; Trequired their obedience for their own good, I had {wore to their Fathers that I would give their Poſterity a Land abound- ine with plenty of all good things, the beſt and choiceſt things, upon ſuppoſition of their Obedience. I have performed that Oath, | have brought them into ſuch a Land, and ſhewed my ſelf faithful to them. k God having ended his Speech, the Prophet faith, Amen, either afſeiting the truth of what God had ſaid; or wiſhing that the People would do according to their Covenant ; or aflenting to the Curſe, according as God had commanded, Deut. 27. 26.
6 Then the LORD ſaid unto me, Proclaim all thee Words, in the cities of Judah, and in the ſtreets of Jerufilem, ſaying, Hear ye the words of this co- venant and do them /.
{ Let it be thy work to call upon this People, not only to hear, but to dothe words which 1 have commanded them,and they have ingaged to do. :
7 For I earneſtly proteſted unto your fathers, in the day 74.2: I bronght chem up out of the land of Ezypt, cv unto this day, * riting early, and protelt- li7, taying. Obey my voIce m.
m In proteſting I protefted, an ulual way in the Hebrew, by which they exprets the feriouſnets, and vehemency of an Action. By +rt-fling he mcaneth the ſame with charging, aud commanding, w ith promiſes annexed to obedience, and threatnings denounced in calz of diſobedience. This God ſaith he hath done with a great deal of Patience, and diligenceeven from the time that this People were brought by him out of the Land of Zzypt.
$ * Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear,
. but walked every one in the | imagination of their
evil heart -- : therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them
to do, but they did them not v.
» Bat had not hearkened unto his Counſels, but every one had walked after th: imzgination of his own heart. A phraſe by which fin is often expreſſed in Holy Writ, Deut. 29. 19. Chap. 3. 17. and 7.2.4. and 9. 14. and 13, 10, and 16.12. and 18. 12, and 23.17. The imaginations of mans heart are only evil, Gen. 6. 5. and 8,21. Hence Holineſs is ſet out by the notion of ſelf-denying, not pleafing our ſelves, mortitying our Members, &c. 0 For this Go threatneth to bring upon them all his words of threatning, annexed to the Covenant of the Law.
9 And the LORD ſaid unto me, a conſpiracy is found amongſt the men of fudah and the inhabitants of Jeruſalem p.
p All forts of People, whether of the City or Country, have Gone alike, as if they had conſpired together td break nf Law, and to provoke me to wiath, they are all alike and a alike. The thing is maniteſt, it js not done ſecretly, nor is it done raſh]y but
13 For accordingto the number of thy * cities were * Ch.2.28. thy gods, O Judah, and according to the number of the ſtreets of Jeruſalem, have ye ſetup altars to thar + ſhameful thing «, evez altars to burn incenſe uncoT Heb
| Baal x.
| # Not that they had juſt ſo many Idols as were Cities in Judah,
'or Altars as were Streets in Hzeruſalem, but the meaning is, they had very many; and the People who lived in every City and Street were guilty. What he calls their ſhame, or the ſhaineful
; thing, is afterwards expounded Baal ; called a ſhameful thing, be-
cauſe 1t was what they had reaſon to be aſhamed of, and what , would certainly bring them to ſhame and confuſion. x Baal ſigni- fieth Lord, and wasa common name givento more Idols than one ; . the P}e@ricians uſed the Name Baal, the Chaldzans, Bell. God
( Hof. 2. 16.) torbad his People to call him by this Name, becauſe
lo abuſed co Idolatry. Many think that the Sun was what the Pha- | nicians worſhipped under this Name ; ſome ſay Saturn was he, Ma- naſſes who preceded Foſiah, reared up Altars for Baalim, and made Groves and worſhipped all the Holt of Heaven and ſerved them, 2 Chron. 33.3. Learned Men ſay, that the 4ſians called the ſame Idol Baz, whom thoſe of Eurcpe called Fupiter. 1t is not impro- bable which learned Men judge, That the Heathens acknowledg- ing one ſupream Being, worſhipped him in ſevera] Creatures ; ſome miſtaking the Sun, Moon and Stars to be he, Others other
things ; theſe they called Baalim, Lords, as they called the prin-'
pal God Baal. The Heathens [dolatry ſeems to be their worſhip- ping God zn Creatures, and paying a Divine Homage to Creatures, the Sun, Moon and Stars, and other far inferiour to them, not believing that thoſe Creatures were the Divine Being, but that the Divine Being was in them, and from them would hear their Sup- plicants and do them good ; which though the Heathens mighc a little be excuſed in, having ho Scriptures ſhewing them the na- ture of the true God, and how he would be worſhipped, yet in the Fews was inexcuſable, they having the Oracles of God com- micted to them, which both ſhewed them the true nature of God, and let them know that no Creature could be any fimiliude or re- preſentation of him, a'1d that his Will was, thar they ſhould pay their Homage to him., without any fimilitudes, or reprelentations exciting them to that Homage, fit for nothing but to beget in the Minds of People falſe Conceptions and Apprehenfions of the Di- vine Being, which is meerly ſpiritual ;notwithſtanding which di- reCtion from the Divine Law, the Fews after the manner of the Heathens, would pay their Homage to God, before the Sun, Moon and Stars,and betore Images wade with hands,and make Altars to tuch Creatures and Images, which was the Idolatry God complain of, and of which he declaresa greater abhorrence than almoſt of any other fin. Ic is likely that Baat here mentioned was the Sun, becauſe it was near Manaſſes times,who thus highly offended God, and it is probable that though Foſ#ah had begun a famous Refor- mation, yet. a great dea] of this leaven was left in the common People : Beſides that the fins of Manaſſes, 2 Kings 23. 26. are reckoned up as the {ſpecial proximate cauſe of this Wrath of God againſt Fudah.
14 Therefore * pray thou not for this People, nei- * Ch. 7.15,
ther lift up a cry, or prayer for them, for I will not hear them 19 the time that they cry unto me, for their
upon a Contpiracy, upon Counlel and Deliberation.
10 They arcturned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refuſed to hear my words q ; and they went after other Gods to ſerve them: the houſe of Iſrael and the houle of Judah have broken my co-
Venant which I made with their fathers 7.