And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the LORD.
Ver. 3. And I will cut off the judge] i.e. the king, who sometimes sits himself in judgment, as King Henry VIII did here, at the condemnation of Lambert, martyr; as the king of Persia doth often to this day. I have seen him (saith a traveller) many times to alight from his horse, only to do justice to a poor body. The Grand Seignior himself sits one day in the week to receive the poor's petitions, and punish the faulty grandees about him. For as he styles himself, Awlem Penawh, that is, the world's refuge; so he would have the world to take notice, that such as lament unto him shall be sure to have redress and succour from him, although his ministers fail them, or abuse them, through their injustice; hence few viziers die in their beds.
From the midst thereof] i.e. of Kerioth, the chief city where the court was kept, as Kimchi saith, with a great deal of pomp and pride. We have heard of the pride of Moab. See Jeremiah 48:7; Jeremiah 48:11; Jeremiah 48:14; Jer 48:18 Zephaniah 2:8; Zephaniah 2:10. It was their national sin, and forerunner of their fall.