7:1-7 A practical disbelief of God's government was at the bottom of all israel's wickedness; as if God could not see it or did not heed it. Their sins appear on every side of them. Their hearts were inflamed by evil desires, like a heated oven. In the midst of their troubles as a nation, the people never thought of seeking help from God. The actual wickedness of men's lives bears a very small proportion to what is in their hearts. But when lust is inwardly cherished, it will break forth into outward sin. Those who tempt others to drunkenness never can be their real friends, and often design their ruin. Thus men execute the Divine vengeance on each other. Those are not only heated with sin, but hardened in sin, who continue to live without prayer, even when in trouble and distress.

Verse 5. - A like diversity of exposition is found in connection with ver. 5, at least it, first clause.

1. There is

(1) the rendering already given; but

(2) Wunsche, taking החלו from חלל, to begin, as is done by the LXX., Syriac, Chaldee, and Jerome, translates:" The princes begin [i.e. open] the day of our king in the heat of wine." Consequently, yom is

(a) the object of this verb; while,

(b) according to the usual rendering, it is the accusative of time, equivalent to ביום; others again

(c) take the word as a nominative absolute, or translate the clause as an independent one; thus Simson: "It is the day of our king."

2. Again, חֲמַח st. construct of חֵמָה, from the root חמם or יחם, (for the construct state is used, not only for the genitive-relation, but also before prepositions, the relative pronoun, relative clauses, even ray copulative, etc.), is

(1) the accusative of the clause, equivalent to "in the heat (proceeding) from wine;" or

(2) be may be understood; or

(3) the preposition rain may be regarded as transposed, - Rashi explains it: "From the heat of the wine that burneth in them;" or

(4) בַּעֲלֵי may be supplied, as Wunsche suggests, equivalent to "possessors (bearers) of heat from wine."

3. לֵצ is a scoffer and worse than כְסִיל, a fool, or פְחִי, a simpleton; the last acts through inexperience, the second from unwisdom, the first, though possessing in some measure both wisdom and experience, acts in disregard of both. The meaning is given by Kimchi in the following comment: "The sense of חי מי is that the one came with his bottle full of wine, and the other with his bottle; and they made the king sick;" and to this there is an exact parallel in Habakkuk 2:15, "Woe unto him that giveth his neigh-hour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also." In the second clause the expression, "drawing out the hand," is borrowed from drunken carousals, in which the hand is stretched out in asking, receiving, and handing the goblets; or, more simply, according to Pussy, who says, "Men in drink reach out their hands to any whom they meet, in token of their sottish would be friendliness."

In the day of our king,.... Either his birthday, or his coronation day, when he was inaugurated into his kingly office, as the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi; or the day on which Jeroboam set up the calves, which might be kept as an anniversary: or, "it is the day of our king" (o); and may be the words of the priests and false prophets, exciting the people to adultery; and may show by what means they drew them into it, saying this is the king's birthday, or coronation day, or a holy day of his appointing, let us meet together, and drink his health; and so by indulging to intemperance, through the heat of wine, led them on to adultery, corporeal or spiritual, or both:

the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine: that is, the courtiers who attended at court on such a day to compliment the king upon the occasion, and to drink his health, drank to him in large cups, perhaps a bottle of wine at once; which he pledging them in the same manner, made him sick or drunk: to make any man drunk is criminal, and especially a king; as it was also a weakness and sin in him to drink to excess, which is not for kings, of all men, to do: or it may be rendered, "the princes became sick through the heat of wine" (p), so Jarchi; they were made sick by others, or they made themselves so by drinking too much wine, which inflamed their bodies, gorged their stomachs, made their heads dizzy, and them so "weak", as the word (q) also signifies, that they could not stand upon their legs; which are commonly the effects of excessive drinking, especially in those who are not used to it, as the king and the princes might not be, only on such occasions:

he stretched out his hand with scorners; meaning the king, who, in his cups, forgetting his royal dignity, used too much familiarity with persons of low life, and of an ill behaviour, irreligious ones; who, especially when drunk, made a jest of all religion; scoffed at good men, and everything that was serious; and even set their mouths against the heavens; denied there was a God, or spoke very indecently and irreverently of him; these the king made his drinking companions, took the cup, and drank to them in turn, and shook them by the hand; or admitted them to kiss his hand, and were all together, hail fellows well met. Joseph Kimchi thinks these are the same with the princes, called so before they were drunk, but afterwards "scorners".

(o) "dies regis nostri", V. L. Calvin, Tigurine version, Tarnovius, Cocceius, Schmidt. (p) "argotarunt principes a calore vini", Liveleus; "morbo afficiunt se calore ex vino", Tarnovius. (q) "Quem infirmant principes aestu a vino", Cocceius; "infirmum facerunt", Munster; "infirmant", Schmidt.

5. the day of our king—his birthday or day of inauguration.

have made him sick—namely, the king. Maurer translates, "make themselves sick."

with bottles of wine—drinking not merely glasses, but bottles. Maurer translates, "Owing to the heat of wine."

he stretched out his hand with scorners—the gesture of revellers in holding out the cup and in drinking to one another's health. Scoffers were the king's boon companions.

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