*H Thus saith the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Juda, and there thou shalt speak this word,
Ver. 1. Go. The contents of this chapter are of a more ancient date than those of the foregoing chapter; for the order of time is not always observed in the writings of the prophets. Ch. W. — King Joakim, who succeeded Sellum, A. 3394. Usher.
*H But if you will not hearken to these words: I swear by myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.
Ver. 5. Myself, having none greater. Heb. vi. 13. Oaths evince the insincerity of men, who distrust each other; but when God condescends to use them, it shews men's incredulity. — House, the temple, or rather the palace, where the king was sitting at the gate, v. 2. C.
*H For thus saith the Lord to the house of the king of Juda: Thou art to me Galaad the head of Libanus: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities not habitable.
Ver. 6. Galaad, the head of Libanus. By Galaad, a rich and fruitful country, is here signified the royal palace of the kings of the house of David; by Libanus, a high mountain abounding in cedar-trees, the populous city of Jerusalem. Ch. W. Theodor. — Both mountains are connected. S. Jer. Strabo xvi. — Yet the proper Galaad was at some distance, and on the side of Ammon very barren. The palaces had arisen from a miserable state to resemble Libanus. They shall surely be destroyed. C. — The advantageous situation of Jerusalem should not protect it, no more than it had done Galaad. 4 K. xv. 29. Jun. Grot.
*H And I will prepare against thee the destroyer and his weapons: and they shall cut down thy chosen cedars, and shall cast them headlong into the fire.
Ver. 7. Prepare. Lit. sanctify; (Ch.) as various religious ceremonies were used before the declaration of war, and to know what would be the success. C. — The Chaldees were destined to execute God's decrees. S. Jer. — Cedars; fine buildings, (v. 14. C.) and chiefs. H.
* Footnote * Deuteronomy 29 : 24
And all the nations shall say: Why hath the Lord done thus to this land? what meaneth this exceeding great heat of his wrath?* Footnote * 3_Kings 9 : 8
And this house shall be made an example of: every one that shall pass by it, shall be astonished, and shall hiss, and say: Why hath the Lord done thus to this land, and to this house?*H Weep not for him that is dead, nor bemoan him with your tears: lament him that goeth away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
Ver. 10. Dead. He means the good king Josias, who by death was taken away, so as not to see the miseries of his country. — Away. Sellum, alias Joachaz, who was carried captive into Egypt. Ch. v. 12. and 4 K. xxiii. 33. C. — He was the fourth son of Josias, (1 Par. iii. 15.) and had probably the title of king after the death of Sedecias. W.
*H Woe to him that buildeth up his house by injustice, and his chambers not in judgment: that will oppress his friend without cause, and will not pay him his wages.
Ver. 13. Friend. Joakim forced his subjects to work for him for nothing.
*H Who saith: I will build me a wide house, and large chambers: who openeth to himself windows, and maketh roofs of cedar, and painteth them with vermilion.
Ver. 14. Wide. Heb. "measured;" large, and well-proportioned. — Vermilion, (cynopide.) This colour was invented in the town of Pontus, and was used for statues, &c. Pliny xxxiii. 6. and xxxv. 6. Wisd. xiii. 14. C. — Heb. shashar (H.) may mean indigo. Jun. C.
*H Shalt thou reign, because thou comparest thyself to the cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and it was then well with him?
Ver. 15. Cedar; Josias. C. — Shall thy magnificent palaces secure thy empire? H. — Him. Obey the Lord, in like manner, that thou mayst prosper.
*H Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda: They shall not mourn for him, Alas, my brother, and, Alas, sister: they shall not lament for him, Alas, my lord, or, Alas, the noble one.
Ver. 18. Sister. They shall not condole with his consort.
*H He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, rotten and cast forth without the gates of Jerusalem.
Ver. 19. Jerusalem. C. xxxvi. 30. He died indeed with or like his fathers. 4 K. xxiv. 6. But it is not said that he was buried. S. Jer. — The Chaldees designed to send him to Babylon, (2 Par. xxxvi. 6.) but slew him on the road, (Usher, A. 3405) or treated his corpse ignominiously after his arrival. Grot.
*H Go up to Libanus, and cry: and lift up thy voice in Basan, and cry to them that pass by, for all thy lovers are destroyed.
Ver. 20. Go; Jerusalem. The verbs are feminine. — Lovers; citizens, or Egyptians, &c. C. xxvii. 2.
*H The wind shall feed all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity and then shalt thou be confounded, and ashamed of all thy wickedness.
Ver. 22. Pastors, or princes, whose expectations of aid will be frustrated. Osee xii. 1. Chal. "Thy leaders shall be scattered to all the winds."
*H As I live, saith the Lord, if Jechonias the son of Joakim the king of Juda were a ring on my right hand, I would pluck him thence.
Ver. 24. Jechonias: Joachin, (4 K. xxiv. 6. W.) or Chenias, who did not take warning by his predecessor's misfortune. — Ring, or seal, if he were most dear to me, the prime minister of the greatest monarch. Agg. ii. 24. C. — Alexander gave his ring to Perdiccas, designating him his successor, or regent. Curt. x.
*H And I will send thee, and thy mother that bore thee, into a strange country, in which you were not born, and there you shall die:
Ver. 26. Mother; Nohesta, (4 K. xxiv. 8.) who perverted, (C.) or did not correct him in his youth. H.
*H And they shall not return into the land, whereunto they lift up their mind to return thither.
Ver. 27. Mind; ardently desiring and expecting to be liberated. C.
*H Is this man Jechonias an earthen and a broken vessel? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?
Ver. 28. Jechonias. Prot. "Koniah, a despised broken idol? is he," &c. Sept. Alex. "Jechonias has been dishonoured as a vessel, or which there is no need, for he hath been snatched and cast," &c. H.
*H Thus saith the Lord: Write this man barren, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for there shall not be a man of his seed that shall sit upon the throne of David, and have power any more in Juda.
Ver. 30. Write this man barren. That is childless: not that he had no children, but that his children should never sit on the throne of Juda. Ch. v. 28. Mat. i. 12. Ezec. xvii. 24. Zorobabel was of his seed, yet he never obtained the title or sovereign power of a king. The Machabees were of a different family. S. Jer. — Joachin, or Jechonias, was restored indeed to some favour, (4 K. xxv. 27.) but not to the kingdom, no more than any of his posterity, till Christ. W.