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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>Z E C H A R I A H.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. V.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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Hitherto we have seen visions of peace only, and all the words we have
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heard have been good words and comfortable words. But the pillar of
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cloud and fire has a black and dark side towards the Egyptians, as well
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as a bright and pleasant side towards Israel; so have Zechariah's
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visions; for God's prophets are not only his ambassadors, to treat of
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peace with the sons of peace, but heralds, to proclaim war against
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those that delight in war, and persist in their rebellion. In this
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chapter we have two visions, by which "the wrath of God is revealed
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from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." God
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will do great and kind things for his people, which the faithful sons
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of Zion shall rejoice in; but "let the sinners in Zion be afraid;" for,
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I. God will reckon severely with those particular persons among them
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that are wicked and profane, and that hated to be reformed in these
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times of reformation; while God is showing kindness to the body of the
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nation, and loading that with his blessings, they and their families
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shall, notwithstanding that, lie under the curse, which the prophet
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sees in a flying roll,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+5:1-4">ver. 1-4</A>.
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II. If the body of the nation hereafter degenerate, and wickedness
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prevail among them, it shall be carried off and hurried away with a
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swift destruction, under the pressing weight of divine wrath,
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represented by a talent of lead upon the mouth of an ephah, carried
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upon the wing I know not where,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+5:5-11">ver. 5-11</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Zec5_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Zec5_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Zec5_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Zec5_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Vision of the Flying Roll.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 520.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and
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behold a flying roll.
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2 And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a
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flying roll; the length thereof <I>is</I> twenty cubits, and the
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breadth thereof ten cubits.
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3 Then said he unto me, This <I>is</I> the curse that goeth forth
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over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth
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shall be cut off <I>as</I> on this side according to it; and every one
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that sweareth shall be cut off <I>as</I> on that side according to it.
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4 I will bring it forth, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> of hosts, and it shall
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enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that
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sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of
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his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the
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stones thereof.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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We do not find that the prophet now needed to be awakened, as he did
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+4:1"><I>ch.</I> iv. 1</A>.
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Being awakened then, he kept wakeful after; nay, now he needs not be so
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much as called to look about him, for of his own accord he <I>turns and
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lifts up his eyes.</I> This good men sometimes get by their
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infirmities, they make them the more careful and circumspect
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afterwards. Now observe,</P>
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<P>
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I. What it was that the prophet saw; he looked up into the air, and
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<I>behold a flying roll.</I> A vast large scroll of parchment which had
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been rolled up, and is therefore called a <I>roll,</I> was now unrolled
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and expanded; this roll was flying upon the wings of the wind, carried
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swiftly through the air in open view, as an eagle that shoots down upon
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her prey; it was a <I>roll,</I> like Ezekiel's that was <I>written
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within and without</I> with <I>lamentations, and mourning, and woe,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+2:9,10">Ezek. ii. 9, 10</A>.
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As the command of the law is in writing, for certainty and perpetuity,
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so is the <I>curse of the law;</I> it <I>writes bitter things</I>
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against the sinner. "What I have written I have written and what is
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written remains." The angel, to engage the prophet's attention, and to
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raise in him a desire to have it explained, asks him <I>what he
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sees?</I> And he gives him this account of it: <I>I see a flying
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roll,</I> and as near as he can guess by his eye it is <I>twenty cubits
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long</I> (that is, ten yards) and <I>ten cubits broad,</I> that is,
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five yards. The scriptures of the Old Testament and the New are
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<I>rolls,</I> in which God has <I>written to us the great things of his
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law</I> and gospel. Christ is the Master of the rolls. They are large
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rolls, have much in them. They are <I>flying</I> rolls; the angel that
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had <I>the everlasting gospel to preach flew in the midst of
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heaven,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+14:6">Rev. xiv. 6</A>.
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God's word <I>runs very swiftly,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+147:15">Ps. cxlvii. 15</A>.
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Those that would be let into the meaning of these rolls must first tell
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what they see, must go as far as they can themselves. "<I>What is
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written in the law? how readest thou?</I> Tell me that, and then thou
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shalt be made to <I>understand what thou readest.</I>"</P>
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<P>
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II. How it was expounded to him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+5:3,4"><I>v.</I> 3, 4</A>.
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This flying roll is a <I>curse;</I> it contains a declaration of the
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righteous wrath of God against those sinners especially who by swearing
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affront God's majesty or by stealing invade their neighbour's property.
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Let every Israelite rejoice in the blessings of his country with
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trembling; for if he swear, if he steal, if he live in any course of
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sin, he shall see them with his eyes, but shall not have the comfort of
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them, for against him the curse has gone forth. <I>If I be wicked, woe
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to me</I> for all this. Now observe here,</P>
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<P>
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1. The extent of this curse; the prophet sees it flying, but which way
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does it steer its course? It <I>goes forth over the face of the whole
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earth,</I> not only of the land of Israel, but the <I>whole world;</I>
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for those that have sinned against the <I>law written in their
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hearts</I> only shall by that law be judged, though they have not the
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book of the law. Note, All mankind are liable to the judgment of God;
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and, wherever sinners are, any where upon the face of the whole earth,
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the curse of God can and will find them out and seize them. Oh that we
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could with an eye of faith see the flying roll of God's curse hanging
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over the guilty world as a thick cloud, not only keeping off the
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sun-beams of God's favour from them, but big with thunders, lightnings,
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and storms, ready to destroy them! How welcome then would the tidings
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of a Saviour be, who came to <I>redeem us from the curse of the law</I>
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by being himself <I>made a curse for us,</I> and, like the prophet,
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<I>eating this roll!</I> The vast length and breadth of this roll
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intimate what a multitude of curses sinners lie exposed to. God will
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make their plagues wonderful, if <I>they turn not.</I></P>
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<P>
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2. The criminals against whom particularly this curse is levelled. The
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world is full of sin in great variety: so was the Jewish church at this
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time. But two sorts of sinners are here specified as the objects of
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this curse:--
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(1.) Thieves; it is <I>for every one that steals,</I> that by fraud or
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force takes that which is not his own, especially that robs God and
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converts to his own use what was devoted to God and his honour, which
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was a sin much complained of among the Jews at this time,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mal+3:8,Ne+13:10">Mal. iii. 8; Neh. xiii. 10</A>.
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Sacrilege is, without doubt, the worst kind of thievery. He also that
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<I>robs his father or mother, and saith, It is no transgression</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+28:24">Prov. xxviii. 24</A>),
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let him know that against him this curse is directed, for it is against
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<I>every one that steals.</I> The letter of the eighth commandment has
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no penalty annexed to it; but the curse here is a sanction to that
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command.
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(2.) Swearers. Sinners of the former class offend against the second
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table, these against the first; for the curse meets those that break
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either table. He that swears rashly and profanely shall not be held
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guiltless, much less he that swears falsely
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+5:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>);
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he imprecates the curse upon himself by his perjury, and so shall his
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doom be; God will say <I>Amen</I> to his imprecation, and turn it upon
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his own head. He has appealed to God's judgment, which is always
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according to truth, for the confirming of a lie, and to that judgment
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he shall go which he has so impiously affronted.</P>
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<P>
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3. The enforcing of this curse, and the equity of it: <I>I will bring
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it forth, saith the Lord of hosts,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+5:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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He that pronounces the sentence will take care to see it executed. His
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bringing it forth denotes,
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(1.) His giving it commission. It is a righteous curse, for he is a
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righteous God that warrants it.
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(2.) His giving it the setting on. He brings it forth with power, and
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orders what execution it shall do; and who can put by or resist the
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curse which a God of almighty power brings forth?</P>
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<P>
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4. The effect of this curse; it is very dreadful,
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(1.) Upon the sinner himself: <I>Every one that steals shall be cut
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off,</I> not corrected, but destroyed, cut off from the land of the
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living. The curse of God is a cutting thing, a killing thing. He shall
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be cut off <I>as on this side</I> (cut off from this place, that is,
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from Jerusalem), and so he that swears from <I>this side</I> (it is the
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same word), from this place. God will not spare the sinners he finds
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among his own people, nor shall the holy city be a protection to the
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unholy. Or they shall be cut off <I>from hence,</I> that is, from the
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face of the whole earth, over which the curse flies. Or he that steals
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shall be <I>cut off on this side,</I> and he that swears <I>on that
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side;</I> they shall all be cut off, one as well as another, and both
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according to the curse, for the judgments of God's hand are exactly
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agreeable with the judgments of his mouth.
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(2.) Upon his family: <I>It shall enter into the house of the thief and
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of him that swears.</I> God's curse comes with a warrant to break open
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doors, and cannot be kept out by bars or locks. There where the sinner
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is most secure, and thinks himself out of danger,--there where he
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promises himself refreshment by food and sleep,--there, in his own
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house, shall the curse of God seize him; nay, it shall fall not upon
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him only, but upon all about him for his sake. <I>Cursed shall be his
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basket and his store, and cursed the fruit of his body,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:17,18">Deut. xxviii. 17, 18</A>.
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The <I>curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+3:33">Prov. iii. 33</A>.
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It shall not only beset his house, or he at the door, but <I>it shall
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remain in the midst of his house,</I> and diffuse its malignant
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influences to all the parts of it. <I>It shall dwell in his tabernacle
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because it is none of his,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:15">Job xviii. 15</A>.
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It shall dwell where he dwells, and be his constant companion at bed
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and board, to make both miserable to him. Having got possession, it
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shall keep it, and, unless he repent and reform, there is no way to
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throw it out or cut off the entail of it. Nay, it shall so remain in it
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as to <I>consume it with the timber thereof, and the stones
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thereof,</I> which, though ever so strong, though the timber be heart
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of oak and the stones hewn out of the rocks of adamant, yet they shall
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not be able to stand before the curse of God. We heard the stone and
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the timber complaining of the owner's extortion and oppression, and
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groaning under the burden of them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:11">Hab. ii. 11</A>.
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Now here we have them delivered <I>from that bondage of corruption.</I>
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While they were in their strength and beauty they supported, sorely
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against their will, the sinner's pride and security; but, when they are
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consumed, their ruins will, to their satisfaction, be standing
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monuments of God's justice and lasting witnesses of the sinner's
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injustice. Note, Sin is the ruin of houses and families, especially the
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sins of injury and perjury. <I>Who knows the power of God's anger,</I>
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and the operations of his curse? Even timber and stones have been
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consumed by them; let us therefore stand in awe and not sin.</P>
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<A NAME="Zec5_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Zec5_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Zec5_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Zec5_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Zec5_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Zec5_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Zec5_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Vision of the Ephah.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 520.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>5 Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto
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me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what <I>is</I> this that goeth
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forth.
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6 And I said, What <I>is</I> it? And he said, This <I>is</I> an ephah
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that goeth forth. He said moreover, This <I>is</I> their resemblance
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through all the earth.
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7 And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this
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<I>is</I> a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah.
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8 And he said, This <I>is</I> wickedness. And he cast it into the
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midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth
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thereof.
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9 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there
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came out two women, and the wind <I>was</I> in their wings; for they
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had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah
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between the earth and the heaven.
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10 Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do
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these bear the ephah?
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11 And he said unto me, To build it a house in the land of
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Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own
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base.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The foregoing vision was very plain and easy, but in this are things
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<I>dark and hard to be understood;</I> and some think that the scope of
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it is to foretel the final destruction of the Jewish church and nation
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and the dispersion of the Jews, when, by crucifying Christ and
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persecuting his gospel, they should have filled up the measure of their
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iniquities; therefore it is industriously set out in obscure figures
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and expressions, "lest the plain denunciation of the second overthrow
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of temple and state might discourage them too much from going forward
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in the present restoration of both." So Mr. Pemble.</P>
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<P>
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The prophet was contemplating the power and terror of the curse which
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consumes the houses of thieves and swearers, when he was told to turn
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and he should see greater desolations than these made by the curse of
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God for the sin of man: <I>Lift up thy eyes now,</I> and see what is
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here,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+5:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
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<I>What is this that goeth forth?</I> Whether over the face of the
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whole earth, as the flying roll
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+5:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>),
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or only over Jerusalem, is not certain. But, it seems, the prophet now,
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through either the distance or the dimness of his sight, could not well
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tell what it was, but asked, <I>What is it?</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+5:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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And the angel tells him both what it is and what it means.</P>
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<P>
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I. He sees an <I>ephah,</I> a measure wherewith they measured corn; it
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contained <I>ten omers</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+16:36">Exod. xvi. 36</A>)
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and was the tenth part of a <I>homer</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+45:11">Ezek. xlv. 11</A>);
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it is put for any measure used in commerce,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+25:14">Deut. xxv. 14</A>.
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And <I>this is their resemblance,</I> the resemblance of the Jewish
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nation <I>over all the earth,</I> wherever they are now dispersed, or
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at least it will be so when their ruin draws near. They are filling up
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the measure of their iniquity, which God has set them; and when it is
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full, as the ephah of corn, they shall be delivered into the hands of
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those to whom God has sold them for their sins; they are <I>meted</I>
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to destruction, as an ephah of corn measured to the market or to the
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mill. And some think that the mentioning of an ephah, which is used in
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buying and selling, intimates that fraud, and deceit, and extortion in
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commerce, were sins abounding much among them, as that people are known
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to be notoriously guilty of them at this day. This is a proper
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representation of them <I>through all the earth.</I> There is a measure
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set them, and they are filling it up apace. See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+23:32,1Th+2:16">Matt. xxiii. 32; 1 Thess. ii. 16</A>.</P>
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<P>
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II. He sees a <I>woman sitting in the midst of the ephah,</I>
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representing the sinful church and nation of the Jews in their latter
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and degenerate age, when <I>the faithful city became a harlot.</I> He
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that weighs the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance measures
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nations and churches as in an ephah; so exact is he in his judicial
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dealings with them. God's people are called <I>the corn of his
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floor,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+21:10">Isa. xxi. 10</A>.
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And here he puts this corn into the bushel, in order to his parting
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with it. The angel says of the woman in the <I>ephah, This is
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wickedness;</I> it is a wicked nation, else God would not have rejected
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it thus; it is as wicked as <I>wickedness</I> itself, it is abominably
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wicked. <I>How has the gold become dim! Israel was holiness to the
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Lord</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:3">Jer. ii. 3</A>);
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but now <I>this is wickedness,</I> and wickedness is nowhere so
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scandalous, so odious, and, in many instances, so outrageous, as when
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it is found among professors of religion.</P>
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<P>
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III. He sees the woman thrust down into the ephah, and a <I>talent,</I>
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or large weight, <I>of lead,</I> cast upon the <I>mouth</I> of it, by
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which she is secured, and made a close prisoner in the <I>ephah,</I>
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and utterly disabled to get out of it. This is designed to show that
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the wrath of God against impenitent sinners is,
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1. Unavoidable, and what they cannot escape; they are bound over to it,
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concluded under sin, and shut up under the curse, as this woman in the
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ephah; <I>he would fain flee out of his hand</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+27:22">Job xxvii. 22</A>),
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but he cannot.
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2. It is insupportable, and what they cannot bear up under. Guilt is
|
|
upon the sinner as a talent of lead, to sink him to the lowest hell.
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When Christ said of the things of Jerusalem's peace, <I>Now they are
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hidden from thy eyes,</I> that threw a talent of lead upon them.</P>
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<P>
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IV. He sees the ephah, with the woman thus pressed to death in it,
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carried away into some far country.
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1. The instruments employed to do it were <I>two women,</I> who had
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<I>wings like</I> those <I>of a stork,</I> large and strong, and, to
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make them fly the more swiftly, they had the <I>wind in their
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wings,</I> denoting the great violence and expedition with which the
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Romans destroyed the Jewish nation. God has not only winged messengers
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|
in heaven, but he can, when he pleases, give wings to those also whom
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he employs in this lower world; and, when he does so, he forwards them
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|
with the wind in their wings; his providence carries them on with a
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favourable gale.
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2. They bore it up in the air, denoting the terrors which pursued the
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wicked Jews, and their being a public example of God's vengeance to the
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world. They <I>lifted it up between the earth and the heaven,</I> as
|
|
unworthy of either and abandoned by both; for the Jews, when this was
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fulfilled, <I>pleased not God and</I> were <I>contrary to all men,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Th+2:15">1 Thess. ii. 15</A>.
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<I>This is wickedness,</I> and this comes of it; heaven thrust out
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wicked angels, and earth spewed out wicked Canaanites.
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3. When the prophet enquired whither they carried their prisoner whom
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they had now in execution
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+5:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>)
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he was told that they designed <I>to build it a house in the land of
|
|
Shinar.</I> This intimates that the punishment of the Jews should be a
|
|
final dispersion; they should be hurried out of their own country,
|
|
<I>as the chaff which the wind drives away,</I> and should be forced to
|
|
dwell in far countries, particularly in the country of Babylon, whither
|
|
many of the scattered Jews went after the destruction of their country
|
|
by the Romans, as they did also to other countries, especially in the
|
|
Levant parts, not to sojourn, as in their former captivity, for seventy
|
|
years, but to be nailed down for perpetuity. There the <I>ephah</I>
|
|
shall <I>be established, and set upon her own base.</I> This intimates,
|
|
|
|
(1.) That their calamity shall continue from generation to generation,
|
|
and that they shall be so dispersed that they shall never unite or
|
|
incorporate again; they shall settle in a perpetual unsettlement, and
|
|
Cain's doom shall be theirs, to dwell in the land of shaking.
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|
(2.) That their iniquity shall continue too, and their hearts shall be
|
|
hardened in it. <I>Blindness</I> has <I>happened</I> unto Israel, and
|
|
they are settled upon the lees of their own unbelief; their wickedness
|
|
is established upon its <I>own basis.</I> God has given them a
|
|
<I>spirit of slumber</I>
|
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|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:8">Rom. xi. 8</A>),
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<I>lest at any time they should convert, and be healed.</I></P>
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