4:1 And in that day {a} seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only {b} let us be called by thy name, to take away our {c} reproach.
(a) When God will executes this vengeance there will not be one man found to be the head to many women, and they contrary to womanly shamefacedness will seek men, and offer themselves under any condition.
(b) He our husband and let us be called your wives.
(c) For so they thought it to be without a head and husband.
4:1 In that day - In that calamitous time. Seven - Many. A certain number for an uncertain. One man - Because few men shall survive that dreadful stroke. Only - Own us for thy wives. Our reproach - Virginity was esteemed a reproach; children, the usual fruit of marriage, being both an honour to their parents, and a blessing of God, especially to that people, from some of whose loins the Messiah was to spring.
4:1 This first verse belongs to the third chapter. When the troubles should come upon the land, as the unmarried state was deemed reproachful among the Jews, these women would act contrary to common usage, and seek husbands for themselves.
