Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour [it], and [there be] none to quench [it] in Bethel.
Ver. 6. Seek ye the Lord, and ye shall live] See Amos 5:4. Sic eadem saepe surdis et obstinatis inculcantur (Mercer). The continual pressing of a duty imports: 1. The excellency; 2. The necessity; 3. The difficulty of doing it: else what need so many words? Perquam durum est, sed ita lex scripts est, saith Ulpian. Hard or not hard, it must be done, or men are undone.
Lest he break out like fire] Lest he go through you and burn you together, Isaiah 27:4, lest ye be "utterly burnt with fire in the same place," 2 Samuel 23:7, that is, in hell (as some expound it), which the prophet called tormenting Tophet, Isaiah 30:33, and Plato calleth πυριφλεγεθων, a fiery lake; so terrible, saith Bellarmine, that one glimpse of it were enough to make a man not only turn Christian and sober, but anchorite a and monk; to live after the strictest rule that may be.
a A person who has withdrawn or secluded himself from the world; usually one who has done so for religious reasons, a recluse, a hermit. ŒD