Jerem. xviii. 19.4. VANITY is taken for Idols: They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God, they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: They followed 2 Kings xvii. 15. Jerem. ii. 5.vanity, and became vain: Secuti sunt vanitates & vane egerunt: The Hebrew says, & vani facti sunt. Is not the Lord in Sion? Is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities.
Psal. v. 10.Vain is often put for false: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain:1 Thou shalt not swear falsly;2 or, thou shalt not take uselesly, needlesly, and without very good and substantial Reasons, the Name of God to witness what thou affirmest. The Hebrew Word Shave, which is here translated by vain, is put for false in many Places of Scripture; as Deut. v. 20. Exod. xx. 16. Levit. xix. 12. Psalm iv. 3. xxxvii. 13. lxi. 10. Ezek. xii. 24. xiii. 6. Hos. x. 4. xii. 11. Jonah, ii. 9. Zech. x. 2. Matth. v. 33. Tertullian,3 and some other of the ancient Fathers, were of opinion, that this Passage forbad to give the Name of God to false Gods, to Idols. It is certain, that vana is often taken for false Gods: But this is not the literal Meaning of this Place.
Vain is opposed to true, real, substantial. Their Heart is vain, or full of Vanity and Psal. xi. 3.Lying: Vana locuti sunt unusquisque ad proximum suum: They have deceived their Neighbour by vain Discourses, by Words full of Deceit and Lyes. The false Ezek. xiii. 6.Prophets, vident vana & divinant mendacium, have only idle Dreams, and empty Visions: They pronounce only vain and false Predictions. See also Isai. lvi. 10. Speculatores ejus cæci - - - - videntes vana, dormientes & amantes somnia. They are mere Dreamers.
Vain 1 Sam. xii. 21.Vain things, are Idols: Nolite declinare post vana: Do not run after Idols, that cannot protect you; for they are nothing at all. See Acts xiv. 14. Annunciantes vobis ab his vanis converti ad Deum vivum.
Psal. xxiv. 4. Psal. lxii. 10.To lift up the Soul to Vanity; that is to say, to swear by his own Life, and to swear vainly and falsly. They have sought my Soul in vain; they have unsuccessfully endeavoured to take away my Life; God has preserved me, and defended me from their Snares; or, rather, they have sought, without any reason, and under false and vain Pretences, to put me to death.
Vain Men, does not only signify Men puffed up with Pride, and full of Vanity, but also worthless and insignificant Persons, without Religion, without Rule or Conduct, brainless Fellows. For example;4 Viri vanissimi, & filii Belial. The Hebrew says, Men void of Sense, or Beggars, miserable Children, without a Yoke, worthless Children. Rekim, which the Vulgate translates by vanissimi, is the same as Raca, which we find in the Gospel: Qui dixerit Matth. v. 22.fratri sua Raka, instead of Vanissimi. The Septuagint renders it it pestilential and dangerous Fellows.
He that heaps up Riches by lying is vain, and without Understanding;5 Vanus est & excors. The Hebrew says, Vanity is driven by the Wind; is as Chaff, which is the Sport of the Winds. And elsewhere,6 Qui vanis est & excors patebit contemtui: He that is vain, and without Understanding, shall be exposed to Contempt. The Hebrew says, He that hath a perverse and corrupted Heart, &c. Vani sunt omnes hominos in quibus non subest scientia Dei: Those that have no Knowledge of God, are only Vanity; all their other Qualities, their Science, their Skill, is nothing but Ignorance, without this Knowledge of the Saints. The Greek intimates, All Men are by Nature vain; they can do nothing of themselves, they tend to nothing, &c.
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