Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the LORD.
Ver. 5. Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot] Fields were divided with cords of old, and inheritances also. See Psalms 16:5; Psalms 105:11; Psalms 78:55 2 Samuel 8:2. This hope is henceforth cut off from revolted Israel; the ten tribes never returned, the other two did, and some few of the ten among them. Whether upon their conversion to Christ they shall be restored to the promised land, Time, the mother of Truth, will make manifest.
In the congregation of the Lord] So you were once, but now nothing less. A congregation ye are still, but of malignants; a rabble of rebels conspiring against heaven. A name ye have to live, but ye are dead; ye cry out Templum Domini, The temple of the Lord are we; but in truth ye are no better than those Egyptian temples, beautiful without, but within nothing to be seen but a cat, rat, or some such despicable creature. Here they are called the congregation of the Lord by an irony, as the Cardinal of Ravenna is so called by way of derision.