Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_500.lzh/6_566.TXT

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charges them with sins, and reproves "for them, and
denounces .judgments on account of thera; see the
note on vet. 1: that abhor judgment, and pervert all
equity; a sad character of princes, rulers, and judges,
who not only ought to know but to love judgment,
justice, and equity, and do them; even take delight
and pleasure in the distribution of them to every one,
and in every cause that came before them; but, instead
of this, hated to do that which was right and just;
and perverted all the rules and laws of justice and
equity, clearing the guilty, and condemning the
innocent.
Vet. 10. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem
with iniquity.] Or, 0 thou that buildest up g, &c.; or.
every. one of them that builde-th up h, &c.; tbr the word is
in the singular number; but, be tire words rendered
either of these ways, they respect the heads and
princes of the people; who either repaired the temple
on Zion, or ornamented the king's palace, or built
themselves fine stately houses in Jerusalem, or large
streets there, by money they took of murderers to
save them, as Kimchi; or by money got by rapine
and oppression, by spoiling the poor or' their goods and
their livelihood, for them and their families, which
was all one as shedding innocent blood; and by money
obtained by bribes, for the perversion of justice, and
suchdike illegal proceedings, truly called iniquity.
The Targum is, "who build their houses in Zion
"with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with deceits."
Vet. 11. The heads thereof judge .for reward, &c.]
That is, the heads or principal men of Zion and
Jerusalem; the kings, or sanhedrim, according to
Kimchi; but as this prophecy was delivered in the
times of Hezekiah, Jet. xxvi. 18, be who was so good
a king must be excepted from this charge; perhaps it
was delivered in the beginning of his reign, bet0re a
reformation was made, and might be the occasion of
it: the former reign was a very wicked one; and very
likely the public officers, judges, and civil magistrates,
were as yet continued, and who went on in the same
course of injustice, giving the cause not on tim righi
aide, but to them that gave them most money, or
bribed highest, contrary to the law of God, Dent. xvi.
19: and the priests thereof teach .for hire; tbr though
they had a sufficient and honourable maintenance pro-
vided by the law of God for them, yet, not content
with this, they took a price of thepeople for teaching
them; and that not such things as were agreeable to
the will of God declared in his. word, which they
ought to have done freely; but such doctrines as were
most pleasing to carnal men, and indulged them in
their lusts, presumption, and vain confidence: and the
prophets thereof divine for money, tell men what should
befall them; what good things they should be possessed
of; what plenty and prosperity they should enjoy;
and this they did according to the sum of ,noney given
them, more or less. This must be understood .of the
false prophets: yet will they lean upon the Lord; ou his
are, providence, and protection, as if they were
titled to these things, and might securely rely and de-
pend upon them; though by their sins and trans-
gressions they had forfeited all the bent. fits and pri-
vileges thereof. To lean by faith upon the Lord ;' dr
in his Word, as the Targum; and to trust in his promises,
in his power, and faithfulness, and goodness; when
this springs from. an honest and upright heart, and is
attended with the fruits of righteousness and holiness,
it is well-pleasing to God, and highly regarded by him,
and .such ma3, depend upon Iris blessing and protection;
but to talk of faith in him, and reliance upon him,
when the whole course of the conversation is wicked,
this is abotniuable in the sight of God, and displeasing
to him: and .say, is not the Lord among us? trusting
to this, that the temple of the Lord was among them,
and that the temple of God were they; that the most
holy place was there, where were the' symbols of the
divine Presence, the ark, cherubim, and me,'cy-scat;
and so concluding from hence their safety and security;
putting their contidence in outward places and things,
in external worship, sacrifices, rites, and ceremonies,
when they neglected the weightier matters of the law,
justice, troth, and mercy: and so none evil can come
upon us: as pestilence, famine, sword, and captivity,.
the prophets or' the Lord had threatened them with.
Vet. 12. Therefore shah Zion Jbr your sake be ploughcd
as afield, &c.] That is, for your sins, as the Targum;
for the blood,bed, injustice, and avarice of the princes,
priests, and prophets; not that the common people
were free from cri,nes; but these are particularly men-
tioned, as being ringleaders into sin, and who ought to
have set better examples; as also to take off their vain
confidence in themselves, who thought that Zion and
Jerusalem would be built up and established by them,
and preserved for their sakes; as well as to shew the
prophet's boldness and intrepidity in his rebukes and
menaces of them: now this was prophesied of in the
days of Hezekiah, before the invasion"ot' Judea and
siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib; it was deferred
upon the repentance and reformation of the people;
and was fulfilled in part at the destruction of Jerusalem
by the Chaldeans, when the city was reduced to a
heap of rubbish; and more fully when it was de-
stroyed by the Ro-mans, and ploughed .up by Tercntius,
or Turnas Rufus, as the Jews say; so that there was
not a house or building left upon it, but it became
utterly desolate and uninhabited, especially in the
reign of Adrian: and Jerusalem' shall become heaps;
not only the city of David, built on Mount Zion,
should be demolished, but the other part of the city
called Jerusalem should be thrown down, and its walls
and houses lie in heaps, like heaps of stones in the
midst ofa ploughed field: and the mountain of the house
as the high places of the forest; Mount Moriah, on
which the temple was built; hence called here, by
the Targum, the mountain of the house of the
sanctuary; the temple upon it should be destroyed,
and not one,tone left upon another ;' and the place on
which it stood be covered with grass and trees, with
briers and thorns, as a forest is, all which have been
exactly fulfilled. The Jerks sa {} of Turnus Rufus
before mentioned, that ne DOra ploughe,, up .e ity
of Jerusalem, and the temple, the ground on which


{g} \^hnwb\^ aedificans, Montanus, Monster, Burkius.
{h} Quisque eorum aedificat, Vatablus, Piscator, Drusius.
{i} T. Hieros. Taaniot, fol. 69. 2. Juchasin, fol. 36. 2. & Ganz Tzemach
David, par. 1. fol. 22. 1.