They return, [but] not to the most High
To Egypt, and not to Jerusalem, and the temple there, and the
worship of it; to their idols, and not to him whose name alone is
Jehovah, and is the most High all the earth, the God of gods, and
Lord of lords, and King of kings; though they made some feint as
if they would return, and did begin, and take some steps towards
repentance and reformation; but then they presently fell back
again, as in Jehu's time, and did not go on to make a thorough
reformation; nor returned to God alone, and to his pure worship
they pretended to, and ought to have done: or, "not on high,
upwards, above" F23; their affections and desires are
not after things above; they do not look upwards to God in heaven
for help and assistance, but to men and things on earth, on which
all their affection and dependence are placed: they are
like a deceitful bow;
which misses the mark it is directed to; which being designed to
send its arrow one way, causes it to go the reverse; or its arrow
returns upon the archer, or drops at his feet; so these people
deviated from the law of God, acted contrary to their profession
and promises, and relapsed into their former idolatries and
impieties, and sunk into earth and earthly things; see ( Psalms 78:57
) ; their princes shall fall by the sword:
either of their conspirators, as Zachariah, Shallum, Pekahiah,
and Pekah; or by the sword of the Assyrians, as Hoshea, and the
princes with him, by Shalmaneser; for the rage of their
tongue;
their blasphemy against God, his being and providences; his
worship, and the place of it; his priests and people that served
him, and particularly the prophets he sent unto them to reprove
them; this [shall be] their derision in the land of
Egypt;
whither they sent, and called for help; but now, when their
princes are slain, and they carried captive into a foreign land,
even those friends and allies of theirs shall laugh and mock at
them. The Targum is,
``these [were] their works while they were in the land of Egypt;''or rather the words may be rendered, "this is their derision, [as of old] in the land of Egypt" F24; that is, the calves they now worshipped, and to which they ascribed all their good things, were made in imitation of the gods of Egypt, their Apis and Serapis, which were in the form of an ox, and which their fathers derided there; and these were justly to be derided now, and they to be derided for their worship of them, and ascribing all their good things to them; and which would be done when their destruction came upon them.
F23 (le al) "non supra", Montanus; "non sursum", De Dieu, Gussetius; "non erecte", Cocceius.
F24 (Myrum Urab Mgel wz) "haec, [seu] quae est subsannatio, [sicut olim] in terra Aegypti", Schmidt.
