om the lion, and a bear meets
him; and he comes home, and leans his hand on the wall, and a serpent
bites him"--just the opposite of the assurance that "to those who love
God, all things shall work together for good." So early as in Deut.
xxxii. 24, apostates are threatened with the poison of the serpents of
the dust, besides the teeth of wild beasts; and what this threatening
implied, might have been well known to Israel from their former
history; compare Num. xxi. 6: "And the Lord sent against the people
serpents, and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died,"--a
passage to which Jeremiah alludes in chap. viii. 17, where he says;
"For behold I send against you serpents, basilisks, against which there
is no charm, and they bite you, saith the Lord." It is very probable
that to this the prophet also alludes in the passage before us.

[Pg 379]

Ver. 4. "_And if they go into captivity before their enemies,
from thence will I command the sword, and it slayeth them; and I set
Mine eyes upon them for evil and not for good._"

[Hebrew: bwbi] means the state of exile. The circumstance of their
being carried into captivity might awaken the hope that mercy will be
granted to them; for, according to the natural course of things, he who
is carried away into captivity may be sure of his life; but nothing can
give security before God. The last words are strikingly illustrated by
_Calvin_, who says: "There is an antithesis in this sentence, inasmuch
as God had promised that He would be the protector of His people. But
as hypocrites are always apt to appropriate to themselves the promises
of God, without having either repentance or faith, the prophet here
declares, that the eye of God would be upon them, not to protect them,
as was His custom, but rather to add punishments to punishments. And
this sentence is worthy of notice, inasmuch as we are thereby reminded,
that although the Lord does by no means spare infidels. He yet observes
us more closely in order to punish us the more severely, when He sees
that we are utterly hardened and incurable." Under any circumstances,
the people of the Lord continue to be the objects of special attention.
They are more richly blessed; but they are also more severely punished.

Ver. 5. "_And the Lord, Jehovah, of hosts, who toucheth the earth, and
it melteth, and all that dwell therein mourn; and it riseth up wholly
like the stream, and it sinketh down as the stream of Egypt._"

The