For their vine [is] of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields
of
Gomorrah
This respects the false Christians in the Roman empire, who
should have taken warning by the Jews, and not have embraced such
sentiments of theirs, which had been resented by the Lord, and
condemned in them; such as the doctrines of man's freewill, of
justification and salvation not alone by Christ, but by their own
works of righteousness, saying, "our hand is high, and the Lord
hath not done all this", ( Deuteronomy
32:27 ) . Now out of the errors and heresies which arose in
the primitive Christian church sprung the man of sin, the son of
perdition, antichrist, or the antichristian and apostate church
of Rome, the degenerate plant of a strange vine; and is here
described as "of the vine of Sodom", a slip from that,
transplanted from Judea, and from the worse part of it, Sodom;
bearing a resemblance to the old Jewish church in its more
degenerate state, reviving many of its antiquated rites and
ceremonies, and embracing its unsound doctrines; especially which
relate to justification, and salvation by the works of men; and
having such a likeness to Sodom in its abominable practices, that
it is even called Sodom itself, ( Revelation
11:8 ) ; particularly for pride, luxury, idleness, idolatry,
profaneness, contempt of serious religion, and for bodily
uncleanness; even for that sin which has its name from Sodom,
which has not only been frequently committed by the popes and
other great personages among their, and connived at; but praised
and commended in printed books, published and sheltered under
public authority; (See Gill on
Revelation 11:8); and with this compare ( Ezekiel
16:49 ) ; "and of the fields of Gomorrah"; another city of
the plain, destroyed for the same sins that Sodom was; the phrase
signifies the same as before; who has not heard of the apples and
fruits of Gomorrah, which are said to look very fair and
beautiful without, but when touched into ashes? a fit emblem of
the fair show of religion and devotion, and the many outward
works of piety in the Romish church they pretend to perform, but
when examined are "lies in hypocrisy", ( 1 Timothy
4:2 ) ;
their grapes [are] grapes of gall, their clusters [are]
bitter;
which may denote the large number of the members of this church
clustered together, and the many religious orders in it; which
make a fair show in the flesh, but are in the gall of bitterness,
and bond of iniquity; and the variety of ordinances and
institutions of man's devising: so as the ordinances of the true
church of Christ are compared to clusters of grapes, ( Song of
Solomon 7:7 ) ; the ordinances of the false church are like
clusters of bitter grapes, both for their quantity and quality;
and may mean also their many evil works and actions, especially
their oppression and cruelty in persecuting the saints, and
shedding their blood; just as the wild grapes of the vine of
Judah are interpreted of oppression and a cry, ( Isaiah 5:4 Isaiah 5:7 ) .