1An exhortation to repentance. 4The judgment of the Philistines, 8of Moab and Ammon, 12of Ethiopia 13and Assyria.
1GATHER1 yourselves together, yea, 2gather together, O nation 3not desired;
1 The sense is: enter into yourselves, and search and examine all your ways, in order that ye may rightly understand how God the Lord must be grievously offended with your great and manifold sins. Hebr. Gather or assemble yourselves; the word is properly taken for gathering of stubble or small sticks, as Exod. 5:7, 12; 1 Kings 17:10, whereas this cannot occur than with diligent investigation, it is also used as such for seeking.
2 Strive and endeavor with utmost care and diligence, namely, to be atoned and reconciled with God.
3 Namely, to be reconciled with God; or of doing ought that’s good. Other, O people, not worthy to be desired.
24Before the decree bring forth, 5before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD's anger come upon you.
4 That is, before it comes to pass which is decreed by God against you. God’s decree is then said to bring forth when it comes to be executed. As the bringing forth of a child does not follow right away after its conception but at the appointed time, such is also the decree of God not brought to light by the execution of it until the time appointed by Himself. Compare Ezek. 20 on verse 25.
5 That is, very swiftly, suddenly; therefore repent whiles ye have yet the time, before the day, which passes by as chaff, brings forth the decree, that is, to make appear that which God has decreed against you. Other, like chaff the day is passing by.
3Seek ye the LORD, all 6ye meek of the earth, which have wrought 7his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: 8it may be 9ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD's anger.
6 That is, all ye who fear the Lord in these perverse and confused times.
7 Namely, the judgment which God gave and prescribed unto you. Meaning, all who had endeavored to live uprightly and honestly, according to the rule and prescript of His laws.
8 See the annotation at Joel 2 on verse 14.
9 Or, be able to hide yourselves, and consequently ye shall escape being hurt or endangered by the enemy. Compare Psalm 27:5; 32:6, 7.
4 ¶ 10For Gaza 11shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod 12at the noon day, and 13Ekron shall be rooted up.
10 The meaning is: because of their sins God shall severely punish Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod and other nations living round about you. Therefore Jews, ye may well conclude that He will not spare you also, unless ye repent. The three cities, here mentioned, were located in the country of the Philistines and were their capital cities. See Joshua 13:3. Compare Amos 1:7.
11 The inhabitants being driven from there or the place destroyed by the Chaldeans.
12 That is, openly, in full sight of the sun and before all the world. See Jer. 6 on verse 4.
13 In the Hebrew it sounds as if one would say: the rooted one (Ekron means as such) shall be rooted out, that is, plucked up by the very root.
5Woe unto the inhabitants 14of the sea coast, the nation 15of the Cherethites! 16the word of the LORD is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, 17I will even 18destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.
14 Hebr. of the cord, rope, line. See Deut. 3 on verse 4. Also here in verses 6, 7. Here is a description of the land of the Philistines, bordering on the Mediterranean Sea.
15 Or, Cherethims. See Ezek. 25 on verse 16. See also 1 Sam. 30 on verse 14. They were brave soldiers, and therefore they were, according to the opinion of some, chosen by David to be his lifeguards. See 2 Sam. 8:18; 15:18; 1 Chron. 18:17.
16 That is, the punishment, which God has threatened and pronounced against you in His Word, shall surely come upon you; ye, who has hitherto plagued others, shall yourselves also come to be plagued, after that the Lord shall have done chastening His own people.
17 Namely I, the Lord.
18 Or, waste.
6And 19the sea coast shall be dwellings and 20cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.
19 Namely, the land of the Philistines situated along the sea coast.
20 Hebr. a meadow, in which the shepherds or herdmen use to dig in dry heaths to gather and keep water therein. The prophet implies in this verse, that those goodly castles and houses, which were usually to be seen in those parts, shall be broken down and be ruined, and that instead thereof one shall see nothing but poor shepherd huts, and in the stead of the great dignitaries who lived there before, there shall be none but herdsmen and other simple people, as must content themselves with petty houses and cottages, to have some abode there for some time.
7And 21the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed 22thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down 23in the evening: 24for the LORD their God shall 25visit them, and turn away their captivity.
21 This may indeed, in some degree, be understood thus, that the Jews, returning out of the Babylonian captivity, shall find the land of the Philistines empty and desolate, and take and possess it for themselves; but it is principally to be understood in a spiritual sense, so namely, that the Philistines and other heathen nations would in Christ’s time subject themselves to the people of God, and be incorporated into the church of Christ. See Isa. 11:14.
22 That is, they shall have their pasture and abode there, as the sheep enjoy their rest by night in their stalls. Others understand it thus: that the Jews, having received Christ, shall preach the Gospel to the Philistines and others, which is also called feeding, as you see in John 10; John 21:15, 16, 17. This came effectually to pass when Gaza, Azotus and other adjacent places were converted unto Christ by the preaching of the apostles, Acts 8:26, 40; 9:32. 35, 36. Compare Obadiah verses 18, 19, 20.
23 The sense is: They shall then enjoy such peace and quiet there, that even in the evening and night time, when people are commonly afraid of one another, they shall most securely and safely dwell and (have peaceful) association there.
24 Or, when the LORD their God shall visit them, and, etc.
25 Namely, with grace, as Psalm 8:4. Delivering them first out of the Babylonian captivity and afterwards out of the power and bondage of Satan, namely, when Christ, having suffered and being risen from death, shall be ascended to heaven, and shall have taken captivity itself captive, Eph. 4:8.
8¶I have heard 26the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people, and magnified 27themselves against their border.
26 Or, the scoffing, or, the reviling.
27 Making war upon them, and taking a part of their country away from them, insultingly threatening, they would yet take more. See the annotation Psalm 35 on verse 26, and compare Jeremiah 48; 49.
9Therefore 28as I live, saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely 29Moab shall be 30as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and 31saltpits, and a 32perpetual desolation: the residue of my people 33shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people 34shall possess them.
28 Hebr. I live.
29 The Moabites and their land. See Jer. 48:1, etc.
30 Namely, in some degree and for a certain time their land shall be desolate, but He does not want to say that it shall also be destroyed, nor that it would forever remain as desolate as such, as Sodom.
31 Barrenness and desolate, where nothing can grow. See Judges 9:45; Psalm 107:34. Plinius, Naturalis Historia, lib. 31, cap. 7.
32 That is, for a long time; for, these countries did not always remain in this desolate condition.
33 The sense is: Some of the Ammonites and some of the Moabites shall be converted to the christian religion, and they shall be received and accepted into the bosom and communion of the church. Compare verse 7, and see the annotations at Isa. 11 on verse 14.
34 Or, shall inherit them.
10This shall they have 35for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the LORD of hosts.
35 Or, in the place of their pride, according to their haughtiness, which they have shown to the people of God, when they were in distress and misery.
11The LORD will be terrible unto them: for he 36will famish all the gods of the earth; and men 37shall worship him, 38every one from his place, even 39all the isles of the heathen.
36 That is, destroy them by degrees. They shall have no more burnt offerings brought unto them. This has happened at the appearance of Christ and afterwards.
37 See the annotation at Gen. 24 on verse 26.
38 As if he said: The true God shall be honored and worshipped at that time, not in Judah only, but by every nation also in all their countries and cities, without having need to travel to Jerusalem for that purpose. See John 4:21.
39 That is, all pagan nations, whoever and wherever they are.
12 ¶ 40Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain 41by my sword.
40 Or thus: As for you, ye Ethiopians, ye shall be smitten by my sword. The sense is: Ye, Ethiopians, shall indeed be made desolate at first, see 2 Chron. 14:9, but afterwards ye shall likewise be brought to Christ. See Zeph. 3:10. Hebr. Also ye, Ethiopians, they shall, etc. Compare Micah 1:2 with the annotation.
41 He calls king Nebuchadnezzar His sword, in the same manner as Asshur is called the rod or staff of God’s anger, Isa. 10:5.
13And 42he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy 43Assyria; and will 44make Nineveh a desolation, and 45dry like a wilderness.
42 Namely, the Lord.
43 That is, the Assyrians.
44 That is, put.
45 Having previously been watered abundantly. See Nahum 2:8.
14And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the 46nations: both 47the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the 48upper lintels of it; their 49voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be 50in the thresholds: for 51he 52shall uncover 53the cedar work.
46 That is, of the neighboring nations round about, who shall cause their cattle to lie down there. Or, according to others: all kinds of fierce and terrible beasts, which are found in the wilderness among the remote nations. Understand: such creatures shall then be there, in lieu of men and all the pleasant things.
47 Or, pelican.
48 Meaning: those which were painted or carved and set upon posts and pillars, or other parts of the house for the sake of ornamentation. Compare Amos 9:1.
49 Or, a voice, namely, the voice of those terrible creatures mentioned here and Isa. 13:21, 22; 34:11, etc.
50 Or, on the posts.
51 Namely, the Lord, or the enemy.
52 Or, shall have ripped off.
53 Hebr. their cedars, or, his cedars, that is, their ceilings of cedar wood. Or, their houses made of cedar wood.
1554This is the rejoicing city 55that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, 56I am, and there is none beside me: 57how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her 58shall hiss, and 59wag his hand.
54 That is, thus shall it go with the city of Nineveh, which in former time was so full of mirth and gladness.
55 That is at rest and stands in fear of none.
56 I alone am the invincible city; there is no city that may be compared with me in dignity, in might, in excellence. Compare Isa. 47:8.
57 See verse 14.
58 See 1 Kings 9:8; Lam. 2:15, 16; Ezek. 27:36; Micah 6:16; Nahum 3:19.
59 Unto a sign of ridicule, or of astonishment.