An exposition with practical observations continued upon the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters…

And their staff teacheth them.] Here is a peculiar way of Idolatry to be taught by their staff. Vatablus and others interpret it thus, their false Prophet upon which they leaned as upon a staff, and so they they think by staff here is meant their false Prophets. But I rather think it is to be meant literally, There was a kind of Idolatry which the Jews had and likewise the Romans after this, a way to ask counsel by the staff, which the Prophet here charged them with, which they called [Greek or Hebrew] or [Greek or Hebrew] Divinatio ex virgis, ¹divination by rods, or sticks, or arrows, or staves; And there were four §1ways by which they did divine by these. The first was to put arrows or staves into a close thing having the names written upon them of what they divined about, and then drawing out one or two, according to what they found written the staves they determined any business; thus their staff declared to them either good or bad; And thus Nebuchadnezzar seemed to do Ezek. 21.22.² there Interpreters show that the business was,³ that Nebuchadnezzar being in doubt whether he should war against Philadelphia or against Jerusalem he took two arrows and wrote the name of Jerusalem on the one and Philadelphia on the other •nd so came to divine which way he should go. And this is the first way of declaring by the staff. §2A second was by casting up staves or arrows into the air, and according as they did fall, on the right hand or on the left, before or behind, so they did divine their good luck or their §3ill luck as they called it. A third way was this, they used to peel off the bark of some part of a stick and then cast it up and divined according to which part of the pith either black or §4white appeared first.

And their staff teacheth them.] Here is a peculiar way of Idolatry to be taught by their staff. Vatablus and others interpret it thus, their false Prophet upon which they leaned as upon a staff, and so they they think by staff here is meant their false Prophets. But I rather think it is to be meant litterally, There was a kind of Idolatry which the Jews had and likewise the Romans after this, a way to ask counsel by the staff, which the Prophet here charged them with, which they cald or Divinatio ex virgis,