Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_500.lzh/6_584.TXT

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tinue there. This is the voice of the Lord by the
.prophet, and the language of the rod of correction to
be heard, exposing the sins of the people, for which the
.Lord had a controversy with them; particularly their
mammon of unrighteeusness, the vast wealth, riches,
and treasures, collected together by very wicked and
unlawful ways and means; and which, instead of re-
storing them to the persons they had defrauded of them,
they retained them in their houses, notwithstand ing the
reproofs of the prophets, and the corrections of the Al-
mighty. Some render it, is there not fire? &c. {k}; that is,
in the house of the wicked, because of the treasures of
wickedness, that which consumes them; but Gussetius {l}
interprets it of fornications and adulteries. Others ren-
der it, is there yet a man ? &c.{m}; an honourable man,
as Aben Ezra, who continues in his iniquity, after the
Lord's voice cries to.the city; but Abendana interprets
it of the prophet himself, continuing to reprove the
wicked for their treasures of wickedness, and. their
other sins. And the scant measure that is abominable ?
or the ephah of leanness provoking to wrath n; that is, a
deficient measure, less than it should be; the ephah
was a dry measure, and it was made small, as in Amos
viii. 5. and held less than it should; and this brought
leanness and poverty upon those to whom they sold
by it, as well as rui-n upon themselves in the issue; for
.such practices as they were abominable and detestable
to God; they stirred up his wrath, and brought de-
struction on those that used them. The Targum is,
" false measures that bring a curse."
Ver. 11. Shall I count them pure with the wiclced
balances, &c.] These are the words either of the pro-
phet, or rather of .God, signifying that he could not,
and would not, allow, countenance, and approve of
persons that used false scales or balances; or justify
and reckon them just, as they would be thought to be,
but condemn them, and pronounce them very wicked
men, and deserving of punishment here and hereafter:
and with the bag of deceitful weights ? or stones°;
which were used in weighing goods, and which were
deceitful, when a heavier was used in buying, and a
lighter in selling. So the Targum, "and with the bag,
· ' in which are weights greater and lesser;" condemned
in Deut. xxv. 13, 14.
Ver. 12. For the rich men thereof are full of violence,
&c.] That is, the rich men of the city, to whom the
voice of the Lord cried, yet. 9. Jerusalem or Samaria,
or any or all the cities of Israel and Judah; the rich
men of these cities, who had enough of the world, and
were under no temptation to do an ill thing, to get
money; and yet their hands and their houses, and
their treasuries, as the Targum, were full of goods
gotten by violent measures, by the oppression of the
poor and needy: and the inhabitants thereof have spoken
lies; the rest of the inhabitants, who were not so rich
as others, and who had it not in the power of their
hands to oppress as others had; yet used deceitful and
fraudulent methods to cheat their neighbouts in buying
and selling; and, to do this, did not stick to tell down-
right deliberate lies: and their tongue is deceitful in
their mouth; say one thing, and mean another; deceive
their neighbours with their tongues in trade and
commerce; averting things for truth they know to be
false.
Vet. 13. Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting
thee, &c.] With the rod to be heard, vet. 9. by
sending among them some of his sore judgments, as
famine, pestilence, the sword of the enemy, intestine
wars, and the like; which should cause their kingdom,
and state, and families, to decline and waste away, as a
sickly and diseased body. So the Targum, "and I
"brought upon thee illness and a stroke." The Sep-
tuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions,
render it, and I began to smite thee; as by Hazael, king
of Syria, and Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, who had
carried part of them captive. In making thee desolate
because of thy sins; went on, not only to make them
sick, and bring thefn into a declining state, but into
utter desolation; as by Salmaneser, king of Assyria,
who carried Israel captive; and by Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon, who led Judah captive, because of
their sins of idolatry, injustice, and oppression, with
others that abounded among them.
Vet. 14. Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied, &c.]
Either not having enough to eat, for the refreshing and
satisfying of nature; or else a blessing being withheld
from food, though eaten, and so not nourishing; or a
voracious and insatiable appetite being given as a
curse; the first sense seems best: and thy casting
down shall be in the midstof thee; meaning they should
be humbled and brought down, either by intestine dis-
cords and wars among themselves, or through 'the
enemy being suffered to come into the midst of their
country, and make havoc there; which would be as
a sickness and disease in their bowels. So the Targum,
"thou shalt have an illness in thy bowels." The Syriac
version is, "a dysentery shall be in thine intestines ;"
a secret judgment wasting and destroying them. And
thou shall talce hold, but shall not deliver; and that
which thou delivereat will I give up to the sword; the
sense is, that they should take hold of their wives and
children, and endeavour to save them from the sword
of the enemy, and being carried captive: or should
remove them {p}, as the word is sometimes used, in order
to secure them from them; or should overtakes; the
enemy, carrying them captive; but should not be able
by either of these m'ethods to save them from being
destroyed, or carried away by them; and even such as
they should preserve or rescue for a. while, yet these
should be given up to the sword of the enemy, the
same or another. Aben Ezra and Kimchi interpret
this of their women conceiving, and not bringing forth;
and, if they should, yet what they brought forth should
be slain by the sword {r}. But the Targum and Jarchi
incline to the former sense.
Ver. 15. Thou shall sow, but thou shalt not reap, &c,]

{k} \^vah dwe\^ \~mh pur\~, Sept.; adhuc ignis, V. L. So Joseph Kimichi.
{l} Ebr. Comment. p. 352.
{m} Adhuc num vir domo, Montanus; adhuc suntne viro domus im-
probi, some in Drusius. So R. Sol. Urbin, fol. 37. 2.
{n} \^hmwez Nrzr tpyaw\^ et ephah macilentiae indignatioa Deo proven-
tura, Tarnovius; detestatus Domino, Pagninus; et ephah maciei abo-
minatione digna, Burkius.
{o} \^hmrm ynba\^ lapidum doli, Piscator; lapidum fraudis, Montanus.
{p} \^gotw\^ et amovebis, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Tarnovius; sum-
movebis, Drusius, so Ben Melech; et removebis, Burkius.
{q} Assequeris, syr.
{r} So R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol.35. 2.