But the word of the Lord was unto them precept
upon
precept
Was despised and derided by them; they took the prophet's words
out of his mouth, and in a scoffing manner repeated them; which,
in the Hebrew text, is in a rhyming form, and were sung and
drawled out by them, "Tsau lotsau, Tsau lotsau, Kau lakau, Kau
lakau": this is all he can say to us, and we have from him:
precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line; here
a
little, [and] there a little;
or the words may be rendered, "and the word of the Lord was unto
them precept upon precept"; as it had been, so it still was; the
same method was continued to be taken with them, and they still
treated as children; and it is suggested that they should remain
so, and not be men in understanding; and that they should be ever
learning like children, and never come to the knowledge of the
truth. Moreover, the words may be rendered, "though the word of
the Lord was unto them precept upon precept"; though it was
delivered in so plain and easy a manner to them, and such methods
of instruction were used gradually and gently, to instil
knowledge into them, yet so stupid were they as not to receive
it, and so perverse and stubborn as wilfully to reject it; hence
they were given up to judicial blindness and hardness, ( Romans 11:8 Romans 11:11
) : that they might go and fall backward, and be broken,
and snared,
and taken:
go on in their own sinful ways, backslide from God, and be broken
by his judgments; and be ensnared and taken in the net of the
Babylonians, and be carried by them into captivity; see (
Ezekiel
12:13 ) compare with this ( Matthew
21:44 ) ( 1 Peter 2:8 ) or rather
fall into the hands of the Romans, and be taken and dispersed by
them among the nations.