And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, [and] they rebel against me.
Ver. 14. And they have not cried unto me with their heart] Hitherto hath been said what they had done; now what they had not done. Omissions are sins as well as commissions. Not serving of God, not sacrificing, is condemned, Mal 3:18 Ecclesiastes 9:2. Not robbing only, but the not relieving of the poor, was the rich man's ruin, Luke 16:19. Omission of diet breeds diseases, and makes work for hell, or for the physician of our souls. It is the character of a graceless man, that he calleth not upon God; and we have too many of that profane Earl of Westmoreland's mind, who said, that he needed not to pray at all, for he had tenants enough to pray for him. Some wicked pray (so as it is; indeed they cant, or charm, rather than pray; Isaiah 26:16, they poured forth a charm, לחשׁ when thy chastening was upon them), but they pray not with their heart. Their hearts are exercised with covetousness, 2 Peter 2:14, and inhabited by the devil, Acts 5:3. Simon Magus' heart was not right with the Lord, Acts 8:21. How could it be, when it was "in the gall of bitterness, and bond of perdition," Acts 8:23, as every unregenerate heart is? Hence though God be near in their mouths, yet he is far from their reins, Jeremiah 12:2; and though they honour him a little with their lips, yet their heart is far from him, Matthew 15:8. A little artificial breath they can give God; and that is all. The breath that comes from life is warm (as that from the body), whereas artificial breath is cold, as that from bellows. The deeper and hollower the belly of the lute or viol the more pleasant is the sound; the fleeter, the more grating and harsh in our ears. The voice which is made in the mouth is nothing so sweet as that which comes from the depth of the breast. Ephesians 6:6, Do the will of God "from the heart": serve God "in the spirit," Romans 1:9. Lift up hands and hearts to God in the heavens, Lamentations 3:41. Lip labour is but lost labour, yea, it is sin, Proverbs 15:8. Displeasing service is double dishonour; as dissembled sanctity is double iniquity. These men cried vociferabantur, voce stentorea sonum edebant. They did set up their note, yea, they howled upon their beds, whereupon they had cast themselves, being sick, not of wantonness, as once Ahab was, but of want: which made them howl as dogs do when tied up from their meat and hunger bitten; but were no more regarded than a dog that howleth, or than the cuckoo in June. For what reason? They howled indeed to some tune (as they say), the Hebrew word hath a letter more than ordinary, to note as much (Jejelilu). Hebrew Text Note It was the heathen fashion to cry hideously to their gods; as also the Indians do to this day. So did these, because kept short, and held to strait allowance. It is said of the ravens of Arabia, that when they are hungry they screech horribly. And a parrot, when he is beaten, utters a hoarse and harsh voice. "The songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day," Amos 8:3; their sacrifices as the cutting off a dog's neck, which is not done without much howling and yelling, Isaiah 66:3 .
They assemble themselves] sc. to make public supplication in their idol temples; called beds before (as some conceive), because as corporal fornication is committed in beds, so is spiritual in those places of superstition. Here therefore they met; not ad ruminandum (as the Vulgate Latin), to feed as beasts, nor to cut and lance themselves as Baal's priests did (as the Septuagint, κατετεμνοντο), and the heathens in great afflictions, Deuteronomy 14:1. But to howl for wheat, for provender, for daily allowance of food, as now the Papists do in their sacra Ambarvalia; and as of old the Pagans did in extreme famine, or other public calamity: Inops Senatus auxilii humani ad Deos populum et vota convertit: omnia delubra implent (Liv. lib. 3). But as the grasshopper hops not much above the earth, and as vapours exhaled and drawn up by the sun do soon fall down again; so do drossy and earthy hearts in prayers, they seldom rise above grain and wine in their desires. Si ventri bene, si lateri, as Epicurus in Horace. If the belly may be filled, the back fitted, their own turns served, it is enough to them, whose belly is their god, and who mind earthly things only. Which when they have once got, then they rebel against me, they consume it upon their lust, James 4:2, and so fight against God with his own weapons, as Jehu did against Jehoram with his own men; they abuse their store to his dishonour; like grain fed cattle, they kick against their master; or as the young mule, that when she hath sucked her fill, kicks her dam; or as the wild ass, that snuffs up the wind, and cannot be taken. Or, secondly, they rebel after they have assembled themselves, and made a show of no small devotion; when once the duty is over they go to their old courses again, and undo all their prayers, as Jeremiah 5:3, as if, now they had prayed, they had purchased a license to live as they wish. Whereas duties should mightily engage us against sin, and deliverances command obedience.