Vers. 27. Because the Lord of hostes hath determined it, and who shall disanull it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turne it?
HEere the Prophet vseth an exclamation as it were the better to confirme the for∣mer sentence. For hauing told them that thi•• was the counsell of the Lord, to the end he might shew them it is so inuiolable that it can not be broken, Psal. 33.11. he asks the question as of a thing vtterlie impossible: Who (saith he) can disanull his counsell, or turne his hand back? and thus by this excla∣mation he sets himselfe boldlie against all creatures. For the Lord no sooner decrees a thing, but he stretcheth forth his hand: Is it once lifted vp? the worke then must of ne∣cessitie be put in execution. Now he not only excludes men by this his exclamation frō being able to hinder the decree of God, but all things else whatsoeuer; yea, be it that any other creature besides the diuell or man would set it selfe against his will. To con∣clude, he shewes that God is not subiect to repentance or change, but whatsoeuer falles out,* 1.1 were it in the greatest confusion in the world; yet is he alwaies like himselfe: nei∣ther can his enterprise be foreslowed by any occasion. [Obiect.]
If any replie, that God hath changed his counsell sometime, as when he pardoned the Niniuit••, Abimelech,* 1.2 or Pharaoh: the answere is easie. For when the Lord sent Ionah to the Niniuits, he manifests not that which he had decreed in his secret counsell, but meant to touch their hearts, and to bring them to r••∣pentance by the preaching of the Prophet, that he might shew them mercie, Ionah 1.2. & 3.10. The like he did when he threatned Abimelech and Pharaoh, because they had ta∣ken Abrahams wife vnto them, Gen. 12.17. and 20.3. for the Lord by fearing them caused them to change their course, lest they should be punished for their obstinacie.