Yet now our flesh [is] as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and [some] of our daughters are brought unto bondage [already]: neither [is it] in our power [to redeem them]; for other men have our lands and vineyards.
Ver. 5. Yet our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren] i.e. Nevertheless we are men as well as they, though poor men, and therefore slighted (but why should they hide their eyes from their own flesh? Isaiah 58:7. "Have we not all one Father?" Mal 2:10). Yea, we are men of Israel, such as fear God, Acts 13:16. Hewn out of the same rock, digged out of the same pit, Isaiah 51:1, cut out of the same cloth, the shears only going between. What if God have given them more wealth (as the shepherd bestows a bell upon his bellwether), should they therefore insult and domineer over us, as if not worthy to breathe in the same air?
Our children as their children] viz. As dear to us, and as freeborn every way as theirs are; why then should their unmerciful dealing enslave them? He that oppresseth the poor, reproacheth his Maker; but he that honoureth him, hath mercy on the poor, Proverbs 15:31. There is a writ in England which beareth this name, Ne iniuste vexes, Vex not any man unjustly; but law without execution is like a bell without a clapper. It was done directly against law that is here complained of. See Leviticus 25:39, and therefore there is an Ecce Behold set upon it in the next words; And (lo) we bring into bondage, &c. These cruel cormorants thought to bear out and justify the most monstrous misdemeanor, because it was the fact of a noble, who could as easily break through the lattice of the laws as the bigger flies do through a spider web; as Anacharsis once said concerning his Scythians.
We bring into bondage our sons and our daughters] This went to the hearts of them, and well it might. For, 1. Our children are a chief part of ourselves, even the seed; as though now there were nothing left in us but the chaff. 2. Bondage is very grievous, as liberty exceeding sweet. Did we but live a while in Turkey (saith one), in Persia., yea, or but in France, a dram of that liberty we yet enjoy would be as precious to us as a drop of cold water would have been to the rich man in hell, when he lay broiling in those flames. 3. They were necessitated to do this with their own hands, We bring into bondage, &c., hard hunger driving us thereunto, though as ill-willing thereunto as ever Jacob was to part with his Benjamin into Egypt; he would not do it till there was no remedy. 4. They sold them for slaves, not to strangers, but to their own friends and countrymen, where we looked for more courtesy. But a man had as good a deal with a Cossack or Cannibal as with a truly covetous captive, and as much favour and fair dealing he shall find. For such a one respecteth neither friend nor foe; nor regards at all how he cometh by it, by hook or by crook, by right or by wrong, be it short or long.
And some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already] So that our complaints are neither false nor causeless; for that weaker sex is every way subject to more abuse, their chastity (which is their honour) was much hazarded, Castus, quasi, καστος ornatus.
Neither is it in our power to redeem them] Would we never so fain. What would not a tender hearted father give or do for the redemption of his dear child? To let go many other examples, Fredericus Barbarossa, emperor of Germany (when as in the wars between the pope and himself, his youngest son was taken prisoner by the Venetian fleet), Vehementi amore commotus erga filium captum, saith mine author, through an earnest desire of getting his son's liberty, he concluded a peace upon most unequal terms, viz. that he should come in person to Venice, and there, prostrate at the pope's feet (who trod upon the emperor's neck), he should beg pardon; and then having settled peace in Italy, led his army into Asia against the Turk. All this he did for his son's liberty.
For other men have our lands and vinevards] Even those men that so lately came out of captivity themselves, and know the misery of want and slavery. Those that partake now of so much liberty and liberality from the kings of Persia, and yet, behold, they pull up the bridge before us that themselves have gone over. Surely there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land, Hosea 4:1. Lo this was Vox oppressorum mercesque retenta laborum.