Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

A proverb and a by - word among all people - And so they are to the present; the unbelieving Jews, the stubborn, stiff-necked Jews, are words still in common use. They forsook the Lord, rejected his Christ, and are cast off, their temple destroyed, and they scattered over the face of the earth.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Then will I cut off Israel out of the land I have given them,.... Suffer them to be carried captive into other lands, as the ten tribes were into Assyria, and the two tribes to Babylon; which is called a plucking them up by the roots in 2 Chronicles 7:20.

and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight: as it was when burnt by Nebuchadnezzar:

and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people; both for their sins and for their miseries; see Deuteronomy 28:37, in 2 Chronicles 7:20 the house or temple is said to be made a proverb of.

Geneva Study Bible

Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a ^c proverb and a byword among all people:

(c) The world will make a mockery of you for the vile contempt and abusing of God's most liberal benefit.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

1 Kings 9:7 Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people:

Ver. 7. And Israel shall be a proverb and a byword.] They are so at this day. {See Trapp on "Zechariah 8:13"}

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Will I cast out of my sight; I will not regard it; I will take away my protection and gracious presence from it.

Israel shall be a proverb; their miseries shall be named proverbally, to express extreme calamities. See Deuteronomy 28:37.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

7.A proverb and a byword — The very name Israel will become a proverbial expression significant of disastrous failure; nay, more — a byword, a pointed, sarcastic term, ever suggestive of scorn and mockery. Compare Deuteronomy 28:37.

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

“And this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.”

And they are not to see the fact that YHWH has ‘hallowed’ the House as an indication that He will give it special treatment. The ‘holiness’ of the House is not to be seen as intrinsic. Rather it is hallowed (set apart uniquely as His earthly Dwellingplace) because, and while, He is among them (1 Kings 8:10-11) and they are His obedient people. But if they rebel against Him then He will cast the house out of His sight. He will have no interest in it at all.

Furthermore Israel themselves are warned that as a result they will become a kind of private joke, a jest, a ‘proverb’ (illustration) which acts as a warning to others, and a ‘byword’ (a saying with teeth). Because they have rejected Him YHWH will have no concern at all for their good name.

For ‘cast out of My sight’ compare Jeremiah 7:15. For the idea of being ‘a proverb and a byword’ see Deuteronomy 28:37; Jeremiah 24:9, but note that in neither case do the two words stand alone. Those verses are not likely therefore to be the direct source of the idea.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Take away, by death or exile. (Haydock) --- Sight. God is disposed to grant favours to those who approach his temples with piety. If they indulge their passions, he will suffer these holy places to be profaned, as a dreadful warning of his displeasure. The Jews enjoyed prosperity while they continued faithful. On their revolt, the ark was taken, the temple pillaged by Sesac, burnt by Nabuchodonosor, profaned by Antiochus, and destroyed by the Romans. (Calmet)

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

people = peoples.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) Then will I cut off.—These warnings were repeated with terrible force by Jeremiah on the eve of their fulfilment. (See Jeremiah 7:12-14; Jeremiah 24:9; Jeremiah 25:9.) The destruction of the Temple is by him compared with that which fell on Shiloh—no doubt, after the great defeat by the Philistines in the time of Eli (1 Samuel 4, 5), although the history gives no record of it. The continued existence of the people, as a people, to be “a proverb and a byword,” through the Babylonish captivity, and through their present dispersion, is a fact to which the history of the world undoubtedly furnishes no parallel.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people:

will I cut

Leviticus 18:24-28; Deuteronomy 4:26; 29:26-28; 2 Kings 17:20-23; 25:9,21; Jeremiah 7:15; Jeremiah 24:9; Ezekiel 33:27-29; Luke 21:24

this house

3; 2 Kings 25:9; 2 Chronicles 7:20; 36:19; Jeremiah 7:4-14; 26:6,18; 52:13; Lamentations 2:6,7; Ezekiel 24:21; Micah 3:12; Matthew 24:2; Luke 21:24

and Israel

Deuteronomy 28:37; Nehemiah 4:1-4; Psalms 44:14; Isaiah 65:15; Jeremiah 24:9; Lamentations 2:15,16; Joel 2:17

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 28:59 - General;  2 Kings 21:7 - In this house;  2 Chronicles 7:19 - shall go;  Nehemiah 1:3 - reproach;  Nehemiah 1:8 - If ye transgress;  Job 17:6 - a byword;  Psalm 69:11 - I became;  Psalm 79:4 - scorn;  Isaiah 48:19 - his name;  Jeremiah 7:14 - as;  Jeremiah 17:4 - shalt;  Jeremiah 25:9 - an astonishment;  Jeremiah 29:18 - to be a curse;  Jeremiah 42:18 - ye shall be;  Jeremiah 44:8 - a curse;  Jeremiah 44:22 - your land;  Lamentations 1:8 - hath;  Lamentations 5:18 - of the;  Ezekiel 5:15 - an instruction;  Ezekiel 21:5 - all;  Ezekiel 22:4 - have I;  Ezekiel 23:32 - thou shalt be;  Ezekiel 36:3 - and ye;  Daniel 9:16 - Jerusalem;  Hosea 9:3 - shall not;  Hosea 9:15 - I will drive;  Jonah 2:4 - out;  Micah 2:10 - and;  Nahum 3:6 - will set;  Zephaniah 2:15 - every;  Zechariah 8:13 - a curse;  Mark 13:2 - there;  Luke 19:44 - lay;  Luke 21:6 - there