The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide [it] not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.
Ver. 9. The show of their countenance doth witness against them,] q.d., You may see by their very looks what lewd lowlies they are. Their cruelty, pride, envy, hypocrisy, mulieorsity sitteth and showeth itself apparently in their faces and foreheads. Wisdom maketh the face to shine, saith Solomon; et ipse aspectus viri boni delectat. Good men look lovely, saith Seneca, as did that angel of God, John Bradford, quoth Dr Taylor, martyr; not so Cain, when discontented at God, and displeased at his brother; Gen 4:6 he scowled and looked like a dog under a door, as we say. The thoughts are oft known by the countenance; and the heart is printed upon the face. Damascen calleth the eyes the exact images of the imaginations? a And the Italians have a proverb, that a man with his words close and his countenance loose, may travel undiscovered what he is, or goes about, all the world over. The word here used for "show" or "trial," doth in Hithpael signify to make a man's self unknown.
And they declare their sin, as Sodom.] They tell it out. as Jdg 14:16 And as the shameless Sodomites said to Lot, Bring them out to us that we may know them. Gen 19:5 See the like impudence in Lamech; Gen 4:23-24 in Lot's two daughters. Gen 19:36-37 This impudent naming of their incestuous brats, as begotten by their own father, showeth that they declared their sin, as Sodom, where they had lived and learned it.
They hide it not.] So Ezekiel 24:7. Her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of a rock, as it were a-sunning; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust. See Jeremiah 2:25 .
Woe to their soul.] To their very soul. All wickedness hath a woe hanging at the heels of it, but especially that which is grown impudent, a noon day devil. The Septuagint here have it thus: Woe to their soul, for that they have taken evil counsel; saying, Let us bind the just One, for that he is not for our purpose or profit. Wherein they do insinuate the mystery of Christ's passion, saith Oecolampadius, and do manifestly tax their own nation. Epiphanius b testifieth of the Jews at Tiberias, after the last destruction of Jerusalem, that it was usual with them, when any of their dear friends or kindred were at the point of death, to whisper these words secretly into their ears, Crede in Iesum Nazarenum crucifixum, Believe in Jesus of Nazareth, whom our chieftains crucified, for he it is who shall come to judge thee at the last day. Now if this be true, how great is the obstinace and impudence of that perverse people, who still sin against such strong convictions!
a Tον υποδρα ιδων. - Hom. αγαλματα της ψυχης ακριβη .
b Epiphan. apud Lonicer. in Theat. Histor. p. 96.