Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city [where] David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.
Ver. 1. Woe to Ariel, to Ariel,] i.e., To the brazen altar, Eze 43:15-16 called here Ariel, or God's lion, because it seemed as a lion to devour the sacrifices daily burnt upon it. Here it is put for the whole temple, a which, together with the city wherein it stood, is threatened with destruction.
The city where David dwelt.] Both Mount Moriah, whereon stood the temple, and Mount Zion, whereon stood the palace. Both Church and State are menaced with judgments, temporal in the eight first verses, and spiritual in the eight next. The rest of the chapter is no less consolatory than this is comminatory.
Add ye year to year,] i.e., Feed yourselves on with these vain hopes, that years shall run on always in the same manner. See 2Pe 2:4 Ezekiel 12:22 .
Let them kill sacrifices.] And thereby think, but falsely and foolishly, to demerit God to themselves, as that emperor did, who, marching against his enemy, sacrificed, and then said, Non sic Deos coluimus ut ille nos vinceret, b We have not so served God that he should serve us no better than to give our enemies the better of us. See Isa 58:3 Jeremiah 7:21 Hosea 9:1 .
a Metonymiae adiuncta synecdochica.
b Antonin., Philosop.