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individuals, here and there one. So it is said, "And ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye sons of Israel." Isai. xxvii. 12.

16. They shall no more say, The ark of the covenant] Here God comforts the Jews with an assurance that though upon their return to him they might not find themselves in possession of exactly the same privileges as they had before, they should be no losers, but should receive ample indemnification, so as to leave them no just cause of regret. The ark of the covenant was the visible seat of God's residence among his people; it was therefore the object of their boast; but after the destruction of the first temple they had it no more. But to compensate this loss, they are told in the next verse, that "Jerusalem should be called the throne of JEHOVAH," to which not the Jews only, but "all nations, should resort." By Jerusalem is probably meant the Christian Church; See Gal. iv. 26. Rev. xxi. 2, 3. The greater privileges of this latter would of course supersede all boast on account of those which had belonged to the Jewish Church at any time.

by

Ibid. Nor shall it be the delight of their heart] Literally, "Nor shall it ascend upon, or near, the heart;" That the import of the phrase is such as I have represented, may be seen by comparing several passages of Scripture, where it occurs. See afterwards Ch. vii. 31. xliv. 21. What value the Israelites set upon the ark, how much they were attached to it, appears from their concern when it fell into the hands of the Philistines, 1 Sam. iv. 11-22. vii. 2. the joy on its being brought into the city of David, 2 Sam. vi. and the public festivals and gladness on its being placed in the temple by Solomon, 1 Kings viii.

Ibid. Nor shall they remember it-] They shall forget the less in contemplation of the greater benefit. So Isa. lxv. 17. God says, that when he creates a new heaven and a new earth, the former should not be remembered, nor held in any esteem, viz. because of the greater glory of the latter.

Ibid. Nor shall they care for it] 2p signifies to look after a thing, which has been long lost or neglected, with a wish or design to recover or restore it. In this sense God is said to have visited his people, Exod. iii. 16. Luke i. 68. He once again began to concern himself about them. And so it is said of the people, Isai. xxvi. 16. "O JEHOVAH, in trouble we have visited thee," that is, we who before neglected thee, in our affliction have turned our thoughts and attention towards thee.

Ibid. Nor shall it be made any more] Commentators have mightily perplexed themselves about these words; but surely in the most literal rendering they have a plain and obvious meaning. The ark, once lost, was never to be made again. And for a good reason, which immediately follows; because instead of the ark, Jerusalem itself was to become the seat of God's residence.

17. And all nations shall resort to it in the name of JEHOVAH] Af"to Jerusalem ;"

,לירושלם ,ter these words we find in the Hebrew

but no such word is found in the LXX. Syr. or Arabic versions.

Aud

it is certainly a redundancy, the same being already expressed in ; so that it seems to have been an interpolation from the margin, where it had most probably been placed by some annotator to point

.אלוה out the antecedent of

18. shall the house of Judah go unto the house of Israel] The reunion of Israel and Judah, and their joint-participation of the blessings of the Messiah's kingdom, is elsewhere foretold; see Ch. xxiii. 6. xxx. 3-9. Isa. xi. 12, 13. Ezek. xxxvii. 21, 22. Hos. i. 11. Rom. xi. 26. And that in the latter days they shall actually return from their several dispersions, to dwell as a nation in their own land, is declared in such express terms by most of the ancient prophets, that there cannot be a doubt, I think, of its being literally accomplished in due time.

19-the glory of hosts of nations] The land of promise is stiled, a glory among all lands,” Ezek. xx. 6. And

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,צבי לכל הארצות ,צבי צבאות גוים,the phrase here used seems to be of the like import

"the glory of hosts or multitudes, of nations," that which they esteem glorious. The Paronomasia is a figure the Hebrew writers much delight in. But by "the land of desire," and "the glory of hosts of nations," the Christian Church, and the privileges of the gospel covenant, seem here to be figuratively designed. And the conditions of adoption into the former, and of enjoying the latter, are expressly stated by Christ and his apostles to be the same as are here prescribed, namely, the profession of a true faith in God, and uniform obedience for the time to come. "Thou shalt call me, My father; and thou shalt not turn aside from following me."

.אשה be joined with

20. Surely as a wicked woman breaketh her faith] seems to be the feminine of , an evil doer, or wicked person, and is thus to All the ancient versions express, the particle of comparison, before 722; but the Ellipsis is also very frequent.

21. A voice hath been heard upon the plains-] Why w or " is interpreted plains rather than high places, may be seen at large in the Note on Ch. iv. 11. The people are here represented as assembled together on a great plain, confessing and bewailing their idolatries, and the evils thereby occasioned.-All the ancient versions

.בכי ותחנוני seem to have read

be

22. I will heal your apostasies-] For twenty nine MSS. (nine of them accounted ancient) and three Editions read, sides five MSS. in which the is upon a rasure. The LXX. Syr. and Vulg. read the same; and it is further justified by Hos. xiv. 5. "I will heal your apostasies" means, I will take away the guilt of

them.

Ibid. Behold we come unto thee] What follows to the end of the chapter is spoken in the name of the Israelites, accepting the divine invitation, acknowledging the vanity of their misplaced trust, and professing the deepest contrition and shame for their misbehaviour.

23. Surely hills are lies, the tumult of mountains? Instead of pw

לשקרים גבעות both Syr. and Vulg. seem to have read מגבעות

This will render the passage clear and consistent with the context. The people acknowledge that the hills, the places sacred to idolatrous worship, and the tumultuous rites with which that worship was accompanied (See 1 Kings xviii. 26, 28.) were mere impostures, deceiving and disappointing those that trusted in them: whereas JEHOVAH was indeed the author of salvation to his people.

24. that thing of shame] nwan, meaning the idol whom they worshipped, called by the same name, Ch. xi. 13. Hos. ix. 10. and with good reason, because in return for all the expence and pains bestowed upon it, it only frustrated the hopes of its votaries, and, as it follows in the next verse, left them mortified with disappointment, and overwhelmed with disgrace, for having deserted the service of a Being that could have saved them, in pursuit of so vile and worthless an ob ject.

Ibid. the substance]

properly signifies labour and toil; but is here put by Metonymy for the substance acquired by toil.

CHAP. IV.

THE two first verses of this chapter ought not to have been separated from the foregoing; being spoken in reply to the confession of the people of Israel, and concluding that part of the prophecy which respected them.

1.-unto me shalt thou return] The meaning is, that upon their conversion they should be accepted, and received again into the bosom of God's church, from which they had before apostatized.

Ibid. From before me shalt thou not be removed] Ten MSS. (four of them ancient) together with the Syr. Chald. and Vulg. read And the parallelism of the lines seems to require

ולא for לא

it so.

2. But thou shalt swear, As JEHOVAH liveth-] This is as much as to say, Thou shalt be of the number of those that worship the true God. For an oath is one of the most solemn acts of religious invocation; and therefore God's people are expressly charged to swear by his name, and by no other; Deut. vi. 13. x. 20. Josh. xxiii. 7. And to

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swear by JEHOVAH" is used as synonymous with the profession of his true religion, Isa. xix. 18.-The words which follow regard the propriety of the performance of this religious act; that the matter be strictly true and the occasion great and important; either a case of judgment, or judicial decision, where, as the Apostle says, "an oath for confirmation is an end of all strife," Heb. vi. 16.; or of righteousness, where some of the great and valuable purposes of truth and moral goodness are to be served; as we see it frequently applied by St Paul in his gospel ministry. Rom. i. 9. ix. 1. 2 Cor. xi. 31. xii. 19. Gal. i. 20. &c. &c.

3. Break up your ground in tillage]. The same

words occur, Hos. x. 12. primarily signifies a light or lamp. Hence it is applied to denote ploughing or tillage; the ground being turned up to the light, and cleared from the weeds and thorns that overshadowed it. The metaphor then may be easily understood; "Clear away all corrupt habits and practices, which, if suffered to grow, will choke and destroy every good seed or virtuous principle, which may be sown in your hearts." See Matt. xiii. 7.

4. Be ye circumcised] Circumcision as well as Baptism had a moral import, and denoted the obligation of putting away all sinful lusts of the flesh, every irregular and inordinate affection and appetite. Compare Deut. x. 16. xxx. 6. Rom. ii. 29. Col. ii. 11.

5. Sound ye] Twenty eight MSS. (six of them ancient) and four Editions, with the LXX. Syr. and Chald. versions, confirm the Masoretic reading, pn, without the conjunction 1.

Ibid. Proclaim throughout] signifies to do a thing fully or completely; so that 11p taken together may signify, " Proclaim fully, or every where throughout the land."

6.--a standard] The LXX. render Do "flight:" but it certainly means a standard set up for the purpose of drawing people together.

7.—shall be ruined] The word in the original is n; but its authenticity is much to be questioned; as, from whence it should be derived, does not seem capable of a sense suitable to this place. One MS. reads. In another the is upon a rasure; and two MSS. read 'n. I should think the true reading may have been

nn from pn, which verb is used ver. 26. and frequently elsewhere by this prophet in the sense here required. The LXX. render by a word exactly of the same import, xaargenoorral. Or it may have been, which is the word used by the Syriac and Chaldee.By "the lion" is undoubtedly meant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. See Ch. 1. 17.

8.—is not turned away from him] Here is ambiguous, as it may signify either from him or from us. I think it rather means that God's anger was not gone from him; but still continued to burn fiercely within him. So w is used as I apprehend, Isa. v. 25. Anger being represented as an accidental quality in God, coming and going according as the provocation is present or removed. The LXX. and Syr. render, from you; the Chald. and Vulg. from us.

11. As the wind that scorcheth-] Of the malignancy of the south wind blowing over the deserts of Arabia, travellers have given dread. ful accounts. The effect of this wind is not only to render the air extremely hot and scorching, but to fill it with poisonous and suffocating vapours. It sometimes becomes a whirlwind, raising up large quantities of sand, so as to darken the air, and not seldom to bury underneath the unfortunate traveller. The most violent storms that Judea was subject to came from that quarter. See Bp. Lowth's Note on Isai. xxi. 1. and Mr Harmer's citation from Maillet's Memoirs; Ch. i. Obs. 16.

Ibid. the plains in the wilderness] I know not why our Translators

have constantly rendered or, high places. Taking all the texts together where the word occurs, we shall find this sense very little countenanced by the ancient versions; and it is still less by etymology. The verbs now and sw both in Syr. and Chald. signify to render smooth by shaving, filing, or rubbing, &c. In Hebrew 1 Job xxxiii. 21. being applied to the bones of an emaciated body, is rendered by the Vulgate, nudabuntur, shall be left bare. And w Isa. xiii. 2. which our English Translators have rendered, “up-` on the high mountain," the LXX. have translated, in oges idrs, upon a mountain with a plain surface, clear from trees that might intercept the view of the signal placed on it. Hence I conceive that 'DW or may more properly be understood to denote open plains, in contradistinction to woodland.27 sometimes signifies no more than an extensive tract of waste uncultivated common appropriated to pasturage; and as this may consist of both open down and woodland, 12702 DW may denote the former, and, I think, evidently does so, Ch. xii. 12. But by 27 is sometimes meant the great desart lying to the south of Judea; and as that was the place chiefly annoyed by the hot scorching wind abovementioned, I am inclined to think that

.here mean the unsheltered plains of that desart שפים במדבר

Ibid.-Shall come toward the daughter of my people] The verb 2', which follows in the next verse, is equally subservient to the NoI have therefore expressed it in both places, because the nature of the English language 'will not admit of such an elongation of the verb, though the Hebrew

.there רוח מלא here, as to רוח צה minative

may.

12. A full wind for a curse shall come] Our Translators with the Vulgate have rendered, "from these" (high places, '). But if the scorching wind be, as before observed, the south wind blowing over the plains in the desart, then coming from those plains it would come from the south. But it is expressly said, ver. 6. that the evil should come from the north. Consequently, though the calamity coming upon Jerusalem might be compared to such a malignant wind, it would not have been said to come from that quarter. Grotius, Michaelis, and others, render with the Syr. n, "stronger than these," namely, stronger than those winds which serve for the beforementioned purposes of winnowing and cleansing. But I hardly think this construction justifiable. I am more inclined to construe a curse, but not rendering, as some have done, plenus maledictione; because I question whether is ever followed by this manner. But as in the preceding verse the end for which the wind should come is expressed negatively "not to winnow nor cleanse;" so here seems to denote positively its mischievous purpose; it shall come "for a curse. 99 That the particle has this force, see

Ezek. xlviii. 29.

in

Ibid.at my bidding], by or through me, or according to my direction, disposition or appointment. So Isa. xxix. 2.

לי כאריאל

,"But it shall become through me (or according to my appoint

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