The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation [is] high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?
Ver. 3. The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee] So as to make thee think thyself some great business when it's no such matter, and that thou canst secure thyself in thy strongholds from thy strongest enemies: but herein thy pride hath befooled thee, and put the same trick upon thee that the serpent did once upon the first woman, Genesis 3:13 (the same word is there used as here), who complained, when she was in the transgression, 1 Timothy 2:14, "The serpent hath deceived me." He is still the king of all the children of pride; and thereby cheateth them, ravisheth them of their right reason, and rendereth them the direct objects of God's hatred and heavy displeasure, James 4:6; he setteth himself in battle array against them, αντιτασσεται. "Though his excellency, mount up to the heavens" (saith Zophar concerning the proud person, Job 20:6), "and his head reach unto the clouds; yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?" There is a deceitfulness in sin, Hebrews 3:13, a lie in all these outward vanities, John 2:8 : they were never true to those that trusted in them. But the proud person "feedeth upon ashes": he feedeth himself with false hopes; "a deceived heart hath turned him aside," put him into a fool's paradise, "that he cannot deliver his soul," get out of his golden dreams, "nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?" Isaiah 44:20. His case is not unlike that man's who, lying fast asleep upon the edge of a steep rock, dreams merrily of much happiness and safety; but upon the sudden starting for joy breaks his neck, and tumbles headlong into the bottom of the sea.
Thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock] In a rocky, mountainous country, as the Highlander in Scotland, out of the reach of my rod, as thou fondly fanciest; in Arabia Petraea, where thine enemies cannot come at thee, and where thou thinkest thyself no less safe and out of harm's way than Moses was, when God had put him into the cleft of the rock, and covered him with his hand, Exodus 33:22; or Elias, when he stood in the mouth of the cave, 1 Kings 19:13 .
Whose habitation is high] Heb. his habitation is high; by a change of the person out of a holy disdain of Edom's pride and creature confidence, as if he were extra iactum, out of gunshot, above danger.
That saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down?] (Atreus in Thyeste apud Senec.)
“ Aequalis astris gradior, et cunctos super
Altum superbo vertice attingens polum,
Demitto superos, summa votorum attigi, &c.
My roof receives me not, ‘tis air I tread:
At every step I feel my advanced head
Knock out a star in heaven.” - (Ben Jonson.)
Such great swelling words of vanity speaks the proud man, 2 Peter 2:18 ; such big bubbles of words, sesquipedalia verba, words a foot and a half long. Who shall bring me down? who is the Lord? who is lord over us? &c. Such haughty expressions, such lofty language is a forerunner, a presage of imminent destruction, as here. A bulging wall is not far from a downfall. While the word ("Is not this great Babalyon," &c.) was yet in Nebuchadnezzar's mouth he was deprived of his kingdom and driven from men, Daniel 4:31. Megasthenes the Persian (an ancient writer) reporteth that the Chaldeans relate that Nebuchadnezzar, returning home laden with victories, fell mad, and being in a fanatic vein, foretold the destruction of Babalyon. Whether he foretold it or no it is sure he occasioned it, by confiding in it and by robbing both God of his glory, and his ancestors, the first founders, of their honour; for he only enlarged it, and built the palace entirely; and now he saith, "Who shall bring me down?" That will I, saith God, in the next words. Aesop being asked by Chilo (one of the seven wise men of Greece) what God was doing? answered, He bringeth down the proud and lifteth up the lowly. See the like Psalms 147:6 .