5. beards shaven, &c.--indicating their deep sorrow at the
destruction of the temple and city.
cut themselves--a heathen custom, forbidden
(Le 19:27, 28;
De 14:1).
These men were mostly from Samaria, where the ten tribes, previous to
their deportation, had fallen into heathen practices.
offerings--unbloody. They do not bring sacrificial victims, but
"incense," &c., to testify their piety.
house of . . . Lord--that is, the place where the house of the Lord
had stood
(2Ki 25:9).
The place in which a temple had stood, even when it had been destroyed,
was held sacred [PAPINIAN]. Those "from Shiloh"
would naturally seek the house of the Lord, since it was at Shiloh it
originally was set up
(Jos 18:1).
JFB.
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