Son of man, behold
This is said to raise the attention of the prophet, something
strange and unusual, interesting and affecting, being about to be
delivered: I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes
with a stroke;
meaning his wife; who very probably was of a beautiful
countenance, and goodly to look to; however, of an amiable
disposition, and in her conjugal relation very agreeable to the
prophet; and, no doubt, a truly religious woman, and upon all
account's desirable to him. This lovely object of his affection
the Lord, who is the sovereign disposer of all persons, signifies
he would take away from him by death unto himself; that is,
suddenly and at once; and so the Syriac and Arabic versions
render it, "with a sudden stroke"; as sometimes persons are
struck with death at once with an apoplexy or palsy. The Targum
renders it, with the pestilence; it was what the Jews call death
by the hand of heaven, by the immediate hand of God; and, it may
be, without any intervening disease; or, however, without any
train of disorders which lead on to death: yet neither
shalt thou mourn nor weep;
on account of the dead; neither privately nor publicly, inwardly
or outwardly, though so near and dear a relation; and though it
would seem strange, and be charged with want of natural
affection, and with a brutish insensibility: neither shall
thy tears run down;
his cheeks, by which vent would be given to his grief, and his
mind somewhat eased; but all care was to be taken to prevent any
gushing of them out of his eyes, and especially that they did not
run down in any quantity on his cheeks, and to be seen; though
they might seem to be but a proper tribute to the dead.