s Thar is, he hath made his Judgments to pierce the moſt inward parts of the Nation ; or he hath mortally wounded me. In the Heb. it is the daughters of his quiver, a way of ſpeaking very uſual in He- brew, to expreſs any thing thar comes from another as the effe& either of a natural or moral cauſe, fo Sparks arecalled the Sons of the quick coal, Job 5-+7« and Corn the Sons of rho thor; &c. ;
14 I was * a deriſion to all my people, and * their ſong all the day z.
£ Though ſome thinkthe Prophet ſpeaks this of himſelf, yet con- ſidering he hath all along ſpoken in the name of the People, it is not probable, which makes a difficulty, how the pecple could be ade- riſiontv themſelves ? It ſeemerh therefore ill Tranſlated, and that it ſhould have been, 7 was a deriſion to all people, leaving out my, that is to all Foreigners, to whom the Jews were ade a derifion and an hifling, there only wants the Jaft Letter in \DY, and it is well,
obſerved by the learned Author of the Engliſh Amnorations, that the like defeCt 1s to be found asto the ſame word, 2 Sam. 22. 24- Com» pared with Pſal. 18. 43.-ſothat ? is not a Pronoun affix (upon which ſuppoſal our Tranſlators go ) but one of the Letters that form the plural number, the other being left out, and DY put for TAN).
15 He hath filled me with Þ bitterneſs, he hathmade me drunken with wormwood #«:
« That is, he hath filled me with ſevereand bitter diſpenſations; Wormwood 1s a bitter Herb, bur it is alſo a wholeſome Herbz and therefore ſome think that the Hebrew word ſhould rather be Tranſla- ted Henbane, and that it ſignifies ſome Herb whoſe juice is intoxi- cating and poiſonous. | '
16 He hath alſo broken my teeth with gravel-ſtones, he hath || covered me with aſhes w,
w Theſe are but more metaphorical expreſſions ſignifying the unpleaſant difficult condition into which God had brought this pec- ple. They were like Men that lived upon gritty bread, more fit to break their teeth than to nouriſh them; they were in the ſtate of Mourners, and no ordinary Mourners, who were wont to throw aſhes on their heads, they were all over-covered with aſhes. ;
i7 And thou haſt removed my ſoul far off from peace x: I forgac + proſperity y. ;
x Peace here ſignifieth a rather than a freedom from war. Though during the Siege they. were far from Peace in aſtri& ſenſe, yet in their Captivity they had that peace, bur both their minds were far off from quiet, and their Perſons from Proſperity ; the Pro- pher owneth God as the cauſe of this, y They had in Canaan lived proſperouſly, but now they thought of it no more, norunderſtood what ſuch a thing meant.
18 AndI faid, My ſtrength and my hope is peri- ſhed from the LORD.
19 || Remembring mine afflition and my miſery, the wormwood and the gail z«
Z If according to our Tranſlation we read Remembring, or while 1 remember theſe rwo Verſes contain bur one Sentence; in the former part the? Prophet in the Name of this People expreſſeth their def. pairing Conditicn ; in the latter he gives the reaſon of ir, vi2. The peoples poring upon their great and heavy Afiictions, which he compares to wormwood and gall, two things exceſſively bitter, and ofren made uſe of to ſignifie great affliction, Pſal. 69. 21. Fer. 8. 14. and 9g. 15- and 23. 15. Rev. 8. t1. Butir may as well be rezd impe. ratively, Remember mine affliction, (o the firſt of theſe two Verlesex- preſleth the dejetion of the peoples Minds in their Captivity, cau- ſed though their pronnefs to deſpair of any better condition that their angry God wou!d bring them into. The 19h Vesleis a prayer
TT I
the great fairhfulneſs of God in fulfilling his many promiſes made
19neceſſary to waiting, for all turbulency and impatience of Spirit
terly to have conſumed us, nor becauſe we had not guilt encugh to have provoked his Juſtice to have put an end to our Lives, as well - as to the Lives of many Thouſands of our Countreymen, bur ir is meerly from the Lords free Love and Pity to us in cur Miſeries. If - God had nor a Blefling in ſtore for us, how is ir that weare Cap- tives, and not ſlain as many others were duringthe Siege ?
23 They are new every morning, great js chy faith- fulneſs d. EY | d Theſe Compaſſions of God are renewed day by day, to declare
for Mercy to his people.
24 The LORD 3s my * portion, faith my ſoul, there *Pfal. fore will I hope in him e-. 5. & 73s e God is the portion of his people, and they have choſen him as 29-& 1
their portion, he hath declared himſelf to them as ſuch, and they 57* :* have accepted him as ſuch. This gives them grovnd both for pati- Jer. 10» ence under his Providences, and alſo ofexp<&ation of good frem 10»
him in their loweſt and meaneſt ſtate. | 25 The LORD js good to them that waitfor him, to the ſoul that ſeeketh him f. f Good is a term of a very comprehenſive notion. The nature of it lieth in a ſuteableneſs to the thing or perſon to whom it re- Jateth, So it ſignifieth profit and pleaſantneſs. There is in God an eſſential goodneſs, which is his abſolute perfeQion ; but this Texe ſpeaketh of a communicative goodneſs, which floweth from him to his Creatures, and is ſeen in his ſuting their various neceſſities and defires with ſatisfa&ory Diſpenſations of Previdence. Though God be in one degree or other good to all, ye: he is more elpecially good to the true Worſhippers of him ; yet poſſibly nor in their ſea- ſons or times when they expe& or would have God ſhew himſelf ſo tothem, in this or that way, but always to thoſe who wait for him, patiently induring Trials and Afffflitions until God pleaſe to ſend them deliverance. 26 [It 5s good that a-»9an ſhould both hope, and quiet-
ly wait for the ſalvation of the LORD g.
£ Geod here either ſignifies hozeFum, what becomes Men, and is their Duty ; or Utile, what is profitable, and will rurn to good ac- count to them. Hoping and waiting differ but as the motherand deugh- ter. Hope being the Mother of Patience and Waiting, or as the Habit and 489. Hoping and Waiting being much the ſame, flow- ing froma gracious power and habit given theSoul to wait. Luiemeſs