| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
| |
|
| 1 At that time, Declareth Yahweh, Shall they bring forth, The bones of the kings of Judah, and, The bones of his princes, and, The bones of the priests, and, The bones of the prophets, and, The bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Out of their graves, |
|
| 2 And shall spread them out–To the sun, and, To the moon, and, To all the host of the heavens, Whom they have loved, And whom they have served, And after whom they have walked, And whom they have sought, And to whom they have bowed themselves down,–They shall not be gathered, Neither shall they be buried, As heaps of dung on the face of the ground, shall they be. |
|
| 3 Then shall, death, be chosen, rather than life, by all the remnant of them that remain, of this wicked family,–in all the places, whither I have driven them, Declareth Yahweh of hosts. |
|
| |
|
| 4 Therefore shalt thou say unto them–Thus, saith Yahweh, Will men fall, and not arise? Will one turn away, and not come back? |
|
| 5 Wherefore hath this people of Jerusalem apostatized with an enduring apostacy,–Taken fast hold of deceit, Refused to come back? |
|
| 6 I hearkened and heard–Not aright, did they speak,–Not a man, repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done! They have, every one, turned to their course again, Like a horse sweeping on through the battle. |
|
| 7 Even, the stork in the heavens, knoweth her appointed times, And, the turtle and the swallow and the crane, observe the season for coming; But, my people, know not the just sentence of Yahweh. |
Not the judgment – Arrangement, dealings. C157; R230:5
Of the LORD – That this harvest day of full, complete separation of wheat from chaff and tares must come; in this they show less discernment than the migratory fowls. C157
|
| 8 How, can ye say, Wise, are, we, And, the law of Yahweh, is with us? But indeed, lo! falsely, hath dealt the false pen of the scribes! |
How do ye say – How can you say, when you cannot discern the harvest time and the change of dispensation then due. C157
Is in vain – Because the Word of the Lord by his prophets and apostles is made void and set aside without attention. The creeds formed in the Dark Ages are the lightless lanterns of them that walk in darkness. C157
|
| 9 Ashamed, are the wise, dismayed, and captured! Lo! the word of Yahweh, have they rejected, And, what wisdom, have, they? |
The wise men – Those learned in the wisdom of this world. C157
They are dismayed – Disheartened by the failure of their cherished human schemes. C157
And taken – Caught. C157
|
| 10 Therefore, will I give–Their wives to others, Their fields, to such as shall take possession of them, For, from the least, even unto the greatest, Every one, is, wholly given to extortion: From the prophet, even unto the priest, Every one, dealeth, falsely.
|
Will I give their wives – Their churches. C157
And their fields – Of labor. C157
To them – To the conquerors. C157
For every one – Of them. C157
To covetousness – "They are greedy dogs, which can never have enough." (Isa. 56:11) C157
From the prophet – Orator. C157
Unto the priest – Minister. C157
Dealeth falsely – Practiseth falsehood: "For we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves." (Isa. 28:15) C157
|
| 11 And so they have healed the grievous wound of the daughter of my people, slightly,–Saying, Peace! peace! when there was no, peace! |
Healed the hurt – The sore. C157
In the days of Luther and the Reformation, when the daughters might have been radically healed. R498:5
Of the daughter – Nominal Zion, Babylon. C157
There is no peace – Her whole system is diseased and needs thorough cleansing with the medicine of God's Word, the truth. C157
|
| 12 Were they led to turn pale, because, an abominable thing, they had done? Nay! they did not, at all, turn pale, Nay! they did not so much as know how, to exhibit shame! Therefore, shall they fall among them who are falling, In the time when they are punished, shall they be overthrown, Saith Yahweh: |
Were they – They should have been. C157
Abomination – Their abominable work. C157
Shall they – The teachers. C157
Their visitation – Or inspection, in the harvest. C157
Shall be cast down – They shall stumble. C157
"But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." (1 Thess. 5:4) C215
|
| |
|
| 13 I will, surely remove, them, declareth Yahweh: There shall be no, grapes on the vine, Nor, figs on the fig-tree, Even, the leaf, hath faded, Though I have given them [these things], they shall pass away from them. |
Consume them – Make an end of them. C157
There shall be – There shall be left. C158
Shall fade – Shall wither. C158
And the things – All divine favors and privileges. C158
|
| 14 Why, are, we, sitting still? Gather yourselves together, and let us enter the defenced, cities, And let us be silent there,–For, Yahweh our God, hath put us to silence, And made us drink poisoned water, Because we have sinned against Yahweh. |
The defenced cities – Governments. C158
Water of gall – Bitter poison-water, the poison of bitter error, the "doctrine of devils" mingled with the pure water of life, the truth of God's Word. C158
|
| 15 A waiting, For prosperity, but no, welfare,–For a time of healing, but lo! terror. |
We looked for peace – Anticipating that our bitter poison-water doctrines would convert the world and bring about the Millennium. C158
And behold trouble – The disease of nominal Zion will grow rapidly worse as the Israelites indeed withdraw. C158
|
| 16 From Dan, was heard the snorting of his horses, At the sound of the neighing of his chargers, the whole land trembled,–Yea they came in and did sat up, The land and the fulness thereof, The city, and them who were dwelling therein. |
Of his horses – Doctrines. C316
The city – Babylon, Christendom. D527
|
| 17 For behold me! sending among you, serpents–vipers which there is no, charming,–And they shall fatally bite you, Declareth Yahweh. |
|
| 18 When I would have cheered myself against sorrow, Against me, mine own heart sickened:– |
|
| 19 Lo! the voice of the cry for help of the daughter of my people, from a land far away, Is, Yahweh, not, in Zion? Is, her King, not, within her? Why, have they provoked me, with their carved images, with their foreign vanities? |
The LORD in Zion – Nominal Zion, Babylon, is spewed out of his mouth. C157[C157]; R498:4[R498]
Provoked me to anger – Love can be justly provoked to anger. R5978:6, R5603:2
His anger is righteous indignation against sin. R5603:1, R5978:6
God's indignation was kindled against his chosen people. R5603:2
Strange vanities – Infidelity sits in the pews, declaims from the pulpits, rules in the assemblies; and, together with Agnosticism and Evolution, these strike against the very foundation doctrines of Christianity--the fall of man and his redemption through Christ. R1690:5
|
| 20 The harvest, is passed, The fruit-gathering, is ended; And, we, are not saved! |
The harvest is past – We did not do the Lord's will. R4079:5*
They realize they have failed to make their calling and election sure to a place in the kingdom class. R2837:3
Nominal Zion might have been healed once, but now it is too late to reform the sects. R731:4
Summer is ended – "Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter" with the tribulation class (Matt. 24:20). Escape from Babylon before the winter time of her trouble comes upon her. D578
We are not saved – A class who would realize that the Bride has been taken and that they are left; at the fall of Babylon. (Rev. 19) Q229:2
|
| 21 For the grievous injury of the daughter of my people, I am grievously injured,–I am enshrouded in gloom, Horror, hath seized me:– |
|
| 22 Balsam, is there none, in Gilead? Is there no, physician, there? Why hath not appeared the healing of the daughter of my people? |
No balm in Gilead – None of the human remedies proposed will cure the malady of human depravity. D469
Consolation of wounded spirits on the battlefield of life. R5803:1
Babylon might have been healed once, but now, like her prototype Israel, she is given up--left desolate. R731:4
No physician there – There is no remedy, these systems must die. The disorder comes from within. Though the canker is carefully concealed, the bad odor and distress are noticeable. R498:5
With the harvest ended those then in Zion will have lost the "especial" salvation, the prize of being made the heavenly Zion. R230:5
|