When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah [saw] his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.
Ver. 13. When Ephraim saw his sickness] i.e. felt himself moth-eaten, hard-driven, and at a very great under, as those must needs be whom God setteth against.
And Judah his wound] Heb. his ulcer, that needeth crushing to get out the filth, Jeremiah 30:13 Obadiah 1:7. Ephraim was sick (God hath made him sick in smiting him, Mic 6:13) and Judah was sore, yet ulcerated, imposthumated, and they were both aware of it; but none otherwise than brute beasts, which, when they are smitten or sick, feel it, and howl out, but have not the reason to think whence the pain comes, what may be the cause and cure of it. Ephraim and Judah make out indeed for help, but they run to wrong remedies and refuges; they turn not to him that smote them, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts; therefore is not his anger turned away, but his hand is stretched out still, Isaiah 9:12,13. If God be angry, no other help can relieve us, no creature comfort us, no combination with King Jareb secure us. In a mine, if a damp come, it is vain to trust to your lights; they will burn blue and dim, and at last vanish: you must make haste to be drawn upward if you would be safe. So must men make to God; fleeing from his anger to his grace. Blood letting is a cure of bleeding, and a burn a cure against a burn; and the running to God is the way to escape him; as to close and get in with him that would strike you doth avoid the blow. In a tempest at sea it is very dangerous to strike the shore; the safest way is to have sea room, and to keep in the main, still, &c. Jareb cannot be a defender (according to the import of his name) if God come against a people or person. Brass and iron can fence a man against a bullet or a sword; but if he were to be cast into a furnace of fire it would help to torment him; if into a pit of water, to sink him. Now our God is a "consuming fire," and his breath a stream of brimstone, Isaiah 30:33, as a reverend man maketh the comparison (Dr Reynolds' Sermon before Parliament, July 27, 1642).
Then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and Judah sent to king Jareb] Or, to the king of Jareb, or to the king that should plead, and revenge his cause and quarrel. Ad regem propugnaturum, saith Junins. Help, O king, said she in the holy history. Kings should be helpers, propugnaters, protectors; sanctuaries of safety to the oppressed, whether subjects or neighbours; such as the late king of Sweden was to the oppressed princes of Germany; and before him, Queen Elizabeth to the Low Countrymen; whose protection when she undertook, the king of Sweden that then was said, that she had taken the crown off her own head, and set it upon the head of fortune. But what a madness was it in Ephraim and Judah to call in the Assyrians to their help, as they did, 2 Kings 16:7 2 Chronicles 28:16; 2 Chronicles 28:21; but especially 2 Kings 15:19,20; 2 Kings 17:3. This was to invite the enemy into their kingdom, and to show gold-thirsty Babel where she might have her full draught. Thus Judea was (after the return from Babylon) lost again to the Romans, by their calling Pompey to decide the controversy between the disagreeing brethren. And such an ungainly course was attempted by John, king of England, when, being overlaid in his barons' wars, he sent to the monarch of Morocco for aid, offering to hold his kingdom for him, and to receive the law of Mahomet; but he was rejected with scorn. Afterwards, he passed away his kingdom to the pope, in hope of help; but had so little joy of it, that he was heard to complain, Postquam me ac men regna (proh dolor) Rom. subieci Ecclesiae, nulla mihi prospera, sod omnia contraria advenerunt, I never prospered since I subjected myself and my kingdoms to the see of Rome. No more did the Greek Churches, as above hath been mentioned. "By iniquity," saith Solomon, "shall no man be established," Proverbs 12:3. "Shall they escape by iniquity?" saith David. What! no better means and ways to help themselves by? "In thine anger cast down such a people, O God," Psalms 56:7. It is not more a prayer than a prophecy; and it was fulfilled upon this people.
Yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound] Kings have their names in Greek from healing (' Aναξ from ακος, medela, cure); they should be physicians, and binders-up of wounds, as Isaiah 3:7. (See Corn. a Lapide on that text.) But King Jareb proved a physician of no value: instead of healing the wound, he made it wider; instead of helping King Ahaz, "he distressed him," saith the text, 2 Chronicles 28:20. The creature was never true to those that trusted to it. Such are sure to be frustrated, Jeremiah 14:3; subjected to God's wrath, Psalms 78:22; cursed with a curse, Jeremiah 17:5,6; pointed at as forlorn fools, Psalms 52:7 .