and calling of the Gentiles, (esteemed of them fooles) for which the Iewes were angry, as appea∣reth by Rom. 11. 14. 1 Thess. 2. 15, 16. which Gentiles are called foolish, because they were carri∣ed away after dumbe idols, 1 Cor. 12. 2. Whereup∣on it is said, They are altogether brutish and foolish: the stocke is a doctrine of vanities, Ier. 10. 8. They became vaine in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened: professing themselves to be wise, they became fooles, Rom. 1. 21, 22.
Vers. 22. kindled in mine anger] or, burneth from [unspec 22] mine anger, or, through my nostrill, that is, by the breath thereof. By fire is meant Gods fiery judg∣ments, which by the enemy, drought, blasting, and otherwaies he would bring upon their land, Amos 2. 2, 5. So in Ezek. 30. 8. God, saith hee, will set a fire in Egypt, which the Chaldee there ex∣poundeth, peoples strong as fire; but here the Chal∣dee translateth, For an East winde strong as fire com∣meth forth from before me in anger. As before, God withdrew his good things from them, so now hee threatneth to inflict evils upon their land, and up∣on their persons. the lowest hell] or, the hell of lownesse, that is, the lowest part of the earth; for so Sheol, or Hell, here and often meaneth, as Num. 16. 30, 32, 33. See the Annotations on Gen. 37. 35. This meaneth a most vehement fire, which should burne downeward, even to the middest of the earth. the earth] or, the land, wherein Israel dwelt, which should be wasted with war, drought, &c. that no man should dwel, no fruits should grow thereon: for God turneth springs of waters into dry ground; a fruitfull land into saltnesse (or barren∣nesse) for the wickednesse of them that dwell therein, Psal. 107. 33, 34. So upon the famine in Israel, the Prophet complaineth; The fire hath devoured the pastures of the wildernesse, and the flame hath burnt all the trees of the field, Ioel 1. 4,—19. foundations of the mounts] that is, the strongest pla∣ces of the land, Ierusalem it selfe, founded on the holy mountaines, was destroyed by the fire of Gods wrath, Amos 2. 5. Lament. 2. 1, 2, 3. So it is said, The Lord hath kindled a fire in Sion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof. Lam. 4. 11.
Vers. 23. I will heap] or, will adde: I will consume, will spend evils on them: the Greeke saith, I will ga∣ther [unspec 23] together evils against them. These plagues con∣cerne the people, as the former did their land. arrowes] that is, plagues that shall come suddenly and swiftly, Zach. 9. 14. Arrowes meane plagues of all sorts, as the Scriptures mention the evill ar∣rowes of famine, Ezek. 5. 16. of pestilence, Psal. 91. 5. and other sicknesses, Psal. 38. 2, 3. Iob 6. 4. of warres, Ier. 50. 14. of thunder, lightning, &c. 2 Sam. 22. 14, 15. And among the Gentiles this phrase was used, as the pestilence is called, an evill arrow, by Homer in Iliad. 1.
Vers. 24. burnt] in Greeke, consumed: Moses [unspec 24] useth a word not elsewhere found in Hebrew, but in the Chaldee it signifieth to heat or burne; and so it may intimate their destruction by the Chalde∣ans, at what time they were so burnt with famine, that their visages were blacke as a cole, their skin clave to their bones, Lament. 4. 8. Others translate it, filled or mested; so it answereth to their sinne, who had filled themselves, and kicked, vers. 15. and now for a punishment should bee filled with hunger. This the Chaldee favoureth, translating it, blowne up (or swollen) with famine. And this is the first evill arrow of famine, as Ezek. 5. 16. the burning cole] hereby the lightning or hot thunderbolt seemeth to be meant, as in Psal. 78. 48. or the burning carbuncle, a fiery ulcer on the body, as in Habak. 3. 5. this word is joyned with the pe∣stilence. Properly the word signifieth fiery coles, Song 8. 6. figuratively it is applied to arrowes that flie, Psal. 76. 4. The Greeke and Chaldee here expound it, devoured with fowles. bitter] in Greeke, incurable. stinging plague] in Hebrew, Keteb, which is the name of a deadly stinging dis∣ease, joyned with the pestilence, in Psal. 91. 6. which the Apostle translateth a sting, in 1 Cor. 15. 55. from Hos. 13. 14. and so the Greeke there ex∣poūdeth it. But here the Greek calleth it the disease Opisthotonos, which is a strange & vehement disease in the necke, when by the stiffenesse of the nerves or sinewes, the necke is strained backward to the shoulders, and killeth a man within foure daies, as Cornel. Celsus sheweth in l. 4. c. 3. But it see∣meth here to be more generall, for the pest and o∣ther terrible sicknesses, wherby God soone cutteth off the life of man with bitternesse. The Chaldee expoundeth it evill spirits. the teeth] Hebr. the tooth of beasts, wild beasts to devoure men and cat∣tell: see Levit. 26. 22. Ezek. 5. 17. and 14. 21. serpents] or, creeping things, wormes: the Chal∣dee translateth it, dragons that creepe in the dust. The wild beasts kill by force; wormes and serpents by secret subtilty.
Vers. 25. Without] abroad out of the cities. [unspec 25] the sword] of the enemy by warres. bereave] or rob, to wit, all sorts and sexes, as after followeth. Thus God threatneth his foure sore judgments, mentioned in Ezek. 14. 21. Revel. 6. 8. the sword, and the famine, and the evill beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off from them man and beast. terrour] in∣ward terrours of conscience, whereof see Iob 15. 20,—24. terrours of death, as Psal. 55. 5. and so the Chaldee translateth it, dread of death; meaning that they should even die through feare. both the young man] to wit, shall be bereaved: so all sorts shall be cut off with these judgements.
Vers. 26. scatter them into corners] or, drive them [unspec 26] from corner to corner: in Greeke, disperse them; in Chaldee, destroy them. Here God sheweth the mea∣sure of their punishments, which though they de∣served to have in all extremity, yet hee would mo∣derate in mercy.
Vers. 27. Were it not] or, but that I feare the [unspec 27] wrath (or provocation) of the enemie. God speaketh these things after the manner of men: and in re∣gard of his glory (that the enemy should not blas∣pheme) he would spare Israel from utter destructi∣on. So God pleadeth also with them in Ezek. 20. 13, 14, 21, 22, 44. behave themselves strange∣ly] or, make strange of the matter, deny and dissem∣ble the truth of the thing: which the Chaldee expoundeth, magnifie themselves. Compare