*H In that day the Lord with his hard, and great, and strong sword shall visit leviathan the bar serpent, and leviathan the crooked serpent, and shall slay the whale that is in the sea.
Ver. 1. Hard. Sept. "holy." C. — Leviathan. That is, the devil, the great enemy of the people of God. He is called the bar serpent from his strength, and the crooked serpent from his wiles, and the whale of the sea, from the tyranny he exercises in the sea of this world. He was spiritually slain by the death of Christ, when his power was destroyed. Ch. — It may also literally refer to Nabuchodonosor, and the king of Egypt, or rather to Cambyses, or Holofernes, but particularly Cambyses. C.
*H In that day there shall be singing to the vineyard of pure wine.
Ver. 2. Vineyard; the Church of Christ, (Ch.) or Judea. It may be the beginning of a noted song. C.
*H I am the Lord that keep it, I will suddenly give it drink: lest any hurt come to it, I keep it night and day.
Ver. 3. Drink; or, as the Hebrew may also be rendered, I will continually water it. Ch. — God will protect his people. C.
*H There is no indignation in me: who shall make me a thorn and a brier in battle: shall I march against it, shall, I set it on fire together?
Ver. 4. In me, against the Church; nor shall I become as a thorn or brier in its regard; or march against it, or set it on fire: but it shall always take fast hold of me, and keep an everlasting peace with me. Ch. — God rather speaks of the enemy. If he attempt to lay waste this vineyard, I will chastise him. C.
*H When they shall rush in unto Jacob, Israel shall blossom and bud, and they shall fill the face of the world with seed.
Ver. 6. Rush in. Some understand this of the enemies of the true Israel, that shall invade it in vain. Others of the spiritual invasion made by the apostles of Christ. Ch. — Prot. "He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root." Sept. "those who come are children of Jacob." H.
*H Hath he struck him according to the stroke of him that struck him? or is he slain, as he killed them that were slain by him?
Ver. 7. Struck. Hath God punished the carnal persecuting Jews, in proportion to their doings against Christ and his saints? Ch. — God punished Israel as a father: but he will destroy the Chaldees, &c. C.
*H In measure against measure, when it shall be cast off, thou shalt judge it. He hath meditated with his severe spirit in the day of heat.
Ver. 8. Cast off. When the synagogue shall be cast off, thou shalt judge it in measure, and in proportion to its crimes. Ch. — The Israelites have been rigorously punished. C. — He, &c. God hath designed severe punishments in the day of his wrath. Ch.
*H Therefore upon this shall the iniquity of the house of Jacob be forgiven: and this is all the fruit, that the sin thereof should be taken away, when he shall have made all the stones of the altar, as burnt stones broken in pieces, the groves and temples shall not stand.
Ver. 9. Jacob; viz. of such of them as shall be converted. Ch. — Altar, dedicated to idols: then he shall obtain pardon. C.
*H For the strong city shall be desolate, the beautiful city shall be forsaken, and shall be left as a wilderness: there the calf shall feed, and there shall he lie down, and shall consume its branches.
Ver. 10. City. Jerusalem, (Ch.) or more probably Babylon, of which he is going to speak.
*H Its harvest shall be destroyed with drought, women shall come and teach it: for it is not a wise people, therefore he that made it, shall not have mercy on it: and he that formed it, shall not spare it.
Ver. 11. Women. The princes shall be weak and irresolute. C. — Sept. "Hither, ye women, coming from the shew. For it is not an intelligent people."
*H And it shall come to pass, that in that day the Lord will strike from the channel of the river even to the torrent of Egypt, and you shall be gathered together one by one, O ye children of Israel.
Ver. 12. River Euphrates, even to the Nile. H. — Nabuchodonosor laid waste all the intermediate countries. Afterwards Cyrus gave the people liberty. On the death of Cambyses, the nations were in consternation; and it was only during the peaceable reign of Darius that Israel returned, though not in a body, as the Jews had done twenty years before. C. xxvi. C. — By one, into the Church of Christ. Jo. xi. M.
*H And it shall come to pass, that in that day a noise shall be made with a great trumpet, and they that were lost, shall come from the land of the Assyrians, and they that were outcasts in the land of Egypt, and they shall adore the Lord in the holy mount in Jerusalem.
Ver. 13. Trumpet. The preaching of the Gospel for the conversion of the Jews. Ch.