better Skill'd in Fields and Vineyards, thai in the Law - or of leſs Conſcience than the better ſort may be, and therefore ſaid to be fooliſh, or infatuated, or put upon greater Temptaricn by reaſon of their Poverty, Pro. 30. 9. '. The Methods orWays of his Provi- 411Þ dence, the uſual manner of his Dealings; fo Judgment is to be taken Mf here for the ſame with Ways, I Sam. 2.13. aSItis alſo Chap. 8, 7. v8 5 I will ger me to the 9 great men, and will ſpeak unto them; for they have r known the way ofthe Lord, and the judgment of their GOD : but theſe heve alto-
gether broken the yoke, and burſt the / bonds.
q i. e. To the Nobles, both Prince and Pricf, that have more time to conſider rheſe things, have been better taught and educated Prov. 4. 4- Not that Jeremiah had any better Thoughts of theſe, but as Carrying a great Probability with it. » Had it been only amons thoſe in the former Verſe, it might have been more exculable; but it 15 in the very Nobles themſelves: the State is wholly corrupt from Head to Foot, who cannot plead Ignorance, therefore the more inexcuſable. /{ Theſe are more refraCttary than the other,more heady and obſtinate; no Law of God is able to hold them, Pſal.2.2 3. See Luke 19. 14, 279. There is not one better than another a- mong them, whether poor or rich. - Ee
6Wherefore a t lion out of the forreſt ſhallſlay them. * 4 a wolf of the|| x evenings (ball ſpoil them * y, a leo- | pard ſhall watch over their cities: every one that go- i Or | eth out thence (ball be torn in pieces, becauſe their Deſarrs. {| tranlgreflions are many, ard their backſlidings are j xz *Hoſ.:z.4 increaſed. | | .|, ; FHebq
t Nebuchaanezzar and the Chaldtan Army from Syria and Libanus, fi "og. woody places, are here pointed at under the Meraphor of Beaſts of Prey ot three kinds ; the Malignity thar is proper to each of theſe Creatures ſhall be put forth in this Babylonian Army, compared, for inſtance, to a Lion, Chap. 4. 7. which notes his great Power, Cou= rage, Pride, and inſulting over his Prey. « For their Greedineſs and Unſatiableneſs; one Wolf will deſtroy abundance of Sheep 3 and ſaid to be rhe Wolf of the Evening, or Deſarts, or Plains, they be ing the uſual Haunts of the Wolf; or Evening, becauſe then they
Foe 4
ing moſt part of the day intheir Dens for fear of the Huntſmen; want of Prey enrageth their Hunger at night, and becauſe vf this greedineſs to devour, the Judges among themſelves are ſaid to be Evening Wolves, deſcribed Zeph. 3. 3. They gnaw not the Bones till the morrow, either through Hunger ._ or Rage, '*x The Chals dean Army compared to a Leopard, notfor its ſpeed only, but e- ſpecially for its Vigilancy and Subtilty ; they will be fo vigil:nt, that ſcarce any ſhall eſcape, according to Verſe :6. y Heb. Stroxg; here is the reaſon why God would bring ſuch a Devaſtation upon them, becauſe they did, as it were, ſtrengthen themſelves in the multitude of their Rebellions 2gaintt him. gf
7 © How ſhall I z pardon thee for this ? thy a children have forſaken me, and ſworn by hems chat are b no gods: when TI had fed them to the full, they c then commited 4 aduitery, and ailembied themſeives by e
troops in the harlots houſes. - of;
z How canſt thou expe that I ſhall bear ſuch Afferonts ? I ſhall expoſe my felf, and ſecmro lay aſide my power, 1 ſhall be look'd u- pon as one, that either regard nor ſuch Injuries, or cannot avenge them, as Yerſe 9. . # Thy Inhabitants both in City and Country. 6 But by Idols ; Swearing is here pur, nor for. any part cf Worſhip, as {omerumes it 1s, but for a religivus Worſhipand Service of them, Chap. 4.2. c Here is nored the abuſe of God's Bounty, or the na- tural Effe& of our unſanttified Proſperity, Deur. 32. 15. Chap. 2.7. Jude 4. That whichin good Men doth oft breed Forgettulneſs, in
was the Effe&t of 1/rae!'s Eating and Drinking, Exod. 32. 6 and of Sodom's Sin, Exek. 16. 49. d Either 1. Metaphorically to be under- ſtood of their going a Whoring after their Idols; or, 2. Properly for corporal Ungleanneſs, they uſually going boti rogether, Numb. 25.
Houſe of the Harlos aſſembled themſelves. q. d. the. whole Houie of 1/- rael, Jeruſalem, and Judes, are but one Stew ; if it refers to their I- | emple a commort Houſe of ipiricual Harlotry ; bur rather, as it refers to the corpo-' ral Uncleannefs, it ſeems ro intimate that they did not a& the:r A« dulteries clandeſtinely or by ſtealth, bur. laying aſide all Modeſty, they went to Harlots Houles like brute Beaſts in company, as aſha-
. 8 They were 4s f fed horſes in the g morning : ry one h neighed after his neighbours wife. f To note the Greatneſs and Unrulineſs of their Luft, pampered Horſes being moſt wanton, like that Dev. 32. 15. g Ir is queſti- oned, whether Morning relates to Horſes, or to Men ; if to Horſes, then they are compared to Stallions: that having been fed to the tull over night, and lain at- caſe, - in the Morning they are moſt luſty : bur rather it ſeems to relate to Men, ſhewing that they were very early in-going abour their Filthinefles. Zeph. 3:: 7. following their Uncleannets with as great Eagerneſs as it is ſaid that Druh- kards follow ſtrong Drink, fs 5. i1. + i.e, With an impetuous Earneſtneſs and unwearied: Hunting, they ſought after the Adulte- refſes to ſatisfic their beaſtly luſts.. It notes 1. The ſtrength. of their Luſt, a thing in Horſes much taken notice of by Authors. 2. The Unbridledneſs and Uncontroulableneſs of ir, as 1s ſeen in the pampered Horſes hunting after the Mare, of which neighing is:a Sign, thus expreſſed Chap.-r3- 27. Thus the Grecians would ex- refs Men extreamly libidinous | by the Word i760, : and 47 TeT5pyos, and that they do iTTouays iy, fothe LXX and thus de- ſcribed Ezekiel 22. 11. | PE. 2 |
9 * Shall I not 7 viſit for theſe :hings ? ſaith the Lord:
and ſhall not my & ſoul be avenged on ſuch a nation as _Ver.298 this 2 | | -
»-< CVC-
6 Or perhaps I ſaid with my ſelf, not poſſibly, that hethought ſo, but that he might thus expreſs himſelf, as Men uſe to ſpeak. pPoor, low-ſpirited, or of the meaneſt rank among the Vulgar, underſtand bur little, either Men of grearer Ignorance, John 7 49. and there- fore ſaid not to know the way of the Lord. . See Chop. 8. 7. being