And a man's uncle ... and he that burneth him - Literally, "and there shall take him up his uncle and his burner," that is, his uncle who, as his next of kin, had the care of his interment, was himself the burner. Burial is the natural following out of the words, "dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return." The common burying-places (such as we find in the history of the patriarchs) were the natural expression of the belief in the Resurrection. The bodies rested together, to be raised together. The pagan burned the bodies of Christian martyrs, and scattered their ashes in mockery of the Resurrection . The pagan noticed that it was matter of piety with the Jews "to bury rather than to burn bodies." The only exceptions are the history of Saul, and this place. Both were cases of emergency. The men of Jabesh-Gilead doubtless burned the bodies of Saul and his sons , for fear the Philistines might disinter them, if buried, and renew their insults upon them. The Israelites still buried what would not be disturbed or could be concealed - the bones. David solemnly buried their remains in the sepulchre of Kish, Saul's father 2 Samuel 21:12-14. So probably here also, it is mentioned as an aggravation, that one who loved them, had to burn their bodies. He does not say, why: but mentions it, as one feature of the common suffering. Parents, brothers - all gone; a man's uncle was his "burner." There was no other interment than this, the most alien from their affections and religion. It may have been on account of the extreme infection (the opening of a forgotten burying place of those who died of the plague of London produced a virulent disease, though 1 12 century had elapsed), or from the delay of burial, when, death reigning all round, there had been none to bury the dead.

He who is "by the sides," that is, the furthest part "of the house." He was the one survivor of the ten, and he too, sick. The question, Is there "yet" any "with thee?" inquires whether there was anyone, alive, to succor, or dead, to burn? There was none. All, even the bodies, had now been removed; one only remained, of all the hum, din, and throng, in that abode of luxury, one only "in the extremity" of its untenanted chambers. Probably the sick man was going to speak of God. The uncle breaks in upon his "No!" with "Hush! for we may not make mention of the Name of the Lord." Times of plague are, with the most, times of religious despair. They who had not feared God in their prosperity, do nothing but fear Him then. Fear, without love, turns man more away from God. He feels then the presence and power of God whom he had forgotten. He owns Him as the Author of his miseries; but, not having known Him before, he knows Him now in no other relation.

The words then, "for not to be mentioned is the Name of the Lord," are very probably the voice of despair. "It is useless to name Him now. We did not name His Name in life. It is not for "us" to name it now, in death." It might be the voice of impatient aversion, which would not bear to hear of God, the Author of its woe; or it might be the voice of superstition, which would not name God's Name, for fear of bringing fresh evil upon itself. All these grounds for not naming the Name of God and others yet worse, recur, again and again, under the pressure of a general sudden destruction. Such times being out the soul to light, as it is. Souls, which have sinned away the grace of God and are beyond its reach, pass unobserved amid the thronging activity of ordinary life. They are arrested then. They must choose then or never. Their unchanged aversion from God, then, unveils what they had been before. They choose once more, deliberately, in the face of God's judgments, what they had habitually chosen before, and, by the dreadful nakedness of their choice of evil, become now unmitigatedly evil. The prophet gives one instance of this utter misery of body and soul, because detail of misery sets the whole calamity more before people's eyes. In one picture, they see all. The words, or what the words imply, that, in extreme calamity, people do not mention the Name of God, come true in different minds out of different characters of irreligion.

It has also been thought, that the brief answer, "Hush!" closes the dialogue. The uncle asks, "is there yet with thee?" He answers, "None." The other rejoins "Hush!" and the prophet assigns the ground; "for the Name of the Lord is not to be named." If people have not sought God earlier, they have, when his hand is heavy upon them, no heart, nor time, nor thought, nor faith to seek Him.

A man's uncle shall take him up - Bp. Newcome says, this obscure verse seems to describe the effects of famine and pestilence during the siege of Samaria. The carcass shall be burnt, and the bones removed with no ceremony of funeral rites, and without the assistance of the nearest kinsman. Solitude shall reign in the house; and if one is left, he must be silent, (see Amos 8:3), and retired, lest he be plundered of his scanty provision! Burning the body, and then collecting the ashes, and putting them into an urn, was deemed the most honorable mode of burial.

And a man's uncle shall take him up,.... That is, his father's brother, as Kimchi; or his near kinsman, as the Targum; to whom the right of inheritance belongs, and also the care of his funeral; he shall take up the dead man himself, in order to inter him, there being none to employ in such service; the mortality being so universal, either through the pestilence raging everywhere, or through the earthquake, men being killed by the fall of houses upon them; which Aben Ezra takes to be the case here; see Amos 6:11;

and he that burneth him; which may be read disjunctively, "or he that burneth him" (e); his mother's brother, according to Judah ben Karis in Aben Ezra; for which there seems to be no foundation. The Targum renders it in connection with the preceding clause,

"shall take him up from burning;''

and so Jarchi interprets of a man's being found, and taken up in a house, burnt by the enemy at the taking of the city: but it is best to understand it of one whose business it was to burn the dead; which, though not commonly used among the Jews, sometimes was, 1 Samuel 31:12; and so should be at this time, partly because of the infection, and to stop the contagion; and chiefly because a single man could not well carry whole bodies to the grave, to bury them; and therefore first burnt their flesh, and then buried their bones, as follows:

to bring out the bones out of the house; in order to bury them:

and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house; or "in the corner of it" (f), as the Targum; either the uncle shall say to the burner, that is searching the house for the dead; or the uncle and burner, being one and the same person, shall say to the only surviving one of the ten, that is got into some corner of the house through fear or melancholy, under such a sad calamity,

is there yet any with thee? any dead corpse to be brought out and burned and buried?

and he shall say, no; there are no more: or "there is an end" of them all (g); the last has been brought out: or, as the Targum,

"they are perished;''

they are all dead, and carried out:

then shall he say, hold thy tongue; lest the neighbours should hear, and be discouraged at the number of the dead in one house; or say not one word against the providence of God, nor murmur and repine at his hand, since it is just and righteous:

for we may not make mention of the name of the Lord; being forbid by their superiors; or it is not right to do it by way of complaint, since our sins have deserved such judgments to come upon us; or it will be to no purpose to make mention of the name of the Lord, and pray unto him to turn away his hand, since destruction is determined, the decree is gone forth. The Targum is,

"he shall say, remove (that is, the dead), since while they lived they did not pray in the name of the Lord.''

And so the Syriac and Arabic versions make this to be the reason of the mortality, "because they remembered not the name of the Lord"; or, "called not upon" it.

continued...

And a man's uncle {k} shall take him up, and he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the {l} sides of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No. Then shall he say, {m} Hold thy tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of the LORD.

(k) The destruction will be so great, that almost none will be left to bury the dead: and therefore they will burn them at home, to carry out the burnt ashes with more ease.

(l) That is, to some neighbour that dwells near by.

(m) They will be so astonished at this destruction, that they will not boast any more of the name of God, and that they are his people: but they will be silent when they hear God's name, and abhor it, as those that are desperate, or reprobate.

6:10 Uncle - Or near kinsman, instead of those who were wont to do this, and were paid for it; but now none of these remaining, the next to the dead must, as well as he is able, take him up on his shoulders, and carry him. That burneth - Though the Jews mostly buried, yet in some cases they burned the dead bodies, as in this of pestilence. The bones - The flesh being consumed, the bones are reserved to be buried. Unto him - Any one he sees near the house out of which the bones are carried. Is there yet any - Is any one living in your house. Hold thy tongue - Do not complain, lest thou thyself be killed, lest all be rifled. For - It is too late to seek God, who is executing his immutable decree.

we...: or, they will not, or, have not

10. a man's uncle-The nearest relatives had the duty of burying the dead (Ge 25:9; 35:29; Jud 16:31). No nearer relative was left of this man than an uncle.

and he that burneth him-the uncle, who is also at the same time the one that burneth him (one of the "ten," Am 6:9). Burial was the usual Hebrew mode of disposing of their dead. But in cases of necessity, as when the men of Jabesh-gilead took the bodies of Saul and his three sons from the walls of Beth-shan and burned them to save them from being insulted by the Philistines, burning was practised. So in this case, to prevent contagion.

the bones-that is, the dead body (Ge 50:25). Perhaps here there is an allusion in the phrase to the emaciated condition of the body, which was little else but skin and bones.

say unto him that is by the sides of the house-that is, to the only one left of the ten in the interior of the house [Maurer] (compare Note, see on [1140]Isa 14:13).

Hold thy tongue . we may not . mention . the Lord-After receiving the reply, that none is left besides the one addressed, when the man outside fancies the man still surviving inside to be on the point, as was customary, of expressing devout gratitude to God who spared him, the man outside interrupts him, "Hold thy tongue! for there is not now cause for mentioning with praise (Jos 23:7) the name of Jehovah"; for thou also must die; as all the ten are to die to the last man (Am 6:9; compare Am 8:3). Formerly ye boasted in the name of Jehovah, as if ye were His peculiar people; now ye shall be silent and shudder at His name, as hostile to you, and as one from whom ye wish to be hidden (Re 6:16), [Calvin].

6:8-14 How dreadful, how miserable, is the case of those whose eternal ruin the Lord himself has sworn; for he can execute his purpose, and none can alter it! Those hearts are wretchedly hardened that will not be brought to mention God's name, and to worship him, when the hand of God is gone out against them, when sickness and death are in their families. Those that will not be tilled as fields, shall be abandoned as rocks. When our services of God are soured with sin, his providences will justly be made bitter to us. Men should take warning not to harden their hearts, for those who walk in pride, God will destroy.