Chap. 20. *A s expofition repon the Bookof j o a. Opprefon it a vengeancebringing finne. The Lord tells the ?ewes that it was but 'a vaine thing for them to thinke offreeing themfelves from feared judgements by prayer and falling, unleffe they did let the oppreffed or broken goe'free, andbreake, everyyoa(e (Ifa..58.6.) The Scripture eve- rywhere thunders againli this fn,They fball havejudgment with- out mercy who have /hewed no mercy( ?am.2. 13.)With what face can they askor expe& mercy fromGod,who thew none to mane Secondly , Note; The pooreare mollfubjcEt to oppreffion. They meet with molt oppofition, who are leaft able to make defence. We may be deceived and coufened by the weake, but all oppref lion is from a greater power, And they ufually are op- preffed whohave very little, or no power at all, Thepoore. And this difcovers not only the fa.nfulnefe, but Firm, The difngenuoufneffe of that fortamen. They are low.fpirited and cowardly, they dare not meddle with their match, but oppreffe thepoore who are not able to deale with them. Secondly,It difcovers their inhumanity and incompafiionate- effe; they oppreffe the poore, whom they fhouldpitty and relieve ; they take away from thofe to whom they thould rather give. The Prophet fpeakes of fuch (Mic. 3. z.) Who bate the good, and love the evil, who pluckofftheir skinfromoff them, and their flefh from cfftheir bones; That is, they take from thofe who have leaft, and they take all from them to take away a mans cloaths isan a& of extream oppreffion, but topull off a mans skin, that's inhumane,yet there is a degree further,they take not only skin but flefh too ; they who are.very, poor, may be faid to have nothing but skin upon them, yet the oppreffour will have that. Zophar.proceeds yet further Becaufehe bath oppreffédandforfaken thepoore. Or according to the letter of the Hebrew, left menpoore; that ,n11, delerere is, having fpoy led and peeled them, he left them in a pooreeon-`fie ding"' dition. Some reade it as a punithment, not as a fin ; Therefore negligete. he Jhall leave thempoore, that is, his own children. But I ra- Z. z., ther Verla 19. 137
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