Ver. 1. Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me.] Five or six years afore it happened. God loveth to foresignify, to forewarn, or ere he punish. Let us, upon whom the ends of the world are come, take warning, and think we hear the trump of God sounding as here, “An end is come, is come, is come; it watcheth for thee, behold it is come.” (Ezekiel 7:2,3,6)
Ver. 2. An end, the end is come.] Exitium et excidium. Great kingdoms have their times and their turns, their rise and their ruin. The wicked’s happiness will take its end, surely and swiftly. Upon the four corners of the land.] Heb., The four wings, called also the “four winds.” (Matthew 24:31) They had defiled the land from corner to corner; [as Ezra 9:11] God therefore now would sweep it all over with the besom of utter destruction.
Ver. 3. Now is the end come upon thee.] Even upon thee, O Israel. Who would ever have thought it (Lamentations 4:12) And I will send mine anger upon thee.] Reveal it from heaven. [as Romans 1:18] And will judge thee according to thy ways,] i.e., I will punish thee for thy ways. [as Hosea 4:9 Obadiah 15] And will recompense upon thee.] Heb., I will give or put upon thee all thine abominations— q.d., Thou hast hitherto put them upon me, but I will have a writ of removal, and set them upon their own base. [as Zechariah 5:11]
Ver. 4. And mine eye shall not spare thee.] Ezekiel 5:11. See on Jeremiah 13:14. And thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee.] Ut quae antea latuerant, in aperture prodeant. And ye shall know that I am the Lord.] That smiteth you. (Ezekiel 7:9) An evil, an only evil,] viz., Without mixture of mercy, or that shall smite thee down at one only blow. [as 1 Samuel 26:8 Nahum 1:9] The Vulgate, after the Chaldee, rendereth it, An evil after an evil— q.d., Lighter and lesser judgments have done no good upon thee. Now I will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness. (Romans 9:28) Ruinam praecedunt stillicidia. Drops precede disaster.
Ver. 6. An end is come, the end is come.] Still the prophet ringeth this doleful knell in their ears, whom sin and Satan had cast into such a dead lethargy, that they could not easily be aroused. Battologia est, sed necessaria verborum redundantia, saith Pintus. It watcheth for thee.] Which hitherto lay at the door, (Genesis 4:7) sleeping dog sleep, as we say. In the Hebrew there is an elegant alliteration between hakets, “an end,” and hekits, “watcheth.” See 2 Peter 3:3.
Ver. 7. The morning is come unto thee.] The morning of execution (as Jeremiah 21:12 Ps 101:8 cf. Ho 10:15 Ge 19:23,24), worse than the Sicilian Vespers or the French massacre. Thine utter destruction, bene mane in te irruet, shall be upon thee early, as it was upon Sodom, and as the morning light breaketh in upon those that are fast asleep. Sicut decoctores multa sibi promittunt, interim pereunt. So it befalleth the wicked. The day of trouble is near.] Hajom mehumah. “Day” in Hebrew is thought to have its name from the stir and noise that is made in it, the humming noise and bustle of business. A troublesome and tumultuous day is here forethreatened, such as that in Isaiah 22:5 Zep 1:14-17. Not the sounding again of the mountains.] Not an empty sound, or an echo— resonabilis echo -but a worse matter, that shall do more than beat the air. Visitaberis summo mane, id est mature. -Piscat. Florulenta felicitas occidit. -Oecol. Virgil.
Ver. 8. Now will I shortly pour out my fury.] See on Ezekiel 5:13. And I will judge thee, &c.] See on Ezekiel 7:3.
Ver. 9. I will recompense.] The same as before. Nunquam satis dicitur, quod nunquam satis discitur. That I am the Lord that smiteth.] Think not that I am made all of mercy, or that I will ever serve you for a sinning stock. Ye shall know that I have verbera flogging as well as ubera, plenty and can so set it on as no creature can take it off.
Ver. 10. The morning is gone forth.] Matutina sententia, The decree bringeth forth, [as Zephaniah 2:2] [See Trapp on “Zep 2:2”] The rod hath blossomed.] You have had your floralia, good times and shall shortly have your funeralia, funeral. Nebuchadnezzar (that rod of my wrath) is at hand. Pride hath budded.] And will shortly bring forth, viz., the bitter fruit of your bold rebellion. Not much unlike to this was the almond rod seen by Jeremiah. (Ezekiel 1:11)
Ver. 11. Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness.] Their oppressions speak them most wicked, and will make them most wretched. Nor of their multitude.] Or, Their tumultuous persons, their Thrasos, saith Tremellius, quantumvis circumstrepant famulitio numeroso, with all their train and retinue, that keep a clutter. Neither shall there be wailing for them.] Their dearest friends shall not dare to lament the loss of them, for fear of the enemies who are present would punish it. We read in the Roman history of one Vitia, who was put to death by the command of Tiberius, for that she had lamented Geminus her son executed as a friend to Sejanus. Tacit.