The priests said not, where is the Lord?
&c.] Whose business it was to draw nigh to God, and offer the
sacrifices of the people, and inquire of God for them; whose lips
should keep knowledge, and at whose mouth the law should be
sought, they being the messengers of the Lord of hosts, (
Malachi 2:7 )
: and they that handle the law knew me not;
the sanhedrim, according to Jarchi; or the lawyers and scribes,
the Rabbins and doctors of the law, whose business it was to read
and explain it; these did not understand it, nor the mind of God
in it; and much less did they know him in a spiritual and
evangelical manner; or as he is in Christ, and revealed in the
Gospel: the pastors also transgressed against
me;
kings, as the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi interpret it, who were
pastors or shepherds in a civil sense; whose business it was to
feed the people as the shepherd does his flock; that is, to guide
and govern them by wholesome laws, by the laws of God; but,
instead of this, they rebelled against the Lord, and transgressed
his commands: and the prophets prophesied by
Baal;
in his name; pretending to be inspired by that idol, and to
receive the spirit of prophecy from him: and walked after
things that do not profit;
the gods of the Gentiles, which could not supply them with the
least temporal blessing, and much less give them spiritual and
eternal ones; see ( Jeremiah
14:22 ) . This is to be understood of false prophets, as Ben
Melech.