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The burden of the word of the LORD in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus [shall be] the rest thereof: when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, [shall be] toward the LORD.

The burden — i.e. The bitter and burdensome prophecy. See Trapp on " Malachi 1:1 "

In the land of Hadrach — Better, on the land of Hadrach; because Messiah is chad, sharp, to the nations, but rach, gentle, to the Israelites; whereby is meant, not thy land, O Immanuel, or O Messiah (as Jerome, after Rabbi Benaiah), nor a country that is near or lying round about another country, as Junius and Danaeus expound the Syrian word; but either a province or a city of some note in Syria, not far from Damascus. Diodati maketh it to be an idol of the Syrians, which represented the sun; from which the country took its name, as Isaiah 8:8 Jeremiah 48:46 Hosea 10:5 .

And Damacus — The metropolis of Syria, built, say some, in the place where Cain slew Abel; and there hence called Damesech, or a bag of blood; a great scourge to Israel; chiefly famous for Saint Paul’s conversion there, and his rapture into the third heaven, during that three days’ darkness, Acts 9:9 cf. 2 Corinthians 12:2 .

Shall be the rest thereof — sc. Of that bitter burden which shall here abide, and be set upon its own base, as Zechariah 5:11 . See a like expression John 3:36 , the wrath of God abideth upon an unbeliever, tanquam trabali clavo fixa; he can neither avert nor avoid it.

When the eyes of man, … — That is, of other men, the Gentiles also, who as yet are carnal, and walk as men, shall be toward the Lord, lifted up in prayer and confident expectation of mercy. See Psalms 122:2 .

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And Hamath also shall border thereby; Tyrus, and Zidon, though it be very wise.

And Hamath also shall border thereby — i.e. Shall share in the same punishment with Damascus, and fare the worse for its neighbourhood.

Though it be very wise — And think to outwit the enemy, to be too hard for him that way, as Midian was for Israel, by his wiles rather than by his wars, Numbers 25:18 . God taketh these wizards in their own craft, δρασσομενος , 1 Corinthians 3:19 , πανουργια , as beasts in a toil, and makes very fools of them, notwithstanding their many fetches; specially when they boast of their wit, as Tyre did, Ezekiel 28:3-4 , …, and trust in it, Proverbs 3:5 . The Phoenicians and Tyrians were wont to boast that they first found out the use of letters, … Sure it is that by much trading by sea they were growing cunning and crafty merchants, to defraud others; and this they coloured with the name of wisdom. Wise they were in their generation, Luke 16:8 ; but so is the fox, the serpent, and the devil; who when he was but young outwitted our first parents. And we are still sensible of his sleights, and not ignorant of his wiles, his methods, and his stratagems.

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And Tyrus did build herself a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets.

And Tyrus did build herself a stronghold — Thor did build herself Matsor; an elegance not to be translated (such as are many in the Old Testament, but especially in Isaiah). It is as if it should be said, A stronghold (such as Tyre, which was naturally fortified) did build itself a stronghold, sc. by the industry and diligence of men; so that she might seem impregnable; yet all should not do. Alexander, after seven months’ siege, took it, and destroyed it.

And heaped up silver as dust — Pulverizavit argentum quasi pulverem. She had money enough (by means of her long and great trade with all the world, Ezekiel 27:1-36 ), and so might hire what soldiers she pleased for her defence. The sinews of war were not wanting to her. She heaped up her hoards as it were to heaven; her magazines were full fraught. The word here rendered heaped up signifieth to comport and gather in money, as men do grain into barns and granaries, Exodus 8:10 Psalms 39:7 . But riches avail not in the day of wrath. And Tyre converted, leaves laying up and treasuring, and falls to feeding and clothing God’s saints, Isaiah 23:18 .

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Behold, the Lord will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire.

Behold, the Lord will cast her out — Or, impoverish her, as some render it; that is, for her money. God can soon let her blood in the vena cava, cavities of her veins, called Marsupium; and make her nudam tanquam ex mari. bare just as out of the sea, And then for her munitions,

He will smite her power in the sea — She was seated in an island, upon munitions of rocks; the sea was to her instead of a threefold wall and ditch. She was better fortified than Venice is; which yet hath flourished above nine hundred years, and was never in the enemy’s hands; whence she hath for her motto, Intacta manet. It remains intact. But Tyre was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, as his wages; and afterwards by Alexander, who never held anything impossible that he undertook, however unlikely it were to be effected. He found means to fill up the sea with stones, trees, and rubbish, where it divided Tyre from the continent; and made himself master of it.

And she shall be devoured with fire — Though seated in the heart of the sea, Ezekiel 28:2 , and had motted up herself against God’s fire. Nothing shall quench the fire that he kindleth.

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Ashkelon shall see [it], and fear; Gaza also [shall see it], and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.

Ashkelon shall see it and fear — For, iam proximus ardet Ucalegon, her next neighbour’s house was now on fire; and she might well fear she should be dashed at least with the tail of that overflowing storm that had swept away Tyre. The sword was now in commission; it was riding circuit, Ezekiel 14:17 , and God had given it a special charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore; there he had appointed it, Jeremiah 47:6-7 . Now Ashkelon, Gaza, and Ekron were situated all along the sea coast, southward of Tyre and Sidon. All these were bitter enemies to the Church; and were therefore destroyed by Alexander the Great, that man of God’s hand.

Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful — Like a travailing woman, as Isaiah 26:17-18 , where the same word is used; her heart shall ache and quake within her; she shall have sore throes and throbs.

And Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed — Her hope hath abused her, her confidence is cut off, her countenance is covered with confusion. She looked that Tyre should have been a bulwark to her: or at least a refuge, if need were, but now she seeth her expectation shamed: "The expectation of the wicked shall perish." They look out of the window with Sisera’s mother, and say, "Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey," …? But what saith the Church? "So let thine enemies perish, O Lord," Judges 5:30-31 .

And the king shall perish from Gaza — Rex, id est, Regulus; The King, it is Regulus. for there were five princes of the Philistines; each great city having a prince over it. The Prince of Gaza that is here designed to destruction may very well be that Betis, whom Darius, the last King of Persia, had set over Gaza. He having kept out Alexander for two months, was at length taken up by him together with the city, and put to a cruel death, as Curtius testifieth.

And Ashkelon shall not be inhabited — It was so wasted by war and depopulated that it became cottages for shepherds and folds for sheep. See Zephaniah 2:4 ; Zephaniah 2:6 . Howbeit after this it was reinhabited; for that bloody Herod that slew the infants was born there, being surnamed Ascalonita; and at this day it is a strong garrison of the Saracens. Saladin pulled down the walls of it; but our Richard I set them up again, as Adrichomius telleth us out of Gul. Tyrius.

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And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.

But a bastard shall dwell at Ashdod — Perhaps he meaneth Alexander; who was a bastard, by his mother Olympia’s confession. The Greek here hath αλλογενης , a stranger, an alien, or one of another generation, as the Greeks under Alexander, and afterwards the Jews under the Maccabees. Whence the Chaldee turns this text thus; The house of Israel shall dwell in Ashdod, and shall be there as strangers which have no father. In the Acts we find that the Jews were scattered up and down Palestine, and some found at Azotus, or Ashdod, Acts 8:40 .

And I will cut off the pride of the Philistines — That is, their wealth, strength, and whatsoever else they gloried in, and grew insolent, and injurious to the Church.

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And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: but he that remaineth, even he, [shall be] for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.

And I will take away his blood out of his mouth — That is, his bloody prey (for, saith Aben Ezra, these Philistines did, according to the savage custom of those times, eat of the flesh and drink of the blood of the slain enemies), and I will keep them from devouring my people any more.

And his abomination — Hoc est, praedas abominabiles, saith Calvin, his abominable spoils, his bloody robberies and pillages.

And he that remaineth — The small remnant of Jews not yet altogether devoured by these cruel cannibals, the Babylonians, Philistines, and other enemies.

Even he shall be for our God — Though they be but a he, a small poor company of them; yet God will both own them and honour them.

And he shall be as a governor in Judah — They shall all be Magnificos , little princes, of high rank and dignity; even as governors in Judah; God will honour them in the hearts of all men. See Zechariah 12:8 .

And Ekron as a Jebusite — i.e. Either slain or a slave and tributary. I know this text is otherwise expounded by Junius and others; but I now like this interpretation, as most proper.

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And I will encamp about mine house because of the army, because of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth: and no oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with mine eyes.

And I will encamp about mine house — Though it be otherwise but ill fenced and fortified; yet I will see it safeguarded and secured from the inroads and incursions of enemies, who are ranging up and down, and not only robbing, but ravishing, Psalms 10:9 . For what was Alexander but an arch-pirate, a strong thief, as the pirate whom he had taken told him to his teeth? And whether here be intimated by these words,

because of him that passeth by, and him that returneth — something of Alexander’s voyages, who passed by Judaea into Egypt, and to Ammon’s oracle with his army, and thence returned to Persia by the same way, not hurting the Jews, or something about the many expeditions of the Seleucidae and Lagedae to and fro from Egypt to Syria, and back again, among which hurly burly the Jews’ state stood fast, though sometime a little shaken; I dare not say (saith a learned interpreter), it may be both those and all other the like dangers are here generally comprised.

And no oppressor shall pass through them any more — Chald. No sultan; not the Turkish tyrant, Lord of Greece, as Zechariah 9:13 , say those that take the text of the Jews’ glorious state at last. Calvin thinks that by this clause be only expounds what he had figuratively said before. Danaeus takes it of violence and opression among themselves, or of wringing and vexing by their own rulers; they shall be free from violence both abroad and at home.

For now have I seen with mine eyes — i.e. I have taken good notice of it, I have seen, I have seen, as Exodus 3:7 , and mine eye hath affected mine heart. I have well observed that the enemy is grown unsufferably insolent, and am therefore come to rescue and relieve my people. The Chaldee hath it thus, I have now revealed my power to do them good; Aben Ezra makes these to be the prophet’s words of himself, q.d. I have seen all this in a manifest vision. But this is frigidum imo insulsum, saith Calvin, an odd conceit; unless we refer it (with Montanus) to the following words, and make this the sense (which yet I like not so well), Behold, I see in the spirit, with the eyes of my mind, the Lord Christ coming and entering, with state, the city and temple.

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