Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_500.lzh/6_585.TXT

Text File | 1994-11-17 | 6KB | 120 lines

Either that which is sown shall not spring up, but rot
in the earth; or if it does spring up, and come to ma-
turity, yet, before that, they should be removed into
captivity, or slain by the sword, and their enemies
,hould reap the increase of their land, their wheat and
their corn: thou shall tread the olives; in the olive-
press, to get out the oil: but thou shalt not anoint with
oil; as at feasts for refreshment, and at. baths for
health, this becoming another's property; or, it being
a time of distress and mourning, would not be used, it
being chiefly at festivals, and occasions of joy, that oil
was used: and sweet wine; that is, shalt tread the
.grapes in the wine-press, to get out the sweet or new
wine: but shall not drink wine; for, before it is fit to
drink, the enemy would have it in his possession; see
Lev. xxvi. 16. and xxviii. 30. these are the punish-
meats or corrections of the rod they are threatened
with for their sins.
Ver. 16. For the statutes of Omri are kept, &c.] Who
of a captain of the army was made king of Israel, and
proved A wicked prince ;' he built Samaria, and set up
idolatrous worship there, after the example of Jero-
boam, in whose ways he walked, and, as it seems,
established the same by laws and edicts; and which
were every one of them observed by the Israelites, in
the times of the prophet, though at the distance of
many years from the tirst making of them, which ag-
gravated their sin; nor would it be any excuse of
them that what they practised was enjoined by royal
autho. rity, since it was contrary to the command of'
God; for the breach of which, and their observance of
the statutes of such a wicked prince, they are threat.-
.cued with the judgments of God; see 1 Kings xvi. 16,
24, 25, 26 : and all the works of the house erAhub ; who
was the son of Omri, and introduced the worship of
Baal, and added to the idolatry of the calves, which he
and his family practised; and the same works were
now done by the people of israel: and ye walk in their
counsels; as they advised and directed the people to
do in their days: that I should make thee a desolation;
the city of Samaria, the metropolis of Israel, or the
whole land, which was made a desolation by Salma,
neser, an instrument in the hand of God; and this was
not the intention and design of their walking in the
counsels and after the example of their idolatrous
kings, but the consequence and event of so doing: and
the inhabitants thereof an hissing; either of Samaria, or
of all the land, who should become the scorn and de-
rision of men, when brought to ruin for their sins:
therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people; that
which was threatened in the law to the people of God,
when disobedient to him; or shameful punishment for
profaning the name and character of the people of God
the. y bore; o.r for reproaching and ill using the poor
among the peopleof God; and so it is directed to the
rich men before spoken of, and signifies the shame and
ignominy they should bear, by being carried captive
into a foreign land for their sins.
THIS chapter begins with a lamentation of the pro-
phet, in the name of the church and people of God,
concerning the general depravity and corruption 5f the
times in which he lived, ver. 1--6. then declares what
he was determined to do for his relief in such circum-
stances, yet. 7. comforts himself and the church with
a good hope and firm belief of its being otherwise and
better with .them, 'to the shame and confusion of their
enemies that now reioiced, though withoutjust reason
for it, vet. 8, 9, t0. with promises of deliverance,
after a desolation of the land for some time, yet. 11,
12, 13. and with the answer returned to the prayers of
the prophet, yet. 14, l& which would issue in the
astonishment of the world, and their subjection to the
church of God, vet. 16, 17. and the chapter is. con-
cluded with admiration at the pardoning grace and
mercy-of God, and hi, faithfulness to his promises,
ver...i8, 19, 20.
Ver. 1. Woe is me, &c.] Alas for me'. unhappy
man that I am, to live in such an age, and among such
a people, as I do! this the prophet says in his own
name, or in the name of the church and people of God
in his time; so Isaiah, who was cotemporary with him,
ch. vi. 5. see also Psal. cxx. 5, 6: for l am as when they
have gathered the summer-fruits, as the grape-gleanings
of the vintage; when there are only an apple or a pear
or two, or Such sort of fruit, and such a quantity of it
left on the top of the tree, or on the outermost branches
of it, after the rest are gathered in; or a few sing!.e
grapes here and there, after the vintage is over; sigm-
VoL. IIk.--Paoril~;'rs.
fying either that he was like Elijah left alone, or how-
ever that the number of good men were very few; or
that there were very few gathered in by his ministry,
converted, taught, and instructed by it; or those that
had the name of good men were but very indifferent,
and not like those who were in times past; but were
as refuse fruit left on trees, and dropped from thence
when rotten, and when gathered up were good for
litt}e, and like single grapes, small and withered, and
of no value; see Isa. xvii. 6: there is no cluster to eat;
no large number or society of good men to converse
with, only here and there a single person; and none
that have an abundance of grace and goodness in them,
and a large experience of spiritual and divine things;
few that attend the ministry of the word; they. don't
come in clusters, in crowds; and fewer still that receive
any advantage by it. My soul desired the first ripe fruit;
the company and conversation of such good men as
lived in former times; who had the first-fruits of the
spirit, and arrived to a maturity of grace, and a lively
exercise of it; and who were, in the age of the pro-
phet, as scarce and rare as first ripe fruits, and as de-
sirable as such were to a thirsty travellet; see Hos.
ix. 10. The Targum is, "the prophet said, woe unto
"me, because I am as when good men fail, in a time
"in which merciful men perish from the earth; be-
'' hold, as the summer-fruits, as the gleanlugs after the
"vintage, there is no man in whom there are good
"works; my soul desires good men."
Ver. 2. The good man is peri.s. hcd out of the earth,