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
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
Arthur Jackson 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pinx … st fecit Annotations UPON THE WHOLE BOOK OF ISAIAH WHEREIN First all such Passages in the Text are explained as were thought likely to be questioned by any Reader of ordinary Capacity Secondly In many Clauses those things are discovered which are needful and useful to be known and not so easily at the first reading observed And thirdly many places that might at first seem to contradict one another are reconciled Intended chiefly for the Assistance and Information of those that use constantly every day to read some part of the Bible and would gladly always understand what they read if they had some man to help them By ARTHUR JACKSON late Minister of St. FAITHS LONDON John 5.39 Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testifie of me Psal 119.27 Make me to understand the way of thy precepts so shall I talk of thy wondrous works LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel 1682. Academiae Cantabrigiensis Liber TO THE VIRTUOUS and PIOUS AND My very good Friend Mrs Elizabeth Beale IT is Solomon's advice Prov. 27.10 Thy friend and thy fathers friend forsake not that is use all good means to keep and preserve such a friend Such a friend have you always approved your self to the Author of these Annotations and all his Family and on that account I am forc'd to think my self obliged to take this opportunity of testifying my grateful sense of such Friendship by presenting to you these Annotations tho I know they would otherwise have been valued and made use of for the Authors as well as your own sake towards whom and all his you have inherited a most kind and affectionate Friendship from your Worthy and Pious Father deceased and your yet surviving eminently Holy Mother who is as great an instance of a religious humble uniform persevering Christian as any I know I am sure I need say nothing to inhance the value you have for the Authors Memory whose true plain hearted Cordial affectionate Friendship I have so often heard you mention with a great resentment of his loss But I may not forbear gratefully to take notice of your constant and frequent Visits of the Authors Widow my most dear Mother notwithstanding the infirmities of her age hath rendred her unable to be apprehensive of the greatness of your kindness I am never like to have any other way of returning your love and kindness than by hearty desires of the welfare of you and yours and praying to the Lord to return into your bosom full measure pressed down and running over And therefore I heartily pray the Lord to continue those earthly blessings which he hath bestowed on you and to enable you so wisely to improve them that they may not hinder but fit you for those better most solid and durable blessings which remain to be the portion of all that love and serve the Lord and that he himself may be a God and Father to you and yours shall be the Prayer of MADAM Your much obliged Friend and Servant in our Lord John Jackson TO THE Christian Reader ONE main cause why these Annotations which were by the Author in his life-time fairly transcribed with his own hand fit for the Press do come abroad so long after his decease is because some quires of the Copy being parted from the rest were mislay'd and not found again for many years I suppose the Authors Prefaces to the former Volumes do discharge me from any need of giving the Reader an account of them or directions how they may be made most useful to those of ordinary capacities to serve whose spiritual interest they were chiefly designed and towards whom especially the younger and more bashful persons he did always exercise a more than ordinary winning and encouraging freedom in his whole converse having no appearance of that morose austerity and reservedness for which some good men have been blamed and which oft-times hinders those who most need it from desiring and receiving direction and assistance from their Spiritual Guides And therefore I have only to recommend them to the Christian Readers serious perusal and humbly to beg the blessing of the Lord upon them There is only one service which I find many good people judg I owe to the Memory of my most endeared Father and that is to give some brief account of some such passages of his life as may be thought worthy a remark wherein I shall be religiously careful to mention nothing but what I know or have abundant ground to be assured of its truth Mr. Arthur Jackson was born in Little Waldingfield in Suffolk his Father Mr. John Jackson a Spanish Merchant of London dyed when he was young his Mother afterwards married Sir Tho. Crooke Baronet who carried her into Ireland where she dyed He was by his Guardian Mr. Joseph Jackson of Broomfield in Edmunton carried to Cambridg and placed in Trinity Colledg but under the Tuition of one so little minding the faithful discharge of that great Work he undertook that I have often heard him say He might have been half a year absent and his Tutor not known it But by the Grace of God he was betimes engaged in a way of serious constant and resolved studiousness seldom studying less than fourteen or sixteen hours in a day for the first three or four years as I have heard him sometimes declare and then I suppose he took up that course of rising at three or four a clock summer and winter which he practised ever since I can remember and till his death being scarce ever when well in bed at six a clock unless perusing his Notes and indeed he was at 73 as fit and willing for his work as at 40 his sight so good that without spectacles he could read the smallest Greek print in his study by Moon light but so short-sighted that he could not distinguish his friends when he met them in the streets which occasioned many persons who were not acquainted with him to think his not returning their civil salutes to be out of pride or slighting when 't was only his not seeing them occasioned his passing by them unsaluted He continued some time in the Colledg after he was Master of Arts till he married Mary the eldest Daughter of Mr. Tho. Bownert of Stoneberry in Hertfordshire with whom he lived 47 years in great endearment of mutual love by whom he had three sons and five daughters and who with two sons and two daughters do yet survive him He was married in the year 1619 not long after he was chosen by the Inhabitants of Michael's Woodstreet to be their Lecturer and after the death of Mr. Bragden their Pastour When the great Sickness came in 1624. he sent his Wife and Children to her Father and continued himself in the City discharging all the Offices and Duties of a faithful Pastor to his flock
and after to his eldest Son at Edmunton Being at Hadly in the Sickness-year some of his late Neighbours of Faiths Parish gave him a Visit and bewailing that their Minister had left them he readily profered to come and preach among them if they could procure liberty for him which they something confidently promised themselves but could by no means prevail When the Oxford or Five-mile-Act came forth he seemed troubled to leave London where he had been above Forty years a Minister but upon prayer and serious consideration of the terms required he could not satisfie his mind and came to a resolution of patient bearing what might befall him after which he was much unconcerned using Luther's Expression I shall have a place either under Heaven or in Heaven In the Country he spent most of his time in compleating these Annotations He had gone as far as the third Chapter of Jeremiah when the Providence of God called him from his labour to his eternal rest His distemper was the Stone in the Kidneys of which bitter cup he had often tasted by divers sharp fits with voiding several Stones His first fit was at Cambridge whither he went to take order for Printing the Annotations on the Pentateuch his last fit surpriz'd him in his Study as he reach'd down a Book from a Shelf with which straining himself a Stone in his Kidney was dis-lodged and at the entrance into the Vritory gave him great and sharp pains for Three or Four hours but then it stopt and the violence of the pain went over and could never by all the means were used be brought again I well remember when I came to see him he told me he was in the condition of a travailing woman whose pain was gone from her and putting his finger to the place said haeret lateris lethalis arundo and so indeed it proved After about a weeks use of means in the Country he went to London to his loving friend Mr. Thomas Major who then lived in Milkstreet and did succeed his Father in a most loving and hearty respect to him who had been to them both a loving and faithful Friend and Pastor When he entred his house he said to him I am come now not to preach to you but die with you He entertained his Friends to the last with such undisturbed discourse that they hardly believed him so ill as indeed he was The day before his decease he walked about the Room and discoursed with several Christian Friends who came to pay him their last Respects in outward appearance as if he ailed nothing but reckoning himself a dying Man and declaring the same to them When he perceived any weeping for him he would smilingly say They were fools to weep to see an old man die When his Wife asked him if he were willing to leave her he said he would not leave her for all the World but she could not expect but that after so long striving for a Crown he should be willing to receiveâ— All his friends observed a serene composed temper of Spirit in him during his illness He much perswaded them to practise what he had taught them assuring them they were the Truths of God To some he expressed much satisfaction in his Spirit as to his Non-Conformity professing he had many times asked God forgiveness on his knees for his former errors and mistakes in those things He continued in London about a Week in the use of means from which the Lord was pleased to withhold his blessing The night in which he died he called for his Children which were then in the house and told them he was dying and bid them see if their Mother were awake he desired to see her but would not have her awakened for fear of frighting her for he thought he should live till she waked she coming soon to him he spake chearfully to her thanking her for all her former kindness shewed them how wet and cold his Stomach was saying it was an up-hill way it is hard work to die but did not much bemoan himself He found Death creeping on him by degrees and could tell those about him Now this leg is dead and then the other Having a Cordial offered him he put it by and smiling said he would have no revivings now tho before he had never refused any Medicine Soon after he said Lord deliver deliver me for I cannot bear this and the Lord heard and answered his prayer for immediately he gasped out his last breath and was dead before one could go cross the Room He departed in the morning of the Lords day about Four of the Clock Aug. 5. just that day month before the dreadful Fire of London whereby he was taken from the sight of that evil which would have been a very great affliction to him in regard of the very many Friends and Acquaintance he had in the City the weight of whose sufferings would have lain very much upon his heart he being known to be of a very tender and compassionate Spirit towards his Friends in any of their sufferings which he did on all occasions express not only in words but in free and liberal assistance In a word He was a faithful and painful Pastor a plain-hearted cordial compassionate Friend a tender and affectionate Husband a most loving and careful Father full of natural affection and very indulgent to his Children in every thing but what was evil and there strict and severe a great lover and promoter of peace and holiness and so generally well spoken of by all tho of different Judgments and Opinions that a stranger once told him smiling That he feared he was not good because every body spake well of him and indeed he was of so inoffensive a converse in the World that unless in the discharge of his Ministerial duty where he was obliged to reprove sin and sinners he was hugely careful to give no man occasion to be angry with him and would rather suffer a great wrong than but seem to do any Thus have I given thee Christian Reader a small rude draught of the Author of these Annotations my ever honoured and most endeared Father All that remains is to recommend thee in the perusal of them to the blessing of God and beg thy hearty prayers to our Heavenly Father for him who is Tottenham High-Cross April 26. 1682. Thine in all Christian Service to his power JOHN JACKSON Books to be sold by Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside A Hundred select Sermons on several Texts by Tho. Horton D. D. Sermons on Four select Psalms viz. 4th 42 51 63. by Tho. Horton D. D. Mr. Baxter's Christian Directory Sermons on the whole Epistle of Saint Paul to the Colossians by Mr. J. Daille translated into English by F. S. with Dr. Tho. Goodwins and Dr. John Owen's Epistles Recommendatory An Exposition of Christs Temptation on Mat. 4. and Peter's Sermon to Cornelius and circumspect walking By Dr. Tho. Taylor A
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
the light than bats are The meaning is that they should of their own accord cast away their most precious Idols which they had before most highly esteemed into any sordid secret hole or corner as into some hole of the earth where moles use to be or into some dark and dusty corners of their houses where bats are wont to roost And the reason intended why they should do this may be either first their astonishment and fear in that day of trouble and terrour though haply at first they might desire to keep them for the worth of the materials whereof they were made yet afterwards that they might not be encumbred with them in their flight they should cast them aside into any secret obscure place Or 2ly rather their disregard and contempt of them finding how unprofitable and vain they were and being ashamed of their former confidence in them they should throw them away with indignation and disdain as thinking any vile neglected place good enough for such gods to lye in Ver. 21. They go into the clefts of the rocks c. This is repeated to shew why they should cast away their Idols as he had said in the foregoing verse to wit either that being rid of them they might flee the more freely or because they hoped for that shelter from the rocks which they could not afford them Ver. 22. Cease from man c. That is give over your confidence in man whose breath is in his nostrils and so he may be taken away in a moment though he may puff and seem to breathe forth wrath yet alas his breath may be soon gone for wherein is he to be accounted of to wit in and of himself when God is not with him and especially when God is against him The Prophet having threatned them with the ruin that was coming upon them doth hereupon infer this warning not to slight the foregoing threatnings out of a vain confidence in the strength of their present estate And withal this makes way to that which follows in the next Chapter where God threatens to destroy all in whom they might think they had most cause to trust CHAP. III. Vers 1. FOr behold c. The Prophet having closed the foregoing Chapter with an exhortation not to trust on man Cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils c. here he adds this as a reason of that exhortation to wit that God would destroy all the power of man and of all humane helps and supports whereon they did with so much confidence rely And observable it is that he speaks of this destruction as of a thing which they might see immediately and suddenly coming upon them For behold the Lord the Lord of hosts doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah that is it shall be as certainly done yea and that suddenly too as if it were doing already the stay and staff that is all things wherewith your state is supported and whereon you do for your preservation and safety rest and rely and so under this general expression may be comprehended all those stays of their state which in this and the two following Verses are particularly mentioned or all things requisite for the support of mans life and if we understand the words so then the following words are added to shew what he meant here by the stay and the staff to wit the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water that is all meat and drink necessary for the preservation of mans life for the phrase here used the stay of bread and water see the Notes Levit. 26.26 And how this was accomplished we may see 2 King 25.3 where it is said of Jerusalem when it was besieged That the famine prevailed in the city and there was no bread for the people of the land See also Jer. 38.9 Lam. 5.4 Ver. 2. The mighty man and the man of war the Judg and the Prophet and the prudent and the ancient By the mighty man may be meant such as were great men amongst the people for power of command see the Note Gen. 10.8 or rather men of great strength valour and courage as indeed we find it expresly mentioned that at the taking of Jerusalem the King of Babylon carried away all the Princes and all the mighty men of valour 2 King 24.14 Again by the Prophet may be meant all their Teachers or more particularly those that had the spirit of Prophecy to foretel future things which how it was accomplished you may see in the Note Psal 74.10 when the Eyes of a Nation those which are the Rulers and Teachers are put out that Nation must needs be in a sad condition And then by the prudent is meant men of a piercing judgment able to bolt out the truth of things in the most difficult cases and to give a shrewd guess at things that should afterward come to pass But for this see the Notes Prov. 16.10 1 Chron. 12.32 Ver. 3. The captain of fifty c. By mentioning this which was one of the most inferior places of command the Prophet implies that there should scarce be a man left that was fit to undertake the meanest and the lowest charge for the leading forth and governing of their armies As for the following words and the honourable man and the counsellor that which is translated in our Bibles the honourable man is in the Hebrew a man eminent in countenance and thereby is meant men that for their birth and place their gravity parts and vertue were so reverenced and of so great esteem amongst the people that the very sight of them caused an awe in the hearts of those that came before them they carried authority with them in their very countenance See the Note Eccles 8.1 And then the cunning artificer is mentioned amongst others because those that were more than ordinary skilful in such arts were of great use in a State as for the fortifying of their Cities and making engines of war and many other things both in civil and warlike imployments that did contribute much to the upholding of the State yea and to the preservation of mens lives and the cutting off such therefore must needs be a great invenience and loss to a people And accordingly indeed we read that when the Babylonians had taken Jerusalem amongst others they carried away all the Craftsmen and Smiths 2 King 24.14 As for the last here named and the eloquent Orator or the man of speech as it is in the margent which is in the Original skilled in charms the taking of these is mentioned because such are very able to disswade from evil and to perswade to good to restrain to still and suppress and as I may say to charm the seditious as Abigal by her good language charmed David and as the woman of Abel charmed Joab first and afterward the whole City and to bow the minds of men to those things that may be for publick good Ver. 4. And I
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-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
because hissing or whistling is a watch-word or warning covertly given to those only that understand the meaning of it or rather to imply how easily God could bring these Nations upon his people It is a great Question amongst Expositors who this enemy was that God here threatens to raise up against his people Some understand it of the Romans under Titus Vespasian who indeed utterly ruined the State of the Jews and indeed these might most properly be said to be called from the end of the earth But because the Prophet speaks of a destruction that should suddenly come upon them and that of the Romans was so long after even many years after the death of Christ it is no way probable that this was here intended Others think that it is the Assyrians that are here meant who under Sennacherib in the days of Hezekiah did utterly waste the land of Israel and carried the people into captivity and made great havock in the land of Judah besieging the very City Jerusalem though they took it not and indeed observable it is that Chap. 7.17 c. where it is clear the Prophet speaks of the Invasion of the Assyrians he speaks much after the same manner as he doth here But yet because he speaks here ver 24. of the utter ruining of the State of Judah root and branch I should conceive it is rather meant of the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar who in the days of Zedekiah did waste the land of Judah take and burn the City Jerusalem and carried the people captives into Babylon or at least that it may be meant of both these jointly together the one as the beginning the other as the consummation of that extreme ruin that was brought upon them However it is clear that the reason why he speaks of Nations in the Plural Number was because there were many several Nations Parthianâ— Mâ—â—es Persians and others that served under both the Assyrians and Chaldeans and the reason why they were so expresly told that he would call in Nations from far and from the end of the earth was both to make the threatning the more dreadful the farther they were carried away captives the sadder and the more hopeless their condition would be and likewise to prevent the peoples incredulity lest they should think that there was no likelihood oâ— any such destruction that was coming upon them because all the Nations round about them were quiet and at peace with them not meaning them any hurt therefore the Prophet tells them that the Lord could easily and would certainly bring in enemies upon them from the farthest part of the earth that is the farthest part known commonly to the people in those times and behold they shall come with speed swiftly which is added by way of answering and upbraiding them for that scornful speech of theirs v. 19. Let him make speed and hasten his work c. Ver. 27. None shall be weary c. To wit notwithstanding the length of their journey And hereby is implied both what lusty able men they should be and likewise how willingly and chearfully they should undertake and go on in this their expedition nor shall stumble amongst them to wit through weariness or faintness or by reason of any thing lying in their way against which they might casually dash their foot The meaning is that nothing should in the least hinder or retard them in their jurney none shall slumber nor sleep that is they shall be so far from sleeping that they shall not so much as slumber according as the same expression is used Psal 121.4 Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep It could not be but they must sleep sometimes but all is expressed here Hyperbolically That which is intended is that they should not go on in their journey or do their business slugglishly and drowsily but with much liveliness and prudent watchfulness and intentive minding their work in hand If there were need they should not refuse to watch all night in their Sieges or rather to travel by night as well as by day as we find it expressed Arise and let us go by night and let us destroy her Palaces Jer. 6.5 neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed that is they shall be still in a readiness to march or to perform any other service of War because the girding of the loins helps to the strengthening of men and so is often used by them that undertake any journey or service whereto strength is required See 1 Kings 18.46 Therefore some would have it that this Phrase of not loosing the girdle of their loins is used to imply their constant strength But questionless the meaning rather is that they should not pull off their clothes to go into a bed no nor so much as disarm themselves nor shall the latchet of their shooes be broken to wit as usually it will be when men in hast pull off their shooes and if so we take it the meaning may be that they should not so much as pull off their shooes when they laid themselves down but because a loose shoo must needs be a great hinderance to men in travelling and put them to some stay for the mending of it I rather thus understand this expression that nothing should befal them to stay or hinder them in their way not so much as the breaking of a shooe-latchet So that the whole scope of the place is to imply that they should go on in their journey so prosperously that they should meet with no impediment that should considerably be any hinderance to them But see the Note also Deut. 8.4 Ver. 28. Whose arrows are sharp and all their bows bent c. They shall be well armed and always in a readiness to destroy And indeed this also some would have implied in saying their arrows were sharp because this implies that they should not need to stay to whet them their horses hâ—fs shall be â—â—unted like flint that is they shall be â—â— hard that they shall not be worn out with travel nor in danger 〈…〉 cunning or galloping or to be hurt with any thing they shall casually tread upon and their wheels like a whirlwind that is the wheels of their Chariots in regard of their swiftness the dreadful noise they will make and their strong over-bearing power and violence shall come upon the Jews like a terrible tempest from Heaven carrying all before them because the Jews might think that in so long a journey many things might intervene to cross and hinder their design therefore these things are added to shew how prosperously they shall go on in their enterprise Ver. 29. Their roaring shall be like a lyon they shall roar like young lions c. See the Note Psal 104.21 Yea they shall roar and lay hold of the prey and shall carry it away safe and none shall deliver it all which is to set forth how strong and fierce and cruel and greedy after the prey
how long c. That is how long shall this people continue in this sad condition being blinded and hardened yea and made more and more rebellious and refractory by the Preaching of thy servants the Prophets whom thou sendest unto them as if he had said is there no end or period set to this their rejection And this it seems the Prophet spake both by way of wondering at this judgment denounced out of a sollicitous care for this people and out of pity and compassion towards them and likewise as being carried thereto by a secret instinct from God that in the answer which God returned it might be made known with what great severity he meant to proceed against them Until the cities to wit of Judah be wasted without inhabitant and the houses without man and the land be utterly desolate that is until by the incursion of several enemies under the reign of the several Kings that shall successively sit in the Throne of Judah the inhabitants of the land shall be exceedingly wasted and destroyed so that at last both cities and particular houses standing by themselves shall be in a manner left desolate without any to inhabit them And this extream desolation and havock that was made amongst them might be intended concerning that great destruction which was brought upon them by the Babylonians and yet it may be extended also to that extream devastation that was made in that land by the Romans namely by Titus and Vespasian first and afterwards by Hadrian the Emperour But see the Notes Chap. 1.7 5.9 Ver. 12. And the Lord have removed men far away c. To wit the inhabitants of the land whom the Lord in his wrath shall cause to be carried away captives into Assyria and Babylon Countries far remote from the land which God had given them The same expression is again afterward used concerning the Captivity of the Jews in Babylon Chap. 26.15 Thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land that is and by this means the land shall be in a great measure totally in a manner forsaken of her inhabitants and so shall be left desolate It is not therefore Gods forsaking of this people as some think but the lands being forsaken of the people which the Prophet here intends and that was when the people were forcibly carried away into Babylon Yet some I know extend this as is said in the foregoing Note to that great desolation that was made in the land by the Romans when they that were left were dispersed and scattered all the world over Ver. 13. But yet in it shall be a tenth Some learned Expositors do understand this of a tenth King that should sit in the Throne of Judah or of a Decade of Kings that should successively reign in the Kingdom of Judah before that desolation was to come upon the land that was threatned in the foregoing verses And indeed from the time when this was prophesied which was in the days of Jotham the Son of Uzziah see the Note above ver 1. unto the time when the people were carried captives into Babylon by the Chaldeans there were just ten Kings that swayed the Scepter of Judah to wit Jotham Ahaz Hezekiah Manasseh Amon Josiah Jehoahaz Jehojakim Jehojachin and Zedekiah But by the general current of Expositors it is far better understood of a small remnant of the people as it were one in ten that should be left in the land according to a like expression Amos 5.3 The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred and that which went forth by a hundred shall leave ten to the house of Israel Lest the faithful should be too much dejected at the mention of that utter devastation that should be made in the land this promise is annexed for their comfort that the people should not be so universally destroyed and rooted out but that there should be a small remnant of them left which may be meant both of those few that were left in the land when the generality of the people were carried away captives into Babylon or of that remnant that should be brought back out of Babylon and setled again in their own land And it may well be that these are the rather called a tenth with respect to the reformation that should be wrought in those that were reserved or to Gods preserving the faithful amongst them from the common destruction thereby to imply that they should be as indeed the tythes of the land was holy to the Lord see the Notes Chap. 4.2 3. And it shall return and shall be eaten c. Some read this as it is in the Margent of our Bibles When it is returned and hath been broused and they take the meaning of the words to be that when that remnant should return out of Babylon that had been so miserably eaten and broused cropt and destroyed both before and in the captivity there should be but a tenth of them in comparison of what they formerly were But if we read the words as they are in our Translation then either no more is intended by this It shall return and shall be eaten then if it had been said it shall be eaten again meaning that this remnant should be again wasted For this is an Hebraism frequent in the Scripture as in Dan. 9.25 the street shall return and be built for the street shall be built again Or else the meaning must needs be that after the return of this remnant this tenth out of Babylon even they should be much wasted and consumed which was often done by the rage of their enemies against them after their return from the Babylonian captivity As a teil-tree and as an oak whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof That is as when these trees do cast their leaves in winter and so seem to be in a manner quite dead for the time yet there is a lively sap remaining in the root or body of the trees which keeps them alive and so is the substance or subsistence of them by reason whereof in the spring they sprout out again so when my people shall seem to be utterly wasted and destroyed yet there shall be a small remnant left a holy seed see the Note Chap. 1.9 a seed of Saints which shall be as the life and the substance and subsistence of this people by reason of whom this my Church and people shall be continued in all succeeding times so that they shall never be utterly raced out and destroyed Some think the teil-tree or line-tree and the oak are here particularly instanced in because these trees buding forth later in the spring than other trees are longer ere they lose their leaves in the Autumn and so were fitter to represent the Kingdom of Judah which continued in a safe condition after the people of the Ten Tribes
would have been to no purpose at all And then for the place whither the Prophet is sent to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the high-way or causey-way of the fullers field this is thus particularly expressed both to clear the certainty of the story and to assure the Prophet of the certainty of this Prophecy We read of two Pools that were in Jerusalem the one called the lower Pool we find mentioned Chap. 22.9 Ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool because it lay on the west-side of the lower City and another called the upper pool made for the receiving and retaining of the waters that came from the fountain of Gihon and situate on the south-side of the upper City the same as some think that is else-where called the pool of Silâ—ah Joh. 9.8 and which is said to have been nigh to the Kings garden Neh. 3.15 And this is that Pool which is here meant from whence it seems there was a fair way that led to the fullers field which no doubt they had chosen because the waters of this Pool lay conveniently for the washing and whiting of their linnen and here it was that the Prophet was directed to meet with Ahaz and observable it is that it was the very same place where afterwards Sennachenibs Captains that were sent by him to besiege Jerusalem made a stand and summoned Hezekiah to deliver up the City for so it is said 2 King 18.17 They came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool which is in the high-way of the fullers field What the cause was of Ahaz his being in this place is not expressed Some think that hearing of these sad tidings in some place whither he had removed his Court out of the City he was now coming to shelter and secure himself in this his chief City and so the Prophet was sent forth to meet him there and to comfort him with a promise from God concerning the deliverance of Jerusalem that he might not farther dishearten the people by coming in such a fright into the City But then again others conceive that he was gone thither or come thither from some place abroad that he might consult about the fortifying of that place either because they feared it might be a place of advantage for the enemy whereby to enter the City or because it was a matter of so great consequence to secure the waters of this Pool for the use of the City when it should be besieged and so the Prophet was sent thither as it were to tell them in the midst of these their consultations that the Lord whom they minded not would be instead of fortifications to the City and would secure it from the enemy though they were not able to do it And this indeed seems most probable because Rabshakeh when he went to besiege Jerusalem did make his first approaches to the City at this place 2 King 18.17 and at that time Hezekiah had taken all the care he could to secure these waters 2 Chron. 32.3 4. Ver. 4. And say unto him take heed and be quiet c. That is take heed of being thus unquiet and restless in thy mind as thou art beware of all distrust and distrustful fears be not disturbed and distracted but be of a quiet composed mind trusting in God look not after help from the Assyrian or any other foreign aid but rely wholly upon Gods protection and his blessing upon thine own forces And this last we may the more probably think was here intended because it is expresly said 2 King 16.7 that Ahaz did immediately after the invasion of these two Kings send to Tiglath-pileser King of Assyria for aid and therefore it may well be that he had this already in his thoughts Fear not neither be faint-hearted it is in the Hebrew Let not thine heart be tender that is soft and apt to take an impression of fear for the two tails of these smoking fire-brands so he calls these two Kings and their forces of whom Ahaz and his people were so exceedingly afraid by way of contempt and scorn He terms them fire-brands because indeed they were coming out against him with such fury and seeming terror as if they meant to set all the land on a light flame and with fire and sword to consume all before them But withal he calls them only tails of fire-brands which might well be both with respect to what had formerly befallen these Kings for indeed their power had been of late already much wasted the Syrians by three great victories which Joash the King of Israel obtained over them 2 King 13.25 and the Israelites by their own Civil Wars and Conspiracies 2 King 15.10 and likewise with respect to the approaching ruin of both their Kingdoms for it was not long e're Pekah was slain by Hoshea 2 King 15.30 and both the Kingdoms of Syria and Israel were utterly destroyed by the Assyrians so that in this regard they might well be compared to the ends or tails of two fire-brands their dominion and tyranny not being like to last long Yea he terms them not burning but smoaking fire-brands and that to imply that though they might be a great vexation to them as smoke is to the eyes and a great terror and affrightment yet there should be more pride and terror in them than strength and power for the effecting of the mischief they intended which yet must be understood with respect to their great design of taking Jerusalem and the utter subverting of the Kingdom of Judah for otherwise we find that when they raised the siege of Jerusalem and went away the Syrians did make much spoil in other parts of the land And to the same purpose is the following Clause where he calls Pekah by way also of contempt because his father was an obscure private person the son of Remaliah for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria and of the son of Remaliah Ver. 5. Because Syria Ephraim and the son of Remaliah c. Even this also is spoken by way of contempt He vouchsafes not so much as to name these two Kings by the report of whose confederacy they were so exceedingly terrified but terms them the Syrian and the son of Remaliah See the foregoing Note have taken evil counsel against thee that is most unjust wicked and mischievous counsel tending to the utter ruin of Gods people and the utter extirpation of the Kingdom of Judah the race and Royal power of Davids family which is the rather mentioned together with that confident resolution of theirs related in the following verse because all this tended the more to set forth their great danger and so the mercy of the now promised deliverance Ver. 6. Let us go up against Judah c. That is against the Land or Kingdom of Judah And vex it to wit by invading and spoiling the land and by besieging their chief City Jerusalem And let us make a breach therein
for us that is let us violently break in upon it or thorough it and surprize it and make it ours Yet some think that because the great design which they had in their thoughts was the besieging of Jerusalem therefore the breach here intended was the making a breach in the walls thereof at which they might enter and take the City and others understand it of making a breach or division amongst the inhabitants of the land or City that being likely to tend much to their advantage and others of dividing the land betwixt them each of them taking that part which lay most convenient for them But the first Exposition I conceive is the best and most agreeable to that which follows Let us make a breach therein for us and set a King in the midst of it even the son of Tabeal for this man they intended doubtless to set up as a Viceroy or a Tributary-King over the land and one that should hold the Kingdom of them and be wholly at their disposing But now who this son of Tabeal was is altogether uncertain that which is said by some of his being a Syrian and by others of being some eminent man of the Israelites that was a known enemy to the house of David are but meer conjectures But see the foregoing Note Ver. 7. Thus saith the Lord God It shall not stand neither shall it come to pass That is Though they have with such proud and bold confidence resolved before hand that they will thus dispose the Kingdom of Judah and subject it to themselves yet this which they have thus determined shall not take effect and be established as they have determined it shall be So far shall they be from making the Kingdom of Judah theirs as they have resolved that they shall not be able to effect that which they have determined concerning their taking of the City Jerusalem all they attempt herein shall come to nothing Ver. 8. For the head of Syria is Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rezin As if he had said Damascus is the Metropolis or head-city of Syria and Rezin is the King and Head of Damascus these are the bounds which God hath set them and beyond these bounds they shall not extend their power The design they have in hand for the enlarging of their Dominions shall not prosper Neither shall Damascus become the head of Judea by having dominion over that land nor shall Rezin become King of Jerusalem as he makes account to be but Judah and Jerusalem shall continue under the Government under which God hath set them And indeed most fully was this made good within a short time when the Assyrian called into the help of Ahaz took Damascus and carried the people of it captive to Kir and slew Rezin 2 King 16.9 And within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken that it be not a people That is And the people of Ephraim the Kingdom of the Ten Tribes shall be within threescore and five years so broken in pieces notwithstanding their great confidence in their present confederacy with Rezin and his Syrians that they shall no longer be a people that is a distinct State and people living apart by themselves in their own land and under their own Laws and Princes and Government But now the great question is how these threescore and five years must be reckoned after which the Israelites were to cease to be a people and that because the taking of Samaria by Shalmaneser King of Assyria and his carrying away of the Ten Tribes out of their native Country into his own dominions was in the ninth year of Hoshea which was the sixth of Hezekiah See the Notes 2 King 17.5 6. Now if we account from the beginning of Ahaz his reign to that Captivity of the Israelites that makes in all but two and twenty years for Ahaz reigned in all but sixteen years 2 King 16.2 to which adding the six years of Hezekiah his son in whose sixth year this great calamity befell the Ten Tribes the whole amounts I say to no more than two and twenty years And yet because the Kings of Syria and Israel had before this severally invaded the land of Judah in Ahaz his time as is noted before ver 1. therefore it is most probable that Isaiah Prophesied this in the third year of Ahaz and then from thence to Shalmanesers carrying away the Israelites captive there could be no more than about twenty years The most ordinary answer that is given by Expositors for the resolving of this hard question is that these threescore and five years are to be numbred not from the time when Isaiah spake these words but from the time when the Prophet Amos did first foretell this utter destruction of the land and people of Israel which that he did very expresly is evident in many places of his Prophesie And indeed it is clear that Amos began to Prophecy two years before the Earthquake in the days of Uzziah Amos 1.1 of which there is also mention made Zach. 14.5 Ye shall flee like as ye fled from before the Earthquake in the days of Uzziah Now if this Earthquake was in the seven and twentieth year of Uzziah's reign as the Jewish Writers affirm it was just about the time when Uzziah was smitten with a leprosie then it follows that Amos began to Prophecy in the five and twentieth year of Uzziah from whence if we begin the account of the time prefixed by Amos for the utter ruin of Israel there will be seven and twenty years left behind of the reign of Uzziah for he reigned in all two and fifty years 2 King 15.2 To which if we add the sixteen years of his Son Jothams reign 2 King 15.33 and the sixteen of Ahaz 2 King 16.2 and six of Hezekiah in the sixth year of whose reign Samaria was taken by the Assyrians 2 King 18.10 these make in all just threescore and five years Yea and the same account of years they make up also by reckoning the years of the Kings of Israel for Amos they say began to Prophecy in the seventeenth year of Jeroboam the second who reigned in all forty and one years 2 King 14.23 and if so then he reigned four and twenty years after Amos Prophesied the Captivity of Israel to which adding the ten years of Menahems reign 2 King 15.17 not accounting the short reigns of Zachariah and Shallum which made up together but seven months and the two years of Pekahiah 2 King 15.23 and the twenty years of Pekah 2 King 15.27 and the nine years of Hoshea in whose ninth year Samaria was taken by the Assyrians 2 King 17.6 this also makes just threescore and five years And whereas it may seem strange that Isaiah should speak of the destruction of the Israelites after threescore and five years only because Amos Prophesied of their destruction so many years before it came to pass to this it is answered that Amos did not only
of the Scripture Gen. 6.4 29.23 30. that he lay carnally with her and thereupon it follows and she conceived and bear a Son But however clear it is that if this which is here related concerning the birth of this Son of the Prophet was presently after the writing of the forementioned Prophetical roul then his going in to the Prophetess and her conception thereupon was long before and so should rather have been rendred And I had gone in to the Prophetess and she conceived and on the other side if this his going in to the Prophetess was after the writing of this roul then it was well nigh a twelvemonth after e're this his Son was born and that God gave him that following command concerning his name Then said the Lord to me call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz And therefore I question not but that this was a different passage from that related in the two foregoing verses and that some time after the setting up of this roul upon the birth of this his Son he was enjoined to call him by that mysterious name which was written in the roul and that to confirm that foregoing Prophecy and that this name of his child might be a continual memorial of that Prophecy written in the forementioned roul concerning the destruction of the Syrians and the Israelites Ver. 4. For before the child shall have knowledg to cry My father and my mother c. Some understand this indefinitely as they did the like expression before Chap. 7.16 concerning which see the Note there of any new-born child But methinks it is clearly spoken with reference to that which was said in the foregoing verse to wit that before that new-born Son of the Prophets whom God had appointed to be named Maher-shalal-hash-baz should begin to discern his Parents from strangers and be able to speak that which was intended by that name should come to pass and so in these words there is a reason given why God appointed this name to be given to his child namely to make known how suddenly that foretold destruction should come upon those two Kings and their chief Cities For before the child that is this new-born child of the Prophets called Maher-shalal-hash-baz shall have knowledg to cry My father and my mother that within a year or a year and a half or thereabouts the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the King of Assyria that is the Kingdoms of Syria and Damascus shall be plundered and wasted in his sight and at his command or in these words before the King of Assyria there may be an allusion to the custom of carrying the rich spoils they had gotten from any vanquished people before the Conqueror when he returned in triumph into his own Country And it may be read too as it is in the Margent of our Bibles He that is before the King of Assyria that is his Officers and Ministers or his Captains and Commanders shall take away the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria But however it is clear I conceive that the accomplishment of this was when in or about the fourth year of Ahaz Tiglath-pileser the King of Assyria took Damascus and slew Rezin their King and carried away the people into captivity 2 King 16.9 at which time he made great havock also in the land of Israel 1 King 15.29 though he did not take and destroy Samaria as he did Damascus for that was done sometime after by Salmaneser in the days of Hoshea 2 King 17.6 and this some conceive to be the reason why it is said here that the riches of Damascus should be taken away by the Assyrian and that he should only take some spoil in Samaria Ver. 5. The Lord spake also unto me again saying To wit in the same or some other Vision afterwards Ver. 6. Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly c. That is that run on gently and silently not with any such violence and noise as other great rivers do We read of the pool of Siloam Joh. 9.7 and of the tower in Siloam Luk. 13.4 and it is generally said that this Siloam or Shiloah was the same that is else-where called Gihon see the Note 1 King 1.33 a little brook at the foot of Mount Sion which running into Jerusalem or about some part of it must needs be a great refreshing to the inhabitants but could be no great defence to the City and that therefore the weak estate of the Kingdom of Judah at this time is here intended by the waters of Shiloah that go softly concerning which see the Note Psal 46.4 The great question is what people it is of whom the Prophet here saith For so much as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliahs Son the most Expositors understand it of the people of Judah to wit that the generality of them for there were some â— a better temper amongst them whom the Lord afterwards ver 16. calls his Disciples did either 1. Approve of Ahaz his sending for the Assyrian as distrusting their own weak estate and not minding the promise which God had made for their deliverance against the threatned invasion of the two Kings of Syria and Israel and relying wholly upon the mighty army which he would bring with him the warlike noise whereof is here opposed to the soft running of the waters of Shiloah in the confidence whereof they should even rejoice to be fighting with Rezin and Pekah Or 2ly did wish themselves to be in such a rich and flourishing estate as the Israelites and Syrians were and under the command of such potent Kings as Rezin and Pekah were Or 3. that considering to what a low ebb the Kingdom of Judah was brought and how unable they should be to resist the invasion of these two mighty Kings they did indeed desire that these Kings might reign over them or at least that Son of Tabeal mentioned before Chap. 7.6 whom they intended to leave as their Viceroy amongst them and for the better effecting hereof had under-hand some treacherous compliance with them But now because we find not the least mention in the Sacred story of any such intended defection of the men of Judah from Ahaz and the House of David and because it cannot be thought without manifest forcing the Text how it should be well said that the people of Judah did rejoice in Rezin and Remaliahs Son that were coming out against them with such fury and bloody intentions therefore I conceive that others do far better understand by this people here mentioned the people of Israel for so much as this people that is this army of the Israelites and Syrians that are now combined against Judah refuseth the waters of Shiloah that goeth softly that is do slight and scorn the weak estate of Jerusalem that hath no great river for its defence but only the small brook of Shiloah
and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliahs Son that is in the power of these two great Kings by whose conjoined forces they made account they should certainly subdue the Jews and bring Jerusalem under their power And observable it is with what contempt these two Kings are still mentioned Rezin and Remaliahs Son see Chap. 7.4 in whose great strength these invaders of Judah did so exceedingly triumph Ver. 7. Now therefore behold the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river strong and many c. They that understand the foregoing verse of the people of Judahs distrusting their own weak estate and desiring the aid of the Assyrian to help them against the two Kings of Syria and Israel do accordingly understand this verse of the havock which the Assyrians should make in the land of Judah to wit that since the people of Judah were not satisfied with their own defences the waters of Shiloah that go softly notwithstanding Gods express promise for their deliverance but desired the great strength of other potent Princes and that the Assyrian should be hired to come into their aid therefore God would by those forces of Assyria as with a mighty flood over-run and waste their land And accordingly they understand the last Clause And he shall come up over all his channels and go over all his banks to wit that the Assyrian would not keep to the Promises and Oaths and Covenants whereby he had bound himself to Ahaz when he hired him to come into his help but would break thorough them all and do them much mischief as it is said 2 Chron. 28.20 The King of Assyria came unto him and distressed him but strengthened him noâ— But now understanding it according to what is said in the foregoing Note of the people of Israel together with their associates the Syrians the meaning of the words is plainly thus Because this army of Rezin and Pekah despised Jerusalem for her weakness the waters of Shiloah that go softly therefore saith the Prophet the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river strong and many that is of the river Euphrates see the Note Chap. 7.20 meaning the Assyrian army which as a mighty strong river should presently over-run them and sweep them away for so he explains himself in the next words even the King of Assyria and all his glory that is his army consisting of many glorious Princes brave Captains and Soldiers that should make a gallant shew when they came marching into the land and in whom the King of Assyria would exceedingly glory and boast according to that which is said Chap. 10.8 13. Are not my Princes altogether Kings and he shall come up over all his channels and go over all his banks that is he shall come out of Assyria as a river that in a great flood swells up above all his channels and goeth over all his banks and so shall invade and over-run the whole land of Israel And how this was accomplished first by Tiglath-pileser and afterwards by his successors see in the foregoing Note vers 4. and likewise Chap. 7.17 20. Ver. 8. And he shall pass through Judah c. That is the Assyrian having over-run the land of Israel shall also break into the land of Judah He shall over-flow and go over that is as an over-flowing river he shall over-run that Country also which though it may include that damage which Tiglath-pileser brought upon Judea when he came to aid Ahaz against the Syrians and Israelites 1 Chron. 28.20 yet it must needs be principally meant of that Invasion of the Assyrians in the days of Hezekiah when Sennacherib entred the land with a mighty army and took in a manner all their fenced Cities 2 King 18.13 as is evident in the following words He shall reach even to the neck the meaning whereof is either 1. That the Assyrian army having almost over-run the whole land round about for still they are in their proceedings compared to the inundation of some great river should at last swell so high that they should come up to the very walls of Jerusalem which was their head-Head-city Or 2ly that they should prevail so far that all Judah should be in danger to be utterly lost being in the condition of a man upon whom a deluge of waters breaking in they rise and swell up at last to his very neck so that he hath much ado to keep his head above water and is in apparent danger of being wholly over-whelmed and drowned and indeed the like expression we find else-where used to set forth a dangerous and even desperate condition as Chap. 30.28 His breath as an over-flowing stream shall reach to the midst of the neck see also Habbak 3.13 And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land O Immanuel that is his numerous troops and companies of Soldiers which we still usually call the wings of an army shall over-spread and subdue the whole land of Judea which is neither his nor theirs but thine O Christ see the Note Chap. 7.14 The Prophet calls it his land not so much because he was to be born there as because he had given it to be the habitation of his peculiar people his Church amongst whom he was to reign as King according to that Psal 2.6 I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion and that Joh. 1.11 He came unto his own and his own received him not And had setled it to be the peculiar place of his Worship Yet the drift I conceive of this turning his speech to Christ was not only to imply the indignity of the fact that his land should be so surprized and wasted by his proud enemies but also to hint this comfort to the faithful that though they should prevail far in Judea yet they should not be able to hinder the coming forth of their Immanuel there as likewise an earnest desire and hope that they should not be able to cast him out of his inheritance but that their Immanuel would protect them from the present Invasion of Râ—zin and Pekah as is afterwards expressed ver 10. and that when the Assyrian should break out in greatest rage against them Judah should not be wholly over-whelmed by them as Israel should be Ver. 9. Associate your selves O ye people c. It is in the Original peoples in the Plural number and thereby is meant both the Syrians and Israelites that were combined against Judah and Jerusalem as likewise the Assyrians that afterwards invaded Judea in the days of Hezekiah see the Note Chap. 7.18 whose army consisted of several Nations Yea I conceive it is purposely expressed in such general terms to imply that this which is here foretold should be the issue of the associations of all the enemies of Gods Church and people Associate your selves O ye people and ye shall be broken in pieces Having made mention of Immanuel in the latter end of the foregoing verse in the confidence of
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
were hereafter like to be most vexed and oppressed such as were the Moabites the Syrians and others And this was purposely done that Gods people might see that these Judgments being thus foretold came from God and that all Nations are under his power and command that they might be afraid of those sins for which they saw them punished so severely as considering that if God spared not the wickedness of those heathen people much less would he spare them that had the Law and Word of God to inform them 3ly That they might not think that God dealt worse with them than with others or that he favoured those wicked Nations And 4ly That they might be comforted with this discovery of Gods love to them and tender care over them in the vengeance he would bring upon their mischievous enemies Accordingly therefore he begins first with foretelling the Destruction that should come upon Babylon the chief City of the Caldean or Babylonian Empire built at first as it is generally held by Semiramis but it seems greatly enlarged and beautified by Nebuchadnezzar as appears by that vaunting speech of his Dan. 4.30 Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the Kingdom by the might of my power and for the Honour of my Majesty For because the Babylonians against whom this Prophecy was delivered in the year that King Ahaz died Chap. 14.28 were like to prove their most formidable enemies by whom Jerusalem was to be destroyed the Temple burnt and the people carried Captives into Babylon therefore to fore-arm the faithful against the terror of these sad Calamities and to support the poor Captives in that long Captivity it was most necessary that the downfal of the Babylonian should be foretold as the means whereby a way should be opened unto them for their return again into their own Country Ver. 2. Lift ye up a standard upon the high mountain c. This is spoken as in Gods name to the Medes and Persians that were to destroy Babylon And indeed the Medes are afterward in this Chapter expresly named ver 17. Behold I will stir up the Medes against them By the high mountain some understand Babylon and that this City though situated in a low plain Country is so called either because in its vast greatness and the exceeding height and eminency of her buildings it looked like some great Mountain and seemed too as unmoveable as a Mountain or else because the State of Babylon did so proudly lift up her self and was at that time in Power and Glory exalted above all other Nations And indeed it is clear that upon these accounts Babylon is elsewhere called a mountain Jer. 51 25. Behold I am against thee O destroying mountain faith the Lord. Now they that thus understand these words do accordingly hold that by lifting up a standard upon this high mountain the taking of Babylon is intended because when a City is taken the soldiers are wont to set up their colours upon the walls and as a parallel place hereto they alledge that passage Jer. 51.12 Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon and to the same purpose they also expound the following words Exalt the voice unto them shake the hand because say they there is never more shouting nor lifting up and brandishing the sword in the hand than when a City is taken but with most of our best Expositors I rather conceive that the mention here made of lifting up a standard is to foretel the gathering together of a mighty Army for this service against Babylon See the Note Chap. 5.26 and to imply how readily upon the least sign or notice given soldiers should come flowing in to them and the standard is appointed to be lifted up upon the high mountain because they used in this case to set up their Ensigns and display their Banners upon the tops of hills and mountains from whence such a signal might best be descryed As for the following words exalt the voice unto them shake the hand either the same thing is intended to wit the calling in of soldiers near or far off by crying out or by beckning to them with the hand or else it is meant of giving them a signal whether by shaking the hand or by some shout or word of command by way of encouraging them to make an assault upon the City and that also to signifie how ready they should be to do it that they may go into the gates of the Nobles that is into the houses of the Nobles which is said because soldiers at such a time are wont to chuse to break into such houses where they expect the most and best pillage or into the gates of Babylon where the King kept his Court commonly and so most of the Nobility had their constant residence there or where many of the Inhabitants by reason of their great wealth lived like Princes or Nobles And withal observable it is that to signifie how easily they should prevail over this seeming strong and invincible City he speaks of the taking of it as if there were no more to be done for the effecting of it but their meer going into the gates without any resistance Ver. 3. I have commanded my sanctified ones c. That is by a secret instinct and guidance of my providence I will stir up the Medes and Persians under the conduct of Cyrus and Darius to go against Babylon And he calls them his sanctified ones because he had set them apart destined and prepared them for that holy service of destroying the wicked Babylonians Those that are separated to any any holy service of God are usually said to be sanctified thereto as we see in that which is said of Jeremiah Chap. 1.5 Before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a Prophet unto the Nations And accordingly because the Scripture doth usually speak of the slaughtering of wicked men as of a sacrifice offered up to God Ezek. 37.17 Speak unto evey feathered fowl and to every beast of the field Assemble your selves and come gather your selves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you c. And Zeph. 1.7 8. The Lord hath prepared a sacrifice he hath bid his guests And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lords sacrifice that I will punish the Princes c. therefore the Lord here calls those that were to slay the Babylonians his sanctified ones See the Note also Exod. 32.29 And so in the following words he calleth them his mighty Ones I have also called my mighty Ones for mine anger to signifie that God would furnish them with courage and strength to fit them for the service he had called them to even the pouring forth of his vengeance upon the Babylonians even them saith the Lord that rejoyce in my highness that is that will be chearfully forward to do my work upon Babylon with great bravery and gallantry and then
will with great exaltation triumph in the doing of it And this their valour their gallant success victory and triumph is called Gods Highness 1. because it was by God their Commander in chief that they should so gallantly demean themselves and attain so great glory by subduing and triumphing over the pride of Babylon And 2ly because the infinite eminency of Gods Power and Holiness and Justice as likewise of his Mercy and Faithfulness was gloriously discovered by the just vengeance that he brought upon that wicked and mighty City Babylon and the great deliverance which thereby he effected for his own people Ver. 4. The noise of a multitude c. The Prophet speaks this in such a manner as if he would report that he heard that actually doing which in the foregoing verse the Lord said he had commanded to be done As a Watchman set upon a Watch-Tower is wont first to relate what he hears and afterwards when he discovers what that noise was then to make known that too so doth the Prophet here The noise saith he of a multitude in the Mountains as of a great people as if he should have said Methinks I hear a confused noise upon the Mountains as is wont to be in a place where a great multitude of people are gathered together And then he tells what this noise was and that God was amongst them a tumultuous noise of the Kingdoms of Nations gathered together that is of people of several Nations and Kingdoms which is said because the army gathered against Babylon was to consist of many Nations according to that of the Prophet Jeremy Chap. 50.9 I will raise and cause to come against Babylon an assembly of great Nations from the North-Country And so again Chap. 51.27 28. The Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battel as if he had said And where this King of Nations is Commander in chief it is no marvel though such a numberless multitude come in to him upon the setting up of his standard as was said before ver 2. even a mighty army fit to vanquish such a mighty City As for the mountains here mentioned thereby may be meant either the mountains of Media and Persia where this huge Army was to be first gathered and mustered or else the mountains over which the Army was to march that they might break into Chaldea yet some think the mountains are particularly mentioned because Armies are wont to seize upon them as places of greatest strength and security and from thence their none is most easily heard far abroad according to that Joel 2.5 Like the noise of Chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap Ver. 5. They come from a far Country c. To wit from Media and Persia Countrys far distant from Babylon See the Notes Chap. 1.7 and 5.26 from the end of heaven see the Note Neh. 1.9 even the Lord and the weapons of his indignation that is the armies together with all their warlike Provision wherewith the Lord intends to fight in his wrath against Babylon to destroy the whole Land to wit not only the City but also the whole Country of Babylon Ver. 6. Howl ye c. As if he had said You O Babylonians that are now in so great jollity shall shortly howl for the extream miseries that are coming upon you for the day of the Lord that is the day wherein the Lord hath determined to take vengeance on Babylon See the Notes Job 24.1 and Psal 37.13 is aâ— hand which is spoken as with reference to what the Prophet had said before wherein he had spoken of those that were to execute this vengeance upon Babylon as if they had been already upon their way going thither It is true indeed that Jerusalem's destruction was nearer at hand than Babylon's for it was about two hundred years ere Babylon was destroyed and therefore there might seem to be greater cause to call upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem to howl than the inhabitants of Babylon But for this we must know that the drift of the Prophet here was to comfort the Jews against they came to be Captives in Babylon by letting them know how confidently they might expect that Destruction that is here threatned to Babylon And notwithstanding it was so long ere Babylon was to be destroyed yet 1. with reference to God to whom so long a time was but as a day And 2ly with reference to the security of the Babylonians who were so confident in the strength of their City and Empire it might well be said That this day of the Lord was at hand it being nearer indeed than any of them would have expected and see the Notes on the last verse of this Chapter it shall come as a Destruction from the Almighty that is it shall be inevitable and irreparable so grievous and horrid that every one shall plainly see that it was the work and from the wrath of an Almighty God Ver. 7. Therefore shall all hands be faint and every mans heart shall melt See the Notes 2 Sam. 4.1 Josh 7.5 and Psal 22.14 The Prophet doth here covertly deride the proud confidence of the Babylonians for when God should thus bereave them of all courage and strength what good alas would all their Wealth do them and all the strong Fortifications of their seeming invincible City Ver. 8. And they shall be afraid c. That is extream fear shall surprize them And this is mentioned as the cause of that feebleness and faintness threatred in the foregoing verse Pangs and sorrows shall take hold-on them they shall be in pain as a woman that travelleth that is they shall be inwardly tortured with grievous vexation and anguish of Spirit that shall suddenly seize upon them by reason of their terrors they shall be amazed one at another that is they shall stand silent gazing upon one another as men astonished to wit either as wondring mutually at their fear and faint-heartedness that they that had wont to be so renowned for courage and valour should now be so heartless and cowardly suffering themselves to be enslaved by the Medes and other Nations that had been formerly in subjection to them or else out of desperate perplexity of Spirit as being at their wits end not knowing what to think or what to say or which way to turn themselves though they were able enough to resist their enemies yet they should have no heart to do any thing that might tend thereto but as men overwhelmed with despair they should stand staring one upon another unable to encourage or counsel one another or so much as to express their minds or sorrows their faces shall be as flames that is red like fire say some as blushing for shame at the consideration of their strange distraction dismayedness and base fears according to that Ezek. 7.18 shame shall be upon all faces or as others think as being inflamed with anger and fury which indeed will usually make the blood to come into mens
less will undertake the burying of it And all this is thus expressed to shew how abominable the Babylonian should be unto all men for his Pride and Cruelty Ver. 20. Thou shalt not be joyned with them in burial c. That is Thou shalt not have that honour done thee in thy burial which other Kings of the Nations have usually done for them for this is spoken with reference to that which was said before ver 18. Thou shalt not be laid in such a stately Sepulchre amongst thy Progenitors nor be carried thereto with that Pomp and Solemnity as other Kings use to be because thou hast destroyed thy land and stain thy people to wit the land of Babylon and his subjects there For though some would have this to be understood of the land and people which he had made his by Conquest and others that understand it of his Hereditary Kingdoms do withal hold that he is said to have destroyed this his land and to have slain his people only because by his wickedness he had provoked God to destroy them yet I rather conceive that this it is that is here intended as a great aggravation of his Tyranny that not content with the ruin that he brought upon other Kingdoms and Nations he did likewise destroy his own Land and his own people to wit by the sore burdens and exactions wherewith he oppressed them and by the cruelties he exercised amongst them as bloody Tyrants are wont to do The seed of evil doers shall never be renowned That is instead of being renowned the memory of them shall be abhorred yea the remembrance of them shall utterly perish See the Note Prov. 10.7 They shall by degrees be cut off so that at last there shall not be one left to be called by their name neither shall there be any mention made of them And this though delivered in general terms is here inserted with relation to Belshazzar and his wicked Progenitors as a reason why he was cut off and after him all his posterity too as is farther threatned in the following Verses Ver. 21. Prepare slaughter for his children c. That taunting Speech or Song begun ver 4. being ended with the foregoing verse here the Prophet doth again proceed to foretel the destruction of the Babylonian and his Posterity Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers see the Note Josh 7.25 Now this is spoken as to the Medes and Persians that did at first surprize Babylon as that before Chap. 13.2 so to all others that were in after-times to execute farther vengeance upon Babylon till it was utterly destroyed That they do not rise nor possess the land nor fill the face of the world with Cities that is that they may not grow up in their fathers stead and raise up again that State and Empire which God had overturned and replenish the world with another wicked generation that might dom neer and make as much havock in the world and enlarge their Dominion by building and beautifying many Cities called by their names as their Fathers had done before them Ver. 22. For I will rise up against them saith the Lord of hosts c. Having in the foregoing verse enjoyned the Medes Persians and others to cut off the issue of the Babylonian King that they might not rise nor possess the land here he assures them that this should be effected how incredible soever it might seem in an eye of reason because the Lord himself would rise up against them who would certainly bring it to pass and cut off from Babylon that is from the King of Babylon the name and remnant that is all his Posterity see the Notes Psal 9.5 1 King 14.10 and so it is expounded in the following words and Son and Nephew But yet there are very many Expositors understand this more generally that God would cut off from Babylon the name that is the great fame and glory which that City had gotten by the renown of their King and remnant and Son and Nephew that is the Posterity of the inhabitants of Babylon Ver. 23. I will also make it a possession for the Bittern c. A kind of water-fowl that thrusting her bill into the mire or some broken cane doth thereby several times together make a most hideous noise like the braying of an Asse which translation of the original word seems the more probable because of the following words and pools of water and because elsewhere the Bitter and the Cormorant another water-fowl are joyned together Chap. 34.11 But the Cormorant and the Bittern shall pâ—ssess it and so also Zeph. 2.14 As for that which is said here of making Babylon pools of water the most Expositors hold that this was occasioned by Cyrus his letting out the River Euphrates into many ditches which he had cut for that purpose that so he might with his Army pass over that great River and surprise Babylon by means whereof the Country or Land thereabouts that was low and watry before became much more moorish and fenny especially in after-times when by degrees the dams and sluces came to be more and more neglected and the dikes to be choaked up and I will sweep it with the besome of destruction saith the Lord to wit by clearing it of all the riches and inhabitants thereof See the Notes Chap. 13.19 20. and 1 Kings 14.10 Ver. 24. The Lord of hosts hath sworn saying Surely as I have thought so shall it come to pass c. See the Note Chap. 5.9 Ver. 25. That I will break the Assyrian c. The rod of Gods anger as the Prophet had before called him Chap. 10.5 in my land that is the land of Judea which God had given to his people and where he had promised to dwell amongst them and upon my mountains that is the mountains of Judea or those about Jerusalem tread him under foot as in great wrath and contempt See the Note Psal 44.5 And this I conceive is meant of the destruction of Sennacherib King of Assyria and his Army related 2 Kings 19.35 36. which was done not far from Jerusalem which they were come to besiege that hereby it might be the more apparent that it was the God of Israel that destroyed him and that for seeking to ruine his people then shall his yoke depart from off them and his burden depart from off their shoulders that is then shall the Assyrian yoke be taken from off my people See the Note Chap. 10.27 Some indeed hold that it is the Babylonian that is here called the Assyrian See the Note Ezra 6.22 to wit because the Assyrian Empire was translated to the Babylonians when they subdued the Assyrians and because when the Babylonian invaded the land of Judea his Army consisted chiefly of the Assyrians who were then under his command and nearest to Judea and upon pretence of whose old quarrel against the Jews it may well be that he took occasion to invade them But this
Shepherd to feed and to defend the poor people of God Yet some by the first-born of the poor here understand the very poorest amongst the people to wit that even they should come to enjoy plenty of all things and by their feeding some also understand their feasting together with great joy upon Hezekiah's destroying the Philistines And I will kill thy root with famine that is I the Lord God will utterly destroy thee O Palestina even as a tree is destroyed whose root withereth for want of moisture See the Note Chap. 5.24 And he shall stay thy remnant as if he should have said When I shall have destroyed thee with famine then the Cockatrice Hezekiah or the state of Judah under Hezekiah shall slay the remnant with the sword 2 King 18.8 But yet others do rather think that it is God that is intended in both clauses though it be delivered in different persons I will kill saith the Lord and he shall slay saith the Prophet And indeed the Philistines were not utterly destroyed by Hezekiah as is evident by the mention that is made of that Nation by the Prophets after the days of Hezekiah but God did it by degrees at several times and by several instruments However the drift of this whole verse seems to be to assure God's people that however the Philistines might insult over them for a time yet ere long there should be a great change the Philistines should be ruined and undone and they should live in great peace and plenty Ver. 31. Howl O gate c. That is You Rulers and Princes of Palestina that are wont to sit in the gates of your Cities See the Note Gen. 22.17 Cry O City That is You the inhabitants of each City there Yet by Gate and City the same thing may be meant to wit the Inhabitants of all their Cities in general concerning whom the Prophet doth hereby foretel that instead of rejoycing at the misery of God's people of which he had spoken before ver 29. they should howl for the extreme miseries that were coming upon themselves Thou whole Palestina art dissolved or melted and the meaning is that they should be affrighted or utterly ruined see the Notes Psal 46.6 and 75.3 And observable is the expression Thou whole Palestina art dissolved as in reference to what was said before ver 29. Rejoyce not thou whole Palestina for hereby is implied that their dread and desolation should be as general as before their joy and triumph was For there shall come from the North a smoak that is from Judea or Jerusalem which partly lay North-east from Gaza and other Cities in Palestina Hezekiah shall break in upon you with a mighty Army which is termed a smoak because as a black thick stifling smoak that ariseth upon the kindling of some great fire cannot be kept out but fills all places where it comes and darkens the air and doth exceedingly vex and annoy men and drive them out of the places of their abode and breaks out at last into a devouring flame so should this Army of Hezekiah's break in unresistably upon them and overspread the whole land overwhelming them with the darkness of extreme misery and terror and setting the whole land by degrees on a light flame And none shall be alone in his appointed times or assemblies that is the people shall not come in singly one by one but in whole Companies and Troops at the set times or the set places appointed for their assembling together so readily and cheerfully shall they joyn themselves to Hezekiah in this his expedition for the invading of the Philistines Yet some would have the meaning to be that no man should withdraw himself from this service and through faint-heartedness stay alone at home Ver. 32. What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation c. Either the word nation must be here collectively taken nation for nations What shall one then answer the messengers of the nations And then the meaning may be either 1. That when Embassadors should be sent to Jerusalem to congratulate this great victory of theirs over the Philistines or when messengers should be sent to Judea upon any other occasion and coming thither should enquire of the late overthrow of the Philistines the answer that should be returned in Judea to these Embassadors or Messengers of the Nations should be that the Lord hath founded Zion that is that he had built it and appointed it to be the place where he would dwell amongst his people and that accordingly he would protect and establish it for ever See the Note Psal 78.69 and 87.1 and that the poor of his people shall trust in it that is they shall account themselves safe in Jerusalem because they shall be under Gods protection therein And the meaning is that the Jews should answer the Embassadors or Messengers of the Nations that by this which God had done to the Philistines it was evident that God had undertaken to establist and defend Zion and that therefore all his enemies must needs be destroyed Or 2. That when the Embassadors or Messengers of the Nations returning home from Judea to their own Countries and it may be extended to any strangers that had been there should relate what a wonderful victory the Jews had gotten over the Philistines every one there should be ready to answer that surely the Lord hath founded Zion c. And if thus we understand the words it is all one in effect as if it had been said What think ye will be the report that will be spread all the world over concerning this great overthrow of the Philistines by Hezekiah Why truly that God hath engaged himself for the protecting and preserving of Zion and that therefore his people even when they are brought to the poorest condition may well rely upon her safety But now by the Messengers of the Nation may be meant the Embassadors of the Philistines the Nation spoken of in the foregoing verses And then the meaning seems to be this that in case the Philistines should upon the death of Ahaz supposing Judah then to be in a weak condition send Embassadors to Hezekiah with many proud demands denouncing War against him if those demands were not granted or rather if after their defeat they should send to desire peace of Hezekiah but yet upon very unequal and unreasonable terms the answer which Hezekiah or some other for him should return to these Messengers of the Philistines would be this that the Lord hath founded Zion and the poor of his people shall trust in it or shall betake themselves unto it to wit as a place of refuge and safety CHAP. XV. VERSE 1. THE burden of Moab c. See the Notes Chap. 13.1 and 2 Reg. 9.25 Some say the destruction here threatned was brought upon them by the Assyrian either Salmanassur or Ezarhaddon of which Amos they say prophesyed in the days of Uzziah Amos 2.2 and others by Nebuchadnezzar after he had
which are rendred in our Bibles The brook of the willows may be translated as it is in the Margin The valley of the Arabians therefore the meaning may be either that the Arabians should carry away the spoil of the Moabites Country either as serving under the Assyrians or Babylonians or as afterwards entring the land to pillage and carry away what the Assyrians or Babylonians had left or else that the Assyrians and Babylonians should carry away the prey they had gotten from the Moabites to the valley of the Arabians their Confederates there to be kept a while by them intending afterwards to convey them from thence into their own Countrey But however clear it is that this is mentioned as one cause of the great outcry in the land of Moab of which the Prophet is here speaking Ver. 8. For the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab c. That is Because of these grievous miseries that shall come upon the Moabites there shall be a dreadful outcry amongst them all the land over both of them that are slain and of them that flee from the enemy The howling thereof unto Eglaim and the howling thereof unto Beer-elim that is the howling of this cry shall reach unto these places See the Notes Numb 21.16 Ver. 9. For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood c. To wit with the blood of the slaughtered Moabites So that this is also added as a reason of that great out-cry before spoken of that should be in the land Whether Dimon be the name of a River or of a City is altogether uncertain for we find it no where else mentioned However it seems that there was in this place some greater slaughter made amongst the people than in any other part of the land either because they here stood out longest in the defence of some place against the enemy or for some reason that is not expressed And some think that Dimon is the same City that was before ver 2. called Dibon the name being changed and of Dimon called Dibon which signifieth bloody upon that occasion Yea and very many learned Expositors hold that there is an Allusion in these words to the Story in 2 King 3.20 21 23. concerning a stream of water that came running down from the land of Edem into the Wilderness where there was an Army of three Kings that were going against the Moabites which appeared to the Moabites to be blood and were afterward indeed died red with their blood as if the Prophet would have said That as then the stream was onee before died with blood so it should be again Whereas to me it seems more than probable that the waters mentioned in that place were miraculously sent of God for the refreshing of those Armies and were not the waters of a River that did constantly run thorow that Wilderness And therefore for those following words For I will bring more it is in the Original additions upon Dimon I do not think the meaning of that is that whereas those waters were made red with blood at that time when those three Kings slew the Moabites now there should be more blood there because the slaughter of the Moabites by the Babylonians should be far greater than that formerly was by those three Kings The meaning of those words rather is either 1. That God would add streams of blood to the waters of Dimon which running into it from several places should make the river rise and swell more and more Or 2. that God would bring more and greater vengeance upon Dimon than upon other parts of the land the slaughter should be greater there and so more blood should be shed there than in any other place besides Or 3. that God would bring more evils upon Dimon than what he had hitherto spoken of concerning the spoiling of their pastures and the plundering of their goods ver 6 7. even this here mentioned the shedding of their blood in so great abundance yea say some more than that here mentioned to wit that after the miseries brought upon them by the Assyrians the Babylonians should also in process of time utterly destroy them Or 4. That to the judgment here threatned that the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood he would add yet more to wit the judgment set forth in the following words Lions upon him that escapeth of Moab and upon the remnant of the land which though some understand of men fierce and savage as Lions as namely the Babylonian or the Assyrian who though he was only as a Bear to other parts of Moab yet he would be as a Lion to Dimon Yet I rather think it is to be understood literally to wit that those Moabites that had escaped the Sword and were left in the land should be slain by Lions and other wild beasts to wit either in the wilderness whither they should flee to escape the Sword or in their own land which lying desolate Lions should breed in it as it was with the Colonies in Samaria 2 King 17.25 CHAP. XVI VERSE 1. SEnd ye the Lamb to the Ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness unto the mount of the daughter of Zion There are only two Expositions of this place which can consist with our Translation The first is that by the Lamb here is meant a Sacrifice of Atonement which the Moabites are here stirred up to send to the Temple at Jerusalem Only there is this difference amongst those that do thus conceive of the Lamb to be sent 1. That some think the Prophet doth here seriously advise the Moabites to send Lambs and other such like cattel to be offered up in Sacrifice to God the Ruler of the whole world at the Temple at Jerusalem there to pacifie God's displeasure against them And 2. that others take it to be Ironically spoken and by way of insulting over the Moabites as if he had said You that had wont to despise and blaspheme the God of Israel now that you see your selves in such desperate danger now that you are so miserably destroyed you had best send your Sacrifices to the Ruler of the world at the Temple in Mount Zion But alas if you had a mind to do so it is now you see too late But then the 2. is that by the Lamb which the Moabites are here advised to send to the Ruler of the land is meant the Tribute which they were wont to pay to the King of Judah Because it is evident that the Moabites were subdued by David and became Tributaries to him See the Notes 2 Sam. 8.2 And it is most probable that the Tribute agreed upon was that which is mentioned 2. King 3.4 An hundred thousand Lambs with an hundred thousand Rams with the wool which it seems they paid duly to the Kings of Israel after that Kingdom was divided from the Kingdom of Judah till after the death of Ahab when they refused to pay their Tribute any longer either to
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
2 King 19.35 so that the drift of this passage seems to be this that considering the calamity that was to come upon Gods people was not like to last long but that they should be speedily setled again peaceably in their own Land the Moabites had no cause to reject the Jews when they fled to them for shelter as fearing lest the Assyrians should be enraged against them for it but rather might do well therein to gratifie the Jews thereby to make them their friends for the time to come And all this we must know is spoken by way of insulting over the Moabites in their destruction because they had not done that which in all reason and equity they should have done Ver. 5. And in mercy shall the throne he established c. Or prepared That is However the Throne of Judah shall be dangerously shaken by the invasion of the Assyrian which shall cause the Jews to flee to thee O Moab yet it shall not be utterly overthrown and ruined but through the mercy and free grace of God it shall be established and setled again in great strength and power for him to whom it belongs Some I know understand those words in mercy of the mercy of the King of Judah whereby his Throne should be established for him and for his Successors But I question not but that it is meant of Gods mercy to the Kingdom of Judah And thereupon it follows and he shall sit upon it in truth c. which words must be understood both of Christ and of Hezekiah as he was a type of Christ Understanding it of Hezekiah the meaning is That he should sit upon the Throne of Judah in truth i. e. certainly or surely firmly and constantly or that he should govern the people sincerely and uprightly in the Tabernacle of David that is in the house and palace of David judging and seeking Judgment and hastning Righteousness that is being careful to execute Judgment and Justice amongst them without partiality and without delay But understanding it of Christ who is indeed principally here intended the meaning then is That God would raise him up out of the Posterity of David and that he should sit upon the Throne of David for ever See the Note Chap. 9.7 protecting his people and executing Judgment upon his and their enemies see the Note Chap. 11.5 And accordingly the drift of this passage seems to be first more particularly that in regard the Assyrian should be destroyed and Hezekiah setled in the Throne of Judah it would be better for the Moabites to side with the Jews than with the Assyrians And 2ly more generally that it was meer solly in the Moabites and others to expect the ruine of the Throne and Kingdom of Judah upon every prevailing of their enemies against them there being a King to arise in the posterity of David who should sit on that Throne and should justly govern and prosperously defend Gods people for ever Ver. 6. We have heard of the pride of Moab c. Some Expositors hold that God speaks here of himself in the Plural Number as in Gen. 1.26 for which see the Note there And others suppose that this is spoken in the name of other people alledging the pride of the Moabites as a reason why it was no wonder to them to hear of their Destruction But more generally it is thought by Expositors that in this word We the Prophet doth include the Lord God himself the Jews and all the neighbour Nations and that it is all one in effect as if he had said That the Pride of Moab was on all sides well known We have heard of the Pride of Moab he is very proud even of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath that is the wrath which out of his great pride and haughtiness he hath discovered against the Jews The full scope of this whole passage may be thus expressed These things-whereto the Moabites have been here advised verse 1 3 4. they ought in all reason to have done but alas they are too proud to do any such thing we have heard of their proud boastings and threats Because they are a great and wealthy people and their Country and Cities are very strong therefore they fear nothing and instead of carrying themselves to the people of God according to the counsel before given them they on the contrary do in their pride deal despitefully and injuriously with them But this their pride shall not secure them but shall rather prove their ruine which is implied in the following words but his lies shall not be so that is their vain confidence their proud boastings and threatnings shall prove but lies that which they vainly and proudly conceit and boast and threaten shall not come to pass Ver. 7. Therefore c. That is because of their horrid pride Moab shall howl for Moab that is say some the living Moabites shall howl for the dead or rather they shall mutually howl one to another or one for another so that as it follows every one shall howl that is there shall be a general howling all the Land over for the foundations of Kir-hareseth See the Note Chap. 15.1 shall ye mourn that is not for the plundring or defacing of it but for the utter subverting of it and razing the very foundations of it and the rather haply because ye thought them invinsible This indeed may be read as it is in the Margin of our Bibles for the foundations of Kir-hareseth shall ye mutter And they that read it so conceive the meaning to be That they should mutter within themselves that seeing that Town had formerly stood out against the siege of three Kings for which see the Note 2 King 3.25 and was now in as good strength as ever therefore they should be well enough able to defend it and accordingly they hold that in the following words surely they are stricken the vanity of these their hopes is discovered in that notwithstanding this their muttering the foundations of this their strong Town were stricken that is overthrown or destroyed or they that flattered themselves thus were stricken that is wounded or slain But I conceive the former Translation to be far the best and that in the last words the reason is given why they should mourn for the foundations of Kir-hareseth namely because they should surely be stricken that is razed and ruined Ver. 8. For the fields of Heshbon languish c. That is they lye waste and desert see the Note Chap. 15.4 and the vine of Sibmah a City formerly taken from the Amorites by the Children of Israel Numb 32.38 but now in the possession of the Moabites both were places it seems of great note for their Vineyards so that the mention of these imports that the most pleasant and fruitful of the Land should be destroyed The Lords of the Heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof that is the Princes and Commanders of the armies invading the Land of
Moab whether Assyrians or Chaldeans or those great Potentates and Conquerors that have in a manner subdued all the Nations far and near have by their armies utterly wasted the choice plants of these Vineyards they are come even unto Jazer a City in the confines of Moab formerly a City of refuge in the Tribe of Gad Josh 21.39 And some understand hereby that the Lords of the Heathen went on wasting the Vineyards even unto Jazer and so on to the Wilderness c. as it followeth in the next words because so far that goodly track of Land was replenished with Vineyards And others understand hereby the peoples fleeing or being carried Captives even unto Jazer through the Wilderness and over the Sea for so also they understood those words that follow they wandred through the Wilderness and they are gone over the Sea But because there is afterward again mention made of the Vineyards her branches are stretched out I rather conceive that this with all that follows is spoken of the Vineyards of that goodly Country and that the drift of the words is either 1. to set forth the large extent of those Vineyards that so the former flourishing condition of those places might stir up the greater lamentation for the sad devastation that was coming upon them They are come even unto Jazer that is these Vineyards of Sibmah do stretch forth themselves even as far as Jazer they wandred through the wilderness that is they went along winding this way and that through the VVilderness to wit of Moab see the Note above vers 1. Her branches are stretched out they are gone over the Sea that is they ran out as far as the Sea that is the Dead-Sea the Lake of Sodom yet in Jer. 48.32 it is expressed thus Thy plants are gone over the Sea they reach even to the Sea of Jazer or else 2ly to shew how these their Vines as being very precious and their VVines under which all their wealth may also be comprehended were carried away together with their persons even unto Jazer and so through the Wilderness and over the Sea into some remote Country See the Note Chap. 15.7 Ver. 9. Therefore I will bewail c. This may be taken as spoken by the Prophet either in the person of the Moabites or in his own person See the Note before Chap. 15.5 and it is expressed thus to imply that the misery of Moab should be so great that it would cause any man to mourn bitterly with them I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah that is I will bewail the destruction of the Vineyards of Sibmah with the weeping wherewith men wept over Jazâ—r I will weep as bitterly for the destroying of these precious vines of Sibmah as men wept for the destruction of that goodly City Jaâ—â—r I will water thee with my tears O Heshbâ—n and Elealeh c That is I will weep abundantly for thee powring forth even streams of tears And see the Note Chap. 15.4 Yea considering that Heshbon was famous for her fish-pools as appears by that expression in Solomons Song Chap. 7.4 thine eyes like the fish-pools in Heshbon it may well be that the drift of this expression might be the same as if he had said that Heshbon should not want his tears to water her though he knew her to be abundantly watered already And why he would weep so bitterly for these places he sheweth in the following words for the shouting for thy Summer-fruits and for thy harvest is fallen that is your wonted singing and shouting with a great deal of jollity at the bringing in of your Harvest and Vintage is now ceased to wit because your Corn and vines are spoiled by the enemies But this clause now may be read as it is in the margin for the alarm is fallen upon thy Summer-fruits and upon thy Harvest as if the Prophet had said In Harvest and Vintage-time the enemy shall break in upon you with a hideous shouting and indeed so it is expressed Jer. 48.32 The spoiler is fallen upon thy Summer-fruits and upon thy Vintage and that shall be instead of the joyful shouting that used to be in your fields at those times for if this last clause be thus translated yet that this is implied is evident by the next verse Ver. 10. And gladness is taken away and joy out of the plentiful field and in the Vineyards there shall be no singing neither shall there be shouting c. To wit as at such times of Harvest and Vintage there used to be see the Notes Judg. 9.27 and Psal 126.5 6. and that because there should be no Corn to reap nor grapes to tread the enemy having destroyed all by reason of God's just wrath against them as it is expressed in the following words The treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses I saith the Lord have made their vintage-shouting to cease Ver. 11. Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab and mine inward parts for Kir-heresh See the foregoing Notes ver 9. and Chap. 15 ver 1 and 5. In Jer. 48.36 it is expressed thus Mine heart shall sound for Moab likr pipes c. And therefore this of the sounding of his bowels and inward parts may be meant only of the deep sighs and groans that came from his heart Yet because extremity of grief will many times cause a mans bowels to roll together and so to rumble and make a noise within him it may be meant of this according to that Jer. 31.20 where God saith of Ephraim My bowels are troubled for him which is in the Hebrew my bowels do sound for him And there may be also an Allusion to the old Custom of using mournful Musick and singing doleful Songs when they bewailed their dead Friends or at any other time of great lamentation Ver. 12. And it shall come to pass when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high places c. That is when it is evident that the Moabites are even wearied and tired out with seeking help of their Idol-gods upon their high-places the ordinary places where they used to serve them to wit partly by their running from one high place to another and partly by their weeping and praying there and the multitude of their Sacrifices which in each high place they offered up to their gods but especially by the fruitlesness of all these their endeavours in that they can procure no help from their gods by all they do That he shall come to his Sanctuary to pray to wit some place reputed more holy than their ordinary high places the Temple as it is most probable of their chief Idol Chemosh See the Note 1 Kin. 11.7 whither they shall fly as their last refuge and their chief Sanctuary in times of great distress hoping there at last to find some help and relief But he shall not prevail that is even there also they shall lose their labour and shall not prevail with their
shall return to the true God the Lord their Creator who had separated them to be a holy people to himself See the Note Deut. 32.6 And shall seek to him for help resting upon him as their only sure refuge which is repeated again in other words And his eyes shall have respect to the holy One of Israel see the Note Chap. 1.4 And this was accomplished partly in the days of Hezekiah when divers of Asher and Manasseh and Zebulun being invited thereto by Hezekiah came to Jerusalem to keep the Passover and helped to destroy all the Altars and Groves and Images that were left not only in Judah and Benjamin but also in Ephraim and Manasseh 2 Chron. 30.11 14. and 31.1 and partly afterward in the days of Josiah 2 Chron. 34.33 Ver. 8. And he shall not look to the Altars the work of his hands c. That is which he made of his own hand without any warrant or command from God and that for the worship of his Idol-gods and therefore is that which follows added Neither shall respect that which his fingers have made either the groves or the Images See the Note Chap. 2.8 For the groves here joyned with their Images See the Notes Gen. 21.33 Deut. 16.21 and 2 King 23.6 The word in the Original which is translated in our Bibles Images may be rendred as it is in the Margin Sun-images whereby it is like are meant either images that stood abroad open in the air where the Sun might shine upon them or rather such images wherein they worshipped the Sun and which haply were made round to represent the Orb of the Sun Ver. 9. In that day c That is In that day of Israels great calamity mentioned before ver 4 and 5 for the three verses immediatly fore-going are by our Translators included in a Parenthesis shall his strong Cities be as a forsaken bough that is as the small twigs and branches growing out of a tree which the Husband-man passeth by and leaves when he lops the tree not vouchsafing to cut them off And an uppermost branch that is a bough left standing on the top of a tree when all the rest are lopped away and so the tree is left naked and bare The meaning is that Israels strong Cities wherein they had so greatly trusted should be left in a poor despised condition ruined and forsaken of the greatest part of their inhabitants standing alone and desolate all the smaller Towns and Villages round about them being utterly wasted and destroyed I know that some Expositors by a forsaken bough do understand a bough stripped of all her beauty fruit and leaves and so accordingly hold that hereby is signified that their strong Cities should be lest ruined stripped of all their Riches Glory and Inhabitants all being fled slain or carried into Captivity But the former Exposition is far the best And suitably hereunto I understand the following words which they left because of the children of Israel that is which strong Cities thus ruined the Assyrians left for the little remnant of the Israelites to dwell in that were not destroyed God in his Providence so disposing it that there should be some poor refuge left for the small remnant of his people which he determined should escape and not be cut off This indeed is also I know otherwise expounded by divers Learned men namely thus which they left because of the children of Israel that is which strong Cities the Canaanites did formerly leave and forsake for fear of the Children of Israel or being dispossessed thereof by the Children of Israel who would have the meaning of the place to be this That the strong Cities of Israel should be left as a forsaken bough in that they should be no more able to defend the Israelites against the Assyrians than in former times they were able to defend the Canaanites against the Israelites but as the Canaanites did forsake those Cities though fenced with strong and high walls for fear of the Israelites so now the Israelites should forsake them for fear of the Assyrians As for the last words And there shall be desolation either it is meant of the Cities before-mentioned that even in those that were left there should be great desolation or else of the Country in general that not only in the Cities but even in the whole Land ther should be extreme desolation Ver. 10. Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation c. That is Because thou hast slighted and despised the God that hath so often saved and delivered thee from thine enemies and so would still have done hadst thou not forsaken him and gone after strange gods and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength See the Note Deut. 32.4 a surer refuge than their strongest Cities could have been Therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants that is with much care and pains thou shalt husband thy grounds planting it with the choicest plants thou canst get And shalt set it with strange slips that is slips brought from far out of foreign Countries which thou shalt tend and nurse with greatest care as esteeming them highly for the rarity and the excellency of them But all this shalt thou do in vain as is expressed in the following verse Ver. 11. In the day thou shalt make thy plant to grow and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish c. That is Day by day yea early every morning thou shalt use all possible means to cause thy plants and the seeds thou hast sown to grow up and accordingly they shall successfully spring up and flourish and give thee great hope of a plentiful crop But the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and desperate sorrow that is in the day when your Country shall be destroyed by the Assyrians they shall spoil and carry away all your encrease and so your great hopes shall come to nothing That which this expression of their harvest being made a heap seems to aim at is either that it should be laid in heaps for the enemy to divide and share amongst them or else that it should be suddenly consumed even as a little heap of corn would be if a mighty Army of hungry Soldiers should come to live upon it Indeed this clause may be read as it is in the Margin But the harvest shall be removed in the day of inheritance and there shall be deadly sorrow that is In the day when thou shouldest come to inherit and possess that which thou hast long hoped and waited for all shall be snatched up and carried away by the Assyrians and so though in the time of thy planting and sowing all went forward joyfully yet when harvest comes thou shalt reap nothing of thy labours but extreme grief and sorrows See Deut. 28.33 This I conceive is the meaning of this place Only we must consider that under this particular of the enemies robbing and spoiling the fruit of their ground
their plundering and carrying away all the wealth which with much labour they had gathered together is also comprehended Ver. 12. Wo to the multitude of many people c. Some understand this of the multitude of the Israelites and Syrians that under the command of Pekah and Rezin invaded the Land of Judah in the days of Ahaz Chap. 7.1 And others again understand it of the Assyrians and others with them that invaded the Israelites of the ten Tribes For say they having in the foregoing part of this Chapter spoken of the destruction of the Syrians and Israelites by the Assyrians see the Note above ver 1. here he foretels how even these Assyrians should likewise afterward be destroyed And that this wo is denounced by the Prophet against them even out of pity to Israel upon whom these Assyrians should exercise so great cruelty But now because of that which followeth ver 13 14. in the description of the destruction of these Assyrians the most Expositors understand this of that numerous Army made up of many several Nations that brake into the Land of Judah under Sennacherib and this is added to comfort them against that havoch that should be made by the Assyrians amongst the Ten Tribes For lest they should think when they have vanquished the Syrians and Israelites as is before related what if they should break into our Country too To this the Prophet answers that though indeed they should so do yet God would then destroy them Wo to the multitude of many people which make a noise like the noise of the Seas and to the rushing of Nations that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty or many waters where the breaking in of the Assyrians with a mighty and confused no sâ— into the Land of Judah is compared to the breaking in of the Seas or an overflowing Deluge of many waters to imply with what violence and on a sudden their numerous Army should over-run their whole Country so that no body should be able to escape them or stand before them See the Notes Chap. 5.30 and 8.7 and 13.4 and Psal 93.3 Ver. 13. The Nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters c. See the foregoing Note But God shall rebuke them In great fury and indignation God shall destroy them See the Notes Psal 6.1 and 2.5 and 119.21 Even as he rebukes the raging of the roaring Seas so shall he still their fury see the Note Psal 65.7 And this was done in the destruction of Sennacherib's Army See the Note 2 Kin. 19.35 And they shall flee far off to wit Sennacherib and some few with him that escaped and fled back into their own Country and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind which is far more easily and suddenly blown away than the chaff or dust that is in the Valleys because there the wind hath most power And See also the Note Job 21.18 and Psal 35.5 And like a rolling thing before the whirlwind That is like a round wisp of stubble or some other light thing first gathered together in a bundle and then carried away with a Whirlwind But now by some this last clause is rendred and like thistle-down before the whirlwind which is a thing indeed that must needs be easily driven away and scattered Ver. 14. And behold at evening-tide trouble and before the morning he is not c. This may be understood of the Assyrians that in the night which is somtimes called the Evening see the Notes Gen. 1.5 were terribly affrighted and put into a confused tumult by the sudden and unexpected slaughter which an Angel made amongst them and before morning were all slain or fled See the Notes 2 Kin. 19.35 36. And perhaps too the evening-tide is mentioned because then the Angel began to slay them But I conceive it is rather spoken of the Inhabitants of Jerusalem to wit that they should be over night in great terror and trouble because of Sennacherib's mighty Army that had besieged the City and because of some late blasphemies and menaces of Rabshakeh and yet before morning he and all his numerous Army are all dead or gone away there 's not an enemy to be seen The Prophet seems to imply that the fury of the Assyrians of which he had spoken in the foregoing verse should be but like a Tempest that ariseth in the Evening and is gone in the Morning as they should on a sudden invade the Land of Judea so on a sudden they should be destroyed This is the portion of them that spoil us and the lot of them that rob us That is The like to this shall befal all that make a prey of God's people and that by the decree and appointment of God according to that of the Apostle 1 Pet. 2.8 Whereunto also they were appointed See also the Note Job 20.19 CHAP. XVIII VERSE 1. WO to the Land shadowing with wings which is beyond the Rivers of Ethiopia This Chapter is throughout very obscure and the difficulty of it is chiefly from hence that it is very questionable what Nation it is against whom the wo here mentioned is denounced Several reasons are given by Expositors why the land here threatned is called a land shadowing with wings As 1. Because it was shadowed with huge high Mountains that were spread out like wings in the utmost coasts of the Country Or 2. Because it abounded with swarms of flies and bees and locusts and huge flights of fowl that out of colder Countries flew thither in great flocks by reason whereof the air was often darkned Or 3. Because they used to cover over the lands whither they went with their huge Armies winged with troops of horsmen see the Note Chap. 8.8 like so many thick clouds of Locusts of which indeed we have a notable instance 2 Chron. 14.9 where there is mention of an Army of Ethiopians that came against Asa the like whereof for number we read not of either in the Scripture or I think in any other History Or 4. Because the Inhabitants of this Land were wont to extend their power for the protecting and shadowing of their neighbouring Nations or at least to promise that they would with their Auxiliary-forces shelter them from their enemies and so caused them the people of God especially to trust much in the shadow of their protection And indeed it is usual in the Scripture to speak of any defence or protection under this Figurative expression of a shadow or covering and shadowing with wings See the Note Numb 14.9 Judg. 9.15 Psal 91.1 4. and Ruth 2.12 Or 5. Because it was a Land that abounded with Ships that shadowed the Sea where they lay and when they were carried before the Wind or the Seas seemed like so many flying Birds both in regard of the swiftness of their motion and because their Sails were thereon like wings according to that of the Poet Velorum pandimus alas But then the great Question is What
after the death of Sethon divided the Kingdom of Egypt into twelve petty Kingdoms and did each of them in their several Dominions by causeless huge Taxes and their civil Broils amongst themselves mightily oppress the people And accordingly the next clause And a fierce King shall rule over them they understand of Psammitichus who at last subdued them all and tyrannized cruelly over the whole Land of which see the Note before ver 2. But now many again understand both the one and the other of foreign Kings that often vanquished the Egyptians and made slaves of them and sometimes subdued the Land Thus some think the Assyrian to be the cruel Lord and the fierce King here intended according to that which is said in the following Chapter ver 4. So shall the King of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners and others think it is meant of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon who amongst other Nations did at last subdue and cruelly waste the whole Land of Egypt according to that which we find often foretold by the Prophets as in Jer. 46.26 where God saith of the Egyptians I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar c. And Ezek. 29.19 Behold I will give the Land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar King of Babylon c. And indeed we may the rather think that this is here intended because the expression here used in the Hebrew seems to imply a total and perfect subduing of Egypt which was effected by Nebuchadrezzar And the Egyptians will I shut up into the hand of a cruel Lord That is I will give them up so absolutley into his power that he shall mightily oppress them and they shall be no way able to shake off his yoke or to rescue themselves out of their bondage Yea some hold that all the several evils before-mentioned that came upon the Egyptians may be here included For say they the drift of this Prophecy being to shew the Folly of the Jews in relying so much upon Egypt which they did even to the reign of the Sons of Josiah the Prophet doth accordingly foretel what a succession of sad times were coming upon Egypt wherein they should not be able to secure themselves and much less to help the Jews Ver. 5. And the waters shall fail from the Sea c. By the Sea here some understand the River Nilus because the Hebrews call all great waters Seas and so they make it the same with that which followeth And the river that is Nilus see the Note Chap. 11.15 shall be wasted and dried up But others again understand it as the words do plainly seem to import the first clause of the sinking or failing of the waters of the Sea and the second of the drying up of the waters of Nilus But what was the failing of the waters of the Sea and Nilus that is here threatned I answer 1. It may be understood to be only Figuratively and Hyperbolically spoken Because say some the Egyptians thought the Sea and Nilus such a sure defence unto their Country that there was no fear of their being invaded by foreign Enemies therefore by the expression here used the Prophet would imply that these should be no defence to them but that the Assyrians or Chaldeans should break in upon them as easily as if the waters of the Sea and the river Nilus were dried up Or say others because the wealth and plenty of Egypt did much depend upon their Traffique by Sea and upon the overflowings of Nilus which instead of rain watered their grounds and by such slimy stuff as it brought down with it made the Soyl exceeding fruitful Therefore by this expression the Prophet intimates that partly by their Civil Wars and partly by the invasion of Foreign Enemies Egypt should be brought into as poor and forlorn and miserable a condition as if the wateâ—s should fail from the Sea and the river Nilus should be wasted and dried up see the Note 2 King 19.24 But 2. it may be understood Literally as namely either 1. of a great drought that God should bring upon Egypt whereby and that especially by the low ebb that should be in the river Nilus there should be a sore Dearth and Famine all over the land Or 2. of that great check that was given to the overflowing of Nilus and the manifold detriment which thereby redounded to the whole land when those twelve Kings of Egypt mentioned in the foregoing verse drained the river in several places and by several channels for the more conveniency of their building those two huge Pyramids and a Labyrinth not far from them which were in after-times for their bigness and workmanship the wonder of the world and some say too for the making of that vast Lake called the Lake of Moeris or Meroe all which they did merely to satisfie their own Lust and Ambition mightily thereby oppressing the people whom they imployed in these stupendious works and impoverishing the land in many regards by weakning the river so that it could not overflow the Country as it had formerly done And this indeed suits well with the description given us in the following verses of the manifold mischiefs which Egypt underwent by the failing of their waters Ver. 6. And they shall turn the rivers far away c. That is The seven streams of Nilus see the Note Chap. 11.15 Or rather the brooks or water-courses drawn from thence It is spoken of those that by draining the river had been the cause of the failing of the waters mentioned in the foregoing verse And this expression of turning the rivers far away as if they minded them not seems to imply their slighting and disregarding the common good of the land in the overflowings of Nilus And the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up That is The brooks or rivers drawn out of Nilus which were a great defence to Egypt or which were purposely drawn out for the environing and defending many of their Cities and strong Holds or the brooks which were defended or kept in with strong banks The meaning is that the brooks of Nilus should be dried up where they were widest and deepest and where the river ran with the strongest stream The reeds and flags shall wither to wit for want of moisture And these are the rather mentioned because the Egyptians did many ways make great use of them for of these they made darts mats for their beds weeles for their fishing baskets and many such things yea their boats and barks See the Note before Chap. 18.1 Ver. 7. The Paper-reeds by the brooks by the mouth of the brooks c. By Paper-reeds here are meant reeds of whose rind or skin they made Paper which was a great commodity in Egypt in those days and by the mouth of the brooks is meant the bank or brink of the brooks where these canes or reeds used to grow For it seems not so probable which
which is expressed figuratively in those following words and shall do sacrifice and oblation c. for which see the foregoing Note ver 19. Ver. 22. And the Lord shall smite Egypt he shall smite and heal it c. That is His strokes shall not be mortal and destructive because after he hath smitten them he shall heal them again Or rather he shall smite them so that by smiting them he shall heal them to wit spiritually by working a saving work of grace in them And this may be meant either of the evils above mentioned which should be an occasion of their conversion or of those afflictions whereby after their conversion God should seek to reclaim them when they went astray And to both these may that also be referred which followeth and they shall return even to the Lord and he shall be intreated of them and shall heal them to wit by delivering them out of their troubles Ver. 23. In that day shall there be a high-way out of Egypt to Assyria and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria c. That is These two Nations that had formerly been in continual hostility one against the other shall both embrace the Christian Faith and so then they shall be at peace and there shall be free commerce between them and loving communion especially in matters of Religion See the Notes Chap. 11.13 16. and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians that is They shall both serve one and the same God joyntly together with one and the same worship after one and the same way Yet there are some that would have this understood also of their being ready to serve one another in love as the Apostle speaks Gal. 5.13 Ver. 24. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria c. That is A third with those amongst whom this mutual Concord and Amity should be The meaning is that whereas hitherto the Israelites had been disjoyned from all other Nations as being God's only peculiar people now there should be no distinction betwixt Jew and Gentile the believing Jew should now own the Egyptian and Assyrian and under these all other Nations are comprehended as the Israel of God no less than themselves and converse with them in all brotherly Love as such Yet I know some conceive that there is more than this intended in these words that Israel shall be the third with Egypt and with Assyria namely That Israel whose land lay between Egypt and Assyria should come in as it were as a third person to make peace between the Egyptian and the Assyrian to wit by bringing them to be joyned together in the profession of the same Faith under Christ their Head as one Church and one People so that whereas formerly Israel had wont to be the occasion of war between Egypt and Assyria by imploring sometimes the aid of the Assyrians against the Egyptians and sometimes the aid of the Egyptians against the Assyrians now he should be a means of uniting them together in holy Love and Communion as with themselves so also one with another And this indeed seems to be the more probable because of the following words even a blessing in the midst of the land For this seems to have special respect to Israel to wit that the Israelites should be a blessing that is a means of conveying a blessing to all the Nations in the world round about them both in regard of the Messiah that was to spring from them and because by their means the Nations should be converted and brought in to be God's people Or that they should be a form and pattern of blessing For all which see the Notes Gen. 12.2 3. and Psal 72.17 Yet I confess this last clause may be extended to all the three before-mentioned to wit that Israel Assyria and Egypt should be a blessing in the midst of the land That is that they should be Nations blessed of God through Christ whereto agrees that which followeth in the next verse Ver. 25. Whom the Lord of Hosts shall bless c. To wit effectually saying Blessed be Egypt my people to wit no less than Israel had formerly been and Assyria the work of mine hands to wit in regard of Regeneration God's workmanship as such are called Ephes 2.10 See the Note also Deut. 32.6 And Israel mine inheritance that is my chosen people most dear to me see the Note Deut. 32.10 But indeed some special Prerogative belonging peculiarly to Israel seems to be hereby implied as namely that Israel had been his people of old for many generations and therefore called God's First-born See the Note Exod. 4.22 CHAP. XX. VERSE 1. IN the year c. The Prophet having before denounced the Judgments that were to come upon the Ethiopians Chap. 18. and the Judgments that were to come upon the Egyptians Chap. 19. doth in this Chapter again joyntly together foretel the calamities that were coming upon both these Nations and withal expresseth the time when he foretold this In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod when Sargon the King of Assyria sent him and fought against Ashdod and took it Some think that it is Salmaneser who carried away the ten Tribes of Israel captive into Assyria that is here called Sargon and that he sent Tartan against Ashdod who accordingly subdued and took it about the fourth or fifth year of Hezekiah 2 Kin. 18.9 10. And others conceive that this Sargon was the Son of Salmaneser and Father of Sennacherib and that he desiring to prosecute his Fathers designs and to enlarge his Dominions did invade the land of the Philistins that bordered on the West upon the land of Israel and beginning with Ashdod besieged that the siege whereof might last three years as Samaria did 1 Kin. 17.5 and that when the Egyptians and Ethiopians came in with great Forces to the relief of this City they were by the Assyrians vanquished and carried away captives in that shameful manner as is here afterward related But because 2 Kin. 18.17 Tartan is mentioned to have been one of those three Captains or Colonels that were sent by Sennacherib to summon Hezekiah to render up Jerusalem to him therefore it is more generally held that this Sargon was Sennacherib it being usual in those times for men to have two several names and when he first invaded Judea in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah 2 Kin. 18.13 he had amongst other the strong Cities of Judah taken Ashdod by some forces sent against it under the command of Tartan which they conceive was one of the Cities that Hezekiah had lately recovered out of the hands of the Philistines 2 Kin. 18.8 and that in this year it was that Isaiah was appointed to foretel the destruction of the Egyptians and Ethiopians which they conceive came to pass three years after see the Note here ver 3. when Tirhakah the Ethiopian came out against Sennacherib being then wasting the Land of Judea
this land should be called an Isle which seem not to me to have the least probability in them as because Judea was the Lord's peculiar Inheritance separated from the rest of the world as an Island from the Mainland or because it had the Mediterranean-Sea on the West the Red-Sea Jordan the Sea of Genesareth and the Dead-Sea on other sides of it But indeed the most that can be probably said for this is that it is called an Isle because it bordered upon the Sea-coasts And considering that the word here used in the Original is in several other places of Scripture used even concerning Inland Countries I conceive it is better rendered here as it is in the Margin of our Bibles And the inhabitant of this Countrey shall say in that day However those words this Isle or this Countrey seem clearly to import that the Prophet speaks here of his own Country-men that they should say Behold such is our expectation whither we flee for help to be delivered from the King of Assyria As if they should have said You see what is become of those Nations by whom we expected to be aided against the Assyrians and how shall we escape That is If the Assyrians have destroyed these mighty Nations on whom we relied how shall we escape their fury They that were not able to secure themselves are no way likely to defend us And indeed when Sennacherib had vanquished these their confederates and over-run Judea and was set down with a mighty Army before Jerusalem the condition of the Jews was desperate enough in the eye of Reason had not God miraculously delivered them CHAP. XXI VERSE 1. THE burden c. See the Notes Chap 13.1 and 2 Kings 9.25 of the desert of the sea that is of Chaldea or Babylon as is evident both by the express mention that is made of Babylon ver 9. Babylon is fallen is fallen and by the naming of the Nations by whom Babylon was destroyed to wit the Medes and Persians ver 2. Several reasons are given by Expositors why it is here called the desert of the sea as 1. That it is called a desert either 1. Because there was a great desert betwixt Judea and Babylon and so the Prophet speaks here of Babylon as with respect to the desert beyond which it lay Or 2. Because though Babylon was a very rich and fruitful Country yet there was a great and a vast desert that lay between Chaldea and the land of Media and Persia the inhabitants whereof were the Enemy that was to break into Chaldea and to destroy Babylon Or 3. rather Because by this invasion of the Medes and Persians which the Prophet here foretells it was to be laid waste and desolate and turned into a very desert see Chap. 13.19.22 and so the land which had made the world a wilderness was to be made a wilderness it self And 2. That it is called the desertt of the sea either 1. Figuratively because Babylon was like a huge sea for the multitude of the people and riches that were therein a sea of wealth all the Nations and Kingdoms under that vast Monarchy bringing in their treasures to Babylon as the Rivers do all pour their waters into the Sea as likewise with respect to the turbulent temper of that State that was never quiet but continually breaking forth with great rage against other Nations and to her insatiable covetousness and ambition being herein like the Sea which is never full though all the Rivers run into it Eccles 1.7 Or else 2. Literally and that either with respect to the scituation of Babylon near to the Banks of that greater River Euphrates or to the huge fens and lakes which that River made in the land of Chaldea in several places whence is that expression concerning Babylon Jer. 51.13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters especially after Nitocris a Queen of Chaldea had by diverting the river of Euphrates in deep Channels digged for that purpose winding it up and down in several places turned a great part of the Country into a very Fen to stop the violence of that river when it ran right forward or as others say purposely to prevent the breaking in of the Medes and Persians upon Babylon on that side of the Country As whirlwinds in the South pass through c. That is As Whirlwinds that do usually arise suddenly in the South called therefore Whirlwinds of the South Zech. 9.14 according to that Job 37.9 Out of the South cometh the whirlwind do pass on with mighty violence so that nothing can stand before them So it cometh from the desert from a terrible land that is so this burden I am now to foretel this heavy calamity that will light upon Babylon cometh from the desert from a terrible land which may be meant either of that part of Chaldea about Babylon which Nitocris had turned into a very Fen and desert place by drawing Euphrates into it or of that Desert which lay on the South between Chaldea and Media and Persia through which indeed Cyrus was to pass with his Army Or else of the land it self of Media and Persia the Northerly parts whereof were waste and mountainous and might well be called a terrible land because these Nations were indeed a very fierce and savage people See Chap. 13.17 18. and the State of Babylon was very much afraid of them That therefore which is intended by this clause is that as formerly the Babylonians had broke in like a violent Tempest upon Judea so now the Medes and Persians should on a sudden from the South break in like a violent Tempest upon Babylon Ver. 2. A grievous Vision is declared unto me c. To wit that which he had before called The burden of the desert of the Sea And this begins in the following words wherein the Prophet relates what the Lord had said to him in the Vision The treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously and the spoiler spoileth Now some conceive that the first branch of this The treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously is meant of the Babylonians and that the next and the spoiler spoileth is meant of the Medes and Persians who should thereby punish the treachery of the Babylonians And others understand both the one and the other of the Medes and Persians and to shew how they dealt treacherously with the Babylonians they tell us how some of the Babylonian Captains revolted to them of which Gadatas and Gobrias are named and did much help forward the taking of Babylon Yea some say what can hardly be made good out of any History to wit that the Medes and Persians were not only in League with the Babylonians at that time when they invaded Chaldea but also that they were upon a treaty of Peace with them when they took Babylon and were invited by Belshazzar to a great Feast and taking advantage of this slew him and surprized the City But with most Expositors I rather think that this is meant of the
but also that their smoothness might cause the weapons that lighted upon them to glide away and not so easily to enter them Yet some I know hold that in these words the Babylonian Princes are advised Ironically to arise and make them another King that might be a shield to them instead of Belshazzar that was staing or to submit to their King Darius Dan. 5.30 31. For which see the Note Psal 47.9 Ver. 6. For thus hath the Lord said unto me c. Here the Prophet proceeds farther to relate the burdensom vision which God had revealed unto him concerning the Destruction of Babylon and that to assure those to whom he spake that what he had foretold would certainly be neither is there indeed any reason why we should say with some others that this was another Vision and so multiply Visions needlesly when all may as well be understood of the same Vision Go set a Watchman let him declare what he seeth Because when Isaiah foretold this Ruine of Babylon there was no appearance of the least likelihood of any such thing therefore in the Vision that he saw he was appointed to set a Watch-man upon a high Watch-Tower that should faithfully declare what from thence he descried And this I conceive was to imply that though at present there was no appearance of that which he foretold yet he had said nothing but what as Gods Watchman by the revelation of Gods Spirit he had as it were from Heaven fore-seen coming upon the Babylonians and therefore though it were seen as that which was afar off yet assuredly it would come to pass And indeed upon this account Prophets are often called Watchmen in the Scripture as in Ezek. 3.17 Son of man I have made thee a Watchman unto the house of Israel There is much arguing amongst Expositors concerning this Watch-man which Isaiah should set Some think that all intended hereby was that he himself should as a Watchman from his Watch-Tower descry what God would reveal to him and this they would make good from that which followeth ver 10. That which I have heard of the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel have I declared unto you Again others say that Isaiah is here commanded to appoint some other Prophet or some Son of the Prophets as a Watchman to expect what God by Vision would reveal to him concerning this business and faithfully to relate what he had seen But methinks it is clear that all this is only a relation of what Isaiah had seen in his Prophetical Vision namely that God bad him set a Watchman in a Watch-Tower that should faithfully make known what he should see And accordingly in the following Verses he tells us what this his Watchman did in this his prophetical Vision both see and say Ver. 7. And he saw a Chariot with a couple of horsemen a Chariot of Asses and a Chariot of Camels c. That is The Watchman whom in his Vision at Gods Command he had set in a Watch-Tower Now the sight here related which this Watchman saw some understand thus that there was but one Chariot drawn by an Ass and a Camel and therefore called a Chariot of Asses and a Chariot of Camels and two horsemen riding thereon which they say represenâ—ed Cyrus and Darius But in our Translation it seems to be clearly said That he saw three Chariots one drawn by Horses whereon two horsemen rode besides those that were in the Chariot or which was guided or accompanied with a couple of horsemen and the other two were drawn the oâ—e by Asses the other by Camels And some add too That by the couple of horsemen that accompanied the first Chariot is meant two troops of horsemen However this which he saw was doubtless the Armies of the Medes and Persians that were under the Command of Cyrus and Darius to invade Babylon and wherein there were a multitude of Horses and Chariots and Asses and Camels partly for military service and partly for the carriage of their baggage and all manner of Provisions for their Army which must needs be exceeding great both in regard of the many desert places they were to march through and the uncertain length of the siege of Babylon which was so strong a City the main thing they had in design And he hearkned diligently with much heed That is The Watchman before mentioned Ver. 6. proceeded to look about and to hearken with all possible diligence to see if he could discover any thing more and that he might fully inform himself concerning that which he saw as which way they bent their course and what they intended to do And considering that this Watchman did represent Gods Prophet in his making known the destruction that was to come upon Babylon hereby is implyed how solicitously careful he was fully to inform the people of all that God was pleased to reveal to him Ver. 8. And he cried A Lion c. That is The Watchman before mentioned perceiving the military forces approaching to Babylon cried out Behold it is a Lion And this is commonly thought to be meant of Cyrus or Darius who for his fierceness is compared to a Lion as also Jer. 50.44 Behold he shall come up like a lion But now the best of our Interpreters do read these words as it is in the margin of our Bibles And he cried as a Lion and the meaning they say is That being frighted with the sight of such a potent enemy ready to break in upon Babylon he cried out with an exceeding loud voice like the roaring of a Lion thereby as it were to waken the sleepy Babylonians and to make them sensible of the danger they were in that so they might presently betake themselves to their Arms. Now the words that he spake with such a loud voice are those that follow My Lord I stand continually upon the Watch-Tower in the day time and I am set in my ward whole nights And he began with making this profession of his constant vigilancy and faithful discharge of his trust either to the Prophet that had set him in his Watch-Tower or else to the Lord who had appointed Isaiah to do so See the Note before ver 6. that he might the better clear himself from being any way guilty of neglect if there came any danger to the place where he was set to watch And how this also did imply the diligence and faithfulness of the Prophet see in the foregoing Note Ver. 9. And behold here cometh a Chariot of men c. That is a Chariot or Chariots taking the word collectively wherein men use to ride not a Chariot or Waggon used only for carriage Here the Watchman before mentioned proceeds further to tell what he had discovered ver 6. concerning forces that were marching against Babylon Only some conceive that he speaks here as if he desired to make known the more fully to set forth the certainty of Babylons ruine that the forces which he had before
that the possession of houses and the supreme command over Towns and Cities is usually given unto men by the delivering up the keys to them therefore even in these times they that have chief Charge and Government in the Courts and Houses of Kings have usually a Golden Key as the sign and badg of their Office And some think that it was so with Eliakim at least that he wore the figure of a key made with embroidered work upon his cloak and that thence it is said that the Key of the house of David should be laid upon his shoulder But these are mere conjectures The true reason why it is said that this Key of Government should be laid upon his shoulder was to signifie the great weightiness and burden of that charge which was hereby imposed upon him see the Notes Chap. 9.6 And to hint it may be the abilities wherewith God had furnished him for so great a service that God had given him shoulders fit to bear such a burden So he shall open and none shall shut and he shall shut and none shall open that is he shall have absolute Power for the governing of the Royal Family and for the ordering of all things therein Nothing shall be done without him nor shall any man have power to cross or hinder him in what he will have done And herein was Eliakim a type of Christ whence it is that St. John clearly in reference to this place doth set forth the Supreme Power of Christ in and over the Church in these very terms Rev. 3.7 He that hath the key of David he that openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth Ver. 23. And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place c. To wit As a nail which men use to fasten surely in some wall or post that they may thereon hang their houshold Utensils see the Note Ezra 9.8 The meaning is that God would so settle him in that Office whereto he was to be advanced that he should never be removed from thence as Shebna should be As he would make him constanly iust and faithful in his place that he should no way deserve to be removed so he would also secure him from being injuriously or causelesly thrust out And he shall be for a glorious Throne to his Fathers house That is he shall be an exceeding great honour to the Tribe of Judah of which he is say some or rather to all his Kindred and Family and by his means they shall live in very great splendor and glory as great in a manner as if they were of the Blood Royal. And this is opposed to that which was before said of Shebna ver 18. that he should be the shame of his Lords house Ver. 24. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his fathers house the off-spring and the issue c. That is All his Kindred and Allies even they and their Posterity together with all the Honour and places of Dignity they enjoy shall wholly depend upon Eliakim that nail in a sure place as he was called in the foregoing verse and they shall willingly acknowledg that all their glory was derived to them from him And then the more fully yet to express how they should all even to the meanest of them receive some benefit by his greatness in the Kings Court following still the same metaphor he adds all vessels of small quantity from the vessels of Cups even to all the vessels of flagons or as it is in the margin instruments of viols that is both Cups and Pots of several weights and sizes and likewise all kind of musical instruments And the meaning is that not only the greater ones in his Family that were of most note and fittest for honourable Imployments should be preferred and upheld by him but that all of what rank and condition soever they were even to the very Servants of their Families should receive some advantage either in some imployment assigned or some respect given to them by reason of their Relation to him and dependance upon him Those I know that by his Fathers house do understand more generally the whole Tribe of Levi do accordingly expound these words in a larger extent to wit That all the people rich and poor should depend upon Eliakim and willingly submit to him and that he should uphold and defend not the Nobles and Rich and Great Ones only but even the poorest and meanest amongst them and all that belonged to them and that the benefit that should redound to the people by his wise ordering the Affairs of the Realm should continue from one Generation to another the off-spring and the issue Again others would have the meaning to be That all the Officers at Court even to the meanest of them should depend upon him and be at his disposing and be under his power and government But the former Exposition is clearly the most genuine Ver. 25. In that day saith the Lord of Hosts shall the nail that is fastned in the sure place be removed and be cut down and fall c. That is Shebna that seems now to all men to be so surely setled in his place that there is no likelihood of removing him even as a nail is nailed and fastened in a sure place and is himself most confident of it as appears by the stately Sepulchre he hath in Jerusalem built for his dead body ver 16. even he shall be thrust out of his Office that Eliakim may succeed in his place and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off that is All that had their dependance upon him shall sink with him and all the hopes of his wicked faction that rested and relied on him shall together with him fall to the ground CHAP. XXIII VERSE 1. THE Burden of Tyre c. See the Notes Chap. 13.1 and 2 King 9.25 Tyre was a City in Phoenicia lying upon the midland Sea yea in a manner encompassed with the Sea as Venice is and so was a Port and Mart-Town of greatest note in those times Ezek. 27.3 4. Say unto Tyrus O thou that art situate at the entry of the Sea which art a Merchant for the people of many Isles Thy borders are in the midst of the Seas See also the Note Psal 45.12 when Canaan was divided by Joshua this City fell to the lot of Ashur Josh 19.29 and that it was not far from Galilee is evident because it is said Matth. 15.21 That Jesus went thence into the Coasts of Tyre and Sidon But it seems being a place of exceeding great strength and therefore called in that Josh 19.29 the strong City Tyre And in 2 Sam. 24.7 The strong hold of Tyre The Israelites were afraid to attempt it and so it continued still in the possession of the old inhabitants But now what the Judgment was wherewith this great City Tyre is here threatned in this burdensom Prophecy is very questionable Some hold it is meant
of the great streights whereinto this City was brought within a short time after by Salmanasser and Sennacherib the Kings of Assyria which seems not to me so probable at least that this was not all that was here intended because the Prophet speaks here expresly of this City's being laid waste whereas the utmost that any History reports concerning the Assyrians attempts against Tyre is That they blocked it up for five years and some add too That the Assyrians were at last overcome in a Sea-fight wherewith the Tyrians were exceedingly puffed up Again others under the calamity wherewith Tyrus is here threatned do comprehend the taking sacking and destroying of Tyre by Alexander the great of whom indeed it is reported by several Historians that after a long and hard siege he at length filled up that branch of the Sea that was betwixt the continent and Tyre that so his Army might approach her walls and by this means took it and utterly ruined it But it is not I conceive very probable that this is intended neither and that because ver 15. of this Chapter there followeth a promise That seventy years after the ruine here threatned the Tyrians should recover their liberty again which we do not find was ever done after Alexander had destroyed it And therefore in the last place the most of Expositors do understand it of the desolation that was brought upon this City by Nabuchadnezzar which indeed seems most probable 1. Because in Ezekiel's Prophecy against Tyre which agreeth in many passages with this it is expresly said Behold I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon c. Because the seventy years of the Syrians Captivity do sute so well with the seventy years of the Jews Captivity in Babylon And observable it is that elsewhere two sins are particularly mentioned as the principal cause of the ruine that God here threatens to bring upon this City to wit her excessive Pride in her riches and great strength And 2ly her insulting over Jerusalem when she was before destroyed by the same King see Ezek. 26.2 and 28.2 and Joel 3.4 c. Howl ye ships of Tarshish c. Figuratively this may be spoken to the ships themselves but rather it is meant of those in the ships Howl ye ships of Tarshish that is mourn and lament bitterly O ye Seamen and Merchants that are still passing in your ships by way of trading between Tyre and Tarshish and other foreign parts and indeed Tarshish is expresly mentioned amongst those that traded with Tyre Ezek. 27.12 but for the ships of Tarshish see the Notes 1 King 10.22 and Psal 48.7 for it is laid waste to wit Tyre and the Island wherein it stood and therefore all the Merchandise you left therein is utterly lost and the rich trading you had wont to have with that famous City is now at an end so that there is no house no entring in that is No house to entertain you no going in or coming out by way of trading from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them that is They of the land of Chittim who being nearer to Tyrus did first hear of it revealed it to those of Tarshish And who are meant by those of the land of Chittim See Numb 24.24 Other Expositions I know are given of that last clause but according to our Translation that which I have given seems the clearest Ver. 2. Be still ye inhabitants of the Isle c. Some hold that Isle is here collectively put for Islands and accordingly that it is the inhabitants of the Islands of the Midland-Sea that are here advised to be still that is to rest quietly in their several places and not to think of making any more voyages to Tyre that was utterly destroyed or to sit down silent mourning with her and for her But they are rather the Inhabitants of Tyre that are here spoken to which was an Isle till Alexander the Great as Histories report joyned it to the continent see the foregoing Notes Be still ye inhabitants of the Isle that is Boast not so proudly O ye Tyrians as you had wont to do in your great riches and the invincible strength of your City make not your City to ring with your revelling and rioting as you have used to do but rather let the astonishment horror and grief that is befallen you stop your mouths and make you sit down in silence as mourners use to do See the Note Job 2.13 Or thuâ— Be still ye inhabitants of the Isle as if he had said There shall not be that tumult and noise amongst you which there hath been by reason of the multitude of shipping and trading you had formerly there because your City being laid desolate there will be nothing but still silence there thou whom the Merchants of Zidon that pass over the Seas have replenished that is Who art filled with Merchants and all kind of Merchandise from beyond the Sea And Zidon is particularly named because being a haven-Town and near to Tyre and joyned in strict League and Confederacy with Tyre whence it is that in the Scripture they are still joyned together as if they had been but one it â—e though they had indeed several Kings Jer. 27.2 the Zidonian Merchants were still in greatest number there The drift of these last words is to imply that notwithstanding her great state and riches she should be laid waste and desolate But observable withal it is that Ezek. 26.2 Tyrus is brought in insulting over Jerusalem when she was destroyed with these very words I shall be replenished now she is laid waste Ver. 3. And by great waters the seed of Sihor the harvest of the river is her revenue c. Sihor is usually taken to be a small river that divided Egypt from Palestina Numb 34.5 and Josh 13.3 And accordingly some hold that by the seed of Sihor here is meant the seed of Egypt which is here called Sihor because this river Sihor was its utmost bounds But now because it seems no way probable that Egypt should be called Sihor only because of a small brook of that name that went through the skirts of that Country and for several other reasons that they give for it many learned men do with much confidence affirm that it is Nilus that is here called Sihor it may be with respect to a small branch of it that ran out to the borders of Canaan that was there called Sihor and that by the seed of Sihor here is meant the several fruits which the seed sown in Egypt by the river Nilus yieldeth to them as all kind of Corn Flax and such like And so the meaning of the words seems to be plainly this That the Wheat and other grain and fruit that either grew abundantly in Egypt by the great waters of Nilus the water-courses that were drawn from thence called therefore the harvest of the river Or that were transported by the great waters of the Ocean-Sea was the Revenue of
Tyre wherewith her own Inhabitants were maintained and wherewith she traded into other Countries Though she had no grounds comparatively of her own yet Nilus in Egypt afforded her yearly a plentiful Crop and Harvest and she is a mart of Nations that is That great Mart-Town whither all Nations in a manner far and near do daily resort for trading as is largly set forth Ezek. 27. All which is here inserted to imply That notwithstanding she was so rich and abundantly supplied with all kind of Provision yet this should not save her from ruine Ver. 4. Be thou ashamed O Zidon c. To wit either 1. because as some say Zidon who was the mother of Tyre had not defended that her daughter but was forced to sit still and look on whilst she was laid waste by her enemies And indeed we find in some Historians that the Zidonians being vanquished by the King of Ascalon did transport themselves by shipping to the Island of Tyre and there seated themselves and built that City Or 2ly because the same Desolation and Destruction that was fallen upon Tyre was fallen upon them the enemy was not like to spare such a considerable neighbour City and Port-Town nor were they likely to stand out against an enemy that had subdued the stronger City of Tyre and the same wickedness that had provoked God against Tyre was also rife amongst them And 3ly because Zidon that had gloried so much in Tyre as a Colony that of old had issued forth from her and that had rested so much upon her aid and defence and had promised her self such great matters by her trading with her was now bereaved of all Glory and disappointed of all her hopes by that utter ruine that was come upon Tyre And that this was intended appears by the reason subjoyned for the Sea hath spoken that is Tyre that lay in the midst of the Sea Ezek. 28.2 and as a Queen had the rule and command of the Sea even the strength of the Sea that is the strongest of all Sea-Towns as being built on a rock and environed with the Sea saying I travail not nor bring forth children neither do I nourish up young men nor bring up Virgins that is I am as if I had never brought forth Sons and Daughters being left desolate and waste and all my Inhabitants being cut off and destroyed or carried away captives I am never like to send forth great Colonies into other Countrys as I have formerly done Or it is all one with me as if I had never brought forth Sons and Daughters there being none of them that have appeared in my defence Ver. 5. As at the report concerning Egypt so shall they be shortly pained at the report of Tyre That is As the neighbour Nations were of old sorely troubled and affrighted at the report of Gods destroying Egypt in Moses's time for which see Exod. 15.14 15 16. so shall all the great Cities and Kingdoms near to Tyre be perplexed and terrified when they hear of the Destruction of Tyre This is I conceive the plain meaning of this place yet some rather think that the Prophet speaks of a later Destruction of Egypt by the Chaldeans and so would have the words to be understood thus That the neighbour Cities and Countries should be as much disquieted and scared with the report of Nebuchadnezzars taking Tyre as they would be afterward at the report of his subduing Egypt and that because thy esteemed it such an invincible place that they would be ready to conclude that having taken that no other place could stand before him but he would deal with them all as he had done with Tyre And indeed if it be Nebuchadnezzar's prevailing against Egypt that is here intended the words must be understood thus for to be sure Tyre was subdued by him before Egypt as is evident Ezek. 29.18 19 20. where Egypt is promised him as his wages for his great service against Tyre Ver. 6. Pass ye over to Tarshish c. This may be spoken to the several Nations that used to come to Tyrus for Traffick to wit That Tyrus being destroyed they should now betake themselves to Tarshish or some other Mart-Town to set up a way of trading there or else to the Inhabitants of Tyre themselves that as many of them as could should flee away to Tarshish and see the Notes above ver 1. yea why may not both of them be here intended And as for the following clause Howl ye inhabitants of the Isle See the Note above ver 2. Ver. 7. Is this your joyous City whose antiquity is of ancient days c. As if he had said Is all your jollity and all your glorying in the Antiquity of your City come to this at last Thus doth the Prophet upbraid the Tyrians for their Pride and vain confidence in the antiquity of their City as if there could be no fear of any change because she had continued so long in such a prosperous Condition And indeed we find that Tyre was of great Antiquity In Joshua's time it was called the strong City Tyre Josh 19.29 But this was no ground of security when God would contend with her and therefore is that added her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn that is Her proud inhabitants that had wont to pass the Seas in their stately ships and at other times to be carried up and down in great pomp from place to place shall be glad to trot a foot as poor slaves and beggars are wont to do into some remote Country which may be meant either of those that should flee away from the enemy into Foreign parts and there wander up and down in a forlorn Condition whithersoever their feet would carry them or of those that should be carried away Captives either into Babylon or some of her Provinces and there be sold and driven away it may be further off not being long suffered to rest in any place Ver. 8. Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre c. That is who is of that power and confidence as to dare to undertake the subduing of such a gallant invincible City as Tyre seemed to be and that hath continued so long in such strength and glory as if the Prophet had said Who would ever have thought that this would have been done to this mighty City the crowning City that is say some Expositors That by her wealth is grown up to be a Royal City Jer. 25.22 or that carrieth her self as a Princess or Queen over all the Cities and Sea-ports round about her or that hath enriched other Cities so as to make them Royal Cities But rather she is called the crowning City because she crowned her Merchants and Inhabitants and those likewise that traded with her with exceeding wealth and magnificence so that they lived more like Princes than men of ordinary rank for so the following words seem to explain this whose Merchants are Princes whose Traffickers are the honourable
gathered together and kept in safe custody And the meaning of this may be either 1. That they should be held and bound so fast by the Almighty Power of God in that low and base estate whereinto they should be brought that they should be no more able to extricate themselves out of it than Prisoners are able to make an escape out of some strong Dungeon where they are laid together Or 2. that they should be together carried Captives into Babylon their multitude should no way secure them Or 3. that they should be slain and laid up together in the grave the pit whereinto people are frequently in Scripture said to be gathered But now if the words should be understood this last way then the following clause and after many days shall they be visited must necessarily be meant of a farther Visitation in wrath to wit of God's delivering them up at the Day of Judgment when they should be raised out of the pit of the grave to the eternal Torments of Hell Or else that clause must be read as out of Junius we have it in the Margin of our Bibles And after many days shall they be found wanting that is they shall no more of a long time be found lifting up themselves in a way of enmity against God All which being not improbable I doubt not but that this last clause is added as a promise of Grace and Favour And after many days shall they be visited to wit in Mercy And it may be meant either 1. Of the deliverance of those before threatned from the Babylonian bondage to wit that they or their Posterity should after many years be set at liberty by the Medes and Persians See the Note Chap. 23.17 Because they had long provoked by their wickedness therefore they should be a long time kept there in sore Bondage but yet at length after many days deliverance should come Or 2. of God's visiting their Posterity in wonderful Mercy under the Kingdom of Christ by sending him into the world and causing the way of Life through him to be made known to them by the Preaching of the Gospel for that this is here included the following verse doth clearly shew Ver. 23. Then the Moon shall be confounded and the Sun ashamed c. That is When after this execution of Divine Vengeance on his enemies in a manner all the world over God shall at last visit them in mercy as was said in the close of the foregoing verse which though it may be meant initially of God's delivering his people out of Babylon yet it must needs be principally meant of God's gracious visiting his people under the Kingdom of Christ in the days of the Gospel with such exceeding glory and brightness shall the Greatness and Majesty of God shine forth in this Kingdom of Christ that the Sun and Moon shall be ashamed to shew their faces their brightness shall be as no brightness yea as mere darkness in comparison of that when the glory of this Sun of Righteousness and Day-spring from on high shall shine forth in the world it shall darken all the glory and magnificence of all earthly states and worldly things even as a greater light doth darken the less When the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before his ancients gloriously That is when God in Christ shall in his Church gathered out of all Nations of which Zion and Jerusalem was a type reign so gloriously and discover so much of his excellent glory in their protection and spiritual Government the holiness which he shall work in them here and the glory and happiness which he shall clothe them with in Heaven hereafter and his Saints taking notice thereof shall be still admiring it and praising his name For though his ancients are only here mentioned his Magistrates and Ministers yet under these as their representatives the whole body of God's people is understood See the Notes Chap. 4.2 3 4 5. CHAP. XXV VERSE 1. O Lord thou art my God c. Some conceive this to be a Song of Praise uttered as in the person of God's Church and people yea of the Church of Believers in the New Testament God's Elders or Ancients mentioned in the close of the foregoing Chapter But I see not why it may not be as well taken as the Prophets own Doxology Being deeply affected and even transported with the consideration of those wonderful works of God foretold in the former Chapter concerning the dreadful Judgments he would execute upon the wicked both amongst his own people and all the Nations about them in a manner all the world over concerning his gracious preservation of a remnant which he would reserve for himself and especially concerning the excellent discovery he would make of his transcendent Majesty and Glory in the Kingdom of Christ the last thing mentioned in the foregoing Chapter here on a sudden he leaves his Prophetical Discourse and breaks forth abruptly as it were into a Psalm of Praise and Thanksgiving as admiring the counsels and courses of God therein O Lord thou art my God as if he should have said Whatever wicked men may do my soul shall wholly cleave to thee I will exalt thee I will praise thy Name see the Note Psal 52.9 For thou hast done wonderful things he speaks of the wonderful things which he had foretold should be done as if they had been done already and see the Notes Chap. 9.6 Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth that is that which thou didst long since foretel or thy Promises and Threatnings wherein thou didst reveal to thy people what from Eternity thou hadst determined to do thou hast most truly and faithfully performed Ver. 2. For thou hast made of a City an heap of a defenced City a ruin c. There is no just ground why this should be restrained as some would have it either to Jerusalem or Samaria or Babylon or Rome the seat of Antichrist It is rather meant generally of God's ruining the Cities threatned in the foregoing Chapter for which see the Note there ver 10. A palace of strangers to be no City it shall never be built that is Thou hast utterly ruined the stately Royal Cities of the Heathens the Seats of their great Kings and that irrecoverably too so that they shall never be built again at least not for many generations see the Note Psal 37.18 Nor in their former Splendor and Glory Ver. 3. Therefore shall the strong people glorifie thee the City of the terrible Nations shall fear thee The meaning is that because of these ruins which God should bring upon Kingdoms and Cities either 1. the remaining and surviving remnant of those ruined people should be forced to acknowledg God's just hand upon them and dread his mighty power Or 2. the neighbour Nations should tremble and be afraid at the consideration of the Glory and Majesty of the great God of Heaven and Earth that had done these
his hands to swim And the meaning of this Similitude seems to be either that breaking in upon Moab he should with all earnestness as with both hands lay on upon them on every side and that again and again continually without intermission not only in the skirts of the Country but even in the midst and heart of the Land Yea not giving over till he had passed thorough it and had every where executed his Judgments upon them and subdued the whole Land under his power Or else that he should easily and without any opposition work his will upon that great and mighty people even as he that swimmeth doth only stretch himself upon the water and spreading forth his arms doth gently put away the waters before him and so cuts his way through the Sea or Rivers And he shall bring down their pride see the Note Chap. 16.6 together with the spoils of their hands That is their wealth which by rapine and violence they had taken from others Ver. 12. And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down c. That is Moab's high and strong walls which they esteemed such a mighty defence CHAP. XXVI VERSE 1. IN that day c. To wit when that shall be done for God's people which is before promised that is when they shall be delivered out of Babylon and so likewise when their Redemption by Christ from their spiritual Bondage whereof the deliverance out of Babylon was a type shall be made known to them by the preaching of the Gospel see the Note Chap. 24.9 shall this Song be sung in the Land of Judah to wit at their return from Babylon and in the Church of Christ whereof that Land was a Figure see the Note Deut. 31.19 The meaning is that the state of the times he now speaks of should be such that they might well sing this Song yea and it may well be that this Song was purposely composed that in the Babylonian Captivity the faithful might hereby chear up themselves with hope of deliverance We have a strong City c. This may seem to be spoken as in opposition to that which was said ver 12. of the foregoing Chapter concerning the Lord's beating down the Cities of Moab Their mightiest Cities shall be laid in the dust but we have a strong City to wit Jerusalem or the Church of Christ whereof Jerusalem was a Type against which the gates of Hell shall not prevail As this is spoken with respect to the Jews when they were come back to Jerusalem from Babylon it may import as much as if they had said Though our City may seem weak in comparison of what it was before the Babylonians destroyed it yet blessed be God we can look upon it as a strong City Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks that is God's protection and preservation will be to us instead of the strongest walls and bulwarks And as it is intended of the Church of Christ the meaning is that through God's protection she shall be invincible And some add too that the Salvation wrought by Christ shall be the cause and ground of this her safety Ver. 2. Open ye the gates that the righteous Nation which keepeth the Truth may enter in 1. As this hath respect to the return of the Jews out of Babylon by the gates may be meant either the gates of Jerusalem thereby to imply the certainty of their return thither and the multitude of those that should return Or as some the gates of the Temple which should be re-edified by them that there they might serve and praise the Lord see the Notes Psal 24.7 and 118.19 20. And this remnant returning may be called the righteous Nation which keepeth the truth that is which faithfully in all things keepeth close to the truth of God's Word both to imply what God required of them upon their return to wit that they should not be a wicked rebellious people as they had been but a righteous holy Nation and likewise because they should be at that time partly through the cutting off of multitudes of the former wicked generation and partly through the Repentance of great numbers of those that returned a people very much reformed and purged from their former dross But 2. as this hath respect to the days of the Gospel it is clearly a Prediction of the multitude of the Gentiles that should come thronging into the Church of Christ together with the believing Jews and should not only profess the truth of the Gospel but also be really a righteous people according to the Rule and Tenor of the Gospel Ver. 3. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee That is Thou God wilt constantly keep that man in all manner of solid Peace and Prosperity whose heart doth constantly adhere to thee and rely and rest upon thee in all conditions whatsoever Either God will outwardly protect and prosper such or in their troubles he will bear up their hearts with inward comfort and peace See the Notes Psa 32.10 119. 165. Ver. 4. Trust ye in the Lord for ever c. That is Constantly unto the end whatever be the outward Dispensations of God's Providence towards you Thus from that which is said in the foregoing verse the faithful do mutually encourage one another For in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength to wit for the protecting and prospering of those that trust in him See the Note Exod. 6.3 That which we render everlasting strength is in the Hebrew The rock of ages for which see the Note Deut. 32.4 Ver. 5. For he bringeth down them that dwell on high c. That is The mighty Potentates and Tyrants of the world that dwell in lofty Palaces and high-walled Cities or that are in state exalted far above others see the Note Chap. 24.21 And this is added also as a reason why the righteous that trust in God may expect to be delivered from the Oppression of their greatest enemies The lofty City he layeth it low that is He ruinates their strongest and best-defenced Cities He layeth it low even to the ground he bringeth it even to the dust see the Note Chap. 25.2 Ver. 6. The foot shall tread it down even the feet of the poor c. That is Even God's poor afflicted people shall subdue those their high fenced Cities under their power or by way of contempt shall trample upon them Ver. 7. The way of the just is uprightness c. That is The ways and courses of the faithful are in all conditions very just and upright Thou most upright dost weigh the path of the just that is Thou O Lord who art most upright thy self dost exactly know and consider the ways of just upright men whereby is implied Either 1. that God being most upright and therefore approving and liking the just and upright ways of his faithful servants doth accordingly assist and prosper them in their
should be for a time like a tree that seems in the winter to be dead and withered only there is life in the roots yet like such a tree it should at length grow up again and flourish exceedingly and fill the face of the World with fruit to wit the fruit of her mighty encrease which though it were initially fulfilled at the deliverance out of Babylon yet not fully till the coming in of the Gentiles to the Church of Israel Ver. 7. Hath he smitten him as he smote those that smote him c. That is Hath God smitten his Israel his people as he smote those that were their enemies that smote them as if it had been said Certainly no God doth not proceed with the same severity and rigor when he contends with his people as he doth when he comes to take vengeance on their enemies whom he hath used as his Instruments to smite and correct his people And the same is repeated again in the next clause though that be not so clear as the former or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him that is say some Is his Israel slain according to the slaughter of those that are slain by him that is The Babylonian Israels enemy as if it had been said That God did not slay his people with that cruelty or envy as that great Leviathan the Babylonian slew the Jews and others against whom he prevailed Or as others say Is his Israel slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him to wit by Israel that is for his sake But rather by them that are slain by him is meant them that are slain by God and so that which is intended is That God had not slain his people according to the slaughter wherewith he had slain his and their enemies of whose slaughtering he had spoken of before ver 1. and Chap. 26.14 namely in wrath and fury utterly to destroy them The drift of all this is still to make good that which was said ver 4. That God was not furious against his people Ver. 8. In measure when it shooteth forth thou wilt debate it c. Here is shewn wherein God deals otherwise with his vine his own people than with their enemies even when he doth smite and correct his people for their sins he will do it in measure that is gently and with much moderation not according to what he is able to lay upon them See the Note Job 23.6 nor according to what their sins have deserved Ezra 9.13 but with respect to their strength that their sufferings may not be greater or of longer continuance than they are well able to bear 1 Cor. 10.13 whereas when he falls upon his and their enemies he lays on without any regard or stint or measure As for those words when it shooteth forth therein as before Gods people are spoken of as a Vineyard The words indeed may be read as they are in the margin In measure when thou sendest it forth thou wilt debate with it and so this expression may be used with respect to Gods sending forth his people into captivity to wit that even then God would debate with this his Vineyard moderately though he seemed to have cast them quite off yet he had still thoughts of peace towards them as it is with a Father that turns away his Son or a Husband that for some offence dismisseth his Wife for a time when yet both the one and the other intend after a while to receive them back again But if we read the words as they are in our Bibles In measure when it shooteth forth thou wilt debate with it the meaning seems to be that though God may contend with his Vineyard when her branches grow luxuriant or when she is springing and growing up very fairly yet he will do it in measure though he may cut off her branches he will not grub her up by the root yea even in pruning her he will do it warily so as not to spoil the heart of the Vines And to the same purpose tend the following words he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind that is If he bring some terrible storm upon her like a rough East wind which is particularly named because that wind in those Countries used to be most violent yet he will so allay or slacken the boisterousness of this Storm that it shall not break up the Vines by the roots though it may beat down or break off some of her branches Ver. 9. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged c. This is mentioned as another great difference betwixt Gods smiting his people and his and their enemies to wit that whilest he smites their enemies meerly in a way of vengeance to destroy them he smites his people out of pity and fatherly love that he may pardon and reform them and this is all the fruit to take away his sin that is all the fruit that God propounds to himself in correcting his people and all the benefit that redounds to his people thereby is the reforming of them when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalk-stones that are beaten asunder that is when Jacob Gods people shall manifest the truth of their repentance by pulling down and breaking to shivers with much zeal even as men break Chalk-stones in pieces to make Lime all their Altars and other idolatrous Monuments the Groves and Images or Sun-Images shall not stand that is they also shall be hewed and broken down But see the Note Chap. 17.8 Ver. 10. Yet the defenced City shall be desolate c. As if it had been said though God will not proceed as is before said with his people as he doth with their enemies in punishing them but will onely seek the reforming of them yet that they may be reformed he will be forced to correct them with great severity The defenced City shall be desolate that is Samaria and Jerusalem and other the strong Cities both in Israel and Judah shall be laid waste and the habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness that is all other their habitations in the Land shall be left without Inhabitants there shall the calf feed and there shall he lie down that is Gods people shall be cast out and bruit Beasts shall be brought in to feed and dwell there in their stead and consume the branches thereof that is they shall browse upon the Plants and Shrubs that shall grow up where their Houses and Cities had wont to be Some I know understand this of Gods proceeding in greater fury against the enemies of his people than against his people but that doth not suit so well with our Translation And again some think that the state of Israel being compared to a Vine the destruction of the People is here intended by saying that Beasts should consume the branches thereof according to a like figurative expression chap. 10.33 34. for which
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
as fled thither contrary to Gods express command when they were invaded and overcome by the Babylonians as is said in the foregoing Note and see the Notes also Chap. 16.3 and Psal 14.7.2 and shall worship the Lord in the holy Mount at Jerusalem and not Idol-gods as they had formerly done and under this the coming in of Gods Elect to the Church of Christ is comprehended CHAP. XXVIII VERSE 1. WO to the crown of pride c. Here begins a new Prophecy Wo to the crown of pride to the Drunkards of Ephraim See the Note Psal 78.9 that is wo to the Prince-like pride wherein the ten Tribes do so highly exalt themselves or rather wo to the proud State and Kingdom of the ten Tribes or wo to Samaria the royal City of the Kingdom of Israel that are even drunk with prosperity and so infatuated with the high conceit of their wealth and strength that like so many drunken mad men they are fearless of all evil regardless both of God and Man and carry themselves in every regard as a people void of all reason and understanding This I conceive may be meant by calling them the Drunkards of Ephraim Yet it may well be that as they are here threatned for their pride as often elsewhere Hos 5.5 and 7.10 so also for their Luxury and Drunkenness as Hos 7.5 In the day of our King the Princes have made him sick with bottles of wine And this seems the more probable because of the following words wherein the Prophet gives a hint why he had denounced this wo against them whose glorious beauty is a fading flower that is the splendor and glory of whose State wherein they do so exceedingly pride themselves is but like the beauty of a flower that will be quickly withered and gone to wit because the Assyrians were immediately to invade them who would soon put an end to all their gallantry and pride And it may well be that in this expression there is an allusion to the Crowns and Garlands of Flowers which they used to wear at their drunken Feasts which are on the head of the fat valleys that is say some which flowers grow in the best and chief of the Valleys as if it had been said The glory of these ten Tribes is but like the beauty of those flowers which are in those rich Valleys wherein they dwell But according to our Translation this relative which must needs be referred to the persons against whom this woe is denounced which are on the head of the fat Valleys of them that are overcome with wine or as it is in the Hebrew broken with wine to wit as being by their excessive drinking becomes Fools and stupid and made useless for any thing that is which Drunkards of Ephraim dwell in the chief and principal part of the Vale of Israel for the main body of the Land of Israel may be spoken of as a Valley because it lay beneath Mount Lebanon and was a very fat and fruitful Country or which abide in the Mountain of Samaria for Samaria was built indeed on a Hill in those fat Valleys See the Note 1 Kings 16.14 And so the Prophet may hereby seem to strike principally at the Princes and great Ones that had their residence in the Court and Royal City of Samaria However those words on the Head of the fat Vallies are certainly used with respect to those in the beginning of the verse Wo to the crown of pride c. Ver. 2. Behold the Lord hath a mighty and strong one c. to wit Salmaneser the Assyrian which as a tempest of Hail and a destroying storm as a floud of mighty waters overflowing shall cast down to the earth with the hand that is shall suddenly and easily overthrow and destroy all the glory of Israel the fading flower before mentioned for with respect to that he compares the Invasion of the Assyrians to a tempest even as a drunken man is easily thrust down with the push of a hand or with the hand that is by main might with unresistable force and violence And indeed the subduing and destroying of Samaria and the ten Tribes was effected with great speed and violence Ver. 3. The crown of pride the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under foot that is even this crown on the head shall with all possible scorn and contempt be trampled under the feet of their proud enemies But see the Note before ver 1. Ver. 4. And the glorious beauty which is on the head of the fat valley shall be a fading flower c. See again the Note above ver 1. and as the hasty fruit before the Summer that is say some rathe ripe fruits which is commonly as we use to say soon ripe and soon rotten and therefore not kept long for store but presently spent or rather as the early and first ripe fruit which for the novelty of it because by many it is much longed for and earnestly desired is commonly gathered betimes and eaten greedily many times before it be thoroughly mellow whence is the expression Mic. 7.1 My soul desired the first ripe fruit for that this is meant appears by the following words which when he that looketh upon it seeth it while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up that is as soon as ever he spieth it he presently plucks it and never lays it by but immediately eats it up And all this is to set forth how soon the ten Tribes should be ripe for ruine and how easily with what eagerness delight and speed the Assyrians should destroy them Ver. 5. In that day c. to wit When the ten Tribes shall be thus destroyed shall the Lord of Hosts be for a crown of glory and for a diadem of beauty unto the residue of his people that is He will be an exceeding great ornament and honour to the Kingdom of Judah This is opposed to that which he had said of the ten Tribes ver 1. Wo to the crown of pride c. And the meaning is that whereas Gods People might seem to be brought to a very low and contemptible condition when ten of their Tribes should be destroyed as is aforesaid God would be a sufficient honour and glory to the poor remnant of his People in the two Tribes of Judah and Benjamin to wit by his saving them from being destroyed with the other and continuing them to be his Church and People by that miraculous destruction of the Assyrian Army when Sennacherib should seek likewise to subdue them and by a happy re-establishment of his Church under Hezekiah which last is farther set forth in the next verse Ver. 6. And for a spirit of judgment c. Here the Prophet sets forth in part the means whereby God would make the state of Judah so eminently honourable and glorious both in peace and war And for a Spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment that is God will give their Kings and
it should certainly seize upon them for morning by morning shall it pass over by day and by night that is It shall come speedily suddenly and unexpectedly upon you when you think least of it even as a man that is surprized early in a morning when he is as yet sleeping in his bed and being come it shall continue long upon you pursuing you incessantly not giving you any rest either by day or by night and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report that is The alone fame and report of the enemies approach shall be a sore terror and vexation to you Some I know understand it thus That even to those that felt no part of these miseries but only heard of them it should be a vexation And again others by the report do understand the doctrine of Gods Prophets according to that Chap. 53.1 Who hath believed our report and so reading the words as they are rendred in the margin of our Bibles and it shall be a vexation only when he shall make you to understand doctrine they would have the meaning to be this That when the miseries now foretold were come upon them thereby God would bring them to understand that doctrine which now they would not understand the truth of what the Prophets foretold and the folly of their present security only indeed it would then be too late their understanding this then would be only for their greater vexation not for their conversion But the first Exposition is I conceive the best Ver. 20. For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it c. This proverbial speech may imply 1. the great penury and streights they should be brought into when those miseries came upon them which the Prophet had now foretold that they should be in continual distress not knowing which way to turn themselves nor able any way to ease or relieve themselves as it is with a man that lying on a bed that is too short for him must needs be as in Little-ease and as it were cripled thereby And 2ly the insufficiency of those lying vanities in the confidence whereof they were so secure for the affording of them any ease or comfort for which see the Note before ver 15. And the like may be said of the following clause and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it for this may imply also the comfortless condition whereinto they should be brought and withall what poor things they would all prove for the covering and sheltering of them from the storms that were coming upon them whereon they grounded all their hopes And it may well be also that in these Expressions the Prophet might covertly strike at the luxury of those men that did thus scornfully slight and deride the threatnings of Gods Prophets who lived in all ease and jollity stretching themselves on their rich beds that were furnished with rich and costly coverlets see Amos 6.4 Ver. 21. For the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim c. See the Note 2 Sam. 5.20 He shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon to wit When Joshua slew the Canaanites there Josh 10.10 at which time it is said ver 11. That God slew them with hail-stones from Heaven in regard whereof this story suits the better with that storm of hail threatned before ver 17. The drift of this threatning is to shew That God would now proceed with the Jews that professed themselves his people but were indeed his real enemies no otherwise than he had formerly proceeded in their defence against the Canaanites and Philistines both his and their professed enemies And this the Prophet calls his strange work and his strange act that he may do his work his strange work and bring to pass his act his strange act either 1. as some say because the work of destroying men is as it were strange to God who is rather willing to shew mercy and to pardon than to punish Lam. 3.33 and Ezek. 33.11 Or 2ly because Gods proceeding in a way of destroying his people was strange and unusual that God should fight against those in defence of whom he was wont to fight against their enemies this was strange and wonderful As a Fathers whipping of his Child whom he so dearly loves is a strange work so for God to destroy his peculiar people to whom he had been formerly so good and gracious was very strange Or 3ly because the Judgment he intended now to bring upon them was extraordinary and unwonted strange wonderful and dreadful above what in his greatest severity he had formerly done to them For though he had often brought sore Judgments upon them in their own land yet he had never caused their City Jerusalem and the Temple therein to be burnt and the people to be generally carried away captives into strange Countries as he meant now to do Ver. 22. Now therefore be ye not mockers c. That is Mock not at the threatnings of Gods Prophets as you have done see the Notes before ver 13. and 15. lest your bands be made strong that is lest for this God should make the judgments he brings upon you the sorer and of the longer continuance from which otherwise if you would have repented you might have been loosed and freed Punishments inflicted upon men for sin are called bands because they are painful to flesh and blood and do restrain and bind up men from living as they list themselves And as beasts of prey being taken in snares are the faster intangled and bound the more they struggle and strive to get away so the more wicked men do strive against God when he begins to contend with them the heavier the judgments usually are which he pours forth upon them for I have heard from the Lord God of Hosts a consumption even determined upon the whole earth that is the whole land of Judea to wit except ye repent But see the Notes Chap. 10.22 23. Ver. 23. Give ye ear and hear my voice hearken and hear my speech As if the Prophet had said I will convince you by an unanswerable argument taken from that which you see commonly done amongst men that you have no cause to question but that God will at last certainly do what he hath threatned by his Prophets and that you do foolishly flatter your selves with hopes that you shall always go unpunished because he hath spared you so long and therefore attend diligently to what I shall now say Ver. 24. Doth the plowman plow all day to sow c. The drift of this passage to the end of the Chapter is to shew that if the Husbandman by the wisdom wherewith God hath endewed him doth not spend all his time in plowing and harrowing his ground never going any further which would be meer lost labour but when he hath done that then he soweth his several seeds in the grounds thus prepared by plowing and harrowing and that with great
And 2. because he is careful that neither by the cart-wheel or sled drawn over it or the horse-men to wit the men that lead or ride upon the Horses that draw the carts or sleds it shall be quite battered and spoiled with the crushing and bruising of it Thus I conceive this passage may most fitly be expounded For clearly the drift of the Prophet is to shew that as the Husbandman even when he useth rougher means to beat out the hard grain is however careful not to do it so incessantly or in such a manner as to mar and spoil his corn thereby so neither will God even when he punisheth his people more severely contend with them for ever or proceed to the utter destroying of them see the Note Psal 125.3 Ver. 29. This also cometh from the Lord of hosts c. Some of our best Expositors refer the word This here to the destruction threatned above ver 22. and so would have this to be the conclusion and explanation of the foregoing similitude as if the Prophet had said As the Husbandmans discreet ordering his affairs from the beginning to the end in plowing sowing and beating out his grain is from God who giveth him this wisdom so is the ruin and destruction which I have told you shall come upon you from the Lord who doth with infinite wisdom all things that he doth in the world But more probably methinks it seems to have reference to the words immediately foregoing ver 28. and so the meaning to be this That as the Husbandman's skill in ordering his seed whereof mention was made before ver 24 25. so this also of his beating out his grain as is before described is from God But however that which is principally intended is as is before noted that if the Husbandman by the wisdom wherewith God hath endued him doth thus wisely and prudently beat out his several grain much more will the only wise God himself with infinite wisdom order those judgments which he brings upon his people And thereupon are those words added in the close of this similitude which is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working and that to imply amongst other things the wonderful wisdom of God in that whilst he destroyed the wicked amongst them yet he would at the same time be so careful to preserve a holy remnant and in that whilst he seemed to proceed against his people with such bitter hatred yet all that he did to them should be done out of love and with respect to their good and welfare CHAP. XXIX VERSE 1. WO to Ariel c. This seems to be another Prophecy distinct from that which went before and directed particularly against Jerusalem though indeed by consequence in the evils denounced against her the whole land of Judah was deeply concerned It may be read as it is in the margin of our Bibles Oh Ariel Ariel as spoken by way of lamentation the word Ariel being twice repeated to express the more grief as in the like mournful lamentation of our Saviours over Jerusalem Mat. 23.37 O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets c. But the most Interpreters render it as it is in our Bibles Wo to Ariel to Ariel c. Ariel is by interpretation a mighty Lion or as it is in the margin the lion of God see the Note Psal 104.16 Many of the Hebrews hold that it is the Temple in Jerusalem against which this wo is particularly denounced and that the Temple was called Ariel the Lion of God because the figure of the Temple did somewhat resemble that of a Lion being broad before and narrow behind Others say it is the Altar in the Temple that is here called Ariel And indeed we find in Ezek. 43.15 that the Altar of burnt offerings is in the Hebrew expresly called Ariel and that by the common consent of most Expositors because this Altar that was consecrated to God seemed as a Lion to devour the bodies of those beasts that were daily sacrificed thereon But I rather think with others that it is Jerusalem that is here termed Ariel and that the following words are added to make known what the Prophet intended by Ariel Wo to Ariel to Ariel the City where David dwelt And though there are several Reasons given by Expositors why Jerusalem is so called as because she had been fierce against God and against his Prophets and Servants whom she had cruelly slain according to that Jer. 12.8 Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest it crieth out against me or because it was a very strong City and by the valour of her inhabitants had made great havock amongst the Neighbour-Nations yet I rather think that Jerusalem is here so called with respect to the Temple and Altar therein and so the wo is denounced against all three together and that purposely to imply that though they looked upon Jerusalem as a strong and invincible City the lion of God that need not fear any people and that because of the presence of God amongst them as his peculiar covenant-people whereof the Altar was a sign yet this should no way secure them from the judgment now denounced against them To which purpose those words are added the city where David dwelt For this also is to imply that though they gloried much in the promises that God had made concerning the perpetuity of David's Kingdom yet all this would do them no good even that which was the Roya City of that glorious King being quite degenerate from what she had been should now be laid in the dust Add ye year to year let them kill sacrifices Some hold that the Prophets intention in these words was to make known that within a few years or more particularly within two years there should be an end of their sacrificing But the words seem to be clearly an Ironical taunt as if the Prophet had said Go on year after year to keep your solemn feasts and in each of them to kill and offer up your appointed sacrifices and feed your selves with vain hopes that thus year after year ye shall still continue to do alas all this will do no good and that because God abhors your sacrifices and will shortly put an end to them And indeed if this Prophecy were delivered as some think it was at some one of their feasts when they were very busily intent upon slaying and offering their sacrifices it must needs be the more seasonable to discover the folly of the great confidence they had in that their hypocritical service Ver. 2. Yet I will distress Ariel c. That is Though you go on in a formal way of offering sacrifices to me and though for some years the judgment threatned may be deferred yet at last saith the Lord I will certainly by enemies I shall raise up against you bring both your City and Temple into great streights and there shall be heaviness and sorrow that is instead of your present jollity when
you are offering up a multitude of sacrifices at your solemn feasts you shall then be sorely over-pressed with grief and it shall be unto me as Ariel see the foregoing Note The meaning is either 1. That God would cause Jerusalem to be besieged by enemies even as Shepherds and Hunters are wont to gather together and beset some fierce raging Lion that they may destroy him Or 2. That she should be surrounded with enemies even as the Altar called Ariel Ezek. 43.15 used at their solemn feasts to be compassed about on every side with beasts brought thither for sacrifices and with the people that brought them see the Note Psal 26.6 Or 3. which seems most probable That the whole City should be just like the Altar of burnt-offerings in the Temple in that it should be all on a light flame and covered all over with gore blood and in that the streets thereof and the Country round about should lye full of slaughtered men and women sacrificed as it were to the satisfying of Divine Justice even as the bodies of beasts slain for sacrifices used to lye scattered round about the Altar Ver. 3. And I will camp against thee round about c. This I conceive was meant of the Babylonians besieging Jerusalem for which see the Notes 2 Kings 25.1 2 c. Yet I see not but that it might also be spoken with respect to the same done afterward by the Romans for our Saviour in foretelling that siege may seem to allude to this place of the Prophet Luke 19.43 Thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round c. Ver. 4. And thou shalt be brought down c. That is Thou that dost now so proudly exalt thy self shalt then be humbled and pulled down and shalt speak out of the ground and thy speech shall be low out of the dust as Prisoners and Captives are wont to do that lye prostrate upon the ground before their enemies or those that are brought low to the very dust according to that Chap. 47.1 Come down and sit in the dust O Virgin daughter of Babylon sit on the ground And to the same purpose is that which follows and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit out of the ground c. for which see the Note Chap. 8.19 The meaning is That the inhabitants of Jerusalem that had wont to talk so highly and proudly and to roar like a Lion against God and his Servants should then speak submissively enough as men over-whelmed with fear and grief are wont to do Yea some understand this of their lying in dust and ashes beging mercy of God when this Judgment now denounced was come upon them Ver. 5. Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away c. Some understand this of the foreign Forces that should invade Jerusalem and so take it to be inserted as a promise for the comfort of the faithful amongst the Jews to wit that when they should be humbled as was said in the foregoing verse though their enemies should be never so many even like the small dust or chaff yet like so much dust or chaff they should soon be scattered and driven away And some of these think this is meant of the destruction of Sennacherib's Army that should besiege Jerusalem in the days of Hezekiah and others of the Babylonians to wit that when they had ruined Jerusalem even they should within a while flee away like so much dust oâ— chaff before the Medes and Persians But because in the following Verses the Prophet proceeds still in a way of denouncing judgments against Jerusalem I rather think with others that this also is of the same tenor and that Jerusalem is here threatned That her strangers and terrible ones that is her Garison-Souldiers hired from other Nations and those Auxiliary Forces which should from Egypt or elsewhere be sent in to her aid in whom she gloried much because of their number and valour should be no defence at all to her but should be soon scattered and driven away as the dust and chaff is driven before the wind And accordingly the last clause is to be understood likewise yea it shall be at an instant suddenly to wit of the sudden flight of those foreign Forces on whom they so much relied rather than of the flight and dispersion of their enemies as they understand it that take this to be a promise as is before said Ver. 6. Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of Hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise with storm and tempest and the flame of devouring fire That is God will execute his judgments upon thee O Jerusalem with great terror and unresistable violence and that on a sudden see the Notes Chap. 13.13 and 2 Sam. 22.8 c. And this I concieve is meant of the Babylonians invading and storming the City 2 Kings 25.14 and the expression here used seems to refer to what was said in the foregoing verse that their Auxiliary Companies from foreign parts should be like small dust and as chaff that passeth away implying a reason why it must needs be so to wit because God would break forth upon them as with a terrible storm and devouring fire before which they must needs be as so much dust and chaff Ver. 7. And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel c. That is against Jerusalem see the Notes above ver 1 2. even all that fight against her and her munition and that distress her shall be as a dream of a night-vision They that understand that which was said before ver 5. as a promise inserted for the comfort of the faithful amongst Gods people concerning the speedy ruin of the foreign enemies that should come up and fight against Jerusalem do accordingly also understand that which is said here either 1. of the disappointment of their vain hopes that they should be as a dream of a night-vision that is that it should be with them as it is with a man in a dream they should feed themselves with vain hopes of taking the City and of satisfying their rage in the destruction of the people and their covetous desires in their swallowing up all the wealth of the City but in the conclusion it should be nothing so they should be frustrated of their expectation as it is with a man that in a dream fancies he is eating and filling his belly but when he awakes there is no such matter And this they conceive was meant of the frustrating of the confident hopes of Sennacherib and his Assyrians concerning their subduing the City Jerusalem Or 2. of the sudden scattering and perishing of all their Power and Forces that they should be as a dream of a night-vision to wit in that as a dream doth suddenly vanish away out of the minds of men so all their great Armies
is that for which the Prophet here terms them rebellious children a Rebellion of all other most execrable Chap. 1.2 I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me not so much because they had rebelled against the King of Assyria or Babylon concerning which see the Note 2 Kings 18.7 as because they were rebellious against Gods command whose children they professed themselves to be and that particularly in this business of their seeking to Egypt for help as appears by the following words Wo to the rebellious children saith the Lord that take counsel but not of me which is said either because in their streights they consulted amongst themselves what to do but never asked advice from God by enquiring of Gods Prophets or otherwise or else because they were so far from that that they therein disobeyed the command of God by his Prophets And to the same purpose is that which follows and that cover with a covering but not of my spirit that is that seek to shelter themselves against approaching storms and to possess the people with great hopes that they shall be covered and sheltered from them but it is not by means which I approve of and which I by my Spirit in the mouth of my Prophets have advised them to it is not by turning to me by repentance and by calling on me for counsel and help but by ways of their own projecting yea contrary to what I have commanded see the Notes Chap. 4.5 6. and 28.15 20. that they may add sin to sin that is that to their sin in revolting from those Heathen Kings to whom they had yielded themselves to be Tributaries see 2 Kings 18.7 did now add the sin of neglecting God and fleeing to Egypt for help Or that to their sin in calling in the Assyrians to their help formerly in the days of Ahaz 2 Kings 16.7 did now add this sin of running to Egypt to desire their help against the Assyrians Or rather that to the wickedness wherewith they had provoked God to bring the Heathen upon them they might add this new sin of seeking to shelter themselves from this vengeance of God by unlawful ways Ver. 2. That walk to go down into Egypt c. It was usual with this people when they were in danger of being invaded by any foreign enemies to fly to Egypt for help Thus Hoshea sent to the King of Egypt 2 Kings 17.4 And thus it seems in Zedekiah's time they had procured the King of Egypt to come and help them against the Chaldeans Jer. 37.5 7. and after the Chaldeans had carried the Jews into Babylon they that were left in the land of Judea fled into Egypt to shelter themselves Jer. 43.5 7. But yet I rather think that here the Prophet speaks of what was done in his own time when Sennacherib invaded Judea and sent his Captains to besiege Jerusalem For though in the story there be no express mention of their sending then to Egypt for aid yet because we find before that Isaiah had forewarned the Jews of their folly in resting at that time upon the aid of the Egyptians see the Notes Chap. 20.1 6. And because in the latter end of this Chapter ver 31. there is a prediction for the comfort of the faithful of the Assyrians dâ—wnfall it seems most probable that Hezekiah's Princes did at that time send secretly to the Egyptian to procure him to come in to their aid and that perhaps not without Hezekiah's consent and that hereupon our Prophet did denounce this wo against those that walk to go down into Egypt and have not asked at my mouth see the foregoing Note to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh of whose exceeding Puiffance and power it seems they had a very high opinion and to trust in the shadow of Egypt see the Note Chap. 18.1 And indeed how unlawful it was for them to seek to Egypt for help especially see the Notes Deut. 17.16 Ver. 3. Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame c. To wit when they should find that instead of helping them they should not be able to defend themselves against the Assyrians see the Note Chap. 20. ver 1 6. Ver. 4. For his Princes c. That is Hezekiah's were at Zoan see the Note Chap. 19.11 and his ambassadours came to Hanes elsewhere called Tahapanes Jer. 2.16 and Tahpanhes Jer. 43.7 This is spoken in a way of derision to set forth how eager and busie they were to seek for help from Egypt to no purpose at all Ver. 5. They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them c. See the Note above ver 3. Ver. 6. The burden of the beasts of the South c. By the beasts of the South here are meant either the young asses and camels afterwards mentioned on which the Jews carried the great Treasures and Gifts wherewith they meant to hire the Egyptians to come and aid them against the Assyrians into Egypt and thorough the Desart by which they were to go into Egypt both which lay South-ward from the land of Judea as upon the same account Jer. 13.19 the Cities of Egypt are called the Cities of the South Or else the Jews themselves who are termed beasts either because like so many beasts they travelled along South-ward with burdens on their backs the great presents they had provided for the Egyptians or because they were so brutishly foolish as to disobey and forsake God that they might seek help from Egypt And accordingly in these words The burden of the beasts of the South the intent of the Prophet might be only to shew that he would now declare how in seeking to procure aid from Egypt these beasts of the South went with great burdens on their backs as Chap. 46.1 he tells us how the Babylonian Idols were a burden to the weary beast that carried them Or else which most Expositors hold by the burden of the beasts of the South is meant a heavy Prophecy denounced against the beasts that went laden with great burdens of Treasure South-ward from Judea into the land of Egypt see the Note Chap. 13.1 And it may be taken as spoken with reference to that which went before or that which follows after and that in a way of descanting upon the word burden as if the Prophet had said Since you will needs go with such burdens of Treasures into Egypt to get Auxiliary Forces from thence for your defence lo I tell you of another kind of burden that God hath provided for you The burden of the beasts of the South that is a burdensome Prophecy concerning the beasts of the South But however if we understand this Prophecy as denouncing evil against the beasts on which they carried their Presents for Pharaoh we must know that hereby his aim is to inveigh against the Princes themselves that went along with them deriding their folly and madness in taking so much pains and being at so much
the enemy And indeed some read this last clause so burning upon all the houses of joy in the joyous City which how it was accomplished when Jerusalem was taken by the Babylonians we may â—ead 2 King 25.9 Ver. 14. Because the palaces shall be forsaken c. That is The stately houses of their Kings Princes and other great men the multitude of the City shall be left that is say some They shall be left without a King or other Princes to defend them But there is rather here an inversion of words the multitude of the City shall be left for the City shall be left of its multitude according to that sad complaint Lam. 1.1 How doth the City sit solitary that was full of people See the Notes also Chap. 6.11 12. The forts and towers or the clifts and watch-towers of which see the Note 2 Chron. 27.3 shall be for dens for ever that is For a long time as indeed during the Babylonian Captivity it was so for seventy years a joy of wild asses See the Note Chap. 13.21 a pasture of flocks see Chap. 17.2 Ver. 15. Until the Spirit c. By affixing this period to the desolation before threatned the Prophet returns again to the comforting of his faithful Servants This desolation shall be in the land of Judah saith he until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high that is Until God from heaven do by his quickning Spirit abundantly poured forth upon us restore his people to a comfortable and flourishing estate and condition And this seems to import 1. That whereas they were in as hopeless a condition as so many dead men as it is said of them Lam. 3.6 He hath set me in dark places as they that be dead of old God would breathe a spirit of life into them and quicken them again which is that Ezekiel foretold in his Prophecy Chap. 37. concerning the Resurrection of the dead and dry bones 2ly That whereas they were like trees or plants that seem in winter to be quite dead God would make them alive again and cause all things to be with them in a flourishing condition again as it is with the Creatures Psa 104.30 Thou sendest forth thy Spirit they are created and thou renewest the face of the earth concerning which see the Note there And 3ly That whereas they were spiritually dead in sin God would by his spirit of Grace revive and quicken them and make them a holy people So that as the desolation before threatned may be understood to have been accomplished gradually at several times See the Note before so this period set for the reviving of them again by the pouring forth of the spirit upon them from on high may be understood likewise of several times as 1. partly of the reviving and the reformation of the state of Judea in Hezekiahs days after God had so wonderfully destroyed Sennacheribs Army Or 2ly more fully and clearly of that strange quickning and reviving of the Jewish State when that people were set free out of Babylon and coming home again to their own Country Jerusalem was rebuilt and reinhabited with multitudes of people as in former times Or 3ly and principally of the glorious change that was wrought in the Church in the days of the Gospel when God did so abundantly pour forth of his Spirit first upon the Apostles and afterwards upon the whole body of his people that embraced the faith of Christ according to that promise Joel 2.28 And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh c. whereupon the Church did spring up and flourish again after an unusual and unwonted manner As for that which is mentioned in the following words as the effect of this pouring forth of Gods Spirit upon them and the wilderness be a fruitful field and the fruitful field be counted for a forest See the Note Chap. 29.17 understanding it of Gospel-times the meaning seems to be That after that plentiful effusion of Gods Spirit upon his people those that were before as a barren wilderness shall become fruitful and they that before had some beginnings of Grace wrought in them should bring forth fruits in such abundance that their former life should seem but as a wilderness where no fruits were Ver. 16. Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness and righteousness remain in the fruitful field That is Justice shall be duly executed and men shall carry themselves justly towards those with whom they converse which also implies the true fear of God all the land over see the Note Chap. 29.17 But if we will take it as spoken mystically concerning the days of the Gospel then the meaning seems to be that both amongst the Gentiles that were as a barren wilderness and among the Jews that had been for many years his peculiar fruitful field where he was only known and worshipped when they were gathered into the Church of Christ both the righteousness of faith and the righteousness of works should be continually found Ver. 17. And the work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever That is The fruit of this righteousness amongst Gods people shall be all manner of peace inward and outward with God and with men as far as is good for them and so withal a quiet recumbency upon God in the assurance of his love and provident care over them and that not for some little while only as it is with the peace of the wicked but constantly and for ever see the Notes Chap. 26.3 4. Psal 72.2 3. and 119.165 Ver. 18. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwellings and in quiet resting places That is By reason of Gods protection they shall dwell safely and without fear wherever they are see the Note Prov. 1.33 Ver. 19. When it shall hail coming down on the forest c. This according to our Translation must be referred to that which was said in the two foregoing verses to wit thus that Gods people should enjoy that peace and safety there promised even when it shall hail coming down on the forest that is when the judgments of God shall be poured forth upon the Heathens or the wicked of the world round about them that were as a wild and fruitless forest But yet they that understand the foregoing promises of the peace and quietness of spirit which Christians should enjoy in the days of the Gospel do accordingly also understand this when it shall hail coming down on the forest either of a storm of divine wrath that should then fall upon the Nation of the Jews who had been Gods fruitful field but were then become a forest Or else mystically that whilst true Believers enjoyed such wonderful peace the Gospel should pour forth a storm of dreadful terrors and vengeance upon the consciences of those to whom it should prove a savour of death unto death 2 Cor. 10.4 5 6.
their own disobedience and rebellions against that great God that had done this they began to think how dangrous it was for them that must enjoy constant communion with a God that was so zealous of his glory so severe against sinners and so continually ready to break forth in his wrath as a consuming fire to devour them here yea and to punish them with everlasting burnings in hell heareafter who among us say they shall dwell with that devouring fire c. But I rather think that this is intended concerning the terrors wherewith these sinners in Zion should be surprised upon the marching of the Assyrians against Jerusalem Yet withall this must be added that the fire wherewith these wicked wretches profess themselves to be so exceedingly frighted was not simply the Assyrian Army as concluding that they would come and burn the City Jerusalem and lay all waste before them as they had done wherever they came but the wrath of God who upon this ground is indeed called a consuming fire see the Note Deut. 4.24 breaking forth and clearly discovering it self in this invasion of the Assyrians and their carrying all before them with unresistable violence which as it had before consumed the Ten Tribes and at this time a great part of the land of Judea so their guilty consciences made them apprehend it would now likewise devour them in Jerusalem and would never leave burning till all was consumed by it who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings And indeed it is evident that by everlasting burnings here the fire of Hell cannot be meant because in the following verse it is said that the righteous man shall without fear dwell with this fire He that walketh righteously c. It was I say the wrath and vengeance of God in the fury of the Assyrians which these sinners feared would be a consuming fire to them And observable it is that in this their complaint they charge all their danger upon Gods extream severity and not upon themselves Ver. 15. He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly he that despiseth the gain of oppression that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes c. That is that rejecteth them with loathing and detestation that stoppeth his ears from heaâ—ing of blood that is that will not endure to hear any motion made of any violence or injury to be offered to the life or livelyhood of his brethren see the Note Chap. 1.15 and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil that is from the sight of any thing that should entice him to evil or that is so far from doing evil himself that he cannot endure to see others do it This is the answer that is returned to that doleful exclamation of the wicked distrustful hypocrites amongst the Jews in the foregoing verse Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire c. Why saith the Prophet He that walketh righteously c. He that will live a holy righteous life may safely dwell with God though he be a consuming fire to wicked ungodly wretches And thus he gives them to understand that if the wrath of God were so terrible to them they must charge it upon their own wickedness not upon Gods severity A good and a righteous man needs not fear it Ver 16. He shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks c. That is Such a man shall be as safe and as fearless as if he dwelt in some impregnable Fort built upon inaccessible Rocks the Church of God shall be as munitions of Rocks to him bread shall be given him his waters shall be sure that is he shall not want meat and drink nor any thing necessary for the support of his life no not in the time when Jerusalem shall be besieged by the Assyrians Ver. 17. Thine eyes c. This is a farther promise made to the righteous man of whom the Prophet had spoken in the two foregoing verses Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty that is Hezekiah Though he may be for a time in a very sad and forlorn condition as he was indeed when the Assyrians had wasted the greatest part of his Kingdom and he was glad to crouch to an insolent Tyrant and beg Conditions of Peace of him 2 Kings 18.14 and yet could not prevail but was only abused and scorned by him and at last besieged by his Forces in the City Jerusalem and when upon this occasion he went up to the Temple to implore Gods help having rent his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth 2 Kings 19.1 yet shall he afterwards Reign in greater Majesty and Glory than ever he did formerly to wit after God had so miraculously destroyed the Assyrian Army after which it is said that many brought presents to Hezekiah so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth 2 Chron. 32.23 they that is thine eyes shall behold the land that is very far off The meaning is that the time should come when they should no longer be cooped up in Jerusalem because the besiegers being all destroyed they might safely and securely go abroad whither they would and travel peaceably into the remotest parts of the land yea if their occasions did so require into foreign Countries Many learned Expositors do otherwise I know understand this last clause as 1. that they should see Embassadors come to Hezekiah from a far Country to wit the Babylonians for which see the Note 2 Kings 20.12 Or 2. that they should see Hezekiah's Kingdom enlarged by the bringing of foreign Countries under his Dominion Or 3. that the Fame of Hezekiah should be carried into Countries a far off But the words of the Text will very hardly bear either of these Expositions And so likewise that which others say that in this whole verse the Prophet speaks to Shebna of whom mention was made before Chap 22.15 telling him that he should see Hezekiah whom he slighted and despised Reigning in great Majesty and Glory and that himself should be banished or carried away Captive into a land a far off it no way suits with the tenor of that which the Prophet is speaking of in this place That which others say is far more probable to wit that under the type of Hezekiah the seeing of Christ in his Glory is here promised to the faithful Though for a time he should live in a low and despised condition and should at last be hanged up between two Thieves upon the Cross when that was fully verified Chap. 53.2 he hath no form nor comeliness and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him yet afterwards the eyes of his Servants should see this their King in his Beauty and Glory to wit when as the only begotten Son of God he rose triumphantly out of the Grave and ascended into Heaven but especially when he shall come again at the last day in exceeding great
West then this is all one in effect as if it had been said That from the rising unto the setting of the Sun God should be praised the villages that Kedar doth inhabit See the Notes Chap. 21.16 Psal 120.5 and Cant. 1.5 let the Inhabitants of the rock sing that is The Inhabitants of Arabia Petrea or of Petra the chief City in those parts See the Note Chap. 16.1 or rather those that inhabit mountainous Countries as the following words shew let them shout from the top of the mountains However as this is spoken with respect to the days of the Gospel it clearly implies That the most barbarous Nations should then praise God Ver. 13. The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man c. That is having long withdrawn himself as if he minded them not he shall at last go forth in great fury to wit against the Babylonians See the Notes Job 16.14 and Psal 78.65 He shall stir up jealousie like a man of war that is As men stir and blow up a fire so shall the Lord stir up the fire of his jealousie to wit his fierce wrath and indignation against his idolatrous enemies proceeding from his ardent love to his people and zeal for his own glory he shall cry to wit as soldiers are wont to shout when they assault their enemies yea roar to wit like a Lyon But now this may be spoken with reference to Christ that he should go forth as a mighty man it is an Expression which our Saviour himself used John 16.28 I came forth from the Father and am come into the world namely to vanquish all his peoples spiritual enemies Satan Sin Death and Hell and to destroy all those that obstinately oppose him and are the implacable enemies of his Church and people Ver. 14. I have long time holden my peace c. God himself is here brought in complaining of his enemies abusing his long-suffering and patience and promising Deliverance to his people I have long time holden my peace I have been still and refrained my self to wit as the following similitude seems to imply as a travelling Woman bites in her pains and forbears crying out as long as ever she is able and the meaning is That he had long forborn taking vengeance on his peoples enemies and suffered his people to be still kept in Bondage by them now will I cry like a travelling Woman that is as such a Woman when she comes to the extremity of her pain the Child being brought to the very birth is then forced to cry aloud and many times breathes out her cries the louder because she had before suppressed them and kept them in thereby striving to help forward her deliverance till when she can expect no ease nor rest so will I with all earnestness hasten the Deliverance of my people as if I travelled and were in pain until they were delivered and will fall with the greater fury upon their enemies because of my former forbearance And indeed this similitude doth notably set forth 1. Gods tender affection to his people even like that of a Mother to the Child in her Womb. 2ly His earnest desire of their deliverance And 3ly that though the Lord had hitherto only groaned in a more silent manner for their sad Condition yet now the set and appointed time being come they should speedily be delivered as the Child is when the Mothers cries are loudest As for those last words I will destroy and devour at once either the meaning is That the Lord would destroy their Enemies Land and devour the Inhabitants or that he would speedily make an end of them all together as it is with hungry ravenous wild beasts that as soon as they have killed their prey do immediately devour it Ver. 15. I will make waste mountains and hills and dry up all their herbs c. That is the herbage which the Mountains and all other parts of the Land afforded both for man and beast and I will make the rivers Islands that is Dry them up so that here and there the dry land shall appear like so many Islands The drift of the whole verse is to set forth the horrid Desolation that God would make in the land of the Chaldeans when he undertook the Deliverance of his people from thence And to this end he speaks of his Vengeance therein as a devouring Fire that would burn up all before it See the Notes Deut. 4.24 and 32.22 And the particular mention that is made of laying waste their Mountains and Hills is either because there usually they had their idolatrous Temples and Altars or rather because there they had their greatest Cities and places of strength And the same may be said for the mentioning of the drying up of their Rivers which were the great safeguard of their Country all is to imply that all the strength and Riches of their Country should not hinder God from destroying them and delivering his people out of their hands one particular whereof is noted by some Expositors to have been accomplished when Cyrus made the great River Euphrates passable for his Army when they took Babylon And then as this Prophecy refers to Christ the same is meant that is said before ver 13. That he should destroy the Kingdom of Satan and all the great enemies of his people and ruine all the Riches and Pomp and State of those that should exalt themselves against him Ver. 16. And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not c. As this is meant of the Jews return out of Babylon they are termed blind because they saw nothing of their approaching Deliverance they saw no likelihood of escaping out of that sad Condition wherein they lay and so regarded not Gods promises but as men stupified and hopeless were in continual perplexity not knowing which way to turn themselves and of their return into Judea it might well be said That they were led by a way they knew not and in paths they had not known because the generality of them were born in Babylon and so had never gone that way before But as it is meant of Christs redeemed ones whether Jews or Gentiles it was accomplished in the enlightning of their blind minds See the Note Chap. 35.5 and bringing them into the way of Salvation whereof they knew nothing before And the like may be said of the following words they may be meant of the Jews returning out of Babylon I will make darkness light before them that is I will bring them out of an afflicted and sad Estate into a joyful and prosperous Condition See the Notes Esth 8.16 and Psal 112.4 or rather I will make their way clear before them wherein otherwise they might have been often brought to a stand not knowing which way to turn themselves and crooked things straight that is their way shall be easie and plain free from those troubles and difficulties which otherwise they might have found in it But under this
see the Note Chap. 41.22 let them bring forth their witnesses that they may be justified to wit those that can witness that they have truly foretold things to come see the Note Chap. 41.26 or let them hear and say It is truth that is Let them hearken to what I have said and be convinced thereby and yield that they are indeed no gods Or let them hear what I say or what my witness shall testifie and so confess it to be true that I am God alone Ver. 10. Ye are my witnesses c. Having in the foregoing verse challenged the Idolatrous Nations to produce their witnesses that might testifie what those future things were which their Idol-gods had foretold thereby to prove that they were indeed Gods here he undertakes on his own behalf to do the like ye are my witnesses saith the Lord that is ye my people that have heard so many future things foretold by me and have afterward seen them accomplished Indeed the following words and my servant whom I have chosen are diversly understood by Expositors For 1. some joyning it to the foregoing words take it thus That the Jews were his Witnesses and his Servant whom he had chosen See the Notes Chap. 41.8 and 42.19 2ly Others understand it of the Prophets in general Gods peculiar Servant 3ly Others hold that it is Isaiah in particular to whose Testimony God here speaks because he had by Revelation from God foretold so many things that came exactly to pass But because it may seem probable that this is spoken with reference to that which was said before Chap. 42.1 Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect in whom my soul delighteth therefore I rather think that it is the same choice Servant of whom he there spake that is here intended to wit either Cyrus as some there think who indeed gave a glorious Testimony to God in this regard See the Note Ezra 1.2 Or else rather Christ in whom the chief things now foretold by Isaiah was fulfilled and who is often mentioned in the Scripture as Gods peculiar choicest Witness See Chap. 55.4 John 18.37 Revel 1.4 that ye may know and believe me and understand that I am he as if he had said I appeal to your seeing the things accomplished which I have foretold that hereby ye may be fully assured that I am the only true God and I appeal to the promised Messiah because by him ye shall be further confirmed in the truth of that which I now call you to attest before me there was no God formed neither shall there be after me that is There was never any of your Idol-gods before me gods of mens forming nor shall there be any God after me because I am the only everlasting and eternal God Ver. 12. I have declared and have saved c. That is I have foretold that I would deliver you from your enemies and accordingly did deliver you and this indeed was another evidence whereby the Idol-gods were challenged to prove themselves true Gods See the Note Chap. 41.23 and I have shewed that is I have by my Prophets made these things known to my people when there was no strange God among you to wit that could foretel those things at that time See the Note Deut. 32.12 Ver. 14. Thus saith the Lord your Redeemer the holy one of Israel c. See the Note Chap. 1.4 for your sake I have sent to Babylon to wit Cyrus with his Medes and Persians and have brought down all their Nobles to wit from that heigth of Glory wherein they formerly lived It is in the Hebrew All their bars and so some understand it of Cyrus his beating down Babylons strong Walls and Fortifications because these were as bars to keep out an Enemy from breaking into their City See the Note Chap. 45.1 yet it may be as well meant of their Nobles or men of War who are usually accounted the strength and great defence of a City and the Chaldeans whose cry is in the ships to wit either 1. because they used to make a great shouting in their ships by way of glorying and vaunting herein wherein they abounded by means of their two great Rivers Euphrates and Tygris Or 2ly because of the confused and sad out cry that was in their ships when they fled thither to preserve themselves the City being taken especially when they perceived they could not sail in their ships the waters of Euphrates being so far drained away by Cyrus Or when the poor captive Chaldeans were shipped by the Conqueror to be sold for slaves in other Countries And all this we must know the Prophet speaks of as of a thing done already the better to set forth the certainty of it To which some add That the deliverance of the Jews out of Babylon is mentioned as a pledge of their greater Redemption by Christ that had been now promised them Ver. 15. I am the Lord your holy one the Creator of Israel your King See the Note above ver 1. Ver. 16. Thus saith the Lord which maketh a way in the Sea and a path in the mighty waters This last clause some understand of the Lords dividing Jordan before the Israelites even at that time when there was a mighty inundation of the waters thereof see the Note Josh 3.15 But I rather think that both branches are meant of Gods carrying the Israelites dry-shod thorough the mighty waters as they are called Exod. 15.10 of the Red Sea and that because in the following verse he seems clearly to speak of the Egyptians being drowned therein And the reason why God puts them in mind of this is hereby to let them see that they had no cause to question their promised deliverance out of Babylon what he had formerly done for their Fathers he could do again for them Ver. 17. Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse the army and the power c. That is Who at his pleasure doth by his all-ruling providence bring forth the great and mighty Armies of Princes meerly that he might destroy them even as by hardning the heart of Pharaoh his Princes and People for by the dependance of this upon the foregoing verse it is clear that hereto the Prophet alludes he brought them forth to pursue the Israelites into the Wilderness and afterward to follow them into the Red Sea they shall lye down together they shall not rise that is They shall be irrecoverably destroyed to wit as Pharaoh and his Army were And because this was done by drowning them in the Red Sea therefore are the following words added they are extinct they are quenched as tow that is They are as easily and suddenly destroyed as the snuff of a Candle See the Note Chap. 42.3 is extinguished when it is thrown into the water which doth notably set forth the destroying of Pharaoh and his Army in the Red Sea when they came out with such burning rage against the Israelites And some think that this Comparison of quenching
the Babylonians whose Magicians were exceeding famous all the World over and it may well be with particular respect to some Predictions of theirs concerning the perpetual continuance of their Empire and perhaps that when the Medes and Persians threatned Babylon they should not prevail against her namely That all these predictions should be found to be lies And hereby also might be covertly hinted how short their Predictions came of the Predictions of Gods Prophets that were always so exactly accomplished and maketh diviners mad that is That makes their Divinations no more to be regarded than the ravings of mad men or rather that makes them mad to see all fall out contrary to what they foretold that turneth wise men backward to wit by crossing them in all their Counsels and Courses and bringing all their Plots and Endeavours to nothing or by confounding them so that they are ashamed to shew their faces and maketh their Knowledg foolish to wit say some By discovering the folly of their Predictions But see the Note Job 12.17 Ver. 26. That confirmeth the word of his servant c. To wit Isaiah or his Servants the Prophets in general and so the next clause may be added as by way of explaining this and performeth the counsel of his messengers that is The Predictions of his Prophets concerning those things which it was the Will and counsel of God should be And though this must be understood generally of all their Prophecies yet we may well think it was spoken with special relation to that Prophecy that Cyrus should subdue Babylon and send home Gods people into their own Country and that which went still along therewith as signified thereby their Prophecy concerning our Redemption by Christ And this return of the Jews is therefore particularly added in the next words that saith to Jerusalem Thou shalt be inhabited and to the Cities of Judah Ye shall be built under which also may be intended the raising up of the Church of Christ when ever she is brought low by her enemies and I will raise up that is build again or cause to flourish the decayed places thereof that is all the ruinous and desolate places in the Land Ver. 27. That saith to the deep Be dry and I will dry up thy rivers That is That can remove any Obstructions that are like to hinder the return of my people so that though there should be a Sea lying in their way even that can I dry up and all the streams thereof And most probable it is that God by this way of expressing his Almighty Power doth allude to his drying up of the Red Sea first and the River Jordan afterwards before the Israelites as before Chap. 43.16 of which see the Note there and that he doth likewise covertly hint the manner how Cyrus should take Babylon namely by Cyrus his drawing away the waters of Euphrates in several Channels he had digged for that purpose that so his Army might pass over and storm and surprize the City This is I conceive the cleaâ— meaning of this place for which see the Notes also Chap. 40.3 4. But yet some Expositors take it to be a directly figurative Prediction of the Destruction of Babylon A deep they say she is called as before the desert of the Sea Chap. 21.1 for which see the Note there because she lay in a deep valley full of waters and by drying up this Sea and her Rivers is meant they say the destroying and plundering this great City together with other Provinces Cities and Towns belonging thereto Ver. 28. That saith of Cyrus He is my shepherd c. So he is called because as a Shepherd he was to take care of the Jews Gods precious flock to rescue them from the tyranny of the Babylonians even as Sheep from the mouths of ravening Wolves to gather them together that were scattered abroad in Babylon and other Countrys and to carry them out into the large and fresh pastures of Judea that had been shut up in Babylon as in a pinfold and shall perform all my pleasure that is All that God had decreed and willed should be done both concerning the ruine of Babylon the return of his people and their re-edifying their City and Temple as is expressed in the following words even saying to Jerusalem Thou shalt be built and to the Temple Thy foundation shall be laid And indeed in Cyrus his time there was no more done but only the laying of the foundation However most observable it is That to the end the Jews might know it was God that had wrought that great deliverance for them when they were set free out of Babylon and so might also believe his other Prophecies concerning Christ of whose Redemption that deliverance was a Type God doth here tell them the very Name of the Man by whom they should be delivered as he had formerly foretold the name of Josiah 1 King 13.2 And this was about an hundred and seventy years at least before it was accomplished for Manasseh reigned five and fifty years 2 King 21.1 Amon two ver 19. Josiah one and thirty 2 King 22.1 Jehoiakim eleven 2 King 23.36 at what time Nebuchadnezzar began to captivate the Jews and then their Captivity in Babylon lasted seventy years So that doubtless when the Jews first heard of one Cyrus that was preparing to invade Babylon the remembrance of this Prophecy must needs make them with great joy to conclude That their Deliverance was then drawing nigh But see the Note Ezra 1.2 CHAP. XLV VERSE 1. THus saith the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus c. Though Cyrus was a Heathen idolatrous King yet the Lord calls him his Anointed 1. Because he was ordained and appointed of God to be King of Persia and Babylon no less than the Kings of Judah that were anointed with oyl See the Note Ezra 1.2 And 2ly because he was as it were consecrated and strengthned of God to be a Saviour and Deliverer of his people and was therein a type of Christ whose right hand I have holden that is whom I will guide and strengthen carrying him on succesful and causing him to prosper in all his great undertakings See the Notes Chap. 41.13 and 42.6 to subdue Nations before him that is the Babylonians and many other Nations that were under the command of Babylon or that opposed him in his way thither and I will loose the loins of Kings that is Disarm degrade and weaken them See the Notes Chap. 11.5 and 23.10 and Job 12.18 to open before him the two-leaved gates and the gates shall not be shut that is So that they shall presently open to him the Gates of their Cities and strong holds together with their Palaces and private Houses they shall not dare to shut a door against him but upon the terror of his approach all shall fly open before him Ver. 2. I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight c. That is Thou shalt over-run the
of me and ye shall be as sure of it as if it were at your command Or else 2ly by way of upbraiding them for their murmuring at Gods delay of the promised deliverance that striving with their Maker whereof he had spoken ver 9. Ask me of things to come concerning my Sons and concerning the work of my hands command ye me as if he had said If the clay may not contend with the Potter nor the Child with his Parents why do you then that which is no better than a quarrelling with me about my ordering you that are my Children and the work of my hands you had best call me to an account to know how I mean to order my people for the future and prescribe me what I should do as if there were danger lest I should disregard them Ver. 12. I have made the earth and created man upon it I even my hands have stretched out the Heavens c. See the Note Psal 104.2 and all their host have I commanded that is I made them by my word and command and by my command they are continually ordered And the drift of inserting this here is to shew That therefore he must needs be all-sufficient both for the managing and effecting of whatever he had undertaken to do and that it was a high degree of folly and boldness for them to question or mutter against any thing done by him as thinking that he that governed all things as the great Creator of Heaven and Earth would not in a special manner take care of his own peculiar people that were in a more special manner the work of his hands Ver. 13. I have raised him up in righteousness c. To wit Cyrus above named ver 1. See the Notes Chap. 41.2 and above ver 8. and I will direct or make straight all his ways that is I will guide and prosper him and facilitate all his designs to wit in his expedition against Babylon he shall build my City that is he shall order it to be built and give my people much towards the building of it he shall let go my Captives not for price nor reward saith the Lord of host that is He shall give liberty to my people that are now Captives in Babylon by my disposing Will and Providence and shall send them home into their own Country freely without any ransome or consideration received for it But now still we must remember that under this Type of the deliverance of the Jews out of Babylon by Cyrus that greater work of our redemption by Christ from our spiritual Bondage is principally here intended for he indeed was raised up of God in righteousness See the Note Chap. 42.6 for the effecting of this great work and had all his ways made straight before him See the Note Chap. 40.4 And by him the spiritual Jerusalem the Church the City of God is built Mat. 16.18 Upon this rock will I build my Church and of his redeemed ones it may well be said that he delivered them not for price nor reward because instead of receiving any thing from them he gave himself as a ransom for their redemption Ver. 14. Thus saith the Lord The labour of Egypt and merchandise of Ethiopia c. That is The wealth which the Egyptians get by their labour and the Ethiopians by their Merchandise and of the Sabeans men of stature That is of great stature tall big and goodly men shall come over unto thee That is shall be brought into thee and thy shall be thine That is not only the riches of the Nations before mentioned but even the Nations themselves shall be thine they that were before thine enemies shall become thy Servants Some and that very probably do understand this as spoken to Cyrus of whom it is clear that he spake in the foregoing verse to wit that as a recompence of the service he should do for God in destroying the Babylonians and setting free his People both these mighty Nations and the wealth of their rich Countrys should together with Babylon fall into his hands But others again take it to be spoken to Gods people to wit That these Nations should bring in their wealth to them and be serviceable to them which they think was partly fulfilled when these Nations at the commandment of Cyrus first Ezra 1.4 and of Artaxerxes afterward Ezra 7.20 c. did out of the tributes which they were to pay to the Emperor of Persia afford them all things requisite for their return home into their own Country and for the work they had to do when they came thither But espcially in the days of the Gospel when both these and other Nations did joyn themselves to the Church and imployed their riches for her advancement See the Notes Psal 45.12 and 68.31 and 72.9 c. And indeed they that understand this as spoken to Cyrus do withal hold that it is principally meant of Christ of whom Cyrus was a Type Nor needs it seem strange that the deliverance of the Jews out of Babylon by Cyrus and the redemption of Gods People by Christ should be thus still joyntly intended together because the main end of God's delivering the Jews out of Babylon was that Christ the promised Messiah might spring up of that Nation and so his Kingdom might be established in the World And to the same purpose is that which followeth and they shall come after thee in chains shall they come over to wit as captives are wont to follow the Conqueror in his triumphs and they shall fall down unto thee they shall make Supplication unto thee saying surely God is in thee and there is none else there is no God to wit besides for as this may be literally understood of the Nations crouching before Cyrus and acknowledging that God was apparently wâ—â—h â—im prospering him in all his enterprises so it may be mystically understood of the Gentiles submitting to Christ and to the Church in Christ as acknowledging God Hypostatically in Christ 2 Cor. 5.19 and Col. 2.9 and both God and Christ with the Church even the true God besides whom there is no God Ver. 15. Verily thou art a God that hidest thy self O God of Israel the Saviour Here the Prophet breaks forth into an admiration of the hidden depths of Gods Dispensations for therefore is God said to be a God that hideth himself 1. Because of the secrecy and unsearchableness of his Councels in the actings of his providences as in the raising up Cyrus against Babylon God's purpose for the deliverance of the Jews thereby would not have been thought of and when it was done Gods hand in doing it had not God revealed it would not have been seen And 2ly Especially because though God be the sure Saviour of Israel his People yet he often stands a-loof for a time and appears not as a Saviour because he prospers their enemies and suffers his People to be miserably oppressed by them as if he regarded them not
this is all one in effect as if the Lord had said to them Though you by your wickedness and infidelity do what you can to hinder me from doing it yet I will approve my self righteous by performing that which I have promised concerning your deliverance by Cyrus and that speedily and without delay See the Note Chap. 45.8 which fully agrees with that of the Apostle What if some did not believe shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect God forbid Rom. 3.3 4. And this doth the rather appear to be the meaning of the place because of the following words and my Salvation shall not tarry to wit my delivering of my People out of their Captivity and I will place Salvation in Zion that is having rescued them out of Babylon I will settle them again in Zion as in a place of safety for Israel my glory that is by whose deliverance I will be glorified But still we must remember that under the Type of the deliverance of the Jews out of Babylon that far greater Redemption and Salvation by Christ is also comprehended wherein God was indeed transcendently glorified See the Note Chap. 40.5 CHAP. XLVII VERSE 1. COme down and sit in the dust O Virgin Daughter of Babylon sit on the ground c. What is meant by the Virgin Daughter of Babylon and why she may be here so called See the Notes 2 Reg. 19.21 Psal 137.8 and Chap. 23.12 God by the Prophet doth here speak to Babylon as to some proud stately young Queen gorgeously attired and sitting upon her Throne and bids her come down and sit in the dust and on the ground to wit as poor Slaves and Captives used to do and others in times of great and solemn mourning See the Note Job 2.8 and that which was intended hereby is that this glorious Imperial City that had ruled over so many Kingdoms and Nations should be forthwith brought down to the lowest pitch of baseness and misery And indeed Gods Command is enough to make such mighty changes in Kingdoms there is no Throne O Daughter of the Caldeans that is thou shalt never Lord it more over other Nations as thou hast done thy Monarchy shall now be translated to the Presians for thou shalt no more be called tender end delicate that is thou shalt no more be applauded for thine excellent greatness Or thou shalt no longer live in such tenderness and delicacy but shalt be brought into a sad and miserable condition Ver. 2. Take the Milstones and grind Meal c. That is prepare thy self for the basest of all servile employments such as was grinding at the Mill wherein they employed their Captives and poorest drudges See the Notes Exod. 11.5 and 12.29 Judg. 16.21 and Job 31.10 As for that which followeth Uncover thy locks make bare the leg uncover the thigh pass over the rivers some understand the first words uncover thy locks of the custome of Womens going in their Mourning with their Hair hanging loose about them and because of that mention that is made in the last place of passing over the River that which is said of uncovering their Legs and Thighs they understand of taking up of their clothes when they were to wade through deep Waters But I rather take this whole passage to be a description of the sad plight wherein the Babylonian Women should be namely that their stately Dames being stripped of their bravery should be carried away captives with their Hair hanging about their Ears having only such poor tattered Garments upon them as would neither cover their Legs or Thighs See the Notes Chap. 20.2 4. And so should be driven away into Persia wading through the Rivers as they went along Ver. 3. Thy nakedness shall be uncovered yea thy shame shall be seen c. To wit the nakedness of their Privy parts which Women out of modesty are ashamed to have seen I will take vengeance as if he had said it is not so much Cyrus that shall bring this misery upon thee as I the Lord God of Israel who shall by this means take vengeance on thee for all the wickedness thou hast committed against me and against my people And I will not meet thee as a man that is say some I will fall upon thee without any pity or compassion which even barbarous enemies will sometimes shew to the conquered especially to the weaker Sex and therefore as a Lion or some other ravening Beast rather than as a Man or else not with the wrath and power of Man which may be resisted and born but with the unresistable and unsufferable power of an Almighry God It is as if he had said whilst thou hadst to do with men thou wert able to grapple with them and usually to subdue them but now God will contend with thee before whose indignation and revenging hand thou wilt never be able to stand See the Notes Chap. 17.6 and 2 Sam. 7.14 Ver. 4. As for our Redeemer the Lord of Hosts is his Name the Holy one of Israel This is inserted by the Prophet in the Name of God's people as taking occasion from that which had been said concerning Babylon to break forth into this magnifying of God by professing that it was their God the great God of Heaven and Earth that would do this and that he would do it purposely for their sakes that they might be redeemed out of their Captivity Ver. 5. Sit thou silent c. Here again God proceeds to set forth the misery of the Babylonians in their Captivity Sit thou silent and get thee into darkness O daughter of the Caldeans some think that by these words get thee into darkness is intended that they should be cast into dark Prisons or that after they were carried away Captives they should abide in the darkness of continual misery But it is more probable that all the expressions here used are to set forth how they should be overwhelmed with grief and shame for men in such a condition are wont to sit silent see the Note Job 2.13 and to get into dark corners as being ashamed to be seen And it may well be which some think that in that which is said of their sitting silent there might be some respect had to the great noise which that Empire had formerly made in the world as if he had said Thou that hadst wont to thunder out thy commands and threatnings through so many Kingdoms shalt now sit silent as being ashamed of the base condition whereinto thou art fallen and not daring to mutter against those that shall tyrannize over thee Ver. 6. I was wroth with my people c. Here the cause is shewn why Babylon should be thus destroyed I was wroth with my people I have polluted mine inheritance and given them into thine hand That is my people whom I chose to be my peculiar inheritance see the Note Chap. 19.15 I have cast off as an unclean thing as if they had been never separated
12.4 and to the Holy one of Israel see the Note Chap. 12.6 because he hath glorified thee to wit by the great things he hath done for thee and particularly by enlarging thy Church by the access of the Gentiles But see the Notes before ver 5 6 7. Ver. 10. And the Sons of Strangers shall build up thy Walls c. This in the type was accomplished when at the Jews return from Babylon the forreign Nations did afford them Free-will-offerings towards the building of their City Jerusalem and the Temple being encouraged thereunto by the Proclamation of Cyrus see the Note Ezra 1.4 notwithstanding the opposition that was made against them herein by the Samaritans at their return home yet thus far by the help afforded them by strangers this Prophecy was fulfilled and likewise when the Proselytes of other Nations returning with them did join with them in repairing both their City and Temple and the like may be said of the following words and their Kings shall minister unto thee that was accomplished in the favour afforded the Jews by Cyrus and some of his Successors But now in the Antitype this was clearly fulfilled when God raised up even amongst the Gentiles Learned Men that by their preaching and writing and Princes that by their bounty and favour should much promote the Edification of the Church and advance her strength and glory see the Note Chap. 49.23 for in my wroth I smote thee but in my favour have I had mercy on thee This was spoken of the Jewish Church whom for their sins God did often sorely afflict for a time but afterward of his Free-grace shewed favour to them both in their deliverance out of Babylon and in that greater Mercy of their Redemption by Christ Ver. 11. Therefore thy Gates shall be open continually they shall not be shut day nor night c. To wit that the Gentiles may from every side come in and join themselves in one Church with thee none being excluded that shall in a right manner tender themselves and that they may by night as well as by day bring in their Wealth to thee And indeed that this is intended appears by the following words which are added to explain that which went before that men may bring unto thee the forces or wealth of the Gentiles see the Note above ver 5. and that their Kings may be brought that is that not only the common sort of People but even their Kings also who are usually fierce and not easily won this way or that to do any thing contrary to their own Wills may be brought in to thee to stoop to the Gospel and Scepter of Christ And indeed the word here used in the Original may be understood either of their being brought in to the Church in the State and with the attendance of Kings or of their being brought in as Captives subdued by the Preaching of the Gospel to stoop to the yoke of Christ see the Note Psal 149.8 Even this also indeed some understand of the Type As namely that it is said that the Gates of Jerusalem should stand open continually c. to imply the great confluence of the Nations round about thither upon the Jews return thither from Babylon and of the readiness both of the People and their Kings to contribute liberally to their help But we may easily see how much more clearly this suits with the coming in of the Gentiles upon the Preaching of the Gospel And as for the Evangelist St. John's citing this place Rev. 21.25 to set forth the peace of the Church triumphant in Heaven the ground of that is only because the Apostle knew that the Prophet speaks here of that Glory of the Church of Christ which shall be perfected in the Kingdom of Heaven Ver. 12. For the Nation c. As if he had said nor shall these thy open Gates endanger thee by letting in thine Enemies upon thee for the Nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee that is all People that will not submit to the Gospel and Scepter of Christ erected in thee shall perish c. that is shall everlastingly perish Nor can this indeed be any way well understood of the Church of the Jews returning out of Babylon but with respect to what she should come afterward to be in the days of the Gospel Ver. 13. The Glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee c. That is that all Cedars and other goodly Trees which make Lebanon look so Gloriously shall be brought in to thee the Firre-tree and the Pine-tree and the Box together see Chap. 41.19 to beautifie the place of my Sanctuary to wit the Temple at Jerusalem see Ezra 7.27 and I will make the place of my Feet glorious that is my Foot-stool my Temple as is before said for though the Ark is in some places more especially called Gods Foot-stool for which see the Notes 1 Chron. 28.2 and Psal 99.5 yet the Temple is else-where also called Gods Foot-stool as in Lam. 2.1 where the destruction of the Temple is thus set forth That the Lord remembred not his Foot-stool in the day of his anger and so likewise Ezek. 43.7 So that in the Type the rebuilding and beautifying of the Temple after their return from Babylon is clearly here meant see Ezra 3.7 But in the Antitype it is certainly meant of the edifying of the Church of Christ his Spiritual Temple and Foot-stool his setled dwelling-place and God here promiseth a continual supply of whatever might tend to the strengthening and adorning of it Ver. 14. The Sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy Feet c. Though there was some dark shadow of the accomplishment of this in the great respect and honour which was yielded to the Jews after their return from Babylon by many Nations with their Kings that had formerly been their bitter Enemies yet the full and clear accomplishment of it was in the great honour which the Gentiles and their Kings should yield to Christ and his Church see the Note Chap. 49.23 and they shall call thee the City of the Lord c. that is they shall own the special interest which thou hast in God being convinced by his appearing so wonderfully for thee Ver. 15. Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated so that no man went through thee c. That is disregarded and in a desolate condtion see the Notes Chap. 3.26 and 3.11 12. I will make thee an eternal excellency or a lasting excellency that is I will bring thee into a most excellent and glorious estate and this I conceive must be understood of the Jewish Church from the time of her deliverance out of Babylon till she came to be made glorious by becoming the Spouse of Christ and so on forward unto the end of Christs Kingdom It is meant of the Spiritual excellency of the Church here and of
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
the effecting of his wicked practises his Servants and Ministers are as base and vile likewise as he is he makes use of no other but such as himself is Or rather all the tricks and artificial devices and means he useth to effect his designs are stark naught for so this seems to be explained in the following words he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words that is By false Informations and Witnesses or by unjust Censures proceedings wherein Justice is pretended when nothing but injustice and oppression is intended even when the needy speaketh right that is When his cause is just and he desireth and pleadeth nothing in his defence but what is most equal and just Indeed this last clause may be read as it is in the Margin when he speaketh against the poor in judgment and then the meaning is That the Churl will not stick to destroy the poor with lying words even when the poor man stands before Judgment seat which should be a Sanctuary for innocent persons Ver. 8. But the liberal deviseth liberal things c. That is The charitable man is continually studying and contriving how to do good bountifully for this is added in opposition of what was said before of the covetous Churl See the Notes before ver 5 6 7. Indeed some would have it understood of such a Prince as really deserveth the title of bountiful and liberal But it is clear that our Translators did intend it of all liberal persons in general and by liberal things shall he stand or be established that is The more liberal he is the surer he shall stand the more firmly he shall be setled in a prosperous condition Ver. 9. Rise up ye Women that are at ease c. Having in the foregoing part of the Chapter promised a time of mercy and deliverance to the faithful here the Prophet returns again to threaten the Jews with those grievous Calamities that should come upon them before those comfortable times should come of which he had now spoken Rise up ye Women that are at ease hear my voice ye careless Daughters c. Some by the Women here spoken to understand the Cities of Judea and by the Daughters the Villages belonging to those Cities But I see not why it should not be understood literally of the Women amongst the Jews and those especially that living in great plenty idleness and luxury were most void of all care and fear for to these the Prophet might purposely address his speech 1. Because such are apt to live most at ease and to be most secure 2ly Because Women are most likely to be affrighted with the prediction of approaching Calamities and would be most unable to bear what in such times they were like to endure And 3ly especially to imply the greatness of the vengeance that was coming upon them wherein the very Women should not be spared no the greatest or richest of them though best provided to make an escape should be able to get out of the enemies hands but should suffer with the common sort As for that expression Rise up ye Women that are at ease it is used to imply either 1. with what great attention and reverence it was fit they should hearken to what he would say to them as being of matters of great concernment and given him in charge by the Lord their God See the Note Numb 23.18 Or 2ly the folly of their security in a time of so great danger It was no time for them to sit still as fearless and careless as they were it would not belong ere God would rouze them up Ver. 10. Many days and years shall ye be troubled ye careless Women c. That is ye that are now so careless and fearless shall then be piteously troubled And because it is said of the Judgment here threatned that it should continue a long time many days and years therefore many Expositors hold That a long succession of several calamities is here intended and so that it must not be restrained only to Sennacheribs invading of Judea and blocking up Jerusalem but must be extended to the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and the seventy years of the Babylonian Captivity yea to the utter desolation that was afterwards brought upon this land and people by the Romans And indeed some of the following passages must necessarily be understood in this large extent for the vintage shall fail the gathering shall not come to wit Either because of the havock the enemy should make in their Country or because it should afterward lye desolate and untilled and without inhabitants See the Notes Exod. 23.16 and Levit. 26.34 Ver. 11. Tremble ye women that are at ease be troubled ye careless ones c. As if he had said As fearless as ye are now ye shall be troubled and tremble Strip ye and make ye bare and gird sackcloth upon your loyns that is put off your ordinary attire and clothe your selves with sackcloth as mourners use to do yet this last clause may be intended as by way of foretelling how they should be used by their enemies when they prevailed over them Ver. 12. They shall lament for the teats c. That is Because the Womens breasts and some would extend it also to kine and sheep were dried up for want of food and so they wanted milk for their little ones And so indeed it was when Jerusalem was besieged by the Babylonians Lam. 4.3 4. Even the Sea-monsters draw out the breast they give suck to their young ones the daughter of my people is become cruel like the Ostriches in the wilderness The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst c. But yet very many Expositors by the teats here do understand their fields and vineyards the two breasts which did continually yield plenty of nourishment to the inhabitants and thus say they the Prophet explains himself in the following words for the pleasant fields for the fruitful vine But this may be added as a further cause of their sorrow to wit That they should mourn as for the driness of their breasts so also for the want of the fruit of their Fields and Vineyards Ver. 13. Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briars c. The Expression here used seems to intend That the land of Judea should be wholly overgrown with briars and thorns See the Notes Chap. 7.23 24 and that notwithstanding it was the land which God had appointed to be the inheritance of his peculiar people so that there was no cause upon that account to flatter themselves that it should not be so yea upon all the houses of joy in the joyous City that is even in those places where those gallant houses stand in the City of Jerusalem see the Note Chap. 22.2 where there is nothing now but pleasure and mirth and great jolity shall briars and thorns grow up the houses themselves being burnt down by