And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?
Ver. 13. And it came to pass that when I prophesied.] God heweth men by his prophets, and slayeth them by the words of his mouth, and his judgments are as the light, or lightning, that goeth forth. Hos 6:5 Elisha hath his sword as well as Jehu and Hazael. 1Ki 19:17 See Jeremiah 1:10 2 Corinthians 10:6 .
Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died.] Suddenly, a and before his time, in Solomon's sense. Ecc 7:17 Driven away he was in his iniquity Cerinthus, Arius so were Ananias and Sapphira, Cerinthus, Arius, Stephen Gardiner, Cardinal Pool, Dick of Dover, as they called the persecuting suffragan b there; Nightingale, parson of Becking, &c. See Proverbs 6:14,15 .
Then fell I down upon my face.] Out of a holy solicitude about God's elect, lest they also should have perished, as Petaliah had done, whose very name might seem somewhat ominous, for it signifieth "the escaped one of the Lord"; and therefore his sudden death might portend destruction to the remnant of Israel.
And cried with a loud voice.] Sudden or singular judgments put saints upon humble, earnest, and argumentative prayer.
a Magnum est subito opprimi.
b A bishop considered in regard to his relation to the archbishop or metropolitan, by whom he may be summoned to attend synods and give his suffrage. ŒD