Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they [be] all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
Ver. 2. Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place.] Some sorry shed, such as those worthies had who dwelt in dens and caves of the earth, Heb 11:38 such as Athanasius had, who lived, say some, six years in a well without the light of the sun, forsaken of friends, and everywhere hunted by enemies; such as the ancient hermits and monks had, who, because they lived in caves and subterranean holes, they were named Mandrites a and Troglodites. A godly man desireth to converse as much as may be with God, and as little as may be with men, unless they were better. Lot had little joy of Sodom; 2Pe 2:7-8 Aaron of the Israelites: "Thou knowest," saith he to Moses, "that this people is wholly set upon wickedness"; Exo 32:22 and indeed so is the whole world. Job 5:19 ; Job 2:10 Hence good men are oft put upon David's wish, "Oh that I had the wings of a dove." Psa 55:6 Or if that "Oh" will not set them at liberty, they take up that "Woe" of his to express their misery, "Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech." Psa 120:5 Who will give me a traveller's lodge in the wilderness, that I might leave my people, whose wicked courses are a continual eyesore and heartbreak unto me?
For they are all adulterers.] Both corporal and spiritual.
An assembly of treacherous.] A pack of perfidious wretches; a rabble of rebels conspiring against heaven. Isa 1:4
a Mandrae signifieth caves or holes.