They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen. Here we have the application, and so the explanation of the figurative language of the preceding verse, which, as we have seen, is the second stage of the action. The heat of the oven denotes the intense violence of their passion, as also their fierce and fiery power of destruction. Inferior rulers and magistrates fell victims to it; while regicides in incredible number were the result of it. Three regicides were perpetrated in thirteen years; and four in less than forty, the victims being Zechariah, Shallum, Pekahiah, and Pekah. Also Nadab, Elah, Zimri, Zibni, and Jehoram perished by their successors. There is none among them that calleth unto me. Amid such horrid scenes of blood and violence, of disorder and anarchy, there was none of them to realize the calamities of the times or recognize the cause. Consequently there was no one to discover the remedy, and apply to the true and only source of relief.
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES