Commentary on Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Songs Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel

CHAP. XVII.

Ver. 1. ANd the Word of the Lord came] In the foregoing chapter, God had threatened the inhabitants of Jerusalem for violating their covenant with him; and here he threateneth them no less for breach of Covenant with men. In case of disobedience to himself, he showeth much patience many times: but in case of disloyalty to a lawful Sovereign, against oath especially, he is quick and severe in his executions.

Ver. 2. Son of man, put forth a riddle] Acue acumen, sharpen a sharpening, or whet a whetting. The Prophet might have expressed God's mind in fewer words; but then it would not have taken so deep an impression. Parents must whet God's Word upon their children, Deut. 6.7. Ministers upon their people, and Christians upon one another for the increase of love and good works, Heb. 10.24. Riddles exercise the wit, and parables help the memory, and excite both attention and affection.

Ver. 3. A great Eagle with great wings] An Eagle (that King of birds) is a fit emblem of an Emperor: as here it is of Nebuchadnezzar the Great, ver. 12. See Jer. 48.40. & 49.22. Monarchs, as Eagles, have quick eyes, long talons, fly high pitches, aim at great matters, strive to get above all others, choose themselves high and firm seats, &c. See Job 39.30, 31, 32, 33. with the Notes. Ajax is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 an Eagle in Pindarus: so is King Pyrrhus in Plutarch; and took delight in that title. The Spaniard was well laughed at by Captain Drake and his forces, when they took Sancto Domingo, 1585. and found in the Town-hall the King of Spain's arms, and under them a Globe of the world, out of which issued (not a well plumed Eagle, but) a flying horse with this inscription, Non sufficit Orbis. We could not so well bridle his Pegasus at Sancto Domingo (yet we put a stop to him at Jamaica ) but we have lately pulled his plumes in Flanders to some purpose, by gaining from him Dunkirk (now held by the English ) and likewise Berghen another place of great strength now held by the French: the good news whereof came to us yesterday, being June 27. 1658. praised be the holy Name of God forever.

Came unto Lebanon] i. e. Unto Judea, which lieth near the forest of Lebanon; which forest also lieth in the way from Babylon to Judea.

And took the highest branch of the Cedar] Taleam, the top-branch. This was Jeconiah, 2 King. 24.12.

Ver. 4. He cropped off the top of his young twigs] i. e. The Nobles carried into captivity, with their King, as is to be seen ver. 12. So true is that saying of the Rabbin's, that there is no riddle in the law that hath not a solution by the sides of it. And so little cause had that Jesuit Barradius to borrow an argument from this text to prove the Scriptures to be a riddle, and obscure.

And carried it into a land of traffic] Babylonia was so; See Rev. 18.11. Rome is so, where all things are saleable and soluble; as was long since complained.

He set it in a City of Merchants] Some City, of Babylon, saith Diodat, assigned to the Jews; which was commodious for traffic, to keep them from all thoughts of war, and State policy.

Ver. 5. He took also of the seed of the land] No forrainer, but one of their own country, and of the blood-royal too, viz. Zedekiah. This was a great mercy: as that most spitefully done of Attiius King of Suecia, to make a dog King of the Danes: as did likewise Gunno King of the Danes make a dog King of Norway: appointing Counselors to do all things under his title and name.

And planted it in a fruitful field] i. e. In Judea that good land (as Rabshakeh also yieldeth it to have been, whatever Strabo saith to the contrary) where Zedekiah might have lived bravely and reigned prosperously, could he but have been content with his condition:

He placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow-tree] A well-contented person grows up prosperously, as the willows by the water-courses.

Ver. 6. And it grew] And yet it had a great fall; viz. from a tall cedar to a low vine. Zedekiah, though he had still the title of a King, and was not left without wealth and dignity, yet it was far inferior to that of his Predecessors.

Whose branches turned toward him] i. e. Toward Nebuchadnezzar now the chief Lord of the land. To him looked and leaned the Lord's of the land, and so long they did well: for they and the whole Kingdom thrived.

Ver. 7. There was also another great Eagle] sc. Pharaoh, another potent Monarch; why called an Eagle, see on ver. 3.

And behold this vine did bend her roots toward him] Which was the worst chare for herself that ever she did. The Devil of Discontent put her upon this unhappy project: whereby, instead of mending herself, she soon mar'd all. So true is that of Solomon, Wisdom is better then weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good, Eccles. 9.18. Zedekiah little thought once ever to have been a King. Nebuchadnezzar made him so, when as he might as well have refused him, for the rebellions of his two Predecessors. He had also dealt nobly with him, though his vassal, and would have defended him against any adverse power, &c. so that he had no reason at all to rebel, but that he was infatuated and besotted by Ambition and Avarice, which Plutarch finely and fitly calleth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , diseases natural to Potentates.

Ver. 8. It was planted in a good soil] He was well enough, if he could have kept him so.

But discontent enjoyeth nothing: Zedekiah liketh not to be a vine, he must be a Cedar: Aut Caesar aut nullus.

Ver. 9. Shall it prosper?] How should it? say: Hath ever any waxed fierce against God (or his substitute) and prospered? Job 9.4. Is perfidy and perjury the right way to prosperity? I trow not.

Shall he not pull up] He that is the great Eagle, ver. 3. who would be upon them before they were aware.

Without great power or many people] i. e. For any great need there shall be of them, since the work shall be done with little ado. If the Chaldeans were but a few, and they all wounded men, they should yet rise up and burn this City, saith Jeremy. See 2 Chron. 24.23, 24. Its no hard matter we know, to pluck up a vine, root and branch. God telleth us in the next verse that he can do it with a wind, with a wet finger, as we say.

Ver. 10. Shall it not utterly wither?] As Jonah 's gourd did, when smitten with a worm: as Phocas his wall came down with a witness, because built upon mines of gunpowder (sin lay at the bottom as One told him) which being once fired, would blow up all.

When the East-wind toucheth it] Which is very hurtful to Vines, saith Columella. As all creatures, so the winds are God's Agents: as to purge the air ( Rupertus calleth them the beesoms of the air ) and to refresh men's spirits, so to execute many of God's Judgments upon his rebels, as here. Aliorum perditio nostra sit cautio: Let other men's destruction be our instruction.

It shall wither in the furrows where it grew] i. e. In Egypt, where it rained not, but was all watered by furrows drawn from Nile, to run into all their fields. Here this vine should thrive, one would think, if anywhere; viz. in moist and fat furrows: but it could not, because blasted by God's curse.

Ver. 11. Moreover the Word of the Lord came unto me saying] God had one saying more to this rebellious house by way of Explication here, and another of Application for Comfort and Encouragement to the better sort among them, ver. 22, 23, 24.

Ver. 12. Know ye not what these things mean?] q. d. It is much you should not: there is no such great difficulty in the parable, but that ye are self-blinded and will not see far of: either your wits serve you not in the things of God, or if they do, you will make believe otherwise. Are ye not therefore rightly called a rebellious house?

Tell them] For their learnings, and that they may be left without excuse. See on ver. 4.

Ver. 13. And hath taken an oath of him] An oath of allegiance. Heb. hath brought him into an execration, or an oath with cursing, that he shall be true and loyal to him, and hold his Kingdom of him as his Leigh-Lord, and pay him tribute. This though we find not in the books of Kings, yet from what we here find, we are sure it was so.

Ver. 14. That the Kingdom might be base] The mighty of the land being taken away, as ver. 13. and the spirits of the rest imbased by burdens and oppressions in their estates and liberties.

But that by keeping of his Covenant] The breach whereof was the break-neck of the State: as it hath been of many others, and will be shortly of the Turks, (who hold that there is no faith to be kept with dogs, that is, with Christians ) and of the Popes, who hold that there is no faith to be kept with keretikes, that is, with Protestants. And for all others, it is written by an Italian (no stranger to the Court of Rome ) that their proverb is, Mercatorum est, non regum, stare juramentis, that it is for Merchants and not for Monarchs to stand to their oaths. Shall such stand? shall they thus escape by iniquity?

Ver. 15. But he rebelled against him] As Ottocarus King of Bohemia did against Rodolphus the first Emperor of Germany, by the instigation of his Queen: and as Ladislaus King of Hungary did against Amurath the Turks Emperor, by the encouragement of Capistranus the Popes Agent, to the very great reproach of the Christian Religion.

Ver. 16. As I live] So surely will I punish perjury, a • d treachery. Histories are full of examples in this kind: and I have elsewhere recited some of them. That of Henry the third of France, related by a Reverend man, deserves to be memorized: After great differences between Him, the Cardinal, and Duke of Guise, he was reconciled unto them, confirmed the reconciliation with many oaths, took the Sacrament upon it, and gave himself to the devil body and soul in case he meant or should attempt anything against them. Yet, saith the story, he caused the Duke to be killed in his own presence, and the Cardinal his brother the next day after. Here was breach of Covenant: but did he prosper, escape, do such things, and have deliverance? No: within eight months after, he was slain by a Friar in the midst of his Army.

Ver. 17. Neither shall Pharaoh] God will cause the strongest sinew in the arm of flesh to crack. See Psal 33.10, 11.

Ver. 18. Seeing he despised the oath] Despised it ex fastu quodam, out of pride and disdain, as the word signifieth, as Pascenius the Papist jeareth at King James for inventing the oath of allegiance. There is in our Chronicles a memorable story of one Sr. Ralph Percy slain upon Hegely-moor in Northumberland, by the Lord Mountacute General for Edward the fourth. He would no ways depart the field though defeated; but in dying said, I have saved the bird in my breast, meaning his oath to King Henry the sixth. Had false Zedekiah done so, he had (for this once at least) escaped. But Ambition (whose Motto is said to be Sic mea fata sequor ) was his ruin.

Ver. 19. Surely mine oath] Because taken by my name, so that I am deeply engaged, highly concernd it it.

Ver. 20. And I will spread my net upon him] See on chap. 12.13. The history telleth us, that when Zedekiah with his Nobles were gotten into the plains of Jericho, and thought themselves out of danger, those great hunters the Babylonians caught him, and carried him to their King.

Ver. 21. And all his fugitives] See on chap. 14.13, 14.

They shall know] Sero sapient: Vexatio tandem dabit intellectum: All too l • te they shall knowledge it.

Ver. 22. I will also take of the highest branch of the high Cedar] Understand this great and precious Promise of Zerubbabel and his successors, but especially of Christ and his Kingdom. How oft in the Prophets is he styled the Branch? Isa. 11.1. And how ordinary is it with God, after dreadful threats against the wicked, to come in with his Attamen for the comfort of his Elect, who in their deepest distress have cause enough to encourage themselves in the Lord Christ their God, as did David at the sack of Ziklag? 1 Sam. 30.6. Here they are excited in the loss of all else, to fetch comfort from Christ's descent from David, his Exaltation to the kingdom of the Church Universal, his bounty and benefits, his bringing in the fullness of the Gentiles, and his setting forth of his Fathers glory.

A tender one] Christ, of weak and low beginning.

And will plant it] Upon Zion (spiritual especially) upon Calvary, saith Theodoret, expounding the Septuagint, who render the text thus, I will hang it upon the high mountain of Israel.

Ver. 23. In the mountain] In the Church, that highest top.

And it shall bring forth boughs, &c.] Christ shall yield food and defense to all his.

All foul of every wing] i. e. The just, saith the Chaldee, who mind heavenly things, and mount upward.

Ver. 24. And all the trees of the field] i. e. All men, high and low.

Have brought down] This God loves to do, as Heathens could say.

Have exalted the low] Lavater thinks our Savior alluded to this text, in that parable, Matth. 13. of the grain of mustard-seed.

CHAP. XVIII.

Ver. 1. ANd the Word of the Lord came unto me] This is oft prefaced by the Prophets, to make their sermons more authoritative, and authentic. Pausanias telleth us that some Heathen Sages, to add weight to their works, were wont to perfix 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , i. e. God God.

Ver. 2. What mean you] Or, What's come to you? (qua vos dementia cepit?) that you do so toss this sinful and senseless Proverb amongst you both at Jerusalem, Jer. 31.29. and also here at Babylon.

Must I be blasphemed rather then you faulted? Is it for your fathers sins only that ye suffer? and do ye thus think to put off the reproofs of the Prophets, as if yourselves had not seconded and out-sinned your Fathers, and are therefore justly punished?

The fathers have eaten sour grapes] Sin is no better: it is an evil and a bitter thing to forsake the Lord, Jer. 2. what wild sour grapes your fathers both bred and fed upon, see Isa. 5.2, 8, 11, 20, 21, 22, &c. and it was woe woe unto them.

And the children's teeth are set on edge] Or, stupefied. But is there not a cause? and are there not sins enough with you, even with you to procure your ruth and your ruin; but that I must be injurious rather, then you be found obnoxious?

Ver. 3. Ye shall not have occasion anymore] For I will shortly take an order with you; and not by words but by blows vindicate my just Judgments from your cavils and scurrilities.

Ver. 4. Behold all souls are mine] So that to show my Sovereignty, I may do with them as I see good. Howbeit, let me tell you, that I slay none but for his sins. i. e. idque ipsi suâ injustitiâ evenit, non injuriâ meâ, the fault is merely in himself; so little reason is there that you should be thus quarrelsome and contumelious against me.

The soul that sinneth it shall die] i. e. Shall suffer for his sin either here, or hereafter, without repentance. Every man shall bear his own burden: every tub shall stand upon its own bottom; and every fox yield his own skin to the fleaer, as the Jews at this day proverbially can say.

Ver. 5. But if a man be just] Keep faith and a good conscience: do good acts and have good aims; do all as well as any, not this or that, but this and that too (as here it followeth) duties of Piety, and duties of Charity.

Ver. 6. And hath not eaten upon the mountains] i. e. Hath not offered there to idols: for at their sacrifices they feasted: Exod. 32. the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. See chap. 20.28. Hos. 4.13.

Neither hath lift up his eyes to the idols [As every Papist doth daily, and is therefore no righteous person, such as is here described. Neither helpeth it, that they are the idols of the house of Israel, and not the idols of the Nations.

Neither hath come near to a menstruous woman] Though his own wife, Levite. 18.19. & 20.18. Adulter enim est uxoris propriae ardentior amator, said an Heathen. There is a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing, Eccles. 3.5.

Ver. 7. And hath not oppressed any] Either by force, or fraud.

Hath given his bread to the hungry] Negative goodness alone is little worth. Men must not only not rob the hospital, as we say, spoil the poor by violence, but draw forth their souls and their sheaves both, to the hungry, and cloth the naked with a garment, or they cannot have the comfort and credit of just men.

Ver. 8. He that hath not given forth upon usury] Of this sin see what I have said elsewhere, Exod. 22.25. Psal. 15.5. Neh. 5.10.

Neither hath taken any increase] Interest we call it now, after the French, who first helped us to that fine word. But let the Patrones of usury consider that what distinctions soever they bring for it, God alloweth here of no usury, but condemneth both Neshec the biting, and Tarbith the toothless usury, as equally naught.

That hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity] Whether it be injury to another, revenge, raking together riches of unrighteousness, reaching after honors, &c.

Hath executed true judgment] Without partiality or passion, whether he be a Judge or an Arbitrator.

Ver. 9. Hath walked in my statutes] — Quil • ges juraque servat. It is as if the Prophet had said, There are many more characters of a righteous man: but I shall shut up all with this: He that is right in his obedience for matter, manner, motive and end, he's the man I mean, he shall surely live.

Ver. 10. If he beget a son] As he may: for grace is not hereditarty. Heroum filii noxae.

That is a robber] A breach-maker, whether upon the Laws of God, or of men: one that is a postilent son, as the Sept. here have it, a plague to his Parents, and to his Country.

And that doth the like to any one of these things] Or, that doth to his brother besides any of these: as there are mille arts nocendi.

Ver. 11. And that doth not any of these duties] Bare omissions may undo a man. Not robbing only, but the not relieving of the poor, was the rich man's ruin.

Ver. 12. Hath committed abomination] Such is every of the sins here instanced, whatsoever some can say in defense of them. Hath given forth upon usury, and all.

Ver. 13. He hath done all these abominations] Or, if he have done but one of them, and undo it not again by true repentance.

He shall surely die] Neither shall his fathers righteousness privilege him, or prevail at all for him.

His blood shall be upon him] He is felo de se, his own deaths man, and his mends he hath in his own hands, as they say.

Ver. 14. Now loe if he beget a son that seeth] And withal sigheth, his eye affecting his heart with grief and dislike.

And considereth] Viz. Of the ill consequents of those courses, & cavet & pavet.

Ver. 15. That hath not eaten] See on ver. 6.

Ver. 16. See on ver. 7.

Ver. 17. See on ver. 8, 9.

Ver. 18. Spoiled his brother by violence] A man had as good deal with a Cossack or a Cannibal as with a truly covetous caytiffe. They hunt every man his brother with a net, Mic. 7.2.

And did that which is not good among his people] It should be every man's care to be some way serviceable to God, and profitable to Men. Let no man turn himself into a cipher, nay into an excrement, that lives in the world to no purpose, yea to bad purpose. Oh its good to do something whereby the world may be the better: and not to come hither merely as rats and mice, only to devour victuals, and to run squeaking up and down.

Ver. 19. Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father?] Thus these unreasonable refractaries will not be said, but continue chatting against God, quasi dicant, certe tu non potes negare, &c. Some are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , 2 Thes. 3.2. they have no Topics, there's no talking to them, they will not be set down with right reason.

When the son hath done that is lawful and right] What a meek, sweet and satisfactory answer doth God make to these importunate complainers against him! Here we have their Replication and his Duplication: as ver. 25. we have their Triplication and His Quadruplication. Oh the infinete Patience of our good God!

Ver. 20. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father] The innocent son shall not; unless it be in temporals only, and that in some cases, Deut. 24.16. 2 Kings 14.6. 2 Chron. 15.4. It was the cruel manner of Uladus Prince of Valachia, together with the offender to execute the whole family, yea sometimes the whole kindred. A like cruelty was used in Scotland by the Popes appointment upon the kindred of those that had slain David Beton, in revenge of the death of that butcherly Bishop. Lavater telleth us here out of the Annals of the Suitzers his Countrymen, that when Albertus the son of Rodolphus Caesar was slain by his nephew John Habsparg and some other Nobles, his children Duke Leopold and Agnes Queen of Hungary put to death not the murderers only, but their children and kinsfolk also not a few: and utterly overturned diverse strong-holds in Suisser-land. But this was not the way of God, nor did it prosper in their hand. Cruelty calleth aloud for vengeance.

The righteousness] i. e. It shall be well with the righteous, and woe with the wicked, Isa. 3.10, 11.

Ver. 21. But if the wicked will turn, &c.] That is, saith Theodoret, so far am I from punishing one for the sins of another, that I am ready to receive a returning sinner, how far or how fast soever he hath run out.

And keep all my statutes] For the best and rightest repentance is a new life, saith Luther.

Ver. 22. All his transgressions] So true is that of an Ancient, Quem poenitet peccasse, poene est innocens, Penitence is near as good as innocence.

In his righteousness] Or, for his righteousness, tanquam ob causum sine quae non, & ob promissionem Dei, not of merit, but mercy, and free grace.

Ver. 23. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die] No verily; for then he should do nothing but do and undo, make a world and unmake it again; since we provoke him continually: but he is long suffering,

And not that he should return] Had not I rather pardon then punish? Is not this last my work my strange work? Isa. 28.21.

Ver. 24. But when the righteous] He that is good in his own eyes, and passeth for good in the esteem of others, but yet is not really righteous: if such an one do utterly fall away and lose that little that he seemed to have, what wonder? Common grace can never hold out, or stretch to eternity. Bellarmine saith well, That which is true grace veritate essentiae only, may be lost: not that that is true veritate firmae soliditatis, with the truth of firm solidity: which latter being rightly understood may be called Special as the other Common grace.

Ver. 25. Yet ye say] Ye will still hold your own, and no reason shall persuade you. A stubborn man standeth as a stake in a stream, lets all pass by him, but he standeth still where he was.

Is not my way equal?] This he had said before, but he saith it again, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Cicero aggravating the fact of a parricide useth these words, Thou hast killed thy mother, man: what should I say more? thou hast killed thy mother, I tell thee.

Are not your ways unequal?] They are so, and that apparently: but that your mouth's out of taste, and ye cannot relish truth: your eyes are sore and ye cannot behold the Sun-beams: you are prejudiced, biassed, perverted.

Ver. 26. When a righteous man turneth] q. d. Shall I say the self-same over again to you? I had need do so surely, and all little enough.

And dieth in them] sc. In his wicked ways: this undoeth him, It is not falling into the water that drowneth a man, but long lying under it.

Ver. 27. Again, when the wicked man turneth away] This also he had said before, ver. 21, 22, 23. but men had need to hear this sweet Promise over and over, because there is in the best a natural Novatianisme, to doubt and question pardon for sins, if great and grievous ones especially.

Ver. 29. Because he considereth] Consideration necessarily preceedeth conversion, Psal. 119.59. L • m. 3.40. Jer. 8.6. The Prodigal came to himself first, and then went home to his father. See on ver. 14.

Ver. 29. Yet saith the house of Israel] Yet, for all that I can say to the contrary: they will still hold their own, they will be dicti sui domini, &c. such was their impudency and petulancy. God therefore gives over the Confutation, and comes to the Conclusion of this Contestation.

Ver. 30. Therefore I will judge you] I will word it no longer with you, but clear up and vindicate my Justice (which you have calumniated) in your deserved destruction, except ye repent.

Repent and turn yourselves] Or, others. Lay aside your complaints and contumelies against me, and take notice that the best thing you can do is to take hold of my strength that ye may make peace with me, and ye shall make peace with me.

Ver. 31. Cast away from you, &c.] And so evidence the soundness of your Repentance. He that repenteth with a contradicton (as continuing in his sins) shall be pardoned with a contradiction, that is, call into hell.

All your transgressions] All as well as any: else ye do but take pains to go to hell. Gideon 's one bastard slew all his his • eventy sons: so will one bastardly sin, reserved and allowed, slay the soul. Men should do by their sins, as our forefathers did by the Danes here, make an utter riddance of them: and as the Sicilians did by the French among them, whom they not only massacred to a man, but also ripped up all their own women that were with child by the French, that not one drop of French blood might remain among them.

Make you a new heart] Wait upon God for it in the constant use of means, that ye may bring forth fruits meet for repentance.

Ver. 32. For I have no pleasure] See on ver. 23. and chap. 33.11.

CHAP. XIX.

Ver. 1. MOreover take thou up a lamentation] A Threnodia, a doleful ditty. In all ages things joyful and sorrowful, were made up in songs, and ballads for popular use.

For the Princes of Israel] Those four last Kings ( Princes rather then Kings, because vassals to Egypt and Babylon ) who by moving unnecessay wars, wrought their own and their Countries ruin.

Ver. 2. What is thy mother?] Whereby is meant thy City of Jerusalem and people of the Jews, who toke these four for their Kings, and soon had enough of them.

A Lioness] So called for her nobleness, courage and cruelty.

She lay down among lions] Alludit ad coitum: it signifieth that this State, by conversing with other Heathen Princes, had been corrupted by them, and conformed unto them.

She nourished her whelps among young Lions] From whom they took in but few good Principles for young Princes. Wickedness is soon learned. Of a certain Prince of Germany it was said, Esset alius si esset apud alios, his company undid him: so it did Julian the Apostate.

Ver. 3. And she brought up one of her whelps] This was Jehoahaz.

It became a young Lyon] Cunning, and cruel, and having never a good property, though the son of good Josiah: who might better have said then that Pope did of his wicked son, Caesar Bergia, Haec vitia me non commonstratore dedicit, He never learned it of his father.

It devoured men] He was a very Cannibal to his subjects, and made no more conscience to undo a poor man, to seek and suck his blood, then to eat a meals-meat when hungry, Psal. 14.4.

Ver. 4. The nations also heard of him] His Lion-like disposition and practices were soon noised and noticed.

He was taken in their pit] As Lions are taken by their hunters. Tyrants hold not their own long: those beasts are made to be taken and destroyed; as Nero, whom the Senate judged to death as an enemy to man-kind; and as Commodus who was, saith Orosius, cunctis incommodus, a mischief to mankind.

Ver. 5. Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost] She looked for Jehoahaz his return out of Egypt, as Sisera's mother did for his safe and victorious return from the battle; but all in vain. The hope of the Hypocrite shall perish.

Then she took another of her whelps] A brat of the same breed, and of no better condition, Judea changed her Lord's oft, but not her miseries: so did Rome in the times betwixt Augustus and Constantine the Great: the names of those few of them that were good, might be written within the compass of a signet, as One said. Scarce any of them died a natural death, unless it were Vespatian, qui solus Imperatorum mutatus in melius, who also was the only Emperor that became better by his preferment.

Ver. 6. He went up and down &c.] Of whom he learned to King it, and to lionize it: See ver. 2, 3.

Learned to catch the prey] To pull his Subjects, and to make havoc, as our Henry the third did, who was therefore called Regni dilapidator.

And devoured men] As ver. 3. See Jer. 20.17.

Ver. 7. And he knew their desolate places] He had made them desolate and bereft them of their right owners whom he had devoured, and then seized them for himself. Some read and render it, He knew their desolate widows, i. e. He first killed up their husbands, and then lay with the widows: the men he devoured, the women he deflowered: such work this wicked Prince made, till God took him in hand; as he did also the other three here lamented, of whom may be said, as Plutarch doth of Galba, Otho & Vitellius Emperors, that they were like Kings in a tragedy, which last no longer then the time that they are represented on the stage.

Ver. 8. Then the Nations set against him on every side] Nebuchadnezzar, with the neighbor Nations his auxiliaries.

They spread their net over him] As they did also over the two last Kings (though not here specified) Jehoiachin and Zedekiah, because they chose rather to run the hazard of ruin by rebellion, then to continue safely with slavery.

He was taken in their pit] See ver. 4. an ordinary way of taking lions, as Pliny telleth us.

Ver. 9. And they put him inward in chains] Or hooks. As lions are not looked upon, but through a gate. God knows how to hamper the most truculent tyrants, as he did also Bajazet.

They brought him into holds] Into some strong tower or rock where he died; and his body was afterwards thrown out upon a dunghill, Jer. 22.18.

Ver. 10. Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood] The same lamentation is here continued, though under another parable, viz. of a wasted vine. Jerusalem was once a generous fruitful spreading vine. It began to be so again in some sort under Zedekiah, if he could have been contented. See on chap. 17.5, 8.

Ver. 11. And she had strong rods for scepters] So firm were the branches of this vine, so many and likely to succeed him in the Kingdom were Zedekiah 's children; his Nobles also were men of great parts, and fit for greater employments.

And she appeared in her height] High she grew, and withal highminded, and so ripe for ruin.

Ver. 12. But she was plucked up in fury] And so thrown, with a force, to the ground, as a man doth a dry or barren plant.

The East wind dried up her fruit] See chap. 17.10. It is ventus urens & exsiccans, this was Nebuchadnezzar and his Army.

Ver. 13. And now she is planted in a wilderness] Babylon was no wilderness, but fruitful beyond credulity; But the poor captive Jews had little joy of it, for some time at least.

In a dry and thirsty ground] In terra sicca & siticulosa: so it was to them (though never so well watered) because they wanted there the waters of the Sanctuary, and many other comforts of their own country. See Psal. 137.

Ver. 14. And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches] i. e. Zedekiah by his perjury and rebellion hath ruined all; set all on a light fire.

So that she hath no strong rod, &c.] None to speak of till Shiloh come. Rulers indeed they had after this and Governors, Hag. 2.21. but no Kings of their own Nation.

This is a lamentation] See on ver. 1.

And shall be for a lamentation] Jerusalem plangitur & plangetur. The nation of the Jews shall never want matter of mourning.

CHAP. XX.

Ver. 1. ANd it came to pass] This chapter fitly followeth the former. There these Male-contents had complained that the fathers had sinned and the children suffered. Here is evinced that there was never a better of them, that a viperous brood they had been from the first, that they were some of them naught all.

In the seventh year] sc. Of Jeconiah 's captivity: and every year seemed seven, till the seventy were expired. The years of our misery we reckon; not so of our prosperity, which yet we should duly prize and improve.

That certain of the Elders of Israel] Not Ananias, Azarias and Misael, as the Jews fable: but worse men, rank hypocrites.

Came to inquire] But were resolved of their course, and had made their conclusion before they came, ver. 32. Either the Prophet should chime in with the false Prophets, who told them they should be sent home ere long: or else they would for peace sake worship idols and comport with the Babylonians: which yet if they had done, it might have proved nothing better with them then it did with those Renegade -Christians in Turkey, who falling down many thousands of them before Suleiman the second, and holding up the fore-finger, as their manner is in token of their conversion to Muhammadism, he asked what moved them to turn? they replied it was to be eased of their heavy taxations: He disdaining that baseness, or not willing to lose in tribute for an unsound accession in religion, rejected their conversion, and doubled their taxations.

Ver. 2. Then came] See on chap. 18. ver. 1.

Ver. 3. Are ye come to inquire of me?] q. d. I scorn the motion, I loath your false looks: he packing with your putid hypocrisy. God will detect and shame gross hypocrites, as he did Jeroboams wife, the rotten-hearted Pharisees, Ananias and Sapphira, that sorry couple that consented to tempt the holy Ghost (as these Elders also did) that is, to make trial whether he be omniscient, and able to detect and punish them.

I will not be inquired of by you] The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind, as these did? Prov. 21.27.

Ver. 4. Wilt thou judge them?] Or, wilt thou excuse them? Or, wilt thou intercede for them? If thou hast never so good a mind to do so, yet do it not: rather reprove them for and convince them of their sins. Spare thy charity, and exercise thine authority of having in readiness to revenge their disobedience, 2 Cor. 10.6.

Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers] By themselves avowed, abbetted, augmented: their fathers iniquity they have drawn together with cart-ropes of vanity.

Ver. 5. In the day when I chose Israel] Declared them to be my first-born; and so higher then the Kings of the earth, Psal. 89.27.

When I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the Lord your God] This sweet promise is not so easily (and indeed is never enough) believed: and is therefore here confirmed by God's solemn oath thrice repeated: that by two immutable things (wherein it was impossible for God to lie) his people might have strong consolation, Heb. 6.18.

Ver. 6. Into a land that I had espied for them] Finding it out as it were by diligent search, Num. 10.33. Look how a father findeth out for his son an habitation fit for him, a help meet for him, other things necessary for his comfortable subsistence: so dealt God by his Israel. He brought them to a land which himself had carefully sought out; his eyes were always upon it from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year, Deut. 11.12.

Flowing with milk and honey] i. e. Abounding with choice and cheap commodities.

Which is the glory of all lands] Or, flower; decorem & disiderium. It was so then, it is not so now, since the Jews were dispriviledged and disjected. But as in the earthly paradise, after man fallen; cecidit rosa, mansit spina, the rose fell off, the briar whereon it grew, remained: so here. See on Dan. 8.9. & 11.16.

Ver. 7. Then said I unto them] Viz. Whilest yet in Egypt. This we find not in Exodus: 'tis enough that we find it here. See Joh. 5 9. with the Note.

Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes] The idols to which your eyes are lifted up, chap. 18.6. and which are or should be to you (as Alexander called the Persian maids) dolores oculorum eye-griefs.

Ver. 8. But they rebelled against me] I might say what I would, but they would do what their list. Good they were ever (if I may call it so) at resisting the Holy Ghost; obstinate idolaters from the very first: so that God had even as much ado to forbear killing them, as ever he had Moses in the same country for neglecting to circumcise his child, Exod. 4.24.

Neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt] This we read not of in Exodus neither: tis enough that we have it here. The ingratitude of these Israelites was the greater, because God had done much for them, and was daily admonishing them of better things.

Then said I, I will pour out my fury] It was not therefore for nothing that Israel suffered so much in Egypt. Many now marvel at their own miseries, but think not of their sins, the cause.

Ver. 9. But I wrought for my names sake] Lest the Heathens should say to my dishonor, me non voluisse aut valuisse eos educere, that I either would not or could not bring them out of the house of bondage. Ergo quod nomen suum in nobis servandis asserat, sperandum est: It is also well to be hoped that God will deal favourably with the reformed Churches (though ill deserving) for the d • shonour that else would redound to himself. Fiat, Fiat.

Ver. 10. Wherefore I caused them] With a strong hand and an outstretcht arm I caused it, against all the force of Egypt, Exod. 13.18. God hath also mightily brought England out of Egypt spiritual: and dealt with it not according to his ordinary rule, but according to his prerogative.

And brought them into the wilderness] Where I was not any wilderness unto them or land of darkness, Jer 2.31. but a God All-sufficient; raining bread from heaven upon them, and setting the flint abroach rather then they should pine and perish.

Ver. 11. And I gave them my statutes] Which were far beyond the laws of the twelve Tables in Rome; whereof yet Tully affirmeth, that they were far beyond all the libraries of Philosophers.

And shown them my judgments] Statutes and Judgments are usually put in Scripture for one and the same, though the Lawyers make a difference of them: Prospers conceit was, that this people were called Judaei because they received jus Dei.

Which if a man do] But that he can never do exactly: Evangelically he may; and that sufficeth to life eternal.

Ver. 12. Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths] A sweet mercy, without which the best would even grow wild. What a wretch then was that Egyptian in Phagius who said that those Jews (and after them, the Christians) had a loathsome disease upon them, and were therefore fain to rest the seventh day?

To be a sign between me and them] A distinctive sign of my distinguishing grace to Israel above others, who jeered them for sabbatizing, as those that lost a seventh part of their precious time. To be also both a sign of a godly person (Anciently when the question was propounded Servasti Dominicum? hast thou kept the Lord's day? The answer was returned, I am a Christian, and can do no less) and a means of conveying more holiness into his heart.

Ver. 13. But the house of Israel rebelled] They did little else; they made it their trade for forty years long, Psal. 95.

And my Sabbaths they greatly polluted] They vehemently violated: either they rested only thereon, or else they shamelessly troubled and disquieted that sanctified day of God's rest. The world, saith one, is now grown perfectly profane, and can play on the Lord's day without book.

Then I said I would pour out my fury] God's sayings are of two sorts: some are the sayings of his eternal counsel, and these are immutable. Others of his threatening only, and these oft are conditional; God therefore threateneth that he may not punish, saith an ancient.

Ver. 14. But I wrought for my Names sake] Oh how oft are we beholden to this Motive, and do escape fair by this Means! See on ver. 9.

Ver. 15. Yet also I lifted up mine hand] Here we have an Epitome of Exodus and Numbers.

Flowing with milk, and honey] See on ver. 6. If it be not so fertile and desirable now, it is for the Jews inexpiable guilt in crucifying the Lord of glory. The like befell Sodom, once as the garden of God, now a dead sea, where nothing can live.

Ver. 16. For their heart went after their idols] Heb. their dungy-deities: those dirty delights carried them sheer away from God and goodness. Any beloved sin will do so.

Ver. 17. Nevertheless mine eye spared them] It was by a Non-obstante of God's mercy, and by a prop of his extraordinary patience, that they subsisted.

Ver. 18. Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers] With this text Frederike the fourth, Prince Palatine, answered another Prince who pressed him to be of his late Noble Fathers Religion. Laban swore by the god of Nahor, or Abram, and of their idolatrous Fathers: but Jacob sware by the Fear of his Father Isaac, his immediate Father more right in Religion, Gen. 31.53. Joshua would not follow the footsteps of his forefathers, chap. 24. but a better precedent. Christ saith ego sum Veritas, non Vetustas: and contradicteth that which was said of old by those Kadmonim, who had corrupted the letter of the law by their false glosses, Mat. 5.21. Antiquity must have no more authority then it can maintain.

Ver. 19. Walk in my statutes] This is a surer and safer way. L • x Lux, Prov. 6.23. The Commandment is a lamp, and the law is light. Come therefore to this light, that your deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God, Joh. 3.21.

Ver. 20. And hallow my Sabbaths] By abandoning as well spiritual idleness, as corporal labor.

And they shall be a sign] See on ver. 11.

Ver. 21, 22, 23, 24.] See on ver. 13, 14, 15, 16.

Ver. 25. Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good] i. e. I gave them up to their own inventions and hearts lusts, (which was worse then to be delivered up to Satan ) because they were ingrati gratiae Dei, as Ambrose hath it, they received the grace of God in vain. By statutes not good some understand the Ceremonial laws, which commanded neither virtue nor vice in themselves: Others, such decrees and ordinances of God in the wilderness as were not good for them, but hurtful; as that for the execution of the calf-worshippers, of the Baal -peorites, of Korah and his company, of the murmurers at Kibroth hattaavah, &c. Solon being asked Whether he had given the best laws to the Athenians? answered, The best that they could bear.

Ver. 26. And I polluted them in their own gifts] i. e. I rejected both their persons and presents as unclean. So God would do our best performances (wherein there would not else be so much as truth and sincerity found) were they not wrought in us by the holy Spirit, and perfumed with Christ's sweet odors poured into them.

Ver. 27. Your Fathers have blasphemed me] Because they trembled not at my judgments whiles they hung in the threatenings, but went on willfully in their wickedness, putting it to the venture. This is a kind of blasphemy: Confer Num. 15.30, 31. this is a sin scarce to be expiated with any sacrifice: such a sinner must be cut off.

Ver. 28. For when I had brought them into the land] It hath been already observed, that good turns aggravate unkindnesses: and men's sins are much increased by their obligations.

Ver. 29. And the name thereof is called Bamah] i. e. A high place; a name good enough in itself, but (as used by them) as odious to all good hearts, as a brothelhouse is to a chaste Matron, she is the worse to pass by it and spetteth at it: so should we in like case, Exod. 23.13. Psal. 16.4. See Hos. 2.16, 17. Zach. 13.2. Deut. 12.2.

Ver. 30. Are ye polluted after the manner of your Fathers?] q. d. Are you good at that indeed? and have you yet a face to thredbare that paltry proverb of yours, The Fathers have eaten sower grapes, &c. Give over for shame.

Ver. 31. And shall I be inquired of by you?] Is it ever likely to do well, think you? Of witches good prayers (as some call them) one saith well, Si Magicae, Deus non vult tales: si piae, non per tales. See Jer. 7.9, 10. with the Notes.

Ver. 32. And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all] You are laying a plot for an accommodation with the Babylonish idolaters, a compliance with them: and thereby you think to ingratiate, to get their favor and friendship. But please not yourselves in such a project: twill never be. So no peace with Rome: The Moderator, Sancta Clara, and other such as sought to bring us together, made a pretty show saith one, if there had been no bible. Such carnal professors are not unlike these in the text, as seeing the wicked's full cups, and their own harder condition, are ready to revolt, that waters of a full cup may be wrung out to them also, Psal. 73.10.

We will be as the heathen] And so help ourselves as we can, since God will not help us.

Ver. 33. Surely with a mighty hand] You are ready to say, as Jer. 2.31. We are Lord's: we will come no more unto thee: But I shall sure subdue you as so many perverse slaves or sturdy rebels. So unhappy is Apostasy: so little is got by struggling, or by starting aside like a deceitful bow. God will rule over such with rigor, he will have the better of them to their small comfort.

Ver. 34. And I will bring you out from the people] The heathens with whom you have incorporated, hoping so to shun me, and to be out of the reach of my rod: but I shall sure find and ferret you out of all your starting holes, I shall be meet with you: so God was here with the English by the sweating sickness, which hunted and haunted also our country-men in foreign parts, singling them out from others. It reigned (or rather God reigned by it) some forty years together.

Ver. 35. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people] Into the most solitary and savage places of the world, for a fullness of misery without the benefit of any good society.

And there will I plead with you face to face] i. e. Solus cum solis & sine arbitris, having you there alone I will punish you to some purpose.

Ver. 36. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness] Where their carkeises fell thick and threefold; till they were all consumed. Behold we die, we perish, we all perish, said they once to Moses in a pet: shall we be consumed with dying? Num. 17.12, 13.

Ver. 37. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant] Why then Feri Domine, feri, smite Lord, smite, so my sins may be pardoned, and my soul saved. Hic seca, hic ure, ut in aeternum serves, said an ancient: do even whatsoever thou wilt with me, so I may come to heaven, though I come to it by weeping-cross.

Ver. 38. And I will purge out from among you the rebels] Making first a difference, and then a riddance of them from among my Covenanters.

And they shall not enter into the land of Israel] But either die by the way: or if they live to enter, they shall find it a strange land to what they or their fathers left it. See Jer. 44.14. Lavater maketh the sense to be, They shall not enter into the heavenly Canaan: See the like, Psal. 95.11.

Ver. 39. Go ye, serve ye everyone his idols] q. d. You may for me: and I had rather you would then dissemble, as you do, and play on both hands, to the scandal of the weak, and scorn of the wicked. For my part, I have done with you forever, take your own course.

And with your idols] Away with these abominable mixtures. I will be served truly and totally, or not at all.

Ver. 40. For in mine holy mountain] In my Church and among my faithful people: for to these he now speaketh comfort.

There will I accept them] Ibi occurram eis, sc. quasi in amplexum sponsae; so some render and sense the text: i. e. there I will meet them and accept them with much sweetness.

And there will require your offerings] Not forbid and refuse them, as I did theirs, ver. 39.

Ver. 41. And I will be sanctified in you] I will get me great glory by you among the heathen, whilst you are non aliunde noscibiles quam de emendatione vitiorum pristinorum, as Tertullian saith of the Primitive Christians, no otherwise to be known better from others, then by an alteration in you for the better.

Ver. 42. Into the land of Israel] A pledge of a better place.

Ver. 43. Ye shall remember your ways] Recognition is the first thing in Reformation. See chap. 16.61.

And ye shall loath yourselves] Dissecabimini in faciebus vestris, ye shall be as it were slashed with a sword over your faces, like as those, Acts 2. were pricked at heart; they felt their sins as so many daggers at their hearts.

Ver. 44. And ye shall know that I am the Lord] A sin-pardoning and heart-sanctifying God, a rich rewarder of all that diligently seek me, Heb. 11.6.

Ver. 45. Moreover, &c.] See on chap. 18.1.

Ver. 46. Set thy face] Prophecy freely and boldly, against Jerusalem which is South from Chaldea.

Against the forest] Against Judea, which is mountainous and woody; having good and bad trees in it.

Ver. 47. Every green tree] Good and bad shall to the fire together, chap. 21.3. See Luke 23.31.

Shall be burnt therein] Or scorched, if they may scape so.

Ver. 48. That I the Lord] Who myself am a consuming fire, Heb. 12. ult.

Ver. 49. Doth he not speak parables?] Nonne artifex est parabolarum iste? Qui ergo non vult intelligi, vult negligi. He is so high that we cannot take him, and shall therefore slight him as a mad man, or not much better. A Preacher shall have much ado to please a profane people: Neither maketh it much to the matter: but it is grievous, Ah Lord.

CHAP. XXI.

Ver. 1. ANd the Word of the Lord] See chap. 18.1.

Ver. 2. Set thy face] See on chap. 20.46.

And drop thy Word] See Deut. 32.2. Amos 7.16. As drops of rain follow one upon another, so do words: Speak thick, speak home, though they forbid thee to drop such vinegar or nitre on their galled conscience, Mic. 2.6, 11.

Toward the holy places] i. e. Against the Temple which they so cried up, Jer. 7.5. like so many Oyster-wives, ad ravim usque.

Ver. 3. Behold I am against thee] That's misery enough: for all the creatures are soon against such: as a Noble man's servants draw their swords, when their Lord once draweth.

And will cut off from thee the righteous] Who are sometimes wrapped up with the wicked in a common calamity. The husbandman cutteth down his corn and weeds together; but for a different end and purpose. If the righteous also be judged of the Lord, it that they may not be condemned with the world, 1 Cor. 11.31.

Ver. 4. Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous] Velut codem contubernio deprehensos. This is repeated for more assurance, because it might seem strange. The Sept. hath it The unrighteous and the wicked: The Chaldee, I will make the righteous flee, and destroy the wicked. But the Hebrew verity is as before: neither need we wonder, since the best have their infirmities.

Ver. 5. have drawn forth my sword] And put it in commission; not to return, till the Circuit ended; till it hath done full execution.

Ver. 6. Sigh therefore—with the breaking of thy loins] Gemituque & gestu dolorem referas, show greatest grief, such as is deep and downright: sigh till thy buttons fly; or, as a travelling woman.

Ver. 7. For the tidings] Ol the Chaldeans coming. This was to the wicked as those knuckles of a man's hand were afterward to Baltasar, to write them their destiny: or as Daniel was to him, to read it unto them. Whenas the righteous man is no whit afraid of evil tidings, his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord, Psal. 112.7.

And every heart shall melt, &c.] As wax before the fire: which, before the danger, seemed to be made all of steel or adamant. The wicked, when in adversity, are woefully despondent and crest-fallen: as was the King of Sodom, Gen. 14. Manasseh among the bushes, 2 Chron. 33.12. and others not a few, who in their prosperity seem to face the heavens and to draw the devil himself to a duel.

And all hands shall be feeble] The spirits and blood being run to the heart, in that fright, to relieve it.

And all knees shall be weak as water] Heb. shall go into water, that is, they shall bepisse themselves for fear, saith Jerome: they shall be all on a cold sweat, say others, or their knees shall shake, instar aquae tremulae, and knock together as Belshazzar 's did, Dan. 5.6.

Ver. 8. Again the word] See on chap. 18.1.

Ver. 9. A sword, a sword is sharpened] Not only drawn but sharpened, that it may wound swiftly and deadly: furbished also, that it may the more affray, and make the quicker dispatch. And that no doubt may be made of it, the word sword is doubled.

Ver. 10. Sould we then make mirth?] Not, if we be in our right minds: for would it not be now a mad mirth, when as we should be most serious and seek God? See Isa. 22.12, 13, 14. with the Notes.

It contemneth the rod of my son] Other Judgments forerun the sword: which when they will not do the deed, the sword will then contemn the rod: that is, it will set at naught whatever those have done, and come furbished and sharpened for the slaughter. See ver. 3.

Ver. 11. To give it into the hand of the slayer] Nebuchadnezzar; who will therewith lay about him lustily, as Eleazar once did till his hand clave unto the sword, 2 Sam. 23.10. or, as since Skanderbeg, who killed many hundred Turks with his own hand, and fought oft with so much eagerness, that the very blood brake forth at his lips.

Ver. 12. Cry and howl, son of man] Whilest others make mirth, as ver. 10. and are insolent against God. Mourners shall be marked, chap. 9.4, comforted, Isa. 57.18.

Smite therefore upon thy thigh] See on Jer. 31.19.

Ver. 13. Because it is a trial] Sore and sharp, therefore cry and howl: especially since they are not bettered. Hang heavy weights on rotten boughs, they presently break: the best divination of men is at the parting way: See ver. 21.

And what if the sword contemn even the rod?] q. d. What doth this silly rod do here? will they not stoop? Will they not put their necks under the yoke of God's Son? ver. 10. Let me come. I will make them either bow or break; either yield, or bleed.

Ver. 14. Smite thy hands together] So to show what I will do shortly, ver. 17.

Let the sword be doubled the third time] Doubled and trebbled, till it hath made an utter end of this untoward generation.

Which entereth into their privy Chambers] Ferretting, and fetching them out of their lurking-holes.

Ver. 15. Ah it is made bright] By this doleful exclamation the Prophet venteth, himself, tanquam coràm deformitatem cladis cerneret, as if he had seen the execution.

Ver. 16. Go thee one way or other] This he speaketh to the bright and sharp sword; stirring it up to make impression that way whereunto it was appointed, quocunque occurrent tibi res comparatae.

Ver. 17. I will also smite mine hands together] As animating the enemy, and rejoicing at thy ruin. Chaldee, I will bring revenge upon revenge;

Ver. 18. The Word of the Lord] See on chap. 18.1.

Ver. 19. Appoint thee two ways] Pinge duas vias, ut chap. 4.1. by prophetike action draw out two ways, by either of which Nebuchadnezzar may march against Egypt, his present aim; as the great Turks now is Italy.

Choose it at the head of the way to the City] All this the Jews heard and slighted, as being infatuated, and so fitted for destruction.

Ver. 20. And to Judah in Jerusalem the defensed] Either against the one or the other of them (not against both at once, for they were both strong, and Jerusalem was well aware of it) for they had both revolted from Nebuchadnezzar, and one of them was enough at once to undertake.

Ver. 21. For the King of Babylon stood at the parting] Heb. at the mother of the way, ubi via una in duas bifidata est.

To use divination] Without which and offering sacrifice, the very Heathens held it not fit to fight. But this their art of divination was (as One saith of Alchemy) Ars falsissima & fallacissima.

He made his arrows bright] Vulg. he mingled his arrows: that is, saith Jerome, he took two arrows, writing upon the one Jerusalem, and upon the other, Rabbath. Then, putting them into a quiver together, he took one out, being blindfolded: upon which seeing Jerusalem written, he divined that he should go with success against Jerusalem.

He consulted with images] In which the devil sometimes spake: See Aug. de C. D. lib. 4. cap. 18.

He looked into the liver] This was much practiced by the Roman Generals: as by Caesar, when he went against Pompey.

Ver. 22. To appoint Captains] Heb. raws; fierce and forward to lead on their soldiers, let them get off as they could.

To open their mouth] To storm and take it by an onslaught, and with a general slaughter, non sine barritu militari, vociferatione, & claugore insolenti.

Ver. 23. And it shall be to them as a false divination] The Jews shall believe nothing, till wrath comes upon them to the utmost. They shall laugh at Nebuchadnezzar 's fopperies, and think thee, O Ezekiel, to be little wiser then him: ludificabuntur te, adeoque teipsum, divinationis nefariae, quam de Nebuchadnetzare praedicas, incusabunt: but they shall rue this their madness.

To them that have sworn oaths] But cared not at all to keep them. Lingua juravi, men's injurata est.

But he will call to remembrance the iniquity] The perfidy and perjury which they make nothing of. They that harden themselves in any one sin, put God in mind, as it were, of the rest, which he had seemed to have forgotten.

Ver. 24. Because ye have made your iniquity] Your old sins, by an addition of new ones.

Your sins do appear] You are scandalous, shameless as Sodom, Isa. 3.9.

Ver. 25. And thou profane] Or, worthy to be wounded to death.

Wicked Prince] Zedekiah, who now hath his own told him plainly by a Prophet. See the like done, 1 Sam. 13.13. 1 Kings 18.18. 2 Kings 3.13, 14. with the Notes there.

Ver. 26. Remove the diadem] This was a fine linen cloth wherewith the Kings head used to be bound about, and then the crown was set on.

Take off the crown] Our Richard the second, when to be deposed, was brought forth crowned and in royal robes. Never, saith the Chronicler, was Prince so gorgeous with less glory, and more grief.

This shall not be the same] Haec non erit hae • . This crown or kingdom shall not be as it hath been.

Exalt him that is low] Jeconiah, or, as some will, Christ the King of the Church.

And abase him that is high] Zedekiah: Let him not henceforth be the Master of a mole-hill, nor owner of his own liberty. In him let it appear that Mortality is but the stage of Mutability.

Ver. 27. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it] Curvam, curvam, curvam ponam • am, So the Tigurines translate. A crown there shall be still; but such as shall hang on one side of the head as it were. Princes of the people there were. Those three High-Priests, Alexander, Arostobulus, and Hircanus, who called themselves Kings, had very ill success.

Untill he come] Christ the rightful King of Israel. To this text alludeth Nathaniel, Joh. 1.49.

Ver. 28. Concerning the Ammonites] Who had likewise rebelled againg Nebuchadnezzar, and were very injurious to God's people: See Chap. 25.3, 6. Zeph. 2.8, 9.

Ver. 29. To bring thee upon the necks of them thee are slain] To deal inhumanely with the dead: or to raise thyself upon the Jews ruin.

Ver. 30. Shall I cause it to return] No, but it shall still eat your flesh, and drink your blood, till none remaineth.

In the land of thy nativity] In thine own nest, and on thine own dunghill.

Ver. 31. Into the hand of brutish men] Or, of burning men, Ardelionum, artificum perditionis.

Ver. 32. Thou shalt be no more remembered] The Ammonites were so rooted out by the Medes and Persians, that besides what we find in the Bible, there is no mention of their name. A type of such as are destroyed forever in hell, being fuel for that black fire, and eternally forgotten.

CHAP. XXII.

Ver. 1. MOreover the Word] See on chap. 18.1.

Ver. 2. Wilt thou judge] Or plead for, or excuse? See ch. 20.4.

The bloody City] The Saints slaughter-house.

Ver. 3. In the midst of it] Publice & impune.

Against herself] As a sinner against her own soul.

Ver. 4. Thou hast caused thy days] Thou hast accelerated thy punishment, as the old world did.

Ver. 5. Shall mock thee which art infamous] This was forethreatened, Deut. 28.37. Our natures are most impatient of reproach: for there is none so mean, but thinks himself worth of some regard. Gens haec (saith Giraldus Cambrensis of the wild Irish) sicut & natio quaevis barbara, &c. no Nation is so barbarous but that although they know not what belongeth to honor, yet do they exceedingly affect to be honored, and well not abide to be reproached.

Ver. 6. Behold the Princes of Israel] Here beginneth the black bill or bed-roll. And as in a fish corruption beginneth at the head, so in a Nation at the Rulers.

Ver. 7. In thee have they see light by father and mother] Whom, very Heathens honored as their 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , household-gods.

In the midst of thee, &c.] So Jerome complaineth of his country, In mea patriae Deus Venter est, & in diem vivitur, that they were all belly-gods, and had no goodness in them. So Bede complaineth of the ancient Brittons, immediately before their destruction by the Saxons. Bradford crieth out of the iniquity of the times in King Edward 's days: You all know, (saith he in a certain letter of his) there was never more knowledge of God, and less godly living, and true serving of God. It was counted a foolish thing to serve God truly: and earnest prayer was not past upon. Preaching was but pastime: Communion was counted too common: fasting was far out of use: alms was almost nothing. Malice, covetousnsse, and uncleanness was common everywhere, with swearing, drunkenness and idleness, &c.

Ver. 8. Thou hast despised mine holy things] These are all foretokens of a perishing people. Emphasin habet quod dicit sancta mea, Sabbata mea. Shall that which hath the impress of God upon it be slighted, as his Sabbaths, Sacraments, Ordinances? The holy God should in all these his holy things be sanctified in righteousness, Isa. 5.16.

Ver. 9. In thee are men that carry tales] Heb. men of slanders, Exod. 23.1. Levite. 18.16. Whisperers, backbiters, tale-bearers ( Pedlars, the Heb. word signifieth such as drop a tale here and another there) are viri latrones, thieves (as the Septuagint here translate) yea they are murderers. The devil was first a slanderer, and then a murderer. His agents first take away the credit of the Church, and then wound her, Cant. 5.6. The Primitive Christians were first belied, and then cruelly handled: So were the French Protestants, before the Massacre of Paris. Humphary Duke of Gloucester was by the people of England (notwithstanding the open showing of his body, and his pretended crimes) thought to be doubly murdered: viv. by detraction, and deadly practice, saith the Chronicler.

Ver. 10. In thee have they discovered their fathers nakedness] i. e. Carnally known their fathers wives or concubines, Reuben -like. See 1 Cor. 5.1. with the Note.

Humbled her] i. e. Ravshed her: which was a double crime. See Levite. 18.19, & 20.18. & 15.25.

Ver. 11. And one hath committed] So the Poet,

Ver. 12. Thou hast taken usury and increase] Usura quasi propter usum rei, saith One, and faenus quasi funus. Such money to necessity, is like cold water to a hot ague, that for a time refresheth, but prolongeth the disease. It is like the Timber-worm, which is wonderful soft to touch, but hath teeth so hard that it eateth the timber: See on chap. 18.13.

And hast greedily gained of thy neighbor] Sept. Thou hast consummated the consummation of thy wickedness in oppression.

And hast forgotten me] All the forementioned evils are resolved into this as the root and original of them: See the like, Rom. 3.18.

Ver. 13. I have smitten my hand] In token of utmost indignation, as Num. 24.10.

At thy dishonest gain which thou hast made] The Jew-doctors observe that whereas twenty four several abominations are here reckoned up, the destruction of the City is attributed chiefly to Covetousness. Lycurgus foretold his Lacedemonians, that filthy lucre would be the overthrow of their City; and it proved so. The like is reported of Constantinople, of Babylon, the seat of the great Chaliph, taken and sacked by Haalon brother to Mango the great Chan of Tartary, who affamished to death the rich but wretched Chaliph in the midst of his hoards: like as the Roman Soldiers first slew Ruffinus (who affected to be co-Emperor with Arcadius ) and then cutting of his right-hand carried it up and down the City, crying out to the people, Date stipem viro avaritiae inexplebilis, Give an alms to a man of unsatisfiable covetise.

Ver. 14. Can theine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong] Interrogatio continens latentem Ironiam: q. d. Misella superbula, eris • e ferendo mala futùra? Thou poor proud thing of naught, canst thou make thy party good with Me? Canst thou either in mind or body bear my wrath? will not thine heart soon fall into thy heels, and thine hands be enfeebled when I shall grapple with thee, and take thee to do?

And will do it] Thou thinkest, likely, that all these are but terrible words, devised on purpose to affright silly people, but I will do it.

Ver. 15. I will scatter thee] Deut. 4.27. & 28.25, 64.

And will consume thy filthiness] By thy captivity and misery, I will refine, and reform thee: Zach. 13.9.

Ver. 16. And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself] q. d. I will abandon thee. Or, Thou shalt be profaned and polluted.

And thou shalt know that I am the Lord] Thou shalt know me by my punishments, whom thou wouldest not know by my benefits.

Ver. 17. And the Word of the L • rd] See chap. 18.1.

Ver. 18. The house of Israel is to me become dross] Recrementum argenti, offalstuffe. Silver they were once, but now nothing less. Haec ad nos quo que tranferenda sunt. This is even our case, we are quite degenerate, and altogether unlike our zealous progenitors.

All they are brass] See on Isa. 1.22.

Ver. 19. I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem] Velut catinum fuforium, as into a red-hot furnace, or fiery crucible, chap. 24, 10.

Ver. 20. As they gather silver and brass] The righteous perish with the wicked: but either it is temporally only: or else, the seemingly righteous, who are no better then reprobate silver.

And I will leave you there] A terrible threat. God will bring his enemies into the briars and there leave there: See chap. 29.5. His own he will not leave, or, at least, not forsake. He will be with them in the fire and water, &c. Lord leave us not, saith the Church, Jer. 17.17.

Ver. 21. And ye shall be melted in the midst thereof] As in a fiery furnace. Such was anciently Egypt, Deut. 4. afterwards Babylon: and in the year 1453. Constantinople; where cruelly perished by the hand of the Turks, a very great multitude of Christians.

Ver. 22. As silver is melted] The same again, for better fastening. Tam diligenter de his malis concionatus est, ut conciones ejus vix sine taedio legantur aut recitentur.

Ver. 23. And the Word] See chap. 18.1.

Ver. 24. Thou art the land that is not cleansed] From thy filthiness, and the fire of my Judgments.

Nor rained upon] Non compluta: no mercy shown thee: no good done upon thee by all.

Ver. 25. Ther is a conspiracy of her Prophets] They are all agreed to deceive the people, and to persecute the true Prophets. Here we have a lively description of the present Popish Clergy.

Ver. 26. Her Priests have violated my Law] By infringing, and enforcing it to speak what it never meant: to go two miles when it would go but one, &c.

They have put no difference] They have not taken out the precious from the vile, but made it open-tide, and admitted all pell mell, as they say.

And have hid their eyes from my Sablaths] i. e. Either framed excuse that they might themselves break it: or else connived at others that have.

Ver. 27. Her Princes in the midst thereof] There was in this State (as Physicians say there is in some diseases) corruptio totius substantiae, a general defection: and here they are particularly told of it; for (as Isocrates saith in his Oration to Philip King of Macedony ) that which is spoken to all, is spoken to none. See Mic. 3.11. Zeph. 3.3.

Ver. 28. And her Prophets have daubed them] Similes iis qui parietem incrustant luto friabili & solubili: See chap. 13.4, &c.

Ver. 29. The people of the land have used oppression] Or, deceit. Eadem hodie fiunt: charitas refrixit; omnia injuriis, calumniis, rapinis plena sunt.

Ver. 30. And I sought for a man among them] i. e. A competent company of holy men, as once at Sodom, Gen. 18. at Jerusalem, Jer. 5.1.

That should make up the hedge] Which sin had thrown down.

And stand in the gap] By his Piety, and Prayers, The Primum Mobile, say Astronomers, turneth about with such swiftness, that but for the counter-motion of the Planets and other Spheres, all would be fired: so would this wicked world but for the Saints, who keep a constant counter-motion to the corrupt practices thereof.

Ver. 31. I have consumed them with the fire] Since thou wouldest not be cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation, ver. 24.

CHAP. XXIII.

Ver. 1. THe Word of the Lord] See chap. 18.1.

Ver. 2. There were two women] This is the same in effect with chap. 16. but there more plainly, here parabolically expressed. Sermo est eruditus & elegans, simul tamen spurcus & obscoenus, to set forth the hatefulness of idolatry, creature-confidence, and adultery.

The daughters of one mother] sc. Synagogae, vel Sarae. Some think the Prophet alludeth to Jacob's two sister-wives.

Ver. 3. And they committed whoredoms in Egypt] See chap. 20.8. Josh. 24.14.

They committed whoredoms in their youth] Like the Strumpet Quartilla in Petronius, who said, Junonem ego meam iratam habeam, si unquam me meminerim virginem fuisse.

There were their breasts pressed] Violatam virginitatem mammarum laxitas consequitur.

Ver. 4. And the names of them were Aholah] i. e. Her Tent, not mine (so he calleth Samaria or the ten tribes) what have I to do with it or her? Confer 1 King. 12.16, 28, 31. She is gone to her Tent, and hath set her up Tabernacles, where to worship her golden idols.

The Elder] So called because more numerous and potent then the other two tribes. She was also first in the defection.

And Aholibah] That is my tent is in her. So Jerusalem is called, because the Temple and Testimonies of God's special presence were there, as King Abijah well pleadeth it, 2 Chron. 13.10, 11.

Samaria is Aholah] In figure she is: though some have held that these were the name of two notorious strumpets in Egypt.

Ver. 5. And Aholah plaid the harlot when she was mine] Fornicata est sub me, under color and covert of a marriage made with me. See what a fair gloss Jeroboam set upon his foul idolatry, 1 King. 12.28.

On the Assyrians her neighbors] So they were now become, by the conquest of Syria.

Ver. 6. Which were clothed with blew] With rich and gorgeous attire. Vestis luxuriae nidus.

Ver. 7. Thus she committed her whoredoms with them] Heb. she bestowed her wheredomes upon them, she was no niggard: a little entreaty served turn: euilibet sui copiam faciebat, such was her idol-madness.

Ver. 8. Neither left she her idols brought from Egypt] Witness her two golden calves brought therehence by Jeroboam, in imitation of Apis a calf dedicated by the Egyptians to Serapis their chief idol.

For in her youth] See on ver. 3.

And poured their whoredom upon her] This kind of language and the like is here and elsewhere used, not to teach men to speak or do foul things, but the contrary. Of Petronius his Satyricon it is said, Tolle obscaena, & tollis omnia: and that he was impurissimus scriptor purissimae Latinitatis. Of our Prophet it may as truly be said, Tolle sancta & tollis omnia. See on ver. 2.

Ver. 9. Wherefore I have delivered her] 2 King. 17.23.

Ver. 10. These discovered her nakedness] i. e. They have shamefully punished her for a stinking strumpet, as ver. 26.

And she became famous] For her sins and punishments, much talked of; Heb. a name.

Ver. 11. And when her sister Aholibah saw this] And yet would not be warned; which was a just both presage and desert of her utter destruction.

She was mere corrupt] She was therefore the worse, because she should have been better.

Ver. 12. She doated] Amantes amentes. See ver. 5.

Ver. 13. Then I saw that she was defiled] Whence it is that man's nature is so prone to idolatry, and why that sin is compared to adultery, see Polanus upon this chapter, p. 538, 539, 540.

Ver. 14. For when she saw men portrayed upon the wall] So unbrideled was her lust, that she fell a doting upon those quos tantum per umbram & imaginem aspexerat, whose pictures only she had beheld. In some Popish Churches there are to be seen wanton pictures: such as do rather kindle lust, then quicken devotion. An eyewitnesse hath told us in print, that in some places they will assemble diverse of the fairest curtisans (when they would draw a picture of the Virgin Mary, to draw the most modest beauty of a Virgin out of the flagrancy of harlots.

Ver. 15. Girded with girdles] Rich clothes are oft but fine covers of the foulest shame. If every silken suit did cover a sanctified soul, it would be brave.

Ver. 16. And as soon as she saw them with her eyes] Here began the mischief: Ut vidi ut perii!

Many have died of the wound in the eye.

And sent messengers unto them] Being themselves therefore, not long after, sent into captivity unto them, that they might have enough of them.

Ver. 17. Into the bed of love] Or, of breasts, which are the symbols of love, and seats of delight as Naturalists note. See Prov. 6.19. and 7.18.

And her mind was alienated from them] Heb. loosed or disjointed, to do at another while upon the Egyptians. Etiam vota post usum fastidia sunt.

Ver. 18. Then my mind was alienated from her] So Jer. 6.8. See there.

Ver. 19. In calling to mind the sins of her youth] This was to recommit them; because she remembered them with delight. It argueth an unmortified frame, when recalling former evil acts proveth a snare.

Ver. 20. Whose flesh is as the flesh of asses] qui sunt been mentulati (hon • s sit auribus) & qui semine abundant. Commodus the Emperor, who had never a good property in him, was for this called the Ass, as Jerome noteth.

And whose issue is as the issue of horses] Fluxus equorum est fluxus corum, that is, they are extremely libidinous and superstitious: so that there is no ho with them.

Ver. 21. Thus thou calledst to remembrance] See ver. 19.

Ver. 22. Therefore O Aholibah] Flagitium & flagellum sunt ut acus & filum. Sin and punishment are inseparable companions, they are tied together with chains of Adamant.

Ver. 23. Pekod and Shoah and Koa] The inhabitants of these several countries, subject to the Babylonians. See Jer. 50.21. K • a is by Strabo called Gaugamela.

Ver. 24. I will set judgment before them] i. e. I will put thee into their hands to be punished.

And they shall judge thee according to their judgment] Without mixture of mercy: whereas I use in the midst of judgment to remember mercy.

Ver. 25. And they shall take away thy nose and thine ears] He seemeth to allude to the custom of the Egyptians, which was to cut off the nose and the ears of the adulteress. John a certain Antipope was served in like sort by the Romans. Paul the second deserved to be so served; of whom it is recorded that he was so proud that he painted his face to please his Concubine: and that he was once in a mind to have taken to himself the name of Formosus, but that he thought it was ominous; because his predecessor of that name came to so ill an end.

Ver. 26. They shall also strip thee out of thy clothes] Wherein thou hast so much prided thyself.

And take away thy fair jewels] Instrumenta mundi tui, the instruments of thy decking, Isa. 3.

Ver. 27. Then will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee] Thy prepensed wickedness. This benefit thou shalt reap and receive of thine enemies cruelty.

Nor remember Egypt] Without regret.

Ver. 28. I will deliver thee] God hath an holy hand in all the evils that befall his people, by whomsoever.

Ver. 29. And they shall deal with thee hatefully] As ill as the wit of malice can devise to do.

All thy labor] i. e. All that thou hast labored for. Oh lay up grace, qua nec • ripi nec surripi potest.

And the nakedness of thy whoredoms] Nuditas tua scortationibus dedita.

Ver. 30. Thou art polluted with their idols] Whereby thou thoughtest to have purged away thy sins, (as Papists also do) but it proveth otherwise.

Ver. 31. Therefore will I give her cup into thine hand] An allusion to the manner of feasts whereat the Symposiarch or Governor gave every guest his cup fitly tempered. God is the great Modimperator.

Ver. 32. Thou shalt drink of thy sisters cup deep and large] Yea though it have eternity to the bottom.

Ver. 33. Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow] That dry drunkenness; ut si catapotium bibas.

Ver. 34. And thou shalt break the sheards thereof] i. e. Of the cup, which thou shalt cast away with utmost indignation: but thou hast thy bane.

And pluck of thine own breast] For a revenge of thy fornication therewith committed.

Ver. 35. Because thou hast forgotten me] This was the source of all their sins; and cause of all their calamities.

And cast me behind thy back] As an harlot loatheth her husband. It is laid to David's charge that in that foul fall of his, he had despised God's Commandment, 2 Sam. 12.9.

Ver. 36. Wilt thou judge] See chap. 20 4. & 22.2.

Ver. 37. And blood is in their hands] Adultery is the devils nest-egg, and causeth many sins to be laid one to and upon another: as here murder, idolatry, &c.

To devour them] Not only to purge, and to dedicate them.

Ver. 38. They have defiled my sanctuary in the same day] When they had done evil as they could, they exercised mine external worship, that they might seem religious: So Isa. 66.3.

Ver. 39. For when they had slain] When their hands were full of blood, and even reeking hot therewith. This was detestable impudency.

Then they came the same day into my Sanctuary] Citra conscientiam, as if they had done God good service. So Erasmus telleth of a fierce Frier Augustine of Antwerp who openly in the Pulpit there Preaching to the people, wished that Luther were present, that he might bite out his throat with his teeth: so doing he would nothing doubt to resort to the altar with the same bloody teeth, and receive the body of Christ.

Ver. 40. Ye have sent for men] Ye have trusted to foreign forces, and carnal combinations.

For whom thou didst wash thyself] Omnino te comparas ut Thais impudentissima, ad pelliciendos & inescandos amatores; thou hast acted the whore to the life, to inveigle thy paramours.

Ver. 41. And satest] For entertainment-sake.

Whereupon thou hast set mine incense] So fighting against me, as it were with mine own weapons, and abusing my best gifts to my greatest dishonor; contrary to Prov. 3.9.

Ver. 42. And a voice of a multitude being at ease] Or being jolly and jocund, as at brothelhouses.

And with the men of the common sort] Heb. to the men: the basest and most abject people also were taken into confederacy; even Arabians, Ethiopians, Tartars; so cheap didst thou make thyself; so fond wast thou of their fopperies.

Ver. 43. To her that was old in adulteries] Inveteratae & detritae, withered and oreworn.

And she with them] Is she (as Helena was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ) the same still no changeling yet?

Ver. 44. Yet they went in unto her] They committed idolatry without mean or measure; being woefully hardened and habituated therein.

Ver. 45. And the righteous men] So the Chaldees are called: because less wicked then the Jews (as the Scythians were better then the Athenians, and now the Indians then the Spaniards ) and because they executed the righteous sentence of God, upon those flagitious Jews.

Ver. 46. I will bring up a company] A numerous army which shall make much havoc and slaughter.

Ver. 47. And the company shall stone them] As by the law they did adulteresses.

Ver. 48. Thus will I cause lewdness to cease] Thus, if it may be done no otherwise. Thus still if men will not mend by fair means, they are taken away by death, that they may sin no more.

That all women may be taught] That all Cities and States may hear, and fear, and do no more so.

Ver. 49. And ye shall bear the sins] i. e. The punishment of your idolatry: neither shall ye have color of cause to complain of my severity.

And ye shall know that I am the Lord God] This comes in ever and anon, velut versus intercalaris, and hath much weight in it to set on what is said before.

CHAP. XXIIII.

Ver. 1. AGain in the ninth year] Of Jehoiakim’s captivity, chap. 1.2. three years before the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.

Ver. 2. This same day] Ezekiel in Mesopotamia is told by God, and telleth others the very day that Nebuchadnezzar laid seige to Jerusalem. 2 King. 25.1. Jer. 39.1. and 52.4. Heathen historians tell us of Apollonius Tyanaeus, that in the self-same day and hour wherein Domitian the Emperor was slain at Rome, he got up into a high place at Ephesus in Asia; and calling together a great multitude of men, he spake these words 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , well done Stephen, strike the murderer home, pay him soundly: Thou hast struck him, thou hast wounded him to the heart, thou hast slain him outright; I commend thee for it. This (if it were so) was brought to him by the devil doubtless. Our Prophet had a betrer intelligencer.

Ver. 3. Set on a pot] Deus cum prophet • lequitur tanquam cum coquo: anything to make them sensible of their danger, and the destruction of their City now fully determined. This pot is Jerusalem (and a lively representation of hell, saith à Lapide ) the pouring of water into it a long siege: the flesh the Citizens, the fat the rich ones, lauti & lascivi: the bones, the stoutest and best warriors, &c. These scurrilous Jews had jeered at Jeremyes caldron or pot, Jer. 1.13. See on chap. 11.3. now they are cast into the pot, and their jear driven back down their very throats.

Ver. 4. Gather the pieces thereof into it] Let people of all sorts flock into the City for safety-sake; that there, as in a pot, they may be boiled by a long siege, and have sorrow enough.

Ver. 5. Take the choice of the flock] The King and his Peers.

And burn also the bones] The dry bones (the common people) for these will burn like wood.

And let him seeth the bones] The choice bones, ver. 4.

Ver. 6. Woe to the bloody City] i. e. Blood-guilty, and full of crimes capital that call for blood.

To the pot whose scum is in it] Who are hardened in their wickedness, which is evident to all men, and are not amended by punishments.

Let no let fall upon it] i. e. Let none escape unpunished. In wars ofttimes they cast lots to save some and slay some.

Ver. 7. For her blood is in the midst of her] She careth not who knows of her murders and oppressions. He seemeth to allude to that law, that blood being let out of a beast should be covered in the ground.

She set it upon the top of a rock] Super limpidissimam petram, saith the Vulgar, as glorying in it. So Abimelech slew all his brethren upon one stone, Judge. 9.5. the Jews crucified our Savior on Mount Calvary.

She poured it not] Pudet non esse impudentem.

Ver. 8. I have set her blood upon the top of a rock] Where it will be seen afar off and for along time. As her sin was in propatulo in open view; so (to cry quittance with her) shall her punishment likewise be: my visible vengeance shall follow her close at heels as a blood-hound.

Ver. 9. Woe to the bloody City] See Nah. 3.1. Hab. 2.12.

I will even make the pile for fire great] They shall undergo a long and sore siege.

Ver. 10. Heap on wood, &c.] See on ver. 3.

And spice it well] Vulg. coquatur tota compositio, let the whole composition be boiled, till all the virtue be boiled out. A Metaphor from Apothecaries.

Ver. 11. That the brass of it may be hot and may burn] This, Gregory fitly applieth to Rome taken and wasted by the Lombards: this City ever since it was Papal (and then it first began to be so) was never besieged but it was taken by the enemy.

Ver. 12. She hath wearied herself with lies] With seeking and trusting to lying vanities, creature comforts. Others render it, she hath wearied me with lies, i. e. with false promises of amendment. Others, Frustrà sudatum est, pains is taken with them to no purpose.

And her great scum went not forth out of her] But is sodden into her partly, and partly sodden over into the fire. A godly man cleareth himself of sin, as spring-water worketh itself clean: as the Sea will endure no poisonful thing, but casteth it upon the shore: as the sweet water, made brackish by the coming in of the salt-water, gets to be sweet again: so do God's people work out brackish and sinful dispositions, &c. The good heart admitteth not the mixture of any sin, though sin may cleave to it as dross doth to silver, yet like right wine or honey, as the scum ariseth, still it casteth it out: so here.

Ver. 13, In thy filthiness is lewdness] i. e. Thou art desperately stiff and stubborn: thy disease is complicate, and threateneth death.

Because I have purged thee] i. e. Called upon thee by my Prophets to cleanse thyself of all filthiness of flesh and spirit, sought also to purge thee by the sope of afflictions, and by the cudgel of calamities, Isa. 1.16. & 27.9. with Isa. 1.5, 6, 7.

And thou wast not purged] From thy sin, which had gotten into thy very frame and constitution, was weaved into the texture of thine heart.

Thou shalt not be purged] But shalt perish in thy sins (which is worse then to aye in a ditch) and pine away in thine iniquities, ver. 23. He who is filthy shall be filthy still: a fearful sentence.

Till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee] Till I have purged thee in hell-fire; which will be ever doing, but never be done; donec omnia tela vindictae meae in te exhausero, till I have emptied my quiver, spent my wrath upon thee.

Ver. 14. I the Lord have spoken it] And you may write upon it, Sententia haec stabit. Think not that these are only big words, bug-bear terms, devised on purpose to affright silly people: for do it I will; yea that I will.

Ver. 15. Also the Word of the Lord] See chap. 18.1.

Ver. 16. Behold I take from thee the desire of thine eyes] i. e. Thy wife who is impendio dilecta & visu pergratiosa, thy dearly beloved and greatly delighted in.

With a stroke] With pestilence, palsy, or some like sudden death: This was no small trial of the Prophets patience and obedience. Let us learn to hang loose to all outward comforts.

Yet neither shalt thou mourn or weep] Which might he have done, would have been some ease to him: for

As hinds by calving, so do men by weeping cast out their sorrows, Job 39.3.

Ver. 17. For hear to cry] Heb. be silent, and so suffocate thy sorrows: ne plangas, ne plores. Not as if the dead were not to be lamented (tears are the dues of the dead, Mors mea ne careat lachrymis ) or that it were unbeseeming a Prophet to bewail his dead Consort: but to set forth by this figure, the greatness of their ensuing sorrow, bigger then any tears: for Curae leves loquuntur, ingentes stupent.

Bind the tire of thy head upon thee] Mourners, it seems, used to go bare-headed, and bare-footed, to cover their Mustachoes, to eat what their friends sent them in at such a sad time to cheer up their spirits, Jer. 16.5, 7. The Prophet must do none of all this, but keep his sorrows to himself.

Ver. 18. And at even my wife died] Though a good woman probably, and to the Prophet a great comfort, the sweet companion of his life and miseries: yet she died suddenly, and by some extraordinary disease. All things come alike to all.

And I did in the morning as I was commanded] Grievous though it were, and went much against the hair with me, yet I did it. Uxorem posthabuit praecepto Dei. Obedience must be yielded to God even in the most difficult duties: and conjugal love must give place to our love to him.

Ver. 19. Wilt thou not tell us] They well knew that there was something in it more then ordinary: for the Prophet was no Stoike, but sensible enough of what he suffered.

Ver. 20. Then I answered them] The Prophet was ready to tell them the true meaning of all: so should Ministers be: See Job 33.23. with the Note.

Ver. 21. Behold I will profane my Sanctuary] I will put it into the hands of profane persons to be spoiled and polluted, for a punishment of your manifold pollutions of it.

The excellency of your strength] The Jews had too high a conceit of, and did put too much confidence in their Temple, which therefore they called as here the excellency of their strength, the desire of their eyes, and that which their soul pitied, animarum indulgentiam. The Temple of the Lord they cried, but the Lord of the Temple they cared not for, Jer. 7.

Ver. 22. And ye shall do as I have done] Your grief shall be above tears, you shall be so over gone with it: besides you shall have neither leisure nor leave of your enemies to bewail your losses, &c.

Ye shall not cover] See on ver. 17. Antonius Margarita a Christian Jew hath written a book of the Jewish rites of superstitions, at the burial of the dead, and otherwise: so hath Leo Modena, another Jew, but no Christian.

Ver. 23. But ye shall pine away for your iniquities] Non tam stupidi prae moestitia, quam prae malitia stipites. This was long since threatened, Levite. 26. and it is reserved to the last, as not the least of those dismal judgments.

Ver. 24. Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign] Portentum, portending no good to you: whether he were made dumb, till these things were fulfilled, as some gather from ver. 27. I have not to say.

Ver. 25. When I take from them their strength] their Kingdom, Temple, all.

And that whereupon they set their minds] Heb. the lifting up of the soul, or the burden of their souls, that whereof they are most solicitous.

Ver. 26. To cause thee to hear it] Viz. The performance of that which now thou foretellest, but canst not be believed, till Experience (the mistrisse of fools) hath better taugth it them.

Ver. 27. In that day shall thy mouth be open • d] Mean-while make use of a sacred silence, wait till a new Prophecy concerning this peope, shall be committed unto thee (as was done, chap. 33.) Till then, prophecy against foreigners, Ammonites, Tyrians, Egyptians.

CHAP. XXV.

Ver. 1. THe Word of the Lord] Contra Gentes, against those Nations chiefly that molested the Jews after their overthrow by the Babylonians. Sins they had enow besides: but for none did they suffer more deeply then for their malignity toward God's poor afflicted. The Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, and Philistines are here more briefly threatened: The Tyrians and Egyptians more at large; because it seemed impossible that they should be brought down.

Ver. 2. Set thy face against the Ammonites] Look upon them firmo, torvo, & minaci vultu, as if then wouldst look through them: and having so lightened, thunder accordingly.

Against the Ammonites] Who have had their part already of threatenings, chap. 21.28. but not therir full due.

Ver. 3. Because thou saidst Aha] Insolently insulting over mine Israel, when under hatches: as when a tree is down, every man will be pulling at the branches, and Leoni mortuo vel mus insultat: but it is ill meddling against God's Church, be it but by a frown or a frump, as here; An Aha or an Euge shall not escape unpunished, Psal. 35.21.

Ver. 4. I will deliver thee to the men of the East] To the Arabians (Keturah's posterity) who were Shepherds, and Camel-masters.

They shall eat thy fruit, and drink thy milk] Sept. Thy fatness; est enim adeps lac coagulatum. The Ammonites (as now the Flemmings ) were 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , butter-boxes, as we say; and lived much upon milk-meats: So do we. Let us use our plenty to God's glory, lest we lose all.

Ver. 5. And I will make Rabbah] The Metropolis of the Ammonites: it signifieth that Great City, and was afterwards rebuilt by Ptolemy Philadelph, and called Philadelphia.

Ver. 6. Because thou hast clapped thine hands] Manibus plaudis, pedibus complodis, &c. God is very sensible of the least indignity and injury, affront or offense done to his poor people, by words, looks, gestures, &c. Cavete.

Ver. 7. Behold therefore I will stretch out my hand upon thee] God loveth to retaliate.

I will cause thee to perish out of the Country] So little a distance is there eftsoons, saith Seneca, betwixt a great City and no City.

Ver. 8. Behold the house of Judah is like unto all the Heathen] As ill-protected and provided for as they; as much scourged by the Babylonian. See to the contrary, Deut. 33.29. Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thine excellency, and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places! Some read it, Behold the house of Jehovah, and note an Emphasis in that word, as savouring of contempt and blasphemy, as 2 Kings 18.33, 34.

Ver. 9. Behold I will open the side of Moab] Heb. the shoulder (that is, the border that is fortified) to let in the enemy: like as the side being opened, an entrance is given into the body through the ribs, for the destruction thereof, because the strongest defense is taken away.

Ver. 10. That the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations] A fearful hand of God upon them: as it was also upon some other people's, who are so utterly extinct, that the learned can now hardly divine where their seats were.

Ver. 11. And I will execute judgments upon Moab] Or, in Moab, where was no care to execute justice and judgment, sed frigebant leges: jus situm erat in manibus, &c. Might overcame right.

Ver. 12. By taking vengeance] Heb. by revenging revengement, out of a vindictive spirit rejoicing at Judah 's harms, and saying they were well enough served. See the Prophecy of Obadiah, and Psal. 137. Their father Esau was of a spiteful spirit, Gen. 27.41. and they took after him, proceeding upon the old score. Hence they are put for God's and the Churches enemies by a specialty, Isa. 63. Joel 3. Amos 9. A learned man hath given us this Note: Esau signifieth a Doer or a Worker: Edom a ruddy, bloody, or earthy man. These Edomites were a type of Justitiaries, who will needs be saved by their works and merits. These are the deadlyest enemies of God's people, war upon them continually, seek and suck their blood, and shalt at length suffer condign punishment.

And hath grealy offended and revenged himself upon them] Wishing (as Caligula did by the people of Rome ) that they had all but one neck, that he might cut them off at one blow. Plane sunt serpentes (saith Luther concerning hypocrites) quo nullum est animal vindictae cupidius, they are very serpents, then which there is no living creature more revengeful.

Ver. 13. I will stretch out mine hand upon Edom] God hath vengeance ready for revengers. Immane verbum est ultio, saith Seneca: they shall not escape unpunished. See Prov. 24.17, 18. The Duke of Bourbon being displeased at Cardinal Wolsy, intended to have sacked Rome, and taken the Pope: But at the first assault of the town, the Duke was the first man that was slain.

Ver. 14. I will lay my vengeance upon Edom] Edam ultionem in Edom: See v. 13.

By the hand of my people Israel] In the time of the Maccabees, likely this was done. Or, by the hand wherewith I shall smite my people, that is, by the Babylonians; so Piscator.

According to my fury] And not as the Commanders will. Titus would have saved the Temple at Jerusalem from being burnt: but the soldiers would not.

Ver. 15. Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge] See on ver. 12, 13. Heathens thought revenge lawful: and tallying of injuries to be but Justice. But Christianity teacheth us that non minus mali est refer injuriam, quam infer.

For the old hatred] The Philistines were of the old inhabitants the Canaanites; and kept up a deadly feud.

Ver. 16. I will out of the Cherethims] These were a part of the Philistines, Zeph. 2.5. There is an elegancy in the Original: q. d. I will cut off the Cutters.

And destroy the remnant of the Sea-coast] Palestine lay upon the Midland-sea, Zeph. 3.5.

Ver. 17. And I will execute great vengeance upon them] Heb. vengeances. I will pay them for the new and the old together.

CHAP. XXVI.

Ver. 1. IN the eleventh year] Of Je • ojachim 's captivity, and Zedekiah's reign.

In the first day of the month] i. e. Of the fifth month; when the news came to Tyre of the destruction of Jerusalem twenty days before, which fell out on the ninth day of the fourth month, 2 Kings 25.1.

Ver. 2. Because that Tyrus hath said] Wicked men shall give account for their hard speeches also. Jude 15. if not sooner, yet certainly at the last day, with the whole world all on a light fire about their cares. Tyrus was the chief City of Phoenicia, built before Solomon's Temple, saith Josephus: and anciently called Sarra, saith Servius, of the Hebrew Tsor which signifieth a rock; because it was built upon a rock. It became the most famous and wealthy Mart-town of the whole East: and having so great resort to it from all parts, it was a very sinful place; and framing comedies out of the Churches tragedies, hath this Prophecy to champ upon, for a rebater of its pride and petulancy.

Aha] See chap. 25.3.

That was the gates of the people] Whereinto they entered by troops and caravant, for religion and traffic.

She is turned unto me] Vide hic ingenia mercatorum. Her ruin shall be my rise; Loe, this is the world: envy and avarice rejoice at, and are fed with other men's tears and losses: sed gaudent pyraustae gaudium. Contrarywise, God is rich to all that call upon him, Rom. 10. and in spiritual things there is no envy, because they may be divided in solidum, one may have as much as another, and all alike.

I shall be replenished] Mercibus & opibus, with wars and wealth. But how long will it hold?

Ver. 3. Therefore thus saith the Lord God] And thy Merchants will soon do thee word of it: for they are great news-mongers, and ill-news is swift of foot.

Behold I am against thee] Neither can thine Apollo help or deliver thee out of my hands: no though thou chain that idol and nail him to a post, that thou mayest be sure of him: for so these Tyrians did when Alexander besieged their City and took it.

Ver. 4. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus] Which thou holdest to be inexpugnable: Hence this and the two following Chapters, purposely to undeceive thee, if it may be.

I will also scrape her dust from her] Brought from other places, to make her gardens: for she was built upon a rock, & in petram glabram: to a naked rock will God now reduce her.

Ver. 5. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets] Of fishers nets, hung up in the Sun to be dried. The Prophets usually fetch their comparisons from things the people were most acquainted with and accustomed to, as here. Let Ministers now do the like.

Ver. 6. And her daughters which are in the field] i. e. Other Cities and colonies sent out by her, and subject to her; as she was olim partu clara urbibus genitis, as Pliny saith of her, the mother of many fair Cities, Leptis, Utica, Carthage. Some take it literally for people of both sexes.

Ver. 7. Behold I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadnezzar] A name as dreadful then, as was at any time the name of the great Turk: a man as famous for his valor and victories as ever was Hercules, saith Megasthenes in in Josephus: and such as whom we may well call as Orosius doth Alexander, magnum miseriarum gurgitem, & totius Orientis atrocissimum turbinem, the great Trouble-world.

Ver. 8. He shall slay with the sword] See on ver. 6.

He shall lift up the buckler] Or, a continued series of bucklers,

Ver. 9. He shall set engines of war] A graphical description of a siege.

And with his axes] Or, battering-rams, or slings. Heb. with his swords. Gr. with his launces, ferramentis mucronatis helepoleos. Vide Am. Marcell. lib. 23.

Ver. 10. Thy walls shall shake] With the noise of one chariot, walls and windows seem to shake: what then with the rattle of so many? Me thought I heard the noise and fright that shall be at the last day, said one that was at the taking of a Town in the Low-countries. The fragour and terror was so great say, the Turkish histories (speaking of a bloody battle betwixt Amurath the third, and Lazarus Despot of Sernia ) that the Angels in heaven (so they are pleased to Hyperbolize) amazed with that hideous noise, for that time forgot the heavenly hymns wherewith they always glorify God.

When he shall enter into thy gates] As our Henry the eighth did into Tournay a City of France, which was ever counted so impregnable that this sentence was engraven over one of the gates, Jannes ton me a perdu ton pucellage, i. e. Thou hast never lost thy maiden-head.

Ver. 11. And thy strong garrisons] Or statues, or idols. Their chief idols were Apollo, Hercules, and Astarie: See on ver. 3.

Ver. 12. And they shall make a spoil of thy riches] Raked together by right and wrong. See on ver. 2. Male parta male dilàbuntur.

Ver. 13. And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease] The Tyrians were much addicted to Music, Isa. 23.16. Ezek. 28.13. Pleasure-mongers shall suffer deeply, by pain of loss and pain of sense.

And the sound of thy harp] Qua tu O Tyre, mercatrix quasi meretrix mercatores ad te pellicis, wherewith thou gettest custom.

Ver. 14. Thou shalt be built no more] i. e. Not in haste, and not at all by the same inhabitants, nor with the like neatness, and celebrity. Some say it was not built in the same place with Palaetyrus or old Tyre: yet was it a famous City again, near unto which our Savior wrought miracles; in which Paul abode seven days with the brethren. Here Origen died, Ulpian the great Lawyer was born, &c. Of this City read Gul. Tyrius de bello sacro. lib. 13. cap. 1.

Ver. 15. Shall not the Isles] See the like Esa. 23.

Ver. 16. All the Princes of the sea] i. e. Of the neighbouring Islands.

Cloath themselves with trembling] Luth. with mourning.

Ver. 17. And they shall take up a lamentation] The like shall be done shortly at Rome, Rev. 18.9.

That wast inhabited of seafaring men] Who are usually the worst of men; whence the Proverb Maritimi mores, &c.

On all that haunt it] Haunt the sea, littorales qui sunt fere duri, horridi, immanes, latrociniis dediti, feri & inhospitales, tales olim Britanni.

Ver. 18. Now shall the Isles tremble] And seeing thy shipwreck, they shall look better to their tackling. Alterius perditio tua sit cautio.

At thy departure] Into captivity. Or tuus exitus, hoc est tuum exitium.

Ver. 19. When I shall bring up the deep upon thee] As ver. 3. great forces.

And great waters shall cover thee] So that thou shalt be irrecoverably lost, as places drowned and never seen anymore: Godwins sands here in Kent for instance. These did once belong to Godwin Earl of Kent as his lands: but in the reign of William Rufus they were overflowed, and remain to this day a dangerous sandy place, where perished this present year 1658. Col. Reynolds and others, in their return from Mardike.

Ver. 20. With the people of old time] The multitude of those that are dead from the beginning of the world. Or, with the people of the old world, as Jerome will have it: and that the Tyrians destruction both temporal and eternal is hereby hinted.

When I shall set glory in the land of the living] i. e. In Judaes, (where the living and true God is worshipped, and where are the right heirs of life ) will I reestablish my Church, which is my glory. Or when I shall glorify mine elect in mine heavenly Kingdom.

Ver. 21. Yet shalt thou never be found again] See on ver. 14.

CHAP. XXVII.

Ver. 1. THe Word of the Lord] See on chap. 18.1.

Ver. 2. Take up a lamentation for Tyrus] Fitly here compared to a goodly ship: and her desolation to a dismal shipwreck. Theodorets note on the text is, that when we correct sinners or threaten them, it should be done with commiseration and compassion. Here we have God's own example for it:

Ver. 3. O thou that art situate as the entry of the sea] As now the City of Venice is,

Environed with her embracing Neptune, to whom (as the ceremony of throwing a ring into the sea implieth, saith one) she marrieth herself with yearly nuptials. But hath she so learned Christ? and doth not the Nebuchadnezzar of Constantinople now threaten her sore?

Thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty] So that nothing can be added to me: I am ocellus orbis. But who made thee to differ? is not all thy beauty borrowed? will not this thy bulging wall down ere long?

Ver. 4. Thy borders are in the midst of the sea] Wherewith thou art compassed and crowned as it were, Isa. 23.8. being half a mile distant from the continent, till first Nebuchadnezzar and then Alexander the Great, by casting earth, wood and stones into the sea, made it of an Island, a Peniland, &c.

Thy builders] The Sidonians, saith Justin; 240, years before Solomon's Temple was built, saith Josephus.

Ver. 5. They have made all thy shipboards] Of the most precious materials, which with thy rich freight did incite and entice the Archpirate, to surprise and make prize of thee.

Ver. 6. Of the oakes of Bashan] Those very best of the best. See ver. 5.

Out of the Isles of Chittim] i. e. Of Greece and the Archipelago, Gen. 10.4. far set, and dear-bought. Benches and decks might well have been made of worse matters: sed opulentiam fere sequitur superbia, luxus, libido, &c. wealth breeds swelth, which is a dangerous symptom (as in the body, so) in the mind too.

Ver. 7. Fine linen] When course Canvas might have served the turn as well.

From Egypt] Which is held to be the finest, whitest, and costliest. O this unnecessary bravery. Luxus est anteambulo ruinae: how many hath it utterly undone? When a man shall see a cloak embroidered over with Woods and Parkes and Lordships, and lined with obligations and bonds and statutes, will not the beggar soon catch such a Prodigal by the back?

From the Isles of Elisha] i. e. Of Italy, saith the Chaldee Paraphrast: of Greece, say others: the Fortunate Islands, say some; which are called the Elysian Islands, for their pleasure and plenty.

Was that which covered thee] The Poop of thy ships. Of Cleopatra 's sumptuous ship or barge, the Poop whereof was of gold, the oars silver, the sails purple, &c. See Plutarch in Anton.

Ver. 8. The inhabitants of Zidon] Famous all the world over for their skill at sea, and otherwise.

Thy wise-men—were thy Pilots] Wise they had need to be, that sit at the stern of a state. Let them not therefore be ignorant, or idle, or otherwise faulty, lest they mar all: let them be active Argonautes. They have their names here in the Hebrew from the ropes of the ship, which they as Pilots, must skillfully order: shifting sails according to the wind. Counsel also, in that tongue, hath its name from the same root.

Ver, 9. The ancients of Gibael] Great Architects, 1 King. 5.18, but persecutors of the Church, Psal. 83.7.

Thy calkers] Or stoppers of chinks, stuppa, pice, aliaeque materia, when the ship springeth a leak.

Ver. 10. They set forth thy comeliness] They were to thee both for muniment, and for ornament.

Ver. 11. And the Gammadims] These were not Pygmies, as the Vulgar rendereth it, nor Medes as Symmachus, nor, Cappadocians, as the Chaldee Paraphrast: but Syrians of a City called Gamalla; whereof see Pliny.

Ver. 12. Tarshish] i. e. The Carthaginians, say some: the Citizens of Tarsus another colony of the Tyrians, say others.

They traded in thy Fairs] Heb. in thy derelictions; because they left their commodities behind them, taking others in exchange: for

Ver. 13. Javan, Tubal, & Meshec] i. e. Grecians, Spaniards, & Muscovites or Cappadocians, who were naturally of a servile disposition: they were anciently called Meschines, saith Josephus, of Meshech the son of Japheth, Gen. 10.2.

They traded the persons of men] i. e. They bought and sold slaves, as now they do in Turkey.

Ver. 14. They of the house of Togarmah] i. e. The Germans, saith the Targum, who are still excellent horsemen. The Jews call the Turks the house of Togarmah.

Ver. 15. The men of Dedan] Arabians, Gen. 10.7. The Septuagint render them Rhodians.

Horns of Ivory] The Elephants two great Tushes, crooked as horns.

And ebeny] Hebenum, which hath affinity with Eben, which signifieth a stone: for Ebony is a wood hard and heavy as a stone. The Chaldee rendereth it, peacocks.

Ver. 16. The wares of thy making] Heb. works. The Tyrians were ingenious workmen, as Hiram, whom Solomon therefore so admired that he called him his Father.

And Agate] Or Chrysoprase, or Crystal, or Carbuncle, or Onyx. Jerome confesseth that he knoweth not what to call it.

Ver. 17. Wheat of Minnith] Where the best grew, even the kidneys of wheat, as Moses hath it. Confer Judge. 11.33. Act. 12.20.

Pannag] Rozin or balsam, whereof Judea yielded the best in the whole world.

For the wine of Helbon] i. e. Of Aleppe, say some, famous then for wine, now for milk, whence also it hath its name: for the Turks call milk Alep: and if the Via lactea were on earth, it would be found there, saith one.

Ver. 19. Dan also] Anciently called Laish, Judge. 18. Javan or the Grecians were great travellers.

Going to and fro] Discursatory.

See Notes on Psal. 38.11.

Ver. 20. In precious clothes] Heb. clothes of freedom: such as are worn by Gallants and Magnifico 's.

For chariots] Or saddles, or trappings.

Ver. 21. They occupied with thee in lambs] Heb. they were the merchants of thy hand, or at thy hand: for cattle could not be carried far.

In these were they thy Merchants] Merchants are as useful in a Common-wealth, as Mechanikes, for exporting and importing commodities. Only they must observe the Gospel-standard, Whatever ye would that men should do to you, do ye the same to them.

Ver. 22. The Merchants of Sheba and Raamah] i. e. Ethiopians and Indians. Erat enim Tyrus emporium propemodum totius mundi.

With chief of all spices] All aromatical wares. Pliny reports of cinnamon, that in his time a pound of it was worth a thousand denarii, that is 150. crowns of our money. Gallen writeth, that it was hard to be found, except in the storehouses of great Princes.

Ver. 23. Haran] In Mesopotamia, or Charra in Parthia; where Crassus was slain.

And Channeh] Or Chalne: where the tower of Babel was built nine miles high.

And Eden] Where Paradise once was: sed periit rosae, mansit spina.

Chelmad] i. e. Media, saith the Paraphrast.

Ver. 24. In all sorts of things] In omnibus perfectissimis, in the very best commodities; whether for worth, or workmanship.

Ver. 25. Thou wast replenished and made very glorious] Or very heavy: as a ship though not top-full, may yet have freight enough to sink it: so had this Metaphorical ship Tyrus, enough to sink it, though not enough to satisfy it.

Ver. 26. Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters] Narrat Tyri nanfragium. Here beginneth the Prophecy of Tyrus her woeful shipwreck.

The East-wind] Called the Mariners misery. The Chaldees were East from Tyre, the great wealth whereof solicited their poverty to set upon them, as the wealth of Cyprus did the Romans.

Ver. 27. Shall fall into the midst of the seas] As a ship that sinketh, and cannot be boyed up again.

Ver. 28. The suburbs shall shake] Or, the waves, or the boats which they throw out of the ship. See on chap. 26.10.

Of the cry of thy Pilots] At their Conclamatum est: but why did they then steer no better? Here we see all covet, all loose.

Ver. 29. And all that handle the • ar] That have escaped to land with their lives.

Ver. 30. To be heard against thee] Or for thee, or over thee, ver. 31. Rev. 18. 11, 15, 16.

Ver. 31. And they shall make] Maerebunt induti saccis, inducto calvitio. If this had been for sin as it is offensivum Dei, & aversivum à Deo, then it had been right.

Ver. 32. What City] An elegant Mimesis.

Like the destroyed] Quae obmutuit, like her that lost her voice and life together.

Ver. 33. When thy wares] Good things are fairest on the back-side: the worth of them is best known by the want of them. Our eye seeth not things but at a distance.

Ver. 34. In the depths of the waters] i. e. In the overflowing of the wars, ver. 26.

Ver. 35. They shall be troubled in their countenance] i. e. Appaled and dispirited.

Ver. 36. The Merchants shall hiss at thee] Either as astonied at thee, or rather as deriding thee: like as he who seeth another fall into the dirt, first pitieth him, and then jeareth him. See the like Jer. 19.8. & 49.17.

Thou shalt be a terror] Because God hath hanged thee up in gibbets as it were. Or thou wast a terror once, but now a scorn.

And never shalt be anymore] See on chap. 26.14.

CHAP. XXVIII.

Ver. 1. THe Word of the Lord] See on chap. 18.1.

Ver. 2. Say unto the Prince of Tyre] Princes must be told their own, as well as others. It was partly by flattery that this Prince was so high-flown. His glory, wealth and wit also had so blown him up, that he forgot himself to be a man. Tabael Josephus, out of Berosus, calleth him: Diod • rus Siculus Ith • baal, others Ethbaal; A most proud and presumptuous person he was, and a type of the devil, who is the King of all the children of pride, Job 41.34. Here he holdeth himself to be wiser then Daniel, ver. 3. yea to be the sum and perfection of all wisdom, ver. 12. to excel the high-Priest in all his ornaments, Os humerosque Deo similis, ver. 13. yea to be above Adam, ib. above the Cherubims, ver. 14. lastly to be God himself, and to sit in his feat, ver. 2. O Lucifer out-devild! And yet as there were many Marii in one Caesar, so by nature, there are many Ethbaals in the best of us: for as in water face answereth to face, so doth the heart of a man to a man, Prov. 27.19. Julius Caesar suffered Altars and Temples to be dedicated unto him, as to a god: and what wonder, when as his flatterers told him that the freckles in his face were like the stars in the firmament? Valladerius told Pope Paul the fifth (and he believed it) that he was a god, that he lived familiarly with the Godhead, that he heard predestination itself whispering to him, that he had a place to sit in council with the Divine Trinity, &c. Prodigious blasphemy! Is not this that man of sin, that Merum scelus spoken of by Paul, 2 Thes. 2.4? (see more of this there) Was it not he that made Dandalus the Venetian Ambassador roll under his table, and as a dog eat crusts there? and that suffered the Sicilian Ambassadors to use these words unto him, Domine Deus papa miserere nostrum. O Lord God the Pope, have mercy upon us. And again, O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world, grant us thy peace!

In the midst of the seas] Where none can come at me. Yes Nebuchadnezzar could, and did, though after thirteen years siege, as Josephus writeth: a hard tug and hot service he had of it; but yet he did the deed: as did afterwards also Alexander the great, who never held anything unfeisible.

Ver. 3. Behold thou art wiser then Daniel] That oracular man, who was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as one saith of Homer, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the most wise and knowing man alive. His name was now up at Babylon: and Ezekiel his Contemporary commendeth him. So doth the Baptist, Christ: and Peter, Paul, 2 Ep. 3. though there had been a breach between them, Gal. 2.14. there was no envy. But such another Braggard as this in the text was Richardus de Sancto Victore a Monk of Paris, who said that himself was a better Divine then any Prophet or Apostle of them all. But How much better, saith Gregory, is humble ignorance then proud knowledge?

Ver. 4. With thy wisdom — thou hast gotten thee riches] Which yet is not every wise man's happiness. Aelian observeth that the wisest and best of the Grecians were very poor: as Socrates, Aristides, Phecion, Ephialtes, Epaminondas, Pel • pidas, Lamachus, and others. Fortuna fere favet fatuis: nescio quomodo, bona mentis soror est paupertas, saith he in Petronius: Piety goeth oft yoked with poverty.

Ver. 5. Thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches] Like as the higher the flood riseth, the higher also doth the boat that floateth thereon. A small blast will blow up a bubble: so will a few paltry pound • s puff up a carnal heart.

By thy great wisdom] Here God did nothing. And such for all the world, saith Oecolampadius, are our free-will men, with their ego feci, this I did. Such Feci 's are no better then faeces saith Luther, that is, dregs and dross.

Ver. 6. Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God] Thou thinkest thy wisdom to be Divine, and thyself the only one. The Tyrians were famous for their great wisdom, Zach. 9.2. and they are said to be the inventers of many arts: yet should they not have overweened themselves in this sort: which because they did, let them hear their doom.

Ver. 7. Behold therefore I will bring strangers upon thee] Who shall not at all regard thy great wisdom, but grasp after thy wealth, and suck thy blood for it. Neither will they favor thee the more because thou art a King, but slay thee the rather, and say Hunc ipsum quaerimus, This is the right bird, as that soldier said, who slew the most valiant King of Sweden, at the battle of Lutzen.

Ver. 8. They shall bring thee down to the pit] There shall lie the greatness of the god of Tyre.

And thou shalt die the deaths] Death will make no difference betwixt a Prince and a pesant, a Lord and a lozel. The mortal sithe is master of the royal scepter.

Ver. 9. Wilt thou say before him that slayeth thee, I am a god?] That will prove a poor plea, and thou wilt soon be confuted: as afterwards great Alexander confuted his flatterers, when being wounded in fight he shown them his blood.

Ver. 10. Thou shalt die the death of the uncircumcised] Not only a temporal but an eternal death: as they must needs do that are out of the Covenant of grace, whereof circumcision was the seal. This is the sad Catastrophe, of such as dream of a deity. Of which number were Caligula, Herod, Heliogabalus, Dioclesian, and other monsters, uncircumcised Viceg • ds, as we may in the worst sense, best term them.