Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying,
Ver. 1. Hear this word that the Lord hath spoken, &c.] Here beginneth the second sermon, tending to confirm what had been affirmed in the former, and evincing the equity of the judgments there threatened for their hateful ingratitude and other horrible offences, condemned and cried out upon by the very heathens.
Hear this word] Verbum hoc decretorium, this notable word. There are three articles in the original; and there is not the least tittle in the text upon which there hangeth not a mountain of sense, said the Rabbis; this next verse (את הרבר חזה; so Matthew 22:21; τα του Yεου τω Yεω).
That the Lord hath spoken] And shall he not do it? Who ever waxed fierce against God and prospered? Job 9:4 .
Against you, O children of Israel] By his word Christ many times secretly smites the earth, Isaiah 11:4, that is, the consciences of carnal men, glued to the earth: He sets a continual edge upon the word, and consumes them by his rebukes, till he have wearied them with his secret buffets and terrors; and then in the end casts them into a reprobate sense, as he did the Pharisees, who were toties puncti et repuncti, minime tamen ad resipiscentiam compuncti.
Against the whole family] The Dodecaphylon, all the twelve tribes, the whole house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, Isaiah 48:1; God stands not upon multitudes, Psalms 9:17, nor matters whether it be against a nation that he speaketh and acteth, or against a man only, Job 34:29 .
Which I brought up from the land of Egypt] This they often hear of by way of exprobation, as Amos 2:10. God seeming to repent him for their detestable unthankfulness, as David did of the kindness he had shown unworthy Nabal, in safe guarding his substance, 1 Samuel 25:7; and to complain, as Frederick III, Emperor of Germany did, that of those courtiers whom he had advanced he found scarcely any that proved faithful to him, but the worse for his courtesy; or as Queen Elizabeth, that in trust she had found treason.