22:3 Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and a
righteousness, and deliver him that is laid waste out of
the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence
to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither
shed innocent blood in this place.
(a) This was his ordinary manner of preaching before the
kings from Josiah to Zedekiah which was about forty
years.
22:5 But if ye will not hear these words, I b swear by myself,
saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.
(b) Showing that there is no one greater than he is,
(He 6:13) and that he will most certainly perform
his oath.
22:6 For thus saith the LORD to the king's house of Judah; Thou
[art] c Gilead to me, [and] the head of Lebanon: [yet]
surely I will make thee a wilderness, [and] cities [which]
are not inhabited.
(c) He compares Jerusalem to Gilead which was beyond Jordan
and the beauty of Judea to Lebanon.
22:7 And I will d prepare destroyers against thee, every one
with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice
e cedars, and cast [them] into the fire.
(d) The Hebrew word signifies to sanctify because the Lord
dedicates to his use and purpose such as he prepares to
execute his work, (Isa 13:3, Jer 6:4,12:3).
(e) Your buildings made from cedar trees.
22:8f And many nations shall pass by this city, and they
shall say every man to his neighbour, Why hath the LORD
done thus to this great city?
(f) As they who wonder at a thing which they thought would
never have come to pass, (De 29:24, 1Ki 9:8).
22:10 Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: [but] weep
bitterly for him g that goeth away: for he shall return
no more, nor see his native country.
(g) Signifying that they would lose their king: for
Jehoiachin went forth to meet Nebuchadnezzar and
yielded himself, and was carried into Babylon,
(2Ki 24:12).
22:11 For thus saith the LORD concerning h Shallum the son of
Josiah king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his
father, who went forth from this place; He shall not
return there any more:
(h) Whom some think to be Jehoiachin and that Josiah was
his grandfather: but it seems this was Jehoiakim, as
in (Jer 22:18).
22:13 Woe to him that buildeth his house by i unrighteousness,
and his chambers by wrong; [that] useth his neighbour's
service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;
(i) By bribes and extortion.
22:15 Shalt thou reign, because thou closest [thyself] in cedar?
did not thy k father eat and drink, and do judgment and
justice, [and] then [it was] well with him?
(k) Meaning Josiah, who was not given to ambition and
superfluity, but was content with mediocrity, and only
delighted in setting forth God's glory, and to do
justice to all.
22:18 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son
of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for l
him, [saying], Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall
not lament for him, [saying], Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
(l) For everyone will have enough to lament for himself.
22:19 He shall be m buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn
and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
(m) Not honourably among his fathers, but as carrion are
cast in a hole, because their stink should not infect,
read (1Ki 14:10). Josephus writes that the enemy
slew him in the city and commanded him to be cast
before the walls unburied, see (Jer 36:30).
22:20 Go up to n Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in
o Bashan, and cry from the passes: for all thy lovers
are destroyed.
(n) To call to the Assyrians for help.
(o) For this was the way out of India to Assyria, by which
is meant that all help would fail: for the Chaldeans
have subdued both them and the Egyptians.
22:22 The wind shall eat up all thy shepherds, p and thy
lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be
ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.
(p) Both your governors and they that would help you will
vanish away as wind.
22:23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the q
cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon
thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!
(q You that are built of the fair cedar trees of Lebanon.
22:24 [As] I live, saith the LORD, though r Coniah the son of
Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right
hand, yet would I pluck thee from there;
(r) Who was called Jehoiachin or Jeconiah, whom he calls
here Coniah in contempt who thought his kingdom could
never depart from him, because he came of the stock of
David, and therefore for the promise sake could not be
taken from his house, but he abused God's promise and
therefore was justly deprived of the kingdom.
22:29 O s earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.
(s) He shows that all posterity will be witnesses of his
just plague, as though it were registered for
perpetual memory.
22:30 Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this t man childless, a
man [that] shall not prosper in his days: for no man of
his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David,
and ruling any more in Judah.
(t) Not that he had no children (for later he begat
Salathiel in the captivity, (Mt 1:12)) but that
none would reign after him as king.
