I have not found it ... - Rather, thou didst not find them breaking into thy house. The meaning is, that these poor innocents had committed no crime: they were not thieves caught in the act, whom the Law permitted men to slay Exodus 22:2, and therefore Israel in killing them was guilty of murder. The one crime here of theft is put for crime generally.

Upon all these - Or, because of all this. Thou killedst the poor innocents, not for any crime, but because of this thy lust for idolatry.

The blood of the souls of the poor innocents - We find from the sacred history that Manasseh had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; see 2 Kings 21:16, and Ezekiel 34:10.

I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these - Such deeds of darkness and profligacy are found only in Israel. Dr. Blayney translates, "I have not found it in a digged hole, but upon every oak." Others cover the blood that it may not appear; but ye have shed it openly, and sprinkled it upon your consecrated oaks, and gloried in it.

Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents,.... Either of the innocent infants of poor persons, who were sacrificed to Moloch; or of the poor prophets of the Lord, whom they slew, because they faithfully reproved them for their sins; and the blood of those being found in their skirts is expressive of the publicness and notoriety of their sin, and also of the large quantity of blood shed, inasmuch as the skirts of their garments were filled with it, as if they had trod and walked in blood; see Isaiah 63:3.

I have not found it by secret search; or, "by digging" (q); there was no need to dig for it; it lay above ground; it was upon their skirts, public enough: or, "in ditches", as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin (r) versions; as when murders are privately and secretly committed; but these were done openly. Some read the words, "thou didst not find them with a digging instrument" (s); so Jarchi interprets the words,

"you did not find them with a digging instrument, or in digging, when you slew them;''

you did not find them prepared as thieves to break up your houses, or digging down your walls, and breaking through into your houses, then you would have been justified by the law in slaying them, Exodus 22:2, but this was not the case:

but upon all these; upon all their skirts, and not in ditches, or under ground; or, "for all these"; thou hast so done; not for their sins, for theft, or any other; but for their faithful reproofs and rebukes; so Jarchi, for all these words with which they reproved thee; or for all these, the idols on whose account, in the worship of them, the blood of the innocents was shed.

(q) "in suffossione", Vatablus, Calvin, De Dieu; "effossione", Junius & Tremellius; "perfossione", Schmidt. (r) , Sept. "in fossis", V. L. (s) "Cum perfossorio", Pagninus, Montanus; "sub. instrumento", Grotius; "terebro", Cocceius.

Also in thy {x} skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these.

(x) The prophets and the faithful are slain in every corner of your country.

2:34 Skirts - Of thy garments: the tokens of cruelty may be seen openly there. Innocents - In thee is found the murder expressed here by blood of innocent persons, murdering souls as well as bodies. Search - Heb. by digging; as if the earth had covered the blood, or as if they had committed their wickedness in some obscure places. These - Upon thy garments, exposed openly to publick view.

secret...: Heb. digging

34. Also-not only art thou polluted with idolatry, but also with the guilt of shedding innocent blood [Maurer]. Rosenmuller not so well translates, "even in thy skirts," &c.; that is, there is no part of thee (not even thy skirts) that is not stained with innocent blood (Jer 19:4; 2Ki 21:16; Ps 106:38). See as to innocent blood shed, not as here in honor of idols, but of prophets for having reproved them (Jer 2:30; Jer 26:20-23).

souls-that is, persons.

search-I did not need to "search deep" to find proof of thy guilt; for it was "upon all these" thy skirts. Not in deep caverns didst thou perpetrate these atrocities, but openly in the vale of Hinnom and within the precincts of the temple.

2:29-37 The nation had not been wrought upon by the judgements of God, but sought to justify themselves. The world is, to those who make it their home and their portion, a wilderness and a land of darkness; but those who dwell in God, have the lines fallen to them in pleasant places. Here is the language of presumptuous sinners. The Jews had long thrown off serious thoughts of God. How many days of our lives pass without suitable remembrance of him! The Lord was displeased with their confidences, and would not prosper them therein. Men employ all their ingenuity, but cannot find happiness in the way of sin, or excuse for it. They may shift from one sin to another, but none ever hardened himself against God, or turned from him, and prospered.