An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, fortieth, forty-first, and forty-second,…

But why is the Lord so careful to satisfy the desolate and wast ground? The ground is a senseless thing, that feels not the want of rain. I answer, The Lord doth not satisfy the ground for the grounds sake, but for their sake who live upon, and are maintained by the ground. Fruit-bearing trees and grass are maintained by the moisture and fatness of the ground; beasts are maintained by those fruits and grass: therefore the Lord satisfies the ground with rain, that it may satisfy the trees and grass, and they the beasts that live upon it. So then the Lord satisfieth the ground, that it may satisfy all sorts of vegetables growing out of the ground, and that they may satisfy all kinds of animals living upon the ground. Such a gradation we find (Hos. 2.21, 22.) I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth, and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezreel, that is, my people. We may run up the meaning of this promise backwards, thus, When my people (whom I now call Jezreel in a way of promise, as in a way of threatening, chap. 1.4.) being pressed with hunger and famine, cry to the corn, and the wine, and the oil, for food, they shall hear them; and when the corn and wine call to the earth for moisture to feed them, that shall hear; and when the earth calls to the heavens for rain, they shall hear; and when the heavens call to God for orders to carry rain, he will hear them. It is for mans use that God makes the earth fruitful; and where there are no men, 'tis for the beasts sake, that he satisfieth the desolate and wast ground.

But why is the Lord so careful to satisfie the desolate and wast ground? The ground is a senselesse thing, that feels not the want of rain. I answer, The Lord doth not satisfie the ground for the grounds sake, but for their sake who live upon, and are maintained by the ground. Fruit-bearing trees and grass are maintained by the moisture and fatnesse of the ground; beasts are maintained by those fruits and grasse: therefore the Lord satisfies the ground with rain, that it may satisfie the trees and grasse, and they the beasts that live upon it. So then the Lord satisfieth the ground, that it may satisfie all sorts of vegetables growing out of the ground, and that they may satisfie all kinds of animals living upon the ground. Such a gradation we find (Hos. 2.21, 22.) I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth, and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezrael, that is, my people. We may run up the meaning of this promise backwards, thus, When my people (whom I now call Jezrael in a way of promise, as in a way of threatning, chap. 1.4.) being pressed with hunger and famine, cry to the corn, and the wine, and the oil, for food, they shall hear them; and when the corn and wine call to the earth for moisture to feed them, that shall hear; and when the earth calls to the heavens for rain, they shall hear; and when the heavens call to God for orders to carry rain, he will hear them. It is for mans use that God makes the earth fruitful; and where there are no men, 'tis for the beasts sake, that he satisfieth the desolate and wast ground.