Commentary on Prov Ecc SoS Isa Jer Lam Eze Dan, Ezekiel · Chapter 32
CHAP. XXXII.
Ver. 1. IN the twelfth month] About a year and half after the City was taken.
Ver. 2. Take up a lamentation] i. e. A lamentable Prophecy, deſtructive to the Egyptians: and it is very likely that they heard of it, but heeded it not; tanquam monſtra marina Dei verba praetereuntes.
Thou art like a young lion] For pride, fierceneſſe and cruelty.
And thou art as a whale] Or Crocodile: thou domineereſt over ſea and land, far and wide: thou playeſt Rex.
Thou cameſt forth with thy rivers] With the armes of thy Nilus into the Midland-ſea: inſanis bellis inquietans omnia, breeding a great buſtle in the Countries near adjoyning.
Ver. 3. I will therefore ſpread out my net] Thou ſhalt be taken in an evil net, when thou little thinkeſt of it. Evil ſhall hunt the violent man to overthrow him, Pſal. 140.11. Look how Leo caſſibus irretitus ait, Si praeſciviſſem: and as the whale encloſed by fiſhers is lugg'd to land, done to death, cleft in peices with axes, his fleſh being made a prey for birds and beaſts, his blood far and near drenching the earth: ſo ſhall it fare with Pharaoh and his forces.
Ver. 4. Then will I leave thee upon the land] As whales are ſometimes left by an ebbe whilſt they purſue leſſer fiſhes:In June 1658. there was one ſo taken near Greenwich lately: a peice of whoſe fleſh was ſhewed unto me.
Oecol.Ver. 5. With thy height] Celſitudine tua: with thy glory which thou holdeſt dearer then thy fleſh or life.
Ver. 6. I will alſo water with thy blood] Inſtead of thy river Nilus.
The land wherein thou ſwimmeſt] Egypt, where thou ſporteſt, as the whale doth in the mighty waters.
Natabunt colles & valles cruore tuo.Even to the mountains] A moſt elegant Hyperbole: the like whereto, ſee 2 King. 21.16.
Ver. 7. And when I ſhall put thee out] Or extinguiſh thee: who art for thy power and glory as one of the worlds great Luminaries.
I will cover the heaven, &c.] So great a fume, or rather ſo vile a ſnuffe ſhall exhale, that the heavens ſhall ſeem to be muffled, &c. It ſhall be once again deep darkneſſe over all the land of Egypt. Hypallage Poetica.Another Hyperbole.
Ver. 8. All the bright lights of heaven] See ver. 7. All this ſhall befal the world really and without an Hyperbole, at the laſt day, Mat. 24.29.
Impiaque aeternam patientur ſaecula noctem.
Ver. 9. I will alſo vex] Or grieve: See Eccleſ. 7.3. where the ſame word ſignifieth anger and ſorrow. Nebuchadnezzars growing greatneſſe ſhall be a cut and a corroſive to them.
Ver. 10. When I ſhall brandiſh my ſword] As fetching my blow at them too; and ayming where to hit them.
Every man for his own life] Which he knows he hath forfeited, and hath now great cauſe to fear: ſith his neighbours houſe is on fire.Jam proximus ardet Ucalegon.
Ver. 11. The ſword of the King of Babylon] Here is that delivered plainly which was before parabolically.
Ver. 12. By the ſwords of the mighty] Or, of the Heroes, or Giants.
The terrible of the nations] Graſſatores, as Munſter hath it; inexpugnabiles, as the Vulgar: ſuch as with whom there is no dealing.
Ver. 13. All the beaſts thereof] Egypt a moſt moiſt and fat Country, was full of cattle.
Ver. 14. Then will I make their waters deep] There ſhall not be men lef to derive them by ditches and channels into their grounds and paſtures, for the making of them fruitful.
And cauſe their rivers to run like oyle] i. e. Smoothly, and ſilently.
Lene ſluit Nilus, ſed cunctis amnibus extatClaudian.
Ʋtilior, nullas confeſſus murmure vires.
Ver. 15. When I ſhall make the land — deſolate] See here the ſad effects of ſin, and beware.
Then ſhall they know that I am the Lord] Pleràque ſupra habuimus: ideò ſum brevior, ſaith Lavater on ver. 12.
Ver. 16. This is the lamentation] And this is the epilogue of this former Prophecy: the latter followeth; being of the ſelf-ſame argument, viz. a funeral dirge and exequy over Egypt.
Ver. 17. In the fifteenth day of the monethmonth] i. e. Of the twelfth monethmonth, ver. 1. and about a fortnight after the former Prophecy. God loves to foreſignify and to do it often.
Ver. 18. Wail for the multitude] Propheſy their deſtruction: but doe it not without grief and regret.
Caſt them down] Do thou foretel it, and I will not fail to fullfil it: (See Jer. 1.10. with the Note.) Let them know that hell gapeth for them: and here I give thee the keyes thereof. So God doth to every faithful Miniſter, Matth. 16. not to Peter only, nor to his pretended ſucceſſor the Pope; whom therefore Luther bravely ſlighted in theſe words of his, Contemptus est à me Romanus & favor & furor: I care neither for the Popes favour, nor frowns.
Ver. 19. Whom doſt thou paſſe in beauty] What art thou better then other thy comperes and complices in ſin? Thou muſt alſo dance, Down to hell, Down to hell, with the reſt
Be thou laid with the uncircumciſed] Strangers to the Covenant (whereof Circumciſion was a ſeal) ſinners the Chaldee here calleth them, ſuch as the devil ſweeps:Serm. of Repent. p. 70. they are his birds, ſaith Mr. Bradford Martyr, whom when he hath well fed, he will broach them and eat them, chaw them and champ them world without end, in eternal woe and miſery.foreign, Cadaver.
Ver. 20. They ſhall fall] Carkeiſes have their names both in Greek and Latine from falling.
Fit ſubitò funus, qui modò vivus erat.
We wonder now and then at the ſuddain death of a man. In war many thouſands exhale their breath without ſo much as Lord have mercy on us. Death heweth its way through a wood of men, in a minute of time, &c.
Ver. 21. The ſtrong among the mighty] Who might have ſeen many fair ſummers, had they not been cut off by Pharaoh's ſword.
Shall ſpeak to him out of the midſt of hell] What they ſay to him, ſee Iſa. 14.10. where we have the like Proſopopaeja Poetica.
Ver. 22. Aſhur is there] To wit, in the belly of Hell, among the uncircumciſed, as Lazarus and other Saints are in the boſom of Abraham the place of bliſſe. Slain they were with the ſword: but that was but a beginning of their ſorrows, a trap-door to eternal torment. Virgil, by a like figure, brings in Aeneas going down to hell, and there ſeeing Agamemnon, Dido, the Titans, Cyclopes, and other Tyrants.
Ver. 23. Whoſe graves are ſet in the ſides of the pit] In the bottom of the burning Lake; which from the high top of a Kingdom is a foul fall. Their being there buried may import, that they ſhall never come out.
Which cauſed terror] As breathing nothing but blood and ſlaughter, raiſing a tempeſt wherever they came, ſo that they became terrores terrae, as dreadful as devils.
Ver. 24. There is Elam] The Perſians, who in the reign of Cyaxares, had been ſubdued by the Scythians, and ſlain in great number, Jer. 49.34, &c.
Jun.Into the nether parts of the earth] Into hell, as that rich glutton, Luke 16.23. where our Saviour ſeemeth to allude to this place.
Yet have they born their ſhame] Carried the matter of it to hell with them, where is perpetual ſhame and confuſion: beſide the vexing ſnuff they have left behind them upon earth.
Ver. 25. They have ſet her a bed] i. e. The devils have ſet the Perſian multitude a bed, but an uneaſy one, ſuch as they ſet for that rich wretch, Luke 12.19, 20. who thought to take his eaſe, but was not ſuffered.
With all her multitude] The grave is the Congregation-houſe of all living, Job 30.23. Hell is of many dead, that dye in their ſins.
He is put in the middeſt] In the hotteſt fire of hell.
Ver. 26. There is Meſh…c and Tubal] i. e. Say ſome, the Cappadocians and Spaniards. Others, the Scythians and Sarmatians.
And all her multitude] See ver. 25.
Ver. 27. Which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war] They dyed not gloriouſly as Conquerours: nor were buried triumphantly with their arms under their heads (as valiant warriours were wont to be;) ſed ingloria vita receſſit, but they dyed like dogs, and were baſely buried, and yet that was not the worſt of it neither.
But their iniquities ſhall be upon their bones] They ſhall rue for their cruelty and bloodſhed. Theſe ſhall be as a murthering-weapon in their bones, Pſal. 42.10. throughout all eternity.
Ver. 28. Yea thou ſhalt be broken] Thou O Pharaoh, ſhalt have a deeper degree of torment in hell. Potentes potentèr torquebuntur.
Ver. 29. They ſhall lye with the uncircumciſed] Though they were circumciſed, as now the Turks are, yet that ſhall not profit them. Faciunt & veſpae favos: & Simia quam ſimilis turpiſſima beſtia nobis!
Ver. 30. There be the Princes of the North] i. e. (ſaith Junius) the Syrians, Tyrians, and others.
And all the Zidonian…] All the Hunters, ſaith the Vulgar; taking the word appellatively.
Which are gone down] The ſame again; ad majus Pathos.
Ver. 31. Pharaoh ſhall ſee them] This is the Epilogue, or percloſe of this doleful ditty.
And ſhall be comforted] This was a miſerable comfort: the like whereto is that of ſome prophane perſons among us, who when threatened for their foul practiſes, uſe to reply, If we do go to hell, yet we ſhall have company.
Ver. 32. For I have cauſed my terror] By Pharaoh's exemplary puniſhment. This will make good men tremble at my Judgements, and bad men beware how they come under my wrath.