And a man's uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that [is] by the sides of the house, [Is there] yet [any] with thee? and he shall say, No. Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of the LORD.
Ver. 10. And a man's uncle shall take him up] Him, that is, every one of the ten before mentioned, being now dead of the plague, shall his uncle or dearest friend take up on his own shoulders, for want of the ordinary mercenary officers (called by the Latins Vespillones, Libitinarii, Pollinctores), their best friends shall be forced to bury or burn their dead corpses. So Seneca in Oedipo.
“ portat hunc aeger parens
Supremum ad ignem, mater hunc amens gerit,
Properatque ut alium regerat in eundem rogum. ”
To bring out the bones out of the house ] For burial, as 1 Samuel 31:13 , the flesh being first burnt. Bones are a part of a man's body; and therefore to be committed to the earth, or laid up in a safe place, as Joseph's were, Exodus 13:19 Joshua 24:32 , and with his, the rest of the patriarchs doubtless, Acts 7:16 . This is one of the dues of the dead, τα νομιζομενα : 1. In honour of God, who made man's body with admirable art, Psalms 139:5 , and as it were by the book, Psalms 139:14,16 . Psalms 139:2 . Next because the dead body was sometime a temple of the Holy Ghost, and an instrument of many holy actions, 1 Corinthians 3:16,17 2 Corinthians 6:16 . 2 Corinthians 6:3 . Because it shall be raised one day and conformed to Christ's glorious body, the standard, Philippians 2:21 . "We know," saith the same apostle, "that when Christ, our life, shall appear, we shall appear with him in glory"; like as in the transfiguration, that body of Moses which was hidden in the valley of Moab appeared with Christ in the hill of Tabor.
And shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house ] To him that burneth the dead, as before, that assisteth a man's uncle to inter him. The Jews did not usually burn, but bury; yet sometimes they did, Jeremiah 34:5 1 Kings 13:2 ; and at this time they were forced by the raging pestilence to do it (as Jerome here noteth), for the preventing of stench and further infection.
Is there yet any with thee ] sc. left alive; or hath death made a clean riddance? Or thus: Are there yet any more dead corpses which I may carry forth for the burial?
And he shall say, No] Or, And he shall say an end, a total consumption; they are all dead and gone. A sad verdict.
Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue] sc. bear it patiently, fret not, murmur not, it is God's doing, Psalms 39:9. Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God, Zephaniah 1:7 .
For we may not make mention of the name of the Lord] This is vox desperantis, the voice of despair and despondency; and it is as if he had said, it is bootless to pray; for God is set to plague us, and will not be pacified: Surely there is no hope; but we are all "free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom God remembereth no more," Psalms 88:5, neither helpeth it us to remember or mention him any more. Men under sharp afflictions are apt to think that there is left them neither hope of better nor place of worse, as the Church in the Lamentations. Others sense it otherwise; but to me this seemeth the likeliest.