And stood - On the right side of the house, where the cherubim were in the inner court.
And every one - The glory, the cherubim, the wheels, all stood, respiting execution, and giving opportunity of preventing the approaching misery. The east gate - The last court, the court of the people.
I knew - Either by special assurance as a prophet, or by comparing them with those which he had often seen in the temple.
Jaazaniah - Not him that is mentioned chap.8:11. Pelatiah - Named here for that dreadful sudden death, whereby he became a warning to others.
He - The Lord sitting on the cherub.
It - The threatened danger and ruin by the Chaldeans. The caldron - This is an impious scoff, yet mixt with some fear of the prophet, Jer 1:13.
Ye - Many murders have you committed yourselves, and you are accountable to God for all those whom the Chaldeans have slain, seeing you persuaded them, thus obstinately to stand out.
Bring you forth - Not in mercy, but in wrath, by the conquering hand of Babylon.
Deliver you - Defeating all your projects for escape.
Will judge - My just judgments shall pursue you, whithersoever you fly.
Your caldron - The place of your sufferings; greater are reserved for you in a strange land. Judge you - I will do more against you at Riblah, where the captive king had his children, and others with them, first murdered before his eyes, and then his own eyes put out; Riblah is called the border of Israel: for Syria was adjoining to Israel on the north, and Riblah was on the frontiers of Syria.
Pelatiah - Mentioned ver.1, a principal man among the twenty - five princes, who made all the mischief in Jerusalem. It should seem this was done in vision now, (as the slaying of the ancient men, chap.9:6,) but it was an assurance, that when this prophecy was published, it would be done in fact. And the death of Pelatiah was an earnest of the compleat accomplishment of the prophecy. A full end - By slaying all, as this man is cut off.
Thy brethren - Thy nearest kindred, which it seems were left in Jerusalem. Their degeneracy is more noted in the repetition of the word brethren. Gone far - Ye are gone far from the Lord; as much as the Heathens accused the Christians of atheism.
Say - In vindication of them. Although - The obstinate Jews at Jerusalem will call them apostates; but I the Lord sent them thither, and will own them there. Scattered - Dispersed them in many countries which are under the king of Babylon: yet they are dear to me. A little sanctuary - A little one in opposition to that great temple at Jerusalem. To him they shall flee, and in him they shall be safe, as he was that took hold on the horns of the altar. And they shall have such communion with God in the land of their captivity, as it was thought could be had no where but in the temple.
They - They who assemble upon Cyrus's proclamation first, and then upon Darius's proclamation, shall overcome all difficulties, dispatch the journey, and come safely to their own land. Take away - They shall abolish superstition and idolatry from the temple.
One heart - Cyrus shall give them leave, and I will give them a heart to return; and on their way shall there be great utility; and, when come to Jerusalem, they shall own me, and my laws, and with one consent, build Jerusalem and the temple, and restore true religion. The stony - That hard, inflexible, undutiful, incorrigible disposition.
Heart - Soul and affections. Walketh - Either secretly adhere to, or provide for the service of idols, called here detestable things.
Went up - The glory of the Lord removes now out of the city, over which it had stood some time, waiting for their repentance. The mountain - Mount Olivet. He removed thither, to be as it were within call, and ready to return, if now at length in this their day, they would have understood the things that made for their peace.
The spirit - The same spirit which carried him to Jerusalem, now brings him back to Chaldea. Went up - Was at an end.
Eyes to see - They have capacity, if they would, to understand, but they will not understand, what thou speakest.
Stuff - Vessels or instruments, wherein thou mayest put what is portable.
In their sight - Before 'tis quite night, that they, who should learn by this sign, may see and consider it.
Dig - Come not through the door, but as one who knows there is a guard upon the door, get to some back part of thy house, and dig there thyself, either to make the greater haste, or to keep all secret; for all will be little enough for them that must act what thou dost represent. Carry out - Through the hole thou hast dug.
Bare it - In testimony of the servitude they shall be reduced to, who then must do what servants or beasts were wont to be employed in. Cover thy face - As unwilling to be seen or known. For - I have set thee for a sign to them, and thou shalt tell them the meaning of these things in due time.
I brought forth - Here is a transposing of his actions, and rehearsal of that in the first place, which was acted in the second place.
Say - Though they enquire not, yet tell them what I mean hereby, that this prophecy is a burden which the kingdom shall groan under. The prince - Zedekiah.
I am your sign - My person is the emblem of yours, and my actions of that you shall do. And the like shall be done to you, O inhabitants of Jerusalem. We cannot say concerning our dwelling place, that it is our resting place. For how far we may be tossed from it before we die, we cannot foresee.
The prince - Zedekiah. Shall bear - Disguised, as a servant, in hope to conceal himself, chuses the twilight as the time that would best favour his design. They shall dig - This was fulfilled when they broke down the wall to fly, Jer 39:4. Cover his face - Zedekiah did by this aim at concealing himself.
It - Neither the land nor the city; for his eyes will be put out at Riblah.
Declare - By relating those sins, for which God was justly angry, and for which he punished them, though they were his own people. Thy - The Chaldeans. See how God brings good out of evil! The dispersion of sinners, who had done God much dishonour and disservice in their own country, proves the dispersion of penitents, who shall do him much honour and service in other countries!
The people - Thy fellow captives. And of the land - Those that dwell in the countries round about Jerusalem. Her land - Jerusalem's land, so called because it was the head city thereof. Desolate - Because it shortly shall be laid waste, emptied of inhabitants, wealth and plenty. Violence - Injustice, oppression and tyranny of the Jews toward one another.
That proverb - That short saying commonly used. Days - Of wrath and vengeance, are to come a great while hence. Every vision - Threatening vision, which Jeremiah and Ezekiel would fright us with, comes to nothing.
I will speak - There has been and shall be a succession of God's ministers, by whom he will speak, to the end of the world. Even in the worst times, God left not himself without witness, but raised up men that spoke for him, and spoke from him.
That prophesy - Out of their own deceiving hearts, not from God.
Foolish prophets - Foolish prophets are not of God's sending: for whom he sends, he either finds fit, or makes fit. Where he gives warrant, he gives wisdom. Their own spirit - Not the spirit of God. Seen nothing - God hath shewed them no vision.
Thy prophets - Thy prophets, not mine. Like the foxes - Hungry, and ravening, crafty, and guileful. In the deserts - Where want makes them more eager after their prey.
Ye - Vain prophets. Gone up - As in a besieged city, whose wall is broken down, a valiant soldier would run up into the breach to repel the enemy; so true prophets partly by prayer, and partly by doctrine, labour to preserve God's people. Hedge - The house of Israel is the Lord's vineyard, through the hedge whereof many breaches are made. To stand - Not with arms, but with fasting, prayer, and repentance.
Vanity - Things that have no foundation.
Mine hand - My power striking them. In the assembly - Have no seat among the rulers, nor voice among the counsellors. Written - Not registered among those that return, Ezra 2:1,2. Enter - They shall never come into the land of Israel. They shall not be written in the book of eternal life, which is written for the just ones of the house of Israel, saith the Chaldea paraphrast.
Peace - They told sinners, no harm would happen to them. And those are the most dangerous seducers, who suggest to sinners that which tends to lessen their dread of sin, or their fear of God. These are compared to men who build a slight tottering wall, which others daub with untempered mortar; sorry stuff, that will not bind, nor hold the bricks together: doctrines not grounded on the word of God.
Ye shall know - Those that deceived others, will in the end be found to have deceived themselves. And no doom will be more fearful, than that of unfaithful ministers.
Accomplish - Fulfil what my prophets foretold.
Sew pillows - A figurative speech, expressing the security, which they promised to every one that came to them. Kerchiefs - Triumphal caps, which were made by these prophetesses, and put upon the head of every who one consulted them, and by these they were to interpret, as a promise of victory over the Babylonians. Stature - That is, of every age, whether younger or elder, which usually is seen by their stature. To hunt - All this is really spreading a net, as hunters do, to catch the prey. Will ye save - Can you preserve them alive, whom you deceive by your promises?
Pollute me - Pretending my name for what I never spake. My people - My own people. Handfuls of barley - For a mean reward. To slay - You denounce evil to the best, whom God wilt keep alive. To save - Declaring safety, to the worst, whom God will destroy.
There - At Jerusalem. Grow - You promise a flourishing, growing, state to all enquirers; and this is the net with which you hunt souls. Tear them - With violence, and suddenness.