Then said he unto me, This [is] the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off [as] on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off [as] on that side according to it.
Ver. 3. This is the curse] Or oath, with execration and cursing. Cursing men are cursed men, and God hath sworn that swearers shall not enter into his rest. Numbers 5:21 . אלה , ut et αρα Graece, iuramentum et execrationem significat. Mercer
That goeth forth] Yea, flieth, Zechariah 5:2, more swiftly than an eagle, an arrow, a flash of lightning. Or, if not, yet
“ Poena venit gravior, quo mage sera venit. ”
Over the face of the whole earth] Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil; but of the Jew first (Ingentia beneficia flagitia, supplicia), who is therefore the worse, because he ought to have been better; and then of the Gentile also, Romans 2:9. Theodoret, Lyra, and Vatablus think that Judaea is hinted in the measure of the book (twenty cubits long, and ten broad) as being twice so long (and somewhat more) as it is broad: witness Jerome in his epistle to Dardanus (Epist. 129). But let the whole earth here be taken in its utmost latitude, since the Gentiles that sin without the law are yet liable to the punishments of the law. And some of them by the light of nature saw the evil of swearing; but all generally of stealing; but especially of perjury and sacrilege, here principally meant. Confer Malachi 3:8 Nehemiah 13:10 .
For every one that stealeth shall be cut off] By stealing understand all sins against the second table; as by swearing, all against the first; and so the sense is the same with that of the apostle, "Every transgression and disobedience receiveth a just recompence of reward," Hebrews 2:2. And "cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them," Galatians 3:10. Howbeit because these two sins were more frequently and more impudently committed in those days, therefore are they, by a speciality, instanced. The Jews, coming poor out of Babylon, held it no great sin to steal for supply of their necessities; and then to forswear themselves for the better hiding of their theft. "Give me not poverty," said holy Agur, "lest, being poor, I steal, and" (as one sin draws on another) "I take the name of my God in vain," Proverbs 30:9. See Trapp on " Pro 30:9 " Hunger is an evil counsellor, necessity a hard weapon, a sore temptation, when it comes to this, Either I must steal or starve. But then to this must be opposed that of the law, Thou shalt in no case steal. Thou must rather die than do wickedly. Aut faciendum aut patiendum, Either obey the law or suffer the curse.
As on this side according to it] i.e. According to the curse, described in the roll, the thief shall be cut off as well as the swearer; they shall speed alike. The tares shall be bound up in bundles, thieves with thieves, and swearers with swearers, and burnt in the fire, Matthew 13:30; Matthew 13:40. According to the prediction shall be the execution. Whether on this side, that is, in Judaea (so some sense it), or on that side, in other parts of the world, such persons appear, they shall have their payment.
And every one that sweareth] Not only falsely, as Zechariah 5:4, but lightly, vainly, causelessly, in jest and not in judgment; whether by God, or by creatures and qualities; Iudaeis et Pharisaeis vulgare vitium, saith Paraeus on James 5:12, a common fault among the Jews and Pharisees, Matthew 5:34,35; Matthew 23:16; Matthew 23:18. See Trapp on " Mat 5:34 " See Trapp on " Mat 5:35 " See Trapp on " Mat 23:16 " See Trapp on " Mat 23:18 " Among the Christians in Chrysostom's time, as appears by his many sermons against it at Antioch; and in these days, if ever, because of oaths the land mourneth, God hath a controversy, Hosea 4:1,2. We have lived to see iniquity in the fulness of oaths and blasphemies unparallelled darted with hellish mouths against God and our Saviour so ordinarily and openly, that some of them are become very interjections of speech to the common people, and other some mere phrases of gallantry to the bravo. I knew a great swearer, saith a great divine (Mr Bolton), who, coming to his death bed, Satan so filled his heart with a madded and enraged greediness after that most gainless and pleasureless sin, that though himself swore as fast and as furiously as he could, yet, as though he had been already among the bannings and blasphemies of hell, he desperately desired the bystanders to help him with oaths, and to swear for him.