ing to the greatness of his Power, or their Sins, but ac- Chapter cording to their Ability to bear what he inflicts, and XXVIL the hopes he fees of their Amendment: Whereas in dealing with others he is not fo cautious or gentle, but proceeds as thofe who pour out or lay on without any tint or measure. Befhallikah,when it fhooterh forth,which our Tranflators, with St. Jerom, underftand of the fhooting out of the Vine, to which he compar'd the Jews; as if the Prophet meant, when the grows luxuriant he prunes her too spreading Branches warily, for fear of killing the Root: Then he changes the Perfon from the Second to the Third, and paffes from one Metaphor to another, from the Vine to the Corn; In winnowing his People from their Chaff, he allays and reftrains the Violence of the Wind, that it may not carry all away before it. Ver. 9. By this therefore fhall the iniquity of Facob be purged, and this is all the fruit to take away his fin: when be maketh all the ftones of the altar as chalk ftones that are beaten in funder, the groves and images fhall not stand up.] Here is another difference between God's dealing with the Jews and with other Nations: All the Calamities he inflicts upon his People, are not to deftroy, but to chaftife them, to bring them to a fenfe of their Duty, and make them forfake their Sins; as if he had faid, Therefore by this gentle Correction fhall the Iniquity of Jacob be purged away, this is all the fruit, this is the only end for which thou chaftifeft them to take away their Sins, by maki them better; and then he fpecifies the particular Sin of Idolatry, against which this Judgment was directed, to make them pull down their Idolatrous Altars, and beat them to Ashes like Chalk-ftones, to make them demolish their Groves, and pluck down their Images, the Repre fentations of their Gods. Idolatry was the reigning Vice of the Jews; and when God fent his Judgments among them, it was to put them in mind of the God of Ifrael, whom, if they had not forgot, they would not leave to worship Stocks and Stones. Ver. 10, 11. Yet the defenced city fhall be defolate, and the habitation forfaken, and left like a wilderness: there fhall the calf feed, and there fhall be lie down, and confume the branches thereof. When she boughs thereof are withered, they fhall . Chapter fhall be broken off the women come and fet them on fire: XXVII. for it is a people people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will fhew them no favour.] By the defenced (a) Grotius City, (a) fome think he means Babylon, (b) others Jeru (b) Forerius. falem, in the Time of the Romans; but they were not then guilty of Idolatry, and therefore that judgment could not be fent to break them of it. I fee no reafon why it may not be understood of Jerufalem, destroy'd by the Babylonians thus; Yet tho' God has a Kindness for his People, and will not at this time cut them off by the Affyrian, I forefee the time will come when this ftrong City, now defended by God, fhall be defolate, and the Land of Judah reduced to the ftate of a wild uninhabited Defart: Where there are now great and populous Cities, there fhall be Pafture-Ground for the Herds to graze on, in the places where Houfes ftand, fhall Trees grow, the wither'd Branches whereof fhall be gather'd by Women to make themfelves Fires in the frosty Winter: This I forefee will be the Fate of this People, for they are a People of no understanding, neither the Mercies nor Judgments of God have any effect on the infenfible Wretches: Therefore he that made them will have no Mercy on them at last, and he that form'd them into a Nation and Government, will fhem them no favour'; in which words the Prophet glances by the by at the Ba bylonian Captivity. Ver. 12, 13. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall beat off from the chanel of the river unto the Stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, Oye children of Ifrael. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet Jhall be blown, and they fhall come which were ready to perish in the land of Affyria, and the out-casts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Ferufalem.] This is generally understood of God's gathering his People out of the feveral Countries into which they were fcatter'd by their Chaldean Conquerors, from the Chanel of the River unto the Stream of Egypt; that is, in all the intermediate Countries between Euphrates and Nile; and I fee no reafon why they may not be fo understood, unlefs from the Expreffion in that Day; which, in my Opinion, fignifies no more Chapter than then, at that time, or about that time: Now tho' XXVII. the Prophet was fpeaking of their Captivity in the foregoing Verfe, yet I think it not fo proper to make him fay, Then fhall ye be gathered, when he means 70 Years afterward; and therefore I chufe to refer these two Verfes to the Time of Sennacherib's Overthrow, mention'd in the first Verfe; and to this, I think, the words without any Violence may be apply'd. And it shall come to pass in that day, when God fhall have defeated the Affyrian Hoft, that the Lord fhall reftore to their own Country all the Fugitives, who, upon the coming of Sennacherib, fhall have been fcatter'd into any of the Nations between Euphrates and the Nile. This he means by beating off; the Metaphor is taken from Apples, or any other Fruit feparated by force from the Tree; as he that shakes the Tree, or ftrikes the Boughs, makes the Fruit fall off, fo fhall God make them leave thofe places into which they had retir'd for fecurity. And ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye Children of Ifrael, and be brought back to your Country. And then he tells how this fhould be done, and from what places they fhould be recall'd, even from Affyria and Egypt, and the Countries between them, as is plain from the former Verfe; and this by the found of a great Trumpet, by which I take the Prophet to mean that fignal Overthrow of the Affyrian Army, which made the Nations round about to ring, and was as much in effect as if God had caufed a Trumpet to be blown fo loud as to be heard far and near, in every Nation where any of his Fugitives abfconded. Chapter The ARGUMENT of Chapter XXVIII. Here the Prophet foretells the Captivity of the Ten Tribes, taking notice of their Pride and Drunkenness, which among other Sins concurr'd to their Ruin. At the 5th Verfe be promifes Peace and Happiness to the Refidue of bis People, which can be understood only of the Kingdom of Judah, and feems to be confin'd to them during the Reign of Hezekiah, ver. 6. The Prophet foreseeing that they also after his death would be guilty of the fame provoking Sins, and draw down the fame Judgments on their Heads. He complains, ver. 9. of their Stupidity and Incapacity to improve by his Inftructions; that his repeated Admonitions were to no purpose, and affures them, ver. 15. whatever prefumptuous Hopes they might entertain, they alfo fhould find themselves overwhelm'd in the common Calamities of their Country: And lastly, by a very appofite Similitude of the Husband-man, making a great difference in the management of his feveral forts of Grain, gives them to understand, that they were to look for fome fevere Difpensations of Providence, and not expect to enjoy continually the Sun-fhine of God's Mercy, of which they made no im proving ufe. Verse 1. W CHAP. XXVIII to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whofe glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine.] He calls Samaria the Crown of Pride, becaufe it was the principal City of the Kingdom of the Ten Tribes, built by Amri, on the top of Mount Somer, and furrounded with fine Buildings, which afforded a delightful Profpect, upon the account of which it might feem to overlook all the rest of the Cities, as if proud of its Greatness and Situation; but perhaps the Prophet may be better understood of the Pride as well as Intemperance of her Inhabitants. Mirth and Pride, he tells them, fhould be of a very short continuance, like the the fading Beauty of a Flower, which feldom lafts many Chapter Weeks. XXVIII. Ver. 2, 3. Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempeft of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall caft down to the earth with the hand. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim fhall be troden under feet.] That is, behold the Lord hath already in his Eye a powerful Prince, meaning Salmanafar, against whom they fhall not be able to make any Oppofition, who like a Storm of Hail, like a boisterous Whirl-wind, and an impetuous Inundation, fhall carry all before him, and level every thing with the Ground which he meets in his way; by him fhall Samaria, that haughty City, be humbled, and the diffolute Subjects of the Kingdom of Ifrael be trodden under feet. Ver. 4. And the glorious beauty which is on the head of the fat valley, fhall be a fading flower, and as the hafty fruit before the fummer: which when he that looketh upon it, feeth it, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.] And all the fine Buildings of Samaria, that ftately City which stands on the fummit of a Mountain, over-looking the fertile Valley of Sichem, fhall be like the fhort-liv'd Beauty of 1 Kings 16.4. a Flower, like precoce Fruit, haftily pluck'd up, and greedily devour'd; a proverbial Expreffion, by which the Prophet fets forth the fuddennefs of her deftruction. Ver. 5. In that day fhall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty unto the refidue of his people] That is, then, when the Judgment fhall be executed upon Ephraim, or the Kingdom of the Ten Tribes, which was in the days of Hezekiah, God fhall make the two remaining Tribes glorious and honourable, as they were in the Reign of that Monarch, after the Overthrow of Sennacherib's Army. Ver. 6. And for a spirit of judgment to him that fitteth in judgment, and for ftrength to them that turn the battle to the gate. He fhall give the fpirit of judgment to him that fitteth in judgment, to Hezekiah himself, or the Judges by him appointed to prefide in his Courts; he fhall endue them with a Practical Knowledge of the Laws, or a fteddy inflexible Impartiality in determining Caufes which come before them, and for ftrength to them that turn the Dd 2 battle |