I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab, and I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes out a bowl—wiping it and turning it upside down.
Here is the doom of Judah and Jerusalem read, and it is heavy doom. The prophets were sent, in the first place, to teach them the knowledge of God, to remind them of their duty and direct them in it.
Commenting on 2 Kings 21:10-18
And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria,.... The Targum is, the line of destruction; and the sense is, that the same measure should be measured to Jerusalem as was to Samaria; that is, the same lot and portion should befall one as the other, that is, be utterly destroyed: and the plummet of the house of Ahab; the Targum is, the weight...
the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab--Captives doomed to destruction were sometimes grouped together and marked off by means of a measuring-line and plummet (Sa2 8:2; Isa 34:11; Amo 7:7); so that the line of Samaria means the line drawn for the destruction of Samaria; the plummet of the house of Ahab, for exterminating his apostate family; and the import...