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Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away [the punishment] thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime:

For three transgressions, … — Or malicious wickedness with a high hand committed, and heaped up to that height. See Amos 1:3 .

Because he burnt the bones of the king of Edom — "A wicked man," but yet a man: and God (who is a lover of mankind, φιλανθρωπος ) shows himself sensible of the injuries and indignities done but to his dead body; such an enemy he is to cruelty to his creatures. That Mesha, king of Moab, bore a special edge against the king of Edom, sought to break through the army to him, but could not, and afterwards sacrificed his son and heir, whom he had taken in that sally made upon the king of Edom’s quarters, we read, 2 Kings 3:26-27 . There are some that think that at another time, overcoming the Edomites, he dug up the bones of that king out of his sepulchre, he burnt them to lime, that is, prorsus, perfectissime et absolutissime, as some sense it (Targum), to ashes and cinders, as Isaiah 33:12 , or (for greater revenge and contempt) he white-limed the walls of his palace therewith, as Genesis 11:3 Psalms 69:23 Isaiah 22:12 . Thus, in that horrid massacre of Paris, they cut off the admiral’s head (whom before they had murdered) and presented it to the Queen’s mother; who, embalming it, sent it for a present to the Pope, who, thereupon, caused the massacre to be pictured in the Vatican hall; under one side is Colignii et sociorum caedes; Colignii and his allies slaugher, on the other, Rex Colignii caedem probat The King of the Coligni approves the slaughter. (II Mercurio Italico, 92). The king himself ( viz. Charles IX) beholding the bloody bodies of those then massacred, and feeding his eye on so woeful a spectacle, breathed out this bloody speech, Quam bonus est odor hostis mortui: How sweet is the smell of a slain enemy. Another hell hag said upon a like occasion, that she never beheld so goodly a piece of tapestry as the faces of those butchered saints. This insulting over the dead is that piece of cruelty which the Church complaineth of, Psalms 79:2 . Cornelius a Lapide, upon this text, cries out of it as an inhuman and shameful thing, both because the honour of sepulchre is the last dues of the dead ( τα νομιζομενα , iusta defunctorum ); and also because this is to fight with dead carcases. Yet this hath been practised by one Pope against another, and by many of the Pope’s champions here in England, who unburied and burnt the bodies of Paulus Phagius, Peter Martyr’s wife, and many others. Cardinal Wolsey had a purpose (had he not been prevented by death) to have taken up King Henry’s body at Windsor, and to have burnt it. How much better Charles V (yet no friend to the Reformation, but a prudent prince), who, entering Wittenberg as a conqueror, and being importuned to dig up the dead bodies of Luther and other reformers, refused to violate their graves, and sent away Melancthon, Pomeran, and some other eminent preachers, unhurt, not so much as once forbidding them to publish openly the doctrine that they professed! Cambyses heareth ill among all men for his digging up the dead body of Amasis, king of Egypt, and causing it to be whipped and bricked; and Sulla, for the like cruelty to Gaius Marius. Of all fowl we most hate and detest the crows; and of all beasts the jackals (a kind of foxes in Barbary), because the one digs up the graves and devours the flesh, and the other picks out the eyes of the dead. Hinc moraliter disce, saith a Lapide: learn hence also what a baseness it is to tear and deface the good names of those that are dead; to secretly corrrupt their names is worse than to burn their bones to lime. And yet among many other men of mark that might be instanced, Melancthon mortuus tantum non ut blasphemus in Deum cruci affigitur, saith Zanchius; not Papists, but Lutherans laid blasphemy to his charge after his death, whom all Christendom worthily honoured for his learning and piety.

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But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, [and] with the sound of the trumpet:

But I will send a fire — See Amos 1:4 .

And it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth — A city so fair and large that it hath a plural name, which signifieth cities by way of excellence; as Athens was called the Greece of Greece; Rome, the epitome of the world. ‘ Eλλας ελλαδος επιτομη της οικουμενης .

And Moab shall die with tumult — With all these together, on a huddle, as it were: they are here set down by an elegant asyndeton, to set forth the suddenness and terror of the judgment threatened. They shall be stormed, and have no quarter given them. Here Osiander noteth, that it is one of the many punishments of sin for a man not to die in his bed, but in battle. It was promised to Josiah "he should die in peace," 2 Chronicles 34:28 . True it is he died in battle; but he died before that general desolation that followed shortly after (for, indeed, with him died all the prosperity of that people). And beside, his weeping and humiliation had altered the very nature of the trouble, and made war to be peace to him.

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And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the LORD.

And I will cut off the judge — i.e. the king, who sometimes sits himself in judgment, as King Henry VIII did here, at the condemnation of Lambert, martyr; as the king of Persia doth often to this day. I have seen him (saith a traveller) many times to alight from his horse, only to do justice to a poor body. The Grand Seignior himself sits one day in the week to receive the poor’s petitions, and punish the faulty grandees about him. For as he styles himself, Awlem Penawh, that is, the world’s refuge; so he would have the world to take notice, that such as lament unto him shall be sure to have redress and succour from him, although his ministers fail them, or abuse them, through their injustice; hence few viziers die in their beds.

From the midst thereof — i.e. of Kerioth, the chief city where the court was kept, as Kimchi saith, with a great deal of pomp and pride. We have heard of the pride of Moab. See Jeremiah 48:7 ; Jeremiah 48:11 ; Jeremiah 48:14 ; Jeremiah 48:18 Zephaniah 2:8 ; Zephaniah 2:10 . It was their national sin, and forerunner of their fall.

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Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away [the punishment] thereof; because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked:

For three transgressions of Judah — Who were therefore worse than the above mentioned nations, because they ought to have been better Ideo deteriores quia meliores esse debebant. Beset they were with enemies round about, who dealt cruelly with them; and this should have made them to cleave more closely to God; these horns pushing and scattering them, should have pushed them home to him, Zechariah 1:19: but it proved otherwise. For Judah also is found to be incorrigibly flagitious, guilty, as the former, "of three transgressions, and of four," …, worse in them than in others, because "in Judah was God known," and to them were committed the oracles of God, whom they might hear again screeching out unto them, when they were putting forth their hands to wickedness, "Oh do not this abominable thing," Jeremiah 44:4 . But they, tanquam monstra marina, as one saith, like so many sea monsters, passed by God’s words with a deaf ear.

They despised the law of the Lord — They would have none of his counsel; they liked well to live in God’s good land, but not to live by God’s good laws; like those in the Gospel, "they rejected the counsel of God within themselves," Luke 7:30 , and that with scorn and disdain, as the word here used signifieth. See Trapp on " Hosea 6:6 "

And have not kept his commandments — Though holy, just, and good, though such as, if a man keep them (be it but evangelically, si faciat, etiamsi non perficiat, Liv. xviii. 5), he shall live in them, by a life of grace, as the flame lives in the oil, or the creature by his food; though in "keeping thereof" (how much more for keeping thereof!) "there is great reward," Psalms 19:11 .

And their lies caused them — That is, their idols (as the Vulgate well rendereth it), and their will worships, their new inventions, and good intentions thereby to serve and please God. These are properly called lies; because, contrary to the law of truth (whereto they are here opposed), and to David’s practice, who "did the truth," 1 John 1:6 ; and could safely say, "I hate and abhor lying; but thy law do I love," Psalms 119:163 ; Psalms 119:104 , "through thy precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way."

After the which their fathers have walked — So that they are a race of rebels, a seed of evildoers, and do fill up the measure of their fathers’ sins, till wrath come upon them to the utmost. This is no small aggravation: Ezekiel 20:30 , "Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye whoredom after their abominations." See Acts 7:51 . Must I be provoked by you from one generation to another.

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But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

But I will send a fire upon Judah — They shall also bear the punishment of their iniquities; yet, is it not said, as Amos 2:2 , that Judah shall "die with tumult?" … God will make a difference in his dealings with his own and others, his sons and his slaves; these shall totally and finally be consumed at once, Nahum 1:9 , not so the saints. The remnants of the Philistines shall perish, Amos 1:8 . But of Judah a remnant shall be still reserved, for royal use, Isaiah 11:11 ; Isaiah 11:16 .

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Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away [the punishment] thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes;

For three transgressions of Israel, … — The ten tribes come in last, lest they (with whom his main business lay, and to whom he will henceforth apply himself) should conceit themselves privileged, because for the present prospered; lest they should read or hear the menaces of God’s mouth, as men do the old stories of foreign wars, that nothing concern them.

Because they sold the righteous for silver — Even God’s own pasture sheep, that had golden fleeces, precious souls; these they made sale of for a little money, which ever was and still is a common medler, and drives the bargain and business to an upshot. Money, saith one, is the world’s great monarch, and bears most mastery: whence it is that the Hebrew word, Adarcon, used for money, 1 Chronicles 29:7 Ezra 8:27 , comes of Adar, strong, or mighty, and Con, to prepare; to show that a moneyed man is a mighty man, as this world goes. Unless we may say of money, as one doth wittily of Sardanapalus, the last of the Assyrian monarchs: Sardanapalus, saith he, had a terrible name. Sar noteth a prince, Dan a judge, Niphal an overthrower, or conqueror; not otherwise applicable to him, but that his luxury was the overthrow of both sovereignty and judgment. So is money mighty and well prepared, but it is to blind the eyes of the wise, and to pervert the matters of the righteous, Deuteronomy 16:10 , who because not so well underlaid as his adversary, lies long languishing many times at Hope’s hospital; as that lame man did at the pool of Bethesda, but might not be sped, because (for want, belike, of stirring angels) he could get none to put him into the pool immediately after the angel had stirred it. That was a sad complaint made by the prophet Habakkuk, Amos 1:4 , "Behold, the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth circumvent the righteous," viz. by his bribery and baseness, "therefore wrong judgment proceedeth." A judge is to retain the decency and gravity of the law; yea, of the law maker, with whom there is no iniquity, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts, 2 Chronicles 19:7 . Nec prece, nec pretio, should be the magistrate’s motto; he should be above all price or sale.

And the poor for a pair of shoes — For a cup of wine, Joel 3:3 ; for handfulls of barley, or pieces of bread, Ezekiel 3:19 ; for a thing of nothing, so base they were grown at length; a very small deal of gain would win them over. See Amos 8:6 . At first, a little matter would not hire them; it must be silver, and a considerable sum too; as a harlot, that requires at first no small reward, but afterwards prostituteth herself quite cheaply to all comers. Sin seemeth modest and maidenly at first; but meddle not, for it soon woadeth an impudence in men’s foreheads, and debaucheth them.

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That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the [same] maid, to profane my holy name:

That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor — Covetousness is craving and cruel; it rides without reins, as Balaam did after the wages of wickedness; and cares not whose head it rides over, to compass commodity. Yea it "panteth after the dust of the earth, on the head of the poor," as desirous not only to lay them in the dust, but to lay them a bleeding and a dying there. They gape over the head (or life) of the poor, in the dust of the earth (so some read the words), as devising to destroy them. A poor man’s livelihood is his life, Mark 12:44 Luke 8:43 , for a poor man in his house is like a snail in a shell; crush that and you kill him. These cormorants earnestly desired, and endeavoured to bring dust upon poor men’s heads (the garb of those that were in heaviness, Job 2:12 Ezekiel 27:30 Lamentations 2:20 ), by their oppressions and injustice; yea, to bring them down to the dust of the earth, to set them as far underground as now they were above. Lo, this they do as greedily and as greatly desire, as serpents and other hot creatures covet the fresh air, to cool their scorched entrails. See Jeremiah 14:6 Job 5:5 ; Job 7:2 . It is said of Saul the persecutor, that he "breathed out threatenings against the Church," Acts 9:1 , as a tired wolf, that wearied with worrying the flock lieth panting for breath. So Bonner whipped the poor martyrs till he was breathless. Some interpreters note out of Joseph Ben Gorion, that there was an old custom that those that were accused before the judges, should be arrayed in black, and have their heads covered with dust. And hence they conceive the sense to be this: "That pant," i.e. that earnestly desire that such poor men may be accused by the rich, of whom they may receive gifts to pervert judgment. And this they think to be confirmed by the following words.

They turn aside (or pervert) the way of the meek — That is, the cause, business, judgment of the modest and self-denying poor, the subject of rich men’s injuries (for most part), the unreasonable oppressions, James 2:6 . A crow will stand upon a sheep’s back pulling off wool from her side; she dare not do so to a wolf or a mastiff. A large, powerful dog with a large head, drooping ears and pendulous lips, valuable as a watch-dog. ŒD. Even reasonless creatures know whom they may be bold with; so do wicked oppressors. The meek by pocketing up one wrong, invite another. ( Veterem ferendo iniuriam invitas novam. ) "Ye have condemned and killed the just: and be doth not resist you," James 5:6 . Ye not only rob, but ravish the poor, that are fallen into your nets, Psalms 10:9 , ye do even whatsoever you please to them; as one martyr said of John Baptist, that he was put to death, as if God had been nothing aware of him.

And a man and his father will go in, … — By a horrible (if not incestuous) filthiness; such as heathens by the light of nature condemned and execrated, 1 Corinthians 5:1 . The Indians abhor it; showing themselves in respect of the incestuous Spaniards among them, as the Scythians in respect of the Grecians, whom they so far excelled in life, as they were short of them in learning. Am I a dog, said Abner to Ishbosheth, 2 Samuel 3:8 , that is, so impudently and excessively lustful as a dog is, so scalded in his own grease, Romans 1:27 . Some libidinous sensualists put off all manhood, become dogs, worse than dogs; following their harlots, styled in Scripture, salt-bitches, Deuteronomy 23:18 , such as having abandoned both the fear of God and shame of the world, care not whom they admit, father, son, any one, every one.

To profane my holy name — As if I were author or fautor An adherent, partisan, supporter, abettor. ŒD of such cruelties and villanies. This is to take God’s name in vain, Proverbs 30:9 , yea, this is to blaspheme, 1 Timothy 1:20 , by breaking down the banks of blasphemy and causing the enemies of the truth to speak evil with open mouth, as they did in David’s days, 2 Samuel 12:14 . And in Paul’s days, Romans 2:24 . And in Origen’s days, Nunc male audiunt castiganturque vulgo Christiani; quod vitia sub obtentu nominis Dei celent, Christians and their religion heareth ill among heathens, by reason of their impious and impure lives, and their conversation not becoming the gospel of Christ, Philippians 1:27 . Of such carnal gospellers it may be truly said, as Diogenes said to Antipater (who being vicious wore a white cloak, the ensign of innocence), that they do virtutis stragulam pudefacere, put honesty to an open shame, bring contempt upon God and his ways.

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And they lay [themselves] down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned [in] the house of their god.

And they lay themselves down upon clothes — i.e. table carpets, or bed coverlets, laid under those that sit at a meal; whether on the ground, with their legs gathered under then, (as the Turkish basbaws do to this day, and the Trojans of old, stratoque super discumbitur ostro ), or at beds or tables, leaning on the left elbow, Esther 1:6 John 13:23 . Et cubito remanete presso.

Laid to pledge — These should have been restored, and not detained beyond the time prescribed, Deuteronomy 24:12-13 Exodus 22:26-27 .

By every altar — It was their fashion to feast in their idol temples, 1 Corinthians 8:10 ; 1 Corinthians 10:21 . See Horat. Od. xxxvii, lib. 1. And this in imitation belike of God’s people, who were commanded to feast before the Lord, in the place that he should choose to place his name in. See Deuteronomy 14:23 ; Deuteronomy 14:26 1 Samuel 1:3-4 , … And here paucis verbis multiplex scelus arguit, saith Gualther, in few words he accuseth them of much wickedness.

And they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god — A god they have of their own devising, a wooden god, and such as, if he had but a pair of horns clapped on his head, might make an excellent devil, as the Mayor of Doncaster told the wise men of Cockram, in Queen Mary’s days, that came to complain of the carver for making them an ugly crucifix. Next, they "drink wine in the house" of their god, besides their drink offerings (which David’s soul hated, Psalms 16:4 ), they had their drunken compotations in their idol temples, as now they say in the Isle of Sardinia, after mass done they fall to drinking and dancing in the midst of the church; singing in the mean time songs too immodest for an alehouse. Lastly,

They drink the wine of the condemned — Or of such as they have fined or mulcted for not coming along with them to the idol temples. Diodati rendereth it, the wine of the amercements, that is bought with such money as they have unjustly fined and condemned the innocent in. There are those who here understood that wine that was wont to be given to malefactors led to execution, Proverbs 31:6 , to cheer them up; but these wretches drank it off from them. The former sense is the better.

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