Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_500.lzh/6_583.TXT

Text File | 1994-11-17 | 7KB | 128 lines

do the good commanded in the law, and to shun the
evil forbidden by it; see Rom. iS. 14, 15: and what
cloth the Lord require of thee .but to do justly; or judg-
roeate; to exercise public judgment and justice, as a
king, among his subjects; to do private and personal
justice between man and man; to hurt no man's per-
son, property, and character; to give to every one
their due, and do as he would desire to be done by;
which as it is agreeable to the law of God, so to the
light of nature, and what is shewn, required, and
taught by it: and to love mercy; not only to show
mercy to miserable objects, to persons in distress; to
relieve the poor and. indigent; to clothe the naked,
and feed the hungry; but to delight iu such exercises;
and which a kiug especially should do, whose throne
is established by mercy, and who is able, and should
be munificent; and some Heathen princes, by their
liberality, have gained the name of benefactors,
Eu.e. rgetes, as one of the Ptolemies did; see Luke
xxii. o.5. such advice Daniel gave to Nebuchadnezzar,
a Heathen prince, as agreeable to the light of nature;
see Dan. iv. 27: and to walk humbly with thy God ? his
CreatOr and BenefaCtor, from whom he had his being,
and all the blessings of life, and was dependent upon
him; and therefore, as a creature, should behave with
humility towards his Creator, acknowledging his dis-
tance from him, and the obligations he lay under to him;
and even though a king, yet his God and Creator was
above him, King of kings, and Lord of lords, to whom
he owed his crown, sceptre, and kingdom, and was
accountable to him for all his administrations: and this
walking humbly is opposed to walking in pride, which
kings are apt to do; but God can humble them, and
bring them low, as Heathen kings have been obliged
to own; see Dan. ii. 21. and iv. 37.
Ver. 9. The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, &c.]
The Lord having bid his prophet call to the mountains
and hills to hear his voice, and the prophet having
obeyed Iris will, and the Lord having by him addressed
his. people Israel, and expostulated with them about
their ingratitude, observing to them many instances of
his goodness; here informs them, that this voice of his,
whether in his prophet, or in his judgments, was di-
rected to the city, either Samaria or Jerusalem, or
both,' and even to all the cities of Israel and Judah,
the singular being put for the plural; that is, to the
inhabitan, is of them. Cities being populous, and where
persons of the highest rank and figure, as well as of
the best sense, dwell, and generally very wicked,
though favoured with greater advantages; all which
are reasons why the voice of the Lord, in his word and
provideaces,.. particularly cries to them to repent of
their sins, and reform from them, a.s might be ex-
pected from such persons; and so doing would set a
good example to those who live in the country.. Some
render it, the Lord's voice crieth to awake f; or to stir
up; it calls upon men asleep to awake out of sleep; to
arouse from their carnal security; to attend to their
sins, their danger, and their duty; to repent of their
sins, and so avoid the danger they were in through
them, and perform their duty they had
such a voice as this, see in Ephes. v. 14. this reading
of the words is mentioned by Kimchi. Arid the man
of wisdom shall see thy name; not the mere natural
man, or who is possessed only of natural wisdom,
though he may have ever so great a share of it; for as
he sees not the things of the spirit of God, the things
of the Gospel, so neither the name and perfections of
God in his judgments on the earth; much less the
man that is wise to do evil, full of wicked subtlety,
and makes a jest of every thing religious and serious;
nor such as are wise in their own opinion, or have only
a superficial share of wisdom; but such who have a
share of solid and substantial wisdom, a man of sub-
stance, as the word {g} sometimes signifies; see Prov.
viii. 2l. such who have true wisdom in the hidden
part, that which comes from above, and is pure and
peaceable, and makes men wise to salvation; such men
see and discern the power and providence of Grid in
all the judgments that are in the earth; his attributes
and perfections; his severity on some, and goodness
to others; his sparing grace and mercy, and his special
loving-kindness, and even all his perfections, for he is
known to such by the judgnients he executeth; see
Psal. ix. 16. and cvii. 43. and such ,fear his name also,
as some render the words n; they not only fear the
Lord and his goodness, but have an awful sense of his
judgments, and tremble at them. Some read the
words, thy name sees. that which is {} ;so the margin of
our .Bibles; that is, the Lord Seeth that which is done
in the city, though ever.so secret and private, and
therefore his voice cries to it. Hear ye the rod, and
who hath appointed it; these are the words of the man
of wisdom, as Kimchi observes; who, seeing the name
and perfections of God in his judgments on the earth,
upon others, and exhorts them to hear the voice
rod, of the. rod of correction and affliction, the
rod of judgment and vengeance, aS held in the hand of
God, and shook over a city Or nation; which has a
voice in it' to men, reproving "them for their sins;
commanding them to return from them.; calling them
to repenfance and humiliation; teaching and instructing
them in theirduty; and giving cautions and warnings
to others, lest the like should befall them; 'and this is
the voice that is.to be attended to: audit should be
considered,. that there is no affliction, calamity, or
judgment, but is appointed by the Lord, the kind
and nature, measure and duration, of it; what its end,
issue, and use; and he that has appointed it.is all-wise
and all-knowing, unchangeable and invariable, all-
powerful, and able to put his purposes and decrees into
execution; nor can they be. frustrated. The Targum
of the whole is, "with the voice'the prophets-of the
"Lord Cry to the city; and teachers fear the name
"(of the Lord) ;hear, O king and rulers, and the rest
"of the pe9ple of the land."
Ver. 10, Are there yet the treasures of wickedness
the house of the Wicked ? &c.]  There are; they.con-

{e} \^jpvm\^ judicium, V. L. Munster; jus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
{f} \^ryel\^ ad suscitandum, Vatablus; ad expergefaciendum, Calvin; ad
{g} \^hyvwt\^ vir constans, Pagninus; vir essentiae, Gualtherus apud
Tarnovium.
{h} \^Kmv hary\^ timebit nomen tuum, Pagninus, Montanus. So the
Targum.
{i} Nam quod res est, videt nomen tuum, Junius & Tremellius, Pis-
cator, Tarnovius.