4<\/strong>. and<\/em> made confession<\/strong> ] Lev 5:5<\/span>; Lev 16:21<\/span>; Lev 26:40<\/span>, Num 5:7 , 2Ch 30:22<\/span>; and in a context similar to the present one, Ezr 10:1<\/span>, Neh 1:6<\/span>; Neh 9:2-3<\/span>, as well as below, Dan 9:20<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n O Lord<\/em> ] Ah, now<\/strong>! Lord<\/em>, beginning with a strong particle of entreaty. So Neh 1:5<\/span>, where the same particle is equally obliterated in A.V., R.V. In Neh 1:11<\/span>, Isa 38:3<\/span>, Psa 116:4<\/span> (but not in Dan 9:16<\/em><\/span>), Psa 118:25<\/span>, it is rendered I<\/em> (or we<\/em>) beseech thee<\/em>.<\/p>\n the great commandments<\/em> ] A quotation from Deu 7:9<\/span>, with the substitution of great and<\/em> terrible<\/strong> (as Deu 7:21<\/span>) for faithful<\/em>. The whole verse, from and said<\/em>, is also almost identical with Neh 1:5<\/span> (cf. Neh 9:32<\/span> a<\/em>).<\/p>\n And I prayed unto the Lord my God – <\/B>Evidently a set and formal prayer. It would seem probable that; he offered this prayer, and then re corded the substance of it afterward. We have no reason to suppose that we have the whole of it, but we have doubtless its principal topics.<\/P> And made my confession – <\/B>Not as an individual, or not of his own sins only, but a confession in behalf of the people, and in their name. There is no reason to suppose that what he here says did not express their feelings. They had been long in captivity – far away from their desolate city and temple. They could not but be sensible that these calamities had come upon them on account of their sins; and they could not but feel that the calamities could not be expected to be removed but by confession of their sins, and by acknowledging the justice of the Divine dealings toward them. When we have been afflicted – when we are called to pass through severe trials – and when, borne down by trial, we go to God, and pray that the evil may be removed, the first thing that is demanded is, that we should confess our sins, and acknowledge the justice of God in the judgments that have come upon us. If we attempt to vindicate and justify ourselves, we can have no hope that the judgment will be averted. Daniel, therefore, in the name of the people, began his prayer with the humble and penitent acknowledgment that all that they had suffered was deserved.<\/P> O Lord, the great and dreadful God – <\/B>A God great, and to be feared or venerated – <\/span> hanora’<\/I>. This does not mean dreadful in the sense that there is anything stern or unamiable in his character, but mainly that he is to be regarded with veneration.<\/P> Keeping the covenant and mercy – <\/B>Keeping his covenant and showing mercy. This is often ascribed to God, that he is faithful to his covenant; that is, that he is faithful to his promises to his people, or to those who sustain a certain relation to him, and who are faithful to their covenant vows. If there is alienation and estrangement, and want of faithfulness on either side, it does not begin with him. He is faithful to all his promises, and his fidelity may always be assumed as a basis of calculation in all our intercourse with him. See the word covenant, in Crudens Concordance. The word mercy seems to be added here to denote that mercy enters into his dealings with us even in keeping the covenant. We are so sinful and so unfaithful ourselves, that if he is faithful to his covenant, it must be by showing mercy to us.<\/P> To them that love him … – <\/B>The conditions of the covenant extend no farther than this, since, in a compact of any kind, one is bound to be faithful only while the terms are maintained by the other party. So God binds himself to show favor only while we are obedient, and we can plead his covenant only when we are obedient, when we confess our sins and plead his promises in this sense – that he has assured us that he will restore and receive us if we are penitent. It was this which Daniel pleaded on this occasion. He could not plead that his people had been obedient, and had thus any claims to the Divine favor; but he could cast himself and them on the mercy of a covenant-keeping God, who would remember his covenant with them if they were penitent, and who would graciously pardon.<\/P><\/p>\n Verse 4<\/span>. Keeping the covenant<\/B><\/I>] Fidelity and truth are characteristics of God. He had never yet broken his engagements to his followers, and was ever showing mercy<\/I> to men.<\/P> <\/p>\n By this it appeared he prayed in faith, to the true God, and his God. <\/P> 2. He made confession of sin when he prayed for deliverance, because hereby he justified God in the captivity of his people. <\/P> 3. He knew if God vouchsafed pardon of sin, upon this confession, that would be a sure foundation of future mercy. <\/P> 4. He set down here the words of his prayer, because it is the prayer of a righteous man, and one of Gods eminent saints and favourites in Scripture, who had great power with God in prayer, Job 42:7-9<\/span>; Eze 14:14<\/span>,20<\/span>; Jas 5:16<\/span>. Keeping the covenant; he puts God in mind of his covenant, Deu 7:8<\/span>; Neh 1:5<\/span>; he calls him great and dreadful, as to his severe justice and wrath: now though the covenant hath promises and mercy, yet it includeth obedience on our part, as here is expressed. <\/P> <\/p>\n 4. my confession<\/B>according toGod’s promises in Le26:39-42<\/span>, that if Israel in exile for sin should repent andconfess,<\/I> God would remember for them His covenant with Abraham(compare Deu 30:1-5<\/span>; Jer 29:12-14<\/span>;Jas 4:10<\/span>). God’s promise wasabsolute, but prayer also was ordained as about to precede itsfulfilment, this too being the work of God in<\/I> His people, asmuch as the external<\/I> restoration which was to follow. So itshall be at Israel’s final restoration (Ps102:13-17<\/span>). Daniel takes his countrymen’s place of confession ofsin, identifying himself with them, and, as their representative andintercessory priest, “accepts the punishment of their iniquity.”Thus he typifies Messiah, the Sin-bearer and great Intercessor. Theprophet’s own life and experience form the fit starting point of theprophecy concerning the sin atonement. He prays for Israel’srestoration as associated in the prophets (compare Jer 31:4<\/span>;Jer 31:11<\/span>; Jer 31:12<\/span>;Jer 31:31<\/span>, c.) with the hope ofMessiah. The revelation, now granted, analyzes into its successiveparts that which the prophets, in prophetical perspective, heretoforesaw together in one namely, the redemption from captivity, and thefull Messianic redemption. God’s servants, who, like Noah’s father(Ge 5:29<\/span>), hoped many a timethat now the Comforter of their afflictions was at hand, had to waitfrom age to age, and to view preceding fulfilments only as pledges ofthe coming of Him whom they so earnestly desired to see (Mt13:17<\/span>); as now also Christians, who believe that the Lord’ssecond coming is nigh, are expected to continue waiting. So Daniel isinformed of a long period of seventy prophetic weeks before Messiah’scoming, instead of seventy years, as he<\/I> might have expected(compare Mat 18:21<\/span>; Mat 18:22<\/span>)[AUBERLEN]. <\/P> great and dreadful God<\/B>aswe know to our cost by the calamities we suffer. The greatness<\/I>of God and His dreadful<\/I> abhorrence of sin should preparesinners for reverent, humble acknowledgment of the justice of theirpunishment. <\/P> keeping . . . covenant andmercy<\/B>that is, the covenant of Thy mercy, whereby Thou hastpromised to deliver us, not for our merits, but of Thy mercy (Eze 36:22<\/span>;Eze 36:23<\/span>). So weak and sinful isman that any covenant for good on God’s part with him, to takeeffect, must depend solely on His grace. If He be a God to be feared<\/I>for His justice, He is one to be trusted<\/I> for His “mercy.”<\/P> love . . . keep hiscommandments<\/B>Keeping His commandments is the only sure test oflove to God (Joh 14:15<\/span>).<\/P><\/p>\n And I prayed unto the Lord my God<\/strong>,…. Not to idols, nor to angels or saints departed; but to the Lord God of heaven and earth, who is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, c.: a God hearing and answering prayer and to whom he directed his prayer, not only as the God of nature and providence, but as his own covenant God and Father; thereby encouraging his faith in him, and using his interest with him: and made my confession; of his own sins, and of the sins of his people; of the favours bestowed on him and them; of his justice in afflicting them, and his mercy in appointing a time for their deliverance; of his own faith in him, love to him, and submission to his will:<\/p>\n and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God<\/strong>; great in his being and perfections, and in all his works of nature, providence, and grace; “and dreadful” in his threatenings and judgments, in his wrath and vengeance: or, to be “feared” e; and reverenced by all men, especially by his saints; and particularly when they draw near unto him, as Daniel now did; and that because of his greatness and goodness: this Daniel observes to raise in his mind a proper awe and reverence of God, whose presence he was now approaching:<\/p>\n keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments<\/strong>; faithful to his word of promise; large and liberal in the distribution of his grace and mercy to such that love him sincerely and heartily; and, as an evidence of it, observe his precepts from a principle of love, and with a view to his glory: respect seems to be had to Ex 20:6<\/span>, this is observed, by the prophet, to encourage his own faith, and that of others, as to the fulfilment of the promise of their deliverance from captivity at the end of the seventy years; and to raise, in his mind and theirs, love to God, who was thus merciful; and to show the obligations they lay under, in gratitude, to keep his commandments.<\/p>\n e “reverendus”, Vatablus; “summe reverende”, Junius Tremellius “metuende”, Cocceius.<\/p>\n Daniel’s Confession and Prayer; Daniel’s Prayer for His People.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/I><\/span><\/P> <\/TD> B. C.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> 538.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TABLE> 4 And I prayed unto the LORD<\/B> my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; 5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: 6 Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 7 O Lord, righteousness belongeth<\/I> unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are<\/I> near, and that are<\/I> far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee. 8 O Lord, to us belongeth<\/I> confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. 9 To the Lord our God belong<\/I> mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him; 10 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD<\/B> our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. 11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is<\/I> written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him. 12 And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem. 13 As it is<\/I> written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD<\/B> our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth. 14 Therefore hath the LORD<\/B> watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD<\/B> our God is<\/I> righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice. 15 And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly. 16 O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become<\/I> a reproach to all that are<\/I> about us. 17 Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake. 18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.<\/P> We have here Daniel’s prayer to God as his God, and the confession which he joined with that prayer: I prayed, and made my confession.<\/I> Note, In every prayer we must make confession, not only of the sins we have been guilty of (which we commonly call confession<\/I>), but of our faith in God and dependence upon him, our sorrow for sin and our resolutions against it. It must be our confession, must be the language of our own convictions and that which we ourselves do heartily subscribe to.<\/P> Let us go over the several parts of this prayer, which we have reason to think that he offered up much more largely than is here recorded, these being only the heads of it.<\/P> I. Here is his humble, serious, reverent address to God, 1. As a God to be feared, and whom it is our duty always to stand in awe of: “O Lord! the great and dreadful God,<\/I> that art able to deal with the greatest and most terrible of the church’s enemies.” 2. As a God to be trusted, and whom it is our duty to depend upon and put a confidence in: Keeping the covenant and mercy to those that love him,<\/I> and, as a proof of their love to him, keep his commandments.<\/I> If we fulfil our part of the bargain, he will not fail to fulfil his. He will be to his people as good as his word, for he keeps covenant with them, and not one iota of his promise shall fall to the ground; nay, he will be better than his word, for he keeps mercy to them, something more than was in the covenant. It was proper for Daniel to have his eye upon God’s mercy now that he was to lay before him the miseries of his people, and upon God’s covenant now that he was to sue for the performance of a promise. Note, We should, in prayer, look both at God’s greatness and his goodness, his majesty and mercy in conjunction.<\/P> II. Here is a penitent confession of sin, the procuring cause of all the calamities which his people had for so many years been groaning under, Dan 9:5<\/span>; Dan 9:6<\/span>. When we seek to God for national mercies we ought to humble ourselves before him for national sins. These are the sins Daniel here laments; and we may here observe the variety of words he makes use of to set forth the greatness of their provocations (for it becomes penitents to lay load upon themselves): We have sinned<\/I> in many particular instances, nay, we have committed iniquity,<\/I> we have driven a trade of sin, we have done wickedly<\/I> with a hard heart and a stiff neck, and herein we have rebelled,<\/I> have taken up arms against the King of kings, his crown and dignity. Two things aggravated their sins:– 1. That they had violated the express laws God had given them by Moses: “We have departed from they precepts and from thy judgments,<\/I> and have not conformed to them. And (v.<\/I><\/span> 10<\/span>) we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.<\/I>” That which speaks the nature of sin, that it is the transgression of the law,<\/I> does sufficiently speak the malignity of it; if sin be made to appear sin,<\/I> it cannot be made to appear worse; its sinfulness<\/I> is its greatest hatefulness, Rom. vii. 13<\/span>. God has set his laws before us<\/I> plainly and fully, as the copy we should write after, yet we have not walked in<\/I> them, but turned aside, or turned back. 2. That they had slighted the fair warnings God had given them by the prophets, which in every age he had sent to them, rising up betimes and sending them<\/I> (v.<\/I><\/span> 6<\/span>): “We have not hearkened to thy servants the prophets,<\/I> who have put us in mind of thy laws, and of the sanctions of them; though they spoke in thy name,<\/I> we have not regarded them; though they delivered their message faithfully, with a universal respect to all orders and degrees of men, to our kings and princes,<\/I> whom they had the courage and confidence to speak to, to our fathers,<\/I> and to all the people of the land,<\/I> whom they had the condescension and compassion to speak to, yet we have not hearkened to them,<\/I> nor heard them, or not heeded them, or not complied with them.” Mocking God’s messengers, and despising his words, were Jerusalem’s measure-filling sins, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16<\/span>. This confession of sin is repeated here, and much insisted on; penitents should again and again accuse and reproach themselves till they find their hearts thoroughly broken. All Israel have transgressed thy law,<\/I> v.<\/span> 11<\/span><\/U><\/I><\/span>. It is Israel,<\/I> God’s professing people, who have known better, and from whom better is expected–Israel, God’s peculiar people, whom he has surrounded with his favours; not here and there one, but it is all<\/I> Israel, the generality of them, the body of the people, that have transgressed by departing<\/I> and getting out of the way, that they might not<\/I> hear, and so might not obey, thy voice.<\/I> This disobedience is that which all true penitents do most sensibly charge upon themselves (v.<\/I><\/span> 14<\/span>): We obeyed not his voice, and<\/I> (v.<\/I><\/span> 15<\/span>) we have sinned, we have done wickedly.<\/I> Those that would find mercy must thus confess their sins.<\/P> III. Here is a self-abasing acknowledgment of the righteousness of God in all the judgments that were brought upon them; and it is evermore the way of true penitents thus to justify God, that he may be clear when he judges, and the sinner may bear all the blame. 1. He acknowledges that it was sin that plunged them in all these troubles. Israel is dispersed<\/I> through all the countries<\/I> about, and so weakened, impoverished, and exposed. God’s hand has driven them<\/I> hither and thither, some near,<\/I> where they are known and therefore the more ashamed, others afar off,<\/I> where they are not known and therefore the more abandoned, and it is because of their trespass that they have trespassed<\/I> (v.<\/I><\/span> 7<\/span>); they mingled themselves with the nations that they might be debauched by them, and now God mingles them with the nations that they might be stripped by them. 2. He owns the righteousness of God in it, that he had done them no wrong in all he had brought upon them, but had dealt with them as they deserved (v.<\/I><\/span> 7<\/span>): “O Lord! righteousness belongs to thee;<\/I> we have no fault to find with thy providence, no exceptions to make against thy judgments, for (v.<\/I><\/span> 14<\/span>) the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he does,<\/I> even in the sore calamities we are now under, for we obeyed not the words<\/I> of his mouth, and therefore justly feel the weight of his hand.” This seems to be borrowed from Lam. i. 18<\/span>. 3. He takes notice of the fulfilling of the scripture in what was brought upon them. In very faithfulness he afflicted them;<\/I> for it was according to the word which he had spoken. The curse is poured upon us and the oath,<\/I> that is, the curse that was ratified by an oath in the law of Moses, v.<\/I><\/span> 11<\/span>. This further justifies God in their troubles, that he did but inflict the penalty of the law, which he had given them fair notice of. It was necessary for the preserving of the honour of God’s veracity, and saving his government from contempt, that the threatenings of his word should be accomplished, otherwise they look but as bugbears, nay, they seem not at all frightful. Therefore he has confirmed his words which spoke against us<\/I> because we broke his laws, and against our judges that judged us<\/I> because they did not according to the duty of their place punish the breach of God’s laws. He told them many a time that if they did not execute justice, as terrors to evil-workers, he must and would take the work into his own hands; and now he has confirmed<\/I> what he said by bringing upon us a great evil,<\/I> in which the princes and judges themselves deeply shared. Note, It contributes very much to our profiting by the judgments of God’s hand<\/I> to observe how exactly they agree with the judgments of his mouth.<\/I> 4. He aggravates the calamities they were in, lest they should seem, having been long used to them, to make light of them, and so to lose the benefit of the chastening of the Lord by despising it. “It is not some of the common troubles of life that we are complaining of, but that which has in it some special marks of divine displeasure; for under the whole heaven has not been done as has been done upon Jerusalem,<\/I>” v.<\/I><\/span> 12<\/span>. It is Jeremiah’s lamentation in the name of the church, Was ever sorrow like unto my sorrow?<\/I> which must suppose another similar question, Was ever sin like unto my sin?<\/I> 5. He puts shame upon the whole nation, from the highest to the lowest; and if they will say Amen<\/I> to his prayer, as it was fit they should if they would come in for a share in the benefit of it, they must all put their hand upon their mouth, and their mouth in the dust: “To us belongs confusion of faces as at this day<\/I> (v.<\/I><\/span> 7<\/span>); we lie under the shame of the punishment of our iniquity, for shame is our due.” If Israel had retained their character, and had continued a holy people, they would have been high above all nations in praise, and mane, and honour<\/I> (Deut. xxvi. 19<\/span>); but now that they have sinned and done wickedly<\/I> confusion and disgrace belong to them, to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,<\/I> the inhabitants both of the country and of the city, for they have been all alike guilty before God; it belongs to all Israel,<\/I> both to the two tribes, that are near,<\/I> by the rivers of Babylon, and to the ten tribes, that are afar off,<\/I> in the land of Assyria. “Confusion belongs not only to the common people of our land, but to our kings, our princes,<\/I> and our fathers<\/I> (v.<\/I><\/span> 8<\/span>), who should have set a better example, and have used their authority and influence for the checking of the threatening torrent of vice profaneness.” 6. He imputes the continuance of the judgment to their incorrigibleness under it (Dan 9:13<\/span>; Dan 9:14<\/span>): “All this evil has come upon us,<\/I> and has lain long upon us, yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God,<\/I> not in a right manner, as we should have made it, with a humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart.<\/I> We have been smitten, but have not returned to him that smote us. We have not entreated the face of the Lord our God<\/I>” (so the word is); “we have taken no care to make our peace with God and reconcile ourselves to him.” Daniel set his brethren a good example of praying continually, but he was sorry to see how few there were that followed his example; in their affliction<\/I> it was expected that they would seek God early,<\/I> but they sought him not, that they might turn from their iniquities<\/I> and understand his truth.<\/I> The errand upon which afflictions are sent is to bring men to turn from their iniquities<\/I> and to understand God’s truth;<\/I> so Elihu had explained them, Job xxxvi. 10<\/span>. God by them opens men’s ears to discipline<\/I> and commands that they return from iniquity.<\/I> And if men were brought rightly to understand God’s truth,<\/I> and to submit to the power and authority of it, they would turn from the error of their ways. Now the first step towards this is to make our prayer before the Lord our God,<\/I> that the affliction may be sanctified before it is removed, and that the grace of God may go along with the providence of God, to make it answer the end. Those who in their affliction make not their prayer to God,<\/I> who cry not when he binds them,<\/I> are not likely to turn from iniquity<\/I> or to understand his truth. “Therefore,<\/I> because we have not improved the affliction, the Lord has watched upon the evil,<\/I> as the judge takes care that execution be done according to the sentence. Because we have not been melted, he has kept us still in the furnace, and watched over it,<\/I> to make the heat yet more intense;” for when God judges he will overcome, and will be justified in all his proceedings.<\/P> IV. Here is a believing appeal to the mercy of God, and to the ancient tokens of his favour to Israel, and the concern of his own glory in their interests. 1. It is some comfort to them (and not a little) that God has been always ready to pardon sin (v.<\/I><\/span> 9<\/span>): To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness;<\/I> this refers to that proclamation of his name, Exo 34:6<\/span>; Exo 34:7<\/span>, The Lord God, gracious and merciful, forgiving iniquity.<\/I> Note, It is very encouraging to poor sinners to recollect that mercies belong to God,<\/I> as it is convincing and humbling to them to recollect that righteousness belongs to him; and those who give him the glory of his righteousness may take to themselves the comfort of his mercies, Ps. lxii. 12<\/span>. There are abundant mercies in God, and not only forgiveness but forgivenesses;<\/I> he is a God of pardons<\/I> (Neh. ix. 17<\/span>, marg.); he multiplies to pardon,<\/I> Isa. lv. 7<\/I><\/span>. Though we have rebelled against him,<\/I> yet with him there is mercy, pardoning mercy, even for the rebellious.<\/I> 2. It is likewise a support to them to think that God had formerly glorified himself by delivering them out of Egypt; so far he looks back for the encouragement of his faith (v.<\/I><\/span> 15<\/span>): “Thou hast<\/I> formerly brought thy people out of Egypt with a mighty hand,<\/I> and wilt thou not now with the same mighty hand bring them out of Babylon? Were they then formed into a people, and shall they not now be reformed and new-formed? Are they now sinful and unworthy, and were they not so then? Are their oppressors now mighty and haughty, and were they not so then? And has not God said the their deliverance out of Babylon shall outshine even that out of Egypt?” Jer 16:14<\/span>; Jer 16:15<\/span>. The force of this plea lies in that, “Thou hast gotten thyself renown,<\/I> hast made thyself a name<\/I>” (so the word is) “as at this day,<\/I> even to this day, by bringing us out of Egypt; and wilt thou lose the credit of that by letting us perish in Babylon? Didst thou get a renown by that deliverance which we have so often commemorated, and wilt thou not now get thyself a renown by this which we have so often prayed for, and so long waited for?”<\/P> V. Here is a pathetic complaint of the reproach that God’s people lay under, and the ruins that God’s sanctuary lay in, both which redounded very much to the dishonour of God and the diminution of that name and renown which God had gained by bringing them out of Egypt. 1. God’s holy people were despised. By their sins and the iniquities of their fathers<\/I> they had profaned their crown and made themselves despicable, and then though they are, in name and profession, God’s people, and upon that account truly great and honourable, yet they become a reproach to all that are round about them.<\/I> Their neighbours laugh them to scorn, and triumph in their disgrace. Note, Sin is a reproach to any people,<\/I> but especially to God’s people, that have more eyes upon them and have more honour to lose than other people. 2. God’s holy place was desolate. Jerusalem, the holy city, was a reproach (v.<\/I><\/span> 16<\/span>) when it lay in ruins; it was an astonishment<\/I> and a hissing to all that passed by. The sanctuary, the holy house, was desolate (v.<\/I><\/span> 17<\/span>), the altars were demolished, and all the buildings laid in ashes. Note, The desolations of the sanctuary are the grief of all the saints, who reckon all their comforts in this world buried in the ruins of the sanctuary.<\/P> VI. Here is an importunate request to God for the restoring of the poor captive Jews to their former enjoyments again. The petition is very pressing, for God gives us leave in prayer to wrestle with him: “O Lord! I beseech thee,<\/I> v.<\/span>Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n