Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: [be they] better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?
Ver. 2. Pass ye unto Calneh and see] Take a voyage to and a view of those most famous bordering cities, Calneh, or Seleucia, in Mesopotamia on the east (whereof see Genesis 10:10, the beginning of Nimrod's kingdom), Hamath the great, or Antiochia (now Aleppo, a famous market town), on the north. Then go down southward to Gath of the Philistines, which was of all the five satrapies potissima et potentissima, most strong and powerful, and is therefore called Methegammah, 2Sa 8:1 cf. 1 Chronicles 18:1, because, being a town of great strength, it was, as it were, the bridle, whereby the whole country about was kept in awe: it was afterwards known by the name of Diocaesarea. Away to these neighbouring cities, and see in them, as in so many telescopes, how much more God hath done for you than for them in every respect; the greater is your guilt, and the deeper will be your judgment in the end, for abuse of these rich mercies, of a fertile soil, a large empire, to security, oppression, and other detestable vices and villanies.
Be they better than these kingdoms] sc. of Judah and Israel? which were certainly multis nominibus laudatissima, very fruitful and pleasant countries, Deu 8:7-9 Numbers 14:7,8, whatsoever Strabo spitefully reporteth to the contrary, being therein worse than Rabshakeh, Isaiah 36:17 .
Or their border grearer than your border] sc. Till the Babylonians, Syrians, and Assyrians took part of your country from you, and cooped you up, cut you short. And now that you are so straitened for room, doth not the Lord recompense you in multitudes of people? Judea was not over two hundred miles long and fifty miles broad, say geographers; and yet what large armies brought they into the field! Observe, then, saith the prophet, the great things that God hath done for you above other nations, and walk accordingly; or else take lessons out of their losses and damages, and know that the case will be your own: Aliorum perclitio vestra sitcantio: Learn by other men's harms to beware.