"As if a man should flee from a lion, and a bear should overtake him: Or should betake himself to his house, and lean his hand on the wall, And a serpent should bite him." Amos v. 19.

"For, "as our saviour expressed it in a like parabolical manner, "wheresoever the carcass is there shall the eagles be gathered together, "Matt. xxiv. 28. The images are taken from the different methods of hunting and taking wild beasts, which were anciently in use. The terror was a line strung with feathers of all colours which fluttering in the air scared and frightened the beasts into the toils, or into the pit which was prepared for them. Nec est mirum, cum maximos ferarum greges linea pennis distincta contineat, et in insidias agat, ab ipso effectu dicta formido.

Seneca de Ira, ii. 12. The pit or pitfall, fovea; digged deep in the ground, and covered over with green boughs, turf, &c., in order to deceive them, that they might fall into it unawares. The snare, or toils, indago; a series of nets, inclosing at first a great space of ground, in which the wild beasts were known to be; and then drawn in by degrees into a narrower compass, till they were at last closely shut up, and entangled in them. - L.

For lwkm mikkol, a MS. reads ynpm mippeney, as it is in Jer. xlviii. 44, and so the Vulgate and Chaldee. But perhaps it is only, like the latter, a Hebraism, and means no more than the simple preposition m mem. See Psa. cii. 6. For it does not appear that the terror was intended to scare the wild beasts by its noise. The paronomasia is very remarkable; djp pachad, tjp pachath, ūp pach: and that it was a common proverbial form, appears from Jeremiah's repeating it in the same words, chap. xlviii. 43, 44.

Is. 24:1-12 All whose treasures and happiness are laid up on earth will soon be brought to want and misery. It is good to apply to ourselves what the Scripture says of the vanity and vexation of spiri which attend all things here below. Sin has turned the earth upsid down; the earth is become quite different to man, from what it was when God first made it to be his habitation. It is, at the best, like flower, which withers in the hands of those that please themselves with it, and lay it in their bosoms. The world we live in is a world of disappointment, a vale of tears; the children of men in it are but of few days, and full of trouble, See the power of God's curse, how is makes all empty, and lays waste all ranks and conditions. Sin bring these calamities upon the earth; it is polluted by the sins of men therefore it is made desolate by God's judgments. Carnal joy will soo be at end, and the end of it is heaviness. God has many ways to imbitter wine and strong drink to those who love them; distemper of body, anguish of mind, and the ruin of the estate, will make stron drink bitter, and the delights of sense tasteless. Let men learn to mourn for sin, and rejoice in God; then no man, no event, can tak their joy from them.

Is. 24:13-15 There shall be a remnant preserved from the general ruin and it shall be a devout and pious remnant. These few are dispersed like the gleanings of the olive tree, hid under the leaves. The Lor knows those that are his; the world does not. When the mirth of carna worldlings ceases, the joy of the saints is as lively as ever, becaus the covenant of grace, the fountain of their comforts, and the foundation of their hopes, never fails. Those who rejoice in the Lor can rejoice in tribulation, and by faith may triumph when all abou them are in tears. They encourage their fellow-sufferers to d likewise, even those who are in the furnace of affliction. Or, in the valleys, low, dark, miry places. In every fire, even the hottest, in every place, even the remotest, let us keep up our good thoughts of God. If none of these trials move us, then we glorify the Lord in the fires.

Is. 24:16-23 Believers may be driven into the uttermost parts of the earth; but they are singing, not sighing. Here is terror to sinners the prophet laments the miseries he saw breaking in like a torrent; an the small number of believers. He foresees that sin would abound. The meaning is plain, that evil pursues sinners. Unsteady, uncertain ar all these things. Worldly men think to dwell in the earth as in palace, as in a castle; but it shall be removed like a cottage, like lodge put up for the night. It shall fall and not rise again; but ther shall be new heavens and a new earth, in which shall dwell nothing but righteousness. Sin is a burden to the whole creation; it is a heav burden, under which it groans now, and will sink at last. The hig ones, that are puffed up with their grandeur, that think themselves ou of the reach of danger, God will visit for their pride and cruelty. Le us judge nothing before the time, though some shall be visited. None in this world should be secure, though their condition be ever s prosperous; nor need any despair, though their condition be ever s deplorable. God will be glorified in all this. But the mystery of Providence is not yet finished. The ruin of the Redeemer's enemies mus make way for his kingdom, and then the Sun of Righteousness will appea in full glory. Happy are those who take warning by the sentence agains others; every impenitent sinner will sink under his transgression, an rise no more, while believers enjoy everlasting bliss __________________________________________________________________

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