Thus saith the Lord GOD; This [is] Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries [that are] round about her.
Ver. 5. This is Jerusalem,] i.e., This head and beard so to be shaved. Eze 5:1 By the hair of the head some think the wise men of that city are figured out, and by the hair of the beard are the strong men; the razor of God's severity maketh clean work, leaving no stub or stump behind it.
I have set it in the midst of the nations.] As the head, heart, and centre of the earth. See Psa 72:10 Ezekiel 38:12; and God had peculiar ends in it, that the law might go forth out of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and that all nations might flow into it. Isa 2:2-3 Talis est Roma Christianis, Such now is Rome to Christians, saith A Lapide; but lay a straw there, say we; or, as the Gloss saith upon some decrees of popes, Haec non credo, I believe it not. See Revelation 17:5 .