VIII. 11. Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.

Not a famine of material bread, &c. but a spiritual famine of the word of God, which is only able to feed and save your souls.

VIII. 12. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.

And they shall wander from the sea of Galilee to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the north across unto the east, to seek the word of the Lord at the mouth of his prophets, and shall not find it.

VIII. 14. They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy God, o Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth; eren they shall fall, and never rise up again.

Those idolatrous Israelites, that swear by the molten images of Samaria, and say, As the God, which is worshipped in Dan, and the author of the religion of Beer-sheba liveth; even they shall fall into utter perdition, and never rise again.

IX. 1. I saw the Lord standing upon the altar : and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake : and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword.

In my vision I saw the Lord, having left the temple, to stand upon the altar without: and he commanded his angel, saying, Smite thou the lintel of the door of the temple, so vehemently, that the posts thereof may shake; in signification of that main stroke, which I will give the rulers of Israel: for I will cut them in the head, or principal men, every one of them; and as for the posts, which are the inferiors, I will slay them with the sword of the Assyrian.

IX. 2. Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them.

Neither shall they ever be able, by any power or policy, to escape my judgments: though they should dig into hell, there shall my hand find them.

IX. 3. Thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them.

There will I command my leviathan to swallow them up. IX. 5. And it shall rise up wholly like a flood; &c. See chapter viii. verse 8.

IX. 6. It is he that buildeth the stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, 8:c.

It is he, that hath built and preserved the several contignations of his orbs in the heavens; and hath made provision of those infinite armies of his creatures, to execute his revenges

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upon earth: it is he, that, by his command, lets loose the waters of the sea.

IX. 7. Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, ( children of Israel? saith the Lord. Have not I brought up Israel out of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?

Is there any reason in you, O ye children of Israel, why I should respect you more than the very Ethiopians? Why should I make any difference, betwixt you and very Philistines? If you say, I brought up Israel out of Egypt; so also did I bring the Philistines out of Caphtor; and the Syrians from Cyrene, where they were captived.

IX. 9. Yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.

Yet shall not the least grain escape, unsifted, by falling to the earth, without agitation: every Israelite shall be tossed up and down, and dispersed in this captivity; no one shall be free.

IX. 11. In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of Darid that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old.

In that day will I raise up my Evangelical Church, which is the tabernacle of the true and glorious Son of David, the Messiah of the World; even upon the ruins of the Jewish Church; which I will repair, and so make up the breaches thereof, as that, both Jews and Gentiles, shall make up one Church ; which shall be made as spiritually complete, as ever the temple was materially of old:

IX. 12. That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the Lord that doeth this.

That the bounds thereof may be extended over all the earth, even to the remotest heathen, which shall then be called by my name, saith the Lord that doeth this.

IX. 13. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.

Behold, I will continue such plentiful increase of my blessings under the Gospel, that one shall overtake another, in a perpetual succession: as it is in a rich and fruitful soil, that the harvest is no sooner in, than the plough is put into the ground for another crop; and the vintage is no sooner done, than the seed is sown for a new harvest; thus shall it be with my Church, where one blessing endeth, another shall begin: then even the driest and barrenest hearts, shall yield excellent fruits of grace, in very great abundance.

IX. 15. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have giren them, saith the Lord thy God,

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I will settle my Church upon earth, never to be rooted out by the violence of men; never to be prevailed against by the gates of hell; saith the Lord God.

OBADIAH.

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1. We hare heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.

We, that are the prophets of God, have heard the Lord declaring his purpose concerning Edom; and sending his angel to stir up the Chaldees against him, saying, Arise ye, and I shall assist you, to make war against the Edomites.

2. Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.

Behold, though thou art but a handful, in respect of the rest of the heathen round about thee, and art but meanly thought of, for thy power;

3. The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high ; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?

Yet thou art foolishly lifted up in the pride of thine own heart, and deceivest thyself with a false confidence in thine impregnable situation: thou dwellest aloft in the clefts of the rocks, which thou thinkest inaccessible; and sayest in thy heart, W’ho shall be able to bring me down?

4. Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.

But know, that, though thy forts and castles were as high as the eagle can build her nest or fly, yea though thou couldst build as high as the stars, this should not avail thee: thence will I fetch thee down, saith the Lord.

5. If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grape gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?

How art thou, contrary to thy expectation, utterly cut off, O Edom; without all remainders of hope of recovery! If thieves, if robbers by night come to steal from thee, they would only take their booty, so much as they can think enough to serve their turn, and leave the rest: if the grape gatherers come to pull the clusters from thy vine, they would leave some grapes for the gleaners, that shall come after.

6. How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up! But as for thine enemies, the Chaldees, they shall ransack and rifle all the things of Edom; and shall search out all thy hidden commodities, and carry them away at once.

7. All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border : the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.

All those of thy confederacy, to whom thou trustedst, even the Moabites and Ammonites, which were in league with thee, have deceived thee; and have driven thee out of thy own seat, even to the utmost borders of thy country: thine entire associates have craftily drawn thee into that inconvenience, which thou canst not avoid nor remedy; and, for all thy pretence of wisdom, thou hast no understanding of this plot laid for thy ruin.

9. And thy mighty men, 0 Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.

As thy wise men, so thy valiant soldiers, even those of Teman, which are most famous for skill and courage, shall be utterly cut off, that there may be none left alive in all the mount of Esau.

11. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive, fc.

In the day of battle, thou stoodest opposite to thy brethren, the issue of Jacob; and wert willing enough, that the enemies should carry them away captive, &c.

13. Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; 8c.

Thou shouldest not have entered into the gates of the cities of Israel, my people, in the day of their calamity, to help to spoil and sack them; &c.

16. For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.

For, as ye my people, which dwell and worship upon my holy mountain, have drunk up the cup of my bitter afdiction; so shall all the heathen pledge you continually of the same cup: yea, they shall drink it to the very dregs, and shall swallow it down; and they shall be so cut off, as if they had never been.

17. But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.

But, in the end, upon mount Zion shall be a happy restoration of my people: there shall be holy service performed to my name, in the re-edified temple; and the sons of Jacob shall be restored to their old possessions.

18. And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it.

And I will make the house of Jacob, both Judah and Ephraim, to be as a fire, while the posterity of Esau is as stubble; so as the fire of Israel shall consume the stubble of Esau, till there be none left of that accursed generation.

19. And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau ; and they of the plain the Philistines : and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria : and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.

And they of the south, which are the tribe of Judah, shall possess the mountainous country of Edom; and they of Benjamin, which are of the plain, shall possess the cities of the Philistines; and the rest of Israel shall return to and recover their ancient bounds of inheritance, with much enlargement : in a figure of the spiritual extending of the borders of my Church, under the Gospel, over all the coasts of the earth.

20. And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath ; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the city of the south.

And the host of those Israelites, which shall be returned from their captivity, shall possess the land of the Canaanites, even to the utmost bounds thereof, which is Sarepta, as they formerly enjoyed it; and the returned captives of Judah, which are in Sepharad the remotest part of Babylon, shall possess those cities of the south, which are their ancient limits.

21. And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord's.

And God shall, from time to time, raise up mighty and gracious deliverers of his people, in that his royal and holy hill of Zion, which shall repress the rage of his enemies, and pull down the pride of Edom; and God shall challenge to himself the right and protection of his kingdom of Israel.

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JONAH. 1. 2. Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city of the Assyrians, and denounce my judgments against it; for their wickedness is grown to that height, that I can no longer forbear it.

I. 3. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, &c.