Interpreters agree not in their view of this verse. Some say that trembling was excited in Israel when Ephraim, that is, Jeroboam, who was born of that tribe, exhorted the people to worship the calves. By the word רתת, _retat_, “trembling,” they understand, that the people were so astonished, that t... [ Continue Reading ]
In this verse the Prophet amplifies the wickedness of the people, and says, that they had not only in one day cast aside the pure worship of God, and entangled themselves in superstitions; but that they had been obstinate in their own depravity. _They have added, _he says_, to their sin, and have ma... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet employs here four similitudes to show the condition of Israel. How much soever they flourished for a time, and might be deemed happy, their state would yet be fading and evanescent. _They shall be, _he says, _as the morning cloud: _though they be loftily proud, the Lord will yet shake of... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet now repeats the sentence which we have noticed in the last chapter for the sake of amplifying the sin of the people. For had they never known sound doctrine, had they never been brought up in the law, there would have been some colour for alleviating their fault; because they might have... [ Continue Reading ]
He afterwards adds _Thee I knew in the desert, in the land of droughts _God here confirms the truth that the Israelites had acted very absurdly in having turned their minds to other gods, for he himself had known them. The knowledge here mentioned is twofold, that of men, and that of God. God declar... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet shows here that the people were in every way intractable. He has indeed handled this argument in other places; but the repetition is not superfluous. After he had said that the people were ungrateful in not continuing in the service of their Redeemer, by whom they had been so kindly and... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet denounces again on the Israelites the vengeance of God; and as they were become torpid through their own flatteries, as we have already often observed, he here describes the terrible judgement of God, that he might strike fear into the obstinate, so that they might at length perceive tha... [ Continue Reading ]
But he afterwards adds, _I will rend, _or _will tear_, _the inclosure of their heart_. They who understand the enclosure of the heart to be their obstinate hardness, seem to refine too much on the words of the Prophet. We know, indeed, that the Prophets sometimes use this mode of speaking; for they... [ Continue Reading ]
In the first place, God upbraids the Israelites for having in their perverseness rejected whatever was offered for their safety: but he proceeds farther and says, that they were past hope, and that there was a hidden cause which prevented God from helping them, and bringing them aid when they labour... [ Continue Reading ]
He afterwards more fully confirms the same by saying, _I will be; _and then he says, _Thy king, where is he? _By saying, ‘I will be,’ God retreats what he had before declared, that he would always be the same; for, as James says ‘No overshadowing happens to him,’ (James 1:17.) Hence ‘I will be;’ th... [ Continue Reading ]
These are _the princes, of whom thou hast said, Give me a king and princes. I gave to thee in my wrath, and took away in my fury; _that is “It was a cursed beginning, and it shall be a cursed end; for the election of Jeroboam was not lawful; but through an impious wilfulness, the people then rebelle... [ Continue Reading ]
He says, first, that _sealed is the iniquity of Ephraim, _and that _hidden is his sin; _by which words he means, that hypocrites in vain flatter themselves while God suspends his vengeance; for though he may connive for a time, yet he does not sleep; nor ought it to be believed that he is blind, but... [ Continue Reading ]
He afterwards says, that the _sorrows of one in travail would come _on this proud and rebellious people. He pursues the same subject, but under another figure; for by the sorrows of one in travail he points out the sudden destruction which befalls careless men. And this mode of speaking is common in... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet, I doubt not, continues here the same subject, namely, that the Israelites could not bear the mercy offered to them by God, though he speaks here more fully. God seems to promise redemption, but he does this conditionally: they are then mistaken, in my judgement, who take these words in... [ Continue Reading ]
God again confirms what had been said that Israel in vain trusted in their strength and fortresses and that certain destruction was nigh them on account of their sins which they followed without any limits or restraint. But the Prophet begins with these words, _He among brethren will increase _He al... [ Continue Reading ]
This is the conclusion of the discourse: this verse has then been improperly separated from the former chapter (99); for the Prophet enters not here on a new subject, but only confirms what he had said of the ultimate destruction of Samaria and of the whole kingdom. _Samaria _then _shall be desolate... [ Continue Reading ]