14:14 Though these three men, {i} Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver their own souls only by their {k} righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.
(i) Though Noah and Job were now alive, which in their time were most godly men (for at this time Daniel was in captivity with Ezekiel) and so these three together would pray for this wicked people, yet I would not hear them, read Jer 15:1.
(k) Meaning, that a very few (which he calls the remnant, Eze 14:22) would escape these plagues, whom God has sanctified and made righteous, so that this righteousness is a sign that they are the Church of God, whom he would preserve for his own sake.
14:14 Noah - Who 'tis probable prevailed with God to spare the world for some years, and saved his near relations when the flood came. Daniel - Who prevailed for the life of the wise men of Chaldea. Job - Who daily offered sacrifice for his children, and at last reconciled God to those that had offended.
14:12-23 National sins bring national judgments. Though sinners escape one judgment, another is waiting for them. When God's professing people rebel against him, they may justly expect all his judgments. The faith, obedience, and prayers of Noah prevailed to the saving of his house, but not of the old world. Job's sacrifice and prayer in behalf of his friends were accepted, and Daniel had prevailed for the saving his companions and the wise men of Babylon. But a people that had filled the measure of their sins, was not to expect to escape for the sake of any righteous men living among them; not even of the most eminent saints, who could be accepted in their own case only through the sufferings and righteousness of Christ. Yet even when God makes the greatest desolations by his judgments, he saves some to be monuments of his mercy. In firm belief that we shall approve the whole of God's dealings with ourselves, and with all mankind, let us silence all rebellious murmurs and objections.
