Behold, the princes of Israel, &c. Probably the members of the great sanhedrim, or the king's counsellors and chief officers, are here intended; every one in thee Not one to be found of a more merciful temper; to their power According to their ability; to shed blood Every one of the princes committed acts of violence, and shed blood, as far as he had it in his power to do it. In thee have they set light by father and mother Disobedience to, or slighting of parents, is unnatural and brutish in itself, and had, in particular, a curse denounced against it by God's law, Deuteronomy 27:16; so that it is here placed next to murder in the catalogue of their sins. Thou hast despised my holy things, &c. Thou hast paid no proper regard to my holy temple, mine altars, sacrifices, feasts, and other things consecrated to my service, nor to the pure worship I appointed; but hast defiled and profaned them all by worshipping of idols together with me, and mingling heathen rites with the forms of worship which I ordered. The sabbaths, which I appointed to be set apart for my honour, thou hast, in great measure, employed in the worship and to the honour of false gods. In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood
Who raise calumnies and depose falsehoods even so far as to take away the lives of innocent persons. In thee they eat upon the mountains Thy inhabitants sacrifice, and feast upon the sacrifices, in the mountains, in honour of idols or false gods. In the midst of thee they commit lewdness And that in the most scandalous instances. In thee have they discovered their fathers' nakedness Have defiled their fathers' beds, or taken their mothers-in-law for wives, called by St. Paul, such fornication as is not named among the Gentiles. In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood Thy judges have taken bribes, not only to pervert justice, but even to take away the lives of the innocent.