Bible Commentaries

Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.

Behold the Lord emptieth. — It must needs be a matter of some rare and marvellous consequence, that "Behold" - the "oh yes!" of the Holy Ghost - is thus set before.

The Lord emptieth, — i.e., Will empty; an idiom proper to God’s prophets, who saw in the Spirit things to come as if they were even then done.

The earth. — Or, The land, sc., Of Jewry, by a woeful desolation, Lege et luge, by law and lament. Some hold it to be a metaphor from ships overloaded, which therefore must be disburdened; so was the land to be eased of her inhabitants, which she could hardly stand under.

And waste. — Making havoc of persons and things of worth.

Turneth it upside down. — Ferens, agens sursum deorsum omnia, turning all things topsy turvy, as they say.

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And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.

And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest. — Or, Prince. Dignity and wealth hindereth him not; doth he esteem nobility or riches, or anything that fortifieth strength? Poverty or meanness findeth no favour with him. In a common calamity, all commonly share and fare alike.

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The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word.

The land shall be utterly emptied. — See on Isaiah 24:1 .

For the Lord hath spoken this word. — And his words are not in vain. Doth he say, and shall he not do it? Numbers 23:23

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The earth mourneth [and] fadeth away, the world languisheth [and] fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.

The earth mourneth and fadeth away. — Luxit et diffiuxit, waileth and faileth; gallant rhetoric in the original, as this is a stately chapter all along: all the rollings of Demosthenes are but dull stuff compared to it.

The world languisheth. — As a sick man, so enfeebled that he cannot stand high alone.

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The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.

The earth also is defiled, — Nempe contactu sceleratorum hominum. - Pisc. viz., With sin, and therefore so decayed; yea, the very visible heavens are defiled with man’s sin, and shall therefore be purged by the fire of the last day; like as the vessels that held the sin-offering was to pass the fire.

Because they have transgressed the laws. — Natural and moral; those bounds and banks set to keep men within the compass of obedience: "but the unjust knoweth no shame," Zephaniah 3:5 is lawless, aweless, yokeless, untameable, untractable as the wild ass colt, as the horse and mule, …

Changed the ordinances. — Or, Passed by the ordinances - sc., by sins of omission, as before by commission; so in Hebrews 2:2 , "every transgression and disobedience," i.e., every commission and omission.

Broken the everlasting covenant. — Disannulled, vacated the covenant founded in Christ, when coming unto his own, his own received him not; when the Pharisees and others, by slighting holy offers and ordinances of grace, "rejected the counsel of God against themselves." Luke 7:30 This last especially brought the curse. Isaiah 24:6 Some by laws here understand the judicial laws, by ordinances the ceremonial, and by everlasting covenant the Decalogue. Others by laws, the municipal laws of the commonwealth, by ordinances the laws of nations, as not to violate an ambassador, …, by everlasting covenant the law of nature, which is that "light that lighteneth every man that cometh into the world." John 1:9

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Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth. — The Chaldee and Vatablus render it the perjury - viz., in transgressing the laws, …, which they had covenanted and sworn to observe; see Psalms 119:106 . That dreadful curse of the Jews Matthew 27:25 is come upon them to the utmost, devouring their land and desolating the inhabitants thereof. Though the curse causeless come not, yet God sometimes saith Amen to other men’s curses, as he did to Jotham’s upon the Shechemites. Judges 9:57 How much more to men’s cursing themselves?

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The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh.

The new wine mourneth. — As being spilled and spoiled by the enemy.

All the merry hearted do sigh. — Who were wont to sing away care, and to call for their cups.

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The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.

The mirth of tabrets ceaseth. — Quicquid laetitiarum fuit, in luctum vertitur.

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