people of God, in all ages, have looked, and have not been ashamed.

8 And he fhall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither fhall refpect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images).

The perfon described, having turned to the living God, fhall abandon the idolatrous practices to which he was formerly addicted. He fhall pay no regard to the altars, which he had erected to the honour of the idols whom he formerly ferved, and on which facrifices were offered to them. That which his fingers have made, is explained in the next words, to have been, either the groves which he planted, to form pleasant places of retirement, where the worship of idols was performed-or the images that were made to reprefent the deities to whom homage was paid.By this prediction, which received its primary accomplishment among the refidue of the Ephraimites, after their country was defolated by the Affyrians, we are instructed in the high importance of discovering a proper refpect for our Maker and Saviour, which takes off culpable attention from every other object. If once we look to God as we ought, and have a juft respect to the holy One of Ifrael, our esteem will be withdrawn from our own performances, and fixed upon him who alone can fave us; we shall turn away our eyes from lying vanities, and renounce with deteftation our former evil practices.

9 ¶ In that day fhall his ftrong cities be as a forfaken bough, and an uppermoft branch, which they left, becaufe of the children of Ifrael: and there fhall be defolation.

This and the following verfe, contain the illuftration and confirmation of the foregoing predictions.

The

The words now before us, describe the awful judg ment which God was to inflict upon Ephraim, at the period to which the prophecy refers. Though their land had been already pillaged by the enemy, ftill there remained a few grapes, which had not been gleaned. After feveral years however, their cities, which were fignificantly reprefented by fruits which had escaped the notice of the gatherer, fhould be as a forfaken bough, and uppermoft branch. Their formerly strong and well-fortified cities were to be defolated, and to become a mere folitude, fo as to refemble the bough of a tree, or the uppermoft branch, after it hath been ftripped of its leaves and fruit. Because of the children of Ifrael. These predicted calamities were to be inflicted on account of the multiplied and aggravated tranfgreffions of the degenerate pofterity of the patriarch Jacob. And there fhall be defolation, greater and more extenfive than in any former period. Thus it came to pass, in the fixth year of the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah, when Shalmanefer entirely overthrew and defolated the land of Ifrael.

10 Because thou haft forgotten the God of thy falvation, and haft not been mindful of the rock of thy ftrength: therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shall set it with strange flips:

The reafon is here fpecified, which fully juftifies the execution of the judgments above mentioned.Salvation of every kind belongeth unto the Lord: it proceedeth not from man, nor from princes; not from angels or faints, or the idols of the Heathen; but from Jehovah alone, to whom all the glory and praise ought to be afcribed. The Ifraelites, who ought ever to have been mindful of this important truth, had forgotten the mighty One, from whom all their falvation took its rife. God had mercifully delivered them out of the land of Egypt, and from the house

of

of bondage: he wrought falvation for them at the Red Sea; and often afterward did he rescue them from impending dangers which threatened their ruin. Though he was ftill ready to be their Saviour in the time of trouble, they bafely revolted from his fervice; they fhook off the remembrance of his mercies; they made light of his offered affiftance, and discovered that veneration for falfe gods which was due to the true God alone.And haft not been mindful of the rock of thy ftrength, or thy ftrong rock, which hath fupplied thy manifold neceffities, which hath been thy defence from evil, and thy fupport in weakness. Such ungrateful conduct was highly criminal, attended with many heinous aggravations, and justly exposed to the righteous judgment of God, who, in this manner, had been lightly esteemed.Beware, my brethren, of forgetting the God of your falvation, the rock of your strength. To you God may juftly fay, as to his people of old, Have I been a wilderness to you, or a land of darknefs?' Hath not all his paths towards you dropt down fatnefs? and hath he not been a light and defence to you whitherfoever you have gone. Every creature, every providence, every ordinance, is intended to bring God to your remembrance, who is ever mindful of you. Be not then fo infenfible as to forget the God of your falvation, left you thereby incur the judgment denounced in the next words:

Therefore fhalt thou plant pleasant plants, and fhalt fet it with strange flips. As the juft punishment of their fins, the Ephraimites were to be obliged to cultivate and improve their country at much trouble and expence, after it had been desolated by their enemies. Thou shalt plant it with fruit-trees, with fhrubs, flowers, and roots thou shalt set it with foreign flips, brought from other countries, labouring hard, that, in fome measure, you may repair the ravages made on your land by those who invaded it.

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11 In the day fhalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning fhalt thou make thy feed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief, and of defperate forrow.

The fubject introduced in the preceding verse, is here continued and illuftrated.The expreffions used for this purpose plainly intimate, that the utmost affiduity and diligence fhould be employed to promote the growth of the plants and flips, after they were fet in the ground. They were not to be neglected, like the plants of the fluggard; nor fhould any means be left untried that might tend to their improvement. In the day, and particularly in the morning, the Ifraelites would endeavour, with the utmost vigilance and conftancy, to cultivate their plants, and the feeds which they had fown, in the hopes of enjoying fimilar fuccefs and fruitfulness with their fathers, who reaped in great abundance. But the harvest fhall be a heap in the day of grief, and of defperate forrow. When the fruits of the earth were ripe, and ready to be gathered, they were to be collected into heaps, not by their proprietors, but by the enemies who invaded and defolated their land, that they might either serve them for prefent use, or be afterward carried out of the country. -Contemplate, in this prediction, the evil and danger of fin, and its exact correfpondence with the inftructions delivered to the progenitors of this people, by Mofes, the fervant of the Lord : Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God.-And it fhall be, that if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I teftify against you this day, that ye fhall furely perish *. The above predictions were accomplished, when Tiglath-pilezer, king of Affyria, whom Ahaz, king of Judea, called to his affiftance against the confederate princes of Sy

Deut. viii. 18, 19.

ria and Ephraim, flew the king of Syria, deftroyed Damafcus, and carried away the inhabitants into Affyria and Media-When he greatly diftreffed Pekah, king of Ifrael, fpoiled his land, and obtained poffeffion of the most flourishing provinces of Gilead and Galilee; fo that the glory of Jacob was made thin, and the harvest of Ephraim was gathered. The prophecy was afterward completely fulfilled by Shalmanefer, his fon, who took Samaria, the capital of Ephraim, with other fortified cities, whofe inhabitants he carried away captive, in confequence whereof the land of Ifrael became almost a defart*. A few people however were left, who had refpect to the holy One of Ifrael, to whom Hezekiah fent letters, wherein it was thus written: Ye children of Ifrael, turn again ⚫ unto the Lord God of Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are • escaped out of the hands of the kings of Affyria. And be ye not like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trefpaffed against the Lord God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to defolation, as ye fee.' 2 Chron, xxx. 6, 7.

12¶ Wo to the multitude of many people, which make a noife like the noise of the feas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters.

-The

A new fubject is here introduced, and continued in the two remaining verfes of this chapter.prophet now turns his attention to the future fortunes of the Affyrian army, which he forefaw, by the fpirit of prophecy, would affault the kingdom of Judah. That great army, which was to march under the command of Sennacherib against Judea and Jerufalem, was to be composed of a multitude of many nations; viz. the Affyrians, the Syrians, the Babylonians, &c.

* See 2 Kings xv. 29. and xvii. 3.

Certain