2:1 I will stand upon my a watch, and seat myself upon the
tower, and will watch to see what he will say to me, and
what I shall answer when I am reproved.
(a) I will renounce my own judgment, and only depend on God
to be instructed what I will answer those that abuse my
preaching, and to be armed against all temptations.
2:2 And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and
make [it] plain upon tablets, that he may run b that
readeth it.
(b) Write it in great letters, that he that runneth may read
it.
2:3 For the vision [is] yet for an appointed time, but at the
c end it shall speak, and not lie: though it may tarry,
wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
(c) Which contained the destruction of the enemy, and the
comfort of the Church. And even though God does not
execute this according to man's hasty affections, yet
the issue of both is certain at his appointed time.
2:4 Behold, d his soul [which] is lifted up is not upright in
him: but the just shall live by his faith.
(d) To trust in himself, or in any worldly thing, is never
to be at peace: for the only rest is to trust in God by
faith; (Ro 1:17, Ga 3:11, He 10:38).
2:5 Yea also, because e he transgresseth by wine, [he is] a
proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire
as hell, and [is] as death, and cannot be satisfied, but
gathereth to him all nations, and heapeth to him all people:
(e) He compares the proud and covetous man to a drunkard
that is without reason and sense, whom God will punish
and make a laughing stock to all the world: and this he
speaks for the comfort of the godly, and against the
Chaldeans.
2:6 Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a
taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that
increaseth [that which is] not his! f how long? and to him
that ladeth himself with thick clay!
(f) Signifying that all the world will wish the destruction
of tyrants, and that by their oppression and
covetousness, they heap but upon themselves more heavy
burdens: for the more they get, the more are they
troubled.
2:7 Shall g they not rise suddenly that shall bite thee, and
awake that shall oppress thee, and thou shalt be for booty
to them?
(g) That is, the Medes and persians, that would destroy the
Babylonians?
2:10 Thou h gavest shameful counsel to thy house by cutting
off many people, and hast sinned [against] thy soul.
(h) Signifying that the covetous man is the ruin of his own
house, when he thinks to enrich it be cruelty and
oppression.
2:11 For the i stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam
out of the timber shall answer it.
(i) The stones of the house will cry, and say that they are
built from blood, and the wood will answer and say the
same of itself.
2:13 Behold, [is it] not from the k LORD of hosts that the
people shall labour [only] for fire, and the nations shall
weary themselves for nothing?
(k) Meaning, that God will not defer his vengeance long,
but will come and destroy all their labours, as though
they were consumed with fire.
2:14 For the earth shall l be filled with the knowledge of the
glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
(l) In the destruction of the Babylonians his glory will
appear through all the world.
2:15 Woe to him that giveth his neighbour m drink, that
puttest thy bottle to [him], and makest [him] drunk also,
that thou mayest look on their nakedness!
(m) He reproaches by this the king of Babylon, who as he
was drunken with covetousness and cruelty, so he
provoked others to the same, and inflamed them by his
madness, and so in the end brought them to shame.
2:16 Thou art filled with shame n for glory: drink thou also,
and let thy shame come upon thee: the cup of the LORD'S
right hand shall be turned to thee, and utter shame [shall
be] on thy glory.
(n) Whereas you thought to have the glory of these your
doings, they will turn to your shame: for you will
drink of the same cup with others in your turn.
2:17 For the o violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the
spoil of beasts, [which] made them afraid, because of men's
blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and
of all that dwell in it.
(o) Because the Babylonians were cruel not only against
other nations, but also against the people of God,
which is meant by Lebanon and the beast in it, he shows
that the same cruelly will be executed against them.
2:18 What profiteth the graven p image that its maker hath
engraved it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that
the maker of his work trusteth in it, to make dumb idols?
(p) He shows that the Babylonian gods could not help them
at all, for they were but blocks or stones.
)See Geneva Jer "10:8")
2:19 Woe to him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb
stone, Arise, it shall teach! q Behold, it [is] laid over
with gold and silver, and [there is] no breath at all
within it.
(q) If you will consider what it is, and how it has neither
breath nor life, but is a dead thing.
