purified those that were left by his spirit these should now be a holy Nation even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem that is every one whom God had fore-appointed to survive the calamities of those times and to be found living amongst those that should return from Babylon to Jerusalem Now if it be objected against this Exposition That it was not thus with the Jews when they returned out of Babylon to Jerusalem It is evident by the story of those times that even amongst the little remnant of Gods people there were many wicked ones and therefore they were far from being all holy To this I answer That there was a great Reformation then wrought in the whole body of the people in that they were greatly purged from their Idolatry and other gross sins that were formerly rife amongst them which was a kind of shadow of that thorow Reformation which God intended to work in his Church And 2. That so far as this Prophecy hath respect to that real work of Reformation and Sanctification which is here also promised it must be intended to the intire holy change that was to be wrought in the Church in all succeeding ages which as it was began at that time of the purifying of the people of God when they were delivered out of the Babylonian Captivity and brought home to their own Country for it was to be further carried on in the days of the Gospel till at last it should be perfected at Christs second coming And if thus we understand this Prophecy then by that remnant in Zion and in Jerusalem that shall be called holy we must understand all the members of the Mystical Church who are all truly sanctified by the spirit of Christ and accordingly then the following clause even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem may be meant of such as God had decreed unto holiness here and so unto life eternal in Heaven concerning which see the Notes Exod. 32.32 Psal 69.28 and 87.6 Ver. 4. When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion c. That is of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and spiritually the visible Members of the Church Yet it may well be that the Prophet doth the rather use this expression with respect to that which he had said chap. 3.16 concerning the women daughters of Zion which had a great stroak in bringing those sad judgments upon Zion whereof he had before spoken And should this be so observable it were that the bravery and vanity wherein they had so prided themselves is here turned into filth Having before said that the remnant of Gods people should be pure and holy beautiful and glorious excellent and comely here the Prophet sheweth when and how this should be done when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion that is their manifold sins and wickedness and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof where by blood may be meant the same that was before called filth namely their vile and loathsome sins for indeed we look upon nothing as a fouler defilement than when a thing is besmeared with blood therefore the filthiness of sin is sometimes termed blood as Ezek. 16.6 I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood or else rather the blood of Gods Prophets and other innocent men which they had shed in Jerusalem or more generally their bloody oppressions and cruelties which is the more probable because this seems to be spoken with relation to the Prophets foregoing complaints concerning their bloody sins chap. 1.15 21. concerning which see the Notes there As for the following words thereby is shown how their filth and blood should be washed and purged away namely by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning for the understanding whereof we must know that by this word spirit where it is attributed to God is frequently meant in the Scripture the vertue or the fervent and vehement efficacy of every operation of God much the same that is called elsewhere the zeal of God as chap. 9.7 the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this So that in saying that their filth and blood should be washed and purged away by the spirit of judgment the Prophet means that it should be done by Gods severe judgments executed upon them whereby Idolaters and other wicked ones should be cut off and destroyed from amongst them And 2. By Gods preserving and reforming the better sort and bringing things a-again into good order in the Church and so likewise in saying it should be done by the spirit of burning he means that it should be done by a vehement zeal hot and burning like fire both for the destroying of the wicked that were amongst them and burning them up like stubble which some think also is spoken with relation to the burning of the Temple and City of Jerusalem and for the purging away of the sins of his chosen ones even as the dross is purged away by the Refiners fire But see the Notes chap. 1.25 26 27. Ver. 5. And the Lord will create upon every dwelling-dwelling-place of mount-Mount-Zion and upon her assemblies a cloud and smoak by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night c. As if the Prophet should have said When the Lord shall have purged his Church and people and shall have brought them into that glorious condition here before promised he will then as wonderfully and miraculously guide and protect them in every dwelling-place where any of them shall have their abode and in their publick assemblies where they shall meet together for the worship and service of God as he did the Israelites when he led them through the wilderness by a cloud and smoak by day that is by a cloud black and thick like smoak and the shining of a flaming fire by night concerning which see the Note Exod. 13.21 Even when there should be no appearance of any means for their preservation yet that should not hinder their protection because the Lord as he did then for the Israelites would create means for the sheltring and securing of them And indeed because God did discover such riches of grace to his Israel in the many wonders that he wrought for them in delivering them out of Egypt and in carrying them into the Land of Canaan therefore the Prophets do usually set forth all the great things that God hath promised to do for his Church by expressions that do allude to that great work And to the same purpose is that following clause for upon all the glory shall be a defence that is there shall be a sure defence over that remnant of his people of whom it was before said ver 2. that they should be brought into such a glorious condition or that the glory or glorious condition whereto God would advance his people should be secured and maintained by means of a divine protection
see the Notes there But methinks the words in this place seem rather to set forth the desolation of their Country than the destruction of the Inhabitants Ver. 11. When the boughs thereof are withered they shall be broken off c. According to what is noted in the foregoing Verse some understand this also figuratively of the withering breaking off and burning the boughs of Gods Vine his Israel But rather this is added farther to set forth the desolation of their Town and Cities by shewing that as the Beasts should crop the Shrubs that grew there when they were green as was said in the former verse so being withered the boughs thereof should be broken off for firing as is expressed in the following words the women come and set them on fire For it is a People of no understanding c. that is a foolish People that will be made wise by nothing but stripes See the Notes Chap. 5.12 and Deut 32.28 Probable it is that this they are charged with more especially with respect to their brutish ignorance in forsaking the living God to go after Idol-gods therefore he that made them See the Notes Chap. 22.11 and Deut. 32.6 will not have mercy on them and he that formed them will shew them no favour that is say some who understand it of those whom God by this severity intended to reform God will not at all spare them but will proceed with some more than ordinary severity against them even as far as the rigour of fatherly chastisement may extend But I rather think that this is spoken of the body of the People of the Jews upon whom God poured forth his wrath without any mixture of mercy though withall he shewed mercy to a remnant amongst them as is shewn in the following verse Ver. 12. And it shall come to pass in that day c. to wit when God shall have proceeded with so great severity against his own People as is said in the two foregoing Verses and shall have thereby in some measure reformed them but see also the Note Chap. 11.11 that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt that is from Euphrates See the Note Chap. 7.20 unto the River Sihor which lay before Egypt Josh 13.3 or unto the River of Nilus either of which may be meant by the River of Egypt See the Notes Chap. 23.3 and Gen. 15.18 And the meaning seems to be that God would sever and take out his People from the Nations amongst whom they were scattered in all those Countries that lay between Euphrates and Nilus Assyria and Egypt for when the Jews were carried captives into Babylon many of them fled into Egypt See the Note Chap. 11.11 even as the Husbandman by beating severs the Fruit from the Trees or as by threshing he beats out the grain from the ears and straw or as by winnowing he beats out the corn from the chaff Some indeed do understand this of the Lords beating out the Israelites from their dwelling places all over the Land of Canaan which we find sometimes bounded by the River Euphrates and the River of Egypt and others of the beating over of all those Countries that lay between Euphrates and Nilus by the Medes and Persians when they subdued Babylon But the former exposition is far the clearest and best agrees with that which followeth and ye shall be gathered one by one O ye children of Israel to wit as Fruit is gathered up that is beaten off the Tree or as the Corn is gathered up when it is threshed and winnowed and laid up in Garners the meaning whereof is that though they were exceedingly dispersed yet they should be gathered together into one body and placed again in their own Land And this expression of their being gathered one by one is used purposely to intimate 1. the paucity of those that should be delivered in comparison of those that were at first carried away and scattered abroad according to a like expression Jer. 3.14 I will take you one of a City and two of a Family and will bring you to Zion And 2. the exact bringing in of all that were to have a share in this deliverance though they were severed never so far asunder that God would pick them up one out of one place and another out of another not one of them should be neglected and lost as it is said also Ezek. 39.28 I have gathered them unto their own land and have left none of them any more there But withall we must know that under this bringing home of the Jews to their own Land a greater mystery was intended by the Prophet whereof that was a type and shadow even the bringing in of God's elect People to the Church in the days of the Gospel first the Jews and afterward the Gentiles dispersed throughout the whole World as was said of Christ Joh. 11.52 that he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad Ver. 13. And it shall come to pass in that day c. See the foregoing Note that the great trumpet shall be blown that is As by the sound of trumpets a King gathers an Army or a Captain calls his Souldiers together that were scattered abroad so will I saith the Lord gather my people together that are dispersed in several Countries which though it were primarily meant of God's bringing home the Jews after the Babylonian captivity into their own Country yet under this as is already said in the foregoing verse the spiritual gathering in of Gods People to the Church of Christ is chiefly intended And therefore as by the trumpet is meant the Proclamation which Cyrus made for giving liberty to the Jews to return home into their own Country Ezra 1.1 2. so also the preaching of the Gospel that Evangelical Trumpet which was to be sounded all the World over for the bringing in of Gods Elect to Christ which may therefore the more fitly be called a great Trumpet And in this expression there may be an allusion either 1. to the silver Trumpets whereby the Israelites used to be called together to the Tabernacle or rather 2. to the Jubilee Trumpet by the sounding whereof there was liberty proclaimed to Captives and freedom for all to return to their Inheritances and Possessions which had been alienated for a time from them Or 3. to that Heavenly Trumpet wherewith at the last day all Gods Elect shall be gathered together to enter upon the full fruition of their purchased inheritance Mat. 24.31 As for the following words they set forth who they were that amongst others should be gathered in by this Trumpet and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria that is that were in Assyria which yet may be also meant of the Empire of Babylon as a lost People dispersed without hope of being ever restored to their own Country and the outcasts in the land of Egypt to wit such
be meant of hungring and thirsting after the imputed Righteousness of Christ but rather doubtless of striving to do that which was just and right in Gods Eyes Ye that seek the Lord that is that seek to approve your selves to him and to assure your Interest in him and that seek to him in all your streights Now that which he first assays here to comfort them in is concerning the small number to which they should be brought before that deliverance and restitution of Zion should be wrought which by him God had promised them and hereby may be meant both the fewness of that little Remnant that should come home out of Babylon in comparison of the numerousness of that Nation formerly And likewise the paucity of Believers that should be found in that Nation when Christ the promised Messiah should come to them with the glad tydings of Salvation And that which he saith to encourage them herein is That he adviseth them to remember how miraculously he had formerly multiplied their Nation Look unto the Rock whence ye are hewn and to the hole of the Pit whence ye are digged That is as it is explained in the following Verse Look to Abraham and Sarah out of whose Loins you the Children of Abraham had your descent And the rather we may well think that Abraham is called the Rock and Sarah the hole of the Pit that is the Stone-querry out of which they were hewn and digged with respect to Abrahams dead Body and the deadness of Sarahs Womb Rom. 4.19 They being both in regard of Age like dry and hard Rocks so that there seemed to be no likely yea in a natural way no possibility that they should have any issue until God was pleas'd miraculously to open Sarah's Womb. Now if God did at first from such a dead Stock raise such a numerous Nation as they had been why should they be discouraged at that very small Remnant to which their Church should be brought Ver. 2. Look unto Abraham your Father and unto Sarah that bare you c. This is added by way of explaining the former Words for I called him alone that is I brought him out of Chaldea when he was a lone man one Man and Childless too yea without hope of having any Children by Sarah being barren and at last by reason of Age past any hope of Childing And blessed him and encreased him that is as in many other regards I blessed him so particularly in the mighty encrease of his Posterity so that they became as the Stars in the Heaven or the Sand on the Sea-shore for multitude and hereby is implyed that the same God that did this could likewise encrease and multiply their Church and People though they were brought to never so poor a Remnant See the foregoing Note Ver. 3. For the Lord shall comfort Zion c. To wit with manifold blessings and particularly with an abundant encrease as he did Abraham See the foregoing Notes And this may be meant both of the Jews returning out of Babylon see the Notes Chap. 12.1 and of the Church in the days of the Gospel He will comfort all her waste places that is he will raise up her City and State again and those places that lay desolate shall be inhabited again with multitudes of people And he will make her Wilderness like Eden and her desart like the Garden of the Lord see the Notes Chap. 35.1 2. But now as this is meant of the Church in the days of the Gospel it must needs intend the holy change that should be wrought in Believers and particularly the mighty alteration that should be made in the Apostatised Church of the Jews by the Conversion of a Remnant of them and by the great access of the Gentiles Joy and gladness shall be found therein thanksgiving c. see the Notes Chap. 35.10 and Psal 126.2 But as this hath respect to the days of Christ it is chiefly meant of the great joy that should be wrought in afflicted Consciences by the preaching of the Gospel Ver. 4. Hearken unto me my People and give ear unto me O my Natition c. This is spoken still to the faithful amongst the Jews Gods peculiar People see the Note above ver 1. for a Law shall proceed from me that is say some that would limit this to the Jews that were to come out of Babylon as I will bring home my People to their own Land so I will govern them there as mine own People Do not think that Religion shall be lost amongst them by their long Bondage when I have brought them home they shall be governed by my Law as formerly And accordingly they expound the following Clause And I will make my Judgment to rest for a light of the People that is I will make good my Promises to my People in the sight and to the convincing of all Nations But questionless it is that new Law of the Gospel which God here saith should proceed from him for the governing of his Church for which see the Notes Chap. 2.3 4. And so one main drift of the Words seems to be to shew how the Church of the Jews should be so exceedingly multiplied as was before said namely by the coming in of the Gentiles to them And accordingly we must understand the next Clause And I will make my Judgment to rest for a light of the People that is I will cause my Gospel to rest amongst the Gentiles as a light which the Enemies thereof shall never be able to blow out For it is not strange that the Gospel should be called Gods Judgment because it is the Rule which God hath given us to judge of Good and Evil and the Scepter whereby he governs his Church and Law and Doctrine and Judgment c. are Words ordinarily used in the Scripture promiscuously one for another Ver. 5. My Righteousness is near c. That is The time is near at hand when I will approve my self Righteous and Faithful by performing my promise of saving you out of the hands of your Enemies see the Note Chap. 1.27 And this may be meant both of that deliverance out of Babylon and of our deliverance by Christ from our Spiritual Bondage and Enemies and the last the rather because the expression here used may also imply our being made Righteous by Christ and Christs governing his Church as a Righteous King see the Notes Chap. 40.10 11. My Salvation is gone forth see Chap. 43.19 The expression here used may relate either to the making known Gods Decree to the People by his Prophets or to the approaching and going forth of Cyrus his Decree concerning the Jews deliverance And mine Armes shall judge the People that is by mine Almighty Power I will punish the Nations the Babylonians and others that oppress my Church or by mine own Power accompanying the Ministry of the Gospel Rom. 1.16 and confirmed by many miraculous Works many Nations shall be Converted and shall submit
at his pleasure break them in pieces as the Potter may his Pots yet that he would rather spare them and deal favourably with them both out of respect to the frailty of their condition see the Note Psal 143.10 and especially because of the interest he had in them as being his Children and the work of his hands see the Note Psal 119.73 Ver. 9. Be not wrath very sore O Lord neither remember iniquity for ever c. As if they had said Though this we have deserved yet deal more favourably with us see the Note Psal 6.1 behold see we beseech thee see the Note Chap. 63.15 we are all thy People that is thou hast taken us to be thy Covenant People and therefore spare us Ver. 10. Thy holy Cities are a wilderness c. That is the Cities of Judea which are called holy Cities as the whole Country is called the holy Land Zach. 2.12 because of the special interest which God had in them as having given them for an habitation to his holy People Israel wherein they were to serve and Worship God as they did constantly in their Synagogues every Sabbath both in Prayer and hearing the word Preached Act. 15.21 Some indeed hold that the following words Zion is a Wilderness Jerusalem a Desolation are added to shew what were the holy Cities they intended to wit Zion and Jerusalem where the Temple was wherein God was especially served and which were sometimes spoken of as two distinct Cities Zion being more peculiarly called the City of David However by mentioning the desolation of these Cities they seek to move God to pity them and to destroy their Enemies though not for their sakes that had deserved so ill at his hands yet with respect to his own Glory and to his own Concernments Ver. 11. Our holy and our beautiful house where our Fathers praised thee is burnt with Fire c. This is added as a farther aggravation of their misery that not only their Cities even Zion and Jerusalem amongst the rest but even the Temple also was burnt with Fire that goodly house which God had given them to be the peculiar place for his Worship and Service and which was far dearer to them than their own private Houses But now withall there are two things hinted very observable in that Clause where our Fathers praised thee as namely 1. That being as it were ashamed to alledge their own serving of God there because they had been so regardless of their duty therein and had done what they did in such a manner as might well render it loathsome to God yet they put him in mind how formerly in better times their Forefathers had duly served him there And 2. How sad a thing it was that they should now weep and lament over the ruines of that House wherein their Ancestors with such triumphant joy used to praise God for his goodness to them and all our pleasant things are laid waste that is say some all the choice things wherein we took pleasure are spoiled and carried away But the word laid waste doth rather import that they speak hear of their goodly Palaces and great Houses publick and private which were likewise by the Enemy burnt down and destroy'd Ver. 12. Wilt thou refrain thy self for these things O Lord c. That is Canst thou contain thy self from coming in to our help and from avenging thy self upon our Enemies when thou seest us thy People in such a miserable condition and our Enemies offering so much wrong to thy self and thy Concernments Though we have deserved to be punished severely yet wilt thou not vindicate thine own glory CHAP. LXV VERSE 1. I Am sought of them that asked not for me c. Many Expositors take this to be Gods Answer to the Prayer of his People in the foregoing Chapter wherein by his seeking out those that minded not him he assures them that he would have been ready enough to have hearkened to the Prayers of his People had they called upon him in a right manner and had they not by their obstinate wickedness caused him to disregard their Prayers But now others not improbably say that the main scope of this place is to foretell the rejection of the Jews and the just cause God had so to deal with them Only lest they should hence infer the making void of the Covenant which God had made with their Fathers he first promiseth this concerning the calling of the Gentiles in whom the Covenant should be made good they being by Faith ingratifted into the Stock of Israel I am sought of them that asked not for me I am found of them that sought me not that is the Gentiles that in former times did neither know me nor inquire nor seek after me do now upon the Preaching of the Gospel to them won thereto by my preventing Grace both seek after me and find me and worship me for that it is the calling of the Gentiles that is here intended is evident because it is by the Apostle Paul expresly applyed thereto Rom. 10.20 But Esaias is very bold to wit in that he durst tell the Jews of that which was so hateful to them the taking in the Gentiles in their stead to be the People of God and saith I was found of them that sought me not I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me They are the very same words in effect with those of the Prophet here only the two branches are transposed As for the following Words here added by the Prophet they are to the same purpose with that which went before I said behold me behold me unto a Nation that was not called by my Name that is I was willing to manifest my self to them and to receive and own them as my People which before they were not or as some loe here I am ready still to hear you and to satisfie your desires when you call upon me But see the Note also Deut. 32.21 The Ingemination behold me behold me is to imply either Gods great forwardness to hear and help them when they should seek to him or the wonder of Gods grace herein and how incredible it would seem to the Jews Ver. 2. I have spread out my hands c. See the Note Prov. 1.24 all the day that is for a long time together constantly and continually even in a long Succession of Ages first by my Prophets and afterward by my Son unto a Rebellious People to wit the Jews for so the Apostle expounds it Rom. 10.21 But to Israel he saith all day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying People which is here in the Prophet which walketh in a way that was not good that is in ways very bad wicked waies see 1 Sam. 2.24 and Psal 36.4 after their own thoughts that is as seems good in their own Eyes according to the inclination and desires of their own naughty Hearts And herein it is like their following
heart amongst the people is ready to faint Ver. 6. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores c. That is the whole land and all the people therein from the lowest to the highest are in a sad condition having been plagued with variety of judgments over and over so that in the whole body from top to toe there is no part free they have not been closed neither bound up neither mollified with ointment that is there is no means used for the removing of these judgments that are come upon them See the Note Psal 147.3 As that their Neighbours and Confederates never minded to afford them any relief so neither had they power or skill to help themselves and as for that which was the only sure way to cure them of their evils namely their turning to the Lord by unfeigned repentance that was never minded but they obstinately ran on still in their sins and that either because they whose work it was to have administred these means of their cure neglected their duty or else because the people would not follow their direction The drift of all is to shew that the condition of Israel was at present in a manner hopeless and desperate Ver. 7. Your Country is desolate c. What was before expressed figuratively is here repeated in plain terms It is in the Original only your Country desolate or a desolation and therefore some render it in the future tense your Country shall be desolate c. and accordingly conceiving that he spake this in the days of Uzziah because they find it in the beginning of his Prophecy they conceive it to be a Prediction of the desolation that was to come upon the land of Judah in the days of Hezekiah Ahaz and others that succeeded him even unto the Babylonian Captivity Yea and some that read it in the present tense Your Country is desolate c. do yet understand it of the desolation which the Chaldeans should make in the land and conceive that it is expressed as done already only to shew how certainly it should be But because it seems far most probable that the Prophet still proceeds to shew that God had proceeded so far in a way of punishing them that it was in vain to smite them any more therefore I conceive it is best rendered in the present tense Your Country is desolate your Cities are burnt with fire and that it must be understood of desolations past or present when the Prophet spake this to wit of the devastations made either by Tiglath-Pileser in the land of Israel in Jothams days 2 King 15.29 or by Râ—zin King of Syria and Pekah King of Israel in the land of Judah in the days of Ahaz see the Notes 2 King 16.5 and by the Philistines 2 Chron. 28.17 or by the Assyrians both in the land of Israel and Judah in the days of Hezekiah 2 King 18.9 13. Isaiah Prophecyed in those times when all these devastations were made both in the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel and therefore this might be spoken with respect to all or either of them there being no necessity why we should conclude that all his Prophesies are set down in order as he delivered them Your land strangers devour it in your presence c. That is foreign Nations yea and some of them such as are of Countries very far off from you as were the Babylonians Deut. 28.4 5. having invaded your land do eat up and consume the fruit of it and that to the great increase of your grief before your faces you being no ways able to help your selves herein And it is desolate as overthrown by strangers which is in the Hebrew And it is desolate as the overthrow of strangers and so some understand it thus That God had made their land desolate according to the destruction which he used to bring upon Heathens such as were meer strangers to God as were those of Sodom and Gomorrha mentioned in the next verse But the meaning rather is That the desolation of their land was according to the overthrow which foreigners and strangers are wont to make in a land who because they expect no benefit from the Country in future times do therefore barbarously make all the havock they can wasting and destroying all that is before them where ever they come Ver. 8. And the Daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a Vineyard c. The Prophet having spoken of the misery of the land in general here he sets forth the misery of Jerusalem the chief City thereof in particular Sometimes the people or inhabitants of Jerusalem are called the Daughter of Zion for which see the Note 2 King 19.21 But here it is the City it self that is so called because the chief part of Jerusalem where the Temple stood was built upon Mount Zion and so with respect to the former splendor and stateliness of that City is compared to a fair and beautiful damsel standing by her mother or with respect to the tender respect that God bare to her And in saying that she was left as a cottage in a Vineyard as a Lodg in a garden of cucumbers he alludes to the custom of that Country where they used to build little Cottages Sheds or Lodges in their Vineyards and Fruit-gardens that those who were appointed to watch their Grapes and other Fruits might lodg there by night and by day might shelter themselves from the rain and from the heat which after the Vintage and the ingathering of their Summer-fruit were usually left ruinated tattered and defaced or at least empty and desolate no body then abiding in them and that because by reason of the wast and havock that was made in the Country round about Jerusalem either by the Assyrians in the days of Hezekiah Chap. 7.17 20. 36.1 2. or by the Syrians and the Israelites and others in the days of Ahaz 2 Chron. 28. and by reason the City it self had suffered much it was become a sad spectacle base and contemptible more like one of those poor forlorn cottages and lodges when all the Vines in the Vineyards and all the Fruit in the Gardens were cut up and carried away than such a stately and glorious City as it had formerly been To which purpose also that eighth clause is added as a besieged city implying that the Country was wasted and destroyed round about and Jerusalem it self so exceedingly straitned that there was scarce any going in or out of it in safety as usually it is when the chief City of any Country is besieged Ver. 9. Except the Lord of Hosts c. See the Note Gen. 2.1 Having spoken of the devastation of the land and the low and contemptible estate whereinto the City Jerusalem was brought in comparison of what it had been in former times Here the Prophet adds what mighty havock had been made amongst the inhabitants of the land
the Cause of the Widow come unto them Ver. 24. Therefore saith the Lord the Lord of Hosts the mighty One of 〈◊〉 c. That is The mighty God or Lord Protector of Israel as before he was called v. 4. The Holy One of Israel and Gen. 49.24 the mighty God of Jacob. By which Title he seeks to beat them off from their vain confidence in God by giving them to understand that he that had formerly been the mighty Defence of Israel would now manifest the same Almighty power in punishing and destroying them which he had formerly manifested in preserving them and destroying their Enemies and so to make the following Vengeance threatned the more dreadful and terrible to them since it must needs be a fearful thing to fall under the wrath of an Almighty God and they might be well assured that were they never so mighty and great he would be easily able to crush and destroy them Ah I will ease me of mine Adversaries and avenge me of mine Enemies This is spoken after the manner of men to whom Revenge is sweet and pleasing for as vexation and indignation is a burden to mens Spirits and puts them into a restless condition so when men have satisfied their minds by revenging themselves upon those that have so injured and provoked them that is an ease to them and quiets their spirits And hence are the like expressions used concerning the Lord when he speaks of punishing wicked men as in Ezek. 5.13 I will cause my fury to rest upon them and I will be comforted And Chap. 16.42 So will I make my fury towards thee to rest and I will be quiet and will be no more angry And therefore though this Particle Ah be sometimes used as an expression of Grief as Jer. 22.18 and 34.5 and it is true which several Expositors do note from hence that when God punisheth his People he doth it with grief as being constrained to do it by their Obstinacy yet here I conceive it is rather an Expression of the Lords Indignation and of his Triumphing in the ruin of his people that were now turned to be his enemies and so it likewise implies the soreness of the Judgments he meant to bring upon them but see the foregoing Note v. 4. and that also Deut. 28.63 Ver. 25. And I will turn my hand upon thee c. If we consider how much good God promiseth here to do for his Church by purging her and restoring her to a far better condition than at present she was in it will be evident that the Lord adds this as by way of mitigating or at least moderating the severity of the former threatning ver 24. And therefore though otherwise by turning his hand upon her might be meant as some have thought that his hand which had wont to be stretched forth in her defence for the ruin of her Enemies should now be stretched forth upon her to be avenged on her for her Rebellion against him yet I rather conceive that here it is spoken in a way of mercy agreeably to that which follows to wit that he would once again set himself by the Judgments he would bring upon her to endeavour the Purging and Reforming of her He had said before ver 5. Why should ye be stricken any more Ye will revolt more and more But now he resolves to turn his hand to this work again And I will turn my hand upon thee and accordingly he adds and purely purge away thy Dross and take away all thy Tinn which is spoken with relation to what he had said v. 22. Thy Silver is become Dross and that which is intended thereby is that by those calamities he would bring upon them he meant to purge and refine them partly by destroying those that were incorrigibly wicked from amongst them which are as the refuse of a Stat◠see the Note Psal 119.119 and partly by Reforming the rest by purging 〈◊〉 from the wickedness of their hearts and from the Idolatry and other corruptions that were in their Lives Yet by Tinn here which looks like Silver may be meant their Hypocrisie or the Hypocrites that were amongst them whom he would destroy as well as those that were openly prophane As for those words purely and all I will purely purge away all thy Dross and take away all thy Tinn it must not be understood so as if the Church were to have no ungodly ones or Hypocrites left in her or that the godly should have no dross of corruption and sin left in them the Church is never thus purely purged here in this world All that is intended hereby is that God would bring them to such a degree of Purity as that he might again delight in them as in his people that they should no more content themselves with hypocritical shews of Piety but should sincerely shine forth in all holiness of Conversation Ver. 26. And I will restore thy Judges as at the first and thy Counsellors as at the beginning c. That is thou shalt have Magistrates and Governors and Counsellors to be assistant to them by giving them advice in their way of Government that are faithful and just and incorrrupt not such as they are now and have been of late loving Gifts and following after Rewards as was said before v. 2.3 but such as thou hadst in the first constitution of thy State and Commonwealth to wit such as thine ancient Judges were Moses Joshua and Samuel c. and thy former good Kings David Solomon Jehoshaphat and Asa And some hold that this was fulfilled in the Reformation that was made in the days of Hezekiah and Josiah but I conceive it is spoken rather with relation to the times after the Captivity when they were Governed by Joshua and Zorobabel Ezra and Nehemiah and other good Rulers Yea some say that this was principally accomplished in the days of the Gospel Afterward thou shalt be called the City of Righteousness the faithful City that is when God hath thus purged thee then the faithful City that was become a Harlot as was said before v. 21. shall again become eminently righteous in regard of her just dealing with men and faithful in regard of her stedfast piety towards God insomuch that she shall be famous in this regard and commonly magnified as a City of Righteousness a faithful City Ver. 27. Zion shall be Redeemed with Judgment and her Converts with Righteousness By Zion here is meant the people that dwelt in or about Jerusalem or more generally that worshipped God in Zion By their being Redeemed is meant that they should be delivered from the Judgments before threatned or particularly from the Babylonian Captivity and therefore to that word which we translate her Converts meaning thereby those that should be converted to God in those troubles being Reformed from their former Evil courses others translate they that return of her to wit from Babylon And then that Phrase of their being Redeemed with Judgment may
formerly made for the preservation of the seed of Abraham and the raising of the Messiah out of his stock This I conceive is the clear meaning of this clause and that this is purposely added to shew why he had said in the foregoing words that only a remnant of them should return But yet many others hold that by the consumption decreed is meant that little remnant that should be left of the people thus wasted and destroyed and that it is said that this consumption decreed should overflow with righteousness because this remnant being reclaimed and refined by their Afflictions should abound in Holiness and Righteousness which they say was partly fulfilled in the remnant that returned unto the Lord in Hezekiah's days when God had so miraculously delivered Jerusalem from the Assyrian Army but most remarkably in that eminent Grace that was so conspicuous in that remnant of the Jews that embraced the Faith of Christ the Apostles and other Christians of the Primitive Church Yea others would extend this further namely that this small remnant left of the consumption decreed should cause Holiness and Righteousness to overflow the whole world to wit by their spreading of the Gospel amongst all Nations Ver. 23. For the Lord God of Hosts shall make a consumption even determined in the midst of all the Land That the Jews might not slight all the Prophet had spoken either in the confidence of their own strength or as pretending it to be incredible that God should bring such a consumption and destruction upon his people to whom he had made so many gracious Promises and with whom he had made an everlasting Covenant the Prophet doth here yet once again assure them that so it should be the Lord even the Lord of Hosts would certainly bring this desolation upon them even in the midst of all the Land that is all the Land over or even in the heart and inmost places of the Land Where the Apostle Paul cites some part of the foregoing verse to prove that there would be only a remnant of the Jews converted and saved he adds also the words of this verse but according to the Translation of the Septuagint Rom. 9.28 For he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth wherein though the words seem to differ much from these here which are rendred according to the Hebrew yet the sense is the same the drift of the Apostle being thereby to shew that what the Prophet did of old foretel should be fulfilled in those times because God had proposed to make a short work of the business even speedily and within a short time to cut off in a manner the whole Nation of the Jews to wit by the Romans and so then likewise only a remnant should be saved Ver. 24. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Hosts c. See the Note above ver 16. Because the Prophet had spoken of such an universal consumption that should be amongst the people of the Land lest the faithful amongst them should be overmuch disheartned and discouraged thereby he now by commission from God chears up them and because the immediate storm that was coming and was most likely to be dreadful to them was the Siege of Jerusalem therefore he addresses his Speech particularly to the Inhabitants of that City together with those that had fled thither for refuge O my my people that dwellest in Zion be not afraid of the Assyrian that is be not extremely terrified when the Assyrian shall come to invade you and besiege you because of this which I have said to which purpose observable it is that in these words he owns them still as his people and hints to them the tender respect he had to Zion which he had chosen to be his dwelling-place He shall smite thee with a rod and shall lift up a staff against thee after the manner of Egypt This hath respect to that which he had said before vers 5. O Assyrian the rod of mine anger c. for which see the Notes there And the meaning is that as formerly God suffered the Egyptians to oppress them sorely but did not suffer them to destroy them or to keep them in perpetual bondage but did at last destroy Pharaoh and deliver them so it should be with the Assyrian God would use him as a rod to scourge his people and as a staff to beat them but not as a Sword to slay them he should not be able utterly to ruine them as he intended but God would at last seasonably deliver them and destroy Sennacherib as he did Pharaoh And so likewise under this might be implyed that at the near approaching Invasion of the Assyrians by Sennacherib they should not take Jerusalem he should only lift up his staff against them and threaten them sorely as it is said afterwards ver 32. He shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion and that they should not carry away the people into Captivity as they had carried away the ten Tribes of Israel But now if we read this passage according to the Translation that is set in the Margin of our Bibles He shall smite thee with a rod but he shall lift up his staff for thee after the manner of Egypt then the meaning must needs be clearly this that though God would sharply chastise them by the Assyrian his rod as he did their Forefathers by Pharoah yet as then by the lifting up of Moses's Rod upon the Red-Sea he did save their Fathers and destroy Pharaoh and all his mighty Army so he would now lift up his staff for the defence of Jerusalem and his people when they should seem to be in as desperate danger as the Israelites were in at the Red-Sea they should only stand still and see the Salvation of God the Lord of Hosts himself would lift up a staff for the securing of them and for the utter destruction of Sennacherib and his terrible Army Ver. 25. For yet a very little while and the indignation shall cease and mine anger in their destruction That is It shall be but a very little while before I will utterly destroy the Assyrian and so in his destruction there shall be an end of mine anger and indignation against mine own people But now because there was not an end of God's anger against the Jews upon the destruction of Sennacherib's Army therefore some would extend this very little while to the deliverance of the Jews out of Babylon But I conceive there is no necessity of that Upon the destruction of Sennacherib's Army God did no more for a time afflict the Jews by the Assyrians and this may be all that is intended in this Promise Ver. 26. And the Lord of Hosts c. See the Note before ver 16. These words may be taken either as the words of God speaking of himself in a third person or else rather as the
from whence the promised Messiah the Lord Christ was to spring and because the accomplishment of the great promise of sending Christ into the World was the foundation fountain and cause of all other mercies and deliverances which God should at any time afford his people And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots that is when Davids Family shall be in a manner utterly ruined so that there shall not be the least appearance of any Regal Dignity in it but it shall be reduced to a very mean and low estate like the stub the trunk or stump of a tree that is cut down almost close to the ground so that there is nothing left of it but a little dead stock that hath its roots still in the ground then unexpectedly there shall spring up a small weak contemptible twig or branch out of this seeming dry and dead stump and shall grow up that at last in and by him the family and Kingdom of David yea that whole seed of Abraham shall mount up to a greater estate of Glory than ever formerly they enjoyed And observable it is that â—â—e better to set this forth it is said That this rod or sprig should come forth out of thâ— stem â—ot of David but Jesse to imply that when this should be done Davids Family should be in as low a condition as it was in the days of his Father Jesse who was a mean obscure man see the Note 1 Sam. 10.27 Now of Hezekiah as the Jews would have it this cannot be meant because in his days the Family of David was never brought so low And far greater things are here spoken of this branch than can with any shew of reason be applied to Zorobabel or any other Ruler of the Jews after their return from the Babylonian Captivity But now in Jesus Christ this was fully accomplished because by the mean condition of the Virgin Mary his Mother who at her Purification brought the Offering of the poorer sort of people Luke 2.24 and his Foster-father Joseph to whom she was married a poor Carpenter it appears plainly that the Royal Family of David from whom they both were lineally descended was at that time brought to a very contemptible condition even like to the dry and dead stump of a tree And accordingly the outward condition of Christ the weak and poor twig that sprung from this withered stub was very base in the eye of the world But yet we see to what a height of Spiritual Glory the Kingdom of David was in Christ soon advanced by the preaching of the Gospel By the last clause and a branch shall grow cut of his roots the same in effect I conceive is meant yet some would have it That by growing out of his roots is meant his being descended from Abraham and others the Progenitors of David to whom the Messiah was promised And because the Hebrew word here translated a Branch is Nezer therefore some conceive there is an allusion herein to the City Nazareth where Christ usually dwelt Matth. 2.23 Ver. 2. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him c. That is the Holy Ghost and therewith the gifts of the Holy Ghost shall take up its perpetual uninterrupted residence with him and in him which was signified at the Baptism of Christ when the Holy Ghost came down upon Christ in the likeness of a Dove and as the Baptist said it abode upon him Joh. 1.32 Indeed we read of the Spirit 's resting upon others as upon the seventy Elders that were chosen to assist Moses in the government of the people Numb 11.25 upon Elisha 2 King 2.15 yea upon all real Christians 1 Pet. 4.14 If ye be reproached for the Name of Christ happy are ye for the Spirit of Glory and of God resteth upon you But we must know that the Spirit rested upon Christ in a more special and singular manner than it doth or ever did upon others 1. Because in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Col. 2.9 2ly Because the gifts of the Holy Ghost were conferred upon his human nature in all perfection both for number and measure Joh. 3.34 See the Note Psal 45.7 Amongst men some have some gifts of the Spirit and others have other gifts but Christ had all that others have and more than all others have And again others have gifts requisite for the members of the Church some in a greater measure and some in a less but now Christ had gifts requisite for the head proper and peculiar to himself And 3ly Because the Spirit so rested upon him even in regard of his person that it was impossible it should ever be removed from him However observable it is how clearly it is hereby implied That the Kingdom of Christ was to be wholly a spiritual Kingdom in that the Prophet having in the foregoing verse spoken of his first coming into the World and then undertaking here to shew how he should be in his person fitted for the discharge of the Office of the Messiah he mentions this as that wherein the whole Power and Glory and Majesty of his Kingdom should consist That the Spirit of God should in so eminent a manner rest upon him and that he should be so superabundanly furnished with spiritual gifts even that he might be as an everlasting treasure from whence these gifts should be continually imparted to his Church And accordingly the Prophet does here recite some of the choice endowments wherewith he should be fully replenished both for the managing of his spiritual Kingdom and the constant supply of his people the Spirit of wisdom and understanding whereby men are enabled to understand things aright and to order all things wisely and prudently the Spirit of Counsel and might whereby men are inabled to judge rightly in difficult cases and straits and courageously to undertake and go through with any thing they are called to do or to suffer in a just cause See also the Notes Chap. 9.6 The Spirit of Knowledge and of the fear of the Lord that is the power of discerning the most hidden things and a reverential fear towards God But now we must know that under these all other the manifold gifts of the Spirit are by a Synechdoche comprehended only these seem to be particularly mentioned with respect to Christs Regal Power for judging his people whereto these gifts here named are principally requisite Ver. 3. And shall make him of quick understanding c. That is the Spirit of the Lord that shall rest upon him shall make him exceedingly yea infallibly sagacious in discovering persons and things for the Prophet having in the foregoing verse shown the excellent endowments of the person of Christ here he proceeds to shew how he should exercise these his gifts and endowments in the Administration of his Regal power It is in the original And he shall make him sent or smell in the
Ahaziah or Joram his Son See the Notes 2 King 1.1 and 35. Therefore it is thought the Moabites are here advised to pay their wonted Tribute again to the King of Judah Send ye the Lamb that is the Tribute which you formerly paid of Lambs and other cattel to the Ruler of the Land that is to the King of Judah to whom of right you are Vassals ever since David subdued you From Sela some chief City in the South-borders of the Land of Moab which was afterwards taken by Amaziah King of Judah and called Joktheel See the Note 2 King 14.7 To the wilderness that is the wilderness of Jordan in the North-border Unto the mount of the daughter of Zion that is to Jerusalem See the Note Chap. 1.8 Which is all one therefore as if he had said Let all the people all the Land over gather up this Tribute and send it But indeed many Expositors understand this as spoken in a way of derision as if the Prophet had said You had best to prevent the ruin that from Judah will be brought upon you to send the old Tribute again you had wont to pay to Hezekiah the Ruler of the land and it is like in your straits you will think of doing so but alas it will do no good that will not then keep off the destruction which will certainly come upon you Ver. 2. For it shall be that as a wandring bird cast out of the nest or as a nest forsaken so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon A river in the utmost borders of the land of Moab Numb 21.13 The meaning therefore seems to be that as a wandring bird driven out of her nest or as a brood of young birds forsaken of their damme or cast out of their nest do fly up and down not having any body to protect them not knowing whither to go or where to take up their rest so the daughters of Moab that is the Inhabitants of the Towns of Moab or the Moabitish women see Chap. 3.16 17. and Luk. 13.34 even they as well as the men shall flee away out of their Country and wander up and down in desart places not knowing where to settle themselves Or they shall be carried away captives into Assyria over the River Arnon But now we must know that this may be taken as spoken only conditionally to wit that thus it should be with the Moabites if they did not hearken to the advice given them in the foregoing verse But others that understand that which is said in the foregoing verse as spoken Ironically do accordingly understand this as added to shew why there would be no thinking to send a Lamb either by way of pacifying God's anger by Sacrifices or by way of procuring their Peace by paying their former Tribute because instead of that they should flee in great dread from the Sword of the Enemy or should be carried away by the Enemy into Captivity as easily as a bird is driven out of her nest Ver. 3. Take counsel c. That is say some Expositors Consult together how you may escape the destruction that is coming upon you And they that do understand these first words thus do accordingly hold that in the next words the Prophet tells them what would be the best course they could take if they desired to prevent their approaching ruin namely to be courteous and kind to the out-casts of God's people in their distress Execute Judgment make thy shadow as the night c. But I rather conceive that these first words do intend the same thing with those that follow after Take counsel that is Consider with your selves and consult together to wit how you may any way protect and relieve and procure the good of my people in their affliction and distress Execute judgment that is Do that for them which in all Justice and Equity you ought to do be not injurious to my people in their distresses as you have formerly been but shew them that compassion which is due to a people in such misery Make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noon-day that is when my people are driven out of their Country and flee to you to shelter them from their enemies let them be concealed and hidden by you that even at Noon-day they may be as if they were covered with the darkness or shadow of the night when no body can see them or find them out or rather let the harbour and entertainment they find amongst you be as a safe and sweet refuge and refreshment against the noon-day heat of the Assyrians breaking in upon them even as the pillar of the cloud to which haply this Expression doth allude was a covert to the Israelites against the heat of the Sun as they travelled through the VVilderness to Canaan hide the out-casts bewray not him that wandereth that is Hide those that being driven out of their own Land wander up and down amongst you to seek for some place of shelter and do not deliver them up into the hands of their enemies But now all this is understood by many as spoken Ironically Take counsel execute Judgment c. as if he had said Now when the enemy is broken in upon you it may be you will wish you had done what it was indeed your duty to have done to Gods poor people when they were persecuted and pursued by their enemies But alas it is now too late you had wont to reject them and to deal cruelly with them at such times and now you will meet with the same hard measure Ver. 4. Let mine outcasts dwell with thee Moab c. That is those of my people that are driven out of the land which I had given them and that I own still as my people though I have at present in just displeasure against them cast them out for their sins Be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler as if he should have said As at the first bringing of my people out of Egypt you did discover your spleen against them See the Notes Deut. 23.4 so you have done ever since being still ready to side with their enemies that have prevailed against them and to deal hardly with them in their distress but beware do not so still but rather let them have a hiding-place amongst you to shelter them from the rage of their enemies to wit the Assyrians as most Expositors do here conceive But now the drift of all this is only to shew what in all reason the Moabites ought to have done and as some think to insult over their destruction because they had not done so for the Extortioner is at an end the spoiler ceaseth the oppressors are consumed out of the land that is the Land of Judea shall be quite freed from the enemy that came to spoil and oppress her which I say most Expositors understand of the quick dispatch that God made of Sennacherib and his army
Glory sitting on his Throne to judg the world As for that of their seeing the land that is very far off some understand it of the enlarging of Christs Kingdom even to the remotest parts of the world others of their seeing the land of rest which in the highest Heavens God hath provided for the inheritance of his people Ver. 18. Thine heart shall meditate terror c. First This may be understood of the terrors wherewith they should be perplexed whilst the City Jerusalem should be blocked up by the Assyrians the Prophet putting them in mind hereof purposely to render them the more thankful for the following deliverance to wit that in that time of danger their minds should be continually running upon those things the thought whereof must needs be terrible to them as namely either that they should be still thinking of the heavy pressures and Taxes that would be put upon them when the Assyrians had taken the City and brought them into bondage And so the words following may be added to represent the fear they should be still in of these exactors coming upon them to peel them of what they had Where is the Scribe to wit the Officer that kept the Roul of the Captives and of the Tribute and Taxes they were to pay where is the receiver that is he that gathered the Tribute or Taxes where is he that counted the towers that is the Officer that was to take a survey of the houses that so taking notice of the fairest and stateliest houses he might set the greater Taxes upon them Or else that they should be continually musing with themselves how little hope there was that they should be able to defend the City against so mighty an Army they having neither Soldiers to muster nor Money to pay them nor Forts fitted to keep off the Enemy where is the Scribe or as we say the Muster-master where is the receiver that is the Treasurer or Pay-master that is to pay the Soldiers where is he that counted the towers that is the Officer that is to take a view of the Towers and other parts of the City that by pulling down some and fortifying others the City might be made the more defensible for which see the Note Chap. 22.10 But 2. It may be likewise understood and I think more probably of their calling to mind after God had destroyed the Assyrians the terrors wherewith they had been formerly perplexed Thine heart shall meditate terrors that is When God hath cut off those enemies that were such a terror to thee then thou shalt often with some contentment sit meditating on those terrors which in those times of thy distress were so dreadful to thee And accordingly the words following Where is the Scribe c. may either be taken as a representation of the despairing Speeches they uttered when they were so distracted with fear according to the Expositions before given of them Or else as an insultation over those enemies that had a while since been such a terror to them Where is the Scribe where is the Receiver that is Where are your Muster-masters and your Pay-masters where is he that counted the towers that is the Engineer whose office it was to view the towers of Jerusalem that so order might be given against which part of the City their batteries might be made or what Towers or Galleries were to be raised in the Camp for the battering and assaulting them as if it had been said What is now become of all the great Officers in Sennacheribs Army they are all now gone and shall be no more a terror to us as it follows in the next verse Neither is it improbable that the Apostle doth at least allude to this place in that Expression of his 1 Cor. 1.20 Where is the Wise Where is the Scribe c Ver. 19. Thou shalt not see a fierce people c. That is This fierce people the Assyrians God will destroy and scatter so that thou shalt be quite rid of them neither shall they return any more to be a trouble and a terror to thee a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive of a stammering tongue that thou canst not understand See the Notes Chap. 28.11 and Psal 81.5 Ver. 20. Look upon Zion c. Having in the foregoing verse assured the faithful Jews that they should never more see those enemies that were such a terror to Jerusalem here he triumphs in the preservation of that City Look upon Zion the City of our solemnities that is The City where God hath appointed his people to meet together to worship him in a solemn manner thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation that is Free from the disturbances that were formerly therein the inhabitans living safely and without fear a tabernacle that shall not be taken down to wit as other tents and tabernacles used to be and then to be removed to other places And therefore we must know that Jerusalem is called a Tabernacle with respect to Gods dwelling there in the Temple in the same manner as formerly he did in the Tabernacle made by Moses and withal to imply that though it were in it self a weak place that might as easily be destroyed as a Tabernacle may be taken down yet through Gods protection it should be preserved as being chosen of God to be his setled dwelling place unto the coming of the Messiah See the Notes Psal 78.68 69. and 1 King 9.3 And to the same purpose is that which follows not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken But now under this type of Jerusalem the perpetual peace and safety of the Church of Christ is intended that therein Gods people shall enjoy a peaceable and quiet habitation See the Note Chap. 9.6 That God would so preserve it here in this World that the gates of Hell should never be able to prevail against it and that at last she should be triumphantly setled in an unchangable estate of happiness in Heaven The Tabernacle of the earthly Zion was removed Lam. 2.6 He hath violently taken away his Tabernacle as if it were of a Garden it is in Heaven only that God hath promised his people a continuing City Ver. 21. But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams c. As if the Prophet had said Though Jerusalem be not compassed about with any great River as Babylon and Niniveh and many other Cities are but hath only a small brook or two for the watering of it yet that shall be no hinderance to our preservation because the Lord is with us and he wâ—ll be unto us instead of many such broad rivers and streams securing us so that no enemy shall come at us to hurt us See the Note Chap. 26.1 Yea whereas such great Rivers that are in some regard a great defence to Cities have yet this discommodity in them that thereby ships do usually
formed it that is That all that thou and thy Ancestors have done was indeed done by me by my decree and all-ruling providence which accordingly therefore I did long ago make known by my Prophets as Chap. 10.5 O Assyrian the rod of mine anger c. and that you therefore were but the instruments in mine hand to do what I would have done and shall the ax boast it self against him that heweth therewith c. Chap. 10.15 Now have I brought it to pass that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced Cities into ruinous heaps But for this whole verse see the Note 2 King 19.25 Ver. 27. Therefore their inhabitants were of small power they were dismaied and confounded c. See the Notes for this and the following verse 2 King 19.26 27. they were as the grass of the field and as the green herb See the Note Psal 102.4 as the grass on the house tops which the higher it stands the sooner it is burnt up and withered See the Note Psal 129.6 Ver. 29. Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears therefore will I put my hook in thy nose c. In these words there seems to be an Allusion either to fish-hooks wherewith when they have struck some great fish through the nose they use to draw it along this way and that to the end that having thus wearied it they may the better take it up for the proof whereof that passage is usually alledged Ezek. 29.3 4. I am against thee Pharaoh King of Egypt the great Dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers But I will put my hooks in thy chaws or else to those rings which men are wont to put into the noses of Bears and Bufales that they may the better over-master them and carry them up and down which way they list It is all one in effect as if God had said Because thou ragest against me like some furious wild beast therefore I will use thee like a beast therefore will I put my hook in thy nose and my bridle in thy lips and I will turn thee back by the way which thou camest And indeed because men mad with rage are wont to discover their fury by the puffing of their nostrils and the foming of their mouths it may well be that in reference hereto the Lord doth the rather use this Expression therefore will I put my hook in thy nose and my bridle in thy lips Ver. 30. And this shall be a sign unto thee c. That is To thee O Hezekiah ye shall eat this year such as groweth of it self and the second year that which springeth of the same and in the third year sow ye and reap c. Now though it cannot well be questioned that this was given as a sign for the strengthning of his and the peoples faith concerning the foregoing promise of the destruction of the Assyrian and the deliverance of Jerusalem yet withal it is clear that this tended also to the comforting of them both against the fear of Sennacheribs returning again with a fresh Army because they are hereby assured that after his departure they should live peaceably and quietly in the land and likewise especially against that great distress they must needs be in thinking how they should be provided for food if they were rid of their enemies when they had so far spent their old store and the enemy had spoiled that which was growing in the field and had it may be hindred them that year from sowing their seed which might have yielded them a Crop at harvest-time But for this sign and how it must be understood see in the Note 2 King 19.30 and see also the Note before Chap. 7.14 Ver. 31. And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward That is They shall multiply exceedingly and being setled in the land shall prosper and flourish both in their outward estate and spiritually too which was indeed accomplished in the remainder of Hezekiahs reign But see the Note 2 King 19.30 Ver. 32. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant and they that escape out of mount Zion c. As if it had been said As for Jerusalem in particular of which the Assyrian had said that God himself should not defend it they that were shut up in her shall go out freely and fearlesly wherever they please they that were fled thither shall return to their own habitations and the rest whithersoever their occasions shall call them yet it may also have respect to their going forth to gather the spoils of the Assyrians See the Notes Chap. 33.23 24. and to those that should be sent forth from Jerusalem to repair the great ruines that had been made in many Cities in the land And how this may be also mystically applied to that small remnant that should go out of Zion in the days of the Gospel to encrease the number of Gods Israel amongst the Gentiles we may see in the Note Chap. 1.9 the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this that is the zeal of God Almighty who can do what he pleaseth will do this But see the Notes 2 King 19.31 Ver. 33. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the King of Assyria c. To wit because the Lord is thus resolved to preserve his people He shall not come into this City nor shoot an arrow there nor come before it with shields nor cast a bank against it the meaning is that he should never come to make any assault upon it nor so much as to lay siege to it By coming before it with shields is meant drawing up men that were to scale the walls and to enter the City who used to be armed with shields therewith to cover and shelter themselves from any thing that might be cast upon them or any strokes that might be made at them by those on the wall And by banks cast up may be meant those banks which the souldiers cast up under the Covert whereof they were to make their approaches to the City or Mounts cast up out of which they were to shoot into the City But see the Note 2 King 19.32 Ver. 34. By the way that he came by the same shall he return To wit with great dishonour and disgrace with shame of face as it is expressed 2 Chron. 32.21 as indeed it must needs be a matter of great reproach to him to flee away with a few scattered Troops through those very parts by which he had a while before marched in so great State and Fury with such a gallant and numerous Army Ver. 35. For I will defend this City to save it for mine own sake c. That is For mine own Glory because I have taken them of mine own free grace to be mine own Covenant-people and determined that Jerusalem shall be the setled place of my Worship and that I may vindicate mine own glory