He continues the same subject, -- that God did not deal with his people with so much severity without the most just cause; for it could not be expected that he should treat them with more gentleness, since they rejected him and had recourse to vain confidences. I also, he says; for the particle gm, gam, denotes something mutual, as though he had said, "I also will have my turn; for I have it in my power to avenge myself: I will retaliate," he seems to say, "this thine ingratitude; for as thou hast despised me, so will I expose thee to reproach and shame." For God was shamefully despised by the Jews, when they substituted the Egyptians and their idols in his place: they could not have done him more dishonor than by transferring his glory to the ungodly and to their own figments. We hence see that there is an emphasis in the particle also, I will also make bare, or discover, thy skirts on thy face; that is, I will cast thy skirts on thy face. [1] This mode of speaking often occurs in the Prophets; and as I have elsewhere explained, it means the uncovering of the uncomely parts: it is as though a vile woman was condemned to bear the disgrace of being stripped of her garments and exposed to the public, that all might abhor a spectacle so base and disgraceful. God, as we have before seen, assumed the character of a husband to his people: as then he had been so shamefully despised, he now says, that he had in readiness the punishment of casting the skirts of his people over their faces, that their reproach or baseness might appear by exposing their uncomely parts. It then follows --

Footnotes

1 - This is no doubt the meaning. See Nahum 3:5. The verb means to strip off, so as to make bare. The threatening is, to strip off the skirts and throw them over the face; and this is the rendering of the Syriac. Probably the most literal rendering would be the following, -- And I also will strip (or roll) up thy skirts over thy face. The versions all differ, but the Septuagint convey this idea. Blayney's uncovering "thy skirts before thee," imparts no meaning. -- Ed.

Therefore will I - literally, "And I also;" I also must have my turn, I too must retaliate. Compare Nahum 3:5.

Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face - It was the custom to punish lewd women by stripping them naked, and exposing them to public view; or by throwing their clothes over their heads, as here intimated. Was this the way to correct the evil?

Therefore will I uncover thy skirts upon thy face, (m) that thy shame may appear.
(m) As your iniquities have been revealed to all the world, so shall your shame and punishment.

Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face,.... Turn them up, or throw them over the head or face; that is, expose to public shame and disgrace; which was done when their city and temple were burnt, and they were carried captive; hence it follows:
that thy shame may appear; that their sins might appear to themselves and others, of which they had reason to be ashamed. The allusion is to the treatment which captive women sometimes meet with, or adulterous women, to which the Jews are here compared. The Targum is,
"and I also will reveal the confusion of thy sin upon thy face, and thy shame shall be seen.''

discover . . . upon thy face--rather, "throw up thy skirts over thy face," or head; done by way of ignominy to captive women and to prostitutes (Nahum 3:5). The Jews' punishment should answer to their crime. As their sin had been perpetrated in the most public places, so God would expose them to the contempt of other nations most openly (Lamentations 1:8).

Therefore - I will expose thee to shame and contempt.