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VERSE 5.
They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in the darkness; All the founda∣tions of the earth are out of course.
THis Verse is a kind of Parenthesis, and contains the Lords Pathetical complaint of that igno∣rance, stupidity and obstinacy which he found in the Judges of those times; together with the sad effects of it in the Common-wealth; The foundations of the earth were out of course.
In this Verse the person is changed; God speaks not here to the Magistrates themselves, as he did Verse 2. He sayes not, Ye do not know, ye do not un∣derstand; but as one troubled in mind, and mourning within himself to see their desperate malice, and the confusions that attended it, he cryes out,* 1.1 They have not known, they have no understanding, i. e. they do not know nor understand. It is frequent in that language to put the Praeterperfect Tense for the Pre∣sent Tense; as Psalm 1. 1. Blessed is the man who hath not walked, i. e. who doth not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. It notes a continued act, and implies their perseverance in ignorance;* 1.2 q. d. But what do I mean? Why go I about to make a black∣more white? Tis in vain to reprove this kind of men, or to exhort them to the study of righteousness; for they grow worse and worse; they are so blind∣ed, stupified and hardned in their sin, that they will go on in their dark and sinfull courses, though they ruine themselves, and the Common-wealth to boot.
In the words we have all the Degrees of Compa∣rison, and in them the character of evil Judges: 1. These corrupt Judges were blind: They know not,