so hungry; but when he has
it irt view, he roars so terribly, that, as Basil {} observes,
many animals'that could escape him through their
swiftness, yet are so affrigh ted at his roaring, that they
have no power to move; and they have their dens
either in caves or in thi.ckets, where are the she-lioness
and the young lions, to whom the prey is brought; see
2Nab. iS. 11, 1£.
Ver. 5. (;an a bird fall in a snare upon the earth,
where no gin is for him ? &c.] No, there must be a
snare set, or a bird can never be taken in it; and that
is done, not by chance, but with the design of the
fowler; yea, with the knowledge and will of God him-
self, Matt. x. 0_9. the design of this is to shew, that no
judgment or affliction comes upon a people, or they
into one, by chance, or without the appointment of
God; they are his nets and snares, which he on pur-
pose spreads and sets for persons, to take them in; and
unless he did do so, they would not fall into any; see
Job v. 6, 7. and xxiii. 14. and Ezek. xii. 13. Shall one
take up a snare from the earth; the Targum adds, out
· 'of its time: and have taken, nothing' at all ? when men
set a snare to catch any thing, do they take it up before
any thing is caught ? they do not; they let it stand till
something is insnared in it, and so their end answered,
and then .they take it up, and not before. And thus
when God denounces or brings a judgment, or an af-
fliction, upon a people, does he remove it before the.
end is answered by it ? he does not; if the end is to
bring men to a sense of sin, and humiliation for it; or
to bring near to God who have been wandering from
him; or to try their graces, or take away their sin;
when such an end is answered, then, and not till then,
is the snare taken up, or the affliction removed; tilt
such an end is brought about, the distress is continued,
or the threatening of it; and of this Israel is hereby
assured.
Ver. 6. Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, &c]
Meaning not any trumpet blown, as the silver trum-
pet for the gathering of the people to worship, or the
jubilee-trumpet, which proclaimed liberty to them, 'or
any other, expressive of joy and gladness; but the
sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war, or what
is blown by the watchmen on the walls, descrying
an enemy, or some danger, near: and the people
not be afraid? they must, they usually are, lest
their lives, and their children's, should be taken away,.
and their substance become a prey to the enemy: or,
and the people not run together f; into some one place
for shelter, or to consult together how to provide for
their safety, and secure themselves from danger. So
when the prophets of the Lord, by his order, lift up
their voice like a trumpet, to shew his people their
transgressions; or when, as watchmen, they blow the
trumpet, to give notice of approaching danger; can.
they hear such denunciations of his wrath for their
sins, and not tremble at them, or not take some ways
and methods to escape it ? Shall there be evil in a city,
and the Lord hath not done it ? which is not to be under-
stood of the evil of sin, of which God is not the author,.
it being contrary to his nature and will; and though
he permits it to be done by others, yet he never does
it himself, nor so much as tempts men to it, Jam. i.
13, 14. unless the words should be rendered, as they
may be, shall there be evil in a city, and shall not the
.Lord do or work {g} ? shall sin be committed in a city, all
sorts of sin, in the most bold and extravagant manner,
and will not the Lord do something to shew his resent-
ment of it ? is it not time for him to arise and work for

{d} \~ek drumoio lewn\~, Theocrit. Idyll I.
{e} Hexaemeron, Homil. 9.
{f} \^wdrxy al\^ "non accurit", Drusius, Tarnovius.
{g} \^hve al hwhyw\^ and shall not the Lord do somewhat? margin of our
Bibles.