4:4 Come to {d} Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, [and] your tithes after three {e} years:
(d) He speaks this in contempt of those who resorted to those places, thinking that their great devotion and good intention was sufficient to have bound God to them.
(e) Read De 14:28.
4:4 Come to Beth - el - A strong irony, giving them over as incorrigible. At Gilgal - Gilgal was a place where much idolatry was acted. Every morning - In the same irony God reproves their sins tho' they imitated the instituted worship at Jerusalem. Three years - God had Deut 14:28, commanded every third year that all the tithe of that year should be brought, and laid up in a publick store - house.
4:1-5 What is got by extortion is commonly used to provide for the flesh, and to fulfil the lusts thereof. What is got by oppression cannot be enjoyed with satisfaction. How miserable are those whose confidence in unscriptural observances only prove that they believe a lie! Let us see to it that our faith, hope, and worship, are warranted by the Divine word.
