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I have sent - the pestilence - After the blasting and the mildew, the pestilence came; and it acted among them as one of the plagues of Egypt. Besides this, he had suffered their enemies to attack and prevail against them; alluding to the time in which the Syrians besieged Samaria, and reduced it to the most extreme necessity, when the head of an ass was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five; and mothers ate the flesh of their children that had died through hunger, 2 Kings 6:25. And the people were miraculously relieved by the total slaughter of the Syrians by the unseen hand of God, 2 Kings 7:1, etc. And yet, after all those signal judgments, and singular mercies, "they did not return unto the Lord!"

I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt - that is, after the way in which God had dealt with Egypt. God had twice promised, when the memory of the plagues which He sent on Egypt was still fresh “if thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God - I will put none of the diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians” Exodus 15:26; Deuteronomy 7:15. Contrariwise, God had forewarned them in that same prophecy of Moses, that, if they disobeyed Him, “He will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt which thou was afraid of, and they shall cleave unto thee” (Deuteronomy 28:60, add Deuteronomy 28:27). Egypt was, at times, subject to great visitations of the plague; it is said to be its birthplace. Palestine was by nature healthy. Hence, and on account of the terribleness of the scourge, God so often speaks of it, as of His own special sending. He had threatened in the law; “I will sold a pestilence upon you” Leviticus 26:25; “the Lord thy God will make the pestilence cleave unto you” Deuteronomy 28:21. Jeremiah says to the false prophet Hananiah; “The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries and against great kingdoms, of war and of evil and of pestilence” Jeremiah 28:8. Amos bears witness that those visitations came. Jeremiah Jeremiah 14:12; Jeremiah 29:17-18; Jeremiah 34:17 and Ezekiel (Ezekiel 5:12; Ezekiel 6:11, etc.) prophesied them anew, together with the sword and with famine. Israel, having sinned like Egypt, was to be punished like Egypt.

And have taken away your horses - Literally, as English margin. “with the captivity of your horses.” After famine, drought, locust, pestilence, followed that worst scourge of all, that through man. The possessions of the plain of Jezreel, so well suited for cavalry, probably induced israel to break in this respect the law of Moses. Hazael “left to Jehoahaz but 50 horsemen and 10 chariots and 10,000 footmen, for the king of Syria had destroyed them, and had made them like the dust by threshing.” Their armies, instead of being a defense, lay unburied on the ground, a fresh source of pestilence.

See the folly of carnal hearts; they wander from one creature to another, seeking for something to satisfy, and labour for that which satisfies not; yet, after all, they will not incline their ear to Him in whom they might find all they can want. Preaching the gospel is as rain, and every thing withers where this rain is wanting. It were well if people were as wise for their souls as they are for their bodies; and, when they have not this rain near, would go and seek it where it is to be had. As the Israelites persisted in rebellion and idolatry, the Lord was coming against them as an adversary. Ere long, we must meet our God in judgment; but we shall not be able to stand before him, if he tries us according to our doings. If we would prepare to meet our God with comfort, at the awful period of his coming, we must now meet him in Christ Jesus, the eternal Son of the Father, who came to save lost sinners. We must seek him while he is to be found.