I [am one of them that are] peaceable [and] faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the LORD?
Ver. 19. I am one of them, &c.] See on 2 Samuel 20:18 .
Thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel,] i.e., A metropolis that hath many towns belonging to it; which sucking in the air of this city, as Plutarch speaketh of Rome in Numa's days, do breathe peaceableness and faithfulness to their rightful sovereign. Or, A mother in Israel, that is, a city that can give mother-like counsel. Or, A mother, that is, a university, such as was afterwards Athens, spared therefore by Sulla, when as else he had destroyed it. a
Why wilt thou swallow up] As a greedy beast doth his prey.
The inheritance of the Lord?] Will not such a murdering morsel be thy bane? Art thou so good at committing of sacrilege, at robbing God of his right?
a Plut., Apoph.