Here the Prophet avowedly assumes that the people were sufficiently proved guilty; and yet they resisted through a hardiness the most obdurate, and rejected all admonitions without shame, and without any discretion. He is therefore commanded to direct his discourse to the mountains and to the hills;... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hear, ye mountains, the controversy of Jehovah, _(161) how? _and ye strong foundations of the earth, _he says. He speaks here no more of hills, but summons the whole world; as though he said, “There is not one of the elements which is not to bear witness respecting the obstinacy of this people; for... [ Continue Reading ]
Here God, in the first place, offers to give a reason, if he was accused of any thing. It seems indeed unbecoming the character of God, that he should be thus ready as one guilty to clear himself: but this is said by way of concession; for the Prophet could not otherwise express, that nothing that d... [ Continue Reading ]
God, having testified that he had in nothing been troublesome to the people, now states with how great and with how many benefits he had bound them to himself. But we may prefer taking the words as explanatory and somewhat ironical that he records his benefits in the place of trouble or vexation; th... [ Continue Reading ]
God briefly records here what happened in the desert, — that the people had need of some extraordinary help in addition to the many benefits which he had conferred on them. For though the people lived safely in the desert as to the Egyptians, though they were fed by manna and water from the rock flo... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet now inquires, as in the name of the people, what was necessary to be done: and he takes these two principles as granted, — that the people were without any excuse, and were forced to confess their sin, — and that God had hitherto contended with them for no other end and with no other des... [ Continue Reading ]
He then says that God had shown by his Law what is good; and then he adds what it is,_to do justice, to love mercy, _or kindness, _and to be humbled before God. _It is evident that, in the two first particulars, he refers to the second table of the Law; that is _to do justice, and to love mercy _(16... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet complains here that he and other teachers did but little, though their cry resounded and was heard by the whole people. He therefore says, that the _voice _of God _cried; _as though he had said that there was no excuse for ignorance, for God had indiscriminately exhorted them all to repe... [ Continue Reading ]
Interpreters differ as to the word האש, _eash_: some think that it ought to be read האיש, _eaish, _with an addition of two letters, and render it, “Is it yet man?” But this would render the passage abrupt. Others translate, “Is there yet fire?” As though it was אש, _ash_; and they suppose that wealt... [ Continue Reading ]
_Shall I justify? etc. _(174) This verse is connected with the last, and is added as an explanation. For God having come forth as a Judge, now shows what sort of Judge he is, even one who is not biased by favor, who does not change his judgment, who shows no respect of persons. But men, for the most... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet means that the people were so given to avarice and plunder, that all the riches they had heaped together had been got by iniquitous robberies or by wicked gain. He now addresses the citizens of Jerusalem: for though iniquity then prevailed through the whole of Judea, there was yet a reas... [ Continue Reading ]
God, after having declared that he would be the Judge of the people, speaks now more clearly of their punishment. He says therefore that he was armed with vengeance: for it often happens, when a judge, even one who hates wickedness, is not able to punish, for he dreads the fierceness of those whom h... [ Continue Reading ]
And he points out what sort of punishment it would be; and he mentions even two kinds in this verse. He says first, _Thou shalt eat, and shalt not be satisfied. _One of God’s plagues, we know, is famine: and so the Prophet here declares, that the people would be famished, but not through the sterili... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet adds another kind of punishment, which was to follow the calamity threatened in the last verse. He had said, that those who escaped would at length be destroyed by the sword; he says now, that the whole land would become a prey to enemies: and he took his words from Moses; for it was usu... [ Continue Reading ]
Some read the words in the future tense, “And they will observe the statutes of Omri,” etc., and gather this meaning, — that the Prophet now foresees by the Spirit, that the people would continue so perverse in their sins, as to exclude every hope that they could be reformed by any punishments. The... [ Continue Reading ]