Who hate the good, and love the evil
Instead of knowing and doing what was just and right; or,
directly contrary to their light and knowledge, and the duty of
their office, they hated that which is good, which is agreeable
to the law, nature, and will of God, and loved that which is
evil, which is contrary thereunto; or they hated to do good, and
loved to do evil, as the Targum; as men do who are averse to
good, and prone to evil; or they hated a good man, as Aben Ezra,
and loved the evil man; not only delighted in committing sin
themselves, but took pleasure in those that did it; and could not
endure the company and conversation of holy and good men:
who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh
from off their
bones:
like wild beasts that tear off skin and flesh from the bones, and
then devour them; or like cruel shepherds, that, not content to
fleece their flocks, skin them, and take their flesh also, and
feed themselves, and not the flock; or like butchers, that first
take off the skin off a beast, and then cut up its flesh. The
design of the expressions is to show what rigour, cruelty, and
oppressions, these rulers exercised on the people and by their
heavy taxes and levies, and exorbitant penalties and fines,
pillaged and plundered them of all they had in the world, and
left them quite bare, as bones stripped of their skin and flesh.
So the Targum,
``seizing on their substance by violence, and their precious mammon they take away.''