John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 2. Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them , etc.] That is, they that endeavour to make their escape from their enemies, though they seek for places of the greatest secrecy and privacy; not hell, the place of the damned; nor the grave, the repository of the dead; neither of which they chose to he in, but rather sought to escape them; but the deepest and darkest caverns, the utmost recesses of the earth, the very centre of it; which, could they get into, would not secure them from the power and providence of God, and from their enemies in pursuit of them, by his permission: though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down ; the summit of the highest mountains, and get as near to heaven, and at as great a distance from men, as can be, and yet all in vain. The Targum is, “if they think to be hid as it were in hell, from thence their enemies shall take them by my word; and if they ascend the high mountains, to the top of heaven, thence will I bring them;” (see <19D908> Psalm 139:8).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-10 - The prophet, in vision, saw the Lord standing upon the idolatrous alta at Bethel. Wherever sinners flee from God's justice, it will overtak them. Those whom God brings to heaven by his grace, shall never be cas down; but those who seek to climb thither by vain confidence i themselves, will be cast down and filled with shame. That which make escape impossible and ruin sure, is, that God will set his eyes upo them for evil, not for good. Wretched must those be on whom the Lor looks for evil, and not for good. The Lord would scatter the Jews, an visit them with calamities, as the corn is shaken in a sieve; but he would save some from among them. The astonishing preservation of the Jews as a distinct people, seems here foretold. If professors make themselves like the world, God will level them with the world. The sinners who thus flatter themselves, shall find that their professio will not protect them.
Original Hebrew אם518 יחתרו2864 בשׁאול7585 משׁם8033 ידי3027 תקחם3947 ואם518 יעלו5927 השׁמים8064 משׁם8033 אורידם׃3381
