The 4th verse is one of the most solemn in the whole Bible, as showing what an awful thing it is to come under God's curse against sin. "And I will cause it to go forth " that is, the curse, with its doom of judgment, which God keeps, so to say, in His storehouse, against the day of vengeance " and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by My Name"
(a) " I will bring it forth, and it shall enter T
Here we see the certainty with which God's judgments shall finally overtake the wicked. Man may avoid detec tion of his sins and punishment at the hands of his fellowman, but he cannot escape God. " Be sure your sin will find you out "; and so will its inevitable punishment.
"It shall enter into the house" the place where the transgressor may think that he can hide himself, where he may think himself most secure; but he shall find that God's avenging justice cannot be kept out, even by strong walls or iron gates.
() " And it shall abide in the midst of his house."[1] Here we see the continuance, or permanency of God's judg ment against the wicked. The word for " abide," or " remain," as in the A.V., is na^ laneh, from f^, lun, " to lodge," " to spend the night in "; the idea being that the curse will not only pay him a passing visit, but shall " lodge " there that is, abide by night as well as by day, until it accomplish that for which it was sent, its utter destruction.[2]
- ↑ The same verb is found in Ps. xci. I, but there it is used to describe the blessed privilege of the righteous, who, " dwelling in the secret place of the Most High" (by day), shall also "abide," literally "lodge" (i.e., at night), under the shadow of the Almighty.
- ↑ Pusey. Dr. Wright, in a note, quotes by way of illustration the classical instance recorded by Herodotus (Book vi. 86), which shows that the moral law of God was not only revealed to Israel and graven on the tables of stone, but was originally also written by His finger on the conscience of man, who still retains a shadowy tracing of it, so to say, in his consciousness. It is the story
Among Jewish commentators Rashi interprets npj (niqqah) in the sense of being freed, or justified the same as adopted by Luther and Mr. Edwards; but Kimchi says the meaning of npJ is "shall be cut off" And this, or rather " shall be cleansed away " i.e., extirpated, is here doubtless the true meaning of the verb, as shown above.
