Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath - Gain unjustly gotten was the cause of their destruction. For, as Ezekiel closes the like description; "They shall cast their silver into the streets, and their gold shall be removed; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord; they shall not satisfy their souls nor fill their bowels: "because it is the stumbling-block of their iniquity" Ezekiel 7:19. Much less shall any possession, outward or inward, be of avail in the Great Day; since in death the rich man's "pomp shall not follow him" Psalm 49:17, and every gift which he has misused, whether of mind or spirit, even the knowledge of God without doing His will, shall but increase damnation. "Sinners will then have nothing but their sins."

Here the prophet uses images belonging more to the immediate destruction; at the close the words again widen, and belong, in their fullest literal sense, to the Day of Judgment. "The whole land," rather, as at the beginning, "the whole earth shall be devoured by the fire of His jelousy; for He shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land:" rather, "He shall make an utter, yea altogether a terriffic destruction of all the dwellers of the earth." What Nahum had foretold of Nineveh , "He shall make the place thereof an utter consumption," that Zephaniah foretells of all the inhabitants of the world. For what is this, "the whole earth shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy," but what Peter says, "the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up?" 2 Peter 3:13. And what is that he says, "He shall make all the dwellers of the earth an utter, yea altogether a hasty destruction," but a general judgment of all, who belong to the world, whose home, citizenship, whose whole mind is in the world, not as true Christians, who are strangers and pilgrims here, and their "citizenship is in heaven?" Hebrews 11:13; Philippians 3:20.

These God shall make an utter, terrific, speedy destruction, a living death, so that they shall at once both be and not be; be, as continued in being; not be, as having no life of God, but only a continued death in misery. And this shall be through the jealousy of Almighty God, that divine quality in Him, whereby He loves and wills to be loved, and endures not those who give to others the love for which He gave so much and which is so wholly due to Himself Alone. Augustine, Conf. i. 5. p. 3, Oxford Translation: "Thou demandest my love, and if I give it not, art wroth with me, and threatenest me with grievous woes. Is it then a slight woe to love Thee not?" What will be that anger, which is Infinite Love, but which becomes, through man's sin, Hate?

Their silver nor their gold - In which they trusted, and from which they expected happiness; these shall not profit them in this awful day. And God will bring this about speedily; and a speedy riddance - a universal desolation, shall in a short time take place in every part of the land.

Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath,.... Which they have gotten in an unjust way, and have hoarded up, and put their confidence in; these were the lees on which they were settled; but now, as they would be disregarded by the Lord, as insufficient to atone for their sins, and appease his wrath, and procure his favour; see Job 36:18 so they would be of no avail to them, to deliver from their enemies, who would not be bribed therewith to save their lives; the same is said of the Medes at the taking of Babylon, Isaiah 13:17,

but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; his zeal against sin, and for his own glory, shall burn like fire; which shall consume the whole land, and all the inhabitants of it, and was not to be stopped by anything that could be done by them; so furious and raging would it be:

for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land; burn up at once all the briers and thorns, even all that offend, and do iniquity, and spare neither root nor branch; or, as when a field is cleared of the stubble on it, after the wheat is gathered in; or a grain floor of its chaff, after the wheat is separated from it; thus with the besom of destruction would the Lord sweep away the sinful inhabitants of Judea, and clear it of them, as he did by the sword, by famine, by pestilence, and by captivity.

Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

1:18 In the land - Therefore let not sinners be laid asleep by the patience of God; for when the measure of their iniquity is full, his justice will both overtake and overcome them, will make quick and thorough work.

18. Neither . silver nor . gold shall . deliver them, &c.-(Pr 11:4).

fire of his jealousy-(Eze 38:19); His wrath jealous for His honor consuming the guilty like fire.

make even a speedy riddance of all-rather, a "consummation" (complete destruction: "full end," Jer 46:28; Eze 11:13) "altogether sudden" [Maurer]. "A consumption, and that a sudden one" [Calvin].

1:14-18 This warning of approaching destruction, is enough to make the sinners in Zion tremble; it refers to the great day of the Lord, the day in which he will show himself by taking vengeance on them. This day of the Lord is very near; it is a day of God's wrath, wrath to the utmost. It will be a day of trouble and distress to sinners. Let them not be laid asleep by the patience of God. What is a man profited if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? And what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Let us flee from the wrath to come, and choose the good part that shall never be taken from us; then we shall be prepared for every event; nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.